Aedre Charbonnet
— Mesalon City Gym —
“Yeah,” Aedre said, looking to Lacey as well. As an aspiring researcher, working with physical and elemental types was always easier, since their abilities were more readily defined and understood. With psychic-types and ghost-types, though, science often hit walls—questions that couldn’t be answered. That much superstition revolved around psychic and ghost-types was a direct result of this, and though Aedre never felt particularly comfortable with not having answers, being someone who preferred the assurance of facts, her lack of understanding only helped to fuel her interest in trying to fill the gaps in her understanding. That was, of course, why she’d elected to come to Kosei and take on the task of investigating the Honedge—her Honedge.
“That’s right!” After a moment of hurried struggle, Aedre found the Pokeball she was looking for, Decus appearing at her side a moment later. “Dee! I lost something, but I’m not sure how, so I was hoping you could help me look.”
Decus’s single blue eye scanned his surroundings before settling on Aedre again, and, after a moment of consideration, he blinked once, indicating what Aedre hoped was consent.
“Excellent!” Aedre clapped her hands together. She’d been sceptical at first, but nowt that she had all these Pokemon and abilities to help her look—now that she’d given it more thought—maybe the package going missing was because of a Pokemon. With all the inexplicable capabilities of ghost-types and psychic-types, maybe a Pokemon was responsible for the box’s disappearance. “Now, let’s start walking. It’s a pretty straightforward path through the town from the gym to the mart. Just along this road.”
Hearing Amber’s comment about being harsh on herself, Aedre froze, cringing. How embarrassing to be accused of being self-critical by someone like Amber, who Aedre herself looked up to. For someone like Amber, who had her own issues and problems to deal with, to think about, to notice meant that Aedre had probably been much too vocal about her complaints.
But, had she been too hard on herself? Aedre paused to consider this, her eyes dropping to the ground. She had, after all, been criticizing herself over losing a package—a package she had every reason not to lose. Because, after all this, if it really was her fault, then she’d deserve all of her own criticism. Every bit of it. Wouldn’t she?
Despite her surprise, though, she managed to keep walking, albeit with a slight hesitation before picking up her original gait. The Pokemon around her, too, helped distract her, especially after Amber’s question about the box when they started laughing. Following Lacey’s gaze, she saw Amber, hair chock full of tree parts. Unable to help herself, Aedre burst into laughter, doubling over and clutching her stomach.
“Yeah,” she said, nodding as she wiped tears from her eyes. “Thanks, Tacita. Very inventive.”
Noticing Lacey move away from the group, Aedre focused on her, watching as the Gothita leaned down to inspect the dirt ground by a bush. The area of interest was unassuming enough, with nothing to set it apart from any other section of earth.
“Huh. This patch of dirt?” Aedre bent down, scouring the unmarred ground for anything of interest. “I… can’t tell what’s special about it.”
Decus floated over, the tip of his blade scratching the concrete slightly as he took his turn looking at the ground. Then, glancing between the dirt patch, Lacey, and the two trainers, he jumped up and unceremoniously began moving around in the dirt, his blade marring trails where he moved.
“Whoa, whoa, Decus what are you… ” Aedre trailed off, realizing that rather than moving randomly through the dirt, the Honedge was, in fact, tracing something. When he stopped, levitating away from his handiwork, he brandished his sash with a low murmur, watching as the trainers took in the footprint he’d traced.
“A footprint… Pokemon…” Aedre fumbled for her Pokedex, pulling it out and scrolling through the entries. “I’ve definitely seen that footprint before. Two-clawed and small, circular paw…”
@luckyblackcat
