Walking down the road of Osray City I see pokémon with their partners all along the street. Everyone is bustling to and fro with their lives, their pokémon partners walking, crawling, flying, or even floating at their side. On my left, I pass rows of seemingly never-ending shops, all of which are crowded with people and pokémon providing or receiving all kinds of services. On my right are simple trees that are more numerous than the many skyscrapers far ahead on my left. While I stroll along, there are two types of looks I inevitably get from both people and pokémon: glaring wide-eyed stares and looks of bewilderment. I catch their looks in my peripheral vision, and for the longest time, it was quite disconcerting.
' It's whatever though!' I think to myself. Eventually, I've grown numb to the stares and comments people make, though at least some of it's positive, at least in terms of how I look. If you don't count my clothes, ' People still find those weird!' Well, according to how people still look at me.
I pass by the bakery and arrive at my shop, Pallibrica Fabrics, and raising the roller shutter of my shop reveals the frameless glass storefront and an unidentifiable figure in the darkness behind it. I open the floating handle, and as I enter, switch on the lights and the AC. Just mannequins. some humans, some pokémon. All of them were fully clothed standing proudly and presenting themselves to the outside world. A few caught my attention, like, a person holding up an eevee. A machamp and his human partner standing side by side. There were some others with unconventional bodies that usually provided a challenge to most tailors to make clothing suitable for them. Looking past them, there was also plenty of regular clothing of all kinds hung for people and more commonly shaped pokémon to choose from. After enjoying the view of my proud creations, I walk to my sewing machine table. There was a little commission counter with a limit of five on the left of the table, while the machine itself was on the right. Sitting down, I then put my handbag down to the left of my leg and waited for customers. all alone...
After several minutes of humming a melody from my favorite song, I am interrupted when someone finally entered, I lift my head off my hand and stood up to greet them.
"Welcome to my shop, is there anything you need?" I ask cheerfully and genuinely.
"Hi, I need a simple shirt for Lucy here- and uh… Why do you wear that?" said the woman, holding a skitty in her arms.
"Well, it is something different and interesting I can do. The feeling of wearing them can be quite an experience to excite my day. And I generally just like how this looks," I say, referring to my clothing formed from several stripes of fabrics, all of which are vertically woven together. "Oh, and the shirts you're looking for are over there." I gestured my hand in the direction she asked.
"Okay… Well, have fun with your outfits,'' she retorted awkwardly.
With my first customer of the day getting her shirt, more people started entering my shop with their pokémon. Everyone glanced strangely at me as they came in but quickly turned their attention to the clothing in front of them. The atmosphere here's relatively enjoyable but fairly boring. The people that have come in are just looking over their options trying to find the most suitable clothing for both themselves and their pokémon partners, before trying them on. It didn't take long for most of them though, as a line slowly formed in front of me.
I started to collect the money from their hands as they showed me their garments of choice. The money was collected, counted, and kept inside the drawers just beside the right of my leg. The motion of sliding open drawers and exchanging changes is as hectic as it is monotonous but mostly tolerable. Whoever finished their purchase just left with their pokémon without saying goodbye, which was disappointing enough.
As the line started to shorten from where I can see, a lone middle-aged woman, who wore what seemed to be an expensive scarlet dress, came up to me with another dress in the same price range as what she was wearing. Hanging from her hand is one of the most complex dresses I have made this year. It's a green dress woven from countless twists of cotton and silk thread, giving it a never before seen texture for a dress. This amazing work of art took me five full rethreading and two weeks to finally complete. I am thankful she picked this, as she probably has the same taste in fashion as me.
"Here, I have already counted these for you," she says, trying a bit too hard to be reassuring, shattering all the nice things I thought about her. With her hand approaching the table, I snatch her by the wrist, absolutely catching her off guard, and look at the thick stack of money in her hand for a few moments before responding. "Miss, you owe me 400 dollars for this 1800 dollars dress, which took me two weeks to complete."
"Oh come on, couldn't a youngster like you let this slide for an old lady like me?"
"Nope, old or not it does not change the fact that you owe me 400 dollars, can you now please pay up,"
"Urgh, fine! Just wait a bit," she opened up her purse, while I kept the money in the drawers. Soon enough, once she doesn't owe me a cent, I respond yet again. "There is a better way to save money, instead of trying to deceive me y'know."
"Which is?"
"Just plan a budget." This comeback is as low and elementary as it can get, grade schoolers usually write that in their essays. With that, she leaves in annoyance, while I sit there in victory. Unfortunately, it was cut short as I need to tend to the remaining customers.
As I continue the repetitive motion of exchanging changes, the last gal in a casual t-shirt and jeans in the line has fortunately broken the monotony by requesting something custom-made. She shows me a magazine photo of a nice white dress, which I trace the design in my notebook for reference, but this is definitely out of her budget judging by the fact she came here in the first place.
"I would like it if you give it a floral decoration around it as well, specifically roses?"
"Sure, that would add another 50, thus a total of 550. Is there anything else you want to add?"
"Uh… No, I think that's about it…"
"Alright, would you kindly stand over there? I need to take your measurements." She complies, and I take out my sewing tape and measure her figure, starting from her neck down to her calf. Once the measurements were completed, I wrote down them in the notebook. "Okay, your dress should be done by tomorrow." I then flip the counter to one.
"Thank you very much. And your shirt looks great."
"Aww, it's not that great, it's a weird thing weirdos like me would do!"
"Nah, It is admirably shameless of you to do that. Keep doing that 'the thing you do'!"
"Bye-bye," she happily said as she leaves. Nice that she even left with a goodbye, but after she did so, the store was quiet once again, and I was all alone. In my loneliness, I thought about that gal again. Oh, how she is so similar to Desmond, being the only person that actually likes what I wear. Desmond has always worn what I made for him since our marriage. And he always proudly wore them to work, while I usually stayed at home doing housework and then going to my shop after the chores are down. I sighed, he's gone now, and I can't just continuously mope over him, he'll definitely scream at me to stop doing that, so I think, '" Let's keep moving."
With reminiscing out of the way, a figure with an all too familiar red and white imprisonment device on his belt has entered with his Lucario. The trainer seemed pretty banged up from the tears and leaves all over him, but he doesn't have my empathy, people like them will never deserve it.
"Uhm, excuse me, are you the owner?", he tiredly asks.
"Yeah, what do you want?" I scoff, giving him a stern look.
"Can you help me repair some of my clothing?"
I didn't say anything but gestured with my hand for him to come over. The trainer pulls out his clothing from a nearly bottomless bag on my work table, while his Lucario curiously observes some of my pokémon clothing. He's clearly amazed that there are people making clothes for them. It's great to see his curious eyes looking over the clothing, and I feel just a bit better, but I really shouldn't for what this man has done to him.
"Hey, why make what you're wearing out of several different fabrics?" he stares at me with that attentive, yet weary trainer's eyes of his.
"It's just a thing I like to do." I simply respond while I prepare my stitching kit.
"Okay..."
I look down at his wearable rags and start stitching away, not looking at him.
" Sooo, how much is it?"
"30, take it or leave it, " This was double what I normally charged for the amount of clothings he have.
"Woah, that's a bit pricey, why is it that high?"
"Well, I can just un-stitch it all if you can't pay for it,"
The trainer stares a bit blankly before saying in defeat, "Alright, fine, I'm too tired for this crap." I turn my attention back to the lucario, who's now just comparing his body to a mannequin wearing a lime sport shirt and corresponding black sports pants.
Clearing my throat, I softly said, "Hey there, you can wear those if you like."
"Lu… cario?" He tilted his head.
"Yeah, go ahead and try it on. I will adjust it after you do so."
As soon as my words left my mouth, he excitedly took the clothes off the mannequin and put them on. With the shirt covering his furry body, I'd say it fits him nicely, except for the spike on his chest protruding under the shirt. This reminded me how a Gardevoir might look like if they wore human clothes like that.
"Clancy, you don't need that, it will just get torn in battle or burnt into nothing by a fire type anyway." The trainer looks at him, money in hand, which I took as soon as it appeared.
"Lu…" Clancy says, looking down at the floor with his hopes crushed by this heartless bastard.
"Oh come on, just let him enjoy those while it lasts, I will even give it to him for free."
"WHAT? You charged me that much to stitch my shirts, and now you're giving this for free?!" his voice sharpens with each word, but I ignore his justified and reasonable complaint; before returning my attention to the lucario.
"Lucario," Clancy says, gesturing to where the shirt is being torn apart.
"It's alright, I can teach you how to fix it."
Baffled, the trainer said, "He doesn't need to learn to sew, there's no point."
This is one of the reasons I hate people like him, an absolute dismissal of their supposed partner's desire and capability when they want and can do it. How can these people say they treat their pokémon partners equally when they don't even allow them to do the things we do?
"Can you please be quiet, He should have a chance to learn how to if he wants. At least he can help you stitch your clothing when it inevitably rips the next time. Now go sit over there while I'm teaching," the trainer sighs and sits on the bench I pointed to nearby.
With the trainer now out of the way, I start my lesson with Clancy. I bring up one of the torn-up shirts along with a needle and thread for him while grabbing another pair of pants from the pile to demonstrate for him.
"Alright, you need to get a grip on the needle first." Doing as I say, he fiddles with the needle in his paw? hand? I'll call it a paw-hand before giving me an affirmative glance.
"Nice, now copy me as I do it." I hold a thread in my other hand and dip a little bit of the tip in my mouth. "And remember not to make a wet mess." Looking at him, he seems hesitant that he has to put something in his mouth, but he did it anyway, although he kinda overdid it a little, it was still usable anyway. "We have to do this to make sure we can do the next step easily." Hearing my explanation, he nods back.
I then thread the needle and slowly tie a knot, making sure the position of the string is clear to him. Staring back up, he managed to complete the threading part, but couldn't tie out a knot. Seeing his struggle, I reach over and enlarge the thread, big enough for his paw-hand to fit through. With him pulling a knot, I start to stitch using the straight technique, a stitching technique used for beginners, to which he then follows suit.
After a while, we manage to finish stitching up everything, and as a gift, I gave him the needle he used, a roll of thread, and some spare pieces of fabric, before finally cutting a hole in the shirt he wore and some other shirts as well. As I prepare the gifts, He gives me a questionable glance with a tilt of his head, but not what is on my hand.
"I suppose you're wondering why I taught you to stitch just now."
"Lucario," he affirmatively spoke and nods.
"Well, your kind has always been much more than you let on to be, and remember, you can do so much more than just being 'the very best' like they say. Don't ever let this guy hinder you from being much more than a battler." I hold his paw-hand before saying, "Please, do this for me."
Hearing my plea, he looks up at me and gave me a determined nod.
Looking over to the trainer. "Hey, we're done here." Hearing me, he turns on like a light switch. Which is very odd as I can't even lift my head when I've just woken up. He looks over both of us and simply says, "Okay, let's go." And just like, they both leave, but not before exchanging goodbye waves with Clancy.
And silence once again, I distract myself by checking the time on my phone, and it is time for me to take a rest. I walk over to the glass door and hang up an 'I am taking a rest' sign, before walking back. At my table, I pick up the container from the bag of my only meal for the entire day, as my appetite is nearly non-existent. Inside, there is mashed potato in its square sauce bowl, a sauceless salad, and a bunch of beef cubes. These meats are, amazingly enough, produced from the replication of miltank cells, as everyone nowadays loves pokémons to the point of not eating them, which is so much better than what our ancestors used to do.
With the pondering out of the way, it didn't take long for me to finish my simple meal, I pack the container into my bag before quickly starting something recreational. Pulling out my phone, I tap on the singing app and start my warm-ups with some simple vocals, I hum to the app, from my lowest of B3 to my highest of C6. With the warm-ups completed, I am ready to sing. I scroll down the singing app to the karaoke function and pick my favorite song 'As The Wind Blows'.
As the simple melody of a piano plays for a few moments, beats of drums and sounds of an organ follow suit, accompanying the melody. And once the instruments finally slowly calm down, I close my eyes and start to sing.
"I never thought that it'd be so long
'Til I'd find myself on the road home
Streets that every day I once roamed
Now strangely unknown
Smiling to myself I'm nervous
Feel how much I've grown
My heart is beating fast
My mind's stuck in the past
I'm through the looking glass
Things back then were simple and magical
I'd chase the world, felt indestructible
I had to walk along all roads possible
Now everything here's the same, but I have changed
The faces I once knew now so old-aged
Their smiles somehow familiar yet so strange
I could hold the world between my arms and
Live in daydreams all day long
No right or wrong, just holding on, all fear was gone
I would spend my days as that someone
Composing futures all but won into the break of dawn, my heart would run
When the storms come
The stronger I'd become
I never thought that it'd be this much time
Before I'd see your face again
You're older now than I remember
Memories always fade
Looking back I'm not sure what's imagined, what is real
Buried in the past are dreams that didn't last
Never to come to pass
Things back then were simple and magical
I'd chase the world, felt indestructible
I had to walk along all roads possible
Now everything here's the same, but I have changed
I found new ways, got different dreams to chase
Time's a big surprise when you live from page to page
I could hold the world between my arms and
Live in daydreams all day long
No right or wrong, just holding on, all fear was gone
I would spend my days as that someone
Composing futures all but won Into the break of dawn, my heart would run
Now your silver hair reflects the moonlight
Your smile reminds me of the good times
Before the night was young, we could be anyone
Now we're old, it's time to see a new dawn
As this life ends, the next one is born
Leave everything behind, walk into the sun
I still hold the world between my arms
And live in daydreams all day long
No right or wrong, just holding on, all fear has gone
Every passing day I'm getting older
But still my dream's becoming bolder
Cos in the end when the game of life is won
We all turn to dust and all that's left is love"
Once the melody has turned to silence, I open my eyes and see a—blonde guy standing outside my store. Checking the time, my rest period is also almost over, so I get up from my chair and take off the sign to allow him in before walking back. After a few hesitant steps, he shuffles, I saw him quickly moving around behind some of the hanging clothes and a particularly large mannequin while looking at me with his uncertain and longing blue eyes. And whenever our eyes meet, he will always look away and move elsewhere. Which is kind of cute, if I do say so myself.
These exchanges lasted for several minutes before he finally walks up to me, as he is getting nearer I can see his height the looks of it approximately an impressive 180 cm… I think, easily towering over me and making me look tiny in comparison, I'm only 152cm by the way, which is short even for an adult female. Along with that, his entire figure is also pretty fit for all things considered, his form clearly visible under the black T-shirt he wears. Now standing in front of me, I give him a smile and an approving glare, yet he didn't say anything as he is definitely very nervous about what I will think of him. Seeing this, I am the first one to speak or rather… flirt.
"Hey, are you actually trying to find something to wear, or you're just looking for an excuse to see me, 'cause… I sure hope it's the latter"
His face immediately reddens, and he shakily speaks "I uhh… trying to find a… uh… suit."
I let out a soft chuckle. "Yep, you're definitely looking for an excuse to meet me, how flattering~. And lucky for you, I have just what you're looking for." I get up from the chair, before gesturing for him to follow me.
While we are walking, I can see him looking in all directions, completely nervous about what he's doing. To hopefully reduce his anxiety a bit, I decide to make small talk with him."So, let's get to know each other! What's your name?"
"My name is Hargel."
"Well, call me Ansel. Also, what do you like to do, Hargel?"
"I like to play the guitar."
"Oh, what do you usually play? Can you possibly play something romantic for me the next time you come?"
He turns his head away from me for a moment before saying. "Oh, I uh usually play jazz," he quickly replied. "Sorry, that I can't play romantic music," he says sadly.
"Aww, Don't worry, with enough practice I believe you can do it. I can listen to jazz anyway"
"Thanks."
"And… we are here." I open the door to the storeroom and turn on the dim light. Looking inside, It is a rustic room and pretty dusty for how little anyone comes in here. The smell is something like that of an old yellow book. There are several long rows of wooden shelves that reach the ceiling, each hanging with all of my grandmother's accomplishments; which unfortunately not many care for nowadays. Once we arrive at the shelf containing suits, I look up at him and say, "Hey, this may be a bit embarrassing for me to ask, but can you hold me up so I can reach the suit from the top of the shelf?"
Listening to my request, his face further reddens from before the words tumbled from his mouth, turning into mumbles, which I guess was his reply. This also gives me a good chuckle or two, but he gently surrounds my legs with his strong arms and lifts me up to which I give him a gentle head pat. To which he blush even harder, and I swear I can feel the heat of attraction radiating from him.
Now in reach, I deliberately slowly slide each hanging suit with one finger, to give both of us some more time to continue our talk.
"So, what is your job?"
"I used to work as an accountant before becoming a waiter in my favorite restaurant The Cottage, where I used to be a regular customer."
"Huh, but why would quit a high-paying job?" From my experience jobs like being a waiter, cashier, janitor, and so on are jobs no one ever wants to do.
"It's simple really, I just like how nice the restaurant has always been there for me whenever I am stressed out from work and the people there never fail to help me. It is when I realize the high-stress life is not the life for me, so I choose to work there to show them my gratitude and to repay their kindness to me."
"Woah, that's eye-opening, so what kinds of people have you met in your job?"
"Well, I've met many kinds of people... "
"Can you remember some of the specific ones?"
"Yeah, there's this one time, I have to serve a woman who complained about EVERY-SINGLE-THING-I-DID! Nothing was enough to make her happy, she complained I don't stand straight enough, and I didn't have a good enough smile. She complained that the food sucks… and that she can do it better herself… and SO-MUCH-MORE! Until finally, I broke down in tears!" His eyebrow drooped along with his mouth, clearly unhappy with what happened.
I soften my voice as I gently say, "Hey, whatever she says is not true, y'know. What I see is that you are just a competent and good person, trying your best at serving a spoiled brat who is trying to ruin someone's day. I also like that you're comfortable with showing me how you feel, such a rare trait among men."
"Heh, thanks," he said and seemed to have calmed down a bit.
"Alright, anyways, the people I usually meet are women and teenage gals, which is kind of obvious. As you can see by the fact that I have a good amount of dresses hanging here." Placing my left hand on my chin, I say, "And there is also this one time, a trio of girls came to my shop and asked me for the most boyish outfits. Which I speculate they wanted to show themselves off, as "girl bosses"; kind of like how my sister was, and somewhat still is now. Obviously, I did give them the outfits, 'cause I never miss the opportunity to make more money."
"Okay."
"Do you have any siblings?"
"Yeah, I have a little brother who is two years younger than me."
"So how's your relationship with him?"
"Oh, we usually quarrel and fight over stupid things, but we always make it up for each other at the end of the day."
"So what are some of the stupid things you fight over with him?"
"Well, we fight over who gets to the bath first, who gets the last snack, who has to clean up the bedrooms, and so on. It's like we are so alike, that there doesn't seem to be enough for the both of us."
"He-he, unlike you I just let my sister push me around when I was little, but thankfully she also loves me. Enough not to do something malicious to me and she always protects me from harm's way."
"You didn't fight back at all back then?"
"Mhm, I was a weak and timid little thing back then, but not anymore. I also couldn't really talk to people when I was little, the other kids would always just get annoyed with me, and just ignored me. And whenever at school," My voice wavers as the painful memories fill my head. "I'd get beaten up for how weak I was, and dad would call me a bully magnet, and left my mom to solve the bullying issue." I caught myself sniffing before continuing, "This went on for like… several years. And once it was solved… I found that I had nothing in common with anyone, and throughout my entire school life, I had no one. 'Cept for my family and a special friend, who has been with me since the beginning." Suddenly, I am lowered down and then hugged by him with my leg dangling from the floor like a ragdoll, while the clothes hang off my hand behind his back.
The silence is relatively comforting, I can feel my back being caressed by him. While I rest my head on his shoulder. " What a nice man he is," I think to myself. The silence is broken when he asked, "Who is that 'special friend' you mentioned?"
"I would like to not specify if that's okay?"
"Sure."
"HEY, IS THERE ANYONE IN HERE?" some shouts from the front of the shop.
"YES, THERE IS. JUST A MOMENT, PLEASE!"
Being reminded people are waiting outside, I quickly finish my selection and get off Hargel's arm. "Here, take these to the changing room and see which one you like." I then quickly rush out of the storeroom to tend to the other customers.
At my work table, there are already several people waiting in line, and none of them seems to mind that I wasn't available a moment ago thankfully, so I help them make their purchases like normal. After a while, Hargel has come up to me with all of the clothes in his arms.
"So, have you found which one you like?"
"Yeah, this navy-colored one."
"Okay, that will be 250."
Finishing his purchases, I look up into his eyes. "It was nice talking to you, I hope you will be back soon~." His blushing is still visible to me, but he isn't trembling anymore.
"Yeah, can I also have your phone number so that we may call each other for a date?"
I catch myself giggling to myself when he asks this but refocusing my attention, I see he's pretty confused and so I have to tell him why I can't be his. "No~, 'cause I already belong to someone." Then I reveal the ring that I have hidden from him on my left hand to him. Seeing that I have played him, he looks down in disappointment and starts to tear up, which is pretty sad for me as well; but I have a second reason for doing this. I got up and wiped the tear from his eyes. "But~, I have someone that I want you to meet, and it should be able to make up for what I did."
"Huh?"
I pull out my phone before telling him. "Pull out your phone." He pulls out his and is ready to listen."505-689-7514."
Looking up into his eyes once again, "Remember to keep your attitude about me, and don't disappoint me~."
" Oookay, and uh… bye-bye."
"Bye-bye, and… sorry about that."
After a long while of the occasional customer, a familiar face arrives accompanied by a little cute one, it is my friend Jasmine and her son Gaelen. The mother wears a yellow blouse that I made for her birthday, while her son wears a white T-shirt with blue sleeves and blue drawstring shorts.
"Hey, how has it been," says Jasmine.
"Quite normal really, nothing really special." But maybe Hargel coming here today would have been special, but eh. Getting up and looking below my table, I meet eye-to-eye with the little bundle of joy beside her. "Hey there, my little Gaelen."
"Hello, Auntie Ansel" Gaelen excitedly chirps.
Giving him a gentle smile, I turn my head back to the mother, "So, what are you here for?"
"I am getting something for Gaelen to wear for the wedding tomorrow."
"Oh, so who's the groom and bride?"
"It is my cousin Darrel from Sinnoh and his soon-to-be wife Erna."
"Ooh, I wish them a happy marriage."
"Yeah, and speaking of couples, have you found another guy for you?"
"No… I will not betray what Desmond has done for me for another man. Wasn't I clear enough the last time we talked about this?" I spit my words out as my smile disappears. Gaelen is somewhat intimidated by my sudden change in demeanor.
"Oh come on, shouldn't you have moved on by now," she said casually, putting on a smile. She then gestures to Gaelen to explore my shop, before speaking again.
"Look, he is gone now, and is time to move on for someone else," she says getting more serious.
"I still can't after everything he did. He has forgiven me for when I hid my true self from him for so… long. He taught me all the social skills to allow me to converse with everyone properly. And most importantly, he accepted me. He showed me that I am deserving of love. There will never be another man, who could be as accepting of who I am as he was, and you should have known it by now." My eyes are on the verge of tears as the words leave my mouth. "So please, my heart only belongs to one person and one person only, and I plan to be a widow to my grave." I raise my voice at the last sentence.
"Alright, alright, we won't talk about it next time. Just thought you have already moved on from last time and I am-."
"I know you're worried, he would not have liked to see me this miserable after he passed on." I speak much more softly than before." Now back to business, what do you need for Gaelen."
"Okay, I just need a nice tuxedo for him."
"Alright." Looking away from her, I can see Gaelen poking the leg of a mannequin, trying to see if it can pop off like the other mannequins from different shops, but these mannequins of mine will never break apart. They can be used as test dummies for all I know, Oh wait, test dummies are meant to be destroyed. Oh well.
"Hey, Gaelen… please come over…."
He jumped a bit and quickly runs to both of us.
"Come on, follow me." I get off my chair and softly hold his little hand. Noticing Jasmine didn't come along, I tilt my head in question. "You sure you're not coming along?"
"Nah, he's yours to take care of for now."
Shrugging off her laziness, we make our way to the storage room. While we walk, the rapid thumping vibration of his sandals can be felt under my feet, clearly struggling to keep up my pace.
"Hey, do you want me to slow down a bit?"
"No, I can do this."
"Alright, suit yourself, because I won't be slowing down anytime soon."
"You're on!"
We both share a giggle before he suddenly asks, "What are you and mom talking about?" while gazing up at me with that large curious eyes.
"Oh, is nothing for you to worry about, we were just talking about something from the past." I softly look back down at him before abruptly saying, "Also it was 'What were you' and not 'What are you' since it happened in the past."
"Oh… okay."
Inside the storage room, the tuxedo shelf is just right next to the suit shelf. I have Gaelen stand right beside me as I take out a small folding ladder that's tucked under the shelf. And with a click, the ladder unfolds and I climb up, searching for a suitable tux for him. But unbeknownst to me, once I have picked three small tuxes and looked back, he's already gone.
"Gaelen! Where are you? You better not make me play hide and seek in the storage room," but there's no response. Looks like I have to play this game, doesn't it?
Hanging the tuxes over my shoulder, I walk to the corner of the storeroom, facing my head in the vertical direction of the shelf, I start running sideways, eyes peeled to look for him. Unfortunately, I didn't see him at all once I have reach the opposite corner. This kid is smart enough to know he will be caught if he hides like that, gotta give props to that. Now, knowing the only remaining places he can hide, I easily silence my footstep and quickly move on. Sure enough, He is there, sitting down and leaving his vulnerable back to me.
Slowly approaching, I crouch down, raise both of my hands in a hug, and…"GOTCHA!"
"AAAH!" he throws both his arms and legs out, once I have him in my embrace.
"How dare you leave me all alone when I am picking your tux. Wait till I tell your mom about this" I say in a petty tone as I tickle him on the belly.
"Ha-ha-ha- Okay, please… ha-ha… please stop!"
I release him right after around a few more seconds of tickling. Then letting him catch his breath, I help him up, and we both exit the storage room.
At the door of the changing room, I give him the tuxes and he enters the room, but not before slamming it loudly. How naughty. After a minute or so, he finally comes out of the room in a striped light-blue tuxedo. Checking Gaelen's attire, the sleeve of the tux reached just above the wrist, signifying a perfect fit. And he looks just like a small gentleman, so adorable, even though he is still wearing his shorts.
"So is this the one you prefer?"
"Yeah"
"Okay, now let's show this to mom."
Meanwhile, Jasmine can be seen scrolling through her phone as she's waiting on a bench to the left of the table. Her eyes focused on the screen, she seemed to be reading something in a focused state.
"Hey, we're done."
She looks up in our direction with a glare of excitement. "This is perfect, Ansel! How much is it?" she proceeds to bring out her purse.
"You don't have to pay. This is a special treat for being my friend. Plus those tux has been in there before I was born."
"Oh, thank you very much."
"Anytime."
After Gaelen switched back to his t-shirt and both of them left, it is also time for me to call it day. Knowing that I tidy up the place, sweep the floor, and finally pack up my handbag. Rolling the shutter back down, I walk to the bakery next door, to get my muffins, again. Passing through the framed glass door and into the mostly cake-filled store.
"Hellooo Ansel, bake for more, eh?"
"Hi, Toby, yes I am here for the muffins"
"Okay~," he grabs a tong and packs four muffins into a paper bag one by one before handing it to me, "Here you go, have a nice day."
"Thanks, you too."
Having gotten my muffins, I walk down the pavement. Today's weather is nice with a cool wind that blows past my face and drags back my hair bangs along with my clothing. One or two cars pass by now and then, and I see people going home and walking on the pavement, whereas I am going to meet friends. My walk along the pavement ends once I reach the corner and the park is just right across the street, the park was once a tree-filled wild area before I was born, and it is now filled with paths and playgrounds.
Crossing the road, I walk down the park path with the actual wild area on my right, which is relatively safe as trainers have already cleared the area of all the dangerous and hostile pokémon like poison types, dark types, and so on. Gotta give those pricks credit for doing that. Looking left, I see several people walking and jogging on the path, some of them doing with their pokémon, which are of all shapes and sizes. Looking further, I see children playing at the playground with some equally young pokémon, " How adorable!" I think to myself. Walking along the path, I see a couple with their precious child in their arms, The parents happily play with them by giving little pokes, making cute noises and faces, and making their child laugh in great joy. Seeing them, I can only look at what my life could have been if Desmond was never unfairly taken away from me. Why can't he just live on, so that I can have a family with him? If he would, the apartment wouldn't just be an apartment, it would actually be a place I can call home, a proper home. But alas, life's an unfair jerk. " HE DID NOTHING WRONG!" I think, kicking a small rock and then some more of it on my way.
After a while of kicking rocks around, I reach a familiar tree on my right. Checking the tree, I see the trunk is marked with a small triangle that I carved very long ago in my childhood. I looked around for people before I go ahead and enter the forest without a pokémon thus breaking the biggest rule of human society once again. Within my walk in the woods, the buzzing of bug pokémons and occasional trampling sounds is mostly what I hear. The sun is still in full view when I look up, and the large orange orb is still as pretty as ever. Shifting my eyes away from the sun, the clouds on one side of the sky are colored an with evening hue, while the other side facing the night sky has a dark color. Those floating pieces of cotton in the sky are just as pretty as the sun.
Unfortunately, all of this is ruined when a female trainer walks out of the trees and into my sight. She doesn't seem to care that I exist, or that I don't have a belt with one of those imprisonment devices as she passes by. Once we got near, I give her my stink eye, making sure she knew it before moving on.
Eventually, I arrive at the entrance of a small familiar clearing. Looking through the entrance, is just a large expansive piece of grass, with a tiny pond in the middle, but I have also reached my destination. Walking into the clearing, I am welcome by a sweet yet distinctly male voice coming into my head.
" Hello, Ansel."
Looking toward the source of the telepathy, I see a pair of gardevoir and their ralts child resting over at a tree, the one with his back hair shaved off, who per my suggestion is named Rippegio, while the otheriis his lovely wife, Sonetta. The ralts is their sweet daughter Rimetta.
"Hello, Ripeh," I say, as I walk towards the family with the paper bag in front of me. Sitting down beside the family along with my handbag, I open the paper bag to their expectant eyes, and give them the muffins, while holding on to mine. With the bag empty, I fold down the top and keep it inside my bag.
" Finally, I have waited the entire day for this, compliments to Toby," Rippegio holds the muffin with both of his three-fingered hands as a child would to his favorite toy.
" Remember to slow down, or else it would end way too soon," Sona says simply.
" Aww come on, you know I can't stop myself."
"You know he couldn't already, Sona," I say.
While she casually sighs in defeat, I look back to the tree behind me, and with my free hand, uncover the leaves to find an egg, their soon-to-be-born child.
" Ain't he a beauty," says Sona noticing me checking on the egg.
"Yeah, wish I can have one of my own... By the way, what's his name?" I put the leaves back in place.
Her face reddens, obviously haven't named her precious child yet after several months and nearing hatching. "Shame on you," I boop her nose in response.
" Well, naming is very hard, you wouldn't want your child to have the same name as someone else's child," she retorts, but I can tell she's clearly coping.
"Deep down as wives to our respective husbands, we both know there's no point to worry about that, and you just have no idea for a name," I say.
She shrugs me off and letting out a chuckle I look down at the little bundle of joy at our feet. She is happily nomming away at the muffin until she senses my attention towards her, she thus stops nomming on the muffin and looks up at me.
" It's yummy."
I give her my head pats in response, making sure to not touch her horn. Remembering what I want to do, "Hey, can you go back to your mom, 'cause I would like to talk to your dad." she nods in response before toddling back to Sona.
Placing my attention on my best friend, "So, let's talk about how our day went, shall we? I'll start first."
Ripeh is already finished with his muffin, and I take the paper and keep it in my bag. " Go ahead, I'm all ears," his three-pronged ears flick on their own as he speaks.
"Alright, today, I met this woman who tried to deceive me by pretending to pay full price. She pretended by telling me that she had already counted the money for me and all I have to do is to just take it without counting it. But obviously, I didn't trust her, so I take her by her wrist and manage to find out she still owed me 400 dollars for an 1800-dollar dress."
" Can't believe someone thinks that would work."
"Yeah, I even left her with a lowly comeback for that. Anyways, I then met a trainer… with his Lucario, who I taught to stitch." I huff in frustration at the mention of a trainer.
Sensing my annoyance. " Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't feel like it. Speaking about these people is just going to make you angrier."
"Yeah, I still can't get over that there are people still doing this, going around capturing others and forcing them to risk their well-being while they sit back and watch. They could even capture you and your family into this." I look into his eye with concern.
" Hey, is alright, that hasn't happened, we are still here."
"Yeah, like how I assumed my love wouldn't suddenly die back then, you could get captured the very next day for all I know, and I won't be able to see you ever again. And I can't lose anyone more in my life, especially you being my first friend ever." A tear rolls off my face as I say this.
He suddenly wraps his arms around me and places his forehead against mine before saying, "Listen, that hasn't happened, and it didn't happen now. We were not captured by trainers right now, emphasizing the word 'now'." His gentle voice reminds me of how we first met back then .
"What if it still happened? What can I do about it, hmm?"
" You have been dwelling in the future that didn't even happen. Those are all scenarios you have thought up in your head that didn't even do anything but make you feel worse. Besides, we can still defend ourselves against them," Sonetta suddenly replies in disappointment before she goes back to tending to her child.
" Like she just said, We can deal with them. It didn't happen and you're just scaring yourself for doing that."
"Alright, I guess you're right." I wipe my tears off before continuing the small talk. "Oh, where was I again? Oh right, After that, I met a tall guy around this tall," I stand up and raise my hand over my head to where I remember his height to be. Sitting back down, I said, "When he saw me at the shop, I saw him being very flustered when he looked at me. Knowing that he likes me that way~, I say something flirty, and he blushed even harder. His blushings are rather cute if I say so myself. And then, he said that he needed a suit, so I led him to the storeroom and I messed with him further, by having him pick me up in his arms, while I picked a suit for him. After that, he made his purchase, and…" I pause and think, ' Should I say this? It's kind of weird for him to really understand why I would even do that. Even regular humans don't even do that.' "that's it ." Looking at my friend, I said, "So what did you do while you were waiting for the muffin?"
" Hey, I am not that obsessed over the muffin."
I tilt my head and stare at him with a cheeky little smile.
" Fine, maybe I am."
"He-he, I knew it."
" Do you want to know how my day went or not?"
"Alright, I'll stop."
" Hmm, I woke up, gave Sona a little smack on her heart chard because she was still sleepy, before waking up Rima. And after she has given me a good beating, we set off to collect food for the morning. We managed to collect leppa, aspear, pecha and oran for our breakfast. Then, I crush the fruit into a pulp for Rima before we have the morning meal. With our stomachs sated, we spend some time teaching Rima our dances, songs, and some games to teach her to control her emotion."
"Ooh, so what's the game?"
"It is one that we send emotions back and forth to have her learn to control them."
"Oh yeah…" Now remembering what the game is. "I kind of want to try that, but alas I can only dream of becoming a Gardevoir." I huff and look down in disappointment. "Kind of wish I could've just been one at birth, never felt like I belonged in human society anyway."
"But didn't you just… never mind," he shakes his head before saying. "And then, we have our meal, do some of the same things, took a nap together, and play some more games with Rima. It went on a long while before you came, Rima suddenly have a stomach ache when I was chasing her around, and it took me and Sona a long time of sending her comforting emotions before she finally calms down. Yet she still felt a bit uncomfortable in her stomach afterward. So, do you know what's going on?"
Completely shocked by his stupidity. "Why didn't you tell me sooner!? Judging by what you said, she must be experiencing a build-up of gas in her belly, which causes the stomach ache after she runs around." Calming down a bit. "Alright, you need to put your hands on her belly and rub it in a circle while applying a bit of pressure until she burps, which should do the trick."
Listening to my advice, he turns his back and tells Sona what needs to be done before returning to me. " Thanks, how do you know this?"
"The Internet, once again. I sear… look for stuff like that in my free time." A high-pitched burp is heard.
" Must be nice to be able to know everything with such ease. You, humans, are quite advanced, Ansel."
"Yeah, we manage to make a lot of stuff that helps us over small things like that and solve what used to be really awful problems like disease, shortage of food, getting to faraway places, and so on… But unfortunately, you won't be able to experience such conveniences…" It was a moment of silence before a much happier solution came to my mind. "Unless…, I can convince them to let you all join human society and you won't have to worry about any of those problems ever again!"
" That sounds great, how will you do it?"
Right… How do I even do this? How can I give a good reason for them to be with us, along with so many others? When people don't even think their ability to speak like us is enough for them to be equal to humanity? How can I even have my voice heard when I am not a scientist of some sort or a disgusting trainer? "I don't know…"
" Well, that's unfortunate. But we are still living happily anyway, isn't that enough?"
"But, you all still miss a lot from what humanity can offer for you all."
" Well, you can still offer them to us yourself."
"I guess… you're not wrong."
Sounds of grass trampling are suddenly heard once our conversation ended, and before I can even get up to investigate. A trainer enters the clearing, the same trainer I met on the way here. Seeing this, everyone has gotten up and Rima has hidden in her mother's gown.
"What are you doing with them?"
"IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS! GET OUT OF HERE!"
The trainer a bit shaken, "But can you trade one of them with me before I go?"
"NO, HOW DARE YOU! I DON'T EVEN OWN THEM LIKE THE DISGUSTING SLAVER YOU ARE!"
"What?! Then how do you even…"
"GET OUT!"
"Okay, okay geez," she says, finally walking away from the clearing. ' She better not return here.' Suddenly, I feel my left hand held by a three-fingered hand before my right hand and a familiar sensitivity arrives in my hands as I can feel the intricate crevices of his. Instinctively, our fingers start dancing into each other's palms. This little dance of hands have been introduced to me when I was just very little and had helped me stabilize on so many occasions. Rippegio then turns my head to look at him face to face and I feel much calmer.
" Let's get back down."
"Alright…"
After that awful situation, we continue to talk about more of our day until the moon has come to take over the sun, and they're going to have their sleep soon.
The whole family yawns simultaneously before Ripeh speaks, " We are going to sleep now, see you tomorrow."
"Bye-bye and goodnight!" And with that, I leave the clearing and walk through the now-dark woods, until I am back in the park. Since it is night now, the streetlamps in the park have light revealing no one is here anymore, giving me a mostly quiet walk to the apartment. In the blink of an eye, I'm through the grass-infested path, age-old pavement, and at the front door of my apartment.
Once inside, I quickly take out my now empty container and water bottle and wash them. The squeaking sounds that come with each stroke will always be irritating to me, no matter how much I - do this, nevertheless, it is my responsibility as an adult, otherwise, my living space will be ruined. With that finally, out of the way, I quickly walk towards the bedroom, where I left my bag, and then it's off to the bathroom. Before entering, I make sure to turn on the heater and grab my fresh blue pajamas. In the bathroom, I take out my unused handkerchief, stripped down from top to bottom, before placing everything in a basin nearby along with my pajamas from earlier today. And finally, enter the stall and take a long warm bath.
Exiting the bathroom, I made a mental note to buy a new hair conditioner before drying my body. Finished, I put on my short nightgown and my ankle-covering sleeping trousers. I wear nightgowns to prevent them from opening up and revealing my belly to the cold.
Afterward, I lay on my bed with a hair dryer in one hand and another hand lifting my bountiful neck-hiding hair to prevent it from further wetting my nightgown while I was drying the hair I made sure to maintain the rise at the end. Once the wetness has been removed around my face, I walk over to the cabinet and get my facial creams to protect the genetic gift that is my pearly white skin from debilitating dryness. Unfortunately, I have also run out of some of my facial creams, annoyingly enough. Well, more things to the list then.
With all of my appearance done, I walk over to the basin and put the clothes inside a washing machine that's in the corner of the bathroom. Adding the detergent, softeners, and boosters and then turning it on, this task is as simple as it gets. I have no idea why so many people would struggle with this. With my bathroom duty done, I walk out, passing by a door of an empty room, and into a large living room with two more doors that lead to other rooms. All of the rooms were supposed to be bedrooms for our future children. And now, what use to be rooms of expectancy and excitement are now truly empty rooms. On the balcony, I take out all of the hanging clothes, before straightening and hanging them back into the man-size closet. They're everything I've made along with some of… Desmond's and some little regular shirts still waiting to be worn by a child that will never come.
Remembering what I need to do, I get the notebook and the folded paper out of the bag that I nearly forgot to take out of the kitchen bin. Back in the bedroom, I take out several wide boxes from underneath the large bed, and amongst the dustless containers, I take out a roll of white cotton sheets and a roll of paper of the same size. Once the white rolls are now out, I bring my sewing kit and my pencil box.
With my preparations finished, I unroll the paper and the cotton sheet on the floor. Then, I fold the cotton in half and place the paper on top of it, while making sure the corners align. Opening my pencil box, I grab my precious mechanical pencil, which has been with me since childhood, and a ruler that I bought just recently because I somehow keep losing them. After just a few short moments of looking at the notebook for references, I convert the picture and measurements of the dress into its basic shapes in my head and then trace it onto the paper. Next, the scissor that I've had since I learned to sew and I cut out the shapes with the cotton underneath. The shapes are then stitched together to form a picture-perfect dress like the one from the magazine. Finally, I pull out yet another box from underneath the bed, and I grab a green thread, and several hand fulls of the woven rose heads that I bought previously. Sewing in the stems from one end of the dress and working my way upwards, like how the beautiful yet prickly plants, actually grow. Now they look like they're almost blooming, I finally add in the roses, and… the dress is completed.
Satisfied with yet another successful dress, I hang it up on the door so that I won't forget to pick it up for tomorrow. Grabbing my phone, I check the time, it says 12.30 p.m., bedtime for me. I get up, brush my teeth, and go to bed, but not before hearing a beep from the washing machine. So I take out the clothes and hang them up to dry. Now laying on the bed, I only occupy half of the surface, while the other half is empty, but filled with his scent to this day. The smell is greater than any perfume I have ever used and full of memories of the times we slept together. I start to cry as I reminisced about the past.
'I am sorry, Desmond. I still can't stop myself from crying over you, please forgive me for doing that while you wait up there.' I thought my last thought for the day before I fell asleep.
