Someone had reached the cell. Announced by the clacking heels. She hadn’t even deigned to look at the sure-to-be new torturer.

But instead of pain, she was offered a moment of concern, and a question unrelated to anything but her own well-being.

But Elinor did not respond. She did not know the name of her torturer, and she figured it didn’t matter either. These were just empty platitudes.

“Trying to ease your conscience, eh? I mean, why else would you even offer to go against direct orders from your superiors.” She stated, perhaps a bit too bluntly.

“Spare me your sympathies.” She stated, though her voice wanted to growl it was hoarse from lacking water.

“There’s nothing I want but freedom.. Unless you can make the pain go away?”

For a moment she looked hopeful. But then hope was clouded by clouds of pessimism.

MISSION: POST POST DORMITUM
LOCATION: Rocket Prison - Sootopolis City.
TAG: soyeon kwan

Elinor’s look of pessimism was gently pushed away for a moment as Soyeon made it known that she needed help.

Helping. Right, that’s what I wanted to do, tried to do. Look at what it got me.

She thought, and yet there was enough empathy left in her to give Soyeon the chance to speak.

“Painkillers might do the trick…” Elinor muttered meekly. Though she wasn’t even sure if it would affect the sensation she was feeling. But it was worth a try.

Of course Soyeon warned her against trying to run. Elinor wasn’t about to try that. She knew well enough that this place was guarded, but still. For all the well-meaning help that Soyeon offered Elinor couldn’t help but feel hesitant when trust became involved.

“... I don’t . . . ” She paused. Seemingly thinking for a moment. “But I am willing to give you a chance.”

MISSION: POST POST DORMITUM
LOCATION: Rocket Prison - Sootopolis City.
TAG: soyeon kwan

Well, her hand wasn't bitten at least. It was a start.

Soyeon cautiously reached for the cell door to unlock it, a soft clank heard as bars and such slid out of place. The door went ajar and Soyeon cautiously slid inside of the small holding cell as her eyes remained on Elinor. Once both feet were inside, Soyeon closed the door behind her without breaking eye contact. The soft jingling of keys signaled that they were both inside of here with one another. She knelt down to be close enough to the woman as she looked her over. Sure, she wasn't a doctor by any means, but it was very clear she had some kind of trauma. In a perfect world, Soyeon could solve every issue like the doctors on those television shows, but alas, here she was. The woman's weak and skeptical gaze made Soyeon hesitate, eyes locking onto hers. It was like a Deerling staring into the eyes of an oncoming Garchomp. A soft tint came to her cheeks as she looked towards the claw marks. They were enemies by definition, but Soyeon did want to try and help ease her pain. She wasn't trusted all that much, but maybe Soyeon could win her over.

A hand fell over Elinor's body, remaining careful to not to disturb or cause any more pain. They moved to gently move to the woman's inner shoulder and tap around. There was a quiet silence as Soyeon frowned, and would press down on Elinor's pale skin. "You were pretty scary in the Ultra Sea. I'm envious that you can battle so well. I'm just a desk worker here, s-so battling is kind of out of my League." Once a proper spot was found, she reached inside of her bag and would pull out an empty syringe with the barrel full of a clear liquid inside. Soyeon reloaded the chamber and pressed the plunger down until a brief stream of liquid spurted out. "This should help your pain. I'll see what I can do about the claw marks."

One injection later, Soyeon had gently pulled the needle out of Elinor's skin and quickly cleaned the little wound as best she could. Nothing in the way of smaller bandages, but hey. She wasn't in the position to be picky. "Something to ease the pain. I can't get the heavy duty kind that will help give you some rest, but it should help, here." She got out a roll of bandaging and got to work on fixing up her wounds.

"If I may ask, how did you get captured?" The woman asked while finishing up covering one of many long, jagged marks against Elinor's skin. "I would have thought you of anybody else in the Ultra Sea would prove impossible to capture."

Elinor Anderson

Elinor watched cautiously even if she had agreed to let the woman do this.

She tensed when the syringe was brought up, she watched sceptically at the clear liquid, though the woman’s words disturbed her focus somewhat.

Elinor wasn’t sure she believed the woman in regards to the desk job or the pain relief. But that didn’t matter. She winced slightly as the needle broke skin and the liquid was injected. The needle was removed once more and the small prick wound was treated.

Soyeon then moved to her other words, applying bandages as best she could. She continued to speak, as if to fill a silence that would otherwise grow awkward.

“Nothing is impossible.” Elinor stated.

“I was caught by Tempest Quinn” She paused. “He caught me at a moment where your fellow rockets had already depleted me and my Pokémon of energy.” Another pause. “Unfortunately his Pokémon had energy to spare and so got the better of me.” She didn't need to mention that she had taken to the battle knowing well that her Pokémon were tired.

“I see that you got out of the whole ordeal unharmed.”

MISSION: POST POST DORMITUM
LOCATION: Rocket Prison - Sootopolis City.
TAG: soyeon kwan

Ah, there that name was, Quinn. Soyeon winced at the mention from her little miniature talk with his partner, Cillian Quinn . It did make sense that she could be overpowered by somebody with such a monstrous connection, but also just the prolonged time spent inside of Ultra Space more than likely. The last part did make her feel the full guilt of just running away, enough so that she'd stop patching up Elinor's arms. The woman's gaze went down to her hands, chewing the inside of her cheek. "Only because I ran from everybody. You, another trainer, practically everyone. For somebody who's awful at battling, I tend to get sent on assignments with them a lot. I'm just some coward compared to you, who have more than enough counts of standing against Rocket like that. It's something I envy most about most people."

Soyeon continued to work on the bandages in silence. It was uneasy, although Soyeon was attempting to hold back speaking any more than she needed to but was hard for her. Eventually after some time, whether it be because she was with a League affiliate or maybe just something on her mind ever since that fateful day, her filter was turned off as the words flowed out of her mouth without thought.

"I saw what Rocket did to Lugia when I was stationed waiting for Rocket forces to exit the Ultra Sea. I was with Tempest's partner. He talked about a broken device that made Shadow Pokémon." Recalling such an event made her brows furrow as she set the arms down, now fully covered in gauze and cleaned properly. As to if it would help the claws, that would need to be seen for themselves. Soyeon just continued on with her recollection. "He was so happy at showing it off to me, b-but I couldn't feel more pity for something. I don't know if Lugia was in pain or forced to do his bidding, or even if it was done willingly. That was the scariest part, for me anyway. The fact that I was an ant staring up at a weapon that had once been something of beauty. Something that could kill me several different ways if it wanted to."

Soyeon exhaled again. Her words were falling on deafened, unwilling ears and she didn't want to ruin Elinor's attitude any more than she already have. "Sorry, I just ramble on sometimes. Do you feel any new wounds opening up under the bandages? Anything I can help you with outside of that?"

Elinor Anderson

Elinor listened. She was surprisingly good at that for someone with a lot of opinions. Perhaps it was the prison time that had made her hungry for any scrap of information that anyone would provide her with.

She listened to Soyeon’s cowardice statement. She didn’t judge her for it. Soyeon was just an unfortunate person caught in the claws of Team Rocket.

Her gaze did darken as Soyeon spoke of Lugia, the Shadow Machine and how it all made her feel.

“I do not. Thank you.” She still felt the edge of the itch just looming behind covers, but she resisted the temptation for now.

“And no need to apologize for rambling.” She stated.

“I know the feeling you describe surprisingly well. While I haven’t personally experienced Lugia, I’ve stood before Necrozma and Dialga and been shown just how insignificant we all are in the face of such monsters.”

The memories still tormented her, even if they were fading as new experiences both good and bad tried to cover the same canvas.

MISSION: POST POST DORMITUM
LOCATION: Rocket Prison - Sootopolis City.
TAG: soyeon kwan

"Necrozma AND Palkia? Goodness, you've brushed up against nothing short of death itself."

Soyeon could at least breath easily. t appeared that her worry and anxiety about standing before a force of nature was mutual between them, although Elinor had likely had more of her fair share of dance with such gods. Still, the Rocket affiliated woman would frown. Her hands sat still on the bed as she slowly began to fall her fists, aggravation settling in. She depised how much of a coward she was. Somebody who was easily pushed over, punished and acted as a social doormat for anyone lucky enough to lord over her.

"B-But, if I can ask...Knowing that we're all just ants to things, beings beyond our control...How do you keep going?" Soyeon asked Elinor, her eyes filed with unresolved troubles and worry. "I still can't sleep knowing that Rocket has such a powerful tool to use as they please. Along with the other stuff, just waking up and pretending I'm a good person seems so pointless..." The emotional wall had come down, as the woman's heart was exposed to Elinor, whether she was aware of it or not. But she remembered why she had even volunteered to come and make sure their prisoner wasn't dead. Aaron Toral's friend that had been targeted by the League supposedly, Eris Halla .

"I also wanted to ask you something." Her hands shot up, as if to signal that she was trying to feign surrender. "It's a personal matter, not Rocket business, I assure you. I have a friend whose other friend was targeted by the League. Their name was Eris Halla. You're one of the higher ups, so you definitely had to have heard something about them?"

Elinor Anderson

If only Soyeon’s heart had been bared during better circumstances. Unfortunately Elinor could not find it in herself to take in the gravity of Soyeon’s display.

“We might be ants to them, but even ants can bite. And if enough of us bite together we CAN take down gods. If only we could stop fighting each other long enough to realize that” Unfortunately Rocket seemed inclined to keep Hoenn torn, even though a united Hoenn would stand so much better against the threats from beyond its borders.

But the topic of gods and the threat they posed was quickly swept away as yet another familiar name was dragged into their conversation.

Elinor released a surprisingly loud sigh. “I know of Eris Halla and the situation.” She acknowledged. “Why?”

MISSION: POST POST DORMITUM
LOCATION: Rocket Prison - Sootopolis City.
TAG: soyeon kwan

Soyeon seemed to hold a similar opinion of Rocket and League, at least in theory. Unlike Elinor and most other people, she lacked a spine to really stand up for herself when it came to values and things. Typically, she was the person being dunked in a toilet, in the proverbial high school that was Hoenn. Still, she'd quietly nod in regards to cooperation between the two. Although such a concept was as likely as finding a needle in the world's largest haystack.

But Elinor appeared less than thrilled to have the topic switched about Eris. Her unamused expression and uncaring demeanor ramped up her apparent intimidation to the scientist. And yet, she persisted, wanting to learn at least some morsel of truth out of what happened. "Is it true about what happened to her? That a League official hurt her?" Soyeon paused again, fidgeting in place a little before looking back to Elinor and making eye contact again. "My friend is…stubborn and maybe…mature for his age, but he cares about his friend. I wanted to at least hear from both sides about what happened. I can return the favor to the best of my ability."

Elinor Anderson

Elinor’s lips grew thin, strained as they were with the tension of decision making. She had been posed a question, one which she should not divulge too much information about.

At the same time, if Eris Halla had informed Rocket already, then there was precious little harm that could be done

“Before I answer your question, let me remind you that Eris Halla is a known Rocket, and is considered dangerous due to the Pokémon in her possession.” Her tone carried what remained of her political professionalism.

“The Answer is yes. It is unfortunate that it happened, but the person who tried to capture her was well within their right to use force.”


MISSION: POST POST DORMITUM
LOCATION: Rocket Prison - Sootopolis City.
TAG: soyeon kwan

Soyeon couldn't really begin to understand what she was hearing, from a League official no less! Her eyes narrowed at the prelude to her answer. She was dangerous?! Granted, Soyeon had heard reports of her team and just what she was capable of in a Pokémon battle, but that little shred of humanity that had burrowed itself inside of her despite everything was still strong.

"A dangerous individual being a child?" Soyeon repeated after her. "So that gives you the right to use any amount of force to seriously hurt her? Are you going to tell me that the League would be fully prepared to kill somebody that young?"

Her mouth was open to tear her a new one before huffing, looking conflicted. Elinor certainly wasn't going to really budget in her stance in her current state. The fact that Soyeon had an audience with her seemed to be lucky enough. Another beat of silence as Soyeon pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry, I got too ahead of myself. Thank you for confirming that." While not really knowing much about what directly happened to Eris Halla , Soyeon wanted to at least help her if possible. Ultimately, it would be up to her on whether or not she wanted to receive that help. "I may as well be truthful as well. My friend is Aaron Toral . We met during the expeditions to Ultra Sea, after running away from you. He's just as brutal as Rocket is if his stories hold any weight. I've read his file multiple times, can memorize each offense and grunt hospitalized forward and back."

Aaron Torres, that little demonic thorn in the side of her superiors. Even after meeting him, Soyeon found herself smirking after every little utterance of his name in some of the forward forces' work. A nice reminder that somebody was proving to be difficult to nail down. Soyeon smiled to herself and leaned back against the wall, looking down at Elinor. "I may be stupid for thinking it, you've probably done that since I started talking. But deep down, I like to think they're good kids deep down, just caught up in this war. Even if I can't save myself, I can at least save them."

Elinor Anderson