heavy footfalls announce elijah's arrival. behind him, an eldegoss follows with an elegant hover: a staunch contrast to the brute slouch he crashes onto his kalosian seat with. the apothecary's nose wrinkles. an eye cracks open, the bitter colour of his gaze flicking toward his "date".

"you think vaping's a good impression on the first date?" elijah says, timbre rough and coarse like clamberclaw cliffs.

he drapes his arm over the head of his chair, almost strangling it with the muscle as he sneers.

Laurence Anderson 1/4

elijah raises his nose above the fumes. against lars' blinking, the apothecary's eyes glint with the crystalline awareness of the other's position. his rep and name. lars' icy prominence overshadows his own, and thus, he decides to tuck his own nomenclature away.

"the embargo lift was real nice, but that's beside the point." his eldegoss looks around, yellow leaf-like cloak tugged in close below its airy, loose expression. "so laurence anderson. you fuck on the first date or what?"

Laurence Anderson 2/4

"oh? didn't expect that." elijah says of lars' answer. his eldegoss wades around, unaware of their springtime speech. "thought you'd be more the frigid type. never thought the head ranger would be so loose-lipped."

he snorts and steals a macaron from the table. leaning back, elijah kicks his shoes up on the table before throwing the pastry into his mouth.

"pretty good. you should try some. time's almost running out."

Laurence Anderson 3/4

"sure."

elijah tosses a business card. one that advertises his apothecary stall in the slateport night market. mondays, wednesdays and fridays during the day. "gardner's garden" in rustic font. the number is printed underneath in woody-block letters, the grain of the bark emulated by white lines where the ink did not touch.

"just give me a call, i guess."

in one way, elijah considers the possibility out of duty. to be in bed with the head ranger may provide him with leverage. information.

in another way, he may be lonely.

Laurence Anderson 4/4