It was a job like many others she had been. A tried and true method of smuggling, carrying boxes of precious cargo worth more than the average person's life earnings in just a few boxes. Despite her pale skin and general apathy, Himiko had done this enough times to know the ins and outs.

But working with a woman of Elisabeth Fiorelli's caliber was certainly new to her.

The grunt worked quietly with little complaining or anything, really. There was small talk and some general mutual understanding between the two of them about what led them to working in an organization like that. The work was long and tedious but hey, such was the life of a grunt. Earning COIN for some other person's hand but not yours.

"Finally." Himiko parted some of her bangs back behind her. She kept her eyes clear of any residue or locks of ebony colored hair that could get in the way more than usual. Her black fingernails tapped against the exterior of the last case to a steady beat. She knew this woman was her superior in every regard and she minded her status for the most part.

"I've had worse shipments than these, but this cold is something else."

Her eyes carried her attention to a window nearby. So fast had the day gone by that a dark curtain had replaced its imagery in the window. She hadn't been in Slateport during the late evenings before, but there was a first time for everything. Elisabeth's warning did cause her to become somewhat more snibby.

"Hard to think people would cause an Underboss trouble." Himiko mentioned. Her gait took her alongside the blonde while she attempted to move the door leading to their freedom. "Even if people don't know who you are, you don't exactly look like the kind of woman people don't want to cross."

Elisabeth pushed on the door but no real progress was made. It took some doing to really get the door to budge at all. What was waiting for them outside wasn't the ideal greeting that either woman was expecting. An impassable wall of frozen snow that wasn't budging. They must have been at it for a while for this much to accumulate.

They could use a fire-type right about now. Himiko began to reach for a pokeball but stopped halfway through. Her thoughts went to Midnight, her Salandit that hadn't been out of its pokeball since arriving in Hoenn. The poor thing really should have come out but Himiko thought better of it. That thing couldn't spit out a proper fireball, let alone get them out of this.

"Just a Salandit with the basics." Himiko exhaled.

She crossed her arms together and glanced at the door which held the wall of ice locking them in. They'd need to finesse a little to find a way out of this mess. But in a storm like this, what was their option? Freezing to death in a warehouse by a Rocket underboss wasn't in her bucket list. Her footwear beat the floor for the third lap around the front door. Blackened lips pursed together in thought.

"Front's frozen up for the night. I doubt that back's much different. Got anything that can cut a hole in the wall?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"Power alone isn't a guarantee against difficulty," was the underboss's comment on her perceived threat level, "and not all battles are worth the time and effort to engage in. Sometimes avoiding a fuss is the most ideal scenario."[break][break]

Which was perhaps why Yamaguchi Himiko's quiet and hardworking nature were Elisabeth's preferred qualities in a Rocket on an outing like this one, making tedious and rote duties as efficient as possible to complete.[break][break]

At the mention of the ill-suited Salandit, Elisabeth's smile became chagrined. "Ah. That is unfortunate." She clicked her tongue, rifling through her own Pokeballs with an idle, restless hand. "We aren't in a position to teleport, either. These locations are designed to prevent such entry, lest the League discover our operations."[break][break]

The large warehouse was not an ideal place to be locked in by snow, either. It lacked a proper heater, as well as any basic essentials. Indeed, it was little more than a large space designed to hold carts of smuggled goods long enough for prospective buyers on the black market to pick them up.[break][break]

"I'm not sure breaking out by cutting down the walls is the solution. Supposing we do, the weather outside remains hostile." They wouldn't be able to do anything about the cold, unfortunately. "Should we break the walls, we can't even muster what little warmth there is in the warehouse."[break][break]

Manicured fingers deftly typed into a tablet, explaining her situation to the Rocket internal network. A tiny huff of indignation fogged the air at the ping of her reply.[break][break]

"A support team is set to arrive here in... twelve hours. Lovely."[break][break]

Heels clacked against the floor as she stalked off in search of something, returning with a thin wooden rod that she broke across her knee and placed between them on the ground.

"Some kindling for your Salandit to burn," she offered, gesturing to the splintered wood. "It'll get cold here sooner than not."

[attr="class","ooc"] Yamaguchi Himiko[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Elisabeth's words rung in Himiko's ears as she pondered their meaning. Weren't bosses supposed to be allowed to do whatever they wanted? That's how it was with her. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about however. Himiko nodded her head along quietly.

Back onto more urgent matters, the two of them didn't have a way out. The only fire type was still woefully underprepared and they couldn't take any of the easier escape routes either. The Kantonian Rocket spun around to face Elisabeth with a frustrated face.

"So what's the plan?" She asked and waited patiently.

It took a while before a definite answer was made on her tablet, and wasn't one that Himiko had looked at with any relief. Himiko looked at her in disbelief.

"Twelve HOURS?"

Her hands slipped into an empty case and hurled it against the wall. The resulting echo bounced all around them. The sudden burst of anger had felt good, like a weight being taken off her shoulders, but it wasn't enough. Himiko pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled at the situation she had found herself in.

So much for a simple smuggling job to get back into things.

It took her a few moments to compose herself again as her superior's heels went off into the distance in search of something. While she was gone, Himiko threw out her Salandit onto the floor of the warehouse. She offered her arm as the Salamander quickly made its way up her arm and onto her shoulder.

Elisabeth returned with a bundle of wood for the Pokemon to burn with. Himiko lowered herself so her Pokemon could provide them with some kind of source of heat in the warehouse. "Hecate, if you would." The Salandit wobbled but regained her footing and used EMBER at the pile of wood.

Some few casts later, a small blaze came to life before them. Her pale hand rewarded the Salandit's efforts with affection while fetching one of the empty containers to user as a seat. Once comfortable enough, Himiko looked up at Elisabeth. "We have some time to kill. Might as well find some way to pass it."

Hecate the Salandit pressed against her owner's cheek and quickly scurried down onto the crate while on the hunt for anything that it could get its mitts on nearby. She checked nearby boxes and things for anything of note.

"If I can ask," Himiko said, raising her hands to warm themselves by the fire, "Why did you come to help with a job like this? Shouldn't an underboss be commanding a squad or something?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

She exhaled a soft laugh at the question, making herself likewise comfortable against one of the empty boxes. Hecate's fire sparked the air, and she extended her hands to warm them, feeling a shivering heat through her whole body as it glowed against her skin.[break][break]

"Truthfully? I volunteered," she admitted, a bitter amusement laced in the words.[break][break]

She'd been avoiding the more physical altercations since the battles on the island. An Avatar -- a twice-cursed Avatar, no less -- would be expected to be on the frontlines, bearing the brunt of battle and drawing away League forces.[break][break]

But she wasn't ready to surrender control of her mind to Wo-chien again. Not yet.[break][break]

"My first duty in Rocket was tending to an outpost like this one," she continued, the crackling of the fire resounding all around them. "I thought it might be nostalgic to return to where I started, I suppose."[break][break]

She tilted her head at the other woman then, considering her thoughtfully.[break][break]

"Is that where you'd rather be, then?" she asked. "Commanding squadrons and the like."

[attr="class","ooc"] Yamaguchi Himiko[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The answer of Elisabeth volunteering for a mission like this wasn't what Himiko had been expecting. It being nostalgic was at least some kind of reason for taking a small time operation. She wondered just what the underboss had been through. What horrors and wonders those golden eyes had seen.

Himiko watched Hecate skitter about the floor of this warehouse. The Salandit did love to explore and she couldn't fault the her girl for that. They had met when she was so young and loved to run endlessly through the woods back home. A part of her wished to go back to the way it was. Running about and going inside to have dinner and fall asleep, resting up for the next day of adventure.

But it was never to happen again.

"Used to." Himiko put simply and leaned closer into the fire. She took her eyes off of Elisabeth and stared at the dancing flames in thought. Her thoughts did wander off. Could she just ramble on about trite nonsense while locked in here with an underboss? She seemed nice enough to not be quickly gutting her like a pig at this little thorn in the side.

It was a change from the Kanto Rocket branch, and a welcome one at that. She remained quiet for a while or so, enough for time to pass, before answering with her vision on the fire. Her voice was that same sort of quiet and blunt girl as usual but gained a softer and more vulnerable aspect.

"I used to be a lieutenant back home. Lead a small time squad of about eight. My father was a higher up so I had help and leadership training. From day one, it was constant comparisons. My superiors wanted more then I could get, my teammates wanted my job, and our bosses wanted me gone."

Her foot tapped against a smaller piece of wood that had escaped the blaze, no bigger than a casino chip. Himiko reached over to pick it up and flicked it between her fingers.

"Can't say if I would ever do it again, though I enjoyed the operations work. It's what I loved best about it."

Black nails tossed the wood chip into the blazing fire. Its form sailed through the air until it landed on the pile of its brethren and joined it ablaze. Himiko looked back up at Elisabeth with an inquisitive gaze.

"What about you? Do you enjoy the work you do? I can't imagine an underboss has a lot of free time."

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

Orange, red, and yellow flames bathed Himiko in a fiery halo of light as she spoke, and Elisabeth merely listened. The chill darkness of the warehouse pressed down on them both, and without meaning to, she found herself huddle closer to the fire.[break][break]

"That sounds like a lot of responsibility to shoulder," she commented, watching the complicated expression that formed on the other woman's face, and not knowing quite how to decipher it. "Even without the burden of added familial expectation."[break][break]

She stretched an arm leisurely, realizing only then how tense she'd become as they'd wandered through the various warehouse smuggling points of Slateport. Hunching over to inspect bins did her shoulders no favors.[break][break]

"My secret is I don't like having time to myself," she said, a sly, self-deprecating smile on her lips. "I think half the reason I ascended to this position is I seem incapable of enjoying myself outside of my work. You could call me a workaholic, I suppose."[break][break]

Like her late husband. Ironic, that. It had been a trait she'd utterly despised in him.[break][break]

Her distant gaze caught the way the wood chip danced between Himiko's fingers, following the object as it flicked off to be set ablaze.[break][break]

"What about operations did you enjoy, then?" she asked, meeting her stare. "Any particular exploits you look back on fondly?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Yamaguchi Himiko[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The warmth of the fire they had going was a fairly welcome respite from the cold of the warehouse that was making itself more apparent by the hour. The Salandit had finished its brief run around of the warehouse and took refuge next to Himiko. She splayed herself out next to the fire while her tail would sometimes waiver at the sound of the foundation settling.

"It had its ups and downs. Just another job in Rocket, I guess..." She brought both hands to the fire again, as the reflection of light sources had bounced off of her blackened nails visible to her. Her shoulders became slumped as the grunt leaned forward to regain more heat for the fire.

Her eyes remained locked onto the floor for a lot of her recollection as something felt lodged in her throat. Yet no amount of swallowing ever made it get any better. Despite her emotional turmoil, it was rather pained to admit the chance for small talk like this was nice. Like a weight slowly being taken off her shoulders.

"There were some good people though. Ones who made it a bit more bearable. I don't mind this place, but it's not home."

Her eye contact reengaged with Elisabeth once she had answered her question in full. One that Himiko had heard was quite common in a lot of the upper echelons of any society. Rocket Admins were one thing, but an Underboss just devoting herself to her work sounded like a few people she knew in her family.

Her hand raised to rest itself on Himiko's hand. The Kantonian's brow furrowed in thought. There was an idea that she could maybe offer some assistance, but would she even care? Elisabeth seemed set in her ways and there was that chance she'd lose her only converation partner for the next twelve hours.

And why did she care about this woman's health? It was like a Durant giving advice to a Heatmor. The grunt's expression remained conflicted before she decided to take a gamble.

"Have you ever considered aromatherapy? Or any type of herbal remedy?" Himiko offered. Her postured went back to normal as she sat up and offered Elisabeth some kind of sympathy. "Usually if I'm too restless, I can get by with some type of lavender or chamomile burning. But when you know your body is going to crash, you can stave it off with some other oils. Just a thought."

The woman shrugged, going back to her pokemon as it was still resting by her foot. "Not exactly the most exciting thing my clan back home taught me, but it works wonders. I'm more of a poison girl, myself."

Next question time! Elisabeth prodded more about her operations duties and what she enjoyed most. It was a question she really took her time to consider her answers for. There was a lot on her mind she could include, but she didn't want to prattle on for an hour about mundane details.

Elisabeth's stare met her own as her gaze went back to the fire, alongside an exhale. "Prep work, mostly. I was always kind of a messy kid until my dad whipped me into being a neat freak. Something about refilling empty pokeball containers, prepping expedition kits, even refilling net guns and my little sleeping agents was nice. I loved plotting out courses through missions, devising strategy and all that. It made me feel valued."

She remained silent and then added, "At least, more than what most people took for granted."

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"Aromatherapy?" the underboss repeated, and a bright, unfettered laugh took hold of her, privately entertained by some unspoken joke. "More than considered it. I used to be something of an expert, myself."[break][break]

Her smile conveyed an easy warmth, eyes glittering the smoldering firelight.[break][break]

"My first job in Rocket was running a flower shop as a front. Sold flowers to dahlia goode herself. I had a boutique of Kalosian perfumes, dabbled in essential oils, and the like behind the counter." She leaned back then, arms loosely cradled around her knees, and added, "Buried in the basement, you'd find the poisons. I sold those, too, but only to those in the know."[break][break]

It was a humble start, by all accounts, in the Rocket organization. Far humbler than Yamaguchi Himiko's had been, aided by familial ties and training at a young age.[break][break]

"Admittedly, I haven't treated myself to aromatherapy for some time. But I used to find it soothing," she said, a wistful note in the admission. She'd treated panic attacks with the technique, mainly, but it had other uses.[break][break]

She watched her companion again, considering her for a second's time.[break][break]

"I agree, however. I find many things are taken for granted, and many skills are underestimated."

[attr="class","ooc"] Yamaguchi Himiko[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Hm, small world." Himiko smirked at Elisabeth as she described her first real job with Rocket. By some little bit of divine irony, she too had found herself working with flora. The news of which had put the grunt in a far better mood than before.

"I didn't take you for the type to be into that sort of thing. I guess I don't need to get into depths about it with you." she mused and picked up the Salandit that had currently fallen asleep by the fire into her arms. With a quick huff, Himiko smirked back at Elisabeth.

"I would have figured you were a model or something similar. Some position that had influence, really."

Himiko was slowly becoming further intrigued about the underboss's rise to fame. The Kantonian pursed her lips in thought at her most recent words. What was she supposed to do? Nod blindly and agree? Be a little defiant and show some bits of wrongthink? At least the cold was a nice deterrent to getting blasted by a pokemon.

"You never know what things will connect with what. But it also helps if you're just curious about thing. Every little thing had its uses. You just need to learn what to look for."

She did stop and ponder about the woman's duties before standing near the zenith of ruling most of Team Rocket. A hand gently stroked the scales of the Salandit in the meantime.

"I'm still learning about what's happened in Hoenn for a while now. It's barely been two weeks since I came here from Kanto." she coughed, trying to fiend the perfect segway into her next question.

"What was it like when you were a grunt? Or at least, when you weren't an underboss?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"Do I seem inherently influential, hm?" Amusement danced in her eyes as she leaned forward, chin propped on her hand. "You're not entirely off, I suppose. Back in Kalos, I was mostly known as the society wife of a powerful and influential man."[break][break]

The faintest taste of bitterness coated that admission, tangible as any poison.[break][break]

"It was a different sort of pressure than the kind I imagine you were born with. But I learned quickly how tight the noose of familial expectations could be when I married. My in-laws were something close to the Silphs or Stones here, I suppose, or aspired to be anyway."[break][break]

And she'd been foolish enough at the time to think such a person could have a marriage out of love, and be satisfied with that arrangement in the long term. How quickly she'd failed to meet those expectations while learning to swim among the Sharpedos of high-society.[break][break]

That life would have killed her, if she hadn't killed her husband first.[break][break]

"When my late husband died, I finally got to live for myself again. Hoenn felt... like a blank slate, really. There was a comet hurtling towards the region, doomed to kill us all at the time, and I remember still thinking it was the most optimistic I had felt about my life in a long while."[break][break]

She released a soft exhale as she contemplated further, trying to remember those early months better.[break][break]

"I kept my head down. I stayed on the right side of the people who were more powerful than me. I supported when it was sensible, and stood down when things weren't my expertise. You'd be surprised how much respect and common sense is valued in Hoenn's Rocket."[break][break]

Though she wondered, after her Avatarship, if people viewed her as having much of either anymore.

[attr="class","ooc"] Yamaguchi Himiko[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Himiko opened her mouth to answer Elisabeth's grin but hesitated once it registered in her mind what she had just said. "I mean, yeah...I guess." A pause came before them while she stretched a little while seated. "I'd be surprised if you were like a barista or something."

Elisabeth talked about her life in Kalos, family matters and things that Himiko knew all too well. Maybe it wasn't a 100% perfect match, but she did emphasize with some of the stronger bits of what she had told her about her past. She wasn't going to dig deeper about what happened with her husband and all that. She knew better than anyone about a little strife in the past.

During the recollection, the grunt stood up and began to pace around her portion of the fire, just to keep the liveliness in her body but kept that perpetual frown of regret. Once Elisabeth finished, the Kanton spoke.

"I see." she began while closing her eyes. Her usual smugness had vanished for the time being while she chose her words carefully. It was much alike her civilian persona, a woman who spoke in a calm, stoic but friendly undertone.

"I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories or anything. I can't really say I know how it is going through what you did..."

Her irises locked onto the flames for a bit while carrying her Salandit in her arms. Black stained lips curled into a pout as she racked her brain for what to say. Was this what it was like to get to know a coworker? Just forcibly instead of being more natural.

"It's kind of weird. Once you start somewhere fresh that's not the life you had, I mean. It's scary but liberating in a way. It's like liquid courage times ten."

The little soft moment had gone once that emotional wall was back up, signaled by Himiko staring at the door and huffing again.

"To me, at least. Anyway, you said used to live in Kalos. What was it like? This is the only time I've left Kanto in my life. I don't really get to ask people what the other regions are like. Was it as nice as the postcards make it out to be?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

"We all carry shadows with us, I think. Grudges and resentments for things that wronged us unfairly." She'd seen so many since making her pact with Wo-chien. The slightest touch of another's hand could inspire those memories to waking for her, now, seeing all the things that festered beneath even the seemingly happiest and most carefree of people. "Wherever we go, wherever we restart, those things inevitably follow us."[break][break]

Everyone suffered. Yamaguchi Himiko had undoubtedly suffered, too, in her own way.[break][break]

Something stirred outside the warehouse. Wind, perhaps, or a flutter of snow. Elisabeth turned her attention to it, but her curiosity was rewarded with only a spell of silence, and she shrugged and returned her gaze to the fire.[break][break]

"There are parts of Kalos I miss. The wine. The countryside of my childhood. There are parts of Lumiose City that are grand, if you enjoy its sparkling artifice for what it is." A ghost of a smile appeared and immediately flitted away. "But I can't say I'd go back."[break][break]

She watched the Salandit wriggle in its trainer's arms, and without thinking, she recalled the Salazzle that FERNANDO SILPH had killed during their battle on the Mirage Island. That thought lingered longer than she wanted it to, and she pushed it away, seeking a better place to put her mental energy.[break][break]

"And you? I have heard mixed things about Kanto from those who lived there. There are those who long for it and those who revile it."[break][break]

Kanto had meant different things to Cillian Quinn, Zev Harcourt, and THEO BECKETT. What of Yamaguchi Himiko?

[attr="class","ooc"] Yamaguchi Himiko[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Shadows had a funny way of following people. Himiko had an inkling of a feeling that her past mistakes in Kanto were still going to follow her all the way over here and likely for the rest of her life. It was just the Rocket way. That didn't make them any less bothersome to her, though.

Her hands continued to show affection for her Salandit while it napped in her arms. Its tongue flicked out while readusting itself to fit more comfortably while Elisabeth waxed poetically about Kalos. From the sound of it, a lot of what her home was 100% for rich people. Compared to Kanto, anyway.

When it came time to talk about her home, Himiko was a bit more reserved than Elisabeth had been. Her head tilted away with an audible "Tch." while trying not to show that she was still deeply hurt by ending up here for something not under her control. She huffed after gathering her thoughts.

"It had its charm. I grew up with my grandparents near the countryside, and they showed me all the boring old stuff. Learning about shrines, helping out, that useless stuff. But I don't miss it at all." she answered rather quickly. "Nothing's there but countryside politics and fields and...ah-awful food, cooking over a hot oven after a long day. Having friends to run back home to. I don't need that. I didn't belong there and-"

Something hit her forearm. She looked down to see the remnants of a small droplet there. Confusion settled in as she stared at it then felt the corners of her eyes getting moist while feeling a small trail down her cheek. It sickened her it remember it all, hating every moment of being away.

Himiko grit her teeth and sneered, sitting back down.

"I don't belong here."

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉