saskia holds no such reservations against letting her pokemon have little treats. even if she did, there's very little she could do to enforce it against the little gremlin oleg. she points her toes, stretching outward, trying to keep him occupied with yoga on the blanket so he doesn't scarf down all of robin's yummies. 

"no way," she says. they're both rangers. they saw the posters at their respective hqs. kolya had seen them too and - "my papa says it's propaganda. 'cause how the heck are they gonna enforce that on top of everything else, ya know?"

still, she sounds unsure. "anyway, there's no way i'd let 'em take my babies. you got a place to hide yours?"

robin coello

☉

oleg inches closer to the food spread with every downward dog. saskia is usually none the wiser, but she's hard focused on his antics right now. her brain would rather be attentive to anything but the uncomfortable conversation at hand right now. 

kolya told her not to tell anyone about the floorboards and the secret lock box under them, the place where they'll put all the balls if they do come knocking, but secrets are lonely things and loneliness is terrifying in the face of the unknown. 

"oldale hq is working on some drills, but like, what can we do if something like kyurem hits town, you know?"

robin coello

☉

she fidgets, hands in her lap, and nudges oleg with her foot. he realizes he's been had and flops onto his back with a soft whine. saskia resists the urge to give him a raspberry on his tummy; it's too sad to do such cheerful things.

"my papa says it reminds him of kanto. what rocket does to their civs there." her mouth squirrels.

"i think...i think we've done good. and i think the league's done a lot of good. the rangers especially. and i want to be part of that - that something good, even if i don't understand what's going on a lot of the time."

she reaches out and gently brushes her knuckles against the egg, offering a wan smile to her friend. 

"it'll hatch. c'mon, little guy, look at all the yummy treats your mom put out just for you."

robin coello

☉

"yeah, that's what's most important." it's hard not to get caught up in all the things that are wrong, but there are just so many things they've done that are good. like sasky and porter holmes helped that old lady with the good treats on her farm! and again in the ashes near fallarbor!

and life in oldale still goes on, even with the silent icelands so close. people are so, so, so resilient, and wherever there are people, there's hope. 

her small smile widens into her signature full-blown grin and she resists the urge to crack the whole egg open herself to help the little baby out. oleg, who has the same exact brain as saskia, but minus the self-restraint, comes in hot with an attempted karate kick, but saskia scoops him out of the air before he can get close.

"oh, no, you don't," she says, despite his wriggling. 

"name, name, name." uh, uh. gods, the last time she named one of her mons, it pissed Greyson Connors off and made her depressed for a whole hour afterwards. 

but, naturally, that doesn't hold her back from blurting the first thing that comes to mind: "BOB ROSS?"

robin coello

☉

unlike Greyson Connors, saskia is overjoyed that she matters so much to someone that they would name one of their pokemon after her. she resists the urge to squeal with joy, kind of sorting through the complicated emotions of robin instantly rejecting what was an incredible suggestion and to the way her heart feels so full at the follow-up. 

"or, o-m-g, if it's a boy, maybe oskar? viktor? if i was a boy, i'd like those names. oh, or maybe even sasha. sasha is such a pretty boy's name, don't you think?"

more fissures appear on the surface of the egg. oleg beeps a welcoming tune for the new baby. 

and saskia says, "or maybe oleg 2.0?"

robin coello

☉