"okay, but did you try telling them how useless you are with the sword?" she teases with a wry grin. she's already tabbed off of the app and onto her gallery where she's sifting through dozens of selfies and pics of her pokemon. there are plenty of kirin, for sure. but there are also some really nice personal selfies she's taken. 

most of them are funny, with her tongue out or making some other silly face. and some are more serious. pics she'd taken when she felt cute as hell, but didn't have anywhere to put them. 

and then there's one her deda took when she lived there, pinkie to her lips and the rest of her lost in thought. he said she looked like kolya in that pic. that same serious furrow of their brows. 

soft green eyes flicker up at his gasp and she chuckles. 

"you think destiny wants to go on a date with you? that'd be pretty cool."

oh, that reminds her: "yes, of course i'm feeding her right! she just knows you'll give her sugar cubes if she looks at you doe-eyed for long enough." kirin snorts in disagreement and nibbles on sven's fingers. 

"what do you think destiny would look like? if she was a person? and where do you think she'd wanna go on a date?" minutely, as they chat, she pulls up possible photos and shows sven for his approval.

sven korolev

☉

"oh, AMIGO. like friend! right? it's paldean for friend?" her knowledge of the paldean language stops and ends there. the app finally downloads and she loads it up. sure enough, a cute little flamigo bounces onto the screen before being encircled by the amigo logo. (amilogo? says her brain.) 

she chuckles to herself and starts registering. it asks for a lot of info, but that's to be expected. she gets through the easy stuff - name, age, and star-signs, but when she swipes to the next page, she pauses. 

"oh, it's like a dating app too? do you have the date stuff turned on?" her finger hesitates over it, but she leaves 'seeking friends only' unchecked. why not? life's too short and a date could be fun!

"oh and i gotta pick out some pictures. what do you have for pictures? the sword one, of course?"

sven korolev

☉

the relief is palpable. she's watched her fair share of youtube videos and tiktoks about pup training, but everything she's tried hasn't helped. she knows she doesn't have a firm enough hand, but he's a scary dog. and it's a lot for her. 

she squirms a little bit at the honesty, a slight blush crawling to her cheeks, which is a weird feeling on her face because sasky doesn't get embarrassed. she hides it by bending over and sinking her face into sativa's back, pretending like she's smelling the sweet scent off the cat's back fur. 

sativa doesn't mind one bit and flops in her lap. 

but when sven stands, sativa hops down and starts pacing. she would help, but there isn't much to clean up. by the time he's done, she's stood, and she's smiling at his yawn. 

"okayyyyy, but don't complain tomorrow when your back hurts." she steps neatly around the cats as they twine around her legs. from beside the couch, saskia scoops up her backpack and heads to the bedroom. 

she pauses by the doorframe. how long has it been since they've done this? since they were kids? not as adults. her visits home were always brief vacations and she slept at home those times. 

"night, sven," she says lightly and ducks her head through the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

sven korolev

☉

"just a bunch of paintings," saskia says sadly. she was totally looking forward to a cool mummy or maybe some ancient slumbering pokemon. or some old pottery. something she could touch. but nope. just pictures and stuff.

memphis evren was certainly excited and that made her excited too, but on the whole, not the adventure saskia imagined in her head. (most of the time, they aren't.)

"yeah, that one! i kinda want to go now. maybe memphis might be working there. oh, and sven korolev and i are gonna hang out more too! he's glad i'm back and it's really nice. i knew i missed him, but like, didn't know i missed him that bad until we were playing video games and doing dumb things like we used to."

she orders hurriedly in between her monologuing and then takes a big gulp of water. 

"but i wanna know how you and papa have been since i've been gone."

Camila Volosenkova
sry the memphis thread this references is going a lil slow hehe

☉

"never apologize about being excited about things!" saskia crows with a big smile on her face. she slaps lotion hurriedly on herself, smearing it without really rubbing it in, and then hops behind mari. she'd said y-yeah to wanting lotion on her back, so saskia doesn't wait for the go ahead. 

just rubs her palms together and then starts at her shoulders. at least, with mari, she's a little bit more considerate and careful about making sure she's covered. her hands wander over every inch of skin that's exposed to the sun. 

the last thing she wants is to let her new friend down with a terrible sunburn later tonight. 

"ohhh, a camera sounds fun. and writing home? maybe i should do that! i mean, not to oldale. my deda lives in snowpoint still and gosh, i haven't talked to him since i moved back here. he'd love a letter. could i borrow some pen and paper? 

"oh, but we could swim too, but maybe we should wait for the sunscreen to dry."

marilee beaufort

☉

a big discovery? that she can get behind. 

"i can see it now in the papers! two unlikely friends uncover remains of long-lost queen, risen from the dead after performed satanic ritual." oleg beeps, but this time it's a low sequence of mysterious and horrifying sounds.

saskia chuckles and says, "thanks for the ambiance, o."

he continues to creak and hum as she creeps down the stairs. they reach the bottom and it's just an empty doorway. no ornate wood or stone or anything. nerves tingling, she pokes her head in through the door, using her phone as a flashlight, and frowns. 

"aw. just more pictures."

memphis evren

☉

oop, there's that defensiveness sneaking into his voice! she smirks, but looks up at him innocently. kolya probably doesn't think he's lonely, but the old man's a family man and what are friends, but part of your family? it makes sense in sasky's brain anyway. 

"quality over quantity," she repeats in a deep grumble and then laughs. 

her palate is certainly not up to snuff to her internet skills, but she's watched him cook food long enough to know just how he does it. all their recipes go back to her great-great-great-great grandma or something like that. and with all the cooking she's done lately with him, hmm - 

"did you put the baby pickles in yet?" she didn't think she saw him put them in the rassolnik while she was chatting away, but it's decidedly not as vinegary as she likes.

"anyway, we got a good game plan for you. but also, turn 'looking for friends only' on." 

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉

of course, it starts to smell absolutely amazing in the kitchen. it always does. and it always makes saskia snacky. so she finally hops off of the counter and darts around him while he works. her yanking open the fridge door makes some of the condiments inside rattle, but she ignores it, digging for something sweet. 

she comes back with a peach and scampers around the kitchen island, nose back down to her phone. 

"show off some of your carvings! and you're a ranger too, so put that. umm, hmm. and also how 'bout 'lonely grizzled old man seeking best friends. my super awesome daughter says i'm cool.' i think that'd get you lots of swipes."

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉

miss volosenkova is right. sasky shifts uncomfortably, but appreciates it more than he knows. she's still doubting herself, and kirin no doubt senses it, but at least she has her breathing under control now. and with the rest of her team, they'll be okay. 

she'll have time later to think about her mistakes on this mission. and then all she can do is learn from them. 

nibbling her lip, she looks over the expanse of burnt-up flora. the field doesn't look inviting in the least, but agreeing with leyon will make her seem vapid. she's saved though, because as she's deliberating on how to cast her vote, the ground in front of them almost opens up. 

steam and noxious fluid spews upward from holes in the ground. metallic tips of something dangerous twist upward. 

kirin turns in a circle and stamps the ground, urging them away and into the forest's fringes. 

"we'll just have to take our chances in the forest! i trust you," she says to both of her companions as she starts to flee. 

leyon cœur faelan foxgrove

reinforcing 21. setting us up for giant pkmn only a mega evo can deal with!

vmHway6C

☉

she really could just smother silly putty in all his cuteness. it's hard to pay attention to what sven is saying with the amorphous blob on his head being the dumb little baby that it is. she even takes a couple of pics for instagram while he talks. and one video. zoomed in on silly putty's weird pink mouth as it munches on the treat. 

she, herself, bites the bagel out of sven's hand and simpers at him. some of the cheese almost oozes off, but she's quick to catch it and palm the entire thing into her mouth in one bite. 

"wild is an understatement. but okay, yeah! he def doesn't respect me. like, at all. but his tail is so fluffy, sven, and i just want him to be a good pupper so he lets me pet him." because right now, he doesn't even let her do that. 

"but what does your sched look like? can i come see you play soon?"

sven korolev

☉

"yes, it is," she quips back without missing a beat. she smiles that lopsided smile of hers as he scrutinizes her and then she just shrugs, eyes sparkling. "it's all about being in the right place at the right time."

she'd had to be so sneaky because whenever they try to get a family picture together and he actually has to try to smile, he looks like he's trying not to fart. 

"say more about what you like to do! you have to put conversation starters. you and mama need more friends. but you especially, you old grump."

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉

how could she not know that she has an accent? it's so soft and it's like some of her letters run together, but in a nice, cozy sort of way. she doesn't know how to explain that, which she thinks about while she goes digging around in her bag for her sunscreen. 

"that sounds so cool. a fossil museum? do they have fossils from pokemon like anorith and lileep?" she knows a couple more fossils that have been found in hoenn, but she'd never much cared for her history classes...

saskia had applied sunscreen earlier, but looking at mari has made her think it might be a good idea to slap some more on. she squeezes the found bottle in her hand and slathers some on her face and her shoulders. then she quickly sheds her khaki uniform, kicking off her pants, and swipes some extra on the parts she'd sweated in. 

then she holds the bottle out to mari. "oh, if you need me to do your back, it's no prob. what did ya bring? i have towels we can lay out on, but i think there are some chairs the rangers brought too. i can steal some for us."

marilee beaufort

☉

as long as maugrim is there. well, there's no reason to scare away a potential date with her terrifying dog. maybe when she gets a better handle on him. until then, she'll bring him to her dates in his ball. but papa doesn't need to know that. 

"mhmm," she affirms with a nod. she scoots out of his way so he can get to the stovetop. now that she's cooled down a bit, soup doesn't sound so bad. 

"so can we talk about your terrrrrrible profile now?" she fishes her phone out and digs through her family photo folder. there are lots of dumb pictures she's taken of him (that he certainly doesn't know about...a lot of which are from when he's fallen asleep on the couch), but she finds her favorite and turns it towards him. 

she managed to catch it when he was looking at Camila Volosenkova when her back was turned, when he thought no one else was looking.

"use this pic. you actually look kinda friendly here."

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉