excellent. this would do well. "mother, flamethrower." the command set the dark/fire type into action - letting out a spiral of fire towards the zweilous. there was a spark of excitement in her approach as she not only threw a pokeball but also sent out it to go after the zweilous should mother's attack not take it down well enough. with a crunch in tow, it would help its mate take down the dragon type.
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@ catching!

while the malamar certainly had the villainous vibes that best suited lorelei and her team, it wasn't what was needed. "we'll continue," the redheaded trainer said to her houndoom who nodded obediently. with a quick check of the bandages on the front paws of her fighting dog, lorelei continued.
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@ skipping!

"heh, i'd think that's a good thing."[break]
she wasn't meaning to be an asshole, but instead lean into the idea of roman forgetting his family entirely. they had done nothing but make him miserable these days when he'd spend time on his lonesome, sitting and mulling over the life he once missed and how fake it all was. perhaps lorelei would have done the same, but she couldn't quite relate. the torturer's mother and father were always occupied by business and even their daughter was another serial numbered commodity, put through the wringer of education and expectations to be left dry and calculating just like her parents. [break]
she wondered if they'd be proud of her if they saw her now, fitting into the cookie cutter image of a perfect businesswoman.[break]
"i'm an asshole. not too sure you'd be keen on kissing someone like me." he'd done so various times before and this made lorelei scoff at herself, tapping a sharp nail against the side of her glass. if liquor gave courage, she was getting drunk on sobering and depressing spirits. "at least not out of your own volition." it was obvious she understood he had no real affections for her throughout their time together. all that had been given to her was taken by force. [break]
like daughter like fucking father, she supposed.[break]
"you know, my dad would be proud of me i think." clink. the sixth cup was placed with the other five. although she had already felt the anguish of drunkenness at three, she kept going to try and forget what it was like. "it's almost like he's living through me." indeed, how many times had she lay awake hearing him beating her poor sop of a mother? business would be down and he'd crack bones. business would be up and he'd ravage her mother in other ways. these were the only memories she had of father dearest, given she was cared for by nannies and basically held in a separate estate most of her life. raised like an alien to her own family did her well, huh?[break]
"don't know if i've ever really done anything for myself." her fingertip was tracing a circle around the latest empty glass's lip as if it being her own that she forced a crooked smile on. "not before you, at least." this was a big reason why she was obsessed with the brunette man - so beautiful and idyllic in many ways, making her one of many who turned their heads to look at him and marvel at what it was like to be with him. unlike the average person, lorelei had the upbringing and connections to bring herself to know just that.[break]
"so yeah, i'll kiss you." giddily, she grabbed hold of roman by the waistband of his pants and pulled his chair closer to her own until she was basically straddling him atop her own chair. her breath was heavy against his neck, her gaze slanted over his throat to look up at his eyes with almost nonchalant expectations. "but what do you want with someone like me? a distraction? i can do that." that's all she ever would be, wouldn't it?[break]

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@romanl

fire has been a long-standing means of fertilization and controlling plant growth, oftentimes transforming the lives touched by it. this was no different.[break]
"you?"[break]
lorelei was no saint, nor was she a therapist or psychiatrist. she had better and bigger things to do than focus on a broken man. even so, roman was no simple man to her. "we'll both learn to do that, together." holding out a hand, she held the brunette close to herself. she didn't pull him harshly into her body like she had various times before, forcing herself on him and taking what she wanted. no, this time she held him gently - as if he were a menagerie too precious to break. she marveled in his transparency and adored his complexity. "if ... you'll have me." this was another warning, albeit a tender one. the dog was at a loss - a quite heavy one. he had been given the last nail in the coffin of his conversion to lorelei's possession and he wasn't coping well. while lorelei knew she would be dealing with the emotional fallout of her actions, she didn't know she would feel her own heart trembling for the shaken soldier.[break]
"i won't tell you not to cry," she started as she wiped at his tears and didn't even mention the stain he would leave on her expensive clothes. "so cry all you want. you have many tears left unshed due to pride and much more." being a stubborn son of a bitch kept him from crying out due to pain. now, however, it seemed his realization about his old life was enough to loosen his tear ducts so why not let them run freely now? lorelei held roman with a tender strength, turning to curl over him as she let him hunch over and let the tears fall. she meant to keep this sight for herself - greedy to the end when it came to him and him alone.[break]
'miss du'mot, we --'[break]
a sharp glare from lorelei sent the help running with their bags. they broke into high gear while she stood there, holding roman in their moment of privacy even while in public. if her money and work couldn't afford them this, then what good was it for?[break]
"look at me, pup." her right hand glided over his left shoulder, pressing down gently before going to hold his throat softly and help his chin tilt itself upward to look at her despite their obvious height difference leaving her much smaller than him. "think of this vacation as if it were for you. i am here to aid you and help you along what you may want to do. first, however, i suggest we go to our suite and see about getting you some rest." offering her hands, she held them out to him for him to take. waiting for him politely, she insinuated she'd walk them over to the place they'd be staying since it was simply a few paces out but she didn't do so before pulling off her thin coat and draping it over roman's head to help hide his tear-stained face. even she could be protective and caring, she supposed.[break]

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@romanl

"utterly heartless."[break]
lorelei focused almost sympathetically on the arcanine that stood agape, shocked at this betrayal. truly, the fire-haired woman was too. [break]
"so you intend for me to be alone for this mission, then?" she asked, pondering the offer. while others may ask what the catch was, it was obvious that there wasn't any since the brunette had nothing in his power to even catch lorelei with. this was a bargain. it was so much of a bargain that lorelei couldn't quite understand roman's reasoning. it wasn't like the mission was a hard one, but she supposed it would be too kind of her to explain that and try to make him realize what he was saying.[break]
"very well." accepting the offer, she nodded on it. "this mission will be postponed, given the lack of individuals taking it on." a smirk started to crawl onto her features, her head canting to the side as she curled up towards roman with an expectant stare. "you must give me a date for all of these terms to be finished. i expect them to be toot suite, given how quickly i've come to accept these terms." as if to threaten roman, she held up her rotom phone in one hand to check her calendar. her eyes didn't give away any sense of unease as she went through the various paragraphs of text denoting her heavy schedule. "if you can't come up with an answer for me swiftly, i will have to let our partners know we're still up for the plans ahead of us today." [break]
with a breath and a look up from her phone, she couldn't help but sneer out a laugh. "furthermore, you should know goobly would fuck itself if it could. you almost make it sound like you're coming to his wavelength. you two have been spending more time together. has he made you soft to him yet?"[break]

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@romanl

"how endearing."[break]
downing the flute of champagne, lorelei did little to show any form of annoyance. it wasn't like she hadn't already taken roman's tongue for things much smaller and larger than what he said then so why be bothered by it now? "i'll have you know that for a 'skank', i've been nothing but loyal. maybe that is the reason why you are so upset. maybe i should look for another to distract me, seeing as you hate my company so." the idea was always there. having entertained various dogs at once, she wasn't too scared to bring in someone to entertain her while roman was out working on his preferred lonesome under the watchful eye of one of her pokemon. having been fitted with the finest self-destruct mechanisms money could buy, she also could remotely kill him if anything went awfully wrong. there was no reason not to just let him be and work off his anger by himself ...[break]
other than her withstanding his rage for her own amusement, of course.[break]
"men are oftentimes so meek, however. i don't need a dog who can lick my boots, you do that just fine. i wonder if anyone could withstand a modicum of what i've put you through." the epitome of hardened soldier, roman was no joke. he was lorelei's pride and joy as a torturer and 'trainer' of the human canines she had and he knew it. of course, he would also know her promise of being able to bring in new dogs to her side was always available, should he allow it for more than a day or two before he killed them himself.[break]
"speaking of which ..." a soft clink introduced her putting her empty cup down, locking eyes with a young man who had been looking for another partner on the floor. it seemed the last song had finished and there was time to bring forward new partners, switching out the tired dancers for new faces. "you were never good at dancing, pup. while we wait for them to arrive, i'd like to keep my toes to stand on before them." with this, she nodded a quiet 'goodbye' to the blonde before departing for the open floor - taking to a perfect stranger quite well with polite smiles and fake laughs at an introductory joke. [break]
as the next song began, she fixed her white mask over her sharp features and offered roman a cold but prideful smile as if to remind him of his replaceable status.[break]

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@romanl

the yugioh theme song could be heard by how calculating the moves of the two trainers were.[break]
"ah," lorelei said, indeed amused by how mother took a hefty hit with the fighting type move. surely, the dog was cursing its dark typing now - feeling the need to flex its legs in pain as it continued to prowl on them. a bit of blood came from the houndoom's mouth, using it as means to seem more threatening as it only sneered and bared its teeth to show it wasn't going to give a flying fuck about what it was weak to or not. like lorelei, she was resolute to continue fighting until the very last tooth and nail despite this merely being another 'training spar' of sorts.[break]
"comeuppance."[break]
perhaps this was the nail in the coffin or maybe it wasn't. taking advantage of the great amount of damage the move prior had done to mother, the houndoom started to glow an eerie red-black as it went to ram into the arcanine. as if to spit in its face, mother even went to bite down on one of its ankles, meaning to make it bend and even maybe break as to make the larger pokemon submit.

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@romanl

"come, mother." [break]
the prevalence of water-type pokemon made lorelei raise a brow, pulling her houndoom to the side of her legs in a protective manner. to replace her houndoom as means of offensive potential, lorelei called upon the new corviknight in her party - pointing forward wordlessly to indicate they would be moving forward. goobly seemed to be warbling in discontent, though even he supposed they needed more firepower on the team.
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@ sw

there had been much buzz around the velvet room about some combees running about bars during the new year. the overflowing sweetness of fruit-stained liquors must have had them vying for something to taste while various bartenders run amok, inebriated and unable to fight the pokemon. luckily for lorelei, she had suggested going to a city that had already been hit by them - assuming they wouldn't come back. to her fortune, she could enjoy her negroni in peace.[break]
with roman by her side, she almost wondered aloud how long this peace would last.[break]
"i regret many things," she started, raising her glass to clink against his own in a toast to her failures of the year, "but continuing my investments in you is not something i can come to add to that list." indeed, she was down about 20% of her dogs that part year alone. many people would think this wasn't too bad, but when you were in the 'people' business, this was quite a bit of blood on her hands. this wasn't a means to fret for lorelei, however, but the plummet in the velvet room's income was annoying and she had to figure out a means of retaining what she had lost and improving upon it. "if only every one of them were stronger like you, this wouldn't be so hard." in a liquor lull after her third negroni, she was feeling transparent - worry thick on her lower lip that frowned partially. "perhaps a means of motivation would keep the dogs from tearing their own throats out, but i'm not sure what. i suppose it'd be more 'fun' if we didn't talk about work, however," she sighed as she raised a hand to run through her own hair in faint frustration.[break]
maybe partaking in some festival festivities around them would help her mind relax, but for now she was finishing off her last drink.[break]

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@romanl

"so you'll be accompanying me, then," she said flatly, already too used to saying this as means of demanding him around. this time, it was just making an educated guess to what he intended to do - not like he had the liberty to intend anything, instead swept up by the waves that took him forward and back. "i know you have nothing to do for the holidays, either." lorelei had work to do, as always. culling of her more meek dogs was a daily process she couldn't stop partaking in due to the amassing of their numbers, given new 'wranglers' she had hired on to expedite the recruitment process. even so, she looked upon roman and wondered if she could give it a rest for one day; just one, enough to spend some transparent moments with her favorite right-hand dog.[break]
mother sneezed at this, as if offended by the mere thought that she was not the favorite. of course, it was likely just the fire type being out in the cold that made it perturbed in such a way.[break]
"when was it that you moved in with me? last year?" it had been a few years back, near his initiation. unlike her previous dogs, she allowed him residence with her quickly. the bite and bark he had was enticing to her since she had known him prior to abducting him from his normal life, not some stranger's bitter words that made her do nothing more than roll her eyes. she chuckled from deep within her throat, knowing well enough she was playing it off as if she didn't know. "i would hope you make dinner tonight. i'll be home for it this time around," lorelei said with an almost positive and excited lilt to her tone. the arctozolt was bounding about, catching snowflakes in its maw. maybe its spirits were rubbing off on her. "goobly seems to be happy staying at home, so maybe i should too - out of this cold." with this, she answered roman's curiosities. the ditto didn't particularly like the cold - even finding ice types weak and ignorant especially with the appearance of the arctozolt. "i didn't make plans at home, but we could come up with something. i did get you some presents, so maybe it's time to open them." being filthy rich allotted lorelei ease of purchase of anything she wanted. aside from random gaming consoles, she also had a closet full of gifts - being too busy to put up a proper tree.[break]
"what say you, roman? will you humor me and rock around the christmas tree with me this year?" would he bear his fangs or hide them away? lorelei anticipated his answer, eyes trained on his own.[break]

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@romanl