"Hm."

Himiko watched Slayte as he looked over the valuables she had delivered. Her form leaned on the table as he inspected every little piece of the haul as if to grade her on the intricate details of her work. Nails tapped on the side of the table with a steady rhythm.

"I do my best not to disappoint." Himiko said quietly and looked at the ruby with a faint interest. It was a sizeable quality and something she had to put a little bit of work into, but worthwhile if the Admin fancied himself a jeweler. She waited patiently for him to finish before asked for her name.

A faint smile grew over her pale lips. "That's me." she said coyly.

"A little Pidove told me about a fellow thief in Hoenn that amassed quite the storage of stolen goods. From there, it was all just a matter of convincing him to part ways with his stash."

She was certain she'd see him again. Even with the threat of their lives at stake, criminals never really turned themselves around. That little thorn in East Hoenn's side would be back to gathering a stash up for days, weeks, maybe even months.

Then, she'd do it all over again.

"When you've played the game enough, you can start sniffing out the clueless ones from the veterans."

howard slayte

☉

The answer of Elisabeth volunteering for a mission like this wasn't what Himiko had been expecting. It being nostalgic was at least some kind of reason for taking a small time operation. She wondered just what the underboss had been through. What horrors and wonders those golden eyes had seen.

Himiko watched Hecate skitter about the floor of this warehouse. The Salandit did love to explore and she couldn't fault the her girl for that. They had met when she was so young and loved to run endlessly through the woods back home. A part of her wished to go back to the way it was. Running about and going inside to have dinner and fall asleep, resting up for the next day of adventure.

But it was never to happen again.

"Used to." Himiko put simply and leaned closer into the fire. She took her eyes off of Elisabeth and stared at the dancing flames in thought. Her thoughts did wander off. Could she just ramble on about trite nonsense while locked in here with an underboss? She seemed nice enough to not be quickly gutting her like a pig at this little thorn in the side.

It was a change from the Kanto Rocket branch, and a welcome one at that. She remained quiet for a while or so, enough for time to pass, before answering with her vision on the fire. Her voice was that same sort of quiet and blunt girl as usual but gained a softer and more vulnerable aspect.

"I used to be a lieutenant back home. Lead a small time squad of about eight. My father was a higher up so I had help and leadership training. From day one, it was constant comparisons. My superiors wanted more then I could get, my teammates wanted my job, and our bosses wanted me gone."

Her foot tapped against a smaller piece of wood that had escaped the blaze, no bigger than a casino chip. Himiko reached over to pick it up and flicked it between her fingers.

"Can't say if I would ever do it again, though I enjoyed the operations work. It's what I loved best about it."

Black nails tossed the wood chip into the blazing fire. Its form sailed through the air until it landed on the pile of its brethren and joined it ablaze. Himiko looked back up at Elisabeth with an inquisitive gaze.

"What about you? Do you enjoy the work you do? I can't imagine an underboss has a lot of free time."

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

Himiko was in disbelief at what this man had just said to her. Her look of disbelief changed into one now fully that was aggravated. "Entrance interview?!" she hissed, "I've served Rocket since the minimum age. I've done enough tours to justify my loyalty."

Her eyes narrowed Zev's own. "So why I should justify it to you, is the better question."

He could make his point known and do some evil thing a Rocket would do or put her in her place. She wouldn't put it past him. She had far too much pride to get on her knees and grovel at somebody. Regardless of the reason, Himiko spat up an answer.

"I'm a smuggler like my Dad. Back in Kanto, I dealt with mainly Pokemon and other illegal goods. I know how to get what I want and when I want it." She looked at him with a fraction of the amount of venom in her voice that Zev could work up. He could see through her little act for what it was.

"Skills in stealth, reconnaissance, herbology and poison making. That good enough?"

Zev Harcourt

☉

Elisabeth's words rung in Himiko's ears as she pondered their meaning. Weren't bosses supposed to be allowed to do whatever they wanted? That's how it was with her. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about however. Himiko nodded her head along quietly.

Back onto more urgent matters, the two of them didn't have a way out. The only fire type was still woefully underprepared and they couldn't take any of the easier escape routes either. The Kantonian Rocket spun around to face Elisabeth with a frustrated face.

"So what's the plan?" She asked and waited patiently.

It took a while before a definite answer was made on her tablet, and wasn't one that Himiko had looked at with any relief. Himiko looked at her in disbelief.

"Twelve HOURS?"

Her hands slipped into an empty case and hurled it against the wall. The resulting echo bounced all around them. The sudden burst of anger had felt good, like a weight being taken off her shoulders, but it wasn't enough. Himiko pinched the bridge of her nose and exhaled at the situation she had found herself in.

So much for a simple smuggling job to get back into things.

It took her a few moments to compose herself again as her superior's heels went off into the distance in search of something. While she was gone, Himiko threw out her Salandit onto the floor of the warehouse. She offered her arm as the Salamander quickly made its way up her arm and onto her shoulder.

Elisabeth returned with a bundle of wood for the Pokemon to burn with. Himiko lowered herself so her Pokemon could provide them with some kind of source of heat in the warehouse. "Hecate, if you would." The Salandit wobbled but regained her footing and used EMBER at the pile of wood.

Some few casts later, a small blaze came to life before them. Her pale hand rewarded the Salandit's efforts with affection while fetching one of the empty containers to user as a seat. Once comfortable enough, Himiko looked up at Elisabeth. "We have some time to kill. Might as well find some way to pass it."

Hecate the Salandit pressed against her owner's cheek and quickly scurried down onto the crate while on the hunt for anything that it could get its mitts on nearby. She checked nearby boxes and things for anything of note.

"If I can ask," Himiko said, raising her hands to warm themselves by the fire, "Why did you come to help with a job like this? Shouldn't an underboss be commanding a squad or something?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

The woman that had approached carried with her a large assortment of flowers and WREATHS that obscured most of her body. The scent of freshly plucked flowers followed her like some sickly sweet scent. Upon noticing Cian look at her, she gave a smile.

"Hello."

Her speech was short and refined. Elegant, in a strange sort of way. Himiko's eyes went to the Castform resting beside the man. She had always thought of them as cute little weather pokemon when she was younger.

A pang of interest built inside of her. She wanted to know everything about this little one. But first things first, pleasantries before work.

"Wasn't expecting anybody here today. Are you paying your respects too?" Himiko knelt down and gently brushed off a withered bouquet of flowers to replace it with a new one. The brilliant myriad of colors blended well with the stone monument. Her hands picked up the next one and continued to move around the man while speaking.

"Back in Kanto, we used to take care of those of us who passed on and memorials like this. I figured I could help them rest a little easier this way."

Another bundle of flowers lay on the site, with Himiko turning to face Cian.

"And what about your little friend?"

CIAN MAHER

☉

It was a job like many others she had been. A tried and true method of smuggling, carrying boxes of precious cargo worth more than the average person's life earnings in just a few boxes. Despite her pale skin and general apathy, Himiko had done this enough times to know the ins and outs.

But working with a woman of Elisabeth Fiorelli's caliber was certainly new to her.

The grunt worked quietly with little complaining or anything, really. There was small talk and some general mutual understanding between the two of them about what led them to working in an organization like that. The work was long and tedious but hey, such was the life of a grunt. Earning COIN for some other person's hand but not yours.

"Finally." Himiko parted some of her bangs back behind her. She kept her eyes clear of any residue or locks of ebony colored hair that could get in the way more than usual. Her black fingernails tapped against the exterior of the last case to a steady beat. She knew this woman was her superior in every regard and she minded her status for the most part.

"I've had worse shipments than these, but this cold is something else."

Her eyes carried her attention to a window nearby. So fast had the day gone by that a dark curtain had replaced its imagery in the window. She hadn't been in Slateport during the late evenings before, but there was a first time for everything. Elisabeth's warning did cause her to become somewhat more snibby.

"Hard to think people would cause an Underboss trouble." Himiko mentioned. Her gait took her alongside the blonde while she attempted to move the door leading to their freedom. "Even if people don't know who you are, you don't exactly look like the kind of woman people don't want to cross."

Elisabeth pushed on the door but no real progress was made. It took some doing to really get the door to budge at all. What was waiting for them outside wasn't the ideal greeting that either woman was expecting. An impassable wall of frozen snow that wasn't budging. They must have been at it for a while for this much to accumulate.

They could use a fire-type right about now. Himiko began to reach for a pokeball but stopped halfway through. Her thoughts went to Midnight, her Salandit that hadn't been out of its pokeball since arriving in Hoenn. The poor thing really should have come out but Himiko thought better of it. That thing couldn't spit out a proper fireball, let alone get them out of this.

"Just a Salandit with the basics." Himiko exhaled.

She crossed her arms together and glanced at the door which held the wall of ice locking them in. They'd need to finesse a little to find a way out of this mess. But in a storm like this, what was their option? Freezing to death in a warehouse by a Rocket underboss wasn't in her bucket list. Her footwear beat the floor for the third lap around the front door. Blackened lips pursed together in thought.

"Front's frozen up for the night. I doubt that back's much different. Got anything that can cut a hole in the wall?"

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

Somebody spoke of her in a formal matter, or as close as one could get for Rocket related matters. Her eyes looked back to the seat across from her in the booth at who she had to welcome to this impromptu meeting. The man wore his dark hair short and somewhat messy. It reminded her a little of some of the people she worked with back home.

"That all he send you?" Himiko spat out with a glance that couldn't be more interested in the procedures and everything surrounding this god forsaken punishment. While grateful to be alive still, she had her own priorities at the moment. Somebody had been responsible for this set up that landed her here.

"Then I guess you know the reason why I'm here."

Her index finger lightly scratched the surface of the table as her eyes never left Zev's. He was hardened. Somebody that had been through the unspeakable and back again. Although they wore that same visage to the outside world, his was impeccably genuine. Himiko's was more of a front.

A Fidough in the pen with a Houndoom.

"So what? You're going to be my new handler then?" she asked him out bluntly. "Like this organization thinks that I'm some scared kid that's running away from her problems?"

Zev Harcourt

☉

It was a bright and sunny day like any other in Hoenn. The chilled winds were magnified by the endless waves that carried the vessel across the sea from Kanto and into Hoenn. Dots scattered the deck in hushed excitement as the many passengers aboard this civilian boat had their own reasons for coming here. To become the region's champion or to win the contest circuit going on in Hoenn.

To Himiko, it was a reminder of ineptitude. A gilded cage that was to be where she was to spend the rest of her days until she was of some use to Rocket.

The pale skinned woman sat alone on one side of the ship as the port came into view. These past two and a half weeks had been nothing short of suffering. These people on the ship with her, these parasites floating from region to region without a care in the world. She cursed at them under her breath and continued to stay bundled up in her coat.

She wore a fairly mundane outfit to blend in well: a red blouse with pants, shoes, Spheal scarf and a hat for good measure. Her hime hairstyle and general refinement gave her away as a Kanto native although very few seemed to pick up on it. Would anybody care if so?

Once the boat had docked, the passengers began to funnel out of the boat. Mothers dragged their children along and businessmen walked off and off. Himiko stayed where she was and watched as the crowd slowly dispersed. She had been told of this little "check off" by the captain before she was allowed on Hoenn soil.

A dull thud came from the stairway nearby as a venerable man came down the stairs, dressed in a faded coat with pants, boots and a captain's hat that smelled faintly of the nautical miles traveled. Her eyes met his as she exhaled and stood at attention.

"Alrigh', lass. 'Fore I let ya go, we got one last check."

A Thievul stepped out from behind him and would leer at Himiko as its would begin to search around her person. Its tail felt all around her clothing and pockets, searching for anything not in the protocol. She didn't fight against it.

After the amount of times the response had been threats or even violence, it was no longer worth it. The search lasted a minute in total.

"Yer clean." The captain gave a nod of approval. She went to leave but was stopped by the sound of his "tsking" voice.

"And I'll be takin' this," The Thievul presented its master with a crumbled up package of bills. Money that had been graciously given as a final farewell by her father. The sight of it made her eyes narrow on the man.

"As payment fer services rendered."

"That was a gift." Himiko's first words came in an impatient tone. She went forward to try and snatch the bills back but found her action halted by the Thievul's tail.

"Aye, but yer "agreement" was to be sent to Hoenn with the essentials, wasn't it? Wouldn't want Daddy ta get in trouble fer his gift now, would 'e?"

She said nothing. Her scowl at him was enough as he pocketed the cash save for a few bills. The gesture was met with a glare. One that focused every ounce of anger in her system onto this old man.

"I ain't heartless, lass. Take it. Any more an' they'll know."

A pale hand swiped the money away and got off of the ship. The instructions were clear as day to her. She was to meet up with some official that was to "welcome" her to Hoenn and establish what her new duties were. Himiko followed instructions given to her and sat down at one of the seafood restaurants near the boardwalk and waited...

Would somebody come?

Zev Harcourt

☉