the one armed hug let francie know she should be gentle, so she took her energy down a bit to match her five foot nothing height and hugged alexei gently. though, her face reached like what his bottom rib? that's dramatic but boy what a difference in height.

"that birdie do be lookin' mighty angry."

francie noted before glancing to louie, who took a seat at the bottom of the pole and watched the birds circle with patience.

"what, who, me? oh, i've just been hiking around. i went to kanto for some relief stuff, came back, didn't stay long but managed to bounce around the region for a while. erm, went off to kanto, took a vacation in alola that was interesting. then i ended up in sinnoh and i fell in mad love with mt. coronet. explored the whole thing from one side of the mountain range all the way to the other and then went up the top!"

she stopped her rambling before blinking curiously at alexei and tilting her head.

"...what happened? if you don't wanna answer, you don't have to."

Alexei Ivanov

"i found a few things. some rumors around mt. coronet and the peak but, mostly, i found myself."

the tone she used when explaining, it sounded so simple, so lax. like it wasn't a big deal. like she wasn't saying something sage like. as if telling him her favorite brand of cereal to have in the morning.

"but i'm glad you're recovering. even if it is a slow process. have you thought about using like, heal pulse and life dew? i've heard the healing properties are really good. they've even used life dew here in hoenn for medical procedures."

then she raised her hands, laughing.

"i mean! i'm no nurse joy, just a suggestion!"

Alexei Ivanov

"yeah, i know what you mean. i think being on my own for a while, that's what it took for me to realize i really could do this whole life thing, the life i wanted, without being a total weakness to who i wanted to spend my life with, y'know?"

it made sense, to her anyway, but the squawking caught her attention. louie was still valiantly sitting and watching what was going on. made francie smile.

"he's not gonna be much help unless they lower themselves, so--"

with a small movement, she pulled her aerodactyl out, letting her fly into the air. as she did, she gave a screech, flapping her wings and raising up to help the braviary.

"careful! we just want them to leave, we don't really wanna get into a battle in the middle of the city, till."

Alexei Ivanov

sensing the tension, the aerodactyl landed close, bowing herself and grumbling out a few purrs. she was showing submission, that she wanted to help, not aggression.

"she looks real scary but she's a big teddy bear i swear!" she tried to reassure the talonflame, and then watched alexei basically speak to his birds.

"i think that's a great idea! i have a lot of pokémon that could potentially carry it."

like literally any rock pokémon nearly. or at least the evolutions. even alolan variants!

Alexei Ivanov

as instructed, she gave the avian and gym leader some room to move. her eyes followed them, looking to tilly as she nodded. tilly knew the command, backing away enough to let the two get some room. all while keeping her eyes on that talonflame to make sure it didn't lash out.

being told the egg was big had francie furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. for the size to be notable...

"is it too big for tilly to carry??"

she'd cupped her hands over her mouth as well, calling up to alexei as he flew above.

Alexei Ivanov

watching the conversation in the air made her a little anxious. because she couldn't put in her opinion? no, because she wasn't going to put in her opinion. because this was a little out of her element, to an extent. alexei was taking point and that was fine, but recently, she was used to doing her thing.

this time, she was just gonna follow his thing. follow his lead and put in her two cents when spoken to. speaking of...

"nicky's got a pretty big head, my onix." francie began as she put a hand on her chin. "and nicky'll be tall enough to get his head up there, maybe he'll be a better help? could be big enough to hold the nest as a whole..."

Alexei Ivanov