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Aurelie once more offered a flirtatious remark. Nenet let her golden eyes sweep over the red-haired woman with vague consideration. If she were single the proposition would be met with interest at the prospect of free coffee. But as it was, she merely allowed an appraising look over Aurelie before chuckling in reply.
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Regardless, the woman seemed quite interested in her work, which Nenet did appreciate. "There's several," she answers as to pokemon of extraterrestrial origins. "Deoxys we believe, and then more common pokemon such as the Clefairy and Gothorita lines, Elgyem and Beheeyem." With a wave of her hand, she adds, "And that doesn't begin to touch the extradimensionals that have popped up over the years, like the Ultra Beasts and Necrozma."
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She then nods, laughing as she muses to Aurelie, "It comes from teaching, I think. A portion of my job is holding classes for children. Both at the Observatory and places like the Museum so interest them in the science of it all."
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"Well," Nenet then muses. "Mostly I track star trajectories - make sure they're what we expect. We do study collisions when they happen, and any changes we can observe both with the naked eye and mathematically, like gravitational fluxuations."
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Aurelie's change in attention also causes Nenet to look at the clock as well. She purses her lips, humming thoughtfully, before musing aloud, "I lost track of time. I have a massage soon." Tipping her chin towards Aurelie, she asks, "Are you in here for longer? We could go together if you have one too."

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"We'll be fine, thank you," Nenet calls to her father, practically slamming the front door in the man's face to ensure he doesn't follow the pair outside and down towards the beach. Nenet's family home was large for the number of people who usually occupied it, but currently it was packed to the gills with her immediate family who spent the entire day questioning and examining Zev as if he were an insect under a microscope. Nenet supposes she should be grateful her mother even showed an interest, as the woman video called in from the field out in Unova, on a staticky connection they could barely make sense of, but she had never shown an interest in Nenet's guests before so that was a relatively new experience. She suspected her grandmother's bullying was ultimately to blame.
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"I did warn you," she muses good-naturedly while tugging Zev towards a nearby hammock. She was tired, and was certain Zev must be too - not to mention they were both jet-lagged to hell and back. The Nzingha family could be a lot.
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Such affection rare, Nenet nonetheless tips into a hammock that sways lightly in the breeze, her body curling comfortably against Zev's. It wasn't cold yet, the sun was still setting, but the temperature would continue to drop with the loss of light and the continuous ocean breeze.
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Her arm thrown languorously over his torso, Nenet muses to Zev, "Ready to run into the sea yet?"

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"The latter," Nenet answers after a short pause. She pointedly does not expand upon the subject. Her employer certainly wasn't aware of her research outside of work and she rather intended for it to stay that way; unless a breakthrough was discovered that could conveniently be applied quickly in the field.
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She takes the recorder back from Zev and stows it away in her bag before leveraging onto the ground beside the pair. Her fingers burying into Luna's ruff, she coos softly at the Pokemon, squishing the wolf's cheeks together for good measure.
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Then leaning comfortably against Zev, Nenet uses a small hand counter as they watch the skies together, its soft clicking occasionally filling the easy silence of the night.

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Nenet stills briefly when Zev speaks, apparently having forgotten his presence for a brief moment. With an arched eyebrow as she looks into the camera, she snorts and makes an absent wave of her hand as she says, "Of course not." There's little conviction behind the statement. "I was testing to see if I could stabilise their shell."
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She closes her notepad and then begins to store things back away, explaining as she does so, "I was using different metals to see if the cracks would repair. As of now the only way we know how to stabilise them is via a pokeball but they lose a good deal of mass during the process." With a brief glance over the vials, she notes, "The cesium had some effect, but not much."
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With a shrug, she adds, "A repaired shell would mean a much heavier, more natural Minior. It was worth a shot."
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Nenet flashes him a smile and then stands, her bag shouldered onto her back. "Come on," she directs with a tip of her head back from where they came. "Let's go set up and see if anymore fall nearby." With a wink, she teases, "You can help me count in the meantime."

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"Good man," Nenet mumbles as she uncorks another vial and into her own recorder states, "Fifteen grams of cesium added to the shell."

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The vial is tipped over the largest crack, whereupon the core of the Minior glows a dull violet in response; the sound of shifting rock fills the air, and while it's difficult to discern the exact amount there has certainly been some closure of the pokemon's shattered surface.

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"Minimal sabilisation," she notes into her recorder. Several other vials, which Nenet calls out each time, are poured over the rocky surface to varying effects. Meanwhile, the flicker of the Minior's core grows softer and softer until naught but a dull glow filters through its broken shell.

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It's only then that Nenet pulls out a pokeball and taps it against the Minior to finally stabilise the pokemon with its capture. She then retrieves a notepad from her bag and begins to scribble over its pages to record her thoughts thereupon.

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With a glance up to Zev, she flashes him a truly radiant smile and then asks, "Do you have any questions?" It's quite easy to see how Nenet garnered an ethics reprimand during her graduate program.

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Dropping onto the ground nearby, Nenet rummages through her pack quickly as if searching for something. Her head cants in the direction of Zev to indicate she's listening as he speaks, after which she gives a succinct nod.
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"Just like this," she promises. Well, mostly like this. During her camping trips they rarely landed nearby, and when they did she had pokeballs on the ready to capture them as a little girl. Now, however, she had a ready-made subject for her latest research project: shell stabilisation after impact.
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Finding what she's looking for, a box stocked full of vials with pebble-like contents is produced. "Take this," Nenet directs, a camera shoved in Zev's hands for him to both figure out and work at the same time. "Don't stop recording until I tell you to."
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With that said, she pops open one of the vials and pours soft, silvery-white stones into one of the cracks of the Minior's shell; the pokemon's core flickers from an unobtrusively pale light to pink. Producing a tiny hand-held recorder from her bag, Nenet says into it, "Fifteen grams of lithium added to the shell. No visible repair, shell remains broken."
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Glancing over her shoulder she confirms, "You're recording?"

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Warm and hazy as only a summer day could be, the faint breeze rustling through the berry bushes helped keep the temperature from becoming truly stifling. She doesn't often tend to the building's community garden, but a whim sent her out here, and beneath the protection of an over-large sun hat she pulls a few weeds.
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To her surprise the head of a cat-like pokemon pops out from beneath one of the berry bushes, her face stained with fruit juice with an equally surprised look on the Meowstic's face.
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Nenet arches a single eyebrow, and after a moment the Meowstic mimics the expression. With a little snort she pulls out a pokeball and taps it against the cat-like creature's forehead to capture it.
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Adorable little pest.

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Any excuse to travel to Meteor Falls was a good day in Nenet's book - the fact that Zev had agreed to the outing was simply icing on top of the cake. Especially since Luna would be spending the night out with them as well.
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Sparing Luna a warm smile, the wolf's face smooshed and then a kiss dropped on the pokemon's forehead; her attention is swiftly drawn skywards as flashes of light begin to dot the skyline once more. The night is pleasant, a light breeze adding a faint nip in the air and ultimately perfect for Minior observation without a cloud in the sky.
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"Come sit," she beckons Zev, her hand patting the ground next to the mound of rocks she sits upon. She takes out a small notebook from her belongings and beings to tally the Minior falling, the night beginning to pass with a comfortable rhythm of light streaks and the scratch of graphite.
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With very little warning, a tail of slight hits the earth nearby, sending a spray of dirt into the air to rain down upon the trio. A decided gleam in her eyes, Nenet snaps closed the book, grabs up her bag, and darts off in the direction of the impact while calling over her shoulder, "Come on, Zev!"

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Nenet blinks once, a mild surprise touching her expression as she answers, "Oh, you know Zev?" She pauses, racking her memory and ultimately coming up with nothing as to whether this woman has been mentioned before - she really should pay more attention to the few people Zev remarks on offhand. "I'm sure he's mentioned you before, but I'm a bit bad with names," she settles on. It was somewhat a lie, but, well Aurelie certainly didn't need to know.
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She then snorts, mirth openly colouring her expression. Leaning forwards, her elbow resting on her knee, and hand coming to hold her chin, Nenet confides as if it were quite the secret she was sharing, "All from my mother, if you're to believe him." She winks playfully before leaning back against the bench.
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A question as to her work then follows, and a pointed gleam can be seen in Nenet's eyes. Captive audiences are her favourite, after all. "I study pokemon with extraterrestrial origins and help theorise how they survived the trip here to our planet, and how they might live in their native ecologies. My speciality is Minior and their migrations, though I have a few papers written on Solrock and Lunatone as well."
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She gives an absent little wave of her hand as she continues, "A subset of us also help theorise planetary habitability, but I prefer biological aspects and adaptations over environmental if I'm being truthful."
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"However, at the moment I'm working as a Senior Astronomical Observer at the Mossdeep Observatory." With a grin, she supplies, "Which means I watch space for anything interesting and do an awful lot of math and physics."

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Who wouldn't she wouldn't kill for someone to make her a homecooked meal every once in a while? The list was short, to be honest. "I wouldn't complain," Nenet answers by way of encouragement, her expression perhaps a touch more open than would normally be revealed - the alcohol certainly the one to blame for that.
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She hums pleasantly as she tastes the flavourful pineapple-fried rice, her eyes closing with pleasure at the subtle tickling of memories; family cookouts back home were certainly an event. Maybe - though most likely not with her relationship track record - she would someday invite him back to Alola for the genuine thing.
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Smiling once more at Zev, Nenet takes a sip of her wine and then winks at him. "I thought instead of another wine bottle we might-" she pauses here, her eyes pointedly sliding up Zev's figure until their gazes meet again, "-talk, in the bedroom after dinner."
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It wouldn't do to be entirely sloshed for the evening, if she had her way. And Nenet was absolutely certain she would having her way this evening.

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Unfolding her napkin to lay across her lap, Nenet cants her head faintly in Zev's direction as he explains where he found the recipe. "Good choice," she praises. "Melemele does a better version than Ula'ula, but don't tell anyone back home I said that or I'll be disowned."
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She winks playfully and then picks up her spoon, her expression a touch mischievous as she stirs the stew once and then picks up a spoonful. Blowing lightly before taking a bite, she soon smiles and then wipes at her lips with the napkin.
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"I guess I have to keep you for a while longer if you can cook an acceptable pork stew," declares Nenet playfully. "I'll let you keep your reputation for now." She smiles warmly, fondness seeping into her expression as she observes Zev for a moment before tucking into the meal; when she's certain the man isn't paying attention, Nenet secrets out a small piece of salmon from her plate to offer to Luna.

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Nenet hums at the information dinner should be ready, a certain remorse evident in her golden eyes as she flips closed the box to seal away the remaining macarons. She doesn't move, however, until Zev confirms it's time to eat - only then does she drop forwards to press a kiss to Luna's forehead before the wolf slinks off to beg for scraps.
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She would have to drop something when Zev wasn't looking for her favourite girl.
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Leveraging herself upwards, Nenet pauses at the suggestion to bring the wine, and then instantly spins back to retrieve the bottle. Sometimes that man was filled with great ideas she decides as she takes up the bottle while being overly careful not to spill the glass in her other hand. She sets the bottle on the table and then a kiss is pressed to Zev's cheek for his efforts.
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Nenet pauses, glass still in hand, as she then takes note of the set dinner table. "Is that lomi lomi salad?" she asks with decided surprise, her eyes widening a touch. She hadn't really had anything from Alolan cuisine outside of the few dishes she managed scraped together when she had the energy and a full day off to properly make something.
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A soft little, "Oh," spills from her lips for the second time during the evening as she takes in the sight of the set table and then looks to Zev. Setting down her wine glass, her hands lift to cup his cheeks and she presses a tender kiss to his lips.
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"You're spoiling me rotten tonight," she says with utmost contentment against his skin before releasing him and finally taking a seat. Motioning to the stew she asks, "Which recipe did you use?"

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