Adrenaline was still pumping through Tallulah’s veins when she arrived at the venue. She had just been running and hiding from a fox and was breathing deeply of the damp air as a particularly dark and decorated building caught her attention. Although she was a little bit dirty – her hair was scruffy, and mud covered the skin on her face and legs and even some of the fabrics of her dress –  Lula felt suitably dressed enough to enter.

It was grand and empty. She did not expect this place to be so empty! Tallulah’s eyes were wide in awe as she relished the sight of the room – the shiny surfaces, polished bowls, candlelight, and even the chair and tables which had been arranged so neatly. Everything was so seemingly perfect that it looked staged to her, almost like a dollhouse or an abandoned palace. But there! – A golden bowl held a bright red liquid. It looked like wine. Was it expensive? Was it… delicious? One would think so if it is served in a place like this. Again, the girl scanned the room and as she was confident it was free of life, her instincts kicked in and she dipped the tip of her pinkie finger into the liquid and brought it closer to her tongue. She noticed it smelled like a smithy, like raw iron and earth. Its taste was salty like the semen she was once forced to swallow – No, not quite… – slightly metallic like the face of a coin, certainly not what she expected the wine to taste like, and…

Could it be… Tallulah was fascinated, revolted, and more than a little disturbed when she put a finger on what the liquid could be. Just to make sure, she tasted it once more and made a face as the contents ran down her throat. Somehow, it tasted much worse once you know what it was. And next thing she knew, she was running again, this time to the back of the building. Maybe there were people or animals; maybe it was too late. But the feeling of bravado and frivolousness suddenly made sense. Wasn’t this the perfect place to cover a crime?

She did not know how much time had passed. Her finger was still stained from the blood as she stood in the hallway. There were several doors but all of them locked. “Hello?”, she called out and the echo sounded both in all directions and nowhere in particular. And then… “Huh!” Tallulah shuddered. The movement was so quick. A man stood before her, but she did not see him coming. Was he responsible for…

It was only Keith’s second solo job, after a few trial runs where he’d been accompanied by another worker who knew Koi’s back alleys and meetup spots better.  

Chuuya doesn’t expect any trouble (after the first incident, where Keith had broken an unruly customer’s nose, he’d picked things up quickly and combined a strong will with a good heart, which was unsurprisingly a bit uncommon in their line of work) but as a policy, when workers meetup with their client at the scene of the job, or if the plan changes unexpectedly, they’d give the supervisor in charge a call to check in; in this case, that was Chuuya, forcing his way through several large slabs of employee contracts whilst keeping his phone close by. 

A few employees had trouble with the setup, taking it as a sort of babysitting, but it’s important for Angel’s Trumpet to make sure they don’t end up sending their own people against each other or be dragged into something bigger than they’d been paid for. 

(They’d had customers in the past who would outright lie about their job, try to rip them off, or tried to set them up to lessen the competition... Of course, it was dealt with quickly by the Angel Trumpet’s superior manpower, but the extra paperwork and cover ups they caused was a drain of time and money, so they’d set up checks and balances to avoid it.) 

Keith had already done his first check in when he’d arrived on site-- client had been a bit late, but otherwise everything was usual-- so when his work phone rings, once, twice and Keith’s number is listed, man takes welcome excuse to put off paperwork and answers.

“Popplio, where’re you going? We’re going to get lost!” the blue haired girl chased after her partner unsure what it had picked up on. To make matters worse they had no idea where this apartment she was looking for was. There had to be something popplio had picked up on that smelled familiar.

That was when she finally turned the corner and spotted the water type interacting with a familiar pokemon.

“A litten?” she question looking down at the two before looking up and noticing the older male next to the two starters.

As per usual, the city was a mess. Only this time, normal cittazens had been granted powers. To be frank, it was as baffling as it was annoying. Her powers had been coming back slowly over time, but... well... she probably should’ve asked for her staff back.

A large group of people, likely quite angry with the totally-not-a-cult church were around her. Ah, the downsides of becoming a more prominent member.

Well, she wasn’t too concerned, that being said, if anyone would come around, she would just be a simple lady with a wooden stick who was clearly outnumbered.