Tales of Tabira

He pressed his sensitive ears towards his back, trying to close out all the loud noises from the masses. The day was clothed in grey. Rain-clouds had been releasing their burdens since morning. The stones beneath Daffodil's feet were still pretty dry though. Many layers of branches and leafs overhead shielded the city from water. Sometimes so little downpour made it down to the ground, that the Keepers were forced to water it by hand. Definitely the best thing about living underneath a grossly massive plant was that you barely noticed when it rained. If only it didn't keep out sunlight as well.

Suddenly a hoof shoot out of nowhere and landed a whisker from his head.

- Hey!- He shouted angrily, jolted abruptly out of his thoughts.

- That could have crushed my skull, you jerk! -

The owner of the hoof, a Girafarig with very unruly fur, didn't seem to notice him. Or he just ignored him, Daffodil thought bitterly. That would be so typical of city-people.

- I would say it was your own fault for running into his way,- a voice suddenly sounded beside him.

Taken by surprise, Daff jumped around to find a Heracross peaking at him over the back of some Sentret. He had an opened and relaxed expression on his face, but also, the Nidoran noted, a few scars that hinted off a not so relaxing occupation.

“Why did this person suddenly start speaking to me?” He wondered, his barbs rising in apprehension. While fixating his attention on some imaginary point before him, he asked the bug.

- Really, what makes you say that?,-

The Heracross smiled and moved closer, matching the smaller mone's steps.

- Being small makes it easy for you to run past crowds of people, doesn't it? But that's dangerous you know. People don´t see you coming, so accidents are bound to happen.-

Daffodil found himself quickly becoming annoyed with the stranger's lecturing tone. It felt like the Heracross talked down to him, like you would a naïve child. He had half a mind to bite off the bug in the middle of a sentence. Just to see that smug look on his face shatter.

- You don't need to take it so hard- the bug said after observing the Nidoran's reaction. - I was just giving you some friendly advice.-

Daff blushed, hating that he had let his irritation show so openly. The embarrassment made his skin flame up in a bright shade of rose-pink. The Heracross seemed almost amused by this, making him only more flustered.

- Just walk in the same pace as everyone else – the large bug proposed helpfully. - Then there will be no problem.-

- Yeah okay! - Daffodil answered, with a cold voice. But sorry! I am really late to work so.. -

The Nidoran started off, completely ignoring the advice he had just gotten. In truth, he just wanted to get away from the bug. It felt like every second he spent in that person's presence made him look like more of a fool.

The first chance he got, Daff took off from the busy street and went onto a far less crowded one. "Those big roads weren't meant for small pokemon anyway," he reflected. The Nidoran turned his head to see how close he was to the tree trunk. But before he could set of towards it again, he was once again abruptly stopped by somebody calling his name. This time from the sky.

For a flicker of a second Daff feared that maybe that Heracross had come flying after him. “Were Heracrosses able to fly?” He forgot about that as soon as he looked up.

From the air an almost eye blisteringly white Swanna descended towards him. She landed right beside him with a sigh, immediately creating a puddle of water underneath her. Daffodil smiled mischievously when he saw that the bird was soaked.

- Nice weather today, isn't Luka? - he jested

- Watch it! – the Swanna replied and flicked her wing towards him, sending a cascade of droplets right into his face. While Daffodil spitted and shook off the water, Luka used her beak to open a bag strapped to her chest.

- It's lucky I got a hold of you, – she mumbled. - I got your work right here -The Swanna handed him a bundle of letters.

- Thank you! – he blurted, glad that he wouldn’t need to walk the rest of the way to the delivering office, and started going through the addresses. Meanwhile Luka watched him with a thoughtful look.

- So Daff, – she began, - this makes three weeks since you came to Tabira. How are you holding up? -

He interrupted his work and gave Luka a small smile. - Good!,- he said. - I really like it here. Though sometimes city-life can be a bit too frantic. Did you know that I almost got my head bashed in a minute ago? -

- I can imagine,- Luka said with a look at the street behind them. - I saw that you were talking to someone back there, - she then said, turning her head towards him again.

- Just some dude that gave me traffic-lessons,- he replied fleetingly.

- That was nice of him. I hope you thanked him for it. -

Daff flinched at that. Now, when he thought about the meeting, he realised that he had been kind of rude to that Heracross. Not even mounting a “thank you” or “bye” before he'd left. His friend's gentle brown eyes suddenly felt like pieces of coal, burning his skin.

- Actually not,- he admitted guiltily,- nothing can be done about it now though. -

- Oh, I see. - Luka's voice sounded a bit sombre. Daffodil wondered what was going through her head.

- Well let's not stand idle! - he told her, in an attempt to wrap up the meeting in a cheerful manner. - We both have work to do, don't we? -

-That's true!- the Swanna cried, obviously having forgotten herself. - I have a lot of deliveries to make. It is probably time to say goodbye. -

Daffodil nodded

- Yeah! I'll see you later, - he replied.

Luka took a few wing-beats and then she was up in the air. Daffodil watched the bird circle him to say one last farewell and then fly off. The glommy skies soon made her invisible. Daff wondered briefly what it must feel like to soar in the sky like her. He then reflected over how a lot of his fantasies had taken that route lately. “Guess that's what you starts to wish for when almost all of your friends are birds,” he jested to himself. The Nidoran started to move again. The first address was pretty close to where he was.