"...Ah."[break][break]

Elisabeth blinked slowly, finding herself more befuddled than anticipated by this casual request.[break][break]

Her reputation in Rocket ever since ascending to Wo-chien's Avatar had been, for lack of a better word, undesirable. Most Grunts and even those whose rank mirrored her own went out of their way to avoid her. The other two underbosses were no exception.[break][break]

Did this woman truly not recognize her, then? The idea was bizarrely refreshing.[break][break]

"I haven't used one in a few months," she confided, recalling her time examining the crystablooms under its lens, "but I believe I recall how, certainly."[break][break]

Was she nervous doing this? For some reason, she was. Proving her competency in a laboratory was a peculiar point of pride for her, nursing a secret insecurity that her lack of formal education had left her a failure in some way.[break][break]

"What sort of specimen are you examining?" she asked, the curiosity in her voice genuine.

[attr="class","ooc"] Neffatari Nzingha

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She'd always thrived in anonymity; it was one of the things she mourned most about her infamy. That made this little conversation a rare respite among the drudgery of her Rocket duties.[break][break]

"It was fascinating, actually," Elisabeth agreed, warming to this impromptu encounter in spite of herself. "We discovered the flowers were a source of infinity energy -- leading to the first Sygna Suit prototype."[break][break]

Others had assisted in that endeavor, of course, but she took quiet pride in being one of them. In another universe, such pursuits would have been her life's work.[break][break]

Unfortunately she found herself more often than not the specimen under examination, rather than the scientist conducting research. Naomi Sato had collected her own blood not so long ago, examining the twin strains of infinity energy coursing through her bloodstream.[break][break]

Which made Neffatari Nzingha's answer both startling and unsurprising.[break][break]

"Avatar blood? Is there a specific hypothesis you're testing?" Elisabeth asked, readying the microscope for use. It was strange how quickly it came back to her, the muscle memory filling in the blanks of her knowledge with ease. "If you don't mind my asking."

[attr="class","ooc"] Neffatari Nzingha

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"A virus, hm?" She hummed a bit, letting this thought settle. "I'd be curious to see the results of that study, myself. Especially if you ever find yourself able to extract the bone marrow."[break][break]

On the one hand, she couldn't fathom such a scenario being true for her; on the other hand, her own Avatarships seemed distinctly different than Zev Harcourt's.[break][break]

Elisabeth possessed sway over her environment, while Necrozma's abilities had altered Zev himself in a fundamental way.[break][break]

For all that Neffatari Nzingha had implied her abilities with the microscope to be rusty, the scientist took to it with ease, adjusting her sample with the exacting precision of any tenured Head Scientist.[break][break]

"Crystablooms, yes," she continued, pleased at how natural conversing about things like this was proving to be. "Though I want to revisit them, in truth, given the poisonous variant that has appeared within the region."[break][break]

It was a specimen dearly won after an unexpected altercation with Andrea Vaneau.[break][break]

"I am curious if the infinity energy in them has been corrupted in some way."

[attr="class","ooc"] Neffatari Nzingha

[attr="class","pkmn"]