Klaus swallows audibly as Ceri Glynn appears in his peripheral and offers him a bottle, a weak, wobbly smile touching his lips in response; unwrapping one arm to hold up his hand, he gives a little shake as he murmurs, "I'm fine, thanks." Turning his attention back to his own misery, he bites down on the mint in his mouth and swishes the remainder of it around before spitting the residual out into the trash can.
[break][break]
He then spares an appreciative look for The Fixer at his advice; he jumps when the man's hand settles heavily onto his shoulder. Hands trembling for a bare moment, Klaus gives a little nod to the much taller man before he steps away from his bucket of shame and inhales deeply, his face yet scarlet but at least his throat, still raw and burning, was no longer constricted from his nerves.
[break][break]
The appearance of Elisabeth Fiorelli distracts Klaus from his own thoughts, her gentle voice a balm of security. Someone he knew - security in the midst of this storm. Her Aromatisse's ministrations work ease the knot in his stomach, his pulse steadying, though Klaus's blush is nonetheless present as he assumes - rightly so - that the blonde woman had seen his embarrassing display. A wobble still visible with his hands, Klaus nonetheless reaches out and lightly grasps Elisabeth's forearm with his hand, a slight pressure of thanks offered for the unexpected kindness before his hand is then withdrawn.
[break][break]
Klaus looks up sharply when the announce speaks, his jaw setting as the unknown voice filters over the airways. A momentary look of confusion touches his expression as he finally realises what this gathering is for, his gaze flicking back upwards towards the observation gallery. Understanding reveals itself to be a bitch when Klaus pieces together his invitation was surely the result of Martín del Mar. Inviting the Admin to the lighthouse. The picture of himself just now. That fucker.
[break][break]
Stewing in a riot of conflicting emotions, Klaus hesitates when the Porygon-2 appears before him with the FOCUS BAND; his hand clenches and then unclenches, his jaw doing the same. Nose wrinkling, he then swiftly snatches the band, slapping it over his wrist. If these granted no disadvantage for taking them, then why not? The flickering images glitching through the air draws Klaus's attention next, his eyes widening momentarily when a lighthouse manifests for a brief instance.
[break][break]
His brow then furrows at Elisabeth's sudden timbre of death to follow her and a dumb little nod is Klaus's answer as he wordlessly trails after her. Elisabeth then proceeds to administer an ultimatum to some unknown man roughly his own age and Klaus blinks once before stuttering out a bewildered, "Uh. Yeah, sure. I don't..." He coughs softly, his gaze flicking around the room as he admits, "Know anyone else down here."
[break][break]
Klaus bounces on his heels where he stands, expelling nervous energy without drawing too much attention to himself - unlike earlier. He didn't know these other people but Elisabeth seemed to, for what it was worth. His earlier display had surely put him on the back-foot when it came to expectations from the Admins, but Elisabeth at least was resourceful, and likely these two before them were as well or she wouldn't have demanded they all pair together.
[break][break]
Perhaps this wouldn't be so bad after all?



[break][break]

+ Participating [break]
+ Pokemon: Dhelmise, Skrelp, Lapras [break]
+ ACCEPTS the Focus Band [break]
+ Joins a team with Elisabeth Fiorelli, Izydor Baranowski, ana fell [break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"Huh. Really didn't expect to see so many people with inflated egos."

Remi leans forward a bit to get a better look at the few who hadn't chosen to take focus bands. Her lips are pursed, but she raises a brow and seems amused and intrigued.

"I'll place my bet on the blue-haired kid. Pretty sure I saw him get manhandled by a giant Rillaboom. That's balls, I'll bet on his."

Remi pulls away to glance at THEO BECKETT and Lulu Flint, specifically. With her thumb, she gestures backward with a sly grin.

"Who've you got eyes on?"

@control room

☉

her gaze flicked back up to Remiel Calcifet one more time, catching him read the look on her face. the look she sent back was cold, maybe a bit sharper than she’d how she’d ever glanced at him before. stupid, dangerous software. who were their enemies on the inside? it was someone.

her shadow disappeared from the controls, only to rise near THEO BECKETT , and Remi Cassel as she arrived. her distrust burned, but she was quickly distracted. her attention was drawn below, specifically to the bizarrely familiar girl with the peachy hair. remi's words were mostly lost in her surprise. chryssa glasgow .

it took her a moment.

”is that... chryssa?”

she leaned, squinting with a finger at her lips as she tried to decide.

observing

☉

now joined by both Remi Cassel and Lulu Flint, theo reaches back over to pour a couple more glasses of whiskey for the gang.

"priam conrad."

that's who his money's on.

"kid's an idiot but he's talented."

at the mention of chryssa glasgow, theo peers down, finally noticing her, too.

"it appears so."

@spectra

☉

[attr="class","giada"]

[attr="class","giada b"]

[attr="class","giada i"]oh oh oh this is gettin' good!

the woman blinks once, twice, thrice before shifting to reconsider her cute cats. are they ready for battle? does she even want them to battle? no, no... definitely not. little babies that they are. without a second thought, she's recalling the affectionate cats and swapping to a different team: one that, in theory, is better suited for battle. two stay within their pokeballs but the one that replaces her cats...?

yeah, he doesn't look too happy.

"been a while," she chirps, winking at @elliott as she steps forward to begin petting her charizard in soothing circles. the dragon snarls low, irritated even beneath her touch. he placates slowly the longer she gives attention.

"teaming up sounds good to me," she offers with a soft roll of her shoulders. strength in numbers or whatever, right? as focus bands are offered, she happily snags one and snaps it onto her wrist. the focus band is pretty enough, sparkling in just the right places. it doesn't accent her outfit but... neither would being maimed so that's a plus.

as her charizard lets out annoyed rumbles, giada's attention shifts around the room. there's a lot of people pairing up into teams much like they are... is there any advantage to play at here? wait, can she even use the whip at her belt? huh... probably should've read the invite.

"you ready for this shitshow, boys?"

CIAN MAHER & @elliott & spectra
participating, taking focus band, pray 4 me