after the meeting ends and the fog disappears, the crown dissipates. jayden finds himself lingering on the steps of sootopolis, though for what reason he's not quite sure.

[break][break] it's not the first time that he's been apart of such a large meeting. it would have been surprising if he had, considering his lifetime membership in the organization, but it is the first time that he had felt so influential and had taken a position higher than merely a shadow in the background.

[break][break] it was also one of the first meetings that he'd been able to attend without the presence of his father.

[break][break] lost in thoughts, he is unprepared for the familiar voice that lofts it's way towards him and he blinks when fern delaney appears.

[break][break] it's still an adjustment to remember that fern - this grocery store stranger - was apart of the organization that he called home.

[break][break] it was comforting.

[break][break] "did i?" he asks, feeling somewhat self-concious suddenly. his fingers reach up to adjust the knot on his own tie. as the other asks him if he's free, he blinks once more and then flashes a smile.

[break][break] "no. i'm free. did you have something in mind?"

[break][break] he doesn't mention that he would have likely freed his schedule regardless. it's a secret that he keeps to himself. for now.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney

He doesn’t pretend to know everything that transpired today. And really, it felt a bit odd keeping as quiet as he did when he’s so accustomed to filling up any space he’s in with the senseless noise of his own voice. But there were times when it was better to observe and let it all percolate like a slow drip coffee.[break][break]

And maybe Fern can find someone to help him make sense of it. Which seems like a good reason to approach jayden cross after all is said and done. But that’s also just an excuse on their part, isn’t it?[break][break]

“Wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t think so,” they chime back, and though there’s a touch of a teasing lilt in their voice, it’s still genuinely meant. They watch him fidget with a degree of curiosity, but it is the smile sent their way that prompts a thrum of elation. Fuzzy crackle static humming from the center of their chest.[break][break]

“Oh, good.” In all honesty, Fern had sort of expected to be turned away. Not harshly–more an assumption that after a meeting such as this one, jayden cross would have business..y? things to do that went far beyond lil ol’ them.[break][break]

So the smile that twists their lips comes a little unbidden, blue eyes drifting up to meet his. “Nothing in particular. Walk me home?”[break][break]

They are neighbors, after all. So it makes sense. Another properly crafted excuse to spend time in the admin’s company.
[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | :3c [break]

"ah. well. thank you."

[break][break] though he tries to dismiss it, he can't help but feel a little bit pleased at the compliment. he had worried, after all, if the suit that he had purchased from velda glaus would suit him. she was of course his family's choice when it came to these things, but he had always privately worried if that sort of life had suited him.

[break][break] he ceases the fidgeting of his tie, instead choosing to smooth a palm down his front before letting it lay peacefully at his side. his gaze drifts towards to the other meeting attendees, all of which seemed to have things to do.

[break][break] "walk me home?"

[break][break] once more, jayden blinks.

[break][break] "of course."

[break][break] the admin waits for fern delaney to lead him down the familiar path of their home, but even so, he cannot help the churning of anticipation in his gut at the invitation. since he is a person that doesn't have many friends, it is always a curious thing to him to be invited into other's homes. he still recalls the first time that he visited mint frost 's house — though that had been under different circumstances entirely.

[break][break] to fill in the lull of the silence, jayden lifts his hand. it was wrapped in bandages, which indicated it was still healing, but otherwise seemed relatively intact.

[break][break] "you were right. the honey did wonders."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney

“You’re welcome.” They grin, the tip of their tongue pokes out between their teeth, tickled by the formality he continues to hold himself with. Fern tries to look just as stern and formal as they reply, but it’s a look they can’t hold for more than a second before faltering, so they give up quite easily.[break][break]

Still thrilled by the way jayden cross humors him, Fern eagerly leads him along, away from the tall steps and the weightiness of the meeting that only just concluded.[break][break]

Though they have questions (lots,) it’s nice, they think, to not be so serious about the impending doom hurtling toward Hoenn. At least for a little bit.[break][break]

Blue eyes dart to the hand in question, and they do their best to ignore the residual murmur of guilt that still lingers even now. His words perk them up, though, and a lopsided grin takes the place of anything overcast that might have shadowed their expression for a fleeting moment.[break][break]

Raising their hand, Fern taps at one temple knowingly. “I know my stuff. I was never into medicine, but da’s an apothecary, so that means there was no forgetting it, either.” Holistic remedies, herbal salves and tinctures. It’s all in a catalog in one corner of their brain labeled home.[break][break]

But this is home too now, is it not? Or at least, there are odd little moments where they catch glimmers of the of the feeling before they sputter out.[break][break]

The familiar street takes them past jayden cross’s house (still amusing, in hindsight,) and Fern leads them to a puttering stop outside. It’s quaint and straightforward on the exterior, belying nothing significant. Though once the door is unlocked and opened for him to step through, the explosion of mismatched furniture and over abundance of color tells a much different story.[break][break]

“Perk of living in an occupied city, hm? Walking distance.” They sweep a hand proudly at the chaotic interior. “Chez Fern.”

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | :3c [break]

somehow, even as they are led away from the meeting's site, jayden is almost expecting someone like mint frost or Felix Gallagher, to pull him away from time well spent. not that he would refuse — after all, as much as he enjoys the teal-eyed grunt's presence, work is still work.

[break][break] but no such distraction happens. jayden is able to slip away and down the sootopolis steps alongside his new companion without much issue, leaving the weightiness of the meeting behind without any issue.

[break][break] there's just something about the other that tickles him, whether it be the way the glimmer of teal-blue sets his heart alight, or the comfort that he feels in their presence. especially when they smile at him, lopsided and easy.

[break][break] "he is?" brows arch skyward beneath his violet-hued bangs, unable to help his own curiosity. jayden is a person who is very good at compartmentalizing, separating work from personal, yet... when it comes to fern delaney, it seems like all expectations are thrown out the window. the lines naturally blur. "that's interesting."

[break][break] perhaps one day he would be able to meet mr. delaney, and probe his mind as to what he thought about his crystabloom project.

[break][break] "have you ever seen the crystablooms?" he says casually. even as they walk down the cobblestone streets of the city, spots of color can be still seen where the flowers hide in plain sight. surely not as populated as they were prior to the tree of life's great fall, but visible to those who wanted to look.

[break][break] come to think of it... where had fern delaney been during the darkest day?

[break][break] safe, he hopes. something churned uncomfortably in his stomach at the thought of the other being in harm's way.

[break][break] before he itch at the thought, however, the two of them finally make it to fern's house. colors splatter ever inch of the walls, each and every corner scribbled in undeniable character.

[break][break] he was surprised and yet not. a small smile lifts, unbidden, to his face.

[break][break] slipping off his shoes, jayden politely steps his way through. his dark socks brush against the soft carpet, violet eyes lifted towards the various decorative pieces. a hand drifts towards one of the pictures hanging on the wall, righting the crooked frame into place.

[break][break] "you seem to have lived here long."

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney

”Mhm,” Fern hums with a short nod. “For as long as I can remember.” Even when he was unwell, Fern doesn’t recall him ever really stopping his work.[break][break]

Their eyes slide sideways at the question, curious as to why he asked. Likely to do with the information about their father newly revealed, but– “Admin Cross, are you mining me for information?” Fingers lift to their mouth as they follow this with an exaggerated gasp.[break][break]

“I have,” they add a beat after their joke, the facade crumbling as they shake their head with a quiet titter of laughter. “I considered sending one back to Galar for my da to study, because I don’t recall ever seeing them before, but I wasn’t sure if it would hold up all that well in transit.” Fern looks at jayden cross a little more fully then, hand waving in the air. “And then the dome came down, and well, that was that.”[break][break]

Everything that has transpired in the last several months, Fern has predominantly observed at a safer distance. Now, though, he feels closer to everything–likely due to the entanglement he has agreed to within Rocket. It makes him wonder– how much has his companion endured in that time? How much of it alone?[break][break]

It’s not a particularly comforting idea, so they tuck it away.[break][break]

And besides–they have a role as host to play now. Fern’s own shoes slip off and the lack of heels make them much shorter than they’ve ever actively been around jayden cross. Or at least, they’re fairly sure. There’s a small thrum of self-consciousness that comes with watching him absorb the modge-podge chaos of their home, but it sputters out in light of that small smile.[break][break]

“About four years now, yes. Maybe five. I’ve lost track.” Long enough to feel settled in, obviously. Though they build up excess around them wherever they land. “Have you eaten? Are you hungry? –oh.” The mention of food brings a forgotten task right to the forefront of their mind. Along with the sight of haphazardly stacked ingredients on their countertop.[break][break]

The promise that they’d (poorly) make snickerdoodles for an event some local business owners were holding smacks them in the forehead. Normally they wouldn’t care, but it’s for the sake of their front business, so they can’t exactly shrug it off.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | :3c [break]

"admin cross, are you mining me for information?"

[break][break] his lips curl in the ghost of a smile at being caught, but jayden doesn't give fern delaney the satisfaction of agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement. instead, he shifts the topic to the discussion of crystablooms; if the other would satiate his curiosity, it would be most fitting. but also at the same time, he would not protest if denied it.

[break][break] thankfully, fern complies.

[break][break] jayden nods. "they appeared quite suddenly when the tree of life was highest in sootopolis, but since then, it's been sparse." he is careful to be evasive in regards to how much he knows about them. while he likes and trusts the other, for sheer virtue of being a rocket, there are still some things that are meant to be kept under wraps. "they are beautiful, though, aren't they?" he muses, but his words are cut off when they end up at the grunt's doorstep.

[break][break] in the confines of the home, his fingers brush against a crooked frame.

[break][break] four or five years? that meant —

[break][break] his expression immediately shifts, snapping towards the other with undeniable curiosity. "you were around during the invasion," he says then. it's not a surprise that jayden would not have been aware; after all, back then, he was pretty single-minded in his pursuit. his gaze falls upon the other, appraising him in a whole new way. almost as if he's searching fern's body for pieces of the event, forever memorialized in time. he - of course - finds no such thing.

[break][break] before he can press the issue further, however, fern begins to speak again and asks him if he's hungry. jayden blinks. it hadn't occurred to him — sure, he had ate this morning but it had been several hours since then...

[break][break] the oh that pitches from fern then, however, makes his stomach twist. alarm briefly settles in his fast at the thought that something was perhaps wrong, before his gaze falls where fern's sit. atop a bag of flour.

[break][break] "you're a baker?"

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney

It comes as no great surprise that he skirts around the claim Fern makes, and they don’t mind that, really. They asked playfully, after all, and the fleeting smile is reward enough to let them know they weren’t out of bounds for saying what they did.[break][break]

“I am going to assume this is a particular area of interest for you,” they reply with a smile of their own, curious furthered by the way he speaks of them. Though he likely won’t, Fern secretly decided that they could listen to him speak of them for hours on end without minding a bit. “They are, it’s a shame they’ve diminished,” they agree quietly, allowing him the space to not press the matter.[break][break]

“Hm?” Fern’s attention turns back toward jayden cross, brows lifting slightly at the remark. “Yes, I was. What about it?” Like most things in his life, he learned to work around the after effects of the event. He’s made a life based on being flexible. It wouldn’t have done him any good to flounder in the wake of invasion—it was smarter to capitalize on what he could at the time.[break][break]

Fern can practically feel the acute way they’re being studied now, and there’s a prickle under their skin that comes along with it. Not exactly self-conscious, but hyper-aware of it. A wondering of what he’s hoping to find.[break][break]

“Oh, hah. No, I mean. Not exactly.” They let out a breath, cheeks puffing as they look over at him with a look that borders on goofy. “Make for a better cook than a baker, is all. I got roped into this by the owners of the shop next to mine.”

Didn’t have the heart to say no to the elderly couple, though they’d insist it was for the sake of maintaining his front. Both? They leaned back against the counter, hands bracing back against the curved edge. “Don’t suppose you are,” they say dry and offhanded, not really thinking anything serious of it.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | :3c [break]

yes, what about it, indeed?

[break][break] jayden himself is not sure of the answer. there is just something about the fact that it is fern of all people that has revealed that he was not only apart of the invasion, but that he had been living in the city at the time of it, that makes him pause. violet eyes rove over the other's frame - searching - even if he's not exactly sure what he's searching for.

[break][break] for some reason, the revelation that the other was possibly part of the aftermath was more starling than the fact that fern was a rocket at all. back at the mall, he should have been more shocked that the other had pledged allegiance to rocket, and yet he hadn't been. maybe there was something about the other that made him feel like he'd always known. a trust, perhaps, that lingered even still.

[break][break] the admin struggles to find the words. eventually, hopelessly, he finds them. even if it's not the words he seeks.

[break][break] "it was quite a day, wasn't it?"

[break][break] jayden's glad for the change of topic, even if he was the one who had started it. he steps across the plush carpet towards the haphazardly stacked ingredients on the counter-top. one of the bags of flour are leaning, threatening to spill over, and he immediately reaches over to right it, before they have a terribly messy situation on their hands.

[break][break] curiosity flickers in his eyes briefly - this time, the curiosity does not have lingering elements of concern. "you own a shop?" his head tilts. "is it titled to your... forging profession?" even as he says it, he's unable to help the slight curve of his mouth, finding amusement when he remembers the words eeby deeby.

[break][break] he pauses in his speculation of the other's career choice, violet eyes finding teal in the dulled luminescence of the room. "actually, i am. though - " he is quick to wave a hand. "nothing official. it's just a hobby of mine. i find baking to be calming in times of distress."

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney

“It was,” they offer simply, though curiosity flares up in the wake of the subject. Fern himself wasn’t that involved, though he’s fully enjoyed the benefits and boost to his business that followed in wake of the city having total Rocket occupation in place. But that day they had remained tucked away, and only a silent observer of the aftermath once it was okay to skulk around again.[break][break]

But where had jayden cross been amid all of it? No doubt, he wouldn’t have made reference to it if he’d not been involved in some capacity. “Likely an unforgettable one, I gather,” they add with another slight shrug, a scrutiny of their own turn on the admin.[break][break]

See? They can be studious too.[break][break]

In a space such as their home, however, Fern cannot hold to that somber nature for long. This is a haven, and while they have, they’ve never been fond of taking work along home with them. Personal, or Rocket affairs. So when the subject eases away, Fern allows it. Doesn’t continue to exacerbate the heaviness that they guess lurks under the surface.[break][break]

“Well, yes. I’ve had to manage somehow,” they say lightly, smiling as they watch him catch the flour bag. White powder poofs up in a small cloud from a loose edge. “A print shop,” Fern clarifies as they edge closer along the counter to reach and better arrange some of the ingredients.[break][break]

And maybe it’s also to draw a bit closer to him too. “Though it is a front for the actual business, yes.”[break][break]

Fern’s brows lift sharply, and a glint flickers through the blue-green of their eyes that has every look of a lightbulb lighting up in their mind. “Will youuuu help me then? I’m bound to burn them, or they’ll come out flat and jawbreaking.” Their head swivels to the side to look at him fully, grinning despite the puppy dog stare they level at him. “Don’t think I’m not above stressing you out to make your mood suit it.” Nose wrinkling at their own joke.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | :3c [break]

perhaps there will be another time to explain his thoughts, but that time will be a long time away — at least until jayden can gather them himself.

[break][break] back in kanto, he never had to worry about the repercussions of a takeover. but that had been because there had never been anything to worry over — but that had been a different time, and he had been a different man back then. the ties that he'd found here on hoenn were different too.

[break][break] in the space of this home, that was warm and friendly in all the ways that his wasn't, jayden feels like that there's something he should say. the admin opens his mouth to speak, but promptly closes it, at the introduction of a new topic.

[break][break] an easier topic.

[break][break] curiosity springs to his expression at the suggestion of this easier topic, somehow eager to learn more about fern delaney. sure, these are also things that he could learn by merely pouring over his file, but there is something somehow enjoyable about hearing them directly from the source.

[break][break] especially because it means that he can hear them at a distance much closer to the other.

[break][break] his brow arches.

[break][break] "oh really?" he asks. "what will you do to stress me out? i think you'll find that i'm pretty tolerant to most stressors." after all, his father made him go through obstacle after obstacle in his training as a youth. torture was not a foreign topic to him.

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney

It is decidedly nice to allow the more serious points of conversation drift away. So perhaps Fern should be grateful for their forgetfulness in what they need to bake. Granted, they would have found something to deviate with, one way or another.[break][break]

Though he is curious when jayden cross ’s mouth opens, as if to say something, then shuts without a word. What were you going to tell me? He decides not to press it, though. If it needs saying, it will be said eventually.[break][break]

It’s much easier to speak on what they know, and allow the space to slowly diminish between them like there’s some magnetic pull that can’t be ignored by law of nature. They like this–they like learning these little tidbits about him. The simple things underneath the seriousness and the formality of his title.[break][break]

You are very literal, they almost say to him. Because of course when Fern says stressors they don’t mean anything truly negative. Upsetting him is not on their agenda. They would…just like to see him a bit flustered again, perhaps.[break][break]

So they say nothing at first. Instead–[break][break]

A soft laugh, airy and lighthearted, lifts into the space between them. There might be a curl of something else there, twined with the sound, if he is paying close enough attention to it. Almost like a purr.[break][break]

“A magician never reveals their secrets,” they hum, head tilting as they look up at him, coy and smirkish. When had Fern drawn closer still to him? They aren’t at liberty to disclose–nor will they reveal when they allowed their hand to sneak along the counter to the bag of flour.[break][break]

Fingers dipped in powdery white, Fern draws a line of flour down the bridge of his nose, feather-light. Subtle touch.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] jayden cross | :3c [break]

the soft laughter that peals from the other's mouth never fails to send his gut churning, but there is something warm about the way that it settles on his skin.

[break][break] "oh?" he says, brows arched. "are you a magician now?"

[break][break] "son of an apothecarist. a forger, a home owner, and now a magician?"

[break][break] his lips curl into a smile.

[break][break] "fern delaney. you are full of secrets."

[break][break] when the powder-dipped finger slides along the bridge of his nose, he's startled. but perhaps not startled enough to pull away; instead he looks towards the other, violet meeting teal.

[break][break] "what was that for?"

[break][break] softly.

[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"] fern delaney