"I'd love to."

So, for a time, Chu-e does just that. He shows Eris Halla how to line them, asks her patterns she might like with her colors, shows her how to weave them. Guides her fingers with his own until she's confident enough in the pattern to do it herself, offers gentle words of encouragement or advice when needed.

Let her focus. Let her work through it. Let her pour some of her hurt into this project. Only then would Chu-e start working on his own again. Only then would he broach the tender subject again.

"I don't think what you did was wrong, Errie. With Melody. She's a nice person. She never deserved to be locked up." Admitted to her, soft, a secret shared between them.

"Do you know why I joined Rocket? I think if you know, you might understand a little better. Why we do what we do. What I want to do as someone with so much power in it."

"They were." A pause, as he decides if he should spill his guilt or not. "I was the one who did it. I gave her a mix of my Slowking and Slowbro's venom to keep her from getting hurt. Then I used my Malamar to make her forget." And it still left a bitter taste in his mouth, that he had to do that. Mental manipulation was his least favorite thing to do.

"I want the League to change. I don't want anyone to hurt, but at the end of the day..." Slowly he put his work down, mulling over how to explain his situation to her. How to get Eris Halla to understand him.

"When I was your age, there was a ranger who lived in my town. Basically the town hero. He hurt me really bad." He glanced away, not because he was lying but because it was still hard to talk about. So, for now, his eyes focused on Reiner even if they were somewhere far away. "I had evidence he hurt me. My family tried to get him arrested. But he was the town hero, and friends with the judge and most of the jury and the cops... so even thought I had proof, they said I was lying. He wasn't held accountable for what he did to me. After that, people treated me so badly I ran away. I was hurting so bad, too. He hurt me, and then when I did what everyone tells you to do and tried to get help, no one helped me."

A shaky sigh, then he glances back at Eris, somber.

"Rocket said they would help me, and I was so lonely and wanted help so bad I joined them. They didn't really want to help me, though. They just wanted to use me." It was hard, but he tried to smile at her. It was tired and sad but he tried.

"The League failed me, Eris, so I turned to Rocket. There are so many people who the League fails, and they get desperate or they're hurting, so they turn to Rocket because they feel like they have no choice. I want the League to see that, to stop failing people."

At the root of it, Chu-e agreed with Eris Halla. All Rocket did, as a whole, was hurt and prickle and make it worse.

"The League still has time. I think of it like... the League is supposed to be a safety net for people. Protect them. But somewhere along the way it started to get holes, so people like me and you fall through it, and then we either have to fend for ourselves or turn to people who want to use us." And that was the real rub of it. No matter what Chu-e did in Rocket, it would always be more about when he could give than what he could earn.

"But, the people.... the people at the top, who did what they did to Kanto... those were people so evil, Eris, I couldn't even describe it. They stepped on us, even it's own members, and broke us and killed us, and made us fight. If you didn't fight for Rocket, if you wanted to run, they wouldn't just kill you. Your whole family. Everything you cared about. It would be gone. They were evil." Was Chu-e evil? Probably. He was exactly what he was made to be.

"I never want that for this Rocket. Everyone in Rocket had been hurt somehow, they've been spit on and kicked their whole lives in one way or another. And I know... I know this may seem hard to believe, but I just want... I don't want to break them down worse and make them into tools like what happened to me and Gavin. I just want them to be somewhere safe until the League changes enough that they won't fall through those nets anymore."

"If Rocket fell tomorrow, it wouldn't matter. The problem would still be there. Someone would just make Rocket again, except they would call it Plasma or Magma or something. Then this whole cycle would start again. I just want the cycle to end."

A small sigh and Chu-e picked up his work again, started to braid again slowly.

"I know how all that must sound. A hypocrite, right? I guess I just... I don't see the point in beating down already hurting people for some 'greater good' when offering a helping hand would do them so much better."

"I won't excuse anything that Rocket did. Please don't think I'm doing that." Loops moved under fingers, woven, until he ties it off- just the right fit for Eris Halla' wrist. He placed it next to her on the bed, an offering and a gift. Red hearts on a white background.

"No one deserves to be hurt. You, Doug, Hideo, Razz, your parents... you know none of you deserved that." A moment of quiet, Chu-e's face pulled into a frown. "But me, Gavin, Bryan, Leon... none of us deserved to be hurt, either. And it wasn't Rocket that hurt any of us." There was no anger or force there. Just a resignation. A desperation for Eris to understand.

"I was going to be a baker." Because what that Ranger did to him was... he took everything from Chu-e. He took his home from him, his family, his future. He made him this. Set him on the path of self destruction and hate until it was too far gone to save.

Standing slowly, Chu-e groaned softly. Eris needed more time alone. He didn't want to push her too much.

"The secret of the bracelets... the magic in them only works if you give them to someone else." A small, forced smile as he tried to lighten the mood. "If you get hungry I'll warm your stuff up, okay?" Then a small nod as he let himself out of her room, the door clicking closed behind him.