she's squatting down to stick her finger in the honey to catch some of the slowly pooling stream. it's warm to the touch and that itself is a surprise. it shouldn't be flowing like this, what with the shiver in the air right now. foxglove doesn't seem to mind it though, and sniffs at it curiously. 

the buzzing of combee gets louder and willow's stomach lurches, reminded of their time in that horrible vespiquen's gigantic hive. 

foxglove leaps in front of her right before the wood can groan, though they're too far away for any of the splintered pieces to come near them. willow gapes at the shadow of a vespiquen that emerges, splattered with comb, dripping with honey. brackish fluid flows from the holes under its dress and willow startles at the realization that some of the wooden pieces have the same tint. 

"greyson?" she says warily, frozen to the spot. 

Greyson Connors

☉

"i won't reveal my secrets so easily," she says with a waggle of her brows. she reaches for the bill out of reflex, but he's already snatched it away from her. no arguments there. she'd bought his drinks last night too so she doesn't feel too bad about it.

"i drove here, remember? but we can walk, right?" it's not that cold out yet. and besides, with the bit of chill nipping at them, she's inclined to step closer to bo and slip her arm under his. she does so now, shouldering the flowers in one hand.

"oh! but let me put these in the car first."

when she rejoins him, she has a jean jacket donned too. a little something that had wound up in the backseat of the car.

"we should take the horses out together though. i've been trying to convince roman to come out with me. to no avail, of course." she blames the playstation.

boruta maher

☉

all this talk has her feeling apprehensive. it makes her wish bo were here to accompany them, but he'd taken roman out for the day. and anyway, she'd told him she would be fine. greyson is plenty capable. 

still, as they walk across the property, she coos to a sleepy foxglove basking in the morning sun. the leafeon stretches to her feet, shakes out her leaves, and trots at her heel, soft brown eyes heavy from her nap. 

when they come upon the outlier hives, she's taken aback by the buzzing activity. combee zip and dart about. the spigot outside the box drips with viscous golden liquid and willow balks. 

"it's - they made enough to make it overflow."

Greyson Connors

☉

he catches her question and a blush brightens her tanned skin. her nose crinkles in an effort to make it go away. and her eyes brighten when he nears too, noses almost touching, saying yes, of course, as though she could ask him anything and he'd say the very same. 

"remember the bar last night? i'm preeeeetty fast." of course, she'd cheated then - walked right out the fire exit where the car was waiting for her, but bo probably doesn't know that. he'd been dumbfounded enough over it last night. 

"'course i'm not scared. i bet i can still walk around there with my eyes closed. coppers won't stand a chance against us."

boruta maher

☉

it's about that time of year when combee and vespiquen honey production should be slowing down. the bees have made more than enough to hibernate throughout the winter, but hoenn's climate is warmer than most, and so even throughout october and november, they're still hard at work gathering pollen and nectar. 

the bee boxes outside the newest addition to the farm are no exception. the bees themselves are...different than the others. they seem to have boundless energy and she's found herself waking up to their buzzing in the morning as they flit over the gardens. 

her flowers have loved them.

"the livestock don't seem to like them," she comments. her deer pokemon normally grazed along the entire perimeter of the land, but they've kept to the southern side since the construction. at first, she'd thought it was just because of the noise and the traffic over there while the boxes were being worked on, but now that things have been moving on their own, they still haven't returned. 

she tugs anxiously on the hem of her flannel. "we should be able to harvest some at this point. think we'll have any issues taking from the hive?"

Greyson Connors

☉

there's that nagging suspicion that this is bigger than she realizes. her stomach turns a little bit. she should have thought about this. she should have waited and talked to greyson about it at length before inviting more danger to her home. 

but they're bringing protection too.

"we'll take it slow," she says and, two greyson, "with two."

dahlia goode Greyson Connors

☉

he throws in the towel at the same time, but that doesn't mean a whole lot. one of bo's bites is like four of hers and by the time it took her to work through her first and into her second slice, he'd polished off four.

he could probably have beaten the record easily, especially hungover as he probably is right now.

"yeah, i'm sure it is," she days with a roll of her eyes and a bit more nervously, somewhat under her breath: what does that say about me though?"

he asks and almost as if on queue, louise is there with a humongous milkshake, two big straws poking out of the creamy froth. strawberry and chocolate - her favorite - and the check too. will ignores the latter for now and scoots at the edge of her seat to suck on the straw.

"can we go to the arboretum? i know it's a little late, but...maybe we can sneak in like we did before?" she jests.

boruta maher

☉

the smug grin he has on his face is as adorable as it is mildly annoying. she's not some game to be won and she knows that bo knows this, but - oh, hell, lance was an idiot. lance was a mistake. bo knows it. she knows it. and he's right to be happy it ended so catastrophically and ridiculously. 

"yes, you are," she says, rather matter-of-factly. 

her blush deepens at the tap of his foot and she nudges back, ankle to ankle, feeling wholly like they're young and dumb and in love again. 

"i did too." she casts a stray glance at the flowers and admits, "probably when i shouldn't have been." and at that, she takes up her pizza and sinks her teeth in. greasy cheese dribbles down her chin and she swipes at it with her thumb, reaching for more napkins. there's a small pile next to her plate at this point.

"you kids doin' alright?" breezes louise as she goes by, arms full of plates and dirty silverware stacked neatly because louise is a damn professional. and also understands (while willow raises her hands to her mouth so she can talk around her food) before will talks that they'll need a box for her half of the pizza and they're nearing the check.

she winks and totters off and will throws in the proverbial towel (realistically, another napkin). 

"just as good as i remember. i'm stuffed."

boruta maher

☉

"someone else?" she echoes, laughter taking on a bit of an edge, especially as she eyes the taunting purple flowers to the side. she believes him - that he'd take what he can get and she reaches a hand up to touch the dried stems in her hair. PENELOPE LIVY's voice is a gnat in her ear. 

he points to the nasturtium and her flip-flopping feelings finally settle on one side. she bursts out laughing, giggles hidden behind her fingers as he points and points and the definitions are popping up in her head and she's kind of crying too, because it's just so ridiculous. 

a sigh. 

"a long time ago, it was custom in places like galar and kalos for suitors to exchange flowers. most of them have romantic meanings, but bouquets were also sent to friends, business partners, even...enemies. you would have made an old kalosian man very angry with his wife if he found this.

"separately," she goes on, "they all mean their own thing, but together, they tell a story."

she grabs the bundle and picks through it, drawing up one of the hyacinth stems at the back. "these have a few different meanings, but with the others you've picked, it means, mm, a game. or like you're doing something for sport." she chuckles. "lilac isn't so bad. the joy of youth. i give these to roman when he's not being a little shit. but paired with sweet pea, it - bo, it means a fling. blissful pleasures and goodbyes, all topped off with a ring of gorgeous orange nasturtium.

"which means conquest."

she plucks the flowers from her hair; her unruly bang comes along with it. these, she's delicate with as she reaches across the table and tucks them behind bo's ear. the flowers she'd wrapped together when he first started coming around, the flowers she's worn around him for years. 

"white clover," she whispers, "for think of me. and coriander, for hidden worth." her cheeks tinge pink. 

"sometimes lust."

boruta maher

☉

it was easier when they were kids. when they didn't have things like responsibility and family and jobs. well, that's not entirely true, really. hell, the rest of her childhood ended abruptly the moment roman came into her life. she still feels like she should be a kid sometimes, as old as she is. 

"oh, i think that makes sense, as much as it pains me to say it." bo had punched lance in the face during the masquerade. and then she'd thrown champagne over him...

"do they though? i thought ranger captains work in their towns."

but that doesn't matter. he mentions ana and she softens, waving away whatever distance remained in the air so she can gently lay a hand over his own. she didn't know annalise henderson personally, but she was a close friend to ollie, so she must be a good person. 

PENELOPE LIVY is just a special exception in ollie's history.

"she'll be okay," she says, though she lacks conviction. it hadn't sounded good the last time ollie had talked to her. "look, you know i'm always here to talk about it if you need."

ollie morales

☉

gods, what a terrible rebound he'd been. sure, he was attractive (though, for a few months, her attraction to him had inexplicably plummeted), and she'd enjoyed the nice dates. the flowers. but looking back on it now, it all felt so...shallow. 

and here she is, looking at pools of sunlight that are so profoundly hopeful, she can't stop the big smile from spreading over her lips. 

"i already told you i want to kiss you again tonight, doofus. you think i would have suggested the slice if i didn't want this to be a date?"

she turns her head. the only thing holding her unruly bang behind her ear are the wrapped flower stems tucked there. she nods towards the flowers. 

"there's something i...well, the flowers you got me. bo, this one," she says, reaching, laughing now because it's all so ridiculously silly, "this flower means infidelity."

boruta maher

☉

she looks gratefully at greyson. grant aside, the most invaluable part of this deal will be the security. there hasn't been any follow-up yet, not that boruta maher has shared with her at least (and she trusts him, with her whole heart, to tell her), since the red-painted R on the side of his townhome. 

but after meeting jayden cross, after realizing where roman was, after Elisabeth Fiorelli's disappearance, she hasn't exactly had the best peace of mind. 

and they'll be careful. greyson wouldn't do anything that could endanger the farm; his queens and drones are, in all actuality, the most well-behaved residents on the property. 

so when dahlia asks, she interjects and says, "they are. we're still working through our surplus of honey from last spring."

dahlia goode Greyson Connors

☉

so maybe he just really wants to stand around in a towel that's too small for him. he can't really be that scared of wearing some old pants, can he? it's not like samuel's using them. but really, eleanor might actually try to sweep the legs if she catches bo in them. 

"and it was damn good too," she says with a smile over her shoulder. 

her palms are pressed to the counter, but when he offers to help, she pauses and kind of has an oh, duh moment. she shuffles to the side and waves with her hand, reaches for a pan and some butter instead. 

"yes please. elisabet will usually grab stuff for me, but i think she's tired." the leavanny is still in her pot by the window, eyes closed and oblivious to their presence.

"what do you want in your pancakes? blueberries or chocolate chips?"

she feels she knows the answer. 

boruta maher

☉