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"Hmm..." She considered her own duties, the things she had done as a trainee, the assignments she saw other trainees performing... "Oh, what about looking after pokemon?" He had seemed interested and knowledgeable enough when they had spoken on the Calamus Plains, after all. "We have public storage, where the various pokemon that are stolen on missions, caught in the field, or produced in the labs are kept until a use is found for them. They need to be cared for regularly, and I've seen trainees and grunts responsible for this in the past. You'd probably be restricted to feeding and cleaning, and I doubt they have the best temperaments, but it's better than scrubbing, at least." A half shrug accompanied her words, indicating that it was his own decision and she could likely find something else if that didn't appeal to him.

She noted the shift in his attention, idly attempting to follow his gaze. Her attempt became more whole-hearted at the S-word; she turned in the direction he pointed, sinking into the water almost to her chin and gripping at the poolside. "Spinarak?" Rose eyes flitted momentarily before identifying the obscured little form, its round eyes staring back at her. "You!" She seized a handful of water and tossed it, the furthest-reaching droplets falling short of the bug-type. "Stop following me! Stop it!"

The Spinarak tilted its head slightly and withdrew as much as it could - not much. Her violent reaction failed to deter him.

"No, it's not mine." She spoke as though it were utterly ridiculous to even entertain the slightest possibility. "It's been following me around since I returned from the volcano. Would just sit there and stare at me while I was confined to that damnable bed..." She sank slightly lower into the water, fixing a glare on the little spider pokemon.

Said little spider pokemon replied with a curious "na?" He had been helping her for a while, keeping her things in their proper places in the trainee quarters, straightening her room in her absence from it, keeping everything orderly when she was in the clinic... It had broken his little bug heart to see her return injured, and he had revealed himself so that she wouldn't need to be bored or lonely during her extended stay in the infirmary. That plan seemed to have backfired, but he wouldn't let that deter him, oh no! He was always watching from the shadows. Like a spider ninja.

The dear little Spinarak had no idea just how legitimately creepy this was.

The positive attention from Aulus was, however, a welcome change to the usual ignoring or anger, and the expression on his abdomen shifted to one of glee. Had he a tail, it would have been wagging at a speed capable of kicking up a Gust.

"I have a fire type, if you think that would do any better," she said coldly, brow furrowed. It liked her? What business did it have liking her? As if bug types were even capable of doing anything more complex than being disgusting.

"I don't even know why it's following me. One day it just appeared in the infirmary and th-- It's touching you." Her words broke off into an aghast warning as the little Spinarak scuttled onto Aulus's hand, traversing the length of his arm and taking a perch on his shoulder. He turned an expectant glance towards the female of the human pair, as if trying to demonstrate that violence was the furthest thing from his mind. Not that that was his actual intent. He wasn't so plan-oriented as that.

Aulus would be correct; 'weirdo' was a much more accurate summary of Aila's current impression of the man. In terms of accuracy, though, 'deranged lunatic' might have been far closer to her actual feelings. She scrutinized the scene from the sanctity of the pool.

"You're crazy," she accused. "You know what's adorable? Buneary. Pichu. Maybe Togepi. Spinarak? No. Ariados? Definitely no." She returned the spider's gaze with a glare as she spoke, attempting to deter it with her rough tone. She'd driven it away in the past with a forceful enough 'shoo.' All it took was a little perseverance...

Were the Spinarak aware of her thoughts and capable of replying, it would have argued that it was getting pettings and nice words and she'd have to physically pry it off of its perch and throw it somewhere to get it to move. As it was, though, it simply regarded her with a tilt of its head, a blink of its round eyes, and an innocent coo.

"No," she objected, sinking slightly further into the water. Look at it? Purposefully? And outside of the context of a frigid glare? He really was crazy. "You're welcome to catch it if you like. And keep it in its pokeball forever so it stops following me."

Oh, now that was heartbreaking. The Spinarak visibly deflated at Aila's suggestion that Aulus catch it, even more so at the idea of being left in a pokeball so it could no longer visit her. It turned pleading eyes on the man. He wouldn't do that, right? He was a nice man, right? He understood that the little spider would be sad for the rest of time if that happened, right?

What the bug-type failed to understand was that the Nice Man was already building a case for it, and Aila listened with a relatively open mind. "Could I not do the same with my Venusaur's Vine Whip? There's no fuss with sticky or non-sticky in the case of vines, either." Nor would she have to deal with bug-types in that route, but that went without saying by now.

She frowned at the thought that, even when caught by someone else, the Spinarak would still return to her. So basically, she was doomed to the thing's company no matter who owned it? Ugh.

"So the web is useful." She had to admit that much. Having a pokemon that was able to produce dressing for wounds along on missions seemed infinitely valuable, especially since the casualty rate seemed to be so high... But the thought of having that thing with her, where it could just... touch her whenever it pleased... "That doesn't mean the bug itself is useful. I'm just as capable of carrying ropes and first aid kits as I am of carrying a pokeball," she countered. She wasn't going to give in so easily, not as long as there was a way to argue against the points he was making.

The Spinarak, meanwhile, watched the exchange with bated breath. It couldn't tell how it was going - though it understood as much as the Nice Man's absence of an intent to catch it, for which it was very much relieved. But its Girl didn't seem to be yielding either...

"It's similarly unwise to blindly accept any loyalty that's offered, especially if you foresee problems cooperating with it in the future," she reasoned. She wasn't so shallow as to consider any pokemon, especially a useful one, below her, but the idea of working with the Spinarak felt impossibly outlandish. She would not admit, even to herself, any degree of fear towards the bug-type, but she did feel that Aulus was perhaps siding a bit too strongly with the bug.

"I'll compromise," she said after a momentary silence. "I'll catch it, but I don't want it to touch me. I also reserve the right to dislike it." And she would indeed dislike it. Quite fiercely, even.

The Spinarak, unaware of the nature of a 'compromise,' continued to stare curiously.