it's strange seeing her boss play a drunken fool. katja wonders if he's drawing inspiration from personal experience, or if the façade is pilfered from something he saw in a movie. regardless, his next drop-in at the bank will be interesting. she deals his cards with the same impartial-yet-friendly act she has had to pick up for this mission. while she doesn't have the confidence in her acting chops to do what he's doing, she can certainly dial up her accountant-working-with-a-very-rich-client customer service voice. 
[break][break]
the signal is communicated seamlessly. with a rigged deck, she doesn't have to worry too much about his hand. she deals each player their cards in turn, taking a cursory glance at each total as she does. "what would you gentlemen like to do?" she asks the players who hit, sinking back into that comfortable-looking lean. she gazes at the first man expectantly, her right thumb taps against the edge of the table again. 
[break][break]
watching a drunken del mar somehow manage to hit his way to a win will surely embolden the more sober characters at this table.
[break][break]

+ space does not really know card games but she will fake it til she makes it in rigged gacha rolls 4 Martín del Mar

"i'm looking for dragon-types. i specialize in them." this is her go-to place to search for them. she doesn't really know the other dragon-hunting locations around hoenn so she finds herself relying on this place to bulk out her team. maybe she should ask zayn to poke around hq and see if anyone has a list of dragon-spottings. 
[break][break]
as her dragalge gets to work on the garchomp, vic answers her question, but not really. katja tilts her head slightly, one brow quirked in confusion. not really either? he says with a unovan lilt to his voice. she asked only to distract him from the pokemon battle going on behind him, but her interest is piqued a little by this mystery. strange, she thinks, nodding attentively as he winds through the rest of his non-answer.
[break][break]
"ah," she hums as if she understands. over his shoulder, the garchomp is felled by a dragon pulse. "well. welcome to hoenn."
[break][break]
she excuses herself from the conversation to toss a ball at the dragon-type. after a few quivers, the ball gives a little ding that brings a hint of excitement glowing behind her eyes. it's a there-and-gone warmth, beaten back down by whatever team rocket has put her through. she excuses herself again to go collect the pokeball and sees more pokemon have stepped out of their hiding spots to see what's going on.
[break][break]
her eyes linger on the seadra for a moment, but then she shakes her head at her eager dragalge. not this one. "um, do you want that one?" she asks vic tentatively, pointing towards the seahorse. he seems to like them well enough, given he also has a dragalge. 
[break][break]

+ Victor Wexler skipping pog

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

he doesn't know, how very helpful of him. it's for the best that he's stupid — a trap can often masquerade as a suggestion. in truth, there isn't another option for the ghost-type, no safe place to manifest itself into when this place becomes overrun with greedier, less diplomatic humans. and what does a pokemon do when it feels cornered?
[break][break]
"if bad people are coming, i should stay and defend this forest. this is my home, and no one can take it from me."
[break][break]
"not anyone. not you." her fingers loosen on the pokeball she's been brandishing and it drops impotently into the grass at their feet, rolling away a small distance. with a growl of frustration, she swings at him with her other fist. 
[break][break]

+ paranormal activity 4 @zayn

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"i am, but i haven't really found what i'm looking for here yet." she tells him, folding her arms across her chest.  behind vic, past the bridge, a garchomp burrows out from the dirt. katja's eyes widen a little — then she snaps her attention back to vic. 
[break][break]
"i'm katja." she sticks her hand out, offering a handshake with a ghost of a smile. hopefully the waterfall drowns out the garchomp's burrowing. hopefully the handshake distracts vic from the way her eyes flit between her dragalge and the wild pokemon. "are you from around here or just visiting?"
[break][break]
her dragalge swims to a better vantage point and sticks her head out of the water. a small blue orb begins to form in front of her face, growing larger as more energy gathers. the wild garchomp notices too late. the dragon pulse flies, hitting it square in the chest. it tumbles over.
[break][break]
"excuse me—" katja breaks from their conversation to throw a pokeball at it.
[break][break]

+ Victor Wexler  catching garchomp pog

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

between working at a bank and being called on for missions, katja rarely runs into anyone as outgoing and friendly as this guy. her face warms as he compliments her taste in pokemon. "ah, thank you."  the soft, pleasant laugh coming up her throat has an edge of discomfort, or maybe its awkwardness. "you too."
[break][break]
"she—" doesn't have a name. the answer dies on her tongue as the churning water below drags her attention away. her dragalge makes short work of the sharpedo while another dragalge—his, she assumes—shoots a hydro pump at an axew. direct hit. 
[break][break]
katja watches him catch the axew with a twinge of envy. i guess we're both here for the same reason.
[break][break]
a starmie floats to the surface of the water to see what all the commotion is about. its diluted sixth-generation colors are different enough from previous generations to make a trainer think it's a shiny starmie at a glance, but no, hold your pogchamps — it's just a palette change.
[break][break]

katja signals for her dragalge to leave it be.
[break][break]

+ Victor Wexler  skipping pog

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

katja stiffens when zayn turns to face her, cocking her arm back like she intends to sic her pokemon on him. could he be one of these very bad people he is so urgently warning her about? as he tries to appeal to her, she stops just short of humming the pokeball at his head and considers the suggestion.
[break][break]
"safer..." she sighs out. "and where would that be?"
[break][break]

+ paranormal activity 4 @zayn

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

the use of the word "person" makes her wrinkle her nose, but she doesn't completely shut down the question. "i'm a forest spirit. i protect these woods from the likes of you two."
[break][break]
she shambles after him, white-knuckling her pokeball. 
[break][break]

"'we really meant no harm here'," she mimics, anger a thin edge in her voice. "you humans are all the same. liars, all of you."
[break][break]

+ paranormal activity 4 @zayn

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

"good boy," she growls out, her wrist tensing up beneath his touch. if anything, her fingers curl tighter. "that's more like it."
[break][break]
the deal gives her pause. her grip loosens a little, but she doesn't lose her leverage quite yet. her eyes search his face, devoid of any glint or warmth that might fool him into believing that it's still her in there.  
[break][break]

"i'll let 'k' go once you're out of my forest. not a step sooner." she gives him a small shove as she lets go of his shirt in an attempt to dislodge his hands from her wrist. clumsily, she reaches for her belt with her other, uncoordinated hand and brandishes a pokeball.
[break][break]

"take us out of the forest." she takes a wobbly step, much like a newborn deerling. "and don't you dare try anything — i can do a whole lot of damage to this new body of mine." she croaks out a laugh. 
[break][break]

+ paranormal activity 4 @zayn

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

another person's voice rises over the rumble of the falls. katja turns her head and looks over her shoulder, her eyes snapping down and back up again as she appraised his outfit. tourists, she thinks, following his gaze toward the water below. "oh." this is a popular spot to hunt for dragon-types. is he thinking—? 
[break][break]
she lifts her hands, a careful gesture for him to put any ideas he might have to rest. "the dragalge down there is mine."
[break][break]
below, the water foams purple and her dragalge breaks the river's surface with a splash of her tail. katja furrows her brow and lifts one foot up onto the bridge, shoulders tense. a fin rises from the water as her pokemon doubles back around and beaches the sharpedo into the shallows with a poison tail. 
[break][break]
the dragalge looks at her expectantly.
[break][break]
pushing herself to her feet, katja fishes an empty pokeball from her belt and tosses it at the sharpedo. 
[break][break]

+ Victor Wexler  catching sharpedo pog

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

katja fidgets with the collar of her shirt, leaning over the bathroom sink to take a closer look at herself in the mirror. there's a lot riding on this mission — not just as a team rocket member, but as an employee in her day life as well. the surprise at seeing her boss at a team rocket meeting still lingers in the back of her mind, stirring itself up every so often as she prepares. it feels like she has to impress him two times over, somehow.
[break][break]
she brushes her hair off her shoulder and takes a breath. with one last appraising look at herself, she leaves the bathroom. 
[break][break]
"good evening, gentlemen," she greets politely as players make their way to her table. she shuffles a deck of cards and makes pleasant small talk that tastes odd on her tongue. after bets are placed, she deals each their cards in turn, then puts down one of her own cards for her patrons to look at — an eight. 
[break][break]
she leans her weight against the table casually, her hands resting sideways against the edge. as the other players consider their options, she taps her right thumb softly against the table's edge, the tempo matching her faux impatience. hit.
[break][break]

+ space learns how to card games in rigged gacha rolls 4 Martín del Mar