She’s tired, so tired. Her body still aches in the aftermath of the event of the meteor. Her back and left side, in particular from being shot by the Unown Assassin. Even now she absentmindedly rubs it, hoping the soothing motion would bring some relief.

The Professor’s reading is once again cut short by the knock that echoed from her door. Eva is secretly thankful for it, she found her mind wasn’t quite as clear as it should be. The consequences of everything that had transpired was still constantly on a loop at the forefront of her mind. Even as she attempted to read the Mt. Pyre report now, she found herself easily distracted by her own thoughts.

“Come in,” she leans back in her chair to give illeana reyes her full attention. A rather lazy and hesitant smile appears but it is still genuine and beams with her relief to see Illeana alive and well, “All I all the minutes for you,” she teases while closing the Mt. Pyre file, “Good, then you can catch me up on Mt. Pyre,” she motions towards the file in front of her, “Reading it is less interesting,” she motions for Illeana to take a seat with the peace offering of whiskey.

---

illeana reyes

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]a tinkering sort of laugh escapes the scientist's lips, slightly compressed by mending bones but close enough to the normal sound to pass.

"reading it is kind of like pulling teeth."

reports are far less exciting than the recounting of action. besides, sometimes details are left out. depending on the report eva has and who it came from, she suspects there might be something missing.

once she settles in the seat across from eva, she sets the whiskey on the table for eva to open should she want the first drink.

"where would you like to start? meteor, mt pyre... whiskey?"

her smile widens a fraction.

Eva Morales

Pulling teeth? Eva could agree with that. She smiles beneath tired eyes and nods in agreement, “Yes, hearing it first hand it significantly better,” plus, the company is always welcome, especially since they haven’t had too much time to smooth things over since their little spat. When Eva was falling through the sky, a lot of things crossed her mind, including some of her regrets. Although rightfully still hurt from Illeana’s admittance of choosing her selfish goals over a friend’s well-being, she still regretted not having at least given her another opportunity.

“Whiskey, for sure,” she grins, reaching down to pull out two mugs in a very similar fashion to their previous meeting in her office. A gentle push slides one towards Illeana. This time, the mug has a picture of Kazimir Wynter on it fully dressed in his vigilante garb. Eva’s has a very generic logo of a lab manufacturer plastered on a white background. For some reason, there's a little Cleffa hanging off the O of the company's name . . . odd choice.

“So, tell me about Mt. Pyre,” she offers Illeana the option to go first as she pops off the whiskey’s top and pours them both a glass, “Heard Rocket was there too,” her tone is rather bitter. The fuckers were everywhere.

---

illeana reyes

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]she happily accepts the mug with a grin. and as eva pours whiskey into each of their mugs, illeana settles a little further into comfortability.

this is nice. it's not... as tense as she had expected and for that, she's grateful. perhaps it's progress, a way forward to making amends.

"yeah, they were. they made it difficult to fire off the primal point."

ain't that the fuckin' truth...

she heaves out a little sigh before taking a sip of the fresh whiskey eva poured. it burns enough to loosen up the throat.

"father winter showed up. he -- the drk triad had palkia trapped."

it hurt to watch, really. the real kicker, however, is kept close for a few more moments. she's uncertain of the response that'll come once she unearths the information she has.

Eva Morales

They settle into a comfortable familiarity. Illeana may not feel it, but Eva does sense a linger string of tensions. This is eerily similar to their last conversation in their office: whiskey, coffee mugs, and all. Despite the subtle nag of caution, Eva maintains a warm presence, as welcoming as he can be.

The Professor nods along to the beginning of Illeana’s tale. Rocket seemed to have wiggled their way into all of their plans. If it wasn’t for the intelligence PENELOPE LIVY has gathered, the outcome may have been quite different. It reminded Eva just how sorely prepared The League was to deal with Rocket: a haunting similarity to Kanto.

Eva remembered hearing something about Palkia, and she also remembered Illeana’s fascination with the Sinnoh legendaries so Eva approached the subject with caution but also intrigue, remembering how Illeana claimed she’d do whatever it takes to secure the beast, “Hm, a disturbing realization, especially with the reports from Littelroot” she taps her finger against the coffee mug, “And does it remain as their weapon?” What MATIAS SILPH told her of Littleroot, Dialga seemed to have been in a similar bind, but ultimately escaped their oppressive rule.

---

illeana reyes

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]"i wouldn't say that had been the most disturbing realization of the event."

it's cryptic, perhaps, but it rings true.

"no, palkia is no longer chained."

the spatial god is free, out there somewhere in the world. despite herself, her body and soul ache to resume the search. she holds it at bay with a firm grip, knuckles strained white.

there's more important matters now. more important than her, a god, and a hungry hunt.

"i -- i saw something at mt pyre."

her eyes narrow.

"it was a pink slash when we were evacuating at the end... it appeared right in front of me and everything."

as if it was meant all for her.

Eva Morales

That wasn’t he most disturbing realization? Now Illeana has Eva intrigued – very intrigued.

The Professor leaned forward, brows knitting in curiosity as she listened to Illeana’s hesitant recollection of the events on Mt. Pyre. Eva momentarily forgot about the mug of whiskey resting gently in her palm.

“A pink slash?” what could that mean? Eva tried to picture it in her mind, “Like, in the air?” Was it just energy? Perhaps the tera energy that had leaked form the meter affect Mt. Pyre somehow. Or a rush of energy back into Hoenn once the barrier was torn down, “What else did you see?” there had to be more to the story than just a pink slash consider Illeana’s reaction to the subject. She gently probed for more.

---

illeana reyes

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

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

"yes, like it cut right into our reality."

and as eva leans forward, her curiosity keeping her invested in the conversation, illeana feels hesitation creep in.

she had been wrong more than once about her recent theories. wrong enough to cause her own rifts in the lives of everyone closest to her...

is she still wrong?

will eva still find fault in her?

she heaves out a sigh and takes a long sip from her cup of whiskey before continuing. when her voice returns, it faintly smells of alcohol.

"the pink slash showed a glimpse into another dimension."

perhaps eva will be relieved. perhaps the guilt of the destruction of another universe will subside.

there's no way to know until she says it...

"it showed sea hoenn has survived the meteor. they -- the meteor is being mined as a resource by the sea hoennians. the meteor fragments had primal markings in their hands."

Eva Morales

Cut right into reality.

The words made Eva shiver. It was another cold remainder that their reality was so thin – so vulnerable. Hoenn’s spectral borders were weaker than ever, leaving them open from attack in all aspects of ‘reality’.

The professor’s face paled at the mention of Sea!Hoenn. Their visit to the realm seemed so distant, but in reality it was only a sliver of weakened space-time that kept them apart. Illeana’s news was quite disturbing. A part of Eva found some relief in knowing they survived. That was her biggest fear – the genocide. That also meant they would likely be hungry for revenge.

And now they had fragments with primal markings.

The heaviness of such an implication hung in the air. Settling a great weight on the professor’s shoulders. She hummed in contemplation, abandoning the whiskey and leaning back in her chair, “That is . . . disturbing, to say the least,” she finally said, tapping her chin in thought, “I assume the slash disappeared?” or else they would have attacked Hoenn by now, “Do you think they could see you?” If they thought they had the upper hand, at least it would give them time to prepare a counter for whatever the fragments of the meteor with Primal Markings meant for them. Her thoughts drifted to skyler dross and MATIAS SILPH, both desperate to unlock their patrons’ powers and what a Primal Groundon and Kyogre might mean for Hoenn – as enemies and as allies.

---

illeana reyes

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]"it faded right after the glimpse into sea hoenn."

and she has been wondering ever since... is there a way to recreate it for more information?

without additional intel, she's worried there's the dreadful possibility that sea hoenn could already be prepared, that the meteor fragments were the last puzzle piece they needed.

"i don't believe they saw me."

there's no way to know for certain, though. it has caused her paranoia to resurface, ravenous.

"that being said, i don't think it was a coincidence this pink slash showed me sea hoenn."

she's simply... stuck on one thing:

"i have a theory about who created the pink slash but i have yet to figure out why show me. why not show everyone on pyre that day?"

Eva Morales

Eva slowly nods, her mind ticking slowly, gathering pieces of the puzzle to try and put together. She attempts to peer into the future, deduce what their plans may be but the future is hazy and unclear, as it should be.

“Good,” she’s glad they didn’t see Illeana, perhaps they thought the still had the ‘upper hand’ . . even if they don’t know what it all means. She makes a mental note to read up on Primal Energy despite having spent a considerable amount of time on it prior.

“I don’t think anything is a coincidence, Illeana,” Eva leans forward again, actually sipping her whiskey this time, “Whoever showed it to you trusts you to do something about it,” Rocket was there, the DRK triad was there. Whoever showed Illeana this vision was either playing a cruel joke or saw something in her that perhaps even she didn’t recognize yet, “So what do you think we should do about it?”

---

illeana reyes

[attr="class","illeana"]

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

[attr="class","illeana i"]eva provides both reassurance and additional questions with a single sentiment: the pink slash’s creator entrusted this information to her.

she thinks, in some muddled way of circumstance, it’s as fitting as it is concerning.

if her theory is correct and the creator of this pink slash is exactly who she believes it to be… then her previous failures had not been failures after all. in fact, perhaps it had been watching her and her motives all along.

”it’s possible… it had seemed like a warning for us.”

for her… that her sea hoennian self had survived. that they will be coming for this hoenn one way or another.

a light frown overtakes her expression quickly.

”i believe we should begin preparing and strengthening for a coming war.”

later, in the aftermath of this meeting and the one she holds with dahlia goode, she gathers the aqua members to utter just that: a war from all sides.

”we should gather as much strength as we can find before sea hoenn comes for us. there is no doubt in my mind that they will be looking to invade us sooner rather than later.”

but… she would still prefer to have more information on their movements.

Eva Morales

Eva has her own thoughts forming, but she wants to hear Illeana’s assessment. Two minds are better than one and collaboration is key in a situation a concerning as this. No one person could take on the world alone, no matter how powerful they thought they were.

Sipping whiskey, she patiently listens as her science sister begins to form her thoughts, delineating in words what she may have only thought about within her own brilliant mind. Eva nods in agreement with her assessment – mostly.

“Preparation is the key to success,” Eva states to emphasize Illeana’s own point, “It’s also imperative we revisit our previous Primal Energy research,” something she thought she was done with for a while. Eva jots down a quick few notes on the side of the report she was reading previously to remind herself of the conversation later – as if she’d forget something as serious as this, “Find out as much as we can about this primal reversion and these primal markings you saw – do you think you could recreate them from memory?” Having a visual would help with recognizing the marking in text or drawings, “We should revisit Hoenn lore. Perhaps even the Cave of Origin,” it sat deep in Rocket territory but that would be where the more important information likely lie hidden in ancient artwork.

Ugh, Rocket. Now they had to worry about them siding with Megalopolans on top of Sea!Hoenn, “And expedite out inter-dimensional stability research,” seriously, the list could go on and on. Eva snorts, looking at her list. They needed help, “Who else knows about your insight?” Had she entrusted that information to anyone else yet?

---

illeana reyes