"...Ah. Non-alcoholic. Of course."[break][break]

Hadn't she signed off on the boba tea bar? How embarrassing to forget the details of her own event.[break][break]

Elisabeth stared down at the coffee boba the little Clefairy fetched for her, debating the merits of rejecting it in front of the woman who was sponsoring her own party, when a flask from an unexpected source was slipped into her hand.[break][break]

"Well," she said finally, sensing the Pokemon was waiting for a reply. She cleared her throat. "Thank you, Clefairy."[break][break]

Hm. An immunity to toxins meant perhaps she could mix a stimulant and a depressive without issue, no?[break][break]

This backwards logic invited her to take a sip of the boba out of politeness and pleasantry, while she drank the flask the moment Xiura Balfaltin's back was turned.[break][break]

"Are you also looking to enjoy some boba, then?" she asked, turning towards ALOE EON and Vanessa Kingsley. An eyebrow arched curiously, regarding them each with a cool sweep of her green eyes. They lingered a little longer on Vanessa, admiring her own outfit for the evening, before flitting back up to measure them both. "Or did you want audience with an underboss for some reason?"[break][break]

Across the room, she caught sight of BARNABY FINCH at his empty poker table, and decisively took another swig of the whiskey to avoid eye contact. [break][break]

---

[break]

TLDR:[break]
- Awkwardly accepts the boba from Xiura's Clefairy.[break]
- Drinks both a caffeinated beverage and alcohol, surely nothing can go wrong.[break]
- Asks Aloe & Vanessa what they want.[break]
- We are definitely not keeping an eye on Admin Bee BECAUSE WE TOTALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT HIM, hmph. Why would you even think that?! God!

[attr="class","ooc"] Xiura Balfaltin ALOE EON Vanessa Kingsley BARNABY FINCH[break][break]

OUTFIT

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Huh. A curious distinction, that.[break][break]

Elisabeth hummed to herself, mulling over this discovery as she refilled her drink. That makes sense, she figured. All deities had a different sphere of influence.[break][break]

Wo-chien's was the personal, feeding on the emotional state on humanity and leeching off the lifeforce of its surroundings.[break][break]

Tapu Fini, similar to Groudon and Kyogre, was a force of nature.[break][break]

Beings like Necrozma, and perhaps Palkia and Dialga, had greater territory as their domain. Vaster than she could potentially imagine.[break][break]

"I think I'm content in my own insignificance," she said then, and drained her glass again. "It's a heavy responsibility you bear, balancing the weight of such power with such delicate finesse."[break][break]

For once, her answer rang with full sincerity, no trace of mockery or derision to be found.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"I think Hoenn has a mixed opinion on your heroics," she reminded him, mounting her Glastrier as she descended into the water. This close to the docks, it was shallow enough to still wade through; they'd never managed to leave port, amusingly enough. "And you forget I've seen your villainy firsthand."[break][break]

It was true though that Matias had accomplished many military feats on behalf of the League, however. That was what made him such a high priority target for Rocket's operatives.[break][break]

Ultimately, it was why Declan had humored this situation between them. Not that Matias needed to know the specifics of that arrangement.[break][break]

"If you're my greatest strength, what does it say that I'm your greatest liability?" she retorted flatly, but even her wounded pride could accept the truth of his statement: supporting him, and Groudon, was the route to victory in this battle. Her Naganadel cast down another THUNDERBOLT to the Kyogre, hoping to paralyze it in place.[break][break]

Silent calculation resulted in Elisabeth dismounting, exchanging the Glastrier for a Venusaur that let out a low roar as it sloshed forward in the water. A SUNNY DAY sought to pierce through the DRIZZLE, empowering the INFERNO that blazed beneath the Charizard's shadow.

[attr="class","ooc"] MATIAS SILPH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Ambassador? That word brought to mind Julien Demassieux and Elise Calcifet, not the Avatar of Necrozma, but imagining either in the position was admittedly funny. She couldn't entirely hide the humor this analogy piqued in her, mouth twisting to hold back an unwise smirk from fully forming. The result left her somewhere between appearing puzzled and amused.[break][break]

"So you're to be Necrozma's ambassador to humanity? I'll assume 'goodwill' isn't your deity's intention. If it is, you have quite the thankless and fruitless job ahead of you."[break][break]

Why couldn't she resist the urge to provoke him? So, so unwise. Everything in her screamed to unsay the things she couldn't stop herself from saying.[break][break]

"Unless..." The levity evaporated as her eyes narrowed, a new thought glittering in their emerald depths. "...it is the other way around?"[break][break]

To think Necrozma cared enough to invest in a mortal vessel was surprising enough, to her mind.[break][break]

But maybe Zev had given it a reason to invest in some part of humanity.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

He took her sugared fingers into his mouth, and that sensual warmth spread out from her fingertips throughout her whole body. It elicited the softest sigh from her lips as his own brushed against her knuckle.[break][break]

"Barnaby," she began, but any small desire to prolong the inevitable vanished as he buried his face in her golden hair. His words murmured against her neck, intimate with proximity and implication, and she felt herself falter. "I didn't mean for it to be," she said instead, the sound of her own apology surprising her. "I didn't mean for... any of what happened."[break][break]

She'd assumed he'd hated her after he'd seen her transformation that day. She'd wanted to avoid him, to give him distance, lest he reveal what she feared most of all: that he resented her, the way everyone did, for not being the person he'd wanted her to be.[break][break]

Resisting him had always been difficult, though, even in the beginning. At a certain point, she'd given up on trying.[break][break]

"But everything feels lighter now," she said softly, turning his face up to meet her own. "I feel lighter now."[break][break]

When she gazed at him, her emerald eyes lacked all the paranoia and fearfulness that had haunted them in recent months. That unseen sinister presence had released its hold on her, and this left her unguarded as she smiled at him, the faintest flush on her face revealing a shyness that she'd thought had fled her a lifetime ago.[break][break]

"I missed you," she whispered again, and this time, she kissed him to show her tenderness of feeling.

[attr="class","ooc"] BARNABY FINCH[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

A deep breath prepared her for this revelation. She recalled, with sudden biting clarity, that she already knew what it was like to sit across from a man with the power to shape her life into a heaven or hell.[break][break]

Ironic, wasn't it, that Kalos and Hoenn had turned out to be one and the same?[break][break]

"A second deity presented itself to me for Avatarship," she stated, as if this was as normal a thing to comment upon as a shift in the weather. "One Rocket and the League each believed to be dead."[break][break]

Her heartbeat rammed against her throat, but she fought to keep the panic down as she met Walsh's eyes.[break][break]

Better to hear from you. Better to take charge of this narrative before it gains a mind of its own.[break][break]

She'd inherited a chessboard riddled with the emotion-driven results of impulsive, short-term decisions. If she was cornered, then secrecy was a luxury she couldn't assume she had anymore.[break][break]

The underboss exhaled, releasing a finer pink mist as she did so, which harmlessly scattered around her like glittering dust.[break][break]

"I am the Avatar of both Tapu Fini and Wo-chien. And I am pleased to report to you that I have successfully utilized the abilities of the former against the League, and against its own former Avatar."

[attr="class","ooc"] declan walsh[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Color me surprised that you're indulging," she replied easily, meeting his gaze. "It's rare for anything to capture your interest."[break][break]

At the mention of bryan delarosa and Naomi Sato, a shadow passed over her features and her cat-like smile flatlined.[break][break]

"Sato is naive," she said at length. "We know precious little about the Unown and their intentions. They want something from her -- and potentially from the DRK Triad, too. There's no reason to think their intentions hold familial warmth."[break][break]

She kept herself more tight-lipped on the subject of Xerneas. The immortality that being had granted Delarosa struck her as a curse and blessing both. He'd said he didn't even feel human, anymore. Similar doubts plagued her in her own ties to Wo-chien, though she knew better than to voice them aloud to the man across from her.[break][break]

Wo-chien wasn't 'mercenary' with her. She was its plaything and possession.[break][break]

And she couldn't even begin to understand why Tapu Fini still wanted her, when it had the opportunity to seize back the man it so clearly desired for itself.[break][break]

It was easier to say she had something they both wanted. As if the things they were bartering weren't her sanity and her free will.[break][break]

"You have yet to describe your own relationship with Necrozma," she pointed out, waiting for his reply.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Fascinating. Did he hold her in such contempt now that even this needling provocation meant nothing to him?[break][break]

She noted this shift in his behavior quietly, filing that intelligence away for later.[break][break]

"You're not usually the prying type," she commented instead, a teasing lilt to the words. The ice cubes melted in her glass, empty save for that residual moisture. The underboss shot him a meaningful look, before conceding: "I'll humor you, though."[break][break]

Her eyes unfocused then, lost to some distant sight as they stared right through him.[break][break]

"Mercenary," she stated finally. "Theirs is a mercenary bond."[break][break]

Something he should be more than familiar with, given who they both were.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Who indeed?" she answered, shrugging with a casual indifference. "I could ask you the same. Where does your vengeance lead you?"[break][break]

A languid reach of her arm retrieved her drink, its clear liquid now tinted with a soft, roseate glow. She drank of it leisurely, not expecting an answer to her question, but idly curious if she'd receive one all the same.[break][break]

Another exhale, glittering pink with mist, infused her next words with a breezy nonchalance.[break][break]

"Though the relationship dynamics between myself and my patrons are, I suppose, unpredictable... when perceived through a limited human lens.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Your limited human lens." How amusing it was for him to think he alone was under the sway of some otherworldly power, when two had claimed her. All the more amusing still to think he believed himself capable of understanding his deity's true intentions, after such a freshly established bond.[break][break]

Arrogance was a trait both human and divine, it seemed.[break][break]

"We have that in common, then. Vengefulness." The faintest ring of gold tinged her emerald eyes for but a moment, as if tinged with autumnal rot. "We are the Scorned and the Vindictive. We do not forget those who have wronged us."[break][break]

Unlike the crystal that sprouted upon his features, this influx of power suffused her and dwindled from her all at once like the sudden lighting and immediate snuffing out of a match -- leaving her much the same as she appeared seconds ago. Still, the reminder of this truth showed in the slightest shift in her posture, and in the sneering mockery that found a home in the wicked curve of her smile.[break][break]

"You mentioned before how your last profession revealed people's true selves," she commented, a click of her tongue inserting a pause between this thought and the next. "But I find power does the same, doesn't it? For a deity would not choose a vessel that did not align with its needs."[break][break]

The implicit damnation of the statement applied as much to her as it did to him: for all the sway her deities had over her actions, the success of that influence came from what monstrosity already existed within her, too.[break][break]

Zev was no different.

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"More concerned with the present, as it happens," Elisabeth replied lightly, indicating for her visitor to take a seat.[break][break]

The defensive posture reflected discomfort with the ambiguity of their meeting, which admittedly, was intentional on Elisabeth's part. Allowing someone to guess at an underboss's motives left them unmoored, at a keen disadvantage in both power and comfort when meeting.[break][break]

"I presume you are familiar with the stance of Rocket towards Remiel Calcifet?" she asked, leaning forward onto her desk. "Or perhaps you might know him better as former Admin Fox?"[break][break]

The man had attempted to lure her to commit the same act of treason with him, in a hushed midnight conversation within these very headquarters.[break][break]

She'd known better. The question was, did Mirabella Fontaine know better, too?

[attr="class","ooc"] Mirabella Fontaine[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Surprise was a rare emotion to witness on Zev Harcourt. She'd be lying if she didn't admit to taking a small amount of satisfaction in witnessing it now, and this showed in the sly smirk that crept across her lips.[break][break]

"Two," she repeated, her hand indicating the total number with the cheeky flash of a victory sign. "The second is Tapu Fini. To my knowledge, mine is the first occurrence of this in Hoenn to-date."[break][break]

She dreaded how this might draw attention from Head Scientist Naomi Sato, to be honest. It had been one of many reasons she'd been loathe to share this revelation sooner.[break][break]

"You could say Wo-chien is used to being the dominant personality, but it shouldn't surprise anyone to imagine a Guardian of the Seas is as fickle and moody as the tides."[break][break]

Her fingers curled back into her palm, resting in her lap as she regarded him.[break][break]

"What of your patron? Are they likewise fickle, possessive...?" As she inquired, her voice lowered with curiosity. "...or unpredictable?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Zev Harcourt[break][break]

[attr="class","pkmn"]