[Gaki Amabie]

Elise Bell     

Gaki's code was broken, that was surely it. Gaki could only blink, dumbfoundedly at herself. She didn't understand how an NPC like Elise could exist and that must have somehow made her strategy for bachelorettes dunk down the drain. Gaki moved to smooth a hand over her hair a few times, avoiding eye contact with the stupidly pretty girl infront of her. Elise sounded dumbfounded, and Gaki could only click her tongue.

...Right...so...Elise didn't want to raise affection points. She just wanted idle chatter. Idle chatter... how did idle chatter work in video gamed?! Gaki wished she had some sort of selection box right now, literally anything. "...fine..." Gaki crossed her arms. A breath was taken. Part 2. Redo. A chance to re-raise the affection points that had plummeted. "We can talk or whatever, not that I want to."

Eyes flicked up to Elise, a stupid, frustrated blush on the white haired girls face didn't cease to go away. She dug through her years of gain knowledge, searching for idle, affection points raising chatter... what would you say... to... raise affection points... to a princess in a flower patch? The closet she could think of would be communicating with a fairy- uh...

Okay. She could work with that. Completly forgetting Elise had asked her a question before she mumbled out, "...Where's your favourite place to fl- err, go." Perfect idle conversation. Obviously, the best. It was small enough for small talk, and was something she'd actually asked a girl in a visual novel before! A fairy, but still!

[Elise Bell]

Elise wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but when Gaki crossed her arms and ushered out a soft ‘fine’ back, Elise felt vaguely hurt. Her lips pressed together and then her eyebrows— and then even more so right after. Not that I want to. O-oh….oh… ok. W-well? Well that didn’t help…..

But then as Gaki looked at her, Elise realized something She was blushing? Her pale features and eyes were accented red right then. Maybe she was just… nervous or awkward or something?? Elise immediately perked up again on making this assumption. That had to be it!

“Huh?” Where was… her favorite place to go? What did that even mean? Her eyes flickered around for a moment before setting on Gaki again. “W-well! I like Bass City, it’s my home? There are a lot of neat little streets and shopping areas! There’s even a small music park for new and up coming performers to try out their skills!” she pattered on. “There’s this cute hair and nail salon on the corner of Flow and Harmony street that is really nice if you ever want to have a spa day!” And such and such.

[Gaki Amabie]

Elise Bell     

That's it. Game Over. Gaki knew it. She couldn't communicate with anybody of the same gender as her, it was mission impossible, each time was like forcefully skulling a potion of harming and flinging every single one of her stats into the negative with no warning beforehand. But then... the girl started to talk.

Oh, the more this girl spoke the more Gaki's heart found itself donstricting. She was a fairy, lulling her in with her sweet tone. Gaki hated it. She forcefully chewed on her bottom lip as Elise spoke about Bass City, something about music parks and shopping centres and hair salons... It was like they had snatched an NPC right out of a visual novel who was given the 'girly' trope. Gaki stared for a solid second... 

Spas. Gaki had never had a spa, nor could she understand the appeal of them. Who wanted people touching you? Like, just randoms who could easily slip you a vial of poison and lower all your defenses! NPC's shouldn't be trusted with that sort of thing! And Gaki only ever went shopping for LARP supplies and went to farmers markets, and maybe to the geek store near her house that sold anime figurines and game pharaphenalia, but that was it!

But still, she forced herself to speak then, eyes moving to begin to look around her once more for flowers, despite Elise's pokemon already being on the task. "Cool..." Cool?! Cool?? Gaki. Gaki that was lame, you can do better! You're trying to raise affection points, remember? She forced a breath and tried once more. "I... don't see the appeal of spa days, and I don't play music- but as an idol I can see why you would like it or whatever."

[Elise Bell]

Elise smiled a little as Gaki replied positively to her words. “Yeah!” It was cool, right? Right! As Gaki went on, though, Elise felt her features wavering. Gaki didn’t see the point in spa days or did she play music…. But…. Hm. HMMMMMM. What to say? What to do?? Well! She’d just turn it around, she supposed! “Where’s your favorite place to go?” she asked in return. “Or thing to do?” There had to be something there, right? Right! She just had to find it!

Looking forward again, Elise side stepped around a tree rather carefully making sure not to trip over its exposed root systems. She had to remember where she was going! Otherwise she'd like walk right into something or something! Ehehehehe. Her eyes flashed up to Shimmer again, but the Ribombee seemed not to have found anything yet. Maybe it was too early in the season for this... but they could keep looking! They didn't have to give up just yet! Surely they would find something. Something, yes. 

[Gaki Amabie]

Elise Bell     

Elise kept going from smiling to semi-smiling and Gaki couldn't tell if it was because she was talking too much, not enough, or if it was because her conversation choices were so bland that even paper mario would walk away from her encounter. Gaki couldn't tell, and it was freaking her out. Had her comment about spa days and music been enough to lose another point? She was ready to pounce if the girl started acting up- Gaki wasn't comfortable. She was overthinking, strategies and planning for unknown events that only a gamer could foresee shooting through her head.

And then a question was posed. Innocent in nature, yet it could be a challenge, a game. It could be the bachelorette fairy NPC before her testing her. Gaki, in her cosplay instinctively brushed at her skirts. The honest answer would be that Gaki almost never leaves her house and her favourite place to go is on the Indigo Server on Dragoned!United, or the Aquilian City in Magical Bean Land. But, as soon as she would say that she would have let down her defences and the girl would instantly have a way in to manipulate and use her, to undo her code-

She was a fae. She was playing sneaky tricks that Gaki wouldn't fall for, she wouldn't! Even if she was a super cute girl who kept smiling at her. Gaki, in her internal crisis, had forgot about her mission.

"...I..." C'mon Gaki. Think. Imagine you're the protagonist in a visual novel and she's one of the girls! "Farm. I farm. And... my... favourite place is my farm, not that you would care or anything."

...Gaki... Gaki... Her eyes widened. That sounded so lame, not even a cardboard cutout of a protagnist would say that! Cover for yourself, quickly! Girl things- something honest but vague that the really bright girl could relate to! "I...Also like dressing up or whatever. In costumes." A brief gesture to her outfit and a small puff of air. Okay. Okay. Crisis averted, hands off the restart button.

[Elise Bell]

Elise paused… for quite a few seconds waiting for Gaki to say anything. Her eyes flickered upwards to Shimmer who was still looking about for the elusive flower but had yet to find it. The Ribombee glanced back down again and shook her head. Elise wouldn’t give up, though! Surely they would find it somewhere! “You can do it, Shimmer!” she encouraged. The Ribombee didn’t quite see this as a huge deal but still made a small flexing gesture back! She would do her best! Flying a bit higher, she looked even closer than before!

As Gaki finally started speaking, Elise glanced sideways giving the girl her full attention again. Farming? Oh! Her favorite place was her farm! That made sense! She probably had cute animals and— “Uh….” Not that she would care or anything? Elise’s lips pressed together as did her eyebrows. As Gaki proclaimed she liked dressing up, however, Elise brightened some. “Me too! Your outfit is so cute! I don’t have one quite like it even among my performance outfits! Maybe I’ll get one kind of similar, and we can match!” She may have been trying a little too hard to relate, but that was ok!

[Gaki Amabie]

Elise Bell     

aAAAAAH. Elise was smiling big now, why were girls so cute when they smiled!? It's like their whole demeanor lit up, like they became fully alive, like they were about to declare war on your damn heart. They were so pure. Gaki could cry right now- if her defense wasn't so high and if crying wasn't a sign of pure weakness and defeat. Gaki's arms crossed tightly across her chest as she wandered, more to reign herself in then anything from her thoughs spiralling too much about this cute girl and honing in on the concept she could very much still be an enemy...

Still... as... as spoke about how cute Gaki's outfit was and further even brought up the idea of... matching... outfits?! Gaki's cheeks bloomed a bright pink- oh. Oh donkey kong. Did... did she mean match like- like as another bachelorette? Or- maybe as the female protagonist of the game- or a genderbend- was there a female protagonist? Her game knowledge was leaving her the longer she stared at this blonde girl infront of her.

Ack- her gaze averted and she forced out a puff of air, lips pressing together as harshly as she could. Thoughts... thoughts... games... winning the rainbow cup in league five, last years comic con, her new super cool sword... okay. Okay. She was fine. Gaki was fine- she was fine. This was so damn fine.

Gaze returned back to Elise and she cleared her throat. "...Er..." A beat or two passed as Gaki tried to form words. How cool would it be to cosplay harvest moon characters with a cute girl- her harvest moon ships could com to life?! Or- uh- ugh. Nope. Don't word that bit. Just... try to say something. "...I-If you actually want to match, since this is a cosplay, there are various bachelorettes or whatever you could look at aiming an outfit around. Bachelorette's being- like- the girls from the game the character i'm cosplaying is from..." A shift to grab her phone from her pocket, because you can bet that Gaki had all the cute bachelorette's saved. 

"You could pull off Daisy. She's blonde and wears a lot of pink- you'd probably need a wig for shorter hair, but she has a similar elegant-yet-cutesy look." A picture was all but passed over to Elise to look at, Gaki trying her best to keep her voice steady. A pause where she let Elise look at her before taking the phone back, "Sherry could be another option- she's sweet or whatever, you'd also need a wig, and have to put up with a bunch of layers. Freya... maybe but pants wouldn't match as good, and Emika doesn't match at all." She was rapidly flicking through pictures now before settling on the two player characters from Harvet Mood: Grand Bazaar. "Or. You could be a genderbent dude, though he sucks, or you could be the female bachelorette, though you can't romance the other girl's as the female bachelorette, n-not that that matters with matching- because the duo are still like, friends and... a-and stuff- like- nobody else is the character i'm dressing up as's friend, she's like the town loner and I hate how they portrayed her as such because she's such a complex character?!"

...Ah....Ah... yep. Gaki's rambles have begun. She's gotten hyped up about gaming.

[Elise Bell]

Hoping she hadn’t said anything wrong by mistake, Elise bit the inside of her mouth and forced a smile! Her eyes flickered to Shimmer who was going through another tree still not finding anything immediately. Ok, ok, that was fine. Her eyes flickered back to Gaki again once the other girl had started talking again. Various…. Bachelorettes? Oh, right…. Right ok?? She nodded along with Gaki’s explanation being pretty sure she had heard the term at least once or twice before.

Shifting a little closer to try and see what Gaki was pulling up on her phone, Elise squinted in the bright light. How could she see it so clearly? “Daisy?” she repeated before being handed the phone. Oh, that was a little better. Huh, she was kind of cute. The sheer number of names and faces that came after, however, left her a bit stunned. They were all cute? She did like the protagonist though! And she had the right hair and eyes for it!

But then she was even more stunned as Gaki went on ranting and rambling after that. She…. she kind of got it but??? Like not at all either? A complex character no one understood, though? That sounded so sad! But uh???? Huh….. “What’s… she like exactly then? Like…. complex character…wise?” she asked a bit dumbly not entirely sure this would even help her understanding of the situation at all.

Before much more could be said, however, a soft cry hit the air. Elise’s eyes flickered from Gaki up to Shimmer who had!!! “You found one!” Elise squeaked earnestly surprised that there even was one at all. In her arms, Shimmer had a large tree flower now and came down to height level again to show the two girls! She’d done well! Hadn’t she?

[Gaki Amabie]

Elise Bell     

...What’s the protagonist like character wise- oh! Oh! The fairy meant Antoinette. A hand pressed to Gaki’s cheek, eyes drifting off for a moment as she though about the cute bachelorette who she may have played as a male just to pursue. “Antoinette is basically- you think of the dandere character trope and it fits her like a glove! During most town events she’s by herself and never hangs out with the other townspeople, she doesn’t feel like she fits in and just does her own thing!”

Gaki was getting excited, aaaaah, she loved this character! “And yet as the protagonist, through her events you learn about her famous mother- a fashion designer- who’s too busy with her own job and works in the city and never comes to visit Anne. And because of that she feels very alone, her dads also working all the time too- but she likes the loneliness, it’s a way for her to take a breather and focus on her wants. She wants to be a fashion designer just like her mother.” A soft puff of air left her, Gaki moving to take her half off her cheek and gesture to her outfit, “Anne made this herself in game. Isn’t she such a cute bachelorette? I just love her character- and as a protagonist supporting her and having her support your work in turn was such a pog moment.”

Huh? Oh! Shimmer had found a flower! Gaki willed herself to shut up then, pushing her lips together- the bachelorette- er- fairy before her didn’t seen to know much about games, for all she knew the girl was still an enemy. A cute enemy with a great smile and pretty features with a voice like smooth cara-

Anyway. Gaki turned all her focus on the flower, despite knowing full well her focus meters were super low. “It’ll work or whatever. I’m sure Leaf will like it.” She’d said too much, if the girl said one thing about not getting it Gaki was tempted to just make the power up headpiece for Leaf and leave- this girl was draining all off her boosters and Gaki wasn’t sure how much more she could handle being in her stupidly adorable presence. “...Let’s go back. Ensure no enemies got to the pokemon.”

[Elise Bell]

As Gaki spoke, Elise listened more and more intently. A loner by nature with a famous fashion-designer mother who was— With every beat, Elise’s features fell a little more – who never comes home. She felt very alone. And she wanted to be like her mother. And…. Elise’s eyes dropped away and then pulled up to Shimmer. A hand reached for a lock of hair and gently pulled it. It was just a character, just a story! Nothing to worry about! Elise smiled a little harder than she had before.

Thank goodness for Shimmer. A softer, more genuine smile pulled onto Elise’s features as she looked up at the Ribombee with the flower. “Good work Shimmer! Thank you!” she squeaked clapping her hands a bit. The Ribombee twirled and slowly descended. Turning back to Gaki again, Elise grinned. “Ok!” No enemies, right, yeah. Turning back the way they had come, Elise walked with a little more pep in her step. “I’m not a fashion designer, but I have a best friend who is super awesome amazing at designing things!” she explained with a smile. “It would be so cool to be so pretty together!” She giggled a little, maybe a little more forcefully than before.

They truly weren’t that far away. The two Sylveon would notice their trainer coming back relatively quickly, but both were still rather comfortable in the fields amongst the flowers to run right over to Elise.