She sniffed, still angry. He seemed to consider her for a moment, then stood up and went back to the table that held the book. He opened it and gestured to her with his tails. "Would you like to see your stories? I altered them slightly to make them a bit more.. substantial? I don't think I detracted too much from the original message, but you can be the judge, if you'd like."

She got a bit less angry. She did want to see what became of the tales she told, but.. She approached the table hastily and scanned the pages, furrowing her brows at random intervals to give the illusion of comprehension as she looked at his handwriting. After a while, she ended up at blank pages of the book and realized it wasn't done being written in. She wanted to read it when it was complete.

"Well? Did I mangle the stories beyond all comprehension? Could you tell they were still yours?" He got closer to her with each question until he was pressed up against her, his eyes full of hope.

She didn't know how to say it any other way. "I don't know how to read."

Whatever light was in his eyes died out, and she could physically feel his disappointment. It seemed to branch out from him and hit her like a wave, and she was suddenly just as sad as he was. His grin was gone, and his cheerful expression now looked rather.. well, not cheerful at all.

"Ah. I'm sorry to have kept you." He slumped down, head resting atop the book. "If you head out the door and head south for a while, you'll eventually end up at your house." His tails briefly pointed in the direction she should head before falling back down to the ground.

She felt a bit sorry for him. Even though she was scared half to death by him just a bit ago, he did give her a (rather good) meal, and a place to stay in return for doing something she enjoyed doing anyway. Plus, he was a writer, and she always loved the idea of being one. That was just a dream of hers though, as she lacked the ability to read. Or the ability to hold any kind of writing instrument, having no hands and all.

The aura of depression coming from him was maddening, yes, but the silence was far worse coming from him. She tried to get him to talk, or at least do something other than mope sadly on the table.

"Hey, someday, when I learn how to, I'll come back and read your books." One of his ears flicked, but he remained silent. "I'll take you up on being a judge on how well you interpreted my stories, all right?"

No response. His ears flicked again, but she wasn't sure if that really meant anything.

"I'll be going now. Thank you for the soup, and thank you for writing my stories down. I've, well, always liked the idea of being a writer, but, you know. Thanks." She was just about to head towards the door when she heard a.. snicker? She looked back. He was standing up, and he was wearing that stupid grin again. Was the depression just an act?

He pulled on her tail, and his face took on a slightly sinister tone. "Where do you think you're going to learn how to read? I've seen your house, it was a pile of sticks. You live nowhere near civilization! Do you expect me to wait forever for you to come back? Maybe I should eat you after all." He smiled again, but she knew better now.

"If you eat me, I'll never read your books, and you'll never know if you.. what was it, mangled my stories beyond comprehension? You said I could be the judge, and I'm going to take you up on that offer."

He seemed to consider her comeback. Briefly. "You have a good point. I will just have to wait until after I receive your judgment to eat you. Is that acceptable?" She hoped he wasn't being serious, but given how many times he'd tricked her in the past few minutes..

"Sure. You should wait a bit longer than that, though. I'd like to read all of these books.. I've never actually read one." She looked around the room again, unable to count just how many of them lay scattered about. "That may take some time, as you seem to have quite a bit stockpiled here."

He laughed. "You have no idea! This isn't all of them, I have a basement and an attic full of dusty old notes and journals, some even older than I am."

That last statement reminded her that she knew next to nothing about him.

"Just how old is that, anyway? You haven't told me a thing about yourself, other than how you like to write, and how you make bad jokes about wanting to eat me. What is your name? Actually, do you even know my name? Are we really just complete strangers?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't say complete strangers, as we did spend last night together. We even slept in the same bed."

She blinked. "Did you really..?"

More laughter from him. "I only have one bed. Did you think I was going to sleep on the floor? Anyway, as for your other questions.. I don't know for sure how old I am, as it doesn't really matter to us. To me, at least. I also don't need your name to write your stories down, although now that you mention it, I should credit you for being the source."

She couldn't hide her joy when she heard that last bit of info. "Would you really? I mean, I've never had my name written down before, much less written down as a story teller!"

He cocked his head to the side, obviously amused at how happy she was. "Sure. Tell you what, why don't I take the day off from work? I'll start teaching you how to read. I can't help you with writing, you'll have to figure something out yourself."

She would finally be taught how to read? Her day was turning out better than she could have hoped for. Granted, the bar was set pretty low, as she started the day hoping she could simply escape his house without getting turned into soup.

He poked her, and she realized she was caught daydreaming again. "By the way, what is a Dratini doing out here, so far away from the sea? Don't tell me you were blown here by that blizzard." She brushed his paw away again.

"Hah, no. I, uh, left the sea not too long ago. I wasn't really content with living there. You see, I love telling stories, and the other Pokemon there liked hearing them, but I was getting bored with just telling the stories. I wanted to read them as well, but.. we can't really.. have books.. in the water, so.. long story short, I decided to live on land. I figured I'd have a better chance of learning how to read here rather than back out there." She glared at him. "Unless you were just kidding about teaching me how to read."

He sniffed the air, seemingly ignoring that last part. "Ahh.. that's why I was able to find you so easily last night. I was wondering why you smelled so strongly of stories. I consider myself lucky to find someone who knows even a single one that I haven't already heard of."

Smelling like.. stories? Whatever, he was probably just being weird again. Weird and evasive. She pressed him again.

"Well? Did you really mean what you said about teaching me how to read, or do you intend to make me cry again?" For a brief moment she thought his composure broke, but she couldn't tell if it was just her imagination.

"I wouldn't dream of making someone cry over the prospect of learning! Heaven knows there are already so little Pokemon who willingly read! You're pretty much my find of the century, and I don't intend to let you leave here easily."

She blushed. He seemed kind of nice, when he wasn't tricking her. Or scaring her half to death. Or being weird. Or dodging her questions. He was still doing that last one, which was slightly annoying. She was going to say something about it, but he spoke before she could.

"Before we get started, there's one thing I need from you." He said nothing more, instead choosing to look at her inquisitively. She simply stared at him for a few moments, wondering what he could want before finally realizing it.

She told him her name, and he told her his. He was weird, but definitely not malevolent, and she could deal with that. They spent the day together.

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Final part of narrator by
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