”harcourt,” she greeted, typically, albeit with somehow less spirit than usual.[break][break]

”in february of last year, team rocket went into the giant tree that used to shade sootopolis.” before necrozma killed it. ”many things happened.” she herself had sprouted six more eyes and began levitating following a blood sacrifice at a mysterious shrine, and then been chased by skinless tree people, and nearly eaten by a world serpent, among other things.[break][break]

”i brought along this minor,” she skipped ahead, to the relevant part, ”and i don’t know, there was a rift, or a portal or something... i think this black moss came from it, maybe, or occurred because of some interaction with it.”[break][break]

she eyed over at him, stare narrowing a little, perhaps from the hangover, or because she was deeply considering her next words.[break][break]

”any thoughts?” she asked carefully. ”feelings about it, perhaps?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minior"][break]

he’d heard of it. what did that mean exactly?[break][break]

she watched the crystal form up his arm. she thought again of Chu-e Choi and his sickness, and insatiable hunger. she also remembered being hungry for things that she had never hungered for before, and how the darkness felt strangely comfortable.[break][break]

how she still craved the feeling, and wondered, was he hungry too?[break][break]

her eyes snapped to his again. ”i see.” a pause. ”well, i figured it was worth a shot. guess that’s that.”[break][break]

the minior bobbed in the air, pixelating in spots as it regarded zev warily. perhaps it was the pokémon that felt something.[break][break]

after a moment, she left the topic of the minior behind—at least for now. ”i realize i’m no longer in a position to ask much of you, but i was a friend of Chu-e Choi’s, and i’ve been wondering: do you know if your necrozma is the same one?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minior"][break]

”ah.”[break][break]

as an avatar, she had dodged other interested scientists and the MAGMA division, but the beast answered her questions without hesitation. there was no hiding. there was no fear. why would there be, when he was perhaps the most powerful person in the world?[break][break]

despite being in the face of such power with little of her own, her confidence only began to grow, because he did not brush her off. she was useful. it was why he had come to present his drawing that day.[break][break]

she continued, hoping for more transparency.[break][break]

”as you know from the reports, it was the same necrozma that killed the tree, which attacked as it died with black organic materials, not unlike this.” she nodded to the minior. ”but perhaps necrozma did not yet have influence on the tree at that time...”[break][break]

the minior spun and glitched again, curiously.[break][break]

”it was from another world, that tree. do you know if that was what drew necrozma to it?” what a useful ability it could be, to detect that which did not belong.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minior"][break]

terrible, but certainly not new information.[break][break]

she thought of her dream–the one in which eternatus and necrozma had somehow combined their powers in some universe-ending fusion. she did not know what the outcome had been. there were many possible interpretations, as was natural of dreams.[break][break]

”hm,” she responded vaguely, before their conversation was steered back to the minior.[break][break]

”no, actually. not really. my own research was shared to my colleagues, but it’s been some time since then, and other things have cropped up…” and i forgot.[break][break]

”but with what we know now, it’s worth looking into again, certainly. i can only imagine it relates to the cloud in some way.” and by extension, the drk triad.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minior"][break]

who was ‘we’? her brow furrowed. then, she perked up visibly at the name mossdeep space center. beast with the astrobiologist connections. now they were getting somewhere.[break][break]

”wonderful. i didn’t know we had that connection.”[break][break]

and then there was the ‘we’ again., she almost had to ask about it now, because how else would she know whether or not to use his name specifically? certainly, it was not something to throw around lightly.[break][break]

”erm, harcourt, by 'we', do you mean team rocket?” there was the smallest moment of hesitation. ”… or you and necrozma?” because maybe necrozma also knew astrobiologists.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minior"][break]

she stared, eyes going a hair wider as she questioned herself. had she heard wrong? hangover messing with her head? maybe i shouldn’t have done this, after all...[break][break]

no. it’s a good outcome.[break][break]

whoever this Neffatari Nzingha person was, she was not only an expert in an increasingly intriguing species perhaps related to the deep problems plaguing their world, but also yet another potential key to mossdeep’s best kept secrets.[break][break]

”right. of course not,” she responded, tone evident that she had already drifted away, to the space center, and answers. ”i’ll reach out to her. thank you for the recommendation.”[break][break]

”any other thoughts?” on the minior, or anything else he’d like to share. another way of lightly saying you can go now without being so dismissive.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt [break]
[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-minior"][break]