The Sugar Flower Cafe

Blake turned the lights in the café back on and picked one of the books from the bookcase that she provided for patrons. It wasn’t quite seven yet but it was close enough. She did set the café to ‘Almia’ before settling down, and started flipping through the book. She wasn’t quite certain what to expect from all of this, but she hoped that Weiss would be taken care of. She knew about service dogs and such in Vale, but it wasn’t an area of expertise for her. Weiss unfortunately needed much more care than a dog could provide, and she knew waiting lists could get quite long for service dogs. Weiss needed help nowand couldn’t wait to get a service dog. Maybe, one day, she could live independently, but for now, she was going to have to depend on Blake, Hubert, and Edelgard. She heard the door open and looked up, a little surprised to see Edelgard and Weiss standing there. Blake’s ears twitched. “What—” “These Pokémon aregoing to be for me, right…? I should probably be down here to meet them.” Weiss’ voice was quiet. Blake nodded. “That is entirely fair. Summer should be here pretty soon. She said seven, so I expect she should be here soon.” She patted the spot next to her. “C’mon and sit down.” Edelgard helped Weiss over and then Edelgard waved, leaving them behind. Blake’s ears did lower a bit. “Sorry I didn’t think about having you down here. I really should’ve. Did you eat dinner all right? Would you like something to drink?” Weiss frowned. “Wouldn’t it eat into your profits?” “I mean, long term, sure. But one cup of tea here or there isn’t going to bankrupt me. I have a lovely citrus-based fruit tea that’s perfect for nighttime when you don’t want any caffeine.” She smiled at Weiss who still looked uncertain. “Really, Weiss, it’s no big deal. I’m not going to go bankrupt from giving out a few mugs of tea here and there. Plus, with your lack of body fat…you’ve gotto be cold.” Weiss nodded and looked down. “I am… You’re keeping it reallycool in here.” “I would keep it warmer, but heating costs money. Plus, it’s technically after hours and I have the programming set to about 65. Definitely cold to me.” She shivered. “I’m from a tropical nation called Menagerie where the weather was usually 70s at minimum and 90s at the top. Not to mention humidity sat between 80 and 100%. Menagerie is incredibly hot and I hatethe cold.” She shivered. Weiss nodded. “That does make sense. But…” She frowned. “I can’t believe how racist Menagerie is to that, still…” “Oh, it is.” Blake shook her head. “Incredibly racist. But it’s what it was named by the people who forced the Faunus there. It’s…a nasty tale that I don’t feel like going into right now. And if you want to drive the point home, Kuo Kuana, the capital city, literally means trash. The people who forced the Faunus there were incrediblyracist.” “It seems like bigotry is alive and well here…” Weiss sighed. “Are you saying it isn’t on your world?” “It’s technically illegal, but it still exists. You just have to be carefulabout it… For the most part, gender equality has been achieved, but indigenous cultures continue to be treated horribly and those people often languish in relative poverty, depending on where they are… A lot of places have universal basic income so there isn’t a lot of homelessness in most nations, but plenty haven’t implemented it either… There’s still homophobia and transphobia… Are those alive and well? Do you understand those terms?” “Perfectly. Atlas…is basically built on ‘isms and ‘phobias. If you can name it, it’s there. Women are second-class citizens. Faunus are below even women. There’s an entire ethnic group called the Euskera who live there but aren’t citizens and have no access to education, or at least it’s minimal. Atlas is really stringent when it comes to trans people. You have to have therapist-diagnosed gender dysphoria to even qualify for medical transition and that’s incredibly hard to obtain due to there being such a stigma around mental health…” She shook her head. “It’s a dystopia, all right. Then there’s the entireissue with the version of yourself native to this world.” Weiss frowned. “That…doesn’t sound ominous.” “To put it shortly… Her father, Jacques, was an abusive monster and only educated Winter to try to create the ‘perfect’ woman and beat her and Weiss like dogs. There are gigabytes worth of videos floating around the CCTS of the abuse…from multiple angles. Winter’s given public statements on all of it multiple times. It…paints a nasty picture. I don’t know how much detail you want me to go into.” She was trying her best to not trigger Weiss. Of course, it was far, far worse than what she was describing right now, but she just wasn’t sure how much Weiss could handle. They were still essentially strangers, so it was hard to know how much she could and shouldsay. Weiss’ frown deepened. “Jacques… As in Jacques Gelé?” Her voice was quiet and shook. Blake could feelher soul churning and it wasn’t hard to guess this was most likely a trigger. But Weiss had asked a legitimate question that Blake felt needed an answer. She nodded. “Yes.” She swallowed, hoping that it wouldn’t trigger Weiss too badly. It was just a simple ‘yes.’ “He’s rotting away in a jail cell for the rest of his life. He won’t hurt anybody again.” Whatever Gelé had done to this Weiss, it was bad. Weiss’ soul was going haywire right now and she was pretty sure just the idea of Jacques existing in this world was triggering to her. “He’s in a maximum-security prison. He won’t everbe able to get out. I promise.” Weiss covered her face and slumped in her chair. “T-That’s good…” Her voice was incrediblytiny and she visibly shook. “Weiss…can I have one of your hands?” Blake asked quietly and gently. She laid her hand on the table, an open invitation, but not one she had to take. Weiss peered between her fingers, then looked up at Blake, her entire body still shaking. “I won’t hurt you. I just have something that may help you calm down a bit. I know we’re still strangers, but would you be willing to trust me with this?” She could feel Weiss’ soul quivering and restricting. She was extremelyanxious about it. But, despite everything, Weiss tentatively put her hand in Blake’s. Blake smiled and let her aura reach out. It covered Weiss gently like a warm blanket. Weiss inhaled sharply. “W-What is this? I’ve never felt anything like it before… It’s not affecting me…but it’s so warm and gentle…” “It’s my aura, my soul itself. I’m what’s called an advanced aura user… I can do a lot of things with my soul most people can’t. This is one of those things. I can’t change your mood, but I can offer you calm.” She smiled at Weiss warmly. Yeah, she hoped this would help Weiss calm down. “Also, do you think you can sync your breathing with mine? Just follow my count. One. Two. Three. Four.” She counted slowly, gently, and easily, trying to get Weiss to focus on her breathing. Weiss’ soul was still going haywire, but she could tell Weiss was doing her best to focus and follow her breaths. Weiss’ breaths were shallow, as if she wasn’t used to actuallybreathing anymore… It hurt to see, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. And she didn’t want to trigger Weiss worse by bringing her attention to it. For now, she’d take what she could get. This went on until Blake’s ears twitched and she turned her head toward the door. She could hear very heavy pawsteps padding up. In the dim light of the city, she could see a teenage girl with a massivedoglike figure and another, shorter, figure with a bulbous head. The window prevented her from being able to sense aura sparks, but as the figures passed into the light from the overhead lights on the café, she could see Summer. “Oh, they’re here. Will you be okay for a moment, Weiss?” Weiss nodded. “I will.” Blake squeezed Weiss’ hand and got up, opening the door and beckoning Summer in. “Come on in, Summer.” The girl nodded and came inside with her two companions. Now that Blake could get a better look in the light, the large, doglike creature had fiery red fur, black stripes like a tiger, and a cream mane and tail. The other figure was humanlike, but very spindly and thin limbs, the arms being green along with what looked like hair, though it looked like it wore a white coat. The creature placed its hands over its chest, looking very alarmed at Summer. “I thought I wasn’t wrong; I was right that Blake had been through a lot too, huh?” Silence. “Well, you’re not here for her; you’re here for the white-haired one.” Silence. “I’ll be all right.” “Erm, pardon, but are you all right, Summer? You’re talking to yourself,” Blake pointed out. What was going on? Summer was talking to herself. But it seemed like she was having an intelligent conversation with…something. The white-and-green figure looked at Blake and tilted its head to the side. Oh, forgive me… I forgot to let you in.A soft, light, feminine voice sounded in Blake’s head and Weiss fell out of her chair quite literally. “What…? Telepathy?” Blake asked. Summer nodded. “This is Althea, the Gardevoir, and Inferro, the Arcanine.” The dog-like creature put one foot forward and bowed its head. Blake blinked. She knew aura breeds were capable of such things; she had taught crows and ravens in the White Fang to read mapsfor intelligence purposes. But to see such intelligence from another world’s creatures was definitely a bit on the shocking side. She wasn’t prepared for it. She went over to Weiss, the shocked technomancer obviously a little bit dazed from her fall. “C’mon Weiss, let’s get you sitting again.” She helped Weiss back into her chair and used her aura to snap Weiss’ attention back into place. Weiss looked at her, startled. “What was that?” “I…can manipulate other people’s souls minorly. I wasn’t trained in it deeply before I split with my parents, but I learned that much at least. For now, though…” She motioned to the two Pokémon. “Did you hear their names?” “I heardthem but I didn’t retain it.” “Althea the Gardevoir and Inferro the Arcanine.” Blake motioned to each in turn. “So what do they do…?” Weiss asked. “Want some herbal tea?” Blake asked. “We might be here a little while.” “Probably not a bad idea,” Summer said. “I’ll leave it up to you.” Blake nodded and picked up Weiss’ now-empty mug and put it on the tray to be sanitised. She’d have to do it tomorrow, though, as she’d already run the sanitiser for the day. She whipped up four mugs of a lovely hibiscus-based tea and headed back to the table. Althea looked around, anxiety running through her soul. “It’s all right, Althea; I’m not going to hurt you. Yes, we’re from a different world entirely, but it doesn’t mean we’re violent.” Althea sat down and took one of the mugs, looking down at it in her hands. Your minds say otherwise. I sense deep violence in both of your pasts. Blake sighed heavily. “You’re right about that, but the key word in that sentence is ‘past.’ I’m not a violent person anymore. I wanted to get away from the violence because I didn’t agree with it anymore.” She wrapped her hands around her mug and sighed. “To put my story simply… I wasa radical terrorist, but do I seem that old to you?” Althea shook her head. No… You don’t seem much older than Summer. “I’m only eighteen. Can you see where this is heading?” You were a child. Blake nodded. “Bingo. I was groomed and manipulated by a man eight years my senior. There’s more to my story…but I don’t like talking about it openly.” She glanced at Weiss, worried about how the traumatised technomancer would take the fact she was being housed by a former radical terrorist. Her soul was extremely quiet and contemplative. She didn’t look up whatsoever. She was just taking the conversation in. “I met him at ten. I was thirteenwhen I left my parents.” Althea frowned. I see… That…does put it into perspective. “I won’t lie and say I’m blameless. I’m not. I still killed innocent people: men, women, children… It didn’t matter. As long as he deemed them an enemy, I was to kill them. There was a lot more I did, but yeah… I’m not blameless by any means, but with that context…do my actions make more sense?” She was speaking to both Althea and Weiss at this point. She wasn’t paying much attention to Summer as the Ranger’s opinion didn’t matter to her much right now. Althea would be staying with them and Weiss was living with her and employed by her. She was farmore concerned about her current roommate's opinion and the potential service Pokémon they would be taking on. Althea nodded, though Blake still sensed uneasiness in her soul. What exactly are you doing with my soul right now too? It goes deeper than the mind. Blake winced a little. “Ah, you can sense that?” “Just like I can,” Summer piped up. Blake sighed. “Right… You’re an empath. What about Althea?” “Well, I told you earlier that Gardevoir are incredibly sensitive to emotions which is one reason they make good psychiatric service Pokémon. If you remember what I told you about Psychic types…” Blake nodded. “Yeah. It’s just…different seeing it in person, rather than hearing about it. “Entirely fair. But yeah, Gardevoir are verysensitive to people’s moods and thoughts. It’s why I chose her.” Althea’s gaze remained on her mug, her grip tight. That doesn’t explain her violence.She looked at Weiss. Weiss sighed heavily. “I was in a war. I was conscripted. I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to participate or not. So yes, I’ve killed people and I’ve been literally tortured.I escaped not that long ago.” Her voice was quiet and shook a bit, her body trembling as well. Blake reached over and offered her hand to Weiss, not touching her, but offering support in whatever way she could. She didn’t just want to leave Weiss alone like this… They were in this together now and she wasn’t about to just let Weiss suffer. Weiss placed her hand in Blake’s and she could feel the tremor going through her body. Althea shook her head. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to trigger you… It’s just hard when you sense such deep violence in a person’s mind. “For context, there’s nobody in living memory that’s been through any sort of formal war,” Summer explained. “There’s Orre which is more or less a constant warzone, but that’s different from two regions going to war, or a civil war. There have been some really nasty evil teams attempting to harm regions in various ways, but it’s not a war.There are criminals and everything, but still…” Weiss nodded. “That’s…understandable then. You just want to be certain you aren’t aiding and abetting somebody with awful motivations, right?” Althea looked up and nodded a bit. Yes. That’s it exactly. She frowned. You’ve been through torture but you can still exercise kindness? Weiss nodded, though she continued to shake faintly. Blake squeezed her hand. “Not everyone is a torturer… It’s Gelé’s men that did this to me, not most other humans. The ‘mancers that were conscripted were generally veryreluctant to do anything.” ‘Mancers? “ ‘mancy is what we call magic on Selia, my world. There are a lot of difference branches, but…we have strict ethics systems that we learn to adhere to from our youngest years. Times of war calls for abandoning certain portions of our ethics systems which…for us, is deeply traumatic… We have these ethics systems deeplyingrained into us from our youngest years. So to abandon them… Add that, on top of the war and torture…” Weiss looked down, her shaking growing more pronounced. You don’t have to speak more. I understand now. Blake looked over at Inferro. “So what about…Inferro? What task training does it have?” “Oh, he’s a male. He’s for mobility assistance. They can help someone walk long distances by riding them, brace work, and other things,” Summer explained. “I looked into a service dog at one point, but it said brace work was unethical for service dogs because it puts too much pressure on their joints…” Blake said. She had been in sucha bad place when she’d gotten out of the Fang. She was terrified of dogs, but she thought about it. It had been several years since then, though, and through talking with Tukson and Sienna, she’d gotten into a much better place. Adam was still out there, laying in wait to find her, but for now… “How big are we talking?” Blake made a motion for what a medium-sized breed like a lab would be. “Uh, did you notice how big Inferro is? Arcanine have historically been used by messengers to cross vast distances in the regions they’re a part of. They can veryeasily carry a person.” “…Entirely fair. I guess trying to put one world’s morals and ethics on another world’s isn’t really proper. I was just worried that it might hurt him.” Summer shook her head. “Not at all. Growlithe are used only to help guide people and help with momentum, but Arcanine can easily carry a person as well as several hundred pounds of supplies. They aren’t really used for long-distance travel anymore because mass transit and cars have replaced using Pokémon for such tasks. But they can definitely comfortably carry a person. From what I learned, some service Growlithe are allowed to grow fully from pups before being evolved for such mobility assistance.” “Speaking of…howdidyou get these two? The Almia laws looked pretty stringent.” Summer shrugged. “Erma pulled out her influence and talked to a service Pokémon agency. I’m known around the region for my weird shit. She had me explain the situation. Of course, the people were beyond perplexed by me talking about an off-worlder like this, but they relented and bypassed normal regulations. Plus…it helps that I’m an empath and can feel emotions.” She glanced at Weiss. “I could tell you were in a really bad way mentally and emotionally. And physically… You’re mostly covered up, but your clothes look too big and your face is reallygaunt.” Weiss looked down. “They barely gave me anything to eat.” Summer nodded. “I can tell. These two were waiting for placement. Pokémon live a reallylong time, some a hundred years or more. Inferro is still young for an Arcanine, about twenty years, and Althea is only about fifteen. They still have plenty of life in them to give. Althea’s former placement no longer needed her services, and Inferro’s handler died a few months ago.” Blake frowned. “So an agency can just own creatures that are as smart as if not smarter than people? If they’re with people for a decade or more, don’t they bond with the person and the family? What are the ethics of all of this?” She couldn’t help but question all of the logistics a little bit. It felt like it was cruelto just shuffle such intelligent creatures around. Althea clearly had her reservations and was a little anxious. Inferro was just keeping an eye on things for right now. She could sense he had a calm demeanor despite apparently having lost his handler only a few months ago. “I’m not getting into the law around Pokémon and all that. But the thing is, this is ethical. Yes, Pokémon absolutely do bond with their people. Hell, I’m not sure what I’d do without Luno. But the thing with service Pokémon is that they can choose to wash if their handler no longer needs their assistance or they die. Some literally cannot continue on with working after being separated from their handler, so they stay within the family as a companion. But Althea and Inferro choseto go back to the agency and to go back to work. Inferro, you’ve had time to mourn, right?” The Arcanine lifted his head off his paws and nodded. “Althea, you can speak for yourself.” The Gardevoir shifted a bit. I was a service Pokémon for a Ranger that stopped work about thirteen years ago. I was born as a Ralts to a Gardevoir and Gallade and trained for the first two years of my life to be a service Pokémon. The Ranger had a lot of trauma, but the main service I provide is nightmare assistance and emotional regulation. After so many years of therapy, the former Ranger’s nightmares stopped and he managed to regulate his emotions fairly well. His PTSD isn’t ‘cured’ but he felt like he didn’t need my assistance anymore. I had the choice to go back to work or stay with him. I honestly wouldn’t feel fulfilled without my work. Yes, leaving the person I’ve served for over a decade hurt, but he’s living his best life now. I have desires and wishes just like all of you do. One of my main wishes is to help people to the best of my ability. And I can’t offer service if I stay with somebody that no longer needs my help… Blake nodded. “I see… Though, how do you manage nightmares?” How could a creature like this manage something that was mental and emotional? There was so much she didn’t understand about Pokémon. There are two attacks I can learn called Hypnosis and Dream Eater. Hypnosis puts the target to sleep and Dream Eater is what it sounds like: it allows me to take away dreams that a target is having. Though, I will admit, nightmares aren’t pleasant to take away. Althea made a face. But it’s the main service I offer. But because I have to offer my services during the night, I sleep during the day. Will that cause you any issues? Blake looked at Weiss. “What do you think?” Weiss shook her head. “It shouldn’t. Not unless I take a nap… Which is very possible with how easily tired I can get.” If that happens, you can always wake me up. My former handler would take naps so I’m used to it. It’s no trouble at all. Weiss frowned. “Are you certain? I hate when people wake me up when I take naps, and interrupt the sleep I’m catching up on…” Althea managed a thin smile. I’m used to it. The tasks I learned to deal with mostly are what I outlined. I’m used to my sleep being interrupted. Plus, it’s not like it’ll happen everyday, right? Weiss looked down. “There’s no promise. I’m supposed to be taking orders and working the register.” She glanced at the register. Althea glanced at Blake and her ears went down. “I don’t even need my advanced aura to guess what you’re thinking. I’m not forcingWeiss to work. She agreed to it. I manned the café pretty much by myself today after she needed rest. She told me she needed to rest, so I let her. Isn’t that right, Weiss?” Weiss nodded. “She isn’t forcing me; I promise. You can see the honesty of our thoughts, right?” She glanced at Summer. “What about our emotions?” Summer looked at Althea and nodded as well. “They’re being honest, Althea. There’s no deception here. Plus, Weiss was resting when Kate, Sol, and I came in. There’s nothing being forced here. Blake was even reluctantto wake Weiss up. It was when I got on the topic of Psychic types that Blake woke Weiss up to ask about the idea of having service Pokémon.” My apologies for assuming, then… I just can’t help but worry. Blake’s ears remained down. “I would never force people to do something they don’t want to… Am I paying Weiss right now? No. But that’s what she agreed to. I have two others helping me out with the café in the back in the kitchen. Weiss can’t really get out and do any shopping right now. I’m helping her recover right now. But the other two, I’m paying them. When Weiss gets to the point she can go out on her own, then I will pay her. But, right now, I’m covering her food and housing costs.” She was reminded far too much of what Adam had forced her to do. She had essentially been his sex slave. She’d been forced to do awfulthings that she really didn’t want to talk about. She felt her body tensing and her hands clamped around her mug along with her ears against her head. “Woah, woah, calm down, Blake… It’s all right; nobody’s gonna hurt you here,” Summer said. “Can you try to follow my breathing? One, two, three, four.” Blake forced herself into Summer’s rhythm, willing her mind and body to relax as best as she could. She managed to calm down after a while and shook her head. “Yeah, forcing people to do something isn’t in my vocabulary anymore,” Blake said, though her voice was quiet and shook. She’d been forced into silence far, fartoo much by Adam and that conditioning could still kick in if she got triggered enough. I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to trigger you. Will you be able to sleep tonight? “Remnant has nightmare-blocking medication that I take. I’ve been on it for a few years. I’ll be fine.” Althea nodded a little bit, though her gaze remained on her empty mug. All right. “I have been using that sort of medication, but I was only given a little bit… I’m not sure if Anna was relying on this or not,” Weiss said. Althea looked up. Well, after the medication runs out, I can help you since that is my main task. Weiss nodded. “All right.” “Is everything worked out then?” Summer asked. I think so. “Actually, what about food?” Blake asked, her ears twitching. “I need to be able to feed them.” Summer blinked, obviously not having thought about that. “Well, Althea’s pretty accustomed to human food and eating meals with her people. Inferro, what’s your story?” The Arcanine made a myriad of noises that were obviously just parts of its name, but there was still intelligence behind it. Blake stared quizzically. Summer…could understand that? Summer looked at Blake. “He’s used to off-the-shelf Pokémon diet, so it’s nothing crazy. Though…I didn’t bring any food with me.” Blake sighed. “And I don’t want to use the money Anna supplied for me to go get stuff… That, and I have a feeling thesewould cause some uproar.” She looked up at her ears which she twitched. “Well, for tonight, I can go grab some for you, if you’re willing to let me have Inferro for a bit. It’s only a bit until eight and most grocery stores close at ten. Other than that, you’ll probably need to have Althea go get it for you,” Summer said. “It’s not unusual to see certain Pokémon going shopping for their people. Though, to not attract attention, you should probably have her pick some other things up.” “Oh, wait… Anna.” Blake facepalmed. She could probably rely on Anna to get her Pokémon food without any fuss. She had gotten so transfixed on the idea of having to get food from the world where the Pokémon came from. She hoped a lot of other people would make the same mistake. She wasn’t used to this world hopping things yet. She was used to having solutions based in the world of origin. “…Yeah, that would do it, then. But I’ll still go get some stuff for you tonight if you want. Sorry I didn’t think to bring anything. That was my bad.” Summer shook her head. “C’mon then, Inferro.” The Arcanine nodded and stood up, heading out the door with Summer. Summer mounted, then the Arcanine seemed to practically disappear from view. Weiss let out a heavy sigh. “This was exhausting.” “Do you want to go back upstairs?” Blake asked. Weiss nodded. “I would, yes…” She looked at Althea. “How long do you think we have?” Maybe 15-20 minutes? “That’ll be more than enough time to help you get upstairs,” Blake said. I…can offer mobility assistance in an unorthodox way, though I’m not really trained for the task. I can probably do it, though. Both Weiss and Blake blinked, then looked at each other. I’m a Psychic type, so I can lift things off the ground. Weiss frowned. “I’m not sure how well I’d take having my feet off the ground…” That…is fair. Well, it was an offer. Weiss nodded. “I appreciate it, but I’d rather stay grounded.” Althea nodded and Blake rounded up the now-empty mugs, putting them where they’d need to go into the sanitiser tomorrow. She’d need to wake up early to put everything away as usual, so she’d have to put the mugs in after she put the currently used ones in the sanitiser tomorrow. She just did not want to deal with it tonight. She had already cut into her normal relaxation time pretty severely. She went to bed between nine and ten to be up bright and early at 430 in the morning to take care of everything. She just… Ugh. All of this was nasty. “C’mon, Weiss.” She walked over to Weiss and helped her upstairs to her room. She’d already had all the lights turned on, so she didn’t have to worry about Weiss freaking out about the dark. Althea followed, though from how Blake’s ears caught things, she more floated than walked. It was very strange, but Pokémon were something she wasn’t very familiar with. She headed back downstairs after helping Weiss up, definitely getting her steps in for the day this time. But with Inferro to help, she wouldn’t need to do that much longer. Of course, she was more than willing to help Weiss whenever she needed it, but it was still a lotof effort. She took care of some menial tasks until she saw Inferro and Summer return. The Ranger walked in with a big bag of food as well as a paper bag that was full of…something. She put the two on counter. “Don’t worry too much about paying me back. I don’t mind helping out tonight because I wasthe one that suggested all of this.” Blake nodded. “Well, thank you anyway. What’s in the paper bag?” She peered over the top of it. “Fruit?” “Berries. There are a lot of different types in our world. They’re a good treat for the Pokémon. Though be careful, some are reallyspicy and it’s not always highly apparent which one. I’d suggest asking Althea for help with identification.” Blake nodded. “All right then. Are they people grade? Can I eat them too? They look rather large.” Summer nodded. “Yup. I persisted off ‘em while I lived in the forest for six months. …Long story I’d rather not get into.” “Fair. Well, thanks again.” “No problem. See ya again some time.” Summer waved and left the café, leaving Blake alone with Inferro. The Arcanine stood outside the doorway awkwardly. She picked up the paper bag and big bag of what looked like kibble, then offered him the bag of kibble. “Do you think you can hold this while I lock up?” He nodded and took the bag in his mouth gently. Blake locked up and started up the stairs. “C’mon.” He padded up behind her but he was able to get through the doorway easily. Six feet was the median height for men on Remnant at this point, so doorways and ceilings had steadily grown taller over time. He was definitely a very tall boy. She had him place the bag in the kitchen and she placed the bag of berries on the counter above it. She could see Althea sitting on the couch, looking a bit bored. “Hey, Althea, if you want something to occupy you at night… Do you know how to read?” The Gardevoir looked over and nodded. Blake went over to what looked like a large, closed cabinet, but it was filled with books. “These are all books from Remnant. They’ll probably help you understand the cultures of the kingdoms more. We won’t be spending a ton of time on Remnant, but still… I figured you’d like to have something to keep you busy. And if you finish all of these, I have more in my room. My caretaker, Tukson, also owns a secondhand bookstore where I can easily get more.” Althea blinked. Well… Thank you. Though I don’t see a TV anywhere around here… I’m pretty used to watching that. “I don’t watch TV. I didn’t grow up with and don’t see much reason to get one. But Weiss has one in her room since that’s where you’ll be staying after her nightmare blockers run out.” All right then. Thank you. Though…won’t it bother Weiss to have a TV on? It’s a lot of noise and light. Blake sighed, her ears drooping a bit. “Honestly, pure blackness and silence bother her. I wouldn’t be surprised if she got her TV for the light and noise.” At this point, she wasn’t disclosing Weiss’ symptoms and triggers to a stranger; Althea was there to helpWeiss, so she saw no reason not to disclose. I see. But until those nightmare blockers run out, I won’t be of much use… “Weiss doesn’t like to be alone either. So you can stay with her in her room if you’d like to. You can take as many books as you want, assuming you can ignore the noise from the TV. I mean I’m not 100% sure that’s why she got it, but that’s my guess.” I’ll see what you have. “All right.” Blake went to Weiss’ room, the sound of the TV getting louder as she approached. “Weiss, it’s me, Blake. Can you open the door?” She wasn’t about to forget the fact that Weiss was triggered by knocking. The door opened and Weiss peered out through a crack. “What is it?” “Are you planning on sleeping with the TV on?” Weiss nodded. “It’s the easiest way to get consistent noise and not have to keep the overhead light on.” “Is this about as loud as you’re planning on keeping it? I’m just asking because, if it’s too loud, Iwon’t be able to sleep.” She kept her tone soft and gentle, not wanting to upset Weiss or make her feel like she was being accused of anything. It was just a fact that the noise would keep Blake up if it was too loud. “Oh, um… I didn’t think about that. I’m sorry. Do I need to turn it off?” Blake shook her head. “No. You can probably turn it up a littlebit more before I won’t be able to sleep. If this is the level you want it at, this feels like a good balance. I also told Althea about the darkness and silence triggers… Hopefully you don’t mind.” Weiss sighed. “I get it…Could you go tell her about the knocking trigger?” “Yeah, sure.” Blake went to the living room again where Althea had several books floating around her and was obviously deciding on what to read. “Althea, there is one more thing… Don’tknock on Weiss’ door.” The Gardevoir tilted her head. Why? It’s the polite way of approaching a closed door. “It triggers her. She can explain why. She just told me to tell you. I know you can use telepathy but can you speak at all?” She wasn’t entirely clear on if the Gardevoir could speak at all or not. In some regards, it would make sense evolutionarily if Psychic types didn’t need to make noise. Telepathy would allow them to keep silent and not be tracked down by predators. Granted, she wasn’t certain about the food chain in the Pokémon… Was there a food chain? Honestly, she might have to ask Summer for some books to read on Pokémon. She just had zeroidea how the world worked. “Garde.” Well that answered that question. “You can speak up to Weiss, then. I wouldn’t suggest using telepathy because it might cause her to take a tumble. I had that happen not that long ago.” Althea nodded. All right then. I’ll go to her room once I’ve picked my books. “Don’t be afraid to rummage through the kitchen if you get hungry as well. Summer bought some berries as well. Feel free to take anything you want, all right?” Thank you. “Just try to not be too loud because these things will pick up on any noise you make.” She looked up at her ears which twitched. “They’re just as sensitive as you’d think. I’ve learned to deal with a lot of sound, but banging and clanging will definitely keep me up.” I’ll keep it in mind.Althea smiled. The conversation seemed to be winding down, so Blake left Althea to her own devices and headed to her room. Thankfully, she didn’t share a wall with Weiss, so she didn’t have to worry about the TV being right next to her. She could still hear it faintly, but it sounded more like nature documentaries than anything else. The narrator’s voice was soft and soothing, definitely what someone would need to fall asleep. She changed into her pajamas, took her medication, then turned off the light and curled up in bed. What a weird day…