perse is no more koalafied for this than kim, but surely nothing is impawsible if you put your mind to it. and beclaws apparently a councilman and a head scientist are the only league officials in the area prebeared to tackle the job, here they are.

it is supposed to be a nice, relaxing excursion to one of the ranches near verdanturf's outskirts, not this; 18 pangowos and none of them willing to reproduce.

fortunately, the effect of perse's drampa's play nice causes the bear brawlers to paws, giving kim's teddiursa an opportunity to escape should it choose to. the drampa looks at perse and she shrugs weakly back.

regardless, the pocket of bears clustered around their two pokemon didn't seem inclined to fight any more — a small victory.

after another moment, perse turns to kim trying to formulate a way to voice her idea without it sounding absurdly stupid.

"hey... i know you have a couple of really cute or pretty pokemon right? if i could get them to sit pay attention... do you think you guys could teach some of them to be more—" she interrupts herself to gesture helplessly with one hand. "—more beautiful or appealing to one another?"

even voicing the words aloud elicit shame.

kim cole-essam

she's relieved and more than a little surprised that kim agrees to go along with the idea. flashing him a radiant grin, persephone releases two more pokemon — a gardevoir and a mimikyu.

the drampa slithers on ahead to corral the pangowos together, waddling around on his stumpy little legs and encouraging them all to play nice. gardevoir supplements it with a misty terrain, soft pink lighting and cotton-candy clouds fill the area. the pangowos stumble forward at his prompting, confusion suddenly giving way to shyness as they're confronted with each other's visages. the mood being created by kim's pokemon only made them somehow more demure and coy.

persephone turns to kim, raising an eyebrow. it's a weird sight to behold.

mimikyu looks to persephone expectantly and she leans down to point at the drampa. "can you do that for me too?" she suggests, quietly, so as to not disrupt the pokemon's work. mimikyu chirps its name and hops ahead, placating the pangowos with a copycat version of play nice.

I4ahvgLA

kim cole-essam

the addition of the magic room is the final, finishing touch. the air is positively wafting with wonderful smells from the aromatherapy. the pink plumes from misty terrain filled the area in gentle clouds.

the lighting is perfect. everything is perfect.

persephone turns to the councilman, mouth slightly agape as words elude her. she had been so certain that this would work flawlessly because it's just such a good idea on paper, only for the failure of it all to come crashing down around them.

yes, the pangowos are "playing nice" — in that they're no longer attempting to maul each other outright, but their additions to the field seem to have worked against them, perhaps.

persephone watches a boy pangowo and a girl pangowo cuddle together sweetly, close their eyes and promptly fall asleep.

she's stunned.

"kim," persephone says decisively. "the atmosphere. we made a mistake. it's too romantic. we made them get along but not want to..." she waves her hand and adopts his terminology. "you know."

they should have made the misty terrain red like the light of a cheap love hotel. they should have put in strobe lights in the magic room. they should have made the aromatherapy smell like cheap alcohol and cigarette smoke. they should have copycatted play rough instead.

persephone raises a hand to her temple as the realisation sets in. they made a terrible mistake.

kim cole-essam

persephone's eyes grow wide as she gazes at the teddiursa on kim's shoulder, making brief eye contact with it and noting its disgust.

yes, their assignment is to get the pangoros to make some cute little panchams, but is the cost of the teddiursa's innocence really worth it? as reluctant as she is to admit it — they have failed.

persephone lowers her gaze. her heart is heavy even when she looks at the happily slumbering pile of pangoros before them. those that are awake stare at each other with expressions so placid that it's almost bizarre to see them worn on a pokemon that's known for its capacity for ferociousness.

"honestly, i feel like it's a dangerous matter to disturb their rest. and your teddiursa..." persephone studies the cute little guy for a moment longer. "maybe we can get him a pancham girlfriend? it can be a long-term plan for producing pangoro?"

bad idea on top of bad idea, honestly.

kim cole-essam

is it a massive failure? in the grand scheme of things — probably not. they look so peaceful. maybe they set a foundation for something in the future. after all, it's not like humans typically become impregnated after the very first date.

persephone gives the slumbering pokemon a fond sweeping glance and recalls her pokemon as kim does his. at the least, she can confidently say that they tried and that their attempt is nothing if not solid.

"good call," she echoes.

"maybe it will be nice to do something both of us actually have some degree of confidence in. and... let's not speak of this to anyone," persephone adds, wincing slightly. perhaps they were doomed to fail, after all neither is a pokemon breeder for a reason.

this is an episode of their lives best left in the past. at least this is by far the least disturbing breeding attempt made at the sanctuary.

if only she knew the depths of depravity some people would go to to achieve their desired outcome.

kim cole-essam + close