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Snippet #2694968

located in Kanto Region, a part of Pokémon: Absolution, one of the many universes on RPG.

Kanto Region

None

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Cyrilla Niav Character Portrait: Anastasia Asher
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“So… what’s your favorite color, Cyrilla? I get a lot of hand-me-downs from relatives; I have one of about every color of yukata you could think of.” To prove it, Ana pulled open her closet, where she’d moved all of them to the front. She didn’t really ask for or even want all the clothes that tended to get passed to her, but… it made her relatives feel nice to give them to her, and she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of gifts. At least not the nice ones like this.

Maybe if she dressed a little more nicely, her aunts and cousins wouldn’t think she needed quite so much help with her wardrobe? Something to consider later, maybe. The two of them were in Anastasia’s bedroom. It wasn’t anything fancy—just a bed and a dresser, with a single end table on the side not against the wall and a homemade blue quilt, plus a reading chair.

Cyrilla seemed to contemplate the question as a soft 'hmm' escaped her. She pursed her lips together, her brows furrowing in thought. She was really thinking about the question. "Well, I've always liked red," she began, however; she seemed a little hesitant about the color. "But I'm not entirely sure if I should wear red. It's... I think I might kind of drown in the color," she continued, laughing nervously. She sighed a little dejectedly, though, and chewed on her lip slightly.

"But red is still such a pretty color," she stated, sounding a little torn. Something seemed to click for her though, since her face lit up somewhat. "Oh, do you have one in red with gold trimmings?" she asked, seeming a little excited about it.

Ana was of half a mind to point out that it didn’t really matter whether she would ‘drown’ in the color as long as she wanted to wear it, but the second question precluded that. Humming slightly, she turned towards the closet, carefully moving various yukata aside until she reached the section for reds and pinks. There were a couple ones that were mostly red and white, but it looked like she only had one that included gold.

Yukata were very simple compared to other types of traditional Kanto garb, and the patterns tended to be a bit simpler or bolder—more fun. This one was mostly red, but patterned on the sleeves with golden-yellow outlines of diamonds, and the lower hem had more of the same, stacked together in a simple, but nice visual effect. The obi that went with it was gold and purple, with a white tie.

“How about this one? If that’s too plain, there was a red and white one with a swanna pattern…” She grabbed that one too and held both up in front of her. She thought both of them would probably fit; her aunts and cousins ran a gamut of sizes, and Ana only bothered to alter the things they sent her if she was actually going to use them.

"They're both so pretty, I couldn't just choose one," she spoke, glancing at the two yukata that Ana held. "But... I think I like this one a little more," she spoke, reaching for the red one with the gold diamonds. She pulled it a ways from Ana, though she didn't fully remove it from her hold. Instead, she seemed to trace the fabric and the patterns on the bottom, before a bright smile bloomed on her face.

"This one it is!" she seemed sure on it, and released her hold on it. "What about you, Ana, what are you going to wear?" she spoke, slightly curious, it seemed, as to which one Ana was choosing.

“I’m not very good with this sort of thing,” Ana admitted. Most of the time, these and the other nice clothes she had sat in the back of her closet. Occasionally she’d wear a sundress or something—those were easy and most of them were in plain colors that she thought looked… fine? She really didn’t have any sense for clothes though—when she wasn’t wearing heavy cargo pants and work shirts, she was wandering around her house in gym shorts and overlarge t-shirts that used to be Edgar’s.

She frowned at the array of colors and patterns on display, putting her hands on her hips and trying to figure out if there was any difference between wearing a green one and wearing a yellow one, or whatever other color. “Maybe you can help me pick one? I can tie an obi, but… probably not even on myself.” She’d never actually done this before, come to think of it. Gone to a festival in a yukata. Or with friends. It seemed more important to do it right this time, perhaps.

The smile that had been on her face seemed to morph a bit, turning into something more mischievous, like a meowth's. Or maybe a zorua's. "Well, if you don't mind me shifting through your closet, you need something that will compliment with Ryk's. You two should match, at least," she spoke, making her way towards the closet. She almost seemed to disappear in it, moving one yukata over to another. "Ah ha!" she spoke, a little enthusiastically, as she pulled out a yukata.

It was a deep purple, almost black in color, however; there were pale pink peony outlines scattered on it. The tie and obi were almost an identical color to the one that went with Cyrilla's yukata, however; the purple was a little more plum in color. "Eryk is going to wear something similar to these colors, and I think it'll look nice," she finally spoke, the smile never quite leaving her face. "Plus, the darker colors will help you stand out a bit. Your pink hair will contrast nicely with this, and it'll help brighten your eyes. Who says dark colors have to be so gloomy!?" she stated a little too excitedly.

Ana blinked several times, not sure she quite caught all of that. “Um… okay? But, if I can ask, why do I have to match Eryk?” She paused, realized how that might sound, and backpedaled. “N-not that I care either way, and I do like the one you picked, I’m just not sure of the reason?” It came out more like a question than a statement like she’d meant it to be, but that was probably all right.

"Because in a way, we'll all be matching," was the only reason she gave, though she seemed a little unsure of that one.

The purple was nice, though, and the peonies reminded her of the ones out in the garden, so there was something to be said for that. “Oh.” Suddenly remembering something, Ana ducked into her closet and bent over, sorting through a few of the boxes on the floor before emerging with a wooden one. It was very old and worn; the flowers painted into the top had faded with time. Sliding the lid off, she set the whole thing down on her bed.

Inside were a wide variety of jewelry pieces, from bangles to hair ornaments to earrings. “Most of these belonged to my aunt. Erm… the one who raised me, in Lavender Town.” It wasn’t like “my aunt” was very specific in her case, and calling her “Aunt Joy” helped even less. “I’ve never really had any use for them, but there might be something in here to match either yukata?”

"Oh, you're right, we can't leave those out. Oh wow," she stated, glancing into the box of ornaments and jewelry. She seemed thoroughly impressed by the assortment, and stared a little intently into the box. "Well," she began, her smile softening just a fraction as she pulled her fingers through her hair. "My hair might be a little short, now, for such things. But yours, yours is still long to do something with," she continued, glancing towards Ana.

"I think," she started again, rumaging through the box before pulling out a pin, "this will do just fine," she continued. It was a deep blue comb rather than a pin, and it seemed to match the yukata. It was a peony as well. "If we can pull your hair up in some ways, this will be really pretty."

Ana hummed thoughtfully and tugged the tie out of her ponytail. Her hair fell unimpeded to the backs of her thighs. She usually didn’t bother to do anything with it; the reason she kept it long was sentimental rather than aesthetic. “If you can figure out what to do with this, I should be able to work something out for yours,” she assured Cyrilla, already picking carefully through the box for a few specific things she remembered.

“There’s a brush in the first drawer in the bathroom if that helps.” She tugged on part of her own hair with a sheepish smile; she did tend to pick up a few tangles with the daily work of running the shelter.

Cyrilla went to find the brush, and immediately, was back by Ana's side. "Trust me, I can find something to do with it. Remember? Mine was as long as yours not too long ago. How do you think I managed?" she stated with a light grin on her face. She made her way back towards Ana, and began brushing her hair. It was soft strokes at first, and then she began tugging and pulling at Ana's hair. It wasn't harsh or anything, but the way it was being pulled signaled that Cyrilla was already styling it.

It was so strange, being actually touched by another person. Though she occasionally got a hug from her aunt in Cinnabar, and touched pokémon quite regularly, there was something about honest human touch that was so unusual to her now. Not having it didn’t bother her exactly—Ana had been fragile-looking enough that even her own parents were hesitant to treat her like any other child, and then… well, they’d been gone and she’d been among strangers. Rare as it was, she found that she enjoyed it; just something simple and ordinary that friends might do. She patiently kept herself still while the other woman worked her hair into something passable.

It was at least twenty minutes before Cyrilla hummed to herself in satisfaction. "There, how does that look?" she asked, moving a mirror in front of Ana. Cyrilla had left her bangs alone, leaving them pulled forward instead, and a single braid could be seen on the right side of Ana's head. It was woven into a bun and held in place by the comb. There were a few strands, however, that fell loose from the bun, and were slightly curled. She'd managed to pull most of it up so that the loose strands were still resting against Ana's back, but were not quite so long to her knees.

“Oh,” Ana replied softly, smiling slightly into the mirror. “I didn’t know my hair could do something like this. Thank you, Cyrilla; it’s really nice.” Nicer even than the result was the fact that someone had been willing to do it for her—Ana resolved to repay the favor, holding her hand out for the brush and swapping places with Cyrilla.

Her Aunt had always had short hair; Ana had seen her do lots of different nice things with it. She wasn’t sure she could do anything too complicated, but she could try anyway. “Your hair’s so soft,” she said, brushing her fingers through it to separate it into pieces. “And the color’s just… well, it’s really pretty.” White hair was something Ana had only heard of until she met Cyrilla. She wondered if it ran anywhere in her family or if it was simply one of those strange things that happened with genes.

A funny thought occurred to her. “You’re like the human version of a shiny pokémon,” she said, smiling a little more brightly.

"A... human version of a shiny pokémon?" she almost questioned it, however; a soft snort escaped Cyrilla before she started laughing. She was trying to stay in place, or so it seemed, because her shoulders were shaking just lightly. "That's the first time someone's ever said that to me," she spoke once she managed to get her laughter under control. She sighed once she caught her breath and returned to her previous position on the chair.

"Well, I suppose that would be partially true. It's all in the genes," she managed to say. She sighed softly, though, the sound a little content. "I guess you could say I'm the black mareep of the family. Everyone in my family has, or had, dark hair. I was the only one born with this color so you could imagine a bit of disappointment to my parents. We, my family is known for being renowned for being stealthy and a child with hair as white as mine wouldn't be able to pull that off," she spoke, the smile disappearing from her voice. It wasn't as melancholic as she made it sound, though. It was more that she was just stating a fact, and that she was okay with it.

"I proved them wrong, though. I... learned how to use my shame to my advantage, so I've never regretted having this shade. Plus," she paused momentarily before shaking her head. "Plus I like it, and Ryk says he liked it. I only need my approval, and his, right?" she stated, a small nod to go with it. "Though, I wish I had inherited my mom's hair color. It was such a pretty dark green," she spoke with a hint of admiration.

“I can understand being the black mareep,” Ana agreed with a sigh. Having separated Cyrilla’s hair like she wanted it, she started to weave the strands together against her head. “But I also inherited my family’s traits. It can be sort of… disconcerting, to be one of a bunch of people that all look really alike. I used to wish I didn’t; people would assume a lot of things about me just because I looked like all the other Joys. Maybe my parents knew I’d feel like that and that’s why they made Joy my middle name instead of the first… I don’t really know.”

She fitted a tie onto the end of Cyrilla’s new Kalosian braid and mirrored it on the other side. In the end, what she had were two braids against her head that trailed into very short, low pigtails. Ana had debated putting ribbons on them, but it wouldn’t really go with the Yukata. Instead, she drew out one of her aunt’s nicer hair ornaments—a pin with a cluster of delicate metal flowers on the end. They were gold, just like the diamond shapes on the yukata, so that probably matched, right?

Ana pinned it just behind Cy’s left ear, threading it into the braid for extra security. “There you go—your hair is short, but it can still be pretty, right?” She held up the mirror for Cy to take a look. Ana had left her bangs were they were, but the rest was nearly pulled into the braids. The ends of the pigtails didn’t quite reach her shoulders, but that effect was cute, she thought.

Cyrilla smiled a little too brightly as she glanced at work Ana did. "I like it, I really do," she stated, standing up from her spot and turning around. She stared at Ana for a second, a moment of hesitation and reluctance flashing across her face. She then closed the small distance between them, and hugged Ana. "Thank you, Ana," she spoke, keeping her face burried in Ana's shoulder. Even though they were roughly the same height, she had lowered her head there.

"You really are a good friend."

It took Ana a couple of seconds to get over her initial surprise at the gesture, but once she did, she looped her arms around Cyrilla’s back, returning the hug. It was nice, she decided, to be able to do little things like this. “You’re welcome, Cy, and thank you, too.” She squeezed briefly before releasing Cyrilla and stepping back.

“Should we see if we can get these yukata figured out?”