#what if we were professors from neighboring regions... and we kissed... and we were both women

[magnetic-dogz]

I like thinking about Professor Maple (regional professor for my fan region, New Galar) and Professor Juniper being uh. Yknow

[mattzerella-sticks]

So I had an idea for a DeanCas Pokemon AU that I never worked on because it was just too grand of a project, but after commissioning @gabester-sketch to draw this picture of Dean and a Sylveon (here) I’m thinking, even if I never get around to writing it, I still think it was great and am gonna share it.

So, basically, it would have been an AU set in the Kalos region (my favorite region), with Dean and Sam having grown up in Vaniville Town. When they were young, the town was beset by criminals and set aflame, the boys losing their mother in the fire. While Dean got Sam to safety in their neighbor Bobby’s arms, he then got seperated and ended up losing consciousness under a tree. He was mostly unharmed save for twin scars on his palms in the shape of ‘x’s (which he will hide with gloves), but because of the fire he ended up being traumatized of both fire and Pokemon. Fast forward many years, they have been raised by Bobby because, after the fire, John decided to recommit to being a Pokemon trainer and find the villains who set the fire. Sam wants to set out on his own journey, but has been held back by Dean’s worry longer than he should have - meaning all of his friends got to leave town when they were ten while Sam’s been there an extra 6+ years. Until one day, Sam leaves, telling Dean that he is going to start his journey and he hopes he forgives him.

Dean, naturally, chases after Sam - thinking he can catch him before he gets far.

 Yet Dean, being Dean, gets lost quite easily in the surrounding grass and forest and his anxieties start rising. He gets cornered by some wild Pokemon and doesn’t know what to do, when suddenly an Espurr appears and battles away the Pokemon. A trainer arrives, too, with mussed dark hair and blue eyes hidden behind wide-rimmed frames, and he’s dressed dishevedly. He introduces himself as Cas and asks why Dean didn’t send out his own Pokemon. Dean says that he doesn’t have any. This begins a conversation that Dean quickly walks away from, stubborn, claiming that he doesn’t need any Pokemon.

He’s lost again, and mad that he didn’t ask Cas for directions. He’s sitting by a lake when he feels something brush up against his side, and it’s a little Eevee. Dean tries to make her go away, but she won’t, instead nestling into his lap. At first he’s so panicked, but the more Eevee cuddles and uses Baby-Doll Eyes at him, and as he pets her, Dean relaxes. Until some Team Flame members burst in, saying that they’re here for the Eevee. Dean doesn’t respond well and say that it’s not their Eevee. They battle, with Dean holding his own, but when it looks like they’re gonna be overpowered, Dean runs away with the Eevee and stumbles on Cas again, and together they send Team Flame running. Dean thanks Cas, while Cas observes that he’s seemed to have gotten himself a Pokemon. Gives Dean a Pokeball to catch the Eevee with. Together, they make it to the next town where Dean learns Sam’s already left for Lumiose. “Good thing you have a Pokemon,” Cas comments, “you’re gonna need her if you want to go to Lumiose.” Now Dean has been forced on his own Pokemon journey.

Along the way Dean will find his party growing, and he’ll be coming out of his shell with the more people he met. The Pokemon professor I had in mind was Chuck when I created this but I have changed my mind and it’s Missouri, with Charlie and Kevin as her assistants. Lumiouse City gym leader was Ash, little sister Jo and mom Ellen would also be introduced. The third gym leader would be Claire, who we also find out is Cas’s niece after Dean meets with Cas’s twin brother Jimmy - thinking he’s Cas. And the sixth gym leader was originally gonna be Jess, but because I am an Eileen-stan, Eileen would be the Fairy gym leader who also tells Dean she was very interested in his brother. And Dean’s party would grow to include a Togepi that he evolves into a Togekiss, a Feebas he helps grow into a Milotic, his Eevee evolves into a Sylveon, a Buneary bruiser that will evolve into a Lopunny, a Litleo that helps him overcome his fear of fire type Pokemon (saving her from a fire that Team Flare started in former Team Flare now Elite Four member Meg’s house) that will evolve into a Pyroar, and a Cubone who he keeps out of its Pokeball most the time (like Sylveon) that he picked up because we all know why.

And, during his journey, Dean becomes a great trainer in his own right, though he doesn’t battle for badges. He becomes great friends with his Pokemon. Pokemon have always naturally been drawn to him, which he’s now starting to see isn’t such a bad thing. He’s also meeting new friends, like Cas who he keeps running into and, you guessed it, develops a crush on him.

Finally Dean makes his way back to Lumiouse City for the Pokemon Tournament, and while out and about in the city finally runs into Sam. Sam is shocked to see Dean, especially Dean with Pokemon, while Dean just starts berating Sam for sneaking off like that. They mend fences pretty easily, Dean saying that if it weren’t for Sam leaving Dean might’ve been too afraid to leave home to go on his own journey. Sam would love to stay and chat, but he needs to register for the tournament. Dean lets him off, saying they should meet up for lunch (”a picnic”). Sam agrees. After running into Sam, Dean then runs into Cas, and Dean fills him in on the Sam stuff. He then invites Cas to their picnic. Cas agrees, but hasn’t shown up despite Dean and Sam and their Pokemon all already being there for half an hour. Cas does arrive, apologizing, being held up, and Dean is ready to tease him until he turns and sees Cas dressed much differently than before.

Cas is in a suit, his hair pushed back, no glasses, and wears a trench coat. Sam is agape, asking Dean why the Kalos Champion knows who he is.

That’s right! Cas is the Champion of Kalos! We finally meet his party, which includes a fully-evolved Meowstic.

It’s an enjoyable picnic and they’re all walking around the city when they see a Pokemon battle going on, check it out and - it’s John Winchester!

More reunions! John is proud of his sons for setting off on their journey, and asks to see their Pokemon. He approves of Sam’s but finds that Dean’s aren’t fit for battle. Dean is rubbed the wrong way by that but stays silent, but Sam goads them into a fight. Dean’s Sylveon vs. John’s Tyranitar. It’s a strong match-up, with both Pokemon getting good hits in. Sylveon falls, however. John, though, says that Dean trained her well and things are fixed there.

It’s time for the tournament and everyone is there. Including Chuck, the CEO of this corporation. Sam’s progressing well throughout the tournament, until he finally faces Nick, a mysterious competitor who’s been mowing down his challengers ruthlessly. Before the battle Dean, in a trance, rises from his seat. Sylveon worringly chases after him. Just as the battle is about to start, the stadium goes dark, and Team Flare make their reveal. They begin attacking, with those who are able to combatting this all. Sam is busy dealing with Nick, Cas tied up battling grunts but also worried about Dean. He goes to find him but only sees John, who explains Dean had to use the bathroom.

In actuallity, Dean is being kidnapped by Team Flare and their leader, Chuck. Cas and John make it to see Dean being squirreled away, Sylveon left behind.

Dean wakes up in the Team Flare headquarters, where it’s revealed Chuck wants to absorb the powers of life and death through their avatars - Xerneas and Yveltal. He’s already succeeded with Yveltal, but failed years ago during the Vaniville Assault. That’s right! Chuck caused the fire that killed Dean’s mom and scarred him. This is where we learn that Dean, while lost in the flames of the town and forest, stumbled upon Xerneas’s tree form. Dean died due to smoke inhalation, but was given new life through Xerneas’s interference. Because of this, his Pokemon’s fairy attacks were much stronger than normal, and it aided his charm. Bascially, Xerneas passed its energy into Dean, making him Xerneas. And Chuck wants to absorb it even if it kills Dean.

Cas, Sam, and John all decide to launch a rescue mission. They sneak into the underground compound and fight to free Dean. Meanwhile, Chuck moves to awaken Xerneas. He succeeds in doing this, Dean’s hair turning pink because of it. He doesn’t absorb Xerneas’s power, however, as the others cut in. Chuck disappears, deciding he’ll just go through with his plan without Xerneas then.

The group converge, freeing Dean. Except it isn’t Dean, it’s Xerneas. “I’ve always been Xerneas.” This doesn’t sit right with any of them, but before they can comment Xerneas teleports away, sensing Chuck. The others leave the compound, trying to get a sense of what’s going on.

Chuck’s real goal was to destroy the world by killing Zygarde, then start over using Xerneas’s power. Chuck has grown into a horrible amalgamation of man and Pokemon. Dean does the same to stop him, and they battle while the others go to wake Zygarde from his slumber. They succeed, and Zygarde comes and rips Yveltal free from Chuck, leaving him a regular man again.

Xerneas goes back to normal, Dean-sized again, and says that once he leaves Dean, Dean will surely die. Everyone starts to cry, including Dean’s Pokemon who all jump out of their balls to argue with the deer entity. Xerneas, troubled, searches their feelings, and understands. He converses with Zygarde and when Zygarde frees Xerneas, Dean is still able to wake up and is himself again (there was a way!) His hair is still pink, though. Everyone celebrates!

Epilogue - Sam wins the tournament and faces off against Cas, defeating him and becoming the new Kalos champion. Cas is glad, as he’s ready to retire and explore more that life has to offer. Dean asks what that might be, and Cas kisses him.

Back when I thought of this, I think around s9/s10, it was way out of my skill level. And now, I dont have the time lol. It seems like it’d be a 20+ chapter piece. But what a fic it would be...

[rhnuzlocke]

Chapter One: Start Me Up    

Ren jolted awake but it was just the motion of the car. She slowly pulled her feet off the dashboard and stretched in what little space was left between the boxes. The hum of the wheels changed pitch as the car crossed a bridge over a broad estuary at high tide. Wingulls floated in the water and perched on driftwood while red and yellow shadows swam beneath the surface.

“How long was I asleep?” Ren asked.

“Not too long, maybe an hour,” her mother answered from the driver’s seat. “We’re almost there. And Anglic, please.”

“Right. I’m sorry, Okāsan. I was supposed to keep you company.”

“It’s fine, Renko. You needed the rest, and the drive has been very pretty.” She glanced over at her daughter. “Are you nervous at all? I know this is… much to ask of you.”

“…I guess a bit,” Ren admitted. “I mean, I haven’t even seen the house.”

“It’s very nice! You will love your room. The region is beautiful, and the town is lovely. Maybe you could work in the lab for a time while you sort things out…” She trailed off when she noticed that Ren had returned to staring out the window. “I want you to know that your father and I are grateful for how well you’re taking this. You’ve been such a big help, even if you may not be as excited as we are.”

“Aw, Okāsan, no one could hope to be as excited as you,” Ren teased, flashing her mother a reassuring smile. “I think it’ll be fun!”

“I think you put on a brave face for us. You are allowed to feel however you want about this.”

There was no use in denying it, so Ren took a deep breath before responding, settling her hands into her lap. “I just graduated. It’s a good time to pull up roots.” Ren fixed a smile on her face. “Besides, I’ve always wanted to visit Hoenn. I’m pretty hyped. And we’ll get to see Otōsan all the time. This is so awesome for you two!” She squeezed her mother’s shoulder. “Try not to worry so much.”

When you asked if I wanted your life’s story, I rather thought you would begin it earlier. There are a number of formative incidents during your childhood you could have chosen.

“I thought you wanted to know the story of why I decided to become a trainer, not why I decided not to be.”

We both know it goes back further.

“I—Well—I’ll get back to them when they become relevant.”

Late in the afternoon, Ren sprawled on her bed, taking in her new room. The ceiling sloped with the roof and the beams were left uncovered. She stared upward with her arms behind her head and thought about stringing up a hammock between them.

Asuka popped her head in the open door.

“How’s it going, Renko?”

She gave her mother a thumbs up without looking over.

“I am going to the Birch’s house to help Nikau,” Asuka continued. “I was hoping you could stop by the lab and gently remind Prof. Birch that we are having dinner together. I think he is like your father and gets very wrapped up in his work.”

“Hai,” Ren responded distantly, still staring at the beams above her.

Asuka lingered for a moment, studying Ren’s face, then left. Ren caught up with her on her way out the door and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Her mother smiled and turned towards the neighbor’s house while Ren headed down her new driveway to the road.

She walked along the main road through the small town, if it could even be called that. It was more a collection of houses and a general store than a proper hamlet. Still, it was charming in it own way. There were flowers in front of almost every house and lots of modest vegetable gardens.

Littleroot Labs was by far the largest building and starkly modern in contrast to the quaint houses, so it was easy to find. But Prof. Birch wasn’t there. He couldn’t be reached on his nav but apparently wore a tracker when doing fieldwork. One of his grad students, Angela, pinged it for her, and it showed that he wasn’t far out of town close to Trainer Route 101, so Ren decided to go.

Like many of the trainer routes in Johto, the path quickly diverged from the road, which made it feel wild and quiet, a far cry from the suburbs of Kogane. It was old too, packed hard, winding and natural, but overgrown where it ambled out of the trees into a great grassy meadow. Most of the wild Zigzagoons, Taillows and Wurmple scurried away at the sight of her, but a few paused to look her over before fleeing or just ignored her altogether.

Ren was watching a Taillow catch a dragonfly in the warm evening sun when she heard a cry. She couldn’t see the source, but it sounded distressed, so she ran towards it and nearly tripped over a shoulder bag in the tall grass. She picked it up and kept running.

She found Prof. Birch on the ground with an angry Poochyena viciously shaking his pant leg. It was almost comical at first, seeing such a broad, strapping man at the mercy of something so small, but the peril was real. The Bite force of a pokemon with jaws and teeth like that could crack bone.

“Hey!”

The Poochyena eyed her for a second, then continued savaging the professor’s pant leg. Ren took a step forward to stop it, but Prof. Birch yelled at her.

“Don’t! I have pokemon!” He tried kicking at the enraged Poochyena to no avail. “In my bag—hurry—AHH!” He screamed as the as the Poochyena tugged harder.

Ren thrust her arm into the bag, pulled out a pokeball, and threw it, catching it easily as it bounced back from the recoil of releasing the pokemon inside. The red light formed into a Treecko that barely took a second to survey the situation before charging the Poochyena and smacking it in the face with his tail.

The Poochyena rolled off, and Prof. Birch scrambled back. The Treecko planted himself between them and hissed. The wild snarled back and charged. He dodged smartly, but when he looked back at Birch for instructions, the Poochyena landed Bite and the Treecko flinched, leaving himself wide open for a Tackle.

“Oh, ah, Pound!” Birch ordered belatedly.

The Treecko obeyed, swinging his tail at the Poochyena, but the wild pokemon caught it in its teeth and flipped its opponent with a heave. The Treecko landed heavily on his back, winded.

“Leer?” Birch ventured.

The Treecko fixed the Poochyena with glowing golden eyes. The wild pokemon shook it off and lunged again, and the Treecko clumsily shoved it aside. Birch still didn’t even have the presence of mind to stand as the Poochyena chased his Treecko around. Ren watched for another moment before her face set and she stepped forward.

“You are faster than that thing!” she yelled to the Treecko. “Wait for it to charge, then dodge and use Pound!”

The Treecko’s eyes flashed to hers, then he tensed, waiting. When the Poochyena sprang, and the Treecko jumped over it, flipped in midair, and brought his tail down on the Poochyena’s head, slamming it into the ground. The Treecko landed gracefully just behind it.

“That’s it!” Ren yelled encouragingly.

The Poochyena got up and shook its head. The Treecko squared off with it on all fours, tail waggling.

“To the side this time!” Ren called, pointing for emphasis.

The Treecko dove towards the Poochyena’s tail and spun as the Poochyena wheeled around, teeth bared. His tail connected heavily with the Poochyena’s side, sending it rolling away with a wheeze.

“Now hit its back!”

Before the wild pokemon could get to its feet, he leapt up and brought his tail down on the Poochyena’s spine.

“Yes!” Ren cried, eyes alight.

“I was so obvious to everyone but me, wasn’t I?”

Yes. Especially to him.

The Poochyena shuddered, trying to stand, and Ren’s expression turned serious once more. “Pin its head and look it in the eye. You’ve won this fight. Let it know.”

The Treecko did as instructed, snorting into the Poochyena’s face as he pinned its muzzle to the ground with a hand. The Treecko held the Poochyena’s gaze until it looked away. He let it up slowly, and it slunk off with a whine.

“Great job!” said Ren.

The Treecko turned to look up at her in wonder and grinned broadly back. With the battle over, she realized just how striking he was—a light grass green with bright red stripes across his back, a pale belly, and a vivid blue tail. He also glimmered faintly in the dimming sun from a sprinkling of gold scales across his body that almost made her think he was a shiny.

“You okay?” Ren asked him.

He nodded vigorously, but his golden eyes stayed fixed on her even as she turned to check on the professor. She offered Birch a hand and pulled him up.

“Are you alright, professor?”

“Yes, just a bit shaken up.” He took a few deep breaths and patted his pants and coat. “I must admit this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten myself into trouble with a wild. Thank you for saving my neck, or should I say my leg. You must be Ren.”

“Once again, my reputation precedes me.”

“It certainly does!” Birch said with a smile. “You look a lot like your father. You battle like him too. Should have expected as much, I suppose.” His brow furrowed a little. “Only, I thought Senri said you weren’t a trainer?”

“I’m not, but I’ve been to trainer school, and I used to practice with Otōsan.”

Birch nodded. “You’re very good. I’m a terrible trainer as you’ve probably noticed. I always just panic and blurt out the first move that comes to mind, even when my leg isn’t in danger.” He straightened out his sleeves.

“Well,” Ren said carefully, “you are really good at your job.” She handed him his bag. “I’ve read of few of your papers. You do great work.”

“Thank you! And thank you again for the help.” He rummaged through his bag, pulled out a potion, and sprayed the Treecko, who shook, looking refreshed. “There you go. Thanks, bud.” He turned back to Ren. “I better get home. I was supposed to help my wife with dinner like a good husband for once.” He pulled out his device and tried to make a call. “Still not picking up,” he muttered to himself, then turned back to Ren. “I hate to ask a favor when you just saved me, but do you think you could fetch my son for me? His name is Kai. He should be just north of here on Route 103.”

“Sure thing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you so much! Hey, why don’t you take this Treecko with you? It can get a bit rough out here and you two seem to get along.”

Ren looked down at the Treecko, who wagged his tail twice.

“Will you be alright, professor?

“Yes! I still have a pokemon, and it’s not far.” He handed her the Treecko’s pokeball. “Dinner probably won’t be for a while anyway. We have to wait for Senri. So you two have fun. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ren. I’ll see you soon!”

“Nice meeting you! Take care!” Ren called after him as he hurried back towards town. She looked down at the Treecko. “Ready to go?”

The Treecko nodded excitedly and climbed right up to her shoulder as if she were a tree. She laughed.

They hiked onwards into the woods but before long she could smell salt on the air as she and the estuary wandered closer to each other.

Slanted light gave away a clearing just off the path and they pressed through the brambles towards it at the Treecko’s insistence. A young man about Ren’s age was sitting next to a deep, round pool at the clearing’s center, talking to a Torchic and a Zigzagoon. The young man was broad and heavyset like Prof. Birch but had darker, nut-brown skin like Nikau, and the hair poking out from under his white beanie was straight and a good deal less sun-bleached than Birch’s unruly curls. Ren felt fairly certain she had found the right person.

“Really?” he asked his pokemon excitedly, scrawling something rapidly in his notebook. “Could you ask if she’s seen any recently, or maybe what time of year she's seen them?”

His Torchic nodded and back to the Zigzagoon, who was nibbling on something. They conversed for a minute in cheeps and coos and then the Torchic twittered back to him.

“That’s great!” he exclaimed. “We’ll have to keep coming back here for a while to see if we can confirm. Thank her for me, would you, Jay?”

The Torchic turned back to the Zigzagoon, but it had obviously spotted Ren and picked up its food before scurrying away into the bushes. The young man and Torchic looked up simultaneously, and he grinned brightly.

“Hi there!”

“Hi, I’m Ren Kosugi.”

She offered her hand. He took it, and they shook before she pulled him up.

“I’m Kai, and this is Jay. It’s nice to meet you. Are you a trainer?”

“No—” Ren began, but she was interrupted by the Treecko’s gurgling.

The Torchic chirped loudly at Kai and he looked down at her, then back up at Ren.

“Your Treecko says you are.”

“I already said I’m not,” Ren muttered quietly to the Treecko. “And he’s not my—”

The Torchic interrupted this time with an excited cheep.

Kai looked down at her. “Are you sure that’s Dad’s—” He looked back up at Ren. “Wait, did you say your name was Kosugi?”

“Yeah.”

“So you must be Senri’s kid!” he babbled. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t—I didn’t expect—I mean, I guess I just thought you were a guy?” He trailed off uncertainty.

“I’m not,” Ren said flatly.

“I guess so—I mean, obviously,” Kai corrected hurriedly, face flushing. He laughed awkwardly, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.

Ren’s impressively thick eyebrows met in irritation as she tried to work out what that was all supposed to mean, but after a moment she decided to move past it.

“It’s fine. Your father sent me and the Treecko to bring you back for dinner.”

“Oh, right, geez. I’m sorry about that. I turned off my nav because the notifications kept spooking my subjects,” Kai explained.

“I wanted to look around anyway,” Ren assured him. “We should head back though. It’s getting late.”

“Yeah.”

Ren started walking but Kai lingered for a moment before jumping to follow her. They jostled through the bushes at the edge of the clearing and Kai stayed quiet, clearly too embarrassed to make further conversation.

Not the best first impression for someone you dote on so extremely.

“No, but I never really had the opportunity to get to know someone like him—someone like me—back in Johto. And I’m very glad I took the chance.”

Ren sighed to herself and took the initiative. “So you’re a trainer?”

“Yeah!” He perked up for a moment before getting quieter again and looking away. “I only just started.”

“But you can already understand your Torchic? That’s pretty cool.”

“Thanks! She’s the best.” Jay headbutted his leg affectionately, and he grinned at her. Ren watched them out of the corner of her eye and smiled a bit herself. “It was really awesome to actually speak with a pokemon after waiting practically my entire life…” There was another beat of silence after he went quiet, so Ren tried prompting him again.

“Do you help your father with his research a lot?”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling again. “I sort of grew up doing it, but now that I’m old enough, I’m an official research assistant. And because I have my own pokemon, I can do field work, which is the fun part. Jay’s really smart. She’s always helping me find rare variants and interview wilds. Like back there, that Zigzagoon was telling us it saw Rosy Wingull on that pond! Normally they don’t come this far west.”

Kai continued to babble excitedly about his work, and Ren allowed herself a small smile of satisfaction. The sun fell into the trees, scattering warm color across their trunks. The Treecko hopped down off her shoulder to walk next to the Torchic. He burbled animatedly, and she peeped quietly back as they went. By the time the four of them reached Littleroot, the sun had set, and Kai guided them back to his house by the lights pouring softly from the windows.

The two families and their pokemon stayed around the table long after dinner was finished. Senri sat on one end, tilting back in his chair with his wife and daughter on either side. Ren was seated next to Kai. She had one arm on the table so she could see past him to the other end, where Prof. Birch was telling the story of his rescue, gesticulating wildly for emphasis. All laughed as he nearly fell out of his chair in the re-enactment.

“And I’m blithering out inane commands like an idiot, so of course my poor Treecko is getting his ass kicked—no offense, bud—and I’m just panicking even more. But then Ren steps in—thank Arceus—and starts telling my Treecko what to do. It worked instantly!” He snapped to convey the speed. “They had the wild literally beaten into the ground in less than a minute. I’ve never seen anyone turn a battle like that before. And this Poochyena already knew Bite, so it was no slouch. I mean, that should have been a tough battle even without the rocky start!”

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Senri said, grinning. He made brief eye contact with his daughter, and she shot him an irritated look in return “She’s always been a natural.”

The Treecko chose this moment to climb up Ren and rest his head on hers, standing on her shoulders for support. She stopped glaring at her father and lowered her other elbow to the table, resting her head in her hands to make the position more comfortable. All were quiet for a moment, watching the pair smile at each other.

“What do you say to taking that Treecko off my hands?”

“Ehh!—really?” Ren responded with an embarrassed start.

“He’s a bit of a handful,” Birch admitted, “but he seems to like you already.” He had to stifle a laugh because the Treecko, who was clearly not following the conversation, had grabbed hold of Ren’s head so that he could nuzzle it with full force, thoroughly mussing her smooth, black hair.

“What do you say, Shima?” Ren asked the Treecko from under the hair coming loose around her face. The Treecko froze, eyes blowing wide. “Would you like to be my pokemon?”

The Treecko bounced ecstatically for a moment before leapfrogging over her head and landing on the table in front of her. He whirled around to face her, knocking over an empty glass with his tail and nodding frantically, whole body quivering with excitement.

“Well I guess you are then,” said Ren with a big smile.

The Treecko did a somersault, which sent some silverware flying, then jumped into her arms and nuzzled at her neck. After a moment, she put him back down on the table.

“Are you going to battle him?” Senri asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“I’m not—” Ren began defensively but snorted mid-sentence because the Treecko was furiously waggling his eyebrow ridges at her.

“He’s been around humans for a while now. He’s picked up a few things,” Prof. Birch explained, chuckling a little.

“Is that what you are going to call him?” Senri asked. “Stripes?”

“I’ll think of something better!” Ren retorted with a flush of red around her ears.

“Do you think you could do me another favor?” Birch asked.

“Sure!” Ren answered belatedly, still a little pink.

“I know you haven’t decided what you’re going to do yet, but would you take one of my pokedexes and log the pokemon you see whenever you’re out?”

“That’s hardly a favor, Birch-san. I’d love to have a pokedex.”

“Great. You can come by the lab and pick one up tomorrow then. And you can call me Alan. We’re all friends here.”

“Of course, Alan,” Ren says, smiling. “Thank you.”

The Treecko climbed back up on Ren’s shoulder, while Jay hopped up and nestled herself between Kai’s arms on the table. Ren could feel everyone looking at her and tried not to hunch her shoulders.

“Thank you so much for helping us unpack, Nikau,” Asuka said and Ren threw her a grateful look.

“Of course! Turned out to be no trouble, anyway. We barely even needed the Machoke with Ren there.”

Ren flexed nonchalantly, so that it almost looked like a stretch, and the other two women laughed.

“Yes, Renko has always been quite the hard worker,” said Asuka with a smile and Senri grinned. He shifted to face his daughter, draping his arm over the back of his wife’s chair to view her more directly.

“So are you going to train him at all?” he asked, still grinning. “Seems like he has a battler’s temperament. You may want to register just in case.”

“I’ll think about it,” Ren grumbled and turned immediately to Kai. “So Kai, are you working on your own project, or is the research you’re doing for one of your dad’s projects?”

Kai leaned back a little to put a bit more space between them, but seemed happy enough to answer. Senri smiled and pet his Vigoroth’s head as he watched Kai and his daughter talk. Alan got up and started clearing the dishes away. The Vigoroth was happy to eat the leftover scraps off the plates while the Ursaring napped in the corner, snoring softly.

The next day the Treecko tried to help Ren unpack, but mostly he wound up bouncing around and climbing all over the walls with his sticky toe pads. Ren calmly moved things out of his way as she went along and tossed him a rubber band ball she found in one of her boxes.

When she was satisfied with the progress in her own room, the pair headed downstairs and helped Ren’s mother put away the dishes and other kitchen things. Asuka unwrapped and directed while Ren filled the lower cabinets and the Treecko placed things on the shelves too high for the women to reach.

They all took a break for lunch and after they were finished, Ren noticed the Treecko staring out the window, foot tapping absently on the sill.

“Hey, Okāsan, I think we are going to head out for a bit.”

“Of course, Renko,” her mother responded placidly over her shoulder. “Thank you for the help.”

The Treecko bounded ahead of her on Route 101. It was warm in the sun, but still a little cool beneath the trees. She wondered if every spring here would be so mild.

The Treecko went rigid and tugged at Ren’s jacket.

“What’s up?”

The Treecko pointed at the Wurmple crawling out onto the path ahead of them, then planted a fist in his other hand with an audible smack.

“I’ve told you twice I’m not a trainer,” said Ren. “I’m serious.”

The Treecko just waggled his tail, grinning at her and she sighed.

“I know you think it’s fun, but’s dangerous because we’re not registered. Do you understand?” There was no recognition in his eyes. “A real trainer can take you to a Pokemon Center if something goes wrong. And I’m not even sure I really want to…” She trailed off as he gestured eagerly at the Wurmple again, which had turned to face them. It raised its hindquarters in obvious challenge. Ren’s expression softened for a moment and she straightened up.

“Alright, go get ’em, Shima!”

Ren braced as the Treecko vaulted off her shoulder and landed in front of the Wurmple. His feet had barely hit the ground when the wild pokemon String Shotted him in the face, and he staggered back.

“Keep your cool. Listen for it,” Ren instructed.

The Treecko crouched, eyes closed, and the Wurmple shifted, readying its stinger.

“It’s gonna try and sting you! Hit it with your left!”

The Treecko aimed a punch with his left hand and hit home. He used the contact to grab the Wurmple and flip it, quickly hopping on top of it. He held it down until it stopped struggling, then let it up, turning back to Ren as it slipped away into the underbrush.

“Masterful job, Shima! Hold still,” she said, smiling.

She kneeled down and peeled the silk off his face. His golden eyes blinked open and he grinned, looking satisfied. He climbed back aboard and they headed off again.

“And that went on for days. We helped unpack in the mornings, and then he’d drag me out every afternoon on a walk and challenge every wild pokemon he saw.”

Why didn’t you tell him no?

“You know why.”

Do I?

“Because it’s in my blood, in my bone marrow. Because I love it.”

“Try not to jump around as much this time. These Zigzagoons are pretty good at getting you in the gut.”

He nodded, bounding forward as the Zigzagoon crouched, tail erect in challenge.

“And watch for the front claws!” she called as the Treecko dived at his opponent. “They’ll do a lot more damage. Try to get around back!”

He did as instructed, stopping just out of range as the Zigzagoon swiped at him, and jumped to the side instead. The two pokemon traded blows for a while and the Treecko started flagging, sides heaving as he panted. He didn't have the stamina to win the long game.

“Get some distance and use Absorb!” Ren commanded.

The Treecko backflipped, hitting the Zigzagoon’s nose with his tail and launched a ball of green energy as it recoiled. It staggered as its energy was sapped away and the Treecko wagged his tail.

“One more!” Ren called.

This time the Zigzagoon collapsed and the Treecko stood tall, looking exceedingly pleased.

“Great job, Shima!”

She crouched and they high-fived, grinning. Ren pulled some jerky out of her shoulder bag and placed it in front of the Zigzagoon. It got to its paws and took the offering cautiously before slinking away just as Kai and Jay emerged from the grass behind Ren.

“You really are a good battler,” Kai said in wonder.

She whipped her head around and then tucked her hair behind her ear in an attempt to look a little less startled. “Thanks,” she murmured.

“How come you two are out here fighting wilds?” Kai asked.

“It was his idea,” Ren said, jerking her thumb at the Treecko. He puffed up with pride and Kai’s Torchic tittered. Ren looked down. “I mean, we shouldn’t be, but he really likes battling. He gets so damn excited…”

Kai wet his lips and his hand flexed slowly, pinky to pointer. “Maybe it’s not my place, but when I saw you two battling just now, it looked… right? Like you’d been doing it for a long time already. And, well, it looked like you were having fun.”

Ren shifted and grabbed her arm—she couldn't help it. Kai paused again, confusion taking over his expression. She let go, but still rubbed at it a little, unable to meet his eyes.

“It hurt. It always does.”

Even now?

“Yes. Even now.”

Jay chirped at her. Ren blinked, not understanding what the Torchic wanted and looked to Kai for a translation.

“Jay says you should do what makes you happy, what feels right, and not worry so much.”

“I just realized I owe Jay a lot.”

How so?

“No one had put it to me quite that way before. Everyone else was concerned with what I wanted or what was best for me. But how was I supposed to know that when everything was pulling me both ways? How could I decide? She made it simple. And I’ve been trying to follow that advice ever since, to follow my instincts moment to moment and trust that they’ll lead me well.”

Ren’s face brightened a little and she smiled at Kai and then his Torchic. “Smart cookie.”

Later that night, Ren lay on her bed with her Treecko resting on her chest. She pulled a hand out from under her head and laid it gently on her Treecko’s back. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

“So I’ve been thinking… how do you feel about ‘Tāraki’?—as a name, I mean.”

He scooched up and booped her nose with his snout.

She laughed. “So is that a yes?”

He nodded and flopped his head down on her collarbone.

“Okay, Tāraki, I’ve also been thinking about what we’re going to do, you know?”

He rumbled against her.

“It’s obvious to me that you really want to be a battler. And I know I’ve been, um, sending mixed signals about whether or not I want to be a trainer. I really do like battling with you, but I…” She trailed off and sighed.

“I should have told him then.”

He knows now.

“The point is… I’m willing to train you.”

His head snapped up, eyes boring into hers.

“I mean, I’d be happy to train you. We can even challenge a gym if you want, I just can’t promise we’ll take the League Challenge or anything right now, okay?”

Ren spluttered as he launched himself at her neck, hugging her tight and rubbing his head roughly against her cheek. She giggled, trying to gently push him away.

“Tāraki!”

But he was having none of it. And eventually, she gave in.

[newstfionline]

How a border ‘shutdown’ would look from a border town

By Whitney Eulich, CS Monitor, December 6, 2018

TIJUANA, MEXICO--Antonio Ley’s commute starts off like many around the world: He brings the dog into the house, kisses his daughter goodbye, and heads down a steep hill to catch his bus.

His hourlong trip strays from the ordinary during his bus transfer, when Mr. Ley walks up a winding pedestrian ramp, shows his passport card to armed Mexican and US border agents, and answers a handful of questions, like how much cash he’s carrying. He’s leaving Mexico, where he lives, and entering the US, where he runs a food truck five days a week.

For Ley, who was born and raised in San Diego (and whose father moved in the opposite direction each day to practice law in Tijuana), his commute is one of tens of thousands of daily border crossings--for school, work, shopping, or to visit family and friends--that make this region distinctive.

In recent weeks, this tradition of daily crossings has been thrown into flux. After US border patrol agents clashed with a group of unarmed Central American migrants late last month, leading to an hours-long closure at the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego, President Trump reiterated threats to shutter the US-Mexico border entirely. A border closure could hit Mexico and the US hard, economically: about $1.7 billion in goods and services and hundreds of thousands of people legally cross the US-Mexico border every day.

Many here say Mr. Trump couldn’t possibly follow through, largely due to the economic implications for the US, but others are taking precautions. Some now commute to work with overnight bags, just in case; parents are organizing alternate pick-up for kids who attend schools across the border and emergency childcare for children whose parents work across the border; and Tijuana-based factories are renting storage space in the US so products can reach clients even if the border closes.

“Closing the border hurts both countries. That’s the reality of integrated supply chains and economies,” says Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Washington-based Wilson Center. “It’s a lose-lose situation,” for the US and Mexico, beyond direct border communities.

Mr. Wood doesn’t think closing the border is off the table as a negotiating tool for the US, whether in trying to pressure Mexico to do more about the migrant situation or trying to pressure Congress to pay for Trump’s long-promised border wall. “He is willing to take losses if it gets his point across, whether it’s tariffs or NAFTA renegotiations. Trump wants to get his way,” says Wood.

On Sunday, Nov. 25, Elizabeth Rivas and her family were planning to cross the border to shop and take photos with Santa in a San Diego mall. Just before they left, Ms. Rivas started receiving messages from neighbors traveling to the US. They texted photos and videos of the melee at the border--migrants running from tear gas, others throwing rocks or sticks, some fleeing into traffic--and told her not to leave the house.

“This kind of situation really disrupts our life,” Rivas says of the border closure. She works in Tijuana, but crosses the border most weekends to run errands or visit friends, and her husband crosses multiple times a day for work during the week.

“The immediate effects [of a border closure] are pretty local,” says David Shirk, an associate professor of international relations at the University of San Diego who focuses on the US-Mexico border. “We see the border as a piece of infrastructure, and I think people in the rest of the country don’t understand it that way. It’s our highway and bridge, but everyone else sees it as this big gate that we can shut.”

Over the past month, the US has deployed active military troops to its southern border, and Trump has amplified pledges to expand the border wall. The calls are framed around the need to secure the border from drugs, crime, terrorism, and illegal migration. Despite the anxiety of another potential border closure, few here blame the US or Mexican governments. The so-called migrant caravan, made up of mostly Honduran migrants seeking work and safety in the US, receives the brunt of frustrations here over last month’s closure and the possibility of more in the future.

Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has also crossed the border, observers say. Even before the border closure, Tijuana residents took to the streets to protest the caravan’s arrival, throwing out slogans like “Mexico first,” and “No illegals.” Tijuana’s mayor was spotted wearing an iconic red baseball cap emblazoned with the words, “Make Tijuana Great Again.”

An estimated 6,000 Central American migrants arrived in Tijuana with the caravan in mid-November, living in tents in a rundown, open-air sports complex with a clear view of the border wall. Heavy rains turned the space into a swamp last week, complete with a chorus of coughs and whimpering babies. By Thursday night, the government started transferring migrants to another shelter with a concrete floor and partial coverage from the elements. That, too, has been inundated with rain.

Maritza Agundez, a lawyer with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, calls the migrant caravan a “geopolitical problem that extends far from our borders.”

“This isn’t going to stop. We are going to see more and more groups traveling to the border like this,” given political unrest in Nicaragua and Honduras, gang violence in El Salvador, and extreme poverty in Guatemala, says Ms. Agundez, who has offered legal advice to caravan members. She believes their current living situation is beyond Mexican or US control, and requires the presence of international humanitarian actors. “This is a humanitarian crisis,” she says.

Dr. Shirk agrees that the migrant caravan illustrates a problem that goes beyond border issues.

“None of the problems we try to manage at the border start at the border,” Shirk says of the border closures and the backlog of migrants waiting to apply for asylum in the US. “Once the problem has arrived at the border, it’s too late, whether it’s terrorism, immigration, or drugs,” he says. Making changes to the border “is not the answer.”

At the Alpha Guardian factory in Tijuana, workers on the factory floor are soldering, painting, and baking five-foot-tall safes for export to the US. Like many factories, or maquiladoras, here, they rely on raw materials from Asia and the US, labor in Mexico, and a global market of buyers.

Screens hanging above employee desks in the logistics room show the GPS location of trucks moving finished products across the border into the US and materials into Mexico. A border closure could have profound effects on the business. Even a temporary closure--or threat of one--can cause a backup at the ports where freight trucks cross. Several years ago, the threat of a taxi strike led to a six-hour delay in crossing times.

Before the migrant caravan arrived in Tijuana, Alpha Guardian’s logistics manager Roberto Delgado planned to send about 2000 completed safes across the border in advance of orders, in case of a closure.

“This was new for us,” says Mr. Delgado, who adds that the Tijuana chamber of commerce works closely with the local maquiladora association to help mitigate possible impacts on business, like border closures. The company rented storage space in the US to store safes, deciding the cost outweighed the potential losses if their safes were to become stuck in Mexico.

Ley, now in the US part of his commute, aboard a bus that drops him near the lot where he parks his food truck, thinks the focus on border closures is misguided. Standing in front of his truck, Corazón de Tortas, he says crossing the border each day is a “privilege that can’t overshadow the injustices” of what migrants are facing on the border right now.

“I’m fortunate that I was born a gringo and that I can live in Tijuana but earn dollars in the US,” he says. “If I have to cross at another border crossing to get to work, fine. I will, even if it’s inconvenient.”

Instead of worrying about longer wait times or border closures, he says, the focus should be on “this terrible... human rights situation at our doorstep.”

[littlebassoonist]

lacewoodshipping - oh the places we’ll go

Kanto is not my favorite region. In fact, it might be my least favorite. However, it is the region I am currently playing through and making the most headcanons for, so let’s pretend I like Kanto and get on with it.

i. Lumiose

Kanto is Serena’s home—Viridian, to be exact—but she has always felt a bit out of place. She lives in a quaint home with her parents in Viridian, takes classes at Kanto’s most renowned trainers’ school, and idolizes Professor Samuel Oak. But she never gets around to having a pokémon of her own, despite her dreams of hiking to Pallet Town and requesting a Charmander. She is too caught up in school and doesn’t feel ready, and then she’s sixteen, and then they’re moving across the globe to Kalos.

Kalos feels more like home than anywhere else, as it very well should; Serena helps dismantle Team Flare, befriends legendary pokémon, and becomes the region’s Champion. It doesn’t hurt that the friends she makes in Kalos mean more than her classmates back in Kanto ever did. Then there’s the matter of her heart irrevocably belonging to a certain Kalosian professor…

It takes many years before she goes back to Kanto. In the meantime, steps down as Champion to let Diantha take the job, she gets a degree, works with the brightest minds in the field of pokémon evolution, dates and loves and marries the aforementioned Kalosian professor. Three years into their marriage, when it has been nearly a decade since Serena has seen her hometown, the pair plan a trip to visit Samuel Oak. They need to visit Pallet to give Oak live examples of mega evolution when Augustine realizes that he has never visited his Serena’s home region.

“Show me around Kanto, Serena,” he says while they discuss airline tickets and hotels. “We have not taken much of a vacation since our honeymoon.”

Serena frowns. “Kanto is a bit bland once you’ve seen Kalos.”

“It cannot possibly be bland with you in it.” She lightly smacks his arm for being so cheesy. “What? I only speak the truth.”

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

 ii. Pallet

Augustine and Serena leave the Pallet Research Facility hand in hand. She’s a bit exhausted from repeatedly demonstrating her mega evolutions, but she knows Oak needs as much data as he can get. She wishes for a moment that she could show this to her younger self, the girl who thought each word from Oak’s mouth was gospel and that she could grow up to be, at best, one of his aides. She wonders briefly if she should thank Oak for creating the pokédex, as it was one of the founding pillars of her relationship with Augustine.

“The only other place of interest in Pallet is right down the road,” Serena says. “You can tell because there’s usually at least one paparazzi, plus people taking selfies in front of it.”

“It looks like a house to me,” Augustine replies, but she knows from his voice that he’s just trying to get her to talk more about her homeland.

“Red and Blue, pretty much the most famous trainers to come from Kanto ever, were neighbors growing up. Blue still runs the Viridian gym, and Red tends to make himself scarce, but fans still hope they might catch them coming or going. It’s silly, but it was also the sort of thing you dared your girlfriends to do. Go to Pallet, take a selfie, bonus points if it included Red or Blue or Daisy or even the Professor.”

Augustine puts on a face of mock shock. “You, mon ange, were a fangirl? I don’t believe it.”

“I was like fifteen! Give me a break.”

“Well, it seems to me that we have no choice but to do as the Kantans do and take a selfie of our own.” He leads her closer to the pair of houses.

“No, no, no, no, no—”

“What could possibly be the matter, Serena?” He stops dragging her down the block so that they are a comfortable distance from Red’s house. “It’s just a picture.”

“I never told anyone this, but…” Serena looks around shiftily, as though Red or Blue might burst from the shrubbery.

“What is it, mon amour?”

“IwantedtobelikeChampionRed,” she gushes. “It wasn’t even a crush, well, it was, but it wasn’t. I wanted to be him and be so in tune with my pokémon that I would barely need to speak in battle. And I loved that he had the respect of Professor Oak.” She can’t quite pinpoint why she is so ashamed of her childhood idol except that it all seems so foolish now. How could she have been so silly?

Augustine smiles and brings his wife into an embrace. “You are everything Champion Red is and more. You are a Champion and an expert trainer and have the respect  of everyone who meets you. In fact, Oak does not just respect. He needs you. That is why we are here, non?”

She thanks him with a kiss. “As usual, you’re right.”

“Come.” He once again pulls her towards the famous houses. “We will take a picture. Red could only wish that he could be so lucky as to have a picture taken with Champion Serena, hero of Kalos.”

The selfie they take soon becomes the lock screen on her phone and receives droves of likes on social media. Augustine insists that if you zoom in on one of the windows, you can see a red cap.

 iii. Viridian

“Here it is, my hometown,” Serena says, gesturing to the heart of Viridian City. They are walking from their hotel to the Trainers’ School. Upon learning that one of their own alumnae is returning to Kanto, the schoolmaster requests that Serena and her husband give a guest lecture on a subject of their choice. Serena thinks to herself that they make quite a dashing pair in their professional garb and makes a mental note to remind Augustine later of just how good he looks with a lab coat on (or with it thrown on the floor, as the case may be).

“The rhyhorn races are to the west, non?” He looks so wide-eyed and awestruck, taking in the city: the smell and colors of the floral arrangements that hang from every lamppost, the block that has no fewer than seven different restaurants that specialize in pidgey meat, the graffiti mural of a massive tentacruel, the ever-present silhouette of Blue’s gym in the distance.

“Yeah. Between here and Victory Road. They won’t be racing today, since it’s Tuesday, but we could watch some jockeys practice.”

“I would like that very much,” he says.

When they are just a block from the school, nostalgia washes over her. She remembers the coffee shop across the street and how it had pastries shaped like stylized fearow, the nearby meowth shelter they went to for service hours, the smell of the pavement after the rain. Then all that she knows is this bittersweet longing for the past and the urgent need to share it with someone she loves, and she finally gets it, why he wants her to take him around Kanto the way he has shown her Kalos because for once in their relationship, they are in her world and not his.

“Or maybe we can explore the city,” Serena suggests. “I know where to get good food, and I have a couple of places I’d like to visit. There’s always more rhyhorn races.”

Augustine sees the look in her eyes, the look that means she’s making plans and has some specifics in mind. He wants to be surprised.

“I know we said you’d take the lead on the lecture,” she says, “but I think I want to open. Before we blow their minds with the science of a trainer’s first mega evolution, I want to address the students not as a teacher, but as an alumna.”

“What about?”

“Beginnings.”

 iv. Pewter

Serena can’t remember much about her long-ago field trips to the Pewter Museum of Science, but she is fairly certain that it was about fifty times more boring a decade ago. She and Augustine can easily spend the whole day just on one floor. There are the parts she remembers—the life-sized model of an aerodactyl skeleton, the fossils, the aquarium of newly-hatched omanyte—and there are things she never would have dreamed of seeing.

Cinnabar Labs has partnered with Pewter to explain the science behind extracting DNA from fossils. There’s a touch tank with some adolescent kabuto like the ones at Ambrette, except this one has dinosaurs and not just huntail and gorebyss. An entire wing is made up to look like the caverns and craters of Mount Moon to show how paleontologists work, complete with a mock dig for children. There’s a new section featuring international fossil finds, and the information on aurorus actually teaches her some new things. To Serena’s surprise, many of these efforts are helmed by none other than Brock.

That doesn’t even address the second floor, the extraterrestrial exhibits on the cleffa family and deoxys and moon stone evolutions and staryu and lunatone and—

Serena and Augustine quickly agree that they would do best to split up and look at different exhibits. Over dinner, she hangs on his every word while he animatedly describes the latest research into moon stones. When they order dessert, it’s her turn to explain the fossil resurrection process. In their hotel bed that night, they’re still swapping facts.

“They’ve found that staryu naturally gather in the shapes of known constellations,” he says into her hair, lazily tracing Orion on her naked back.

“Oh?”

“The staryu might be mirroring sky. They’re still looking into region and time of year, which constellations are visible when…” He trails off, distracted by the gentle kisses she leaves on his bare chest. They might be in the shape of Aquila.

“That’s still pretty amazing,” she says between kisses.

Much later, when they have kissed entire star charts out of each other’s freckles and scars, they promise to never ever stop learning.

 v. Cerulean

They ride his charizard over Mount Moon National Park and appreciate the view from above. Craters seem to burst from ground, and Serena is fairly sure she spots a ring of grass in a perfect circle, a clefairy ring worn down by repeated use. And when they reach Cerluean, the change from rugged nature to amphibious cityscape surprises them both. The river wraps around the city with serpentine grace, almost coming full circle before heading east to the Cape. Canals run in even lines, a safeguard for flooding and a visual spectacle with goldeen and magikarp darting through like strokes of white and orange paint.

But Serena isn’t focused on Cerulean, per say. She’s more interested in them visiting the nearby Cerulean Cape State Park. In typical Kantan media, every happily ever after, every sappy romance includes a trip to Cerulean Cape. Boy meets girl, girl rejects boy, boy and girl fall desperately in love, boy takes girl to the Cape and professes his undying passion. It’s not without reason; the Cape is surrounded by the river to the south and the sea to the east. To the north, a stunning waterfall pours from a sharp cliff, making a small bay. Serena likens it to Lumiose Tower in that it’s a universal icon for Grand Romantic Gestures.

Grand Romantic Gestures are his area of expertise, not hers.

It shouldn’t surprise her, then, when they hike to the edge of the Cape at night. The moon leeches the world of all color, leaving them in a black-and-white dreamscape with the steady waves beating against the shore and the rushing waterfall in the background. It’s too beautiful to be real. This moment deserves to be on film and at the end of a period romance, not in her life—and Augustine is down on one knee.

“Serena, you are the most beautiful woman I know. You are brilliant in more ways than I can say. You bring joy and life and compassion wherever you are, and I do not want to ever be away from that. I want to learn with you for the rest of my life.

“Ma belle, ma vivaldaim, mon amour… veux-tu m’éspouser?”

She has heard that phrase before, and each time it manages to send her pulse racing. Everything is kissing and “oui, oui, oui” and experiencing the Cape with no company besides the waterfall.

It’s not the first time he has done this, and she suspects and hopes and knows it won’t be the last.

(yes, i have plans to continue, but i’m tired)