[attr="class","icon"]

"up to the task? you mean, i'm entirely on board."[break][break]

dahlia moves behind her desk. she squats down and her prim figure disappears below the table top, save for a crown of blonde hair. [break][break]

a slender hand-blown bottle of whiskey is plucked and set on the desk. two glasses clang together between her fingers. [break][break]

"our little secret."

"death can't even stop you?"[break][break]

the commissioner laughs and the soft wind carries the sound carefully. a smile rests on her lips: the softest imprint of a somber introspection.[break][break]

"i should have known."[break][break]

dahlia sighs, only allowing a petal's worth of guilt to slip.[break][break]

"then what would you like to do? train new pokemon? scold naive officers and rangers who step out of line?"[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] ALEXANDER STONE[break]

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon mr-rime"]

[attr="class","icon"]

"oh, you won't let me down, but will you make mistakes?"[break][break]

the commmisioner says, her voice curling upward like a springing frond.[break][break]

"yes, you will. count on making countless mistakes." she says. "this is a new kind of job for you. one with greater freedoms, but intricate limitations. "[break][break]

dahlia lets go of razz. the truth of whether he will let her down or not remains to be seen in fact—but she will not stop from encouraging him. after all, someone is needed to balance and mitigate Laurence Anderson's icy attitude.[break][break]

"you'll learn as you go."

dahlia is quick to retrieve a notebook and pen. as josh recounts the scene, her pen glides quickly across the paper. there is little jumping of the pen tip; the ink swims from one word to the next.[break][break]

"what makes you believe the people in the organization are so separate from rocket the organization?" the commissioner maintains a polite smile. [break][break]

judgement refuses to break past the skin and instead she swallows dryly. [break][break]

"how is an organization run, josh?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Josh Devlin

[attr="class","icon"]

"my name?"[break][break]

the commissioner releases the hand shake. against her palm, she can feel the cyclones left from the tempest's grip.[break][break]

"alright, then." dahlia says. [break][break]

her voice is brighter. louder. both parts surprised and enthralled as if to match skyler's aggressive advance.[break][break]

"we'll send a draft of the contract to you with my name." [break][break]

dahlia says. "i hope i can win your full trust some day and if i don't?" she smiles.[break][break]

"then that is on me."

[attr="class","icon"]

"no, i haven't!" [break][break]

dahlia examines the plane giddily. though pokemon can be our wings, there is much marvel that can be found in crafts made only by the human hand.[break][break]

"will you be able to talk while flying?" the commissioner asks. [break][break]

her sneakers shuffle on the hangar floor as she attempts to peek at the seaplane's various instruments.[break][break]

"no need to focus as you fly?"

[attr="class","icon"]

within the office, a bodyguard stands by the wall. their face is obscured by sunglasses, and their posture is stiff and parallel. a pokeball remains in their hand, clapsed tight, with the finger pointed away from the central button.[break][break]

the commissioner bows back, mirroring the gesture softly. "certainly. take a seat."[break][break]

she is quick to move to her own: a chair of plush velvet with woodwork featuring carvings of hoenn's titans of land, sea, and air.[break][break]

"remiel calcifet." she takes time to enunciate the final 't'. "what brings you before me today?"

[attr="class","icon"]

gratitude arrives. it arrives as an uneven stroke against the desolate canvas where cascading and escalating falls flow like vines from one clump of land to another.[break][break]

but she appreciates it all the same.[break][break]

"it does, doesn't it? it feels bigger every time." [break][break]

the commissioner frowns. [break][break]

"do you feel as if we're a part of it? a part of the bigger picture... or do you feel like we're shrinking? like we just can't keep up."[break][break]

she wonders about agency. ponders fate.

"thank you for coming, josh." the commissioner states.[break][break]

dahlia pays little attention to the zeraora. though, she can sense its nerves. thankfully, her own pokemon are contained with their capsules, perhaps to avoid adding to josh's cocktail of anxiety.[break][break]

"well then," she settles into her chair behind her desk. "what happened? tell me concisely and remember to breathe."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Josh Devlin

dahlia frowns as the complications unravel like spinarak spiderlings casting their first webs. clumsy as they are, their lines catch upon each other, creating an intricate chaos of unintentional connection and consequence.[break][break]

"i'm glad you're safe, thomas. that's what matters first and foremost." the commissioner says. "even if yveltal has aligned itself with team rocket, we have our aqua initiative to take care of it."[break][break]

she takes another sip.[break][break]

"do you believe yourself to be lucky then? that yveltal didn't kill you."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Thomas Benoit[break]

[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon espeon"]