Arms crossed over her chest; the woman scoffed at his assertion. Again and again, the man eternally clad in business attire reduced her down to nothing but a howling underdog wanting to play Ms Victim. There was no room for mutually understanding with him -- he always had to be right, even when the opposite was painfully apparent.
[Break][break]
Silence befell the outspoken reporter as her eyes followed his back toward the painting. She scrunched her nose at the sight of memorable blue that draped over the commander's shoulders.
[Break][break]
"I was there," the words echoed back to him, cold and distant, far different than the burning passion that spat before it. "Just...during the aftermath. Setting up the shelters, the general clean up and process of rebuilding -- I was there through all of it." The memory of the rubble left behind caused a shiver to run down her back. The footage of red stained rubble still made her nostrils burn to this day. "You risked your life for this region -- no one will debate that -- but that doesn't rid yourself of all wrongdoings."
[Break][break]
She paused for a second, contemplating her words.
[Break][break]
"And, say what you will, but I wanted to be there on the front lines with everyone else. " The guilt of long forgotten yesterdays still hung over her chest, heavy and thick. "I still regret not doing so."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH [break]


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

Arms hung limb at her sides, her hands were both rolled up into fists, squeezing tighter and tighter with each word he slung back, until her fingernails dug into her palms, nearly drawing blood.
[break][break]
She couldn't bare revealing the truth behind her cold exterior. Because, behind the shield of ice and frost, fear nipped at her insides, slowly swallowing her whole. When the news first hit the station -- that ultra beasts were attacking their region -- Penelope was hidden away in her cubicle, nearly at death's door from anxiety alone. Having never faced actual danger prior to that moment, she froze.
[break][break]
Finally, she relented, signaling her defeat with a swift turn of the cheek. The intensity of his gaze was far too heavy to withstand.
[break][break]
"I don't know."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH [break]


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

The softened words only served to further expose her internal dilemma, widening it between his skillful fingers, til bled out, red and raw, like the passion that previously fueled her words.
[break][break]

Penelope didn't know what felt worse: the metallic taste of defeat, or the realization that it was FERNANDO SILPH, the man she hated more than anyone else, who was wielding the other end of the blade propped up against her neck.
[break][break]

A gasp of air sucked in through her teeth as cold fingertips raked her turned cheek, pushing her to look back at him. Why? Wasn't he satisfied already? Hadn't she already admitted defeat?
[break][break]

It was only then, as her eyes lifted back up to reach his, did a light hit of warmth struck the ends of her cheeks.
[break][break]

"i-- Uh." words collected at her throat, unwilling to come out. What had gotten into her all of the sudden? "No," she breathed, finally, "I don't want to anymore."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break]


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

What a bastard.
[break][break]
Even after claiming his victory, all he wanted to do was gloat.
[break][break]
Her stomach twisted inside her, responding to the wave of self prescribe hatred she felt for falling to her knees in front of someone so callous. Every hint of tenderness that once leaked from her expression had already been reabsorbed and hardened back into the shell of armor she always wore. She pulled away, stepping back in a harsh jerky movement that only further painted a picture of the disgust she held inside for not only herself but him.
[break][break]


"Don't patronize me," She glowered back at him, her words acidic to the touch, "I have my regrets, but don't twist them into something they're not."
[break][break]


Regardless of how she felt about hiding from the war efforts, that didn't wash away the good in what she did do. The families she assisted through means of charities and aid, the outreach HBS allowed her to provide, and the efforts she took part in to restore the cities to how they were -- that all mattered, whether this man chooses to believe in it or not.
[break][break]


"Just because you don't approve of how I choose to fight my battles doesn't make it any less valid. Yes, maybe I could've been there-- I already admitted as much. But that doesn't mean I regret the work I did put forth."
[break][break]


She took a second just to stare back at him, eyes narrowed and lips pursed. The heat she felt inside continued to burn, infesting her cheeks and chest, and head, but she continued to assume it to be the frustration she felt. The hatred. The disdain.
[break][break]


"It must be so lonely sitting up on the top all by yourself. All because no one is good enough for you. Because no one can match your impossible standards of what it means to be 'good enough'. And thank Arceus for it! Because I can only imagine how hellish it'd be to stand even a second longer looking at you."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break]


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

His unaffected level of composure only served to stirr the reporter further into the depths of her exasperation. To his calm and collected icy stance, Penelope had become a full blaze of fire, sputtering out heat between her every breath, looking to thaw him out completely.
[BReak][break]
"HA! Hero complex?? Did you not just hear me?" She barked out a short, bitter laugh. "I'm painfully aware that I could be doing more. But that's where we're different -- at least I'm willing to admit that. At least I'm willing to meet people half way."
[BReak][break]
Arceus, and now he was smiling. What a fucking bastard, she thought to herself, with a scowl smeared across her features.
[BReak][break]
"The fact that you think my standards for The League is anywhere near the absurd expectations you place on people is laughable."
[BReak][break]
"I just don't want my cities to burn down, Fernando. I don't want to have to hear threats 24/7, all coming from the same terrorist group you've failed to stop time and time again."
[BReak][break]
"I just want people to understand what the hell is going on in this god forsaken region! I don't think any of those are hard requests to meet meet."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH [break]


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

Fernando's voice had become a scratched record player, repeating the same words in different ways, over and over, with the only real difference being the mark it left behind.
[break][break]


Why isn't she doing more, he asked her.
[break][break]


What more is there to do, she wanted to scream back.
[break][break]


The answers felt so simple -- so achievable, and yet, she knew better than to grasp at them. The world isn't black or white. Despite one's best efforts to deny it, there will always be limitations hampering growth. There are hurdles impossible for the average man to overcome. And despite the toxic sludge this man was trying to spew, Penelope Livy knew wiser than to swallow it down.
[break][break]


"Fine. Since you have all the answers: tell me, Fernando, what the fuck should I do?"
[break][break]


A hoarse voice bellowed out from the back of her throat. This conversation had extended further than she had expected, and now, after being blown out and then torched back up again, a flickering flame growing into a wildfire, Penelope had completely lost her sense of decency. Of restraint.
[break][break]


"To join under someone like you and be discarded like a fucking pawn?"
[break][break]


With one step, the space she had created between them evaporated, as she pushed up toward the man, glowering at him with eyes that could pierce through steel.
[break][break]


"Remind me, when will I earn the privilege of having my own opinion? How many battles do I have to survive through for you consider my opinion worthwhile."
[break][break]


Now face to face, she resisted every urge to yank at his tie and forcibly pull him down for what she would assume to be the first time of his life. Instead, she only craned her head upward, inching closer until his space became hers, and there no evading the heat of her words.
[break][break]


"You know what? Nevermind. Because, arceus, I bet even if I became champion of this whole fucking region, you wouldn't give a shit about what I had to say, or anyone else for that matter."
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] FERNANDO SILPH[break]


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