Overture

Winter furrowed his brows as the other placed the nearly wrapped package by the door. It seemed as though he already knew that the mother wasn’t home, so Winter didn’t bother mentioning it. Perhaps he overheard his conversation with Kiyoteru.

“Uh,” he extended his hand to me Jeri’s shake and blinked. He had a title? Sounded pretty official. This was definitely not his ideal way to be meeting somebody, though. Yknow. On the grounds that they both probably had fucked the girl.

He cleared his throat. “I’m winter. What… Did you do to piss Ivy off and am I going to face the same wrath as you?” He didn’t know what he did, but the white haired guy seemed to be pretty confident about her throwing things at him and if they were in the same boat as he had said, Winter was pretty sure he’d been doomed.

May be time to cross this one off the list.

The white haired man let out a mild chuckle as he shook the other’s hand at his question, “Winter huh? Alright, I’ll keep that in mind..” He trailed off, pausing in thought as he retracted his hand, tapping his chin.

“Ah, now what was it that I did…mmm I can’t say I remember at the moment honestly, though if anything, being younger and stupid was probably part of it~” He didn’t seemed bothered by it at all! No fear from this man!

The door creaked open and instead of the curly haired redhead he expected to answer, it was Kiyoteru. Winter froze. Pun not intended. “U-Um, Rei, sir, Rei-san! Sir. Ahem. Is um, is your daughter home?”

Kiyo furrowed his brows. Why did this girl always have men coming over to the house? Did she have ANY girl friends? He sighed and shook his head. “She lives in Unova now, actually.”

“Unova?!”

He nodded. “She’s going to University there. Did you need something? I’ll let her know you stopped by. My wife is out, but–”

“No, it’s fine,” he interrupted. Pinda was getting fussy now. “Thank you though. I hope she’s doing well. No need to mention me. I’m sorry for bothering you, sir.” A wave and he turned, hearing the door shut behind him; however, now he was standing face to face with a white haired man who looked rather perplexed. 

Winter blinked, unsure of what to do. This was awkward. “Um… Ivy isn’t home, if that’s why you’re here…” he trailed off. Was it why he was there? DID THEY HAVE THE SAME IDEA? I’m a scumbag, he thought, the scumiest of scum. Would this dude sense his scumbaggery? Was he ALSO a scumbag?

And how much of a whore was Ivy, Arceus damn.

“That’s all too fine, if anything she’d probably start throwing stuff at me…” The white haired man, waved his hand to clam the other, smiling as has gaze turned to the door, “Honestly, I’m just here to drop something off to Asuna, a little errand she had me run is all.”

He could sense the other’s aura, it gave off a rather nervous feel if he could put any words to it. It caused him to chuckle.

“You have no need to be to tense around me. I knew Ivy before, though to her I’m going to guess me and you are in the same boat of company she doesn’t want around anymore.” It kind of hurt to say that, but none the less it was true. 

Jericho would place a small package at the door before turning back to the other. 

"Uh," he extended his hand to me Jeri's shake and blinked. He had a title? Sounded pretty official. This was definitely not his ideal way to be meeting somebody, though. Yknow. On the grounds that they both probably had fucked the girl.

He cleared his throat. "I'm winter. What... Did you do to piss Ivy off and am I going to face the same wrath as you?" He didn't know what he did, but the white haired guy seemed to be pretty confident about her throwing things at him and if they were in the same boat as he had said, Winter was pretty sure he'd been doomed.

Okay, maybe she needed to delegate more. Or just hire more help, the money from Furuka’s company had certain been helpful so far.

“Yep!” he replied, leaning over her shoulder to read the list in her hands before grabbing a few things off the shelf. “We’ve beat the Kanto league--thought I’d try my luck in Hoenn.”

Pinda squeaked when he leaned in, batting as his face and then watching him pace a few of the needed items into the cart. 

“And... you were going to carry all of this by yourself?” he murmured, wide eyed as she read off the list and he followed the two girls down the aisles. Man, it was a good thing he came along, what would they have done otherwise? How often did they do this sort of thing? At least bring a wagon! he thought. 

The spinda reached out and tried to grab all of the items on the shelf as they passed them, squirming curiously at all the colorful boxes of food. 

“A whole lot,” Tanja said, tickling Pinda’s chin, “It’s taken years for us to build the facility and its programs up like we have.”

Tinny rolled her eyes, but smiled as she walked ahead. Tanja had been so focused on work lately that she was stressing herself out. A little, normal human interaction was good. She was amused to see how easily her trainer was getting along with this human. Tanja giggled, amused at the idea of the Spinda sitting in the cart. As soon as Winter returned with it, she set Pinda down in the cart and played with her paws, singing along with her.

“I definitely have to check it out then! I can’t wait,” he replied. This girl was kind of cute, he thought as he watched her fawn over his companion pokemon. But, hm, she was probably pretty busy with this job of her--sounded like a lot of work.

Tanja squeaked excitedly, reaching out to take the Pokemon. So soft! She cradled Pinda, cooing and stroking her fur, “Oh my goodness!”

Winter chuckled as he handed his pokemon off to the other. “That makes sense... wow, there’s a lot that goes into it, huh?” 

Pinda squeaked and grabbed at Tanja hands playfully. “Spii! Spiiiii~” she sang. She loved meeting new people, especially girls. Winter was great and all, but something about girls made the spinda really excited!

Tanja felt her cheeks blush a bit. She’d never been given a nickname before, how fun! Tinny stood and shook, walking ahead of the two. The trainer followed, giving the Spinda another smile.

“You think so? Hear that, Pinda? She thinks you’re cuuute.”

Tanja puffed her cheeks a little, “I mean, yeah, but we usually make it just fine.”

Tinny snorted from where she lay on the ground. Yeah, they make it just fine if you consider whining and dropping no less than two bags every trip ‘just fine’. Tanja blushed and twirled a strand of hair between her fingers, “Well, I wouldn’t turn down some help…”

“Hah! Wow, you must say that a lot in a day, it was almost automatic, like you didn’t even have to think about it,” Winter replied, getting back up on his toes to try and see down the road, but it was too far off in the distance. “I haven’t heard of places like that before. I’ve heard of service pokemon but I never really thought about where they came from!”

“I.. I suppose one couldn’t hurt,” she looked down at Tinny, who was sitting very calmly at the man’s feet. What was up with her today? The usual cool, aloof Pokemon was being incredibly friendly. The Ninetales whined sweetly, wiggling her tails at the sight of the Puffs.

“Sounds like a handful,” he replied as he leaned down to give the pokemon a treat and pat it on the head. “There ya go... Man, you’re pretty, aren’t you?”

The spinda in his arms seemed jealous as it whined and squirmed, reaching out to try and grab a pokepuff of it’s own. 

@winter-rising

His immediate reaction was to lift up the spinda at his feet, cradling in it in his arms before he smiled down at the new pokemon sniffing him all over. “Heh! Hey there, wassup fella?” he asked, standing on his toes and looking over his shoulder at the ninetales behind him. He let it sniff him with a laugh and then straightened up to see who he assumed to be it’s owner running towards them. 

‘No worries,” he replied, “I guess I smell good! Not really sure why though...”

Oh!