Geoda Tasks: Desert Skies-Part 4 (PLACEHOLDER)

It seemed like they’d blinked and it was next day- Oratorio had been quite exhausted by guarding- discreetly- the door for nearly half the night, relieved by other Hunter teams accompanied by Robin halfway through the dark hours.

The Liepard and Sylveon, of course, had been dragged off for a reprimand very much before that- Sienna had returned with Robin before long, tailed by several other Hunters, and William had looked instantly relieved at the Braixen’s presence.

“Now, allow me to take it from here.” Robin had said, and thrown a mildly disapproving- and doubtlessly more than just disapproving, if one would have cared to look- glare at the Liepard. The Liepard seemed to have no regrets. “And Arsene, I’d expected more from you than this.” The Liepard -Arsene, as he was just named- did not falter in his facade, but grinned a catty grin and gave the unimpressed Banette a snappy salute by his uncrushed paw.

“What can I say, Robin dear? You’ve made it too boring for me recently.” Arsene answered promptly, ears flicking- “And I do dislike things being boring, though this little game was all good fun.” His grin after that was, infuriatingly enough, rather charming- though that did not stop Robin from ‘escorting’ the wayward Hunter team out surrounded by others who did not take Reuben’s order themselves.

After that, it was back to watching they had gone to, through stopping some other fools that had gotten the idea that Reuben had promised a pay lucrative enough for them. Sonata had acquired various scrapes and burns through several other combative situations, Polari had stayed firmly in the shaded alcove all the while, and Oratorio had watched and used Detect enough times that her eyes started to sting.

It was indeed a relief when the other hunter teams came to take over from the point. Team Medi Lunaris, accompanied with Polari, had said their thanks to the other teams that had worked with them, staggered off into the washrooms, dressed their scrapes and collapsed into bed.

It was nearly twelve when they managed to open their eyes. Sonata was groaning at a particular shaft of sunlight hitting him in the face- Oratorio rolled her eyes and instead of sitting on the Kirila as she was wont to do, closed the curtains. They all did deserve rest, specifically Sonata- who had watched her back through many times in the night. Polari was still dozing too, and Oratorio looked his slumbering figure over before tucking in the blankets in a nest around the Skerlp. A smile was on her face as she did so, the simple act looking oddly vulnerable on the normally stoic Absol.

She still had no idea what to do with Polari- stay with him, that was for certain, through his recovery both physical and mental, but what after that? Recently, he had seemed rather anxious, sleepless in some nights- what of that? Was he suffering? Did she not care for him adequately? All these questions plagued Oratorio as she looked over the slumbering Skerlp, so little and still too thin in the puffy blankets.

Briefly, she wondered what would she do if Polari did not want to stay- and balked at the thought of handing him over to some daycare or some other place, with strangers that would be hemming the young Skerlp in whispered words and overdone sympathy.

No, that was no option for her- but what then?

What was she supposed to do?

The questions still whirled around in the Absol’s head as she climbed back into bed herself, closing her eyes against the words that just kept on creeping into her thoughts.

---

The next time Oratorio opened her eyes, Sonata was shaking her awake. “Tori, Toooooori.”

Oratorio, too busy attempting to get her eyes open, did not answer- and Sonata had taken it for her reluctance to be awake, so he began shaking her now. “Tooooooori, wake uuup! It’s th’ barbie! We gotta go an’ ‘elp!”

The Absol was, at this point, very awake-  however, Sonata did not seemed inclined much to cease his infernal shaking of her, much to her dismay. “Sonata-” she attempted to call, stretching a paw out- Sontat just dodged and kept on shaking her. “Tori, Toooori, c’mon! Open y’r eyes!”

Well that did it. Oratorio opened her eyes, aimed her paw again and smacked Sonata in the forehead, a growl building at her throat. “I’m awake, you infernal idiot!” She yelled, her normal calm posture in pieces. The Kirlia yelped and subsequently stopped that goddamned shaking, which was a relief. Oratorio exhaled deeply and scrubbed a paw on her face. “Do not.” She bit out, paw still on face, “Do that again. Why do I even keep you around?”

“Aw, you know I’ll keep bein’ too pretty for y’ to ditch.” Sonata answered, grinning- he did jump off the bed though, and handed the Absol her cape. “Kidlet’s asleep, by th’ way.” Oratorio was rather sluggish in the mornings, so it took her time to process what he meant as she straightened the clasps of her cape- but when she did, it was with a look to the tiny nest of blankets and a relieved huff that she nodded. But the barbecue…? “Would going there to help would be necessary? We all went through long hours yesterday.”

Sonata was pulling his bracers on his arms, humming under his breath- the question did not seem to faze him, or stop him from being cheerful for the prospect of the cookout. “We-ell, yanno they’re giving rewards for helpin’?” He started off, easing the curtains open- Polari was still asleep in his bed, oblivious to the ongoing conversation. “They’re givin’ off recruitin’ slips. Thought it woulda be useful to have, ‘specially with th’ kidlet.”  

Oh.

Oratorio was wide- eyed for a moment, instantly knowing what the Kirlia meant- and instantly unsure of the prospect of offering it to Polari. “Sonata, I do not think-” She started off, but the Kirlia wagged his finger in her face wit ha unusually stern expression on his face. He did become serious when something mattered. Perhaps this, too, mattered enough enough to him for his ‘serious face’. The thought made her feel better for some reason.

“‘E wants ‘t stay with us, y’ got attached already, an’ gettin’im in a team would be good for his self-esteem. We can just ask if you’re worried tha’ much! No pressure, no nothin’. Pretty sure th’ kid’s sturdy to handle making his own decisions in life.” Sonata was being rather enthusiastic in his talks, she noted, by the way he was waving his arms around as he talked.

This was why she kept him around- Sonata offered some ingeniously simplistic solutions to her grand problems in life, and they tended to be so very effective. Or perhaps she just had a tendency to overthink issues. Oratorio smiled, the severe angles of her face softening with the action as she did. There was something like relief slowly pooling in her chest, washing away the troubled thoughts in one fell sweep.

Sonata did tend to have that kind of effect to everything, after all. It seemed only appropriate that he would contribute to clearing out her worries through his words.

“If that is the case, then onwards we shall go to help. Did Estie say that she would be cooking?” The Absol leapt off the bed, stretched as she asked Sonata the question. At the Kirlia’s enthusiastic nod, she smiled back at the big grin on his face and went to wake Polari as well.

Just with less shaking than Sonata had done, of course.

Polari was woken up, and the Skerlp seemed just happy that he was visiting the small caravan with the nice people again- It was already past noon, so with Polari curled up in her hood and Sonata swearing softly at the searing sunlight, they headed off to help the barbecue preparations.

There were stalls and eating areas being set up, Oratorio noted- much of the guild Pokemon were hard at work putting things into place, hammering nails into wood and stacking up kindling, because evidently the local pokemon were invited too. A good way to promote the guilds, though it may have seemed a tad too exhausting for those with excessive missions yesterday.

but then, she suspected that was why the barbecue was starting come evening. This way, tired pokemon could sleep off their fatigues- much like they did during the entire morning.

Estie and Chia met them with warm welcome, and they were set to work after a bowl of thick porridge -stuffed full of grains and honey- were shoved before their face at Chia’s insistence. Truly, the Druddigon was impressive in her persuasive tactics because even Oratorio could not refuse politely with Sonata already on his way to demolishing the second bowl. she had to admit it was rather impressive that Chia knew to go through her brother first should she refuse.

The work was not familiar, but she was used to it soon- Ice Beam made for a good chunk of ice to put in Salac juice, seemed like, and when Oratorio put up chilled flower tea, frozen petals drifting in ice, the drinks had disappeared faster than she could make the ice. Perhaps because Chia’s caravan were cooking ‘wildfire-in-a-pita’ as dubbed by Nott, who gleefully explained that why yes, this was indeed a challenge for those who liked their pitas extra spicy.

Sonata had tried one. Oratorio had to stuff a chunk of ice in his mouth subsequently, so red in the face her poor, idiotic brother looked.

(Oratorio cook with Estie, making up menus such as  meatroot slices served with berry/catci sauce (charti berry slices with skin scorched off, petaya sauce. Silvers of oran.) and Pita cups. (meatroot/spelon berries/spices/cheese on top. Browned to crispy.)

Polari gets tired early because of excitement and they take him to bed when Aisha comes across/ asks to do the merit task. Oratorio complies by herself, needing time to think by herself about Polari. Sonata takes Polari to bed. Oratori sees Sigylph, attempts to chase off via charging up night slash but sigylph runs on its own.

Next day, as they prepare to leave, Oratorio gets the relic fragment and a word of thanks from Aisha while Sonata gets the slip for helping out yesterday. The Skerlp is delighted. When Oratorio asked after the nature of task Aisha asked her to do, she gets evasive and leaves. The fic ends with Oratorio being suspicious about her motif and feeling something of a foreboding about the events to come. )