Three starkly different reactions presented themselves. Suspicion exuded from the first, howard slayte, whose bespectacled face conveyed a caution that she'd found to be a rarity in their organization. Useful, undoubtedly, if irritating in this immediate short-term. She'd have to remember this one's name.[break][break]

Brazen personalities showed themselves more frequently, such as that of bryan delarosa, or sly and self-assured personalities, such as that of BARNABY FINCH.[break][break]

A strange bastardization of both qualities manifested in the second, Shred Zeppelin, whose attempt to ooze charm quite literally landed flat as he failed to kick the door open. His posturing elicited the faintest arch of the underboss's eyebrow, before her face smoothed back to its previously fixed, neutral expression.[break][break]

Better to leave that little faux paus unacknowledged.[break][break]

And... hm, was that fear she sensed from the third member of this group? Elisabeth's emerald eyes narrowed in on Grigori Sokolov, struggling to place a name to the face. Didn't she know him from somewhere else? Had he done some shopping for her? The more he spoke, the more confused she became.[break][break]

What meeting was he talking about...? She'd been in terribly many, after all. The blonde's vanity and self-absorption had already entirely erased the insignificant nobody who'd tackled her from her memory, but admitting this seemed unwise.[break][break]

People might question her ability to be detail-oriented, and they'd been questioning her competence enough these days. How bothersome.[break][break]

"You're quite right, of course," she began, speaking to Howard first, "that if we expected mops alone to succeed in this task, we wouldn't have enlisted the work of three capable trainers such as yourselves."[break][break]

The false flattery sat with a smile on her lips for a moment. It could be taken as mocking, given the way Shred had failed to conduct himself in a capable manner, but for once that biting commentary hadn't been her intention.[break][break]

"But as for it being a punishment," she added, turning to Grigori with an unsettlingly intensity of demeanor, "I would not assume every chance to prove yourself in the organization is out of spite. Anything for the glory of Team Rocket, no?"[break][break]

The veil of a threat hung in the air before the door burst open, revealing another very real threat standing in the center of the muck-infested communal baths.[break][break]

Any hopes this was a common Muk were immediately dashed as the sight of the Ruinous Beast, Wo-chien, came into focus.[break][break]

[break]

It was throwing a temper tantrum, evidently.[break][break]

Slime and gunk clung to the walls of the place, a reeking stench permeating from every visible surface that knocked into those present like an unrelenting wave of misery and resentment.[break][break]

Even the most strong-willed among them would experience that twinge of unpleasant emotion, whispering at festering GRUDGES the Beast could sense hiding underneath their (mostly) professional demeanor.[break][break]

The snail's ochre eyes narrowed in on the intruders with seething indignation, hissing loudly for them to stay back.[break][break]

"Well," Elisabeth continued, seeming undisturbed by the garish spectacle as she sighed and rolled her shoulders, "let me know when you're done. Wo-chien is a bit fussy, but I'm certain you'll find a way to convince it to scatter."[break][break]

They'd hear the receding clack of her heels against the floor as she spoke, washing her hands of the problem.[break][break]

"If you can't though, well. There are certainly ways of learning from failure. Just less pleasant, I find."[break][break]

The door slammed, and the click of a key announced locking behind it.[break][break]

It was just the three men now, and a single solitary snail.

[attr="class","ooc"]Shred Zeppelin Grigori Sokolov howard slayte[break][break]

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Shred Zeppelin howard slayte Grigori Sokolov

A furrow worried its way into her brow as she struggled to articulate an answer that would sate his curiosity. Fingertips began to drum at her sides, failing to distract her from the impossible situation she found herself in.[break][break]

She had reasons she could give, but would MATIAS SILPH believe them?[break][break]

"He hurt someone I knew, and would have hurt me," maybe. It was true in a sense, but not true enough for him to believe. "I trusted him, and I shouldn't have," likewise existed in a state of true-and-not, but not definitively enough to satisfy him. "He scares me, because he reminds me of someone he shouldn't," was something she had trouble admitting even to herself.[break][break]

It didn't matter though, she realized finally. Matias's visible rage the day she'd first met him at Mt. Chimney, and then later at Mirage Island, suggested only one answer would appease him.[break][break]

"I suppose you always were the jealous type," she said at length, letting out a sigh. Winter had begun to creep its way towards Hoenn, and her breath exhaled in a puff of frosty air that vanished as quickly as it came. "If you want to accuse me of something, Matias, just say so."

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The man was always so frustratingly direct.[break][break]

His dauntless inquiry earned the slightest crack in her unbothered facade, uncertainty reflected in the expressiveness of her large green eyes. It passed for but a moment, but it was moment enough to betray her silent discomfort.[break][break]

"I wasn't aware Rocket needed a reason to assassinate high-ranking League officials," she said, shying away from him to once more gaze up at the night sky. She stared intently at the sliver of moonlight overhead, as if looking for an answer drawn in the stars. "We took his eye already. Why not the rest of him?"[break][break]

A shiver traveled through her, and she pulled her jacket closer around herself.[break][break]

"Besides, he's an asshole."

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

An elbow leisurely propped itself on the boat's side, and she tilted her head at him, golden hair spilling over her shoulder with the motion.[break][break]

"I tried to kill the longest-running member of the League's council," she said matter-of-factly, holding his stare with her own. Emerald eyes shone with a dispassionate coolness, refusing to give any visible emotion to her admission. "freya morningstar interfered, and I failed."[break][break]

She clicked her tongue in unknowing mimicry, the tension in how he held himself suggesting his immediate displeasure. She refused to acknowledge that, too.[break][break]

"Is that a satisfactory enough answer for you?"

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She bit her tongue at his pointed commentary. Her shoulders hunched as she shrugged, reflecting the very defensive posture he'd accused her of having.[break][break]

"Me too," she said distantly, staring skyward. A finger absently wound itself around a curl of golden hair, as if part of her was trying to convince herself that change was still real. "I missed it, to be honest."[break][break]

His next question elicited a spell of silence, broken finally by another question of her own.[break][break]

"Don't you and your brother talk?"

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Rather than answer him directly, she scoffed lightly at him. "So what, then? You want me to get better at espionage, but I'm also expected to keep the same eye and hair color all the time?"[break][break]

He stepped closer, but she maneuvered herself just out of reach, leaning on the railing of the boat instead. Across from them, the water shimmered like black glass, deceptively calm.[break][break]

A foot tapped the floor restlessly, agitated and impatient.[break][break]

"I thought we were supposed to be sailing somewhere."

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

What was she supposed to say to him? 'How are you'? 'I miss you'? 'Pleasure committing treason with you'?[break][break]

Nothing felt normal about the context of their arrangement. Maybe that's why they fell into bickering so easily.[break][break]

"Do you see anyone here?" she snapped back, gesturing to the empty docks. "This is camouflage. Black blends into the shadows better."[break][break]

A slight roll of her green eyes preceded her attempt to walk past him, before the yank of her hood arrested her in place. Frowning up at him, she met his dumbstruck look with an unimpressed expression of her own.[break][break]

"What?" she demanded, crossing her arms. "Is there something on my face?"

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Elisabeth was beginning to resent the scent of the sea.[break][break]

"I take it you have no intention of surrendering, then?" was her irritable reply, spitting at her opponent from atop a beached and battered vessel. Water droplets left her long hair almost oil-slick as it hung across her face, left damp and graceless with this initial defeat of naval warfare. "How unfortunate."[break][break]

This strange woman before her, proud and resplendent on the back of that glistening Gyarados, had been a thorn in the side of the Rockets present here. Enough so for Elisabeth to find herself in her present circumstances.[break][break]

"My grudges don't wash away easily," she warned as light rainfall began to shimmer around them. It fell in misty downpour, obscuring her surroundings from view -- and that of her enemy, she suspected.[break][break]

How ideal.[break][break]

A tangled mat of seaweed rustled and stirred beneath the waves, like the stinging nettles of a fairy tale she remembered reading as a child. She launched the hissing vines towards the shadowy figure on the sea, hoping to capsize the Gyarados as it had capsized her.

[attr="class","ooc"] ORACELIES SOLAR[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

SPOILER: Click to show

- 10 MP per IC post in a RT Battle/Mission.) (x1)[break]
- 50 MP for participation in a RT Battle/Mission.

The world spun on a dime.[break][break]

In another timeline, maybe the woman that floated ashore was ripped apart by her enemies like a Mandibuzz, picking her bones clean and feasting on a victory that freya morningstar had already earned for them.[break][break]

Perhaps in that world, the calamities and Ruination destined to follow in her wake were averted in some way.[break][break]

The Beautifly Effect that set their mutual path in motion was uttered with a single word: "Visionary." Elisabeth's eyes widened, startled to have her initial assumptions confronted; her own mind was not so lucid as his own, a fact revealed by her poor attempts at self-preservation. [break][break]

"You know her?" she asked uncertainly, as if toeing an unspoken line in the sand. Though it had been crossed some time ago, whether or not she'd known it. The point of no return was already upon them.[break][break]

A hesitant nod conveyed her acceptance, unable to do much else.

[attr="class","ooc"] Michael Navidson[break][break]

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