Oh, poor Cait. It was like some cruel and fickle gods were conspiring against her every time that Chu-e was in her general vicinity. For his part, he hadn't really intended to stumble upon her property. Hell, he hadn't even known she had lived in Fortree! He had just been making a pit stop and recovering before him and his new protege made their way to Lilycove. From what he could remember of his time in the region before, Fortree was never a place he ever spent any time in. He wanted to enjoy it before settling into island life.

He wasn't really paying in particular attention, but after realizing something was, well, manifesting in his way one couldn't help but pause. "Huh." He glanced up at the Gengar and tried to think of how to proceed with this... development. Was this when he went missing and became a ghost pokemon himself? He was pretty sure that none of his pokemon were strong enough to fight these three off... and of course the Gengar has to be taller than him...

It sunk into the ground and he at least leaned over as it did so, wondering how it would decide to eat him with a much calmer demeanor than one would expect. Then he saw the shape of Cait and he gasped lightly, a grin cracking his face after a moment and a real laugh escaping him. It kind of hurt, he had to stop early because he gave a rough cough, but the grin was still plastered on his face after.

"Gengar! My dude! What are you doing here?" Idly, he wondered if it would be rude to hug the pokemon. After a moment, he decided he didn't care and tried to throw a familiar arm around the ghost type in a quick show of approval. "These your girls? Damn, man, two ladies?" He nodded to the two Mismagius in his own form of greeting as he spoke. "Talk about a stud." Man, he hoped the pokemon got the gist of what he was saying.

"Where's Alfric? She's not keeping the leash too tight, is she?"

He appreciated the Gengar's kindness and of course followed after him when offered. "You know, I don't think she'll be happy to see me." Was said with a cheeky grin. As expected, when the peace of one Cait Alfric was ruined by his presence, Chu-e lightly elbowed the Gengar. "Told ya."

This did not stop him from walking forward and creaking to sit in the grass across from her. "I think you're just unlucky." He winked, which was kind of pathetic given his whole 'eye' situation. "I taught a toddler to say 'fuck' yesterday." He seemed weirdly proud of that. "I also caught a pokemon. See?" He plucked one of his balls from his hip and a Taillow appeared between them. The bird gave a large yawn before hopping up and on top of Chu-e's head, ruffling the hair there until he made himself a sufficient nest to nap in.

"You know, it was pretty mean to leave that web in my mouth. I had to brush my teeth, like, three times to get the taste out." Even as he said it he didn't seem particularly bothered, though. That infuriating little grin was still perfectly in place. "What about you, Miss Alfric? Getting up to no good recently?"

"Oh!" Leaning forward, Chu-e inched closer to get a better look at the egg and the pokemon in question. His eyes shone with delight, his smirk melting into an actual smile. "Sorry. One of my pokemon knows 'sing' if that might help her?" He didn't know anything about what pokemon needed when they gave birth.

At least he did quiet down some, at that. "The parent kind of deserved it." But he shrugged that off and didn't delve any deeper into that whole mess. "I've also met a few people. I think you're the only person who knows my real name at this point." That didn't seem to bother him. 'Chu-e Choi' was supposed to be dead, after all.

"Eeeeeh... some? I mean, I try and eat. Pompom and Prince would finish me off if I didn't. Kalos raises rough nurses." He wrinkled his nose at the memory of the Igglybuff and Ralts tag teaming him once to force food down his throat. They were bullies. "I always look kind of like shit, though, so that's not saying very much."

"Explosion?" had he implied it was an explosion did this somehow? Oh, he wished it was. He wracked his brain to try and think of when he might have. His first meeting with her was a little hazy since he had been in bad shape that day, unfortunately. Even so, he just let it roll off his back instead of going into more explicit detail. She seemed to be having a good day if she smiled and he didn't want to ruin that with his fucked up back-story. He wouldn't tell her unless she pushed.

"Most of my eating issues are because of my recovery, yeah. I also have to take some medicine that makes me nauseous. I'm kind of barely slapped back together." He laughed some at that. Finding humor in his situation was a must.

Then Cait did whatever the fuck... that had been. Chu-e had no choice but to watch in some morbid but rapt attention. It reminded him... kind of when Articuno had judged his soul back during that big party. Not as cold, though. Just a similar kind of presence that was much too large for a regular human. He shivered and gave her an assessing look, his own frown on his face now in bewilderment rather than sadness or disapproval.

It left a refreshing and almost minty feeling afterward. Like he had soaked in a nice, hot bath. It was soothing and he felt tense muscles relax and aches seep from joints. They would come back, they always did, but for the moment it was a rare peace.

There was the question, not that Chu-e would know to ask it, if she had sensed how messed up his insides were. He hadn't been lying about the extend of the damage, and there was some things even magical healing abilities might not be able to fix (at least that quickly).

"What, uh... was that?"

'Bandaid' was mouthed by the man as he tried to make sense of whatever the hell had just happened. While there was a vague awareness of the idea of Avatars it was never something he had the time to look very deeply into and had never kept up with. Even if Cait was publicly known to be one, it was knowledge Chu-e would lack and likely wouldn't put together.

He was fine to accept his new friend (he was willing to claim her as such) was just magic or half pokemon or something.

More importantly was her acting like a stoned out hippie. Seeing the woman who he figured, up to this point, was no nonsense and constipated from sticks really effected him. A snort and laugh was startled put of him, making him clap a hand over his mouth to hide the grin.

"I'd," Chu-e had to stifle another laugh. "I'd say that's true. Fairies are scary." His eyes sparkled with this comparison. "They kidnap you if you say the wrong thing, take your name, steal teeth and bones..." and that was just the basics.

"You know, I used to be a Fairy specialist. I think you would have fit right in with them."

"I knew you had the who grassy vibe going on." She had never answered him from their last meeting, with the spiders, since he had been mounted to a wall. "Whimsicott suits you better. They're fluffy and cute." He watched her curiously but just pulls his knees up to his chest so he can rest his head on them for the moment. It was relaxing here. "Mhmm. You'd always get these people who would come in with their... dragons and dark and fighting types. Trying to be all bad. And then my Clefable would beat their asses. People always think Fairies are just cute and soft and pink but if you know how to use them they're absolutely brutal." He grinned against his arm. "Like, uh... grass types can be flowers or poison, ya know?"

He said all this as Cait did whatever she was doing. When she pulled out a blunt, of all things, it startled another laugh out of him. "I'm learning a lot about you today." He took it when offered and assessed it a little before shrugging and lifting it to his lips. "Not in a while." Then he took a deep breath, letting the smoke tickle his lungs and holding it there as he handed the blunt back. He sighed and tilted his head back, tried to blow a smoke ring. Chu-e was kinda out of practice but the effort was there.

Closing his eyes, Chu-e tried to melt into himself as he waited for the high to creep into his bones.

Chu-e grunted as he pushed himself up. That was usually one of the harder things for him to do nowadays. His body didn't really like moving from one to position to another like that. He would be more than happy to pass back and forth with her, letting the smoke settle into his skin. Smoking had always made him feel like putty; languid and the world soft at the edges. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed it.

A over dramatic gasp left him and Chu-e pantomimed holding one hand to his chest. "I've been upgraded to 'Friends and family' and sketchy? Miss Alfric, you really know how to treat a man." He winked again and grinned. "I'm glad you said you'd rather not let him see my sketchy ass than because he would be jealous or something. I was worried I'd need to find a way to beat his ass for a second."

And maybe it was kind of silly, but Chu-e realized he probably would have found a way to do that. While their first meeting had not gone that well, and he wouldn't count them as 'best friends' or anything, he was holding back too much for that, he found he did like Cait. She was stern but easy to talk with a way he hadn't experienced in years. It was refreshing. Most people knew one mask or the other. People who knew him as Ji-Hoon started their relationship as a lie. A way to play up his illness and just be a sickly but harmless man. People who remembered Chu-e Choi wanted the bloodshed and insanity that came with it, a ruthless man who would cut down all who opposed him. But Cait was in the unique spot few were in, holding both his masks in her hands and being able to see glimpses of the man he really was underneath.

He was probably just feeling sentimental. Smoking always did that to him, too.