“I'm sorry if I... annoyed you earlier with how I responded to the game. It seems I do that all the time with people I play with...” Shupple said aloud as she continued to twirl a flower.
For a moment, I couldn’t help but fight down a laugh for some reason. What did she mean? It wasn’t annoying at all. After a moment, I forced my face back to its normal composure.
“What do you mean?” I asked after a moment. She seemed unsure if she wanted to explain any further. However, now I was mildly curious as to what she had meant yet even with this, I wouldn’t push the subject if it was not needed.
“Normally I just cause bad luck or something. I win a lot sometimes in games, and people get mad and stop the game. It's kind of why I don't have any friends...” Shupple answered.
Was that the reason that she had won the games? A version of bad luck for the opponent? This was something that I had not even considered when we had played the game. However, this was disregarded in my mind after a moment. Strangely though, I could not meet her eyes again and just turned my attention to my sketchbook instead. It served its dual purpose, and I was able to pretend as though I were looking intently at it.
“What is it?” Shupple’s voice asked, and my eyes moved up away from the sketchbook wondering exactly who she was talking to. A Gengar was looking intently at Shupple with a grin on his visage. Making a quick motion, the Gengar seemed to point directly at the flower despite the fact that Shupple was continuing to inquire. Where exactly had this Gengar come from? After a split second of wondering this, I formed my own conclusions that it was simply moving about the night as all dark and shadow pokemon do.
“Do you want this?” Shupple asked aloud still holding the flower. The Gengar nodded, and Shupple handed it over without a complaint. The Gengar seemed to grin even more as he took the flower and ran off back into the night. My vision returned back to Shupple somewhat confused by the entire episode. However, as I realized that she probably thought I was giving her a weird look, I started to try and formulate something to say.
“Could I be your... um...” I started finally coming to the conclusion that I could simply ask to be a friend.
“My what?”
“Friend?” I finished moving my head to one side. Indeed, it came to me at that moment that she could possibly deny this, and we would both just go on. However, I wanted someone to be able to play cards with. I couldn’t help smirking to myself. What exactly was I still doing here? I was a traveler… and then… what? I suddenly settled down so spontaneously and started making friends. It was all somewhat new to me, and yet, there was something in this that I liked.
“Sure, if you don't mind my bad luck at times...” Shupple answered.
I couldn’t help but smirk a bit. “Ya know I really don’t believe in luck,” I said aloud.
“Wha..?” Shupple seemed surprised.
“I don’t believe in any version of luck,” I repeated. “It’s all in how much you work for something in my opinion.” I leaned back and stated looking out at the starry sky.
“Ah…” was the only answer that I heard. I shrugged my shoulders a bit still looking up. The stars were shimmering extremely bright in the sky, and a part of me remembered that I had started drawing the lake only that morning. I never did finish that picture… did I?
I yawned absentmindedly before continuing to talk.
“If luck ever had a shape form or fashion that I could put to paper, then I would believe in it,” I finally concluded. “But I prefer to think of things as all just how ya see things.”
“I see…”Shupple answered.
I yawned again feeling tired and yet not wanting to go to sleep yet. I had not even picked out the room that would be mine yet. However, this matter was indeed a paradox for I had made myself a room even before I had decided to stay. I found a strange sting of irony in this. My eye drifted up to the third story of the mansion where on the far end was the room I had turned methodically into my studio. I couldn’t help smirking at myself for even in my indecisive thoughts, my art portrayed what I had wanted all along.
“Do you intend to stay up all night?” I asked not really looking at Shupple but still at the top windows of the mansion.
“You can go to sleep if you wish,” Shupple answered.
“That was not what I had asked,” I answered back.
“M…” was the only reply. I looked back to Shupple and noticed that she had started a game of solitaire. I crossed my arms and waited to see if she would reply to the question. When a few seconds passed, Shupple finally looked up at me from her game. “I do not technically require sleep,” Shupple answered.
Then it was my turn to reply with “ah” and just before the moment fell into an awkward silence, I gave a sigh. Taking my sketchbook out, I started to draw in the darkness. The sound of cards flipping and my pen scratching at the paper all but echoed out into the silence.
After an hour, I found that I was exceptionally tired and could not afford to stay up much longer. Looking down at the picture I had worked on, I found that it was simply a picture of a red starry sky. In that moment, I found the desire to acquire different color inks and things. Having only red had at one time not limited me, yet for some reason, it had suddenly become insufficient. Flipping my sketchbook closed, I stood up.
“I’m going to head to bed,” I commented waiting to see if Shupple answered.
“Night then,” Shupple answered, and as I looked into the dark, I found that she was still playing solitaire with the cards. I took a step towards the mansion and then stepped back.
“How about one more game of speed?” I asked.
Shupple looked up at me and gave a nod. Sitting back down, I put my sketchbook to the side and took the cards once again. The game started once again, and within moments, Shupple had beaten me again. Sighing but then half-laughing, I stood up again.
“You play a mean game of cards,” I commented lightly as I turned back to the mansion. “And I’m beat in both senses.” I yawned again and then said final good nights and headed into the mansion. Walking up the stairs and to the final floor, I continued down to the end of the hall and to my room.
My room was simple in nature. There was a large drawing table on the far side of the room and a few places to put sketches along the walls. On the direct opposite side of the drawing table was a bed that I quickly relaxed myself into. Still holding my sketchbook, I flipped through all the pictures I had drawn that day. There were several that stood out among the rest, and I couldn’t help but find myself smiling at them. Placing the sketchbook on my side table, I moved under the sheets and started to drift into the land of dreams.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was awakened to the sound of methodical beating on something down stairs. It sounded as though some sort of something was fighting or something of the sorts. Realizing that I was making no rational thought as I tried to wake up, I sat up in bed and half stretched. The beating persisted, and I forced myself not to show an agitation.
Getting up out of bed, I slowly walked over to the door to my room and opened it. The banging sound only seemed to project itself farther into my room and become louder as I opened the door and stuck my head out. Who in their right mind would be up this late and making so much racket? Pulling my head back into my room and glancing over at the clock that stood alongside my sketchpad on the nightstand, I found that it was only two hours passed midnight.
Shaking my head, I glanced down and realized that I had slept in the exact same clothes that I had worn all day. Stretching and changing my shirt to another exactly like the previous one, I opened the door to my room again and started out into the night hallway. The banging only seemed to continue, and I started to feel a bit of frustration and whoever was making so much noise so late at night.
_____________________________________________________________________
^^’ sorry for its shortness. Anyone can continue from here. <_< who is making all that racket? I have no clue lol.
Mear
KC
