Mear
“Do you want anything at all or...?” I asked unsure of what to do. Shupple seemed to be only just concentrating on me or anything else in the room for that matter. I couldn’t sit for some reason. I wanted to be able to get up and move and get something or do something. It was a strange feeling… I wanted to be able to do something and do it quick….I was caught between mid standing and mid sitting when Shupple finally made up her mind.
“I guess water would be okay...” Shupple answered, and before I spent another secondof thought, I had started down to the refreshment table and started to fill a cup with water. Moving back careful not to slip on a puddle of liquid that was not far off, I returned back to where we were sitting. Hanging out the water and waiting for Shupple to take it, I tried to put on a calm face. However, something about the entire situation didn’t feel right at all, and I was on edge. Shupple seemed to not register I was there for a minute, and I decided to speak first.
“Here you go, Shupple,” I said, and Shupple opened her eyes looking at me somewhat tiredly. There was a half glass like way that she was looking at me. Something twitched in my stomach, and I realized that I had had the same feeling previously through the day. What exactly was going on? Shupple looked at me for a solid second before taking the water from my hand and holding it up to her lips. She was shaking just a bit, and my acute eye seemed to catch every single movement. In that moment, I wished that I didn’t have the ability to see in this way, because for some reason… .I shoved the rest of my thoughts back into a corner of my mind where it was left hissing with a strange pang of worry that was new to me. In truth, I had experienced worry before, but it was of a degree that one feels about everything. This entire strange snake that had decided to infest itself in my stomach was not one that I had experienced before.
My attention retreated away from my thoughts again, and I fought for some way to ask Shupple what was happening or if she knew what was happening to her. Should I call a doctor or something of the like or was it something else? I was an artist not a doctor…. I felt my eyes drop almost too quickly to the table, but I forced them to rise again. I couldn’t just ignore the situation….
“I'm kind of... acting like this because... well... I'm getting close to... evolving. It's normal for a Gijinka and Pokemon, so you don't have to worry that much, okay?” Shupple said breaking my thoughts for a solid moment. She gave a forced smile. The action in itself didn’t seem to be comforting in the least? So she was going to evolve? I knew nothing on evolution… Smeargle are one form based…. I had no idea what to expect or even how to take this. It was natural for someone to act like this as they were about to evolve? It seemed… strange… After a moment, I realized that Shupple expected me to answer in some way, and yet I felt conflicted as to how to take the matter at all. Finally something seemed to work into me. It was… an agitation… at myself… I hadn’t even noticed that Shupple had been… no that was wrong.. I knew something was different the moment that I saw her arm back in the café just this morning… Why hadn’t I questioned it? What if going to the ball had in some way been a determent…
Finally action moved passed discourse of reason, and I found myself one minute looking at Shupple and the next pulling her into an embrace as we both continued to sit on the chairs that sat next to each other. It was a strange seating, and yet I wouldn’t notice till later about this matter. I couldn’t find the words to say at that moment, so I said nothing. After a moment, I let out a quiet breath trying to convey how I was feeling about the entire situation. Yet I honestly doubted at that point in time that my opinion was anything.
“Sorry,” I said unable to say anything else in that moment. “I didn’t even… think that anything was really wrong…. But….sorry….” I broke off unable to say anything more yet again. Shupple felt cold to the touch even as I hugged her. There was a twist in my stomach that seemed to crush my internal organs, and I found that I couldn’t do anything to change it.
“M… Mear…” Shupple more or less commented to herself. Her voice was just over a whisper, and yet she continued to shake coldly.
“Ya….” I asked feeling the word forming into a cross between a statement and a question.
I suddenly felt the eyes of several people seeming to look over in curiosity. However, before they could look into the matter for themselves, I drew a picture of balloons with my finger on the table. Suddenly balloons formed straight off the table as if I had used reverse sketch. Indeed, I was starting to be able to use reverse sketch without having to have a medium basis. As long as I could see it in my mind and put it on a hard surface, I could recreate something even without the lines. After the dance, I would practice this for long periods of time trying to perfect it. However, at that moment, the balloons served their purpose of making somewhat of a shield between Shupple, me, and the rest of the Ball dancers.
“You’re… warm…” Shupple commented quiet somewhat relaxing even as she shivered. However, she was extremely cold. Was this really what happened in evolution? “Tired…..” Shupple commented starting to close her eyes. Another wave of agitation rolled over me, and I tensed.
“Shupple…” I said feeling my face flush a bit by her comment. “How long were you not feeling well….”
She didn’t comment for a long time but when she finally didn’t, Shupple responded with a “m.” and then left it at that. After another moment, she started a completely different conversation and nearly threw me off. “I…. never told anyone…. But… I still have that wish that I always.. wanted…” Shupple seemed to laugh at herself as if she were more or less making fun of herself for the wish. In both oddities, I wanted to ask more about her wish but also deny her to speak anymore. She seemed increasingly tired, and I didn’t want any extra staring.
After a moment, I started to release Shupple, but she more or less moved onto my lap and rested her head on my right shoulder. I felt a sudden nervous jump go through me, but after another moment, I started to relax again. Moving one arm up I kept her back at a forty five degree angle. Taking in a slow breath, I managed to keep calm in the matter, and slowly, I began to address the real question. Yet the question turned into more of a statement of my opinion.
“Maybe you should try and take a light nap….” I said feeling a particular node of strain in my voice. It was strange to hear myself sound the way the words were escaping me, and yet there was nothing I could do about it.
“..m….” Shupple answered, and I notice that she was starting to relax as if she didn’t really did plan on just going to sleep right then and there. Shupple once again seemed to go back to talking quietly in a voice just over the music that was actually turning more into racket as it seemed that there was some kind of obstruction with singing and a microphone. “Back when I made…. A wish… I thought it would one day come true… but then after a while… I gave up on it…. As many people do when their wishes don’t come true… and… but…” Shupple seemed to chuckle to herself as thought she had just found something insanely funny in the entire predicament.
“Shupple…. You need to relax…” I said half in a nervous tone.
“And I… really don’t want to evolve right now,” Shupple continued as if she were ignoring me and possibly everything around us. “I was happy just dancing and things…sorry….”
For one reason or another, I found my face turn sharp crimson. Later on, this would be the center of an internal debate within me that would go on for possibly weeks after. Just why had what she said made such an explosive impact on me?
“What are you saying sorry for?” I asked after a moment, but Shupple had finally relaxed, closed her eyes, and seemed more of a peaceful state. Sighing somewhat loudly, I didn’t pursue the questions any further.
Fifteen minutes passed and then twenty. The dance seemed to heat up and then cool down almost in a circular pattern over and over again, but both Shupple and I remained silent and at peace just sitting there for a while. The clock was working up to twenty five minutes before finally Shupple moved a bit. Willing herself up, Shupple sat up and leaned forwards over her knees. As if realizing where she was and things, Shupple suddenly gushed red and quickly made her way into the chair next to us. I felt my own face shift sharp red, and my eyes inadvertently moved away and out passed the balloons into the dance floor.
“I… just needed a nap…. I think…” Shupple said somewhat tired and yet at the same time somewhat nerved.
“Do you feel better though?” I asked trying to leave the edge of concern that was creeping up into my voice alone. Yet this ploy was failing, and I knew and accepted this.
“A bit,” was the only answer, and for a moment, both of us turned and looked at each other each wanting to say something but waiting to see if the other had something to say. This moment lasted half a second before we both gave a nervous laugh.
“So about evolving…” I started.
“The wish I had made a long time ago…” Shupple started.
We both suddenly broke off. We had said different things at the same time, and neither of us was able to follow the other or continue on with the conversation, so in the end, we both managed a nervous laugh.
“How about you continue…” I said after a moment forcing a smile.
_______________________________________
Gotta go now be back later in the day.
Mear
KC
