"A conversation." How calm and even-keeled she sounded. As if the idea of being alone with this man didn't send some ancient survival instinct screaming through her every nerve as she smiled at him. "Walk with me."[break][break]

She led them both to an empty bar, one that only the higher-ups of Rocket could indulge in. With lips loosened by alcohol and heavily-monitored security ensured at the door, they could speak freely here.[break][break]

He'd be foolish to attack her here, too, some small part of her was relieved to know. At any moment, another member of Team Rocket could appear and witness him splattering her blood against the tile. Not worth the risk, not even to a man like him.[break][break]

"I don't know what you drink, and I'd hardly presume to tell a former bartender what to indulge in," she quipped, fashioning herself a gin and tonic. She lifted her clear drink up as if to toast him, comfortably leaning back into plush seating. "That is, if you drink anymore at all?"[break][break]

An eyebrow rose, questioning him on this first safe, innocuous matter.[break][break]

"Drinking never affected me the same way, not after Wo-chien," she offered in mild explanation. "I remember how it's supposed to taste, but nothing is as strong as it used to be anymore."

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I miss it, to be honest," she confessed, apropos of nothing as she swirled the drink in her hands. Ice cubes clinked together, chiming against the glass. "Ironic, hm? That a poisoner misses being poisoned."[break][break]

Emerald eyes glanced over the Beast: draped and hulking over the leather chair, whiskey dangling from his own fingertips. She hadn't expected him to ask her to make his drink, of course; most people knew better than to drink or eat anything a poisoner gave them.[break][break]

Even if they were on the best of terms. Which she and Zev Harcourt were decidedly not.[break][break]

"You speak as if it's been a long time," she observed, cocking her head at him. Locks of golden hair shimmered with the motion, tousled as they spilled across her shoulders. "But this was a recent change, no? I'm surprised so much already feels unfamiliar."[break][break]

Her drink wet her lips, which creased into a wry, bitter smile.[break][break]

"Not that I am a stranger to sudden transformations, of course."

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Something like that." Escape wasn't the word she was looking for, though. "The world can be a loud, demanding place. It's nice to drown everything out, for a little while."[break][break]

She ignored the pointed jab about her own behavior. Their verbal spar in a winter ballroom had occurred what felt like a lifetime ago; she'd found many, many other excuses to unleash the darkest parts of herself since.[break][break]

"As for Wo-chien," she continued, the name of her patron invoking an unwanted bitterness on her tongue, "the Ruinous Beast lingers around me still. You may not see it, but I assure you. It's here."[break][break]

The deity's unseen presence slithered in her every shadow, sinister and ever-present. No matter how much she tried to outpace it, she could sense those ochre eyes fixated upon her, waiting for a moment's surrender to seize back its rightful domain.[break][break]

She closed her eyes, a furrow working its way into her brow as she pushed away that unpleasant thought with an exhale. The faintest glimmer of pink dust was expelled with her sigh, ringing her glass like rose-hued dew.[break][break]

"Would you say that you and Necrozma exist harmoniously? Or have you yet to find moments of disagreement between you?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The laughter his question invoked in her was genuine in its frank amusement. She leaned back, one leg crossing over the other, as she let her drink lower to the side table.[break][break]

"Did it ever occur to you I might be the pissy one?" she asked, an eyebrow lifted. "Not everything is about what deities want, you know."[break][break]

Though of course that would be the inherent assumption, wouldn't it? What was mortal ambition in the face of divine desire?[break][break]

Her eyes flitted over him thoughtfully, taking in the crystal patches that resurfaced upon his flesh, before she spoke again.[break][break]

"Besides, Wo-chien has always been the possessive type. It doesn't like to share."[break][break]

The pink fog still danced across the abandoned cocktail glass, frothy and sparkling.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Surprise was a rare emotion to witness on Zev Harcourt. She'd be lying if she didn't admit to taking a small amount of satisfaction in witnessing it now, and this showed in the sly smirk that crept across her lips.[break][break]

"Two," she repeated, her hand indicating the total number with the cheeky flash of a victory sign. "The second is Tapu Fini. To my knowledge, mine is the first occurrence of this in Hoenn to-date."[break][break]

She dreaded how this might draw attention from Head Scientist Naomi Sato, to be honest. It had been one of many reasons she'd been loathe to share this revelation sooner.[break][break]

"You could say Wo-chien is used to being the dominant personality, but it shouldn't surprise anyone to imagine a Guardian of the Seas is as fickle and moody as the tides."[break][break]

Her fingers curled back into her palm, resting in her lap as she regarded him.[break][break]

"What of your patron? Are they likewise fickle, possessive...?" As she inquired, her voice lowered with curiosity. "...or unpredictable?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Your limited human lens." How amusing it was for him to think he alone was under the sway of some otherworldly power, when two had claimed her. All the more amusing still to think he believed himself capable of understanding his deity's true intentions, after such a freshly established bond.[break][break]

Arrogance was a trait both human and divine, it seemed.[break][break]

"We have that in common, then. Vengefulness." The faintest ring of gold tinged her emerald eyes for but a moment, as if tinged with autumnal rot. "We are the Scorned and the Vindictive. We do not forget those who have wronged us."[break][break]

Unlike the crystal that sprouted upon his features, this influx of power suffused her and dwindled from her all at once like the sudden lighting and immediate snuffing out of a match -- leaving her much the same as she appeared seconds ago. Still, the reminder of this truth showed in the slightest shift in her posture, and in the sneering mockery that found a home in the wicked curve of her smile.[break][break]

"You mentioned before how your last profession revealed people's true selves," she commented, a click of her tongue inserting a pause between this thought and the next. "But I find power does the same, doesn't it? For a deity would not choose a vessel that did not align with its needs."[break][break]

The implicit damnation of the statement applied as much to her as it did to him: for all the sway her deities had over her actions, the success of that influence came from what monstrosity already existed within her, too.[break][break]

Zev was no different.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]