She could pop that petite little head of hers like an oran berry, dig her nails into that porcelain skin and watch it bleed down her fingers.

But she doesn't, because her rage, her grief, her pain isn't directed at her. Illeana is not the problem, the problem lies in the bloodied hands of whoever had run their Pokemon's drill through her brothers heart.

So her hand falls away and forms a fist next to the scientist's head, knuckles pressing into the wall to redirect her aggression. And then it falls away and Remi leans back from her, exasperated and overwhelmed. She doesn't make eye-contact with her anymore for fear of what she might find. It hardly even phases her, even though it should, that the woman hadn't flinched.

"Don't act like you care. Pretty bitches like you are full of empty words. Like fucking puppets."

Her words are biting, venomous, said with the intent to inflict pain and suffering. She shares her hurt freely, willing to do damage if it means the weight on her shoulders might feel lighter. She's a bully because hurting others means she doesn't have to think about her own hurt.

"If they killed him, then yeah, I do blame them for his death. If they didn't, well, they've partnered up with the fucker who knows what happened and evidently did nothing."

She couldn't even fathom it. Being chosen by a deity, by a god, and being allowed to die anyway. What good were they if they couldn't even protect their chosen?

illeana reyes

☉

Really, he should have lost interest. She probably would have, had the roles been reversed.

She can see the switch, see his gears turning and his opinion shifting and his mood changing. One second, his smirk deepens and grows hungry. She can feel his skin jump at her touch, hear his blood rush to a focal point, see his eyes glint with something dangerous.

And then she sees confusion and surprise flicker and choke out his lust just as quickly as it had come.

Somehow, though, the man puts himself back on track. He answers her question and seems.. genuinely interested in some small, fleeting capacity, in her stupid Chia pet switch. Fortunately, he has the sense to bring the conversation back around to what they both were actually interested in.

"I could clear my schedule."

The phone screen goes dark and she puts it in her back pocket. Her smirk deepens and her attention refocuses. She pulls him forward by his belt loop, lets her hips bump against him with a raised eyebrow.

"Lead the way, love."

virgil roach

☉

Now, Remi isn't here to kill anyone. Really, she isn't even interested in hurting anybody. All she came here for was the Gardevoir. Rocket paid handsomely for specific shit, and she was more than happy to oblige. It's why she lets Theo do all the hard work and let's him draw blood and the like.

Because she is literally only here for one thing.

The Gardevoir, suffering from their poisoning and rattled by the fight breaking out, are easy targets for the woman to toss empty pokeballs at. One or two are hopefully sealed in their capsules and quickly retrieved thanks to the power of God and Anime - science.

But she does lose her footing when a gigantic Steelix pops out of one of these similar capsules. It is all she can do to tuck the Gardevoir balls into her pants and hit the road. She stumbles, the ground suddenly uneven, and she covers her ears as the Pokemon screams.

Skuntank does not advance further after pushing the Delphox back. There's no reason to. She merely serves as a distraction and a barrier to protect her trainer while she does all the work. Their job was done, mostly, and it was time to get the hell out of there. But instead of running, the League was turning up the heat.

Cool and everything, but she'd like to go home and get paid now.

"Can we go now, then?"

Theo releases a Banette, the ground keeps shaking, and at some point, Remi looks over and her Skuntank is belly-up. She's tensed up and grimaced and there are a dozen sharp rock spikes sticking up out of the ground and all of a sudden the Stelix is now ten times bigger and way scarier.

"Cause I'd like to go now, boss."

She returns her Skuntank and picks up and returns her Seadra that she had unceremoniously dropped on the ground, and glances back at the underboss. She hates looking up to authority, but she seeks out his now. The situation had escalated and she was running out of quirky moves to get out of here with.

Greyson Connors THEO BECKETT

☉

This sort of job wasn't exactly beneath her, especially given her infamy and reputation, but the fact that she was doing it at all was pretty surprising.

Okay, maybe not.

Rocket tipped her off to a surprise artifact or unknown treasure in the depths of Shoal cave. And, like the wannabe pirate she is, she couldn't pass up an opportunity for a get-rich-quick scheme.

What she really wasn't prepared for was for her to not be alone in her task. Rocket advocated teamwork far more than she anticipated. And, because she refused to divulge her fear of dragons, naturally, Rocket partners her up with a woman who rides one.

Naturally.

It makes her even more aware of the Dratini wrapped around her neck like a scarf. Discomfort prickles at the back of her mind as she approaches her partner and her Garchomp. She purposely avoids making eye contact with the beast, staring hard as fuck at the woman instead.

"You sure you're dressed for cave spelunking?"

She gestures to the fancy faux-fur jacket and the way she looks it over after dismounting her Garchomp. The woman looked like she had just crawled out of a refrigerator or freezer, and yet still wasn't warm.

katja weiss

☉

Her hand covers her eyepatch, hiding it from him. But he sees it, he sees her, and his voice is so soft as he reaches for her. Once again, his hand brushes against hers, his warmth reaches her cheek. Her breath catches once again, her feelings bubble to the surface.

All of this time apart, all of the effort she'd spent trying to forget. And in one look, in one touch, it all comes flooding back.

Her cheek twitches as she pulls the eyepatch up and off. It unties and slips away, and she glances away instinctively as the cool air touches what she keeps covered up at all times. It feels odd, feels unnatural and unsafe. She is exposed, the scarring almost painful against the cold.

"You really don't have to look at it."

You don't have to look at me.

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

Remi, knuckles pressed into her cheek as she observes her Spinda, does a double-take as a head of bright pink hair comes barrelling onto the stage set-up. She isn't really by any means familiar in the sense she can put a name to a face, but there is something about her that makes Remi squint. And it isn't just because she's beautiful, or an airhead that just ran straight into an invisible wall.

It's definitely that she's seen a poster or a news article or something with Melody's face on it and that's why she squints and stares. It helps, too, that the woman has run face-first into an invisible wall and slides to the floor in a heap. She groans, speaks to a Mr. Rime, and looks forlorn as she stares through the wall to the three clumsy Spinda.

"You didn't break your nose, did you? Be a shame to get blood all over the stage."

Remi inclines her head to get a better look at Melody's face as she approaches. But her attention quickly snaps to one of her Spinda as the Pokemon trips, slips, and flips onto its back. It begins to cry profusely, stunned by its clumsiness. Its little arms flail wildly as it sobs, and Remi moves to pick up the small panda, only to also run into the invisible reflect.

mission: coordinator choreography

Melody Miro

☉

Adrenaline is high and she really, really has to pee. It feels reiminscent of that time she wore a Stantler onesie to a Christmas party and had no way of using the washroom without stripping down butt ass naked. Except this time she doesn't have antlers, and this time there isn't a mile-long line up, just an impending sense of doom. It'd suck to die with your pants around your ankles.

Her Teddiursa squirms in her grasp, sharp bear claws dig into her shoulder. It prompts her to hold the little bear a little tighter for fear she squirm right out of her arms. Fortunately, that is not the case. In fact, the Teddiursa manages to save her life. The BABY-DOLL EYES stun the approaching Kleavor into hesitation and Lulu Flint's Darkrai makes short work of taking it down.

For that, when they all manage to catch their breath and throw up behind bushes and take their quick pee breaks, Remi glances back to shoot the intimidating dark-haired woman a thumbs-up.

One quick glance over their ragtag group and the ones surrounding them depicts blood, gore, and tears. No one has really come out unscathed. Some are bleeding, some are dying, some are so out of breath their eyes look about ready to pop out of their socks. Really, it's disgusting. All she can smell is sweat and fear and piss.

"Well, that was messed up, yeah?"

She shifts the Teddiursa onto her other hip, booping the baby bear's nose gently before following after KING WAYLAND, THEO BECKETT and Lulu Flint. King and Theo both move to investigate the supposed fangs, and she nudges one with her toe before glancing up to stare at the shrines.

In her other hand, she still grips tight her carved, word-filled bamboo stick. She waves it in the air and glances around for someone to pay attention to her.

"Anybody else have creepy words carved into their sticks? Just me? Cool."

Just as her foot might bump against a fang she stands next to, Kano Iyona calls KING WAYLAND a dunderhead and suggests maybe not touching the fangs are a good idea. She frowns, because he's probably right, and then she side-steps away.

"So.. what's the plan, then? We all just gonna stand here with our hands in our pants and not touch anything? Seems sort of boring."

notes:
- throws a thumbs-up to lulu
- follows theo and king to the fangs
- nudges one with her foot
- coddling teddiursa
- asks abt her etched bamboo stick
- curious about the shrines
- suggesting that standing around humming and hawing is probably counterproductive

KING WAYLAND THEO BECKETT Lulu Flint

☉

Remi stands there, thumb and forefinger pressed to her cheekbone and her temple. She pushes up, leaving an exasperated crinkle in her forehead. She stares straight ahead, unblinking, at the three clumsy, uncoordinated Spinda spinning aimlessly in a tizzy on the stage.

Cameras are shooting and video cameras are rolling, someone is throwing up sparkles to add 'pizzaz' or whatever it is they had said. It all really comes together to sound like an incessant bug buzz.

But all Remi can see is a mess. Granted, she had done this out of the kindness of her heart. She had seen a poster or a sign or something in passing that had immediately made her think of her bears. A dancing program, that soon turned out to be a coordinating contest signup sort of operation.

Whatever the case, it had been a spontaneous decison made to better her Spinda's day. Not something serious that required them to be perfect. But somehow, motherly instincts kick in and she wants them to be perfect. So her deadpan, disappointed stare lingers in spite of the good-hearted fun they're having.

mission: coordinator choreography

Melody Miro

☉

It surprises her more, somehow, when he pulls away. She notes the way his hand hovers after he's pulled it back, only to hang loose at his side.

Remi glances up at him, eye wide. She looks.. younger, like her old self - a deer in headlights.

"It's.. not great."

He doesn't have to ask, but she knows what he wants. Discomfort flits across her face briefly as she considers revealing her injury. Once upon a time, she had trusted him with.. everything.

"I.. I don't look the same. It's quite ugly."

I'm ugly.

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

Remi's smile lingers, even widens, at his response. He licks his lips, and hers twitch in response. With a lazy movement, she sets her glass down on the bar before stepping closer to him.

Discreetly, she reaches forward to gently hook a finger into the waist of his pants. She doesn't push nor pull, doesn't take control. It is a test, perhaps, or a question. She tilts her head, meets his warm gaze with her own much colder one.

"Then.. shall we?"

In other words: yes, she was coming onto him. He was a handsome man with a good taste in booze. Though she told herself she wasn't the type to slip up- she didn't consider this slipping. She considered this satisfying a hunger and letting base instinct have its way with her.

Probably.

With a glance to the side, she spies an empty space that would aptly fit a Chia pet. The damn things had been popping up on her phone lately due to a misclicked ad while drunk. She'd gone down a rabbit hole of different types of figures. Laden with the hint of a buzz, she chuckles.

"What do you think of Chia pets?"

From her phone, she fishes out a picture of what looks like a Shaymin-shaped Chia pet.

virgil roach

☉