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The labs were Aila's greatest foe. So close, and yet so far. The girl's self-assigned quest to complete a detailed map of the entire base found her making notes on the individual rooms' interiors in addition to their locations. The number of floors markedly off-limits to the trainee was frustrating, but the number rooms into which she was denied entry, even on floors to which she had full access, was wholly infuriating.

The girl stood in the lobby that was the vestibule preceding the laboratory rooms, locked in what to the passerby would appear as a staring contest with the access mechanism. She could probably get in if she really wanted to, she debated. She had broken some fairly advanced security systems in the past, after all. Somehow she doubted the higher-ups would give her their blessings in such an endeavor, though...

It took a moment for her to register that someone was speaking to her, pointing at her even. There was something vaguely familiar about the woman, though Aila could recall no details indicating why. The woman's tone of voice was her first concern, however - it triggered a mild anger in the little thief, and a frown spread on her lips.

"Is even the lobby itself off-limits?" she huffed, folding her arms across her chest.

"What are you talking about? Do you usually gallivant around senselessly insulting others, or is today simply special?"

The appearance of the Drifblim, however, answered all questions. She recognized that expression. It was emblazoned into her memory, never to be unseen. She took a half-step back from Newton, a slight reddening of her face betraying her otherwise cool demeanor.

"Ah, it has been a while, has it not?" she inclined her head to a side, raising a shoulder to greet her cheek. "How pleasant to discover that you are the same as you were. The familiarity is assuring."

Sarcasm wasn't her usual style, but she found that she could not help herself.

Aila inclined her head away from Newton in hopes of emphasizing her disinterest. Disturbing as his behavior was, the Drifblim was of no concern to her. This woman, however: quite the opposite. Upon giving it more consideration, she did seem somewhat familiar physically. Her hair, while in a completely different style and color, was of a similar texture, and her stature was unmistakable.

"'Fancy act?'" she repeated. "Truly you are incapable of polite speech, to insult one's presence and even one's manner when one has done you no evil." And honestly, she was quickly tiring of all the flailing and shouting. "When you say 'here,' I assume you mean within your organization, yes?" A ghost of a smirk emerged. "I was offered a place here. Is this not to your liking?"

Aila side-stepped away from Newton, raising her hands slightly and shooing him away in much the same manner she would shoo Fleur when the grass pokemon was being especially insistent. He was beginning to irritate her.

"She was also at the museum. Unfortunately I never managed to solicit her name," she pursed her lips. It had been bothering her for a while that she never learned how to call that woman. Aila could only rely on a physical description, "She was a redheaded woman, an Arcanine in tow. Remarkably well-spoken, she." You could stand to learn from her, her subtle smile suggested.

"Ah, Nadja. Was that her name?" Aila gathered. "I must commit it to memory. I thank you for sharing this information."

She smirked, an eyebrow raised, at the woman's intonation. There were such people in the world, weren't there? Those that felt superiority in rank granted them superiority as a human being. Aila, frankly, did not care any longer. No amount of insult would keep her from fulfilling her goal.

"First, I would appreciate it if you would discipline your pokemon properly. It is unbecoming to stare," she jabbed an indicative thumb in the Drifblim's direction. "Second, my original hopes in being here were to record the layout of the laboratories." She displayed the map she had been recording for the floor, a plain leaf of paper covered with all manner of lines and notes. "I would be most grateful should you permit my entrance so that I may continue to pursue this endeavor."

"I feel I could have predicted as much, on both accounts," she said, matter-of-fact. Her gaze wandered past the woman, studying the access terminal carefully as well as the door onto which it was affixed and the surrounding walls. The right reconnaissance, the right tools... She could do it. Of course she could do it. How many stolen gems affirmed that confidence?

But in all truth, she would benefit little from the completion of her maps, save for the personal satisfaction of a job well done. She could roughly estimate the size and shape of the labs from the walls that enclosed them. That would simply have to do until she obtained a position or a purpose that would authorize her entry.

"Then please pardon me." She withdrew a pencil a marked piece of cardboard, used for scale reference, and began taking notes on the immediate area. She would discern as much as she could from her current position, then study the corridors on either side of the chamber to gather more information. As she did so, Fleur decided she would like to participate in the discussion as well, albeit a little late to the party, so to speak. A flash from Aila's hip found the Ivysaur at her side.

"Saur!" was her friendly salute to the scientist. She remembered neither the Drifblim nor its trainer.

"Fleur, manners," Aila scolded, only half paying attention to the seed pokemon. If Newton would go unchecked, then so would Fleur.

A careful measurement - as careful as she could be, at any rate, without the proper tools to do so - a mark indicating the door, a circle indicating the foreseeable range of the surveillance camera in the corners of the lobby... Something was awkward. That scientist was lingering. Aila spared her a glance over her shoulder, Fleur wandering at her feet and eventually finding her way to Newton where she proceeded to stare in curiosity.

"My apologies, am I impeding you from some task?"