He looked way too thrilled with her admittance of defeat. Cal had ignored the prickle of self-consciousness that had crept under her skin as he’d watched her try and fail. That sense only worsener when she actually relented to his offer.[break][break]

With a baleful look, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her up. At least the corviknight was sturdy. At his suggestion, she scoffed. “You wish.”[break][break]

The corviknight bolted upward, and even though Calla was sort of expecting as much, she wasn’t fully prepared for it, either. It sent a screech hurtling from her lungs and without thinking, she latched onto the stranger. Fingers balled into the fabric at the front of his jacket and her face planted itself squarely between his shoulder blades.[break][break]

As her stomach did flips over itself, it sunk in how she’d reacted. Careful not to look down, she peeled away just enough to glare at the back of his pretty blond head. “I’m fine, though you could’ve been more gentle about it.”[break][break]

She certainly wasn’t letting go though, was she?[break][break]

“Just get the nest already, so you can put me back down!”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Liam Cassius m: cuckoo in the nest [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

Calla’s expression immediately soured into one of distaste.[break][break]

“I wasn’t aware I had one of those.” Or needed one. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, whirling back toward her challenge. Only to shoot a snooty little glare back at him, face reddening further at the wink.[break][break]

Oh, she did not want to climb up on that corviknight (no offense to the Pokémon itself, of course. This was all to do with the rider.)[break][break]

“I think I’ll carry on as I was, thanks.” The sharp glint in her eyes betrayed the fact that she didn’t actually feel all too grateful for the offer.[break][break]

“As you were, Turnip.” The bulbasaur snapped into action, vines shooting up from the bulb on his back toward the nest. To no success.[break][break]

He was young, so while the effort was good, said vines could only reach so far. Just enough to tap the nest and rock it, rather than dislodge it. The avian’s inside tittered irritably—a warning.[break][break]

A low, whining groan rumbled in the back of Calla’s throat, and her hands balled into little fists at her sides. Reluctantly, she turned back to him with a barely muttered, “Fine.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Liam Cassius m: cuckoo in the nest [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

The dismissal causes her to look up again, shooting him a look. Lips set in a thin line. “That doesn’t mean you should,” she tuts, eyes rolling a bit at the pride he speaks with. It’s not really all that pointed, though. Not in the way she’d be with most others. More hennish than anything else.[break][break]

Pausing in her arrangement, she leans a hair closer. “You’ve got eyebags.” Bit of an exaggeration, but hey, she can tease too.[break][break]

“Yeah, assistant,” she points out with another dry huff of laughter, glance finding his. It’s not a glamorous position, she knows that. And she’s pretty sure most of the attendees at this charity event won’t find much favor in the rank, either.[break][break]

Still, she can’t help but loosen up just a little when Uriah laughs, rocking to the side with the bump from his shoulder.[break][break]

“Am I that obvious?” Her face scrunches in a conspicuous wince.

[attr="class","ooc"]URIAH BLACK [break]
mission![break]
valor: helping hand[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

Cal’s got about eight more tasks she needs to tick off of her mental to-do list before she can even think about taking a breath. The league offices behind her as she trots down the street, cartons of individual coffee orders in hand. It’s all a bit annoying really. Sure, she’s URIAH BLACK ’s assistant, and it makes sense that she should drop off a file for him here. But just because she’s the assistant doesn’t mean she should be relegated to coffee mule just because the shop is on the way back.[break][break]

Picking up an order for her boss is one thing, but the rest of the office staff catching wind of it and dropping orders on her plate is another entirely. So it doesn’t help that she’s already stewing internally when she sees the dark-haired man, and misjudges his distance from her. When she realizes that he’s not noticed her and isn’t drifting away from course, she tries to twist away from the thump of his shoulder. It’s too late.[break][break]

“Shit is right,” she grouses back at him, head whipping around to glare at the stranger. There’s a terseness in her voice that’s likely unexpected from her when she cuts such a soft, small figure. But Calla has never been the sweet and mild sort, no matter her looks. The teal shade of her eyes sharpens as they fix on him. Not quite so lenient despite the fact that he’s stuck around rather than run off before she could gripe at him.[break][break]

“I should hope you’re sorry. These are for at least a third of my office’s staff.”[break][break]

Calla, staring down at herself, huffs loudly. “Just my luck. My dress..” The pale aqua of her skin is now coated in mocha brown that wicks down dainty legs and spatters on her prim little flats. All around her, cups lay in varying states of emptiness like a sad, sad starbucks battlefield on the losing side. “I guess it’s better we’re outside.”

[break][break]

+ paxton concordas [break][break]


[break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Was he laughing?[break][break]

The aquamarine of her eyes was practically obscured by how much they narrowed at him as Calla fixed him with a petulant glare. Dissatisfaction became more and more obvious as he drifted lower.[break][break]

“Who are you to question what I said?” Hands on her hips, she tilted closer in defiance as her chin tipped upward. Maybe she was a bit overconfident, but the smug-faced interloper didn’t need to know that.[break][break]

“Get your eyes checked, then.”[break][break]

Red tinted the apples of her cheeks, harsh against pale skin. It was a stubborn blush, something she was annoyingly prone to in moments of frustration. And certainly not the cutesy embarrassed sort of coloration due to slick looks of the crooked hitch of his smile.[break][break]

With a puffed breath, she spun back around to direct her bulbasaur back into action. Only sparing him a frown tossed over her shoulder. “What do you mean ‘lift me up?’”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Liam Cassius m: cuckoo in the nest [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

“Seems like poor planning, then.” She shrugs, and maybe it’s a bit too blunt of a critique for someone of her ranking, but it doesn’t change her opinion.[break][break]

Even if she herself is an early riser and would be up, regardless. “Did you get enough rest?” she asks with as much neutrality as Cal can muster, not looking at him as she starts trying to arrange the pastries with a spatula she’s brought along. Maybe she could make a shape?[break][break]

Uriah’s addition stills the fretting of her hands, though.[break][break]

Her eyebrows lift, and despite her attempts to remain stoic, Calla twists to look at him with surprise bright in her eyes. Still, she tries to play at impassivity, though the success of it might be suspect. “And why would I do that?” she muses, unable to fully curb the smile that’s begun to tug at her mouth.

[attr="class","ooc"]URIAH BLACK [break]
mission![break]
valor: helping hand[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

She definitely doesn’t expect the machamp to do any arranging, so when it gives her the multi-thumbs up, she returns it with two of her own.[break][break]

A single note of laughter slips free as her chin tips up. “Good to know. I’ll keep that in mind if I’m looking for more gold stars.”

Calla doesn’t slip into the provided chair just yet in favor of staring down at the containers with a small, focused frown. “Maybe a bit of both?” she suggests, pale eyes flitting up to his for a moment.[break][break]

Technical work is where she thrives. Aesthetic, however, is not her strong suit. But it’s just some pastries, so how disastrous could it be, really? “When’s this supposed to really get busy?”[break][break]

She works at prying the lids off one by one as she asks.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]URIAH BLACK [break]
mission![break]
valor: helping hand[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

Her nose wrinkles, brows pinching together as she peeks around the stacked containers. “What? Of course I am.” She is almost always prepared. She wouldn’t get anywhere otherwise.[break][break]

Calla allows the machamp to take the tupperwares off of her hands, and she smooths the wrinkles in her dress as she speaks rather primly. “Thank you, Chad.”[break][break]

Then her gaze slides over to Uriah with a slight sigh. She doesn’t even bother making a show of checking the calendar on her phone. “I know I am.” There are traces of a smile somewhere at the corners of her mouth.[break][break]

“I hadn’t, but I guess I can rearrange.” Her words are laced in sarcastic drawl. As if she actually has anything else to do today.

[attr="class","ooc"]URIAH BLACK [break]
mission![break]
valor: helping hand[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

Of course she expected him to be fussy–she knows her brother better than she knows anyone. So she was plenty prepared for this. That was the important motto she lived by: be prepared for anything and everything. That way it was more difficult to be let down. Kinda depressing if she thought about it for too long, but when it came to Kier at least, her ability to wiggle her way back into his good graces with tried and true methods was a comfort.[break][break]

Even if everything else was uncertain, she could count on Kieran’s positivity. Even if she herself was far more pessimistic.[break][break]

“Nope, you’ve had your extras. I’ve been up for two hours already.” Snagging a pillow from under his head when he sat up, she whacked Kieran lightly on the arm with it. Then again on the top of his head, making static cling to his hair. “That won’t work. If we say noon, then noon will turn into one…and one will turn into three, and then three will turn into ‘let’s tackle it after dinner,’ and we both know if it comes to that, it’s a lost cause. So, up!”[break][break]

Calla made for the door again, the quilt still held for ransom under her arm. The edge dragged on the floor given that it was a bit too much heavy blanket for her shorter stature. She looked back over her shoulder. “Plus if you don’t get up now, the breakfast I made will get cold and go to waste.” She pulled the door open so that the smell could waft in stronger. “Don’t waste the pancakes.”[break][break]

Tried and true methods, yada yada.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kieran Roth m: spring cleaning [break]





[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]

This wasn’t asked of her, per se, but Call just has a gut feeling. It’s not exactly Uriah’s fault that he’s been so busy as of late, and she knows he is, because she helps keep his schedule organized. If it’s presumptuous on her part to have a small-scale, one person baking competition in her home, she’ll deal with the consequence later.[break][break]

She might rib him, though, if he expects her to buy baked goods elsewhere to sell. No, no. She’s already a step ahead. And if he doesn’t end up needing the neatly stacked assortment of tupperwares that she spent her Friday preparing, it’s fine. Her brother will empty them out with impressive speed if they sit at home.[break][break]

The text comes in and she sighs as she stares down at her phone. Then taps out a quick response:[break][break]

Got it. Make sure your head’s screwed on, don’t want to forget that too.[break][break]

Maybe a bit too informal with her boss? Maybe. Even if it’s more of a playful chide than something genuinely blunt, and she watches the ‘delivered’ alert come through with the ghost of a smile. But it’s too late now, the message has been sent and she’s already up and gathering up her things so that she can swoop in and save the day.[break][break]

“You lucked out–I was prepared for this,” she announces herself simply, though she’s a bit difficult to see over the stack of containers she’s carrying.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]URIAH BLACK [break]
mission![break]
valor: helping hand[break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

She isn’t getting anywhere with this. Her foot taps against the sidewalk cement impatiently as she tries to think through what to do. Arms folding, Calla stares up at the nest and the two swellow settled comfortably.[break][break]

There’s a nudge at her ankle, and she notices that her bulbasaur had followed behind her. “Turnip, do you think you could use vine whip to pull the nest down?” Gently, she supposed, though she doesn’t feel particularly benevolent to the birds disrupting her work.[break][break]

Still, that is their house.[break][break]

Before the bulbasaur can actually do anything, though, a shadow swoops low and she has to squint against the sunlight to see the approaching corviknight. And then, there’s the figure of someone riding astride its back. Her head tilts, pale eyes narrowing.[break][break]

“You think this is a spectator show?” she calls up skeptically when the rider and his avian don’t just carry on their flight. Instead he calls down. “What? No. Kinda in the middle of something here.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Liam Cassius m: cuckoo in the nest [break]


[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-bulbasaur"]

Calla yawned as pulled herself free from her nest of blankets and pillows. Gray light filtered through the blinds and painted stripes across her room. The clock on her nightstand read 7am. Stretching her arms up, her head rolled side to side in her attempt to stretch the drowsiness out of her limbs. Then her vulpix got scratches behind her ears before she set into her morning routine.[break][break]



She often spent her mornings soaking up the quiet. The only noises were those of her pattering around the apartment space, and the early sounds of the city waking up outside the windows. Only, as she sipped at her coffee, she recalled that she had a mission for this particular Saturday. Notably because she’d discovered that whenever she attempted to find stuff in their closets, everything was piled up.[break][break]



That meant there was a dire need to clear out some space. And given that she was only one half of the clutter, she wasn’t about to tackle the organization product alone.[break][break]



“Alllllllllright!” Calla announced herself as she marched herself into Kieran’s room. “Time to get up, Kier. It’s cleaning day.” Wandering to the window, she pulled open the curtains to let the morning light stream in. Then, her fingers curled around the edge of his quilt, in an attempt to yank it away. “I let you sleep in long enough.”[break][break]



At least, to Calla, 9am was long enough. It was, like…a whole extra two hours.


[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Kieran Roth m: spring cleaning [break]





[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-ditto"]