"Shit, fuck, fuck, shit!"

Flames roar to life as a result of her own negligence. So much for 'subtle getaway', Remi fucking Cassel.

"And I'm supposed to be a professional."

She mutters under her breath. The time for stomping out the small embers is long gone with the scorched toe of her black boots. She smells like stress-sweat and burnt rubber soles and the strained smile on her face is indicative of her predicament.

Given this is her operation, she's the only one who stuck around to see it through. The rest of the gang had already left, probably because Remi's chain-smoking was insufferable.

And now it was a death sentence.

Fortunately, there seems to be a water trough still full. She lets the water spout spray and she frantically begins splashing the nearby bucket she's found on the straw piles burning into ash.

"For fuck's sake!"

S'mores, anyone?

NIKO MANNER

☉

She was certainly praying to someone, not that it would do her any good.

Subtle hand movements and chin indications encourage her nearby Pokemon to evacuate the barn and the Miltank herd with it. Pangoro's intimidating size paired with the Beartic make keeping the petrified cattle in line easy- they were more scared of claws and being chewed up than they were about burning to death.

And the woman's Sneasel made short work of retrieving important equipment in a nice pile just outside. The barn was definitely a wash, because no one in their right mind had any care at all to call in an old abandoned death-trap as it already was. This was a shady undercover smuggling den, basically. No one gave a shit.

No one except this guy right here, anyway.

He snarls at her and grabs a second bucket. Naturally, it's bigger and nicer than the one she has, and he does a far better job. Remi glances at him with the same energy as one might have in an exasperated eye-roll. It's impossible to tell though with the smoke and the fire.

"Making a bonfire, obviously. Why, are you not into that sorta thing? It's a shame, I brought hot dogs and marshmellows."

Remi laughs.

NIKO MANNER

☉

At some point they need to call it quits. The fire is blazing out of their control, becoming very much the bonfire that she's described it as. The building is a lost cause, and they're about to be too if they don't get out of there.

But instead of running for safety, the guy continues to berate her with accusations.

Okay, maybe he just asked her a question- but it was the implication behind said question that turned her defensive.

Okay, hostile.

"I don't really think it matters at this point, dickhead."

He's bigger than she is, but she's not the least bit intimidated. He reminds her of her Pangoro, Bane- actually, he's shorter than Bane. From behind Niko, the Pangoro looms. The tip of the bear's chewing stick seems to be smouldering, glowing faintly with a warm ember from the heat in the barn. He glares down at Niko, as if begging him to try something.

"I'm getting out of here before we burn along with the barn. Dunno about you, pal!"

She tosses the bucket to the side and wipes her brow of sweat. Her cheeks are rosy with the heat and exhertion. The cool night air is an immediate relief as she jogs to catch up with the Beartic and his herd of Miltank.

NIKO MANNER

☉

There is something distinctly familiar about the way his breath exhales in the form of a verbal reprimand.

'Tch.'

It makes her squint, makes her second-guess. It makes her take a second look to watch him duck out of the burning barn. But from here, with the flames illuminating his back and casting his face in shadow, she can't tell. That and he's pissed her off shouting at her. Warranted, but still.

"The place was a deathtrap anyway."

And for a smuggling drop-off point, it was a shitty one. She'd only been here a few days and she'd been warned off of showing up to the spot in case too many League official eyes were watching. Apparently more and more lately, they were stepping in to assist farmers.

One less barn to worry about, frankly.

NIKO MANNER

☉

"Excuse me? You can shove it up your ass."

Remi scowls, staring up at him. The closer he gets the more itchy she feels, like she's missing something.

It comes to her when she realizes he said her name. She hadn't shared that with anyone, anonymity was a goddamn blessing in this line of work.

"How do you-- Niko? Niko fucking Manner... no goddamn way."

NIKO MANNER

☉

"Hoenn's a shithole, why would I want to come back?"

The knife twists in her gut, the sharp, poisonous reminder of why she had. But she couldn't leave now, not without answers.

Remi retains her scowl in spite of the recognition, since it seems the feeling is mutual.

"Find it yourself. Plenty of other abandoned barns around here with shit to hide. I dropped off what was asked, I'm good, I'm done."

The itch for another cigarette is hot on her breath. It makes her agitated.

NIKO MANNER

☉

"I had shit to do."

There is bitterness in her tone that she doesn't have the energy to hide. She swallow hard, agitation clenching her jaw tight enough to grind her teeth together painfully.

"I pulled it out of the barn, you asshole. See?"

She gestures to the Beartic towering over the Miltank, and nearby her Sneasel both set down bundles of equipment or boxes or whatever it is that had been stored in the barn.

"I don't owe you shit."

NIKO MANNER

☉