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The last few weeks had been very trying for Lilith: so much that she hardly had any time to train her newest partner, Nerezza. Now that things had [kind of] settled down in the base, the grunt had decided to take the time to see what the Gastly could do. She was still apprehensive of her newest Pokemon - mostly because of the odd circumstances of which they met - but she would just have to learn to trust the Ghost Pokemon.

The two walked down the halls of the HQ together [or rather, one walked and one hovered] after leaving their dorm. Lilith was in front, and Nerezza followed slightly behind her human, having little sense of direction around the base. As the two turned a corner, Lilith laid eyes on a very familiar and welcome sight - one that made Lilith very relieved.

"Hey, Aila! How are you?" Her greeting was rather self-explanatory, though, for as Lilith spoke, she noticed her young friend leaning against the wall, looking dizzy and peaked. The woman blinked in surprise and calmly walked to Aila's side, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder in her concern.

"Woah, Aila... Are you all right? You don't look so good."

As her new human rushed to the side of the stranger, Nerezza rolled her eyes. Wonderful... another human. Just what she needed. It wasn't like there were enough of them crawling around this joint. She hovered and pouted slightly. She probably wasn't going to be able to train now, which was something she was actually looking forward to! What irony.

Lilith sighed and gave a small smile to her young friend. "Okay... As long as you're sure. But you still look pretty pale..." She let Aila sit herself on the floor of the hallway, and as Lilith looked her over, she became rather skeptical. Aila did not really look fine... at all. She looked overworked, or something to that extent. At Aila's realization, Lilith's eyes widened and she chuckled nervously.

"You forgot to eat? How can you forget to do that?" Lilith was unsure of what was going on with her new friend, but whatever it was didn't seem to be good if she was becoming malnourished. Worry began to set into Lilith's thoughts. "...Is there something wrong, Aila?"

Nerezza looked over her human's shoulders at the girl to whom she was attending. The other was rather young: no more than a child. It was revolting for such a young girl to be corrupted by a dangerous place like Team Rocket. Oh, how the Gastly wished she could speak the human tongue sometimes! The best she could do was give a slightly curious and scolding look to the girl and hover about her.

Lilith looked at her friend curiously. "I... suppose." She was rather hesitant. She was worried - of what, she did not know, but in her mind was a small sense of foreboding involving Aila. She felt like... maybe Aila was not telling her something.

The fact that Aila cut herself off from speaking further proved Lilith's suspicions. She did not want to accuse Aila of anything, but she wanted to know what was wrong and if she could help.

Lilith blinked. "My Gastly?" She turned and glanced at her new partner behind her. The Pokemon gave her a toothy grin, showing off her pointed maw. Lilith could not help but chuckle, despite her slight uneasiness. "I suppose you could call her that, but I think I belong to her more than she does to me at the moment." Out of the corner of her eye, Lilith could see Nerezza nod in agreement while making a small face at her human. The grunt sighed and looked back to Aila. She had to remain on topic.

"I'm not trying to pressure you or anything, Aila... But if you need anything, like, to talk about or anything in that manner, you can tell me. I promise I wouldn't tell anyone." Lilith truly hoped that she did not sound like a certain therapist she could name, but she wanted Aila to know that she could talk with her. That's what friends did, right?

...Right?

Lilith's brow furrowed with worry. Aila looked so pained, and it was a pain that she herself could relate to - that of the heart. Lilith had felt it many times before in her life, and she knew how lonely one could feel while its icy-cold grip kept ones heart under lock and key. She would wish it on few, especially not someone as young and as youthful as Aila.

An unfamiliar feeling welled up in Lilith's own heart: pity. Her young friend seemed to have been deeply grieved by whatever was haunting her. She placed a reassuring hand back on Aila's shoulder and gave her a kindly smile. "Don't worry... I know the feeling well, and it is a horrid one." Her eyes softened, as well as her voice.

"Do you want me to do anything for you? Do you need anything, maybe?" Lilith made a split-second decision: she was going to cheer up Aila. It was what the girl did for her when they first met on that cold night in the desert, and it seemed only fair that she returned the favor.

Nerezza, however, was unmoved. She rolled her eyes at all of the sappiness. What uselessness this was. She might as well just go back to the dorm-room... But something held the Ghost Pokemon in place. The emotion of it all reminded her of her past... The compassion between these two humans was much like what she felt for her own family, her own clan... Her own cousin, in particular. As much as she wished to pull away, the Gastly stayed hovering at her human's shoulder.

Lilith stood with Aila, watching her warily as she rose somewhat shakily. Lilith smiled, feeling a bit more assured that Aila was okay - or at least, would be okay. "Awesome. We can go down to the cafe, then. I'll get you something to make you feel better." She began to walk, then paused. She turned back to Aila. "I'm not being annoying, am I? I just want to help, however I can." A moment passed, then she started walking again.

"After all," she said, "you helped me out when I was feeling down." Another smile appeared, and slowly, so as to keep Aila in her sights, Lilith made her way down to the cafeteria.

Nerezza hovered a ways away from her human. Instead, she stayed near the side of the younger girl, who was looking less than all right. While Nerezza doubted she could, or would, do much to help, the very least she could do was act as a sort of moral support. She tried smiling at the girl, but the Pokemon could not help feeling that this was to be a huge waste of time.

Lilith could not help but laugh at her friend's response to her question. "You, annoying me? Of course not! I want to help you, and help you I will. It's not like you're a burden or anything." Lilith noticed Aila's expression, and her eyes softened. She bent her knees so that the two were at face level, and she spoke kindly. "I promise you, it's no trouble. If it had been, I wouldn't have offered in the first place." That said, Lilith stood up straight and began walking again.

Lilith smiled again and nodded as Aila expressed her thanks. It was a strange sensation, helping others; it made Lilith's heart feel warmer. Perhaps she should do this more often.

Nerezza was, to say the least, startled as the human girl whom she was walking beside returned her smile in kind. The Gastly blinked a few times, then, with a flick of her gaseous tail, floated ahead of the girl and towards her own human. As she did, she turned around slightly and stuck her large tongue out at the girl. After all, she had to keep up appearances: who had ever heard of a kindly Ghost Pokemon?

Slowly, Lilith walked down the halls of the HQ, always looking over her shoulder to make sure that Aila was close by. It would be unfortunate if her young friend were to fall or stumble in the halls, and Lilith wasn't sure what she could do if that circumstance occurred. Better to be safe than sorry.

As she kept one eye on Aila, Lilith kept the other on Nerezza. Even though she hated to admit it to herself - and she wouldn't dare admit it to anyone else - she didn't trust the Ghost Pokemon very much. Perhaps it was the way that they met, or perhaps it was simply because the woman did not trust Ghosts all that much, but either way, she did not have a mind to leave Aila completely alone at the Gastly's mercy.

After a single flight of stairs, Lilith and Nerezza found themselves in the bustling throng that was the TRHQ cafeteria. The woman took a deep breath and sighed, then looked back to Aila. "So... What do you want to eat, mm?"