From: "STEFFAN HEDD ALUN" <sha3@aber.ac.uk> Subject: Re: [PW!] Discomfort is Comforting Date: Sunday, May 23, 2004 11:24 PM "Amber" <kitsunenoasobi@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:df411eb.0405231118.6cf4ce4e@posting.google.com... > "You don't like meat?" she inquired in normal tone, despite the utter > silence around them. > > "Uh...no..." he squeaked. > > "Oh. Well...ok then!" She took her hamburger out of his face and > commenced eating it again, and the cafe picked up its general chatter. > > Somehow Vixxen seemed to bring him out of his shell, and he didn't > know if he liked that or not. "Think we'd better stay another night in the inn?" asked Vixxen, licking some sauce from her fingers. Karl's stomach gave a lurch. He didn't think he could handle sharing a bed with the girl a second night in a row, and he knew she wouldn't let him hire that oh-so-tempting single room. "I'd rather get going, to be honest," he said. "Still, it's been nice catching up with-" "What?!" snapped Vixxen. "You think I'm leaving you? I'm coming with you to Ahwullyeah and beyond!!" She punched the air, and Karl felt his chest tingle. She'd accidentally released a little static. "I wouldn't want to put you out of-" "Karl, you're the only person I know for miles." She took another bite of her oozing hamburger, greedily tearing into the meat. "Besides, don't you enjoy my company?" Her voice had suddenly taken an angrier tone. "Of course I do!" said Karl quickly. "You're wonderful company. Fun. And loud. I mean energetic! Energetic! Um. And, uhhh... You...erm...smell nice." Karl wished he hadn't said the word 'and' before knowing how he'd end the sentence. "I smell nice?" asked Vixxen, raising an eyebrow. "Uhhh, yeah." "Thankyou, Karl!!" she squealed, grabbing his hands and squeezing them. "You don't know how much that means to me, after spending months at sea with a limited change of clothing!" As soon as Vixxen had released his hands, Karl hid them under the table. No need to tempt fate. "I was thinking we could go to the Oceanic Muse-" "No," whimpered Karl. "Sorry?" Vixxen looked quite taken aback. "Uhh...sorry. I just don't want us to go there. I mean, I don't want to go there." "Why not?" Karl didn't want to go because the museum would be quiet, and one of two things would happen - either they'd walk around in silence, feeling awkward, or Vixxen would be her usual loud and vibrant self, and he'd die of shame. "I wanted to go to the market instead," was the reason he gave. *** "Oh, wow! Lookee!! We've GOT to get some of these! Oh, wow - aren't they just the most awesome things you've ever seen?" The plastic mounted-Feebas in Vixxen's hand suddenly turned to look at her. "Take me to the place! Where the water is bluer! Take me to the city! Where the bridge is upright!" "It sings!" she giggled. "We're going for a ride! To the far side of the river! We're on our way to where! There is not a single fight!" Karl flinched. This was singing only in the technical sense of the word. "Come on, everybody - we're waiting over here! The water's really cool and the sky is really clear!" "Come on, Karl, we HAVE to get this!" "I don't-" "Oh, WOW! Look at THAT!!" Karl had done his fair share of double-exclaiming in the past, but Vixxen was going mad. She skipped from stall to stall, burrowing through the tackiest merchandise she could find. "Oh, look! A Gym Leader action figure set!" She grabbed a large box from a stand filled with toys. "Oooh, look! They come with their own little Pokémon and tiny plastic badges too! And they even have TMs!" "TMs?!" question-exclaimed Karl, full of renewed energy. "Of course! Gym Leaders give out TMs! Why didn't I get one from Falkner?" Karl remembered back to his first and only Gym battle, against the bird master of Violet City. "I'd hoped for a TM, because my main interest in Pokémon is their moves and attacks. That TM would have brought me one step closer to a full list of moves and their info." "You're going to collect ALL the moves ONE BY ONE?!" asked Vixxen, astounded. "What a waste of time! Just get a Mimic TM and copy them all." "Is that possible?!" asked Karl. "That'd make my life so much-" "OH MY GODDISH! LOOK AT THAT!!" But Karl never learned what Vixxen wanted him to see, because there was a sudden rush of movement as someone stormed through the marketplace at high speed. Much confusion followed, but Karl was horrified when he worked out what had happened. He backed away from Vixxen, who hadn't yet realised that she'd lost something. Her portable TV was gone. TBC?