Lulu Flint

natalie's eyes remain fixed on the other scientist, reading her expressions. she was as difficult to read as THEO BECKETT was. she of course, regarded him fondly as 'blank'. their similarity was striking though. both gave off the impression of little plastic toy soldiers, fixed in their single roll. lulu seemed far too complex, though.

what was she missing?

"your stomach betrays you," she muses, reaching for one of the fried cheese sticks. she dips it generously in the sauce before taking a bite. a trail of cheese is created as she pulls away, but she gathers that up greedily between her teeth.

she ponders lulu's question for a moment, the tip of the cheese stick tapping against her lips. only after a few seconds does she answer.

"a few," she admits passively. she gives off no air of overexcitement or eagerness. her eyes scan the room before falling back on the avatar.

"are you sure this is the right place for them?"

another bite.

Killian Decker

all pretext falls away the second the creature appears from the orb. she shuts her laptop, likely cracking the screen in the process and leans forward. the arbok stirs beneath her but doesn't make any other movements.

he knew better than to interrupt her when she was focused like this.

"an ultra beast as i live and breathe."

she stands, turning a sharp gaze turns downwards at killian as the beast skitters away. his bait worked. she knew. he knew. she wasn't so proud to act coy about it.

"where did you get it? do you have more?"

Alexandra Briarwood | MISSION

"lex," natalie says, emphasizing the x for a second longer than normal. "pleasure."

she follows the red headed vixen further down the shadowed corridor, admiring the view. respectfully, of course. when her eyes flick up to the broken lights, she smiles, impressed.

they cling to the edge of night, and just out of sight of the nearby security camera. natalie, comfortable following the professional thief's lead, simply waits. curious hues of emerald watch as her shadow tears away, slipping under the nearby door.

"oh, how interesting."

she continues to follow, standing behind the woman as she reaches for the door, listening to her instructions.

"you certainly came prepared. i like it."

seeing her cue, natalie moves past lex and inside. from behind, an arbok slithers with, the massive serpent clinging to the shadows behind them since the beginning. she moves to the aforementioned door and opens it, a man in the midst of pouring a cup of coffee.

'who ar-' he starts, but in moments, the words die on his lips.

silhouetting natalie like an eclipse, the arbok's hood is a distraction for the inevitable GLARE of his peircing gaze. his body locks up and he drops the glass container full of steaming coffee, crashing against the tile below, following shortly behind.

natalie blinks at the mess. only one thought going through her mind.

"oops."

Killian Decker

natalie blinks.

"in the business of information, are you?" the rocket woman fingers stop, considering.

before she could continue, he reaches and places a capture ball in front of her, like pulling back the curtain to reveal the main star. it sparks a curiosity inside of her.

"i see," she says, tongue wetting her lips. "you get what you want. i get what i want. fuck the rest kind of thing, right?"

her smile was dangerous; inviting.

"i like it." she didn't break eye contact. "what's in the ball, killian?"

Killian Decker

natalie decided to play along.

"and what is it you're responsible for, killian? Cillian Quinn is the underboss. Lulu Flint head of these precious labs along side Miles Sharp . what role do you play?"

she blinked. her expression unchanged. fingers tapped against the desk like a trotting rapidash.

"friends? i'm open to the idea. what kind of friends?"

Cillian Quinn

an aide comes from the backroom wearing gloves and a surgical mask.

'dr. fairchild, we're ready.'

natalie nods then turns back towards the underboss.

"i see, that's quite interesting. most would kill to communicate with their pokemon the same way, much less a mythical one like yours."

she nods to herself, standing. with a the back of her foot she moves the wheeled stool back and out of the way.

"mr. merlino we will pause the questioning for now, while we conduct the lumbar puncture. because of the nature of our testing, we can not provide an anesthetic."

natalie pauses the recording before moving to the side, allowing gavin the ability move past her, should he so choose.

@dakota

natalie spots a number of well-known individuals, though, her focus only really falls on two. Eva Morales and FERNANDO SILPH . she'd wait before approaching them.

now wasn't the right time.

curious emerald hues turn to the voice that calls to her, seeing a young man approach. her eyes linger on his identification badge, then back up to his face.

"dakota, was it?"

she tilts her head slightly.

"have we met before? i feel like your face is familiar."

it wasn't. but it felt like a nice thing to say. his name sparked a memory, however, but she couldn't place it. she'd play the patient game and wait for the inevitable introduction.

Killian Decker

"glad to meet another one who finds it vaguely odd and unnecessarily mysterious." she says through a small smile.

natalie watches and reads his body language; people were often more telling in their actions than words. to her eyes, killian seemed to be a man who was used to giving orders. sure, he'd taken them on occasion, but she sensed that wasn't his preference.

"you'd be surprised," natalie muses. "though, it was my understanding that mr. walsh was in charge, hm?" she raises an eyebrow, but thinks fondly of Cillian Quinn 's... 'quirks' when it came to the rocket boss.

perhaps killian would share a similar reaction?

"why is it you've come here specifically, killian?"