Despite being Ringtown-based, there were most certainly times where Lunick and Solana found themselves on temporary assignments to the other bases in Fiore. It wasn't incredibly often, but since Fiore Rangers tended to work more as a single collective unit rather than strictly segmented out by base, whenever one of them needed assistance, the others were quick to relinquish some of their own to go and help. And the Rangers didn't mind: honestly, it could even sometimes be a little exciting to get to switch things up and work on a specific project outside of their normal Base's operation.

At the moment, Wintown was in need of the extra manpower. An entryway to Panula Cave had crumbled in, and while it thankfully wasn't necessarily a dire emergency, the fact that it was one of the only main means of connecting the settlement to the rest of the region made the situation up there with those of topmost priority. The work was just a bit too precarious to allow the citizens to help with, so Elita had made the decision to call out for backup just to have some extra hands in clearing out the ice and rocks in an efficient and timely manner. All in all, the temporary assignment was to be clocked in at about 4 days of physical labor; maybe a week at most. Each of the other three bases sent two or three of their Rangers to help out since they were all in relatively peacetimes, and Lunick just happened to be one of Ringtown's selected.

Solana, however, was not.

When the call for backup had come in to Ringtown's on-duty operator, Solana was out on an active mission already at the time, helping a couple who had gotten lost in Krokka Tunnel. And, being Solana, she had gone above and beyond in her assigned task by staying and chatting with them to make them feel more safe as they navigated all the way over to Fall City.

So needless to say, when she landed back on the top floor of her homebase via Dragonite Bus and saw her best friend waiting right there with his bags packed and ready to depart, she had a few questions.

"... Where?" She was a smart enough girl; a quick visual analysis of him and two of their colleagues packed and ready to go was enough confirmation to know he was assigned station somewhere else for the short term. She was clearly only asking one of the three, and their other coworkers had long learned by now to take a hint with the two of them, so they walked right past Solana and over to the dragon type Pokémon without answering. And just as expected, she continued, unphased. "How long?"

"Just a couple days," Lunick promised her with a small smile, hoisting his duffel bag higher onto his shoulder. "Wintown needs some extra muscle clearing a rockfall in Panula. We're just going to help alleviate." He opened his arms to give her a chaste hug goodbye, and after the gears spun for a little bit to allow her to process the new information, she stepped forward into it, letting him envelop her in a casual embrace. "How was Krokka?" He asked, still interested in hearing about her mission too, even though he had his own to attend to.

Solana looked up at him and brushed some hair out of her face, nodding in the memory of the job well done. "It went really smooth. I was able to hand them off to Aria once we got to the City proper, which I also made sure to extend my condolences for."

He laughed at her joke, untangling themselves from one another and gripping his bag's strap again once more. "Never had any doubt. I'm sure they were grateful to have you!"

She gave him a sweet smile as thanks, before jabbing her thumb over her shoulder. "Well, the tundra calls, you know. And I gotta get downstairs to report back, anyways. You owe me Wintown hot chocolate mix when you come home."

Lunick shook his head with a grin, rolling his eyes in amusement at the demand. "Your wish is my command," he grumbled under his breath, before he gave her one last fleeting hug again and split up to head to the Dragonite Bus as he was supposed to.

Solana crossed over to the glass elevator and stepped into it with her Plusle, and Lunick could see the two of them waving goodbye before they disappeared from view, down to the Lobby floor.

She reported back to Spenser on the status of her escort mission before taking her lunch break, pulling out her styler and sending a text to him even though she knew he wouldn't get service while up in the air.

[Already quieter without your loud mouth taking up all my break time. :) Stay safe!]

Pocketing her phone with a small smile to herself, she leaned forward and kissed Plusle on the top of his head, grateful to at least still have his company. It wasn't as if she and Lunick had never been apart since their friendship began- quite the opposite, truthfully, with how often they had to go out on solo missions. But the hollow silence still hung over her just the same whenever he wasn't there to fill it- with no one to tease or chat or laugh at the ridiculousness of, breaks that once felt to fly by dragged on, and she found herself falling into the bad habit of just going back to work during them. They brought the best out in balancing each other, and even though he had just left, Solana already found herself wishing he were on his way home again.

Lunick landed within another hour or so, and pretty immediately answered the message from her as soon as he was within range.

[and… touch base in wintown!]

[It is. SO COLD here, sol. Times like these I almost wish plusle and minun were fire types, you know.]

His response came quick enough, which meant either Solana wasn't very busy, or she was taking a short break off the job to text him back. The notion of getting the notorious workaholic to stop just for him made his heart skip a beat, and he grinned widely, able to feel the snark in her reply from here.

[We've barely grown a tolerance to our nerves being shocked to distortion world and back. I don't even think you even can build tolerance to being BURNT, lunick.]

Huffing, he quickly typed out a message back, already trailing behind their colleagues on the way to the Wintown base's elevator.

[don't you have a patrol to monitor? :] ]

[Don't you have an Elita to report to?]

Quicker than him as ever, her response was near immediate, and she had a point. She won. As usual.

[... touche. Call me later tonight? 3]

The little heart emote made Solana's own practically leap out of her chest, and she snapped shut her styler to hold it close and let out a wistful sigh. The way he could make her feel so elated from something so simple was a talent of his own, and she had to fight to hide the smile unfurling on her lips as she returned to her patrol route.

Later that evening, once they had both been relieved of duty, they were right back at it. Pretty much any time they were off the clock, they were on the phone, catching up on each other's respective missions they'd missed and keeping one another up to date on how the different towns' bases were doing as a whole. They did call that evening, and talked on video chat for multiple hours before bed. Lunick showed her around the guest dorm room he had been given; it was considerably smaller than their home dorms since it wasn't intended for long term stays, but at least he got to room alone, and only had to share the bathroom with one other Ranger that the room ultimately connected to. Most important of all, it had thick blankets on the made bed, which Lunick was hasty to dive into and ruin the neatness of after a day of having been out in the biting cold. Solana made some sort of snide comment about how there was no way he would ever be able to pry himself out of them in the morning what with how stubborn it was even to get him out of normal bedding, and he stuck his tongue out at her and hung up the call as a punishment for the jab (only to call her right back again). Even when miles and miles apart, they managed to spend all evening with each other.

This became their routine: as it always was whenever they were separated for multiple overnights' worth of time. In the mornings, Solana would text him an early riser jubilant greeting, and then call him later just to be sure he was up and moving in time for pre-shift briefing (and, secretly, just to start the day off by hearing his voice like she usually did). Lunick went to work in Panula Cave with the rest of the allocated squadron, and Solana held down fort back home, making sure all the Ringtown residents were properly all taken care of. They'd text over lunch breaks, head back to work for the afternoon, then call again after dinner time once they were back into their rooms for the night until it was time for at least Solana to settle in for bed.

It was a nice routine, but it was a taxing one nonetheless. Being able to talk in all their downtime was great, but it was still no substitute for actually getting to spend free time together like they did at home. And the longer the assignment went, the more the realization of that fact got amplified for the both of them.

"Arceus, could I go for some hot curry right now," Lunick blew into his gloves that he'd yet to take off as he crossed into the Wintown Base commissary, smiling cordially at the friends he was grabbing dinner with. He tended to sit at a long table with Freddie and Chris from Wintown, Andi from Fall city, and Miyoko from back home at mealtimes, sometimes add or lose a few depending on the time of day. "Thank you Hiyoshi!" He very gratefully took the bowl of hot food from the Wintown Ranger that was on serving/kitchen duty that meal shift and sat down with his little group, all laughing and happily joking and recounting the day's work.

"You know, I don't mean to brag, but me and my Medicham were pulling all of the weight that Freddie was dragging behind," the Fall City girl teased, which got an incredulous reaction from the Wintown Ranger in question.

"Did not!" He huffed, which made Lunick laugh. "If anything, all your guys' complaining about the cold made you MUCH slower at shoveling than us!"

Before the navy haired guy could chip in on the messing with his friend, his styler began to beep loudly, interrupting the whole conversation.

His eyes lit up when he saw why, and he awkwardly jolted up to his feet, hitting his knees clumsily on the table. "I-I gotta go," he excused himself with a small grin, but he was a fool if he could think he could get out of this scott free.

"You didn't even eat your curry!" Freddie pointed out, gesturing to his steaming bowl, shaking his head in laughter at his friend's antics. "You were just saying how badly you wanted it!"

Realizing he had a point, Lunick scrambled to try and collect the food tray up and balance his styler and winter hat on top of it, scooping up Minun. "I'll take it with me…! I'll bring the dish back and wash it, Ranger's Honor!"

"What's wrong…?" The white haired girl from Fall City was able to put together from the look on all the other's faces that she was the only one out of the loop, and it was Silent Chris of all people who answered her question, even if blunt and gruffly.

"Hinata," he mused, a crooked taunting smile peeking onto his lips. "Nothing's wrong. Kazuki's just excited."

"Oh, yeah," Freddie chimed back in, ready to prod at a moment's notice when it came to getting on his friends backs for the way they were head over heels yet horribly unaware. "I forgot you haven't yet learned this. Let me fill you in: there's only one thing in this world that makes Lunick light a fire under it and get motivated like that, and her name is Solana." The Ringtown Ranger in question had chosen not to comment on all that was unfolding around him, instead making sure he had everything to carry up to his room for the evening before turning without so much as a parting goodbye from the group as his ringtone still sliced through the conversation intermittently. "Hey, tell your girlfriend we say hi at least, would ya?" The skinnier of the two Wintown Rangers called out to Lunick as he left in a haste, which got him an unsavory gesture for the comment in return. But Freddie just snickered, and Lunick felt his cheeks redden from another reason besides the cold wind that had whipped against him all day as he immediately accepted the call on its last ring the second he was out in the hallway.

"Hey, Sol!" He greeted nearly out of breath, jamming his elbow into the up button on the Base's elevator.

"...Did I interrupt something?" She was perceptive as ever, and happy to accommodate. "I can call you back later! It's no big deal!"

"Nah!" He reassured, perhaps a little too quickly to be believable, and headed up to his temporary room, letting himself and his Pokémon inside before shutting the door behind him. "We went late today. I actually just got back." He set the tray down on the little bedside table and switched the call to video chat, propping her up against his water bottle so he could freely sit on his bed and have his dinner as he talked to her.

"...You're eating!" She pointed out, and while he knew what she meant, he couldn't resist being a smart alec about it.

"Yeah, astute observation there, Sunshine. I'm hungry. That's typically how it goes!"

Scrunching her nose at the remark, she shook her head. She was already showered and changed into around-the-base clothes, clearly having gotten home much earlier than he did. "No! You-! Shouldn't you be down at the Caf? Is that what I interrupted? You didn't have to drop everything just to answer me!"

Lunick shrugged, shedding his outer jacket and tossing it haphazardly on the floor before shoving his long sleeves back halfway up his forearms. He wasn't used to wearing so much clothing all the time, and even though he's only been here a few days, he couldn't wait to get back to Ringtown's climate. "I'd rather get to talk to you, anyways. Your time's more important to me."

It was such a simple statement, but it most certainly silenced Solana to her core, and he found great pride in the flustered look on her face. She let him finish his dinner without making him answer too many other questions, and he eventually shifted to laying in bed instead, holding the phone in front of him as they caught each other up for the day. Solana had apparently gotten to reconnect with the old Venusaur that lived tucked away in one of the hidden leafy grottos of Lyra Forest for help with controlling some Paras in the area, which was a rare treat. Lunick passed along the hellos of all their colleagues who missed her, and tactfully omitted the other things they had to add to that comment.

The conversation eventually settled, simmering down into a stretch of comfortable silences that just consisted of the two of them smiling like idiots at the image of the other depicted on their screen. It was so nice to get to see one another despite the time spent apart, and something about the way they both tended to end up just laying in bed, uncaring about whether or not it was an unflattering angle, just made this time together feel all the more warm, fuzzy, and intimate.

"Gh-! ACK!" Lunick dropped his styler, and it fell tumbling off the side of the bed, which for some reason sparked the desire to play within Minun. She just saw something moving fast and her mind immediately jumped to toy, so she swatted at it with her little blue paw despite her partner's pleas. "Minun! No! Gimme her back-!"

Solana was practically rolling in her fit of giggles, which only got all the funnier as her screen went from blank ceiling to an intense closeup of Minun's twitchy little nose as she sniffed the camera. "Hi, Minun," the teal haired girl managed to coo adoringly through her laughter. "Yes, hi sweetheart. You got me. You sniffed me up real good! Can you do me a favor, and give me back to your dada?"

Minun seemed to listen to 'mom's wishes much more than 'dad's, because she fumbled to try and grasp the device upright, and Lunick was able to reach over the side of the bed and pluck it right out of her fuzzy little paws. "Thannnnnk you!" He sung as he took the styler back, before holding out the same arm again for his Pokémon to crawl up and come snuggle back into the bed with him. "She's going a little nutso without Plusle, you know. She misses him."

There was a short silence that followed after, and her ruby red eyes stared at him so intently that he hoped he hadn't said anything wrong. But after a moment, she spoke up, more serious than ever, to clarify.

"... I miss you."

They'd been telling each other such for the past few days, but usually it was fleeting, and part of their goodbyes to conversations. This admission felt so much more heavy leaded, so real, that Lunick physically felt his throat ball up at the way her tone was suddenly so somber. It was clearly something she'd been thinking about a lot lately, and a side of herself that she never showed to anyone else, and that strangled him in more ways than one.

"I miss you too, Solana." Lunick clarified, his eyes growing softer as he looked at her with a small smile. "I can't wait to be back with you."

"When do you come home?" She almost sounded like a pouting little kid, but she was unfiltered and pure with her expression. She didn't have to hold anything back, didn't have to look strong for him. She could just be herself. "I really, really miss you… I know it's only been a couple days, but it's really not the same without you here."

"It should only be another day or two," he promised, propping himself up on one elbow. The distance was killing him, too, especially right now, when every instinct in his body was telling him to hold her and tell her it would be alright. "We're making really good progress on clearing the cave. But I think about how I wish you were there with me to make it more tolerable just about every second of the day."

She seemed to like that answer, and that eased and rattled his heart all at the same time. "...You say that like I wouldn't just make you compete with me over arbitrary things like who can clear a bigger ice pile," she commented with a tiny giggle, and it was just about the most endearing thing in the world.

"Exactly," he spoke without missing a beat, "and beating you at said ice pile challenge would make me feel good, and therefore, more tolerable."

She outright laughed at that, and it was beautiful to see her smile even when her tone was otherwise melancholy. "You wish."

He just hummed with a smile in response, and before he could even open his mouth to segway into the fact that it was getting late, she beat him to it.

"Hey Lunick…?" Her voice was small again, and he could tell there was a favor attached to the backend of this question. And whatever it was, he was certain he'd do it for her.

"Yeah, Sol?"

Solana broke her eye contact with him, hugging her Plusle close for comfort. "Would you… Be okay with plugging your styler in to charge and leaving the video call open tonight?" She was timid in her asking, looking back up at the camera with big Deerling eyes. "It gets so lonely after we have to hang up each night, and I… Sometimes it's hard to sleep, too. I think I'd just feel a lot better knowing you're right there."

Lunick's heart just about ripped out of his chest, shattered, then glued itself back together again as he listened. It was like a dream come true and a worst nightmare all at the same time; she wanted him, more than she had let on. But all he could do to help was sit, trapped on the phone through a call that could drop any minute the cell signal decided to give out. He wished he could be there. And in a few nights when he could, he silently vowed to himself he would do everything to coddle her as much as she damn pleased.

"Of course, Solana," he breathed out laboriously, eyebrows upturning in his concern for her. "So long as you're okay with my obnoxious snoring." He softballed to try and lighten her mood, and it at least worked a little, based on the way her teeth were peeking out in a small smile.

"I actually think I may welcome your obnoxious snoring," she parried, pushing some hair back out of her face as her head hit the pillow again. "It'll make it feel almost like you really are here."

"And soon, I will be," he reminded her, pulling the blankets up to his chin. "Do you want to try and sleep now, Sol? I do really think it would be good for you, especially if you haven't been sleeping well the past few nights."

She nodded meekly, and gave him a gaze he couldn't quite read, but knew was at least positive. "You sure? I won't wake you up in the morning…?"

"Honey, I pride myself on having grown immune to you even trying to wake me up in the morning." He spoke with some sass to make her laugh, and she did. "Put some respect on my name."

"Don't make it a challenge," his best friend was quick to warn, another smile on her lips as she reached over for the light switch. "Thank you, Lunick. You getting some rest, too?"

He sighed happily at her tone's flip back to adoration, feeling elated at having such utter care showered on him. "I will. I promise. Goodnight, Sunshine. I hope you have sweet dreams."

"Goodnight, Lunick," she mumbled back sweetly, before her screen went dark with her shutting off the light. Lunick did as told and plugged in the device before propping it up haphazardly on the pillow, almost as if she really were laying there beside him. He let out a long exhale as he rolled onto his back, trying to stay quiet as to not disturb her while his mind ran a mile a minute, recapping everything about their conversation that had just transpired. He desperately hoped he got to be dismissed tomorrow, if for nothing else but to get to hug her once he got home.

"...I'll be home soon," he promised to the dark phone via whisper, turning his head to look over at it even though he knew there'd be no reply.

All that he got back was the soft sound of leveled breathing paired with the tiniest of wheezy snores. She had successfully fallen asleep, after all. And that was all he needed to crack into the widest of smiles, burying his face in the blankets so he could rest with her.