if dominic notices any shift in samuel's body language, he doesn’t express it.

maybe it’s the lack of adequate lighting or the movements in the dark, but dominic’s gaze shifts to try to make out what’s ahead rather than trying to fruitlessly discern what samuel is thinking. perhaps in contrast, dominic is at ease talking about these topics and his posture is relaxed.

"you can be sure we’ll keep the income flowing," dominic says smoothly, with a quirk of his lips that the dim afterglow of the salamence’s FLAMETHROWER only barely catches. yes, there’s talk of crumbling the league and observing avatars and accumulating power in various shapes and forms that elude him; but dominic recognises that money is the language understood by all equally.

as the cave lights up with the attacks of samuel’s pokemon, another wild one catches his interest. he realises his gengar with a flick of his wrist and directs it to knock it off the ceiling with a SHADOW BALL. the gligar screeches and careens sideways, allowing dominic to aim and throw an empty capsule.

"yeah," dominic admits with surprising ease. "we get on alright, and it’s not like they really had anyone else to ask." he knows literally no one from the kanto branch would take up the position; he’s pretty sure hoenn is a laughing stock.

@samuel
capturing gligar

dominic's mouth thins into a taut smile, as if thinking of an inside joke (which is, perhaps, an adequate way to describe the management of rocket in its own right).

"you haven't met them?" he echoes, though with little surprise. there's so much he could say, but won't, if only because he's not sure he could stop himself if he got started. "merlino is competent. i don't know. he's a scientist, i don't get his type." that, dominic decided, was sufficiently diplomatic.

following his last capture, his gengar had wandered off and was tormenting some poor geodude. dominic watches them for a moment, thoughtful, and then tosses out another empty capsule; the pokemon reminded him of him, it was nice.

"hey, you want to get more involved? i can arrange that." his voice positively drips with sarcasm; dominic already knows the answer to the question.

@samuel
capturing geodude for raz LMAO

"and we're probably all you need," dominic comments, his tone almost off-hand. he could say more, of course, there lay a slew disparaging things he could offer about anyone in management, but he knows there is a time and place for everything.

for a moment, dominic watches samuel handle the larvitar with his salamence, the capture going off without a hitch. he turns away when he hears stomping deeper in the cave but the shape of the lumbering cufant doesn't entice him to pursue it.

dominic grins when samuel next speaks, matching his smile with his own as he swings back to look at his colleague. "i can look into that. you know, we can be very generous if we want to be."

@samuel
skipping