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rhian realizes

it's cold —that's what she's counting on, after all— but she doesn't quite realize how cold until she spots the cubchoo. from the distance, she can't tell if it's dozing off or simply standing really, really quietly. what she can distinguish though are the little snowflakes forming around it, like a thin blanket of ice.

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subconsciously, she rubs her arms at the sight. her nightgown, despite covering her past her knees, doesn't prove to be effective protection from the wind. then again, that was exactly what she wanted, wasn't it? for the cold to take away all her unwanted feelings, if only for a moment. to help her forget.

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"aren't you cold down there?" she asks, but it's already too late. as if sensing some threat nearby, it runs away without giving rhian a second glance.

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she's left all alone.

again. she doesn't mean to let it, but the thought creeps into the deepest, best buried parts of her being. she blinks once. the second one turns into more of a grimace. rhian can feel a tightness in her throat until now unfamiliar to her. she has half the mind to call for her happiny's help, but that thought too is linked to the source of her problem.

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is it possible to feel numb and a chill at the same time?

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the lonely meowls of a stray cat somewhere down the street, or maybe even the park, barely register over the sound of her own beating heart. no— thumping would be a more accurate term.

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rhian knows. she knows she shouldn't resent aunt claire for putting her in this situation. however, she can't help but think that, no matter the conditions, she would be better off back home with her daddy. despite everything. so what if some evil syndicate of organized crime took over kanto? so what if daddy had started homeschooling after a confrontation he had with her teacher? so what if he sometimes drank a little too much?

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what if, what if. rhian tries to take a deep breath, to steel herself somehow and, honestly, kind of failing. she'd take anything over losing the only family she has left.

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it's a little hard to

tell if she's crying or if she's fallen asleep. every few seconds, her head bobs ever so slightly: the only indication that she's not a piece of inanimate furniture. actually, bundled up against the balcony's rail as she is, she looks more a pokémon than the actual pokémon about to interrupt her muffled sobbing.

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a change in the atmosphere of the place is what alerts her of something being off. gone was the numbing comfort of the chilly night, replaced by a feeling of heaviness, the air pressure rising up go uncomfortable levels.

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rhian looks up.

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a very pale version of a pikachu stands mere inches from her face. greeting her, watching her, studying her? more like scaring the hell out of her. behind it looms a huge shadow with two angry eyes. "eeek!" she whimpers and yelps and falls back on her ass —not necessarily in that order— at the sight, taken straight out of a horror movie.

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now, the most sensible course of action would be to crawl back inside the room and shut both doors behind her, but clearly we're not following a sensible teenager in her right mind at the moment. something stops her. something about the way it's hiding itself under a blanket both intrigues and terrifies her. it reminds her a little of how she felt the first time she saw a fairy, all the way back home.

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"h-hello," she greets tentatively. no new attacks yet; good. "you're not gonna eat me, are you?" probably not the best thing to ask a potential killer, but hey. the pokémon's only reply is to tilt its head even more than it already was. if the initial crookedness was unnerving, the new angle from which it stares back at her gives off more of a broken feel. like that of a proper ghost.

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wait a minute... rhian recognizes this pokémon. now recovered from the shock, she steadies herself into a crouch.

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the ghostly fairy inspired many fairy tales meant to scare children into behaving. the lonely mimikyu covers itself in a disguise highly reminiscent of a pikachu, one of the most popular and beloved species out there. looking at it now, she has no doubt it is hoping to receive the attention and love that pikachus do. rhian knows loneliness too. she does now.

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she reaches out. slowly, gently, she rests her hand on its head to show she means no harm. of course, given that its head is fake and there is only empty air underneath, the blanket falls farther down, and the girl freaks out. the mimikyu doesn't move, though, doesn't shy away. that's what gives her the confidence to try again. "do you want to keep me company tonight?"

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