Opal & Topaz

S1 Ep2: Spark's Sweets

Waking up, he noticed the weight had moved off his chest, migrating instead to his stomach. Not that it mattered all too much, as he was stilled pinned down either way.

Hank pushed himself into a sitting position as best he could, managing to slide their full weight onto his lap instead. Sparks was laid on their side, taking up the entire horizontal bed space, and still being long enough for their tail and one of their back legs to droop off the side. Their mane was a mess, which came as no surprise, though he found it amusing to see it like that, seeing as they seemed to be obsessed with making it neat.

With the side of his hand, he slowly stroked their fur in an attempt to gently wake them up, tracing along the scar which ran down their side. Still, its origins remained a mystery to him, though he assumed it might've just been one of their litter-mates being too rough when they were a shinx. The thought brought him back to a time when he took care of them as a shinx. Both he and them were much smaller, and a lot cuddlier. Part of him wanted to go back to that time.

Sparks yawned, for a moment displaying their teeth in all their glory. Hank found it fascinating how they could go from decently cuddly to terrifying in seconds flat, all from baring those same teeth. Their eyes fluttered open for a second as they looked around, before they flopped their head back down into the blankets, which had been twisted every other way from how they'd slept.

"C'mon. It's Friday, you can sleep in tomorrow."
Hank sighed, reaching back to grab the stuffed Pokémon from behind him. Looking at it, he remembered the name which had been stuck at the back of his mind, as he'd been racking his brain trying to remember what it reminded him of. If anything, it was two things, as it looked like a strange mix of a Riolu and a Torracat.

The weight on his lap onto got heavier, as they cuddled closer again, groaning as they did so. Hank sighed, relenting as he knew what they wanted out of him.

"If you do this for me, I'll give you two pokepuffs at lunch."
Their ear perked up, though they still didn't move.

"...And they'll be fresh."
He finally gave in fully, seeing as they held the power here. Just like that, they were up and bounding off into the hallway, allowing Hank to finally have circulation back in his legs. For a moment, he just sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the doll as he realised how long it had been since he'd last paid it any attention. Though he quickly snapped out of it, following Sparks and putting the thing back in its rightful place on top of the shelf as he passed by.

Sparks was sitting by the front door, desperately trying to fix their mane, he imagined they'd be having a hard time, seeing as he could barely follow where any of it started or ended. He quickly ducked into the kitchen, while taking the tray out of the fridge he considered applying the icing here, though he quickly dumped it into a container so he could carry it. For once, he wanted to actually have something to do at the shop, other than waiting for customers.

After packing the containers of biscuits and icing into the shopping bag, he took it off the counter and made his way back to the door. Somehow, they'd fixed it, save for a few loose strands here and there, though their mane looked good as new. And clearly they knew it, as they sat, head held high with a proudness about their expression.

Hank scruffed the top of it as he walked by, opening the door and stepping outside into the cool air of dawn. He heard Sparks voicing their complaint with a quick growl, as they followed him outside, batting his leg with their paw as he'd stopped to admire the skyline. It was a pleasant orange, fading into a gold which disappeared behind the trees. The door creaked shut behind them, to which Hank descended the few steps to the porch and began the small hike through the trail.

While waking through the tree line to he main path, he could hear the sounds of shuffling branches and Pokémon cries as the forest started waking up around him. The main path was still dark, though the gentle dawn speckled golden light across it through the spaces in the branches, which moved with the quiet wind. He heard Sparks yawning beside him, to which a couple seconds later he was compelled to as well. The walk to town was a quiet, yet peaceful one.