[attr="class","katherine"]
The idea of accepting a private interview and making it scandalous by delving further into what she said about Selena Desmarais is tempting, but Fernando is quick to assert that now isn’t the time and this wasn’t the place for such games. Despite being reluctant to agree with the councilman, Katherine does it all the same. He knows best, and she doesn’t want to get on his bad side more than she already did.

“I feel like smoking.”

She won’t address the elephant in the room, or rather, the car.

“Do you keep cigarettes in your car, Fernando?”


notes:

[attr="class","katherine"]
The dead air irks her in ways she cannot explain. Fernando usually happened to be blunt and direct with her, and so, now that he’s giving her the silent treatment, Katherine can’t help but feel strange.

Heaving a sigh, she pulls a lone cigarette out of the pack and already finds comfort once it’s fitted between her digits. She almost forgets about lighting it up, but once she does, it’s delivered to her lips before a deep inhale is drawn.

She’s subjected to a hushed trip where animosity almost surrounds them. Katherine wouldn’t even be surprised if their car was to crush now.

"Well," She eventually speaks up again, once they've reached their destination, "Are you gonna say something now?"


notes:

[attr="class","katherine"]
“..What?”

She knows what it is that he’s referencing, but naturally, she sees less issue with her actions. She remains silent while the car skids across the road, surprise failing to capture her features.

“I gave them what they needed, and that bitch got what she deserved.”

Throwing Selena to the wolves was as easy as it looked. All it took was for Katherine to blow up, and the press conference took a different turn. Accusations of racism mattered little to her, for they weren’t relevant or true. She hated people for who they were and the actions they took, not the blood inside their veins.

“Don’t tell me you’re upset because you liked her, or something.”


notes:

[attr="class","katherine"]
As stubborn as Katherine may be, a part of her does wonder whether if he was wrong and she made a mistake. Could she have left Selena alone? Yes. Would it have had better results? Maybe.

They’ll never know now. Giratina was capable of many things, but reversing time was a talent of its sibling, which means that Kat has to face the consequences of her actions. It’s almost daunting, but fear never lasts long with her.

That’s where the stubbornness comes in. Her refusal to accept her weaknesses was a flaw.

“Maybe,” She pauses to take another drag from the cigarette, intentionally doing so to grant herself another moment to breathe. “I thought it was for the better at the time. She exposed herself as who she was, and there was no other candidate for a scapegoat.”

The smoke she exhales blends into the Silph’s fae dust, “I should’ve known you already had a plan.”

Owning up to mistakes was as scarce as smoking for Katherine.


notes:

[attr="class","katherine"]
“I get it.”

Does she really?

“I lost control, alright? I get it. The questions from those ungrateful journalists, that bitch’s attitude, and the fact that she’d been sitting on a secret that big for so long— it ticked me off.” It’s already been decided that lashing out was a mistake, but she seemed to be processing it still. Losing control was rarely something that Mauville’s gym leader considered to be bad.

Like most things, she deemed them perfectly fine as long as she wasn’t on the receiving end of them.

"You investigated me for much less, Fernando. You put me through actual torture because you had the slightest hint of doubt that I might've been lying to you. And then she does this? Of course I was upset."

"I still am."

Fortunately, each drag Katherine takes from her cigarette alleviates some of that bubbling rage.


notes:

[attr="class","katherine"]
She simmers down and retains her right to be silent for a brief while, his words allowed to float in the car along with the strange concoction of smoke and fae dust.

Eventually, after a short pause takes place, Katherine finally speaks up again.

“And them? Rocket? Did you know about them?” She plays the part, still. “Was the council hiding the fact that they were lurking in the shadows?” No, she doesn’t care to ask about this for Rocket. Not truly. She’s gauging the area for herself. How much was Fernando willing to hide from her?

If she was to side with the League, could he be trusted?

Rocket’s yet to threaten her, but things were changing rapidly. With the announcement of project A.Q.U.A, Giratina and her could potentially have enemies on both sides.

“And the A.Q.U.A initiative? Are we seriously going to be hunting avatars?”

There's not a hint of fear in her tone, no, but there's an underlying tone of genuine surprise.


notes:

[attr="class","katherine"]
It’s not often that Katherine opts to remain silent and process her thoughts before simply speaking them. Usually, words spill past her lips without the slightest hint of a filter. They are spoken out into the world and she faces the consequences afterwards.

But this meeting calls for an exception.

The fact people in the League suspected that remnants of Rocket and sleeper-agents still laid dormant doesn’t come as a big surprise - it was always within the realm of possibilities for both her and the organization itself. It made sense. Fernando Silph wasn’t a fool that Rocket could blindside that easily— but knowing that did not mean that this conversation felt any less tense.

For her, at least.

“I think I’ve seen his name somewhere before,” she answers when his question is made. A former Underboss, if she remembered correctly. Specific details remain clouded, mostly due to the fact that Katherine was no more than a grunt at the time this took place.

“Bullshit. You’ll be done? Just like that?”

It doesn’t matter if he’s lying to himself or her. He is still lying.

“I don’t buy that for a second, Fernando. The cannibal aliens may be ‘gone’,” she finger quotes the last word if only to emphasize how much she believed herself when saying that. “But the legendaries haven’t left. In fact, more are showing themselves. More are revealing themselves.”

Heatran.

Whoever the plates belonged to.

And lastly, Giratina. The most important of them all.

“You’ll sit back and just let the League handle all of that by themselves? Give me a break.”

“... Those plates. The one I stole from Zac. All of them. If we don’t collect them in time, if someone stupid enough manages to gather enough of them—”

She doesn’t know what would happen then, no. But frankly? By now, Katherine had learned to trust her instincts. Something tells her that she, or rather, that both Giratina and her don’t want that to happen.

“I don’t want us to be blindsided again. Not by something we aren’t ready to handle.”

Gods. The word never parts through her lips, but it’s there, nigh palpable and moments away from being heard.


notes: