between them and whoever thought to ask, suddenly being summoned by a beast had, in no uncertain terms, freaked kasper the hell out. were they like…about to die or something? admittedly, they had no idea what this was really meant for, and they didn’t know much about the routine of rocket grunts- a downside of joining mostly out of spite, they supposed.

they…try not to keep the beast- tempest- waiting, but it’s way too easy for them to lose track of time and by the time they give a glance to the clock they’re already five minutes behind schedule.

“ohshit.”

a total of five minutes after that, they’re charging through the doors of the training room with an audino half-clinging to their leg. they stop in their tracks just as quickly, try to look like they haven’t just ran the whole way there, and gather what’s left of their pride.

“sorry i’m late. I lost track of time and-” deciding that shutting the hell up is their best course of action, they stop rambling and focus on stretching out a hand for a handshake. “I’m kasper thaler. the one you asked for.”

and hopefully the only one.

Tempest Quinn

if it weren't for the fact that they were late, and this was still a rocket beast, kasper would have been less intimidated by the fact that he's apparently demolishing some fast food. like, absolutely fucking the fries up. there's also the fact that he doesn't look to happy about it, which kasper can only assume is because they're late.

the silence that falls almost reminds them of some fucked up version of a job interview, except they're sure they would be sweating bullets if it was possible. maybe even if it wasn't possible.

"yes, sir..?" they're so bad at this. they're just horrible at this. maybe if this rocket beast is nice, he'll kill them before the embarrassment from this whole thing has the chance to.

"not...reallyyy?" they start in response to his question, before their nerves kick in and they're adding on a last-second, twice-as-halfhearted as before "sir."

Tempest Quinn

okay. okay. they think they can handle dealing with the rules (if the sir one can really be called that), since the first one is kind of common sense. maybe not great for the easily distracted, but still common sense.

at the reason why they're here, they hesitate, just a little. it isn't that they don't want to, but for a split second they question temp's judgement. there's still a audino half-hanging off their leg that would cause a fight to try to pry away now, and they're pretty sure that alone doesn't seem dangerous mission material.

"testing me how?" as they ask it, they're leaning to try to shake the audino away, first by actually trying to shake him away and then trying to pry his paws away.

clingy.

Tempest Quinn

there's a part of kasper's brain that confirms that they're going to fucking die if this is an actual fight. it's replaced with relief, however brief, at the realization that it isn't an actual fight- and then they're back to being sure they're going to die, because they just have amaryllis, and the audino is not a fighter.

for their sake, they're quick to hide their grimace.

"i'm good at talking? or distractions, i guess?" they peel the clingy pink pokemon away and nod toward the eevee in a silent signal, even as he looks back at them in the pokemon version of betrayal.

"when i'm not like...nervous?" aka: when they're not staring down a superior in a criminal group. "you can go first, by the way."

they need to figure out how bad they're probably going to lose.

Tempest Quinn