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Keeping secrets at Team Rocket Headquarters wasn't an easy thing to do. The way news traveled at the place you'd think it was populated by a bunch of gossiping old women rather than trained agents. When a helicopter was unexpectedly dispatched for the Unova region a decent number of people knew about it. When the single passenger it brought back turned out to be an unfamiliar man in an Executive uniform, who was immediately sent to Lucere's office, more people knew about it.

What would actually start turning heads what was the man did after that. In the long proud history of Executive Agents at HQ there had been a clear divide. There was them and the boss... and then there were the rest of the Rockets. Executives didn't mingle with the other Agents. They had a haughty self-important distinction that kept them on their floor, kissing up to the boss and only descending to the lower levels to do his bidding, all while looking down their nose.

So when the strange new Executive who'd been inexplicably shipped in all by his lonesome made it his first task to visit the cafeteria.. the one that serviced the Trainees, Grunts and Agents... ...well it wasn't normal. Regardless, after dropping his belongings off at his new quarters, that's what this man did.

Humming an upbeat tune, he did a good job of ignoring any arched eyebrows as he crossed the large room. He didn't look much like a typical Exec. Most of the Execs around HQ wore their pristine white uniforms proudly. This fellow's black undershirt was left untucked, hanging over his belt. his sleeves had been folded back and shoved up past his elbows. In place of the standard white shoes, he wore a pair of dirty boots into which he'd tucked his pants. His shoulder-length brown hair seemed appropriate to this slightly disheveled look. Behind him trailed two Whimsicotts. One had blue horns and the other had pink.

"Oh hey, is that lasagna?" The man peered over the counter at the underwhelming food selection. The lasagna was better described as the rubbery stuff school cafeterias offered up. It looked about as appetizing.

"...sort of." The Rocket on the other side of the counter answered, eyeing the strange man.

"Good stuff. A plate for me and a plate for my friends here." He jerked a thumb at the two Whimsicotts, who had started a shoving contest.

"You know.. there's an Executive lounge.." The other Rocket pointed upward, "They have better food.."

"Yeah, better food, worse company. Oh, I'll take a soda and one of those Snickers bars too."

Once he had his tray of food loaded up, the newest member of Team Rocket HQ headed off to find a table.

Saleen normally didn’t bother to hang out here, she made her own food so she normally ate in her room, or while she worked in the lab. But the young geneticist had decided to try out the cafeteria today. She had, had a long morning and hadn’t felt like cooking. But she was now regretting it. Was this FOOD? Who would eat this?

Saleen didn’t actually have a pokemon of her own, she never quite got around it bothering with it. Saleen had picked out a salad and a banana to eat…but she wondered when this lettuce was cut…it looked sort of wilted. Hmph, well it was sort of like how the food was in highschool. Oh well, she could put up with it for the day, it’s not like she had to come here often. Saleen was still wearing her lab coat over her black dress, she hadn’t bothered to take it off when she left for her break.

She looked up however when she saw the executive walk in the room. Oh? How interesting. Why was he here? Saleen didn’t often run into any of the executives unless there was some business going down. And she certainly didn’t think any of them ate in the cafeteria. Didn’t they have their own cook or something? She watched him and his two pokemon for a moment, before she turned back to her food and took a bite.

Saleen pulled out her phone and began to shuffle through it. She always silences her phone when she works, so it doesn’t distract her, so she wanted to see if she had missed any calls. There were a few, but nothing important. She then proceeded to check her email….nothing but junk. Delete! Now that was done….Saleen put her phone away and looked around, noticing the ‘guest’ was now grabbing food while his pokemon roughhoused. Oh what were those? They must be new types of pokemon from what was it…Unova? Such a weird name. They looked sort of like….sheep of somesort. Similar to flaaffy but much puffier, and were those horns or ears?

Saleen took mental observations of their structure, it was good to know for her research. And sure enough they should get the dna of these new pokemon to play with in the labs. Maybe they were already down there and she simply hadn’t checked…she should look into it sometime.


((ooh im rusty 8D gotta get back into the swing of things hehe))

Sierra glanced up as a murmur seemed to travel through the room. Something was happening...something that disturbed the natural energy of the room. Her icy eyes alighted on the new arrival, but her only reaction was a slight quirk of her brows. Well, wasn't this...interesting?

The raven-haired young woman was much a stranger to the HQ herself these days. She bet that no one here would even recognize her; there were so few that had known her at all to begin with and most of those had moved on to bigger and better things. They didn't have time to waste on her. And she spent so little time lately at the HQ, she may as well be a newbie herself. It wasn't as if she'd left HQ, persay...she just spent so much time focused on her private training that it seemed she was more often elsewhere than here.

Still, it was worth it in the end. She glanced down at the dark pair at her feet, absent-mindedly giving the Pikachu on the table a scratch. Marle leaned into the attention, a sharp contrast to her behavior towards the Rocket months ago at her capture. No longer gnawing at the human's wrists or threatening to electrocute her, the Pikachu seemed almost content with her new lot in life.

The Dark Eevee and shiny Umbreon at her feet seemed content as well. Radiating a sort of aura of self-confidence, Layla and Khalon lounged, nibbling at a morsel or two from time to time, but mostly sated already. Celeste was a bit big to join them here, but the Pidgeot's Pokeball was tucked securely into Sierra's waistband, always close at hand.

Sierra glanced over them all fondly, her eyes softening into what might have been a smile, except the expression never reached her mouth. They'd worked hard, growing strong and forming bonds that she could have never hoped for in the past. She had a good team, they worked together well, and while they may not have many connections outside their little circle, she felt that they could handle anything they came up against as long as they stuck together.

Arceus, she was starting to sound like an after-school special.

A half-sneer crossed her face at the thought, and she shook her head as if to rid herself of it. More important matters at hand, what was that Executive doing here with the 'commoners'? And perhaps more interestingly...what were those Pokemon with him?

Sierra had been a bit out of the loop, due to her self-induced training regimen, so she hadn't heard any of the rumors surrounding the new Exec's arrival. But, she could watch and wait, silently observing for now.

Marle seemed less patient and more open with her curiosity. Tilting her head at the group her human was staring at, she focused on the Pokemon as well. Then, slipping out from under Sierra's hand, the Pikachu shot across the room like a yellow blur, ignoring the hiss from the human to 'get back here this instant!' She bounded up to the strange pair of Pokemon, perched on her haunches, and blinked innocently.

'You guys are fuzzy! What are you and where are you from?' Despite her growth, both in form and in power, Marle's demeanor remained rather child-like and eager. She grinned broadly at the two, curiosity taking the place of any wariness she may have considered.

"Oh." Nyx waved a fork full of green beans around thoughtfully, "No... No. You don't appear to be wrong. Odd, though." The agent stuck said fork into her mouth and chewed her food thoughtfully, watching the executive, and his exotic pokemon, with interest. "...I wonder what he's doing here?" Her thoughts were going wild with explanations. Mind control, lost a bet, brain parasites, observing the rockets after that little traitor incident...

Whoever he was, and whatever he was doing, he seemed oddly familiar. Nyx could swear she'd seen him somewhere before. Possibly in the city, or maybe at the university? Hell, he could have been here when he was a lower ranking Rocket, she'd certainly met more Rockets than she could keep track of.

"Lets get him to sit here!" Nyx said enthusiastically as she began to wave an arm in the air to try and catch the executive's attention so she could motion him over.

Humm. Well clearly something he'd said had been acceptable, a rather good start all things considered. The shoulder clap was a little too... touchy feely for his tastes, but he wasn't about to tell off an elite, not even one who seemed the 'pally' kind: he wasn't quite that foolish. "Very well," he said to the executive's already retreating back before shaking himself, grabbing the chocolate bar, and rising to catch up. The table they were approaching was a little more crowded than he usually liked... but nevermind: his curiosity outweighed his general preference for avoiding crowds.

Taking his new seat (beside the executive now which put him rather close and also made polite eye contact awkward but nevermind) Frost nodded to the other occupants of the table. "Good afternoon," he echoed, carefully setting down his tray to avoid the pair of fluffy pokemon. He couldn't think of anything else to say right away, but no doubt somebody else would speak up soon.

"Interesting..." Nyx watched the two fluffy sheep-like pokemon's acrobatic performance, until they were shooed away. "Ah. Yes. Hello!" The agent smiled, amused at how her impromptu invitation seemed to throw Faleen for a loop. She narrowed her eyes, inspecting the man's face, racking her brain trying to think if she knew him... no. Now that he was closer, she was sure she didn't know him.

"I'm Nyx, this is Faleen. We haven't seen you before." New things were always very exciting, especially when they had pokemon she'd never encountered. "Did you just get in?"

Len kept on looking. There was a reason. When Len kept on looking, she was interested. If only she had the actual courage to go and give salutation.

"Len," snapped Sorano suddenly. "Did'ya want ta ask 'bout those Fire types?"

Len pursed her lips. Of course she did, damn it. Why could he read her so well? It was annoying. "Duh," she replied rudely.

Well, that was enough of an answer. Removing his posterior from his designated seat, he looped a hand around her forearm and tugged. She obliged with a sideways slant of a walk as she followed. There was no protest here, not if she was getting what she wanted. Soon enough, the two Dinkley siblings were standing (only one of them parallel to the damn thing) by the popular lunch table of the day featuring Nyx and Faleen.

"Ah, 'ey." smiled Sorano all the more benevolently to the three. "Mind if we 'oin ya?"

Never yawned. He had been napping under the silent flatulence of his owner for so long that he had not realized he just shimmied away. Turning his head, the Flareon narrowed his eyes and padded over, another yawn escaping his lips. Fluffing up next, the Flareon suddenly blanched at what appeared to be . . . discolored Mareep standing on two legs? Huh?

'Whimsicotts? Never heard of them, but sounds cool!' Marle started to reply, but found the pair had already bounded off after their trainer. Her ears drooped for a moment, before she started after them. She was halfway to the gathering group's table when she skidded to a stop at a low, sharp whistle. Ears drooping once more, she turned and looked behind her, knowing already what she'd see.

Sierra stalked over, glaring at the Pikachu in reprimand. Layla and Khalon padding lightly at her heels, the human gave another low, sharp whistle. Pouting, Marle complied with the unspoken order, however, and bounded back to her trainer and up to her shoulder. Putting on her stern appearance, Sierra' hissed sideways under her breath at the Pikachu, "You just can't behave can you? You know what this means, right?" Marle slumped noticeably. "No dessert after dinner tonight."

Such a cruel mistress.

She turned back to the group, now on damage control. Best make any repairs necessary for any trouble caused or bad impressions made. Approaching the table, she paused to let the pair of Pokemon finish their show, and hid a smile of her own at the resulting reactions. No looking soft now, not in front of a commanding officer.

When there was a lull in the conversation, she gave a short bow and said, "I do apologize for my Pikachu. She's a bit...spirited, but I hope she didn't cause anyone any trouble." Down on the floor, the Dark Eevee, Layla, rolled her eyes, and Khalon merely shook his head with a knowing look.