Where did all these items come from?

Anne stared at the couple bags in the corner for a hot minute, colorful plastic full of assorted items refusing to make itself any clearer for her aching mind. She recognized the coat that lay on top of them 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 it still left so many questions. 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, exactly nothing for answers.

It was all dumbfounding, but maybe inspecting the bags’ contents would clarify things? Anne doubted, but it’s not like she had much else to do while she waited for Aria’s family.

That whole idea still made her uncertain. She wanted to trust Aria that she’d be alright and her kids would end up liking her, but… her experiences with peers her age hadn’t been the most positive. Add to that the unavoidable personality clash between herself and anyone more outgoing than her—which was basically everyone—and it felt like a disaster in the making. And by disaster, she meant just very awkward.

Hopefully.

Let’s just check these bags out…

Anne still didn’t feel very strong, and the progressively returning aching in her left arm didn’t help one bit. Still—a night and day difference compared to the exhaustion of yesterday. Enough so to at least let sit at the bed’s edge on her own. Not before giving Ember a bit more affection, to help her power through the terrible vastness of a few minutes without her human beside her. Alright, ready, let’s—

The sheer confusion in her mind had pushed the awareness of the Mismagius in the room out of her immediate attention—until now. His sudden reappearance before her made her jump a bit. She remembered something about them feeding on emotions, and the faint flicker of the red gem on Cypress’ front appeared to confirm that. Anne didn’t notice that, though, focusing on his confused expression and a few more non-magical whispers.

Could he understand her? Anne didn’t know, but there was no hurt in giving it a stab.

“~I-I just wanna take a look at the—at the bags,~” she explained. She had no idea whether it was her words or the pointing gesture accompanying them, but the ghost seemed to get the gist. He continued his ghostly mumbles, glancing back and forth between the girl and her possessions. A few moments later, the request was granted, making him float off to the side. “~Th-thank you, Mr. Cypress.~”

A deep nod of his brimmed head, warm reassurance inside her. Let’s try—

Ow, ow, ow.

Her legs weren’t quite as weak as she expected them to be, but they weren’t much better either. Even just standing still had them threatening to buckle underneath her, making her wince. As Anne clenched her eyes, she caught a brief glimpse of the Mismagius floating before her again, expecting to be ushered right back 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 comfortable with the load she was putting on him. There was some pleading in the utterances that followed—or at least, that’s how they felt to Anne. They wouldn’t be fulfilled in either case, not with her curiosity shining even brighter than any aching. She was used to pain, for better or worse—enough 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 his other tendril reached up to touch 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—more than that; it did the opposite of hurting. The imaginary wound felt like it outright sucked up the pain from the surrounding area, strength returning to Anne’s body with every breath.

As relieved as she was, a glance at Cypress made it clear the pain didn’t just disappear into the aether. There was a gleaming gash where he’d touched his body, his crooked expression wincing before finally easing out and refocusing on her once more. Before she could worry about him being alright, the gash began to fade away, and he nodded towards the bags once more.

With the Mismagius’ constant support, Anne could finally get moving, one hard-earned step at a time. 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.

With her not having a spare hand to reach in, the coat-covered bag was off-limits. The items she could make out in the other bag were promising, though. Paper, notebooks, an entire pile of pens, even her pencil case! She was quite sure these were all the drawing supplies she had; everything she’d ever scrounged up. Just… sitting 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...

Her good hand waved to catch the Mismagius’ attention, wiggling in his grasp. Its fingers curled to first point at him, then at her busted arm, and finally 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 carry a couple of bags over—she was stronger than just some aching.

Ignore the cast on her left arm, ignore the unfamiliar territory.

Cypress gave that idea approximately two seconds of consideration before rejecting it, turning his entire body side to side together with some more murmurs. Though, that didn’t mean he had no idea of his own—one he wouldn’t waste time even trying to explain, immediately proceeding with it instead.

His purple body half guided, half dragged her toward the entry of the room, taking her off guard. The same was true of her good hand being moved up towards the flaps of the entrance—and then being let go. Before Anne knew it, she was left to hold on to the thick canvas while the Mismagius went on his merry way; her shaking growing by the moment. To his credit, a glance over her shoulder answered her confusion right away. 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 holding onto for dear life. Her own chattering teeth were the loudest thing she could hear, any sounds coming from the other room almost completely muffled out. Maybe she really was just somewhere on her own? Either way, a small peek wouldn’t hurt...

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

Most of her attention fell upon the small group chatting amongst themselves on the bed 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—not with the Gligar also being there.

School classes spared no time in warning them about the dangers of the feral mons. 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 give in to scaremongering like that, especially after her interactions with Aria, but the subconscious fear was still there, making her shake even more—

*squeak!*

The high-pitched sound coming from just off to her side made Anne jump, heart rate spiking as she glanced down at its source. She expected to see danger, but not the teeny Ralts, now on her side of the room’s entrance. “~Wh-wha!~” she gasped, startled, any balance she may have had evaporating immediately.

As Anne tried to keep herself upright, a stronger yank on the canvas flap tore through the thread attaching it to the doorframe, to the tune of her cut-off gasp. Within moments, she was falling backwards, head right on the collision course with the floor—and then, suddenly, she stopped.

Her body was frozen in midair, the makeshift door she clung onto obscuring her view of the situation. The comfortable tingling that surrounded her body gave her a good idea of what had just happened, but her racing mind had to take its time piecing it all together. Panic at her sudden fall. Embarrassment at making a scene. Worry of having damaged her shelter.

None of them helped any as she was moved through the air, mind tying itself into knots by the moment. Too paralyzed to consider letting go of the brown flap in her hand, 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!?^” a tween girl’s voice called out, no less clear than Aria’s earlier.

Anne just wanted to shrivel up. “~I-I am, I’m—I’m sorry...~”

It was the only thing Anne’s mind could even vocalize, be it to itself or externally; the sheer muck at everything she’d just done eclipsing all other thought or sensation. All the pain, all the aching, all the discomfort, all paled in comparison. She messed up bad and she should feel awful about it, just like about everything else about her—

Suddenly, a small, warm, tingly hug, right on her covered torso.

Anne froze at that sensation, not knowing how to 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 spoke again, going from concerned to downright pleading.

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 the hand gripping the flap 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 wasn’t.

Something even smaller and equally tingly moved to hug her right arm, while a larger, colder presence wrapped its arms around her left side. The sensation of firm chitin on her bare skin made her jump—only a bit, though, especially as her mind unwrapped itself from the suffocating panic threatening to smother it whole. Bit by bit, her thoughts made headway in processing her immediate surroundings.

“^It’s okay Anne, it’s okay, you didn’t do anything wrong!^” the voice continued. 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 toward that muck had the two huggers on her front and right side hold her closer. Their small, warm bodies grew more comfortable by the moment, their hugs continued to feel undeserved.

“~I-I shouldn’t,~” Anne mumbled.

“^It’s just a door, you did nothing bad Anne! Please, nobody is angry at you, Anne...^” the tween voice kept going, having gone from pleading to distraught. It 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 after letting go of her impromptu blanket. In no time, it was grabbed by the warm, tingly presence hugging her front. The magical touch immediately stimulated more blood flow, and returned 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,~” Anne immediately tried to reassure.

“^And neither did you!^”

The tingly warmth finally made her act and return that hold. Her fingers wrapped around a soft torso, its heartbeat rapid and calming as the other side’s hug tightened.

“^Please?^”

The last addition broke Anne’s mental dam. Her arm reached up to embrace the one that had been hugging her all along, gently pressing them to her front. She heard them gasp quietly, before all the surrounding affection grew even tighter. It felt nice. It felt so much nicer than Anne thought she deserved to feel 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?^” the voice asked, relieved.

“~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 her; skin tingling wherever they touched. Moments later, the entire flap covering her body began to shimmer. It was first lifted upwards by about an inch, before shooting off to the side and falling onto the floor in a heap.

Her eyes needed a moment to adjust to light, panicked gaze jumping between everyone around her the moment it could focus again. Cypress right above her, 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 waved excitedly at her, “^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 hugging her, no matter their species. Doubly so when they were trying to soothe her overeager self-loathing. Her mental murk wasn’t quite gone, the thoughts about how she shouldn’t have panicked like that were still alive and well. At the moment, though, the friendly faces around her took priority, 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 Anne could finish that thought, another burst of affection came from around her. She would be smothered in it 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 with sitting up? Nurse Maple still needs to 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 let go for a moment, freeing enough space for the injured girl to sit up. The sight before her 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 doing better, before pointing at her injured arm.

Anne twisted her body to the right, sticking her left arm as far out as she could manage. “~O-okay, is this enough?~” she asked. Before Cadence could even forward 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 purple glow that enveloped its tip bringing immediate worry—

Before she could act on it, though, it was already too late. The Poison Jab struck true, immediately undoing the built up aching, the paralytic warmth bringing relief. “~Oohhhhh… th-thank you, nurse.~”

The message was received with a curt bow, followed by a moment of hesitation. And then, moments after, one leafy arm reached up to pat her head, sending her squirming to the amusement of everyone else. It felt... really, really nice.

The same couldn’t quite be said about the Leavanny proceeding to turn towards Cypress and do something that could have only been chewing him out, making him flinch a few times. By then, though, Anne’s attention was already dragged away elsewhere.

“^Are you feeling better now, Anne?^” Cadence asked.

She was, she really, really was. Anne wanted to express the sheer relief Cadence’s persistent affection had brought, making her arm twitch as if trying to hold the Kirlia tight. It stopped shortly after, the uncertainty over how it would be received giving her a pause. Should probably ask first, but shouldn’t be a bother—

“^Anne?^”

The worry in the Cadence’s voice had Anne looking at her, eyes locking with hers. She didn’t know what she expected the fairy to do, but dispensing another hug was the obvious choice in hindsight. Bell followed in tow beside her, doubling up on the 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 made Anne’s good arm return the hug around the two little psychics and the bat—and check up on Ember, just in case. Still fast asleep, not even close to waking up.

She really must’ve been exhausted after what happened yesterday…

“~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 Kirlia asked. Anne didn’t expect to hear her resolute reassurance give way to uncertain giddiness, at least before it took another left turn towards curiosity once more.

Aria had told Anne 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 tell the kiddos about her and Ember, but the basics wouldn’t hurt. “~I—I’m glad to meet you three t-too! Aria had told me you were gonna visit. A-and Ember is my old friend, actually! I-I haven’t seen her in so long, and Aria told me she was excited to finally see me again!”

Gasps from Cadence and Elric, followed by Bell’s a few moments later. Giddy to hear about something their friend hadn’t ever mentioned. “^Really!? That’s so cool!^” Cadence squealed.

“~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 spoke first; the Kirlia intervened with the translation just in time. “—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...~” Anne paused, lost for words. How could she even explain any of this? Details would help, but they’d be probably very inappropriate for a trio of kids that didn’t sound even close to ten years old. Not like she was much better on that front—her eleventh birthday was still a week away or so.

She felt more mature than that, at least. Whether it was for any good reasons, she doubted. Probably shouldn’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.

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“~M-m-my parents...~”

Elric and Cadence were too stunned to respond right away. Their little bodies shook as Anne’s conscience screamed at her for telling them that. 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 cried out, words equally innocent and inarguable.

“~Y-yeah, my parents are mean...~” Anne admitted.

Two tight hugs from each side, Bell’s trailing close behind. Followed soon after by another piece of his toddler wisdom, “My mom and dad aren’t mean. Maybe they could be your mom and dad, too?”

“^Bell, that’s not how that works...^” Cadence chided. The idea was silly, but Anne… Anne couldn’t help but think upon hearing that. The offer was absurd, yes, of course it was, but... gods.

She might not have spent all that much time with Aria in the grand scheme of things, 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 a toddler, but... but.

Anyway.

Everyone noticed the somber atmosphere filling the room, but nobody knew how to deal with it. Elric eventually got an idea, though, a chittered giggle leaving him before he leaned in towards the Kirlia, “Oh, Cadence, didn’t you mean to ask Anne about something~?”

The human herself was taken aback at that message, and especially at the stammers that left the Kirlia afterwards, “^Elric! C-C’mon, that’s n-not the time!^”

“~Not the time for what?~” Anne asked, and Cadence almost combusted in embarrassment. A red blush took over her cheeks as she looked away, much to the other girl’s surprise. Did—did she do something wrong? No, no, she didn’t, but if not, then what was happening?

What was she so shy about?

“^N-nothing! Forget about it, it’s fine—^”

“C’mon Cadence, you were so excited!” the Gligar teased.

“^Elric! She doesn’t need me being a baby right now!^”

“~What were you excited about, Cadence?~” Anne asked. Critical hit, even more fluster sprouting on the Kirlia’s cheeks. A part of the human girl worried whether she’d done something wrong again, but the rest of her wanted to comfort the smaller, if not necessarily younger, girl. She held Bell and Cadence to her front, the former squirming as the latter threatened to catch on fire in embarrassment.

“Teehee, she wants you to—” Elric spoke; the translation yanked out from underneath him before he could finish the sentence. The rest of his message was delivered in hisses and clicks, the abrupt shift making Anne jump. It was sudden, but also quite rude, especially since she still didn’t have any idea about what was going on in here, or why Cadence was so skittish about any of this.

Guess it was time for her to figure the other girl out.

“~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!*^” Cadence reassured before her hands snapped over to cover her mouth at the accidental slip up. Beside her, Elric broke into amused, chittering laughter. If the Kirlia wasn’t so focused on being embarrassed, she would’ve given him a stink eye.

“~Oh? Do you want me to draw you Cadence?~” If the fairy freezing up was anything to go by, Anne had just nailed it, making her break into soft laughter. Seeing the reassuring and affectionate Kirlia be reduced to a blushing, squirmy mess was adorable—not to mention funny. “~Oh Cadence, I-I’d love to draw you! It’d be my pleasure!~”

A quiet gasp of surprised relief.

The fairy turned to look 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 warm Anne’s heart even further. “^R-really?^” Cadence asked, awestruck.

“~Yeah, of course! I just need some pens and paper... actually, I could use colored pens for this! Need my pencil case and a clean page, I think they’re in that bag over there—~”

Before Anne could even point out which bag she meant, it was already being dragged over to her. The bright glow of Cadence’s Psychic kept popping on various objects around the bag, as if wanting to move them all out but unsure which to grab in specific. 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!^”

Cadence’s mental voice suddenly going to max volume made Anne wince, but she couldn’t linger on that discomfort for long. The Kirlia bounced off from her lap and struck a pose while the human dug through the pile of items, making mental notes of everything she found. 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, *eww*.

The ickiness of having to think about her own biology didn’t last long, thankfully. Not once she had excavated the small stack of pages from the assorted items and dropped off on top of the bedding. It was flanked moments later by her pencil case, 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!?^” Cadence squealed, hyped about every last one of Anne’s magical human items.

Right, figures nobody here would know the specifics.

“~This is paper! It’s like... I think it’s made of wood but just really, really really thin and can nicely bend and be drawn on. I have a lot of loose pages here, take a look!~” Anne explained as she passed the topmost page over to the Kirlia, Elric helping himself out to one right afterwards as well. The tweens toyed around with the new and exciting material as Anne pilfered through the stack in search of the right piece of canvas.

As he searched, Cadence’s worried voice interrupted her, “^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?^”

Anne soon replaced the page of sketches with a different one, letting her properly examine what had unsettled the fairy. There wasn’t anything too disturbing in there—not by a human metric, at least. Still, 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. A 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 you can do cool stuff with it in art. A-and it made me experiment a lot...~”

With every word, the creeping feeling of trying to justify drawing messed up stuff only grew. Her eyes soon fixated on a recently dredged up empty page, self conscious filling her rattled body. Cadence was still 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 deal with the situation.

And deal with it he did, mumbling as he splatted on Anne’s front, “Don’t be sad, Anne. Nothing bad happened!” He might not have had the vocabulary to reassure others as effectively as his mom and sister did, but the will was definitely there. His teeny head craned up to look at her once he’d finished delivering his comforts, trying to see if they worked with all his senses. And work they did, though mostly through the means of sheer cuteness.

No matter the exact mechanism of function, the gesture was appreciated all the same. “~Thank you Bell, I-I needed to hear that.~”

“Okay! *Gasp!* I didn’t ask! Can we be friends?” the Ralts asked. The entire room erupted into giggles of various intensity, everyone but Bell amused at his wonderfully innocent question. The tyke himself just looked around in confusion, squeaked out “What?” only fueling the surrounding laughter.

“~Yes, yes we can, Bell! W-we can all be friends!~”

“Yaaaaaay! Thank you, Anne!”

Another splatted hug, just as nice and warm.

Right as the human girl was about to start 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 scratches on the side of his head were super effective, his entire teeny body wriggling happily under that magical influence. His hands latched onto her own and held it close for a while afterwards as they both calmed down, giggles taking their time to subside.

“^Bell...^” Cadence chided.

“~Hehe, it’s okay, it’s okay, don’t worry Cadence! Your brother hasn’t done anything wrong either.~”

Elric cackled as Bell finally let go of her hand—though he wasn’t even considering leaving her lap. She couldn’t blame him—it’s not like she wanted him to leave, either. Just had to grab the pencil and she could get to sketching.

...oh?

Her eyes scanned the surrounding bedding, trying to spot the soft pencil she loved sketching with. It… seemed to have disappeared somewhere. Oh well, had to pull another one out of her pencil case—hey!

The louder giggle beside her finally clued the human into what was going on. Elric was holding both her chosen pencil and the rest of the pencil case in his pincer and tail, respectively, just barely within reach. Anne was unsure how to react, not wanting to ascribe malice, but also too spooked to act with his stinger and all.

“Elric, give those back!” Bell squeaked before trying to retrieve the items himself. His bluish aura enveloped the pencil—before it was yanked out of it. His arms kept reaching towards where his psychics surged, each time for naught. The Gligar looked very amused, this was clearly play, so might as well—

Anne’s attempt to grab the pencil case had the tail and its stinger slide away so fast it was little more than a blur, startling her. By the time Elric had stopped, he was already latched onto a support at the edge of their room, taunting the rest of the group by sticking out his tongue.

It was funny, yes, but Cadence could tell that it had missed the mark with Anne. “^Elric—^”

“Elric, give back!” Bell cried out.

Once more, the pencil was yanked out of the little psychic’s mental grasp; once more the bat followed it by scampering up the wall, ending up suspended under the ceiling. Neither of the boys showed any signs of stopping, but Anne was still a bit rattled, and Cadence realize they were taking it all too far again. “^Elric, please stop!^”

“But we’re just play—”

Cypress broke his previous silence, catching the attention of most of the room and making Cadence fix the link between him and Anne she only now realized was missing. A glance at the ghost showed him to be perusing the books in the other bag, a glimpse at their covers making the human gasp in excitement.

Did Mrs. Graham give her that book about a 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. The bat only barely managed to keep a hold of the precious piece of treasure—and then, not anymore.

*crack!*

The loud sound plunged the room into silence as the pencil snapped in half at the sudden force; both pieces immediately getting dropped onto the carpet. “^Elric!^”, Cadence called out, upset.

If the Gligar hadn’t already been distraught at the sight, the Kirlia’s shout would’ve made him. But he was; now even more so. His body language 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 reassured, snapping the kids out of their bickering before they could grow any more incensed. She was still a bit unnerved, wasn’t happy that one of her best pencils had 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 ended up on top amidst the mental slurry of thinking about how to react to Elric’s shenanigans. She wasn’t a fan, and had hopefully conveyed that, even if the last thing she wanted to do was to make the Gligar 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!” the Ralts denied.

Elric really didn’t need that double whammy.

The whimper he let out was so close to ultrasound that most gathered only barely heard it. And while Cadence agreed her playmate needed a dose of reality like this, he was still her close friend, and he was hurting. She wanted to help, and directly at that. Her eyes and body became surrounded by a pink sheen before she hovered in the air. Psychic flight took her to her friend underneath the ceiling, right into her arm's reach.

“Not fair, I wanna hug Elric too!”

Despite his offense just moments prior, the lil’ Ralts couldn’t ever resist being affectionate. His sister giggled at his silliness, much to his confusion. Cadence’s glow expanded to cover the bat as well before she levitated both of them down onto the edge of the bed, right in front of the human.

Bell acted in the only way he could—namely, by scrambling ahead and squirming in between his sister and friend, his teeny body not coming close to fully embracing either of them. Anne, of course, followed in tow.

This felt nice.

It was so, so nice to be able to do something, anything at all, about people being mean to her, intentionally or otherwise. Back in Mylock, all that her speaking up would accomplish would be to make the offender double, triple down, anything but acknowledge they did something wrong. Anne wished she could say it was just boys, or just kids either, but no, it wasn’t. It wasn’t ever just any particular group. Maybe there was something wrong with that entire town, maybe with humans, deep down.

She didn’t want to consider that idea, but... sheesh.

“I’m sorry, Anne...”

Apologies were mostly unheard of either, making Anne almost do a double take. “~I forgive you Elric, don’t worry. Though~ if you could pick up all the stuff you dropped, that’d be nice.~”

“Of course!” Elric responded, immediately disentangling his hug and going to work, to the others’ amusement. It was nice for people to be on the same page again and for the Gligar to hopefully knock off that type of ‘play’ for good. Cadence appreciated the former, and Bell the latter—and both were relieved that their human maybe-friend was feeling better now.

The Kirlia wasted no time bouncing back to her previous spot and resuming her 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 to stay in the sky for 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, half a pencil gliding over the page. Each stroke further solidified the fairy’s anatomy, Anne’s thoughts swirling around them as she put them to ink—or rather, graphite.

The weird, almost segmented legs, the short flaps of her skin dress, the two fingered hands. The piercing red eyes, imposing despite the Kirlia’s visible excitement, expression, parted by her kin’s signature hairdo. And, of course, the twin red horns their kin were so known for, the same color as her eyes.

The very same horns letting Cadence narrow down just what Anne was focusing on at that moment.

She couldn’t deny it felt weird being eyed in that kind of detached, almost objectifying way. Then again, she supposed it made sense with the focus on wanting to capture how she looked. There were plenty of parts of her best friends that looked weird the moment she paid any attention to them—she shouldn’t have been surprised that the same was true for her as well. Heck, it was true of Anne, too.

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, maybe she should shift focus to something else. 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’.

Cadence’s focus let her know there was something in Anne’s mind that was quite off; a tinge of fear deep inside, one currently obscured. 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 a few of the other kids that got spooked by her from time to time. All she ever wanted to do in situations like that was to help them not be scared, but… mom was clear that Calm Minding or otherwise manipulating someone this way was mean. Even if to make them not scared of her.

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 terrible about herself, but didn’t. Because that would be mean. The Kirlia 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!~”

Cadence leaped over, covering the entire distance between herself and Anne in one jump. She had to resort to telekinesis to soften her landing, sure, but even with that caveat, her jump 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, giddy 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 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 Anne’s embarrassed chuckle as the girl filled 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—~”

A gruff voice coming from the room’s entrance ended the flustered exchange on the spot. The torn door had been fixed in the meantime, but everyone’s focus rested instead on the Gallade peeking into the room. Right, Aria mentioned her brother would watch over them, and they went right ahead with it before he got here. Oops, hopefully he wouldn’t be mad...

Similar thoughts cruised through the minds of everyone else, the sudden coolness immediately taking the newcomer aback. He shouldn’t have been this forward. He took a deep breath, made sure everyone could hear him this time, and spoke up again, “^It’s fine, it’s fine, don’t worry, I just thought Autumn told you all to wait until I got here.^”

“^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,^” the Gallade reassured.

Aria would know what to say to comfort all the little ones—all he could do was 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 left him feeling self conscious as all hell, but it wasn’t the time for that. It was time for keeping composure and being the guardian the kiddos needed.

Marco’s imposing size, relative to everyone else in the room, made Anne shrink as he walked over. He kneeled beside the bedding’s edge to lessen that disparity, only enough of his body peeking up to be closer to everyone’s eye level. Before he would do anything else, 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, but Anne was still uncertain. She wanted to trust the freshly introduced Marco, but his stone-like expression and somewhat ambiguous tone left her conflicted, nodding weakly at his introduction.

It worked away at his confidence about being well-suited for 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 had to 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 after everything you’ve been through. Would you... would you want a hug?^” he asked.

Marco’s words, and the contrast between them and his stern appearance, took Anne aback in the best way. Any preexisting worries soon turned into much warmer, much kinder compassion. The girl figured that not everyone would be equally good at being warm, even if they were trying their best.

Moment by moment, the imposing knight felt more and more like Aria’s next of kin.

“~I-I’d love a hug, thank you, Mr. Marco.~”

“Yay, hugs!”

Yay hugs indeed Bell, yay hugs indeed.

The resulting scramble to get everyone in on the embrace was a bit awkward, but no less heartfelt because of that. All the affection was really getting to Anne, the worries’ grip growing weaker by the moment. Ember was safe and still snoozing right next to her; Aria and her family were 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. He had to use 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 uncertainty 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. No matter what these old coots thought was appropriate for Anne, he wouldn’t let her be hurt 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. His niece wasn’t convinced, though. Even if she didn’t know what he was thinking about, his feelings were an open book, worries palpable to the lil’ fairy. She was about to ask what was wrong before Marco redirected the discussion somewhere else, spotting 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,^” the Gallade smiled.

“~Thanks Mr. Marco...~”

“^It’s nothing, uncleeeee—^”

“^I’d say it’s more than nothing if Anne repaid you like that, hah.^”

Marco’s response flustered both girls. He chuckled at their silliness, letting go of the hug and ruffling their heads. Cadence’s excited squirming and Anne’s light flinch may have been very different reactions, but the human soon eased out as well, especially as he played up more of the psychic tingling.

Soon after, though, something rather unusual caught Marco’s eye.

“^That’s... a rather worrying drawing. Is everything okay Anne?^”

The human girl only needed a brief glimpse to figure out Marco was referring to the same sketches that had unnerved Cadence, making her grumble. She figured she might as well explain what had inspired the sketches, and how they really weren’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. She didn’t know what was the intended purpose of the card she used as a bookmark—all that mattered was that the art on it had fueled her experimentation towards more morbid art, and the improvements in anatomy that followed.

“~Here, th-this drawing inspired me.~”

Aside from bits of black squiggles on a white background—the fabled human writing—most of the rectangular card was taken over by a central artwork. It was almost all black, with a single pale bald human head in the middle.

His hands covered most of his face, except for one quivering eye, staring directly at the viewer. Scratch marks trailed from the tip of his every finger. There wasn’t much blood, but it was enough to stain his fingers and some of his hands, and 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 tilted the card 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 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.^” Marco commented.

The ghost wasted no time floating over to the rest of the group. His curiosity about the small card in the human’s hand overcame his creeping exhaustion, at least in the moment. For a moment, Anne worried 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 left a mess behind themselves. 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 the wrong way.

“^What is ‘italics’?^” Cadence asked, dumbstruck.

*woof!*

The bark coming over from the room’s entrance successfully derailed all the gathered trains of thought. The Riolu that awaited them might have been nowhere near as weird as the human-made card, but her presence here was almost as confusing.

“Hi Reya!” Bell squeaked at the newcomer.

“^Reya? What are you doing here?^” Marco asked with concern.

*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.^”

The Gallade knew better than to try steering 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.

Hope she’s doing alright out there.