Work Text:
Plumeria whistled sharply, the sound piercing through the air. “Eh you dahmehs, hahrreh up awrehdeh!” she yelled, urging her Mudsdale into a gallop. “You fawkin clowns, look! Dis fawkin Sinnoh lehdeh steh tryin’ moa hahd den you!” Volo watched as the rest of the ranchers startled in their saddles — all except for one. Akari fell into stride with the snarling girl with an excited whoop, pushing the loaned Mudsdale into a breakneck sprint as the duo herded the rowdy Tauros. The couple hadn’t planned on spending their day at Māmalahoa Ranch, but Akari had noticed Plumeria berating her subordinates for slacking off and had to offer to help. Even though Volo originally felt a bit slighted, seeing his wife in the saddle more than made up for his dashed plans.
She looked comfortable atop her steed, navy blue palaka shirt tucked into her sturdy jeans. One hand tightly gripped the reins of her steed while the other rested on her thigh, ready to throw the lasso that hung loosely from her fingers. The wide brim of her leather hat cast a dark shadow over her face, but he could still make out the excited light in her eyes. He wondered how long it would be before her hair shook itself loose from the bun that sat low on her neck (the bun he taught her to tie all those years ago). Akari always looked gorgeous, but something about her was breathtaking today.
“Eh, Junya Boy, keep yo’ fawkin makas on da Tauros and not Kat’rin’s ass!” Plumeria snarled, startling Volo out of his thoughts. The woman reached out to cuff one of the ranchers on the side of the head. Volo couldn’t hear the boy’s reply, but he could read the embarrassment in the ducking of his head. “Go make moon eyes aftah work gunfannit!” Akari slapped a hand over her mouth as she tried not to laugh at the boy’s predicament. Volo took a deep breath as he tried to stop himself from laughing as well. “Eh, quit fawkin aroun’ and WORK!” the woman yelled, pushing her Mudsdale into a gallop. “Like be pau befoa’ sundown ah? If you fahkahs don’t hurreh up you all gettin’ LICKIN’S when we pau work!” A chorus of groans started up, but Plumeria cut them all off. “If you get time fo’ complain you get time fo’ work, so WORK!”
The two women raced past Volo, Plumeria hissing and snarling while his wife laughed freely. The other ranchers followed suit, shouting out orders and directing their steeds with steady hands and practised motions. It was truly mesmerising, watching them work. Even though Akari was inexperienced, she fell into the rhythm quickly, keeping pace with the experienced ranchers around her. Volo couldn’t help but admire the way Akari’s muscles flexed as she rode her Mudsdale, watching her thighs tense around the Pokémon’s flank, cataloguing the flex of her shoulders as she lassoed an errant Tauros and dragged it down. “Arceus above I wish she would ride me like that,” he said, unable to tear his eyes away.
“Ho, try tok louda ah? T’ink da Eggzecutahs down Poni I’lan’ nevah wen heah you, braddah.” The rough voice startled him from his daze, the sarcastic words making his cheeks flush. He hadn’t realised he had company. When he turned towards the source of the voice, Volo saw a man with two-toned hair leaning against the fence. He wore an oversized black jacket over a white shirt, and a pair of sunglasses with mismatched rims sat uselessly on top of his head. The stranger lazily waved at him. “Eh, no need fo’ look all dakine li’dat,” the man chuckled, “ainokea wat kine shet you say. Yo’ wahine might doe, so maybe hāmau yo’ leo befo’ she false crack medevac you ah?”
Volo sighed. “Yeah, okay, maybe I should keep those kinds of thoughts to myself,” he conceded. He knew Akari wouldn’t particularly care that he was… admiring her, but he could see her getting a little upset that he said his thoughts out loud — with company, no less. “My name’s Volo,” he told the other man, figuring he should introduce himself. He tilted his head towards the fields slightly and added, “That girl laughing up a storm over there is my wife, Akari.”
“Guzma,” the man introduced himself, sticking a hand out. When Volo reached out to grab it, Guzma clapped their hands together, squeezing tightly before releasing. “Dat titah tryin’ fo’ run herd ovah dose clowns is Plumeria. She like one sistah to me ah?” As Guzma spoke, her voice rolled across the fields, audible even above the thundering hooves and baying Tauros. She must have some incredible lungs, Volo thought to himself. “Da fahk yo’ wahine doin’ out dere anywayz?” the local man asked. “E’rebahdy knows e’rebahdy out here, an’ I shua don’t know you fakahs.”
“Plumeria was bitching up a storm about the other ranchers being ‘lazy bums’ earlier and Akari just had to offer to help,” the Celestican explained. “We’re not ranchers by any stretch of the imagination, but Akari is a fairly skilled rider. She’s actually never ridden a Mudsdale before, but she’s ridden similar Pokémon back home so she was a quick learner.” He fondly recalled Akari sitting atop Lord Wyrdeer in a time long since past. Volo could still remember watching as she crested over the hills of the Fieldlands, backlit by the setting sun. She had been gorgeous then and she was just as gorgeous now, her excited smile visible even from a distance. Volo leaned more heavily on the fence and sighed, utterly besotted. “Yeah, she’s a… great rider.”
Guzma whistled, watching the roundup with a critical eye. “She look small kine uncomf’tabo’ in da saddle,” he observed. “You shua she can ride?”
“Oh she can ride alright, she just prefers doing it bareback,” Volo answered unthinkingly, too caught up in nostalgia to realise the implications of his reply. It was only when he heard the other man howling with laughter that Volo’s brain finally caught up with his mouth. “N-no, not like that!” he stammered, feeling his cheeks heat up as he frantically tried to take back his words. “I meant — it’s not like that! She just — saddles weren’t —!” Guzma clutched the fence, desperately trying to stay upright as he cackled. Volo covered his burning face with his hands, groaning in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean it like that!” he insisted. “She just learned to ride without a saddle first! That’s all!” His words only made the other man laugh even harder. “Stop laughing!”
Akari wiped the sweat from her brow as the last Tauros was herded into pasture, flexing her aching hands. It had been a long time since she’d done so much physical work — not that she was complaining, of course. The work had been hard, yes, but it had been good work. (And, privately, she wondered if her riding got Volo worked up the way she had hoped.) “Good job ah!” Plumeria shouted, slowing her Mudsdale to a trot. Akari nudged her Pokémon to walk alongside the other girl. “You not so bad fo’ one touris’,” Plumeria said. “Nevah t’aught I’d evah say dat, but you pretty okay.”
“That’s… very kind of you!” Akari said, stunned and flattered in equal measure. “I’m just glad I could help. You seemed pretty…” A thousand words crossed her mind as she recalled the scene she and Volo had stumbled upon earlier that day. She chose to keep her mouth shut.
The girl snorted. “Deez fakahs wouldn’t know dere eyes from dere asses so I gotta keep ‘um in line,” she grumbled, but the upturn of her lips betrayed her true feelings. “We all known each addah fo’ long time ah? Since small keed time. Das why I can say all kine whatevas an’ dey all jus’ take ‘um li’dat.” The two women rejoined the rest of the ranchers, dismounting their steeds and feeding them treats for a job well done.
After ensuring the Mudsdales were taken care of, Akari said, “Thanks for letting me help out. You guys seem pretty nice.” To her surprise, the woman scoffed dismissively, suddenly avoiding eye contact. Had she somehow offended her new friend?
“Us guys… we not so nice ah,” Plumeria muttered, pulling her hair out of its ponytail. “Back in da day we was Team Skull, da meanest fakas dis side ah da i’lan’. Lotta da stuffs we did… was not pono. Was not right. ” The woman scuffed her boot in the dirt, self-reproach visible in the tenseness of her shoulders. “Was jus’ tryin’ fo’ take kea ahselfs but was doin’ ‘um all wrong. Small kine shame yea?”
Akari thought about Volo, his mad desperation at the Temple of Sinnoh, the words he spit in heartbreak and misdirected rage; she thought about returning to Sinnoh and finding him there, untouched by time, the regret and exhaustion that weighed him down more surely than his ever-present backpack; and she thought about his face as she forgave him over and over again, the way he learned to forgive himself, learned to live and love and be loved in return. “I think…” Akari paused, weighing her words. “Maybe I’m not the person to be saying this — I’m not the one hurt by your past actions, after all — but I think that… as long as you want to change for the better, you can’t be that bad.”
The rancher made a face, like she didn’t believe Akari. That was fine — they were practically strangers, after all. Akari just hoped her words could plant a seed that would turn into self-forgiveness someday. “Whatevahs,” she muttered. “Dis fawkin emosheno’ shet iz irrahs. Les’ talk about sumtin —” Something at the edge of the field suddenly diverted the other woman’s attention, cutting her words short. A mean grin blossomed on her face and she shouted, “Eh, Braddah Guz, da fahk you doin’ ‘ere ah? T’aut you had da day off!”
Akrari followed the woman’s gaze and found another person had joined Volo at the fence at some point during the roundup. The stranger slouched against the fence, a mean, teasing grin on his face. The dark circles around his eyes made him look exhausted, but it was clear he had enough energy to tease Plumeria. “Yeah I get da day off,” the man shouted back, “so wat? Like come baddah you!” Plumeria flipped him off, cackling as he returned the gesture. As the two women walked closer, Akari realised Volo had his face in his hands and wouldn’t look at her. The tips of his ears were bright red, as though he were blushing. Weird. The man waved lazily at Akari. “Sup, I’m Guzma,” he introduced himself. “Plumes an’ I is practically siblings ah? So I like baddah her all da time.”
“I’m Akari,” she replied, introducing herself in return. “It’s nice to meet you! Plumeria was nice enough to let me help out with today’s round up.” She turned to face the other woman, who froze in the middle of reaching out to… Akari had no idea what the woman was doing, actually. Hit Guzma, maybe? “Thank you again, by the way,” she said. “I had a really great time riding with you guys.” The woman shrugged and whacked the side of Guzma’s head, making the man snarl. Akari decided to ignore it. It wasn’t any of her business.
Volo groaned and buried his head further into his arms at her words for some reason. Guzma cackled and Akari raised an eyebrow in question. “Was tawkin’ story while waiting fo’ you guys be pau work,” the man explained through his laughter, “an’ yoa husban’ really likes yoa riding skills ah?” Plumeria jumped the fence to drag the man into a headlock, the two of them immediately starting to shout at each other as she dragged him down. Volo simply raised his head slightly with an embarrassed smile pulling at his lips.
Akari schooled her expression into something between innocent and flirty, tucking away her smugness for later. “Well,” she said, making sure her voice would carry above the sounds of the ongoing scuffle, “if you’re that impressed, sweetheart, I’ll be sure to demonstrate my ‘riding skills’ thoroughly for you later.” Volo’s head whipped up so quickly she thought she heard an audible crack, cheeks flushed bright red as he stared at her with starry eyes. The two locals howled with laughter in the background, teasing her lovestruck husband. Akari threw a wink at her stammering lover, giggling to herself. Today was a good day indeed.