Because there were heaters in the barn, it was fairly warm inside. With nothing planned for today, Indeedee was currently busy caring for the animals with Shane.
Ron took a look at the animals in the barn along the way. During this time, the barn had formed a fairly complete assembly line—roughly every three days, Shane would bring over a batch of calves from Marnie's ranch, and after three days of raising, they would be sent to Kalos through the warp totem.
Glancing at Shane who was busy transporting animals, Ron tucked the wool under his arm, wrapped the roasted yams in paper, held them in his arms, and left the farm directly.
At this time, Linus was most likely at the Spa. Checking the tent and finding no one, Ron walked straight toward the Spa not far away.
In the Spa, Linus was currently sitting in the changing room.
Of course, he couldn't soak in the pool all day. Most of the time he would stay here, borrowing the indoor heat to warm himself. However, it was somewhat too humid, so every day when leaving the Spa to go out, he always needed to have a mental struggle.
These leaves, once wet and exposed to the outside, would quickly freeze, rendering their original minimal warming effect practically useless.
Just as Linus was spacing out, he faintly heard footsteps from outside. He sprang up from his chair, feeling somewhat awkward for a moment.
On one hand, he wasn't very familiar with most people in town and wasn't very willing to actively interact with them.
On the other hand, he worried that people coming to the Spa would dislike him.
Just as Linus was thinking about whether to hide in a corner to minimize his presence as much as possible, Ron had already walked in.
"I knew you'd be here." Ron smiled and greeted him, then sat beside Linus: "I roasted some yams today, want to try?"
"You came specifically to find me?" Linus was startled, slowly sitting back in his chair.
"Mm." Ron opened the paper package in his hand, and the aroma of roasted yams instantly filled the small changing room.
The sweet smell mixed with a hint of sulfur from the Spa. Although he had just eaten the work snacks Sailor gave him, Linus still swallowed his saliva.
"I saw on the calendar today is your birthday," Ron said, pushing the paper package toward Linus, then peeling one open himself: "Freshly roasted, still hot. Want to try?"
"Thank you." Linus reached out and took one from the paper package. "It's very thoughtful of you, thank you."
Usually coming and going alone, with only this day when someone would come to celebrate his birthday, Linus peeled the yam, his mood somewhat complicated for a moment.
But honestly, this feeling of being remembered was quite nice. Even in the depths of winter, his heart felt somewhat warm at this moment.
"Are these grown on the farm?" Linus made small talk.
Winter, this season of depleted vitality—even Linus occasionally felt a bit lonely.
"Mm, planted in Fall," Ron thought and said: "It should be the last batch. After this, if you want to eat more, they'll have to be grown in the Greenhouse."
Upon hearing this, Linus took a bite. The yams were roasted to just the right doneness—this was his favorite. Although winter snow yams tasted good too, in comparison, authentic yams were slightly better.
Before Linus could think of another topic, footsteps suddenly came from the doorway.
Followed by a light call.
"Linus, are you here?"
Ron immediately recognized the voice as Joy's.
Linus paused, poking his head out from the changing room.
"I knew you'd be here." Joy smiled at Linus: "I saw on the calendar today is your birthday! Happy birthday!"
Saying this, Joy took out something wrapped in packaging from her pocket.
"This is a specialty from Kalos——I'm not sure if you'll like it." Joy said, hesitantly glancing at the men's changing room, pondering whether to step forward and hand it over.
Her relationship with Linus was fairly good, thanks to these two months of rescuing Pokémon in the forest mines. Gradually, Linus became her first good friend in Pelican Town besides Robin and Ron.
Especially since Ron and Robin always had their own work to be busy with, but Linus was different—he was free most of the time, and was mostly willing to help with those Pokémon she couldn't carry.
Although this somewhat kind-looking old man lived a somewhat strange life, Joy was willing to respect anyone's lifestyle.
"Thank you." Linus took the package, but didn't open it immediately. He still had some food in hand at the moment. Food was quite hard to find in winter, so he chose to save this kind of food that could be stored for when he really didn't want to go out gathering.
"You're welcome." Joy curved her eyes into a smile, "Want to come to the Community Center for a while later? The fireplace is burning brightly right now, and I also dug up some snow yams."
Linus paused. Just as he was hesitating, Ron walked out from inside.
"Ron, you're here too."
Ron nodded, sharing one of the roasted yams in his hand with Joy.
"Then shall we go to the Community Center together for a while?" Joy accepted it. Walking here along the way with the cold wind blowing, her hands were a bit cold, so she couldn't help cupping this yam. She continued: "I happen to have nothing to do today. If you don't mind, I can make some Kalos dishes for you to try."
Joy added: "Perfect for celebrating your birthday! The Trevenant in the forest also woke up yesterday."
Originally planning to refuse, Linus paused upon hearing about Trevenant, and agreed.
"Then let's go—oh, no, wait a moment, I need to go back to the tent and put things away." Linus said, packing up the pile of things he got from Sailor today.
Strangely enough, Linus was also a regular at trash cans, but he had never pulled out so much food from them before, and coincidentally they were all things that stored well.
Hearing this, the three left the Spa together. After picking up Trubbish from the recycling station along the way, Linus put the food away in his tent.
Ron conveniently put the yams he brought into Linus's tent as well, while Joy waited outside.
"Oh right, I collected some wool," Ron said, taking out the wool: "I thought you might be able to use it. Putting it under the bed this winter is really warm."
Linus was startled. He paused, then took it from Ron's hands.
"Thank you—it's truly a thoughtful gift." Linus placed this bundle of wool to the side. "I collected quite a bit of Moss during the Green Rain last time, originally thinking this winter would be slightly warmer."
But facts proved that stuff was merely soft. As for warmth, that was completely baseless.
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