The Old Chateau. Thatās where Koko had said they were, and so thatās where Jess led her companions. Murky, a Murkrow of xir own, was scouting the sky and cawed up a storm when he spotted the pair in the cleared space behind the building. He circled as Jess approached, following his lead, and when xe arrived, he landed on the ground between his trainer and the pair, tilting his head and blinking inquisitively. Heād never seen a human-pokemon hybrid before!
Once they were within sight, Jess slowed to a carefully paced approach. Xe didnāt want to startle them and potentially make it worse.
Mistress the Mismagius hovered along, keeping pace, sticking very close to her trainer. She didnāt know what to expect from this encounter, and so she was happy to let Jess take the lead until she knew what to do, but she was watching attentively.
Jess kept some distance between her team and the other pair, and spoke in a low soothing voice. Xe wanted to gauge their reaction and mood before coming too close. āHello Koko, Aero. Weāre here.ā
Koko watched carefully the newcomers, as Aero growled at them. The big Aerodactyl protected with his body the hybrid, but letting her the view to observe the little group. Koko had said to him that Aleksei knew Jess and that she read a bit of xir blog thanks to whatever was Rotumblr ; he did not trust xem.
She tried to stand up when she saw the Murkrow, she was curious to meet another Murkrow, but Aero took her by the coat and wrapped her with his tail around the waist : she wasnāt going anywhere.
Seeing that the group kept their distance, Aero stopped growling but he glanced at them harder.
Koko chirped as much as she could -she wasnāt used to human vocal cords yet. She coughed as she stopped.
āYouāreā¦ Youāre Jess.ā
She didnāt want to, but her feathers still puffed up. Aleksei was the one doing all the social, not her -she didnāt do anything really.
āI, humā¦ thought thatā¦ no one wouldā¦ dare to show up.ā She tried her best not to seem afraid, but xe was still a stranger, even after all the reading she did, with PokĆ©mons.
āThatās right,ā Jess nodded. In a moment of dry humor, xe added, āI raise ghosts for a living. It takes a lot to scare me awayā¦ā But not everyone was so calm in new situations, with new people, or new Pokemon. Xe knew that. Seeing how protective the Aerodactyl was and how tense Koko seemed, Jess decided to take it slow with them.
Xe kept the space between them for now. āItās okay, weāre not going to hurt you. Weāre here to help. This is Mistress.ā Xe held a hand in the Mismagiusās direction, keeping it low and moving slow to avoid startling them.
The ghost nodded, but stayed silent.
āAnd this is Murky,ā (The Murkrow cawed his greeting, bobbing his head just once.) āI thought, if you couldnāt speak, he could help me understand you. But you can. Iām glad, I think thatāll make things easier. Mistress can speak a little bit.ā speak human, that is. But she says it makes her throat itch. Is talking hard for you?ā
