"Do you so enjoy the taste of leather," she caught herself wanting to snap back, "to lick Walsh's boots so thoroughly?"[break][break]

"And yet, you're undermining me now," she said instead, standing her ground with unerring stubbornness. "You aren't speaking to me as a peer, but as a minion. Did you forget? I don't serve you, Beckett. But if you feel like tattling on me to Walsh, well."[break][break]

A huff of air escaped her as she let out a derisive laugh. The mental image of that meeting both incensed and entertained her thoroughly.[break][break]

"Tell him you think I'm a treasonous snake if you want. My actions speak for me, and will continue to speak for me."[break][break]

Two Avatarships to wield for Rocket. Two League Avatars, fallen, as a result of her actions. One councilman briefly compromised due to her efforts.[break][break]

What were a few heated words with THEO BECKETT in comparison? The scales would tip in her favor, she knew. Her value to the organization outweighed his threat.[break][break]

For now, another voice warned. That might change. Things always change.[break][break]

THEO BECKETT was a prime example of that.[break][break]

"Besides. You of all people are in no place to take the high ground when it comes to treason."

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Mm. I don't think I limit her at all. No more than her previous patron did, at least."[break][break]

Elisabeth's brow furrowed at the reminder of FERNANDO SILPH, struggling to articulate the nature of her bond, and ultimately wondered if that accuracy mattered. No one understood Legendary Pokemon to their fullest capacity, she well knew, not even their Avatars.[break][break]

Especially their Avatars, sometimes.[break][break]

"If I might give you some advice, Abadi? I'd let your observations in Hoenn inform your research, rather than the other way around."[break][break]

How many times had people in Hoenn proclaimed to understand the myths and legends of their culture, only to witness something in this universe that didn't align? She thought of lam logan's Tapu Koko, from a world that none of them recognized, and frowned.[break][break]

"This world has so much about it that is unknowable. So many phenomena that we have yet to explain. Tapu Fini is uniquely herself, an enigmatic and self-serving deity like many others. Viewing her from the way we expect familial relations to exist as humans, hm... It may not fully translate."[break][break]

When she exhaled, the faintest shimmer of pink dusted her sigh as she regarded the other woman.[break][break]

"I believe I understand what Tapu Fini wants, however." A beat, and then a single all-encompassing word: "Revenge."

[attr="class","ooc"] ameena abadi

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I'm pleased to see you're continuing this research further. Do let me know if I can assist you in it."[break][break]

It was a mild sort of praise, but praise nonetheless. Winning the arms race with the League when it came to the latest scientific phenomena was paramount, and people like soyeon kwan were the only way they'd succeed in that endeavor.[break][break]

Nonetheless, it startled her to have her courteous offer taken immediately, and she blinked her green eyes once then twice before offering a hesitant nod.[break][break]

"I haven't planned for another upcoming excursion to Area Zero," she said, pausing a moment, "but I'll potentially reconsider, given the importance of this mission. I'll keep in touch."[break][break]

Either way, she was sure it wasn't the last time that she'd hear from soyeon kwan.

[attr="class","ooc"] soyeon kwan

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ah, but they're both two spools of unraveling thread, aren't they? Each of them are fraying at the seams. What's left of them to unmake?[break][break]

"The nightmare doesn't end," Elisabeth hears herself say. "Not here, and not out there. We both know better."[break][break]

Or perhaps she's the nightmare, and has always been the nightmare. How many women have threatened her the way that freya morningstar threatens her now?[break][break]

What power do they believe she's still capable of wielding, pitiful as she is? An incredulous laugh bubbles out of her despite herself, scornful and disbelieving.[break][break]

"What do you imagine me doing to him? To anyone?"[break][break]

To be feared lightens her, somehow. It means some of her power has yet to flee her.[break][break]

"Surviving is exhausting enough."

[attr="class","ooc"] freya morningstar

Prismatic Penitentiary: Ugly Ward

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The temperature seemed to plummet all around them, icy as any artificial winter that jayden cross's HATE could summon. Her fingers tightened on the arm of her chair, gripping it until her knuckles went white.[break][break]

"I delivered both MATIAS SILPH and kyle lopez to declan walsh on a silver platter," she began, slow and even, "and now you tell me he wishes for me to pick at the corpse of the former Elite Four like a Mandibuzz?"[break][break]

He was bluffing. He had to be. She didn't trust THEO BECKETT as far as she could throw him.[break][break]

The tiniest sliver of that possibility, nonetheless, still existed.[break][break]

"It must be demeaning, being reduced to this." A false softness entered her tone, cloying in its pity. "Playing errand boy for the head of Rocket, after all you've accomplished in your tenure."[break][break]

This time, her wistful smile was genuine. She positioned her knife just so, then struck.[break][break]

"But Kanto was a long time ago, wasn't it? And Rocket has a short memory."

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"You misunderstand me. It's not that I require reassurance of safety. It's that I am uninterested in taking the risk at all."[break][break]

No contingency could reassure her. No 'back-up' could keep her secure. Her loss was never anyone else's loss.[break][break]

Rocket would discard her as easily as he discarded the used cigarette in his ash tray, and mourn her as briefly.[break][break]

"You could always whore yourself out to MATIAS SILPH, instead," she suggested, letting her eyes lazily flit over his frame. "What you lack in charisma you could make up for in sheer, stubborn persistence."[break][break]

Half of her knew her sneering mockery was pouring more kerosene on the tatters of her burning reputation; the other half of her simply didn't care.

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Is that right?"[break][break]

His smoke seeped into her clothing, tangled itself in her hair, and soured her every breath. Through the grey haze, she kept her eyes fixed upon him, refusing to let him escape her scrutiny.[break][break]

A suppressed laugh, its incredulity a smothered and strangled sound, rattled the cage of her ribs.[break][break]

"So when MATIAS SILPH wants revenge on me for what I've done, you'll be the ones with his hands on your throat?"[break][break]

Without preamble, she began to unbutton the first few buttons of her blouse, revealing her collarbone and the ring of bruises that bloomed a purple ring about her neck.[break][break]

Hate sparked like flint in her emerald eyes as she leaned back in her chair.[break][break]

"Well," she said, exhaling a soft scoff despite herself. "How reassuring."

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The man couldn't be serious. He wanted her to face MATIAS SILPH after all that she'd done to him?[break][break]

Every fiber of Elisabeth's being resisted this implication, shoulders tensing and jaw clenching as she bit back the vehement 'no' she wanted to shout back at him.[break][break]

"You greatly overestimate my influence," she said instead, keeping her voice calm even though her nails dug into her skin. "A significant shift in circumstances occurred between then and now."[break][break]

The smoke filling the room had become suffocating. It suddenly hurt to breathe.[break][break]

"kyle lopez died. His death is directly tied to me, and with it, MATIAS SILPH is painted a laughingstock and a traitor. Whatever love Matias believed he had for me, his grief and his rage will be greater."[break][break]

She'd predicted this what felt like a thousand years ago: that she'd disappoint him, before he had the chance to disappoint her.

[attr="class","ooc"] THEO BECKETT

[attr="class","pkmn"]

The dragon's OUTRAGE met the indifference of a SPIKY SHIELD as Wo-chien curled in upon itself defensively, waiting for the Hydreigon to exhaust itself with its own tantrum.[break][break]

"You have no right to deny me what I've claimed," Elisabeth snarled, clutching the poisoned crystabloom possessively tight in her hand.[break][break]

Vines that sought Andrea Vaneau plummeted, grasping at empty air, but shifted and changed in their descent to form a wall of thorns to deny her aerial assault. They rose up like some mythic labyrinth in a fairy tale, obscuring both Elisabeth Fiorelli and her Ruinous Beast from view as the forest turned terrifyingly alive with their mutual resentment.[break][break]

"Be grateful I have more important matters to attend to than you, brat," were her parting words, fading into the rustling of leaves.[break][break]

When the thicket of thorns and vines finally collapsed, whether due to Chomper or Andrea Vaneau's efforts, neither the woman nor her Pokemon would be visible in the aftermath.[break][break]

Escaping a loss had always been her favored win condition, empty and hollow as those victories tended to be.

[attr="class","ooc"] Andrea Vaneau

[attr="class","pkmn"]