A New Sanctuary?

As the two finally reached the city, Cinder fluttered off of Caen's shoulder, glancing around a little, before landing firmly back on the hedgehog. He glanced over, smiling "I guess everyone responds to new things differently," he remarked, looking over at Melody happily exploring her new surroundings, discovering the effects of flower pollen in a pretty adorable manner.

The increased hustle and bustle easily signified that the two were in the heart of the city, with each Mobian and the occasional human rushing around, getting some early evening shopping done.

Yukiko sat down, taking a drink of water that she had gotten from her bag. She held out her arm to offer, before Caen politely declined.Afterwards, she spoke of how the two should prioritise their shopping, as well as make sure they knew where to go.

Caen thought for a moment, before speaking up "well, I'd say that tools and the like should be the priority. Shovels, buckets, that sort of thing. Anything that wouldn't really make the place run nicer isn't really necessary right now."

The violet feline nodded in response to the fiery hedgehog. He made a good point. Also, with the day slowly turning into evening, it wouldn't be a good idea to try and carry the bigger, lunkier things back with them, especially if the daylight may be disappearing on them soon. They had been in that garden for a lot longer than she thought. 

"Okay, so hardware store or garden store to pick up shovels and buckets? I h-honestly have no real idea as I've never looked after a-any sort of garden before. This is all new t-to me."

Great, her stutter was returning. It was probably because they were around a lot of people again. People she didn't know, and didn't know of their intentions either. It made her nervous. 

It was as if she could sense her partners discomfort, as Melody appeared from nowhere and grabbed onto Yukikos face and started babbling in an uplifting manner. The tiny thing was trying to ensure her feline companion that everything was okay! 

Yukiko couldn't help but laugh a little at her own foolishness. If her chao was fine out here, then surely she was fine as well.

"I'd say the things we need would be in the hardware store. Let's not forget we need something to drain the pond, and possibly to clean out, if not replace the pump in the fountain," he replied, looking up at the darkening sky.

He decided to not mention how Yukiko had begun to stutter again, deciding it was more respectful to not point it out to her. Not to mention that might make it even worse, as she would become more self aware. However, once he saw Melody clinging to her, babbling more incoherent nonsense, he just smiled and turned to the general direction of the store "let's go, then."

(May I join?)

(If you want to! That's not a problem :3)

Already at the hardware store, the Turqoise Hedgehog was buying tools and bolts for a new garage his uncle was making for him. "Hmm... screws? Or bolts..." He thought. He grabbed the bolts case. He put it in his bag, and looked in his notes. "I'll also need... a wrench." 

He went to the tools section. He looked at all the wrenchs. "Too small, too edgy..." Then, he found the perfect wrench. He bought the wrench, and strapped it to his back, since he couldn't put it anywhere else.

Once Yukiko managed to pry her little white companion off of her, she gave a quick glance to Caen before she stood back up and placed her water back into the small shoulder bag. So, onwards. 

"Alright, let's get on our way then. We wouldn't want these little ones being out in the dark now, would we?"

Yukiko swished her large tail side to side as she began to walk alongside Caen once again, making sure to follow him to their destination. She had no clue on where to go, but with ha ing no prior need to get anything like this, it wasn't any real wonder. 
Melody floated along beside her, but grew more interested in the felines long tail. She fell back a little and pounced on it to ride along on top of it instead. 

Hopefully the hardware store wasn't too far. After all, the city wasn't overly large.

Yukiko's prayers were answered, as the walk to the hardware store was very short, and uneventful. He stopped outside, looking over at Yukiko "we're here," he said, simply, stepping in front of the motion-activated doors, which slid open almost as if it was on command. A blast of cool, air-conditioned... Well, air, was a welcome change as he began to walk inside.

He noticed Caen and Yukkiko walk in. ~Argh, geez not these guys.~ He thinks. He grabs a box of nails, a couple bolts, and a screwdriver. He puts them all in the bag, very carefully. He takes a step to the cashier, then another. "These, please." The total came to about 46.18 Rings. He got out his wallet from hammerspace and took out some rings. He sadly only had 38 Rings. He face palmed himself. ~Why did I come today without the right amount of rings.~ He thinks.

The sudden breeze wasn't expected, and as soon as Yukiko felt it, a soft appreciative smile found it's way on to her face after her lips first made a tiny 'o'. She loved it when it was colder, so it was a pleasant surprise to her. 

Taking some steps inside of the smallish store, she realised that she really had no idea what to look for. Living in a flat a few floors off of the ground meant she didn't exactly have a garden of her own to tend to, so actually didn't have much of a green thumb. 

As she was scanning the shop itself, she couldn't help but notice a rather brightly coloured hedgehog paying for some things. Or rather, trying to. 
Yukikos head began to hurt a little. Looking at the hedgehog had somehow caused a stir in her head. Did she know him from somewhere? Surely not, they looked to be one not easily forgotten and she had a relatively good memory. Perhaps it was during that time before, when she helped Caen out with his uncle? That event was barely remembered. One minute she was fighting and trying to ensure others were kept safe, the next it was as if a giant sheet of black fell over her brain. She had been told things, but couldn't bring herself to believe them. After all, she couldn't remember doing anything, and she wouldn't just put others in danger. 
Her secret though... 

As she looked up again once the sudden headache subsided a little, Yukiko couldn't help but notice the slight grimace and facepalm from the hedgehog. Was he having troubles? 
The feline looked back at Caen for a moment, then to Melody who had settled on top of her head before cautiously walking over towards the counter. Maybe talking to the rodent Mobian would help her remember where she had seen him before?

((Alright, time to actually do this! ...time to figure out how to enter o-o"))

Sometimes, things don't go as planned. This was one of those times. The canine was supposed to meet up with someone in the city to do some shopping together for a small renovation in the girl's room and to enjoy the other's company. The two girls had made plans to meet up close to the hardware store about 45 minutes ago, but there was no sign of the feline that was supposed to be there. 

'Great.. What am I supposed to do now?' The thoughts of the girl wandered off to why the cat hadn't shown up. She had tried to call her friend multiple times but she just didn't pick up. Neither had she sent a text or anything to tell the wolf that she wouldn't be able to make it. Admittedly, Felicia was never really good at showing up in time but 45 minutes was a lot, even for her. 'Guess she got in trouble with her parents again.. Right, what do I need? A drill, a bunch of screws, photo frames, shelves, although I think I need to be somewhere else for those two, aaandd.. and.. shoot.' 

While planning the whole thing out in her head, the girl started to make her way into the shop. 'I swear I had a list somewhere..' She started patting her pockets, both on her butt as on her legs to check if there was a note in them. 'Nope.. Maybe..' She put her hands in the hoodie pocket but failed to find any kind of paper there. Only the keys of her house and her wallet were there. "Urgh, why is there no way to give your memory a boost?" she muttered to herself. 

The doors opened and scared the green girl out of her own thoughts, bringing her back to the real world. She slowly started making her way through the shop, looking everywhere to find what she was looking for but failing nonetheless. Guess that meant interaction. And she wasn't very fond of that. Oh well, grit your teeth and just do it, no whining this time. The canine decided to ask the first person she would see and when she looked around, she spotted a purple leopard accompanied by a chao and a red hedgehog, also with a chao. 'Well then, that's not an everyday sight.'

A small cough before a tap on the lady's back. Yes, that should work. "Ahem, uhm.. miss?" Dione tapped the girl on her shoulder in the hopes of her turning around and not being one of those snobby people who frowned upon being touched by strangers. "I uhmm... I hoped you could tell me where I c- can find the eehh.." Oh no, not now. She started to stutter slightly and turned red under her thick fur. "Theee... DRILLS!" Smooth, very smooth.



((I just noticed I completely messed up the order now. Do we keep the original one and I just post after Smooku or do we keep this where I post after ForevaYoung?))

((Don't worry about it! Yeah, post order will now be Me, Red, Smooki and Dione. If anyone else is interested on joining for the adventure of rebuilding an old Chao garden, or only for the purpose of getting themselves involved with the little creatures, don't worry about posting anytime you feel works!
It just means as of right now Red should post as normal,then Smooki, then Dione.That should fix it up!))

Caen was just about to walk towards the aisles, looking for the sort of thing that they'd need, before he spotted a certain turquoise hedgehog. "Huh. Small world," he muttered to himself. He appeared to be struggling to pay for the items that he wanted to buy. "Do you want to help him?" He asked, looking towards Yukiko.

Before she could answer, someone tapped Yukiko on the shoulder, rather shyly asking to know where the drills were. She seemed... Familiar... Something clicked in his mind. "Dione!" He said, a little more excitedly than he was anticipating, causing the Chao perched on his shoulder to jump a little.. He cleared his throat "long time no see," he said, smiling "when did I last see you? Like, when we were dealing with that demon guy, with the weird crown... Um... Voltraire, was it?" He asked, before shaking his head. She had asked for drills, after all. Instead of letting Yukiko answer, and probably get flustered herself (as she was unfamiliar with the place), Caen looked above the aisles, around the signs. "Um... I'd guess somewhere around power tools?" Caen answered, pointed to an aisle behind Dione.

Cinder flew off of Caen's shoulder, flying around Dione, almost as though he was taking in each little detail. "Chao Chao?" It spoke, as though it was asking Caen who this newcomer was. After all, the only people he had met were Caen and Yukiko.

((Almost forgot that Caen had met Dione, before!))

The cashier crossed his hands. "Well?" The cashier shifted his eyebrow. The hedgehog tried to dig deeper and deeper, but he still couldn't find any rings. The hedgehog lifted his head slowly, then awkwardly smiled at the cashier. "Well, suppose you can't buy it." The cashier grabbed the bag right out of the hedgehogs hands.

((Okay, got the go ahead from Dione to post so that she and others can have more to respond to.))

As the violet female slowly approached the cyan hedgehog, her head all the more pounding randomly, she gently tapped him on the shoulder. 
"U-uh, s-sir? I, uhhm...I f-feel like w-we've met somew-where before." she held her head slightly to try and sooth the ever-growing pain. "I-I want to h-help you p-pay for your i-items, i-if you'll l-let me? I c-can't help b-but get t-this feeling that I d-did something not l-like me around y-you in the p-past. C-can I apolog-gise by paying f-for your... things?"

All throughout the attempted conversation, Yukiko pressed her fingers together timidly. She really had no idea where the familiarity was coming from, but then again she remembered a while back, and once again it seemed to quite probably be the case. She hadn't been out a lot since them so there were no triggers to her memory until today really. If she could hopefully not make any bad blood with this male, then it would mean the world to her.

As she placed a few notes of money down onto the cashiers table, she smiled warmly towards the hedgehog before backing off. If he chose to take it, then it was his decision. As she backed off slowly, a hand tapped her shoulder, she immediately believed it to be Caen, but then an uncannily familiar voice reached her ears. 
"I uhmm... I hoped you could tell me where I c- can find the eehh...Theee... DRILLS!"

No. No no no, It couldn't be... Could it? Just the voice itself had made a light dusting of pink fall on to her white muzzle as she cautiously turned around to meet this nervous voice in the flesh.
There, standing right before her was a green wolf girl with purple hair. It was as if she had literally stepped out of her dream. Piercings on the ear and the same sincere blue eyes were all the exact same. Her blush only grew. 

It wasn't every day you met the person you found you had a dream about before, but Yukiko could not let her know that, oh no... that would be beyond embarrassing. Just as she was about to open her mouth to try and reply, Caen came to her rescue by suggesting the area of the store where drills could possibly be.

A new sense of shyness overcame her. It wasn't like normal, it was a very odd feeling. Like she wanted to speak so much to the canine, but every time she even looked at her, her brain just ran away. She even had the same name! It was all too much.

Melody saw her companions apparent struggle to even function around this girl and grew curious to why that would be the case. She lifted off of Yukikos head and began floating around Dione, bright eyes narrowed suspiciously. Why was her partner acting so strangely? And what was that red appearing on her face? Did she have an allergy to the girl of something?

Before anyone could comprehend what was going on as the others conversed, they heard a dull crumpling thud. If they were to turn to the violet snow leopard, they would find that she had in fact, just fainted right in the middle of the store.

((feel free to skip me this round. I don't think I can add much more to my previous post))

(Skip.)

The excited greeting of the red hedgehog next to the leopard initially startled here. It took the canine a while to recognize who he was. Red hedgehog... Then when he mentioned that weird demon king/prince guy her memories shot back. "OH! H- Hi! Caen, wasn't it? L- long time no see." 

Dione was glad he gave her a direction for where the drills would be. Just when she was starting to walk over there, she noticed a chao floating around her. That was... unusual. "Does.. Does he always do that?" In the corner of her eye she watched the purple leopard walk towards a turqoise and blue hedgehog but when she came back they both froze up. The snow leopard seemed familiar but Dione couldn't remember from what or where or when. 

Then suddenly there were two chaos around her, seemingly inspecting her closely. It was awkward to the wolf and it made her blush slightly in embarrassment. She turned away from Caen and turned to face the snow leopard but before she was even able to the girl had already fallen to the floor. "Oh my god!" Dione let herself fall to her knees quickly and did something very unnatural to her.

She took the head of the girl below her and held it up slightly as to make sure she wouldn't choke on saliva running into her lungs. Then she called out to Caen and the hedgehog. "Y- you should get help for her, th- this isn't good!" The wolf noticed the obvious distress of the leopard's chao as it floated down to sit closely to the girl and muttered some things in the strange chao language. "S- she'll be okay." Dione tried to comfort the small chao a bit but wasn't sure if it was working or not. To make things less straining on herself she sat down with crossed legs and rested her hands, which were still holding up the feline's head, in her lap as to make sure she'd be able to do so longer to give the girl time to wake up.

Things were really dark for a bit. A few moments felt like so long before the bright orange eyes belonging to Yukiko re-opened to see Melody fussing over her, bringing a gentle smile to her face. 
But why was her head comfortable? Then again, why was she on the ground at all? She craned her neck to look backwards a little bit to see that the green wolf girl, Dione was cradling her head as if it was the most precious thing on Mobius. 

For a few minutes, she just stared at the canine. Every single tiny detail had been spot on when comparing with that dream. How could the details be so accurate? It was uncanny. Then she realised she was still laying on the floor of the hardware store and quickly got herself back onto her feet. It was a shaky business, but nonetheless it was manageable. Once she stood up again, she took a look at the turquoise hedgehog who had blatantly completely ignored her attempts of being nice and hadn't even seen that she had fallen to the floor and could have done damage and couldn't help but pout a little bit. Her head still hurt when she looked at him. Why couldn't she put her finger on where she had seen him before? 

Then she looked to the red hedgehog who had been her companion all along the way and wondered what was the reason behind not helping her out when she lost consciousness, and was left with the purple haired wolf girl to contend with her limp form before. He just merely stood there, earning a strong wave of complete bewilderment to pass over her face. While he was right there and HAD to have seen it happen, he didn't even think to act on it? Why?  She personally would have made a fuss and tried to ensure he was okay in any way if the roles were reversed. Instead, she was left with a 'stranger' while they watched on as if they didn't know what to do. 

"T-thank you... I-i could have h-hurt something d-doing that." Yukiko found a slight blush of embarrassment grow on her face once again. What on Mobius was wrong with her? 

Melody had began cheering and grabbed onto her owners face to nuzzle it happily once she saw the feline was okay. The poor little creature had quite a scare just then and could have only really sat beside Dione to wait and see if Yuki would wake up to which she did, thankfully. Yukiko gave Melody a slight cuddle before letting her free again, to watch her circle the green female happily as if thanking her for helping out. 

Noting that the store had somehow come to a standstill, she looked around to see if she could get some movement going. "Uhh... O-okay. If w-we help you find the d-drills, do y-you believe y-you could maybe help us find s-some things as w-well?" 

The violet leopard inwardly cringed to herself. Oh she hated her nervous stutter so much.

Somehow, the hedgehog had managed to zone out, completely missing his snow leopard friend falling to the ground. As he shook his head, breaking the near trance-like state, he noticed her on the ground, with Dione holding her up. He dropped to his knees as well, calling out Yukiko's name.

He pulled out his phone to call an ambulance, just as Dione suggested, but realised Yukiko had already come to. She must have noticed that Caen had not done a thing, due to that look in her eyes.

"My God, Yukiko. I'm so sorry, I... I don't know what happened, there, that was so rude of me," he said, bowing as she rose to her feet again. "B-but, yes, drills! Let's find the drills!" Caen said, feeling a little embarrassed and ashamed, to say the least. He would do well not to zone out in the future.

((Well, I screwed up by skipping. Hopefully I've fixed it up as best I can))

"What?" He Hedgehog turned to see the leopard on the ground, seemed to him that she blacked out. He couldn't tell, as the red hedgehog stuttered. Regardless, he walked to the feline, still keeping a somewhat distance. He turned Dione. "What I the heavens happened here?" He asked the unknown creature he hadn't ever seen.

He turned back to Yukkiko. "Wait... have we met before?"

When the girl she was holding woke up, Dione let out a sigh of relief. It appeared the chao was happy to see her friend woke up as well, which was nothing but logical. The girl beneath her moved her head slightly as was felt through her hands being pushed in a different direction. A big pair or amber eyes made eye contact with the blue eyes belonging to the wolf. For a moment the canine stared back but quickly looked away as Caen began to realise what happened as well. 

"You're we- welcome.." A slight blush appeared on her own face because of how the cat seemed to have looked at her. The stutter of the hedgehog semi-surprised her seeing as when she saw him before, he seemed really confident in what he does and doesn't do. Just as Dione was about to say something to the cat, she stood up, all shakiness included. "B- be careful miss, you could hurt yourself again.." 

Then, a few moments later, after the leopard fully stood up, a turquoise hedgehog turned to the small group of three. "T- this girl just fainted and I- I helped her.. Sort of... Oh.." It seemed the blue hedgehog didn't have much of a good focus as he turned to the feline before even awaiting an answer from Dione. It made her feel kind of ignored and her words got silent at the end of her sentence.

Then suddenly both Caen and the purple cat, of whom she didn't even know the name yet, proposed to go find the drills in exchange for a bit of help from the canine. "S- sure! I'm Dione b- by the way." She offered her hand for a handshake, only to realise shortly after that the chao was circling her again, this time not as suspiciously looking as before but rather with a happy expression on its little face. 

'Glad to see I didn't make her angry.'

Melody floated around Dione gleefully and chirped in her Chao language as if she was expressing her gratitude in heaps. It was nothing short of adorable. Then a thought came to Yukiko. If her Chao was happy to be around this girl, then maybe others would be as well?

Amber orange eyes found their way to the turquoise hedgehog whom she had been talking -or rather trying to talk- to before and nodded in response slightly.
"I-i'm not sure... when I see y-you, my head hurts. As if s-something has blocked me from memories or something?" She bowed slightly in apology. "I am very sorry if we have met and I've been ignorant!"

Glancing to Caen and noting the concerned look on his face, she smiled appreciatively at him coming back to the world. 
"It's okay, I guess, Dione here cared for me, and I know you have a lot on your mind too..." 

As she trailed off to look at Dione, she met those blue eyes again and found another rush of heat on her face. She raised a gloved hand to it to try and cover it up a little bit before bowing again and taking off in the direction of where the drills may well be. Her mind was reeling and it was making her dizzy. She glanced around for a moment to Dione and smiled softly. "Oh yes... m-my name is Yukiko, but c-call me Yuki if it m-makes it easier."

Caen, still embarrassed, walker along the aisles. His muzzle had turned slightly pinkish in colour. Cinder had taken note of this, pushing at his cheek as though it was a bright red button. He looked over at the Chao, who merely smiled at him. From the looks, it was though he was trying to cheer him up. The hedgehog smiled, even if he still felt terrible about the whole ordeal.

He looked at Yukiko, his eyes scanning her up and down, ensuring that she was not harmed any other way. He shook his head, still disappointed at his reaction speed. What was going on with him, lately?

"You seem familiar. Have I met you before?" He asked the purple cat, turning to face her direction. He then proceeded to put his finger on his head, trying to remember. He hadn't forgotten her familiar face, had he? Before he knew it, the cashier yelled at him. "WE HAVE CUSTOMERS. ARE YOU GOING TO PAY OR NOT?!" The cashiers loud voice startled him.

He clumsily dropped his items and rings, shaking. He regained his strength from that startle, and slowly grabbed his rings and his items he had collected. He walked over to the cashier, sweating while at it.