Alrighty, no, I haven't stopped writing Learning, and I apologize for being slack with the next chapter, bit I got sidetracked by these two: Shauntal and Grimsley are just an awesome couple. One's a sweet, romantic novelist; the other is a womanizing manwhore with a permanent 'I'm-gonna-rape-you' face. I was fiddling around with this idea for a while, and I just love it to bits, I can't stop writing about them. This is just my interpretation of the characters and how their relationship would progress.

Title is based off the picture I drew that inspired it all. See my profile for the link if you're interested. I also update my profile with my current story status, so if you ever want to know where my latest chapters are at, I suggest you go have a look there. Anyways, hopefully you enjoy my foray into the mind of Shauntal!

Expectations

...

I was in my Room, the main building given to each member of the Elite Four. We had other rooms, of course, but the Room was where we took on challengers wishing to claim the Championship. I was happily sorting out my new purchases, placing all the books in their proper places. My beloved Chandelure floated over to investigate what I was doing. She'd been my best friend since I'd been a young girl, and she only a tiny Litwick.

"Look, Chandelure! I got the newest Luvdisc Hearts novel, as well as a book by Lora Lai!" I loved immersing myself into the world of books. I had thousands in my collection. I loved my romance novels the most; I guess you could say they were my guilty pleasures. I adored the passionate, all-consuming love of people portrayed in my favourite series, like Luvdisc Hearts. Of course, I enjoyed lots of different genres –a good novelist always tries to branch out- but my favourites would always be the romances.

It's a little embarrassing to say, but the majority of my work is in the deep end of romance. I spent most of my time dreaming up my dark, handsome, and yes, sexy heroes, and then deliver him to my heroine for a night (or nights!) of unbridled, wild, passion.

Oh dear, I'm blushing again. You'd think I would be used to it, but I can't help myself. I guess you could say I live through my characters. I always dream of the day a dashing gentleman will sweep me off my feet. I don't know when exactly it will happen, but I can hope it will be soon.

Chrrrriiiinnn, Chandelure said, floating next to my head. I gently ran a finger down the black iron-like stems that were her arms. She hummed softly, telling me she liked that.

"It'll happen someday," I sighed wistfully, as she bobbed up and down. Sometimes, the others found it strange how I tended to tell my Pokemon everything, but to me they were my closest confidantes. I liked talking to the other three Elite Four members, but Caitlin was usually wrapped up in her own problems (she believed the world revolved around her happiness), Marshal preferred to fight all the time, he usually challenged me to a battle before he'd talk to me, and Grimsley...

Grimsley made me act like a flustered schoolgirl. I always stuttered around him and usually ended up embarrassing myself. I couldn't help it; he oozed charm, and acted very suave towards everything female.

I suppose you could say a few of my male characters look like Grimsley...but it's not true. Not really. Well, alright, there may be one or two who would remind you of a debonair Elitist (our word for ourselves).

I...will admit here and now that I may have a slight uhh...infatuation with Grimsley. I know it will never go anywhere, however. I'm not that naive. I've seen him enter his room with a different lady pretty much every night. Marshal calls him a 'manwhore', which, while fitting, is a bit rude. Caitlin always hmmphs when he says that, and tells Marshal to stop being 'so uncouth'. I usually don't say much of anything in our group meetings.

Caitlin runs through her day, Marshal gives a play-by-play of his latest –and greatest, of course- fight, and Grimsley...never seems to care, he's always looking off into the distance. Probably wondering who he's taking to bed that night.

No, Shauntal, stop being so silly. What he does at night is his own business. Go and finish your next chapter, instead of sighing after a man who isn't interested.

I glanced at myself in the mirror, and felt a pang of sadness. The woman I saw looking back at me was skinny, her short purple hair cut in a severe style that framed her face, the bangs at the front levelled at the top of her eyes. A large pair of glasses perched on her nose, taking up half of her face and framing her large, dark eyes. Her deep purple shawl flared out and stood up at the back, making her look like some strange Pokemon, and her light purple dress gave her a young-girl look. The overall effect was pretty...dorky. And purple. It was my favourite colour, but still.

I felt suddenly awkward, turning away from the mirror. I knew I wasn't really pretty, but I barely looked like a woman at all, since my breasts were quite small and my hips made me look like a young girl. I have actually been mistaken for a young girl in the past, instead of the twenty-two year old woman I was supposed to be.

I sniffed, feeling a wave of emotion sweep over me.

"Not going to cry," I said, biting my lower lip. I felt a tear run down my cheek, and fled to my bedroom. "It's not fair," I sobbed into my pillow. Chandelure had sensed my distress and followed me, offering her form of comfort. "Thank you," I told her, as she hovered quietly in the corner. I sniffed, wiping away the traces of my distress. "I'm fine," I said firmly, changing into my nightdress and brushing my hair.

I lay curled up in my bed until I eventually fell asleep.

...

"And then she moaned, the feel of his tongue against hers sending shivers down her spine," I said out loud, writing it down into my notebook. I'd woken up feeling better, and had finished my chapter. Now I was writing the next one, but it was being difficult. "What do you think, Jellicent?" I asked her. She'd been there when I'd woken up, and hadn't moved since. My Pokemon were well in tune with my moods, and often did what they could to make me feel better. Jellicent didn't say anything, so I left it as it was. I could always come back and change it later.

I loaded up my laptop, rereading the previous chapter.

Pulling up the email screen, I typed in Cynthia's address and wrote a quick message.

The Champion of the Sinnoh region had visited about four months ago, having gotten the urge to go adventuring. As natural for Champions, she had come here and immediately challenged Alder to a match. We Elitists had watched eagerly, assuming Alder would win. After all, he'd been reigning Champion of Unova for a few years.

We were awestruck when Cynthia swept his Pokemon aside like a gorgeous, blonde tornado. She'd beaten him flawlessly. Not to mention she was a great sport, thanking Alder for a fun match and then coming over to talk with us. We'd started talking about books at some point, and I'd ended up showing her some of mine.

She'd gushed over them, and immediately demanded copies of everything. I signed them all for her, feeling ridiculous, but Cynthia had been pleased. At some point, I'd gotten stuck on a chapter and sent it to her to see if she could suggest some ideas. She'd given me tons of feedback, and so now I sent her my finished chapters in advance, for critique and comments.

I pressed send and then closed down my laptop. I prefer to write out my stories by hand, and then chapter by chapter type them up. It was easier to carry a notebook around.

I picked up my notebook and moved back into my Room. We hadn't had any challengers call, but I liked being near all my books.

A sudden knock at the door gave me a fright.

"Yes?" I said, opening it. I nearly dropped my notebook. "G-Grimsley!" I took a couple of steps back, not quite cowering behind the door. He gave me a strange look, but nodded towards me.

"Hello Shauntal," he greeted me, ever polite. "Err...I don't wish to interrupt you, but I'm...quite bored," he said, sounding ever-so-slightly sheepish. "Caitlin suggested I borrow a book from you," I wasn't sure how to react. Granted, I had more books than anyone else, but surely Grimsley had his own collection?

"Uhh...s-sure," I moved aside, letting him inside.

"Thank you," he said, grinning crookedly. I froze, unable to do anything but stare at him. The grin faded; he must have thought there was something wrong with me. "How are your books arranged?" he asked, sighing. "What genres do you have?"

I stammered out something about history being in front of him, and moved quickly towards my study as he looked interestedly at the shelves.

"J-just feel free to browse that area. T-the others are mostly r-romance," I fled, all but slamming the door behind me.

Smooth, Shauntal. Now he definitely thinks you have problems. I sighed to myself. Why couldn't I just act normal around him?

A thought struck me. What if he read my novels? I had a small collection off to the side with nothing but my stories in it. And since most of them were the kinds of 'smutty' novels only women read... I rested my head against the table in horror.

Please, please, please let him pick something that isn't going to embarrass me for all time.

I tentatively peeked out from behind the door.

"Oh, Shauntal!" I squeaked at suddenly finding Grimsley standing outside, his hand raised to knock on the door. "My apologies. I just wanted to ask...are these your novels?" I opened the door enough to see him holding a couple of mine.

"Y-yes," I felt my cheeks turning red. "They're my...romance series," I all but whispered, looking down. "That's the first one," I pointed to Dark Wings.

"Fascinating. I knew you wrote novels, but I didn't know anything about them. Do you mind if I read them?" I shook my head helplessly.

"O-of course not," I hurriedly bit my lip before I could bury myself any further. Idiot! I should have said I did mind. Which I did, actually. I couldn't explain it, but there was a part of me that was nervous to show my fantasy world to him. I know that sounds stupid, especially since I have quite a large fan base, but that's just how I felt.

"Thank you. You've saved me from an afternoon of boredom," Grimsley smiled, looking at me. When I didn't say anything, he sighed and turned away. "I will show myself out," he said, walking quickly over to the door.

"Oh, here," I ran over, opening it for him. "Uhh...j-just bring it back whenever," I mumbled, not meeting his gaze.

"Very well," I closed the door behind him. I think I may have offended him with my rudeness. In hindsight, it was quite rude of me to run away. I just couldn't handle being near him, though.

I slid down the door, resting my chin on my knees.

"Couldn't he pick any other book? I should burn all of mine," I cursed. I never would though; my books were all a part of me. I tried to remember if there was anything too crazy in Dark Wings. "I...don't think there's anything too bad in that one. I kind of started out tame," I attempted to reassure myself, but it wasn't working. I could remember all too well what I'd written, and it was one up-and-down whirlwind of temptation, lust and sex.

"I'll never be able to face him again!" I wailed, summoning Jellicent. "Oh no, I'm fine sweetheart," I told her when she hummed questioningly. "Just...mortified beyond all belief," I finished, burying my head in my hands.

What do you think? I've already written the next two chapters, if you guys are interested, I'll keep updating this story. Either that, or I swear I'll go and update Learning instead. Thanks for reading!

-Aerococonut