Rosana's favorite class was art. Not only did she love all forms of visual art, especially painting, but she also enjoyed the way Mr. Hassel taught. He frequently waxed and even went on tangents on occasion. He often compared art to different Pokemon types, likening Rosana's to electric. He said it was because of how her art portrayed expressive movement and expression. She appreciated this. No one had ever really valued her art, either saying it was a waste of time or not good enough.
Despite her appreciation for Mr. Hassel, she admired one artisan even more. The Artazon gym leader, Brassius, also known as "The Verdant Virtuoso." She looked up to his intuitive and abstract sculptures, especially loving the popular "Surrendering Sunflora." She related deeply to the installation and hoped she could someday see it in person.
Today was a free-for-all day in class. Rosana had been having artist's block, unfortunately. Her sketches and ideas were being scrapped in favor of something else she would end up discarding anyway. It was frustrating.
She tried listening to music, she tried browsing Smeagler, she tried taking a walk and observing nature, but nothing was curing her ailment. She suffered.
She thought of recent events, maybe a memory could inspire her. But nothing notable or significant happened. Except that.
Rosana smiled, sighing to herself. The thought of a potential friendship lit up her eyes. She got to her canvas right away, immediately knowing how to portray her excitement. She got the idea to portray her and Giacomo as Pokemon, making it seem like a natural encounter they would have in the wild. Art block was no more.
She pulled up a picture of a Pawniard on her phone as a reference and sketched one holding out its bladed arm to an injured Fuecoco. It was a bit on the nose, but it was her art, she could do what she wanted. She figured the background should be a simple gradient of dark red to light yellow. She loved how it was simple, yet effective. It could be interpreted in so many ways.
After sketching, she went to get some paint. She loved the abundance of art supplies in Mr. Hassel's room, she never felt limited in her expression.
She began actually painting, trying not to rush despite her excitedness.
Usually, Mr. Hassel would walk around and converse with students, and today was no exception.
He walked up to Rosana's table, and she waved. "Good afternoon, Mr. Hassel."
"Good afternoon, Rosana. How's your day been?" he asked, waving back.
"Same old, same old. You?"
"The usual. I see you're drawing a Pawniard today."
"Oh yeah, just figured I'd draw something I don't usually."
Hassel observed the painting closer, nodding. "I can see there's possibly a double meaning to this. Very interesting."
"Thank you," she went back to painting and he walked off. Despite the short conversations they had, she appreciated that he would go and talk to her, even with her shyness.
But Rosana wasn't truly shy, she actually considered herself an extrovert. Just a shy one.
Rosana usually thinks to herself that she's all alone, but she does have a select group of people and Pokemon she's let in. Fuecoco, her mother, Mr. Hassel, and possibly Giacomo.
As of now, she considered herself a steel/ghost type, but maybe someday, she could Terastalize to an electric type.
She continued her artwork until there were only ten minutes left of class. She cleaned up and put her canvas on the designated rack. The bell rang, and she went to her next class.
She had history with Ms. Raifort, and they were in the Kalosian history unit. Class went by without a hitch, just stuff about AZ and his Floette.
After school, Rosana wanted to find a book to read. She loved informational ones with lots of infographics and images. As she browsed, someone walked up to her.
"Yo, Rosana!"
She turned to look at the person, and it was none other than Giacomo.
"Oh, hi!" she smiled, excited to see him.
"What's cookin'? Find anything good?" he looked at the book she was reaching for.
"Oh, yeah. I think this one has what I'm looking for," she picked it up and showed Giacomo.
"I'm looking for a book about the discovery and the classification of Pokemon types. Seems like this might have some info."
He flipped through it and nodded, "Seems pretty neat. Let me know what you find out about dark types, will ya?"
He handed the book back, "Sure! I'm assuming you like dark types?"
"Yep. It all started with my little Aaron, now I'm determined to show everyone how cool they are!"
She laughed, "Don't most people think they're cool?"
Giacomo shook his head, "Unfortunately, no. A lot of people think they're all bloodthirsty monsters. I think they're just misunderstood."
"Fair enough. I'm more of an electric type guy myself. Y'know, we can look at this together! If you're not busy, of course."
"Sure, I've got forever and a day," he smiled and they walked to a bench and sat down.
Rosana looked at the table of contents and flipped to the start of the dark type chapter. "It says here that the first known discovered dark type was an ancient form of Samurott in the Hisui region. It wasn't officially classified as its own type until about 30 years ago, but some experts say many ancient civilizations recognized it as the 'evil' type."
Giacomo was amazed and asked Rosana to keep reading. They read late into the afternoon, going over the steel and fairy types, too.
"Fun fact: The legitimacy of the fairy type is still debated within scientific circles, along with a proposed sound type." She read, pausing.
"A sound type? That sounds pretty neat, don't you think?"
Giacomo laughed, "Good one! I think that's so cool, though! I would love it if that happened. I love music, so I'm biased. But still," Giacomo pumped his fist, "no more normal type for Loudred!"
Rosana giggled, "Yeah! No more normal type for Chatot!"
They laughed together and began discussing what Pokemon could be sound type, Giacomo suggesting Kricketune and Swoobat, while Rosana suggested Chimeco and Rillaboom.
"Imagine a new type being made and we'd be there to see it! Like yeah, the fairy type happened when we were real little, but we don't remember it." Giacomo stated.
"I never thought about that. I'd love to be around when history is made."
"Me too. Especially here."
Rosana blushed a little. Of course, He didn't mean with her, but still. It sounded romantic.
Eventually, a teacher came by and told them they should consider going to their rooms before it got too dark.
Rosana checked out the book and turned back to Giacomo.
"Thanks for hanging out with me, you're cool!" she grinned.
"Right back at ya, Rosa!" he gave her a thumbs up.
They waved goodbye and Rosana headed to her room, attempting not to squeal and explode. He called her "Rosa", a nickname! A term of endearment! Arceus, why did he have to be so...so, she didn't know! Was it just because he was being a decent human or was it something more? They had literally only talked twice. What was this feeling?
Rosana decided to just enjoy whatever was going on, no matter what her heart was telling her. She was just happy she had a new friend.