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Neon lets out a sharp laugh after howard slayte finished. “Wait- you can't seriously believe one Beast, no offense Dog, is enough to compensate for the power vacuum left by an Underboss? What's he gonna do, slice the paperwork on Underboss Fiorelli's desk?” A glance at Hitoshi Inoue and his LED grin dropped for a moment. “Actually he does look like the type to try it…” his attention slides back to the Admin. “Either way, we’ve lost a huge administrative figurehead.” Or something similar. Underbosses after all were some sort of deadly mix of admin and beast. At least, to Neon. It’s a strange sphere of influence and Elisabeth’s was vast. Poisons, subterfuge. and an overall penchant for fucking with the League. Literally and metaphorically. [break][break]

He sighed through his nose still at Regirock’s acquisition. He couldn’t deny it was beneficial to them. PROJECT INFINITY would benefit greatly from a different dynergy signature. Even still, their gains seem measly at the loss of someone he was fond of. He glanced at jayden cross , half for guidance, half for morale. In the end, whatever position Jayden took would reflect Rocket, and Neon would model his own response after it. Jayden had grown up in the organization after all.[break][break]

When Cillian Quinn enters, he straightens up a little at the presence of an actual Underboss, not just Elisabeth Fiorelli ’s chair, and gives a nod of acknowledgement. When Tempest speaks, that’s when the silver feather crosses the air once more, slicing off the cherries of howard slayte ’s and now Tempest Quinn ’s cigarettes. It deftly hides itself near the Beast’s wings. He doesn’t ignore Tempest then, tilting his head ever so casually towards the man and giving a wink which was just code for a middle finger. Underneath the table, something purple zips by as his owner busies himself with the meeting, exploring the abandoned pokemon center before settling on the other side of the table to stare at the glowing creature on the table. [break][break]

Zev Harcourt enters and he smells like a bonfire, but at least he doesn’t bring anything fresh and as strong as a new cigarette. He finally takes a seat next to jayden cross ’s empty one, understanding the one empty seat was for fern delaney . He greets priam conrad , matching his energy with a bright blue smile at the newer beast and a thumbs up. Priam’s words had been smooth. He definitely knew what he was talking about. [break][break]

He then looked over at the next beast that entered. Immediately, Neon is unable to hide the grimace at the sight. Not of Shred ’s grody appearance but the fucking obscene amount of cigarettes hanging from his lips. Once more a feather zips through the air to swipe at the cigarette’s cherries. The irony of his own appearance is lost on him and again, he looks to jayden cross to see if this was another one the Admin knew of before turning back to the Last of the beast’s to arrive. [break][break]

“You should’ve stayed outside until you were ready to come in.” [break][break]

Shadow like tendrils strike out from underneath the table but they don’t grab anyone or anything. Instead, one purple Zigzagoon uses them to prod at the Illumina Eevee, drawn to them perhaps because they were the only other similarly sized pokemon out or because of their own strange dichotomy. One pokes their back before retracting quickly before attempting to poke at their nose. Zabaglione sits patiently, shaking with unexpelled energy and big eyes and a tail that wags back and forth in a flurry at the thought of a possible friend.


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it's a highway, highway to the dark [break]
and a neon medusa's got your heart .

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What heat rises to his throat at mint frost’s word dies there upon jayden cross’s entrance. Though they are a cabal of killers, Hitoshi’s cheeks flush red and he smiles from beneath the scarf at the sight of the man. The matter of the cigarette dies there.[break]
Once upon a time, he would have dominated the room with words. Silence is golden, a skill learned from Zev Harcourt and honed well. Though that man-shaped void unnerves him, Hitoshi nods respectfully all the same. He is Rocket’s god-general, and he led them well in Mossdeep despite what some gathered at the table think.[break]
Only when Mint jabs him again does Hitoshi rouse, and not with anger. This matter deserves attention. They do need a new underboss. When he speaks, it is accentuated by a passive shrug.[break]
“Just appoint another one, or have Walsh do it. Just ‘bout any of the admins would work great fer the spot. Ho-oh knows every single one of ‘em is good at their job.”

[attr="class","hitoshi-notes"]❖ Hitoshi's chilling in a chair. Gets calmed by Jayden. Listens until the subject of Underboss comes up. Suggests appointing one of the Admins to the vacant spot.
❖ Honedge is sheathed and resting against the table.

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when howard slayte mentioned mossdeep, her scowl wilted more. however, she was focused on other matters.[break][break]

“paste," she repeated after him. her hand idly stroked behind the ear of Tempest Quinn 's eevee. after a pause, she simply said, ”good luck, howard.”[break][break]

she would congratulate the beasts later. through the second wave of comments about petalburg and the worth of Elisabeth Fiorelli , her eyes remained quietly on the archaeologist, pondering what curse he might have brought upon himself.[break][break]

the sound of a door being ripped off its hinges tore her gaze away finally, to a stranger waltzing in casually. with a hand on a pokeball, she watched the chair he kicked go flying, and blinked at the metal throne he then seemed to pull out of his ass.[break][break]

when Shred spoke, her brow furrowed deeply in concern. his criticism bounced right off, as though she was standing on the other side of a terrarium looking in, taking notes.[break][break]

"not hoopa, is it?"[break][break]

his other powers had not suggested as much. however, it was shred's own mortal chaos that worried her. what demon had looked upon him and said, 'out of them all, this is the one'?[break][break]

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DISSEMINATE III

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He could really go for that smoke right about now. Their boss hasn’t even shown up yet, or all of the command staff for that matter, and they were already deep into a lively discussion. His eyes fall on Shred, almost want to ask the taller beast if he got any chips at the store, but thinks it would kill the mood.[break]
Instead, he thinks about THEO BECKETT’s words spoken in a simulated universe and howard slayte’s words spoken in the present. As Zev Harcourt trained him to think beyond the here and now with games of chess and shogi, he started to see how each of Rocket’s pieces fit on the board. They have plenty of pawns, but only so many special pieces.[break]
Even still, a pawn can cross the board and become a queen.[break]
“We can always find more avatars.” He chimes in. “Throw enough promisin’ grunts at Zapdos or the light stone and they’ll take a likin’ to someone eventually.” parker jones comes to mind for the bird, though it seems to prefer kicks to punches. A firmer nod follows, directed at Howard.[break]
“’Sides, there’s stuff in Ultra Space, judgin’ by the SPECTRA reports. Landorus, Lunala, who knows what else.”

[attr="class","hitoshi-notes"]❖ Hitoshi's chilling in a chair. Gets calmed by Jayden. Listens until the subject of Underboss comes up. Suggests appointing one of the Admins to the vacant spot.
❖ Honedge is sheathed and resting against the table.

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The burning part of his cigarette fell and Tempest just grinned wide. It was mocking, malicious, as if mint frost had just walked into some trap. But he didn't say anything yet, just watched with a thinly veiled annoyance and giddiness as Frost dug his own hole. With a soft whisper of warning and nudge, he would glance at Cillian Quinn to silently ask for another light.[break][break]

Hati, meanwhile, had finished her affections with Lulu Flint and was busy plodding around the table. She approached Shred carefully, leaning in from a distance to sniff, then sneezed and shook her head. The tippy taps of something caught her attention until she hopped on the floor to search for it; senses dulled by the purified energy around her having not been popped yet. The creature she found was fluffy and smelled like her parents, the toxins of Shadowfication an odd comfort. Shaking her rump, the Eevee stuck up her fluffy tail and hopped around in place, clearly wanting to play with this new pokemon.[break][break]

Shred's entrance shamefully makes Tempest flinch a bit in his seat. Muscles tense, he is ready to go over the table if needed... but the man just creates a- was that a throne?- for himself and sits. His eyes linger on Shred for only a moment, the whole atmosphere of the room shifting with a few words from Hitoshi Inoue.[break][break]

"Underboss Beckett and Admin Fox are right. If one of us dies, someone else will always take our place. It could happen to any of us." Tempest tries to be logical about it. The core of what THEO BECKETT and howard slayte say are right. If anyone in this room died, even himself, Rocket would always find someone else who could rise to the occasion. It didn't matter who they were.[break][break]

(It was also hypocritical. If Cillian Quinn ever died, Tempest knew he would tears cities to the ground with his bare hands until enough blood had been shed to repay that crime.)[break][break]

"I don't know how many of you were here from the transition from Cadis to declan walsh. Underboss Cillian also acted as lone Underboss for months when Choi died. There will always be people to cover gaps until someone else fills them."[break][break]

Hitoshi Inoue brings up another good point but a frustrating one.[break][break]

"If we throw every Tom, Dick, and Harry we got at 'em, they might bond some prick who betrays." Isaac Merlo came to mind. "Havin' more Avatars and Legendaries on Rocket's side might be something we try to actively look into more frequently. Groudon, Rayquaza, Palkia, them two blue dogs, Zekrom, the green singing thing Miro had, plus all the other shit..." Tempest rattled off the League's on his fingers, counting them off absently.[break][break]

"Our Big Hitters can't be everywhere. We need more shit in the back-wings."[break][break]

The nagging of his own, quickly approaching search almost makes his skin crawl. But that wasn't here nor there. Everyone at this table who needed to know already knew. Tempest wasn't going to bring it up.

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Brief surprise lights in his gaze as Tempest Quinn steals a cigarette from him, but Cillian does not begrudge his husband a light. These are stressful times, indeed.[break][break]

mint frost doesn't seem to agree with the sentiment.[break][break]

Cillian gives the Beast a sharp look of warning, particularly when he targets the likes of howard slayte.[break][break]

But Cillian doesn't speak until his name is mentioned. He offers THEO BECKETT and Temp appreciative nods in turn as they acknowledge his presence in Rocket.[break][break]

"Even I am not irreplaceable," Cillian agrees with Howard. His voice rumbles softly in his throat, echoes in spite of the crowded space. "Rocket may mourn my absence, but it will not fall. There will always be another cog in the machine eventually." His lip twitches. "Not that I plan on going anywhere."[break][break]

His gaze lingers heavily on Admin Fox, thoughtful.[break][break]

He'd doubted the man's loyalty, once, but the death of Elisabeth Fiorelli has cemented the man as one of Rocket's most reliable servants. It took courage to fell such a powerful figure, to face the possibility of retribution should the chips not fall in your favour afterward.[break][break]

Of Avatars, he says, "We've faced worse odds. We are few, but we are by no means weak."[break][break]

His smile lingers for a moment, sinister, before it fades. He hands Temp his lighter without hesitation.[break][break]

Beyond duty, there is grief for the woman he'd once considered the best of friends. He has not been close with Elisabeth for a long time, but a sadness for what once was sits hollow in his chest, unspoken.

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the cigarettes are sliced and all but the filters tumble from your lips. your eyes glance over to mint frost with nothing but disdain. well, if that's how it's going to be, then fine. you'll play ball. you're a fucking championship league baller. you'll ball harder than anyone has ever balled before.[break][break]

"you're not my mother, neon, and you do a piss poor impression of her. keep your hands to yourself, or fuck off."[break][break]

reaching into your plastic bag, you pull out a fresh pack of cigarettes, and bite down on four of them. orichalchum stains your fingers, and with a snap, snap, snap, snap, and a bang, bang, bang, bang, you're lit up once more.[break][break]

now, on to business.[break][break]

not that there's much discussing happening. no, rather than addressing the twin donphan in the room, everyone seems much more content to chitter-chatter about petalburg. which, you suppose, is fair. after all, if you royally fucked everything up that badly, you wouldn't want to talk about it either. so, that just leaves you to address your beloved Lulu Flint and her inquiry into your newfound avatarship.[break][break]

"not hoopa." though, you must admit, the trickster certainly would've made a useful means to your ends. "better."[break][break]

idly, you pluck a pokeball from your belt.[break][break]

"any other guesses?"

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he's shred

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“Eh, what’s the worst that could happen?” Hitoshi asks, leaning back in his chair. Some part of him, which is motivated by a longing for nicotine rather than a desire to pick a fight, wants to light another cigarette. Discussions of dead women and empty cocoons set his nerves on edge.[break]
“She’s gonna come back as some butterfly zombie?” The words taste dumb on his lips as they pass out his mouth, but in these strange times, they don’t strike him as particularly absurd. Even death doesn’t seem to mean much, here in this queer land called Hoenn.[break]
His eyes focus on Tempest Quinn, nodding along with his words. Their big hitters can’t be everywhere at once. Rocket is one big, well-oiled machine. Even still, each part has to be slotted in. No piece of the whole can be omnipresent.[break]
“SPECTRA can plug any gaps with the big hitters missin’. There’s some promisin’ candidates I wanna test n’ recruit. Problem is…” His eyes first look to the scientists, Lulu Flint and Naomi Sato. Then, seeing their attention is elsewhere, he pivots to howard slayte and jayden cross.[break]
“We need more sygna suits, if you guys can fit it in the budget. I’ve heard somethin’ ‘bout those plates we found augmentin’ the suits. What’s the deal with that?”

[attr="class","hitoshi-notes"]❖ Hitoshi theorizes Elisabeth will come back as a zombie butterfly. More seriously, he addresses Tempest Quinn's point and tells the scientists & combat/budget admins that SPECTRA needs more sygna suits if the budget/technology is there. Asks about the plates and what their deal is in relation to the suits.
❖ Honedge is sheathed and resting against the table.

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