"Meow. (I admit I was wrong. Besides being gifted at eating and sleeping, he's pretty good at having fun, too.)"
While Squirtle was busy making toys for Lucario, Meownei leaned against the stair railing and added a few new labels to Squirtle's character.
Although Squirtle picked up skills quickly when they helped him achieve his goals, he couldn't shake his habit of working in fits and starts.
Now Meownei was rather curious to see what Squirtle's promised fresh start for the new year would actually look like.
"I'm going to sleep for a bit..."
"Meow~ (Go ahead. I'll keep an eye on things here. Nothing will go wrong.)"
Before Xin Mu could finish, Meownei guessed what he was about to say, agreed immediately, and assured him that he could go back and rest.
There wasn't much to watch over, really. At most, Meownei had to stop Squirtle from getting into the kitchen early and eating everything they had prepared.
Squirtle was busy making toys for Lucario now and had no intention of doing that. At least, not yet.
While Squirtle made ice lanterns, Litten watched from nearby.
She had always thought ice cubes only made Pokémon cold and weren't much good. She hadn't expected them to become toys.
But unlike Lucario, she had no hands, so playing with one would be awkward.
Squirtle noticed what Litten was thinking. To show off his abilities, he found another chopstick, cut the yarn shorter, and made a smaller one for her.
At that size, she could hold it in her mouth and play with it. It didn't matter if she got bored with it, either. It was only ice, after all, and cost practically nothing.
"Squirtle. (Here.)"
"Meowr?"
Litten seemed not to have expected him to make one for her and eyed the