my god, what were those?[break]
before rhugone could even question, her zombie had been polished off by one last almost reflexive bend of her wrist to her mouth. her alcohol tolerance was almost as insanely high as her strength levels and she found herself perking a brow at the seemingly fellow gymbros that piled into the bar with their ... friends? "esmee had told me something about this," she mentioned to cato - having pulled him along for the ride, naturally. at some points, rhugone simply brought her boss out and about as means of keeping an eye on him - thus an extension of her work. much like a babysitter would take kids to go grocery shopping since it was their job to keep an eye on them, so did rhugone. "she seemed particularly bothered that these pokemon had barged in on her ... date." this last word was said in a strained manner, unsure what she would call esmee's constant refusal of affection towards gaultier despite acting the complete opposite. [break]
"it shouldn't take long," she said with a paw of a hand on cato's head - patting him as if to calm him down should he be stressing about being out in public much longer. the two of them had come to just spend the holiday together and unwind, but rhugone was always on the clock as did show through her readiness to escort the double-eyepatched combees from the bar if need be. her previous successes in acting the role of a ranger would surely help her here, right?

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cato

rhugone's ears perked mayhaps due to the cold or mayhaps due to being called out in terms of her work. sure, she did keep up with his evaluations of all kinds, but she still found it a bit alarming that he was so bluntly honest. [break]
in a way, that was one of his best traits so she couldn't help but inwardly smile at the strange man.[break]
"it's ok." slowly, rhugone swallowed her boss whole -- by means of her coat, of course. she fit him in like a dog, making sure he had plenty of warmth to huddle into as she took it upon herself to double-barrel carry large lumps of snow for both of their snowboys. approaching the delphox, she plopped down a large orb made of snow and continued to carry around its trainer with her. her now free hand supported cato within her coat, looking down at him fractionally as best as she could. "you don't have to push yourself to bend to my whims, you know. you're my boss. any questions i have i largely keep to myself due to this." petting his head affectionately with her second hand now that she dropped it near her steelix, she tried to soothe the shaken soul. "from a companion standpoint, i also understand it's taxing on you. i thank you for your tales, but i don't want you to stress yourself out while sharing them." this was a genuine show of appreciation and care - something many of the velvet room members forgot to share amongst themselves (or was it just lorelei and roman)? even so, rhugone could see a strange experience in her periphery regarding the arguably most toxic couple of the organization.[break]
"i just feel as though knowing more about you fills the gaps in my own existence." maybe it didn't make sense, but rhugone meant what she said. her life felt empty - grasping for meaning where she can find it. she had more than enough pride in her abilities and self respect to keep herself from turning to degrading means of approaching her ambitions, but she really did have large holes in her mind and spirit that left her almost perpetually nonchalant. it seemed only cato could really bring her out of it consistently by making her constantly worry over him.[break]

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cato

things like ... this?[break]
rhugone's gaze was focused on their intertwined hands. despite roman's bitching in the background causing her ears to burn due to someone thinking and speaking ill of her, she wasn't quite the touch-starved one. if anything, she was a bit hesitant to let cato touch her so much. it wasn't disgust or fear, but just a gentle worry that he might not know what he was doing when he was using her for warmth or companionship. the two were still very much boss and employee but even that didn't bother her - she simply had no wish to grow any ulterior motives to the point of jeopardizing her work for cato by muddying it with growing feelings.[break]
regardless, she allowed him this moment and held his hand gently. this much would be fine, she argued with herself.[break]
this much wasn't crossing the line with him, right?[break]
"i don't remember anything about my family," the bodyguard responded in an equally dry manner. she didn't hate the topic, but she simply had nothing to offer. "all i remember is being told i was a big baby for my mother. nothing else." no disappointment or sadness came from rhugone as she reflected on this, only slight worry over her unknown mother who may have had complicated childbirth if she was truly as large as her caretakers had told her. she wasn't exactly an orphan, but she wasn't exactly raised by her biological parents or family. all she knew was a small 'town family' that had raised her in the outer portions of pewter city. some had ordained her a wolf child upon arrival but she had found her place working various apprenticeships that made use of her almost blank slate personality at an early age.[break]
"i like it better when you tell me more about yourself," she urged for him to continue doing so while she returned to helping her steelix form balls out of snow.

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cato

at this time, a 'cato, you're 40' would be said by any one of the velvet room members. not rhugone, however. instead, she offered a complacent nod of her head and a blank but positive expression. "if that's what you think would be best for the room," she endorsed out loud, figuring that's what he meant - making this an organization-wide event they could all partake in. rhugone had spotted the whispy blonde hairs of roman filtering into the scene and so she figured this must be what he meant - not a tradition between herself and cato alone. while she, herself, never had a childhood to even remember at all, she didn't bring it up. cato seemed to be the more hurt individual in their duo and so she figured not knowing was better than remembering painful sorrows.[break]
with her new steelix wiggling around in its long red stuffing sock costume, she looked upon it with a proud smile as it put another piece of snowboy together. "i think we can all come to appreciate the holidays better like this, myself. good idea," she praised cato with a slap of his back that seemed hostile to the unknowing passerby but was meant in a playful and appreciative manner. not knowing her own strength most of the time, rhugone felt it was best to leave the remainder of the snowboy to her pokemon as she focused on helping cato keep his composure despite seeming unsure of his own skills. "adorable," she started, looking upon the strange snowboy that was more ... angular than needed, "it seems you're doing better this time around. you paid attention to me showing you how to do this last time."

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cato

feeling cato's body heat wasn't something she oftentimes had the pleasure of experiencing. in fact, rhugone couldn't quite recall the last time cato willfully did so outside of applying balms and ointments to her scrapes, gashes, and bruises. it made her feel warm indeed, in more ways than one.[break]
with a hearty laugh, rhugone turned her head enough to look upon her boss with an affectionate gaze. this form of affection was respectable and yet admiring, soft but distant. "are you ready?" she asked, not moving from her kneeled down position as to not disturb the business mogul who leaned into her like a space heater. "you seem a little excited. am i wrong to say that?" it was good for cato to go outside. with all his work and his general distaste for being out and about, this seemed to be a healthy fascination on his end and rhugone was more than happy to indulge him while she continued to form pieces of snowboy in front of herself.[break]
unexpectedly, she had been given a compliment and this made her face flush gently. despite her large stature, she was a bit flustered by such. she wasn't really much of an arts and crafty type of person - much more prone to destroying things she touched - so this made her quite happy. "thank you to you and your froslass," she murmured to Fae Madden .[break]

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cato

it wasn't quite the best situation to be at a public event without the person who invited you. it seemed that cato still hadn't mate it to the snowboy building area, so rhugone found herself shit out of luck - in a thin jacket as if the cold didn't even seem to bother her. in fact, it didn't. rhugone simply started digging into the ice and padded the snow into her large paw-like hands.

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cato

what a merry fucking christmas. the steelix couldn't have been a more perfect mon to run into and rhugone actually smiled at the spectacle of the pokemon bending and twisting itself around various large rocks, crushing them as if they were nothing. it seemed she had caught it in its training arc, much like she perpetually was in, herself. "do not be afraid," rhugone said softly as she approached the larger-than-life pokemon, actually optimistic with its response that was an alarmed backing up which made sense but it didn't seem to want to flee, instead giving a familiar steelix glare and bowing its head as the two muscleheads starting crushing rocks at their respective speed, training together. once done, rhugone bowed before the large pokemon and it nodded head in return. it seemed to be a magical moment between the two on an equally magical day. with a reassuring vine whip holding the steelix in place, rhugone tapped a pokeball onto the large steel type's forehead - trying to claim it as her own.[break]

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@ catching!

perhaps it was a smarter idea to just be back at her place, sleeping to recover from the heavy workout she had undergone the day before. nonetheless, rhugone was out and about now - huge ditto in both arms as it happily went limp in its trainers arms. "stay alert," she warned - knowing all too well that wild pokemon would be out and about, prowling for their next victim. maybe a froslass would try to tempt her into its den before claiming her life or maybe a piloswine wouldn't be able to see past its bangs and end up barreling into her. either way, a proper challenge would help tone her muscles, right?

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@ sw