Pain lances up her heel all the way to the hollow space behind her kneecap. It sucks the breath right out of her lungs as her entire body vibrates from the impact. But she stands tall, shoulders back and face severe, barely masking her pain.

And the man on the other side of the door opens it to stare down at her. Somehow, that aggravates her even further. Maybe it's because he doesn't recognize her - not that he should. Frankly, he shouldn't, otherwise she was a terrible businesswoman in her line of work.

"Roman Cassel. Reshiram. Any of that ring a bell for you?"

She speaks quickly and with venom on her tongue. There is accusation in her words despite the liklihood that he has no idea what she's talking about. Something in her gut tells her that the man in front of her can't even help her. Roman would never have gotten himself involved in the underground, in Rocket, in experimentation or dirty hands.

But.. what if she was wrong?

Cillian Quinn

☉

Was this guy dense? How was he in a position of power if he had a thousand-yard stare?

"You're one of them."

Disgust, maybe, lines the edge of her sharp tone. Where he bites, she bites back harder. Fearless to a fault, arrogant and direct. She wanted answers and she would stop at nothing to find them.

"Gavin Merlino, the holier-than-thou patron of Lugia, I guess. I know who you are."

Barely.

"My brother is dead because of people like you."

A guess.

"He put his faith in a deity and it got him killed."

Cillian Quinn

☉

She's done her research. She's done everything in her limited power to find him.

But there was plenty more out of her reach. There was an entire universe of possibility and power that she had never had access to. Power that she had been afraid of understanding, and so she'd turned the other cheek.

And in doing so, had lost her brother.

"It should mean something to you. Someone murdered him- and I believe he was an avatar like you, like the others."

Her grief is thinly-veiled as she struggles to keep her voice in check. Her attitude remains the same, but it trembles now as she stands opposed.

"If you weren't involved, that means you might be next."

Cillian Quinn

☉

She can see the change in his expression, and for that she smiles- but the nature of it is wicked, sarcastic. She scoffs and shakes her head, shoulders rolling as she fights for control of her fists.

"I am right, thank you very much."

She is mean because she has to be, because meanness in this world is the only way to survive.

Fortunately, he invites her inside. Which is good, because she was likely to pick a fight or cause a scene if he hadn't. He's saving himself time and energy in removing her from his sight.

And miraculously, the Lugia on the other side of the thick metals walls is the only thing able to humble her. Not that she realizes, yet, that it's even there.

"Good, great, fanastic. Finally, someone is fucking listening to me."

She plunks herself down on one of his fancy seats and leans back. There is nothing lady-like in her display, and she surveys his room briefly before returning her gaze to Gavin.

"Do you know what happened at the Mossdeep Soiree? Because no one wants to talk about it and no one seems to know what's going on at all. The entire world is working to keep this all a secret from me, and I'm done."

She leans forward, elbows on her knees.

"So tell me, for the love of Arceus, what the fuck is going on in Hoenn."

Cillian Quinn

☉

She is rapidly losing patience, so caught up in her own head and in impossible scenarios. The edges of his smile are dangerous- because he isn't smiling. As barbed her tongue might be, it is returned tenfold back onto her. He is an impossible obstacle, a wall she cannot breach the surface of.

But she will. She has to.

"Yeah, or you're all lying to protect yourselves. What did you see, huh? What did you see that you're all keeping so fucking tight-lipped about?"

Her composure, however thin it had already been, is cracking. She's unhinged, raw, emotional, a ticking time bomb.

Thankfully, Gavin relents just enough to tell her something. It stills her raging waters just long enough for her to take a gasping breath, to keep on fighting. The current subsides, she is alive.

"They're called Unown for a reason, right? 'Course I haven't seen one before."

But now she is intrigued. Her attention shifts to see the one that he releases. It is downright creepy with its single wide eyeball staring back at her. But that thing, it was so small, how could it possibly have been a threat? Pokemon were weapons, she was coming to realize.

"He wasn't at the soiree. He was a ranger who went missing a few months ago. No one will tell me anything because apparently they don't know anything. But I've heard them mention that Reshiram was there. It has to mean something."

Cillian Quinn

☉

And just like that, the world doesn't feel like it's closing in on her so tight. The room around her stops squeezing the breath from her lungs, the light in his eyes doesn't absorb every spare crumb of strength she still has left.

"Fine."

His sharp stare is piercing, grounding, and she relents in her verbal assault to take a minute and just breathe. She leans back in her chair, rubs the space above her eyepatch with ferocity before exhaling.

And then she listens.

What she hears, at first, through frustration and grief, is excuses. But what she sees, for the first time in a long time, is the truth. Only once does she glance back at the Unown, only because he mentions their rarity. It sparks in her, down the line, an opportunity to pursue these Unowns later on.

"Why do you think it did that? You're telling me that you have no suspicion behind its 'kindness'? It's a Pokemon, not
a human being with empathy and emotion."

The fact it 'speaks' is even more cause for being unsettled.

Remi glances up, finding his gaze once more.

"Yes. It is a dragon deity from Unova. My-- we were.. deeply invested in legendary Pokemon who shared typing with dragons."

Cillian Quinn

☉