it’d been a while since she’d been to the outskirts of slateport. last time, she’d drunkenly punched giona ferrara in the face. unfortunately, she had not calmed down much since then.[break][break]

tonight, however, lulu was sober, her mind clear and focused as she followed the increasingly sporadic readings on a new invention which could detect levels of infinity energy in the environment. when the space-time distortion finally opened up, she was prepared. she was grinning. [break][break]

they could be predicted.[break][break]

she turned around in the new place and time she’d ended up in, only to notice something nearby. its hulking silhouette startled her, making her reflexively reach for a pokeball, until she saw its face.[break][break]

oh. it was just GABRIEL BLACK .[break][break]

”councilman. hello.” [break][break]

her tone would make it clear she hadn’t expected him to be there; however, she seemed otherwise perfectly at ease, as though the distortion itself was not nearly as surprising as his presence. she reached up to push back a dark hood, and smile at him, her device lowered inconspicuously at her side. [break][break]

”have you been in one of these before?”

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"lulu flint." his voice was cold and defiant, ending in a hiss that was like steel being cut. a surge of annoyance pulsed through his massive frame, and with it, a spike of adrenaline. none of this showed itself on his icy demeanor however, his gaze as placidly stoic as a gentle tide.
[break][break]
"to answer your question — i have not." his constituents had mailed him time and time again for him to respond to these anomalies, but what could he possibly do in the face of such events? he was no scientist. the idea of perusing those arts, however...
[break][break]
"i did not expect a rocket executive to be skulking in the shadows." but, if she was anything like he was, she enjoyed getting her hands dirty. he could respect that.
[break][break]
gabriel's lips cut into a grin, arms opening as if to embrace.
[break][break]
"you have a councilman to yourself for a time. anything you want to get off your chest?"

[attr="class","notes"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

”oh, you’ve heard of me. only good things, i hope.”[break][break]
lulu smiled. she didn’t know much about councilman gabriel black, but she knew, at least, that he wasn’t unfriendly towards rocket. how he might behave towards her specifically would depend on how he had come about her name. [break][break]
”ah. they’re quite interesting.”[break][break]
she looked around, pads of her fingers pressing together idly. an ancient breeze passed. about shadows, her smile hitched upwards in a smirk—only to waver in uncertainty when he broke into a grin himself, arms held out wide. she stood her ground.[break][break]
”the shadows are usually where we skulk, mr. black; i am not sure why that comes as a surprise. as far as things to get off my chest, is there something in particular you’d like to know?”

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"a mix bag, admittedly. perhaps—" he stops for a moment, gauging the situation with a keen glance upwards, "—well, perhaps i can see for myself what's truth and what is not."
[break][break]
he contemplates her question, raising an eyebrow at how seemingly open she was to sharing information.
[break][break]
"i'm sure there are a great number of things that would interest me," the echo of thunder, warped and twisted, is a haunting backdrop to theri conversation, "but our situation calls for a temporary shift of priorities."
[break][break]
as if on queue, a larger than usual aagron appears from a ripple in space, eyes like burning coals. he tosses a glance at the intruder, and then towards the scientist.
[break][break]
"do you wish the honors?"

[attr="class","notes"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

a ‘mix bag’. her brows arched briefly. she might argue that they were all rotten apples, in one way or another, but she added no additional comment on the matter. [break][break]

lulu was certainly not an open book. if anything, more knowledge could be gained about him by the questions he asked—and he wasn’t guaranteed any answers. gabriel was an associate of rocket’s, far outside the tight circle of individuals that she offered her still ever-wavering trust to.[break][break]

”hm, i see. there’s certainly a lot going on in the region. i can scarcely imagine the weight on your shoulders.” lulu worked a 150+ hour work week, doing rocket science and attempting to pioneer ways to evade total destruction. as a physicist, she understood weight.[break][break]

she looked up at the agron that appeared, seeming unsurprised by it.[break][break]

”go right ahead, mr. black. i already have what i need.”

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"and yet despite that, you look more worse for wear than even i." the councilman holds his injured arm up for emphasis, though he knew that he didn't need to.
[break][break]
"very well," gabriel whistles, piercing and between two fingers. behind him, and from around the corner of a building, a pack of pyroars emerge. two males, two females, all four of them moving with a grace and agility of trained hunters. from the corner of his eyes he can see the steel-type put up a token resistance, but beneath the onslaught of four cats, it tumbles to the ground quickly.
[break][break]
"i'm curious, miss flint. how does your connection with your patron work?"

[attr="class","notes"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

the smile on lulu’s face turned, her nose and brows scrunching like a rotten pecha berry. [break][break]

“… is that so?”[break][break]

but her offense was drowned out by the sounds of his pack of pyroars, tearing down an ancient beast.[break][break]

lulu watched, still very much annoyed and taken aback. [break][break]

and now he wanted to know more about her? amber eyes shifted towards him with a distaste. [break][break]

wordless, she stared at the councilman. darkness pulled her into the ground, and slithered to his own shadow. there, she rose again, glaring up closer to him. [break][break]

she held both hands out to her sides.[break][break]

”ta-da.”

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"i suppose that makes us even, as of my dramatic bout moments ago." gabriel surprisingly doesn't flinch when the woman appears before him, her form shrouded in inky black shadows that recede just as quickly as they came.
[break][break]
lulu, unlike most of her 'co-workers' wasn't a sociopath — mentally fucked in the head in her own way, yes, but there was enough wits about her that gabriel could respect. she was one of the most powerful members of rocket, and that earned a measure of his respect.
[break][break]
"how does it feel to connect your patron? i imagine it influences your emotions, your actions, in someway. is that correct?"

[attr="class","notes"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she stepped out of the hulking man’s shadow again, and her patron’s darkness dissipated from around her figure once more. her arms crossed, amber eyes turning towards his pyroar’s prey, lost in her annoyance. you look tired, everyone always said. shut up, she thought, every time. if only the world who thought her wildly aggressive could see what she held back, in every single drag of an interaction… [break][break]

further questions prodded for her attention.[break][break]

and of course, they always had to ask this one.[break][break]

goddammit. her tolerance for these government assholes wore thinner and thinner.[break][break]

”can’t confirm. i imagine i wouldn’t know if it did,” she responded dryly, lips then pressed into a line. she continued, ”and we don’t connect much actually. he’s pretty fucking quiet.”

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

probing further and he risked her ire. a woman's scorn was something to tread softly around, even more so when she commanded a being of shadow, and nightmares.
[Break][break]
"i hear that's common." he adds, knowing full well that it contributed little. "i imagine i would lose what little sanity i had remaining, if i'd had a nigh invulnerable creature droning in my head."
[Break][break]
he chuckles, but only for himself. what little he knew of Lulu Flint said her well of humor had dried up long ago.
[Break][break]
but, another question gnaws at him. this one, perhaps more unique than the last.
[Break][break]
"you chose to bond to your patron, i suspect. why?"

[attr="class","notes"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she was venomous, but she didn’t intend to bite. only shake her rattle a bit. rocket held gabriel on their good side, and vice versa. it would be a slight against her own to disrupt the relationship.[break][break]

”guess so. that would kind of suck.”[break][break]

his chuckle wasn’t echoed, but the next question was one which was considerably less annoying. it made her take a pause to think back. made her realize something she hadn’t before.[break][break]

that day on the beach, with sunglasses hiding a black eye from her fight with FERNANDO SILPH she’d not remembered until months later, she’d asked darkrai for power. she hadn’t known why at the time. it had been instinct.[break][break]

now, she felt like she knew.[break][break]

”if you had an opportunity to seize great power, wouldn’t you?”[break][break]

oh, wait. councilman black.[break][break]

”actually, i think i know the answer to that already.”

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]

"do you?" he raises an eyebrow at the scientist, head slightly cocked.

[break][break]
"because i'm of the mind that you know nothing about me at all, ms. flint."

[Break][break]
he whistles, softly, and his pride moves away from the still form. the steel armor of of the lumbering beast was impacted in several spots, warped by the half a dozen sources of flames.
[Break][break]
"part of me envys you, and those like you. to simply be given the power capable of toppling governments - it must be intoxicating."
[Break][break]
"but, what i've accomplished, and will accomplish, will be because of my labors, and my labors alone."
[Break][break]
there's not a trace of smugness, or even judgement in his tone.
[Break][break]
"if things were my way, ms. flint, there would be no God's at all. just the hubris, and folly, of mankind."

[attr="class","notes"]Lulu Flint[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

her head cocked to the side a little at him, her expression flat and without a response at first. it was all in her eyes. she didn’t take his words to heart. no, she knew plenty. just another rich, corrupt politician.[break][break]

topple governments? she smirked, then, positively smug, as though she thought him to be telling on himself despite his disclaimer. when he was done, she shook her head.[break][break]

”well, my condolences for not having your way, councilman. it must be so frustrating to be such a powerful, imposing individual—and still not even come close to us.”[break][break]

he’d struck a chord.[break][break]

”my power wasn’t ’just given’,” she informed him, matter-of-factly.[break][break]

”i earned it.”[break][break]

not by being one of the world’s greatest people, or a beacon of light and hope in society. rather, her power was a curse of sorts. she had earned it through soulless deeds and blood, through her importance to the organization, and through the sheer ruthlessness of her dark spirit.[break][break]

darkrai had heard her.

[attr="class","ooc"]GABRIEL BLACK [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-darkrai"]