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"Duvet, no, you're missing the point," Aila said with a mild frustration as she chased down the Cottonee that drifted away on a light stir in the air. Swiftly catching up with it, she placed her hands on either side of the ball of fluff and rotated it in her grasp so wide yellow eyes were on her. "Laps," she reiterated. "It means you go around the designated path. You can't just go wherever you please. Now do it properly this time." She removed her hands from the Cottonee's small form, allowing it to drift off toward the track.

Duvet didn't like the track at all. The room was so big, and he was only allowed to explore a narrow little part of it? What were those things in the corner, or those things on the ceiling, or, or, or...

The door was suddenly opened, attracting the attention of both pokemon and trainer. One, however, was attracted much more fully, and the grass-type diverted from his path and moved to the open door curiously, moving to meet the gaze of the new arrival as close as possible.

"Hello, Frost," she greeted with a nod. "Doing well, thank you. Hope you can say much the same." The Cottonee's pitifully short attention span was derailed by the appearance and call of a Glaceon, and he descended to the floor like a falling leaf to investigate the ice-type, leaning forward and tilting back and forth curiously.

"Yes, that's Duvet," she answered, folding her arms loosely. "At the moment he's familiar with Stun Spore, Leech Life, Mega Drain, and GrassWhistle, the latter of which seems to be something he inherited from a parent. And no, he won't accost you. Duvet." The Cottonee turned at the sharp word, the leaves on either side of its small body drooping. "Come on, come away from there. I said laps, remember? You can socialize when you finish if you like."

The reward attached to the condition caught the grass-type's attention, and he suddenly departed from Skiron's side to traverse the perimeter of the gym, bouncing occasionally against the floor to keep momentum.

"Yes, I saw them," she said, nodding to further her assertion. "I've been on the lookout for a Sun Stone, actually, but I'd like Duvet to learn as much as he can as a Cottonee before evolving." She frowned slightly, sympathizing with the experience of being restricted from duties due to injury. "Hopefully you'll be able to get back to your duties soon... It's awful being limited like that." Absently her right hand found its way to her left, recalling the Ho-Oh's attack, the pain that had plagued her for veritable ages after, and the sensory paralysis that still flared up arbitrarily, though much more infrequently than in the past.

She acknowledged the Metang with a nod, "Good to meet you, Koios. You remind of a certain Metagross I know." Ideally this steel-type wasn't as obsessed with video games as her own, and ideally it didn't use its processing capabilities to surf the internet internally. She couldn't complain though; Pitre was useful where it mattered and had a number of characteristics that made him a desirable companion, most recently his ability to cart about the injured without jostling them too severely.

The sudden frigidness of his tone caused Aila to raise her brow in brief indication of surprise. She had never known Frost to be anything but cool, restrained, and level-headed, and this divergence from that normality, momentary as it was, was disconcerting. At his evaluation of the trainee, she breathed a long sigh and raised a hand to her face with a sudden weariness. "Don't say that," she implored. "He has to learn. Foolish and insolent I'll give you, but even animals have a basic sense of self-preservation." The fact that he had blatantly antagonized Seth implied that perhaps he was even lacking that much though.

Another sigh indicated perhaps a tinge of frustration to her tired demeanor. "I asked for the responsibility. I worked with Izaya for years when I was younger, relying on his information to build my reputation as a thief in Camphoreon. Somehow he always knew something that no one else did, sometimes not even the police. I remembered that, and I thought that sort of skill would be desirable in an organization like this." She had recently gone a mission to collect information herself, so she knew there was a demand for it.

Yet another sigh, this time clearly indicating the frustration the topic was causing to build. "But no, rather than getting here and proving his good qualities and abilities to his superiors, he antagonizes and insults them to an unspeakable degree, lands himself both a demotion and a place in the brig, puts his own life on the line-- If he doesn't shape up, I'll kill him myself!" The mounting irritation culminated in the angry resolution, followed shortly by one more expulsive, exasperated sigh.

Duvet stopped in place to regard his little human with astonishment. She'd never been so loud. It was more than a little worrying.

"I'm sorry-- No, I sincerely apologize for any and every infraction he's committed against you." She bowed at the waist, lowering her head similarly. "You can hold me accountable for anything he's said and anything he says in the future. His remarks were uncalled for and unacceptable, he has demonstrated a continued tendency toward insubordination and antagonization, and I--" She raised her hands to her face with a sudden sound of sheer vexation. "I don't have time for this! I'm an agent, for Arceus' sake! I have missions and duties and my own training to keep up with and Arceus forbid I need a break because all of my free time is caught up dealing with this ungrateful wretch who doesn't even appreciate my consideration insomuch as to behave himself rationally! I've lost Seth's respect, I've damaged my relationship with everyone he's interacted with, I've dealt an irreversible blow to my own reputation, and I--" Shuddering from the release of anger and frustration, she stopped herself with a deep breath, straightened her posture, and regarded Frost with an expression of exhaustion, regret, and a lingering distress. "I'm sorry. This isn't your problem. Please forget--"

A short cry and a half stumble forward alluded to the presence of the Cottonee as he forcibly bumped into his human's back. "Duvet! What are you doing?" The grass-type responded to the sharp acknowledgment with a deflated pout. He was trying to make his human feel better...

The resulting silence reinforced the belief that she had indeed offended Frost, if not with her recruitment of Izaya then with her sudden catharsis. When he at last spoke, though, it was not to blame her but to validate and understand her reasons. Gently she gathered Duvet in her arms as she listened, only half believing his words after spending so long evaluating her actions and projecting all fault onto herself and her lack of judgment. But, though she wasn't any more familiar with him than he was with her, Frost didn't seem the sort to lie or even exaggerate just to make a person feel better about something that was their fault to begin with.

"...Thank you." Still ashamed of her unwarranted outburst, she maintained her gaze somewhere distant and spoke at a low volume. "Really. I... well..." There was no need to turn it into some kind of awkward, sentimental 'moment' or what-have-you, so she drew a breath and continued at a normal volume, "I appreciate it, truly. And I appreciate you as well," she directed the words to the Cottonee in her arms, "though I'm not sure trying to push someone over is the best way to make someone feel better or the best way to ask for food."

Though the words themselves were chiding, Duvet caught the subtly good-natured undertone and trilled happily.

As far as Aila was concerned, there was no 'moment' to be spoken of, so ruining it was impossible. The very idea that she had been or ever would be involved in a 'moment' was embarrassing, and so she quite appreciated the shift in topic to pokemon and their behaviors.

The words Frost spoke on the Glaceon and said Glaceon's response to the criticism incited a brief laugh from the listening party. "A bit impatient, are we?" she said, directing the words to Skiron with a smile that indicated jest. She then turned her attention to Duvet, "I'll warn you against trying to learn from this. I won't tolerate pushiness." Though the thought of the Cottonee feigning death from starvation was an amusing one.

The sphere of fluff puffed up slightly, as if in indignation. He wasn't pushy! He just didn't have any arms!