"Awww, hey there..." Rose crooned, taking a couple steps through the grass and leaning over somewhat, a curious tone playing in her lightly-accented voice. Reaching a hand out, she proffered a small, brown cracker, cocking her head and smiling at the wild, brown-furred Stantler that was slowly making its way over to her. Its belly drooped lower than some of the others; no doubt it was probably pregnant. "Are you hungry too? Here you go, hehehe..."

"Don't feed 'em too fast, you've only got so many," I called out to the fire type, my tail wagging back and forth as I ambled up behind her, elbows bent and hands half-slipped into my pockets. The sounds of cheerful chatter and constant footsteps rang out from the nearby road as dozens of passerby wandered to and fro, ducking into shops and jogging deeper into Violet City, some with wild Stantler trotting hot on their tails. Leaning back a bit, I wiggled my footpaws in the grass and stopped just behind my partner, watching as she continued to offer the pregnant Stantler the dry, crumbly treat.

I blinked, however, when I felt something bump against my tail, something fuzzy and slightly rough and-

I twisted around and took a hasty step backwards, a sheepish grin curling onto my muzzle when I saw another wild Stantler standing right in front of me, an expectant look plastered on its round, droopy face. With an awkward cough, I yanked my arms up, showing the big-horned Pokemon that I was, unfortunately for it, out of crackers. "Sorry, buddy, I'm fresh out."

The Stantler continued to stare at me, sniffing a few times in dismay.

---

So back in May, my parents and I ended up taking a trip to Japan to celebrate the college semester finishing up. We ended up going to Disney for a weekend, then spent the rest of the week in Kyoto (and a brief single day in Osaka before flying home). I took a boatload of photos, and then last month decided... why not try doodling some pictures based on the photos I took? So there's that. :v

The last picture in this set that I worked on was this, and it was probably the most difficult mostly for motivational reasons. The background is fairly simple compared to the other pictures, it's just that it was a lot of work drawing every single rock in the piles, then figuring out the fence, and so on. Then I got stuck on how to draw Bill and Rose's poses, and spent a bunch of time making little tweaks and additions to the background before finally finding some good reference material and drawing Rose. Then I added in some wild Stantler then Bill, and then the last Stantler looking up at him, and that was that! It took a while, but in the end I had a lot of fun.

If the picture confuses you, this is another photo taken over in Nara. The big thing about Nara - aside from its garden and an ancient wooden temple with giant Buddha statues, and other such sights - is that it's known for wild deer that come down and hang around in the city. In ancient times, the deer were seen as messenger spirits (Shinto stuff), and thus even nowadays they're still a very important and respected part of the local town culture. Plus, you can buy special crackers to feed the deer with, and they're all so cute! So I really wanted to do a pic of Bill and Rose feeding the deer, and lo and behold I did. :3p