CJ’s normal patrol shifts with the tides, depending on the mercurial nature of their higher-ups. At first, they’d been assigned the boring as bunk Littleroot-Oldale route, a sign of a lack of confidence. Then they’d been drafted to help at Mt. Pyre and for a moment they’d gotten the exciting jobs, before subsequently destroying half of Mt. Pyre (not singlehandedly, they’d like to point out) and getting themselves re-routed to proverbial Shit Duty.
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It was hot as hell on Mt. Chimney, exacerbated by Hoenn’s damnedly tropical climate. CJ was entering their third day of a week-long patrol and their dogged, positive determination was beginning to wear thin. The heat was their ultimate enemy, having been born and raised in Snowpoint, and they were slowly languishing away under a thin film of sweat, staring up at stars and lamenting sleeplessly hot nights.
[break][break]
At first, they thought it was an illusion-- an image conjured in their mind amidst the twisting, rolling waves of heat snaking off the ground. Flashes of silver at the edges of their vision, and a latent vestige of-- not fear, but expectation. Like something was coming. Something horrible was coming.
[break][break]
CJ couldn’t imagine anything possibly getting any worse, so they’d shoved the dread to the back of their mind like an itch they were determined to ignore, packed up camp, and struck out into the wild once more.
[break][break]
Not too long after, they caught sight of Asher McRae , stumbling along the mountainside. The stranger was dirty (not that CJ was any bastion of cleanliness, mind) and sweat-stained and looked frantic. As resident ranger about town, CJ figured it was their job to intervene, and offer assistance.
[break][break]
So they slid down a short ledge, Kinnick in tow, and approached, Ranger ID badge in hand just in case.
[break][break]
“Hey,” they said, tilting their head to the side, “you okay?”
[break][break]
They wanted to kick themselves. It was lame-- but it was better than the alternative, which was hey, you look freaked out as shit, what potentially illegal things are you doing?

[attr="class","ooc"] Asher McRae [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-jolteon"] [attr="class","pkspr pkmn-glaceon"] [attr="class","pkspr pkmn-espeon"] [attr="class","pkspr pkmn-joltik"]