when she notices him looking around and towards roman's room, she says, "it's early. he won't be up 'til noon." there's a chance he's up, really, and is just playing video games on his phone. he does that sometimes to get away with doing the early morning farm work she tasks him with. 

lately, considering bo, she's been letting him get away with it. 

she leans back against the bannister separating the top level from the stairs and looks concernedly at her friend. his eyes are wild, hair mussed, and something must be really wrong if he can't even stop to properly say hi. or give her that usual ollie smile. 

"ollie, come on. you'd never do anything bad. out with it."

ollie morales boruta maher

☉

the last time they'd been here, she had felt much the same way she does now. warm after a nice meal, clumsy with anticipation and the squirrely anxiety that comes along with doing something you know you're not supposed to do, but doing it anyway because it feels right with the person you love, where nothing about the after matters, only the present. 

when she looked back on it, as she often had these last few years, it had been easy to chalk up her behavior to teenage hormones and lust, but now, close to him as she is, laughing while the years fall away, now she thinks it's just him. 

she looks up at the trees and they don't look taller at all. in fact, it all feels so much smaller. but she doesn't mind. all of those paths gone, cut away in lieu of motherhood, trapping her in fallarbor, keeping her close and just out of arm's reach from bo, close enough to find him again. 

close enough to smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling, and to reach up and cradle his jaw, tucking her thumb against his chin to ask, without words, will you kiss me again?

boruta maher

☉

it's been really nice having bo around. like, really nice. they've been taking it slow. by most accounts, they've been taking it slow - years of bottled emotions have all coalesced at once. bo hasn't exactly moved in, per se, but he spends a lot of his time around. 

he's stayed the night the past few nights. and she's been slow to wake, too pleased to lounge in bed curled up in his arms. 

she's half-dozing when ollie knocks, but sits straight up, moving off bo's heavy arm. she wriggles out of bed and jumps into her jeans, tosses on one of bo's shirts (which hangs more like a dress on her), and breezes down the hallway, down the stairs, and opens the door to one very panicked looking ollie. 

"ols? what - is everything okay?"

ollie morales boruta maher

☉

"don't tell me you're still drunk from last night," she says with a chuckle. it couldn't possibly be...maybe before the pizza, sure, but now?

either way, the flowers get tossed in the car and she's more able to slip her arm around bo's. he has to slow down to match her stride, but she knows he doesn't mind and anyway, she walks fast! fast enough that they get to the arboretum quickly  before the cold can set in. 

she takes them around the sides. of course they're not going to waltz right through the visitor center. they have their own way in, if she can remember where it is...

"ha! still here." in retrospect, it's kind of sad that the loose flats of part of the outer fence are still loose. or maybe it's not. maybe they weren't the first or the last unruly teens to sneak into this place after dark, alone among the flowers.

"come on," she whispers. and then simpers, "cowboy."

boruta maher

☉

they clear off away from the area. she leaves foxglove seated well enough away, but with clear instructions to ward off any of the other curious residents. 

when greyson approaches, her mouth flattens. 

"yeah," she says and holds out the shadow-touched venom comb on the flannel. "you got the queen?" and then, with a stern frown, "this wasn't supposed to be dangerous."

Greyson Connors

☉

with quite a bit of coaxing, nacho does what willow needs him to do. she's teasingly argued with boruta maher before that he listens to her way more, but this definitely seals the deal. foxglove does her best to quiet down the rest of the denizens; some of the deer had been spooked off, but she lends a soothing tie of energy with helping hand to draw them back.

above the treeline that sky still lingers, an oppressive force against the backdrop of the otherwise sleepy flower farm. and then it dissipates. the mid-afternoon sun shines back through. relief floods through her. 

with more light, she picks through the flooded patch of field to admire nacho's handiwork. 

'hazelnut, what did you find there?" she squats down next to the greedent. he clicks his tongue and holds out a battered piece of comb. it's stained black through and through. 

willow shakes off her flannel and wraps the piece in it and pats the squirrel on the head. 

"come on, all of you. we'll have the greyson and the league deal with the rest of this."

Greyson Connors

☉

he looks out for her. this is what a member of the elite four does. this is what the league does. she feels a low pang of guilt for what bo's lost - he helped people, he helped so many people like greyson - but that too fades away in the face of terror. 

the sky darkens.

willow's face pales and she nods tersely to greyson - what else can she do? he takes off after the battling vespiquen and willow sticks her fingers in her mouth to whistle. foxglove joins her with a squirrelly cry and nacho lopes from the side of the barn, mermaid tail fluttering behind him. 

"nacho, no, not play time," she says, exasperated and runs her tongue along the roof of her mouth. her cheeks tingle. a pleasant shiver goes down her spine and her nose crinkles, brows furrowing with worry immediately after when she realizes she must still have had honey on her hands from before. 

"i need you to wash down that area with the wood. but be careful."

Greyson Connors

☉

at this point, she's thankful boruta maher took roman into town today for a boy's day. the sudden swarming of the combee have the rest of the farm animals in an uproar. she flinches back, despite ellie's shield, quivering like a leaf, and tries her damnedest to steel herself so she can check on the overflowing hive. 

she pops open the slats and looks furiously through the comb. it lacks that same brackish tint seen on the other one. 

"if it's an infection, i don't see it in this hive," she shouts. foxglove gives an approving sniff and twines anxiously around willow's legs.

Greyson Connors

☉

a shadow pokemon? a mutation? 

"how'd it get on the farm?" she says, lower lip trembling, but then she shakes her head. nevermind that. they need to deal with the problem at hand. foxglove even reacts to viv's scent, cowering down with bowed front paws, and the rest of the combee scatter. 

save for a couple behind the aptly named shadow pokemon. those spin in tight circles, looking dazed.

willow moves a careful inch to the side in order to inspect the nearest hive, but the shadow vespiquen reacts violently to the sudden movement. 

Greyson Connors

☉

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

☉