Her alignment with Rocket was tentative at best, yet Inaya finds herself involved in its war preparations. To not participate would put a target on her back, she wagers; and so, the young woman answers the call. Begrudgingly.

She glares at the Rocket Avatars opposite herself, the air between them in the subterranean training facility practically glittering with wild energy. As Inaya observes them both, she considers why Rocket is bothering to train grunts at all - training like this was best for the big dogs, was it not? Why waste it on grunts? Rocket's motivations were lost on her once again, but it mattered not. She was here for herself, after all.

She glances at the person next to her, another grunt bound to be her partner for the exercise. She was pretty, Inaya sees; silver hair sets off the other's features brilliantly, even in the harsh battleground lighting. They were about the same height, about the same age. Aside from observing her temporary partner physically, her motivations and feelings were unseeable.

The fortune-teller watches as Cassidy's eyes float to the Wo-Chien and underboss; she couldn't help but notice how the Galarian Moltres Avatar wasn't afforded the same attention. Inaya smirks. Interesting.

Considering Cassidy's choice, Inaya bets Wo-Chien was as good as Galarian Moltres to her and her team. Both legendaries were duo dark-types, so either way Lalu, her espeon, would be sitting this one out. He rubs his cheek on her calf, his body behind her legs, content knowing Inaya would not make him fight.

"Fine," she agrees, waving a hand. "Wo-Chien it is." Her eyes stay downfield, waiting.



// wc: 270  // ooc notes: agrees to fight wo-chien // cassidy //

"A sweet Beedrill, huh?" she remarks, glaring at the defensive pokemon. Right.

The battle sounds are sudden and harsh. Inaya slams her hands over her ears, her face pinching into a grimace. The high-pitched frequency of the bug pokemon feels like a plunge in an ice bath. Lalu cries out, his forepaws flying up to pin his large ears to the ground in a desperate push for relief. Inaya's heart fills with pity for her Espeon - he must be feeling the piercing frequency far worse than she, given his large ears and his natural weakness to bug-type pokemon. It didn't help that this was a very large Heracross, either.

A wild pansage pops out of the brush, but immediately retreats. Inaya wishes she could do the same. Instead, she turns her eyes toward the pokemon battle, a furious scowl creasing her face. And this is why I don't care for bug-types, she internally rues.

The sonic bombardment stops as the Heracross disappears into a pokeball. The pokeball with the Bellossom lies a few feet away, nearly forgotten, and Inaya snatches it up with a huff.

Pocketing the catch, she rubs her ears with the heel of her hand. "You must *really* love bug-types to not want to claw your own ears off every time they do *that*," she spits.



// wc: 219 // ooc notes: skipping pansage // Shalin Nariya //

Inaya rolls his question around in her mouth. Will rocket win? It was deliciously vague, and it left itself open to many possibilities. It was the kind of question the fortune-teller loved best, as it was also the kind that avoids itself.

Her eyes flick up to his and then back at the tea. "I am reading your fortune, Elijah, not Cillian's," she teases. "The fate of Rocket lies with him."

Her eyes wander to the Gogoat, lapping the pot. Lalu yawns.

"Why do you wonder after the fate of Rocket? Do you have something to gain? Or something to lose?" She punctuates her final words with a tap of her finger on her teacup. 



// wc: 115  // ooc notes: x // elijah gardner //

While the Beedrill's displeasure was palpable, it did nothing to assuage Inaya's annoyance. "Calm down, bug," she scoffs at the Beedrill. "I'm not looking for a pokemon battle." 

Turning back to the human, she waves her hands. "Whatever," she hisses, the bangles on her wrist jingling as she gestures. "I'm not in the pokemon sanctuary, and neither are you. Maybe you should just fly back to your little sanctuary and leave me in peace."

Inaya turns and heads into the brambles, Lalu following. This conversation was dead, as far as she was concerned. But when Shalin says she doesn't recall Inaya's name, the fortune-teller stops. If she could bristle like Lalu could, she would have; she narrows her eyes instead. Then, her face falls into a neutral expression. "I see," she says.

She doesn't flinch at the sudden appearance of the Venonat, and she watches wordlessly as Shalin sends a pokemon at it. Inaya's eyebrows raised at the sight of her Zeraora; but otherwise, her countenance remains blank. 

A Bellossom cries out, and Inaya hesitates. Making up her mind to stick around and make something of this encounter, she points a manicured finger at it. "Lalu, use Charm!" The sun pokemon's move hits, and the Bellossom is momentarily dazed. Inaya tosses a PokeBall at it, hoping to catch it.



// wc: 219 // ooc notes: x // Shalin Nariya //

Before Inaya hears it, Lalu's twin tails twitch and his fur ripples with an uncomfortable intensity. His sensation and its violent effect on him concerns her. She stiffens, waiting for his premonition to arrive: a wild pokemon, or something else. Given his reaction, she was leaning on the something else.

The droning sounded like a thousand wings beating in sync, something so out of place in the compact depths of the woods. Whatever it was, it was coming her way. And, whatever it was, surely scared off all the wild pokemon in a 15km- radius.

"Oh for fu--"

Her irritation peeked, she stands up from her concealment, glaring at the shiny beedrill with pure animosity as it comes barrelling through the canopy.  Lalu returns to her side, hissing at the deafening thrumming from its wings. She notices a lithe figure on its back.

Only then does it dawn on her: there were only so many gigantic shiny beedrill in the world, and there was only one person that Inaya knew who was stupid enough to ride one: Shalin Nariya . And if Shalin and her pokemon were destroying her chances, Inaya would do the same to the hunter - by yelling after her.

"It's you, Shailin" she scoffs as she shouts, purposely corrupting her name. "Do you just zip all over Hoenn just to piss people off?"



// wc: 225  // ooc notes: x // Shalin Nariya //

She smirks, satisfied that her gibe held weight. She sits a little straighter and takes a sip from her own cup - one meant to partake in the pleasure of sharing a drink, not for divining.

"It certainly won't," she reassures. "A true professional can work with any tools; artist, diviner, or apothecary." Lalu, her Espeon, quietly chirps in agreement. Inaya strokes his ear, his chin resting on her crossed thigh.

She glances at the teacup in Elijah's hands, the contents resettling after being sloshed. She raises her eyes to his, keeping her gaze soft to feign a touch of disinterest. "Is there something you're hoping to know?"



// wc: 107  // ooc notes: x // elijah gardner //

As the Mightyena reveals herself, Inaya smirks. A worthy opponent, although one at a great disadvantage to her Mawile.

Wasting no time, she commands, "Seirios, Play Rough!"

The dark-type takes the super-effective fairy-type move, snarling in response as she tries to shake off the damage. Seirios seems to smile, satisfied with herself. "Good work, Seirios! Hit her again before she has a chance to counter," Inaya commands.

The Mawile lands on top of the prone Mightyena, attacking it again with Play Rough. The dark-type pokemon's snarling increases in pitch, and Inaya bristles.

"Alright, Seirios, that's enough." Inaya's pokemon leaps back to her side, her massive jaws aimed on her target lest it attack.

Her red eyes are angry and glinting, her breath coming quick through ragged pulls and pushes of air. Yet she still claws herself to her paws, not willing to back down. The tension that bunches in her shoulders shows that she is biding energy to attack.

Inaya's eyebrows lift. This is a fighter.

"Join us, Mightyena. Let's get stronger together."

Inaya tosses the pokeball at Mightyena, and the pokemon howls.



// wc: 183  // ooc notes: solo wild - catch attempt // x //

Inaya stretches, her arms reaching high overhead as she lets out a yawn. It's late, but she reasons that this is a good time for her Mawile; the darkness should be to her advantage.

"Alright Seirios, let's get some practice in," she says.



// wc: 43  // ooc notes: solo wild // x //

Inaya was tired. She had spent the better part of the evening reading about poisons, and her enthusiasm for the day was nonexistent.

It was by chance that she ended up in the Petalburg Woods, really. She chalks it up to her subconscious, forcing its will on her in her waking hours; it steered her to a place crawling with poison-types, a given for her current focus.

She chews her lip. She'd be damned to waste a chance to catch some Poison-types to study, even if catching pokemon was the last thing on her mind. It's early enough in the day that there shouldn't be any *nuisances*, she wagers.

Having made up her mind, Inaya crouches. The leaves of a bush pricks her back as she settles into her hiding spot. Her eyebrows knit in annoyance, but she holds her pose. Lalu, her espeon, sits a few meters away in the clearing, munching on a berry.

A much rehearsed ploy, the two hope to draw in an unsuspecting pokemon, one naively curious about Lalu's meal.



// wc: 175  // ooc notes: x // Shalin Nariya //

Inaya found herself in Petalburg Woods, kneeling across from Elijah Gardner, the apothecary, with a tea set between them. It was rare to run into someone of a similar art, and even rarer still to find one within the same faction. She had her reasons for being in rocket, and she surmised that he did, too. Diviners and apothecaries generally inhabit a place of neutrality, if not benevolence. And she'd be lying if she said he didn't interested her.

She shrugged noncommittally. "Simply a surprise on the path of life," she remarked. Inaya stroked her reclining espeon's fur as she wondered how reserved she should be with him. "I'm sure you'd say the same," she ventured, her purple eyes flicking to his. 

Her attention was brought to his teacup, its contents sloshing. She gestured to the tea set before them and asked, "Where'd you pick this up? A flea market?" She had a playful, teasing grin on her face. Inaya wasn't trying to be mean; his rustic choice of scenery made sense for an apothecary, but as a diviner, she was used to the finer things. Order, precision, class. Sitting in the woods with him felt a bit too casual for reading tea leaves.


// wc: 204  // ooc notes: x // elijah gardner //