Frustrations gnawed at her features. She'd know this would be a barren witch hunt; a mission damp in futility. It would take a sedulous worker to balance a life like theirs, and so it should be no surprise they'd have to work for evidence. Even after everything had been spelled out for them.
[break][break]

"FUCK!"
[break][break]

Like a pair of cymbals clattering against each other, the curse exploded from her lips. Her vision was spinning red, bloodying up every spec of color in a deep crimson hue.
[break][break]

Her fist slammed against the wall.
[break][break]

"How can there be nothing?"
[break][break]

Her questions weren't looking for answers. Just the means for escape.
[break][break]

"How could we be so fucking blind?"
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Gunner Graves[break]


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

Low and sardonic, the languid way in which her partner spoke only fueled the frustrations that wrung up inside. For as much effort they'd poured into this, they'd never be answers, nor results of much merit.
[Break][break]
There were always crumbs, but what good were those when they led to such bitter ends?
[Break][break]
Another crash met the wall.
[Break][break]
"If this place is clean, it's doubtful his residence would be left untouched."
[Break][break]
Her voice was a growl.
[Break][break]
A surge of low boiling heat manifested into its own flicker around the edges of her body. Warm, dangerous, it radiated like the licks of flame pooling out from the sun's core.
[Break][break]
"Which means we'll have to head back empty-handed. Again."
[Break][break]
Again and again again, for the whole world to see. For Greyson Connors to see.
[Break][break]
Her eyes slammed shut. The heat continued to grow.
[Break][break]
"You'd think," the bitterness coughed out between each word, "you'd think we'd be able recognize someone as public as him. You'd fucking think."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Gunner Graves [break]


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

Her vision was stained red. It was impossible to think, much less see, and so despite Gunner's pleas, he'd all but evaporated from the world. Dying with a soft whimper.
[Break][break]
"I mean, he's a fucking CEO for Christ sake!"
[Break][break]
The magma began to crawl out from under her feet, slow and steady, like a rolling tide. Its heat was immeasurable; it pooled outward like an explosion bursting out from a grenade.
[Break][break]
The more she rambled, with words so twisted they'd barely kept their meaning, the more magma stretched forward.
[Break][break]
"Maybe they're right. Maybe I can't do this shit," she shook her head.
[Break][break]
If she were better, things would be different. Maybe Elinor wouldn't have been taken. Maybe lives could've been saved. Maybe these criminals wouldn't have slipped through their fingers as easily as they did.
[Break][break]
The amount of maybes could suffocate an entire world.
[Break][break]
A bubble of magma burst beside her. It's contents sprinkled it's surroundings like confetti bursting from a box.



[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Gunner Graves [break]


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

If you were @fernando, this wouldn't have happened. The HBIC would've had their man, and Rocket would be weaker because of it.
[Break][break]
Another splash of fire spat out from a bubble of magma.
[Break][break]
If you were Eva Morales, you'd at least have the capability of talking to those around you. you would be able to garner peace with your coworkers, and through that, maybe strides could be made. Changes could erupt.
[Break][break]
A heavy ball of lead weighed down her chest. In its center, a vortex whirled, as ravenous as it was dangerous. It ate at her staggered breaths, forcing her shoulders to bend forward and her chest to heave shakily, all the while black spots began to dot her vision.
[Break][break]
If you wer-
[Break][break]
"I'm here," the agent's words shattered the silence and his touch quenched the flames.
[Break][break]
Life returned to the pair of cut amber.
[Break][break]
"Gunner?"
[Break][break]
Her voice came in a quiver, uncertainty shuddered her bones. The more reality she gulped down, the more her chest heaved; horror now washed their surroundings.
[Break][break]
Thick slabs of magma had reached the walls, licking both it and the ground with flames. The section around gunner was, at the very least, crusted over.
[Break][break]
Penelope's lips cracked open, but little came out, as screams overtook her thoughts. The magma was seeping downward.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Gunner Graves [break]


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

Gunner's words swam in her head, restless against the pulling waves that threatened to submerge her completely. She stared back at him with wide, unruly eyes, and blinked once, twice, three times before daring to even breathe life into the realization resting on her tongue.
[Break][break]
"I-I don't know know how." The admission is born through regret. If she'd studied herself more thoroughly, these gifts wouldn't have been a surprise. No one would've been put in danger.
[Break][break]
She blinked again.
[Break][break]
"I don't know," the words replayed again, mirroring a scratched record, trapped in an endless loop. "I-"
[Break][break]
She forced herself to break away from Gunner, focusing her attention on the rumbling flood of magma. Reds, oranges, and soft blacks coalesced in various patterns. Just tracing their intricate paths elicited something within her. Something solid, strong. Unknown.
[Break][break]
Pure instincts reeled her fingers to close tight, squeezing into a balled-up fist.
[Break][break]
At the same time, there shift in the red pool down below - small as it might be, she could feel its surge back inward.
[Break][break]
But it wasn't enough. The screams continued.
[Break][break]
"Fuckfuck, what do I do?"
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Gunner Graves[break]


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

"That's okay," the urgency in his voice is overpowered by the comfort his assurance provided, "Just try."
[break][break]

Just try.
[break][break]

The words rolled over her shoulders like a deep-tissue massage, coaxing her body into a complete and total reset. She slant herself forward, drawing in a deep whiff of smoke-infested air. The contaminated supply ballooned her lungs, bellowing her chest outward. At the same time, her gaze traced the outstretched patterns, up and down each row, until each spiral of magma was burnt into the back of her mind, no different than a birthmark.
[break][break]

The more she retraced it's orange outline, the more it's memory seared inside her like a bright bulb nearing it's bursting point. Soon, and without notice, everything inside her began to burn. Embers caressed her inners, small specs of destructions rending the whole into strips, all for the purpose of restructure. Pieces are melted, forgotten. Some are forged again, different in a way no one would ever notice. Even Penelope was oblivious to this all - her thoughts still tethered to the bulb nearing it's end. Her hand wrapped around it, and light speared out between her fingers, nearly blinding her completely.
[break][break]

She gave it a squeeze. A proper squeeze. A squeeze that erupted something deep and primal inside oneself.
[break][break]

And it shattered.
[break][break]

When Penelope's eyes were forced open - mainly by Gunner Graves's roars - all the magma around them was solidified into a harden crust. What wasn't crusted still pooled down below, but unlike before, she could feel it. She could feel all of it.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Gunner Graves[break]


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