As Marguerite set her Dhelmise to weigh the ship in place, Trinity simply rested her elbows on the guard rail. She eyed the trio of newbies, fresh from recruitment, with a piercing stare. It was all an act of course. It was all the girl could do to keep from hurling over the rail. Doing so would be counteracting the point of this little voyage to Route 108. Once Marguerite was finished stabilizing the ship, the pirate turned and spoke to the girl.

[break][break] “Of my first mission?” Trinity echoed. “I’m not sure this group of Togepi are ready to hear about that.” Her tone was plain, matter-of-fact. As the words left her mouth, a fog bega to roll over the bow of the ship, slowly hiding the Rocket members from the watchful gaze of the stars above. Trinity, however, paid it no mind. As if the pea-soup-like obstruction didn’t even exist. “On my very first mission, two of my superiors took me and two other recruits out to Route 108. Covert, they said, so it had to be under the curtain of night.” She paused, giving the trio of newbies time to process the parallels between her story and their reality, the fog around them swirling gently around their heads


[break][break] “As we sailed into the night, a fog crept onto our ship, sending a chill down our spines. Before we knew it, the three of us had been separated from our leaders. Stranded, alone, on an island we didn’t remember seeing on our way out.” Trinity kept her voice level as the curtain of fog grew more dense. Soon, her and Marguerite would only be visible as shadows. “The island was silent, not even stirred by the sea breeze, still as a cemetery. The three of us weren’t ready for when it showed up.”

[break][break] “It picked us off one by one, chasing us through the island. The fog picking us out one by one, hunting us like we were game to be slaughtered. I was the one it decided to show mercy to, leaving me for last. …Though when I look back at it, its ‘mercy’ was merely some form of twisted joke. But it was then that the beast revealed itself, a form that was indescribable by human language.” It would be here that the fog would obstruct even the shadowy outlines of Trinity and Marguerite, the blue haired Rocket’s voice echoing without a body. ”I could taste its emotions in the air. Its malice. Its sadism. It’s hunger. But just when it was about to sink its fangs into me, the fog lifted and it disappeared without a trace. I know not why it allowed me to live that day. Maybe as a message, as if to tell me it could come back for me at any time. I cannot say. But what I can say is this: to this day, I still hear the bloodcurdling screams of my teammates whenever a fog comes into port, just as fresh as they were when they were dragged into the abyss.”
[break][break]

+ ooc notes Marguerite

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mar had to school her expression to stop from chuckling. trinity could captivate an audience with no special tricks, but the fog was an excellent touch. for a mere second, mar considered using capsakid's sunny day to ruin the atmospheric impact, but she was good at restraining herself from the destructive impulsive thoughts she was prone to. when it came to trinity, that was.

when the fog was thick enough to cover her, she stepped back and maneuvered around the ship to get behind the rookie on the left. her clobbopus curled up behind the one on the right. still, she waited. mar wanted to grab him and startle the kid, as much as clobbopus did his victim, but it felt cruel to interrupt trinity's storytelling. whispering, she croaked out: "help us... please, help us..." clobbopus couldn't take after her lead in this regard, so he just rolled and unrolled his tentacles against the ship's floor, creating a popping sound that echoed ominously in the environment, though both clobbopus and mar were a few feet from their respective victims and wouldn't be seen in the thick fog if their grunts turned around in fear.

mar waited for trinity to bring it home so they could see what was left of the drivel.

trinity beckman

☉

Trinity didn’t need to see Marguerite to know what the pirate woman was up to. This whole thing was her idea, after all. The blue haired Rocket knew that her partner would go along with her opening and support it in the best way possible. Trinity knew that no words would even need to be shared between them for her partner to be on the same page. Marg was dependable like that. It made her easy to get along with, despite her preferred method of travel being by sea.

[break][break] “Yes, maybe its hunt isn’t yet finished.” As Trinity spoke, what was visible of her shadow began to shift. She grew taller by about a foot, her head changing to a mass of undulating tendrils. Her arms morphed into something inhuman, claws replacing where her hands had been, long enough to see clearly even through the fog. Still, her voice remained unchanged. “As if waiting to reap the harvest of the seeds of fear it had sowed all that time ago…” Trinity’s tone changed, a snarling undercurrent rising through her words as her voice became more and more beastlike. “Until it had created the perfect bait to lure in… Its NEXT MEAL!” The girl’s voice had changed completely inhuman as she burst through the fog, finally revealing her snarling maw, filled with rows of razor sharp fangs as she towered over the recruits, using it's blood red claws to push the middle recruit to the ground. At the same time, Marg and her Clobblepus yanked their victims down to the bow, holding them just right so they could see the beastly form of a red and white Zoroark, positively glowing with its malice and bloodlust over the three recruits.

[break][break] Trinity from where she stood by the bridge had to stifle a laugh as she watched her partner and her Pokemon finish their Torment of the new Rocket members.
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+ ooc notes Marguerite

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mar shivered as trinity reached a crescendo, the spooky story she'd weaved crashing down upon the trio of initiates at her key words. mar and clobbpus wrangled their members down as the hisuian zoroark claimed its own victim. before the initiates hit the ground, mar was breaking out into pleased, manic laughter, shrill and mocking and forcing her to wrap her arms around her belly to brace herself against the laughing fit.

she wiped a tear from her eye as she stepped away from her initiate, clobbopus doing the same. "how was that, rocketlings? scared?" the one that had been beneath her hands was still pale, and he scrambled to his feet at her words and through himself overboard. huh.

the one beneath clobbopus had picked him up and tossed him, demonstrating her strength and anger. her nostrils were flaring as she rolled to her feet, taking a brawler's stance until she noticed capsakid had moved from her position at the bird's eye to the boards at her feet during the fog. the grass menace crossed her arms and seemed to dare the rocket initiate to try something, but she wised up, obviously outnumbered.

"good. anger can save yer life. disobedience, however, will take it. painfully. when ye commit to rocket, ye can keep yer personal interests, personal criminal activities, and other goals in mind, but ye will always take a knee to yer superiors." upon saying it, the middle initiate, the one that had been actively victimized by the zoroark, took a knee. mar laughed unkindly.

"the two of ye can survive cowardice, so ye will make it past day one. but tell me, are ye smart enough to last longer? to climb higher? what did ye two do wrong?" she turned to trinity in case the woman had additional questions for the initiates, though trinity might feel more inclined to take a moment at the sidelines to observe the initiates instead as they answered. many initiates made the mistake of believing their test was over before it was; they would be tested until they were past grunt-hood.

trinity beckman

☉

Trinity went silent as Marguerite began her portion of the initiation. Zoroark removed itself from its would-be victim and sauntered to her Trainer’s side, also watching the lecture with interest. Trinity wasn’t one for inspirational speeches, or motivational words of any kind. She lacked the charisma to truly draw people into her way of thinking. The girl was of the opinion that, if she continued to be good at what she did, everything else would fall into place after.

[break][break] But Marguerite could hold a crowd. Trinity was solidly convinced that the pirate woman would be able to see water to a well for a premium. And, even though the blue haired Trainer had sneaking suspicion of what Marg’s lesson was going to be, she needn’t dare ruin the moment with her own interjections. So Trinity simply crossed her arms and leaned her back against the cool steel of the boat’s hull as she watched her partner work her magic like a true pirate captain.

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+ ooc notes Marguerite

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mar looked between the two initiates, but neither had an answer under her expectant gaze. "rocket does not reward the meek."

"doesn't it reward those who think?" the angry one asked.

mar laughed again. "no. it rewards those that plan, that connive, that outsmart. but think? ye won't get paid to think. ye won't get respected fer thinkin. rocket has ties all over the world, but in hoenn? they're fighting a war. and ye can't win a war if yer thinkin. how bout ye think on that one til it gets through yer skull." she was intentionally dismissive, enjoying the way the angry initiate huffed.

mar walked between the two initiates and around them, constantly on the move as she monologued, body language at ease as she looked each initiate up and down from every angle. "bein a rocket is bout respect. earning it, using it. but ye must understand two things. first is that we live in secrecy most of the time, and yer earned respect means nothing in the general world unless ye have something special that's public knowledge. second is that the respect ye earn in rocket can make ye millions, can draft ye armies, can lead ye to treasures and relics folks can only dream of. but ye can lose it in an instant."

"respect among criminals like honor among thieves?"

mar smirked. the girl just wasn't getting it. or perhaps, she was getting it, and she was realizing rocket wasn't something for her. "respect is power." the girl rolled her eyes, really committing to her character, but mar seized the opportunity to shoot an arm out at the woman's shoulder and drag her to the ground, following her and pinning her arms behind her back with a knee.

"it's also currency," mar explained, finishing her thought nonchalantly. "and tell me, did ye think we wouldn't notice an officer's belt? or ye shoes?" upon her statement, it became obvious to the quieter initiate that the woman pinned under mar was, indeed, wearing very basic components of an officer's uniform, mixed with what now seemed to be over-the-top rugged clothing to sell a thief image.

the woman struggled beneath her, but mar held her with the ease of a woman who'd fought for her place in the world for decades. she looked to trinity with sadistic pleasure. "guess we're goin over disposal before we talk bout the startin' bonuses."

trinity beckman

☉

There it was. The real reason beyond this little bonding exercise Marguerite planned out. The hidden officer was held firmly within the pirate’s grasp. As the now prisoner would fight above the water, she would be able to see the still ocean. Still, aside from circling ripples created by an all too familiar white dorsal fin. Despite the silence, the movement threatened a whirlpool of death that would be as bloody as it was agonizing. The longer the spy looked into the spiraling water, she would soon be able to make out a dark cloud, trailing to where the previous recruit jumped ship. Still, as Marguerite turned her attention to Trinity, the girl did not meet her partner’s gaze. Instead she focused squarely on the remaining recruit.

[break][break]“Three.” Trinity said simply. “This trip started out with three potential recruits for Team Rocket. And in mere moments, your group has been reduced to one. Which leaves you with two options.” The final recruit could only sputter as they watched Trinity’s unflinching, uncaring, intense stare. The recruit took a step back, and then another, before bumping into something and immediately halting their progress. Trembling, they looked behind them only to gasp as they now stood inches away from the snarling white Zoroark. “Serve Team Rocket, faithfully. Or die.”

[break][break]Trinity took a few steps forward, her hands placed into the pockets of her coat, as the recruit turned their trembling eyes back to her. As they did, the Zoroark at Trinity’s side began to shimmer like a mirage before the illusion fell like a curtain. Where it once stood floated Polchageist, humming happily as an aura of green light outlined its form. In the same instant, the same green aura covered the person that Marguerite was holding. In seconds her struggles and squirms would dwindle down to nothing as the strength in the spy’s body was sapped. “Live or die.” Trinity continued, paying the event no mind. “Make your choice.”

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+ ooc notes Marguerite

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mar used her pokemon like coworkers when it came to intimidating, just a crew of villains achieving a goal seamlessly. trinity, however, was so in sync with her pokemon that it likely warranted an experiment or two, but hopefully not at the hands of one rocket's own mad scientists. it was choreographed with words, and it offered the grey-haired rocket a control over any situation that inspired mar.

their new goon felt less inspired until all of trinity's pokemon collaborated on emphasizing the message: get with the program or get gone.

mar gestured to the no-longer-struggling form beneath her, and her and the goon helped lift the cop overboard and into basculegion's mouth. after, mar dramatically brushed her hands off each other as if clearing dirt from them. "well. that was nice. we got a recruit and it ain't even past lunch time." she looked to the girl with ease. "hungry?"

she clapped the recruit on the shoulder. "take it easy, eh! we won't get caught. there's no evidence and the one that got away witnessed nothing. yer in great hands with us two. let's get ye a sandwich before we drop ye off by slateport for orientation."

trinity beckman

☉

As the final deeds were done, Trinity’s body visibly loosened up as the mood lightened between the three of them. Or at least between her and Mar. The third recruit still looked about as pale as the moon. At least they were no longer trembling like a Toxel. While the two of them finished disposing of the officer’s body, Trinity walked over to the side of the ship that the other one jumped from. While Mar was right, he didn’t bear witness to any crime, he still saw their faces. The blue haired Rocket lightly gripped the railing and strained her eyes, trying to see if she could find him from where she stood. Either he was a fast swimmer or he wielded a Water type Pokemon of some sort as he was nowhere to be seen. Trinity made a mental note to track him down once they returned to shore, but for now there was something else that demanded her attention.

[break][break] Now that the excitement had worn off, the girl could feel her stomach rumbling and gurgling. “Hurghh…” She groaned. Her hand immediately shot to cover her mouth as she leaned her head over the railing. Her focus on her mission had belayed her sea sickness, and she was hoping that it would have washed over once it was all done. But the opposite proved to be true, as it returned in full force-nay, stronger than before especially at the mention of food. Trinity wiped saliva from her mouth with the back of her hand as the contents of her stomach finished emptying themselves, as she raised her head to glare wearily at the horizon. She just silently wished the rest of the trip would go quickly.

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+ ooc notes Marguerite

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