Brandy didn't know how to handle a crying Pokémon. She'd been lucky enough that for all the trouble Calcine and Sparky had gone through, they'd never actually gotten to a point she was left lost at what to do next. She had a knack for Pokémon, an understanding of their needs, and she did her best to sate them. Hiding her eyes under the brim of her hat, her cheeks wet, right now Morgan looked like she needed a hug, 

Brandy could do that, wrapping her up in one. Morgan didn't lean into her, but she didn't push away either, held stiff through a force of will or maybe a worry that if she started moving, it'd only get worse. 

Her story had been a little hard to follow at times; Morgan was quite well-spoken, but she loved to add flourishes to her speech that didn't help her get her story across. Brandy had watched her tone and how she moved, the wistfulness in her eyes, the curled fingers digging into her arms for anger or guilt. Morgan was very expressive, and if you paid close attention to not what she was saying but how she was saying it, you could get swept up in it. Feel what she felt, even if you don't know why.

"It's alright," Brandy said, squeezing the Pokémon. Soft feathers against her skin made it feel like too much of a reward to be a properly nice gesture. Morgan was absolutely delightful to have in your arms, even when you were trying to be serious. "It was a sad story, but not all of it. I'm sorry it didn't have a happier ending."

"There were some bright moments," Morgan said with a sniff, and she nuzzled her head on Brandy's cheek. Her eyes were wet, tears smeared over Brandy's skin, and Morgan's chest rose and fell erratically as she tried to talk, breathe and cry simultaneously. "There'd have been a lot more if I hadn't left."

"But you couldn't stay," Calcine said as she made the poffin meat pastries at the stove. Brandy had done all the cooking. It was just assembly, and she seemed happy to have just been left that. 

"No, I couldn't." Morgan took a big, messy sniff and wiped her eyes with a wing. "Sorry, I don't feel very attractive right now."

"Still hot!" Sparky said, still upside down on her makeshift cushion, watching Calcine plate the food. Brandy knew she wasn't looking to be kind and give Morgan some space because Sparky had enough eyes to look at everything if she really wanted. Sometimes she could be a good bug, just never when pushed to do it.

"A messy kind of hot," Brandy squeezed Morgan and watched the corners of her lips twitch. The story had been tough for her to get out, but the company was taking the edge off it. Maybe that's the trick to crying Pokémon, just be there for them and let them get it all out. Morgan's bushy tail was scratching a line across Brandy's stomach, not wagging exactly, but making itself comfortable."Don't worry about looking good for me. You do it effortlessly."

Calcine smiled as she wrapped up another poffin pastry, and Brandy knew just what that smile was about. Sure, she found every Pokémon hot, but that wasn't her fault. Every Pokémon she'd met so far had been hot. It was their fault, not hers. 

"I'd like to eat," Morgan said, eying up the pastries. "And maybe attend to some other needs if the mood takes me. You've heard my sad story, so you owe me some company until you can scurry away."

Brandy flicked Morgan's hat, making her sniff again and give Brandy a red-eyed side-on look. "Don't push your luck," she said with a rustle of air curling in the back of her throat, ready to lash out and sweep over Brandy.

"Don't push yours!" Brandy said firmly, not letting the strange windy growl intimidate her. "We are not going to run away just because you wanted to be yourself."

"I abandoned my Trainer because I couldn't let a part of myself go." Morgan rubbed her shoulders against Brandy's chest, hunching herself into a sulky ball in her lap. "I helped her make a beautiful flock, and then I wanted no part of it."

Calcine took a bite of a poffin and smiled, then offered the plate out to Morgan. She didn't bite. "We've known Brandy a lot less time," Calcine said, "But if it ended today, I'd have been happy for all of it."

Morgan ducked under her hat and reached out to grab a poffin, eating it out of sight under the brim. "It's easy to think you could let them go. It is harder to do than you can imagine."

Morgan's little munching sounds were the only noise in the brightly colored room as Brandy gently rocked her and let her eat, the tension building. They weren't going to help her overcome this with the right words, even if they wanted to.

"You're forgetting something really important," Sparky said, still lying on her back over her puffy chair, rows of blue eyes wiggling to focus upside down. 

"Oh?" Morgan sounded tired to Brandy like she knew another attempt to cheer her up was coming.

"You can stand on the side of a building! That's fucking crazy." Sparky kicked her legs in the air. "I mean, you should fall. You don't have sticky feet."

"That's ... that's what you took from my story?" wrong-footed, Morgan stumbled over her words as her brain tried to catch up. 

"You'd feel so dizzy. I'm getting dizzy just lying on my back like this."

"Do you want me to come over there and show you how to do it? The windows is right there. It's not that far to the bottom of the bridge if you get it wrong" Morgan tipped her hat up at Sparky, giving her a red-eyed glare. "I'm sure you'd bounce."

Sparky squinted at Morgan thoughtfully and then gave her a thumbs up. "Can bounce me any time."

Calcine once again delighted Brandy by doing the work that was needed, shoving a poffin in Sparky's mouth. The Joltik yelled a muffled thanks and bit into it. That'd probably silence her for a minute. It had at least popped the tension in the room.

"You can't throw Sparky out a window." Brandy smoothed Morgan's feathers, trying to get her to settle down. She puffed up a little when angry, which was cute, but Brandy wasn't suicidal enough to mention that right now.

"I could," Morgan said haughtily. "She's very small."

Brandy looked to Calcine for support.

"I never realized that was an option." Calcine stroked her stubby horns as she pushed her hair back. "She probably would bounce."

Traitor. 

Morgan finished off her poffin and licked her fingers clean, which Brandy wasn't ashamed to admit she immensely enjoyed watching. Morgan was glossy and sleek, making even cleaning dirty fingers look effortlessly sexy. "She's trying to cheer me up. Thank you, Sparky."

"Aww, no one appreciates me usually." Sparky said in a spray of crumbs, "It's nice to hear someone finally do it."

"I say it all the time!" Brandy gasped, "Don't listen to her. She's an awful liar."

Morgan gave the slightest snort of a laugh. "You're a very strange group, barely alike at all."

"You get used to it," Calcine said as she held out the plate of poffins to Brandy, lacing her fingers with Brandy's and giving her hand a squeeze for support before she let Brandy take one. "Brandy lets us do as we like and somehow makes it work."

"Strange way to train."

Calcine nodded and settled down with her own food. "Brandy makes it work. I know getting to be your own thing is what you wanted, but I don't want to make it sound like a pitch. It's just how Brandy is."

"Good," Morgan said as she broke a bit off of Brandy's pastry and then held it up for Brandy to bite. Brandy did not make it look effortlessly sexy, accidentally biting Morgan's fingertips and getting a smack on the nose. "Perhaps you need to train Brandy some."

"That's the job of our third," Calcine said casually, "But she's busy."

Brandy choked on the pastry, thumping her chest as she tried to get a denial out through coughs.

"Oh yeah!" Sparky cackled, "Shame you can't meet Maple. She's a really good addition to the group."

"She didn't tame me!" Brandy said between coughs. "Maple's a human."

Morgan whistled and covered her mouth with her wing. "Oh my, a human lover too? I'm not sure I should get my claws into you. You seem insatiable."

"It's not like that! It just happened, I-" Morgan's wetted finger cut Brandy's spluttered denials off. Morgan forced Brandy to take some slow breaths to clear her throat as Morgan's finger batted away any attempts for her to speak.

"Doesn't seem difficult to train. I'm sure Maple will soon sort her out." Morgan smiled and pushed herself off Brandy's lap, smoothing her tail feathers down, still swishing back and fore. "This has been lovely, but I know where it ends. You're going to ask me to speak to Cassidy."

"You should." Brandy said, "She's not going to give up on you. I wouldn't for mine."

"I can't break apart the Flock. Cassidy would do it for me, but it'd hurt all the rest. They fit together so well. The bonds they have are strong. It'd be ugly vandalism." 

"So explain that," Brandy said. "Tell her you want the best for all, which means she has to let you go."

"She won't understand. Cassidy thinks she can do anything. The Flock reinforces it all, bravery and confidence so thick they can swim in it."

Brandy knew that sort of person. Before she'd gotten her shock at the hands of Mercury, Maple had acted much the same, like the world should bend to her will; if it didn't, she could make it happen with enough effort. Cassidy didn't have Maple's effortless composure or intense focus, but she had a similar drive. Asking Morgan to be the one to knock her off balance as a lesson was cruel.

"I can do it." Brandy said, "I'll tell her for you."

"Don't be ridiculous. Cassidy won't accept an answer from you." Morgan shook her head sadly. "She wouldn't from me either."

There had to be a way. Brandy wasn't just going to leave this mess behind to fester. 

"So don't use words."

"You want me to what, dance at her? Sing?" Morgan smiled. "I like the idea, but it's rather silly."

Brandy waved her objection aside. "No, the Flock thing. If you get all their emotions while you're in it, they get yours, won't they? They'll understand you if you bare your heart to them."

"There's more of them. I'm overwhelmed. Sink into it. They drown me out, and I do enjoy that in a way. I want to be dragged under and feel like I belong, not worry about being different. You're asking me to lose myself."

No, there was a trick here. A way to make this work. 

"You say you're outnumbered. You need a louder voice, more on your side."

Morgan looked to Calcine, Sparky, and Brandy in turn, then snorted and tipped her head away, hiding her eyes under the brim of her hat. "Ridiculous. I barely know you all. There's no bond at all."

"Well, we've just done a long introduction, and you're clearly still hungry. How about we try?"

"Ridiculous," Morgan sniffed, "But if you insist, you'll give me a proper show. You don't just get to have me." 

"Oooh, trials." Sparky grinned. "Make Brandy do a striptease."

"All of you." Morgan said, "You've enjoyed my hospitality. Now you all get on your knees and thank your hostess however she pleases."

Sparky's eyes were dazzling with enthusiasm at the idea. Of course, she'd been excited about this. Brandy was less confident. She was more used to having Pokémon fight it out with her. If Morgan had made Brandy chase her for hours and try to finally pin her down into some grass, that she could do. 

Trying to be sexy on demand? That was a way bigger challenge.