Welcome to Gaia! ::

Just occasionally, Tambrey found herself unable to sleep. It had been a small problem, barely a problem at all, in fact, while she was a student or before she'd come to Team Rocket- it had just been a quirk, sometimes useful, that she'd find herself too awake for sleep every so often.
Since coming to Team Rocket, though, her night time habits had taken up a less than pleasant aspect; the cause no longer seemed to be just a habit of wakefulness; now she had nightmares of her own.
She didn't always have them, didn't always venture into the halls, but mission after mission and day after day spent as part of a criminal organization had gradually increased the frequency of some disturbing dreams, no matter if she were tired or not.
Luckily, she had an excuse, or so she justified to herself, for being awake and out of her room at such odd hours- for frequenting empty rooms to train or read in- or sometimes grab a midnight snack; only ever from a vending machine. She had a bat pokemon.
Lasi's ball was carried in her dressing gown pocket as she walked the halls.
They didn't /always/ make it to any training, and they seldom saw another soul- perhaps deliberately- on their night time activities, but Tam' always carried his ball, training or not; as a bat pokemon, Lasi was nocturnal, of course, or should be.

The floor was a little cold- and not for the first time Tambrey supposed slippers would be a worthwhile purchase one of these days, but still, it was a nice night; she had Lasi's pokeball in one pocket, a slim book in the other and an intention to find a vending machine.
Unknowingly, she was padding toward the other grunt, as she was wiping her glasses on her gown. The low light wasn't a bother, but the occasional 'fuzz' of a smear 'just visible' could be irritating.

"Huh?" The grunt whipped her head up from her task, pausing where she was as a nearby shadow shape informed her she might be about to walk into something. Uh. Clearly it was someone on night duty... Well she had her excuse and- huh. That was a bit of a familiar voice.
Peering at him gave her nothing without the lenses in front of her eyes; well, that was fixable.
She placed her glasses back and peered once more.
"Oh, uh. Shadow, right?" She couldn't suppress a slight noise of amusement as she realised she'd jumped at, and now was talking to, a 'shadow' in a hallway at night. "Aheh. No.. Uh. Sorry... I guess... I couldn't sleep. Just... taking a wander with Lasi."
Right, excuse! Where was that ball? She dug into her pocket, biting her lip, and then held up the item for him to see.
"He's, uh, a bat, after all; likes night time." Well, that certainly sounded lame; mentally she cursed.
She kept her voice quiet, though more of habit perhaps, in the low light.

Hm. Awkward, she decided. Her dressing gown was plain enough, if lilac blue, but she hoped it hid her sleepwear well enough despite her rummaging for the pokeball- explaining why her pajamas had pink bows and an embroidered Phanpy on the shirt wasn't really something she'd considered before. The grunt drew the robe a little tighter.

"So... You got night duty, huh?" She asked, making her words sound a little sympathetic; he didn't seem to have supervision so likely not a punishment- perhaps this was just how his schedule had turned out.

Well, that was pretty funny. She allowed a smirk to crawl back over her face at the fact he hadn't recognised her without the glasses.
"And people say that disguise would never work..."
The smirk only grew into a more genuine, appreciative smile as the other grunt made the codename connection for himself, giving a little nod to show that, yes, she'd been thinking that too.

"Nightmares, yes..." Tambrey agreed then, listening as to why Shadow would have trouble and drawing a few similarities. "They're some of why I can't sleep, I guess... T' be honest, I've never been much good at sleeping anyway... But, this place, the things we end up doing... The things we see on missions... And have you -seen- the things we help t' make in the labs?" She shook her head a little and admitted, "'S not really made sleeping any easier."
She was still holding up the pokeball as she moved topic to respond to the query on the pink bat.
"He's a good excuse f'r being out. In case... Well, in case this happens and I end up meeting one o' you on guard duty... I'll let him out in a bit, but I fear if I let him out in the halls well... Kitchen, maybe, but he could get excited and just end up anywhere."

The smile was a little more guarded, or perhaps nervous, as he commented on the pajamas. It was even accompanied by a slightly false, nervous laugh when he revealed that he'd actually caught sight of them before she'd covered them up.
"Ahah, er, thanks... And, not really; floor's a little cold but I don't mind that..." For some reason, she felt the need to explain her sleepwear. "'S, uh, supposed to be Elly," She realised that, it might even be likely, that he wouldn't know what she was talking about and so quickly added "The Phanpy, I mean; she's in contests on TV sometimes... Uh.. Anyway..." Moving on. She'd need to be a little more excited or prompted to quite reveal her 'contest fan' side any further.
"..I'm just sort of wandering to, well, anywhere to sit and read or to a training room... Probably via a vending machine. I have to admit, I've never had company beyond m' pokemon on these before, but sure, I certainly wouldn't object to it. You're right, 's nice to have company and I'm sure Lasi'd like to see you."

Erp! Well. Hadn't that been a little bit of a thoughtless slip? The grunt mentally cursed as she evaluated her own words. Could she actually talk anymore about it? What was her clearance?
Well, some topics were common knowledge, surely and there were certain aspects she could drop in that should make sense...
"Erm. Well... The missions are, y'know, all about the Team's goal... and 's not always a -nice- thing to be doing. Sneaks... guilt in. Plus, they can, the missions, be dangerous sometimes... I mean, y'must have heard about... Well, sometimes people don't come back from missions."
She hadn't really meant to say it like that. It was less than was deserved but about the softest way she could think of to reveal such a thing.
And, now, there was mention of the labs.
This was exactly the sort of conversation, she was sure, that could probably get her in trouble if anyone but Shadow were to hear it; after all the labs were restricted access for a reason- even the sort of clearance she actually had, which was fairly minimal, was restricted for those who didn't work in the science department.
It was fairly common knowledge that they did... some sort of experiments though. It might also be somewhat suspected that some of the more... interesting variations of pokemon found around Kodo might have originated from the Team Rocket laboratories; cosmetic genetic manipulations sold for profit and all that.
"Well... I actually work within the labs- just grunt work- because, well, I was studying to be a researcher before I came here; I mostly had an interest in abilities and biology, t'be honest, but the university covered a few different areas. I'm no... prize-winning scientist sort of level, never going to produce some ground-breaking super-discovery, but I know enough to produce some interesting things. I've seen a few of the things we produce- probably cleaned and prepared the equipment for some of the processes a few times- so, yes, I have a fair idea..." She confirmed two questions at once with a rather rambling, more personally detailed answer than she'd have liked, but hoped it was at least lacking in enough 'official detail' that she could still say, comfortably, that she hadn't overstepped any security restrictions.
She didn't think so; after all, they were all in the same team after all?

She gave a smirk as Shadow pointed out the apparent flaw in her plan, but actually seemed to have a comeback after all.
"Ah, you see, I would tell someone who pointed that out that it would be irresponsible of me to let him fly around the corridors at night and that I planned to let him out either outside or in a training room but thanks," She said, genuinely "I'd rather not have t' use any excuse unless I really, really had to... And as for Elly." She'd given a sort of nervous 'snort' at being called 'adorable'. It almost seemed too strange a word- she was either a Rocket grunt to people outside of the team or mostly invisible and 'some weird bookish girl from the labs' to most in Team Rocket, as far as she, herself, was aware.
"I... guess she's not all that famous really. She's not won a -really- big contest or anything yet, but she's done really well in some of the smaller ones that sometimes make it to TV... Enough to get some merchandise made, at least, though I've only found a little in one shop so far..." Well, that explained where the pajamas would have come from- Tambrey continued "I just really like watching her though; guess she reminds me... er, of stuff. I just really like her... D'ya follow contests at all? I mean, I know not everyone does... I don't know all of them, but I try to watch whatever I can."

She followed along as he walked down the corridor, perhaps having some idea of where they were going- she'd been to the garage before after all- but content not to ask or comment until he asked the question.
She had to smirk again a little- the base was in the middle of the desert and she'd been here for a little while now, still her response came a little as a little ambiguous.
"I'm sure it's a nice night to see it out there."

"It's... not so much that I don't want to, it's, y'know, that I'm not even sure what I'm allowed t' tell you..." Tambrey sounded a little apologetic about it.
The next comment drew another little smile and a slight huff, again of amusement; a mission doing nice things? She doubted it and the little amused huff became a somewhat weary sigh.
"We'd have to be nice people to have a mission like that... and then we wouldn't be us." The way she spoke those words carried over and stretched into her next answer. "Two. I've been on two proper missions; the first I broke my arm, the second I got hurt again and then I was shot at." She remembered; the bullet had left a scar, and she could still feel the sting of what was once a rather nasty, and torn, burn.
"I've come back 'alright', though, yes; I'm lucky." She didn't sound like she didn't mean that or that she was disagreeing; in fact, she sounded like she was considering his words and quoting them as she deemed them suitable for what she'd experienced.

It was a relief that he picked up onto the subject of what she used to study, and what she was doing now; had they stopped talking a moment before, it would likely have led to a long few moments of some very awkward silence.
"Your enthusiasm's kind of flattering," She found herself, again, managing to pull herself back up for a smirk. " 's the truth though, that I'm not exactly selling myself short right now; I'm a grunt. I wash the beakers, file the paperwork, clean the machines, prepare the less important samples... We don't get to do the, y'know, the -good- stuff unless you're authorized by the higher-ups or get yourself to agent status..." A shrug as they wandered across toward the garage. "So, you can sort of figure out where I'm.. trying to go, so... what's your goal, if I can ask?" She tried.
"I said b'fore that we... weren't nice people, but..." The grunt made a pointed look at Shadow; he did seem nice. "Unnecessary flattery and a pleasant walk; 's not such common behaviour, I guess."
She was trying not to sound suspicious; however, 'nice' could mean 'wants something' a lot of the time.

"As for Elly; I wouldn't put 't like that... Y'know how when you're little and you... you think about what you're going to be? You're so sure of being whatever you choose, even if that changes daily... I guess I don't really know how to explain it." Tambrey admitted, sounding a little embarrassed again and adding "She's just a cute pokemon."

She fell silent once Shadow opened the garage door out of reflex; it just seemed like something appropriate to be, silent, as the night sky was revealed. However, once the door was up and he climbed onto the hood of one of the vehicles, she hesitated and had a quick look around.
"I'm not sure we're meant to stand on the-" She caught herself and laughed a little bit. "Criminal organization and I'm still worried about breaking a rule..."
The grunt took the offered hand and allowed herself to be helped up onto the truck, though wincing a little comically as her bare feet touched the metal.
"Ooh, little cold!" She complained, but came up anyway so that she could look at the sky for herself and give her answer. "I.. guess you're right. 'S a good view from here..."

The grunt spent a few moments watching the stars, then again turned to watch Shadow's expression as she thought about something, though she probably failed to word it in quite the way she had been hoping.
"You.. spend a lot of time looking up, don't you?"