[attr="class","spiral"]For what feels like the millionth time today Lillian is caught off guard by Fernando. There is a game they usually play in moments like this, a dance of give and take, but he responds to her bit of teasing so genuinely. It's touching, and it hits her in a way their game rarely does. Her skin heats up and her heart beats a little faster and she has to swallow to keep her face neutral.

"I am forever eager to please," she isn't capable of identically expressing the same open sentiment so quickly, but she softens her voice when she replies in a way that makes it clear she feels the same. The words are hot and leave her throat and mouth warm almost to the point of dryness. The implication from before takes precedence over the sarcasm they might have otherwise carried.

And they're the last words she says. It is a silent, grueling march to their destination after that. Every second she feels more restless. Her fingers fiddle with the edge of the manila folder in her hands as they cross the lobby, a hand absentmindedly undoes the top button of her blouse (teases at the buttons of her jack) as they ride the elevator, and then finally they arrive and both are forgotten in favor of throwing herself into every idea that finds its way to Fernando's lips. They are discarded.

The folder to some random table, her jacket to the welcome mat, her blouse to the floor.

She makes herself an open map to him, with new discoveries clearly marked with trails to follow. When she wakes the next morning she wants nothing of her hidden from his sight. She never wants to be unknown to him.

[attr="class","spiral"]Meteor Falls is chaos. There's no way Lillian could have properly prepared for it, no way even now she can comprehend the scale of everything. There are monstrous opponents she's seen only in photographs and corrupted Pokemon she understands only the theory behind. If she took time to try and process it all before making a move she'd collapse under the pressure. It's a good thing, then, that she's got Fernando to guide her.

Anxiety hits her like a percussive blast the moment they enter the field. Her hands shake and her heart races and her vision blurs. And then his voice cuts through the way it always has. A familiar, comfortable thoughtlessness washes over her. It's not her job to direct anything. It's not her job to direct even herself. There's a plan, an order of operations, and if anything changes he'll be the first to announce it. All she has to do is what they rehearsed.

"Execute," she echoes his order more intimately to the Pokemon around her. They take action immediately -- trained just as well as she is. Machamp hurries to a center position, its four hands glow a burnt amber before stretching out into a rectangular shape above its head. WIDE GUARD springs to life, at first using those hands as its edges before expanding further. A precautionary shield, constantly shifting in little ways as the Pokemon scans the sky and its surroundings.

Supporting it is Bronzong, who floats into position beside the Machamp before sending out a pulse of pink light. The air around it shimmers as a LIGHT SCREEN establishes itself around nearby allies.

Cloyster slides ahead, moving to join the offensive line of Clefairy and Tapu Fini. It snaps open and, like a fire hose, unleashes a fierce, rain boosted spray of HYDRO PUMP in the direction of the fire wall ahead of them.

Meanwhile, Lillian flips to watch their back. A quick nod to her Magneton sees its eyes begin scanning for nearby opponents, when it finds one its eyes all flash red -- LOCK ON ensuring at least one kill at the nearest opportunity. Then they wait as the provided MISTY TERRAIN spills out past them. Step one, complete.

+ Lillian is a few feet behind FERNANDO SILPH, Machamp moved to the center point between them
+ Machamp used WIDE GUARD to cover nearby allies, Bronzong moved up beside it
+ Bronzong used LIGHT SCREEN (1/5) to increase protection from Sp.Attks
+ Cloyster joined Tapu Fini + Clefairy at the front, used HYDRO PUMP on the fire wall (boosted by RAIN DANCE)
+ Magneton used LOCK ON on nearby/approaching enemies
+ Lillian + 'mons keeping pace with Fernando while keeping an eye out

od17xvv8
Edit note: aligned the roll to center, if it changes the original result was a 34

[attr="class","spiral"]Out of the corner of her eye she watches Fernando's reflection disappear from the rear-view mirror and the slightest of grateful grins tugs at the corners of her lips. Over the rest of the car ride Lillian works to turn by turn get her head on straight while listening to the stories he tells her of recent events.

The rest of the car ride is easy. For the first time they're taking part in a dance she knows the steps to. She can feel a question coming before it arrives and lets him bait her in and lead her about the way she knows he likes. It's almost nostalgic. It takes her back to their teens, when he would in this same way teach her about everything from pokemon rearing to regional dishes. She'd go so far as to call it fun; but when the car stops she's still more than ready to get out.

"It's been a long day," Lillian agrees graciously as she steps out of the backseat and gently shuts the car door behind her. The click of her heels picks up again as she takes the few steps necessary to come up on Fernando's left. Not quite beside him, she intentionally puts herself a half-step behind. She, casually but thoroughly, sweeps their surroundings with an easy look over one shoulder and then the other.

"But, if there's anything else you were hoping to take care of or discuss I could survive a few more hours of your company," she says with just enough humor to mark it a joke, and something else underneath it buzzing with implication. She looks back at him to gauge his response. From this angle she can't make out his eyes or mouth, but she's had years to learn how to read his mood without them.

approved, thanks boss

[attr="class","spiral"]Again his words feel strange as they hit her ear. Like she's somehow shifted into a different world. They scaled Mt. Silver as children (though with that woman in tow, wherever she may be now) and took over the Silph Corporation together. To think they'd so quickly rely on an entire organization for backing; It shouldn't be ridiculous. Lillian knows there's no way they could do everything in the world on their own, but there's a childish part of her that had always hoped.

Again she has to shake herself out of this sentimental place in her head. She blinks twice, hard, and does her best to just listen and follow. What's happened to her that she can be so distracted when he's speaking right in front of her? She's not here for a pleasure visit (not just a pleasure visit).

"Ah, uh, understood," she wants to bite her tongue out for the way it trips over itself, "Sorry, I just . . . Are things really this serious?" She really almost does bite her tongue out at this. The edges of it bleed as her molars catch and grind them. What has gotten into her? Intending to stop him before he can respond she takes a quick breath and speaks again.

"No, I'm sure they are. You've been here the whole time," for the first time she feels like her composure is truly crumbling, "Anything you need -- eyes to watch your back, cooperation with the League, anything. I understand."

"For what it's worth, no vacation logged with you has ever ended too poorly," she tries to pull herself together by playing off of his banter, but it comes out at once too genuine and too forced. Her hands twitch in her lap, desperate to cover her face. Her eyes flit away from the rear view mirror for the first time.

[attr="class","spiral"]Lillian would be lying if she said the first words of his response didn't put her on edge. When she had left for Kanto to keep his company seat warm things had been well in hand in the region. Silph was rising quietly, he'd ascended to a seat on the council, and the Rocket threat was growing less and less substantial by the day. All of this had been possible through their usual methods. Watch, analyze, respond. It's what got them through childhood.

As he watches her so does she watch him. She thinks she can see the barest hints, pointing towards a shift from the man she'd known before. A tenseness less like a liepard preparing to pounce and more like a sawsbuck cornered in the woods. There is still pride and strength in his eyes, but he seems more like a man hunted than she's seen in a while. Maybe she's reading too deeply, but his "I believe" hits her ears in such a way he could just have easily said "I fear".

It does little and less to shake any certainty she has in him, though. Quite the opposite. She can't help but worry if she's really up for a task great enough to shake him so. But she can't start to crack. Fernando functions well even with a few chips in his armor, Lillian can't always say the same of herself.

"I'm at your disposal, as always," she wills her voice into certainty, hopeful that with a little time her confidence will return in full, "The situation in the region is . . . much different than I anticipated, I'm not sure about what needs to be done to change it, but in the meantime you can trust me to watch your back as closely as ever."

SOLO WILD POKEMON

[attr="class","spiral"]She is familiar with Fernando's voice like no other in her life. From the moment they met she began to carve its every feature into her heart and mind. She knows the softness it held as a child, the poorly covered cracks in adolescence, and the strength and sensuality it's held since entering adult. Through it all it's been her one guiding light in this life. All that to say, it's impossible for her to miss it when it's right in front of her.

"Of course," she represses a wave of giddiness and bites back a smile, "Lead the way."

There's no telling what game he's getting at here, but Lillian is skilled at nothing if not going along with his whims. She lets him lead her without comment to the parking lot, and ducks into the car politely when he holds the door for her.

It brings her an odd pleasure to get to act in this particular skit. The longer it goes on the more her anticipation grows. As she begins to thumb through the file that had previously warmed her seat she wonders how much longer it can continue. She imagines what it would be like to go on like this for a whole day, a week, but then reminds herself there's work to be done. Everything will be back to business soon enough, and so she lets herself bask in this moment of playful levity as she turns her attention to the documents presented to her.

It's mostly summaries of national news. Incursions by creatures from beyond this realm, the damage they've done, and the opportunities that were found. There's more detail than other sources might offer, but not by much. Beyond that there's bits on some of the confidential projects she's been okaying from abroad. As she goes deeper, though, more unfamiliar bits of information begin to crop up. She bites at the inside of her cheek.

He pulls her from her reading with his voice. This time it's heavier, weighty. Before she even looks up she's sure the game is done. Once she sees his eyes (sharp as ever, but worn down by struggle) she knows. She tries to steel her gaze and swallow the sudden spike of adrenaline she gets at the sight of them, but to her surprise can't quite manage it. Her hands are still trembling as she smooths a bit of paper, and her voice is ever so slightly tighter than intended when she speaks.

"I see," she momentarily places the open folder flat over her lap, "And what should our response be, sir."

She gently sets her sunglasses aside and locks eyes with the pair looking back at her through the rear view.

[attr="class","spiral"]It takes everything she has to remain composed as she steps off the boat. She wants to start looking around, she wants to start shouting. But she doesn't. That's not her. That's not who Lillian was, that's not who the President of Silph is. If she was vulnerable to such fits of fancy she wouldn't do. There'd be no use for her.

So, instead, she walks down the ramp to the pier one step at a time. Click. Click. Click. Stilettos keep time where her heart fails to as she sticks trembling hands into the pockets of her pressed pants. She tells herself she's shivering from the wind as her open suit jacket flaps in the wind and her eyes peer through tinted lenses for a sign of the man she's waited to see for time too agonizing to count. And then she finds it. The sign.

President Glass

She's read those words on hundreds if not thousands of documents. Heard them in meetings too long and dull to remember every day since her appointment. But she finds her eyes stinging at the sight of them. The meeting they promise her this time. She sucks on her teeth, blinks her eyes, and walks towards them with determination evident more in her veiled eyes than her steady gait.

"Thank you for coming to meet me," she says in the cool, impassive tone that's become her trademark as she enters earshot of what she can only assume is her chauffer (her excitement, ironically, too strong to see through the ruse in front of her), "I don't mean to rush you, but I'd rather not keep him waiting."