Sp00ks [Halloween 2019] [Open]

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"I'll be back later tonight...and I'll bring back some gummis for you!" her voice sang out to the little skiddo in the back of the shop.

"Have fun!" his voice rang back with a certain tone to it she was all too familiar with. It was a cheerful one, but it made her nervous. She didn't normally leave Aries alone much anymore, but he didn't seem keen on coming along with her on her lovely stroll. It was kind of a relief to be honest. It was a little tiring to have to accompany him all day an reassure him about every bump in the night.

She needed some her-time anyways. A stroll through the lovely Grassveil to gaze upon the costumed trick or treaters and look upon the ever so "terrifying" decorations people place on their lawns was more than enough of a treat for her. Of course, she wasn't exactly a fan of the dark. So, she carried with her a trust lantern-on-a-stick. A satchel hung over her shoulder with a lantern held just above her, like a walking light post. The light swung back and forth with a cutesy zubat figurine on the top of it. She didn't have a costume herself, but she didn't quite need one where she was going.

The little deerling was not only going on a walk to have a look around, but going to a social event. It was a little theater of sorts being performed in the town square. It didn't start for a while, but she could hardly resist the idea of watching aspiring actors play out a grand story. With her secured lantern protecting her from the spooks of the darkness, she made her way along the street with a melodious tune to her hums. Anything helped to keep the gnawing fear of the dark night around her lonesome self at bay.

[max of one other person before you must ask to join, mada's reserved a spot]

The jigglypuff was practically weightless on her back. It was kind of surprising to Yera. She didn't know if it was just her getting a bit stronger from manual labor or if the jigglypuff was actually that light. Either way, she didn't say a word about it. Her attention was drawn towards the Pikachu with the amusing costume. Alki wanted to avoid it. Yera figured the average pokemon might have questioned it, but the way the Jigglypuff shivered and the fear behind the voice told her that there happened to be a bit of a story behind it.

"Yes, I can do that," she affirmed to the jigglypuff with a nod. The little deerling focused her attention back on the crowd with a special eye kept on the unsuspecting Pikachu. She waited where she was, as if she were biding her time in regards to the pikachu. Truthfully, it was an excuse. The crowd still intimidated her. She had no idea it was going to be this large. Her head was so caught up in the clouds about the play that she failed to even think about this part.

The fear of looking silly just standing her eventually surpassed her unwillingness to go forward. She took one cautious step in front of the other as she headed deeper into the celebration. Lights decorated the nearby trees from top to bottom with various little pumpkins scattered about. Each pumpkin had a little design etched into them. One looked like an eevee while the other...what exactly was that supposed to be?

Her nervous gaze glanced about from stall to stall. A pumpkin carving station, a haunted maze of hedges, food stalls, and even some of the classic activities for prizes such as bottle-knocking, dunk tank, and ring toss. Eventually, her eyes focused on a little stand just off to the corner. It was...a doll-making activity? Silly janky little plush dolls and even paper-plate faces made of cutesy crafts. It looked like all that was needed was a small fee and the customer could go wild in making what they wanted of what was there.

...

She kind of wanted to try it out.

Despite her yearning for a doll, she shunned herself away from it. It was silly! She shouldn't be going there...unless Alki wanted to go there.

"See anything you want to do?" she asked the jigglypuff.

Alki hugged the neck of her new... Of Yera tighter. She felt horrible for liking this, and she knew she didn't deserve it. But she'd come to terms with being selfish... She didn't like it, but she couldn't change it either. It felt too nice for her to give it up... Alki's ears twitched as she closed her eyes, a small, shaky smile on her face. She supposed having friends was a guilty pleasure of hers...

"T-Thank you..." Alki stammered out, before falling silent. She re-opened her eyes, keeping a careful watch on the Pikachu. She wondered if he knew Thunder. Or if he wanted to evolve... Alki found herself trembling as she watched the guy. She didn't even think that he was much older than she was. He seemed sorta young too, but she found her fear impossible to reason with. She was lucky he was looking away, and that he had a costume on. She almost felt like fleeing, back into the darkness. She wasn't even entirely sure why she didn't. She vaguely noticed that they weren't moving, but she found herself more preoccupied with remembering her encounter with the electric types. She still had a small burn mark on the bottom of her foot where the first thunder had exited her body. It still stung from time to time, and she found the ear-splitting head ache sometimes returning when she least expected it.

She wished she could forget it...

Her thoughts slowly drifted away as the Deerling began to walk, and as the pikachu ambled off into the crowd, soon disappearing. Was she a bad person for not wanting to go near Pikachu anymore? Well, she already knew that she was, but... Was it wrong? The rational side of her mind knew that not all Pokemon of that kind were like that, that not all of them were capable of hurting her like he had, but she still couldn't help her emotions. Her trembling arms and feet and the small whine that begged to be let out of her mouth.

She watched the stalls around her, trying to distract herself before her thoughts spiraled too far out of control. There was food, and a strange-looking maze, with tall hedges and a rather... Foreboding aura. People wanted to go in there though... Maybe there was a prize at the end?

Either way, she knew she wasn't going in there. There were a bunch of other fun looking games, that if she had been in a better mood, she might have wanted to try. As it was, she didn't want to risk losing. She didn't want to lose again...

"See anything you want to do?" She heard the Deerling ask. Alki's eyes wandered down to the Deerling's, and hers seemed to be gazing off... Towards some arts-and-crafts thingie... That seemed cool. Mostly because Yera seemed interested. Hers was probably going to look horrible...

"L-Let's g-go there..." Alki said, pointing towards the stall in question. "L-Let me just f-find m-my money...

'Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees' she guilt-squeed inside her head. By some miracle, she managed to keep her cool on the outside. She could hardly believe her luck! The kid wanted to go make some dolls. Obviously a kid would like dolls, surely unlike someone of her age right? Haha... "Okay," She spoke softly, trying to contain herself. It'd look so weird for her of all people to get so worked up over this.

She started her way over to the stall, a friendly looking Minccino greeted the two of them with a hearty "Hello!" It should have been a lovely welcome, but it kind of spooked Yera. It was so loud...and attention-seeking. Nevertheless, the Minccino continued, "Welcome to Build-A-BearFriend, where you can make a friend that'll stick with you to the very end!" The normal type's voice was full of energy, truly believing the nature of their job and happy to spread the joy. "All y'need is 500 poke per friend then you can step right on in and get started! Some of our assistants can help you out with quality, ideas, anything else for helping bring your friend to life. You'll even be provided a certified ticket where you can write down all the details you want about your buddy."

Oh...that was...a little expensive. She certainly had enough, but that on top of the tickets for her and Alki for the theater was certain to put a dent in her wallet. Still...she found that she couldn't resist. "In here..." she gestured to the little pouch off to the side of her shoulder. The minccino saluted the deerling before taking out the coin. Yera was presented the amount that was being taken, just so she was ensured that the normal type wasn't taking more than she needed.

With that done, they looked to Alki.

This dice is not existing.

Alki blinked as the Mincinno welcomed them to their shop. The gesture was appreciated, she supposed, but did they really have to be so... loud about it? Five hundred Poke, huh...? That... wasn't too much. And this time she was ready! She'd gotten in the habit of carrying all of her money on her at once, just in case she'd ever need it! For... reasons. She'd barely been able to scrape 4,000 Poke together, and that had taken her a few days too... Now she'd be down to 3,500. She hoped that if she ran into that problem again, they could forgive her if she fell a bit short...

Alki slowly tuned back in to what was going on, and realized that... that they were looking at her. Oh gosh... How long had she been staring? The bed-sheet clad child began to rifle through her bag, throwing it into even more disarray than it was before, before she found what she was looking for, at the bottom of her bag. 8 pouches, each with 500 Poke worth of coin inside. Alki extracted one hurriedly and handed it to the Minccino.

"H-Here, S-S-Sorry! I-It s-should b-be five-hundred..." Alki managed to stammer out, her outstretched hand trembling slightly as she handed the coin over. It wasn't the Minccino's fault, really. She couldn't remember a time she hadn't been like that. After recent events, it was just... It was just worse.

It occurred to Alki that Yera had payed for her own entry. She'd wanted to pay for her entry as well! It was her fault, really... She should've said so! It was... It was alright though. It wasn't beyond salvaging... As they were ushered in, now that they had both payed, Alki made a mental note of which side Yera's bag was in, before pointing off to some rather mundane attraction off to the other side.

"H-Hey, Y-Yera, l-look a-at that!" Alki said, pointing at... a stuffed Eevee doll. It was cute, but not really worth such a reaction on it's own. Still, she forced her voice to grow louder, happier, more... normal? It wasn't too difficult, honestly. To an extent, she'd always been forcing a smile... And it never seemed to grow any more natural...

As she pointed out this attraction, however, Alki extracted one of her own money-pouches, lifted up the flap on the Deerling's bag, and put it in. The crowd was loud enough that she hoped the soft jingle of money wouldn't be heard, and the fact she was on her back made the positioning quite... easy. No need for a move. She placed the money in, and with nothing more to do, success or failure, she simply closed the flap and sat back, her faked smile shrinking as a small, almost imperceptible one replaced it. Smaller, but... for a brief time, it was there. And it was real...

Alki sat back, shifting her weight around as she considered whether she should get off or not. But given she didn't entirely know where she was going, and that she didn't want to get lost in a fair, she decided to stay on for the time being.

...A friend, huh? Well, she should probably think on that a bit, that sounded like it might be a bit of a tough decision to make... Actually. No, not really... It wasn't difficult at all, really. She nodded softly to herself, before speaking at nobody in particular.

"I-I w-wanna make a skitty..." Alki said quietly, but surely. She'd probably make it look horrible, but... it was what she wanted to do. What else could she possibly make...?

...She should have covered the cost for Alki, shouldn't she? Ahhhh how could she have been so rude? She's the one that forced her to come along on this trip in the first place! She'll just have to pay the kid back later, huh? The deerling and the jigglypuff were allowed in to get started. Her eyes trailed about without need for the Jigglypuff to distract her, but the sudden urgency to look in one direction was too much for her to just ignore. She looked off at where the Jigglypuff pointed to see...an eevee plushie.

Honestly...she wasn't much of a fan of eevees. It was a little annoying to hear about Skylar on a near-daily basis from Aries. It's sort of tainted her view of them to her. What she did appreciate, however, was the implication that came with a completed doll. "Oh, they have bases to start from!" she piped up softly with a smile. She remained completely oblivious to the Jigglypuff's actions, as she instead decided to tread closer to the collection of bases.

Her eyes trailed back towards the customization section for the little stall. It seemed like they had just about everything here. Sparkles, glitter, pins, dye, and even different eye colors for the dolls! It was certainly worth the money they had to pay to start, perhaps even a bit more! A leavanny stepped up to the duo, a graceful and polite bow issued to the both of them. "Hello, my name is Maryanne, though you may call me Marry. I'll be your assistant for the night!" Her voice was warm and welcoming, quieter even compared to the minccino out front. "Is there a base you'd like to select from?" the grass type spoke with a gesture to the vast collection. "We've run out of Pikachu, unfortunately, and our shipment for most water types didn't exactly come in time...but we still have a vast variety for you to choose from~"

The deerling looked on at all of the different selections. It was quite intimidating! She didn't even know what she wanted to make in the first place as opposed to Alki who seemed to know exactly what she wanted. She let the Jigglypuff answer Mary as she mulled it over and over again. It took a moment, but eventually an idea snapped into mind.

"...Oh! Uh...do you happen to carry Lycanroc? I-It's gonna need a lot of work, b-but..." her voice trailed off. She'd never even seen what she wanted to make before. Lycanroc was just the closest body shape she could think of.

"Hmmm...I don't think we have any of the Dusk forms left, but we do have midnight and one or two daylights. No matter how many edits you'd like, I'll be sure to help to the best of my ability! Which one?" The leavanny responded.

"D-Day!" She answered.

The leavanny nodded before picking through the pile towards the back. A skitty and a day lycanroc were picked out. The plushies were presented to the two, "Is there anything in particular you'd like to change to specialize your friend? Would you like to work on it yourself or have me do it for you?" It seemed as if the last question was directed more towards Alki, seeing as Yera was a little physically incapable...especially with everything she wanted to change about it. "It's generally a much more personal experience if you work on it yourself," the grass type informed.

"H-Hullo, Mary..." Alki said, her voice a bit calmer now when confronted with a quieter, more relaxed tone. She was quite happy to have someone like this helping them! Alki listened along as she explained, but she could only set aside so much attention when she already knew what it was she wanted! Alki nodded a couple times, before she made her request. There was really no other alternative in her mind... She waited patiently upon making her request, as Yera began to make hers. A Lycanroc, huh? Did Yera know a Lycanroc, maybe? Or maybe she just liked that Pokemon? Maybe she should ask...

The girl's attention was drawn back to Mary as she returned with both of their plushies, a Skitty and a Lycanroc... What did Alki want to do with it anyways...? She wanted to make the Skitty look as much like Darcy as possible, that was for sure, but... She'd have to think on how.

"I... Uh, I-I d-dunno..." Alki said, scratching her ear absently as she thought about it. She'd never really done arts and crafts before... It's not like she'd been to school before Peak, and she hadn't really... done any of that yet. If she was ever going to, anyways. But at the same time, it was true that it'd be a much more personal experience, huh? Even if it turned out a bit worse, she liked the idea of that...

"I-I'd like to m-make it myself, p-please!" Alki exclaimed, rotating the Skitty around so her face was facing hers. She liked it! The plush was pretty well made... She'd just have to add some things to make it more like Darcy... Like a scarf! D-Darcy was always wearing a scarf!

"Alrighty, sounds good to me!" Mary said, smiling brightly at the child, although still maintaining the same, relatively quiet voice. [color#00ff66] "Anything in particular I can getcha so you can get started…?" [/color]

"D-D'you have any blue cloth…? I'd… l-like to make a scarf for her…" Alki said quietly, still choosing to look at the Skitty instead of at Mary. The Leavanny nodded happily, and set a strip of cloth in front of Alki for her to get started.

"I can get some tools for you to work with, if you'd like?"

"N-nah, T-That's ok, t-thanks… Alki said softly. Mary nodded softly smiling.

"Just let me know if you change your mind! And… how may I help you further…?" Mary turned to Yera in turn, smiling just as brightly.

Oooh that little lycanroc was about to go through so much...she wondered if it would even turn out alright. She just had to put her faith in the leavanny's abilities and pray that it worked out. "I-I'm probably going to need you to do everything..." she spoke regretfully, as if she had any control over whether or not she had limbs that were free to do any particular kind of holding or finesse work with.

"That's quite alright! Just let me know what you need." Mary chimed.

Yera gazed upon the little lycanroc plush toy for a solid few seconds, before she finally spoke up, "It's gonna need to be dyed blue,red, and white, the mane is all wrong, the shoulders aren't right either and the ears need to be more pointy-except one. O-Oh and the tail is off too-" The deerling began to ramble on and on about all of the little changes that were needed for the doll. It was at such a rapid fire pace that the leavanny was a bit taken aback by such a specific request. Mary's shocked gaze silenced Yera with a quiet squeak of fear. Had she gone too far? Was it too much to ask? She should have done something simpler.

"A challenge I see," the leavanny's warm grin stretched into...was that a smirk? Another quiet squeak was all Yera could manage as the leavanny's expression transitioned into an almost sinister expression. Was...was she mad or was this her way of being excited? Yera regretted existing as the grass type gave another bow, "I'll do my very best! Though I may need you to walk me through the details here and there..."

"Okay." the deerling squeaked.

Mary turned to Alki, "I'll be a tad busy with this, but still don't feel afraid to ask for any assistance! I'm quite skilled in this sort of business, so we'll have the both of these done in a jiffy!"

Alki tuned out almost everything else going on around her, focusing just on the Skitty in front of her. She wanted to do a good job! Unfortunately, she had no idea how she was going to do a good job... She wiggled her feet about, considering her options. She had to start with the scarf, but it was all so much! How long did the scarf have to be? Alki scratched at her ear, unsure on how to start, but as the two pokemon beside her began on their project, she felt obliged to start on her own...

The jigglypuff put a hand on her own shadow, prying a small part of it away, and forming a little knife in her hand. It wasn't very big, and looked a bit silly, but she needed some way to cut the cloth, and given she lacked any digits aside from her hands, she felt more comfortable controlling her movements this way... She started cutting at the scarf, trimming down the cloth to fit comfortably around the Skitty's neck, like Darcy always wore it. It took a few tries, but after a while, she figured out how it was folded to stay on her neck.

As she continued to work, she steadily grew less and less nervous... Hers wasn't going to be that good, but it didn't have to be! Not really... She was just happy to make something that looked a bit like Darcy. Just looking at it was cheering her up... As she finished up the scarf, she started to consider what else she might make.

"D-Do y-you have b-browns, M-Mary? F-For a bag...?"

"Of course! Here you go, dear," She said, placing a square of brown cloth on the table. Alki smiled and nodded, mumbling a small thank you, before the Leavanny turned back to Yera, and Alki turned back to Darcy... Er, the plush-Darcy.

Again, Alki got to cutting and folding the cloth so as to somewhat resemble a bag. That one was more difficult... The strap was difficult to get right, and it was hard to fold it right such that it'd continue to look like what she wanted, but over time, she got it! As she placed it on top of the Skitty's head, she slowly realized that... That was about it. She couldn't really think of anything else to add, or anything else she could add. It didn't look too unique, but... She was happy with it! Alki picked it up and held it close to her body, a small smile on her face.

She watched as the Yera and Leavanny worked on theirs, content enough with hers to leave it be for now.

The editing process was...extensive. A whole new tail, specific color combinations, and even a whole rework of the face. It was long, tedious, and well worth the price paid. The leavanny seemed to enjoy the whole process, but Yera was left feeling absolutely intimidated by the bug type's sheer passion. Even she wasn't that enthusiastic about her job. She...she kind of wondered what it was like to enjoy a job this much?

She wasn't left much time to linger on it before the leavanny would ask her for the next change...then the next...then the next. It took a while before Yera finally gave the doll one last look over...

"I-It's done!" She squeaked with a bit more enthusiasm. Completed it was, it hardly even looked like a lycanroc anymore! The leavanny's handiwork was so fine and put-together, that the fact that it was stitched together was thoroughly hidden. The leavanny was absolutely thrilled with a wide smile upon her face.

"It's a pleasure to help you bring your friend to life! I'll be off to get your tickets then," Mary spoke.

"A-Alki, look!" She spoke to the fairy type, eager to show off...the creation. It technically wasn't her's, but she didn't exactly have the capacity to physically do it...not the creative capacity. As she stepped aside to show it to the jigglypuff, she caught sight of Alki's project. "Ahhh that's so cute!" She couldn't help herself from commenting.

Alki watched patiently as Yera and Mary worked together to make a rather... impressive looking pokemon. She hadn't really done much with hers, at least compared to these two! If she hadn't seen Mary pick out the Lycanroc base at the start, then she would have never believed that there was a Lycanroc below all of this! It was quite impressive, honestly, and as Yera announced that she had finished with her project, Alki swayed back and forth, still holding her plush creation tightly. The Deerling seemed quite excited about this! Her excitement seemed to rub off a bit on the jigglypuff, as she wore her own smile as well. It was much smaller, but at least it was there.

"Y-Yours l-looks r-really cool...!" Alki said, nodding happily. She'd never seen anything quite like it, and even though Mary had helped with the actual construction, Alki still felt like it was just as much Yera's as hers! After all, she had been the one to come up with the original idea... Alki blushed and laughed nervously as Yera complimented her creation. "Y-Y'think so...? I-I d-didn't c-change t-that m-much... I-It's j-just l-like m-my sister..." Alki said, not really thinking much of the comment.

"Y-Yours i-is r-really cool, though! W-Where'd y-y-you come up w-with the idea...?" Alki said, smiling as she still cradled the small skitty in her hands. She really liked hers, even though it wasn't anywhere near as impressive. She wondered what Yera was planning on doing with her plushie? They hadn't spent that long with the plush toys, but she felt a bit better... Maybe a bit calmer? At the very least, her voice was more audible now... They'd have to go back out into the crowd soon though, huh...?

The design technically wasn't her's. In fact, it was someone else's creation entirely. She just instructed the leavanny to recreate it from descriptions she read. She was proud of it, but there was still a tinge of doubt over the fact that it wasn't truly her's per say. When Alki asked her, she couldn't help but to blush and grow a bit nervous.

"Uh...It's not mine it's...a character, from one of my favorite book storylines," she responded with a shuffle of her hooves, "H-Her name's Sacchi, and the series is about her and her brother going on some big adventure after they were chosen by uh...gods..." This sounded childish. It was a story she'd practically enslaved herself to the moment she stepped into a library and took a look at the fiction section. She disappeared from her job for days just reading it...and actually got fired for it.

She couldn't ever bring herself to regret it though. They were such good books! She eventually turned out fine, though she imagined she got really lucky in finding another job. She looked to Alki, searching for a single sign that might have indicated some sign of judgement. Yera was a little too old for books...wasn't she? Especially the fictional storybook hero variety.

"It's...a little dumb, but I thought it'd be nice..."

Maybe she shouldn't have done this...

Alki's eyes widened as the Deerling explained that the plushie had originated in a book series, instead of her own imagination. This came as quite a surprise to Alki, being honest. Darcy had only ever read fairy tales to her, and all the characters there had really... Well, sometimes they didn't even have names. Princesses and Princes, or Kings... But Sacchi sounded like a name somebody could actually have! And that story sounded absolutely incredible! Gods...?

"L-Like, A-Arceus and stuff...? I d-don't think that's dumb at all..." Alki said, pausing to think on her next words. She'd never been that good at reading... Well, that was a lie. She was lying to herself... She'd never known how to read at all. Darcy taught her the alphabet, but... That was about it. She liked the circles!

"I-I don't t-think it's d-dumb a-at all..." Alki said, her voice gathering a bit more resolve as the she thought about it more. "I-It's... y-y'know, I-I d-don't t-think that's dumb... A-And I d-do think i-it's nice..." She said, very helpfully. She didn't really know what else to say... It wasn't! And it was nice! She just didn't know how to convince Yera... She just didn't want her to think that she was dumb. Alki had a right to say that, but Yera didn't! She knew how to read, she couldn't be dumb!

"Y-Y'know, I-I d-don't e-even know h-how to read! S-So... I-I'd say i-it's actually k-kinda cool t-that y'know who Sacchi is! I n-never woulda known, y'know... B-Besides, g-going on a b-big a-adventure s-sounds cool, n-not d-dumb... I-I wish I w-were the kind of pokemon who could do that..." She said, eyes becoming slightly downcast at the thought. She'd never be strong enough to do something like that... Nor did she really want to. Alki hugged the Skitty she'd spent so much effort on tightly, closing her eyes. It was a bit disappointing to think about, really. She wasn't the kind of person anyone would ever want to write about, was she...?

Alki insisted that it wasn't dumb. The quivering tone didn't exactly help Alki's argument, however, as it seemed more like the Jigglypuff was just saying it to make her feel better. The deerling's uncertain look was all over her expression, but that quickly changed once the jigglypuff revealed some mind-boggling information.

She didn't know how to read!?

That was...a crime! Though, not because of the reasons one might normally think. In Yera's mind, it just mean that Alki was missing out on so much! Going on a big adventure was cool alright, but with the right book it felt like the reader was going on the adventure along with them! Yera was quick to start on up with response, "Big adventures are cool and all, but th-they're super dangerous...books kind of let pokemon go on adventures without needing to endanger themselves. It's really fascinating!"

"D-Do you need a tutor? I'd love to help you learn-you could read so many books and go on all kinds of adventures-without getting hurt and stuff..." annnnd she'd have someone to fangirl over Sacchi with. Honestly just having someone to read those books with in general would be fun. Aries was always so busy between the shop and his therapy sessions...

At the mention of danger, Alki absently scratched at the area of her stomach where the Raichu had kicked her a few weeks prior. It still sort of hurt when she touched it... Honestly, when she remembered that fight, she felt a lot of the same sensations. She felt her body tensing up and burning, and her stomach thing itself into knots at the thought of the kick he had delivered. She hated danger... And the thought of being able to go on adventures without the danger inherently involved seemed like quite the huge upside! Alki nodded as the Deerling exclaimed how fascinating it was. It seemed more than fascinating! It seemed incredible!

Alki's nods turned much more solemn as the Deerling offered herself up as a tutor. She slowly lifted her arm up from her stomach to her ear, choosing to scratch that instead now. It still rung a bit from time to time, or maybe it was just her imagination...?

"I-I don't... Er, can't... W-waste your time L-Like that..." Alki mumbled, looking up at Yera sincerely. "M-My s-sister t-tried, y-yknow... B-But t-the words blended into each other, a-and wavered, a-and... T-the 'd's looked l-like 'b's a-and stuff... She trailed off, silent for a second, before concluding. "I-I'm t-too dumb to read..."

She blinked, considering the Deerling's final words. "Without getting hurt and stuff." That definitely still sounded appealing though...


"I s-sure wish I wasn't though... I-I don't w-want to get hurt a-anymore..."

Hurt anymore? Huh?

Yera's ears fell at the explanation. Too dumb to read? That just wasn't possible! The deerling thought for a moment, before coming to the conclusion that perhaps she just lacked the confidence to learn. It seemed like second nature for her to read, but that was probably because she did it so frequently!

"I don't mind," she responded, "It's not a problem really, aside from the shop I don't really do much..." Well technically she has to watch Aries, but he'd probably be fine on his own every now and then, right?

meanwhile with Aries:

Yera perked up with a smile again, "But if you really don't wanna then...maybe I could just read them to you? I-I'm probably not a good storyteller, but I can certainly practice!" She was excited about this prospect, but she tried to keep herself down. She'd already pressured Alki into coming here and spending money, it'd be even worse if she then guilted her into meeting her up just so she could read a few books Alki didn't even like. She was already pushing it a bit wasn't she? Yera watched the jigglypuff's face cautiously, waiting for that single sign that perhaps she was overstepping her boundaries and making the jigglypuff a little uncomfortable.