Chu-e had been running from his office to the kitchen for a snack. It turns out that when you take over a whole city it left a lot of extra work that needed to be doing. He'd already popped home to check on Eris Halla and let her know he was working late tonight.

Beepin, his Zoroark, was at his heels. Usually he didn't have her loose in the sub, she was bitey, but people tended to approach him when it was Prince at his back. (Shame they didn't know the Gardevoir was more likely to hit them than the dark type...)

So anyway, Chu-e had a pear in hand and a bottle of water when Beepin suddenly tore ass down one of the hallways towards the dorms.

There was a sigh before he gave a vague chase.

But what @piper would find was a horrible, snarling, deadly pokemon.... with bright pink painted nails, who would try and snuffle in their hair, tail wagging, while fat drops of drool would plop on their head. She was pokemon very forceful in her affections.

Piper would find their hair being nosed and snuffled savagely by the Zoroark, her muscular body leaning on the child. She would allow @piper to do whatever the hell they wanted- within reason. Thankfully, she was already used to getting her claws trimmed and painted by Chu-e, so any manhandling of that nature was more than fine. Just so long as Piper could endure the globs of drool falling from the Zoroark's mouth onto her head.

It took a bit, but Chu-e did manage to lightly job down the hall towards them.

"Oh thank god." He gave a small sigh of relief. "I thought she was down here eating someone."

But, well... he glanced between his pokemon and the kid....

"Okay if I join you?" While he had better things to do, trying to tame yet another elusive and wild Rocket child seemed more fun.

"Only if she doesn't like you." Which was, well, everyone except kids and himself. So, yeah, it was a hell of a lot, actually. Probably why she mostly stayed at home or in a pokeball unless he needed a pokemon that looked scary.

Since he had made himself comfortable, Chu-e squinted at the nail polish before picking the lavender up.

'You like to paint your nails?" He gave the bottle a shake then held it up. "Can I use this?" While he's used to just taking without asking and making assumptions, with kids it actually made him feel guilty to do it.

"I like to do my pokemon's nails, too. Keeps them healthy."

@piper

Nail polish was nail polish, and pokemon safe stuff could also be used on humans just as well. So, the lavender was popped open and soon enough Chu-e was steadily applying it to himself.

"Pink's my favorite color." So, he used that one the most. "But I also like purple and blue. What colors do you like the best?"

But, well, this was almost a little weird.

"I haven't seen you around the sub before, by the way! I'm Chu-e. Have you been here long?"

The children were the most vulnerable of anyone in Rocket. Since he knew @piper existed, he would now kill for them.

If the Ultra Beast's name is pronounced wrong doesn't matter to Chu-e. Also, he isn't really sure on the pronunciation himself do it doesn't matter. He just nods along, trying to piece that bit of info together in his mind regarding @piper's whole situation. Maybe the bombing had killed someone important? Had they been in Rocket, too? Many questions.

"Well, Piper, it's good to meet you, too. I have a daughter about your age. She comes on the sub sometimes. Have you met her?" Eris Halla could always use more people her own age in her life and Chu-e was sure this one needed more friends as well. Plus, it was a good conversation starter.

"Yeah!" He was pleased that @piper knew Eris. He hoped the two of them got along. "She's a sweetie. Loves to get into trouble. Hope she's the good kind of bad influence on you." A small wink and Chu-e was blowing on his own fingers, trying to get the paint to set faster.

Beepin, who had been mostly quiet for now while Piper worked, snuffled and whined before flopping over, nosing against the kid and demanding more pets. She wanted love, damn it! Even if it would maybe mess up her new pretty nails!

Actually, this was a good topic of conversation. Break the ice. See if he could get the kid to chat a little more.

"What sort of pokemon do you like?"

"There's a lot of those guys around Shoal Cave. I live around there, so I like to pop in. Where I grew up it was real cold, so popping in to feel the ice is kind of nice, ya know?" Plus, Hoenn was hot as fuck and it was like an air conditioner for when he was melting too much.

"I actually found a weird ice horse up there once with a buddy of mine." Thinking of Raziel Beckett still made him taste ash but it was better to ignore that and just talk to @piper for now. "Actually, bet you could find all kinds of ice types out there. I found a pink ice cream cone up there, too. Like, the pokemon? I can't remember what they're called."