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"Yeah, I think I can second that. Stories make it seem so easy. So... simple." Aria looked away for a moment to let her frown fade. "I don't know how much he told you about me, but I like to think our Owen and I are pretty close. Makes the little differences between you two stand out quite a...

"...I think you'd still lose," Aria said, almost sounding hesitant. Then, knowing she'd couldn't just leave it there, she looked up at Owen. "That light was vulnerable. It faded when it was challenged, and… that means it wouldn't have been strong enough in the first place." She paused, a faint...

Aria was quiet throughout, a pensive frown having settled on her face by the end of it. "...No wonder you're so... different," she said, vague despite both of them knowing exactly what she meant. "A few months doesn't feel like much until life kicks you in the jaw."

"I try not to think about that too much. Meeting myself would be... weird," Aria said with an odd laugh. "Can't tell if we'd get along or..." She trailed off, humming in thought. "...Nah, I like myself enough."

It was easy to tell what answer Ben was hoping for, but Aria found herself giving Owen a long, hard stare first. While his Perceive could pick up on a lot of things, it couldn't tell him what was going through her head. "...Eh, I don't mind having you tag along," she finally said. "We've got...

"Huh." Aria looked between the two, before rubbing at the side of her neck. "On that note, I should clarify that I was throwing a bunch of half-truths around. Our Owen — Miracle Owen? — and I were sparring once, and Cal was just... passing around berries, I guess. The rope stuff was just him...

A moment of silence. "...Did both of you try to sabotage the other?"

"And I'm pretty sure they were trying to fuck with us and someone else by swapping the Owens around. Picked the wrong target on this end, though," Aria said with a impish smile. "Who's our Owen with?"

Chuckling, Aria bopped Ben on the forehead. "Fine, fine, I'll try to salvage your opinion of me. From what I can tell, our Owen and Team Spectrum's Owen switched bodies somehow — maybe Diyem, maybe Manaphy, not important. I think they were trying to prank us." With a smirk, she crossed her...

Simultaneously, Aria decided to hit the brakes before there was any more mental property damage. "I'm pretty sure he is Owen, just not ours. You're from Team Spectrum, aren't you?" she asked the charizard, glancing at his tail.

Owen was dealing blow after blow to himself, and Aria wasn't sure how much longer she could take it without begging him to stop. "What do you mean? His story makes complete sense, right?" she said in the most insincere tone of voice imaginable.

For a split second, the basket of food threatened to fall, but Aria managed to recover from her sudden choking fit in time. Barely. "Y-you..." she gasped out between laughs. "That's the f-first thing you could think of? Really?"

The glowing rope faded, but her grin just grew. "Would you like to find out~?"

With a twang, Aria pulled the rope taut, her grin never fading. "Please, Ben would've caught on in the time we spent shopping. Don't tell me you're trying to back out now," she said, briefly glancing over at the horrified arcanine. Arceus forgive her for what she was doing to him, but she...

There was a predatory glint in her eyes. "I practiced."

"She wasn't involved, she was kind of just... there. And helping out sometimes too, I guess," Aria said with a shrug, before looking at Owen. "That reminds me — we never got around to using a rope like we planned to." Grinning, she swiped a paw through the air, conjuring a translucent length of...

She tilted her head innocently. "Did you not want to...?" Trailing off, Aria rubbed at her chin. "Hm, it's fine if you just want to watch, then. I think Owen's into that — he had Cal tag along last time we did it!" she said cheerily.

Aria nodded along with his words, waiting for him to jump topi— ah, there it was. "A clearing in the woods," she replied, pointing vaguely in the direction she remembered it being. "It's got a small pond, and no one really seemed to go there back in... uh, our Cibus. Perfect place for a bit of...

Aria clicked her tongue in disapproval, patting Ben's side ever-so-casually. "Hey now, no need to badmouth Mergo behind his back." A pause. "...Though, calling him a jerk did just help me realize who you were talking about, so fair play to you."

Of course Ben wanted to visit the one place she'd been trying to avoid. Aria briefly chewed her lip, before shrugging. "Just try not to get water everywhere. Your fur's pretty much a sponge." With that out of the way, she turned to follow Owen's gaze. "And yeah, this whole district's got one...