"Common, terrible, and hard to fix given how calcified some of Earth's shittier habits are."

"Yeah, that's about what I figured." 

Lily exhales. "Okay. I am going to wait on the chocolate because it feels... like it would be a lot right now. I need to rest and not have to think about all this. I don't really want to open the DSes while I'm feeling sad, but I should probably do something enjoyable to help my mood. Do you have any suggestions?"

"Hmmm. What about watching something together?"

"Do you have something silly, lighthearted, and unlikely to remind me of this world's worse habits?" 

"I think I can manage that."

She fires up the media center and starts flipping through various anime and movies.

Eventually she stops on Shrek.

"3D animated movie about a grumpy ogre and a princess. Pretty light-hearted."

"Sounds good. Let's try it."

So Sable sits next to Lily on the couch, hugs her warmly, and fires up the movie.

And Lillian lays back and lets the movie wash over her. 

Her attention's kind of elsewhere at the moment, but the zany adventures of Shrek and Donkey as they venture to try and defeat the nefarious lord Faarqaad feel soothing, despite the gingerbread-man torture scene and Faarqaad's obvious gracelessness. And true love triumphs in the end, as Shrek gets Princess Fiona, Donkey gets Dragon, and Faarqaad gets eaten. 

She comes away from the movie with a smile, despite it all. It's actually a pretty good show. 

Sable smiles softly and squeezes Lily gently. "How're you feeling, Lily?"

"Doing a little better. I think I'd like to open the DSes now? And I think I want Foxbox in front for that because she'll be the most excited about it."

"Sounds like a plan. I definitely want to make a point to spend time with all of you individually, though, doing things you like. So don't hesitate to grab me for stuff too, okay?"

She kisses Lily's forehead.

"For sure. I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on Castlevania." Lillian grins and stretches her arms up over her head. "But for the moment..."

She reaches down and clicks her bracelet over to red, and wiggles. 

"Okay! DS, DS, DS, DS!" She giggles and grins.

Sable giggles and squeezes Foxbox. "Yep! DS time!"

She grabs the GameStop bag and sets it next to the coffee table, pulls the two DS boxes out to set them on the table, the pink one in front of Foxbox and the lavender one in front of her.

"Okay, I'll get the little sealing tape, and then..."

She pulls a knife out of her purse quickly, flips it open, and cuts through the tamper seals on the two boxes before smoothly putting it away again.

"We can open them."

Foxbox grabs the box and pulls it open, spilling out a handful of manuals and the contained grey-brick charger. She sets them aside, and tilts the box carefully, spilling out the contained pink DS into her hands. 

"Oooooooh," she croons, feeling the weight of it in her hands. It's suprisingly light, not much more weight than a proper phone, and the glossy sheen of its pink plastic skin feels wonderful beneath her hands. 

She turns it over, noting the cartridge slot, pulling out the stylus and then putting it back, and then she unfolds the clamshell and gets to see the dual screens of the device for the first time. They're dark at the moment, but she likes how they look, and pressing the d-pad and the buttons experimentally they have a good amount of give. 

She grins at Sable and wiggles her butt in the chair, her invisible tail pulling her hips along. "This looks wonderful," she says. "I wish I had thought to charge it while we were watching the show, though!"

"Yeah, I should've thought of that too. But I've got plenty of outlets and a spare power strip if the cords aren't long enough, so we can try 'em out while charging 'em."

Sable opens hers as well, now that the giddy moment of watching Foxbox open the new toy has passed. "We should figure out who gets Diamond and who gets Pearl. Mind looking the exclusive pokémon up on your laptop while I get these plugged in?"

"Sure!" She hands over the DS, and gets up and heads upstairs to retrieve her laptop.

And Sable goes to a utility closet and gets out a spare power strip, then plugs it in behind the couch and sets the strip right between their spots at the foot of the couch, then plugs in both DSes.

After that she stacks the manuals in a corner of the table, stacks all the games near the middle, and cleans up the packaging.

Foxbox returns with her laptop on her lap, and googles. It's pretty easy for her to find a site called serebii.net that covers such things, and she goes through the list thoughtfully. 

Exclusive to Pearl:
Shieldon/Bastiodon
Midreavus/Mismagius
Glameow/Purugly
Palkia
Slowpoke/Slowbro/Slowking
Pinsir
Houndour/Houndoom
Stantler
Spheal/Sealeo/Walrein
Bagon/Shelgon/Salamence

Exclusive to Diamond:
Cranidos/Rampardos
Murkrow/Honchkrow
Stunky/Skuntank
Dialga
Seel/Dewgong
Scyther/Scizor
Larvitar/Pupitar/Tyranitar
Poochyena/Mightyena
Aron/Lairon/Aggron
Kecleon

"Looking at these I think Pearl is better?" Foxbox tilts her head. "I really like how Misdreavus and Mismagius look, and also Houndour and Houndoom, and I don't see anything in the Diamond set that really makes up for that."

She leans close and looks at the pictures, humming for a moment. "I'm definitely going to beg a Misdreavus off you at some point, but that works for me. Maybe a Houndour too."

"I'll definitely want a Murkrow off you, and maybe a Scyther. But if you're willing to give me Pearl that works for me." She smiles and kisses Sable's cheek. "Best mom!"

"Aww yay. Best daughters."

She squeezes Foxbox close with a smile and kisses the top of her head.

She blushes a little, but squeezes back. 

"Thanks, mom. For everything."

"Always, sweetie. You and your other facets matter, and I will do anything I can to keep y'all safe and happy."

"Yeah. You really will. It's amazing." 

She exhales, and picks up her DS again as it charges. "So, shall we try Mario Kart, or...?"