[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]she returns to her lab after a quick snack break to find... a person.

her body slides to a stop and the golurks behind her rumble low warnings.

realistically, she shouldn't be surprised. people come to the lab for various reasons constantly. it's just... she's been on edge since her return and the paranoia won't bleed out of her body. it's long since festered, from the time in sea!hoenn to the damp cold of rocket's cells and finally here, in the own confines of her workspace.

the man turns and with the movement comes recognition. her skin crawls less as a result.

"councilman," she murmurs. her golurks go from rumbling to cooing and she steps forward to find her shed lab coat. the scar along her back ripples like water in the too-bright lighting.

"what can i do for you?"

GABRIEL BLACK

gabriel glances at the ancient golem with an air of nonchalance. rarely did he ever find something as large, or larger, than himself. naturally his eyes flitted to it first, then to illeana.
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"between the meteor and dimensional incursions, the league has placed a great deal on the shoulders of their scientists." that came as an understatement, considering the consequences of failure.
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"i'm here to see the results of your labor.

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

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[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]gods from the machine... her golurks stare back at the councilman. there's a curiousness to them. it makes them hover a little too close between the two warm bodies, torn over which one to pay more attention to.

"that's a bit of an understatement," she murmurs. it lacks bite but the concept still breathes within syllables. she can't speak for Eva Morales but she's exhausted, truthfully.

the punches never quite stop coming, do they?

"what labor are you referring to, exactly?" her eyes dart toward him while her hands reach for the familiar fabric of a lab coat. slipping it on is easy and when it settles, so do her nerves. "the league's requested labor? i doubt you're interested in my personal endeavors." or the lengths she's been going to for dreams to become reality...

GABRIEL BLACK

like a professional, he tosses the golurk from his mind; it's a thickly rounded presence in his peripheral, but nothing more.
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"officially? i'm here for an update on the work you're providing the league. however, i've cleared my schedule for the day in anticipation of this meeting, so what you wish to speak about on your personal endeavors — i will listen to those as well."
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his gaze turns from her, and onto the scattered work on the table.
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"how go setting up the crystals?"

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

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[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]cleared his schedule... to listen to her ramble on about science? surprising, to say the least.

"oh," she murmurs. her hands rise, smooth over creases in her skirt, and return to her sides. "whatever you'd like to discuss, sir. you are the boss, correct?"

well, as much of her boss as the rest of the council, anyway.

the question of the crystals causes her to still, cogs in a machine getting stuck mid rotation. her plans don't align with the league's... not in the slightest. they're selfish, tinged with so much greed they're forever stained green.

"well, i think," she offers. it's noncommittal at best but she shifts along to the next topic without lingering for too long. "we've begun collecting samples from distortion pokemon as well."

GABRIEL BLACK

he'd spent nearly twenty years, if not longer, as 'the boss'. it wasn't simply a title any longer but a way of life. therefore when she mentions it, he barely gives it a second thought. he was the boss. at least, in some regards.
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"i see." he'd heard inklings of these experiments with distortion pokemon, but admittedly knew little. "any results promising?"

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

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[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]she hums.

were there any results? none that made sense, truthfully...

"on a genetic level, some are variants of pokemon we haven't seen before." their dna structure is similar yet different. older, perhaps. it's an odd thing she hasn't come across in her years in her field.

a sigh escapes.

"others are, well, new creatures?" her brow creases slightly into a more perplexed state. "the samples from those don't quite match any i have record of."

and the distortions, themselves, are another entity entirely.

GABRIEL BLACK

"hm."
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he suspected that the scientists under the employ of the league had expected these results. or, judging by the perplexed brow, most of the results.
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"and how does the samples taken compare to the likes of a regular pokemon to their regional variants? creatures like vulpix, sandslash, etc? "

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

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[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]the results themselves are, well, odd.

they're expected yet not. they exist in a realm she doesn't understand, doesn't know. and it bothers her to no end.

"they're similar," she murmurs. does she grab the papers to show the analysis? would he understand them? her golurks rumble softly, observing the conversation.

"every pokemon has a different genetic structure but regional variants tend to have one or two hydrogen bonds in their chromosomes that change the appearances, types, etcetera. the genotypes are similar to the variants we currently know of but..."

how does she say it?

"i've never seen these genetic differences. they don't match any record we currently have."

GABRIEL BLACK

while the specifics escape him, gabriel understands the gist of it. he was no man of science, but he was willing in the effort to learn. in due time, he tells himself.
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"have we compared these samples with the pokemon we've captured during the portal incursions?"

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

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[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]a nod follows.

the samples, when compared to others of their kind, are difficult in ways she can't quite describe.

"yes," she murmurs. she shifts to grab the analysis folder, to provide him with reports of her findings. beneath the fluorescent glow of lab lights, her back scar seems to crawl with life across her skin.

"i had a pokemon of my own change in one of these distortions." the file is extended for him to take and glance over as he sees fit. "my zorua became... different than before. the dna samples taken from both this zorua and another are different in what i can only understand as a regional variant but that brings me to ask what region that could be?"

is it even a region or is it something else entirely?

GABRIEL BLACK

he makes a mental note of her question, tabling it for now. he didn't need to task her in pursuing that train of thought - she was already well on her way.
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lifting up a paper, he holds it up for her to see. it was a photocopy of a type of ruins; old hieroglyphics above a singular image: palkia.
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"speak to me of this, dr. reyes."

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

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]truthfully, she expected the question to come sooner or later.

her lab is littered with evidence of her personal research. open tomes, packets of mythology papers, maps of sinnoh and mt coronet... even her notebooks are cracked open to pages detailing her current hunt.

and it all leads back to one thing: the god pictured on the paper he holds.

her face remains neutral, tightening slightly at the seams. how much of this is she allowed to do? at what point does her research turn into neglecting her duties?

"the god of space," she murmurs. her eyes don't stray to gauge his reaction. no, they stay focused on the picture, on the prize she hunts. "my personal research is centered around locating palkia as i believe it is somewhere in hoenn at the moment."

what more can she say? her current tests have come up... well, as failures.

GABRIEL BLACK