The woman's gaze overlooks the art of his craft. Frankly, the crinkling paper and the shear of scissors gliding across shimmery trash-to-be does little to hold her attention. It was frivolous and temporary.

People thought evil people wore long trench coats and held concealed weapons, or whatever, but what about the tons and tons of plastic and paper waste every year from wrapped gifts?

Yeah. That's right.

"Just Remi. 'Miss' makes me feel both uncomfortably young and uncomfortably old."

Alexei Ivanov

☉

It's funny she says that, because 'Miss Remi' has become a staple nickname for her literally everywhere. How is that even possible? She shakes her head to dislodge the thought.

"Open-air?" Honestly, not that surprising. "Nice."

This was, after all, a flying-type gym. Which was kind of why she was so embarrassed to be bringing in a.. grounded wyrm.

"Uhh-- do you need me to--" Apparently not. The gym leader manages by himself with a cane and a door propped open for her to walk through. Remi clears her throat awkwardly before stepping through. Guilt niggles at her, she really should have opened it herself.. probably.

"Flying-type Pokemon are optional, right?"

Alexei Ivanov

☉

Non-traditional challenges? How bizarre, how drastically Pokemon gym challenges had changed. What happened to the good old days of a simple one on one until either side faints? Riding Pokemon in the air while battling?

Remi squints.

"No wonder you're using a cane."

Shit, had she said that out loud? Thankfully, the woman has little to no sense of shame, so she makes absolutely no indication of guilt on what she's said. She merely brushes it aside and pretends she's said nothing at all. It helps that Alexei goes on to explain the rules and whatnot.

"Cool."

And then, with a disgusted expression on her face, she unzips her jacket in front of the man as they step outside. It might seem inappropriate, and probably was given her lowcut black tank top beneath her black leather jacket-- but she's revealing a Dratini, not her cleavage.

The little Pokemon, now exposed to the cooler air compared to the compact heat of Remi's skin and the closed jacket, blinks her eyes open and shifts to resettle on the woman's shoulder to peer around. The small Pokemon stares at the gym leader first, and then the Salamence- twitching in surprise as Remi takes an abrupt step back at the giant dragon's arrival.

Fear flickers across Remi's face, but she holds it together.

"He seems.. friendly."

She doesn't sound quite convinced. But she pulls the Dratini from her shoulders and sets it down in the grass in front of her. It glances back at her, bewildered by the change in environment and temperature, but Remi gives the Pokemon no more mind before zipping up her jacket again.

Alexei Ivanov

☉

"Oh, fantastic."

Sarcasm drips from her tone as her expression pinches into feigned glee at the sight of yet another dragon. She had to wonder if this guy was a flying-type specialist or a dragon-type one. So far, she'd seen more scales than feathers.

No matter, she could handle it. Dragons were a pretty hot commodity in the smuggling field, too, and she always made it work.

She could already see a disadvantage, though, and that was the fact the little flying apple dragon was, well, flying. In the air, above Dratini and out of reach. This would be interesting, given she had never seen a Dratini fly and was pretty sure they couldn't.

"First move, right, yeah. Okay, Qi'ra, put up your defences."

Maybe not the most ideal start, as she could have started offensively, but.. it was definitely a relief to see the SAFEGUARD go up to protect the little Dratini.

Alexei Ivanov

☉

Remi blinks, and the Flapple disappears. It was so.. tiny, and with the green of the trees and grass, the small cracked-open apple was difficult to pick out of a crowd.

Fortunately for her, Dratini is far more capable of seeing than she was. She braces for impact as the WING ATTACK strikes at her skinny body. She squirms and writhes, crying out in pain at the buffeting.

"Slap it away from you with a dragon tail."

She tries to keep her voice steady and calm. The little Dratini hated raised voices and shouting, and was quite the nervous little creature. Any undue stress made her tense up and give up. They couldn't afford to lose this -- well, they could, but it would be humiliating. She could almost hear her brother's nagging laughter over her shoulder.

"Go on, Qi'ra."

The Dratini shakes herself, before her tail become imbued with blue energy and she lashes out with the intent to smack the Flapple with her DRAGON TAIL.

Alexei Ivanov

☉

"Tuck and roll!"

While the Flapple itself was difficult to see, the GRAV APPLE was not. Remi winces as she watches her Dratini coil tightly into a ball and bounce to the side to narrowly avoid the dropped fruit. The impact, however, of the grav apple does send her sprawling out in a surprised string of blue scales.

She slaps against the ground, stunned and breathless. It leaves her defenseless for a moment.

"Dragon dance!"

Remi claps her hands together to try and encourage the little wyrm to get up off the ground. Miraculously, she does. The Dratini begins to perform a hasty dance, wiggling from side to side to boost her speed and strength.

Alexei Ivanov

☉