Contents:
Wesley
Obvious exits:
Out <O> leads to Lavender Town: Haunted Walk Way.

Fair weather clouds drift through the blue sky from the west. The wind is gusty. In the forest, fiery red, gold, and orange leaves rustle and blow past you, swirling in the wind. While at the coast, the sea is a warm blue, reflecting the saved warmth from the summer, and the waves are gentle.

Lavender Town. It's not a city of angels, it's a town of ghosts. A Wherewolf lives in the Tower, as do Gengar and Haunter, pokemon that can kill, will kill and /have/ killed humans with barely a blink. And done much worse than kill for some unlucky few. Vicious Scarewulves and evil Katerwauls haunt the lands around. Residents here are a fearful, selfish bunch.

Ah, Lavender Town. The place where the weather's nice and the environment's not. There's an odd kind of chill in the air - one undoubtedly the townspeople have gotten used to, but one that still unsettled travelers - and Melissa Barlette, of Pewter City, can't help but feel a little depressed. Following her best friend into the bookstore, the girl takes her hands out of her short's pockets to catch the door before it whacks her in the nose. Stepping inside, her hands don't immediately return to her pockets - instead, the left hand crosses over her chest, while the right hand lifts to touch her glasses for a few moments. Wow. The musty air, the colorful sight... Everything is so much less unsettling in here, and the teenager feels considerably better. Marching up to Wesley's side, the girl's right hand now drops to her chest as she crosses her arms. Under her breath: "Look at them all..."

Wesley doesn't respond immediately. He's still feeling little tingles of possibility as they play up and down his brain. What should he do? What can he learn? What should he look at first? The boy scans the colourful books on the shelf nearest to him - which happens to be the new releases section - but his eyes are soon caught by all the many other books on the other shelves. So, very, many. His arms are hanging limp by his sides, but one raises as the boy reaches upwards. To point out a title he likes? To hold Melissa's hand? To wave to a person he's seen before? ..Nothing that exciting. Just to scratch an itch on his nose. "So, uh, any section you want to go to first?" Wesley asks. His eyes automatically go to the 'Training' section before he turns his neck and looks up at Melissa expectantly. As a side note, Wesley has a plush Growlithe keychain resting on his belt. Only that one.

Melissa's own eyes are straying more towards the fantasy section - for as many pokemon and romance books she reads, fictional and magical stories are always the ones that hold the girl's interest most. She does notice out of the corner of her eye, however, that Wesley's own attention is focused upon the books about training pokemon, and, with a little grin forming on her face, she turns her head to look at him - right as he does the same. "They... must have everything here," she notes offhandedly, her own eyes straying towards the 'Training' section. "I wonder... if they have one on, ah, on that pokemon you saw. Rutwa." Melissa glances back at Wesley - maybe she's waiting for him to make the first moves.

Wesley blinks at Melissa's words, his head giving a little dip to the right. He looks just like a little Growlithe, except not half as cute, what with his bald human face and all. "I don't really think so," the boy says, a ponderous expression on his face. "The Retwa are fairly new, not many people own them...or if they do, they aren't writers." His eyes flick again to the new releases shelf. Nope, no Retwa book there. But hey, there's a neat fantasy book! Look at the Dragonite on the cover with the wizard's hat! Wesley then turns back to his friend with that same expectant look. As is the somewhat norm for him, doesn't immediately Get It. Maybe his mind is already flying to how much money he has on him, whether he should buy a book, wondering what Melissa would like...."Would you like to get something to drink?" the kid asks. Maybe that's why his friend hasn't gone to choose which books she wants to scope out yet.

"To drink?" Melissa responds softly, tearing her own wandering eyes away from the enormous collection of books. "I..." Melissa pauses for a moment. Her parents gave her a fair bit of money, enough for her to support herself just fine for her Lavender Trip - but perhaps she'd rather use it on a book rather than a bottle of water or a coffee cup. "No," the girl replies, shaking her head and turning back to the fantasy section. "So they're, ah, they're very new? Perhaps we'll still see some books on them before, um, before long." The girl takes a couple steps towards the fantasy section, moving around in an arc to avoid stumbling over a chair, before she pauses. "You know what, uh, what would be really neat, though?" Pivoting her heels to look back at her friend, a half-joking half-serious smile on her face, the girl continues, not necessarily requiring any response from Wesley. "It would be, um... r-really neat if -we- could make a Retwa book. Be the first ones." Her tone is the same as the expression on her face - anybody (and probably especially poor Wesley) would have troubles reading whether she's just speculating or is actually considering this.

Wesley gets some money from his father, and it's not enough for a new book every week. Fortunately, he's been saving up. Being quiet, introspective and stingy are some of the few things that come naturally to the boy. Father's lessons simply pounded it into his head a bit more. Seeing Melissa move forward, Wesley starts up behind her. "I'm sure we will, Melissa." She gets a response to her first thought, though not her question, which causes the boy to raise an eyebrow as he waits for her answer. When Melissa relates her idea, Wesley gives a low "hmm!" of...laughter? He smiles a bit when he does it, so it must be a short chuckle of sorts. "It would be nice if we had a Retwa, to start with," the boy notes. "Though I feel like I've seen so many I actually own one." Ah, that must be the punchline. Well, at least Wesley finds himself funny. The kid pauses. "I've battled one before, did I tell you? A man named Dalton managed to catch one, and I battled the Retwa using my Plantakeet. Willow. He managed to beat the Retwa," the boy says, raising his voice slightly with a proud smile. "So..maybe we could use, uh, that in the book. Which you'd be writing." Pause. "If you...want to write it at all." It's only now that he gets that she might've been pulling his leg.

Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

The teenager nods gently as Wesley speaks, and once he starts mentioning that it would be nice to have a Retwa in the first place, she turns and begins to weave her way across tables and chairs and people, gradually getting closer to the fantasy shelf of the Sleepy Snorlax Books and Cafe. "I'll bet..." Melissa comments slowly, slowing down considerably so that Wesley will be able to hear her. "I'll bet that y-you could catch a Retwa if you... um... if you really wanted one." She turns her head to give Wesley a little grin - almost walking into a table on accident. She is barely able to turn her head in time, however, and, clenching her teeth shut, she stumbles slightly but stops, avoiding a possibly very embarrassing situation. Last thing she needs to do is trip over a table and knock a coffee cup into a customer's face. Scooting to the side, a faint blush dotting her cheeks, Melissa tries to play it off. "Willow? He was... um... he wanted to perch on my head, right?" Wow. It's been forever, the girl offhandedly notes.

Wesley follows behind Melissa, the weaving through shelves and ducking around tables seeming almost second nature to him, though he doesn't do it with grace or amazing agility. He's just been to this bookstore a lot. "The weather should be getting better - maybe I'll try again once the tournament's over," the kid agrees, though his voice is oddly neutral. Apparently he's not a Retwa fanatic. Or maybe he just doesn't think highly of his ability to train the rare bird/fish? As Melissa nearly bumps into the table Wesley blinks, before shooting her a short, admiring look, no matter if she's watching or not. He's sure he could never have recovered so easily, and proud of her that she did! After all, the first time they met she lost her glasses and knocked him over. At Melissa's question, Wesley blinks in surprise. "Oh, yeah, Willow likes to do that." That's such a common happening that Wesley can't place where Melissa might have met with Willow. The boy's brows arch downward in thought. "Hey...uh, don't you usually write about lots of stuff? Like, your own book? How's that going?" the boy asks suddenly, as the duo reach the Holy Grail of the Sleepy Snorlax - the fantasy section.

After dodging this, avoiding that, and walking around everything else, Melissa finally enters her Shangri-La - ahh, the fantasy section. Books upon books line the shelves, everything from stories of valiant knights fighting Charizards to the friendship of a oddly matched pokemon as they explore the world to, yes - even Suzy Summers, to which Melissa gives a little smile and a second look. Grabbing a book that looks interesting - "Howl of a Growlithe", by Roger E. Douglass - Melissa flips through it nonchalantly as she replies to the boy. "Before winter, though... unless you think they might like the cold." Her voice is a half-mixture of a question and a statement, possibly because she's halfway focused upon reading her book. "I... don't think I've seen much of him, have, uh, have I?" With a little giggle, she returns to the book, adding, "He was a cute... little guy." Wesley's finally question, however, seems to go unanswered. Melissa doesn't look particularly unsettled, so it's possible that the girl didn't hear Wesley - though that's decisively unlikely.

Wesley hangs back behind Melissa in order to see the beautiful book bounty. A few titles immediately catch the kid's attention, especially one entitled "The Dark Wave Rising". When he speaks, it is softly. Wesley knows how much he hates to be disturbed when looking at books! "Before winter would be best," the youngster agrees, his eyes roaming to a lower shelf. There's an entire shelf devoted to those Gary Latchet books. Everyone seems to find them funny but him. "Although, hrrm, I think..maybe the sea's not that cold and they don't mind being out in winter? I seem to remember learning that the sea stores..uh, a lot of heat energy." He glances upwards. "From the..sun." He even gives a little falling gesture with his hand to illustrate his point, though his arms are soon by his side again. "Though the Retwa probably won't be too close to the surface. You're right," he admits. After all, he's just a kid. "As for Willow, uh, he used to ignore me a lot, so I didn't let him out much. But he's gotten a bit better lately, and Fistfight has been telling me to let him out more. So I have." Isn't it nice how he listens to Fistfight? "And...uh," the boy coughs a bit. "I guess he's...cute," he says, not at all sounding sure. When Melissa doesn't answer his question about her own book, Wesley mutters a quick and apologetic "Sorry."

Flip, flip, flip. "This book has some nice illustrations," Melissa notes quietly, though she's mostly talking to herself. "And the text looks... interesting. P-Puff would probably like this..." She stops turning pages and stops to look on one particular picture of interest: there's a long cliff overlooking a forest and mountains, and upon it stands a beautifully drawn Growlithe howling at the moon - hence the cover. "And I'll bet... CrystalFire would like it, too." The girl giggles softly, before directing her attention back to Wesley. "I... I-I, uh, think I read about that somewhere... I... um, don't remember. Never really was interested in the sea..." She trails off on that topic, and she's silent for a few seconds before opening her mouth again. "Sorry for wh..." She stops short, however, when the pieces come together and she realizes what he's referring to. "Oh, uh. ... It's all right." Her cheeks turning a little more pink, Melissa turns her head back to the book.

How funny. It seems Wesley is bringing up something painful (or so it seems) for Melissa. Makes a nice change. The boy lets Melissa talk, nodding a bit as she speaks, but not adding anything to the conversation. Especially when she gets to the part about her book. His attention is divided between looking at the books and trying to figure out what to say, and not to say, to his friend. Unfortunately Wesley little realizes he could better read Melissa's emotions if he were actually looking at her. Silly kid. The trainer moves over a few steps and picks up a thick paperback - it's some saga of romance and the sword. ..In fact, that's the title "Romance and the Sword". Maybe it was the giant Charizard on the cover that captured the boy's interest. He flips to the back and scans it disinterestedly before putting it back and selecting another book. "So, uh, other than your writi-- uh, I mean, how are you...have you been doing?" My, what a clumsy conversation starter. Blame the beguiling books. Blame the fact that Wesley's now a tad confused. Just blame Wesley's sillidity. That's a mix between stupidity and silliness.

Despite her uncomfortable condition, Melissa can't help but blink behind her glances and tear her eyes away from her book to give him a little glance when he's finished stumbling over himself. He's stuttering more than she usually does, and that's saying something. "Um..." she hums gently, her eyes gradually flowing back to the book in her hand. "Just... fine, thanks. Did you find any books that, um, that look interesting?" she inquires, peering back over at Wesley but this time with not quite so... ah... bewildered a look. "What's... that one about? Does it... uh, does it have a summary on the back?" As if reminded of it herself, Melissa shuts the book quickly, sending a flurry of dust into the air, before rotating it so as to read the back. No luck, however - it only has criticisms ("Exquisite! A must read for any fantasy fan!") and a few words about the author.

Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

Wesley looks up at Melissa as she speaks. "I guess it looks interesting," the boy says, with a slight twinge of doubt to his tone. He didn't actually check the back, so busy was he with concentrating on how to speak proper English. And it didn't even work well anyway. The youngster peers down at the book in his hand, flipping it over to the back. "Well, it's about a, hmm..."race of humans that can shift into any pokemon of their choosing." And "a young hero is born," who "takes the stage to save this magical land and defeat the evil dark Wraith Hauntor."" The boy pauses, with a frown of thought. "I have the suspicion that I've heard this plot before." This could be funny, except he says it so seriously. Even the reading of the blurb could have been amusing, if read in the right tone. "This sounds like a..a Suzy Summers rip-off." Oh, wow, he's expressing an opinion. How cute he is when he tries to ape the practices of beings that actually have spines! His thought being announced, Wesley then selects a slimmer book from a shelf up above his head. "You find anything good?" he asks of Melissa, sending her a quick glance before turning back to the book.

Wesley might not find it funny, but Melissa gives off a little giggle. It's an innocent and light-hearted one; it's rather obvious she's not mocking the book's plot, and her next words confirm that. "When I was really little..." She turns back to the book, opens to a random page, and continues scoping it out. "I... um... I'd sometimes dream I was a pokemon. Usually a Clefairy... I used to love Clefairy." She glances further down at the book, though her eyes are a little more vacant - it's likely that now she's simply peering at the floor and the book is in the way. "... I wondered if I was the only, um, the only one, but..." She gives off another giggle here, though it's a little more nervous and shy here. "Now I feel silly," she mumbles softly, ignoring Wesley's own question and flipping vacantly to another page.

Wesley scans the book's back, and this time he opens it up to check out the beginning. "Twistworld", for that is the book's title, has a colourful cover consisting of a Lickitung and a Vulpix, both standing on their hind legs and wearing clothes, sending two male humans out into a battle. He gives Melissa another glance as she starts speaking, but this time he doesn't return to the book. He mouths something that remains unsaid, which is good because from the looks of things it would just be a little insecure babble-sound. How do you respond to that? "Uh." That's a good start. "Well." We're getting there. "I used to have nightmares about needing to run out of the house. Something was chasing me but I never knew what and I just knew I had to run and I didn't...stop." I suppose that's better than pointing and laughing at Melissa. "But they're just dreams," Wes continues. "So they don't mean much. Unless you listen to stupid leftie psychologists that overanalyze everything." He relates this last little gem proudly. Father taught him that - and when he thought of his house he began to think of his dad. How nice that Wesley can incorporate one of Thomas Brier's extreme rants into a conversation about cute little Clefairy.

This is not quite the friendly and memory-provoking conversation Melissa had in mind, but she still has a little laugh over the psychologist part. "My mom... she always... she never really liked analyzing dreams, either. She... felt they should be natural, not... scrutenized into oblivion." The last three words are also direct quotes from her own mother. "Sometimes I... wonder if they mean something, but... I wonder if that's why a Drowzee's Dream Eater attack is so powerful." Hey, she recalled something from her trainer classes. After she flips two pages or so, the girl quietly ventures on a possible taboo for Wesley. "Um... speaking of... um... of Drowzee..." Believe it or not, before even inquiring, Melissa trails off - but she can only hope Wesley realizes that she's curious about ThoughtThief.

Wesley flashes Melissa a small grin. His dad sure is smart. If only he could remember more pearls of parental wisdom that weren't along the lines of "sit up straight!" or "Soandso pokemon has this strength and that weakness and this is how you train it, you got me?" ..Nope he can't think of any right now. Maybe later. "Your mother seems nice," Wesley murmurs quietly, his grin becoming a somewhat nervous one. It dies off altogether at his friend's subject change, his pale face switching in a blink to pensive. With Wesley's thick eyebrows, it's quite an effective look. "Well, I used him in the Creepy tournament. We didn't talk much about..things," he gives a little shrug, sure in Melissa's ability to understand what he means, "other than that. And he's in the Pokemon Center, still. To be fair, he did go up against a Nidoking, but I think he should've lasted a lot longer than he did. They are poison types after all." The boy frowns a tad. "And the evolution of Nidoran," he clarifies for Melissa. As if she never would have guessed on her own. "The final evolution. And they need a Moon Stone to evolve." That's a bit more helpful.

Melissa's initial reply is somewhat quiet. She's peering hard at the book, and her "Oh" is so soft, Wesley might interpret it as a lack of interest. A couple seconds pass, and the girl shakes his head, still looking down. "Well... Try to commend him on... on a good job, anyway." Now she turns her head to look up at Wesley. "Don't... don't be too kind, or he'll think he can... he can, um, you know..." A pause. "Get away with not giving his all, but... um... at least appreciate that he tried." Perfectly feminine logic there. She may not be a tough trainer, but at least she has compassion. Too much, perhaps. "I wonder if... Puff'll ever evolve. Grow up is more like it... I, um, I like him a lot... but... I wonder if evolution..." With a little sigh, the girl closes her eyes, shakes her head, and flips a page. Must be a good book.

"And they're male," Wesley continues, speaking over Melissa's "Oh". When she speaks again, the boy doesn't take his granite grey eyes off of her. He nods slowly and idly wishes for a pen and paper so he could write this down. The instructions are easy enough to remember. He did a good job, but don't let him think you'll let him get away with this every fight. Once the information is done storing and, more importantly, translated into Wesley terms the boy gives a larger, final nod. Yes, Melissa does have compassion. He'll try this her way; she's older and wiser and his own ways of dealing with ThoughtThief haven't work. The expression on his face reflects doubt, not hope. But, ah, evolution - now there's something Wesley can talk about. Perhaps even commiserate on. "None of my pokemon have evolved yet," he points out. "I...don't think mine have enough experience yet. Fistfight probably could, but she says she doesn't want to turn into an idiot. /I/ think she's exaggerating," he says, with a frown and a glance at the ground. "I, uh, don't know much about Nidoran, but Spike wants to evolve. If he does, I'll tell you and let you know what Nidorina...uh, Nidorino are like. Then maybe if Puff evolves you'll..know a bit about what you're getting."

Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

Melissa glances over at Wesley with a little smile on her face, giving him a little headshake as he speaks. "I... don't... think you -need- evolution. Your pokemon... at least, for right now... they're... powerful enough. Remember? F-Fistfight... she beat Scoop? My Dugtrio?" Melissa smiles deeper at the memory, though perhaps it's only to keep herself from blushing at her embarrassing job. "Maybe... maybe we'll see who evolves first..." Glancing down at her book once more, the teenager shakes her head, and sighs a bit. "It's getting late," she states. "I... think I'll get this book. Did you find a good one?" She makes her way over to Wesley's side to (unintentionally rudely) glance over his shoulder to see what the book looks like.

Well. That's a concept that completely picks up Wesley's preconcieved notions by the scruff of the neck, shakes them around and throws them to the ground, giving them a kick for good measure. His face reflects this in his somewhat slack face and vacant stare. "Uh, no, evolution is good," he says firmly, once he rallies his temporarily off-line. "I know Fistfight...yeah, I remember when she beat up the Dugtrio," he murmurs, pleased with himself for a brief flicker, "..I don't think she's going to evolve, because she has her heart set on not evolving. Even if..." the boy gives a light cough as his eyes glance around uncomfortably, the 'she's old and getting older' being left unsaid. "But my other pokemon need to. Because they..should." He bobs his head once, thus ending his side of the conversation with a childish abruptness. And a childish lack of concrete logic. Or any logic, in this case. All this time "Twistworld" has been lying open in Wesley's hands. Melissa's words make him glance downwards. "It doesn't look that good," the boy murmurs, not really noticing as Melissa tries to check the book out. Only the text of the book would be visible to Melissa, but she could scan a few lines if she wished. Heh; some girls check out boys. Melissa, books.

"Give it time," is Melissa's soft reply. She can be quieter now - having moved closer to her best friend, she no longer has to talk at a normal conversational level. Her voice is considerably less loud now. The girl grips the book in her left hand and touches Wesley on the shoulder with her right. Should he not retreat or cower away, she'll give him a firm, friendly rub and go on to say, "I'm sure it'll... happen eventually." Should Wesley decide that feminine contact is *not* something he wants today and decides to move, Melissa won't think much of it. Either way, after a couple seconds, she'll clutch Howl of a Growlithe with both hands, and whisper, "I'm going to go... purchase this. I'll meet you in line?" Depending on his reply, she'll proceed to head over to buy the book or, if he needs her to, stay.

In response to Melissa, Wesley gives a low "Mmm hmm." He gives a vague little nod, and then issues a more confident "Yeah...and time I've got." Since he's only eleven and all. Feminine contact is the furthest thing from Wesley's mind. So it's a definite surprise when Melissa rubs his shoulder. Unfortunately at that time he was saying something. "Thaann.." he begins, before Melissa pats him. He turns his neck to look up at her, looking at her with brows furrowed. Not in anger, but in a wary confusion. It looks as if he's going to ammend his statement of thanks and change it into, "So, what can I now that won't make you hate me?" He doesn't, though. Just stares at her with that 'meh?' look on his face. See, when you're a tired poser and running out of synonyms, just put down an onomatopoeia and hope people can understand you. At Melissa's words he gives her a short little "Yeah, see you there." Then he scrutinizes the novel's back, the thought 'Girls are so weird!' making it hard to focus his attention properly.

As she strolls over the line, Melissa resists the urge to laugh, and she looks back at him once or twice - almost bumping into another table, but yet again barely avoiding it. A clumsy girl, this one is. Because it's getting late, the line is considerably short, but even as Melissa jumps to the back of the queue, she knows it's going to take a while. The clerk looks like a novice - and the woman in front of her has an entire cart filled with books. Presumably a teacher. Glancing at the cover of the book, Melissa fishes into her pockets to fill out the appropriate cash. Though it's a hardcover book, the price is still surprisingly fair. Having collected the proper amount, Melissa, clutching the change in her right hand, flips the book open to page one. Still standing up, she begins to read.

Eventually Wesley's stinginess wears him down. If he's going to buy books, he'll only buy ones that he's afraid of getting dirty through regular outdoorsy work. Besides, he repeats the refrain, this book doesn't look that interesting anyway. Dear old Twistworld is slipped back to where it used to rest, to be bought by a young adult with more money to burn, and Wesley turns around to catch up with his friend. He ends up beside Melissa surprisingly quickly. It would be quaint to say that Wesley was like one of those Growlithe who could find their way back home after being lost for months (Melissa might even have read a few books with that basic plot), but really he just gets to her so quickly because he can see her easily due to the lack of people, and he also knows where the counter is. "So, is it a good book?" he asks of the girl. "..About Growlithe?" he adds after glancing at the cover.

Melissa is already on page four by the time Wesley arrives (she's a skilled reader in that respect), but she does close the book, keeping her page intact by leaving her finger inside the book. "Yes," the girl says softly, nodding her head very slightly before taking a step forward as the person in the front of line completes his purchase. "It looks... it only looks to, um, slightly be about a Growlithe. It seems to focus... ah, more upon... the aspects of nature, and human relationships with pokemon... not just the Growlithe." With a small grin, Melissa drops her place in the book, flipping to a particular page. It takes her a few seconds, but she finds it - the beautifully drawn cliff with the howling Growlithe. "But... I really think... both CrystalFire and, ah, and Puff would like this."

Snatch your backpack, steal your purse, save the data from this curse! (Psykitt-- eh, Saving)

Wesley would admire Melissa's reading skills if he could see how far into it she was. As it is, only the cover is visible to his five foot self. He was formerly looks over at the picture, with an appreciative lifting of his eyebrows. "Nice," he murmurs, though his praise doesn't extend beyond that. Appreciation of fine art is not something Wesley is known for. "And..I hope /you/ enjoy it too." It's not much fun if only Puff and CrystalFire enjoy the book.

"Of course I will," the teenager says quietly, smiling down at her friend warmly. "From what it... what it looks like, it'll make for an interesting read... Sometimes I even enjoy reading bad books. They're not... all bad... and it l-lets me appreciate good books more. I..." The woman in front of Melissa pauses for a second, pushes the cart out of the way, and rushes back to pick up something she forgot. The man at the desk nods and beckons Melissa forward, and she smiles at him and places the book and the money down. "... But I hear the author is a good one."

Wesley nods over at Melissa, still looking up at her. She's not touching him with no (in his mind) provocation, you see, so his ability to talk, think and reason is greatly improved. As Melissa steps up, he steps up with her, and begins to relate his thoughts on the subject. He assumes that Melissa can pay for a book and listen to him at the same time - at least he's not insulting his friend's intelligence. "I don't..really think I've read any bad books. Just books I didn't understand. We had a lot of books for grownups at my house. I really didn't get some of them, at all. But now that I've been a trainer, I'm finding there are lots of good books I can actually understand. Maybe I'll pick that book up if it comes up in the library sometime."

Thanking the clerk with a smile on her face, Melissa snatches up her book and gestures to the door. "I'll... let you borrow this whenever you like," the girl tells her friend softly, giving him a small grin as well. "After I'm done with it, at least... I'll tell you if I like it or not." There are a number of windows in the bookstore, and Melissa happens to glance out of the one closest to her. It's pitch black. "It's so late," the girl mumbles under her breath. "... I... know this isn't my home, but..." The teenager begins to walk slowly to the door, and she'll continue the walk if Wesley follows her. "But if you like, you can walk me to the pokemon center." She blushes faintly, and mumbles, "I... sort of don't know the way."

"Oh! Umm..." Wesley exclaims at her offer to lend the book to him. He wasn't fishing for it, but, after a few seconds to think, he realizes it could have sounded that way. "Oh, no, it's okay," he says automatically. "I'll pick it up in the--" Wait. Why shouldn't he borrow his friend's book? It takes a little while for a book to get to a library anyway. The thought actually forces Wesley to pause, so that he has to trot for a few steps to catch up to Melissa. "Well, after you're done...maybe I will borrow it," he mutters, a tad uneasy at his willingness to borrow a book. It sounds wrong, for some odd reason. Wesley does indeed follow Melissa to the door, listening to her words. He gives Melissa a glance out of the corner of his eye before turning fully up to her after she admits she doesn't know how to get to the Pokemon Center. He's smiling, a fond little smile that warms his grey eyes. "Of course I'll walk you back," he says promptly, in as heroic a voice as Wesley can manage. Is he joking around? More likely knowing Wesley, is he actually serious. "We'll find our way there...together." With that, the boy disappears into the night, though he waits for Melissa to follow him. For once, he leads, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, even if it is late at night.