oof. she hadn't really anticipated him having any trouble, but she can only imagine that the schematics were a bit out of date. and her father wasn't half as meticulous as willow is - notes in the margins, poems scattered throughout, sometimes a drawing of whatever pokemon struck his interest at the time. 

"sorry 'bout that. i'll come with you for the next round of supplies. we'll go to a hardware store down the road. darryl'll probably be able to translate dad's chicken scratch better than me."

mamo comes when willow beckons her. it's a delicate process, maneuvering such a beast around the truck, but willow finally gets her tusks just under the bed of the truck and hops in herself. 

greyson grabs some of the more awkward pieces that won't slide clean into the mamoswine's waiting tusks. she crouches and pushes some of the wooden boards with a grunt. 

"less admiring, more unloading," she huffs teasingly. 

Greyson Connors

☉

well, that explains why he's so trim. bo was always fairly fit as a kid, but his time in the rangers slimmed him down and bulked him up. and there i go again, thinking about him. she turns back to the conversation at hand. 

"i think an office job might actually kill me," she agrees. "i don't get to travel a lot by nature of my work, but at least my space is mine." 

she looks down at her hands, at the callouses on her fingertips from her guitar-playing, at the roughness of her palms. they may not be the prettiest, but she'd take these over manicured nails for an office job any day. 

"well, you already know where to find me if you need an excuse to get out."

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

consider her smitten. small acts of kindness, especially when it comes to pokemon, are brownie points in her book. that confident, warm smile of hers gets just a little bit more shy. she looks away when he flatters her shop, thinks, maybe i will just have save him a slice because it's starting to feel like maybe this is more than just empty wiles, pleasantries between strangers. 

"you're sweet," she says before she loses her nerve otherwise. 

she looks in the basket, trying to eyeball what she'll need for the cobblers. they've gathered a fair amount, but she thinks i could use a little bit more. and maybe it's a lie, if only to prolong the company she keeps. 

"do you travel often then?"

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

"thanks," she says. "it's old property. my great-grandfather passed it down to my grandfather, but he never had an interest in coming back. my father, on the other hand," she says and points to the makeshift shed, the cobbled-together greenhouse, "turned it into something remarkable."

she'd found her father's schematics in his old trunk, something that usually sits next to her workbench, covered in potted plants. she'd sent them over to greyson some time ago and she assumes what's in the back are the materials they're going to need to build it. 

"i'll give you the full tour when we break for lunch." mamo moves a bit unsteadily when the truck rumbles up, but relaxes when she sees willow kick open her door and hop out.

"you have any trouble finding any of the parts?"

Greyson Connors

☉

she turns, a bit surprised. he'd been a rising star throughout school. she hadn't followed his career really closely, and certainly not at all when her family cut most of its ties from rustboro, but still. 

"i keep hearing about the minor league. i met someone recently who's doing something with them. a Greyson Connors . know him?" 

dinner at her place would actually probably be for the better. she's still in the midst of building bee boxes with her new acquaintance. 

family vacation when there's work to be done? absolutely not.

CIAN MAHER
skipping

☉

half of her had thought she'd be forgotten. even after exchanging numbers with her new business partner, she'd thought surely this is too good to be true. adelaide had asked her about it, questioned whether she was going to bring up a contract or something, but willow's old school and country at heart; the folk around here work off good deeds and trust alone. 

rarely does she pay cash when she goes out to their businesses. it's usually an exchange of veggies, time spent healing their pokemon, or on rare occasion, donating arrangements for a special event. 

elisabet is tending to the flower shop while willow works in the back. she'd spent the better part of the past couple of days working with her mamoswine to clear about half an acre of land for them to use. both are exhausted by the time they day finally comes around for greyson's arrival, but it's an exhaustion she's used to. 

she comes out around the side of the building with a wave. someone leaves the flower shop at the same time and willow greets her warmly, exchanging a few pleasantries before explaining someone's waiting for her. 

the older woman, with a bundle of flowers in her hands, waves to greyson as well, and grabs the reins of a rapidash that had been picketed out front. 

she rounds the other side of the truck and opens the door, letting herself into the passenger seat. "how are ya?" she asks with a grin. 

"you'll want to pull around the other side. don't worry about the grass. just head towards the mamoswine."

Greyson Connors

☉

is he...? a couple of berries fumble out of her hands. her brain goes on the fritz for a moment, thinking, that sounds really nice actually and he is really handsome and should i tell him i have a kid? and what will bo think? 

and it's at that last thought that her stomach drops, that she thinks, not fair, and stands, berries back in her palm. she drops them in the basket and offers lance a warm smile - heartfelt, truly. 

"i'll be sure to set some aside. atkins' arrangements," she says. "ask just about anyone in fallarbor and they'll be able to tell you where we are." pride shines in her voice, in her eyes.

LANCE VOLLANS

☉

and it's convenient to boot. is this the universe finally giving her a break? she hopes so, 'cause she's been put through the damn ringer the past month. but that's not so much the universe's doing as it is roman's. and maybe having giant bees lording over him will do him some good. he won't admit it, but willow knows the tauros she'd taken in scares the daylight out of him. 

so far, she hasn't been able to lay hands on the creature. her mamoswine stands at one end of the fence while willow slips in the other side to feed the creature. she's already had a few close calls when it hasn't proved as distracted as she'd thought. 

she ties her own bags and draws herself from her thoughts, instead focusing on the good that's happening right in front of her. 

"sounds good. granted i was so wrapped up in our discussion, i didn't even notice we'd managed to clean all this up."

she checks for any grime or tears on the outside of the bags and then slings them over her shoulder. the trash rustles inside.

"minor league? i'm a bit out of the loop with the gym circuit."

Greyson Connors

☉

she waves a hand dismissively, smile still decorating her features. oh, she'll need plenty of time for sure. her father had constructed some wooden hives in the past. she'd since sold them off, but if she can find his old blueprints somewhere in the shed, she should be able to recreate them. it can be her winter project. 

"yes, i'm sure. i'd like to see the land worked more than it is. honestly, i've been toying with the idea of hiring some hands come springtime. this might motivate me to do just that.

"you'll have to come around sometime to see the place. like i said, it's in fallarbor. not a whole lot of folks pass through, but the locals are a generous bunch. i'm sure we'll have plenty of help getting it up and running. i'll just need to ask."

she laughs again. "wow. after the past couple of weeks, i really needed this. thank you. really."

Greyson Connors

☉

"what're the odds indeed?" she says. after what she's been through lately, a bit of good news is a nice bit of relief. she really has wanted to work with combee and vespiquen, and while the hives themselves are pretty self-reliant, getting them started takes time. it takes time she doesn't have and hands that certainly wouldn't enjoy helping her. 

bo certainly would, if she asked, but it's a bit stressful having him around the house, and around roman, right now. 

she needs to get her head on straight. 

"i do know someone, as a matter of fact." she points to herself. "consider the land yours. we can talk logistics over the winter months and of course, you can look at it before you decide, but i'm more than happy to put aside some of my crop lands for the hives. i've been scaling back over the past few years anyway and a lot of it hasn't been getting the use it deserves."

elisabet buzzes with her trainer's energy. she chitters a grating, bug-like sound - a hum she's picked up from willow while working in the greenhouse. 

"very serendipitous to meet you, greyson." 

even the sludge that gets all over her work boots doesn't bother her. she scrapes some of it off on a pile of leaves and starts picking up cigarette butts now that a majority of the bigger trash has been gathered.

Greyson Connors

☉