[PRP] Out on the town [Fin]

[TawnyAngel]

Plans? Of course he had plans; he had the same plans he'd always had, joining Team Rocket hadn't affected them any more than joining Galactic had. The plan went something along the lines of: find powerful people > befriend powerful people > become comfortable and safe > seek luxury and entertainment. The specifics of the plan never changed all that much either as people were the same all over the world; they thought and could be influenced just the same.

Of course, it was much easier with some than with others.

KO shrugged and brushed his fingers through his hair. "Nothing too specific yet I must admit, Star. I'd like to work more on my Synth, and to work my way into quarters I don't have to share but that's about all. You know me Commander, I've never had quite the same driven ambition as you; I'm more than happy to play second fiddle... to a competent commander." As he said 'commander' for the second time he smiled a little and tilted his drink towards his companion, inclining his head for emphasis. "I have yet to find out if there are any such capable people in the Labs of course.... But in either case, cooperation cross departments is desirable, don't you agree? If you ever need anything chemical for one of your new creations for example you know you'll have somebody in the department that understands your modus operandi and won't waste your time on the job for example."  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star smiled faintly when KO addressed him as commander and complimented him simultaneously. He chuckled and took a long sip of his drink, finishing most of it off, then set the glass aside and nodded at the smug redhead, "I'll keep that in mind. There's frequently use for chemical components in my work. You might turn out to be useful."  

[TawnyAngel]

“I certainly hope so Commander; I’d be pleased to be included in one of your projects,” KO replied, reaching inside his jacket to retrieve a pokeball, small slim notebook, and a pen. Tapping the button of the pokeball released Duke onto the couch next to him (the Raichu looked around with apparent approval), and with this done KO clicked the button on the end of his pen. “What something else?” he asked casually. “I’ll send Duke to make the order, save us getting up.” The next thing he was planning on was something sweet, fruity, and with ‘virgin’ somewhere in its name; not that he planned to let Star know the last part. “I thought I might get a daiquiri, they’re really very good here.”  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star twisted his mouth in thought. Daiquiris were delicious but he had no interest in advertising his love of sweet things. He was tough. Manly.

"A vodka will be fine." He eyed the Raichu as KO wrote, "Just one. I'm flying us home."
 

[TawnyAngel]

"Vodka it is," KO wrote the order for a double vodka with a flourish and handed the paper to Duke, who hopped down to the floor and padded across to the bar. Putting his pen away the red-eyed man pondered where to go next with his ingratiation. Maybe a nice innocuous question, just to keep the flow going. "So, how have you found my alterations to your uniform?" he asked with a slight cant of his head. "I'd forgotten to ask until now; the trainee schedule is pretty intensive; save for rare evenings off like this I don't get a lot of time to stop and think about things." Maybe Star would use the chance to condescend at him a little for that bit, and mention how well he would have performed had he ever been a trainee.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star quirked an eyebrow at the question and nodded, "It's been a marked improvement." Though willing to compliment KO's work, he didn't devote much emotion to the comment. "Still too baggy for my taste but I supposed that's just the design." He sighed, tapping a long finger on the table. "I can appreciate their color choices but the organization is in bad need of a competent tailor." After drifting around the room his eyes returned to KO, "You went through Galactic training, I can't imagine this is any worse, given some of the Grunts who've made it through..."
 

[TawnyAngel]

KO grinned and nodded. "Quite right, however-" he paused to lean down and relieve Duke of the tray of drinks he'd just come back with; there were three drinks on it. As the Raichu hopped back up onto the couch KO passed him the Martini, passed the vodka over to Star, and finally took his own (alcohol free) beverage.

"However," he continued, "it has been a while; I'm not used to such mind-numbing, repetitive physical tasks anymore. The runs they make us go on in the desert are just horrible. Having earned a comfortable rank at Galactic and been respected as a... consultant elsewhere since then I'm finding it hard to put up with being a foot-soldier. But of course," he made an airy gesture and sipped his drink, "we've already talked all about that."  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star accepted his drink and took a sip. He paused to eye it a moment, then sipped it again, and tilted his head at KO's complaining, "Don't tell me you've gotten out of shape, Naos." He wore a superior smirk that ignored the fact he'd fare no better at desert runs. Star was fit, sure, but he wasn't a runner.

There's no telling how much whining there'd have been at HQ if the lanky roboticist'd been put through Trainee exercises. Lots.  

[TawnyAngel]

Not for the first time that evening, and doubtless not for the last either, KO smirked; Star had all but handed that one to him! "Not at all Commander... in fact I'd be happy to show you how well I've kept in trim if you like." KO raised one eyebrow suggestivly to go along with the smirk and took another sip of his drink.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star's eyebrows flattened and he shifted attention back to his drink, "I'll pass." A faint pink colored his cheeks, obviously from the alcohol, but the timing made it entertaining anyway. "Put your eyebrow back down. I'll remind you I'm your superior officer, not your date."
 

[TawnyAngel]

KO ducked his head slightly and made a small fluid gesture towards Star. “Of course, my mistake, I just got a little carried away; my apologies, Sir.” The last word was emphasized of course, because Star was simply hilarious when you emphasized the fact that he was more important than you were.  

[Dante-Sayre]

Star nodded his approval and lifted his chin, looking like he felt very important. Bit by bit he seemed more relaxed; evidence of the liquor's effects on his demeanor. Though still in control of his faculties, he'd loosened up enough to launch into an unexpected rant about how unfair his life was.

"It won't be long before more of HQ is calling me sir. As soon as they see what I'm capable of - as soon as they stop wasting me on worthless projects and promote me." He frowned and pointed at KO, "Do you know what they have me doing right now? It's ridiculous. The same thing I was doing back at Galactic. Just because I can translate Julian Todd's infantile chickenscratch into workable plans doesn't make it a worthwhile use of my time. If they'd take ten minutes to look at my plans they'd realize how foolish this is. I didn't blow up half an airship and skirt death so I could go keep doing the same thing. After the measures I took to get here it seems like that would be obvious. They should be grateful."
 

[TawnyAngel]

Ah, dear predictable Star, it had been at least two minutes since his last self aggrandizing speech so he had been overdue another. KO sipped at his drink and lent forward, ostensibly attentive and sympathetic to poor underappreciated Ian. “I would think they’d be more grateful, especially Temero; you did save his brother after all. Then there’s the tech department head, now I would have thought he’d look on your favourably too given your actions resulted in his rescue.... Wasn’t he leading that mission? Doesn’t look too good when the department head gets himself and most of his team captured now does it?”

He didn’t know the fine details of what had happened so he couldn’t say how much the man had been at fault, and he didn’t know much about Hayes himself – beyond ‘massive nerd’ and ‘possibly sleeping with his bodyguard’ – to make a guess based on character either. What the facts were, however, was currently irrelevant. KO took another sip of his drink.

“Couldn’t somebody else be trained to do the deciphering?” he said with a sigh and a shake of his head. “Somebody bright enough, but that doesn’t have ideas of their own they could be better spending their time on. Surely the tech department head – Days is it? – can be made to see sense?...”  

[Dante-Sayre]

And just like that Star was flailing, ranting and finishing his cocktail without paying attention to it.

"Exactly!!" He nodded, always enthusiastic when someone shared his outrage, "I'm their hero I should have been given an award! Temero promised me an Executive position, did anyone tell you that?" Star's hand tightened into a fist around his glass, which he paused to gulp before setting it down, "He lied to me. There wasn't even anything clever or intelligent about it. He just blatantly lied to me. How can he run an organization on those kinds of values? Poorly, that's how."  

[TawnyAngel]

KO gave Duke the slightest of nudges, and then inclined his head towards the bar as he listened to Star. The electric type promptly hopped down from his seat and trotted over to place another order, piece of paper gripped in his paw so that he could point out the desired beverage.

Meanwhile back at the table; "No, really?" Sculpted red brows raised incredulously and their proud owner took another sip of his drink. "Well I thought he would have had to offer you something worth your while or you wouldn't have bothered to stage the rescue.... I would have expected a little more from him than just a lie, but I suppose some people just haven't got any class."

Duke retuned with another vodka, and KO slid it casually across the table to Star. "So that would have made you tech head instead of that Days kid, right?" he continued. "How old is he anyway? He looks like he's barely out of college, and he dresses like it too. How do you think he got the job?"