Before her eyes had time to adjust to what she was seeing, a boy wearing a denim coat lined with wooloo wool was already in Gloria's face. His lithe features took up the entirety of her view as he looked over the couch at what she was watching.
"Did ya get to the part where he dynamaxes yet!?" The next thing Gloria knew, hop's voice was practically yelling into her ear. The assault on her senses was, however, something she was used to, so she recovered from it fairly quickly.
"ye ken, ye shuid really knook. Whit if I'd been in ma skivvies?" She said, cocking an eyebrow up at Hop's blatant spoiler.
Hop didn't pay the comment much mind, instead throwing an unamused glance her way. Though Gloria didn't fail to notice that the edges of his mouth did turn up just a bit before returning his focus to her phone screen.
"Ah, you're not at that part yet. Well, when you finish, you NEED to watch it on the big screen," hop declared as he straightened his back and puffed out his chest, "it was so good! I swear, I was out of my seat for the whole match after that!" Hop's recollection of the match also seemed to come out through his body as he spoke, culminating in him posing with his hand in the air, his thumb and two fingers sticking out in a shape resembling a charazard's maw.
Meanwhile, Gloria was still laying on the couch, video paused, listening to her friend ramble on. As entertaining as it was to see him goof around, Gloria did want to get back to watching the match eventually. So, she asked the obvious question, "Whit ur ye daen' 'ere anyway?"
"Oh, right! Come on, get up, we need to go!"
"Holdja ponyta. Fur what? Barbecue's not fo'annotha couple o' hours."
"Lee could arrive any moment now! Don't you wanna see him?" Hop leaned over the back of the couch again to look at Gloria, still in the same lazy position she was before.
"A'll see em at th'barbecue" Gloria waved her hand dismissively at hop's suggestion. As much as she had an interest in seeing Lee, she didn't need to hassle him right when he got off the train. Plenty of people would be doing that anyway. Besides, she had a match to finish watching.
"Uuggh, come on, you can watch that later!" Hop fell to his knees letting his head rest on the back of the couch, dejected at Gloria's unwillingness to budge from her comfortable position. For a moment, Gloria basked in her victory; however, just as she was about to start watching the match again, Hop said something that caught her attention.
"You know, Lee's probably bringing some gifts back with him. Who knows, maybe he'll give you something?"
Gloria's finger stopped, hovering above the play icon on her phone. Gifts? What could Lee have brought back from the city? Most people bring food back when they travel, don't they? That means there's a good chance he brought some food with him, and she could have all of it -- or at least a good portion of it -- to her self. So the choice was clear, either sit and laze around some more, or go out for the chance at some goodies from the city.
It didn't take long for the gears in Glorias head to turn and come to a conclusion.
"Oi, mum, I'm headin' out wi' Hop fur a bit." She announced, rising from the couch and storing her phone away in her sweater pocket. As she did, Hop bolted upright and pumped his fist, which Gloria promptly ignored.
"Okay sweetie, stay safe! Oh, and grab a hat before you go; it's chilly outside!"
Once in her room, Gloria took her hat from it's place on one of her bed posts. It was an old green Galarian tam: a gift from her father before he moved away for work.
After putting it on, Gloria admired herself in the dark sheen of her TV for just a moment, just to make sure she was presentable. Other than some scattered cookie crumbs that she quickly dusted off, she looked ready for the day. Despite her pudgy appearance, Gloria thought she looked fairly nice. If she had to describe it, it would be "homely," or something like that. The dark pink one-piece paired with her gray sweater didn't hide the fleshy padding underneath, but it did give her a sort of cuddly appearance that she liked. The whole ensemble was topped off with her green tam, it's little ball wobbling above her head.
Finished checking for any stray crumbs, Gloria was about to trot out of the house when she spied a large brown leather bag by her bed stand. It was an old thing, used by her mother when she went traveling for a time, but it was still perfectly good. Her mother had given it to her some years ago as a present, but Gloria rarely used it. She thought for a moment, and eventually decided to bring it along. So she snatched the bag and flung it over her shoulder and onto her back, the heavy leather sending the softer parts of her body into a quaking wobble.
After saying goodbye to her mom, Gloria stepped out into the afternoon sun where her eyes immediately fell upon Hop, who was waiting by the fence with his Wooloo.
"Pff, what's that?" Hop snorted, gesturing at the big lump of leather on Gloria's back.
"Eh shut ye pie hole," She sneered back, "I just dun wannae hev t'carry anythin' back in ma hands."
"You sure you're not planning to steal the barbecue out from under us?"
Gloria couldn't help but smirk at Hop's jab. She quickly turned away to try to hid her amusement, but Hop's self-satisfied look made it clear that was well aware of his victory.
However, Gloria couldn't just let him have the last laugh. As she bounced down the steps towards the gate, she smirked at hop and replied, "Naw, A'd make oof wi' 'erythin carrying it in froont rather than on ma back."
Hop didn't say anything, instead opting to roll his eyes and let Gloria pass through the gate with him and his Wooloo in tow. Though, the wooloo saw fit to interject a little "baaahh" as Gloria walked past.
For a while after that, the two made small talk about recent events interspersed by the occasional jab, both spoken and physical. However, as the road stretched on Gloria's mind drifted and a serene silence washed over the two of them, leaving only Postwick's calm winds to fill the silence.
Despite her mostly sedentary lifestyle, Gloria actually enjoyed walks like these. In fact, her semi-frequent walks around town were probably the only thing that stood between her somewhat chubby figure and blowing up like a snorlax. She didn't really do it for the exercise, however. There was something about taking in the sights of the town and watching all the people and Pokemon live that just calmed her down. The wind sweeping over the surrounding hills carpeted in lush green grass as a yamper corralled a herd of grazing wooloo together was just so appealing to Gloria for reasons she didn't quite understand. It was just nice.
Gloria even thought about leaving Postwick on occasion to see more of the region. She'd of course seen plenty on TV, but it wasn't the same. A part of her wanted to see the snowy mountains to the west, or the castles of Hammerlocke herself, and really feel the area. However, these were just fleeting thoughts. She was no great explorer or pokemon trainer, and she didn't have any delusions of being those things either. She was more than happy to enjoy her peaceful life in this peaceful town.
However, even in a town like this, there was an occasional bout of excitement. As Gloria and Hop approtched the town center, the sounds of a roaring crowed drowned out the mild winds of Postwick. In front of the town's train station, there was a massive crowd of people gathered. People of all ages were fighting to see what everyone was gathered around. Kids wearing blazing orange T-shirts rode their parents shoulders to get a glimpse, while adults stood on their tip-toes and tried pushing through the crowd.
What was making such a ruckus was, however, no mystery. Least of all to Gloria and Hop.
"Ye mind savin' yer brother from 'at thir mess?"
Hop's shoulder's slumped, "Yeah... keep an eye out for wooloo for me, would ya?" he said, unable to hide the exasperated grin on his face as he dove into the crowd, parting the people like a yamper parts grass as it runs.
While waiting for Hop to return, Gloria couldn't help but glance down at his wooloo. "'em two willny 'er change will 'dae?"
"Baaahhh!" the wooloo replied.
In many ways, Gloria felt like she knew the wooloo about as well as she knew it's trainer. For a long time, Hop had begged his mom to get him a pokemon. When she finally did, he never let the woolly ball leave his sight. Though, for some reason Hop never gave his wooloo a name of it's own. At one point Gloria had suggested Pillow, but Hop said it sounded weak. Still, Gloria always ended up calling the wooloo "Pillow" in here head. It just felt right for the little guy.
Gloria's conversation with the pokemon was, however, short lived. It wasn't long after Hop dove into the crowd that he emerged with someone else, having to practically drag them out of the crowd.
This man...
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