He wasn’t necessarily expecting to be in trouble. He also wasn’t expecting Lars to burst through the door with a weary look on his face and free him from his shadowy, beige prison. He grinned at his commanding officer and was up and at ‘em with no further prompting.

“It’s fine,” he said. It’s not the first interview room I’ve been in was what was next on his lips, but he swallowed that part, deciding his Head Boss In Charge didn’t really need to know that part.

“How you holding up?” he asked, once they were clear of the polyester and air-conditioned smell of the debriefing suite. “You took a hell of a hit for me. Sir.” There was awe and appreciation woven into his voice but he didn't want to lay it on too thick less he come off as a brown-noser. But it was true, Lars had saved if, not his life, then at least his handsome good looks, from impending doom.

Memo didn’t really know if it was in his jurisdiction to comment on how out of control things seemed to be spiraling. From his point of view, the only good thing to come out of the Littleroot Fire was that the body count was kept low-- which, granted, was a pretty damn big x in the ‘win’ column. But it did seem a little bit like jumping head first out of the proverbial frying pan.

“Yes,” he said, immediate and direct, “yes, it was all a mess. And--,” he hesitated, already having received the third degree from Sénon for this, “it didn’t have horns.” His cousin had been all freaked out about that bit, for reasons Memo didn’t really understand.

Don’t take your survival as a fluke.

“With all due respect, sir, it’s a bullshit idea.”

He shrugged, not really understanding why everyone was so up in arms about the whole horns thing. First Senon, now Lars. Why did it matter? He supposed it was apropos for someone from a region where the majority of the legendaries were just Kanto recolors.

Lars mentioned the next meeting and having to put a word in and wondered if it would make a difference. Everything seemed very weighted against them, right now, and while it felt good to know that Lars was decidedly in his corner-- the not-genocide corner, which was ridiculous that it had to be a corner at all-- he wondered if any of it would matter.

He felt very tired, and very, very small, in that moment.

He hated feeling small.

“Is there anything we can do to-- change it?” he asked. If there was a-- a dangerous mission or even a stupidly self-sacrificial option, he’d do it. Take it. It was worth it to avoid a genocide, even of an antagonistic people.

Save the worlds. All of them.

High hopes, indeed.

Well, of course he would, because Lars was a good guy and a good leader. Memo felt silly for asking. “I figured as much,” Memo said, slightly sheepish, “but I also know how politics are. Sometimes you--,” meaning people like Lars, in influential positions, positions of power,-- “have to pretend.”

Lars asking him what he’d do made him pause.

Blowing it up would be his first option, but…

“If we can make a portal to another world, why can’t we make a portal to-- you know, our world, just… a little to the left?” He grinned a little at his own joke, like a ding-dong.

His smile was a lot proud and a little sheepish. As a master of using humor as a weapon of defense or deflection, Memo instinctively felt better after he made anyone laugh, especially someone as pulled taut as Lars. He imagined the Ranger Captain didn’t get a lot of chances to relax.

Oof, idiotic? That one hurt, a bit. “I think it’s more realistic than warping it to another dimension,” Memo said, unable to beat back the heat that laced in his voice. “But it’s still too close to home. People are more comfortable with the body count of genocide in a realm that most of the population will never have to see or deal with. It’s like a grisly security blanket.” He swallowed, starting to get passionate again. “It’s-- bullshit.”

He ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself down.

“I’ve taken up enough of your time, sir,” he said, after a beat. “I’m sure you’ve heard this all a million times before. Is there anything else you want to ask or need to know?” He was speaking about the Littleroot incident, which he doubted Lars would need any clarification on, as he’d been there. “If not, I should get back to work.”