freya finds the councilman in his office, seated at the massive oak desk. it was built for a man his size, and was thus larger than your average.
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he looks up, eyes narrowing behind thinly framed spectacles. a thrust of his head, barely perceptible, excuses his one of the many assistants that work in the HQ.
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"ms. morningstar," he says, pushing himself to his feet with his only good arm. "it's been quite some time. to think, we met when i requested a meeting with you, and now here we are."
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he holds it out, palm up and aimed at the chair.
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"please, sit. drink?"

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she is, on nearly all accounts, a different woman. she is reminiscent of her past self - of a self-wrought sword of justice befitting a seat on the council. sly tongue, trained in the art of politicking, but still rough around the edges from ground duty. 

and yet she is not the same. she has come too far to be the same. 

she settles neatly neatly at his offer and he'll be able to notice how present she is. no longer cold and shivering, feeling the phantom wind of nature's madness. but her gaze is still hard, muscles still tense. it hasn't been but a fortnight since her return to this dimension. 

"whiskey please. one rock is fine, if you have it." she drops her hand from her hidden necklace. "and now here we are," she repeats. 

"i'm interested to hear your perspective on the topics we discussed before." 

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

gabriel obliges, a courteous, dutiful host. the sphere of ice that he places inside their glasses is perfectly clear, not opaque, and the whiskey rolls off of it easily.
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he places it on the desk in-front of her before rounding it to sit. a tentative sip brings a bitter shiver that he suppresses through will power alone.
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"i've gained a better understanding of what you meant— " he didn't need to specify, not really. avatars, gods, heralds and the like. "—and my place in a region that's so heavily infested with the divine." was that vague enough? he didn't know.
[break][break]
"but, i see i'm not the only one who's learned a thing or two."

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she sticks her pinky in the glass and gives the sphere a couple of rolls, letting some of that ice melt off into the liquor. and when she takes a sip, that same warmth spreads through her, but it is not as necessary as it once was. it stings the back of her throat and she savors the taste as gabriel says his piece. 

her smile curls, gaze flicking from the drink and up to her host. 

"remarkable, eh? what's your conclusion come to then?" does he think they can be controlled? that they will fall neatly into step, sign themselves over to the league for a.q.u.a. ah, how far abbiati's work has come. 

she waves a hand at his proclamation about her.

"i've recovered my senses." her gaze speaks that there is more information there, but she won't release her bargaining chip until she has her foot in the door. the scale on her neck is warm. 

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

he thinks for a moment, considering his answer. freya was a woman with ties to FERNANDO SILPH, though he never really true how closely defined those were. a former councilwoman herself, and backed by a influential family.
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still, she was no threat to him.
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"i'd resolved myself, for some time, to seeking a Patron of my own. but, that notion has since been wiped clean." his talk with FERNANDO SILPH and Lulu Flint had ingrained in him a notion, one that he'd neatly bundled into his pride. he would not change it, even if arceus himself offered his power.
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"so, if there is power to be sought, i do so Beyond this place."
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whether or not freya understood his gist, mattered little. she'd earned a measure of his trust from their previous encounter, and no more.
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gabriel smiles and nods his head once.
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"to keeping them, then." he raises a glass in toast, before taking a measured sip.

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

thought of the otherworldly is tiresome, but it's been on her mind for quite some time now. one doesn't simply forget that much time spent in isolation. no, freya may have her wits about her now, her mind cleansed from tapu fini's influence, but she is far from stable. 

"there will always be a bigger dragon," she says, fingertips drumming the table. the whiskey sits nicely in her belly and she sets her glass down for now, wanting to keep her head mostly clear while she navigates these peculiarities. 

"we invite war when we dabble with what's out there." because there are things out there that are savage. that are hungry. a guzzlord decimating mossdeep? nothing compared to the ice-dragon's fury in its empty dimension. 

"and yet that's exactly why i've come to you."

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

she is of course, correct. dipping into forces unknown could hold disasterous repercussions, but, so to would trusting the heralds of gods to settle their differences peacefully.

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at least with his plan, there was a semblance of control. say what you want of the councilman, he was a 'getting his own hands dirty' type of man.
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"you have my attention."

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

"i have been...gone. for quite some time, councilman." and from there she leans into the rest of her story. the whiskey is a comfort, a reminder of king when he'd sat with her through this same story. except in this version, she does not leave out alexander. she does not gloss over trying to bring him to this world, only for him to unravel. to fade away. 

at the end, she tilts her head. "it's still there, on the other side, and i know that it's in danger. each day that passes here could be weeks, months." 

her jaw clenches. "my options are far and few between. how much do you know of Eva Morales ? could i trust her, if i divulge this information?" the bare minimum of the word, she means. she can hold her own. she can cut down those who stand in her way. 

but she will return and finish what she started.

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

her story is of gods and monsters, of lost love and a broken heart. it would've sounded outlandish a year ago — now it is all too familiar.
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"you can trust Eva Morales," he says with a pursed lip and a slow, persistent nod, "she's a glass half-full type," unlike yourself, he wants to say, but leaves it hanging, "but she is one the league's most reliable assets."
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he takes another sip, contemplating. he raises an eyebrow in her direction as the glass is lowered to the table once more, fingers still wrapped around the condensated glass.
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"i'm still not sure what you want from me, freya. resources? approval?"

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

he certainly doesn't need to say it. the smile curls at her lips at his insinuation, though she opts not to comment on the matter. rather, she nods, tucking away the information for later. she will reach out - when the time is right. when the walls don't press in on her. when the sound of the seashore doesn't invoke images of half-decayed bodies. 

she takes another sip of her whiskey. 

"what about a casual chat with someone whom i'm curious about?" she says with a tilt of her head, swirling the half-melted cube in her glass. "i don't miss my seat, but i would be lying if i didn't admit the affairs of the council still intrigue me." after all, she did spend the latter years of her adolescence and early adulthood working towards the very thing gabriel possesses. 

she chuckles though. "but your approval? you'll find there aren't many on my list that i, quite frankly, give two shits about when it comes to their opinions of me." no, saving face was never her strong suit. 

"no, councilman, i come to you because i find myself with very limited options. and because i need answers." she pauses. "and a way back." and then her fingers slip under her shirt and withdraw the black scale.

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

"the affairs of the council," his echoed tone ends in a scoff, jaw steeling in indignation as he takes another sip, "how many members of this AQUA initiative are not just children with a gun in their hands? no matter how you spin it, they're as likely to turn in on themselves, as others."
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he lets the anger flare, then recede, tapering it off as quickly as it had come. it was unbecoming. her lack of tact is noted, and disregarded entirely. he appreciated candor, especially if it led to a quicker resolution.
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"and you believe i can offer you that? a way back to this... alternate dimension? is your prize not dead in that reality?"

[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉

she can't help herself. she laughs, fingers raising to her lips in a half-attempt to suppress her amusement. "what other sort of intrigue is there?" she says. she does not draw the scale any further from her chest. rather, she releases her hold on it, allows it to nestle over her cloth, glinting onyx in the low light. 

"the scale this one's come from is deceased, yes, but ours? very much alive." her fingers flex, tightening against her glass. she takes the last of her pour and grimaces as it slips warmly down her throat. 

"you know, the aqua initiative was never meant to be the meaningless poster campaign it is. i impressed upon abbiati my desire for a strike team. a team of chosen individuals. selective, trusted individuals." she bares her teeth. "she bastardized the vision with her own hubris. i'll admit - it was satisfying to watch fernando tear her apart as he did.

"but the outcome remains the same - the league is rotten with its infighting, with its clumsy standards, and aqua is no different. we are bound to the whims of those a legend has spoken for. so we pander to them, appease them, in hopes that rocket doesn't offer them a better deal."

she taps the side of her glass. "forgive me, councilman. i haven't spoken with some measure like this in...quite some time."

GABRIEL BLACK

☉

her honesty is refreshing, and admittedly, amusing. gabriel chuckles, deep and mirthful; something he rarely lets slip past his the mask he's worn for so long now.
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"you won't find argument with me on the fact that many are at the beck and call of these heralds — even if many on either side are likely ignorant to this fact."
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he shrugs, letting any tension from before ease.
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"politics aside, none of it matters when the meteor hits." he casts a glance once more at the former councilwoman, tilting his head ever so slightly. "but, about your serpent. what do you need from me? my resources are at your disposal."

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[attr="class","notes"]freya morningstar[break]

[attr="class","wizzcredit"]☉