He turned back to listen to Alex, accidentally releasing a branch he’d been holding that snapped and whacked against the back of his head with a whipping sound. “Owch,” he said, rubbing at the stinging line and feeling more embarrassed than anything else.
[break][break]
“No,” he said, trying to shrug it off, “I didn’t notice anything. Weird that they’d be so aggressive and then just-- vanish.” He continued to press on, clearing them a path through the undergrowth and branches, which was very silly considering he was the smaller of the two, but hey, here he was, continuing to be a nice guy.
[break][break]
What a doormat.
[break][break]
He had pushed a little further on ahead, leaving Alex to ruminate on the nature of bees behind him, when he turned and ran, face first, into the heavy comb of the lower part of a Vespiquen. He winced, the comb crushing stickily beneath his forehead, and stepped back, shaking his head to clear his eyes. Honey dripped down the line of his cheek.
[break][break]
He hadn’t heard her because she wasn’t flying. She was sitting-- perched on a branch with her comb-like dress pushed forward, like a lady in a ballgown with her knees together. She cocked her head and looked at Memo with a discerning, judgemental gaze, as though silently reprimanding him for his foolishness. He opened his mouth to speak and she placed one golden, hooked claw in front of her matching golden mandibles.
[break][break]
Silence.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Alexei Ivanov [break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon rapidash-galar"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon togekiss"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon numel"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon skarmory"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon walrein"]

“Yeah, it’s weird,” Memo agrees, helping the startled hiker to his feet. He wants to ask the guy if he’s sure it was an Absol but it feels improper to grill a victim of a traumatic event, so he leaves it at the acknowledgement that it sure is strange, huh.

He hefts the guy up, wedging himself under his arm to help him walk; the hiker has a limp on the scratched up leg but nothing falls out or off of him, so Memo will take that as a victory. “If we can get you out of the woods, emergency services can pick you up,” he tells the guy, hoping his frankness is comforting, as they start hop-limp-stepping in the direction indicated by Tam-- the exit to Petalburg proper.

They make it about ten feet before there’s a horrible yowl, like tearing flesh and nails on a chalkboard and two cats staring at each other from opposite sides of a window. The hiker makes a whimpering noise and stops moving. “No, we have to keep going,” Memo says, grunting under the weight of the much heavier man.

There’s the snap-crackle of branches breaking around them in the woods, and a low, stomach-curdling growl.

Tam Fawley

☉

Andrea made quick work of coating the room in suds, turning the apartment into a veritable car wash-- if the car wash cleaned the inside of the car and the car was also an apartment. Memo blinked spots out of his eyes. The stress was making him delirious.

“Great idea,” he said, voice a little weak but still a hundred percent behind his friend. “Cora, you know what to do.”

The Stoutland rrruffed from where she was minding the (now snoozing) children and began speeding around the room, sopping the suds up and spreading the soap around at the same time. Memo grabbed a sponge and began tackling the dishes, nervously checking his watch at the same time.

It wasn’t perfect, of course-- the walls still had a slightly rainbow bubble sheen and the floors were the kind of sticky that comes from cleaning ingredients. But it was better than having ketchup and cheese stains everywhere.

As they were wrapping up, there was a knock at the door, and the sound of the key turning in the lock. Guillermo froze, mid-reach, placing a cup in the cabinet--

--when the regular nanny walked in.

“Oh, wow,” she cooed, not bothering to look up from her phone, “place looks great.” She kicked her shoes off and strode to the couch, plopping down next to the children and casting something from her phone to the TV.

“Thanks for covering meeeee, you can go,” she said, waving them away with an arm over her head.

Memo was too tired to stay and argue, so he bundled up Cora and Andrea and they all made it out into the hallway, shutting the door behind them, before he exhaled a loud sigh and leaned forward on his knees.

“Holy shit,” he said, “glad that’s over.”

---

mission: babysitting duty

Andrea Vaneau

☉

Annalise, to her credit, doesn’t visibly appear to have the wind knocked from her sails by the proverbial Snorlax in the room. Memo does think, however, it’s a shame they can’t weaponize the death glare she gives the slumbering giant, because that would’ve taken care of all their problems, right then and there. Hell, Dahlia would have flown down on her golden cloud, or her warp star, whatever the fuck the commissioner zoomer around on, and procured it for the government. Bye-bye meteor.

He snickers, and masks it with a yawn. Okay, maybe he’s a little slap happy. But pulling so many strings in so little time is bound to wind anyone a little tight.

“Sorry, not laughing at you,” he says, “just the… situation.” He makes a noncommittal fluttery hand gesture towards their current problem.

“The ice idea is promising, but I’m not sure we have enough power to physically move this behemoth. Getting it up and going under its own power seems like the best bet.” He scrubs his hand over his chin, considering. “Good thinking. My team can wake him up and-- get him well pissed off, to boot-- and then once he’s out of the way, your Altaria can sing him to sleep.”

He flashes her a thumbs up.

“Just tell her to sing her heart out, so I don’t get squashed, please.”

Low points on the creative scale but definitely up there for speed of resolution.

annalise henderson

☉

Given the fact that their government was, at this very moment, planning a way to warp an apocalypse-causing meteor to an alternate, subaqueous world, did aliens really seem like much of a stretch?
[break][break]
I have no idea why Hoenn is a magnet for these supernatural happenings, however I can advise you to always be ready, be quick on your feet, and always have a first-aid kit on your person.
[break][break]
His gaze flits up to see the massive Salamence nosing its way into the gathering of yellow Mareep. The sheep, for their credit (or… discredit?) pay little mind to the newcomer and simply expand around it like a white blood cell accepting an antigen. He knows, from firsthand experience, that herd-raised Pokemon tend to be… not ‘dumb’ exactly, just less… prepared? Jaded?
[break][break]
They made better targets, anyhow.
[break][break]
His attention draws back to the food. “Uhhh, steak and cheese and veggie,” he recites, reading his handwriting off the paper-wrapped packages and only having to squint a little. He looks up, then, face a placid smile as he takes in Aries for the first time. Nice hair, he thinks. “I didn’t know how long we’d be out here, so I prepared.”
[break][break]
Night was falling faster now, the light leeching down towards the horizon, clusters of pearl-like stars peppering the sky.
[break][break]
“The farmers told me they tried to stay up and witness it but something always stopped them,” Memo said, leaning back in the grass. “I imagine ‘something’ was just them falling asleep, but I could be wrong.”
[break][break]
He could see Atalys’ pained expression from where she was lumped in with the other Mareep, who baa’d and bumped against her as they grazed. Not the most scintillating of company, he imagined.
[break][break]
He gave her a little wave, and got a death-glare in response.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] @aries [break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon rapidash-galar"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon linoone-galar shiny"] [attr="class","pokesprite pokemon banette"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon mareep"]

Did part of him feel bad for dragging Alexei all the way out here, away from his city and his work, just for the satisfaction of his company? Eh, a bit. But watching him in the dappled sunlight that slanted through the forest canopy, lilac eyes under slightly furrowed brows as he gazed around, made his heart squeeze and was more than worth it.
[break][break]
Oh, god, he was in deep. He exhaled. Keep your head in the game, Marceliño.
[break][break]
“Yeah, and they’re unnaturally aggressive,” Memo said, pressing through the undergrowth and ducking under a branch. “I read that usually swarming bees looking for a new hive aren’t as stingy as bees defending their old hive.”
[break][break]
He tilted his head, listening for any sounds of ominous buzzing-- but the woods were quiet with birdsong.
[break][break]
“Also, I always thought their default setting was stun and deter, not ‘set phasers to kill’, you know.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Alexei Ivanov [break]


[attr="class","pokesprite pokemon rapidash-galar"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon togekiss"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon numel"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon skarmory"][attr="class","pokesprite pokemon walrein"]