vagabonds eventually find their way to rocket. it's the natural order of things. wandering feet, tired of dipping their toes into what they hope is a friendly home, eventually discover the flexibility rocket's umbrella provides.

however, one may question whether rocket is a nurturing parent or a hands-off guardian.

but feeling like you're a part of something is enough in the end. after all, clementines grow seedless when alone.

"rocket liked what i did." elijah says. "what i did with plants. growing them. my old medicines. finally felt appreciated."

he leans against his gogoat. breathes in deep.

"why 'fuck the league'?"

Isaac Merlo

elijah lets the question settle like mist on moss. in his slow silence, the apothecary offers a stiff lip that eventually erodes into the full swing of a nod.

"looks good to me." elijah says. "careful not to remove the entire patch. leave some behind."

he pulls out a tupperware container from the satchel on his gogoat. peels the plastic blue lid open and extends the empty box. he does not relinquish his grasp should isaac attempt to take it.

"you're chipper. young. why'd you join rocket?"

Isaac Merlo

"if it's a grafted tree, it's someone's personal plant project." elijah declares.

he finishes his careful scan and draws his eyes back. exposed like this, with identity and intention bare to the air of the woods, elijah does not risk thievery.

but elijah operates not on rocket's lines, but the gardner code: not to mettle with another's gardening.

"just think it's disrespectful to take from another green thumb's work." elijah crosses his arms. "'sides, i visit here often. i don't want your butterfingers compromising my good will with this wood."

Isaac Merlo

elijah twists his own lips. chews on the thought like it's cud.

"could be possible if they're a part of the same genus." the apothecary harrumphs, lifting himself back up from the earth. "this crystabloom flower is something out of the wheelhouse. for now. we'll have to study it and see if it can."

he rubs his shoulder.

"since when did you know about crossbreeding plants?" elijah asks. "you're really going down the bunnelby hole on this aren'tcha?"

wolfgang volkov

"found something already?"

elijah lurches in behind isaac. his gogoat trods along, breaking apart clods with its hooves.

he squints at the grafted tree, and his lips flatten. without moving his head, he scans the area, tilting his gaze side to side as if searching for something. someone.

"you sure about touching that?"

Isaac Merlo

"any berries. bitter herbs. roots. oh, if you spot a crystabloom. let me know. immediately."

elijah bobs on the back of his gogoat's steady trod, which stops to chew at a dandelion by isaac's feet. the stem snaps clean and exposes its milk.

his voice is rough like gravel. deep like the mantle and crust. elijah alights from his mount and slides carefully, the woven basket from its horn.

"how about you go ahead and find me something and i'll let you know how you did." elijah folds his arms over his chest, the basket scratching his skin.

Isaac Merlo

elijah stands still for the entire ordeal. in the stalwart stillness, there may be forlornness like that of a burning cockscomb.

he sucks his teeth. lips flatten like a dam.

"i was doing my job." elijah says, brow hardening into a single branch. "oh so powerful and important avatar beast man, look at the size of your head now. must take an hour to change your mind."

he frowns, but it is indistinguishable from a scowl.

"i think we're done here." elijah glares. exhales smoke from flared nostrils- but it is a shaky, nervous stream. "you're going to scare the floette."

bryan delarosa

so much for privacy. elijah debates recalling his victreebel to spare it from the man's outburst- but he stills his hand. the situation can sour yet.

elijah's voice remains constant and steady. though he can feel his heart beating and bobbing along in a hot wave, he does not betray his spiked fear.

"no." the apothecary stares into the hallway, door lying into its cold space like a corpse. "but if xerneas' avatar is punching a door off its hinges to prove a point, then i think it should reconsider its choice."

bryan delarosa

"i classify you as someone who's in over their head."

elijah spins a thick finger toward bryan's head. traces invisible orbits, or a confused migratory cycle of choking cramorant.

"okay then, mr. pokepedia." he snorts. "how am i naïve? explain. go on. go."

bryan delarosa