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"Hey, sorry gang, but I gotta get going." Laguna smiled to her friends, the frozen pond had provided a wonderful moment to bond with her Pokemon, but time was slowly ticking by and she had places to be.

"Aww," Spoke up Glacia, skidding across the ice to a halt right in front of her. "Where are you going momma?"

"Going to see Orion sweetie. We-" She began, only for a faint blush to form on her cheeks. "We have a date."

"Oh! Can I come? I promise I'll be real quiet!"

She immediately laughed, gently shaking her head. "I'm sorry dear. Date's are kind of personal. It's not something to take extra friends and family along with, unless I asked ahead of time. Does that make sense?"

"Aww..." They sounded even more sad the second time they made the noise, only for a sudden frozen-rocky tail to slowly wrap around the Bergmite.

"Do not worry, little one." Suddenly spoke up Roxanne, a grin on their face as the massive Onix slowly lowered their head down to nuzzle against the small Bergmite. "We shall have our own little fun, let Auntie enjoy their date. There will be other times to spend time with Orion and her both. Come, skate with me, show me that jumping move you love to do."

By the content smile on Glacia's face, Laguna figured everything was going to be alright. With a sigh, she continued to watch her Pokemon having fun for a few moments before before suddenly logging out of the game.

Abby woke up in bed, and this time, unlike most times where she left the game, she was feeling almost giddy. It had been literal years since she was so excited to be in her own flesh and not the digital one. Work was work, and it was nice to contribute to something she loved, but even outside of that, it was just back to the game.

This was different.

It felt so silly, being able to hug and dance with him in virtual reality, but there was something so downright... special, about just kicking back and watching dumb videos and movies together. She already knew all about Orion, who he was in the game. His Pokemon, how he fought, what he stood for.

It was nice to learn even more about the man behind the... man?

Even still, she climbed out of bed and sat into her wheeled stool, gently pushing herself along the wall until she made it to her closet. Opening it up, she immediately began debating on what cute dress to wear today for their date. Abby logically knew that she didn't need to do anything, but her heart still told her that she should.

Eventually slipping into a cute light-blue dress that left her shoulders exposed, she made her way back over to her laptop and did what she always did while waiting for Orion to come online to text him.

Search through the internet to find dumb memes to send him as soon as he got there.

She had collected quite the collection at this point when the time continued to tick past, and Abby's nerves were starting to get the better of her. Orion was probably stuck at work, or in traffic. It would explain why didn't text her yet. Realistically, he would probably come in with some absolutely wild explanation, like some druken came down and drank the oil vats of the fryers at work or something and had to fight him off while covered in slippery, greasy oil like a god damn superhero or something.

Orion was the only person who could tell her utter nonsense like that, and she'd probably actually believe him.

Over thirty minutes had eventually gone by, and she was starting to feel a bit silly getting ready so soon. She knew Orion, he was a good guy. There was no way she'd get stood up... but even Abby was more than aware of her abandonment fears. They were irrational, she knew, but that still didn't help explain where the hell he was.

When he finally called, Abby was deep into a video about this insane chess game, that followed zero rules, that it almost startled her. Swiftly picking up the call, she immediately gave a playful pout at the camera, twisting in her desk chair. Even when she spoke, she was obviously teasing him, speaking in a very pompous-sounding Québécois accent [tangent=Have you come to ask forgiveness?]"Êtes-vous venu demander pardon?"[/tangent]

Abby got exactly what she wanted. That flustered face of his. It was rare to catch him so off guard, flustered and blushing so badly that he needed a moment to think. Blushing, stammering, and making a total fool out of himself.

She adored it.

Abby's playful pout had turned into a full on smirk, just leaning into the computer screen to look at him. Even when he suddenly spoke, seemingly finding the words for apologies in French after so long, she was just giggling right away. She quietly listened to him fully finish speaking. About makeup, work, Skylanders, and apparently his family. How interesting.

The praise to her dress certainly got her smiling, exactly what she had been hoping for. Not that she'd admit it.

"Oh yes, of course. Because you're a man who needs makeup. Been catfishing me since day one. Well, technically I catfished you, but-" She waved a hand back and forth like it was no big deal, clearly teasing in response with a laugh. "Doing good though. Been a pretty eventful day. Mostly because I left my jacket at home, and I tell you, the air conditioning at work is freezing me out a bit. The root of my entire problems today."

She laughs yet again, it's so light and freeing. "I mean, come on. It's not exactly like I can get up and walk around to warm up. So, you know. There I was, just freezing at my desk there, when I get the bright idea to get some coffee. So you know, I wheel myself down to the break room and grab a mug. Only to, well." She moves to grab the small little plastic cup on her desk that held several brushes and pencils, only to drop it down dramatically.

"You know. Take a sip, way too hot. Burns my tongue! Spills and goes, everywhere. And, well I can't exactly just, climb down onto the floor and wipe up the mess. So I had to go get help, and- you know what? Do you know how hard it is to go get someone to clean up your mess, because you're not able to?" Abby laughs again, slowly rolling her eyes as she goes to grab the juicebox from across her desk and takes a little sip.

"I mean, the folks at Hydance are super supportive, hah. But man, does it feel so silly. Like, I already deal with dropping stuff enough at home. I have a few of those, magnets on sticks and little gripper things. You know, the clawed things that you get at the supermarket for like, 5 dollars? Horribly overpriced, because then snap on you immediately? Whatever they are called. And you know, it's not like it's easy for me to just go down and get a replacement! Because I still have things all over my floor!"

"Heavens, I can't even tell you about how many times I get cereal everywhere. One time I got dry choco-puff cereal all across my carpet, and then accidentally rolled over it with my chair before I could clean it, and then it got all crushed in deep, and even my vacuum didn't seem to get it all out, and-"

She blinks, a faint blush forming on her own cheeks. She was absolutely rambling, now was not the time for that, no matter how much he rambled. It was cute when he did it! "... Ahem. No, the dress was, totally something I wear in my down time. Mhm. Glacia says hello, by the way! She wanted to come, maybe one day, heh."