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[googlefont="Hammersmith One"][googlefont="Raleway"]Erin was pleased. She had every reason to be pleased. All of her plans were well on their way to sailing, and she had procured herself a fairly inconspicuous spot in one of the two pillars of the Parallax faction—for one of its founders, no less. If she were someone else, she'd have thought herself quite lucky. She was none other than young heiress and business prodigy Erin Caulfield, though, and that meant luck had little to do with this outcome. It was simply the result of her months of planning and gathering intel and, well, throwing her father's money at this beautiful underwater city.

She was pleased, yet a surreptitious part of her felt something akin to disappointment bubbling up, as well. The fresh graduate realized this as she stepped down the private taxi she'd been relying on since her arrival in Irisia almost a week prior. Things hadn't only gone smoothly so far; they'd gone too smoothly. After the many hours of missed sleep, all-nighters pulled with the only purpose of making crazy deadlines, while also flying all around Unova to watch her father hard at work and learn the ropes of what would one day become her responsibility, this undisturbed, effortless progress was almost boring, if she may.

The sober banner of a small, cozy café and its quiet lobby music readily welcomed the lull of her high heels. As was customary for a well-educated young lady, she had made sure to arrive a good fifteen minutes earlier than the scheduled time, and made the chauffeur wait in the vicinity to make it seem like she had arrived just in time. Those minutes had served her to ponder her current situation, but they were up and she now had a more pressing matter to focus on. Pale blue eyes scanned the artful simplicity of the establishment as she offered a dimple-wielding hostess the name of whom she was there to meet, her soon-to-be boss.

Really, now, those dimples were dangerous. They made for a distracting sight. Erin could hardly handle the forged cheerfulness of the smile.

Following the hostess would be a far less excruciating task, as she was faced with the back of her satin dress and none of her milky facial features. To her relief, it was also an incredibly short one, for she came to a stop only a few tables farther inside, and gestured towards a woman who couldn't have been much older than herself. Mentally, Erin would have to commend her decision to meet in a rendezvous point as low-profile and conveniently placed, being at a walking distance from the PH Genetics offices, as this.

"Miss Grayson," she greeted courtly, quirking her lips up into a small smile and nodding at the woman. Her voice was clear but meek, a mix she only ever used when making first impressions, and with her father. Despite already having been through a formal interview, she was certain this slightly more casual little meet and greet would be evaluated just as the first. They weren't here just for tea and biscuits, though that was indeed a very good bonus; she had a co-founder to impress. "Lovely place—it reminds me somewhat of a café I used to frequent in Castelia." As she spoke, Erin took special care not to stare at those pair of irises even paler than her own, despite the curious child in her dying to do the exact opposite, and waited for her cue to sit down.