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Vee silently observed the window of a store. Her view completely focused on one of the stuffed animals in there. She had been thinking for what seemed like hours if it was worth taking that animal to the GardenView, and even more important, handing it over.
Vee used to personally buy each of the prizes from her trivia shows. Each of the prizes were choosen to be actually worth earning for, even though they were small prizes, Vee was extremely dedicated to her shows, everything had to be thought out, even the inner value of the prizes.
But she rarely considered purchasing anything that wasn't effective for her program, therefore, getting something extra that she wanted to give to someone else was more an annoying inconsistency on her head. So she blinked, stayed, and stared, and that Corythosaurus kept shining on that counter, silently begging the host to take it home with her.
"Damn it." She cursed just before reaching out and putting the stuffed animal on her shopping cart.
"Hey." Vee called, starting to walk into the room, but staying at the door, waiting a affirmation to get in.
"Hm..?" Shelly hummed, separating her view from, from what Vee could see, it looked like a ceramic work. "Oh! Vee!"
That happy tune in her sweet voice momentarily eased Vee's heart, then she remembered she had something to do. Her hand tightened on the gift bag she was holding, tense. "Uh, are you busy right now?"
"Not at all, come in, come in!" Shelly said, getting up from her chair, she carefully wiped her hands on the apron she was wearing and walked over to the television. Her little jumps leaving Vee momentarily stunned, until she felt her hands on her back, gently pushing her into the room. "What's going on?"
"Uh." Vee separated from the girl, sitting as relaxed as possible in one of the chairs in the room, near the table where Shelly was working. ".. I went out today."
"Yeah.. ?" She tilted head while sitting down on the chair where she was moments before, paying attention to what Vee had to tell her, meanwhile, Vee placed the gift bag on Shelly's table. "I restored the trivia prizes. And I spent some time in another stores."
"Riiight." The fossil's gaze focused on the bag.
"I found something." Vee said, tilting her head to indicate the already evident bag towards the fossil. The host waited a few seconds for her to take it, but Shelly didn't move, she remained watching the sack.
"Can i take it?" The other one asked after a few moments of silence. Slightly surprised by the action.
".. Well yes! It's for you." Vee's voice responded quickly, a hint of embarrassed showed in her voice, but Shelly was kind enough not to ask about it. Instead, other one quickly showed an "O" with her mouth, followed by a very slight smile, carefully taking the packaging. "Alright!"
Shelly lifted the edges of the packaging and remove the wrapping paper, excited, and Vee watched closely her reaction, expectant. A very audible GASP escaped the archaeologist's lips, followed by a squeak. Vee felt her tail twitch up and down.
"IT'S A CORYTHOSAURUS. OH. AND A SAUROLOPHUS. My collection was missing one of these guys! Oh just look at them!" Shelly shouted, spinning joyfully with both stuffed animals in her arms. Vee felt something on her system getting thight, but whatever it was, it didn't encourage her to stop looking at the girl, her smile was suddenly mesmerizing, and Vee started smiling as well. ".. It's rare for that store to have such specific things, I thought passing up the opportunity would be bad." Vee explained.
"THEY'RE AMAZING! Ohhh, Vee! I love them!" She sang. "Thank you so much!"
Vee felt funny, a weirdly awkward funny feeling, the feeling only encouraged her to smile, even if she wasn't entirely sure why. She nodded towards the archaeologist, before sighing.
".. Yeah! I'm glad you liked them–."
"Love them." She corrected.
".. yeah. It's nothing, really." Her tail thumped animatedly against the wooden surface of the chair, she just hoped that Shelly didn't really noticed it. "But hey, what were you doing? What's all of this?"
"Uh? Ohh!" Shelly was already at the other end of her room, standing on a chair, carefully placing the stuffed animals on a shelf with a lot more of them. She quickly went down and sat back down on the chair, taking some clay. Vee was impressed by how much she could move depending on her motivation, dangerous too. "Nothing really! I was modeling some things for the kids that will arrive tomorrow, maybe i'll catch their attention a bit more if they get really cool figures!"
".. I see, so.. you're doing aa..?" She extended herself a little further, trying to get Shelly to answer her question.
".. Isn't it obvious?" She asked. Taking the clay figure and placing it closer to the Vee's face, as if the proximity could give her the right answer. ".. Not a clue?"
".. Sorry?"
Shelly sighed. "It's a Olorotitan, trying to teach them about some main families. Like the Hadrosauridae! Or.. Ornipods."
Vee nodded. It looked nothing like a Olorotitan, more like a not-shaped dog. But Vee wouldn't say that, maybe they could shape it out if Shelly led them. The host silently grabbed a piece of clay, molding it for a few seconds to get used to the texture. Following this, she extender her hand towards Shelly, expecting her to hand them the statuette.
"Can i? I'm sure i can help a little bit." Trying to sound as non-offensive as possible, Shelly blinked for a moment and nodded, handing her the figure quickly. "Oh! Maybe i can do a corythosaurus meanwhile! They're both Ornipods."
Shelly rushed back to the shelf, picking back the plush and placing it on the table.
"I'll take this as my muse!" Shelly claimed, her hand reached out to the clay and picked up a piece, mixing it with her hands to smooth out the texture. Vee observed, but quickly got back to work and reproduced a photo of the fossil in her head, doing their best to replicate the details. "Mhm.."
The two of them stood there putting together figurines, occasionally taking and removing parts of the clay to perfect their craft, Vee doesn't remember when did she got the perm to do so, but it seems like Shelly didn't minded the company, nor the help, so she stuck up and did her best. Which, for her machine-build being, turned out very well. The details of said relic being where almost done, and Vee felt proud about it.
"I think i'll be leaving now." Vee said as she lowered the dinosaur to the table.
"Aww..." Shelly I murmur with a small tone of sadness, quickly shutting up for a few seconds, she shouldn't have say that, Vee perked, curious. "Sorry, i mean, sure! It's getting late, yeah."
"Yeah." Vee replied, still curious about the last tone on the shell.
".. Thanks for helping me, and for the little guys." The archaeologist replied before standing up to escort Vee to the door. The Host followed her, nodding. "It was nothing, Shelly, really."
"It was, thank you." She smiled, stepping aside to let the television out of her room. Vee nodded again, starting to walk away from the doorway. She didn't notice how Shelly's tail thumped in discomfort.
She had taken perhaps five steps till she heard the voice of the fossil behind her again.
"Do you mind going with me to Teagan's party?" She asked, raising her voice a tiny bit. "If you're not busy tomorrow–. She invited me! And.. well that's pretty much it."
The host turned back at her, analyzing the question. Shelly's tail thumped again.
".. I don't mind." She answered.
"Really?" Shelly's voice struck her with hope.
"Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow." Vee replied, her expressionless face didn't matched the way the microphone on her tail was wagging on the ground. She hoped Shelly wouldn't catch that again.
".. Thank You! See you tomorrow!" Shelly waved to her, and Vee turned back to the hall, disappearing into them.
...
Now she had to clear her schedule for tomorrow night, she'll see what excuse she will give to the producers. She didn't care much, the only thing that mattered to her was the way her tail and her mechanisms moved uncontrollably. The feeling made her dizzy, in a very warm and comfortable way.