[attr="class","icon"]

carefully, the commissioner rests her fountain pen, careful not to let its nib run. she is quick to shake her head. dismissing the implications of her workaholism with a quick rise from her seat, dahlia beckons for her.[break][break]

"no need to wait. something the matter?"[break][break]

the commissioner walks around her heavy wooden desk. her heels are muted by the ornate rug beneath them.[break][break]

"always a pleasure to have one of my elite four here."

she is reminded of the primal crystal's first reveal. how it had refined or clarified powers. an imbuement of ancient energies... but that is not what she had been referring to.[break][break]

still, it is a fruitful detour.[break][break]

"maybe! i can't be too sure. i'd rather us find another route... primal intoxication is incurable. a horrible way to die." the commissioner frowns and wrings her hands out as if in prayer.[break][break]

"but what i was meaning to say is that sea hoenn has one known primal energy source." she says. "their primordial kyogre. if we can take that leviathan out... and expand the knowledge we have of our own, then we will be most assuredly prepared for whatever they throw at us."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] illeana reyes[break]

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

[attr="class","icon"]

though it is quite delayed, perhaps due to the pendulum swing back to routine—whatever that may be—a parcel of goods is returned to fiorelli floristry by Locke Jamison's delibird deliveries service.

THE HOENN LEAGUE[break]
DAHLIA GOODE'S OFFICE

[break][break]

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude and appreciation for your generous gift.[break][break]

Enclosed is a commemorative pokeball, emblazoned with the League's colors, for you to use or enjoy at your leisure. As we work to address the great challenges of our era, we hope you will continue your great work.[break][break]

Warmly,[break][break]

evidently, the florist's business is doing well, for the commissioner had received an identical poinsettia gift from FERNANDO SILPH....

dahlia listens. listens well. what callan proposes can not immediately be dismissed. there is merit in the dialogue, and yet, when her administration has been continually admonished by both rocket and league for being too soft, too light-handed like the pin feather of some limping ducklett, she can not believe it to be that easy.[break][break]

there is risk in the way deception flows so quietly. like a vein close to the skin, it spills in surplus when finally found and cut. granting a pardon means revealing vulnerability.[break][break]

"no, no." dahlia says, though her voice flows soft beneath her thoughts. "i can see why you feel this way and how it could be to our benefit. we have done it before."[break][break]

she sighs and her stoutland sleepily shifts onto its side.[break][break]

"but we need to approach this slowly. with an inundation of intel and surveillance. persons like Adrian Malcolm and Remiel Calcifet have allied themselves with a terrorist organization... it would not be a surprise should they flick their switches back to their original positions."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Callan Young[break]

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

when transactions are executed, each party loses some part of themselves. money. property. argument or moral ground. no matter the state of balance in the exchange, compromise ensures that the original states of each being involved are changed. reconfigured for better or worse.[break][break]

yet, when transactions involve legendary pokemon and ordinary humans, the small sacrifices are concealed. like the microfractures of a rotom phone. it is only a matter of time until the whole screen cracks.[break][break]

"if many of them are what we say are avatars, then i don't understand the need of such items indeed." dahlia says.[break][break]

"but we have an advantage, illeana! all of their markings... those primal markings originate from what?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] illeana reyes[break]

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

"oh callan."[break][break]

dahlia's voice is airy. almost a sigh, but not quite, as if thinned to the slightest suggestion of an inhale to prevent offense.[break][break]

though she is commissioner, she can not help but stumble upon the slightest twinge of awkwardness. like Melody Miro's, Callan Young's stardom grants an invisible film of leniency though dahlia may not detect such a process.[break][break]

"though i'm one to vouch for amnesty when it calls for it, the court of public opinion may crucify us for not adopting a firm, punitive stance..." [break][break]

the commissioner says.[break][break]

"play-pretend or not, these trainers are criminals. the ones with significant power and consequently, more agency, are more guilty... don't you think?"[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Callan Young[break]

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

dahlia's heart hastens. it is an incessant drum, the mallet she hears more akin to that of a chipping gavel.[break][break]

"i agree, illeana. more power." the commissioner says. "if we are to be sufficiently prepared for any outcome, we need the resources to match."[break][break]

she fights a frown cultivated by worried thought.[break][break]

"but what does power look like for you?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] illeana reyes[break]

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

"ah, you mean the relations between the pokemon themselves."[break][break]

the region's history has lived and breathed the weather trio's conflict over the centuries. cities have been built upon that scar tissue. lives orchestrated on its fibrous ranges, routine steps taken without knowing the very grounds they tread.[break][break]

"of course, it would be best," the commissioner says, "but if we look to history, rayquaza is indeed the peacemaker between titans. allyship with with the sky high pokemon should be enough, would it not?"[break][break]

she recalls her visit to the suffering serpent. freya morningstar and Eva Morales's company; the uncertainty billowing about as if they were vengeful howls. she knows the rayquaza remembers.[break][break]

remembers how it was expelled into the frozen void.[break][break]

"we have the AQUA initiative for that, anyway." dahlia says. "we can hold exercises for dealing with a kyogre. a groudon. a rayquaza... though i imagine their avatars could take some offense to that."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY[break]

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

[attr="class","icon"]

"oh no, no. not interrupting."[break][break]

petra's uninterrupted entrance speaks to the blood that runs through her veins. some part of dahlia resents it. she does her best to separate the monroe from it.[break][break]

"questions about secretary work?"[break][break]

dahlia's stoutland greets petra. presses its wet snout against their visitor's fingers, the scent familiar. the scent lifted from the oldest corners of this office too.

of course callan had survived worse. endured more than most. underneath the overlaid shadow of meteoroid and rocket, underneath the weight of public opinion and music critic, no cracks have formed.[break][break]

outwardly, at least. outwardly to her.[break][break]

"we should take control of the narrative while we can, callan." the commissioner says. "aggressively. the league can release an official statement too."[break][break]

dahlia shakes her head. her neat gold hairs stray from their set shape.[break][break]

"i imagine you haven't been able to talk to adrian since." the commissioner says. "the next time you see him may very well be on the battlefield."[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Callan Young[break]

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