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"I like foreign people too! They traded me some of their clothes and all their stuff is interesting. I don't think any of them have bad things..." Nika frowns. "What bad things do you know about?"
~
"No...he's a Pokemon." Waye says. "They don't normally answer then I talk to them. He did try to paint the egg, but he paints on everything."
Leah hesitates, "That's, umm... He, uh, he didn't give any, uh, any indication..?" She shakes her head a little, trying a different approach, "If he, uh, if he paints, maybe it'd be worth asking him to, uh, to paint where it came from..?"
"Do you think he would know that?" Waye asks, casting a doubtful gaze sideways. "He might have been sleeping when I was..."
Leah shrugs, "Well, umm, it's definitely a, uh, a Smeargle egg, so... If, uh, if he doesn't know where it, uh, where it came from, then we can, uh, we can start looking for other people with, uh, with Smeargle's..?"
"That seems really hard." Waye says. "How would we do it?"
Alyssa runs her hand through her hair. "W-when things go w-wrong with their technology, s-sometimes people get r-really hurt." She doesn't continue any further and smiles at Nika. "If y-you like it, then I think you should keep looking into it. B-but, um, everything that can be good can be bad, too, I think. S-so, um, I guess be careful and open."
Leah rubs behind her neck, "Well, umm, hopefully we, uh, we wouldn't have to..?" She shrugs, "I mean, uh, unless someone is, uh, is looking for a lost Smeargle egg, it, uh, it may as well just be yours..?"
Nika furrows her brow at that statement. "Everything that can be good can be bad...? How did you come up with that?"
~
"But...it's not mine." Waye protests. "I just found it in my room. It's got to be someone else's or it doesn't make any sense."
Alyssa shrugs. "J-just from what I've seen. It's, um, kinda like Pokemon, and, um, like people. Some are really good and nice and kind, and others are mean and try to hurt others. And some are more in the middle." She looks down a bit, then back at Nika. "I, um, I think th-that technology is more like that th-that. S-some of it can b-be good and some of it can be bad, and, um, you d-don't always know when you look at it."
"Hmm...I don't know. I think I have to see it for myself before i can say anything like that." Nika says, scratching her head. "And it's not bad if it's just doing the same stuff differently, right? The Pokeballs do the same thing, just different, so they're not bad."
Leah finds herself feeling a little exasperated at this point, "Well, uh, maybe, uh, maybe it was left for you..? I mean, I can't, uh, I can't imagine someone accidentally leaving an, uh, an egg in your room while you're asleep..."
"Neither can I, that's why I'm confused." Waye says. "And if somebody wanted me to have it, they'd have said so, or left a note or...what do I want with a Smeargle egg? I have a Smeargle."
Alyssa nods. "Y-yeah, that stuff I think is okay. I haven't, um, seen much of their Pokeballs. I guess it depends on how it does it, but most of that stuff is okay. Like, um, I think clothes are fine, and, um, I like the Pokegear, so it's not all bad." She smiles. "I don't mean to say I don't like it, j-just that I don't like all of it."
Leah gives an uncertain shrug, "Maybe the egg was, uh, was left for you because you have a Smeargle..? Maybe it was a, uh, a Pokémon who thought you'd, uh, you'd be best for caring for it..?"
"I guess...that's okay?" Nika says. "I like the clothes too. Hey, you've seen Leah's clothes! Do you think any would look good on me?"
~
"How did it get in?" Waye peers at Leah. "Pokemon can't just walk into my room. We have locks."
Alyssa takes a moment to think. After looking Nika up and down she shrugs. "I'm n-not sure which ones would fit you b-best. I, um, d-don't usually t-try to look that good s-since I do a lot of dirty work. Wh-what sorts of clothes do you like?"
Leah gives another shrug, "Well, umm, maybe I can, uh, can take a look? See if there's a way for a, uh, a pokémon to get in that you missed..?"
"Foreign ones!" Nika answers, smiling bright. "But not those things with heels. Or the, kind of, really big shorts that look like a skirt but they're not a skirt? And I saw this one woman from Yoonover who had a dress, but it was just strips pf black across her chest, and her bellybutton. That wouldn't be practical..."
"Okay, if you want." Waye says. "We can go there after your inn."
Alyssa nods, laughing at Waye's descriptions. "Y-yeah, um, maybe the more regular stuff? I d-don't think I like any of the really strange stuff, but the more normal stuff like they wear more everyday. Like, um, I like the really rough blue stuff? They usually wear it as pants or a jacket and it's really tough? I think that's nice."
"I know that stuff! It's called jean." Nika bobs her head excitedly. "Maybe Leah has stuff made of jean?"
Just as she says that, the group arrives outside of The Duelist's Rest.
Alyssa nods, smiling. "Yeah, um, I think that's what Doctor Perry said. That sounds right to me at least."
Outside their place, Alyssa looks over at Waye and Leah. "W-well, um, should Waye and I wait out here for you and Nika, or, um, should we go in with you?" She turns to Waye. "Actually, um, wh-where are you staying, Waye?"
Leah nods her agreement to Waye's suggestion. Once at the inn, she turns to Alyssa at her question. She shrugs in response, one of her hands rising to her bag strap, "Well, uh, I don't mind if, uh, if you want to come as well, though it might, uh, it might get a bit crowded in the room if, uh, if we're all there." She pauses a moment, glancing to the building, "Umm, I, uh, I didn't get as far as, uh, as finding Bibi, though. She, uh, she might still be here..?"
"I'm in another inn, further...in." Waye answers. "Why?"
Nika lingers, apparently having no particular insight on what the others do.
Leah hesitates a moment, then looks back to the inn, "Well, umm, if you want to come, our room is, uh, is down this way."
With that said, she makes her way to the room she and Alyssa were sharing, going slow enough that anyone wanting to follow wouldn't be left behind. Once there, she takes a moment to actually look around the room for the first time before then finding her baggages and turning to Nika, "Umm, was there, uh, was there anything in particular you might, uh, might want..?"
Nika follows Leah inside the Duelist's Rest and they soon find the room, which consists of a small room whose free space is roughly equivalent to the size of the double bed that sits at the center. There's just enough area in the bare wooden room to store some bags and move around. Bibi has tucked them up against the far walls, Leah's packs on one side and Alyssa's on the other. The woman herself is not present.
Maggie stays beside Alyssa.
Alyssa shrugs to Waye. "Just curious. Wanna come inside?" She heads in behind Leah inside, smiling as Maggie sticks close to her.
Once inside, she sits on her bed and takes out her sketch pad. She gestures to Maggie to join her, and prepares to do some sketching of the others.
Leah finds her cheeks colouring a little as she notes the single bed in the room, but she quickly turns her attention back to the task at hand as the others file into the room behind her. Moving deeper in to make space, she pulls her bag up to rest on the bed. She starts to empty out the clothing within, separating the piles out into clothes she was willing to part with, and a pile that she'd prefer to keep. Once properly sorted, the pile she's willing to offer up contains a couple of jeans, a few T-shirts, and a single jacket. Straightening up a little, she tucks some hair away from her face and glances up. She offers Alyssa a smile as she sees her sketching, then glances over to Nika, "So, umm, see anything you, uh, you might want..?"
Waye stares for a moment, then nods and follows Alyssa, along with the much more enthusiastic Maggie. The Gothorita hops onto the bed beside Alyssa and leans against her, while Waye steps inside and gazes over the ceiling. "Small room."
"I'll, uh, look away in case of delicates." Nika says, when Leah starts to go through her bag, then turns back once the clothes are laid out. Her eyes are filled with excitement. "You have jean things! This is great!" She leans down to pick up a t-shirt and holds it up, barely able to keep still. "I...I want all of it. Can I trade you stuff? I've got some stuff!"
Leah looks a little surprised at Nika's enthusiasm, giving her a faintly embarrassed grin. "Umm, yeah, they're, uh, they're called jeans." She rubs behind her neck, glancing down at the clothes pile being offered out. It wasn't that she minded giving away the clothes, but it did mean she'd need to get some replacements if they were all going...
"Umm..." She hesitated a moment longer, then nodded slowly, more to herself than Nika, "Yeah, uh, yeah I guess that can work. Umm, what, uh, what were you looking to trade for them..?"
Nika freezes for a moment. "I, uh, I have gold, and I can make Pokeballs? If you want some...you can put Pokemon you have in the new ones. The old one stops working, but I can do it. And...uh..." She taps a finger to her chin. "I can cook a bit. I have some clothes, too. Or...head massage?"
Leah grins at the suggestions, giving a half shrug, "Well, uh, it feels a bit silly saying it but, uh, but clothes would be nice. Umm, I don't mind giving you these but, uh, but if you have some stuff that, uh, that would fit, it'd save me having to go out and buy new stuff." She gives another shrug, "And, uh, and if none of them fit right I guess, uh, I guess we can work something else out..?"
"Great! I've got some stuff with me," Nika pats the bag at her side. "There are cloaks for rainy weather and snowy weather, and I've got some breeches, and some tunics - they aren't as cool as these t-shirts, but they're nice, I guess. And I've got wraps! I don't think you need them, but you could accessorize. Maybe around your arms if you want to look tough or...you could wear them as a scarf!"
Leah again finds herself surprised, this time that Nika would be carrying around a variety of clothes with her about town. She smiles though, "Well, uh, we're, uh, we're planning on going to Vibrost once we leave here," She glances to Alyssa with a smile, "So, uh, so something warm sounds good. Umm, can I, uh, can I take a look..?"
If Nika agrees, Leah moves her clothing to another part of the bed to create space.
Alyssa nods at Waye's comment. "Y-yeah, um, not very big." She catches Leah's small blush and smiles. "Kinda, um, cozy though?"
When Nika and Leah get into clothing negotiations, Alyssa giggles a bit at Nika's enthusiasm, but she's smiling and enjoying herself. As she puts her pencils to her paper, she will every so often lean over to Maggie to show her some of what she's drawn. In this case, she's drawn Nika, excited over the new clothes. Most of her attention is to her sketch pad throughout this, though she looks up every so often to get a sense of Nika's reactions. There's a few drawing of Nika in different poses holding up clothes, excitement in her face.
As the discussion turns to trading clothes, Alyssa looks up, trying to imagine Leah in some of Nika's clothes. She turns her attention back to her sketch pad, starting to draw Leah now in more Londo-style clothing. She smiles at her images, looking up just as Leah starts asking about cold-weather clothes. "Yeah, um, m-maybe a good cloak or something w-would be good. C-can I look at some stuff?" She sits up a bit and moves a bit to give space for Nika's clothes.
Maggie pays close attention to Alyssa's drawings, nodding when she's shown them and sometimes pointing to curious pieces that haven't been drawn in yet.
Nika pulls out a long green cloak made of some thick material, with white fur along the hood. It doesn't seem to have much wear. She also retrieves a yellow wool tunic that would go a little way past Leah's hips, a pair of thick stockings, and some tough brown breeches.
When Maggie points, Alyssa will nod and try to fill in those parts of her drawing, turning some empty lines into a shirt or pants or something, or finishing up enough of a face to make it clear that it's Leah. She makes a point to try and fill in parts that Maggie is pointing to first, to show her what they are supposed to be.
Alyssa, noticing the cloak, takes a moment to pause in her drawing and talking to Maggie to admire it. "Wow, this is a p-pretty nice cloak. I, um, think it'd be pretty good for cold?" She looks over at Leah to see what she thinks.
Leah starts with the tunic, holding the neck up to herself and flattening it down against her stomach to try and get an idea of how it would fit. Moving on to the breeches, she similarly holds them against herself, doing her best to get a sense of how they would look on her without having to actually change into them. Leaving the stockings for a moment, she turns her attention to the cloak, picking it up and running the material between her fingers. She finds herself smiling at the softness of it. After a moments pause, and with a glance to Alyssa at her comment, she looks to Nika, "Umm, mind if, uh, if I try it on..?"
If given the go ahead, she does just that. Keeping the hood down, but otherwise pulling the cloak around herself. She grins a little at the strangeness of wearing a cloak, finding she almost felt like she'd taken a step back in time. She grins at Alyssa again, giving the cloak a little swish as she does, "So, uh, what do you think..?"
Alyssa nods to Leah, not even really registering that she was asking Nika if it was okay to try on the cloak. She turns a bit red once she realizes, turning back to her sketching for a moment. Now she has drawn Leah in a bunch of the clothes she's actually looking at trying, trying to make her look as good as she can though not trying to make anything too unrealistic.
When Leah puts on the cloak, Alyssa looks up to get an image of her and stops, not looking away for a while. She laughs a bit as she swishes the cloak, nodding at her question. "I, um, I th-think the green is g-good for you." Turning a bit red, she looks back down at her pad and starts trying to draw Leah in the cloak.
Leah smiles at Alyssa's compliment, her cheeks colouring a little as she turns back to Nika. "Umm, if you're, uh, if you're happy with the trade, then, umm... I think I'm happy with it."
Nika squees, her arms going up beside her before just kind of swinging at her sides. "Can I hug you?" She asks, her eyes shining with excitement.
Waye shoots a sideways look at the girl, while Maggie picks up the stockings and stretches them out.
Leah gives a bit of an embarrassed smile and shrug at Nika's reaction and question, "U-umm, sure..?" She accepts the offered hug a little awkwardly, ready to release it fairly swiftly after it's started.
Once no longer being hugged, she tucks her hair behind her ear as she glances over to Waye, "Umm, right, uh, ready to, uh, to go over to where you're, uh, you're staying..?"
As she asks, she catches sight of Maggie stretching her brand new stockings, "Oh, umm, try not to, uh, to stretch them too much, please..?"
Nika's hug is swift and cuddly, but she doesn't linger. "Sorry, it's just, so cool! Hey, do you mind if I get changed into them here? I bet Sass will want to see me in them." She says, as she picks up the t-shirt.
"Yeah." Waye shrugs, then turns towards the door and opens it a sliver. "My friend might be there, but...it's a bigger room. We'll be fine."
Maggie peers up at Leah, then reluctantly puts them down.
Alyssa seems a bit annoyed as Leah and Nika hug, though she is mostly able to occupy herself with her sketching and looking at Maggie. When Nika pulls away Alyssa seems to turn back to normal, and she shakes her head. "If, um, y-you wanna change here that's okay with me."
As Waye heads out, Alyssa looks up at her. "D'you, um, want me to come? I d-don't know much about eggs but, um, I might be able to help some if you're looking around?" She prepares to follow, getting up off the bed and closing up her sketch book so she can carry it.
Alyssa pats Maggie as she puts down the stockings. "It's okay. It's just, um, if you do that too much, you can rip them. Or, um, stretch them so much they don't fit." She makes a gesture of pulling something out really wide, smiling.
Leah shakes her head at Nika's question, "No, uh, I, uh, I don't mind either."
She goes to follow Waye out of the room, giving her a faintly questioning look, "That's, uh, that's your friend with the Minior..?"
"You can come if you want." Waye says, stepping outside alongside the girls. Maggie goes with them, nodding at Alyssa's explanation on the nature of stockings as she does.
Various shuffling sounds can be heard from the door to their bedroom, then Nika steps out clad in a pair of t-shirt and jeans that fit her like a normal person's might. "So! What do you th-" She's interrupted by a small Pokemon flitting into the lobby, bumping right into Nika's head, then hovering in front of her. It's a small black, white, and red bird with a long beak and a sack clutched in its teeny talons. "Scroungy!" The girl exclaims, as she takes the bag from the Pokemon. "What did I tell you about over-encumbering yourself?" She asks, and is met with a dismissive tweet. "No, your mom!" She says, then looks to the girls and flashes an embarrassed smile. "This is, uh, Scroungy, my Pikipek."
Alyssa laughs at Nika's interactions with her Pikipek. "Nice to meet you, Scroungy! I'm Alyssa and this is Maggie." She gestures to Maggie with one hand. "What'cha got there?" She points to the sack.
Maggie tilts her head up at the Pikipek, who lets out a little tweet at her, then regards Alyssa.
"It's Pokeball ingredients! Er, components." Nika jiggles the bag. "It's usually apricorns, wood bark, that kinda stuff. And pretty stones and shells and Pokemon bits - y'know, scales, bits of broken-off horn? Some of it's for making the Pokeballs, some for decoration."
Alyssa smiles, moving closer to Scroungy to give it some pets. Turning to Nika, she says, "Cool! Would you, um, mind showing me how you make a Pokeball? I've always b-been curious b-but never asked."
Leah finds herself not quite sure what to say as Nika comes out, somehow feeling that 'My clothes look good on you' would sound a bit weird. She gives Scroungy a surprised look as the pokémon haphazardly flies in, grinning at Nika's reaction to the Pikipek's chirp. It felt easy to guess where that language had been picked up. As Nika and Alyssa discuss pokéball creation, she quietly moves to lock the door. Glancing to Waye, she asks "Well, uh, ready when you are..? Let's, uh, let's try and get to the bottom of, uh, of your mystery egg."
"Yeah, we can do it at Waye's inn if you want?" Nika offers. "I need a flat surface and everyone is going there anyway...so let's do that." Scroungy reluctantly allows Alyssa to pet its headfeathers, but no more!
"What? Yeah." Waye says to Leah. "Let's go do that." She starts to lead the way once they hit Diwyneb's streets, Maggie joining the quartet by Alyssa's side. With how busy the entrance to Diwyneb is, it's a good thing that the girl is wearing a bright pink jacket, or it could be quite easy to lose track. They eventually get to a building that's shaped like a horshoe, wooden and tall with a small outside garden between the wings. Painted in big letters across the building is the name "The Yawn Inn".
Waye heads inside, the group right behind her, and leads the way up a set of stairs and down a nicely-decorated hallway. She pulls a key from her pocket and opens the door to reveal a wide room, nicely decorated, with two single beds spaced apart and a partially-open door at the side. A small pink Pokemon rolls around on the floor, with five white spikes placed equidistant across its body, rolling to apparently build u speed before bouncing off of a surface, then doing it again.
"That's her Minior." Waye says as she steps inside. "It does that." The Pokemon's beady eyes turn to her briefly, then it continues with its rolling.
Alyssa nods in agreement with Nika, following behind the others as they head to Waye's inn. When they get into the more crowded areas she takes Maggie's hand to keep track of her as they walk, trying to stay close to Leah to keep up.
Once they make it inside, Alyssa takes a moment to look around, letting Maggie free of her hand. After a moment of looking she trails behind the group, coming into the room last. She waves to the Minior as it looks at them, smiling. "I don't think I've ever seen one of you before. Hi!" She keeps up her energy as she walks around the room, getting a sense of the layout. "So, um, where did you find your egg?"
Leah nods at Waye's comment as they enter her room, then offers the Minior a small wave in greeting. Turning her attention back to the room, she takes a short walk around it, checking for ways that a pokémon could've come in to leave an egg. On completing her little tour, she turns her attention over to Waye, "So, uh, you said you were, uh, you were sure nothing could've come in to, uh, to leave the egg..? Umm, is there, uh, is there any chance I could speak to your Smeargle..?"
Maggie happily accepts Alyssa's hand to help her through the crowd.
The Minior doesn't seem to take much notice of the girls once it's returned to rolling around. Maggie watches it doing so, her head shifting to follow, while Scroungy seems quite content to stay on Nika's shoulder.
Looking over the room, the girls find a closet hatch on one wall that could be unlatched to see the open air. The only other exit seems to be the door at the side.
"I found it here." Waye says, as she pointed beside one of the beds There's a small table between them. "You can take a look at my Smeargle. Be careful or he'll paint you." She says, as she reaches into her bag and retrieves a perfectly normal Pokeball. There's a shimmer of light, and then it's standing there. A bipedal Pokemon with pale creamy fur, soft brown rings around its arms and legs, and a long tail that it quickly snatches up. Said tail has a brush-like end, covered in pink paint. He takes one long look across the room, then waves its tail at Alyssa, Leah, and Nika.
Alyssa smiles and waves back at Waye's Smeargle. "Hi! I've always wanted to be friends with a Smeargle." Remembering Waye's warning, she resists the urge to approach him. When Waye points out where she found the egg, Alyssa takes a look around for anything that might be a clue as to where the egg came from. Once she's done looking, she'll turn to Waye. "Is there, um, anything you notice missing? Or, um, anything that's not supposed to be here?"
Alyssa sees a pack tucked under the bed, with a few things beside it, including something that looks like but is not a Pokedex, a small bottle of nail polish, and a glass ball that's been painted in all the colors of the rainbow.
"No." Waye says, as her Smeargle climbs onto the bed to watch Alyssa search. "I mean, you guys weren't here last night. I don't think you put the egg in here, though."
Leah returns the Smeargle's wave, going over to the bed to join the pokémon. "Hey. So, umm, your trainer told me that, uh, that she found you with, uh, with an egg yesterday..? I was, uh, I was hoping you could, uh, could show me where it came from..?"
Spoiler: OoCI guess a charm roll for that? Never Leah's forté, but hey, maybe it won't be needed :smalltongue:
[roll0]
The Smeargle turns its head to face Leah, then swishes his tail on her cheek, leaving a pink streak.
Leah gives a surprised "Ah!" and jerks back, reaching a hand up to her cheek as she does, touching the wet paint without thinking. She pulls her hand away with a bit of a grimace at the wet feeling, looking at her fingers, then back to the Smeargle with a deflated smile, "... Umm... Don't, uh, don't want to say..?"
The Smeargle shrugs his shoulders.
"Maybe he doesn't know." Waye says. "I was sleeping at the time and I think he was too." She peers at Leah's cheek. "Want a wet towel?"
Nika, meanwhile, has set herself up at the other bed and has unfurled the sack that Scroungy retrieved for her. Maggie peers over the edge at the collection of titbits before her.
Leah nods at Waye's question, "If, uh, if you don't mind..."
She turns her attention back to the Smeargle, "..." Pausing as she tried to work out what to ask, she eventually tried, "Have, uh, have you made, uh, made friends with any, uh, any other pokémon since, uh, since you got here..?"