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Notice of partner assignment. Effective immediately. Name: Asch.

The message, bordering on cryptic, had surprised Aila, and she had spent longer than she would admit studying the letters on the screen of her Rocket 'dex. Well... she had been assigned a partner, apparently. This wasn't such a difficult concept to grasp. It was simply unexpected in its entirety and left a lot of questions and curiosities in its wake. Some of these questions could be answered with a standard search of the database, which she conducted in short order.

Name was Asch... An interesting spelling for the name. Agent rank, as expected. A recent transfer, which explained why she had never heard of him. Working in surveillance and infiltration under Kunai, same as herself. Hm. The information available to Aila's level of clearance left much to be imagined - or discovered. She would need to make a point of tracking down the agent and introducing herself, if only for the sake of etiquette. If they were to go on missions with one another, it would behoove them to be familiar with each other.

As she considered the available means of finding the individual, a thought struck her. Partners shared a bathroom between their two rooms. To the best of her knowledge, the room on the other side of her wash room was still unoccupied. Habitually silent movements marked her approach to the door to the adjoining room, and she pulled it ajar enough that she could see to the other side. She didn't particularly expect anyone to be there, but it was at least worth a look...

"Ah--" He was actually there. "I'm sorry. I didn't think there would really be someone in here." It looked as though he hadn't been there for long, though, so couldn't feel but so embarrassed about her assumption. She straightened her pose with a polite nod of her head, focusing her attention on the young man in front of her instead of on the interesting array of belongings or the peculiar pokemon.

"Yes," she replied. "And you're Asch, correct?" There was something strange about the other agent; his name was completely unfamiliar, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen his face somewhere before. Well, it wasn't impossible that they had passed in the halls at some point. In fact, it was actually fairly likely. With a mental shrug, she dismissed the nagging thought. "Would you like a hand with anything?" Perhaps he didn't want a girl - or anyone, for that matter - touching his things, but it was at least worth offering. After rooming with Liam for as long as she had, Aila had forgotten many of the customary gender boundaries anyway.

Well, that was expected. It seemed a bit awkward to just stand and watch him put his room together, though, and so she moved to dismiss herself, perhaps with the suggestion that they speak when he had finished - it seemed a good idea to at least attempt to become acquainted with the boy who had been assigned as her partner. She was distracted from this, though, by the Zorua's approach, and she turned her attention to the little creature.

"This is one of the Unova species, isn't it?" she presumed as she crouched in front of the pokemon, offering a hand to test if its reaction would be friendly or violent. It served as a good distraction from the bothering thought that she should somehow know Asch as well, a worry that she feared she wouldn't be able to put to rest until she understood the source of the feeling.

(( Posted for Suu since her internet is being a pain. ))

She committed the species name to memory. He wasn't the first Zorua she had seen around the base, but he was the first she had interacted with directly. She reached a hand to stroke the pokemon's head in hopes the physical acknowledgment would encourage the mild behavior Asch seemed to want from him. The single sound hadn't seemed too noisy anyway, but she supposed different trainers had different means of disciplining their pokemon, especially within Team Rocket.

"This is the first time we've met, isn't it?" Maybe they'd been on the same mission once before or in some other circumstances where the exchange of niceties wasn't practical. Or maybe he'd visited Camphoreon before and they'd crossed paths in the city or... something. Anything to explain that nagging sense of familiarity that taunted her from a place in her memories that was just out of reach.

It had soft fur that was pleasant to touch, though Aila felt it was probably a bad idea to overindulge the pokemon. Withdrawing her hand, she returned to her full height, regarding the Zorua with a smile before returning her attention to Asch.

Recent transfer, which meant she hadn't seen him on missions and likely hadn't passed him in the halls, knocking out the two most probable causes. Now it was a challenge, and Aila wouldn't allow herself to lose.

"Where did you transfer from, out of curiosity?" She knew a few transferred Rockets; perhaps she knew of him through them. Not likely, though, since it was his face rather than his name that was most familiar. She'd simply have to narrow it down as best she could until something rang a bell.

She had heard of Orre passingly but knew little about it, and so it indeed did very little to further her attempt to pinpoint an answer. It did, however, seem interesting that he had been transferred frequently enough to mention it. She would have to locate a more detailed history of the team and find out just how much of a global presence they held. It seemed that they were well enough on their way to national - if not worldwide - influence.

It seemed he had his own question for now; it was fair enough that they should trade questions for questions and answers for answers, and so she gave her response, "I grew up in Camphoreon City, though I consider Grande Ile my home and birthplace." The faint accent that lingered habitually in her words strengthened slightly at the pronunciation of the foreign name.

The odd stare was returned in kind. The transition into a foreign language - or rather, her first language - was processed flawlessly, but the fact that someone else was speaking it to her was not. She had become accustomed to practicing the tongue since it was all the Pidgeotto seemed to understand, but it felt as though it had been ages since she had last heard it used conversationally.

"Oui..." was her tentative response as she reigned in her thoughts. "Et vous aussi?" It seemed a reasonable conclusion to reach, considering he had lapsed into French after hearing the country's name. Most had never even heard of the island nation, let alone knew that the predominant language was French. She had never expected to encounter another native of the country besides her brother, let alone within Team Rocket. Serendipity at its finest, or perhaps the discretion of a superior...

The subject of Grande Ile dredged up a memory that had been largely dismissed upon its formation, a memory of something she had read while keeping up with the nation's politics. There was a name associated with that face, but the name wasn't Asch. Perhaps he was using an alias, or...? It seemed best to let the conversation play out for now; there was a chance the answer would reveal itself without having to pry for it.

She was right to wait and see what he said, for his comment affirmed her suspicions. A noble of Grande Ile, of red hair and green eyes. The only question was what he was doing in Team Rocket...

"Moi aussi," she replied in a level tone. Serendipity indeed. "Mon frère est Duc Leon." A slight hesitation punctuated her words; she too was careful with whom she divulged the nature of her lineage, especially when it came to perfect strangers. Though Asch hardly seemed a perfect stranger at this point, she took care not to lower her guard too much. "Pardonnez-moi d'être si simple, mais... Vous-êtes d'Fabre Famille?"