VIA DOLOROSA

[ ♉ ] TAVROS: oH, hEYYYYY, rOSA, [ ♉ ] TAVROS: lONG TIME NO SEE, 

    You carefully nudge one of the BLUE-MANED PONYTA (which, from your Pokemon expertise, you have learned is called a SHINY) away from your person. Another takes its place. The CYCLE continues on. 

[ ♉ ] TAVROS: uH, jEEZ, i’M NOT, bUT, [ ♉ ] TAVROS: i DECIDED TO SAY HI TO THESE LITTLE GUYS, aND NOW, [ ♉ ] TAVROS: tHEY, rEALLY DON’T WANT TO LET ME GET BACK TO WORK, [ ♉ ] TAVROS: (eXCUSE ME, pLEASE,) [ ♉ ] TAVROS: i DON’T THINK THEY GET TO TALK TO PEOPLE, aLL THAT OFTEN, }:( [ ♉ ] TAVROS: bUT, [ ♉ ] TAVROS: tHEY’RE ALSO HOLDING UP THE QUEUE, a LITTLE,

Her focus was on the ponyta as it seemed to be curious over her now, and as someone that didn’t have an expertise in animals, she didn’t know what to do. All she could do was hope that it was completely tamed...hopefully.

❝I see...that’s a bit of a problem then, isn’t it?❞ She frowned at him.

“Good boy!” She was patting the goat’s head in recognition of the effort they’d shown, glad that no biting had happened during the short interrogation. Or pseudo-interrogation, it was only one question anyway.    

She’s still beside the goat, giving him a rub when Rosa asked. “Oh, not a clue~ He doesn’t look like anyone I’ve met. But at least we found our culprit, huh? So, what do we do? Go over and give him a piece of our mind? Throw a few brownies at him in revenge? Give him a taste of his own medicine? Maybe embarrass him in front of the whole crowd? Or, oh, oh! Get Goatee here to chomp his head off!” With each choice, a finger was raised, pointing towards the poor child. “I prefer— no, I won’t say what I want. But it’s pretty obvious, though of course it isn’t my decision, since I’m not the one they got. Right, right?”  

It still creeped her out how obedient the goat was, but she moved on to look at the culprit once more.

❝That’s a bit...❞ All of those options were just terrible, but she did say before that she wanted to get back at them for what they did. Her and her big mouth needed to learn how to shut up sometimes. Her eyes continued to be glued at the other before she looked at her companion.

“Indeed… I cannot fathom, honestly – this is quite the undertaking.”  She raised a brow, only for her jovial expression to fade. The hesitation was enough. Though they both seemed enamored by the craftsmanship and effort of the sculptures, Eiki’s thoughts remained fixated on the mystery behind the other’s concern. For as much as she wanted the other to enjoy herself, if there was something else distracting her, it was also Eiki’s duty to ensure that was resolved.

“If there’s a more pressing concern, enjoying ourselves out here can wait. Rest assured, the scenery will still be here.”

She remained silent for a bit, having lost in thought, before looking over to realize the other detected her sense of concern. Jolting a bit from shock, she shook her head at her. Maria should have been fine on her own, and even then she had the rest of her family to look after her for now.

❝Oh, no it’s nothing...❞ Trying to dismiss it, she decided to move onto the next sculpture beside it. This time, it appeared to be a shape of a... polar bear? It looked like one from her perspective, but she couldn’t be quite certain about it.

「✿」The little child forgot that it can get really cold during the night “Thank you! I didn’t even notice the cold.” How embarrassing of her to not remember that it is December and its always cold during the month. Now Shiva started to notice the warmth from the woman’s coat, she could help but hold her hand and tilting her head with a confused look “A drink? Is there a drink like that? Hmm, maybe its inside where everybody is dancing!”

Unfortunately, it only meant that she was going to be freezing in return. But at least she was more tolerable than a kid (she hoped). She noticed the girl reaching for her, and naturally she held her tiny hand.

❝You need to be more prepared...❞ Now slowly guiding her back into the building, she looked at the path ahead of them. 

“Lost…? If you don’t need to go back inside immediately, it would be best to enjoy the sights, don’t you think? Look–” Eiki smiles, gesturing toward a sculpture of a rather strange reindeer-drawn chariot with a jolly bearded man sitting in it. The whimsy of such a passionately imaginative piece of work has no sooner taken her.

❝I…suppose, but...❞ She wanted to check up on her daughter to see if she was still inside. It didn’t help that the child was always up to something, and she had to keep an eye on her during several instances. She didn’t say all of this out loud, however, and decided to take the other’s word. Staring at the statue of what was supposed to be Santa and his reindeer, she crossed her arms.

❝Oh, you’re going to catch a cold!...❞ She took off her own coat to wrap it around the girl. Judging by looks, she was a bit younger than Maria which concerned her even more. Perhaps it was because she was a mother, but she just had the tendency to worry over children a bit too much.

❝Oh...! It’s you. Tavros... right? It’s nice to see you again, uhm...❞ Her smile faded out as she looked at the situation at hand. By no means was she disgruntled, but she was mostly curious of what he was doing. 

“Huh, well, I guess if you put it that way. Lady Maria is a cute and pure child who’ll support and maybe, even, undoubtedly want something similar once she sees it. And it won’t help you any if I ever say that you’re the one who made it for me.” She’s thinking it through, but there was no doubt that Gaap may just agree with Rosa’s sentiment, from how she’s not eagerly shutting down the request.

Her smile remained so, though a thoughtful expression masked the sympathy she’s already feeling from imagining a scenario between mother and child. 

“Okay, how about this then. I’ll just tell her someone else made it for me. There are a lot of other places to get clothes done anyway.” A moment of silence, where she pursed her lips in contemplation. “Of course, if she does figure out that you’re the one who made them and then she asks me, well, I’m under no obligation to lie to her further. That’s just the way it is~”

It was troubling to have a child that was so easy to influence...if only she had more logic to her that some things weren’t acceptable in the public eye. If this demon cared for the girl, then she would at least understand how this can go the wrong way-- right. 

There was a nervous look in her gaze as she gave her time to think (although she thought that to be unnecessary), and the more she thought about it, the more she regretted ever accepting her request. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if she had not known her daughter, or had any connections to the family at all.

A moment of pause came from her as the demon finally replied back with her own rules, and she had the temptation to negotiate more. But at that point it seemed like the other wasn’t going to make anymore exceptions after that. Dissatisfaction came through, and she slightly slouched at the idea of it. 

❝...Alright. There’s no way she would find out so easily about it unless I make a careless mistake, anyway. I’ll just have to be more careful of whenever she enters my room...❞

“I can imagine it’s quite worrying to have your child out by herself. She seems like a responsible girl, but my job has me working with children about her age who are travelling alone, so perhaps I’m just too lenient…” Such was how her world worked. Since she took the same challenge in her childhood, she never really questioned it.

Now, this was the problem. With such a reaction, she didn’t want to unnecessarily worry Maria’s mother, or throw Maria under the bus. 

“She said something about wanting you to meet more people.” Technically not a lie, since she wanted them to meet… just as more than friends. 

“I didn’t want to impose on you, though. But with us meeting by chance here, I thought it would be okay to introduce myself, at least.” Cynthia held out a hand. “My name is Cynthia. Forgive my lack of manners, in not introducing myself immediately.”

Meanwhile, Gible’s interests moved to the small Pokemon hiding behind the human. She chomped at air, trying to intimidate the poor thing further. What kind of Pokemon would hide behind a human like that? What a little coward.

❝Your job?...❞ Initially she would have thought her to be a primary school teacher had she not involved the word ‘travel’ in her sentence. What kind of job involved travelling children? Wasn’t that illegal without a guardian by their side? It could have been that this person was from a world where it was much safer to live in compared to hers... but the thought still didn’t escape her mind. 

She shook her head regardless of the thoughts that popped in her head. ❝That’s just unnecessary... I’m able to do that myself. Does she think I’m incapable of doing that much...❞ While she was somewhat skeptical of her response, she didn’t have any evidence to prove that she was lying. A sigh, she looked at the hand before she took hers out to give it a shake.

❝Ushiromiya Rosa...and it’s fine. I should have at least introduced myself first. I’m sorry that we had to meet under such circumstances again though. It’s quite odd, isn’t it?❞ With a nervous smile, she looked down as she felt a squeeze around her leg. 

Poor Teddy, she didn’t care if the other pokemon was mocking her-- she just wanted to be left alone! She let out a small cry back at it, hoping she would go away with her own tiny roar.

That was not the reaction Cynthia was expecting. The girl was definitely eccentric, so perhaps it caused problems… In that case, her mother’s expression made sense.

Cynthia laughed, an attempt to reassure Rosa. “No, definitely not! In fact, she showed unparalleled kindness to my Pokemon. And she’s not exactly the most lovable right off the bat…”

On that note, Gible approached the other woman. She growled curiously. Was this person friends with Maria?

“She just happened to show me a picture of you during a conversation. She cares you a lot, you know.” Enough to try to get Cynthia to go on a date with her mother, but from the way she reacted to just knowing her name, Cynthia decided to keep that under wraps for now.

A part of her wanted to believe in that, but with insecurities laying on top of the other, she assumed she was being polite about it. She should have a talk with Maria soon about this... 

Her frown didn’t fade away so easily despite the other’s attempt to reassure her, but she at least tried to calm herself from thinking about the worst. Peering down at the shark-like creature, she looked at its tooth feature that made her shiver a bit. Maria was playing with that? She had to be thankful that she didn’t come home with a cut or two from it.

The bear-like pokemon peeped from behind her leg to look at the other, sharing somewhat of a similar nature with her owner. 

❝I see... Again, I should apologize for her intrusion. She just loves to interact with so many around here, it does worry me with who she talks to.❞

Blink.