Pippi made her happy.

Anne might have been too embarrassed about just how long it took her self to fully rejoin her body following something so minor and inconsequential, but the fairy didn't care. Her loving embrace continued without a pause and without any signs of easing out while her human's hands idly pet on. Each passing moment made the nonexistent distance between her mind and body shrink, until eventually it returned to its nominal value of zero once more. At last, her body in her control again.

A fact so little known it made her feel special just for knowing it- Clefable are very ticklish between their wings.

Shudder, squirm, flutter- her human's return back to her body finally communicated. One more squeeze, one step back, and there she was, beaming up at her. Pippi almost never frowned but she rarely ever smiled this wide either, the sight eliciting another flutter, this time of her human's heart. For a short, blissful moment, it really made Anne think that everything was going to be alright.

> "Hello there, cute stuff- feeling better now?"

>

> "Yeah, I- I think I am. Sorry for taking so l-"

Light swat right at her fingers, enough to send a message but much too weak to hurt- not physically at least.

> "No being sorry in this room missy! You needed a moment to be yourself again, and goddamn I can't do much but I can at least help with that."

The frankness in the Clefable's response made Anne's pause, the signs rather unlike herself either. She didn't look sad or offended but... screw all this muck, there was someone she could help, her best friend no less, her being a whiny child could wait.

> "Is everything alright Pip?"

>

> "What? I'm doing good-"

>

> "That kinda loathing is more so my thing than yours."

>

> "C'mon you taught me how to sign, obviously I'm gonna have some of your idiosyncrasies."

Anne knew better than to be convinced. Her own gloom was plain to see despite her best wishes- Pippi had that stuff on lock. Didn't mean it wasn't there or that she was somehow supernaturally cheerful. Might have felt like that at times, and she sure wasn't letting it get to her with anywhere near the regularity of her friend, but...

Everyone wore a mask in this house, mons were no exception.

Eyeroll, slouch, she got seen through, her body language deflating just a bit. Anne wouldn't let that stand, reaching over to pat a spot on the mattress and facilitate some actual heart to heart. Both hearts bruised, both hearts stressed, both hearts willing to be there for each other even if it were to take their very final beats.

Couple steps, sitting down, clumsy scramble onto the mattress, as tight of a hug as the human could manage.

Soft in so many ways- very fair down that made her hands tingle, smooth skin, hearty layer of pudge all around. Soft in body, soft in mind, soft in affection, stubby fingers and their blunt claws stroking Anne's boney, angular face with superhuman gentleness. Wounded underneath all that, deeply so, the kind of injury the world decreed just and prescribed exactly one possible cure to.

> "I wish I could do more, is all."

Anne expected these words but they stung all the same, were completely right all the same. Books, interacting with Anne, occasional attempts at art that only ever left her frustrated. Almost nothing else she could ever do, her effective independent living space delimited by the four walls of Anne's room. Even things as trite as making her own food were a risk, less to her and more so to her human at proxy.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Your mon got into the fridge again.”

In the middle of making lunch for herself.

“Your mon got out on her own again, it's a wild one, what if it decides to break something?”

Trying to stretch her legs and get the bare minimum of fresh air.

“Your mon tried to write again, it makes people freak out, make it stop.”

Wrote words in their language and they still won't read.

“Why don't you just keep it in a ball?”

None of it a secret, none of it a surprise. Anne knew all too well just what exactly Pippi had to go through day in and out, especially back when she was still at school. The things she could do- books, more books, anything and everything interesting she could get from the library, modest TV with a VCR player for their room for subtitled movies- never enough. Never could be enough. It was entertainment, a lot of it, as much as Anne was capable of providing.

Everything to make this gilded cage of hers just that bit more bearable.

None of it freedom, none of it independence.

> "I'm sorry Pip, I should-"

Swat, scramble, stand up, stare into her human's eyes at roughly their height.

> "For the love of Cresselia you best shut up Anne or I'm gonna hot glue your hands to my head. You've done literally everything you can and I am not even using that word figuratively."

The mere ability for them to exchange these words was a miracle the Clefable thanked the moon and stars every waking hour. How easy it would've been for someone in Anne's position, with Anne's family, to only ever treat her as an overly lively trophy, valiantly caught and proudly displayed. As a piece of meat, as numbers on a spreadsheet. How expected it would've been.

But that didn't happen.

Eight years old with a deaf Cleffa in her arms. A friend of utmost chance, a cosmic happenstance- but how to talk to her? How to really be friends? There were deaf people out there, did they talk? They did talk. How did they talk? Excursion to the library number however many hundred. Excited question to the librarian. Condescending smile, dehumanizing reminder, eventually an actual pointer.

Unovan Sign Language, a Beginner's Guide.

The process was long, the process was slow- Anne was thankfully expecting it. Marie was just two, Anne had a very good look into just how much time it took for a little kiddo to grasp even the basics. Months, years, but she had them, they had them. It only took weeks for the very first association to form- right hand bunched up as if pinching, tapping her mouth twice. Food. Sent the little Cleffa wriggling excitedly- constantly hungry, loved her snacks.

Loved her human.

Learning was harder because of its unidirectional nature, of course. Pippi was a precious teeny fairy, but not exactly best equipped to do any signing back, not without fingers, not with such stubby arms. She tried though, tried a lot, some of it even worked! Left arm tapping as close to her mouth as it could, twice. Hungry. Right arm moving downwards from her mouth, twice. Thirsty. Left arm pointing at the unconquerable mountain of Anne's bed, optionally while the right one tapped the human's foot. Help me get up.

Both arms moving up in unison, straight up. Give me a hug.

Many, many hugs were given this way.

Year and change later, finally a Clefairy, finally fingers. Many signs were changed, many simplified too accommodate three fingers instead of five, but the core was the same. Soon enough, actual language, actual communication, less and less stilted by the day. In time, written Unovan, the teeny one now able to learn stuff on her own. She still preferred to learn with her human of course- that was the safest place in the world for her.

It forever remained so.

Did she wish she had the opportunity to go out on her own, to interact with people on her own, to be wholly her own person? Of course she did, of course the world denied her that. The world could go fuck itself. Her human that despite every obstacle that laid between that dream of independence and reality kept doing everything in her very limited power to make it all better, to make it less cruel?

She loved her human. She hated seeing her human kick herself down over things she had no ability to influence. Anne did everything right, but it wasn't enough. The player was perfect,

But the game was rigged.

11:47 AM.

The alarm goes off at six.

C'mere you big tall dummy.