#primalucis

Footsteps echoed throughout the large chamber as Prince Yoichi paced back and forth; he would occasionally look outside to watch the sky, a pause in his movements as he seemed to consider something.  The minutes seemed to be passing more slowly the more he paced and it was clear he was growing agitated.  His tutor watched him carefully as he flipped through a large tome; he didn’t appear to actually be reading it.  Eventually Prince Yoichi stopped in his tracks and turned to face his tutor.

“Clooney, you must surely have something better to do than sit around and watch me.”

“I do.  However, your incessant pacing, twisted mouth, and overall demeanor tell me that you’re up to something.  As your tutor I thought it best to keep an eye on you before you do something…”  Clooney flipped another page in his large book, glancing down at the words printed on the page for a moment before clapping it shut.  “Utterly and completely stupid.”  He stood up and tucked the book under his arm.  “As you are prone to doing during your bouts of boredom.”  Yoichi scoffed.

“I’ve never done anything even remotely stupid in my entire life.”  He folded his arms across his chest but a rather carefree smile spread across his face.  “Well, perhaps I’ve done a few stupid things, but nothing that requires babysitting.  Did my uncle put you up to this?”  He was no longer joking; his tone was carefully disguised as nonchalance, but Clooney knew better.  The tutor let out a sigh.

“No, he didn't.  I’m keeping an eye on you of my own accord.  You’ve been quite scatterbrained this week.  I noticed you didn’t even try to look at astronomy charts I gave you last Friday.  Usually you at least pretend to study.”  Yoichi bit the inside of his cheek.  Clooney was too observant for his own good.  “You can tell me what’s going on you know; you, in fact, employ me, not the King and Queen.”  Yoichi’s brain moved at lightning speed as he tried to come up with a cover.  He needed Clooney off his ass, and fast.  The sun was just about to set on the horizon -- he needed to get leaving soon.

“Ah, well, since you’re a good friend Clooney, I suppose I’ll tell you.”  Yoichi collapsed onto a lounge couch and draped a hand across his forehead.  “I’m just absolutely lovesick.”  He paused for dramatic affect.  Clooney raised an eyebrow and dropped back into his chair; he crossed one leg over the other to place the book in his lap.

“Go on.”

“Princess Esta -- the beauty herself -- hasn’t written to me in over a week.  I’m just so stricken.  I can’t go on without seeing her wondrous, looping handwriting as she tells me about her week.  I can imagine her delicate hands as she rolls up the parchment -- I’m sure she places a kiss on the seal -- before tying it to her fantastic hawk, who so diligently carries her words to my very bedroom.  When I read them I--”

“Stop, stop, I get the picture.  Have you perhaps considered writing her a letter to see what’s going on?  Maybe she’s waiting to hear from you.  Or she could simply be busy, I’m sure--”

“You know what Clooney, that’s a genius idea.  I’m going to go get some parchment right now and cook up a love poem.  Would you like to help?  You’re quite the wordsmith after all.”

“No, I think I’ll pass on that fascinating opportunity.”  Clooney stood up and tucked the book under his arm once again.  “I suppose I’ll leave you to it then.  Once you’re done composing the love poem of the ages I request you look at the astronomy charts.  I borrowed them from the royal library and I’m sure they’d like them back sooner rather than later.”

“Of course Clooney, anything for you.”  Yoichi watched his tutor let out a small sigh before he approached the archway that led into the main hall.  He continued to lay on the couch until Clooney’s footsteps sounded far enough away that he could escape himself.  Hopefully the other didn’t take it upon himself to write the Princess Esta, who would have no idea what he was talking about.  While Yoichi was quite good friends with the Princess from the neighboring kingdom of Aboolis, he surely wasn’t pursuing any sort of romantic relationship with her.

Once he was sure Clooney was long gone, Yoichi made his way to the entrance to make sure there were no other staff hanging around to bother him.  One of the scullery maids was walking past; Yoichi flashed her a grin as they made eye contact and she giggled.  She scurried off to tell the other maids of her chance encounter.  It appeared he was in the clear as he was careful to creep down the hallway while making as little noise as possible.  He eventually made it to an alcove tucked away in a corner of the castle that few people passed through; there he had stored some clothing for this late evening adventure.

Yoichi traded his fine silken clothing and leather footwear for a beaten traveling cloak, as well as some worn shoes.  He poked his head out of the window to check for anyone below.  There was one person, a knight, readying for nighttime patrol.

“Well met, Sir Luciel!”  He made sure his clothing wasn’t visible as he waved to the knight in question.  Sir Luciel looked up; his visor was, as always, covering his face, so his expression was unreadable, but Yoichi knew he likely looked quite irritated.  That was generally Sir Luciel’s mood around Prince Yoichi.  What exactly the knight disliked about the Prince, Yoichi wasn’t unsure.  There were about a thousand reasons he could think of, but none of them quite stood out.  Luciel gave Yoichi a salute before moving further along the castle wall, each footstep a deafening clunk of pure steel.  The Prince waited for him to turn the corner before descending from the window.  He knew the ivy wasn’t going to hold his weight many more times, so he was going to have to figure out a new way to escape the castle the next time he needed to leave.  That was a problem for another day.

Yoichi was cautious as he attempted to slip into the nearby forest.  Ideally he would use the road to make it to the small village adjacent to the castle, but he couldn’t risk someone recognizing him.  Going through the woods took longer, but only enough that he simply had to pick up the pace.  He expertly navigated through the bramble bushes and the old tree roots that jutted from the forest floor; Yoichi had made this same trip every month for the past two years -- he knew where he was going.

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon by the time Yoichi made it to the village.  Shops were in the process of closing up; the owners locked the doors as they made their way to the tavern.  This was instrumental to Yoichi’s plan.  He hid in the shadows as he walked towards the village’s main hall -- this was his target.  The treasurer’s emissary exited the main hall and tipped his hat at the knight guarding the front door.

“All done, sir?”  The knight asked.

“Yes, all the money is accounted for.  Tomorrow we’ll load the wagons and head back to the castle.  Keep it safe.”

“As is my duty.”  The knight placed his fist to his chest and bowed his head.  Yoichi rolled his eyes as he watched the exchange.  They were both so full of shit he could hardly stand it.  The emissary finally left; likely returning to his coach for the night.  It didn’t take long for the knight to leave his post.  As every tax day, he would leave for the tavern and come back after a few drinks.  This was Yoichi’s cue.

Once the knight was safely out of sight, Yoichi picked the front lock and slowly opened the front door to the hall, before he quietly closed it behind him.  Concealed within his traveling cloak he had a large sack, which was filled with many smaller sacks.  It was time to go to work.

The Prince opened up the chests that were loaded with the villagers' money; he very deliberately filled each sack with exactly 12 gold coins, 5 silver coins, and 15 copper pieces.  Clooney never gave him enough credit -- his math was excellent.  After filling each small sack, he placed them back in the larger sack and hefted it over his shoulder.  He locked the front door from the inside and exited through the back window.  No one would notice that it was unlocked.

It had been a few weeks since she and Jax had recovered the hard drive full of illicit information.  Since Driftveil was just over the bridge of Nimbasa City, Sylvia had decided to go looking for Lucy Harrsion herself.  Jax couldn’t keep an eye on her, but Sylvia didn’t appear to be in any danger yet -- it would be safe for her to check up on Lucy.  Of course, she was going to have a hard time coming up with a reason to do so.

After casually staking out the police station, she had a general idea as to how Lucy’s day went.  She went in at 6:30AM with some tall blonde guy, generally stayed inside until noon when she would leave for lunch, and then leave again at 7PM or so.  It depended on the day whether or not she left for a patrol or if she stayed in to do paperwork.  She was just going to have to take a stab at it and hope to catch her at the right time.

When 10AM rolled around, Sylvia scooted into the station and approached the front desk.  Lucy just so happened to be standing nearby sorting some kind of papers.  Sylvia tapped the bell to get her attention.  Xan was standing next to her, looking around frantically at all the movement around her and letting out the occasional worried chirp.  When Lucy faced her, Sylvia put on a morose face.

After Lucy had been reinstated, the chief had kept both of them off the streets for over a month now. It was partially Yoichi’s fault, since he’d specified that they both wanted to cool it with their intense investigations. The chief had apparently taken that to mean they never wanted to leave the building ever again. Even Yoichi – who normally could at least pretend he didn’t mind desk work – was starting to get very antsy. Being a meter maid was preferable to banging out the paperwork back log that their coworkers oh so willing left for them to deal with. Just as Yoichi was about to go into the office and beg for at least a perimeter patrol, the chief finally called both of them to the debrief room.

“I figured you two have had enough of the paperwork. You’ve both been cashing in our insurance, but I think I’ve found something even you two can’t get injured doing.” He handed both of them file folders and sat on the edge of the large desk at the front of the room. “There’s been a lot of funny business going down in the Nimbasa Preparatory Boarding School. We think there’s a drug ring, but we can’t find any proof. Every raid has come up negative, but all signs point to that school being our main target. It’s a bunch of rich kids with parents who have connections to every politician in this Arceus forsaken city. They probably hear about the raid ahead of time and clean up before we get there. I need you two to do some investigative work. We think that there’s teachers and students involved at this point.” He motioned for them to open the files.

“Oshiro, we have you set up as the chemistry sub for now. Their old chemistry teacher is currently in prison for illicit relationships with students. You’re in charge of keeping an eye on the teachers.”

“Sweet.” Yoichi scanned the page and saw that he had an entirely new life to memorize before they got there.

“Harrison, we have you as a student. You’ll be in a dorm with three other girls sharing the same room so that you can keep an eye on the student life.” The chief continued before Lucy could possibly argue her role. “I’m counting on the two of you to do some reconnaissance work here. No need to do the bust yourselves. You’ll report directly to me – absolutely no one else. We can’t let this get out or we’ll have seriously wasted police resources. I’ll want weekly reports sent to a special email so that I can make sure no one’s watching the server. You start today.”

With that, the chief left. Yoichi turned to Lucy and laughed.

“Sounds like I’m just as bad as the old chemistry teacher. I have an illicit relationships with a student too.” He jokingly elbowed her before following after the chief. “You can complain all you want in the car, but at least we’re being released from the desk jockey job.”

---

Upon arriving at the school, the two of them had to split up. None of the school officials had any idea that two cops had now infiltrated their lovely campus, and they had to make sure it stayed that way. Yoichi was given a tour of the school’s grounds and was shown both his classroom and on campus housing. Both were nice, but he couldn’t help but scoff at the expense compared to his public high school. If he had a chemistry lab this nice, then maybe half his class wouldn’t have failed. Yoichi texted Lucy soon after he was left to his own devices.

loosey goosey [1:52 PM]: im all set up. loosey goosey [1:52 PM]: let me know when youre done. ill meet you outside the student dorms. everyone will still be in class for another hour and a half so we should be safe.

He put his phone away and leaned against the building, pulling out a cigarette to smoke while he waited. It was mostly an anxiety cigarette; he had no idea how he was supposed to communicate with her once they actually had to work. He supposed they’d figure that out soon enough. Yoichi took another drag of his cigarette as Lucy approached, a wry smile on his face.

It had been a week since the Harris incident in which Smith had gotten away.  Yoichi had spent that entire week laying in essentially the same position without moving.  He was still wearing his Ernie outfit -- although he did manage to take the wig off, which was in his room -- and was surrounded by take out food that was being delivered to his door so that he wouldn’t have to leave.  His living room was trashed with take out boxes and bags; it was clear he hadn’t made any effort to do anything other than lay down and eat occasionally.

His phone buzzed again but he ignored it just as he had ignored the 50 other texts and calls he had been receiving.  Almost all of them were from Lucy who seemed to be the only person concerned about where he had been for the past week.  He knew the others probably thought he was slacking off on purpose; they thought the only reason he wasn’t back was because he was milking it.  At least, that’s what he assumed they were assuming.

His phone buzzed again a few minutes later and he sighed.  He had half a mind to turn it off completely, but the buzzing was the only way he knew someone at least half cared to know whether or not he was alive.  Yoichi heard his apartment door rattling and couldn’t remember if he had ordered delivery or not.  Actually, he couldn’t remember the last time he had eaten period.

The door -- which was unlocked -- opened up to reveal Lucy.  Yoichi turned his head from his position on the couch -- this was very reminiscent of the time he had been sick -- and gave her a lazy blink.  “Oh.  Hi Lucy.”  The lack of use of any nickname was probably the most concerning part of this entire scene.

instead of paying attention in debate class, i took very important notes about the kids

▲ - So far, Nimbasa city has left quite an...impression on Thorton,  both figuratively and physically, and he raises a tentative hand to test the healing bump on head. Touching the recent injury, he’s reminded of how much he was ready to go back hom- er, back to Sinnoh, to his Factory where he only cares about work. 

Yes. That’s right! And he seals the thought with a sip of black coffee, the heat searing his sluggish senses awake. Hopefully, he’ll only need two cups to get through today. He buries his nose back into the book, the nearly empty cup sitting peacefully next to his trusty recorder. 

The earthy cafe was small though it had its charming qualities with only a couple of tables and four chairs to boot; all but the chair across from him was occupied. Light brown wood floors and walls, with pretty lights hanging all around the corners, it was the place where those who called themselves ‘hipster’ would frequent. however, with the opening of Nimbasa City’s newest coffee shop located closer to Elesa’s Gym, well- let’s just say this quaint shop has seen better business days. and it was just as Thorton preferred.

His concentration is broken at the slamming of the front door, his eyes immediately going towards the person responsible for disrupting his relaxing morning. Eyes narrowed defensively as Thorton takes in the plum-haired stranger at face value- an impulsive type has appeared. 

He dared call it instinct, but something about the other made Thorton’s shoulder square up and bury his nose even further in his book. His face wasn’t visible at this point. Even looked a bit ridiculous. 

⯈ Please be a to-go order. Please be a to-go order.  ⯇

▲ - just how far is he allowed to go before the line between man and god is completely erased. the question of fickle morals, what is wrong and right, what he’s allowed to control, and what he must leave to the universe and admit the limits of science. his company doubted him. his co-workers called him insane. but the look of desperate hope, the broken pleas that spilled from their lips to revive their children by any means necessary- it fueled his maniacal curiosity, his desire to go beyond the limits of biology. 

here, presented to him, was his chance.

looking down on the operation table, thorton might as well have stuck a middle finger at the sky and made another, more obscene gesture at his mistrusting boss. the wonders of science and technology knows no bound, would’ve been his response and immediate show case of her. 

⯈ “ now, let’s begin. “ ⯇ he activated the machine with a simple press of a button, the wires jolting once and starting to vibrate lightly as it transferred energy to the body connecting it. activation would take a while so he admired the robot again, countless of times. 

it took months, almost nearing to a year since he started; since the horrific accident that left two unfortunate souls at their untimely arrival to death’s doorstep. there he was presented a choice. leave them to a traditional hospital and gamble two lives, or securely save one. a simple choice, really. heartless? no. he did ponder the amount of responsibility that single choice held and the unspoken power that he held, but refused to acknowledge it beyond the thought, ‘ I am saving a life. ‘ the parents agreed, though not as assured.

a beep from the machine signaled its completion, bringing thorton back to the present. he blinked and shook his head to clear the past as he checked his recorder to make sure everything was functional. the number didn’t lie...he stepped closer to her with bated breath.

⯈ “ can you hear me? “ ⯇

♫:  my muse’s five favorite songs 

1. ibrahim - what am i

2. Pentonix - Can’t Sleep Love

3. Porter Robinson & Madeon - Shelter

4. Shawn Wasabi - Burnt Rice