"wahhhh?" she manages, blinking owlishly. a stray tear trickles out from the corner of her eye, but that's just because of the soot. she wipes at it annoyedly and struggles to sort out an emotion on her face. 

it's kind of like hearing that ryan reynolds died except maybe it's a little less sad. 

"yeah. i mean, i guess i only know 'cause of my papa, but he got eaten by a volcano or something. and that's what made all this soot even worse." she butts him on the shoulder, ignoring the aching exhaustion and the heat. "that's why i'm happy doing clean-up, you know? nooo pressure."

porter holmes

☉

unlike Greyson Connors, saskia is overjoyed that she matters so much to someone that they would name one of their pokemon after her. she resists the urge to squeal with joy, kind of sorting through the complicated emotions of robin instantly rejecting what was an incredible suggestion and to the way her heart feels so full at the follow-up. 

"or, o-m-g, if it's a boy, maybe oskar? viktor? if i was a boy, i'd like those names. oh, or maybe even sasha. sasha is such a pretty boy's name, don't you think?"

more fissures appear on the surface of the egg. oleg beeps a welcoming tune for the new baby. 

and saskia says, "or maybe oleg 2.0?"

robin coello

☉

"yeah, that's what's most important." it's hard not to get caught up in all the things that are wrong, but there are just so many things they've done that are good. like sasky and porter holmes helped that old lady with the good treats on her farm! and again in the ashes near fallarbor!

and life in oldale still goes on, even with the silent icelands so close. people are so, so, so resilient, and wherever there are people, there's hope. 

her small smile widens into her signature full-blown grin and she resists the urge to crack the whole egg open herself to help the little baby out. oleg, who has the same exact brain as saskia, but minus the self-restraint, comes in hot with an attempted karate kick, but saskia scoops him out of the air before he can get close.

"oh, no, you don't," she says, despite his wriggling. 

"name, name, name." uh, uh. gods, the last time she named one of her mons, it pissed Greyson Connors off and made her depressed for a whole hour afterwards. 

but, naturally, that doesn't hold her back from blurting the first thing that comes to mind: "BOB ROSS?"

robin coello

☉

she fidgets, hands in her lap, and nudges oleg with her foot. he realizes he's been had and flops onto his back with a soft whine. saskia resists the urge to give him a raspberry on his tummy; it's too sad to do such cheerful things.

"my papa says it reminds him of kanto. what rocket does to their civs there." her mouth squirrels.

"i think...i think we've done good. and i think the league's done a lot of good. the rangers especially. and i want to be part of that - that something good, even if i don't understand what's going on a lot of the time."

she reaches out and gently brushes her knuckles against the egg, offering a wan smile to her friend. 

"it'll hatch. c'mon, little guy, look at all the yummy treats your mom put out just for you."

robin coello

☉

she cowers - actually cowers, smile falling from her face. greyson also looks dejected, ear floof drooping, realizing his identity is about to be stolen from him. saskia pats his arm and doesn't really know what to say, but her sadness turns to confusion when he asks her that.

he's a bigshot now. he has a job she can't imagine doing. people depend on him. and here she is, wasting her time trying to get him to hang out with her and train her dog, like he said he would months ago.

of course he doesn't remember. 

"maugrim," she says weakly, "my lycanroc? um, it's okay, grey. nevermind, actually. i know you're super busy and it was dumb anyway and like, i should have him under control anyway, so let me just - i don't know, buy you ice cream for coming all the way out here and we can hang out some other time?"

Greyson Connors

☉

kolya tells saskia that sometimes she is not very attentive and does not listen to others' needs. he should be proud of her now because when she realized she was going to get paired with porter, she remembered how much he seemed to hate oleg's whole, like, existence, so she told the little alien he's too much, man and pulled him back into his ball.

so it's kirin that joins her today, which is helpful anyway because the rangers have some equipment on site to help haul away all of this stinky freaking soot.

she doesn't mind the work, really. there aren't a whole lot of things she minds.  but it's exhausting and it's hard to breathe, even with the masks on, and it's hot and her eyes won't stop stinging. 

"no," she says, sidling a little closer because apparently she can mumble sometimes and it's hard to hear behind the protective garb over her face. "i was napping actually. crazy to think. napping while your champion dies in a volcano.

"did you ever meet him? kyle?"

porter holmes

☉

"sighhhh," she drawls aloud and tugs open one of the zippered pockets on her jacket to tuck the crystal in anyway. then she thinks better of it and holds it out for him. "i've been kinda collecting them when i find them, but you can have this one! maybe you'll learn something about it."

oleg dusts himself off and totters back to where the two are standing, eyeing the crystal enviously. 

"no, oleg. last time i let you hold one, you ate it."

when haoyu says he should give them a reward, her cheeks turn rosy and she waves her hands in front of her. "no, no. this is what it means to be a ranger! although, maybe you could put on your report that we did a good job..."

@haoyu

☉

oleg inches closer to the food spread with every downward dog. saskia is usually none the wiser, but she's hard focused on his antics right now. her brain would rather be attentive to anything but the uncomfortable conversation at hand right now. 

kolya told her not to tell anyone about the floorboards and the secret lock box under them, the place where they'll put all the balls if they do come knocking, but secrets are lonely things and loneliness is terrifying in the face of the unknown. 

"oldale hq is working on some drills, but like, what can we do if something like kyurem hits town, you know?"

robin coello

☉

oleg is blasted by the hurricane too and his little body goes tumbling over itself, but cramorant and haoyu are in the clear. he assumes it comes from the carnivine. it does make him fire off another frustrated psybeam at the creature, pummeling it into submission with cramorant's help.

saskia holds up the glowing green crystal with a big grin on her face, but the energy wanes as soon as she does. all the debris swirling around them crashes to the ground and the carnivine, sensing its advantage gone, slinks away back into the undergrowth.

"aw, i thought maybe i got it in time. these things are all over, but they always turn gray after a bit."

@haoyu

☉

"greyson, meet greyson!" she says enthusiastically, completely missing his shock, horror, and disappointment. delphox!greyson does a little yip and turns his head to human!greyson, tongue poking out of his mouth. 

"awww, look, he's blepping. isn't he just perfect? but anyway, you said you would help me with maugrim today!"

Greyson Connors

☉

saskia holds no such reservations against letting her pokemon have little treats. even if she did, there's very little she could do to enforce it against the little gremlin oleg. she points her toes, stretching outward, trying to keep him occupied with yoga on the blanket so he doesn't scarf down all of robin's yummies. 

"no way," she says. they're both rangers. they saw the posters at their respective hqs. kolya had seen them too and - "my papa says it's propaganda. 'cause how the heck are they gonna enforce that on top of everything else, ya know?"

still, she sounds unsure. "anyway, there's no way i'd let 'em take my babies. you got a place to hide yours?"

robin coello

☉