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absinthe watches the strangers intently, noting the way they cluster and move, their eyes scanning the room with a predatory gleam that she recognizes all too well. she can practically feel the weight and tension of the pokeballs they clutch, the promise of violence that they carry. these are not the usual clientele, not by a long shot. something about them sets her teeth on edge.[break][break]

as calpurnia shifts, blocking her view of the strangers, absinthe's eyes flick to her briefly. absinthe only took one class of sign language in high school, and the knowledge gleaned from that time takes a moment to come back to her. even so, absinthe's eyes narrow in understanding. her gaze flicks back to the men, and she begins to slowly, carefully, slide her hand beneath her coat, fingers brushing against the cool, smooth surface of a pokeball. she doesn't intend to fight, but, if necessary, she can smoke the place out to offer cover.[break][break]

so absinthe idles, tapping a pattern into the tabletop with one hand as she tries to avoid the attention of the obvious feds.[break][break]

that is, until one of them walks right up to their booth. a middle-aged man with a smattering of stubble on his chin, who reeks of tobacco even in the already smoke-filled casino. "ladies," he drawls, as if the word is scraping against the backs of his teeth. "either of you know someone by the name of madame irena?"[break][break]

absinthe is glad for her mask, as it hides the curl of her lip as she listens. madame irena is, of course, the madame of the casino. they're terribly obvious in their line of questioning.[break][break]

"never heard of her," absinthe answers in a cool tone, though her eyes flicker in calpurnia's direction. the undertone is clear: ready when you are.

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absinthe's gaze lingers on tempest as he rummages the corpses. a part of her wants nothing more than to join him in the grisly work, to feel the slickness and warmth of the bodies that had been snuffed out by his hand. but another, more rational, side of her knows that such actions are beneath her. she has to maintain a level of decorum, no matter the situation, even as bloodlust shines bright in her eyes. she is not a wildcard. she is capable of control, even as the beast roars inside.[break][break]

"absinthe blackwood," she replies, voice flat and emotionless in stark contrast to the mania that once infected it. "chemist. i was brought to petalburg to assist in the rebuilding efforts."[break][break]

she turns back to the man beneath her boot. he squirms and struggles against the pressure, but absinthe merely presses down harder, grinding him into the dirt and debris.[break][break]

"i tire of testing my products on lesser, smaller beings," she admits. "i need human subjects. i need the benefit of communication."[break][break]

she raises her gaze to tempest once more. "i want him. once the questioning is done. perhaps during."

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yeah, whatever. absinthe rolls her eyes even on the other side of the screen. if shalin had wanted a share, she should have stolen it up quicker than absinthe. life doesn't wait for the slow. regardless, she's a video game character. why does she have to have such a mouth on her anyways? if absinthe can certainly put up with a bothersome conscience, then shalin can put up with being poor.[break][break]

absinthe decides to open the gate on the north side of the cavern.

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absinthe's lips curl into a smirk at himiko's words. it's a sentiment that she can appreciate, and one she shares. the ends justify the means - it is a philosophy that has guided absinthe through her life and her career. it is what led her to rocket in the first place.[break][break]

"you're going to make a wonderful assistant," absinthe says, her tone dry and yet somehow still managing to convey a hint of warmth. it is rare that anyone shares in absithe's twisted sense of morality, and it makes her want to nurture himiko's potential, wherever it may lie.[break][break]

absinthe allows the other woman to assist in gathering the supplies needed for field work, and does so with a piercing eye. she's never been the kind of woman to accept help of any kind. it is simply beyond her. she has always been in the business of proving herself, of aspiring to ever greater heights, and the support of anybody else has never, ever been the equation. even her closest companions have been moreso comparable to rivals than friends. for some reason, though, she lets himiko help.[break][break]

it is confounding. absinthe is unsure of what to make of such an inclination. in fact, she buries it, choosing instead to live in the moment as she exits the lab with himiko in tow.[break][break]

"follow me, then," she says with a glint of danger in her eyes. "we have much work to do."

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the corners of absinthe's mouth twitch beneath her mask, nearly becoming a smile. himiko's quick thinking and sadistic streak delights her. she's going to get along with this woman very well.[break][break]

"a fair point," she acknowledges himiko's observation about sample integrity. "the further along the poisoning, the more the toxin will have time to mutate and decay. fresh samples will give us more accurate data."[break][break]

she snaps her fingers. "very well. we might as well get a head start on capturing some fresh subjects."[break][break]

absinthe pulls a pair of latex gloves onto her hands, and then returns the two vials of infected blood to her specimen container. the syringes can be used to poison an entire colony of new specimens, and then they'll have as much blood as they could possibly need. a good plan, truly.[break][break]

"shall we?" she asks, already moving towards the door, bag of blood in hand.

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you didn't lose me, evelyn, absinthe thinks bitterly to herself. i threw myself away willingly.[break][break]

she could have kept her career, she could have stayed afloat after her husband died. she chose to kill abby. no one pressured absinthe into doing that. she killed herself of her own volition.[break][break]

it still angers her, after all these years, that she was so foolish. so reckless with her heart. she always felt like a failure in her own right - always needing validation, always needing to prove herself. never mind that she had so much potential. never mind that she could have done anything she wanted, been anyone she wanted. she chose this path, and now she is living with the consequences. at the very least, rocket doesn't care about her. she's a cog, something to be used. it is a comfort to know that she is replacable, that she can work in peace to finally enact her revenge. rocket gives her the space to do so.[break][break]

"very well," absinthe sighs, leaning heavily against the bar. "rocket employs me. they pay me for the drugs i make. i get to live here without being raided. and they pay a lot of money, evelyn."[break][break]

absinthe narrows her eyes down at her hands. "i trust you, evelyn. i could put in a good word, if you're interested."[break][break]

of course she knows this will put them back in contact. of course this will eventually drag evelyn into the muck of rocket's shady dealings. but what choice does she have? some part of absinthe still wants her old friend.

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there is something inherently saddening about the knowledge that their existences have been reduced to fighting over scraps. that the grand prize of survival has become so precious to hoenn's inhabitants.[break][break]

absinthe almost feels a pang of sympathy for the ranger, but it is short-lived. shalin had the luxury of serving, of protecting, of believing she is doing something that mattered. her efforts might spare a few lives, but the fight continues nonetheless. there would always be more lives to save, more threats to face.[break][break]

"the existential threat is that we believe there is an alternative to this cycle. that's the greatest lie they've told us." absinthe's voice is brittle as old glass, threatening to shatter at any moment.[break][break]

absinthe's world had already collapsed. the apathy that set in after years of mindless service to an ideal set out in front of her, only to lose everything when the bottom finally fell out. everything absinthe loved was systematically destroyed. the league and rocket will always want a slice of the cake—absinthe just wants a dry place to land. "it would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic." the chemist shakes her head. "even when the dust clears, they'll pick up where they left off. it will never end."[break][break]

absinthe feels tired. she is so very, very tired of fighting a losing battle. but she would keep fighting, keep clawing, until her last breath. she owes it to her husband.[break][break]

cole was not a good man. but even terrible people deserve to have their deaths avenged. absinthe will see his legacy protected.

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absinthe's jaw clenches beneath her mask at the mention of 'denial' and 'inevitable messes,' a sharp reminder of the state she has found herself in. her heart throbs painfully at the thought that her life is not, nor will ever be, what it once was. but then, that's the price of loving. the price of loss. it's a heavy toll, paid dearly in blood and suffering, but she has no choice but to continue living.[break][break]

"i don't run," absinthe snaps, her voice strained with repressed emotion. her grip tightens on the glass in her hand, a crack splintering down the center. "i just accept my fate. i lost the one thing that mattered most to me, my family. my husband. and now, all i have left is this. i'm not hiding. i'm surviving."[break][break]

and, eventually, one day, maybe she will die with the perfect weapon. one day, maybe she will go down with the league. it seems the only fitting end. even now, her heart still yearns for death.[break][break]

she sets the cracked glass down with a dull thunk, drawing her gaze up to meet evelyn's for what feels like the first time. in the dim light of the neon signs, she catches a glimpse of herself reflected in evelyn's eyes: a shadow of who she once was, twisted into something ugly.[break][break]

"congratulations," absinthe says flatly. "it seems like we're both alone in this world. what a wonderful reunion."[break][break]

absinthe's attention is drawn to evenlyn's mention of her job. a career to keep the woman afloat. it reminds absinthe much of how rocket now acts as her lifeline. how it keeps her from screaming her lungs out and never, ever stopping. she would not celebrate seeing an old face, but she would relish in strengthening the underworld that keeps her fed. absinthe rolls her shoulders back as she looks back down at her hands, and the way the water of the bar's sink flows over her skin, cool and nourishing.[break][break]

"you know," she begins. "i make a lot of money nowadays. a lot more than i made at my pharmacology job. you could too, evelyn."

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absinthe's eyes crinkle at the corners at himiko's quip about poisoning people. it's so refreshingly callous that absinthe finds herself instantly thawed to her new assistant.[break][break]

"we won't need to poison anyone. at least, not today." a pause. "probably."[break][break]

her eyes gleam wickedly, and for a moment it's almost possible to forget the deep, abiding sorrow that haunts her like a shadow. for a moment, she feels like she is younger, more naive, still trying to change the world, to champion forth a new world order. she has missed this feeling, this power.[break][break]

"as of now, our immediate concern are the grunts others that have been poisoned," she continues, turning back to the matter at hand. "so long as we are quick, we may still yet be able to take their samples."[break][break]

she reaches into a cabinet and pulls out a cooler - a portable blood bank, no doubt sourced from one of rocket's less savory dealings. she looks back at himiko. "and, if not, there are still many rattata in the world left to poison."[break][break]

she had been called cruel for keeping her colony of rattata just to subject them to the torture of testing. absinthe would instead call herself resourceful. would they rather her kill people in the search of progress?[break][break]

"will you join me in collection?"

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absinthe is quite thrilled to find that shalin has no trouble with the wall, and even more thrilled to find what lies behind it. a veritable cache of treasure — glittering jewels, ruby, sapphire, emerald, and a key to pull it all together. when shalin asks how to split it, absinthe is quick to decide to TAKE IT ALL FOR HERSELF.[break][break]

the girl's a video game character, after all. why should absinthe give a shit if she gets the treasure or not?

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as cyrus emerges from the bushes, sanguinarine immediately alights alongside absinthe with an irate shriek, puffing his chest out and folding his wings in on his body. absinthe couldn't blame her crobat for being on edge; it is a surprise, certainly, to see any living thing in this blighted land at all.[break][break]

nonetheless, absinthe sizes the young man up appraisingly, taking in his tree-scratched appearance and the lack of weapons on his person. if he had been sent by the league, he'd be woefully underprepared. as such, absinthe makes the split second decision that he is no threat to her or rocket as a whole.[break][break]

"lost?" she asks flatly, her voice slightly distorted by the mask. she shifts her weight, the dead leaves beneath her boots giving a satisfying crunch, and sanguinarine lifts away from her side once more in search of the shadows.[break][break]

absinthe's eyes drift to the surrounding forest. "or looking for something?" she follows the retreating form of her crobat with her eyes. "i'm afraid there's not much left alive in these woods. not after the battles."[break][break]

her sharp green eyes flick behind him, scanning the underbrush intently. there, in the distance, was a flicker of dark fur, and sanguinarine's following warning shriek. absinthe zeroes in on the movement, her muscles tensing in anticipation.[break][break]

the corners of her eyes crinkle as her hand hovers over an empty pokeball on her hip. "not unless you care for the lost and weary."

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"i'm flattered that you care so much about my establishment. i suppose," absinthe says, tone dripping with sarcasm. her attention is divided between the stranger - no, the old acquaintance - in front of her and the task at hand. it would be wrong of her to neglect her duties to wallow in the past. she must protect her peace. besides, she does not have much love for the past, not since… well. best not to think about that.[break][break]

absinthe glowers beneath her mask. it would figure that evelyn would be the one to survive, untouched. not absinthe. but then again, perhaps it isn't fair to assume that. maybe even the great and powerful evelyn has had her own trials and tribulations, whether absinthe knows them or not.[break][break]

"i run the bar because it gives people what they want," absinthe continues, slamming another glass down on the bar in an unnecessarily harsh manner. "escape, for a price. when one's life is in shambles, what else is there to do?"[break][break]

absinthe narrows her eyes at the other woman, suspicion running deep within even at the sight of a very old friend. her hand drifts closer to the bat she keeps stashed beneath the bar for those special occasions. not many people make it through her door, and even fewer do so with good intentions. she has learned to be wary.[break][break]

"what happened for you after college?" absinthe asks finally, gripping another glass with white knuckles. "did your life go as shitty as mine did?"

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absinthe's eyes narrow at the sight of tempest. she's not terribly familiar with the man, but his reputation precedes him. a muscle in her jaw flexes as he casually strolls onto the scene of her kill, commanding her like a common thug. but, despite her growing anger, she holds her tongue. she knows better than to defy a rocket beast. at least, not openly.[break][break]

she drags her captive roughly to the ground, shoving his face into the rubble. "aw, really?" she growls, her voice muffled slightly by her gas mask. "i don't even get to play with my food? not even a little?"[break][break]

she's unsure where the sadism inside of her comes from. before her husband's death, she would have never dreamed of the macabre pleasures that swim in her head now. it is a beast inside of her, and it demands blood. sometimes, it thrills her. most of the time, it frightens her. right now, it itches to pull out her briefcase and to choose her poison. arceus, the possibilities are endless.[break][break]

she glances up at tempest, though, much like a dog seeking the approval of its owner. "at least let me participate in questioning."[break][break]

her eyes flicker, betraying a darkness that has begun to cloud her senses. she wants to enact righteous judgement upon the man at her mercy, and it won't be pretty.

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