Even vibrant towns have their downs

It was quite a somber afternoon the normally so vibrant Grassveil town. The streets were looking rather barren and the sun had not been able to break through the thick layer of grey clouds. Many of the market stalls were closed, and only those in dire need of supplies were visiting the normally so exciting town.

'' Only a few rays of sun would be enough'' Yera whispered to her self followed by a loud sigh, as she carefully got down to the pond to look at her reflection. Sadly nothing had changed yet. Yera was feeling rather down and for some reason very exhausted, while she had not been doing much in days. The young Deerling remained stationary, almost motionless as she was staring at the brown Deerling in the reflection of the water. In the reflection she could see her pointy ears and rather sad expression, on a wall of dark clouds. The weather had been like this for days, and everyone was waiting for it to clear up.

It wasn't even winter anymore, but still her coat hadn't changed yet, the days were cold and sad, she even had gotten off from work as there were no customers, which was a bummer. No work means no pay, which means no food, she still had savings but knew she shouldn't all spend it on fruits.

More and more sighs followed as Yera continued staring at the water, using her hoof to create little splashes in it. Today was going to be another long day and Yera was anything but ready for it. The normally so positive Deerling was being affected by what she would call a post winter depression.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of his hooves echoed through the empty barren streets as an ever gleeful skiddo trotted his way through the spacious streets with his head held high as he hummed a melodious tune. The skiddo's legs moved fluently as they carried him along, the speed unaffected by the two large sacks on his side. The two bags were filled to the brim with different objects, resources, and even food. They were his inventory, he was retrieving them from the local kangaskhan storage after having set them in there. His shop had been pretty empty as of late, but recently a customer had popped in. The customer and renewed his hopes of keeping his shop going, and he was now expecting more to come soon now that one had finally showed their face.

The skiddo's bags jiggled along with his walk, jumping up as his gait pushed his body up and forward before being reclaimed by gravity and brought back down on the skiddo's back. Normally this would have been bad for a pokemon's back, but the skiddo's back was strong enough to handle it. His smile was stretched from ear to ear despite the dark times the town was in, as he was thankful he had even satisfied a single customer.

At first, he had walked right past the deerling, trotting along merrily as he made his way back to his wonderful shop. He did not actually realize that the deerling seemed a bit...down, until he was a good few meters away where he suddenly stopped as the realization struck him. His legs froze in place, mid-gait before he turned his head to look behind him. Wow...she really looked sad he realized as his smile faded to a frown. The skiddo's raised legs fell as he turned ninety degrees so that his side faced her with his head still fixed on her position.

The little skiddo's mind processed what to do for a brief moment before his legs moved towards the deerling at a much slower pace than what he had been walking. He approached the deer and spoke up, "Uh...hi!" he smiled again, his tail held high as his ears stood up in a friendly manner. The skiddo continued, "You okay? You seem a bit down!"

Yera was rather lost in thought as she had heard something which resembled a voice in the distance. At first she didn't really want to turn around as it probably just was her imagining things. But then the usual doubt struck, what if there really was someone? she couldn't turn them a cold shoulder. now could she? With a little bit of doubt in her own senses she got up, and after a little stretch looked backwards to see whether her senses were right or not.

It was then when she spotted a Skiddo, a rather happy one to be precise. The small goat was packed with bags, but still armed with a smile of gold which was great to see in times like these. The polite little goat asked her if she was okay, as she was looking rather sad. It took Yera a while to muster the courage to answer, as well as find the answers. It was not that she didn't like being asked if she was feeling okay, she actually appreciated it, but it also meant she had been worrying someone and she didn't like bothering people like that.

Yera took a large breathe and turned around to face the Skiddo, slowly but steadily. ''hi'' She answered friendly but rather hesitant. It was rather weird to tell a stranger she wasn't well at all, thus she decided to leave her problems in the middle and just try to make a conversation. '' I am okay, Guess the weather is just getting to me'' She said as she looked at her hoofs, but she quickly shook her head and forced a smile on her face. '' I am sorry for worrying you, my name is Yera'' . Yera actually wanted to make a compliment, and tell the Skiddo that it was kind to worry about her considering he was working and the weather wasn't really helping either, but she decided against it as it felt out of place.

The skiddo listened as the deerling spoke, the hesitant tone and overall depressed and forced smile. Aries's ears flattened slightly before they raised again as the deeling introduced herself as Yera. He thought for a moment, she was definitely sad. She did not seem to be okay, but he would not press. If she was not happy, then he would make her happy! Being sad was not fun, and he would not wish that upon any friendly soul. He thought for a moment before piping up once more, "Nice to meet you Yera, I'm Aries!" he puffed his chest out proudly upon mentioning of his name.

The little goat's hooves had shifted so that they were directly next to each other as he spoke his name, standing taller with pride with his big goofy smile. He needed to think of something, what could he do? The goat relaxed himself before putting on his metaphorical thinking cap, it took a moment for a lightbulb to appear in Aries's mind...then he came up with an idea.

"What's your favorite food?" he asked with a burning curiosity, "If you want you can come over to my shop and I can make you something!" he offered with excitement.

''It is nice to meet you too Aries'' Yera answered as she payed close attention to the Skiddos body language, when he spoke his name, it was like he was standing tall and proud, which was something Yera loved to see. It was a rather nostalgic feeling to see and talk to a Skiddo, as she had not seen one since she had been separated from her pack, a million thoughts went through her mind, wondering if this Skiddo called Aries was once maybe part of her pack either, but she shook her head and her smile went away as sudden as it appeared. But she couldn't stay down for long, first impressions always should be good ones, or that is what her dad used to say, Yera didn't really care for impressions, she either liked someone or didn't.

The little Deerling turned more, so she completely faced Aries, it felt rather impolite to not do so. She relaxed her shoulders so she wouldn't look as stiff and put her hoofs in a manner she could talk for ages without getting tired, for some reason this Skiddo seemed like he was easy to approach, and where Yera normally wasn't too talkative, the fact that this was a Skiddo made things a little easier for her.

Yera raised an eyebrow when she was asked the question, '' My favourite foods?'' she asked, followed by a '' hmmm''.  Aries sure asked hard questions, she liked food a lot, she was actually quite the munchkin. It turned out Aries worked in a shop too, and he wanted to prepare food for her, which caused a set of small sparkles to appear in to the little deers eyes. '' I like fruits a lot, and plants. How about you Aries?'' yera answered with another question, sure she wanted to come with the Skiddo, but it was a little hard to say yes, thus she hoped the Skiddo understood she wanted to come along.

The skiddo bounced, his hooves slamming against the ground as he launched himself briefly in the air by a short inch with glee. It was difficult for him to contain his excitement, but the deerling's sparkle and overall improving mood had made the skiddo feel successful. The grass type spoke up in response, "I don't need to eat, but I really like Chesto Berries! They're really useful if i've been working a lot-oh! Joy Seeds too! A lot of customers come to my shop with them and I make meals out of them, they always get so much stronger afterwards! I haven't had one myself, but I'd really like to try one sometime."

Aries had bounced away from the deerling a few inches, "You wanna go now?" he asked directly, unsure of whether or not she wanted to go. He did not intend to have the deerling pay for the meal, in fact payment was not in his mind at all. If someone wanted to, they would likely be completely capable of abusing the skiddo's kindness in order to get free meals. The skiddo did not care for money, but the only reason he charged was so he could afford more supplies and food for himself. The skiddo looked to the deerling with a wide smile, waiting for an answer and hoping for a yes.

Joy seeds? Yera had never heard of those before, but if they were like their name suggested, bundles of joy packed into a seed it might be worth going on an adventure for that one day. The little Deerling enjoyed the way the Skiddo was telling stories to her, he sure seemed to have a lot of them, and to be honest she wouldn't mind hearing more of them. Yera shook her head as she was still lost in though, in the midst of conversation so she could pay a little bit more attention to Aeries. Wanna go now he asked, to which she responded, '' go now? uhm yes sure!''. Before she knew it the shy Deerling had accepted an invitation to someones home, or shop. She gulped down and looked at Aeries, he sure didn't look like a kidnapper, so it all should be fine. She took a deep breathe and stretched out, showing Aeries she was ready to go. '' Thank you for the hospitality'' Yera whispered as a rose colored blush appeared on her cheek, if she was sitting down she would have used her hoof to hide it, but with her lack of balance that would only result into her tumbling on to the floor right now, and she was sure that wouldn't help towards a first good impression.

The skiddo did not even notice the deerling's blushing, as he was far too busy running through the lists of things he could make that would involve fruits and plants. Salads were a common favorite, oh, maybe he could experiment with apples a bit more-wait, no. Bad idea. Last time he did that an apple had exploded in someone's mouth due to an overdose of Blast Seeds and they ended up in the infirmary for a good week. No experimenting, he needed to stick to what he knew unless he wanted to hurt someone again...which he did not. He didn't know what a "hospi-whata" was with his limited vocabulary and education, but her tone sure made it seem like a compliment, "No problem!" he piped despite the chances of it meaning he was stupid. The deerling seemed nice, she surely wouldn't be one of those kinds of pokemon.

The skiddo led the way, the carriers on his sides jigging to his gait once more as he led the deerling to his shop. "It's really easy to find, I always used to get lost in Grassveil, but a really nice Archeops would always help me find my way whenever I found him. There was this one time where a big arcanine helped me as well! I don't get lost anymore though, I can find my shop from nearly anywhere in town~!"

Yera was quietly looking at her surroundings when Aeries led the way, she had gotten quite familiar with the town but still needed points to remember where she was. Luckily she wasn't the only one who found Grassveil quite confusing, as Aeries told her that he had the same problems, but kind Pokemon had helped him out, though she would never go around asking an Arcanine, Fire Pokemon were not her best friends, especially not if they were big ones.

'' That is really nice of them, I needed some time to get used to the town as well, I help out in a shop as clerk, but when I first started working I could never find where I was supposed to go'' She explained to the Skiddo, she wasn't really sure why she told him that, but she felt like she should at least tell a bit of a story too after all Aeries his explanation. Yera wasn't all that good in social talk but she was learning, and luckily Aeries was easy to talk too. '' So aeries, what kind of stuff do you sell in your store, I am excited to find out'' The young Deerling said as she tried to keep up with the Skiddo's rather fast pace, but she was not going to say anything about it.

Aries was thrilled to hear the deerling ask him about his store. He gave an extra bounce to his step as he spoke up, "I handle a lot of food! I sell ingredients, make ingredients, and make full meals for people to eat and take with them on their travels. A lot of my popular dishes are really healthy, and make pokemon stronger, but they require really rare ingredients. Bananas for example, those things are so hard to come across! You can only find them in some really hard to get to place, but I haven't been able to go anywhere really for a while so i've been trying to buy them off of others. people aren't willing to sell those kinds of foods though usually," the chatterbox seemed to go on and on. He did not mind hogging the conversation at all, the little skiddo was an open book waiting to be read for the deerling.

They were nearing the To-Goat cafe, the shop was rather short, but was tall enough to fit large customers. There was a sign that hung from a small post that had a picture of a gleeful gogoat with plenty of berrie that swayed slightly in the wind. The cafe was rather cozy looking, bedding spread between tables so that pokemon could rest as they enojoyed their meals. There was a sign that stated that the shop was taking a lunch break, but Aries would take the sign down as he grew near with vines that escaped from his bushy leafy mane.

When Yera had heard Aeries talking about his shop, her eyes began to sparkle, it was the kind of place she would want to visit after work, or actually maybe even work at, but she wasn't going to tell Aeries that. Yera kind of did enjoy working where she did right now, planting berries, selling them and helping out customers, but working with all these kinds of foods would be even more amazing. The young Deerling was bursting with enthusiasm to see how the shop would look, maybe she had seen it before, but she was afraid to hop in. When Aeries talked to her about rare foods like bananas she smiled, she didn't really care for treasure herself but she might put herself in danger for food, she was quite the munchkin after all. '' That sounds really fun Aeries, I'd be honored to see your shop '' Yera exclaimed happily, most of her nerves were gone now the two had shared stories about their love for foods.

Yera happily continued to follow Aeries as they were nearing the shop, a big sign would read to her that this was the Go-goat café. It was kind of a nostalgic feeling to see a Gogoat as her father was one, her mother was a Sawsbuck, her happily smile turned into a frown for a few seconds but she managed to shake it off. She was suprised how well Aeries could control his powers, as he managed to use a vine to take a be right back sign off.

Yera had been really excited to get in, she had tons of images in her head of how the place might look, what kind of things she would see happen and how this all would turn out, she had some savings so she knew she could pay Aeries for the meal she was going to get, even though he probably wouldn't accept she couldn't go and eat for free. But before entering she stared at the Gogoat once more and decided it be good to ask the question she wanted to ask ever since she had met Aeries, it wasn't good to eat on a worried stomach anyways. She took a deep breathe and stared at the Skiddo, '' Hey Aeries'' She started shaking a little. '' Uhm, I wonder how you came to this town, I did when I lost my pack of Gogoat and Sawsbuck, so maybe you might have met them'' Yera was really nervous but managed to continue her sentence, she looked at the ground wondering how the Skiddo would react, she really wanted to accept his offer, but she couldn't untill the questions and worries in her head had been answered.

The skiddo turned his head to look back to her, an ear swerving towards her as he listened to her ask her question. His vines swept the bedding of a seat slightly, fixing it so that the floor was not covered in it. Aries thought for a moment, tilting his head as an eye closed in thought. He searched his mind for any memory of such a herd of pokemon. Sadly, all he could think of was his previous herd. He shook his head, "No, only place i've seen a gogoat is back at my herd. I came from a really far away place. My mamas wanted me to leave and see the world, but I haven't seen much of it yet," the skiddo spoke. He would have loved to go on about how nice it seemed here and how he loved his job, but it seemed that the deerling was uncomfortable and this was a rather sensitive subject.

His ears lowered as he looked upon the sad looking deer. His vines returned into his leaves as he thought for a brief moment. He glanced to his back double doors that led into the kitchen before he looked back to the deerling, "Wait here!" he spoke before he jumped through the limp swinging doors and left them to settle themselves as he rushed about the kitchen. Various clanking and clattering could be heard behind the doors as they swung in and out. There was a sound of a pot falling on top of something before colliding with the ground as a muffled sound escaped the kitchen, "Ouch!"

After a few moments the skiddo had burst through the doors once more just as they began to lay still. The baggage on his back was no longer there and his vines held up a small basket of various fruits, herbs, and vegetables. The skiddo walked a bit more calmly this time, not wanting to risk dropping the food or losing any of the contents. He offered it to the deerling, "Here!" he spoke enthusiastically.

(note; this is an ic food item and is not meant to be used for any ooc uses, energy, or effects and are simply for the thread)

Yera was rather disappointed to hear that Aeries came from another part of the world, it would have been to good to be true if he was from the same pack as she was, but Skiddo still was a very familiar specie to her, and she could talk to them rather easily. She tried to force a smile on her face again ''I am sure one day you will see loads of the world, but hey you run a cafe, thus you see many people who seen a lot of the world'' Yera said, hoping it would cheer up the Skiddo a bit, not that it looked like he needed any cheering up but she still felt like it was a good thing to say. She then decided to look around the cafe for a bit while Aeries went out of his way to make her some food, this made her feel really special and she didn't know how to deal with it yet but for now she would go on with it.

She sat down on one of the beddings, which was really comfortable, Aeries had done a great job at decorating this place, it looked like an amazing cafe and she knew that after today, she would be coming here more often. Her quiet train of thoughts and observing the cafe was broken by the noise of a bang, and followed by Aeries yelling out something that she understood as ouch, '' Are you okay?'' Yera yelled, as she wanted to jump up to see if her new friend was doing okay, but before she knew it the Skiddo had returned with a nice bowl full of yummy looking food.

Up on closer inspections, she saw a lot of fruit and herbs, it looked great and she couldn't really resist to dig in, but where would she start, which piece of fruit would she eat first. All she knew was, the longer she waited, the more disrespectful it would be towards Aeries, thus she quickly put her face in to the bowl and picked out a nice piece of fruit. '' So good'' she exclaimed loudly, as a big smile had appeared on her face. '' You are such a great cook Aeries'' She continued as she happily munched on.

'' Thank you so much again, where have you learned to cook like this it's amazing'' Yera continued, the normally so calm and collected Deerling was really enjoying her food, and she was really happy someone went out of his way to make it for her.

Aries was pleased to hear that the deerling was enjoying his meal. The grass type seemed to dig right in and enjoy the meal, becoming happier as she tasted the meal. He found himself feeling quite accomplished that he had managed to cheer up the deerling as his chest puffed out proudly as his work of art was thoroughly appreciated. "Thanks! I'm self-taught, but a lot of the folks around here are happy to give me tips and advice when they come by. A Simisear, Simisage, and Simipour often came by to give me tips and check out my food, but ever since the sky grew dark they haven't come back." the skiddo seemed a bit sad to remember that the three monkeys no longer visited him, but he bucked right up almost as soon as he realized he was looking sad.

He had just tried to help this deerling not be sad, him just being sad just would not do! The skiddo smiled brightly as he spoke up, "Anything else you want? I've got plenty of foods, if you have a dish you would want made I can see if I can try to throw it together!" he spoke enthusiastically. He always loved trying new dishes, a broad menu was always a good menu. He already had plenty of items on his menu, though a lot of it was simply creating ingredients for bigger meals, or simple ones that people often took out with them.

As Yera happily continued munching on her fruit and vegs, she listened to Aeries tell about his shop, those who helped him out learning how to cook, and how they sadly haven't turned up due to the weather. Yera had wanted to know about the weird clouds, but she never dared to ask anyone about it, maybe this Skiddo could tell her, he seeemed to be knowledgable.

'' Yeah I don't know what happened to the sky, but it makes me really sad, My fur should be nice and pink by now, but my body still thinks its winter, do you know why the sky is so weird?'' Yera asked, she was rather ignorant, she didn't know much about this world, nor did she know much about other Pokemon. Yera was quite the hermit, living with as few social interaction as possible, but since she had been working in the shop, interaction had been much easier for her. She still felt akward at times, still had hard times, but over all was doing a way better job at being someone to talk to.

Yera Had almost finished her serving of food when Aeries offered to make her more, she kind of didn't want to say no, as she was almost full, but hey the food was so good there was still room for a little desert, she planned on paying anyways so didn't feel too bad about it. '' Uhm, If you can make a small desert that be amazing, I am rather full already, but something sweet would be really nice, just let me know how much it costs and I will pay you for it, your cooking really deserves to be payed for'' Yera told the Skiddo, she kind of asked for more food to have a reason to stick along even longer, normally she wasn't such the social bee but it was fun being around the Skiddo and his stories.