[attr="class","illie i"]her face shifts through stages of emotions. fear, anxiety, relief, until finally it ends on friendly. the dragon by her side, however, is not as welcoming to their new companions. he lets out a grunt, large arms moving to cross over a scaly chest. dragons will be dragons, she supposes.

the golurk in the foliage easily abandons whatever it had been pursuing in favor of drifting over, a loud rumble of greeting following the somewhat absorbed sounds of clay feet pounding into sand. another ghost, another ghost!

"you know," she begins with a laugh and a sheepish smile. "i was thinking the same thing!" she conveniently leaves out the part where she believed this woman was going to kill her because how do you place that into casual conversation? you don't, not without sounding crazy. oh well.

illeana steps a little closer, sand shifting beneath her toes. a hand is extending toward katherine, sheepishness slowly fading away with introductions. "katherine, it's a pleasure!" she's probably a bit too welcoming, a bit too eager with the prospect of making a new friend. the smile widens a bit as she rolls through her own introductions. "i'm illeana," a pause to tilt her head toward her dragonite. "that's eripio and the bumbling golurk is deus." as she speaks, her automaton joins their sides and offers an excited wave. a true child, that one.

her gaze wanders to the shore, to the ocean, to what lies beyond. and before she can stop herself, she's asking questions as if she doesn't already expect the answers to be similar to her own. "so, what brings you here? i can't imagine this opportunity is very high on anyone's bucket list." a sense of adventure, a need for money, a way of training. the possibilities are endless but she shifts her eyes to the woman anyway, the look in her glance caught halfway between curious and analytical.

[attr="class","illie i"]the golurk sort of understands that acknowledgement of katherine's aegislash. not really, but a blink is enough for it to relax and shift its attention from pokemon to trainer. where her possessed sword is indifferent, katherine is all smiley and he loves smiley! perhaps that's why he drifts a little closer with a coo, a hand extending to almost mirror the exchange between women.

eripio scoffs at the automaton's actions but offers nothing further. perhaps him and the aegislash would almost be birds of a feather in that sense. illeana, meanwhile, is just delighted their company is friendly and not an axe murderer. "likewise!" a laugh follows before she's glancing toward her over excited automaton. the golurk really is like one large, clay puppy. it's adorable. "thank you! i'm sure deus would be thrilled to meet your phantump," thrilled is a bit of an understatement, given the way it perks up a little further at the prospect of new friends.

she's retracting her hand only to wave it around as if the reasoning katherine provides isn't bad in the slightest. "oh, no! not bad at all!" the smile she flashes, then, is reassuring. "it's basically like a chance to test yourself and make a little extra cash, right?" almost like getting paid to train, in a sense. she can see the appeal for sure. another laugh escapes the scientist and her eyes drift toward the playing milotic, fondness creeping onto her features. "i hope it's a well-deserved vacation, then! although, it'll be a shame when you have to separate her from the ocean." and when the focus shifts onto her, she's opening her mouth to provide an answer before promptly shutting it once more.

her cheeks flare with a rosy tint upon katherine's gaze roaming over her. a hand rises subconsciously to fiddle with the ends of her hair as if she isn't sure what to do beneath a microscope. options are shifted through like cards in a deck and while katherine touches upon a few reasons that could work, she's uncertain which one it'd actually be. a soft sigh escapes illeana before she's offering another smile. "i wish it were a vacation," she murmurs wistfully. and while it could be work-related, it's more personal than that. more like escaping something, if she really had to put a name to it. her voice is soft when she gives an answer. "you'd be right with escaping something. good answer," she praises briefly, the corners of her lips quirking up for a moment before settling into a soft line.

her eyes shift to the milotic in the ocean, to the waves that brush against the shore. "i suppose this is a test for myself," she offers. there's a pause for a moment before she's looking to katherine once more. "to escape that feeling of not being strong enough. is that bad?"