"grim, leave it alone!" she crows uselessly as the lycanroc clamps down hard on the jynx's skirt. saskia fears the worst; an ice-type move could do serious damage to maugrim's hide. but it seems too startled to do much more than swat angrily at the lockjawed dog. 

sasky picks up some rocks and throws them at maugrim. one bonks him on the head and she thinks it's more his wounded pride that makes him round on her than anything else. his eyes narrow, lips creeping up and over his teeth as he growls softly in warning. 

the jynx, at least, takes that as a sign to skedaddle. 

"maugrim, you will listen to me. now stay." he does not, in fact, listen to her. and he does not stay. he stalks forward, tail low, ears flat, eyes trained on her. 

she juts her chin out and scowls. his pokeball rests in her hand. if he lunges, she'll just throw him back inside. 

using psychic-type incense

☉

when the confuse ray hits, kirin does a bit of a victory trot in place. sasky laughs delightedly but claps her hands together to get kirin to focus. one good start doesn't mean their luck is going to hold. and if they're going to chip away at kolya's aggron, they're going to need to be able to withstand it. 

"use psyshield bash!" aggron is looking woozy and there's a chance it will be able to pull through, but sasky is banking on it not. 

psychic energy echoes from kirin's hooves as they pound against the ground, swathing her in a defensive energy. she tucks her head and rams into the aggron, taking the advantage as its own attack turns against it. 

Nikolaj Volosenkov

kirin used psyshield bash
kirin is swathed in a defensive energy

☉

it would have been smarter to keep kirin out, but they're far enough off the beaten path where she feels maugrim can't embarrass her. still, the fact that he'd taken off running as soon as she'd let him out of his ball had made her instantly think twice about the whole thing. 

but despite what Nikolaj Volosenkov thinks, he is not a lost cause. 

she tears after him and only manages to catch up because she finds him in a skirmish with an unfortunate victim.

using psychic-type incense

☉

well, she's certainly not going to try to show anything off with maugrim. all the rambunctious pup will do is piss her or dad off, and she's not really sure which would be worse. (kolya, definitely.)

the wyrdeer looks back at her trainer and stamps when kolya releases his aggron. she hasn't been on this field since she was a stantler, but the turf is still familiar. she'd trained hard those years at the academy; her evolution and lean muscles show as much. kolya's aggron is a frightful thing (not that that had stopped little sasky from trying to dress him up as a princess once) and both know better to underestimate them. 

it will be a tough battle, but "we've got this, kirin! give us some advantage."

she stands her ground, forelegs splayed, spine arcing down as her horns begin to glow. waves of dark energy ripple towards the aggron.  

Nikolaj Volosenkov

kirin used confuse ray

☉

eventually, she'll ask her mother about it. they'll talk about dad and they'll get through it like a family should. by the sound of it, at least what her granddad said, there's a strong chance camila knew about Nikolaj Volosenkov's involvement with rocket. it hadn't surprised sasky to know that much.

still, she'd spent that exceptionally cold winter day out in the woods for hours, her stantler by her side. she'd learned about the snow that day, how it can be so comforting and so terrifying - how it muffled her angry screams and her heartbroken sobs, how it swallowed up all of her confusions and spat her back out without remorse. 

grandad had to smother her with every blanket he had in the house that night to shake the cold from her bones. 

hot chocolate still tastes sweeter after that night. 

now is not the day, though. now is not 'eventually.' 

when the taxi touches down, she leaps from it with excitement and her half walk/half jog earns her a few curious looks. the ranger insignia on her jacket grants her some clemency and a couple of strangers neatly sidestep her as she passes. 

she actually doesn't spot her mother until she's descended upon her and a small squeak escapes her as she's bundled up. but the surprise gives way to an equally fierce embrace. tears spring up in her eyes as she claws herself closer, drinking in her familiar smell and warmth. 

"mamachka," she breathes.

they share a hug for far too long and not nearly long enough, only pulling apart because of a very sudden vibration on sasky's spine. she shivers away from it, confused, and then laughs when she sees what it is. 

"aw, awesome. that means our table's ready?"

Camila Volosenkova

☉

it's only a couple of days later, but they couldn't have come fast enough. she'd had to get officially settled with the oldale ranger outpost and had to work a few hours, but she's basically been counting them down until this moment. and she's sure mom has been doing the same. 

mauville isn't so far from oldale that she needs to call a taxi, but one definitely gets her faster there than kirin can. so she looks excitedly out the side of it, watching the trees roll by. and when they touch down, she lopes through mauville square, looking for the coffee shop they'd agreed on meeting at. 

Camila Volosenkova

☉

kirin is also too carefree to notice the man she nearly crashes into, but as soon as she's passed him and realizes there's someone nearby, she pauses. saskia is not prepared for the sudden stop and harumphs as she hits the wyrdeer's thick neck, teeth clacking. 

"wha - oh!" she recognizes that voice. 

suddenly giddy, she clicks her tongue and urges kirin back towards him. and it is greyson. that crop of stark black hair, bright eyes, all too familiar, has her scrambling off of kirin's back so she can launch herself at him to pull him into a big bear hug. 

"greyson! aw, i'm so happy to see you."

Greyson Connors

☉

saskia watches him intensely, looking for any sign of a scowl, any glimmer of faked enthusiasm, only to (of course) find none whatsoever. she looks down from him and to the comfey that she'd poured her love (and her frustrations) into. 

she rearranges the two little sculptures on the table so they're looking at each other and, instead of going upstairs like he suggests, trots behind him and follows him out the door. 

kirin looks up from grazing on the grass, ears flicking. she stops and lounges up against the railing of the porch and sways on the balls of her feet. 

"i'm actually kinda like, energized. you know when you're so tired you're not tired? and 'sides, i wanna show you what i've learned! kirin wants to too!

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉

reports don't often come in at high alert to oldale. at least, that's not how it used to be. at least, that's what she's gathered after hanging out with some of the other rangers at her station (most of whom are old and call her 'honey' and 'kiddo,' which she hates). so when the call comes down from hq that there's an unusual energy spike so close to home, she's the first on her feet. 

and the rest of her station are just fine with that. 

the going is quick; the wind whips through her hair as kirin prances down the well-worn pathways surrounding oldale. they ride through nostalgic trails, cutting through the woods like she used to do when she was a kid. 

if only she thought to slow as they neared the terastal point. then maybe she wouldn't have nearly run over her superior who also answered the call. 

Greyson Connors

mission: a tera test

☉

and in that small way she confesses how much she's missed him. those little strings she's tried to pull between her father and her grandfather, though neither party is aware of it. he'd looked at her oddly, sure and she'd had to do plenty of coaxing and favors to get her grandfather to agree to it.

her shoulders square, chest swelling with pride (and ego) as he compliments her work. but then she deflates when he asks to see the comfey. it's not nearly as good. the only reason she hadn't done another one is because she ran out of time. 

still, she rummages around in her bag to find the less-than-adequate carving and hands it over to him. 

"did yours look like this when you first started?"

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉

she doesn't take the teasing any further. no sense beating a dead horse there and besides, coming home to the house like this, it helps ease the stress and anxieties of the last few months. part of her had been worried she'd come home and everything would feel different. her parents were overprotective like that, keeping the worst of it to themselves.

which reminds her of what she knows about her father. she regards him while his back his turned, and then less obviously when he pours a couple glasses of oran juice ("yes, please. same.") for the two of them.

hard to imagine those gentle hands doing deeds for rocket.

the question remains there in between the lines - why don't you want do to that? but she's traveled much more than her peers; she's gone on excursions to cities all over the place. oldale is sleepy, but it's charming in a way those other cities will never be. 

"we'll see how you feel after a few weeks. betcha you'll get sick of me." 

she brightens suddenly and hops off her kitchen chair to scurry back to her backpack. it's bulging, all of her belongings having been spread across two packs. so a few articles of clothes fall out when she zips it open. but what she's looking for is near the top anyway. 

she bounces back to the kitchen and holds out the wooden carving with its crumpled bow on top. "deda taught me woodcarving! not to brag, but i've gotten pretty good." her father's aggron is not perfectly replicated in the wood, but small details hint at her hours spent toiling on the gift. "mama's comfey was hard, but i think she'll like it."

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉

and there's her papa's skepticism. she bristles, ready to staunchly defend both maugrim and her own skills, but gives herself a hot minute to just stare annoyedly at the back of his head instead. she's just too happy to taint any part of her homecoming with a silly argument about her unruly puppy. 

"it's over," she repeats, albeit softer than him. she casts a wayward glance at his still-smoldering cigar. though the smell of it clinging to his clothes is nostalgic for her, she'll never stop giving him hell for smoking them.

"those are bad for you, y'know," she says teasingly, mimicking the million and one other times she's said so before. 

"man, it's going to be so nice. i'm so glad it worked out. honestly, the rangers seemed kinda glad i wanted to be stationed here in oldale. doesn't seem like they get a lot of recruits that wanna be in this sleepy little town." she smiles. 

"you sure it's okay i'm not out there roughing it on my own? living in a dumpy apartment and supporting myself like a strong, independent twenty-one year old?" she puffs out her chest and then breaks out in laughter.

Nikolaj Volosenkov

☉