Dark 5.5: Warring Duties
Kekoa

May 14, 2022

Shirona's milotic waves her tail and shimmering walls of distorted light surround the impromptu battlefield.

"This battle will be a three on three. Every hit is treated as a knockout. Are both sides ready?"

When Shirona had asked to spar you'd instantly declined. You remember Cuicatl's bout with Hala. And you still aren't entirely sure where you stand with Shirona. She hides half her face behind her hair and all of her feelings behind a constant sly smile. One of those people who never lets anything show as a matter of pride. Like what Lyra is clearly trying hard to be, just without the subtle breaks and occasional tantrum.

Shirona just rolled her eyes when you told her you didn't want to spar. "Not all out, obviously. Just to the first hit."

You think you can handle that. She seems to care more about her reputation than Hala. Luring someone, a guest, even, into a training battle only to humiliate and hurt them doesn't seem to be her style.

So here you are. Three on three. Her milotic is guarding the battlefield and her spiritomb has never left the garage. That leaves roserade, lucario, garchomp, and togekiss. Hopefully not togekiss. That ruins your best strategy for sweeping here.

"I know the rules," you tell Lyra.

Shirona sends out her roserade as a response. The flower twirls in place and bows to you before standing back up with bouquets at the ready. Good. That's the best lead you could've hoped for.

You slot a Z-crystal into place on your bracelet. Shirona raises her visible eyebrow but says nothing. This isn't against the rules.

Once everything is in place you send out Ihe. He won't land any hits, but he's essential anyway.

"Wind." You start going through the steps of the flying hula. As fast as you can go without making it painful.

Shirona says something in Japanese and the roserade raises a bouquet. Something crosses the field faster than your eye can track and Ihe squeals in surprise. You ease up on the steps and try to let the energy go. Damn it. That fast? You were hoping Ihe could dodge something and get at least a little wind up.

"Kekoa's rufflet has been hit. Send out your next pokémon."

Ihe turns to face you and you see a thin thorn sticking out of his chest. There's no blood and he isn't acting act hurt.

You can still salvage this. Tailwind might've even hurt when togekiss came into play.

You withdraw Ihe and send out Moe without a word. He knows what to do. Before Shirona can give a command he's vanished into the ether. From there he can sneak up and score a hit. Easy.

Shirona gives another order. Still in Japanese. That's some bullshit.

The roserade crouches down before kicking off the ground with one leg and beginning to spin like a dancer. Purple mist forms around his bouquets before he starts shooting off baseball-sized shadow balls in ever direction. Most fizzle against the barrier. A few strike Moe even in… wherever he goes when he uses phantom force. He rematerializes with a low groan you feel in your soul more than hear with your ears.

"Kekoa's drifblim has been hit. Send out your next pokémon."

Damn. It. Nothing is working. No support, no opening to set up, nothing. And Shirona keeps looking at you with the same meaningless half-smile while casually tearing you apart. You were half-right. She's not going to humiliate you and hurt your team. Just humiliate you.

Fuck that.

You withdraw Moe and send out Mahina.

"Beak blast."

Let's see her dodge this.

The toucannon raises her beak and slightly opens it at the tip. A barrage of heated seeds fly out of the pressurized beak.

…and hit a protect that Shirona didn't even call. Damn it. "Keep going!"

She does. She spits out seed after seed at damn near supersonic speeds and the roserade's barrier doesn't so much as ripple. Eventually Mahina needs to breathe.

A single thorn strikes her breast before her lungs are even full.

Fuck. This.

"Supersonic."

"The match is over, Kekoa."

Fuck that.

Shirona just tilts her head to the side and crosses her arms. The roserade does nothing at all.

Mahina looks back at you with wide eyes before hopping to the edge of the arena as quickly as she can. The milotic takes down the shield before she reaches it. Fine. Mahina can be like that.

"I wasn't even trying to tilt you," Shirona finally says. "You just make it very easy."

You withdraw your final pokémon with a huff. This was never fair. She just wanted to knock you down and insult you while you're on the ground.

"I've also noticed from archival footage and this match that you rely a bit too much on setting up an ideal endgame. It's fine to have a plan, but if you overreact when it's disrupted you're opening yourself up to being dismantled."

You bite back a scathing remark. She's the second highest ranked trainer in the world. You can't really say she doesn't know what she's talking about. Even if you want to.

"In this battle, for instance. There was never going to be time to set up tailwind. Later, if you'd just gone for gust or air cutter with drifblim you might've forced a mutual KO. The point of this format was to make you think more about split-second decisions than grand strategies."

You cross your arms and do your best to at least pretend you're listening.

"I think this would be a helpful exercise going forward."

"You'd enjoy that, wouldn't you?"

She laughs. Actually laughs.

"You can do it with Lyra or Cuicatl if you want. I'm just trying to help you."

Sure, whatever. You walk back up to the house and go to your room.


By the time lunch has come and gone you realize that you might've embarrassed yourself in front of the second strongest trainer in the world. Also Lyra. At least you can punch her if she gets too smug about it.

You need to talk to your team. About this morning. About things in general. Unfortunately, that requires going through Shirona or Cuicatl. You don't want to go back to Shirona with your tail between your legs so soon. That leaves Cuicatl. Hopefully she isn't moping too hard.

You knock on her door but don't get an answer. Probably outside, then. Shirona isn't in the kitchen or living room when you walk by them. Thank the gods.

Both Cuicatl and Genesis are resting on the pool deck. Cuicatl's pool chair is inclined all the way back like a bed. Her eyes are closed and she has earbuds in. Hard to tell if she's awake. Coco is sprawled out over her fast asleep. There are low, rolling growls coming from her throat that could either be snores or sleep talking. Even unevolved, Coco's still pretty big. You're surprised that Cuicatl can support the weight on her chest without seeming to care at all.

Genesis is awkwardly seated in a chair, one leg up on the seat with the knee tucked under an arm and the other resting on the ground. She's reading some fantasy book for children. Moe's hovering beside her. You read somewhere that you can feed drifblim by finishing books or shows or whatever. At least he's feeding and staying close.

You notice that Gen's swimsuit fits weird now. Too short for her but too much padding. She's grown a little and lost some weight. You'd hoped you'd eventually get taller than her on hormones. She still has you by half a head. A little embarrassing being the only guy in a group and only barely the second or third tallest member. (Lyra can go either way now. She was a solid inch taller when you first met. Progress!)

"She asleep?" you whisper-ask Genesis.

"Think so," she whispers back. "Don't wake her up. She's had a long couple days."

Right. The whole thing with Coco's mother. Lyra filled you in. Said you should probably know and Cuicatl shouldn't have to be the one to tell you.

You have no idea what's going on between Lyra and Cuicatl now and you're a little scared to ask.

"Who's keeping you safe, then?"

"Noci's around."

A quick look around the deck doesn't reveal her. Has she gotten better at hiding? That's not good.

Fine. No one to translate. Whatever. You can wait for Cuicatl to wake up. Might as well talk to Genesis.

"How are you doing?"

She sets her book down and thinks. Actually thinks rather than just saying "good" or "fine" like a normal person. Her eyes look up to something invisible hovering just above her forehead and she sticks her tongue out into her cheek.

She settles on "not great."

"The usual?"

"Yes. And Cuicatl's hurting and I can't help her. I don't like that. After everything she's doing for me…"

She wants to repay her debts. Not owe people. Be tied down by favors. Yeah, you get that. Cuicatl's nice enough, usually. Except when she goes feral predator out of nowhere. You like her. You also understand why someone wouldn't want to be deeply indebted to her.

"Is it too soon to ask why she's still working for VStar after this?" Genesis scowls. It's maybe the angriest you've ever seen her. Very much including the misgendering shit on Akala.

"Don't." She doesn't quite pull off the intimidating look. Certainly not as well as Cuicatl can at half her size. "She's going through a lot. Doesn't need to hear it."

You shrug. "Things don't stop being true just because they aren't nice to hear." Genesis opens her mouth and glitches. Twice. Maybe you should calm things down. "I'll wait a week or two to bring it up if that makes you happy."

Coco growls and starts kicking the chair with one of her feet. Her eyes are still closed. Just a dream, then. Cuicatl stirs when the tyrunt starts swishing her tail from side to side.

She presses a hand against Coco's side. Not hard enough to push him away. Still some pressure behind it. "Wake up," she groans.

Coco stops moving and blinks the sleep out of her eyes. After a big yawn she shimmies off of her trainer and the chair and stretches out. He looks up at you expectantly.

"Not sure what you want."

She growls.

"Wants to know if you'll train with her."

"In a minute. Want to talk to my team first."

Cuicatl yawns and stretches herself. "Bathroom. Then I can help."

You send out the rest of your team while she and Coco go inside. Ihe sulks in the corner while Mahina preens. Anueneu tries to eat some of Shirona's plants before you tell him off. He stamps the ground and bellows but makes no other moves. You still keep your finger on the recall button until Cuicatl comes back.

"I'll give you some privacy," Gen says before you get started. "Come on, Noci! Let's go—for a walk!"

The metang slides out from under the wooden staircase to the beach and floats over to Genesis. Creep. You're still unsure why Cuicatl puts up with them.

Cuicatl sits back in her chair when she returns. Coco jumps up on the chair beside her and tucks her feet and hands under her body like a particularly toothy cat. Did she learn that from Pixie? Fern? Who knows.

You clap your hands to announce the official start of the team meeting. Cuicatl recoils. Shit. Forgot about that. "Sorry."

She waves it off.

"Anyway, uh. I wanted to talk about the future. Getting back on the trail. Maybe doing more badges. How you all are feeling about that."

Ihe is the first to pipe up with a warble into a bark.

"He wants to get stronger."

"Good. We can work on that. Anyone else?"

Moe makes a low moan / hiss, like he's sprung a leak and is slowly deflating. It goes on for almost a minute before it stops.

"He likes it around here. You're good to feed on. So are your friends. He'll stay for now. Battle if he has to. Just keep feeding him."

"Good, good. Mahina? Anuenue?"

Anueneu bellows and stamps.

"He wants to fight. Preferably right now."

You could've guessed that. He was mad when you passed him over for the birds in your sparring session. You'll have to challenge Lyra to a sparring match later to blow off steam. Maybe with Shirona's rules. Maybe without them.

"We can definitely keep doing that."

It's not entirely a lie. You might still get back on the trail. You just… probably won't. You told the doc you'd stick around until things stabilized. You will. But you can't just ignore how easily the entire system came together to defend some capitalist pricks who almost killed their daughter. Even if Cuicatl and Lyra and Genesis herself move on, you can't. It's like that line at the end of the kid's book. Nothing will change if no one fights.

"Mahina?"

Mahina is the only one of your pokémon you really believe is 'talking.' Complex songs changing in length, volume, and pitch.

"She's not fighting Dr. Karashina's pokémon." Cuicatl translates.

You wince. That wasn't your best moment. "Sorry. Won't happen again."

More 'talking.'

"Did you see how strong that barrier was? You can fight that roserade yourself, but she won't."

"I got angry. I'll do better in the future."

This time she talks for far longer. Did you offend her?

"As for everything else, she appreciates you taking care of her during the darkness. That doesn't mean you're not an idiot. She'll stick around until that idiocy gets her hurt." Cuicatl coughs into her fist. "Her ideas, not mine."

It's fine. You can take it from the bird. "I can live with that," you tell Mahina. And maybe Cuicatl. If she wants to take it that way.

None of your pokémon are eager to leave. For now. That's good. You can work with that. Maybe that will change if (when?) you properly join Skull. There's just no way to ask right now with Cuicatl or her robot listening.

You'll just have to burn those bridges when you get there.


May 16, 2022

Shirona has a few bicycles in the garage. Cuicatl and Shirona have been busy, Lyra's keeping to herself, and things have been a little weird with Genesis since you found out that you're apparently exes in her memory. Ew. She's hot, yeah, but you have standards. Maybe she's reformed. Maybe she's gay. Whatever. You've heard how she talked about you before. You don't unlearn that overnight.

There's only so much time you can spend with a group of pokémon you can't understand before you have to do the easy, necessary thing that you dread from the bottom of your stomach: you take a bike ride down the beach.

They say you never forget how to ride a bike. Maybe. You can pedal and balance. You'd still forgotten how much of a literal pain in the ass it was. At some point you have to stand up on the pedals just to keep the unyielding seat from digging in any longer.

The weather's nice. It's usually nice this time of year. A weird poem you made up in preschool comes to mind. 'The rain is done, now comes the sun!' Stupid. Juvenile. Your mother embroidered it on a pillow. Does Jabari have it? You might need to raid his house to find and burn the only proof of that embarrassment.

When the white sand gives way to specks of obsidian you take the bike up a little wooden staircase to the main roads. You don't know if the black sand will tear up the tires or not. Don't want to find out and make Shirona come get you.

There are still people living in parts of Tapu Village. A few houses centered around a gas station and it's attached grocery store. It serves the few people too stubborn to leave, orphans who are willing to walk two miles to blow most of their allowance on a soda or two, and the weird tourists who still feel comfortable vacationing in Tapu Bulu's crosshairs.

The rest of the village is a ghost town. Literally. Most buildings have at least part of their roof caved in. Some are scorched from fires no one could really be bothered to put out. Decay spreads out from missing windows like blood from gunshots. (There are some gunshot holes in the walls, too.) Listen too closely and you'll hear low, hushed tones babbling on the wind in languages only the dead can understand.

Even the parts the Tapu never touched are falling to pieces. All the colonizers who lived here fled when they realized that the land still had gods who could evict them. It was a good start. You wish the Tapu would do it more.

Now the village is just a corpse of a town left to rot in plain view. Maybe someday Lanakila will erupt and lay it to rest. Until then it'll linger on, forgotten and unwanted.

Maybe that's why The Ultra Bitch built her orphanage here. Back when she pretended to be a good person. Before she tried to burn Alola to the ground.

You look up at the Mohn Ciel Memorial Home. No one calls it that. It's The Aether House. Even after the wormholes the kids here kept calling it that. Acerola told you once there were all kind of debates on what else to call it but no one could agree so the old name stuck.

The front windows are well-cleaned glass. The receptionist is looking straight at you. No point staying outside any longer. You lock up your bike because you know the kind of people who live here and don't want to know what Shirona would do to thieves. Then you take a deep breath and walk back into your old home.

You don't know the receptionist. Pretty haole girl in her early twenties. The usual type here. Get out of college, want to save the world, get conned into a low-paying job to do good deeds or whatever. She'll be gone in a few months and another fool will take her place for the same reasons.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

"I used to live here. Came back to visit."

Her face twitches and shifts in a way you can't quite place. Pity? Skepticism?

"Can I have your name and ID?"

You don't know what you're supposed to do if those things don't match.

"Keko Mahi'ai. Forgot my ID."

She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I can't let you come through without some proof of identity."

"Come on, just ask anyone who's been there for… eight months." Holy shit it's been eight months? "They'll know me."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but standard procedure—"

Can get fucked.

"Sir."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm a man."

And you'd been doing better with getting read right lately. Just makes it all the more painful.

"Right, well, I can't just let in any stranger. Skull operates near here and—"

The door to the back area swings open and the true heir to the Alolan throne steps through.

She gives you a long, hard look like you're a puzzle to be solved. Then something seems to click and she gives an almost unnaturally wide smile. "Kekoa, right? Good to see you back." She gives a brief, stern look to the receptionist before walking to the door you just went through and waving you along. "Let's go for a walk. Nice enough day."

She wasn't the first person you wanted to talk to. Still royalty. Can't exactly tell her no. You shrug and go along with it. Acerola seems the same as always. Grey dress with the hem in tatters. Several loose strings dangle from the bottom and the pieces of fabric are clearly disconnected in parts. There's a hole under the left armpit that she can't be bothered to fix. Same shower flip-flops she wears until they physically can't be worn anymore. You've never understood if it's some kind of political statement or personal taste or just an unwillingness to spend the money she gets on clothes. She's a trial captain and a member of the Elite Four. You're pretty sure she has money. (You're pretty sure those jobs pay. Wouldn't put it past the league to make literal royalty volunteer for them while they rake in a fortune.)

None of it seems to bother her. She walks with precise steps, carefully stepping off of the same large rocks and around the last few puddles of the wet season with a spring and sometimes a twirl in her step. Her eyes never look at the ground. Just forward. With her shoulders pushed back it almost seems like she's drifting through life, ever forward, on a path no one else seems to understand.

"You look good," she says. "Different. I take it that's why you left?"

"Part of the reason."

They'd made it clear that they wouldn't let you use hormones at their facility. Too much risk of the other children getting the wrong idea or something happening. You got your first two doses illegally from a trans boy who went to school and left before the changes would kick in. You'd been planning to leave anyway, but when you finally put two and two together it became impossible to stay as you were. Weights and pains that you'd learned to ignore suddenly felt like blaring alarms—warning, foreign body on the chest, warning, foreign body on the hips, warning, poison in the bloodstream, warning, voice too high, warning, hands too small, warning, warning, warning, warning—and you could barely focus on anything else. And if your home wouldn't welcome who you really were then you weren't welcome at all.

"I'm sorry you had to leave." She slows a step and gives a sad smile. "I've talked them into at least allowing puberty blockers."

Stopping the poison would've been nice. Going through high school looking like a thirteen-year-old girl wouldn't have been.

"Not your fault."

She shrugs before bounding off of the base of a long-gone pillar and turning around to face you. She keeps on walking. Just backwards. It doesn't seem to phase her. Gods, she's weird. You idly wonder if she and Cuicatl would end up talking about pivots or something. "I guess. I still have positions, you know? And I've started to wonder what the point of them is if I can't actually do anything to help someone."

"You help a lot of people, though." She does. She's one of the kindest to new arrivals at the orphanage. Even has a whole side gig helping the dead find closure.

"I could still help people without all the titles."

It's a weird mentality. Having power, wanting to help people with power, then just giving it away. She's in a much better position to go for champion than you are. "What about challenging Selene?"

She laughs. It sounds a lot like choking. That's normal for her. "Not even 'Lena wants her job anymore."

"What?" Then why does she even keep it? Why keep it from the kanaka?

"She got into it to be a trainer. Then it turned into fighting UB after UB. Final straw was during The Blackout. When the military, league, and governor send her to fight aliens she's a prodigy, a hero, the finest Alola has to offer. When she tried to get them to change their policy for public safety, suddenly she was a child, a dropout, and an athlete. Now she only keeps it so someone else doesn't get stuck with it."

Even the champion doesn't have power? You remember Kanoa laughing at you when you accused Selene of not doing more. Is that why?

"She's worried about your friend, by the way. She has one heck of a team in the works and even less political clout than Selene does. Perfect puppet champion."

"I don't think she'd play their games." You reflexively defend her before realizing that, no, she absolutely would. As long as someone gave her enough money she would probably do anything for them. She can go on about hating merchants and the States and whatever, but when push comes to shove she'd let herself be shoved.

Would she be a worse enemy than Selene? Even if she's more sympathetic, she'd be more ruthless. Maybe she'd feel bad when she was crushing Skull under her boot for cash. Maybe she'd find a way to justify it to herself.

"We'll have to see." Acerola shakes her head and brightens her smile. "Enough about that. How have you been?"

"Uh. Well. Been on the trail. Made some friends. Cleared Melemele and Akala. Beat the electric trial."

"Here for me, then?"

"I guess."

"Then you're in luck. I'm retiring on the first. Wait another two weeks and you can go straight to Nanu."

"You're only seventeen, right?"

"Yup. But I wanted to get out and see the world a bit early."

She said she didn't think she helped people with her job. You didn't think that meant she was going to go and quit it. You don't even know what to say to that.

"Or you could go ahead and give it a shot if you want the ghost crystal."

You have a ghost-type. You just aren't sure how useful the crystal it would be to Skull. Aren't sure you want your pokémon getting hurt for nothing.

"I'll think about it."

Acerola takes you deeper into the ruined town. Closer to the shore. Closer to her trial site. You wonder if that's habit or she wants to show you something there.

"What kind of team have you put together?" she asks.

"Birds, mostly. And a miltank. Toucannon, rufflet, and drifblim."

She smiles at the ghost. "Nice."

"Yup. She took me to the Royal Graveyard."

The captain starts moving and her energy seems to leave her body. "Did you enjoy it?"

"It was interesting."

Acerola snorts. "Hate it there."

"Why?"

"Great-grandma is always mad at me. Wants me to do more. Like that ended up well for my mom."

You were young when her mother died. Maybe five. She officially shot herself in the head in her hotel room. Twice. There wasn't an investigation and you were just supposed to move on. Supposed to ignore it. Supposed to smile when the haole kids said she got what she deserved for trying to steal their land. It must've been even worse for Acerola. Still.

"Don't we have some kind of duty to the kingdom as kanaka? Not you, specifically, as royalty. Just. In general."

She sighs and sits down on the remains of a bench. It looks really unsteady to you but holds her weight. Has she tested it before. "We have layers of duties, Kekoa. My mother chose to stand up for the kingdom. When they killed her, she left her daughter alone. I think there's something noble in fighting for what we lost. But the kingdom is gone and our people are still here. We should help each other, but…" She kicks a lump of asphalt on the ground. You wonder if it hurts given her flip-flops. "I think there's something wonderful in being free and happy despite the colonizer's best efforts. I want to live my best life. Then I can help other people live theirs. Then, someday, we can rise together."

Does she blame her mother for calling out the colonizers? She shouldn't. But you know what it's like to be left alone. If Jabari had joined Team Skull instead of the military… you don't know if you would still hate him or not. If that would justify things. You like to think it would, but. It's easy to say that now when that isn't what happened.

"But wouldn't changing the system make us all better off?"

Acerola shakes her head. "That's a lonely road, Kekoa. One that could hurt you and everyone who cares for you. I hope you've thought everything through before you start going down it."

They'll be fine. They don't depend on you. No one does. Cuicatl and Genesis have each other and you still aren't sure if you'd call Lyra a friend. And if even the champion doesn't have the power to change the system peacefully, then no one does.

The world needs to change. That's obvious. But no one ever seems to do anything about it.

And if no one else will, then it falls to you.


The new receptionist doesn't give you any shit when you walk back in with Acerola. That's good. Seeing Reverend Stevens immediately after entering the youth wing is less good. It takes him a few seconds to realize who you are before his eyes narrow. "Hello, Allana. You didn't call to say you were coming."

"Kekoa." You don't look away from his eyes. She wants a staring contest, fine. You'll win it.

"My apologies." He does not sound at all sorry. "I hope you don't plan on giving the youngest children any ideas."

He's all for puffing up his ego and caring for children and yada yada yada until they're the wrong type of children. Part of why you left. Even if you could've gone on hormones, you wouldn't have wanted to stay here and let this asshole feel good that he was helping you out. You have no idea how Acerola talked him into allowing puberty blockers for the precious children under his care.

You hate giving Lusamine and Aether credit for anything, but this place was probably better before the Xerneas loonies took it over from them. Now the choices for the kids in the system are languishing in foster care or playing by the Church of Life's rules. This place is a home if you can do that. Just another temporary bed if you can't. You'd figured that out even before you knew you wouldn't be welcome.

"I'm just here to talk to Manollo."

"Good. If you must enter the common area, don't tell the youngest children anything indecent."

"Fuck you," you mutter under my breath.

"What was that, young lady?"

"We had a talk about this, Reverend," Acerola interjects before you can punch the fucker. "Let's not upset the foundation's board over a visitor."

He scoffs and turns around to head deeper into the orphanage. "Just keep it quick."

Acerola shakes her head and sighs. "He's probably still asleep in his room. John moved in with him but I know he's out practicing with his pelipper. If you're stealthy you can scare Manollo awake."

You smile wickedly. Hell yeah. You quickly make your way down the hall, surprisingly encountering no one else (maybe they're asleep or outside on a Saturday) and approach his door. Formerly your door. No lock, just like every other bedroom here. You slide it open as quietly as you can and see him buried under a mess of blankets on his bed. After sliding your shoes off you tiptoe over and yell. His eyes fly open and he bolts upright, almost slamming his head into yours. It takes him a while to calm down and realize what's happening.

You try to keep your composure but end up bent over laughing as he catches his breath.

"Dude! What the hell."

"Good to see you too, 'lo."

"Fuck you."

"Fuck you back."

Eventually you pull the chair over and he sits up on the side of the bed. He still sleeps in the same t-shirt and basketball shorts combo as always. Means he doesn't have to spend extra on pajamas but is always decent if someone barges in.

"You know, I knew you were a man but its kind of weird seeing it. You look great. Really."

"Thanks." It feels great to hear that. Especially after getting misgendered by the receptionist.

"But you haven't called in ages."

That makes you look very intently at the corner. "Yeah… sorry. I meant to keep up but things kept happening and I hated dealing with the receptionist and… I fucked up. I know. I'm sorry. Never been good at keeping up with people."

Just ask Kanoa. Hopefully Manollo is as forgiving.

He huffs but doesn't raise his voice. "Fine. Does you being here mean that you quit?"

"No. Just reached this point in the challenge."

"Good." Things fall into an uneasy silence. You still aren't sure how to properly apologize. If you can apologize. Maybe you don't deserve to be forgiven. "Still on track to fuck up The False Queen?"

"I think I might quit."

"What. Why? After everything, why give up now?"

"Because I met Plumeria a few times on the trail. She invited me to join Skull for real. Now that they're burning hotels and fucking with the colonizers, I dunno, feels like a better use of my time."

He smiles. Genuinely. It's always so rare. "Fuck yeah. You mind if I join you? I've been thinking about fighting the good fight, too."

"I'll ask the boss lady. We still friends, then?"

"Oh, please. You're not getting rid of me that easily. But! You will have to fill me in on everything that's happened. Last time you called you were in Malie. What next?"

Good. You don't mind sharing in person. Just not over the phone. Not with the orphanage listening.

"Well, next there was a voyeuristic beldum…"