Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hallways. Hallways. Hallways. The sterile halls of the headquarters building were bland and uninteresting. They would be easy to reproduce as a stage set, of course, but who in their right mind would set a production in a place like that? The desert was an interesting backdrop, though, as uncomfortably warm as it was. Far enough out one even began to get the silhouette of the nearest city in frame, and that had implications all its own. Just think of the character development--

If the idle nature of her thoughts were of any indication, Catherine was rather aimless for the time being. She had finished her given duties and had been rewarded with some spare time, and, with nothing special on her agenda for the day, she decided to spend it watching others. And ah, fortune, as the voices of pokemon and trainer summoned her attention from down the hall. A woman and a Pikachu, apparently. Catherine slowed her pace to observe as the pair turned and started off in another direction. Were she the expressive sort, her brow might have furrowed in knowing confusion, and she might have frowned at what she noticed. Her black hair had the texture of hair that was dyed rather than natural, perhaps even straightened. The colored contacts were a more difficult catch, but their recognition was aided by the almost nostalgically familiar facial structure. It had been many years, but not so many as to make her unrecognizable. How incredibly unexpected.

Catherine followed with an uncharacteristic purpose to her step, noting the other female's movements and tracing them swiftly. This was far too interesting to overlook. As the door shut, she reached to open it again, ducking her head in through the doorway ahead of the rest of herself. "Lucretia?"

Catherine was vaguely taken aback by Lucretia's response to her own name. People didn't generally associate their names with knee-jerk reactions of shock and terror. Analysis aside, that was... very strange. She tilted her head slightly aside, staring as the woman made her motions through a predictable set of emotions. Coral eyes watched intently as she came to a conclusion that dispelled doubt and confusion, replacing the characteristics of her features with a neutral recognition. It would be a fine poker face, had Catherine not seen everything that led up to it. Claire. Strange indeed. "Understood," she confirmed briefly, mentally filing the note away. Claire, Claire... Lucretia. All the letters were present, discarding few and substituting none. Either she liked her name so much that she didn't want to throw it away in its entirety or she simply lacked the creativity or concern to come up with something more different.

She nodded once to confirm her identity, passing fully through the doorway and quietly shutting the door behind her. Claire, hm. And add to that, a deliberate change in appearance. Not a terribly thorough one - it was just simple stage makeup - but enough to make people wonder. Lucretia was hiding from something, it seemed.

She nodded, confirming the great amount of time that had passed since their last encounter. Her days at the acting academy were well and truly far behind her. Passingly she had the thought that Claire might have been confused by disposition; the actress used to perform on a more permanent level, leading her day to day life as she lead the stage, her every facet a performance intended to sell herself as a charming individual. She had, of course, dropped that guise long ago, living instead as herself regardless of how unappealing that self was to others. Lucretia seemed to have changed significantly as well, though from what Catherine assumed from her flagrant display of emotion earlier, it wasn't the same parting from a mask as it was for Catherine. Rather, it seemed an honest change in character, earned through whatever events she had experienced in the years that they had not known one another. The silent woman was insatiably curious, but only her steadfastly searching gaze indicated this in any way.

"Well," she answered curtly. "Yourself?" Never as little as a breath wasted.

Interesting what trainers would do for their pokemon's entertainment and overall enjoyment. Interesting what pokemon enjoyed and found entertaining. Catherine indulged Liepard with a little pampering from time to time, but she couldn't imagine setting up such an intricate game for the dark-type's amusement - and that was assuming that there was such an intricate game that the feline would want to play. More notable than that were the words Lucretia - Claire - spoke, the intonations and the pauses, the phrasing and the deliberate word choice, the things mentioned and left unexplained. There was something to be learned from all of it.

Catherine had indeed heard tell of Claire's expulsion, though the rumors had been regarded with a grain of salt. The story surrounding it was a poorly-told play with its would-be narrator ejected from the stage, and Catherine had by now given up on ever learning the intricacies of the situation. It was a shame, but conclusions drawn from rumor were endangered by inaccuracy, and now, years upon years later, it hardly seemed of much significance. The Claire now likely would respond differently to the situation Lucretia had been in then, and her nonchalance on the matter suggested that she didn't regard the turn of events as highly impacting. That was telling in itself, and that was what was important.

"Recently," she replied simply, advancing a few steps to separate herself from the door in case anyone else entered. She decided to provide a rare substantiation to her words for the sake of maintaining a flow of conversation, "I was sent to provide extra hands in addressing the matter of your missing teammates, but it seems the matter has been resolved."

She didn't have to say that a friend had been involved for that to be evident, and stating it outright left few conclusions to be drawn the words. Catherine instead looked to posture and body language, the full attention Claire offered the other woman. She was being very frank, then; she nodded when she offered confirmation, and she smiled when she said she was glad. This was also interesting, though, given her earlier professional demeanor. Though the incident at the acting academy no longer seemed to have any influence, this incident clearly held sway over her state of mind.

Catherine shook her head once at the prompt. "The kidnapping itself was a rumor I only managed to confirm due to the circumstances of my transfer." The information was kept very tightly - or attempted to, at least. After the agents had been informed of the situation, it was only a matter of a very short spell of time before rumors abounded in all ranks.

The Pikachu's activities were peculiar. Was this recreation or some form of coordination and reaction training? Perhaps both; it was obvious, after all, that one would be more receptive to exercise if it appeared in a form of entertainment. The matter of Galactic, however, was more interesting than a Pikachu playing video games, and Catherine chose to keep her attentions on the more significant matter.

"Factually, little," she said. "When leaving the base for field missions, we were reminded to watch for suspicious activities and report back immediately if we saw any sign of Galactic presence." The implications were clear enough that Catherine didn't feel the need to state them: Galactic was presumably a dangerous group that often meddled in Rocket affairs. The fact that had kidnapped not only grunts but also agents and even an elite confirmed that much easily.

"I see." She lowered her eyes slightly and was silent for a time. What a childish solution to being unhappy with the state of the world. But the circumstances themselves couldn't exactly be called childish if they had led to someone's death. It was evident that the death hadn't affected Claire personally to any significant extent, given how she was able to deliver the information with as little emotion as a frown, but it was good to be aware of this. An agent - a high-ranking and respected officer of the organization - had perished; thus, Galactic was not a matter that was to be spoken of lightly.

"And current affairs?" The tides had evidently turned if Rocket had managed to rescue their missing crew, but to what extent, and where did that leave Galactic now?