time has a habit of slipping away from her down here. there is simply too much to be done. the other side is already conducting research - their best and brightest are working against the clock with the league's own. but are they? she thinks, embittered when the thought of Eva Morales and Naomi Sato come to mind. 

the faction lines in the sand have blurred. or perhaps it's less a line and more a spiral, looping around them all in a dizzying display, leaving them just lost enough for the drk triad to get the better of them. 

nomi is right. she knows it in her bones, but right doesn't mean possible. 

there hadn't been time, in the aftermath, to confront KING WAYLAND. so soon afterwards, they'd had to deal with the likes of Elisabeth Fiorelli and jayden cross, an encounter that still sours the look on her face. the uneasy truce she has with penelope does little to ease the knot of anxiety in her chest. 

but still she walks confidently onward and her smile has teeth when she replies, "and miss this?" she arches a brow. "i've been overseeing our advancement strategies. better to do that on the field. why aren't you in ever grande?"

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

There was hardly a need for a strategist here, in the thick of it, she wanted to say, but experience taught her lips better. Instead, she responded with an equally fierce smile.
[break][break]
"Sometimes the best intel is the type you can see for yourself."
[break][break]
Michael Navidson came to mind, and the countless others now populating her list of suspicious individuals. All because of one criminal and her god-complex.
[break][break]
"Have you noticed anything of interest?"
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

her scalp prickles. her palms sweat. she's thankful for the gauntlets and the rest of the strappings of her sygna suit. the rest of her won't give anything away; she's too practiced now, against the likes of the silph family, but the words themselves paint a few pictures she doesn't like. 

if KING WAYLAND really is still out there, neutral party or not, it will only ruin them. 

her nose wrinkles. she says, "nothing out of the ordinary. rocket's down here in full, like we suspected. eva and i were attacked by cross and fiorelli."

the stalemate doesn't bother her. she's not looking to raze the entirety of area zero in the sake of justice. this is a reconnaissance effort first and foremost. anything they can glean from the discoveries down here will be exponentially helpful in the long run.

"and yourself? any run-ins or issues with our own side?"

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

"None of note."
[break][break]

She answers thoughtfully, though careful fabrication stitched her words. With a war of battling ideals raving their country, trust becomes a commodity denoting luxury. It is a benefit to be trusted, and a privilege to feel comfortable placing that trust in another.
[break][break]

"I have been looking for one rocket in particular, however."
[break][break]

Her eyes trail to the outskirts of their conversation, searching the shadows as though a figure might emerge from them, bearing the answers she sought.
[break][break]

"The one we spoke of before: The visionary."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

they'd been ambushed so shortly after, freya hadn't had time to sort their story with Eva Morales. but to admit to the situation would bring up too many unanswerable questions and so she feigns professional interest, stuffing away their little skirmish with the drk triad in a box. 

"i never answered that letter of hers," she says instead, which is the truth. though she had kept the dragon. 

she tests the waters - "have there been any reports? sightings?"

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

"There have been sightings the last few months," her reply reeks of venom, matched only by her narrowed gaze zeroing in on the monotonous faces shifting in and out of the research station. How many of them have received letters? How many replied?
[break][break]

How fast will those numbers change?
[break][break]

"She's like walking bait,"
[break][break]

She shakes her head.
[break][break]

"And people are biting."
[break][break]

While the names of the damned were still fuzzy in her mind, there was no denying the growing suspicion that empowered her rage. Like molten magma, it forges her resolves and strengthens her fury.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar[break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

the venom isn't unfounded, but freya's all too curious why the words are steeped so thoroughly in acidity. she'd wondered the same of the others, and of the rest of the league. nomi's genuine demeanor hadn't swayed freya in totality, but so long as eva fights on her side...

there's little choice to be had. 

"maybe the drk triad will bite too," she says thoughtfully. 

and they'll end up spun into another reality or worse. 

"if there are things to be learned down here, we'll find her. and if we don't, they will."

PENELOPE LIVY

☉

"it's more than niceties," she argues. the drakloak that had shadowed her here drifts closer, making its head available when she tiredly leans back. "she pleads earnestly. and with conviction. those are powerful tools wielded by too few. i imagine some of our numbers have already become undone."

she sighs out of one side of her nose, thin lips scrunching up in the corners.

"i was molded to be a politician. never quite fit the bill, but i suppose bits and pieces stuck. don't envy me for being better at hiding my fears, livy. "

she's quiet for a bit after that. idly, she raises a hand to thumb miirym's snout. "i'm just as terrified as anyone else with the knowledge we have. we know some of what's out there and we know we don't know half of what's out there. and most days, i still forget to say, i'm scared, because sometimes you just need to hear, i'm scared too."

PENELOPE LIVY

☉