Chapter 13: Strangers

Where did all these items come from?

Anne stared at the couple bags in the corner for a hot minute, colorful plastic and the assorted goods inside it refusing to make themselves any clearer for her aching mind. She recognized the coat that laid on top of one of the bags as belonging to Mrs. Graham, and the title of the book Cypress had been reading tingled something deep inside her brain, but... Did that mean what she thought it could mean? Did Mrs. Graham give her some of her stuff and books? That much Anne wasn't even all that surprised by, the old librarian has always been great to her, but rather the logistics of it all. How did these end up here? Did Mrs. Graham know about this forest wonderland she ended up in? Did- did someone just steal these from Mrs. Graham?

So many questions, and exactly nothing for answers.

It was all immensely confusing, but maybe taking a closer look at the exact selection of items would clarify anything about the situation? Anne doubted, but at the same time, it's not like she had much else to do while she waited for Aria's family. That whole idea still made her a bit uncertain. She wanted to trust Aria and everyone else that she'd be alright and her kids would end up liking her, but her experiences with others in her age group haven't been particularly... positive. Add to that the unavoidable personality clash between herself and anyone more outgoing than her, which was... basically everyone, and to the best of her worried mind's ability to make out, it would only end up being a disaster.

And by disaster she meant just very awkward and unpleasant.

Hopefully.

Let's take a closer look at everything in her room in the meantime.

Anne still didn't feel particularly strong, and the increasingly returning aching didn't help one bit, but it was a night and day difference compared to the utter exhaustion of yesterday. Enough so to at least let her scramble over to the edge of the bed and let her legs dangle off it. Not before giving the Braixen a bit more affection though, to help her power though the terrible vastness of a few minutes without her human beside her. Alright, ready, let's-

The sheer confusion filling her thoughts had managed to push the Mismagius' presence in the room out of her immediate attention up until now, his sudden reappearance in front of her making her jump a bit. She remembered something about them feeding on some sort of emotions, and the faint flicker of a glow inside the red gem on Cypress' front appeared to confirm that. Anne's attention was focused more so on his confused expression, however, especially as it was accompanied with a few more non-magical whispers.

Could he understand her? Anne had no idea, but there was no hurt in giving it a stab-

"~I-I just wanna t-take a look at the- at the bags.~"

She had no idea whether the words themselves ended up accomplishing anything, but the pointing gesture that accompanied them did the trick in either case. Cypress continued his ghostly mumbles as he glanced back and forth between the girl and her possessions, eventually settling on granting that particular request and floating off to the side.

"~Th-thank you, Mr. Cypress.~"

A deeper nod of his brimmed head, warm reassurance inside her. Let's try-

Ow, ow, ow.

Her legs weren't quite as weak as she had expected them to be, but they weren't much better either. Even just standing still had them shake a bit underneath her, the slight change in elevation enough to make the pain coming from her arm spark right back to life, both those sensations accompanied by a louder wince. Right before Anne clenched her eyes, she caught a brief glimpse of the Mismagius floating in front of her again, fully expecting herself to be shoved back a bit and ushered right into the protective cocoon of her bedding-

And not for the ghost to give her a hand.

She leaned her weight on him before she could even force out a thanks, the bringer of curses seemingly comfortable enough with any load she was putting on him. There was a bit of pleading in the utterances that followed- or at least that's how they felt to Anne. In either case they wouldn't be fulfilled, not with her curiosity shining even brighter than any aching. For better or worse, she was used to pain, enough so to not let it discourage her from making the most of her daily life.

Cypress, however, wanted to help on that front as well.

The ghost's eyes closed as the tendril she wasn't holding onto reached up to rest against his side, the chant that accompanied the gesture putting her on edge. Before she could ask what he was doing, she felt a jolt on the side of her body, akin to a large pinprick. It didn't hurt at all though- more than that, it did the opposite of hurting. The imaginary wound outright felt like it sucked up the aching from the surrounding area, strength returning to the girl's body with every breath.

As relieved as she might have been, a glance up at Cypress made it clear that the pain didn't just disappear into the aether. There was a gleaming gash on the side of his body where he'd touched it, his crooked expression wincing before finally easing out and refocusing on her once more. Before she could start worrying about whether he was alright, the gash began to fade away, his head nodding in the direction of the bags once more.

With Cypress' constant support, Anne could finally get moving, one hard earned step at a time towards the bags. Each one came easier. Each one hurt less, especially with the ghost's aid. Progress felt good, good enough to eclipse everything else, hunger included.

Just like she was used to.

An attempt to investigate into the coat-covered bag was immediately aborted on the basis of her not having had a spare hand to reach in with, not with the left one being unusable and the right one leaning on the Mismagius. The items Anne could see in the other bag were promising, though. Paper, notebooks, an entire pile of pens, even her pencil case! These were all the drawing supplies she had, everything she'd managed to ever scrounge up. Just here, safely bagged. Relief wasn't a substitute for answers, but it was still appreciated all the same. Though, a better look still wouldn't hurt either. Maybe she could...

Good hand waved to catch the Mismagius' attention, wiggling in his grasp. Her fingers curled to first point at him, and then at her busted shoulder. Then, they made a grabbing gesture and pointed at the bags.

Hopefully not too difficult to grasp, and not too painful for her in execution. She hurt, yes, but she could manage to carry a couple bags over, she was stronger than just some aching. Ignore the cast on her left arm, ignore the unfamiliar territory.

Cypress gave that whole idea approximately two seconds of consideration before firmly disagreeing. His entire body turned from side to side to signal his rejection of Anne's idea, together with some more murmurs. Though, that didn't mean he had no idea of his own, and it was one he wouldn't waste time explaining, instead immediately proceeding with it. His purple body half guiding, half dragging her in the direction of the entry of the room took her off guard. The same was true of her good hand being moved up towards one of the flaps that the entrance consisted of- and then, being let go.

Before she knew it, she was left to hold onto the thick canvas flap while the Mismagius went on his merry way, her shaking further intensifying. To his credit, a quick glance behind herself answered any confusion she might have had up until now. His spectral body visibly strained and stretched as he moved the bags towards her bed by himself, one at a time.

Probably a better idea, yeah... She wished she could say it made her feel any better, but it didn't.

Yet another person being forced to do stuff for her and help her out...

Trying to distract herself from that unpleasant topic, Anne turned her attention over towards the entrance she was now holding onto for dear life. Her own chattering teeth were the loudest thing she could hear, any life on the other side of the flaps almost completely muffled out. Maybe she really was just somewhere on her own, but in either case, a small peek wouldn't hurt...

Oh nope, there were way more beings in here than just her or Cypress.

Most of her attention fell upon the small group chatting amongst themselves on the bed just a bit off to the left. One of the Ralts-Kirlia pair must've been Cadence and the other Bell, but Anne had absolutely no idea which was which. No idea, and not a whole ton of spare brainpower to ponder on that. The Gligar that completed the group took up too much of her attention for that. School classes spared no time warning against the dangers of feral mons in the wilderness. As far as their climate went, Gligar were way up there in terms of threat they posed to hikers. Anne may have known way better than to just give in to more scaremongering like that, especially after all her interactions with Aria, but the subconscious fear was there and not helping one bit in making her shake any less-

*squeak!*

"~Wh-wha!~"

The high pitched sound coming from just off to her side managed to utterly startle the human. Her heart rate spiked as her eyes glanced down at the source at the sound, expecting all sorts of dangers. All they found was one, teeny Ralts, now on her side of the room's entrance. Utterly non threatening as they might have been, that didn't lessen the resulting surprise. It sure didn't help with the intensifying shaking that followed either, the flap Anne was holding onto wavering as she desperately tried to maintain her balance. Said balance would only last for as long as it took for the thread attaching the piece of thick canvas to the doorframe to finally tear, to the tune of Anne's cut-off gasp. Within moments, the human patient was falling backwards with an impromptu blanket in her hand, head right on the collision course with the floor-

And then, suddenly, she stopped.

Anne's body was frozen in mid air, the makeshift door she was still holding onto obscuring her view of the situation. The comfortable tingling that surrounded her body gave her a good idea as to what had just happened, even if her panicky mind would end up taking its time to actually piece it all together. Panic at her sudden fall. Embarrassment at making a scene. Worry at having damaged her current shelter. None of them helped her any as she was moved through the air, mind still racing a mile a minute. The thought of letting go of the brown flap in her hand didn't cross her paralyzed mind even after she ended up safe and sound on her bed again.

Let's just lay down and forget about this, just be sorry for making all that scene and hope she could eventually apologize to someone for-

"^Anne, are you alright!?^"

Suddenly, a tween girl's voice, no less clear than Aria's earlier, Anne only wanting to shrivel up more in response.

"~I-I am, I'm- I'm sorry...~"

It was basically the only thing Anne's mind was capable of even vocalizing, be it to itself or externally. The sheer muck at everything she'd just done completely eclipsed everything else going on inside her head. All the pain, all the aching, all the discomfort, all paling in comparison. She messed up bad and she should feel awful about it, just like about everything else about her-

A small, warm, tingly hug, right on her covered torso.

Anne froze at that sensation, not knowing how to exactly process it in the heat of the moment. Maybe they were just reaching to grab the door she'd accidentally torn off and this pose was an accident. Maybe they just slipped. After all, she had no idea who it was or why would they even-

"^Anne, Anne, it's okay, I promise!^"

The voice had gone from concerned to alarmed. Alarmed, and even pleading a bit. The hug that accompanied it only intensified afterwards. Anne had no idea whether what they were saying was right, or had any clue about what she should do now. All she managed to do was force herself to unclench her hand around the cover and let it be taken away, the rest of her body remaining frozen.

She heard something that sounded like that girl's voice speak up with her physical ears. It made her recoil further into her bedding and hope that it wouldn't be followed with any well-deserved scolding. And indeed, it wouldn't, the opposite if anything. Something even smaller and equally tingly moved in to hug her right arm while a larger, colder presence wrapped its arms around her left side. The touch of cold, firm chitin on her bare skin made her jump a bit. Only a bit though, especially as her mind began to unwrap itself from the suffocating panic that was threatening to smother it whole. Bit by bit, her thoughts finally made headway in processing her immediate surroundings-

"^It's okay Anne, it's okay, you didn't do anything wrong!^"

It was as direct of a reassurance as she could ever get, and yet it still felt like not enough. Like the speaker was just taking pity on her. Each thought in the direction of that muck had the two huggers on her front and right side only hold her closer. Their small, warm bodies grew more comfortable by the moment, continuing to feel undeserved all the while.

"~I-I shouldn't-~"

"^It's just a door, you didn't do anything bad Anne! Please, nobody is angry at you, Anne...^"

Hearing that tween voice go from pleading to being distraught made Anne feel even worse, even as her brain tried its hardest to mull through what she was actually hearing. Was it alright, was it really alright? Of course someone would be angry at her after that, she damaged the place. Probably startled someone too, she should've just stayed where she was-

"^Nooooo, nobody is angry at you, I mean it Anne! Nurse Maple wants to check up on you and take a look at your arm, a-and Mr. Cypress is just worried about you. I-I mean it Anne, please believe me...^"

Anne's brain took its time churning through that, right hand shaking in the air after letting go of her impromptu blanket. In no time, it was grabbed by the same warm, tingly presence that was hugging her front. The magical touch immediately stimulated more blood flow and started to return some of the sensation. D-did that voice mean it? Were things really alright?

"^Yeah, everything's okay Anne, I mean it! We- we're sorry for startling you like that-^"

"~B-but you d-d-didn't do anything wrong-~"

"^And neither did you!^"

In tandem with that response, Anne felt her hand being held tighter. The tingly warmth finally made her act and return that hold. Her fingers wrapped around a soft torso, the underlying heartbeat rapid and calming, especially as the other side's hug tightened.

"^Please?^"

The final addition managed to break her mental dam. Her arm reached up to properly hold the being that had been hugging her all along, gently pressing them to her front. She heard them gasp quietly, but that observation didn't last long in her attention, immediately being replaced by all the hugs around her intensifying in closeness. It felt nice. It felt so much nicer than Anne felt like she deserved after a mess up like that... And yet, it was still there all the same, eager to comfort her.

"^A-are you feeling better Anne?^"

"~I-I think so, yeah...~"

"^Yay! Do you want me to help take this flap away? Nurse Maple told me she'll stitch it back together and that it's no big deal.^"

"~O-okay. S-still, I'm sorry for damaging it...~"

"^But you really shouldn't be! Hold on, lemme...^"

Anne felt the comforting presence she'd been hugging wriggle out of her embrace and slide off of her body. Her skin tingled warmly wherever they touched. Moments later, the entire impromptu blanket occluding her vision began to shimmer. It was lifted upwards an inch or so before getting whisked off to the side and falling onto the floor in a heap. Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to the return of the light. Their panicked gaze immediately got to jumping between everyone around her the moment it could focus again.

Cypress right above her, his expression visibly relieved. A Gligar to her left, one pincer laying flat on her left shoulder, their expression brightening quickly. To her right, right beside Ember, a Ralts and a Kirlia next to each other. The latter immediately got to waving excitedly at her the moment they came into view.

"^Hi! I'm Cadence, and this is Bell and Elric! Are you feeling better Anne?^"

It was hard not to feel better with three kids all trying to hug her at the same time, no matter their species. Doubly so when it was done for the purpose of soothing her overeager self-loathing. Not to say there wasn't any mental loathing left afterwards, though. All the thoughts about how she shouldn't have panicked like that to begin with were still alive and well. In the moment though, the presence of everyone around her took priority even in her mind, especially with the eagerness of Cadence's voice-

"~I'm- I'm better now, I think. Th-thank you so much Cadence, sorry for p-panicking like that...~"

Before she could finish that thought, another hug around her. With it, a verbal command making much the same follow from the other two. She would be smothered in affection today no matter what her stinky brain thought of that, and she best get used to it quickly.

"^I mean it Anne, it's really all good! Do you need help sitting up? Nurse Maple still needs to take a look at your arm.^"

"~Oh no no, I th-think I can do it myself, lemme...~"

It was all the cue everyone around her needed to temporarily let go with their affection, clearing up enough space for the ouchy girl to sit back up. The sight in front of her bed let her connect the name she heard Cadence throw around with an actual face, one of a relieved Leavanny. Maple sighed in relief at seeing her sit up by herself before pointing over at her injured arm.

"~O-okay, is this enough?~"

Anne's words were accompanied with her twisting her body to the right and sticking her left arm out as forward as she could manage. Before Cadence could even finish forwarding the question on, the Leavanny went ahead with her treatment. She honed in on a patch of exposed skin and reeled her arm back, the poisonous purple glow that enveloped its tip bringing immediate worry to Anne's mind. By the time she could act on it though, it was already too late, the Poison Jab striking true. The light sting in her shoulder immediately undid all the aching that had started to build up, its paralytic warmth bringing relief to the rest of her body shortly afterwards.

"~Oohhhh, th-thank you Nurse!~"

The message was received with a curt bow, followed by a moment of hesitation. Before Anne could inquire what had caused it, it was resolved through the means of one leafy arm reaching up to pat her head, sending her squirming to the amusement of all the kids around her. It felt... really, really nice. The same couldn't quite be said about the Leavanny nurse proceeding to turn towards Cypress and do something that could have only been chewing him out, the ghost flinching every so often as he was scolded. By then, though, Anne's attention was already dragged away elsewhere-

"^Are you feeling better now, Anne?^"

She was, she really, really was. The desire to express the sheer relief Cadence's persistent affection had brought made her arm twitch as if trying to wrap itself around the Kirlia. It stopped shortly after, the uncertainty at the possible reception of such an act giving her a pause. Should probably ask first, but shouldn't be a bother-

"^Anne?^"

The worry in the fairy's voice had Anne look back over towards her, her eyes locking with Cadence's. She didn't know what she expected the Kirlia to do, but receiving another hug was the obvious choice in hindsight. Bell followed in tow beside her, doubling up on the expression of affection moments later.

"^I don't want you to be worried, I'll tell you if you do something I don't like! And I love hugs, hehe. And so does Bell, right Bell?^"

"Yeah!"

Bell's voice couldn't have sounded any older than three years old or so, the precious sound immediately making Anne's good arm return the hug around the two little psychics and look over at Ember to see if she was still snoozing. Still fast asleep, and not showing a single sign of waking up. She really must've been exhausted after what happened yesterday…

Elric followed in tow after everyone else to her left moments later, the chitin still making her feel a bit squirmish as she was hugged. The affection that sensation conveyed was appreciated more than words could convey, making up for it all and then some.

"~Okay, I'm just... not used to this. Thank you Cadence, a-and Bell, and Elric...~"

"^You're welcome Anne! I'm- I'm really glad to finally meet you! Oh oh- what's Ember doing beside you?^"

The resolute reassurance in the Kirlia's voice gave way to something Anne was expecting much less of. Namely, Cadence's own uncertainty and giddiness, at least before it took another left turn into curiosity once more. Aria had told her that her kids were excited to meet her, but she wasn't expecting that to be so... literally true. The hype was clear to sense in Cadence's voice, taking her aback. There was the question of how much she should be telling the kiddos when it came to her and Ember, but the basics wouldn't hurt-

"~I- I'm glad to meet you three t-too! Aria had mentioned you were gonna visit. A-and Ember is my old friend actually! I-I haven't seen her in so long, and A-Aria told me that she was excited to finally be able to see me again!"

Gasps from Cadence and Elric, followed by Bell's a few moments later. The former two were giddy to hear about something their friend hadn't mentioned up until now-

"^Really!? That's so cool!^"

"~I-it is, it really is, I just hope my first impression after all this time won't be too bad. A-and that it wasn't too bad with you th-three...~"

Who was she kidding, it really was, good gods. Before Cadence could respond with anything, it was Elric that ended up speaking first, the Kirlia intervening to establish translation between her friend and the human-

"-y did you freeze like that, Anne? With the door and all. You tore it by accident, right?"

"~I- y-yeah, I did, it's just...~"

How does she even explain any of this? Details would help, but at the same time, they would be probably very inappropriate for a trio of kids like that, none of them sounding a day beyond ten years old. Not like she was any better on that front, her eleventh birthday was still a week or so away. She felt more mature than that at least, regardless of whether it was for any good reasons or not. Probably couldn't tell them everything, or even most things...

"~I'm- I'm not used to my mess-ups going unpunished.~"

"^But you didn't mess anything up Anne!^"

"Who would punish you for that?"

Cadence's reassurance was welcome, but Elric's question made her wince. The answer was as straightforward as it was monstrous, deep down. She didn't want to traumatize these kids, but… didn't want to lie, either.

"~M-m-my parents...~"

Elric and Cadence were too stunned to immediately respond. Their little bodies shook to the tune of Anne's conscience screaming at her for revealing all that to them. What the fuck was she thinking? They wouldn't understand, and even if they would they'd get messed up. Aria would be furious, and-

"But that's mean!"

Bell's interjection was equally innocent and inarguable. Anne only nodded flatly in acknowledgement, eyes drilling into the floor in front of the bed.

"~Y-yeah, my parents are mean...~"

Two tight hugs from each side, Bell's trailing close behind. And then, another piece of his toddler wisdom following it-

"My mom and dad aren't mean. Maybe they could be your mom and dad too?"

"^Bell, that's not how that works...^"

Cadence might have chided her younger brother for the silly idea, but Anne... Anne couldn't help but think deeply in response to that. The offer was absurd, yes, of course it was, but also... gods. She might not have spent all that much time with Aria in the big picture, but she'd be lying if she said the Gardevoir didn't make her feel safe. Safer than anyone and anything ever since her grandma had passed, confident about everything ending up alright...

It was just yet another impossibility, an absurd idea brought up by what sounded like a toddler, but... but. Anyway.

The somber atmosphere in response to that idea was noticed by everyone gathered, not just the psychic siblings. Nobody knew how to deal with it either. Elric did eventually get an idea though, a chittered giggle leaving him before he leaned in towards Cadence. One pincered arm held Anne closer as his head nuzzled her front-

"Oh, Cadence, didn't you mean to ask Anne about something~?"

The human herself was completely taken aback at that message, and especially at the stammered response that left the Kirlia afterwards-

"^Elric! C-C'mon, that's n-not the time!^"

"~Not the time for what?~"

For once, it was Cadence that completely combusted in embarrassment. Red blush immediately took over her cheeks as she looked away, much to Anne's surprise. Did- did she do something wrong? No, no, she didn't, but if not, then what was happening? What was Cadence so shy about?

"^N-nothing! Forget about it, it's fine-^"

"C'mon Cadence, you were so excited!"

"^Elric! She doesn't need me being a baby right now!^"

"~What were you excited about Cadence?~"

Critical hit, the Kirlia immediately withdrew with even more fluster. Part of Anne worried whether she'd done something wrong again. The rest wanted to immediately comfort the smaller, if not necessarily younger girl. Her hug once more pressed Bell and Cadence alike to her front, the former squirming happily as the latter threatened to catch on fire in her fluster.

"Teehee, she wants you to-"

Before the Gligar could finish, his translation was yanked out from underneath him. The remainder of his message was delivered in hisses and clicks, the abrupt change making Anne jump a bit. That felt abrupt, but also a bit rude, especially since she still didn't have any idea as to just what was going on in here or why Cadence was so skittish about any of this. Guess it was time for her to try to figure the other girl out, ha-

"~Cadence? I didn't hear what Elric said there, did you want me to... do something?~"

"^N-no, no, it's just- it's just something childish, don't worry about it...^"

"~You helped me out of that bout of panic, I'd love to do something in return for you! E-even if I don't have much a-and can't do almost anything in comparison...~"

"^But that's not true, you can draw very nice- eep!^"

Anne saw Cadence's physical hands snap over to cover her mouth at the accidental slip up. Elric immediately broke into amused, chittery laughter in response. If the Kirlia wasn't utterly focused on being embarrassed she would've given him a stink eye. It seemed that there wouldn't be many opportunities for that left in their immediate future, though~

"~Oh? Do you want me to draw you Cadence?~"

If Cadence's freeze was anything to go by, Anne had just nailed it. She couldn't help but immediately break out into soft laughter afterwards. The sight of a reassuring and affectionate Kirlia getting reduced to a blushy, squirmy mess was adorable, not to mention funny in context.

"~Oh Cadence, I-I'd love to draw you! It'd be my pleasure!~"

A quiet gasp in surprised relief. The rest of the Kirlia's body immediately turned back towards her, looking up at her with borderline puppy eyes from her vantage point on top of her thigh. They weren't needed to get what she wanted, but they helped in warming Anne's heart up even further in any case-

"^R-really?^"

"~Yeah, of course! I just need some pens and paper... actually, I could use colored pens for this! Just need to grab my pencil case and a clean page, I think they're in that bag over there-~"

Before Anne could even finish pointing out which bag she specifically meant, it was already being dragged over to her. The bright glow of the Kirlia's Psychic kept popping on various objects around the bag, as if wanting to hover them all out but unsure which to focus on in specific. It was... Frankly, it was adorable. Enough so for Anne to give Cadence another tight hug, much to the latter's embarrassed squeak.

"~Thank you! I think I can reach in and take what I need myself now. And you could get in the pose you want me to draw you in maybe?~"

"^EEEEEEEE YES YES YES YES THANK YOU THANK YOU ANNE!^"

Anne winced at Cadence suddenly going to max volume right inside her brain. Her excitement was so cute to behold that she couldn't really linger on that bit of discomfort for long. The Kirlia was immediately gone from her lap, bouncing off further along the bed and starting to figure out a pose while she dug through the pile of items. Anne made mental notes of everything she could see in there. Stationery, paper, a lot of whatever scraps of clothing she left behind at home. Underwear and socks and... period products. Guess... guess she would need those eventually, but still- ew.

Thinking about her own biology might have brought a moment of ickiness upon her, but thankfully it wouldn't end up lasting for too long. Certainly not with the small stack of pages getting excavated from the assorted items and dropped off on top of the bedding. It was flanked moments later by her pencil case, its sight catching the attention of Bell in particular. Now just to find the right scrap of paper to scribble on, ha.

"^Oh oh oh oh what are those Anne!?^"

Right, figures nobody here would know the specifics, teehee.

"~This is paper! It's like... I think it's made out of wood but just really, really really thin and can nicely bend and be drawn on. I have a whole lot of loose pages here, hehe-~"

The topmost piece of paper was passed over to the Kirlia, Elric helping himself out to one right afterwards as well. The two tweens both toyed around with the new and exciting material as Anne pilfered through the stack in search for the right piece of canvas. Her little search only got interrupted by Cadence's worried voice-

"^O-oh A-Anne, what- what are these...^"

Oh shoot, gave her one of the spooky ones, didn't she?

"~I'm- I'm so sorry Cadence, here, try this one, this one is just... some practice I was doing...~"

"^B-but why are they bleeding?^"

The page of sketches got replaced with another one, Anne now properly able to take a look at the scribbles that had unsettled the older fairy. There wasn't anything too disturbing in there, definitely not by a human metric. Still, it was a bit unnerving. A few practice sketches of how blood would flow down a finger from a small pinprick. Rough trace of her inspiration for these drawings. Half complete sketch of a crown of thorns, discarded once it had grown too messy.

"~I was- I was just trying to draw how flowing blood would look like. There's like- there's one artwork I can show in a bit that really inspired me with these, e-even if they're all really creepy. I-I don't like actual blood either, don't worry, I just think y-you can do cool stuff with it in art. A-and it made me experiment a lot...~"

With every word the creeping feeling that she was just trying to justify drawing messed up stuff intensified more and more. Her eyes eventually fixated on a recently dredged up empty page, self conscious filling her rattled body. Cadence was still in the process of shaking off the unnerving sight even if she really wanted to comfort Anne as well. Elric didn't know what was wrong with the sight of a little blood, left confused by the whole situation. All that left Bell to intervene-

And intervene he did, with a gentle, splatted hug right on Anne's front.

"Don't be sad Anne, nothing bad happened!"

The Ralts might not have had the exact vocabulary to be able to reassure people as well as his mom and sister, but the will was most definitely there. His teeny head craned all the way up to look at her once he'd finished delivering his comforts, trying to see if it would work with all his senses. And work it did, though partially through the means of sheer cuteness. No matter the exact mechanism of function, the gesture was immensely appreciated all the same. The tyke got briefly lifted into a one armed hug, much to his squeaked-out delight.

"~Thank you Bell, I-I needed to hear that.~"

"Okay! Gasp! I didn't ask! Can we be friends?"

This time the entire room erupted into giggles of various intensity, everyone but the Ralts incredibly amused at his wonderfully innocent question. Bell himself just looked around in confusion, a squeaked out 'what?' only fueling the fire of the surrounding laughter.

"~Yes, yes we can Bell, teehee. W-we can all be friends!~"

"Yaaaaaay! Thank you Anne!"

Another splatted hug, feeling just as nice and warm this time. Right as Anne was about to finally get to her handiwork, the affection made her decide to delay it just that bit more. She put the pencil down, taking Bell aback before using that opening to counter attack the lil' Ralts. Her gentle scritches on the side of his head affected him super effectively, his whole teeny body wriggling happily under that magical influence. His handsies latched onto her own and held it close for a nice long while afterwards as they both calmed down, giggles taking their time to subside.

"^Bell...^"

"~Hehe, it's okay, it's okay, don't worry Cadence! Your brother hasn't done anything wrong either, hehe.~"

Anne heard Elric cackle from beside her as Bell finally let go of her hand, though he wasn't even briefly considering actually leaving her lap afterwards. And... she couldn't blame him, not like she wanted him to leave either anyway. Just gotta grab the pencil and she could get to sketching-

...oh?

Her eyes scanned the part of the bedding immediately in front of her, trying to hone in on the soft pencil she loved sketching with. It… seemed to have disappeared somewhere. Oh well, just gotta pull another one out of her pencil case-

Hey!

The louder giggling off to her side finally clued the human onto what was going on immediately beside her. Elric was holding both her chosen pencil and the rest of the pencil case in his pincer and his tail respectively, just barely within reach. Anne was left unsure how to react, not wanting to ascribe malice to the act, but at the same time being just a bit too spooked to act with his stinger and all-

"Elric, give those back!"

Before Bell could even finish, he was already attempting to retrieve them himself. His bluish aura enveloped the singular pencil before the item was yanked out of it. The Ralts's armsies repeatedly reached over in the direction he was trying to grab with his aura, each time for naught. The Gligar looked very amused, and it was clearly for play, so... might as well-

Her attempt to reach over to grab the pencil case had the whole stingered tail slide away so fast it was little more than a blur. The sudden motion was enough to startle her even if she knew she had nothing to fear on a rational level. By the time Elric had stopped, he was already latched onto one of the supports at the edge of their room, sticking his tongue out to taunt the rest of the group. It was funny, yes- but Cadence could tell that it had missed the mark with Anne in particular-

"^Elric-^"

"Elric, give back!"

Once more the pencil was yanked out of the little psychic's mental grasp, once more the bat immediately followed it by scampering up the room. Soon enough, he ended up suspended under the ceiling. Neither of the boys showed any signs of stopping, but Anne was still a bit rattled, Cadence wanting to intervene again-

"^Elric, please stop-^"

"But we're just playing!"

Cypress breaking his previous silence in response to the Gligar's words caught the immediate attention of most of the room, for various reasons. While the human herself was busy taking a look at the ghost, Cadence quickly fixed a link between them she only now realized was missing. A glance over at the source of his whispered voice had determined him to be in the middle of perusing the books present in the other bag, the brief glimpse of one of their covers in particular making Anne sigh in excitement.

Did Mrs. Graham end up packing in the book about that fantasy mon civilization after all? That would've been so cool. Anne loved that one, and read so much of it that its back had started to give out. She always worried that Mrs. Graham would be mad at her for damaging it.

"Give it back!"

Bell tried his luck once more, even more forcefully than before. His little call interrupted everyone else out of any pondering they might have been in, Elric included. The bat only barely managed to keep a hold of the precious piece of treasure he was attempting to keep away-

And then, not anymore. The loud crack resonated through the room as the pencil snapped in half at the sudden force, both pieces immediately getting dropped down onto the carpet.

"^Elric!^"

If the Gligar hadn't already been distraught at the sight, Cadence's call would've pushed him over the edge. But he was, now even more so. His body language immediately shrunk as he let go of the pencil case, some of its contents splatting out onto the floor upon impact.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I-I j-just got carried away with it, I-"

"^You broke it!^"

"I'm sorry, I'm-"

"~Hey, hey, it's okay.~"

Anne's voice snapped the two playmates out of their bickering before they could get any more incensed. She was still a bit unnerved at it all, and felt a tiny bit bad at one of her best pencils having some lifespan taken out of it, but ultimately nothing bad really happened. Definitely not bad enough to justify anyone being mad at anyone else- other than her at least.

"~D-don't worry Elric, I can fix it easily and even use it broken like that, it's not a big deal. J-just... c-could you not yank these away in the future?~"

The human's comforting side thankfully ended up on top among the mental slurry that came about as a result of her thinking about how to react to Elric's shenanigans. She wasn't a fan, and that was hopefully appropriately conveyed, even if the last thing she wanted to do was to make the bat himself feel bad for any of it.

"O-okay. I'm sorry, I-I just did it because it's f-fun with Bell-"

"It isn't! It's mean!"

Elric most definitely didn't need that double whammy at the moment. The whimper that followed right after was so close to ultrasound that most gathered only barely heard it. As much as Cadence thought that her playmate needed a dose of reality like that, he was still her close friend, and he was hurting. It all made the Kirlia decide to intervene directly. As directly as possible even, her eyes and body becoming surrounded in a glowy sheen before hovering up in the air. Psychically enabled flight took her right over to her friend underneath the ceiling, right into her arms' reach.

"Not fair, I wanna hug Elric too!"

Despite his offense just moments prior, the lil' Ralts couldn't ever resist donating his affection to someone. The call made his sister giggle in particular, even if the tyke himself was left as confused as ever. With a bit of wordless communication, a plan was settled upon. Cadence's glow expanded to cover the bat as well before both of them were levitated down onto the edge of the bed, right in front of the human. Bell acted immediately in the only way he could. Namely, by scrambling straight ahead and squirming right in between his sister and friend, his teeny body not coming close to fully embracing either of them.

Anne, of course, followed in tow, all the tingles making her squirm as the rest of the bunch immediately switched tracks to hug her too.

This felt nice. It was so, so nice to be able to do anything, anything at all about people being mean to her, intentionally or otherwise. Back in Mylock, all that anyone speaking up like that accomplished would be to make the offender double down, triple down, anything but to acknowledge they did anything wrong. Anne wished she could say it was just boys either, or just kids either, but no, it wasn't. It never was just any particular group. Maybe there was something wrong with humans deep down. She didn't want to consider that idea, but... sheesh.

"I'm sorry Anne..."

Apologies were mostly unheard of either, Anne almost having to do a double take when hearing one.

"~I forgive you Elric, don't worry. Though~ if you could pick up all the stuff that you dropped that'd be nice, hehe.~"

"Of course!"

The hug was immediately disentangled, the Gligar going to work immediately afterwards, much to the others' amusement. It was nice for people to be on the same page again and for Elric to hopefully knock that particular type of "play" off for good. Cadence appreciated the former, and Bell the latter- and both really, really liked that their human hopefully-friend was feeling better now. The Kirlia wasted no time bouncing over back to her previous spot and resuming her previous pose, a touch of Psychic letting her maintain impressive levels of balance on just one leg. Her head and hand alike reached for the skies, beckoning as if asking the sun for the day to be just a bit longer, or the moon for just a bit more of its soothing light.

Or at least, that's what Anne ended up reading into the pose once she got to sketching, the half a pencil gliding fast over the page. Each stroke further solidified one particular part of her anatomy, Anne's thoughts swirling around them as she put them to the page. The weird, almost three segmented legs, the short flaps of her skin dress, the two fingered hands. The piercing red eyes, imposing despite the visible excitement and joy of the Kirlia's expression, parted by her kin's signature hairdo. And of course, the two red horns their kin was so known for, the same color as her eyes. The very same horns that were helping the lil' fairy narrow down just what the human was focusing on in the moment.

Cadence couldn't deny that it felt weird being eyed in that kind of detached, almost objectifying way. At the same time, she supposed it made sense with the focus on drawing and wanting to really capture how she looked like. There were plenty of parts of her best friends that started to look weird the moment she really concentrated on them. She really shouldn't have been surprised for the same being true of her as well. Heck, it was true of Anne as well. Her hands were so weird and stretched, her whole body was so boney, especially around the neck and shoulder area, it was almost creepy to look at! Okay, okay, let's shift focus to something else maybe. She didn't want to think of Anne as weird, just like Anne didn't really think of her as weird either. Or... well, not exactly weird.

Her focus let her know there was something in there that was quite off, a fair bit of fear deep inside that was being covered up in the moment. Fear of her entire kin, the details too inexact for her to make out. The idea made her feel bad to even consider. She already felt self conscious about the few other kids that were spooked by her from time to time. And all she ever wanted to do in situations like that was to figure out how to help them not be scared.

Mom told her a lot that trying to Calm Mind or otherwise manipulate someone at all like that was mean, even if it was just to make them not scared of you. Cadence tried her best to take that advice to heart. Even with Anne, she really, really wanted to help her more directly when she was feeling really bad about herself, but didn't. Because that would be mean.

Cadence didn't want to be mean, she wanted people to like her. She wanted everybody to like her.

"~Alright, I think that's linework done. You can come here Cadence, I'll- I'll be coloring in now!~"

Anne's call took the Kirlia out of her pondering. The fairy followed up with a long leap, managing to make it through the entire distance between herself and Anne in one jump. She had to resort to a bit of telekinesis to soften her landing, sure, but even with that caveat bouncing from her pose and right onto Anne's lap was impressive, right? Right?

Even if it was, it paled in comparison to what Anne had made there. Cadence let out a quiet 'wow' as she scanned the linework, squirming in giddiness at seeing herself captured so accurately like this. All the little details, even the ruffling on her hair or how her flaps laid against her thighs. It made anything she'd ever made look like the simplest and ugliest of baby drawings in comparison. The kinds that Bell's playmates would make in the sand. No way anything she ever made would ever be half as pretty-

"~Cadence?~"

"^Oh- sorry, I just got lost in thought. This is so pretty Anne! How do you draw like this?^"

"~You mean with a p-pencil?~"

"^Nooo, I mean this nice! It's so pretty...^"

The Kirlia acutely felt the embarrassed chuckle coming from the human as she began to fill in the outline with shades of green and red. And once she did, there was no coming back-

"^I mean it Anne, it's so cool!^"

"~Noooo, it's really not, I'm still learning a lot-~"

"^But that doesn't make it any less cool!^"

"~But I'm not cool!~"

"^Of course you are! I wish I could draw anywhere like that, o-or do anything else this cool...^"

"~B-but you do, you're plenty cool Cadence, all the telekinesis and-~"

The gruff voice coming from the entrance to the room successfully ended the little flustered exchange on the spot. Everyone's attention was immediately pulled over in the direction of the makeshift door, letting them see the several loops of white thread that now held the previously torn piece of canvas in place. Though, most gathered were instead focused on the Gallade that was peeking out into the room, oddly enough. Right, Aria had mentioned that her brother would be watching over them, and they went right ahead with it before he got here. Oops, hopefully he wouldn't be mad...

Similar thoughts were cruising through the minds of everyone else gathered, the sudden coolness immediately taking the newcomer aback. He shouldn't have been this forward, let's give it all another shot...

"^It's fine, it's fine, don't worry, I just thought Autumn told you all to wait until I got there.^"

"^She did uncle, but Anne tripped and fell and I helped her and she got scared and-^"

"^Hey, hey, I meant it Cadence, it's really fine.^"

Aria would know what to say here to really comfort all the gathered little ones, all he could do was blindly stumble and hope he could accomplish a fraction of that. Still, he had to try, especially with Anne being clearly as unnerved by him as she was. It made him feel self conscious to all hell, but it wasn't the time for that. In the moment, it was the time to keep his composure and be the uncle and the guardian all the kiddos needed.

Deep breath, let's go.

Marco's imposing size relative to everyone else in the room made Anne shrink just a bit more as he walked over to the bedding. He tried to immediately undo that effect by kneeling down beside the edge of the bed, only enough of his body peeking up to be closer to everyone's eye level. Before he would do anything more though, it was time to introduce himself to the one girl he was here for, in as affable a way as he could manage.

"^Hey Anne, my name's Marco. My sister asked me to look after you all, though from what I can see you've all been behaving well enough.^"

"Well enough is certainly the appropriate descriptor here…"

Cypress's aside made the Gallade chuckle and the two older kids grumble a bit, not explaining any of it for the human girl. She wanted to trust the freshly introduced Marco, but the stone expression on his face and the somewhat ambiguous tone had left her uncertain, her nod at his introduction haphazard and rather scaredy. The realization quickly began to work away at his confidence about how well suited he was to any of this. Self-consciousness about never being able to stack up to his sister soared once more, almost making him give up there and then-

No, hell no, Anne needed him, he could do this, just take a deep breath and... be honest.

"^I'm... not as good at being warm as Aria is, and I'm sorry for that. Still, I want you to feel as welcome here as can be Anne, especially at everything you've been through. Would you... would you want a hug?^"

Anne didn't expect someone so stern looking to say something like that, any preexisting worries quickly becoming transmuted into much warmer, much kinder feelings. Figures that even among their kin not everyone would be equally good at this. Some of her earlier fear even turned into compassion, the imposing knight that had startled her moments earlier feeling more and more like Aria's next of kin by the moment.

"~I-I'd love a hug, thank you Mr. Marco.~"

"Yay, hugs!"

Yay hugs indeed Bell, yay hugs indeed. The giggle and the scramble to get everyone in on the embrace were a bit awkward, but no less heartfelt as a result. All the affection around Anne was starting to really get to her, worries' grip growing weaker by the moment. Ember was safe and still snoozing right next to her, Aria and her family were being really nice to her and already felt like friends, they were both safe in here. Her appreciation of this village in the middle of the woods only grew by the moment, as did the deep relief in her body at being able to stay here for good.

Even if he wasn't anywhere near as good at this as his sister, the sheer proximity made Marco overhear Anne's relief, the knight using up his entire composure not to wince in response. He knew the rest of his family were doing everything in their power to ensure that would come to pass, but... the lack of certainty still hurt, and it hurt deeply. The things he'd seen inflicted on her, by fate, by her own damnable parents, even by the elders through their words. Aria was protective when it came down to it and the more Marco thought about it all, the more he realized he wasn't far behind. No matter what these old coots thought was appropriate for Anne to happen, he wouldn't let her be hurt by fate ever again-

"^Uncle Marco?^"

"^Oh, sorry Cadence, I was just thinking about something, it's all good.^"

It wasn't, but thankfully he knew how to keep his thoughts secure from Cadence and Bell, even if the same didn't extend to the stronger psychics. His niece wasn't immediately convinced. Even if his thoughts were private, his feelings weren't, his worry palpable to the lil' fairy. She was about to ask what was wrong before Marco redirected the discussion somewhere else, catching an interesting piece of art in the corner of his eye-

"^Heh, convinced Anne to draw you, eh Cadence?^"

"~N-naw, I-I didn't need c-convincing. Cadence r-really helped me out earlier and I wanted to pay it back, a-and I love drawing people.~"

"^That's really sweet of you both.^"

"~Thanks Mr. Marco...~"

"^It's nothing uncleeeee-^"

"^I'd say it's more than nothing if Anne decided to repay you like that, hah.^"

Both of the girls got flustered in response, mission accomplished with an amused chuckle. He even did them one better, letting go of the hug to reach up and ruffle both their heads. Cadence's excited squirming and Anne's light flinch may have been very different immediate reactions, but the human soon eased out as well, especially as he played up more of the psychic tingling, wanting it to really feel like Aria would do it. As he did, though, something rather unusual caught his eye in the corner-

"^That's... a rather worrying drawing. Is everything okay Anne?^"

The human girl only needed a brief glimpse to determine that the Gallade was referring to the same page of sketches that had initially unnerved Cadence, a low grumble leaving her in response. Might as well explain how all that happened finally, and how it really wasn't anything all that bad-

"~No, no, I promise, it's just art. H-here, lemme show you wh-where I got these ideas from, I know they're creepy but they're also cool-~"

Letting go of everyone around, Anne reached over across Ember's sleeping body to the book she'd brought with herself. Not without sneaking in a couple pets for the sleeping vixen either, it was only appropriate after all. She wasn't interested at all in the book itself, merely the odd card she used as a bookmark. Anne had very little idea what was its original purpose. All that mattered was that it ended up fueling her experimentation towards more morbid art, and the improvements in anatomy that followed.

"~Here, th-this drawing in the middle inspired me.~"

Aside from bits of black squiggles on white background that had to have been the fabled human text, most of the rectangular card was taken over by a central artwork. Its vibes were very similar to Anne's sketches, similarly unnerving. It was almost all black, with the exception of a single pale bald human head in the middle. His hands were covering most of his face except for one quivering eye, staring directly at the viewer, a short scratch mark trailing from the tip of its every finger. There wasn't much blood, but it was enough to stain his fingers and some of his hands, and it was clear that this was only the beginning. At the top of his head rested a single wavey, purplish tendril, two reddish pinpricks piercing the darkness immediately behind him.

The artwork was impactful enough, but then it somehow got even better once Anne started rotating the card slightly up and down. The reflective, colorful layer on top of the black background came together to show an outline of a Mismagius right behind the central figure. Followed by several more in the background darkness, all with their mouths open as if laughing.

Or chanting.

"How does it do that!?"

"~I don't know Elric, b-b-but it's cool, right?~"

"^It's really morbid, that's for sure. I think you'll like this, Cypress.^"

The ghost wasted no time floating over to the rest of the group. His attention at the small card in the human's hand overcame his creeping exhaustion, at least in the moment. For a moment, Anne worried that the Mismagius would end up taking it the wrong way, but thankfully, that wasn't the case-

"Oh, morbid, fearful, grisly. I love it. Wonder what all these… scribbles around it are supposed to mean- some sort of description, perhaps…?"

"~Oh, those, I'm... not sure in all honesty. I think it's for a game, but I don't know what any of it means. I only have this card because Mrs. Graham found it in her library after some older kids made a mess in it and played with it one day. I can- I can read the text out if you want?~"

"I would like that, yes…"

"~Alright, at the top it says 'Duress', then 'Sorcery' there, then 'Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card.'. And in italics, 'Each syllable unravels a bit more of your mind.'~"

Absolutely nobody in the room was any less confused after Anne's lecture than before it, and that extended to the human herself. Hopefully none of what she'd just read would be interpreted badly-

"^What is 'italics'?^"

*woof!*

The sound coming over from the entrance to the room successfully derailed all the gathered trains of thought. The Riolu that awaited them might not have been anywhere near as weird as the human-made card, but her presence here was almost as confusing.

"Hi Reya!"

At least Bell was happy.

"^Reya? What are you doing here?^"

*woof, woof!*

"^Reya, you were supposed to stay with Jovan and Pearl, they'll be worried about you...^"

*woof, woof woof?*

"^Sigh... yes, you can stay and play with Bell.^"

Marco knew better than to try to steer the living torrent of enthusiasm and wagging that was the lil' Riolu away towards where she ought to be. All it'd do was buy them a bit more time before she would circle back around and come back here again. She really liked her best friend, and there was no living force that would stop her from playing with him. Not even adults and their rules. Especially not adults and their rules.

He and Aria should take a page out of that steadfastness, ha.

Speaking of, wonder how she's doing out there.