nacho goes back to staring obsessively at willow's earring after bo gently lets it go. she narrows her eyes at the pokemon still in her arms and when he goes to raise a paw again, she drops him rather unceremoniously. he plunks to the ground, tail slapping the tile quite loudly. 

his sulking doesn't last long, not with shelves full of toys of such interesting textures and sounds and tastes. 

she keeps a bit of her attention on him (with spidey-mom senses) and watches bo peruse the shelves. 

seeing this stuff in the flesh, it's a little odd to imagine bo teaching roman how to throw punches. will she live to regret this? probably. but maybe bo's right and this is just what he needs. 

"so, you gonna set it up at your place or mine?"

she checks her phone to keep an eye on the time and with a sinking feeling, realizes she's missed quite a few texts and a call from lance. damn it. my date. she frowns down at the phone and starts to type something. she falters, backspaces, and then just pockets it, reminding herself to reach out later. 

boruta maher

☉

what was this? willow had been so good to nacho. he had only wanted the fun ear thing, and yet, he was treated as though he had hydro pumped the whole sporting goods section :smirk_salmon:. nay, as though he’d hydro pumped the whole store and the parking lot too, even, and bo’s lady friend had been dragged out the front doors soggy and propelled into the streets by the sheer force of his wrongdoing, and the flood.

dramatic. guess they weren’t friends anymore for at least five minutes. the vaporeon waddled off dejectedly, but distractions were soon found.

bo, his back already turned to boxes, soon found one that evidently looked promising. he dragged it out to the floor and rotated it, checking over some things.

”my place, i figured. unless you want easy access to it.” he looked over his shoulder. ”or you could always come over, and i can teach you how to fight. that way, when roman gives you a hard time, you can tell him your hands are trained.” actually that probably wasn’t a good idea, but bo was smiling about it.

then, it registered. the look on her face. was it what he’d said?

”hey. you okay?”

willow atkins

☉

"i think we can leave the training to elisabet," she says wryly. bo's already promised to help train her battle prowess. planting flowers and picking weeds? they're unparalleled in skill. her pokemon on the whole are obedient, but they're nigh useless in battle. elisabet's really the only one who can hold her own and that's no thanks to willow. 

even the tauros, as strong as they are, are unruly beasts that would absolutely never listen to her. 

the concern on his face makes her uncomfortable. she recognizes it, knows it's coming from a place of self-deprecation. 

"yes, i'm fine," she says a little hurriedly. "i just, er, forgot i'd promised my time to someone else. it's nothing that can't be fixed." she waves a hand. her phone vibrates in her pocket again. she thinks to ignore it, but it could be ophelia or adelaide.

so she checks it and mortified, says, "wait, he can tell when i've seen his text?" and that i typed? and didn't respond? 

sorry. double-booked. talk later. will make it up to you. 

she sends the text and looks up and laughs sheepishly. "i'm...so bad at this."

boruta maher

☉