holy crap
do you ever find out your classmate is actually like arceus level human
and then I'm like wtf how are you so cool
dear arceus i couldnt focus when writing this chapter so it's pretty scatterbrained oops
441. maxim: a short saying expressing a general principle
Steven had looked unsure whether to kick the kids out (where they might destroy even more stuff) or to simply work in the living room to make things awkward and stop them from getting too reckless. Sapphire was totally unaffected by the quiet and just fell asleep on Ruby, who proceeded to pull up contest videos on his phone and analyze them. Daisy eventually followed Sapphire's example, but Green was not about to let a twenty something year old man be awake in such proximity of his at then still unmarried sister.
So Green had stayed up and annoyed Steven until he got to help out organizing papers. Green had gotten bored and (maybe not so wisely) began to offer snarky tips on clever responses for some of the business letters. He could practically see Steven getting pissed under his cool visage - one got good at reading emotions after training with Red - but in the end the most venomous response he got out was simply the maxim, "Beware the fury of a patient man."
Green had laughed a little uncomfortably after that and then agreed to work in silence.
442. deploy: to station or assemble troops or forces in position
Their relationship had never really eased out after that, and though Green was all for forgetting awkward pasts, Steven's thoughts and beliefs were set in stone. And apparently, according to this email at least, Steven would be deploying all his connections to prove that Green had used his professor's name in most of his successes. So Green'd have to find something pretty amazing to convince Steven.
443. perceptive: capable of quickly understanding
Brock, although a busy worker and not so talented gym leader (ok, he was alright but not exactly amazing), was a perceptive rock collector. Green had a fair amount of experience with precious stones and fossils from his own research, and he knew who the experts in paleontology were - so when Brock had a stone under maximum security, that was something pretty precious right there.
Green had asked about the lump of rock, but Brock had shrugged and simply stated that someone precious had given it to him to protect.
444. reprieve: to postpone or cancel punishment
He hadn't really noticed anything spectacular about the rock, but apparently Espeon had. Espeon had been rolling around and playfully tussling with Umbreon, but Espeon eventually noticed something odd when Green opened Steven's email and his user icon (a picture of his very fake smile) popped up; Espeon jumped onto his head, swatted Green's face with his tail and then pressed the red stone on his forehead to Green's forehead.
Green had never become accustomed to the psychic pokemon that buzzed in occasionally to communicate with him. Espeon was speaking (telepathically at least) in what seemed to be excitement. "This human has connection with Brock man's psychic stone, he want, he want-"
"You mean Brock's Enigma Stone?"
"Yes yes yes, rock has lots and lots of power inside, but not for psychics like me, I touch and nothing; is for special special psychics- Eon dragons, eon psychics, this man searching-"
Green thought about scolding Espeon for breaking security without letting him now, but decided to reprieve the clever pokemon. He'd hit gold.
445. nativity: birth, especially with reference to place, time, et cetera
Sapphire and Ruby had befriended Latias in their journeys, and they'd been searching for Latios' soul stone. Steven had publicly announced handsome rewards for those who could find the Soul Dew; the legendary stone supposedly containing Latios' soul. It was described to contain tremendous residual psychic energy - there were few, if any other objects able to contain such massive power.
Green had conducted preliminary studies on Red's Eevee and told him that his was almost certain to become an espeon, with its nativity and long history of psychics. Like pureblood Umbreon, Espeon had a strong psychic background, and Green believed him when he said he sensed something special about the rock.
446. grandiose: impressive; imposing; showy
Green could sense another grandiose adventure awaiting him - it was time to pay another visit to Pewter to study the Enigma Stone and maybe awaken a dormant legendary, for goodness sake. Even though Red was neighbors with Moltres and had become close buddies with all sorts of rare pokemon, Green hadn't had the same absurd luck; this would be huge.
447. bewitch: to put a spell on; to charm
The idea of such an important stone so close by was bewitching. For the rest of the day, Green couldn't focus on anything other than the possibility that the Enigma Stone was indeed the Soul Dew.
And thus he completely forgot about calling Daisy to make sure the flowers hadn't wilted yet. Green bought the special Celadon brand flower food stuff for special occasions, but who knew if Daisy realized that the flowers wouldn't last longer than a week without proper care. When he left his office for the day and glanced at the fake anthuriums he freaked out.
448. profligate: immorally wasteful
He called Daisy immediately, and she promptly scolded him for thinking her so stupid as to forget where the flower food was. She'd been using it carefully for the past year (without Green's knowledge, whoops) and though she outwardly called Green a profligate flower boy (the stuff was expensive!), she secretly loved the stuff: gardenias were ephemeral flowers, lasting no more than three days with normal flower food, but with Erika's mixture (it was like plant steroids) they lasted almost a week and a half.
449. knack: a specific talent for doing
Green had a knack for losing track of his thoughts, and by the time he'd gotten home his brain was in a mess thinking about Red, paints, flowers, and reviving legendary pokemon so he could get a job.
450. myriad: an indefinitely large number
One of his myriad of problems was solved when he came home to his apartment to find his delivery of painting supplies. He dragged the surprisingly large box in door and happily stabbed and ripped apart the tape wrapping the cardboard box. He lugged out the supplies and admired the beautiful professionalism of everything: the paint tubes arranged by rainbow color, the plastic wrapped canvas, the still pristine brushes, and packaged palettes. He dug out wrapping paper and pondered how he'd wrap the whole shebang.
There was a nostalgia in celebrating something so simple in such a traditional method. Birthdays were precious - Green would drag Leaf up the mountain on Sunday if she tried to stay down because of depression. Well, Red's birthday was actually on Monday, but celebrating a day early never did any harm.