(Do not favorite my work if you are not going to decently comment, it's disingenuous to artists/writers who like positive feedback on efforts.)

Ohhhhh booooy....ok, so I was originally going to post this a week before Pokemon Day, and then the next chapter on that day...but I had commissioned a special something for the occasion...but I didn't hear back from the artist when it was ready to be shown.
Needless to say, I was a bit worried---they're usually on point with stuff...and JUST found out they had been gone the past month in the hospital! I felt so bad...I was disappointed that I could get stuff out when I wanted, but to know the reason was because someone else got broadsided by some medical is...wow, makes me feel like a jerk. I sent them some good wishes, and they did show me the completed pic (ohmygoshitssogood!), and they told me not to feel bad---they felt bad themselves for not being able to do it for me! Ugh...why does bad stuff happen more often to good people in this world?

Anyway...I'm dedicated this chapter to the guy---  SpaceMechanicAzul---for what he's done for me so far and what he's going through---check him out if you haven't already and sent him best wishes or even commissions or something for him. He says he's still recovering and I wish him the best, nobody should have to go pain and misery when the world's already tough on its own to deal with.
Ironically this chapter is about how people manage to do the things they do...and if want to get specific, creatives, which I think kinda fits.

I hope you all enjoy this setting up chapter, and get well  SpaceMechanicAzul !

======================

Episode 5 Luminous

Chapter 2 How Do You Do It?

"...so the background crew will be constructing the scenery and props that go here. And, and, there will probably be smoke machines there and there for effect---just visuals, not trying to cloud the crowd after all. And..."


I was half-listening as Lil went on and on on the stage, gesturing to different places and remarking on what 'could' or 'would' be there in the future---though whether that would be 'here' or somewhere else when the performance came is anyone's guess---while Pearl waddled along behind her with a crinkle two or three steps behind.

The other half of my attention was watching Sol---just in his diaper now, Lil insisted we couldn’t just run around with the suit---fumbling with one of the many folding seats in the audience; he had thought his weight alone would lock the thing into place, but it almost ended up folding in on him and he was now scrambling from the 'mouth' of the piece of decor with yelling and annoyance…

…he was fine. I was just making sure he didn't flame up and take down the entire contest theatre while Lil was detailing streamers and balloon add-ons.


I mean...to my own credit, there was another thought on my mind as I was looking at neither her nor my chair-experience-deficient lizard. As I gazed out from the stage over the empty rows up seats---row upon row---and up to the second floor sections, I felt an uneasiness in my chest. I imagined all those seats filled with people and Pokemon...all, generally, looking in one direction.

At…


"...how do you do it?"


"Huh?"


I imagined Lil had turned to look at me with a raised brow, while Pearl looked with a discerning gaze as if wondering if I HAD been paying attention to what her partner said. Honestly, when I looked back to see just that, I realized I, myself, wondered just what the heck I had just said.


"I...just asked...how do, you know...'do it'," I said as I remembered, turning, hands in my pockets as my Salandit half-disappeared behind the fold of the audience chair; his complaining hisses told me he was still fine. The hall was still fine.


Lillian looked down at Pearl, who looked up at her with her own raised brow. "Do...what?" she said as they both looked at me.


I shrugged uncomfortably, looking away from them. "You know...all...this," I said, gesturing with my eyes, instead of my arms, at the whole room; stage, audience, everything. "How do you do this...whole...Contest thing?"


The silence that followed for a good couple seconds was only interrupted by the occasional crinkle of a Poison-print PokePoof and a 'Saland!' or two. It was long enough that my eyes darted to the side in apprehension as to any implications of what it was that I had said. Believe me, I was relieved, for one of the few times, when Lil started talking again.

She had her mouth closed, eyes down, as if she was considering my question more than as a casual ask. "...it's...a lot of work," she says, eyes not going to me, instead going to Pearl. The Oshawatt seemed to know her partner wanted some reassurance---why?---cause her to double-step in place with a crinkle before folding her arms.


"Osha!" she says in agreement.


I looked to her, then back to Lil, blinking. That it, or...?


Lil caught my look when she finally gave me a glance, and I swear if she had fur like a Flareon it would have gone prickly. "I-I mean, yes, it takes a LOT of work," she says, the tone in her voice being more forceful, but not aggressive as she puts her hands behind her back...and then gets finicky rather quickly and starts to pace the stage in a partly hunched stance like a predator Gabite.

"We have to get down a routine, rehearse, time everything right, work with---" she starts, pausing in her movement, straightening, one hand partially with finger tips to palm...before her eyes dart to my direction. "---partners."


Another pause. Another crinkle from behind me. Another curse I'm still working out how Sol learned since it wasn't from me.


"It takes so much effort. But, getting on that stage, and giving all you have as the crowd watches you and your partner work to entrance them into a story or evoke a feeling can be worth it," Lil continues, moving past me to the edge of the stage---seemingly ignoring my fumbling lizard---as she gestures to the huge row of audience seats, Pearl waddling up beside her and doing the same, though she was a little behind. "When it all comes together and the crowd cheers you on it's...it's..."


I didn't see the expression on her face, just watched as she lowered her arms, left to side, right closer to the chest. "...one of the best feelings in the world," I heard her say after a moment of (actual. somehow) silence.

I just stood there, looking at Lilian from the back, Pearl looking at her too, as if wondering something similar to me---though, obviously, the padded Oshawatt was more experienced in this Contest stuff—and Lil—than I was.

Thinking on it...watching them there...when I next blinked, I subconsciously saw the rows of seats occupied by blobs of humans and familiar Pokemon shapes, bright lights edging in from the borders of my eyeline, and Lil and Pearl standing in the same place after some kind of performance. It was weirdly vivid...but I didn't hear the envisioned crowd cheering---or booing--just stuck in a kind of frozen moment of enigmatic uncertainty.

No. Way. I couldn't actually do something like this...right?

Who would...?

Contest people, apparently…

In that moment, I felt like a rotten Exeggcute for laughing at mainland Contest previews on television along with Sol...still, gotta thank Lil's annoyance for reminding me not to feel TOO bad about it…

"WHAT are you doing you reptilian reprobate!" Lil yells and points, finally seeming to notice my lizard...and I notice too---Sol sprawled over the folded cushion of the seat, one edge clamped in his jaws like he was biting the piece of furniture in retribution for making him a fool (to nobody by the way). His purple eye in our direction widened at the realization he was being more watched than scolded. After a second or two, he let go, spitting out some fluff.


"Osha...wa..." Pearl groaned, slapping her forehead; as if to say 'this is who I'm working with?'.


"Would you TELL your lizard to not chew up the decor?" Lillian tells me, pointing at him as Sol gets off the seat with a crinkle---growling back at it once before looking up at Lil with his arms folded.


"Sal and," Sol scoffs; 'If you call THAT decor'....or...something like that. Not sure if he thought 'decor' was some kind of 'food' or even knew what 'decor' meant.


"Look, Lil," I started, rubbing the back of my neck. "Thinking about it...maybe this isn't something that..."


My hesitant reply was interrupted by the doors of the contest hall opening. All of our attention went to the left set of double doors, as three humans and accompanying Pokemon stepped through.

"Oh. Lillian. Didn't expect you to still be...huh."
I watched as the three came down the aisle.

At the front was a girl about Lil's age, maybe a little older, wearing a pink gown with white fluff bits like a Santa cap---and waddling beside her was a Electric-print padded Flaaffy wearing a tiara, which I couldn't tell was fake or actually real.

Coming along behind her were two guys in suits that looked like they belonged as extras in a scene involving the mob...though they obviously weren't that old or as intimidating heh. One guy was wearing a dark blue suit with a white hankie stuffed in the chest pocket, and walking wide beside him was a Snubbull wearing a top hat, carrying itself with an upturned chin as it shifted in its Normal-print Pokepamp. As for the other guy, he was wearing a crimson suit and had a rose stuck in his own chest pocket, and had a Vulpix that walked beside them, emerald cufflinks on each of its legs.

Oh boy...given the combination of looks, air about'em, and location...more Contest people...that aren't Lil…


The group came around to the front of the stage, their Pokemon noticing Sol looking at them with narrow eyes, while they themselves looked up at me and Lil.


"Oh, Brigette," Lil says as they come over, lowering her arms from telling Sol off a moment ago. "Y-yeah, I'm...still here."

The girl with the Flaaffy—Brigette—tilted her head. "Wow...you're resilient...I thought after that whole...'mess on stage' with that Chimchar, thought you would have stopped, well...working with partners for a while," she says, looking left and right to her two male companions.

"Oooh...heard...about...that?" Lil asks through clenched teeth before the guys talked...they did anyway.

"Oh, sure did!" the guy beside the Snubbull declared, his Pokemon lowering his top hat over his eyes as if in embarrassment about the information being discussed.

"Yeah, Bowie's right, I mean we all listen in to see how everyone else is doing, right?" the other one near the Vulpix added. "And it's not hard to hear the more...uh...'unfortunate' stuff."

"Oh! Not that it's 'unfortunate', I mean, every Pokemon does it eventually...I mean...just not professionally...on stage...I mean---" Bowie started again, looking like he was insulting Lil---which irked me for some reason---but seemed to be fumbling in the process.

"Well of course it happens...you should know Bow, I've seen Shep's diaper after the last contest rehearsal and---" the other guy started, hands behind his head and tapping the back of one leg with the other, smirking as his Vulpix snicked into one raised, cufflinked leg.

"Hey Arthur! Ease up! Not like you and Fergus didn't...ugh forget it," Bowie grunted.

"Uh, yeah, please forget," Brigette said, interrupting the boys with a raised brow. her Flaaffy facepalmed before glaring at the Vulpix and Snubbull---named Fergus and Shep respectively I guess.

"Anyway..." Brigette continued, looking back to Lil. "So you're going to continue and..." Her gaze shifted to me. "...you found a partner! Oh! Good for you Lillian!" she says, clapping her hands together with a smile.

I just stared at the situation going on, despite being regarded by at least those tall enough to see over the rim of the stage area. Jean, Monte, and even Lil I could engage with in conversation...but complete strangers, unless it's some kind of business or I have something to work off from, I kind of feel a bit at a loss. Besides, I didn't know whether to be defensive or not with these people---it was hard to tell if they were being a degree of hostile toward us.

"Y-yes I did," Lil eventually said, filling the void I couldn't do myself as she took a step to the edge of the stage, but not TOO close to it. "I told the judges at the prelims that I was going to use a partner and, well, I'm keeping my word," she said. After a moment, she looked my way, then to a non-committed spot on the stage. "Well...trying to."

"Oh that's lovely. We were worried you were going to just drop out entirely," Brigette says, putting her hands to her hips, her Flaaffy copying the expression. "Though, don't think I've ever seen YOU in the Contest circle before," she added, looking back at me, as if trying to discern all of my identity through visual contact.

I opened my mouth to say something, but realized it was about to be 'anything', and so my filter kicked in and delayed me. It gave Brigette the time to look about. "So who will your lovely Pearl be working wi..." she starts, then her eyes landed on the cross-armed Salandit several feet away, on the same ground level they were on.

"Is...that...?" she says with honest apprehension, her Flaaffy's face dipping and eyes widening.

"What kind of Pokemon is..?" Bowie started, pulling a face that made him match his Snubbull---well done if you were insulting my bud there.

"Yeah, I've never seen one like that in a Contest," Arthur remarked, chin resting on his finger-gunned hand.

To his credit, Sol was keeping his composure, as annoyed as he was from getting attention from people he didn't know...and possibly being out numbered by them. He just tapped a claw to arm in his folded gesture, seeming to take an unearthly sense of restraint not to comment on the rather 'dolled-up' Pokemon before him.

"Vul. Ix," the Vulpix, Fergus, remarked with a side-tip of his head as he circled---giving a wide berth---Sol, who closed one eye to give his other one gazing at the fox Pokemon more prominence; or maybe he was using Glare? He probably did it to ignore the judgy look Shep the Snubbull was giving from standing a few feet away, hand fin to chin.

"Nubble," Shep added in his own critique. The Flaaffy peeked from behind him, stretching her back to peer past his top hat to look at my Salandit.

"Did you..." Brigette starts, turning her head, her eyes following a second late as they seemed hesitant to look away from the diapered Salandit nearby; people did that a lot. "...find someone outside the circle?"

I blinked. Yes. She did. I know that, I was the 'someone outside the circle'---guessing Contest circle. I looked to Lil, who had her head down, her hands at her sides, though a bit more behind her hips, clenched a bit. My eyes darted between her and Brigette's confused expression.

...man, even on initial guess, girls' relationships are complicated. Was I supposed to do something right now...?

"Yes, he is," Lil eventually said, looking back up. "He's a..." she started again, paused, her mouth going slack ever so slightly before glancing to me. "...a...friend."

Even Pearl looked at her with confusion at THAT classification when it came to me, much less the others...and maybe myself, I don't know, I didn't trust my feelings at the moment with whatever was going on.

"Oh...that's...nice Lillian," Brigette eventually replied, her confusion seeming to soften as she seemed to take Lil's word for it. "I didn't think that you---" she started, before straightening like a Stantler in headlights. "---oh! I don't mean that I didn't think you had any---" she began again, before her Flaaffy lightly whacked her leg with a wide-eyed expression.

Brigette seemed to compose herself thanks to her diapered sheep, taking a breath and starting again---though me and Lil were both unwilling to respond to her stumbling a second ago. "I mean...good for you," she says, opening her eyes and giving a nod. "I would have tried to include you in our performance if you didn't...find a replacement," she says, looking at me and giving a nod.

I...still had no idea how to respond here. So I switched my attention from her to my partner...who was looking a little outnumbered down there, surrounded by the guys and their Pokemon.

"But I'll still offer...I mean, taking someone from outside the circle is rather risky, don't you think?" Brigette continued toward Lil, who was bristling almost defensively, but not aggressively, in her expression. "I mean..." she started, leaning a bit toward the stage toward Lil, though he eyes glanced Sol's way. "...if you're going to practice now, are you sure he's...umm...'empty', unlike your last partner who---" she started.

Lil finally got a bit louder, which is what I was waiting for her to do, for some kind of normalcy. Unfortunately, it was the way neither me or Sol wanted.

"For your information---!" she started, leaning down, a bit further than she needed to. "He already dirtied his diaper a few hours ago and already got changed!"

"And how do you...know that...?" Brigette just asked, blinking.

I dipped my head and turned it like I was part Noctowl, not believing Lil just put my lizard on blast. Said-lizard's slits darted to Lillian at her word, stomping a foot in indignation; "SAL ANDIT!" he growled: 'Freakin' snitch!'.

It went over our heads, due to the audacity, but Lillian was in a moment we should have appreciated---mentioning how she knew another person's Pokemon got their dirty diaper changed and was so sure of it; no one else knew it was HER and PEARL who were...intimately aware of that particular event, yeah?

But as said, we were distracted…

"Oh...well...I...uh..." Lillian started, straightening and bringing her hands up near her mouth, realizing she may have put herself in a weird corner here.

"AN DIT."

To his credit, I was going to step in if Sol being gawked at was going to cause issues for him---but he seemed to have handled it well...until Lil talked that is, and outed him for something that, well, is quite normal around here. Pride I guess. Needless to say, he sparked up his tail flame, causing the six to back up---even the Vulpix, who stumbled back onto his padded butt with a crinkle.

Weird, he was a Fire-type too, right...?

The flame up did what it was supposed to do, get people off his back and get attention too, Sol glaring up at Lil before adjusting his current diaper---as if to reminder her he could tell just how much she knew about how 'empty' he was for her comment, at least to her competitor's Pokemon.

"Oooh...guess that's what they mean by 'playing with fire'," Brigette remarks with a concerned face.

Arthur came over to help his Vulpix back onto his feet. "What was that man?" he asked, confused as I was. Fergus' eyes darted between Arthur and Sol, as if he didn't know how to answer that question for some reason.

"Gotta be careful with that stuff, don't want to burn the set...or people or..." Bowie remarks wringing his collar a bit. Shep took off his hat and started waving it to dissipate the smoke waves coming their way; probably seeking to drift toward the door they had recently come through.

"An DIT," Sol remarks, slinking up the side of the stage, using some of the Pokemon filigree divots to get up, before slinking up to stand beside me, arms folded and looking down on the group as if to set them in their place, whatever that was.

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," I finally end up saying, hands in my pockets. I could at least come to Sol's defense. He hadn't burned anything down...in a while...at least...I'm pretty sure...

"Ah heh," Brigette says as Arthur picked up Fergus around the legs, the Vuplix eyes darting to Sol, who pulses the stripe down his back and tail as if he had noticed his fellow Fire-type had gotten unnerved by his display.

"Well, I suppose you have everything in hand then," Brigette says, clapping her hands together. "We just came to check the prop department for arrangements...but it seems you're still pretty set on your own and came along with your new partner," she says, glancing at me, then a little uncomfortably to Sol. "Glad to see you not dropping out Lillian. The Mew celebration is the best place to show how capable you are!"

Brigette reaches down and picks up her diapered Flaaffy, cradling the sheep Pokemon as they adjust their tiara. Arthur and Bowie seemed to take Brigette's motion as a departure bell, and gathered their padded Pokemon and started heading down the last aisle to get to the backroom section.

"There you are Emmy," Brigette tells her Flaaffy before looking back at Lil. "Hope it works out for you Lillian!" she exclaims. "The Mew celebration is the perfect chance to give everyone a big show, so let's 'bring it' as they say," she says with a slight giggle before giving a wave from below Emmy's padding as she followed the boys.

All four sets of eyes followed the group as they made their way out of the audience section and through the double doors at the wall, and nobody did anything till the click of the door echoed through the space.

"...well...that was...intense?" I said, aiming to break the silence as I looked to the group—our group.

Sol flicked his tail dismissively. "An," he muttered. Ok, so guess he didn't get the whole 'slight appreciation to Contest performers' I got with Lil a few minutes ago...but I guess being gawked at in any fashion tends to make one not too open to consideration.

"Sha," Pearl muttered to herself, looking to where the group had departed. That threw me for a loop. Did she and Sol say the same kind of thing...?

"Uuuuugh," Lil groaned, causing each of us to lean away from her out of some primal instinct, as she crouched, bent over, arms wrapped around knees. "I thought they had already been in...thought five would be late enough..."

"Uh...what? Were you...trying to avoid them or something?" I asked, raising a brow.

Sol chuckled, his hands limp in front of himself. "Sal al and," he says; 'I'd avoid them all'. I imagine he wanted to add something akin to setting tails on fire or something, but surprised he didn’t.

"Yes. No. Well, maybe," Lil replied, blowing air out the side of her mouth as Pearl waddled over and patted her shin. Seemed to make her a little...better, I guess?

"I just...didn't want to, you know...well...'engage' before the whole celebration was over is all," she said, sighing and looking to the ceiling. "But, that's dumb. Of course I'd run into them before...that's dumb...I'm---"

"Osh," Pearl says sternly, pointing at Lil with a firm flipper, the other pressing against the hip of her diaper with a crinkle.

"...right Pearl...right," Lil eventually says to her partner, nodding slowly.

I watched the display with a bit of awkwardness, as if this was a private moment for the two I was intruding on---or at least part of something bigger I wasn't in on. Even Sol was getting a feel on it, looking side to side and scratching the bottom of his neck with a single index claw. I'm guessing both of us were figuring whether to cough or I dunno...

"...are they...like...putting you down or something?" I venture in asking. Sol slumped and looked up at me with one purple eye slit; 'Are you serious?'

"Uh...no, not really," Lil says, relaxing her posture so she's sitting on the edge of the stage rather than...I don't know, fetal position was it?

"But aren't they like...your competition or something?" I suggested, looking toward the door. I would think that was a decent observation given the talk and their dolled-up Pokemon.

"Technically...yes, they are," Lil admits, starting to swing her legs a bit. "It's not like they're mean or anything like that," she adds, before pausing and looking over her shoulder. "I mean if that's what you mean. You said you don't have much experience, so guessing all you know is what comes over from the mainland right?"

"I guess?" I say, shrugging. True, I didn't much watch the scene from here in Berryton, me and Sol just rarely saw what it was like on the other side of the water, as it were, thanks to international television channels.

"Yeah, well, it's not as...overreaching as some of them are," she says, sitting a bit more proper once she realized she was doing the whole 'leg-kicking thing'---possibly too casual a gesture. "They probably have people and Pokemon from all over the world competing, and that comes with a lot of...I guess overly competitive people---though that's obvious, I know. We don't...get many outside performers...none actually."

She looked up again, at the few stage lights that were on since we came in. "Can't pretend I know what it's like out there, but I...kind of imagine it's more about winning and whose Pokemon is the best or something---like Battling---rather than..." she started, letting silence take things for a moment.

She lowered her head and looked to Pearl, who'd been standing by her side since coming over, staring at her as if ready to launch into 'comfort mode' or something similar if need be. Lil gave a smile, patting her head, to which the Oshawott scrambled whacking away---not aggressively. She eventually stopped, taking Pearl over and sitting her in front of her, the Water Pokemon's diaper crinkling as it compressed on the stage's treated wood.

"Well...just to clear it up, no. Brigette, Bowie, and Arthur are fellow competitors, but they aren't mean or anything like that. They ARE a good trio, always have been since I joined up, and always do well. She really did offer me a place in their performance if I...didn't find anyone else to..." she says, fingers tapping Pearl's diapered hips.

"Why didn't you?" I asked, raising a brow.

"An dit," Sol agreed. I mean, really, if she had an offer to work with other Contest people, I think it was probably better to go with them than, well, us.

"...because I wanted to head my own performance."

Sol's tail flicked against my leg, causing me to rub it slightly just from the impact, so I almost missed the look on Lil's face as she answered. But I caught it. She didn't look...happy or...or mad or anything like that. She looked...I don't know, wistful?

"Me and Pearl can do duo's like nobody's business, right Pearl?" Lil asked, looking down at the padded bundle in front of her, giving some tickle fingers to her ribs.

"Osha!" she replies, wiggling in her padding, her scalchop necklace swinging around her neck.

Lil stopped, not going too far with it, but gave a smile that was genuine, then somehow became a little distant as seconds passed. "...but, working with other people, and other Pokemon, should be part of things too. Working together and all that..."

She raised her head, then turned it to look back at me, eyes going to me and Sol, before seeming to abort and pause a quarter of the way, looking off toward the entrance doors as she spoke. "I know I'm....that I can be a LITTLE difficult..."

I reached down and cupped Sol's mouth and the back of his head for the next few words coming out of his mouth I KNEW would come. He glared up at me and whacked his tail---harder this time---so it reverberated between my arms. Ow.

"...I didn't just promise the judges...I promised myself too," Lil continued.

The amount of sincerity in that statement must have reached Sol a little too as he seemed to roll his eyes, huff, and go a bit slack, his tail stopping its assault on my limbs. I glanced down to see his eye fidget going to me then to my hand as if saying 'let go already'...which I did...and, surprisingly, he didn't make a further comment.

"So...why us again?" I ventured, straightening up. I think she answered me before, but given that WE were the choice before three trained people and Pokemon for this stuff made me wonder again.

Since I was seeing her back, I could only see Lil lower her head, probably to look at Pearl for a longer stretch than I had wanted to go on...till she picked Pearl up and set her beside herself, before getting up.

"It's...just like I said. I needed a...a Fire-type for my performance," she says, getting to her feet and turning around. "And you were the first one to come to mind."

"Right...you wanted Sol," I recalled, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Well him and you, yes," Lil says, twirling on a foot.

She stopped mid-turn on a dime with planting the foot, going rigid as if she just heard what she'd said. It went over MY head for a moment too, enough that she recovered to speak…

…but…looking back…I realized maybe I should have inquired about that.

"A-anyway!" she says, turning. "Don't concern yourself with all that, we got a performance to prepare for and...and..." she was saying, leaning a bit and seeming to both think and cringe at the same time---why was she doing that??---before her eyes rested on Sol, particularly his tail.

"Oh! That's right! The gems!"

"Gems?"

"Sal?" Sol agreed, rubbing the side of his head while thinking. Then he went rigid too and smacked a fist into a palm. "Dit!" he declares, slapping a fist into a palm and looking to me with a tight grin.

"What? No, not like the 'Case of the Moonstone Diamond," I tell my lizard with a sigh, recalling it as the name of a movie we watched last weekend. "At least, I don't...think so...gems? Lil?" I asked her, getting back on topic.

"Gems. For the performance," Lil says with slight distress, fishing in her pockets and turning about...until Pearl waddled over and funnily swung from one of her frantic legs till she finally stopped.

"Osha watt! At!" she tells her, before waddling off backstage. Sol chuckled at her departure, making a comment about water and padding, but I ignored him, looking to a slightly calmer Lil.

"...for the performance?" I say, egging her on.

"Oh! Right," she says, nodding. "Gems, for Pearl and your liz---er...Salandit. When you said you'd at least try, I asked for help from the Professor to make some for us. They'll enhance the special effects so neither of them have to overwork themselves," she tells me, nearly pinching a thumb and index finger, as if she was holding one.

"I...think I recall those from the show," I say, mostly down to Sol, who folded his arms, closed his eyes and gave a self satisfied nod; he was right, in a roundabout way, at least according to himself. Then I paused at the second bit of information I hadn't expected.

"Wait...Professor?"

It was at that time another diaper was crinkling, and I watched Pearl waddle back on stage with a slip of paper in her flipper that she handed off to Lil.

"Yeah, Professor Gingko. She's Berryton's Professor. You wouldn't believe how much she makes, and she contributes to a lot of Contest performers," she tells me, looking at the slip of paper.

Then when she eventually noticed my stunned face, her attention went to me. "You...DID know that right?" she asked, slowly rearing back a bit. “...right?”

Sol looked up at me with one closed eye and raised brow and a cheeky smirk, as if he was winning a game of 'know-it-all chess' and realized he was ahead and I was behind...though I knew he was probably as clueless as I was.

We...have a Professor?