willow doesn't often do things on a whim. she's a creature of habit, but that doesn't come as a surprise to many. to those who know her, at least. and with her dinner date suddenly gone because of 'important ranger duties,' she'd decided to take lou out on some of the ashen trails near fallarbor.

and by the time they pass meteor falls, lou is picking up his gait, happy to stretch his legs. willow brings him to a steady canter, grinning at the wind tearing through her hair. 

when rustboro's skyline greets them, she pulls lou to a stop. he nickers and stomps the ground once, turning in place while willow deliberates. and then, thinking, well, i'm already here... she spurs him on. 

hooves clatter on cobblestone and then slow on grass as willow angles him around bo's small front yard. a neighbor peers out the window at her and she waves sheepishly. it's not hard to miss the blastoise and its trainer spraying the side of the house. 

at first willow thinks bo's doing some sort of late-fall cleaning, but the smile drops from her face when she sees the graffiti on the wall.

"bo? what is that?" she asks as she slides out of her saddle. 

boruta maher

☉

willow has dealt with her fair share of disgusting smells from 1. living on a farm and 2. raising a roman. so she only recoils slightly and has no qualms shoving it away from them and off of her beach towel. the carcass rolls into the sand and ronin snickers at bo's halfhearted instruction. 

roman only cackles some more, reaching down to swipe it up and dangle it daringly in front of the dewott's face. 

willow decides that this must be the universe telling her something. every time she thinks of taking some of the weight off her heart, something comes up. and besides, she consoles herself, what more could she want than this? they're comfortable this way, together in a sense that keeps her safe. 

"let's build a castle. maybe he'll get jealous and join us instead of puppeteering dead crustaceans," she says with a playful scrunch of her nose. 

boruta maher

☉

her consciousness burns with questions she can't ask, questions she shouldn't want to ask, but they're there nonetheless. she truly had been caught off guard by lance showing up; is that why she keeps coming back to that thought? about how that day could have ended differently?

her gaze softens at the confession and she wants to assuage any guilt he feels, to tell him that he's not keeping her from anything. does he think he does? 

his attempt at lightening the mood makes her huff of frustration, the proverbial straw snapping as her trainwreck thoughts meet their utter end. she shifts, the knee against her back resting now against her thigh. brows knit down over green eyes and she rests a tentative hand on his leg. 

"that's the problem, bo. you're not stupid. sometimes i feel like i'm the one who - " but she's cut off before she can finish her confession by the cackling sound of roman's laughter as he rushes towards them. 

"look at this sickass krabby ronin found!" and then the smell of dead fish assaults her nose as roman's dewott slams down a half-rotted carcass of what was once a krabby. 

boruta maher

☉

you're my - 

and her heart thump-thumps in her chest and she pulls in a tight breath, wanting to hear someone, anyone tell her that they love her. that she's not as alone as she feels. but then there's a sharp intake on the other side and suddenly ollie is rushing her off the phone. 

her smile is false, but that's fine - he's not there to see it. "yeah! have a - have a good night, ollie." and then she hangs up, swallows. 

and it all comes out like a flood. jealousy rips through her and anger squeezes her sides and sadness burns her eyes. no matter how much she cries, she can't seem to get the nasty wraiths to leave her alone. so she ends up somehow, miraculously, falling asleep in a swath of tissues, mouth pulled in a grimace, her last thoughts of the tattoos stretching across the knuckles of a man she'd never stopped loving. 

ollie morales

☉

it's not really the crowd that has her feeling a little out of it, she thinks, but she doesn't say that either because she can't really put it into words. lance's grip tightens around hers and she steps closely after him, glad he's here to lead the way for her. thankfully, he takes them by the pier, away from the noisiest parts, and the sea has her grinning. 

"it's beautiful!" a lot nicer than slateport's beaches, that's for sure. in the hottest summers, and back when her parents were still around and she could afford to, she'd packed him up and hauled him off with her for a day trip. 

long days, for sure, and most of them ended with roman fast asleep in the back of her dad's rundown pick-up truck.

"i bet the seafood's to die for. krabby cakes?" there's a fairly busy stand selling such a few paces away from them. her mouth waters. "what do you usually go for?"

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

willow nods along with him. roman chatters about his days with his dad to her, much more now that he's started therapy. part of her thinks he glamourizes some of it in some backwards attempt to make her jealous. he's not exactly sly as oftentimes he brings it up right after she tells him lance is on his way over. 

"well, i'm glad you're getting a break," she says. she stretches out her legs; in her shifting, the small of her back rests against bo's knee. 

"i've been good. the honey business has taken off like crazy. you know summer's my favorite, but i'm kind of excited for fall 'cause the bees will stop producing. ma's been doing a little better."

she looks down at her hands. "i'm sorry for - well, i didn't know lance was going to be there that day." she chews her lip, brows furrowing. she'd told lance he hadn't needed to explain, but it still eats at her. and she doesn't really have anyone to talk to about it. ollie morales's busy with ranger things; Greyson Connors's busy with his gym; Elisabeth Fiorelli has her own shop that's been just as busy as her own. 

and really - dumbly and stupidly - the only person she wants to talk about this with is bo.

"we weren't, um - well, i hadn't seen him for a while. he just kind of left." and hell if that isn't a sore spot for her. she sucks in a breath. "sorry, i just? i haven't been able to talk to anyone and ugh, you don't want to hear this."

boruta maher

☉

there is something unspoken. there is something in this stranger's eyes, something on the tip of his tongue, but her order, as forward as it may have been, seems to silence him. she chews her lip nervously. elisabet still watches from her pot of soil, position changing only when jayden reaches up to his chest. 

the words hang in the air for a couple of heartbeats before it clicks. and willow finds herself sliding heavily into the chair beside him, eyes never leaving that spot on his shirt. 

"it was you?" a new slew of emotions runs through her, nerves firing. but one stands out - relief. relief to know that no one is going to come busting down her door looking for roman. relief that the person he'd stabbed is okay. has recovered. 

but then that distrust comes back. that thumping in her heart telling her that this man is dangerous. that he is a stranger she let into her home.

"why would he want to hurt you? you said he went to you for help..."

jayden cross

☉

willow chuckles at ollie's faux anger. she recognizes that lilt in his voice, can imagine the face he's making into the phone right as he says it. it makes her heart hurt all the more and a couple more tears slip down the sides of her cheeks. she brushes them away, shoving today's events back down in a box where they belong. 

"you think so?" she asks. and genuinely, she's excited to meet PENELOPE LIVY . there's a certain feeling there, sure, of protectiveness. because she cares about ollie. because she doesn't want to see him hurt. but with the way he talks about her, all puppy-eyed, she can only imagine she's sweet as can be. 

"'kay, then it's settled. just tell me her favorite and i'll make sure to make it." 

she sniffles. "thanks, ols. for being here. for picking up."

ollie morales

☉

while lance's attention is on her, willow can only focus on what's going on around her. the hustle and bustle of the port town's life is infectious and she can't help her staring. children run around, chasing circles around their parents, and couples go about enjoying the casual day. 

oddly, she feels kind of like she's outside of it, looking in. 

"food," she says, blinking and looking back at him. she smiles apologetically. "sorry, this is a little overwhelming. in a good way!" saying i don't get out much sounds pitiful, so she doesn't. she just squeezes his hand and trusts him to lead them onward. 

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

her face pales and the direness of the situation settles over her, made worse by the thin line of greyson's mouth. hurt flits over her features. as much sense as it makes, as much as she should turn tail and run, they're in those together now. whether he likes it or not. because if something happened to him down here, how could she ever forgive herself? 

no, later she'll have words with him about how stupid they were to keep trekking down on their own. 

she reaches for her pokeballs and drops one to stand by elisabet. foxglove shakes out her leaflike ears and tail, brown eyes widening as the primal energy reaches towards her.

camellia re-emerges too; dust flits off of her silent wings. 

"you can't do this yourself, greyson. elisabet and foxglove will help your team. i'll hold off the swarm with camellia. because you know as soon as you go after her, the rest of the hive is going to be on top of us." 

Greyson Connors

☉

willow is, unfortunately, woefully ignorant of much of what's going on in the region, nevermind outside of it. years ago, when her father was still around, they'd wake up in the morning together and sip coffee in the yard. often, she'd lose herself in a book while he read the morning paper, but sometimes he chatted about the news with her. 

now that she thinks about it, she can't remember the last time she'd performed that morning ritual. 

"i hope so too, but i won't hold my breath," she says with a small smile. "i really do have too much going on here to even think about something as silly as a vacation."

she laughs and reaches forward to screw the lid back onto the jar. "you joke, but i'm almost getting desperate enough to try." she stands again to go put it back, snagging an unopened bottle on her way back. she pushes it towards elisabeth. "for your friend."

she tucks her hair back again. "lou's almost all settled. and i think lucky's on his way to evolving, rambunctious as he is. ring me next time before ya come up and we can do some riding."

Elisabeth Fiorelli

☉

oh, how she wishes bo were here. he would have the courage to ask the right questions. he'd be able to stomach his pride, to admit to his failings, for the good of his son. he has already. but willow? she hasn't tried to get an answer out of him since that night. they've skirted around it, ignored it, and time has lessened its weight. 

so rather than elaborate, she stares down at her hands. rather than ask for more, she goes silent. and so the stranger keeps talking, sharing wisdom posed as a question. 

"i...no, i don't think he wanted to do that." that roman never wanted to hurt someone because of some whim. she's known about his anger, about his bottled frustration. 

enough brushing it under the rug. 

"i don't know who you are and i don't want to know." she stands and goes to the kitchen, where she withdraws a stack of post-it notes adorned with mass-printed flowers. she plucks one off, scribbles her number down, and sticks it in front him. 

"but if he ever comes to you again - if he's ever in trouble, i need to know."

jayden cross

☉

i think that's it. 

and so it is. the chamber yawns open. the sounds of hundreds of wings fluttering is almost ear-splitting and willow immediately feels a headache coming on. her fingers curl and she feels very, very out of her depth, but greyson's confident air stops her from panicking. 

at the center of the open space, with half-formed comb stuck to its side, is a large red crystal. with the rest of the noise, it would be impossible to distinguish the humming that comes from it, but the pitch is at a much higher frequency. pulses of light emanate from it, washing over the vespiquen that towers above it. 

Greyson Connors
bees pt. 3

☉