[break]

Cyg liked her new job. Honestly, she loved it, as much as she could genuinely like work. She didn’t care that sometimes it was boring, wandering around the shop floor and re-arranging things, sweeping up dropped leaves and fallen soil, watering displays. She didn’t care that Elisabeth seemed to be gone a lot more and hadn’t really had much time to teach her lots of things about poison. She’d found she had a secret knack for flower arranging-- colors were good, colors were fun-- and making custom bouquets was awesome. Who knew it’d be the civilian part of Elisa’s ruse that Cyg really took a ken to?

There was one downside, unfortunately, that had developed over the past few weeks, and that was Felix.

Felix, who’d saved her sunstruck ass on that deserted island; Felix, who hadn’t recognized her at the SPECTRA exams; Felix, who… who lingered, damn him. Felix, who obviously needed someone to take care of him. Felix, who wouldn’t let anyone in.

Felix who definitely still did not know who the fuck she was. What the fuck, Felix.

“Felix,” Cyg said, voice strained, though making it a point to show she knew his name when he didn’t know hers, “you really don’t have to. I will be fine.” I have a tyrannosaur. But Elisabeth’s only direction was to get the job done, escort or no, so here he was. He, and his poor Oshawott, toddling along on little legs.

It was a hot one, and Cyg felt bad for the little otter.

“Do you want me to carry you, bud?” she asked, about a third of the way into their journey, during which both of them had been completely silent.

What was there to talk about.

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉

[break]

Cyg swallowed a groan and bit back a testy reply of do you really want to because you could’ve fooled me, mister personality pants. She knew Felix enough by now to be aware that arguing didn’t do anything but apparently make him more inclined to forget about her. Honestly, it was a miracle that he remembered she was there when he was standing right next to her.

Still, the tough love type of learning that Felix was talking about was familiar to Cyg. Her parents had been like that, too, and look how she’d turned out. Well, she was currently on a mission to deliver poison to someone, so… maybe she wasn’t the best example.

Then, a lightbulb. “Oh!” She fished a Pokeball out of her pack and released the beast within. Gremlin blinked into the light for a second before yelling to-to-TOTO at the top of his lungs and taking off at a sprint, running fast laps around the duo.

“How ‘bout a little company, instead?” Cyg said, speaking to the Oshawott. “May make the journey a little more bearable.”

Gremlin continued to circle Cyg and Felix, not appearing to tire, or feel anything close to mortal limits, at all.

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉

[break]

Cyg couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes at Captain No Fun allowed. He really was so boring, wasn’t he?

Immediately following, Gremlin slammed right into the side of her shin, nose first. She hissed in pain, knowing there would be a bruise there soon. Gremlin fell back on his ass, shook his head, and jumped right back up, running to Felix’s Oshawott, who was hanging behind again. Instead of stopping, as a normal person would, he ran face-first into the little Otter, bodying him over; then, he jumped back, and rasped To-to!

Play!

Cyg almost fell over in shock when Felix spoke to her. A miracle. Call the press.

“Two months, give or take,” she said. “How did you two meet?”

Elisa liked to collect the wayward youth, it seemed.

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉

[break]

“A mission, huh?” Cyg ventured back, feeling like there was more to it than that; but she knew Felix. If she pried, the only thing she was going to get was more irritated silence.

They were approaching the drop point, now, so it was the perfect time for Felix to lose his voice. There were two brutes standing guard, though they looked less like brutes and more like businessmen-- all the better to blend in. Still, their broad shoulders and bulging muscles were hardly hidden beneath their tailored, three-piece suits.

Cyg halted a short ways away and they looked up at her, eyes covered by dark sunglasses. She flipped out a card from her pack and read, “Delivery… for Crampton?”

“Yeah, give it here,” the one on the left said, stepping towards her.

“Ah, ah. Payment first, if you please.” She fished out the package-- a singular, preserved pink rose in a white box, with a simple, golden, heart-shaped locket wrapped round its green leaves. It was cute, innocuous, and deadly. This was Roserade poison-- the quick kind.

One goon looked to the other. Cyg kept a stoic face, though deep down she was really nervous. She didn’t want to fuck this up for Elisa. She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Felix.

Gremlin and Felix’s Oshawott, meanwhile, were having the time of their lives running figure-8’s like Hot Wheels in the background, heat and exhaustion forgotten.

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉

[break]

Looking back, Cygne would have to begrudgingly admit that Felix was right. Maybe the baby Pokemon sprinting madly around their feet was not the best idea. His Oshawott tripped and crashed into her ankle, and she jerked her leg up, setting off a string of motion that spelled disaster.

The sudden movement startled the guards, one of which threw out a Pokeball; the other whipped a handgun out from a pocket within his jacket. Cyg pitched to the side, already balanced on that leg, and grappled Felix, pulling him down out of the way of the fired shot; she didn’t manage to drag him all the way to the ground, but the bullet whizzed by where her head had been just moments before.

From the brute’s Pokeball burst an Obstagoon, followed by the shouted order, “Cross chop!” The Blocking Pokemon wound back to deliver a fierce blow to Cygne and Felix-- but was completely unprepared for Gremlin to come rushing forward, blue sheen glimmering from his mouth as his fangs grew even longer and sharper, encased in ice. The Big Jaw Pokemon chomped down hard on the Obstagoon’s hand, and the Dark-type yelped, jumping backwards and vigorously shaking its hand to remove the hanger-on; but Gremlin was dug in for dear life, his little blue form dragging behind the flailing Obstagoon like a flag, unwilling to let go.

Pained and panicked, the Obstagoon unwittingly whacked the gun-wielding brute in the face with Gremlin, and the man crumpled, gripping his smashed nose.

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉

[break]

Of course Felix would look at Cyg saving his life and blame her. Of course.

Gallade was out in a second and any pretense of an offensive on the part of the thugs was well and truly dropped. The Obstagoon continued to whirl around in the background, trying to shake Gremlin free, while the Big Jaw Pokemon remained clamped onto the thing’s hand. Despite the lock of his teeth, his lips curled into a smile, and there was a terrifying, chaotic glint in his eye. Gremlin was loving this.

Well, at least one of them was having fun.

Felix made short work of the thugs as his Gallade offered a hand down for Cyg; she took it, murmuring her thanks, heart beating rapidly at the idea of almost being shot. She had dirt stains on her pant legs but was otherwise unharmed. And so was Felix, thanks to her timely intervention-- not that he’d ever admit that, the bastard.

The Obstagoon’s trainer made a diarrhea face and relented with a sigh, slipping a hand into his coat and retrieving the agreed-upon sum for the delivery of Elisabeth’s goods. Under Gallade’s watchful eye, Cyg took the money and handed over the box and its locket. Her hands, by some miracle, did not shake.

Transaction complete, the goon with the broken nose recalled his Pokemon, and Gremlin was subsequently dropped to the ground, teeth coming together with a loud clack, landing flat on his (round) stomach with a splat. He picked himself up and toddled back to Cygne, innocent as could be--but she noticed the men giving her little crocodile a wide berth.

Gremlin walked right up to Oshawott and could see the devotion in the little otter’s eyes. He preened, flexing a nonexistent bicep and flashing his big, white, bloodstained teeth.

The two henchmen left, tossing nervous glances over their shoulders every now and then until they were out of sight. Only then did Cyg release the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“Cool. Great. Didn’t bungle that.” She felt like she’d aged 100 years, slumping forward. She looked at Felix from under tired eyes, knowing if she asked him if he was okay he’d either have some smartass comment or not say anything at all. She shouldn’t waste her breath.

She did anyway.

“You good?” A beat. “I’m good. Let’s go home.”

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉

[break]

Cyg didn’t know Felix, like, super-well but she was starting to get a grasp on how he worked, sort of. So the physical tension in his voice, the kind that stretched thin like he was just holding himself back from punching her in the face, was a lot of emotion for her stoic hanger-on.

Her own face broke into something halfway between a smile and a silent scream, certainly looking crazed, and as he turned on his heel and swept his Oshawott up into his arms she barked a laugh, loud enough to scare the birds out of nearby trees. "HA!"

“Un-fucking-believable,” she wheezed, pressing her hand to her forehead. She looked down at Gremlin, face still contorted into that very insane looking expression. “You stop a guy from getting shot and suddenly you’ve interfered.” Heavy air quotes around the word to show just how much credit she gave it. “Fine, next time, I’ll let your pretty ass get popped. Who gives a fuck. Not me.”

But she did. She did and it sucked and she wanted, for once, to stop feeling like a total failure in the presence of this dickbag.

Her voice had crawled up to a shout to match Felix’s distance and she pushed on the bridge of her nose hard and squeezed her eyes to stop the pulsating in her head. She was going to have a migraine.

“Ugh, come on, Grem,” she said, voice raw. “We’re gonna take a walk.”

And she struck off the path in a perpendicular direction to Felix.

---

wearing | hair
mission: honey trap

Felix Gallagher

☉