[PRP] Don't you just love summer?

[TawnyAngel]

"Well it never hurts to have invisible backup but," Dith shrugged, "fair enough. If you have a chance though it might not hurt to expand your team, I have been trying to do that myself recently. I need a balanced team if I am going to be a proper volunteer and all but it's difficult, you know? Coming into a different way of thinking with pokemon." It was like building a personal hit squad or superhero team, all the powers had to balance one another. He probably shouldn't have two Espeon, should he? Oh well.

"Anyway," Dith shrugged again, "I don't know how much information there will be for you to find up here in the centre but you can probably meet some experienced league operatives if you are interested. You don't need to tell them your plans if you do not want to of course, just listen to what they say. Most are happy to talk about what they do."  

[Suudonym]

The element of surprise was pretty valuable, but as long as her target didn't know she had a Scizor, she could still make use of it. A bit more diversity probably wouldn't hurt, but it wasn't as though she was particularly interested in expanding her team or becoming a better trainer. "Can't say I have any recommendations," she commented. "Training was big in Kanto, but I never got into it." It was all too saccharine and idealistic for her tastes.

"Eh," she shrugged noncommittally, "I'm not really expecting to find anything useful. I'm only going for the free bed." And maybe for a bit of a workout, if they indeed had the facilities."  

[TawnyAngel]

She was walking across the desert just looking for a place to sleep.

Dith stared at Ryuko for a moment and then looked straight ahead; he needed a little while to process that one.

There had been times in his life when he had been hard up but he hadn't been without a friendly roof over his head during any of those. Somewhere safe to sleep was important for anyone and especially during extremes of weather. He wanted to do something more, hell he just wanted to tell her she could come and stay in his spare room but it seemed a bit soon to say that; any sensible teenage girl would be a bit freaked out if a forty something man she had just met said she could come and stay with him. Creepy. He needed to do something for her though, but what would she accept?

"Do you have anywhere to call your home?" he asked carefully, proffering the water again. What could he do? He guessed he could afford to rent her a little room somewhere if she needed it but would she accept it? Anyway if she needed something like that why weren't child services involved?... But did she trust such services? Did he? Frankly no, he did not. He had no doubt that some social workers were well meaning but the system as a whole struck him as poisonous, dangerous, and overall ill-suited to serve the people it claimed to look after. The difference in outcomes for care leavers and those who left stable homes was well studied... but was care better than nothing? Did she even need it or was he getting carried away, did she have other family that she was just avoiding- but she might well have good reason for that.

Crap.

This was all getting a lot more complicated than he had expected.  

[Suudonym]

She raised an eyebrow again. "What, like physically?" She really wasn't into talking about some philosophical 'home is where the heart is' mumbo jumbo, so she went on her initial assumption, "Not really. It's a waste of money when you can just stay at the trainer centers as long as you're not there too many nights in a row."  

[TawnyAngel]

Hnurgh.

Now what then?

Oh he could report her situation he guessed but was that for the best? Part of him said yes but the rest rebelled, untrusting of capitalist systems - which were nearly as bad a communist in his opinion - and doubting that she would let herself be 'helped' in that way anyway.

Dith rummaged in Dolly's saddlebags, coming out with a small block of kendal mint cake and breaking it in half; he offered the part still in the wrapper to Ryuko. "I did mean physically, yes... that's why you're coming out here then? Not not be at the south centre too long?" He needed to do something but he felt helpless. What did she do for food? Where would she get new shoes when she wore hers out walking across the desert like this? She might be a tough kid but she was still a kid, and without an income that he knew of so far. She needed somebody.  

[Suudonym]

So now he was a kindly granny passing out sweets? She raised her hand, palm out in refusal, blue eyes sharp and critical. It wasn't difficult to imagine where the questions were coming from, and she didn't really like the prospect of where it was going if that imagination was correct. "I've been doing this for a while, you know," she said, "and it's a lot easier here than in Kanto, what with the trainer centers around. And it'll be even easier once summer's over." Winter wasn't a lot of fun, but at least it was easier to warm up than to cool off.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith shrugged and tucked the sweet food away again, taking a bite out of his own portion. "You know mountaineers eat this stuff, is good for hikes," he stated in reaction to the sharp look in her sharp sharp blue eyes. "And I'm glad it's easier here than it has been elsewhere but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be easier still, right?... Have you got decent camping gear?" That would be a start, and yet it would be heavy for her to carry on foot and on foot was apparently her only option. "Ah... heavy, though, right?" he corrected himself pretty quickly. "If nothing else a pack horse like I have in Dolly here might serve you well. Get between places faster too!"  

[Suudonym]

"I'm not a big fan of the wilderness," she said, "and yeah, I've got enough to lug around as it is." She jabbed a thumb in the direction of the case that her Scizor was toting. She gave another shrug in response to the suggestion, apparently not impressed with the idea. "Another body's another mouth to feed and more supplies to keep in stock." A bike or something wouldn't be too bad, though, if she could find a suitable one for cheap enough...  

[TawnyAngel]

"Ah, point," Dith conceded with a nod; Dolly could fend for herself but only if she was left alone to graze and browse at leisure all day, he couldn't and didn't expect her to work hard without being given feed. This of course put him no closer to any kind of solution for Ryuko's problem, which was... a problem. There had to be something more he could do for her, he was feeling pretty useless right now and he hated being useless. If there was an easy solution she would have found it already by herself. How was she even getting enough food now he thought about it?

"A lot of big predatory flying types can fend for themselves pretty well," he said after another pause. "Things like Rapidash can too but it takes a long time of course with not much energy being in grass. Maybe still not for you though?" It was worth mentioning though he guessed.