an egg slips out of her grasp, tilting over her elbow before taking a nosedive towards the warm concrete of lilycove. it'll break, crack, and spill all over.[break][break]

but, thankfully, matias is here to save the day.[break][break]

well, more virizion than matias, but the two are a team and a unit so their efforts are joint.[break][break]

virizion swoops down low and catches the egg in the crook of her neck. a blink of an eye later and she rejoins matias by his side, passing the egg over to him.[break][break]

"need a hand, illie?"

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]a sigh of relief heaves out of her chest at the sight of the egg being caught. the pokemon, however, causes her to pause.

it's familiar... too familiar. and when her head lifts up, so does his voice from his throat.

whatever smile she had begun flashing at virizion turns clipped, pulled tightly into her cheeks.

"yeah, thanks."

funny that he's here, truthfully. she thought he was a ghost now with the lack of replies to any texts she had sent in the past. although, perhaps even ghosts answer texts in the afterlife. they have the paranormal skills for it, right?

"right place, right time?"

MATIAS SILPH
eggs in one basket

"you can say that, yeah."[break][break]

though her smile fades, his lingers, stretching more as he approaches to relieve her of a few more eggs. in his arms, they feel like nothing. feathers of a swellow.[break][break]

virizion offers her help but matias declines it only because he would not know where to safely secure it on her.[break][break]

"so, where are we taking these?"

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]"either that," she pauses as he steps up to take the eggs from her. and when the last one is out of her arms, she's fixing him with an amused grin. "or stalking."

she highly doubts it's the latter, however.

with her arms now free, she stretches them overhead to relieve muscles of kinks built up. and when she's done, she fishes out the piece of paper littered with addresses from her back pocket.

"uhh first one looks like it's on connors street?" her handwriting is a little messy but she's confident enough to begin leading the way. her golurk rumbles out a soft greeting to virizion first and then matias before slowly lumbering behind its trainer.

MATIAS SILPH
eggs in one basket

"could be."[break][break]

unfortunately(?), it isn't. while matias does keep tabs on a few select people, illeana reyes is not one of them. that may always change, however, depending on how things play out.[break][break]

virizion sends a single MAGICAL LEAF to golurk to return the greeting.[break][break]

and so, they begin their deliveries.[break][break]

"how have you been, illie? it's been a while."

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]perhaps one day, he'll be forced to keep tabs on her. if anything, it'll be when she's done bleeding league resources dry and some dark little corner of the mind awakens with a vengeance.

until then, she's off his radar and he's, perhaps, off hers.

her golurk lets out a soft mechanical whir of a noise in response to the magical leaf. illeana's smile shifts into a more genuine nature at the sound. her discolored automaton is excited, after all, and it's a bit infectious.

"it has," she murmurs, eyes darting to find his. the smile widens and with it, the edges sharpen into daggers. "perhaps you'd know if you answered texts."

let bygones be bygones, though, right?

"i've been... shitty." it's truthful, at the very least.

MATIAS SILPH
eggs in one basket

a grin curls onto his features at her words. his head dips, nodding.[break][break]

"fair point. but i've been busy. surely you know how it is."[break][break]

judging by how busy Eva Morales is all the time, then surely her scientist counterpart is equally as busy.[break][break]

he finds her gaze, tilting his head at her response.[break][break]

"why's that?"

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]"i do."

and really, the league is almost too busy with preparations for the meteor and distortions popping up all over the region. it's dizzying, in a way, how much has come up in such a short time. she's certain Eva Morales is just as busy if not busier than both of them combined. her fellow science sister is the best of the best, after all.

she stiffens with the question. how much can she really say? everything, she supposes. the truth comes out one way or another. she'd rather it be her own mouth than some HNN article.

"i was a rocket prisoner for a bit," she supplies eventually. "don't know how well someone can be after that."

MATIAS SILPH
eggs in one basket

"oh."[break][break]

the revelation comes so casually that he cannot help but be caught off guard by it. he'd been out of the loop about this particular incident, apparently.[break][break]

"shit. i'm sorry."[break][break]

carefully, he pries, worry masking his expression.[break][break]

"what happened?"

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]what happened? well... flying too close to the sun has its downfalls.

"i grew too comfortable in going to the tree of life." she waves an idle hand as if drawing the notion out into the open air.

it doesn't necessarily bother her to talk about now. there's little anyone can do after, anyway. the worst has already come to pass... at least, that she knows of. her eyes fall to her wrist, brace gleaming in the sunlight.

"one of the... higher ups, i think?, caught me and kept me prisoner for two weeks. i broke my wrist, first, then my spirit." she tries to shrug it off but it catches on the jagged edges of her scar.

MATIAS SILPH
eggs in one basket

under the thin mask of worry and concern, rage flares, seething as matias recounts his own incidents at the tree of life.[break][break]

"that tree's fucking cursed."[break][break]

he scoffs, cutting himself off before he says something nastier.[break][break]

his expression softens once again as he looks at her.[break][break]

"how did you get out?"

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]she clears her throat awkwardly, eyes dropping to her feet.

"yeah, it is."

she should've known better, truthfully, but she has an uncanny knack for chasing things that'll only hurt her in the long run. two weeks spent in a cell have made her acutely aware of this. perhaps one day, it'll change.

"a friend rescued me."

little illeana reyes, unable to save herself. others have to do it for her, it seems. the concept leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.

she gestures for them to continue along as if she wants to leave as quickly as possible. it's contributed to the overwhelming skittering of skin at the back trying to leave bone.

MATIAS SILPH
eggs in one basket

"a friend."[break][break]

he echoes, wary and suddenly all too aware that her friend is likely someone within the rat organization itself. how could they not have been? only few in the league are capable of breaking into the submarine and he's sure none of them had.[break][break]

an op of that scale had been planned but not yet executed.[break][break]

even as he follows along, he doesn't drop the topic.[break][break]

"and what happened to this friend after?"

[attr="class","ooc"]illeana reyes[break]

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