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The Gingko Guild uniforms were generally well-suited to Hisui's colder climate. Generally is the key word, though, because as Volo dangled his legs off the Coastlands' cliffs, he found that the copious amounts of sweat pouring off of him were gumming his underclothes to his body and threatening to seep through his jacket. And it was making his well-concealed frown begin to seep through his face, too. It was a terrible day to be "working."
Volo laid back in the grass, closing his eyes, since sitting up to catch the wind did nothing for his troubles if there wasn't enough of a breeze to cool him off. In the new world, people won't need to sweat anymore. If they even exist. The grass was hardly any cooler than the air, and he pushed away the thoughts nagging him about how filthy his hair was going to be when he finally made it back to the village and got the chance to wash properly. He pushed his hat, already threatening to fall off, backwards into the grass. It didn't cool anything, but it at least gave his scalp a little bit of relief.
As much as he'd like to blow off his gathering duties and take a nap, falling asleep with his legs hanging over the edge of certain doom was a piss-poor idea, and he wasn't an idiot. The wild pokemon hadn't bothered him yet, at least, but he wanted to stay alert enough that he could fend them off if something decided he looked tasty, or simply better off dead than alive. He couldn't die now, no matter what.
"Oh my—Volo, is that you?!" That girl squeaked, cutting off before a swear he noticed most acutely. Volo groaned. "Are you…are you breathing?!" The thick grass absorbed her footsteps decently, but not well enough for him to just pretend he didn't hear her when she squatted down and tried to look to see if his chest was still rising and falling. She poked the top of his skull until he opened his eyes to a mere squint for a moment just to confirm it was the Akari he thought it was. (He was right. He can't get a break.) Her eyes sparkled with worry.
"I'm fine," said Volo, pushing through a typical smile and letting his eyes close again. "A bit gross, though. It's far too hot for my tastes."
"I can tell," Akari pointed. His smile tightened barely for half a second. What was that supposed to mean. "Your hair looks pretty nasty."
"You're, ah, hurting my feelings."
"I mean—it's not like it's your fault you're sweaty…" deflected Akari, pulling back to stand at her full height. "But, sorry?"
"It's not a problem if it's my favorite customer. Just be careful who you say things like that to. Not everyone is as relaxed as me."
"You're definitely looking relaxed right now," she giggled.
"Don't push it with the sarcasm, please. Like I already reminded you," a pause, "I do have feelings."
"Right, right, and that's why you're in the dirt with a messy uniform and messier hair."
That's enough. Volo wrenched himself back into a sitting position, rubbing his eyes with the base of his palms. Akari always ended up right with him whenever he wanted her around the least. He twists around to grab his hat, and finds her already holding it out expectantly. He smiles when he takes it, smoothing the stray hairs down with one hand before he pulls the cap back on with another.
"Since I'm properly awake now, was there anything you needed? I'm never without my stock, even all the way out here."
"But you don't have your bag?"
"It's over…" Volo pushed himself away from the ledge until he put enough distance between himself and the cliff's edge to risk nothing by standing up. He spun around to point at the tree he left his bag under, and his jaw goes slack in surprise. "There…?"
It's open. And nearby was a squad of aipom sorting—and chewing, and destroying—their way through everything he brought. His only solace here was that as she turned her confused gaze unto the tree, her own expression came to mirror his own rather quickly.
"HEY!" Volo boomed, and Akari startled back from him. Damned jumpy child. The aipom (one in the bag, three already digging into piles of precious stolen material) turned their round heads to stare at him in complete ambivalence before they returned to their snack time. "I said—"
A Typhlosion sprung out before him, roaring a battle cry. The critters scattered, squeaking and dropping trails of half-chewed food and scraps behind them. A couple bug and flying Pokemon that must have been nearby took to the skies as well, shaking the trees as they went. Akari clicked a pokeball shut, pocketed it, and turned to Volo with a beaming grin. Why did it take all that just to scare off some pests—why didn't they listen to him—when he couldn't just let one of his pokemon deal with it himself—where's his respect—
"I fixed it!" She declared, but Volo didn't even turn to look at her, just stared at the scene of verdant desolation with his eyebrows furrowed and his teeth grit as a drop of sweat rolled down the side of his face. Medicinal plants. Berries. Cakes and lures he made with his own hands and his precious time that he could have spent doing literally anything else. All ripped apart by a tiny tornado of little pokemon paws. Hands?
"Are you kidding me…?" Volo choked out a laugh. Everything he'd brought. Everything he gathered. The only saving grace was that they might have left the notes he kept with the inventory numbers well alone, but knowing rambunctious rascals like Aipom, even that couldn't be guaranteed.
"Did I at least help?" Akari turned to him, her tense smile accompanied with a shrug. "I mean, they would've gotten more if I hadn't—"
"Yes, you helped." He spoke quickly, just barely short of snapping. Anything to shut her up right now. "My sincerest apologies, I can just tell by looking that I've lost a lot of stock due to my carelessness. Ha ha…" Cute airheaded Volo. It would do wonders for his image, but he couldn't ignore the coming disaster on his pocket money. If Ginter was going to kick him out, he would've done so long ago, but he could already feel the surge of annoyance that came with a scolding (and of course, the subsequent apologies). Lowering himself to I'm so sorry, I got surprised, I really did my best, I'll do better next time, smiling like an idiot.
"I can help get some things to replace it."
"…Yes," he mumbled. What's having her look for one more thing, hm? It's what she's good for. "Yes, thank you. That would be of the utmost assistance to me. You're the best customer someone like me could ever hope for." Good thing he was above all of this in the end. He didn't care if he lied or not, but praising her made him sick, and seeing her laugh and stomp her feet around made it even worse. He walked towards his bag so he could at least strap closed the pockets the Aipom had ripped open. "I'm going back to the village to tell the others what happened."
"…Uh, you don't want to help me?" Akari followed him as a togepi follows its trainer, , crossing her arms. "You're the one who—"
"I've already done a lot today," he lied, reaching out to pat her on the head. "I'm far too exhausted to do much else, especially at this altitude." An even worse lie. "I'll see you later, okay? I promise that when I have something to sell you, I'll give you a huge discount."
"Oh, good. Everything's so expensive normally..!" He was not going to stifle her relief by telling he he usually charged her double in the first place. At least he'll get a softer image in her eyes thanks to this disaster.
"Alright. See you tomorrow!" He hefted the pack back on, stretching his shoulders. He'll at least be able to nap safely in Jubilife.
"See you tomorrow—wait, where should we—"
"I'll ask around and find you. Don't worry."
"You always do, somehow. Wanna teach me your tracking tricks?"
"That's a trade secret worth five million poke, unfortunately." He held his finger to his lips. "See you tomorrow, Akari."
She pouted. "Yeah. See you tomorrow."