Chapter 48: Yoko, Ally & Jaan: Hobby Workshopping Ideas

"And then I said: Well in that case I love you plutonically."

"Snrk, Pwhahahaha!" Jaan laughed at Ally's joke.

"Um… I don't get it." Yoko timidly said, feeling left out of the conversation.

"Don't worry, Yoko." Jaan gently put her hand on her shoulder. "You'll get it someday." She said in an encouraging tone. "I've noticed you've been getting smarter." She playfully (and harmlessly) knocked twice on her skull.

"I have?" The winged girl said, rubbing where she's been knocked.

"I've noticed it too. You've been sharper."

"And more obviously your grades have improved a bit." The cheerleaders cheered the pink-headed feather-brain up conventionally.

"I uh… didn't notice…" 'I'm still very dumb… I can't do anything right…' She quietly thought. Ally and Jaan had no idea what they said wrong.

Yoko and her female friends are on their way to the local hobby shop. Ally and Jaan tried to find a new passion for their solemn friend to enjoy and to keep her thoughts off… that day… as well off as her thoughts and the looks and treatment she still gets.

She rarely got treated maliciously, but she's still shunned often, gets avoided, gets looks she doesn't like. She's grateful she still has friends, and that her friends' friends seem okay with her, but it depends on the day if she thought if she deserved it or not…

"How are you feeling, Yoko?" Ally asked, a little concerned.

"Like usual…" The angel held her arm with her other arm to try and calm her nerves. 'I miss singing, but it's so dangerous, nobody will like me if I do it again…'

Ally surprise hugged her. Her hugs always seem to cheer everyone up. Jaan followed Ally's example. The human and the half-genie did succeed in raising the angel's morale.

"Thank you~" She liked having more than one friend.

The trio entered the hobby shop "Der Kleine Kreative Hobbyladen" and looked around.

Jaan pointed Yoko towards the first thing she saw. "How about candles, Yoko?"

"As in… maaaking them?" The pinkhead asked.

"Yeah." The supernatural one of the three said.

"Ooo~" Ally cooed. "I like the idea. Some lovely cozy candles."

"Uhm… I don't trust my wings with candles. They may not look like it, but I got pretty strong wings. They could probably make the candles fall over while I sneeze." Yoko said.

"Oh, good point." Ally conceded. "Pros and cons of having wings."

"I could still probably give you the power to toggle your wings on and off once I got a wish charged up." The half-genie hoped that was something she could even do. Not exactly a small wish.

The winged-human ignored Jaan's offer.

Ally gently tugged Yoko to the next thing Yoko might like. "Girls, remember when Accord thought us pottery? Why not give clay a shot? Make your own pretty vases."

Yoko thought back to those classes. The rotating tables. Steady hands forming the clay as it turns. "It was fun. Not sure if I wanna keep doing it." Her friends shrugged it off.

"Hey, what about knitting?" The magical girl with the horns picked up some wool. "Maybe you can knit a new vest."

The winged girl looked at her vest. "I don't wanna trade." It makes her feel safe, even if Peruvis' stinging words are attached to it. It's a little too big for her, but the inside is comfy, and it has wing holes.

"Would you like to make scarfs instead?" The human girl Ally suggested. "They're easier to make. Especially if you make them with love~"

"How do you do that?" Yoko asked.

"You just put your heart in it~" Ally said with unparalleled sincerity and joy.

"Eep!" Yoko used both her hands to cover her heart (on the wrong side). "Oh." She let go. "You mean, figurely?"

"Figuratively, yeah." Ally assured her. Had a slight giggle at her friend's misunderstanding."I was gonna say, Yoke." Jaan said. The genie looked at her hand, she still had the wool on her hands. "Heehee, hey look." She had a smirk on her face as she pinned the wool on one of her horns and mimicked the motion of knitting. She got a laugh out of Ally and more importantly Yoko, which is rare. Both her friends were happy seeing her smile.

"Heeheehee~" It is a cute smile.

Jaan took the wool off, ready to put it back.

"What about crocheting?"

"Uh, what's that's, Ally?"

"It's where you use wool and plush to make your own plushies."

"Oh. You can make yer own li'l birdy dolls, Yoko!"

"Birdies?~" She imagined some pretty woolly birdies hanging from her treetop/nature/open sky-themed room. "I'll think about it. Maybe they're something else."

The three walked around some more around this modest shop. "What's this?" Ally picked up a decorated box. "Pixels?" The others looked over her shoulder. The box depicted a few pictures made with some really tiny squares. Seemingly put on plates with several pegs to keep them in place.

The girls looked up to see a fairly big portrait of many of these plates. Jaan picked up a standalone plate (and looked at how many pixels), floated up there, measured it up to the full thing, and did the math. The genie whistled as she floated down. "30k of these tiny squares."

"Oh, impressive."

"30k?" Yoko asked. Her tone indicated she didn't know what it meant.

"The k stands for 3 zeros. No idea why." Ally added.

"That's 30,000. 4 zeros." Jaan helped.

"Uhmmnnnngh. That sounds too much work..." Yoko said.

"Yeah, doesn't seem like it isn't it." Jaan agreed. Ally left her opinion out of it.

"How about folding paper in the shape of birdies, Yoko?" Ally pointed at the origami section and the example behind the glass display.

"You mean Origami?" Yoko said. "I tried it before. Not my thing."

"Then what about painting?" Jaan held a brush and a palette. "Maybe that new girl can teach you?"

"You mean Marle? I don't think she'd be in much of a mood to teach Yoko. But when she is in the mood she is really enjoying herself. So I'm not sure…"

"I don't know…" Yoko muttered. Unsure about this.

"Water paint? I like this better, honestly." Jaan said pointing to a water paint painting.

"Eeeehhhh…"

"What about just ink art?" Ally held an inkpot.

"Mmmmnnn…"

"Colored pencils?"

"Uh… I don't wanna be in this store anymore." The angel said.

"Huh."
"Why?"

"I don't feel like looking for a hobby today… I like being with you guys but I just wanna do some friend stuff."

"Aw, I can feel the love for us you're showing, Yoko~" Ally platonically swooned.

"So you just wanna walk around this shopping center?"

Yoko nodded. "Yes, I'd like that very much. Shall we go to a restaurant? I'll pay."

"Sure."
"I'd love to."

Yoko had a pleasant day window shopping with her friends.

Authors' Notes:

HUSK: I think this was supposed to be Ch47?