Ren didn’t need to be told twice that his guest was ready to eat. Without skipping a beat, he brought a plate in front of Palemoon, together with a couple of those unusual metal tools. The bounty of several of what the boy had called ‘pancakes’ was alluring, but it was the tools that she ended up focusing on first.
She had absolutely no idea what to do with them.
Both of them had an elongated flat part that took up most of their length, before either splitting into a few blunted prongs or turning into a rounded, slightly serrated edge. The latter tool kinda looked like a knife, just one utterly terrible at doing anything knives were typically used for. Her horn was better at cutting than this!
…
That’s an awful mental image and I never want to see it again.
Left without any guidance of how the meal before her was supposed to be eaten, Palemoon simply waited for Ren to demonstrate it for her, hoping to Trace his movements afterwards. The boy’s excitement was palpable, split almost equally between the wonderful treat before him and his newly-made friend—with the former having a slight, but noticeable edge. The moment he’d pulled his plate over, he grabbed the not-knife, opened the glass jar, scooped some of the brown paste out, and smeared it on the topmost pancake.
It smelled… odd, unlike anything she’d ever experienced. It was sweet, bearing a slight resemblance to some nuts they foraged for during late summer, but very different from any other sweetness she’d ever gotten a whiff of. At least what Ren did with it was familiar, adding it to his meal much like her family would add jam—the weird tool of choice aside. Goodness, Oran jam sounded so good right now—
“Luna, why aren’t you eating? Are you sick?”
To Palemoon’s disappointment, her reconnaissance wasn’t left unnoticed. The moment of internal distraction was all Ren needed to catch onto her inaction, looking up at her confused. She considered coming up with an excuse, but ultimately figured there was no point in not telling the truth. “^No no, don’t worry Ren. I’m not sick, it’s just that I’ve never used the… um, these,^” she mentally mumbled, pointing at the metal utensils. “^I’m not really sure what to do with them.^”
She didn’t expect Ren to be as surprised as he ended up being. The boy gawked at the tools for a while before blurting out, “You’ve never used a fork? How do you eat?”
Hearing and sensing the boy’s mom’s exasperation lifted Palemoon’s mood enough to not join her in it, despite how amusing responding ‘with my mouth’ would’ve been. Instead, she paid attention to his wording and thoughts, jotting down the not-knifelike object as a ‘fork’. As silly as it was, Ren’s question deserved an actual answer, and a demonstration would be more helpful than a thousand words—assuming her strain and soreness would let her do even this much.
He’d get to learn something new—something that, judging by her exasperation, his mom already knew and wouldn’t be surprised to see. It was a comforting realization. The last thing she wanted to do was startle her human friends with her actions even more.
Palemoon focused inwardly to probe the limits of what she could do in her current state while avoiding the aching getting too bad again. Her telekinesis couldn’t do a lot today, but this should have still been firmly within her capabilities. The topmost pancake lit up in a faint, purplish shimmer, together with her eyes. With her mental grasp firm, she carefully lifted the treat up to her mouth, her hands laying flat on her lap the entire time.
And then, once it was in position, she leaned forward and took a small bite out of it with a giggle, leaving it suspended in midair afterwards. “^Like this,^” she teased, closing her eyes as she savored the sweet, puffy dough—
…
Uh oh.
Palemoon flinched as she sensed the mom’s sudden surprise, contrary to her prior hopes. Startled as her reaction was, however, her thoughts turned more positive as she watched on; wonder instead of terror. Reassured by that, the Gardevoir looked at her and gave her a modest, appreciative nod, glad she’d earned at least this little bit of trust. Thank the stars.
Ren’s reaction was much less subdued. “Oh oh oh! How do you do this, Luna!? You did it yesterday with the snowmen too and it was so so COOL!”
His excitement was so bright Palemoon felt warmer just by sitting in his presence, helping her process being suddenly put in an awkward position.
She’d never had to explain telekinesis, or any psychics, to a non-psychic before—and frankly, she had no idea where to even begin. Most of her non-psychic friends were content knowing that she could do psychic feats, without ever asking how or why, questions she respectively knew very little and absolutely nothing about. Her psychics were such an inherent part of her, all but inseparable from who she was as a person, that she found herself lost for words on how she could explain them as an independent concept.
The best her mind could come up with was listing the individual techniques, something that wouldn’t lead to actual understanding. Explaining anything more fundamental, how her mind and its extensions actually affected the minds and objects around her, was made all but impossible by Ren’s inability to perceive any of it except the actual outcome.
It was like trying to explain the intricacies of differing color palettes and shading techniques to a blind person.
“^Well, Ren, I’m psychic. That means I can… hmm, I can focus on things and make them move. It’s, heh, it’s something of a second nature to me.^”
More so first nature, but he’ll probably understand better if I frame it like this.
“But hooooow?” Ren asked again, neither satisfied nor dissuaded in the slightest by his friend’s answer.
Darnit.
She wasn’t anywhere near enough of a convincing liar to pull off a ‘I don’t know’. Instead, she wracked her brain, looking for concepts Ren would understand while trying to come up with something even slightly accurate on the spot—but then, the boy’s mom spoke up again. Her words were no less gibberish than before, but the tone was gently scolding him, leaving him looking down at his plate in disappointment. “Okay, mooooom. Sorry, Luna…”
This time, she didn’t quite keep her giggling contained. She smiled brightly, first at Ren, and then at his mom again. He wasn’t hurt or distraught, but she figured he still deserved some affection after his curiosity ended up not being satisfied. She reached to pet him—and stopped an inch from his head. With his parent present in the room with them this time, Palemoon figured she should first check with her if it’d be alright for her to touch her son.
Predictably, seeing the Gardevoir grow affectionate with her son left Ren’s mom more unnerved than before, the tinge of fear in her mind not missed on the empath. Thankfully, said fear didn’t last long before reason stepped in, reminding the human woman about the psychic’s actions over the past couple days—among other things, most of them lost on Palemoon. Some details were muddled by human terms and concepts, but the conclusion wasn’t. Ren trusted his friend, and so could she, especially without any sign of her wanting to hurt him.
The Gardevoir returned her tentative nod with an appreciative smile, hoping she wouldn’t end up betraying that trust. By the time she’d received the unspoken permission from Ren’s mom, the boy himself had already gotten over any disappointment he’d felt, breaking into excited squirming as Palemoon’s electric, tingly touch spread over his scalp.
It interrupted his breakfast, but he didn’t mind. He immediately slid as close to his friend as he could, before pulling her into a gentle hug, carefully avoiding any bandaged spots with his slightly stained hands. It gave Palemoon a good view of his plate, including the purpose of the aforementioned ‘fork’. Which… turned out to be just holding the pancakes for him to eat.
Even just using hands sounds easier, but who am I to judge?
With that exchange of affection done, the two kept eating, mostly in silence. Palemoon’s hunger finally had a chance to chime in, making her eat much faster than she usually did. Slow, meandering nibbling soon turned into full focus stuffing. A few failed attempts to Mimic Ren’s usage of the ‘fork’ later, she gave up and went with her hands. Her stomach filled with pancake after pancake, the persistent clutch of hunger finally fading away.
The dough wasn’t directly comparable with her family’s flatbreads. Not crunchy at all, much sweeter and silkier to the feel. Much less dense, too. It was different, but it definitely wasn’t bad, especially for filling her stomach up. It would’ve been so good with some jam, too.
Halfway through devouring her stack, though, Ren finally noticed his friend was eating her pancakes dry, the biggest atrocity the six-year-old could imagine. He wasted no time to even swallow before speaking up, “Oh, Lhuna, thry thish, yhou’re ghonhna lhove iht!” He then excitedly pointed at the jar of brown paste, keen on introducing his friend to—in his humble view—the greatest culinary invention in history.
It was finally the time to give the human condiment a taste; it seemed. Afraid of overexerting her psychics again, Palemoon lifted the jar with her physical hands and brought it closer. A whiff only confirmed her suspicion of it being something incredibly different from any condiment she’d ever eaten, leaving her cautious. Ren’s excitement quickly melted through any reservations she might’ve had, though, maintained even as his mom scolded him for something again.
Just to be safe, she decided to use the weird human knife instead of relying on her strained telekinesis. She brought the back of her hand to the shiny, uncorroded metal, before cautiously brushing a single finger against it. It wasn’t pleasant to the touch, but it was nowhere near the immediate irritation she’d experienced with some of the corroded metal scrap she’d found in her woods. Not something she’d want to use every single day, but safe to grab and use this once.
Maneuvering the tool proved tricky, the shape unsuited to her large, long fingers. Her arm shook as she carefully extracted a blade-full of brown paste out of its stupidly heavy jar before mimicking Ren’s earlier guidance.
Bring the glob down to the topmost pancake, spread it around, then stick the knife back in the jar afterwards, just like the boy had done it. It was an incredibly finicky procedure for what felt like an incredibly casual breakfast. Though, maybe human anatomy had something to do with the perceived difficulty? As boney and unpleasant to look at as their hands and fingers were, they did seem much more dexterous than anything the Gardevoir could accomplish without her psychics.
Now, onto the ‘correct’ way of eating the treat. She rolled the pancake up like he did, lifted it up, brought it to her face, aaaand—
...
!!!
By the stars, how could anything be this intensely sweet!? Palemoon’s eyes shot wide at the almost overwhelming, cloying taste as her mouth slowed down. She could not help but slowly savor the flavor, every single tastebud feeling as if it’d been hit by a charging Rhyhorn.
She might have put just a tad too much paste, but that didn’t change the fact that it really was as good as Ren was making it sound. Definitely not something she would have every day, though. Or even most days. Moderation was important, and she couldn’t imagine any way she could ever get fed up with the condiment except for overuse—and by the Moon did she not want to get fed up with it.
Buuuuut, since she was already here and Ren and his parents have been such sweethearts to offer the treat to her, she supposed she could have another. Or a third. Or a fourth—
“Whath—*gulp*—what do you think, Luna?” Ren asked, swallowing mid sentence after spotting his mom giving him another dissatisfied look.
So good, so different, so intense!
“^That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever had, Ren,^” Palemoon answered, still stunned by the sheer intensity of it all.
The boy squealed in glee. “Yay, you liked it! Oh oh oh, add some more if you want!” His instruction was accompanied by a finger pointing at the pancake she was adding some more of the condiment to, delivering with the distilled eagerness of someone that wasn’t the one paying for the treat.
It was adorable. Same with his words, same even with his mom’s barely held smile. Unfortunately or not, this was the one idea she would have to decline. “^I think I’m comfortable with this much, Ren. Any more would be too much,^” she explained, accentuating her psychic words by wolfing down the treat just a tad faster than usual.
Ren was stunned. “What do you mean, too much?” he asked with the aghast sincerity of someone who had never heard of the concept of moderation.
“^It’s really, really sweet. If I have more than this, it’ll be too much, sweetie.^”
“B-but, but sweet tastes good, right? Why wouldn’t you wanna have more?”
Palemoon was doing much worse than Ren’s mom at hiding the amusement dripping from her face. “^Because you can have too much of a good thing, and I don’t want to have so much it makes me sick. Besides, taking our time also lets us spread how long we can enjoy something for! Don’t you wanna enjoy it for longer?^”
“But we can always buy more!” Ren countered, to his mom’s loud-and-yet-still-overlooked cough.
The Gardevoir wanted to respond with something that’d reinforce the simple lesson she was trying to teach, but the unfamiliar concept made it difficult. She had no idea what ‘buying’ was, and the glimpses she made out in the boy’s head involved gargantuan buildings stocking more... more, more stuff, more items, more things than she could comprehend, and taking whatever they wanted from there. She was far from a stranger from sharing food or ingredients with her neighbors, but this clearly wasn’t it. What it was, she opted not to pry into for now—not with breakfast waiting to be savored.
Thankfully, the boy didn’t end up pressing the topic either, content in having taken what he perceived to be a rhetorical victory—for the thirty seconds that he dwelled on it. Once that thought inevitably slipped away from his attention, it was gone for good, replaced by munching his way through his breakfast while sliding up closer to his magical friend.
Palemoon much preferred those kinds of thoughts, too. They were warm; they drained much of her achiness through their mere presence. Whether said warm feelings merely shielded her mind from physical pain or actively helped her heal was a topic that their elders had often debated, but she cared not for technicalities like that. She felt better, Ren felt better, his mom felt better, and that’s all that mattered. Even the faint emotions emanating from his father further into the building had mellowed out greatly.
Despite everything, things were okay.
Once she had stopped over-analyzing everything going on about her, the Gardevoir got through the rest of the meal quickly. Nowhere near as fast as Ren did, but even getting close to his breakneck, sugar rushed pace was an achievement in its own right—and that was after she’d slowed down her pace significantly at the end. Not because of anything upsetting, not even because she had gotten full, but because it was a bit trickier to eat with a human child holding her side, carefully orienting his hands to avoid touching any bandaged spots. Returning some of the affection in kind didn’t help either.
“Are you done, Luna?” Ren asked the instant she’d lifted the last pancake up, anticipating this very moment.
“^I’m not planning to eat more after this, no—^”
“Oh oh oh, can I take and wash the plates then?”
This time, the boy’s mom was the one to answer first, putting a small damper on his excitement as he returned to waiting and leaning on his friend. She was clearly trying not to laugh at his antics, but it was the purest kind of laughter, one that shone brightly at her little boy and his willingness to help. One that Palemoon couldn’t help but catch moments later, ruffling his hair as she wrapped up her meal. “^I’m done now, Ren!^”
“*Gasp!* Did you like it?”
“^I really, really did—^”
“Yay! See mom, I knew she’d like it!” Ren remarked triumphantly as he grabbed every plate and utensil in sight. His mom chuckled something in response, prompting her son to respond, “I know everyone likes it; that’s why I wanted her to have some! Why didn’t you want that? What do you mean some mons can’t eat it?”
...guess that won’t be a treat I can freely bring with myself back home, awwwh.
“That sucks. B-but Luna can eat it, right?” he asked, only now realizing he hadn’t considered that earlier. His mom had, thankfully, with her firm nods banishing both Ren’s and Palemoon’s worry before they could build up any further. The former had an obvious—to him, at least—follow-up question, and didn’t hesitate to fire it just as he was about to leave the room. “Can Luna eat pizza?”
The look his mom gave to him might’ve been dominated by an incredulous raised eyebrow, but there was a lot more than just cheekiness going on underneath, enough for her to not cross his idea out instantly. At least, so it seemed based on Ren’s reaction. “Okay! Thank you moooom!”
With the boy gone, Palemoon finally had a moment to reassess herself. Ren’s mom’s radiant pride kept some of the aching at bay as she went through the bandages wrapped around her midriff, the action not missed on the adult human. Sadly, that couldn’t be said for the words going the other way around. The reassurance wasn’t hard to make out, but any specifics would require a much firmer link, not unlike the one she’d set up with Ren. It was on her to-do list, but not at the top—that spot was taken by using her newfound energy to patch herself up the old-fashioned way.
She closed her eyes as she brought her hand to where the Ursaring’s claws had pierced her skin, holding her winces in. A tingling sensation moved through her body as she concentrated on the most strained Heal Pulse of her life, with only the faint glow around her hand finally catching the human’s attention. The boy’s mom watched, startled, as the magical glow built up for a few more seconds—and suddenly disappeared into the Gardevoir’s side, leaving her slumped over and gasping for breath.
Much, much better.
The words that followed a good half a minute later were cautious, but no less well-meaning than before, a very welcome sign. Palemoon’s eyelids took a bit of effort to pry themselves open, but once they did, she could return the human’s reassurance in kind. Mostly, at least. There was still a lot of confusion in the human’s expression, one that neither of them could get through without talking.
Which meant it was time for talking.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
In Ren’s case, she had the advantage of the boy trusting her enough to let her link up with him without much difficulty—or his knowledge. That wouldn’t pass here, though. She resorted to charades, gesturing a connection between her own head and the mom’s. She seemed to have gotten the ‘what’ across, but not the ‘why’, and for that she had to make a bit of a fool of herself. Repeatedly opening and closing her mouth, as if mocking a particularly unfortunate fish, wasn’t an action she ever wanted to repeat. Thankfully, it sufficed here.
With the understanding secured, she reached a hand towards the human, offering it to be taken. The mom’s grasp was apprehensive, as if ready to be withdrawn the moment anything scary happened, but still there all the same. Palemoon focused, climbing her mental reach through the human’s arm and torso towards her head, furrowing her expression as her psychics pushed through flesh.
A couple feet away from her, Ren’s mom watched in equal parts curiosity and anticipation as the Gardevoir concentrated.
And then, she felt something. A sensation filled up her arm and then head, one very difficult to describe. It was as if her bones grew itchy and ticklish at the same time, the involuntary shaking that accompanied the otherworldly feeling overlooked in all the chaos. She knew the Gardevoir wanted to do something with her head, something involving talking, but the weird, unfamiliar sensations wore down her good faith, letting the earlier worry creep back in. At least, for the ten or so seconds before it was all over, culminating in a build-up of pressure at the back of her head that was then released in what felt like a weak, almost playful pinch.
Was this it? She didn’t feel all too different from before, but Luna was panting again and she had let go of her hand—
“^Good morning!^” a clear voice filled her head, forcing a quiet gasp out of her. It was one thing to watch her son be engaged in a one-sided conversation with a psychic mon, hoping that he was correctly interpreting whatever mental magics they used for communication, but it was an entirely different thing to actually hear them for herself. Not feel, not be vaguely suggested, but hear as if another person was speaking them out loud. Luna’s voice lacked some directionality, but it was a detail so slight it took the woman a long while to notice.
A while that the Gardevoir interpreted as some difficulty. “^Can you hear me, ma’am?^” she asked, staring at her with her big red eyes.
“Y-yes I can,” the human whispered back, stunned. “I... did not expect it to be this clear.”
Palemoon giggled. “^Nope, I figured it was best to put in the effort for the clearest communication I can manage.^”
Ren’s mom nodded absentmindedly, her legs weak as she sat down on the bed. “It’s really appreciated. Thank you, Luna—i-if that’s your name, I heard Ren calling you that and it felt like a nickname he came up with; my apologies...”
The care in the human’s words was appreciated, though Luna felt it veered back into worry. The least she could do was reassure her host that everything was right. “^’Luna’ is a name Ren gave me, yes. But you have nothing to be sorry for, ma’am.^”
“No, no, I can ask him to use the proper name going forward. The last thing I want is for him to disrespect you...” the human continued, nerves not soothed any.
“^But I like ‘Luna’. It’s not a name my family uses, but it’s still a name, one Ren gave me in good faith. Why wouldn’t I use it?^” she genuinely asked. It felt like she might’ve been unknowingly brushing against some human taboo the boy had been himself unfamiliar with, and she wanted to help get that whole misunderstanding dealt with.
His mom didn’t have any good answers to her question. Once she realized the calmness in the Gardevoir’s words was as genuine as it got, though, she finally calmed down, but didn’t change the topic. “I-I see. I’ll admit, not a mindset I’m familiar with, but if he isn’t saying anything offensive, then I suppose I have no grounds to intervene. Still, I’d be keen on knowing your re—um, the more commonly used name, if it’s not a problem.” The boy’s mom was clearly having a tricky time processing it all, especially when she looked towards her guest and got a reminder, again and again, that she was having this conversation with a mon.
It wasn’t lost on Palemoon, but it was something she could ask about later. “^It’s not! In that case, my name is Pale Moon Swaddled in Midday Sky.^” Predictably, seeing the full extent of her name had quite an effect on the poor woman; her eyes went wide as she leaned back in her seat. It was a lot even for someone who knew it was coming, and for those less learned about psychics, it often registered as a hallucination.
Whether it was one, the woman didn’t know, and didn’t have the brainpower to dwell about. The concerns of manners came first. “I... I am not sure how to pronounce something like... that,” she sheepishly admitted, utterly out of her depth.
The Gardevoir could only laugh, the sound calming down the atmosphere in the room. “^My friends tend to just call me ‘Palemoon’. Orrrrrr ‘Luna’! I really like that name. I mean it. It means a lot to have someone give me a name they like.^”
Ren’s mom took a bit longer than necessary processing Palemoon’s words, still reeling after the impromptu spectacle in her head, but she eventually got the reassurance. “I see. Well, if it’s a name you like, th-then I don’t see why I shouldn’t use ‘Luna’, too. O-oh my goodness, in all this I forgot to introduce myself, didn’t I? I’m Watanabe Kaori, Ren’s mother.” Palemoon nodded eagerly as the boy’s mom introduced herself, though she didn’t respond right away—she clearly wasn’t done talking just yet.
“Now that I can tell you this directly, I... thank you so much for saving my son, Luna. I don’t know what would’ve happened if not for your intervention.” The words hung heavy, and even though Kaori had been winning the fight against tears so far, it was nowhere near a decided battle. “I apologize for our initial reactions, both today and yesterday. If not for Ren’s insistence in helping you out, you...” she trailed off, too ashamed to look Palemoon in the eye as her body shuddered.
The Gardevoir wasn’t entirely sure what to say in response. Even if her life being saved came down to her friend’s insistence, she was still saved in the end, wasn’t she? She saw little use in fretting about what-ifs like that. “^Well, I suppose we saved each other, then!^” Her laugh was only partially forced, trying its hardest to diffuse the tension in the air. “^It’s okay, Watanabe Kaori. I cannot blame you or Ren’s father for your fearful reactions, not after the brutality of what happened. I’d certainly be afraid of strangers in such a situation too.^” Probably not afraid enough to even consider leaving someone out to die, but that wasn’t the point.
The framing of their fear as being afraid of strangers took Kaori aback, but she appreciated Luna’s grace on this topic. “Thank you, Luna. I suppose the least I can do to repay some of our debt is to repair your outfit.” The mention caught Palemoon’s attention, reminding her of everything she’d been wearing at the time. She wasn’t afraid, but her eyes still swept the bedroom—and Kaori noticed. “Oh, it’s in the living room; I keep my sewing kit there. We didn’t want to inadvertently damage it by machine washing it, though, so all the blood is still there, I’m afraid. And, just ‘Kaori’ is enough.”
Her last addition hit Palemoon from the left field, derailing her train of thought. It was an appreciated clarification, though it left her curious what the ‘Watanabe’ part was for. Did it represent the ‘full’ name, somehow? Maybe it was an adjective of sorts, like the Aspen siblings used? Another topic to ask about later, on top of an entire pile of others.
At least this one is markedly less worrisome.
“^You don’t have to, Kaori... but I’d really appreciate it,^” Palemoon admitted, any facade of humility only going so far when confronted with something that would be very materially useful in the immediate future.
“Oh, it’s no problem at all—gods know I already have to patch Ren’s clothes all the time. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with… what is it, leather? But I’m sure I’ll get at least something temporary done.”
Focusing on ‘leather’ in Kaori’s answer led Palemoon down the rabbit hole of the mental associations; the sheer extent of gore and violence involved almost making her dry-heave. She had no interest in knowing that ‘clothing made of other creatures’ skin’ was a concept in human culture, however obvious it was for any tool-using species that hunted. Ren’s mom bringing such a vile concept up so offhandedly answered the unspoken question whether humans hunted—though that, in itself, wasn’t much of a surprise. Besides, the meal they just ate clearly had no shred of flesh in it, so humans were at the very least omnivorous.
Palemoon knew better than to chastise any creature for doing what it had to survive, even if it involved predation. It wasn’t her place to judge for what others had no control over. However, she had no interest in learning anything about such practices either, and if there was any other available way of sating oneself without taking other lives, she would insist on them in her presence.
Another tangent that would have to be put off until later. “^I-i-it’s not leather. J-just canvas,^” Palemoon explained between deep breaths, calming down her stomach.
“Oh, that’ll be much easier. Don’t have much planned for today, so I figure I might as well get started now—do you want me to bring you anything before I go, Luna?” Kaori asked, the words bringing with themselves a very welcome change in topic.
Some more water would’ve been appreciated, but it wasn’t what Palemoon wanted the most. “^Actually, I’d love to get up and look around if that’s alright.^”
Not something Kaori expected, but not anything she minded either. “Of course! Do you need any help?”
It was time to find that one out the hard way. With much of the energy from her breakfast spent by her earlier Healing Pulse, Palemoon’s movements were once again quite sluggish as she slid her legs off the bed. They wobbled underneath her once she put some actual weight on them, and even though she could stand up on her own, walking was much more uncertain. “^Yeah, I could use some assistance...^”
Kaori didn’t need to be told twice, getting over her earlier worries as she offered the Gardevoir a shoulder to lean on. The psychic’s touch was unlike anything she’d ever felt before, but it was far from unpleasant, either. It was quite nice even, calming both their minds as they cleared the door frame into a much better lit hallway.
The carpet covering the floor, dyed with much more vivid colors than Palemoon would’ve thought existed, caught her attention first as they left the room. It didn’t last long before her gaze was jumping all over the space, every single corner having some items she wasn’t familiar with, some colors she wouldn’t imagine being replicated easily, some furniture she wasn’t sure about the purpose of.
And she was very, very curious. “^That is a beautiful color on the walls,^” Palemoon remarked, brushing her fingers against it. The surface was very firm, closer to stone than clay or wood or even compressed soil. Even beyond the sheer size of this building, utterly excessive considering only a handful of people seemed to live here, the materials and craftsmanship involved were far above anything she’d ever seen.
It was luxury, but that’s not how Kaori was thinking about it. It seemed to be... normal to her. Expected, even. Palemoon didn’t begrudge her for it, didn’t intend to frame that observation into mentally painting humans as having over-inflated, impossible expectations—merely to note that this, all this, was a standard for humans. This size, this excess, these stone walls and hues no berry could replicate. It was humbling, if indirectly so.
“Thank you,” Kaori answered. “Me and Hiroto chose it when we moved in, felt like it’d make the corridors feel larger.”
“^They feel plenty spacious as is, especially with only the three of you,^” Palemoon replied. She hoped that the human woman would step in to correct her if she got the number of occupants wrong, but that didn’t end up happening—which meant her hunch was correct in the end. All this space, for so few people. And, going by her words, they didn’t even build this place, they merely moved in. “^Who built this, out of curiosity?^”
“Oh, some development company in Rustboro, I think. They built a bunch of those single-family houses a while back, hoping for an influx of new families moving in. Considering how cheaply we got this place for in the end, they way overestimated the attractiveness of this area. Technically still in Rustboro, but the city limits are just a few hundred meters away. And aside from the other houses they built, there are no more buildings down this road for almost two kilometers.”
Most of Kaori’s explanation went way, way over Palemoon’s mind, especially everything involving cost or value. All she’d picked up from it is that there were other houses like this in the area, and humans... didn’t like them. Did they really have so much to choose from that they’d be willing to put down a dwelling this grand because of some less than pleasant views? Though, those racing metal beasts she’d seen—and definitely heard—running down those big stone paths might’ve had something to do with it. Palemoon definitely wouldn’t want to live near those if she could help it. “^Remote or not, this house is still enormous.^”
“Oh yeah, it is quite spacious. Will come in handy if we ever decide to expand our family some more,” Kaori chuckled.
Palemoon smiled at the mental image of the boy getting really, really excited at the thought of getting a younger sibling. Before she could dwell on it, however, another item caught her attention, one she’d seen a handful of during her slow march through the house. “^If I may ask—what are these... round objects attached to the ceiling?^”
They were round with a yellowy, metallic rim and gray, cloudy center that bulged outwards, straight down. Even a single one looked like fine artisan work, requiring both immense precision, knowledge of metalworking, and adequate handling of whatever the center material was. But there wasn’t just one of them—in this corridor alone there were three, evenly spaced apart.
It took the human embarrassingly long to figure out the object of her mon guest’s question. She was so used to the items in question she barely even noticed them most of the time—and definitely nowhere near with the mix of confusion and outright awe as Luna did. “These?” she asked, pointing at one of the objects in question, and receiving a swift nod in response. “These are light fixtures. There are light bulbs inside them,” Kaori answered with a bit of confusion in her voice. She had figured the place the Gardevoir was from was on the simpler side, yes, but even they had electrical light, right?
“^Light... bulbs?^”
Wrong, as it turned out. “Um... oh dear. I suppose it’ll be easiest if I just show you, then,” the woman mumbled, before reaching for the nearest of many identical angled items attached to the walls they passed by. If not for the exhaustion in her body and especially legs, she would’ve jumped at the light assaulting her eyes so suddenly, the resulting daze taking a while to blink through. Far weaker than a Dazzling Gleam, sure, but perhaps even more startling. “O-oh goodness, Luna, are you alright?”
The Gardevoir nodded as a couple of stray tears flew down her cheeks. “^Y-yes, yes, it just surprised me. I’ve never seen anything like that, Kaori.^”
“That’s... unexpected,” the woman mumbled, some of the earlier uncertainty getting added to.
“^We have nothing like that in our tents and burrows. It looks really handy, too.^” Palemoon meant her compliment, but Kaori’s attention was instead drawn to the mention of burrows specifically. She knew some of the isolated tribes around the mountain foothills lived in mobile tents, but burrows was a new one.
“Quite odd—” Kaori began, before the third voice Palemoon had heard earlier cut her off. She sighed, and called back, “Yes, I’m talking to Luna, Hiroto. Yes, talking,” she stressed, sighing.
They wouldn’t have to walk for much longer to find the source of the questioning words. The room Palemoon and Kaori emerged into was one the former had recognized from yesterday, when she first examined the building. Very wide, padded chairs, an oddly tall table, large windows and what she could’ve sworn was once a massive black rectangle attached high to the wall. In its place was something very different, something she struggled to put words to—moving pictures displayed on a large, horizontal canvas, so similar and yet so different from the visions and stimuli her kin could experience and present to each other.
Watching said moving pictures was the last human of the house, his appearance not substantially different from Kaori. Slightly shorter, slightly wider, with slightly shorter hair. Palemoon didn’t know if the appearance differences between them were minor by human standards, though they certainly felt so by hers. Except maybe the shape of their chin, though that could’ve been something she was biased towards noticing.
His—Hiroto’s, if Kaori’s call was aimed towards him—mind gathered much more of Palemoon’s attention than his appearance. He was still rather apprehensive and fearful towards her, though it thankfully didn’t veer into any sort of hostility—or comments. He was sitting on one of the plush seats beside the central, wide one, with a ceramic cup full of something steaming on the nearby table and a glowing black rectangle in his grasp.
A colder reception, but Palemoon tried not to sweat it. She offered the man a warm smile; he responded with a light nod, as Kaori guided her towards the very wide seat. Between her damaged outfit taking up a decent chunk of it, and a handful of barely-visible-anymore reddish stains on the nearby fabric, she guessed this was where the humans first moved her to while rescuing her.
She sighed in relief as she sat down, twisting herself to the side to avoid poking her horn at anything. Beside her, Kaori wasted no time getting to work patching her poncho up, flaking away bits of dried blood each time the large needle pierced through the stained fabric. The resulting silence was appreciated, but didn’t end up lasting long—not with the youngest member of the house having finally wrapped up his dishwashing chores. With a light, creaking noise, a nearby din Palemoon hadn’t even noticed before it finally went quiet, followed by rustling sounds, and finally, excited steps.
“Mom mom I’m done washing—*gasp!* Hey Luna!” Ren beamed the moment he ran into the living room, immediately climbing onto the couch beside his magical friend. The closeness drew a nervous look from his dad, but neither the boy nor his Gardevoir friend noticed. “Oh oh oh, if you’re done with breakfast, wanna see my room? It isn’t too big, but it has all my—”
“Reeeeen, I think it might be for the best if you don't drag Luna to your room the first thing after breakfast,” Kaori gently chided. “She’s still tired, and the last thing she’s gonna want to do is climb upstairs.”
“Awwwwh...” the boy groaned, more disappointed than genuinely hurt.
His mom’s words weren’t exactly what the Gardevoir herself would’ve said, but... yes, she couldn’t deny being quite drained. “^Maybe you can show it to me later?^”
It was just what Ren needed to return to his full excitement. “Yeah! Maybe once you’re not tired anymore?”
“And right now, how about you bring the toys you want to show Luna down here, Ren?” his mom suggested, getting the gears in his little head turning. Normally, he wasn’t supposed to play with them in the living room, but if his mom had outright suggested something like that, then it’d surely be okay to do this time.
“Okie! I’ll be right back, Luna!” The boy wasted no time before dashing up the stairs—or rather, breaking into the world’s shortest sprint, followed by slowing down juuuust slow enough to be walking, remembering what his parents said about running indoors.
“And change out of your jammies while you’re up there,” Kaori added, sighing in an equal mix of amusement and exasperation.
The exchange left Luna giggling quietly, glad Ren was so eager to share his interests with her. Between the remoteness and being the only child, it sure felt like he didn’t have too many peers to play with most of the time, the thought souring some of the Gardevoir’s smile. Maybe she was just misreading the situation; maybe his friends often came over to visit? Many different alternatives.
“Oh, Luna, how does something like this look?” Kaori’s question spurred Palemoon out of her pondering, tired body complaining as it turned around on the couch to examine the human’s handiwork. The stitches going across the first bit of the jagged cut weren’t the most regular or evenly spaced, but they were thick and looked strong, more than appropriate for now. The Gardevoir nodded in appreciation, and the woman remarked, “Hope this will at least be enough for the walk back home, and come off easily enough for your human to patch it in some more permanent way.”
...
Oh... oh no.
“^What—what do you mean by ‘my human’?^” Palemoon tentatively asked.
The air turned icy as soon as she finished beaming the words to Kaori’s head. She watched as the human woman’s calm-ish expression filled with first confusion, then shock, then fear, the latter quickly spreading back to the Gardevoir. The two could only stare at each other as Ren ran back into the room, carrying some dolls Palemoon had seen yesterday in his arms. He wasted no time before getting comfortable on the opposite side of his magical friend, with the realization that there was a wild pokemon between herself and her son only intensifying his mom’s fear even further.
Palemoon had no idea what she’d done wrong for this less nervous of the two adult humans to suddenly grow so terrified of her, terrified that she would hurt her son. She feared what Kaori might do; she was upset at the sudden downturn in mood; her body still ached—but she knew she had to take the charge and speak up. If not her, nobody else would. “^Kaori,^” she telepathically whispered, making the woman flinch. “^I don’t know what I said wrong, but I’m sorry. I-I promise I won’t hurt Ren.^”
She was hurt and some of that definitely leaked into her mental voice, and Kaori noticed. It mellowed the worst of her fear, but much of it remained, and the two were still stuck staring at one another even as Ren began going over his action figures. His words, however cheerful and excited, were lost in the tense noise.
Kaori had no idea how to handle all this, but before doing anything further, she opted to confirm her realization first. A part of her hoped, however foolishly, that this was just a misunderstanding and that the people Luna lived with simply used some other terms. She cautiously leaned forward and whispered as quietly as she could manage, “D-do you l-live with humans?”
The answer was obvious—and damning. “^No, I do not. This is my first time meeting any humans, though I’ve heard of them before.^” She wanted to go further, to finally get answers to those earlier worrisome questions that were now suddenly being brought into full focus, whether anyone wanted them to or not. Once more, she had to wait. As scared as she herself was right now, Kaori’s fear went way, way further, and the last thing she wanted to do was make one of her saviors panic.
Kaori winced at her answer, but maintained whatever she had left of her composure. Without saying a word, she nodded, got up, and approached her husband. The cacophony ringing from her head ached Palemoon if she as much as tried listening to it. It dripped with fear about her potentially hurting them all, and especially Ren. Knowledge that the Gardevoir had saved the boy not even twenty-four hours ago was there, too. It tried to counteract the panic, subdue it however it could, but it could only do so much.
Her husband fared similarly. His body and mind alike stiffened the moment his wife’s whispers reached his ears, and his gaze clung to her and refused to let go. It was suffocating; it was humiliating; it was—it was downright insulting to be treated with such suspicion after she’d put her own life on the line! Palemoon wanted to be the bigger person, but she wished she didn’t have to be. She hurt, feeling no less betrayed than the parents did, but tried her best not to show it. The handful of stray tears leaking down her cheeks ratted her out before long, though.
Ren, on the other hand, was growing annoyed. He was used to his parents not listening much when he went on about his toys or cartoons he watched, or anything he found interesting, but he hoped that at least Luna would be different in that regard. And yet, here she was, not saying anything, not listening, not even looking at him as he kept trying to catch her attention. He even tried pulling on her arm, first gently and then less so, but she only grew stiffer as a result, continuing to stare at his parents—
His parents were whispering between each other. He hated when they did that. “What’s going on!?” Ren finally shouted, upset and frustrated. His voice made everyone in the room jump, finally breaking them out of their tense deadlock.
Involving him in what was sure to be an awful conversation was the last thing his parents wanted to do, but by now it was clear they would have to. Kaori sighed out loud, took a deep breath, and announced, “It’s... it’s time for a serious talk.” Ren flinched, huddling as close to Palemoon as he could. He hated serious talks. They always sucked, and either left him sad, or left his parents sad. That association wasn’t lost on his mom, either. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Ren, I promise.”
The reassurance was always welcome, though it did little here. He was still confused, everyone else was still afraid, and nobody was speaking up about what was going on.
Until, finally, Luna broke the news to him, letting his mom hear her words too. “^You were the first human I met, Ren.^”
The news was a surprise to him too, though with none of the deathly terror his parents felt when hearing it. “R-really?” he asked, bright curiosity cutting through the ambient worry. “Wh-what about your owner?”
“^I—I don’t have an owner, Ren.^”