Eva had been reading and writing all day, diving in the lore and texts that span between regions, telling stories of time and space. She’d barely glanced up at the clock, so immersed in her work.

The pounding on the door startled her out of her work. The pen in her hand rattled against the desk when she dropped it. Her gaze snaped over to the clock, Ollie was about right on time.

“Shit,” she mumbles mostly to herself while the persistent knocking continues at the door, “I’m coming, I’m coming!” she yelled down the stairs. Still, the knocking persisted and began to sneak under her skin which was no doubt his intention.

The patter of her feet coming down the stairs proceeds her throwing open the door, “Geez, Ollie, I heard you the first couple knocks.”

---

ollie morales

"oh did you?" he says, sliding into the room and letting himself into his sister's house. it's the first time he's visited, and he can't but help be amazed considering how much bigger it is than his own place.

[break][break] "woah!" he says, plastic bags shifting in his grip as he heads over to what he assumes to be her kitchen. "this place is huge. i guess head scientists make big bucks, huh?"

[break][break] he lifts the supplies onto the counter, beginning to pull them out onto the counter.

[break][break] he has three different bags of flour, because he wasn't sure which to buy.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Eva Morales [break]
the great hoenn bake-off

Eva steps aside as her brother slides into the room. It’s a rather basic, cabin-style home. It has a cozy feel, but definitely has more room than two people need. Since Matias still own his home in Lilycove on the beach, it is rather impressive.

“I make enough to be comfortable,” she smiles as they stroll into the kitchen, “It helps MATIAS SILPH is a famous Elite Four member,” and the AQUA Initiative contract gave him a good bonus for being an avatar. Comparatively, she makes pennies.

A look of confusion crosses her face when she scans the four bags of flour, “Geez, Ollie, how big is this cake?!” she reaches down to pull out two, normal sized, round cake pans, “I only have these.”

---

ollie morales

"oh yeah — that's your boyfriend, huh?"

[break][break] ollie had heard enough. after all, it was a public relationship between two very public people. it would've been silly not to hear.

[break][break] his lips twist into a shark's grin. "dad meet him yet?"

[break][break] ollie doubted it — after all, it was only recently that he'd even realized his sister was alive.

[break][break] a bag of strawberries is pushed into the center of the aisle.

[break][break] he rubs his neck sheepishly. "well — i didn't know! i've never baked a cake before." he huffs. "did you see the text i sent you?" last night, he'd sent her about four different recipes on cakes he thought looked pretty neat. "the strawberry one looks like it'd be tasty."

[attr="class","ooc"] Eva Morales [break]
the great hoenn bake-off

Eva nods, confirming what he has heard. She hasn’t formally introduced them yet, but her and MATIAS SILPH did talk about having Ollie over for dinner. He hasn’t met any of her family . . . obviously.

Her glare turns cold when Ollie mentions their dad. She reaches across the island to give him a firm punch in the shoulder, “Not fair,” she hissed, immediately turning the subject back to the baking task at hand.

“I liked the strawberry one too,” she stacked the two pans on top of each other, “I figured we could make it a double decker! Like this!”

---

ollie morales

ollie snickers at her response, but otherwise doesn't press it. as much as he likes pushing her buttons, he knows when to let sleeping dogs lie.

[break][break] plus, there's the threat of the end of the world. it hardly seems the time to tease her on her choice in boyfriends.

[break][break] right now, at least.

[break][break] "ooooh —" he says, eyes growing wide as saucers. "that looks perfect! okay, where should we start sis?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Eva Morales [break]
the great hoenn bake-off

Eva’s choice in boyfriends is awesome. Dad would love MATIAS SILPH if they ever got the chance to meet. She nods firmly as the topic is dismissed and the focus in turned back to the cake.

“Great! Let’s get started then,” she sets the pans aside, assuming they wouldn’t need them until later. She quickly scans the ingredients laid out, “Uhhh well, the beginning I guess? Pull up the recipe and I’ll grab a few more things," Eva dips down below the rim of the counter to collect some measuring cups, a large mixing bowl, a whisk, etc.

---

ollie morales

he pulls up the recipe on his phone while his sister gets a few more supplies. since he has some time to spare, he decides to breach the huge elephant in the room.

[break][break] "larsy-pie told me about your meeting. it sounded pretty rough. you okay, sis?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Eva Morales [break]
the great hoenn bake-off

Eva pops up from below the counter with a quirked brow, “Larsy-pie?” it takes her a moment to put two and two together. She’s never heard that nickname for him. They must be close.

Eva glances over at the recipe as she shrugs her shoulders, “Yeah, I’m fine. Those meetings are always rough,” Despite the mild bickering, Dahlia was able to keep them together as a mostly) united front against a region-wide threat.

She reaches over the prepare the dry ingredients, measuring them and pouring them into a bowl, “What did he say though?” she asked curiously, wondering what the sole head ranger’s opinion on the matters discussed were. He likely gave Ollie more information than “It was rough”.

---

ollie morales

he coughs. "oops. i meant head ranger Laurence Anderson ." it still feels uncomfortable to refer to him like that — after years of bullying him with nicknames, it seems almost unnatural. "did i ever tell you that we trained together? as cadets?"

[break][break] ollie watches as his sister pulls out the ingredients and pours them into a bowl. she was so good at this! not that he'd had any doubts.

[break][break] "oh - you know him. he's always grumpy."

[break][break] he shrugged.

[break][break] "he seemed pretty upset about what happened to "Red", though."

[break][break] it was a sad thing, what happened to Sénon Game, but ollie couldn't fault him. taking time off to take care of his kids? that was a big deal, both negatively and positively.

[break][break] "what about you? what do you think? are we fucked?"

[break][break] because it's his sister, he can be honest. all this talk of "end of the world" is a little nerve-wracking, even though he'd like to imagine otherwise.

[attr="class","ooc"] Eva Morales [break]
the great hoenn bake-off

Yes, Lars does always seem to be grumpy. Admittedly, during her tenure as Head Professor, Eva had still barely worked with the man. Only a few meetings here and there with everyone else and one unfortunate trip to Sea!Hoenn. Even then, they didn’t interact much.

“Yeah, that was unfortunate,” Although, Eva wasn’t at all surprised. Senon had spread himself thin between Head Ranger duties and family life. Eventually, something had to take priority.

Eva can’t help but smile about the casual way Ollie brings up the end of their world, “I certainly hope not,” or else everything she’s worked so hard on will have led to nothing.

“The science is sound,” she admits as she starts to mix wet ingredients together. That’s what the recipe says to do, “It will work,” It has to and they have to stop any interference. Whether it’s the right thing or not is another debate.

---

ollie morales

even though he's expecting as much, it's still a relief to hear the words from his sister's mouth.

[break][break] it would be horrible if he'd met his sister after all this time, only to be crushed by a freaking meteor of all things.

[break][break] "good," he says with a firmness that can only be reminiscent of their father. his eyes wander the recipe screen and then back to his sister. well, she's good at this!

[break][break] his arm's fold over the table, curiosity shining through his eyes like a boltund about to receive a treat.

[break][break] "oh really? could you explain it to me?" he laughs a bit, scratching his cheek. "you've always been the smart one."

[break][break] it's something that, even though he'd struggled with jealousy in their younger years, he can't help but admire her for.

[attr="class","ooc"] Eva Morales [break]
the great hoenn bake-off

Eva’s happy to see that her confidence settled well with Ollie. Really, she had no choice but to believe it worked. Admitting otherwise would be blasphemy to her own scientific research. Just because it worked though, didn’t mean it was right.

A light laugh follows his request, “Oh yeah? You want to learn about it? I see you don’t read my publications then,” she glances up briefly from measuring ingredients, “It’s kinda hard to explain but . . . I can give it a go.”

She sets down the measuring cup and ingredient to think for a moment. How to explain this briefly . . . “Z-moves and mega evolution are small doses of active primal energy, the primal shards are dormant primal energy – but in a high concentration. They’re like a balloon ready to pop but they need something to pop them.”

“A small burst of energy from a z-move or mega evolution pops the balloon and releases the pent up energy,” she makes and exploding motion with her hands, “Different cut of shards have different amounts of energy and different z-moves have different frequencies of energy. There are thousands of combinations. Each has a different reaction. The cut of crystal seems to be the most important as far as location goes. We’ve been able to narrow down the exact cut of crystal needed to travel between our world and Sea!Hoenn,” Eva thinks back on what she just explained, making sure she got it right, “Is that what you’re asking?”

---

ollie morales