[PRP] Partner Counseling

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Izaya was at his wit's end as he desperately put in a request to speak with the Elite Agent Lucas. It had been some time since he'd talked to the man, but he felt the fellow really listened, and that was especially important in matters concerning life and death. Besides, the grunt wanted to make sure he could talk to Lucas before Faleen decided to. He was a wreck, drowning in his frustration but unsure where to turn.

At first he'd thought the path was pretty clear, but now that his partner seemed so against him, the black-haired grunt had no idea what she wanted from him anymore. He'd tried to do what Lucas had previously said, but that only seemed to anger her more, so what now? If he disobeyed Lucas, he was in trouble. If he angered Faleen further, he was in trouble. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. Since he couldn't seem to reason with Faleen any longer, Lucas seemed the next best option.

He knew the elite agent was busy, so he wasn't certain at first that he'd get much of a response. Even messages over their dexes would have been fine with him as long as he could reach the guy. When he got the news that Lucas had agreed to meet him, and in person, no less, relief flooded the grunt. It would be easier to make his case face-to-face, especially if the higher-up could recognize just how exasperated by this he actually was. He waited anxiously by the door of the elite's office, drumming his fingers over the top of a folded arm.  

[Suudonym]

Around the time they'd agreed upon, the office door swung open, and a head of scruffy auburn hair poked out to catch the eyes of the waiting grunt. "Yo," Lucas greeted casually, four fingers of his raised hand visible from beyond the doorframe. The door was opened the rest of the way, and Lucas stood back a bit from it, "Come on in - or if the whole 'elite's office' business is too stuffy, don't come on in and we can hit the uhh... some other place, depending on what's available. Either way."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"Elite Agent Lucas," Izaya greeted, bowing respectfully. "Honestly, I'm fine with talking anywhere, as long as it's private. I just need to talk to you, because if I don't, I think I'm going to implode."

He rubbed at his temples with a weak smile. "I hate to ask, but...is that 'alternate partner' offer still on the table? Because about Agent Faleen...I think she's stopped wanting to communicate with me."  

[Suudonym]

Lucas gave a half a shrug and stepped aside to gesture into the room, "Office it is, then. Closest option."

The office was in a fair bit more disarray than it was during Izaya's last visit, and Lucas tapped a button on a remote on his desk to silence the music that played at a low volume. The elite then seated himself casually on his desk, aiming to avoid the feeling of a formal meeting.

In response to Izaya's question, the older man grimaced slightly. "Uhh, it's an option, but it comes with a couple of caveats. Faleen has to say she wants to relinquish responsibility - but also has to say she doesn't think you're hopeless - and then you'll have to wait in the brig until we can find an agent who'd be suitable, so... probably not a terribly appealing option." He reached up to remove his glasses, absently removing a smudge from the lens he continued, "Could I ask what makes you think so?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The grunt raised his brows at the state of the office, somewhat surprised. It seemed it was really well-used after all. He both noted and appreciated Lucas' attempt at maintaining an informal atmosphere.

Listening, Grunt Nakura ran both hands through his hair, his features lined with anguish. "Wonderful." He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down before he could even think of a reply to the elite's question.

"...We were about to train together one day. It was the first time in a while we'd seen each other because I have grunt duties and she has her duties as an Agent in Robotics. I tried to do what you said and communicate with her, but she didn't want to hear it. She didn't want to talk, either." He shook his head. "I think she's had it with me. First she told me to stick some limb in her Sharpedo's mouth, so I did, nerve-wracking as that was. It seemed to be going okay."

"But then she tried to get me to learn Mega Evolution. I tried to explain that without internet access and having been cut off from the outside for quite a while, I didn't know where to start. She told me she didn't want to hear excuses and that I needed to take the initiative to try things. But with just an Absolite stone and an Absol, what could I do?"

"It didn't seem to work like standard stone evolution. I noticed this device she had around her wrist and attempted to borrow it, but she said I couldn't. Eventually she let it slip that 'stones' - plural - were needed, but she did so in a way that implied I already should have known there was more than one involved. What am I doing wrong?" he asked, forlorn.

"I've been 'taking initiative' since I joined Team Rocket, Elite. All that's seemed to get me into was trouble. When I actually started following orders, I was told I was improving, but now Faleen refuses, even, to give me orders. Is there something I'm missing? Because it honestly feels like she's already given up on trying to communicate with me."

"When I try, she calls it talking back or giving excuses, and she won't even explain what she wants from me because it's like she expects me to know already. I'm doing all I did before that one outing that made her upset, but it doesn't seem to be enough anymore. I don't know how I'm supposed to earn back her trust when I don't even know were to begin."  

[Suudonym]

Lucas settled his glasses back upon the bridge of his nose as he listened through Izaya's story. When he'd finished speaking, the elite gave a quiet hum of thought before his response, "Well, I'm sorry to say that I don't think I can zero in on the root of the issue just from hearing your explanation. Some of what you said is pretty contradictory to what I know about Faleen - not to say that you're lying, of course, but perhaps the two of you were interpreting the same situation differently. It'd probably be easier if I asked Faleen in here too and acted as a third party to figure out where the problems are coming from, but I'm not gonna force you to do that right now if you're not into it. What do you say?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

"That's the thing! I didn't think she'd be like this, either! That's why I had agreed to try to work things out with her rather than instantly opting for another partner when you asked," Izaya answered.

He waved a hand at Lucas' suggestion. "Please, go right ahead. Maybe you can mediate for us. I feel like we're some married couple or something. Maybe a teenager and a parent..." He sighed. "At least if you're here, I'll know someone's actually listening to me."  

[Suudonym]

Lucas gave a brief sound of amusement and grabbed his pokedex, speaking as he typed out a message on it, "Well, I never got my qualification in marriage counseling, but I'll do my best."

He tapped the key to send, and a message went out to Faleen's pokedex:

Subject: Urgent - Izaya
Body: Hey Faleen, sorry to interrupt whatever you're doing, but Izaya's in my office asking for advice and it's tough to give any without knowing your side of the story. Would you mind coming in so I can hear both of your perspectives?

 

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen was quite used to getting messages from her dex every day, it was her main source of communication with the members in the robotics team and other tech departments, so when Porygon informed her that she had a new message, Faleen instinctual reached over to gather the small device off of the dock on her desk, pulling herself away from her work to glance down at the screen.

What she read, she should honestly have expected to come sooner or later. It seemed Izaya had run off to the Elite again.
Not that she could blame him, it must have sunk in just what his situation was.
Pushing herself to her feet, and telling the other she would be back, the Agent made her way to the Elite's office, that was thankfully close by.

Knocking at her arrival, and letting herself in when Lucas invited her in, Faleen glanced to the Elite, then to Izaya before stepping into the room and closing the door behind her.
"Good evening Sir, and to what perspective might I be able to provide." She asked in a way of a polite request for a run down on what he wanted to know.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

Whatever informal atmosphere Lucas may have managed to create seemed to Izaya to be negated by Faleen's arrival and greeting. He watched her warily, his expression otherwise neutral, as he leaned back against the wall the door was set in. The grunt dared not speak out of place and instead looked to Lucas to respond to the agent.  

[Suudonym]

"Hello, Faleen," Lucas replied amicably, giving a nod in greeting. "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me what happened with the recent business with Izaya and training. Ah-- But first." He raised a finger and shook it just slightly for emphasis, "I just want to let you guys know that I'm going to take everything you say as 100% honest and sincere, so make sure you're, y'know... actually being 100% honest and sincere. That means that each of you can take what the other says at face value, as what they really mean and believe." He made a hand motion to push that matter aside, "Anyway, sorry to cut you off before you started, Faleen. Go ahead."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Faleen stood at her usual attention, hands that had been at her side slowly moving to her back where they folded into one another as she rearguard the Elite with a respectful attentiveness, though there was a certain feature wearing over her features at the request the man made.
Goodness she was growing weary of this...

"Most recent sir- and probably the only thing worth note other than Grunt Izaya coming to me to voice one last chance to work our partnership out. Like many times before I requested that Izaya join me for a training session with our Pokemon. Working with Pokemon has always been one of the things that Izaya has lacked skill in, as well as a low motivation to improve in.
I had hoped that he would treat this time differently then he has in the past, considering his new resolve and understanding of his situation, I was disappointed to be met with the same unenthusiastic complaints about various approaches I was wanting to take with training, one of witch including a desire to not work with one of my best- most capable Pokemon."
He face was slightly flushed, though her expression remained as level as ever as she spoke to Lucas.

"As it has been three years, and all my training advice has done little to nothing to help improve my partner's understanding of working with Pokemon, let alone its great importance, I decided to a different approach. I told Izaya to lead the training that day, and that it was up to him to figure out what he needed to do to accomplish the goal for the lesson, that being Mega Evolution."
If it was even possible Faleen seemed to straightened herself up a little higher, her chin lifting slightly and her controlled expression gave say to the very ghost of a frown.
"After his initial attitude to the training, I wanted to see if he was even serious about what he told me before about trying again, or if he was just talking and saying what he knew I would want to hear. I told him that he did not need to succeed, but he needed to try."

Her hands let go of each other and they moved back to her sides, the arm with the brace she had installed onto it lifting up in a light gesture as she continued.
"He begrudgingly tried one thing, that indeed- did not work before he stopped trying all together and spent the rest of the time arguing with me over the fact that I wasn't telling him what he needed to do- despite explaining what I was expecting from him several more times, the training ended."

she lowered her arm back to her side, "Was that sufficient, Sir?"  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

As he listened, Grunt Nakura kept his gaze on the ground. The line of his mouth twitched, as if he were itching to say something, but he kept it obstinately clamped shut. He crossed his arms over his chest in what might have been a casual gesture. However, it was clear he was anything but with the lines of his body and muscles so tense.  

[Suudonym]

"Yes, ma'am," Lucas responded with a nod. He then turned his attention to Izaya, "I know you gave me a summary earlier, but could you go over your perspective again for us? With special attention to the parts that you feel are different from how Faleen described."  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The grunt nodded before straightening up a little more against the wall.

"It's true that I don't have as much interest in pokemon as I do people, but I am aiming to improve my skill with them regardless. If I wasn't, there would have been no reason for me to buy an Absolite stone from one of the other Rockets on base. I was curious about Mega Evolutions, but not enough that I had to try it out immediately. I thought they just worked like other evolution stones such as Fire or Water stones. I certainly hadn't expected Agent Faleen to give me a pop quiz on how to activate one.

"Yes, I'll admit I was reluctant to work with her Sharpedo at first, but I'd call that natural human survival instincts. Regardless, I trusted her enough to do as she said and after that little exercise, I confess I felt better about the pokemon. That part of the training session went just fine. It was what came next that threw me off."

His gaze flickered to Faleen out the corner of his eye. "My partner told me to determine what came next in order to advance my own training. My problem was that I had no inkling of what direction to take with it. I knew she wanted me to initiate a Mega Evolution, but having a stone to evolve them was the extent of my knowledge." He took a breath and exhaled.

"I tried to explain this, but she only insisted I was complaining and talking back when I felt I was doing nothing of the sort. What she claimed to be excuses were my attempt to communicate and she simply didn't seem to want to hear it. She wanted me to do something, so I tried to borrow and use the device at her wrist, which seemed to be imperative to the Mega Evolution process. The clip was locked, she informed me, and there were no other such devices around, so I was at a loss of what to do."

Izaya rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "We argued for some time. She kept telling me to do something, anything, and I kept telling her I didn't know what in the world I was supposed to do without sufficient information. We seemed to go around in circles until she mentioned 'stones', as in 'plural', which was the first indication I had that more than just my Absolite was required for the evolution. Agent Faleen here seemed to have taken it for granted that I knew about the Key stone needed and that that was what had been embedded in her device.

"She told me I should have seen it on the form I filled out when purchasing the Absolite, but since I hadn't bought the thing first-hand, I knew of no form or anything else she'd assumed I knew. And, of course, since I didn't know how the process worked, I didn't know she'd assumed anything of me. I tried to communicate, but I feel that my partner doesn't have the same desire to communicate that I do." He locked eyes with Elite Agent Lucas.