Curioser and Curioser...

[Xatch]

Having escaped the child who had questioned him at the entrance to the headquarters, Jacen made his way down the hallway toward Mion's office. He nodded at a couple people along the way - the odd member whom he recognized - and most of those who recognized him in turn paused to do a double-take. Jacen really wasn't surprised that they did so. He had been away for a long time. Most likely, he'd been assumed dead or taken prisoner by Mewtwo's clones. There was the possibility they thought him a deserter, but Jacen found that doubtful. Mion knew him better than that.

The thought made him smirk a little, though the smirk was more than a little ironic. Now that he'd returned, he was having some doubts about his involvement with Pravus as a whole. But, who knew? Perhaps now that this war was over - or appeared to be, at any rate - Pravus would go back to the way it used to be... Or something resembling that. He could hope, couldn't he? Perhaps not. Something in his expression must have cued Crag in to what he was thinking, because the golem nudged him gently with one rocky arm and gave him a concerned look. Jacen forcibly unknitted his eyebrows and drew his face into a look of pleasant calm again - he hadn't even noticed he'd been scowling. Too much time away, apparently.

As the office drew into view, Jacen half expected to hear the familiar noises of Mion's pokemon - particularly Giggles the ditto or Coconut the oddish, the two Jacen was most familiar with. However, he heard no noises whatsoever coming from her office. Was she in her quarters? That seemed unlikely given the hour of the day. But then, it was also entirely possible that she was simply away. In that case, he'd have to leave her a message on the camera outside the door. As he and his two pokemon approached the door, Jacen noted that the edges were sealed - locked. He raised a hand and knocked anyway, waiting a few seconds for a response. When there wasn't one, he decided to leave a message via the small camera and voice recorder near the door, set at approximately head height.

Jacen pressed the buttons on the small console, waiting for the mic to crackle on before he spoke. "President Mion. This is Commander Jacen Zidar - or former Commander, as the case may be. You'll understand if I don't particularly wish to discuss the reason for my disappearance in this message, but I would like to speak with you soon, before gossip travels around too much. I don't plan on leaving headquarters until I have had the chance to do so, so if you want to find me I'm sure it shouldn't be too difficult." He hit the "stop" button on the recorder, then turned to face Crag and Thor. "Well, what do you think?" he asked. Neither of them had anything to say.

[Faolan]

<sub>[ooc; Blehhh crappy post is crappy. ]

Though Feng was fairly certain Arioche had had enough exercise crawling herself all over the trees and on him and on the rocks and everything she could reach, that did not mean she was ready to go into her seldom-used pokeball any time soon. Really, he remarked as they entered the large Pravus HQ building-- the spinarak, of course, making sure she did not lose her master via the thin strand of webbing stuck to his back-- she was far too spoiled. Perhaps it was because she was the only pokemon he had at present that allowed her to get away with such things like attaching a makeshift leash to him and following him around with it. But this soon faded when they ventured past the threshhold of HQ [after going through the necessary procedures, of course] and deeper into the Pravus building.

The scuttling of feet was all the warning he got before he felt a sharp pull to his back and nearly lost his balance. The clicking of pink mouthparts sounded right next to his ear, but he did nothing and merely continued on his way with a click-clack of his shoes on the polished linoleum floor. To get through the doors without too much bother, he'd seen fit to dress himself in the uniform associated with the Pravus recruits, sans the hat. The blue blazer and the neatly pressed slacks actually made him look nice [ it didn't help any that he'd had a gentle smile plastered on his face since before getting in here ], and it was to this jacket that Arioche had decided to attach the bits of webbing and globs of spider's silk to. Naturally, his back looked rather indecent, but the spinarak was doing her best to clean it off before anyone took notice.

The hallway he wandered down seemed a bit more.. cleaner than the rest, though he supposed it could mean one of two things; it was either seldom used, or was used so much the cleaning staff had to tend to it more often than most other floors in the building. The marble shone a sparkling white, matched only in hue and sheen by the spotless walls of the hallway he was currently wandering down. It seemed for the most part that this place was unoccupied for reasons Feng couldn't quite place at the moment. The silence was starting to unnerve him, but perhaps that was why Arioche continued to click persistently next to his ear. The sentiment wasn't completely unappreciated and, distractedly, he moved his hand back to rub a finger over the small nub of her horn in a rare display of gratitude.

A sign of other intelligent life on this floor greeted him in the form of a lone figure that grew steadily more focused the further he approached. It was a man, he noticed once he got close enough to pick out the distinguishing facial features, surrounded by a crew of his own pokemon, most like. He was in the middle of doing... something, standing in front of a rather imposing looking doorway. As the man drew away and conversed with the two pokemon beside him -- typhlosion and golem, his mind supplied automatically -- Feng drew close enough to pick out the small console installed near the door and the camera that probably went along with it.

The grin that spread across his features was, oddly enough, not one full of malice or condescension. Perhaps it was because Arioche had finally stopped clacking her mouthparts at him, frozen and tense on his shoulder, that tipped him off to just what rank of power this man held within the organization. Because he really couldn't be a spy, standing out in broad daylight like that for everyone to see him, so the only other answer could be...

"I don't think she's in," came his slow, easy drawl when he realized just who exactly the office belonged to. Feng had heard rumors about the presence of a head advisor who wasn't really there, but that was all they just were to him; rumors. He hadn't been particularly interested in taking up the matter, and probably wouldn't in the near future. "Did you need something? I might just be able to help you out..."</sub>

[Xatch]

Thor looked up sharply at the approach of another down the hallway, giving the young man a hard stare as he approached. The typhlosion scarcely tossed the spinarak a glance - that little creature was hardly a threat, he was sure. If it tried anything he could roast it before it got two feet away from its trainer. Of course, the trainer didn't pose much of a threat either, but between the two he was the more formiddable. Crag simply stood and watched the man, seeming to care little one way or the other about his approach.

Jacen, for his part, raised an eyebrow at the man as he noticed him, but did not react much to his presence until he was spoken to. At that point, he turned to face the newcomer - clearly a low-ranking Pravus member, judging by the uniform - and listened to what he had to say. As he finished, Jacen sighed slightly, reaching a hand into his pocket to retrieve a pocket watch he'd obtained in the Kanto region. The timepiece read 4:27, which meant that many of the other higher-ups were likely to be gone to dinner in the next hour or so - quite possibly at the same time, as they tended to associate with each other. Despite Jacen's disappointment at not being able to meet with Mion quickly - something he had almost always been able to do beforehand - he gave the young man a friendly look as he replied.

"I'm looking for Mion." he said simply. "I have some business that I need to discuss with her personally. It... May be of some importance." he paused for a moment to glance at Crag. He thought he'd seen the golem open his mouth to speak out of the corner of his eye, but Crag's expression had not changed. With a mental shrug he turned his attention back to the dialogue at hand. "Do you know where she might be found, either now or sometime soon?"

If, as he was beginning to think, Mion wasn't at Headquarters at the moment... Well, he needed to make different plans then, didn't he? He knew who all the administrators, commanders, and most of the generals were from the end of the war, but who knew how many of them were still around? Nonetheless, he could always try talking to an administrator... Although he never really knew most of them well beforehand. The only one of them he had ever conversed with for any period of time (and "conversed" was stretching the definition of the term a bit far) was Enigma... Whom Jacen did not trust enough to go to first. This was turning out to be an even less smooth entrancea than he had been expecting.

[Faolan]

<sub>"Mion, hmm..?"

Come to think of it, Feng couldn't exactly recall seeing the girl around too often. He'd heard the rumors and the hushed whispers in the dark, spiteful in their recollection of past events. Being in a large organization like this one, though, was bound to put people at odds with one another. Despite their shared common goal, he didn't have a doubt that there would be people who would find fault in their peers and act upon these emotions with passive aggression or open hostility, and the rumors concerning their supposed "madam president" were probably founded on such feelings. This was all he had to go by, though, and so he offered it up in a far more nicer way than he'd heard in the halls.

"Rumor had it she flew the coop, if you get my drift," he stated flatly, expression melting into one of abject amusement. "Though rumors are just that; rumors. Nothing too concrete backing them up, but no one's said anything, so..." And he wasn't exactly too sure himself, so he couldn't say anthing with complete confidence. At his shoulder Arioche relaxed, her natural fear of the fire pokemon gradually dissipating when she realized that no harm would come of their encounter. That still didn't prevent her from flicking her beady little eyes from the trainer to his pokemon, or from changing the frown on her bottom into a smile anytime soon.

"Too bad, so sad... I guess maybe you'll just have to settle with going after one of the higher ups." There was more to the rumor, to be sure, but it didn't particularly interest him and he didn't quite feel like sharing. There was nothing going on in the organization he was sure this man couldn't figure out for himself, or else hunt down the occasional gossip or two and get the information from them. If he was even into that sort of thing, Feng didn't really know. But he was one of the few people he'd come across that didn't particularly bore him [for some reason, the little nuances of body movement and shifts in weight had him feeling attracted to a person, subconsciously], if only because the soft sigh he'd given and the watch that was checked marked him as someone anxious... or someone who didn't have a lot of time on their hands. Feng wasn't entirely appalled at the idea of finding this out for himself.

Arioche, as though to remind them of where they were supposed to be going -- which wasn't anywhere in particular, really, as he hadn't met up with his superior officer or any other members of his "team" -- squeezed her pink mouth parts down on his ear with a soft hissing noise. The bug pokemon had all but retreated behind his form, leaving only her head and bits of her legs peeking into view; there probably was a bit of hesitation left in her over the sighting of the two more powerful pokemon standing before them, but Feng, well... he couldn't particularly be bothered with an emotion like that right now.

"Anything else..?"</sub>

[Xatch]

Jacen was almost tempted to loose another sigh as he was told that Mion had apparently left. He refrained, however, expressing the slight irk as only a very small pursing of his lips and twitch of his golden-yellow-edged eyebrows. He paused for a few moments as the young man continued to speak, thinking over his words. Rumors were often that - mere hearsay, without a great deal of fact behind them. But that was the funny thing about hearsay; no matter how blown out of proportion stories were (and the rumor that she had left was hardly something that sounded sensationalized) there was always some sort of truth behind them... Either that, or they'd been started by someone else. This left Jacen pondering a rather disturbing idea: Had someone usurped Mion in his absence? The thought worried Jacen a little. He hadn't been a close friend of hers - and not a lover, as some of the more imaginative rumors had suggested - but he had considered her a friend regardless, and did not like the thought of her death in the war. Enough associates of his had been killed in the fighting; losing one whom he considered a genuine friend was a bit much to think about at the moment.

The golem spoke now for the first time since Feng had approached. "If that is the case, someone must have replaced her." The golem's rumbling words were a bit slow, but Jacen did not interrupt. He shook his head slightly as Crag finished, however. The gesture wasn't meant as a denial of the fact, but rather a gesture that he wanted the conversation to remain on Mion momentarily before he continued along his initial goal - to see about the state of affairs here and particularly his own standing. Now he had other curiosities to satisfy first.

The young man asked if there was anything else - as though Jacen had been the one to stop him - but Jacen ignored the question, is next phrase making it rhetorical. "Do you know when she is supposed to have left?" he inquired, making sure to keep his words theoretical. "Or what the rumors say about the circumstances?" He made sure to keep his tone merely curious rather than interested - there was a difference between the two, formed by some investment in the topic of the conversation. That was what Jacen made sure to keep himself away from.

It was remarkable how quickly old habits of talking returned.

[Faolan]

<sub>The rumbling sentence that came from the golem at the man's side had Feng's gaze flicking over interestedly. Even though all pokemon from this region were supposed to talk, Arioche had not once uttered anything other than her own name. Perhaps because she simply did not wish to, or else it was a case that she couldn't, he couldn't find it in himself to care. The topic of conversation the rock pokemon brought up did pique his interest and send a few thoughts in that general direction, but when Feng realized he hadn't spent enough time at the HQ to hear any further rumors regarding their missing president, he halted his efforts and directed his attentions to other things.

The questions brought up by the other before him did have Feng delving back into the deepest recesses of his mind, his normally tumultous thougths momentarily quelled by the restraint he'd placed upon it in this situation. He didn't particularly favor the higher ups he had, but there was a significantly less amount of back-talk on his part when he did encounter a superior or two. He wasn't exactly sure why, but was fairly certain it had something to do with his mother. Or something like that, it was rather hard to think when Arioche was working on spraying a glob of String Shot into his ear to get his attention. Resisting the urge to twist her by her little legs and throw her into the wall [he'd done it before and it seemed to shut her up just fine], he pressed a finger to his lips in muted contemplation and considered the matter.

"No, not particularly." As though the answers would be written on the door they stood in front of, he flicked his gaze over there and gave it a few seconds of looking over before confirming his statement with a shake of the head. "I'm sure if you dig deep enough, you'll find what you're looking for. There're people around who've been here longer than I have. I'm sure you'll find something if you look around a bit more." Feng flashed the other man an easy smile -- Arioche was now working on his other ear, a muddled sort of expression on her bottom at the odd behavior her master was displaying.

"Oh... and what was your name again?"</sub>

[Xatch]

As the young man seemed to think for a few seconds, Jacen turned his attention toward the spinarak sitting on his shoulder. This little creature resembled his own Ariadne, although only in appearance. In personality, they seemed to be quite different. Ariadne had always been very independent, wandering about the compound as she wished (once she had been quite firmly taught not to actually harm anyone, that is) and only following Jacen about when directly told to do so - usually to keep her away from the grunts or lower-level pokemon, both of whom she loved to terrify as often as possible. This spinarak, if his observations were correct, seemed more needing of her trainer's attention - although it might very well have been Thor's less-than-soothing presence that was making her nervous. The spinarak's persistent chewing of his ears seemed to be getting to the other man, although he did not display the desire very much - Jacen was quite good at reading people, and frustration or annoyance was one of the easiest feelings to notice.

Jacen nodded slightly at the reply. He honestly hadn't expected too much in terms of information. This man didn't seem the gossiping type anyway, unlike many others in the lower ranks. Ironically, it was often the ones who didn't partake in such gossip who seemed to be passed over for promotion, but such were the ways of politics. It was the same in any organization... Especially one built around blackmail and corporate maneuvering.

"I'm sure." Jacen replied as the young man suggested that he'd probably find something if he poked around for a while. In the pause that ensued, he was given a smile that seemed relatively friendly. On an older face it would have been easier to tell a strained smile from a real one - those who did not smile often tended to have frown lines show up even when they smiled - but in this case Jacen settled for analyzing the man's eyes... Which seemed genuine enough. He paused as his name was asked, but did not hesitate in replying. "Jacen." he said. "Zidar. And yours is...?" he trailed off, his eyes flickering to the spinarak for a brief moment as he listened to the answer.

While Jacen did not remark on the spinarak's constant bothering, Thor did not hesitate to do so. The typhlosion's voice was not nearly as pleasant as Jacen's or Crag's, nor did he attempt to keep his voice down as he admonished the tiny spider. "He's ignoring you." Thor growled, annoyed by the quiet chewing sounds coming from the direction of the pair. "Quit being a bother." Crag tossed a measured glare at the typhlosion, but did not admonish him in turn. Jacen did not even glance at Thor, although he did close his eyes for a moment longer than normal a second later.

[Faolan]

<sub>It wasn't a question of whether or not Arioche knew how to speak, but rather if she wished to; to this day, Feng had not heard her utter a word of human other than her appellation, and even then that seemed to be done in moderation.

So when the typhlosion spoke to her in a voice that seemed less than pleasant, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone when her only reaction was to merely turn those beady black eyes to the fire pokemon, a bit of her fear eased away, and simply stare at him. The chewing of her mouth on her master's ear stopped for a few moments, but with her eyes still fixed on the pokemon that had spoken to her and the expression on her back rearranged into a flat, indifferent one, she slowly resumed her previous movements with an almost taunting air about her. From the way she was placed and the manner in which she posed, it really made her look more like a tiny dog barking at a bigger beast from behind the safety of a closed window. Feng, however, found this more endearing than annoying and let her arrogance in this matter slide by-- at least, he pretended not to notice [not a far off notion, considering she was right behind him and out of his line of sight].

The longer the silence between them stretched, the more time the Pravus grunt found to examine the man standing across from him. While tall, he was at least a good few inches shorter than Feng, but there was nothing in the manner in which he stood or carried himself that suggested any inferiority. At least, that was what it looked like. Feng himself, though technically in a building that constituted a good work ethic [ironic, considering some of the more under-handed methods he'd seen employed by various privates out on the field] could not bring himself to pop his back into alignment and straighten from the casual slouch he was walking in. After listening to the man speak he attempted to amend this via removing his hands from his pockets and laying them flat on his thighs, though after the chewing on his ear finally broke through his patience he lifted up a hand for Arioche to climb onto.

"Nice to meet you, Jacen Zidar." Arioche clambored onto the proffered arm, somehow maneuvering herself on her spindly legs around to a more manageable perch before reattaching herself to his chest. It wasn't enough to throw him completely off guard, but he did drop his gaze down to her position before continuing on with the formalities. "I'm ... " Here he paused, unsure of whether or not to use his real name. His official papers read Faolan, but he so hated the name and had made sure not to use it when he didn't necessarily have to.

"Private von Schwarze-Wolfe, Feng." He finally concluded, the hand that had supported Arioche for those brief few seconds moving to brush at his spit-covered ear. This was one of those times he was glad she did not know Acid just yet. "Call me crazy..." For some reason, a grin spread across his features here. ".. but judging by your manner of dress and ... well, most everything else about you, you're one of us, but haven't been here for a while?" Either that, or he was one of the higher ups and had done a pretty good job keeping out of sight. He doubted this was the case, though, seeing as how he seemed rather uninformed about Mion's disappearance.</sub>

[Winston]

Winston was... well, he was paying absolutely no attention to what was on the other side of the door, as he was listening to the music put forth by Emo-mo the Emowale. What a strange Pokemon, but he decided now was as good a time as any to listen to his strange Pokemon. Bach was asleep at least, thank goodness. He was afraid of what kind of music that Cubok of his listened to.

At least this had a beat to it. A slightly creepy beat that had absolutely nothing to do with anything he wanted to listen to himself, but it was... slightly catchy. At least it was more catchy than some of the other, much more dull music he had heard earlier from another member of Pravus. He was not even sure what he was listening to. 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' did not sound like something a normal member of his organization would listen to.

His organization. He just got giddy thinking about it. It just went to show people that all it took was a good amount of loyalty and a little bit of luck to get to the top. That and he just had to be in the right place at the exact right time...

He remembered administrator Mion. He had heard so many bad things about her... maybe it was good that she disappeared; he would not like cleaning up a mess like that... What a disgrace to the Pravus name if she had stayed to confront that and confirm it all. How would the council deal with it then? Someone who almost sold information about Pravus to their arch nemesis, the Rangers?

He sneered at the thought, as Emo-mo stared in his direction.

"Master Winston," he said in a deep, slow tone, "Are you going to get that?"

It seemed that the water beast without ears heard the door being knocked before he had. Winston stared at his large Pokemon before staring over at the door.

"There's someone at the door?"

Emo-mo sighed.

"Yes, Master Winston..."

Winston's eyes bugged out as he put the helmet on his large suit of armor. Ah, the ability to look like an Empoleon. At the minimum cost, he could look, sound, and feel like an Empoleon Pokemorph, and no one would ever know the difference.

Except maybe other Empoleon Pokemorphs, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

As he straightened his suit of armor out, a small, red figure bounded through her doggie door at the front door, peeking out to see who was there.

"Hello? Hello! Hellohellohello! Do you want to see Master Administrator? He's behind the door! Hellohellohello!"

Her tail wagged happily, not that anyone on that side could see it, with her body only halfway through the doggie door and all...

"He's ready to see you now! Open the door! It's unlocked! Hellohellohello!"

And, without another word, she was back through the door, prancing around in front of Winston as if she caught a Pidgey or something like that.

[Jacen Zidar]

As the pause between them stretched, Jacen noted the private's attempt to appear at least a little less slovenly in his posture. A corner of his mouth twitched upward at the attempt; approval, but he could still do to train his pokemon - in fact, most Pravus members tended to have problems with their pokemon, Jacen mused in the silence. Of course, what constituted a "problem" tended to be relative, but coming from Jacen's perspective a problem was anything that got in the way of one's actions or caused even moderate inconvenience - like constantly having one's ear chewed on by an attention-craving spinarak, for example.

While these thoughts passed through the older man's head, he did not say anything aloud, and neither did his expression change. Not until he heard the name of the man now standing in front of him. "Private von Schwarze-Wolfe." he echoed, making a mental note of the name in case it ever became relevant again - such as if he passed the man in the hallway at some later point. He raised his eyebrows a fraction of a centimeter at "Feng's" guess, but did not attempt to make up some kind of story or even be vague in his answer. There was really no point in it, after all. Not yet.

"You would be correct about that." he replied casually, shifting his weight to lean a bit more comfortably on his cane - the walk up the hill had left him more tired than he'd previously thought. "The last time I walked in here I held the rank of Commander, although after the difficulties that forced me away that rank may be altered somewhat now." He glazed over the reason for his departure smoothly, without a single pause to indicate that he was trying to cover up anything. Oh yes, this manner of weighing his speech and saying only what needed to be said definitely came back swiftly. It was something that had been a habit for so long, perhaps falling back into it wasn't nearly so bothersome as he thought it might be. He did have to remind himself to keep his facial expression the same; not to emit any microexpressions that he did not want shown. That was the hard part, of course, for microexpressions were performed by muscles normally considered involuntary - until properly trained, that is.

Jacen had been about to ask the young private another question - this one about the current administration of Pravus headquarters, but a voice coming from somewhere below him made him cut the sentence off and look down, just barely catching a glimpse of the grista before it ducked back into the room through a doggie door he had not previously noticed was there. As the pokemon disappeared, Jacen gave the door a quizzical look. Master Administrator? It sounded like it might be a sort of stewardship title, as though they were in the process of appointing a different president and he was filling in - whomever "he" was. Jacen was about to find out, apparently. He turned back to face Feng, raising a hand in the Pravus salute that had been used during the war - though for all he knew it was outdated by now; they did like to switch things around often here, after all. He paused a moment, watching to see if the private would return the salute (a testament to both the private's character and the training grunts were receiving nowadays) before he spoke. "Private von Schwarze-Wolfe, thank you for your assistance." Despite his formal words his voice was still gentle, and he waited only a moment to hear a reply before turning to open the door to the president's office.

- - -

As the door hissed open, Jacen paused a moment to take in the appearance of the "Master Administrator." He could be described as attractive, having looks that almost might become a model. Jacen could not determine his age offhand, mostly due to the fact that he was a pokemorph, and not one of the almost completely human ones like himself. Not that he was completely pokemon either, of course. His appearance was unmistakeable though, and no surprise. A man of his high rank had nothing so petty as appearances to hide. They had much larger concerns in regards to secrecy. After taking a moment to take in the man, Jacen offered the Pravus salute once more, adding a respectful nod at the end of it. His smile was friendly, but close-lipped; he had learned to limit the exposure of his dark red canine teeth around people he had just met. He approached the desk slowly (read as: at his normal walking speed) and held out a hand toward the man, waiting for the other to speak both out of politeness and the fact that Jacen did not yet know the man's name.

Jacen took a step into the room, but as Crag and Thor moved to follow Jacen raised a hand to stop them. He gave them no other comment, and though Thor furrowed his brows angrily neither attempted to defy his unspoken order to remain out in the hallway. Neither attempted to eavesdrop either, stepping to either side of the door and resisting the urge to look inside. Thor, instead, focused his glare on Feng as though this whole thing was the grunt's fault somehow. Crag looked off down the hall noncommitally, seeming to ignore both of them.

[Winston]

Gri-gri was prancing around for quite a bit, before she realized that this man that her trainer had to see was someone of a little more importance than one of the many lowly Pravus grunts; Winston never liked it when people of a higher up status were treated with any less respect than their rank demanded, and did their rank ever deserve that respect. He learned that when he was a lowly grunt...

His eyes strained slightly through the visor of the helmet as he attempted to determine who this was in front of him. The files he had looked through much earlier were already dribbling out of his head, and it was quite a wonder that he did not have half the information he needed in a useless puddle on the floor.

"Commander... Zidar," he finally said, shaking the man's hand best he could with his paw-hand, confident that he had the right name, "Please, sit down."

He gestured to the seat in front of his desk, and smiled politely, not that the other could see that through all that armor of Winston's, but who knew with him.

As Winston released his ... paw... grip from Jacen's hand, he leaned back in his large, swirly chair, putting both paws up in front of his face and tapping the end claws on each other, contemplatively.

"Commander, I hear it's been a long time since you've come around the Pravus building," he said solemnly, "My adviser was beginning to suggest that I send out a ... 'search party,' but I'm happy now that I don't have to do that."

Clearly Winston was not one to divulge names, unless he was asked outright or meeting someone for the very first time. Despite the first meeting between him and the Commander, his manners either left him or he was much too preoccupied with something else for the Commander to receive such attention as his own name.

Besides, everyone knew who 'Winston von Winstonson' was these days.

"Now, did you want your position back? Or is there a more pressing matter at hand that we should be aware of?"

He gave the man a piercing look, one that could rival some of the more fierce of Pokemon, while he awaited his answer. It was a warning without really intending a warning; if Jacen picked the wrong answer, Winston would have to take action... and it was not necessarily action that he wanted to take...