#eileen doduo

Fuse doesn't seem to quite know how to react in the presence of such a powerful legendary, but she tries her best. "It. Well it varies, depending on which kid you mean. I've been here for....about five years now, give or take....but most of the kids have only been here one or two, aside from Acacia who's been here half a year, and the two that just got here."

"It's also varied, how they got here." She continues. "Some found their way, yes, but others Honey and I had to...venture closer into the nearest human city to save them."

"If everyone's fine, what got burned?"

"Just the grass." Fuse replied. "I...well, I got a bit spooked. It was an overreaction, so no need to worry. And after that, just angry."

"What happened?" Honey pressed, and Fuse leaned in to whisper it to him. He gasped in shock. "Here?! One got here?! I need to go and tell Victoria right away-"

"Hey, it was only a child, and they're gone now, and so is the human-owned Pokemon. No one got hurt. And I'd hate to raise a fuss now that everyone's calmed down."

The Goodra paused, thinking about it. "Well...if you're sure. Since it was a child." He brushes his hand over the stone part of her face. "I could...I could stay anyway? If you need a break."

Fuse chuckles at him. "I'm fine, love, you still have a newcomer to acclimate." She leans to look past Honey, seeing Paleo standing there awkwardly. "Hey, newbie, welcome back. Met everyone yet?"

Paleo jerks at being addressed. "Ah, I believe so?" He says, stilted. He's staring at the pair of them for some reason.

She smirks a bit at him. "Well, your kids are fine. You can check in with them if you like, but I do recommend socializing with folks your own age, yeah? Recommend the same for the youngins."

Honey looks up in surprise. "Oh, right, I forgot you followed me. You doing alright?"

"....yeah. I'm fine." He replies.

But in truth:

Smoke hisses from between her teeth, and for a few moments she ignores the Mew's cries, her mind and body only having room for anger and fierce protectiveness. Human human human kill it-

But then an image flashes in her mind, and she actually manages to look at the human before her.

The smoke dissipates immediately when the realization hits her. She trembles for just the briefest moment. She'd almost tried to kill a child-

It shakes her to her core. She manages a response after a moment or two of catching her breath. "I.....I'm so sorry I frightened you, little one. I shouldn't have directed that anger at you. You did nothing wrong, ok?"

Another moment of breathing, and she turns faintly to look at the young Pokemon behind her. The Riolu had positioned himself protectively in front of the Arceus, and Eileen still looked like she'd seen a ghost, but aside from that, they all seemed fine. She breathes a sigh of relief, and when she turns back, she's addressing the Mew with a hard stare.

"I don't know what gave you the idea that any humans at all were permitted here, but if someone told you that, then they wanted this kid killed. This is a safe place for Pokemon young and old that humans have hurt. If you came up with this yourself, then its negligence, plain and simple."

She sighs. The human child still looked shaken, and her shell ached with guilt. "You both are lucky I would never harm a child, Pokemon or not. On that note, please, if the both of you would, leave and never come back. If Knalla had been here, Arceus above, she would've had a panic attack at the sight of that child. Her trauma was very specifically caused by young humans. I cannot in good conscience let you stay. Sorry if that makes me sound like a killjoy, but I've got too much to protect. Go play with human kids or something before someone else sees you here."

"Rocks." Says Fuse. "I eat rocks."

Ark blinks owlishly. "R.....rocks??"

"Though, I'm also pretty fond of those....little bits of scrap metal humans leave in their cities sometimes, but you can probably guess that those are hard to get out here." She continues, seeming to disregard Ark's confusion.

"Metal??"

Garth gives the Riolu a giant grin. "Yeah!! Isn't Miss Fuse the coolest?!"

Ark's words are not heeded, the Doduo all but throwing herself on top of the pair, landing between the two instead and rapidly jumping from foot to foot. The Ekans goes flying off her neck at the sudden stop. "Omigosh you guys are so small!!" The excited head shouts. The other head gives an amused shake.

"ehhhhhh....." The Ekans groans. The Eevee pair help him up while the Doduo continues.

"Where'd you come from?? Are you staying here forever?? Oh!! What are you, I've never seen Pokemon like you before!!" She shouts again.

Ark and Alburune shrink a bit under the attention, turning back to Paleo with big sad eyes. "Mister Paleooooo......" Arc whines.

Paleo holds in a laugh as he watches the remainder of the kids also surround his charges. "Y-you'll be fine, you both. Try to make some friends."

The Marowak does so. "This newcomer arrived with the two of them. They're new residents!"

The Magcargo turns to face them, staring at Paleo with her one good eye. "You? You brought them?"

He isn't able to parse through the other's tone. Is it accusatory? Incredulous? He responds as neutrally as he can. "Yes. We were....fleeing human mistreatment. Came across this place in a stroke of luck."

She seems agitated by that. "Humans had a baby Arceus?! Oh that's awful. That's criminal. Rest assured I will protect your kids with my life. I'll kill people if I have to."

Despite how concerning that sentence is to Paleo, Nobone smiles up at him. "Fuse here is one of two Pokemon that take turns watching over the children here. Her and Honey. I saw him earlier, I'm sure you'll have a chance to meet him soon."

"That's good to know." He bowed his head to the Magcargo. "My name is Paleo. It is good to meet you."

She grins, her black stone teeth clinking together with the motion. "Good to meet you too. The more the merrier."

She chuckled knowingly. "I'm guessing you haven't been apart from them in a while."

"N-not since before we escaped, no." He replied.

"Well, they aren't going anywhere. You can come by whenever you like, but since you're new it'll probably be good to get to know the others without them biting your ankles." She jokes.

".......I have no idea what that means."

A snort. "Lucky you, then. Go on, get. They'll be safe."

He makes to do so, beckoned by Nobone, only to feel a rush of air and contact on his leg. He looks down in surprise.

"He gets sad when people point it out!" Eileen continues. "Please don't do that!"

"No one was bullying him, Eileen." Fuse points out from the side. "They just asked."

"Hmph! Well I'm gonna stay here anyway, is that ok Ollie?"

"Mm-hm...." Mumbles the Trapinch with a faint smile.

Ask hints and Olliver's ref updated!

Both heads chuckle at that. "If you say so." Says the calmer head. "Neither of us noticed that."

"I did!! It's easy for you to tell which one of you I'm talking to because I say it the way you say it!" Garth explains.

"You're so smart Garth, hehehe..." Says the excited head.

The kids eventually remember that another Pokemon actually asked this question and they weren't just talking to each other the whole time. "Uh....I guess we're two people.....we don't think the same thoughts most of the time....but we also look at each other and think 'yeah that's me' so maybe we're one person? I don't think it matters...." Says the excited head.

"....y-you're two people working together to be one person!" Says Olliver quietly.

"Oh! That's a good way of saying it." Says the calm head. "Thanks Olliver!"

"I guess you can call us Leen and Ei? If you really need to talk to only one of us? I don't know why you'd need to..." Says the excited head.

Ask hints and Eileen's ref updated!