Mear
“What do you think?” Shupple asked, and I completely lost any ability to say anything relevant. It was… just….. I blinked for a moment before realizing that Shupple indeed was asking for an opinion on it. Forcing my mouth open and half trusting it to say something that would explain how she looked, I waited for any sign of words to come.
“It um.... i-it l-looks g-good on y-you.” I finally forced out. Yet even in this sentence, my words were fragmented at best, and my eyes were trying to move away and focus on my sketchbook not because I didn’t like the dress but because I couldn’t stand to not be able to talk fluidly at the moment, and for one reason or another I was frustrated by this.
“Good, good! Now, let us go back and get this all off of you and have you purchase this dress!” The woman smiled and quickly reseized Shupple and dragged her away once more. I looked back at the man who tried to force a nervous laugh but only came close to something that mimicked a dying pokemon. I forced a half laugh as well, and we both stood there for a moment just waiting to see the other’s reaction.
“She did indeed look good in the dress,” the man commented. “I told you my wife is good at these sorts of things hah….”
“Ah….” Was the only thing that I could manage before I finally gave up and sought solace by flipping open my sketchbook. The man gave me a confused look for a moment but then seemed to make sense of it on his own terms.
After a few more minutes, I started to calm down and closed my sketchbook and started talking with the man again who had started to fumble with things on the other side of the register. It was litght chat ant not entirely notable for anything besides the fact that it only continued to mark and destroy the somewhat awkwardness that had walked into the room only a few minutes prior.
When Shupple came back with the woman close on her heals, she gave me a nervous glance and then a half smile. I gave a nod, and suddenly the man moved allowing his wife close to the register as she started ringing up the dress. Frugrality is the seventh wonder of the world I must say. Because the dress was not nearly as expensive, Shupple was able to save a bit of cash, and we both headed out of the store.
“Thank you for coming and have a nice day!” the woman’s milotic voice laughed as we both exited. Shupple seemed to turn red and then look down almost in a fit of mixed frustration. I felt my face shift a bit not sure whether or not to consol or to simply move on. As we came outside, Shupple put her umbrella back up and seemed to survey the area. Before I could ask what she was looking for, Shupple cut me off.
“Um... I'll be right back, okay?” Shupple said quickly and then started over to a jewelry place. I sighed and followed for a bit before sitting on a bench outside. After a moment, I crossed one leg over the other and used it almost as a tripod to put my sketchbook on. Looking around the area, I saw a few street performers not far off. I stared at them for more than a few minutes before I actually started to draw them. Indeed, it was harder to draw those that were moving instead of just still life or something you already had in your head. However, once I got the general idea of what I was actually going to draw, I started on a new sheet of paper. As I worked, I began to wonder just how many sheets of paper I had used up in the few days that I had been here. In truth, I bought new sketchbooks like they were food, and I knew that this sketchbook was nearing its end of paper soon. I would have to locate an art supply store sooner or later if I wished to continue drawing.
The street performs consisted of a boy of around sixteen and his three pokemon which entailed a charmader, a seviper, and a gardivoir. All in all, they were working well together and put on a show that I expected a pokemon contest to have. It was in that moment that I understood that they were actually training for a contest. Smirking to myself, I continued to draw them in a sharp quick paced linier style
Suddenly the sound of a closing door not far off caught my attention again. I turned my head sharply and found that Shupple had purchased something and was now walking out of the jewelry shop once more. I gave a half glance down at the paper before closing my sketchbook and then standing up again.
“Ready to go, or do you want to explore some more?” Shupple asked as she turned her head obviously looking to see what I had been staring at. Upon seeing the street performers, Shupple nodded her head a bit as if coming to her own conclusions about them.
“I need to pick up some art supplies, but that can wait a bit,” I answered causing Shupple to almost jump as if she had been too focused on the street performers for a split second. I was unsure of whether to say some form of apology for this or whether to just continue on. “So-“ I started, but it seemed as though Shupple took this to mean ‘so’ instead of ‘sorry’ and she quickly started talking again.
“I really don’t have anything to get either,” Shupple answered quickly. “So I guess we’ll just go back then.”
“Alright…” I answered trying to force a smile.
Suddenly a shadow caught my eye for a moment. It seemed to move strangely, but as I looked at it, it appeared to go back to normal. That was… strange… to say the least. We continued walking, but I couldn’t help but see the shadow moving awkwardly now and then. After a moment, I stopped completely and turned around. Shupple stopped as well and looked at me confused for a moment. Turning her head, she seemed to see the shadow as well and sighed.
As if on cue, the shadow jumped straight off the street, and the smiling Gengar from before was standing not too far off with a grin on his face as always. Making sure to stay under the shade of both the trees and the edges of the roofs of the stores, the Gengar almost danced with glee as if it had finally found something. I stared at it, but it just seemed to chuckle and then run forwards still dodging the sun as it went. Both Shupple and I stepped out of the way, but that was not what the Gengar was after. With a swift movement of both hands, Gengar seized the bags of clothes that Shupple and I had just bought and seemed to go bounding down the street.
I raised my eyebrow for half a second before I started running after it with my sketchbook still in hand. That Gengar wasn’t going to get away with stealing. The Gengar tried to get away by running through a few closed streets, but I was able to get over each of the hurdles in the way with ease. Soon, I found that I was slowly edging my way up towards him as we continued to run. I said nothing but just focused on running. Finally the Gengar took a wrong move and seemed stuck in an alley way. I stood at the other end of it with my arms crossed and a composed face. There wasn’t a place the Gengar could run to now.
“Why did you take the bags,” I asked turning my head to one side.
However, instead of answering this question or returning the bags, the Gengar just put his hands on his hips and moved his head to the side almost as I was doing. Standing up completely straight, I stepped forwards. The Gengar did the same returning to a normal standing and slowly stepping towards me as I stepped towards him.
“Are you going to answer?” I asked. “Or at least return the bags?”
The Gengar put one of its fingers to its smiling face and made as if to say “shush” before holding the bags out. As I went to take the bag, the Gengar pulled it away at the last second almost teasingly. I kept a calm face and then crossed my arms as best I could with a sketchbook still under my right arm. The Gengar was now laughing as if it had made the best joke in the world and was now laughing at it for himself. After a moment, the Gengar stopped laughing and seemed to understand that I did not find this situation at all funny. Looking down a moment, the Gengar then resumed its gaze and put its hand on the bags.
“What are you doing?” I asked, but before I could say anymore, the Gengar dropped the bag and ran off straight through the wall laughing all the way. I stepped forwards to reclaim the bags, but I stopped after a moment. On top of the bags was a white card sitting perfectly balanced was a white card. I was about to bend down and pick it up when I heard Shupple coming up behind me.
I turned and found that Shupple had made her way through the entire chase and was still clutching the one bag she had managed to keep away from the Gengar that had her jewelry in it. I looked back at where the bags were still sitting as if they had been there for a long period of time and then looked up to where the Gengar had run off to.
“Where did….” Shupple started.
“Gone,” I answered. “But it left our bags here…”
I motioned to the bags, and as Shupple saw what was sitting on one of the bags, she quickly seemed to snatch up the bag with the card on it. I looked at her somewhat confused and debating whether or not to question this action or not. In truth, there appeared to be something about the white card that kept showing up with the Gengar, but now Shupple had just confused me as to why she had taken it up so quickly.
“Was that a card of yours?” I asked trying to keep the question not too focused. There was something about this that made me believe that Shupple was hiding something. However, I doubted that she would really say anything and decided not to pursue the situation further if she chose not to answer.
“Ya…” Shupple answered. “I’ve been looking for it everywhere…”
“Ah…” was the only answer I could come up with not sure whether asking any more would be pushing the conversation too much. Shupple seemed to nod to herself and then picked up the other bag and handed it to me.
“Let’s get going….” Shupple said with a mix of cold and unnerved air that I couldn’t quite understand.
“Alright,” I answered nodding.
With that, we started heading back to the mansion. It was quiet on the way back with both me and Shupple left to our own thoughts, but a part of me preferred it that way.
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<.< lol that Gengar is everywhere no? xD
Mear
KC
