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There's comforting warmth to Penelope's greeting and a distant iciness to Katherine's own. However, as the two have come to know each other, the councilwoman would be right to presume that this wasn't personal. "I don't turn down alcohol and good company very often," she confesses, allowing her lips to spread into a thin smile, "you'd be right to suspect that something's wrong the day I do."
[break][break]
Katherine claims a seat beside the only other redhead in the room, content to share the couch as though it were their throne. "I was also going to suggest we do this, by the way. I figured we could catch up after that AQUA meeting."

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]

Man.
[break][break]
"If that's the case, then I'll need to get another drink," she laughed, hand hovering over her emptied glass. Plucking it from her side, she slid herself off the shared couch, hovering only a beat longer to ask the natural question of the hour. "What would you like?"
[break][break]


Whatever the answer may be, the result wouldn't change; Penelope would stroll back to the bar top, arms languidly balancing off it's edge. After a few shared words and a smile, the bartender would fall back to his old rhythm of dance, clever hands putting work into their drinks.
[break][break]

She would be back by Katherine Fairburne 's side in no more than a few minutes, their drinks securely held in her hands.
[break][break]


"Here."
[break][break]


Leaning forward, she handed off the requested drink before sliding back into her side of the plush leather couch, one arm hanging off its back, the other coiled around her drink.
[break][break]


"I'm curious; based on your experience, what are your thoughts on our latest meeting?"

[break][break]


A sip.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Katherine Fairburne[break]


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"A dirty martini," her signature choice. "..With three olives, please," Katherine's quick to add, a sincere smile already revealing itself.
[break][break]
Unsurprisingly, Katherine quickly samples the drink with a big sip, not restraining herself from savouring it as a colleague should. She was no stranger to soothing a long day's nerves with liquor-- and this was just that.
[break][break]
"You're a lifesaver. God," her eyes ease and close for a couple of moments, relishing the burning sensation in her throat. "Mm. I wouldn't say it's much different than any of the previous ones, really," her shoulders pull backwards into a shrug already.
[break][break]
"Why? Did you think it was that bad because of all the new faces?" It's a more polite way of asking: you're not blaming yourself, are you?

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]

While Katherine relished in the delicacies of her martini, Penelope had opted to savoir another classic Negroni. For as much as she used to hate its toxic singe, her recent trip through Hoenn's bar crawl had promptly converted her into a fan.
[break][break]


[break][break]


Penelope's mind gnawed on the tidbit of information Katherine had offered. As vague as it might've been, it'd given her just enough confirmation to work off of. To delve back into what worked, what didn't, and whose input had been overall more problematic than beneficial.
[break][break]


"Oh, no, nothing like that." She shook her head, swallowing down another gulp of her concoction. It's burn soothed her internal ache with devilish style. "I was just curious. "
[break][break]


Another sip.
[break][break]


"I always knew things get a bit crazy sometimes , but I didn't expect, well, that sort of conclusion."

[break][break]
Namely, people being dragged out. While others made it a show when they departed prematurely from the meeting's boardroom.

[attr="class","ooc"] Katherine Fairburne[break]


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"Well, at least now you know what to expect from these people. Trust me, it won't get better—but it can get worse."
[break][break]
Knowing Hoenn, it probably will. Life, as it was today in their region, was fragile and, as previously agreed by the councilwoman and elite four member, the region's stability was fleeting. It was only a matter of time before a new issue reared its head.
[break][break]
The Dark Triad. Necrozma. Galar. Rocket. The Megaloplans. Kyurem.
[break][break]
"Matias likes to have the last word, which isn't unusual, but he doesn't care about being right or wrong, which is too dangerous with the power he wields," problem number one. "Melody and Eva are both pacifists at heart, and despite what they've been led to believe, there is no room for pacifists during war," problems number two and three.
[break][break]
"The rest are mainly there because they're expected to be. Because they don't want to be left in the dark and it makes them feel important."
[break][break]
Obviously, there is no mention of Katherine's own liabilities and sins.
[break][break]
"--Oh, and Kyle enjoys playing the peacemaker too much. He's an arbiter at heart. It's just that... There are times where he should speak up - because he knows better and they all listen to him - but he chooses not to." Part because he doesn't want to disappoint them, Katherine imagines, and part because he's too nice.

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]

Unfortunately, there weren't many places she could disagree on. For better or for worst, these esteemed members of AQUA all held their Achilles heels.
[break][break]

A small puff of air trickled out from her nose.
[break][break]

"Yet we still manage to get the job done."
[break][break]

She smiled behind the rim of her glass and her eyes took on a glimmer. Better to remind themselves of their accomplishment than only relish in the problems lurking across the horizon.
[break][break]

"All without causalities, too."
[break][break]

A small joke. Knowing MATIAS SILPH, it was a bit of an accomplishment of its own.
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"I just wonder how long that'll last."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Katherine Fairburne[break]


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"Barely," the Malevolent finds it important to add after Penny's rebuttal.
[break][break]
During the next two, however, she patiently waits and listens. Contemplating and weighing, mulling over words and recent events. Barely still rang through in her mind, despite the confidence the councilwoman exuded.
[break][break]
"Not long," Katherine assures her with the confidence of a fortune-teller, "but I suppose we can take comfort in knowing we'll face it together, hrm?"
[break][break]
How naïve; how unlike her.

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]

Pessimism is a trait of the tenure. It was one Penelope's still green feet didn't quite understand, though with time, there was no doubt it riddled her incoming future.
[break][break]


She swallowed these thoughts with another burning sip.
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"Good luck to us both."
[break][break]


A wish sealed with bitter delights.
[break][break]


Penelope dragged on arm over, twisting her body so that her knee lightly curled onto the cushions. Curiosity dangled in her eyes, warm and bright.[break][break]



"Katherine," the name beckoned a smile, "Can I ask you something."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Katherine Fairburne[break]


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"Mm?"
[break][break]
Katherine remains perched on the edge of the couch, her back straight and her posture almost regal. Her eyes, a striking scarlet, flicker towards the councilwoman when she speaks before her head tilts slightly to the side, confused.
[break][break]
Her lips curl into a soft smile, a gentle invitation for Penelope to continue.
[break][break]
"Yeah, of course. Anything," she replies in a honeyed voice, her words dripping with the sweetness of false sincerity. She takes another sip of her drink, savouring the taste before placing it on the table with a gentle clink.
[break][break]
As she waits for Penelope's question, she twirls a lock of her hair between her fingers, her eyes glinting with the slightest glimmer of wickedness.

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]

Curiosity danced between the blurred colors of red mixed into gold. There was so much she wanted to know of the elusive Katherine Fairburne . What made her tick? What drove her to where she was?
[break][break]

Through time, she hoped answers would unravel on their own, like found puzzle pieces plucked straight from the box. But liquid courage now stirred inside her, granting a sense of invincibility where normally hesitation remained.
[break][break]

She nursed her glass with another sip before continuing, the words nearly sliding off her loosened tongue.
[break][break]

"Why do you fight for the League?"
[break][break]

She mentioned modeling before, and given her talents, the councilwoman didn't doubt her abilities to continue and thrive. So why subject oneself to the grueling day-to-day of the League? What makes it worth it to her?

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Katherine Fairburne[break]


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"Ah."
[break][break]
What a horrific question. Penelope wouldn't want to know the truth—learning that Katherine embodied the essence of self-centeredness and avarice would disappoint her. Team Rocket and the League were mere stepping stones on her path, serving as conduits to her true aspiration. It was all they could be. There was no room in her heart for compassion and empathy. Giratina had claimed it and sunk its poisonous fangs into it, infecting it with all-consuming, insatiable greed.
[break][break]
There is only them. Their desires and necessities take precedence above all else.
[break][break]
"You'd hate me if I told you," the Malevolent conscientiously avoids the path of deception for once, "so I won't. But I can assure you it isn't because I care so much about everyone else that I'd risk my life for them. I mean—it's one reason, but it isn't the main one. It never has been."
[break][break]
She exhales before leaning back in her seat, "Believe it or not, but I like our region. I can't imagine living somewhere else." In other words, it was her home. The only person with the authority to destroy it should be her—no terrorist, alien or god would deprive her of that choice.

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]

"huh."
[BREAK][BREAK]
Truth be told, Penelope wasn't in a position to care what motivation strung the other along. Whether it be one bathed in valor, or strewn together by selfish desire, as long as it allowed Katherine to be on the battlefield, fighting along their side, she didn't care.
[BREAK][BREAK]
Although...
[BREAK][BREAK]
"So you were born around here, huh? "
[BREAK][BREAK]
Greed is a fickle form of motivation. Unreliable in all the worst ways. Without knowledge of the person, is there really any trusting it?
[BREAK][BREAK]
"Let me guess... Slateport?"
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Katherine Fairburne[break]


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Slateport was everyone's first guess.
[break][break]
"No. It's Sootopolis, actually," ironic, given the current state of affairs in the rune city. Nothing about the Malevolent screamed 'water' exactly, so she was used to surprising people with this.
[break][break]
Katherine's heart occasionally wandered back to memories of her childhood hometown, tugging at the strings of nostalgia. Although she possessed the skill and ability to infiltrate the city, she remained aware that it no longer embraced her as its own. Team Rocket had changed it.
[break][break]
And truth be told, even before their takeover, a part of her felt this way since the day she bid the city farewell.
[break][break]
"Slateport is my favorite though, for what it's worth."

[attr="class","bottom"]PENELOPE LIVY [break]