[FIN] It Comes Down to This.

[Blood_Goddess]

She was starting to wonder just how much longer it would take before she inevitably rubbed the skin off of the bridge of her nose. Having started the day early with a monster of a headache, and the sore throbbing in her chest over her left ribs.
Nothing pain medication couldn't fix though... at least somewhat.

She had gotten the message from Elite Lucas, and had read it over very carefully a number of times, each of it ending with her leaning into her hands where her fingers where her fingers would channel her frustration over her nose and forehead. thinking deeply about just how she felt about this and what she was inevitably do about this.
In the end she had no idea how she felt about Lucas' decision at all, she was surprised by it for sure, though maybe even relived? Or maybe frustrated.
It was coming full circle back to her despite the belief that she wouldn't be able to help anymore then she had before.

A small yellow pokemon with huge round eyes stood by his master, blinking curiously as his head tilted very suddenly as she once again let out one of her sighs and rubbed her face.
Next to him, with a more mild expression and suspiciously narrowed eyes his Froakie team mate sat crouched in a similar confusion.

The two pokemon heard a dulled distant voice,
Another voice, with the same muffled affect spoke again.

Froakie said back, his eyes having fallen upon the small school of Carvanha that had reutnred from a cooling job to the main tank over Faleen's work bench.


Scraggy offered causing each of the Carvanha to shudder.






Scraggy said with wide eyes once again.
This news sent the flesh eating fish into a swimming frenzy.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya arrived at Faleen's workshop wearing casual civilian clothes; a hoodie that, for once, wasn't lined with fur. It was a big change from the grunt uniform he'd kept himself in since he'd been in jail, as was his demeanor. The black-haired man leaned against the door frame and rapped his knuckles on the side to bring attention to his presence.

"Hello, Agent," he said, not smiling but for once not completely blank, either. A hint of annoyance could be traced in his tone and facial features. With his stubborn chin tilted up, he looked down the length of his nose at the hazel-eyed woman. "I believe you were told to expect me."

He put his hands behind his back, gaze flickering to the pokemon that crowded the floor near their trainer's bench, his dislike of them very apparent.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen Had not even been paying attention to the chattering pokemon around her, completely even missing that they were making noise at all, though when the knocking came on the door frame, Faleen's eyes shot open, lifting her posture gingerly back up into her straight backed stance and looked over at the door.

Instantly she felt a great rush of frustration when she saw who was standing there, but was able to bite back an exhausted sigh.
"Grunt Orihara" She greeted, though in a strictly professional endearment that didn't quite conceal the note of dread she carried.

Faleen did not stand up, remaining seated she reached a hand out to tap the tablet on her desk off.
"Indeed- I was" came her reply to him comment, glancing back over at him and folding her hands on her lap, waiting with an air of expectancy for him to proceed on his own.

Scraggy- who knew this man, though not very well blinked up at him with his lips spread wide across his teeth in a some what curious look. While Froakie, having recognized the look of dislike on the other humans face glared coldly black, and shifted his legs closer to his body as he hunched over.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Looking away from the pokemon, Izaya seemed to decide to ignore them completely as he turned his full attention on Faleen. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled slowly and pushed himself off the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest as he straightened his posture. Closing his eyes, he bowed his head.

"Gomenasai," he said. "I'm sorry, Faleen-chan." Opening his eyes again, he looked up once more. "I shouldn't have kept anything from you and I shouldn't have made any assumptions about your judgements. I shouldn't have made any assumptions about you."

He shut his eyes again and exhaled sharply, creases forming between his brows and on the bridge of his nose, as if it was physically paining him to continue. "I wanted to go out alone because I didn't want you to see Delic's behavior around me. I still haven't trained that stupid mutt to behave on command and the thought of you maybe witnessing me in a compromising situation with the overbearing idiot was more than I could stand."

Massaging his temples, he opened one eye to glance at her. "I didn't think my pride might have cost me my life. Or whatever trust you'd put in me, which I'll admit I didn't realize I had."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen remained quiet as Izaya spoke, silently watching him with an impartial expression that didn't change even as she opened her mouth to speak.

"Here is where I stand." The Agent spoke, though still she remained sitting,
"Firstly, while an apology would normally be appreciated, I am well aware of the fact that you have been ordered to do so. Now you can probably see where a level of skepticism comes from when it involved your words.
That pared with the utter ridiculousness of your reasoning continued to raise my skepticism"

Her tone sounded look, and precise, as if she was speaking strictly on a professional level.

"Or at least proves to further baffle me of your blindness, thoughtlessness and inconsistency. So before I allow you to at least try and convince me that you're words are nothing more than a means to remain alive, I'm going to ask you this."
She lace her fingers together, keeping them in her lap.
"Do you have any concept of the lengths I have gone to for the likes of you?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The grown man made a face that seemed a cross between a refined frown and the pout of a lectured adolescent as he reverted his gaze elsewhere in the room. Anywhere but at the agent. Perhaps he didn't think he could handle the full intensity of her look because they both knew she was right.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not good when it comes to relationships," he answered dully. "From afar, between others, they're fun to observe and analyze. But being in one, whether a partnership or otherwise, puts me too close to see the whole picture."

He glanced at her briefly. "Hasn't what I've done made it clear I don't? Why would I risk all that if I knew?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen remained silence for longer then was normal after Izaya had spoken, though her eyes didn't come off of him for any of that time.
She did however, blink once, slowly before a light frown formed over her lips.

"... Fare enough." She uttered, allowing her head to dip down, a soft narrowed eyes glare turned to the corner of her desk before she looked back up at him. "Despite knowing this I suppose I though that by behaving like a partner toward you it might have changed something." there was another pause as she she searched for the words to say what was next, "A futile effort it looks like, as nothing I have done for you seems to have even faintly registered in your mind, Meaning what? Grunt Orihara? I've wasted my time so completely that I might as well have been trying to breath oxygen into a dead fish."

"With that understanding, Maybe we should stop and think about what would happen from here on out if we so choose to keep going with this partnership.
What do we honestly expect to change? Do you think you would be willing to suddenly change your opinion on our relationship? And even if you did, do you honestly think I would be willing to show you any form of trust to you anymore?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

A ghost of a smirk drifted over his lips. "Partner or not, you're still my superior, and you know better than most that in addition to relationships, I don't handle authority all that well." He dropped his arms from his chest.

"As blind as I am, you're not one to talk," the grunt answered back haughtily. "If I honestly didn't care about what you thought or what you've been trying to do as my partner, why would I have been so concerned about you seeing me in a compromised position? Much as I hate to admit it, I value and respect your opinion as a fellow Rocket and colleague, if nothing else. I'd have hoped a mind as sharp as yours would have caught that by now without me having to spell it out."

He crouched to stare at Faleen's pokemon and put out a finger to gently poke at the Scraggy's exposed belly. "What do you want to change, Faleen? Because to me, you've been acting too much like a professional and not enough like a human being. While that might be admirable as a Rocket, it's not much fun for me. I can't read your thoughts, you know, as much as I would like to pretend I could."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen did not look amused as she stared back at Izaya "When have I made it a habit to lord my authoritative level over you?" she asked coldly

"See that's what confuses me so much- You're acting as if I've never seen you in a compromised state before, or as if I'm not already fully aware of who this Delic character is and what he's like." She glared at him at this point though still remained sitting "Do not put my intelligence into question Grunt Orihara, you do not get to play you're twisted mind tricks anymore. I have exposed a a side of myself to you I've gone through great lengths to bury, so do not think for a second I don't know how uncomfortable it is, and shame on you for not thinking that I wouldn't treat it with as much respect as you've shown me. Do not tell me that this is about you respecting what I think about you when you've never shown any concern about what I actually think!"

Faleen's hand moved to her forehead again, finally letting out a frustrated sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose
"You lost that right when you shut me out. When I had to focus more on keeping you alive and out of trouble than being able to actually relax around you! Has it occurred to you that maybe you're not as good as you think y- Ah! Izaya don't-"

Faleen's warning came a little late, as she lowered her hand to see Izaya crouching down to Scraggy's level. the words barly finished leaving her lips when, like expected, her pokemon stared down at the spot that Izaya had poked, slowly leaned his head back and with a "Scrag!" Thrust his head forward aiming right for Izaya's head.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Since when did you think you had to in order for it to bother me?" he wanted to know. "An employee doesn't need to be threatened by their boss to feel pressured by their power. We haven't exactly been on buddy-buddy terms, either."

Izaya blinked rapidly, his brows raising as Faleen spoke of what confused her. Then, in spite of himself, he laughed. "Have you?" he asked. "Not in the state of being compromised that I'm referring to, I hope. And no offense, Agent, but I really can't imagine you are fully aware of what Delic's like. You only met him in public in his place of work during the day without me. He's completely different then."

"This has nothing to do with intelligence and everything to do with understanding people. What is shown and what is thought by an individual are two separate things not always in tandem with one another." he said, straightening a little from his crouch as he turned back to face her fully, his voice rising ever so slightly.

"Are you talking about that incident with Rosie? Because I highly doubt that was an aspect of yourself that you exposed voluntarily. I was under the assumption that was a delayed reaction consequential of your Umbreon's death. That doesn't count, which means you've kept me out as much as I've kept you. Am I wrong?" He inclined his head, brows narrowed. "Because I still have no idea why you care so much for these brutish monsters."

So engrossed in his conversation with Faleen that he failed to register her broken-off warning in time. He toppled backward as his head made contact with her Scraggy's, landing flat on his back. The man had a red bump on his head that was quickly swelling. He groaned.

"...I hate pokemon."  

[Blood_Goddess]

There was a stunned silence as Izaya was knocked back, though broken soon after as the pokemon gave a triumphant yell, and Froakie rolled with laughter.

"Stop it." Faleen said, quieting both the pokemon as she let out another sigh, and lifted her hand once again to cup her head in it.

"I'm so tired of this Izaya." Was all she said, starting to feel overwhelmed with Izaya and just how many ways she could argue with him. But in general it just came down the the fact that he didn't understand, and she had spent two years trying to get him to understand, and he just wouldn't.
"I'm tired, And I don't know how to make you understand. You don't care, and I don't see how you ever will. And I'm tired of trying."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Even on his back, the grunt wanted to kick the wretched creatures, but reminded himself that wasn't likely the best course of action in this situation. Aside from possibly upsetting Faleen, the pokemon were stronger than they looked and could quite easily return such a blow ten-fold.

Pushing himself up into a sitting position as she quieted the pocket monsters, Izaya crossed his legs under him and leaned his elbow on his knee, resting his cheek in his palm.

"Make me understand what?" he wanted to know. "What are you so sure I don't care about?"  

[Blood_Goddess]

"And why exactly must I explain everything to you?" She countered, lifting her head back up to look at the grunt. "There was a time when I though that this might actually work, an not just for the sake that we were doing this for our job. but that we could actually work together. Now I'm just convinced that you're out to just sabotage you're self, since you take some of the most illogical courses of actions for the most ridiculous of reasons."

"You're worried about my opinion of you?" Faleen asked with a dry laugh "You're worried that I might judge you based off of how someone else acts? I swear we've had this conversation before, and you know first hand, you know second hand and you know very personally that I don't pass judgment. I never have, not on you, and not on any of my fellow Rockets. So you're reasoning for trying to ditch me, instead of telling the truth, is illogical.

You claim to be so good at watching people, and understanding them, but have a hard time understanding me? You don't take the time to stop and even notice the things I have done to try and help you throughout the years, you don't even recognize very clean plain gestures and then tell me that I'm the problem? I don't know what you expect with me, but I'm not complicated Izaya, and I don't know why you keep insisting that I am."

"But in the end what this all comes down to, is that I now understand that I've been the only one aware of my partner, and the only one that's put forth the effort to try and help my partner, while you've dug yourself a hole so deep, I honestly don't know expect you're going to be able to climb out before the elite's finally bury you. And I don't know how much deeper my lifeline goes, not that you've ever noticed it apparently. And that is offensive to me, it shows me that I've just been wasting my time."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"I don't think it's fair to say you completely understand all of the reasons I take the courses of action I do," Izaya answered calmly. "Even if you haven't done something like pass judgement before, there's always a first for everything. If this guy got violent and it seemed like I was in trouble, wouldn't you have tried to step in to help?"

"But if you brought out your pokemon to attack him or something similar, that likely would have just made things worse. I didn't want to risk any misunderstandings of that nature because that moron is like a big baby and can throw some pretty bad tantrums that seem like a bigger deal than they really are. It would have been dangerous for everyone involved if a situation like that got out of hand."

He scowled and raised his head. "Of course I've noticed. How could I not notice? The problem is I don't know why. That's the main thing, here. I want to understand your motivation for doing so. Is it because I'm your responsibility? Another thing to fix? What?" Crimson eyes met hazel ones. "I want to hear it from your own mouth."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"I never said I understand, in fact I think its the opposite, I honestly don't understand you're reasoning for the things you do. they don't make sense, they don't accomplish ANYTHING and it only gets you more and more in trouble." she countered pointedly "Nothing you do is working for you, or for anyone. and you're so stubborn you won't even acknowledge that."

She leaned forward just slightly, "Its not working for you Izaya- You're practically on death row and you STILL won't admit that you're doing something wrong"

She did frown a bit at the mention of reacting to violence. "Again I'm insulted that you don't think I can handle a situation like that. Like I have countless times before."
Izaya knew better than that, Faleen had a lot of ways of incapacitating someone without hurting them. one shock of her taser would ground anyone until they calmed down.
"Once again showing your ignorance and lack of faith in me"

Faleen blinked "... You just told me that you didn't know. That was one of the first things I asked you, if you knew what I had done for you, and you replied more of less with a no." She did not look amused "Grunt Orihara, please do your best to remain consistent or I will end this conversation."

"I honestly don't know what you want to hear, I've been open with you this entire time, you're the one making things complicated and thinking I have to have some deeper reason for trying to help my partner. You're the one twisting my actions, you're the one claiming that I have this need to fix things. You're the one that doesn't understand something that should be so simple. And becasue you want to make it complicated it becomes complicated. Its simple to me; You were my partner, and thats what they're supposed to do."