Ruth Ono
Ruth huffed quietly as she reached up to put the next set of towels into the airing cupboard of one of the buildings on King Threshield's islands.
"Dug, this would usually be considered being underfoot." She said to the Lairon. "Can I have my shoe back please?"
Dug frowned (as much as a Lairon can frown without visible eyebrows) and tugged on Ruth's boot again, nearly pulling the tall girl off of her feet. Or foot, as the case may be. She was having to balance on one leg while she negotiated with her oldest friend for the release of her foot from his jaws. She finally managed to put the towels in the cupboard, between tugs, and dusted off her hands. She finally pried Dug off of her shoe and walked past him.
"Dug, I can't play right now, I have work to do." She grabbed the basket of towels for the other apartments, and started to make her way to the door. However, Dug had other ideas, and leapt at his trainer. The weight of the Lairon easily knocked Ruth to the floor, and sent her basket of towels flying, to the delight of Dug. She sighed fondly.
She struggled upright, and grabbed Dug round the middle. She half-carried, half-dragged the wriggling beast outside. The warm sun hit her almost like a wall, so great was the difference between the air conditioned apartments and the tropical outdoor heat. These buildings in particular had one of the better views, out over the flowers, ferns and palm trees, right down to one of Haven's main bays. Against the greenery, the white stucco apartments contrasted brilliantly, almost looking as if they may be glowing from a distance. Ruth took a deep breath of the fresh air.
"Clover, Viv, could you..." She started to call out, but noticed a distinct lack of the two pokemon. She blinked and looked around for them. One of the older housekeepers, Franny, came out of another apartment and spotted her.
"Looking for your other pokemon?" She asked. Ruth turned to the much smaller woman.
"Yeah, they were here when I went in." Ruth answered. Franny nodded, and gestured in the direction of the mansion near the centre of the island.
"Guess some of his majesty's guests must have arrived, they took off that way in a hurry." Indeed, when Ruth looked closer, she could see a small gathering of people and pokemon. Ruth let out a frustrated sigh.
"Oh no..." She muttered. Franny patted her shoulder.
"Look on the bright side, Clover's with her, so Vivian can't cause too much trouble." She consoled. Ruth looked back and forth between the towels scattered in the hallway behind her and the mansion.
"Yeah, but Vivian's small enough, she might pass unnoticed, nobody's going to not see a tropius." Ruth said. Franny followed her gaze, and smiled. She patted Ruth's back.
"Tell you what, I'm done here, so I'll take over your towels, while you go make sure your pokemon don't cause havoc, hmm?" The older woman said. Ruth smiled down at her.
"Thanks, Franny, you're a lifesaver." She said, as she dropped Dug to the ground and started jogging the way Franny had indicated, her Lairon dashing ahead of her.
Vivian and Clover were skulking through the underbrush near the wall, trying to get a good look at the newly arrived trainers. Vivian may have been a bit too bright a blue to truly blend in, but the grasses and ferns were tall enough to mostly hide her. Clover, on the other hand, was far too tall to hide behind the brush, but perfectly camouflaged by her own leafy appearance. Clover made a quiet noise, voicing her doubt in Vivian's idea. Vivian gurgled indignantly and reached up to shush her larger teammate. The new humans were arriving, the ones that were supposedly the best trainers the world had to offer. As far as she was concerned, she already had the best one, maybe not the most famous, but the best. After all, she'd managed to train a pokemon as great as Vivian, she had to be the best. Plus, she was bigger than every human here! Except maybe the one with blue hair, Vivian couldn't tell over the distance. She huffed, and started moving to get a closer look. Clover started shuffling and making more plaintive noises, trying to encourage the golduck to stop without alerting the humans. She glanced around nervously, and made a happier noise as she saw Ruth emerge from the trees.
"There you two are!" She said, keeping her voice low. Seeing Vivian leaning out, almost to the point of being visible, Ruth quickly scooped the golduck up and back into the trees.
"We're not supposed to bother King Threshield's guests, Viv. We'll see them if they want to ask for something." She muttered. However, as her attention was on bringing Vivian back out of sight, Dug rushed past her, almost knocking Ruth off her feet again.
"Dug! Dug, come back!" She hissed after the excited Lairon. With little else for it, she turned to Clover.
"Grab him, would you." She said. Clover quickly moved out and rushed over to contain the walking disaster that was Dug. But, she wasn't quite fast enough. Dug reached the group and stood up on his hind legs to jump at the latias playfully. He turned this way and that excitedly, from the feraligator, to the dragonite, to the greninja, trying to greet all the new pokemon he'd never met. Clover stopped, halfway between the tree line and the group, unsure of what to do, until Dug noticed an azumaril in one girl's arms. He moved closer to investigate, and Clover and Ruth immediately started forward again, worried he might try to jump up at the girl to get a better look. Ruth tucked Vivian under one arm and pulled ahead of Clover.
"I'm terribly sorry folks. Clover, get Viv." She said as she walked up, slouching to make herself seem smaller. She handed Vivian up to Clover, so she could carry the golduck in her mouth. Vivian squawked indignantly about the treatment. With Vivian out of the way, Ruth reached down to grab Dug around the middle again, and hoist him up so that he couldn't jump at anyone.
"Doesn't quite realise he's not a lap pokemon any more." She offered with an awkward laugh. She started backing up, looking to head back the way she came, though while carrying a Lairon, such was slow going.