[PRP] Don't you just love summer?

[Suudonym]

Most of the time, not having a place to stay in the Kodo region wasn't much of an issue. As long as someone had a trainer license, they had access to the trainer centers and all the amenities afforded therein, including but not limited to the free overnight boarding. Ryuko had learned early on, however, that the centers' staff didn't take kindly to someone staying there day after day. The service was intended to accommodate people on their pokemon journeys, they said. It's not a homeless shelter, they said. They were at least thoughtful enough to ask if she needed to be introduced to a homeless shelter (or even child protection services, young as she was), but Ryuko, in her stubborn pride, had declined. 'Homeless' was an ugly and unsuitable word for someone who had chosen to wander the region for the sake of fulfilling an important mission.

She certainly did feel like a vagrant, though, as she hauled her sorry self across the desert. She knew that the eastern center wouldn't put her up for another night, but she hadn't ever been to the northern center, so they had no reason to turn her away. Hell, shame on them if they turned her away after she walked all the way through the city and the desert in the midsummer, midday sun to get there!

Of course, it stood to be discovered if she would actually manage to make it there before nightfall. For the time being, the dark-haired girl chose to sit and rest, the rectangular case that housed her belongings partially buried in the sand at one end so that it could stand upright and offer her a surface to lean against. A one-eyed Scizor stood over her, offering what little shade he could provide - though the heat was certainly no kinder to the bug-type than it was to his trainer. Dazedly Ryuko entertained the thought that maybe she had come out here just a little unprepared.  

[TawnyAngel]

He was working less now, down to an average of fifty hours a week. This gave him a lot more time for others things, mainly for training himself and his pokemon. He was not yet an official volunteer but he planned to become one soon, he was just... well honestly a bit afraid of applying and not being accepted. It was a long time since Dith had taken any kind of test, or applied for anything outside of his field of expertise and honestly he found it all a bit of an intimidating prospect.

The giant man was mulling these and other issues over as he thundered across the desert with Camphoreon far behind and three days off ahead he was in good spirits, if apprehensive ones due to the aforethought hurdles ahead. Distracted as he was Dith did not notice the girl and her pokemon but Dolly did and the huge Rapidash skidded to a hat, letting out a whinny of concern as she turned to the pair with her ears pricked alertly forward.

The sudden halt slammed Dith into the horn of the saddle and left him gasping and cursing for a few moments. When he noticed what Dolly had noticed however he quickly forgot his bruised personage and slid to the ground. "Hey!" he called, "Are you okay there?" She didn't even have a hat on!  

[Suudonym]

The sound of someone yelling was weirdly hazy, but nonetheless it attracted Ryuko's attention. She evaluated the stranger quickly through the spots in her vision and lifted her chin haughtily. "Of course," she said, unwilling to admit her massive oversight but unable to fake the sureness that her voice usually carried. "What do you take me for, some kind of idiot?"

The Scizor, his expression deadpan, shook his head in negation of his trainer's words.  

[TawnyAngel]

Yes, yes he did take her for some kind of idiot.

Dith hurried over, grabbing a pokeball from his belt to release a rather beautiful Blastoise. "Volga, some spray please?" he called to the bemused looking pokemon as he knelt down in front of the girl. She was conscious, a very good start, but she didn't sound great. "How long have you been out here?" he asked, reaching out to lay a hand lightly on her forearm and searching her face intently with his single bright golden eye.  

[Suudonym]

His hand wouldn't be at her arm for long before the girl jerked it away, briefly invigorated by her indignation. "The hell is your problem, old man?! Didn't I say I was fine?" She clenched her hands to stay the slight quaking of her fingers and emboldened her glare to disguise her faint expression. She knew she'd messed up, sure, but she wasn't in such a state that she needed to accept a stranger's pity.

The Scizor, attuned to his trainer as he was, was less interested in paltry matters like pity and pride and was more concerned with the girl's dullness and sluggishness. That wasn't a condition she wanted to be in, and their destination was still a way's off. As his human companion moved as if to stand, he gently clamped a large pincer around her upper arm to keep her put, earning a sharp look of disapproval in return.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith was no stranger to angry patients of one kind and another; it was mainly water off a Golduck's back by this point in his career. "Right," Dith agreed, "you did say that, but humor a paranoid old man eh?" He offered the girl a smile that he did not expect to be returned and straightened up to rummage in Dolly's saddlebags, quickly coming out with a large bottle of water. Kneeling down again and proffering it to the young woman; she was clearly suffering from heat exhaustion, maybe edging towards heatstroke. "My name is Dima," he offered, but again he didn't expect a positive response to the gesture.

At that moment Volga complied with Dith's request; aiming her cannons upwards she blasted out powerful jets of water which shot high into the sky. After a few moments a fine cool drizzle began to fall over the little group, extracting a small snort of displeasure from Dolly.  

[Suudonym]

Indeed, her reply to the smile was a frown, a raised eyebrow, and unamused silence. She watched the man in scrutiny as he went to the large Rapidash momentarily, eyeing the water he offered upon his return. She supposed it wasn't entirely outlandish to think that he was being genuine, and maybe if she complied he would hurry up and mind his own business. Reluctantly she accepted the bottle, responding curtly, "Ryuko."

She looked to the Blastoise, briefly and mildly startled by the sudden blast of water if fired into the sky, though the abrupt behavior made a bit more sense in the moments to follow. Well, she supposed that was sort of useful, probably.  

[TawnyAngel]

Well that was an improvement and he was certainly glad when she took the water. "Ryuko," Dith echoed with a smile and a nod as the cool drizzle pattered down on his shoulders and hat. "Have you been out here long? We're kind of a long way from, well, anywhere actually." She must have been walking for a long while already; too long, clearly. Somehow or other he was going to have to persuade her to come with him either back out of the desert or further in, towards the trainer center.  

[Suudonym]

If she had to get her clothes wet, she hoped they'd at least dry off quickly in the arid climate so she didn't have to deal with a bunch of sand sticking to her. Laundromats were pretty cheap if one had a full load of clothes to wash, but it was just a bit excessive for only a couple pieces of clothing. There wasn't much helping that, though.

She untwisted the bottle's cap and had a long drink, exhaling heavily to recover her breath at the end of it. "I dunno. Probably been a couple hours or so, I guess," she responded, shrugging one shoulder. "It's not that much further to trainer center." Surely she was at least halfway, right? She'd kind of lost track around the time the heat mirages had started shimmering in the distance, but for how long she'd spent walking, she would be pissed to think she was still nowhere near her destination.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith looked back over his shoulder, trying to work out whether or not that sounded feasible to him. What Ryuko added however quickly had his attention back on her. "Uh," the large man said intelligently as he tried to think of a tactful way to put this. "Well I'm expecting another hour, maybe hour and a half's ride by Rapidash if we can keep up a good speed... Would you like a lift? I'm going to the center too so it would be no trouble, and Dolly could easily take both of us."

Dolly snorted agreement to this before moving a little closer to the Scizor to snuffle a greeting.  

[Suudonym]

She either missed his point or chose to disregard it, declining the offer passively, "So, what? Only a few hours by foot then, right?" Yech, she really didn't want to spend another few hours trudging through the heat, but she didn't even know this man; it hardly seemed prudent to hitchhike with him on his giant fire horse. Plus, she wasn't building a very good reputation with Camphoreon's underbelly with all the fights she instigated - who was to say the guy wasn't connected to one of the bands of goonies she'd ticked off? He certainly looked shady enough.

The Scizor dipped his head in greeting in reply to the Rapidash, cordial but careful. He could feel his trainer's suspicion, and though he didn't know if there was good reason for that suspicion, it was duty to be prepared to respond to any threat if she felt she was at risk.  

[TawnyAngel]

Well what had he expected? Dith sighed. "It will take you more than a few hours and... Look, being out in this heat with no protection isn't safe no matter how tough you are. Humans just aren't made to withstand it. You don't have to ride with me if you don't want, but if you don't then I'm going to walk with you. I think I have a spare hat you can have and Volga can provide us with more water as we need." Failing all of the above then he was going to ride a safe distance behind her and call for backup from... well, he didn't know, somebody official. Not the police, he didn't trust that most of them had anyone's best interests at heart and a young girl alone in the desert... well anything could happen, right?  

[Suudonym]

She rolled her eyes with an annoyed sigh and moved to stand, careful not to topple her case as she used it to bring herself upright, "Jeez but you're a busybody. What, do you just ride around here looking for people to lecture on proper hydration or whatever?" She still wasn't convinced that this wasn't some kind of elaborate ruse, though if he wanted to try to steal her belongings or attack her, his ideal window of opportunity had already passed now that she was on her feet.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith gave a lopsided grin and shrugged, straightening up too and watching how the girl moved with concern that didn't make it as far as his features save perhaps a very slight crease of his brow. "Well I have been accused to being too nosy in the past," he admitted, tapping the side of his impressive nose for emphasis.

A quick rummage through another of Dolly's bags quickly turned up a black peaked cap with a triforce design stitched into it; Dith proffered it to Ryuko. "Here, is clean," he promised, "and you can make it fit better with the uh... the slidy thing on the back. Buckle? No. Clasp?" He waved his free hand vaguely. "The thing."  

[Suudonym]

...Was that supposed to be some kind of pun? She responded with a faintly raised eyebrow before planting her hands on either side of the rectangular case and dislodging it from the sand. She gestured to the Scizor, "Hey, do me a favor and carry this for a while. It's a pain in the a** dragging it around out here."

The steel-type didn't seem to mind the suggestion, approaching the case and hooking the shoulder strap within his large pincers.

While the pokemon (thankfully) dealt with the unwieldy luggage, Ryuko hesitantly accepted the offered accessory and turned it over a few times, inspecting it. "Right," she said. "The thing." Well, whatever. It was shade, she supposed, and it wasn't like she was so worried about her hair that would refuse the benefits it offered. Instead, the reluctance in her posture as she fitted the hat was due to the fact that in doing so, she was dooming herself to accepting assistance and company. Ugh.