Penpals to Pals

Today was gonna be a good day, in Sharal's opinion!

With the transition from winter to spring, the sun above was starting to feel so nice and warm - and she had even woken up to the pleasant sound of birds (or to be more exact, a few bird pokemon) singing..!! ... At least, that was until Chompy decided to growl and snap its fangs at them for making such a racket, causing them to scatter.

That had put a slight damper on her morning. But that was okay!! Because Sharal had a plan brewing in her head, and she was going to see it through, one way or another; some way, somehow, she was going to make a new friend today! Disregarding the fact that this was often her plan, given her love of friends. But today was gonna be different, she swears - because she was making progress!

A few days back, she noticed that there was a little Petilil, who tended to pass through here. Sharal knew that she was naturally a bit intimidating - not only because of her Ability, but also because of Chompy sometimes being Chompy - so she was a little afraid of accidentally scaring away this visitor. So, she had the idea to start leaving gifts and notes for the grass-type instead, keeping her distance so that her troublesome partner of a tailmouth wouldn't ruin things. And thus far? It was working!

A few berries here, a shiny trinket there, and exchanged notes back and forth - bit by bit, she was starting to befriend this little wanderer, and getting to know them! It was pretty interesting, getting to know each other and exchanging stories of their respective adventure; they were almost like penpals, in a way! It was something that she absolutely enjoyed, even if Chompy sometimes rolled its eye at it all.

But she decided a few days ago that today, she was going to do it. She was going to approach her new friend-to-be, and she was going to not let Chompy scare them off! Thus, instead of simply leaving a little package at their drop-off spot, Sharal would instead wait - sitting down with a wrapped gift on her lap, and humming a tune to herself as she kept an eye out for her friend.

"Don’tcha think this is gonna be creepy?" Chompy questioned, craning itself around to properly look Sharal in the eye. "Just a random pokemon, who's been sitting here and waiting for them this whole time?"

"Shush, it'll be fine!" Sharal responded, reaching around to boop the tailmouth on the 'nose'. Chompy would jolt back in surprise, blinking owlishly, but didn't have time to retort before the Mawile continued "We've been talking lots! And you've seen the letters I've left them, -"

"Not really," Chompy muttered (mostly to itself,) in response - having been spacing out from boredom half the time whenever she wrote.

"- let them know I'll be here, so we won't spook 'em or take them by surprise." Sharal continued, not noticing her partner's unconvinced mutters. Things were less scary, when you understood them, right? So she made sure to tell Petilil as much as she could about herself, to make sure there would be as little room for misunderstandings as possible! "It'll be okay, just you wa-"

But then, a rustle in the foliage - cutting the duo off from their conversation. A cluster of odd-colored leaves would peek out from the foliage - the Petilil was here! Sharal's smile brightened quickly, though she resisted the urge to be loud and boisterous about it all - instead just waving to them. "Hey there!" She chirped, picking up the package in her hands to offer it to them. "It's good to finally meet you, buddy - here, I've got this for you!"

"Oh!" The grass-type perked up a bit in surprise - even if they knew what to expect, it still took Petilil off guard to meet their mystery penpal in person. "It's, uhm... Good to meet you too!" They'd respond, slowly but surely shuffling closer to Sharal - eyes drifting over to Chompy, and the toothy open-mouthed 'smile' that it was giving them.

Noticing this, Sharal would glance back to Chompy - before back to Petilil. "Oh- don't worry about Chompy! It's harmless, I promise!" She'd reassure - making a point to reach back and close the tailmouth's, well, mouth.

Petilil took a second, before shaking their head (which ended up shaking their entire body.) "It's okay! I, actually, uhm..." They trailed off, a shy hue coming over their demeanor. It took a second for them to find their words, but when they did speak up, they'd quickly mutter out "... Ithinkthat'sactuallyprettycool--!"

Sharal and Chompy would both pause, then - both of them blinking as they processed the grass-type’s words. A couple beats passed, during which the tailmouth would pull away from Sharals hands, before the two would both question - at once - "Wait, really..??"

It was a bit out of left field - but something told Sharal that making a new friend was going to be a sitch today, even with Chompy's interference. And in knowing this, the Mawile couldn't help but find herself slowly smiling as wide and bright as could be, Chompy groaning as she let out an absolute squeal of delight!

She now knew for sure that today was a good day..!