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"WOAH!!"

Cass' scream is possibly louder than Eris' shout, and she isn't the one who has to catch herself last-minute or else she'd meet the ground head-first. Cass' scream is also accompanied by a jump into the air, as her relaxed mindset is severely unprepared for this sudden intrusion. Gladly, her goofing-around pokémon now prove the competence Cass has promised Azelf, as the trio of Tin, Matheo and Hanna come rushing back-

But they're not in time to prevent the Pichu-assault. Azelf itself isn't ready as suddenly, a little electric rat comes barreling at it out of nowhere, but it's quick to realise the true nature of the Pichu - and shock quickly turns to indignation.

"Eris?" Cass asks, her mind reeling a bit as she's processing the happenings at once. "Where do you come from? And is this- you know?" she points at the Pichu, who now has the Ralts opening a counter-offensive which aims to get Mesprit off of it. "And can I help you get down somehow?" She's only ever been the one stuck in a tree, so one could think she has experience ... but honestly, the Luxray probably got Eris covered there.

Eris Halla

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Cass nods very slowly as she finally is able to process what just happened. She continues to nod slowly at Eris' explanation that she is, indeed, not stuck and just, simply, hanging out, but a slightly raised eyebrow and amused look is accompanying that nod. "I see," she says, while her pokémon are gathering around her again, relieved that nothing actually happened.

"Well, if you're ever thinking you thought enough, let us know," Cass then adds, and subconsciously takes a step forward, hands extended- "Ah, sorry. You've got ... foliage in your hair. Do you want help with that ponytail?" Her fingers already seem to move for it, but she manages to stop them before actually touching Eris, holding them back.

It's also in tandem with another realisation. "... oh, you live in Petalburg, too? I do, too! Where do you live?" she asks, surprised and excited. She honestly kind of assumed that Eris lived in Littleroot, but that's primarily because they mostly met at the Littleroot Gym so far ... "I'm in [insert adress in bougie-district here]!"

Azelf in the meanwhile has surrendered a little bit to Mesprit's hug attack, but still does its best to get Mesprit at least out of its face, trying to hold its sibling at arm's length.

Eris Halla

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With Cass, there's always something to fumble about with hair, even if she's actually the person who's done it. But she senses Eris' discomfort and quickly but naturally (whatever that means) withdraws her hands, pointedly not looking at them for their stains. Poison stains now actually accompanied by her Smeargle's now purple diet paint. "Awesome," she grins then, trying to smooth things over, "Now do you want to stand upright again, too?" After this time, at least for her, she'd be close to dying, frankly.

Azelf pauses for a moment as Mesprit actually gestures somewhere, a direction that doesn't mean anything to it. They don't seem entirely convinced, but that moment of carelessness also means they're losing the hug battle - and maybe, maybe it's also not that bad.

... until they start trying to get Mesprit out of their face again.

Tin also looks into that direction, as is Jon who observes the sibling pair curiously while Martin is wondering if he should run interference (but ultimately is too shy for that, and it seems like normal pixie stuff). The Pikachu and the Trubbish seem to have the ice cream palour realisation at the same time, leading to Tin excitedly gesturing to Matheo and Hanna, explaining ice cream to them.

"Ohhh, I think I actually passed by there ... I was wondering who might live there," she grins, "Always felt like I could use some gardening tips from there. I've only started gardening recently-" Jon tugs at Cass, catching her attention near instantly. However, for once she doesn't actually interpret his gesturing correctly, and instead looks out into the forest. "Oh, right we're on our way to somewhere ... if you have time, too? I mostly wanted to show ... ... Waldo ... around a bit." It takes a long time till she figures out a name, and even then she says it with enthusiasm in the single-digit-kelvin-degree area. "I need to come up with something better, maybe ..."

Gladly, Azelf is too preoccupied to notice.

Eris Halla

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It's a big relief to see Eris eventually be upright again, and probably not injured - she trusts that Reiner would prevent anything serious from happening as Eris all but tumbles back onto the ground. "Nice! I'd also love to stop by your house sometime ... and I think generally uh, my mom can be a bit difficult, but I could invite you to a café or something here?" she offers additionally as the trio of Sigilyph, Pikachu and Phanpy start making their way onwards again to the secret hiding spot.

Azelf in the meanwhile uses any opportunity and distraction it can get to wriggle Mesprit away from itself. One would think that after a while, Azelf might give up in the face of a persistent opponent, but it's never heard of the idiom A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will. That'd be a day to behold when it'd actually give up-

(Even if, Cass thinks to herself, it might've happened. Perhaps. She wonders.)

"I wonder if you actually been there, too ... it's near a river that's overshadowed by a cliff. The cliff used to have a little ... cave structure thing, but it's all earth now. Hanna," she points at the Sigilyph, "only recently unearthed herself from being trapped slash guarding there for quite some time."

Eris Halla

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Cass grins as Eris goes to hug Reiner who successfully caught her - a steady presence is anything anyone could ever wish for, in her mind. "Oh, I insist if you don't mind! There's some really good cakes I'd love for you to try ..." she returns. While she doesn't mind going to check out cafés alone, she does much more prefer it in company. Especially company that might be a biiiiit less prone to make her have to herd them together to minimise any chaos that might ensue ... she loves her pokémon, she really does. But.

Azelf looks triumphant as it floats free of Mesprit, even if it also might feel almost a bit lonely now, too. They stare at Mesprit's Pichu form being put down on Reiner's head for a moment, as if contemplating if they could join them. Or if that would also mean another hug attack ... because this they could live without (probably. [Unlikely.]).

"Yes! Matheo and Tin, these two," Cass gestures at the Phanpy and Pikachu respectively, "used to use that spot as a base, from what I understand ... so I thought we might make a whole group excursion to it now. And I'm not sure how much Waldo has seen of the Woods, either, so ... yes."

She catches Azelf's frown as she uses the fakename, but she does her best to ignore the blatant disapproval. She'd need to have to come up with a better cover name ... But for now, they could just fully focus on the thrill of adventure (or something of that kind)!

Eris Halla