[FIN]....and an End

[Gwennythe]

Octavia looked from Pinkie to Tambrey, then at Rory, before back to Pinkie, obviously a little confused and concerned about something.
She made a slight muttering noise, before voicing her concerns aloud (to Pinkie, anyway).
<< I am... bigger. How we are to... go inside?>> She asked, with one more dubious glance at the object her trainer, apparently, was holding up for them to see.

Tambrey, still poised, looked concerned.
"Um. I think... I think she looks, uh, nervous?"  

[LexThetaSigma]

Octavia's question stumped Pinkie and she wasn't too sure how to explain how she would fit in the pokeball. She didn't even know how she fit inside her own ball; how was she supposed to explain it to the new Ponyta?! And it's not like she could ask the humans to explain it to her.

Rory watched as Octavia looked cautiously at the pokeball. "I don't think she understands about the 'ball."  

[Gwennythe]

Octavia looked a little skeptical, but as far as she knew, Pinkie hadn't lied so far. Though, technically speaking, she wouldn't know if she was. Also, likely, she didn't really know what lying was either, anyway. So Pinkie's assurance, despite not really explaining anything, was taken with complete trust if confusion.
If her 'sister' said she'd fit in that thing, then she'd fit in there.
<< I will fit.>> She agreed.
She took a few steps forward toward Tambrey, looking between the humans as they exchanged words and... then Tambrey was saying a lot of confusing words at her. She didn't understand but she was ready for the pokéball anyway.

"Oh. Hm. I guess she hasn't really seen one before..." Tambrey agreed, and took a step toward the grey pony, apparently intent on explaining the device to her.
"I'm sure Pinkie explained some, but this is a pokéball. It's where you go when you're not, uh... 'out'. It lets me carry you around a lot more easily, y' see. Uh. It sort of... converts your biomass into, uh... well it's kind of an energy? Oh. Or like digital information. So basically you'd go inside here and it stores you in that form in... uh, comfort. Not a luxury ball, I'm afraid- I can't afford those, but the others don't seem to mind living in them so I'm sure it's nice enough in there. 'S basically like having your own room... 'cept you're, y'know, a different kind of structure. I /think/. Pokéball technology isn't really my field." Tambrey smiled. She was slightly nervous- there went that rambling. Poor Octavia probably didn't have a clue what any of that just meant.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Pinkie gave Tambrey a strange look as she rambled on about the pokeball and how Octavia would fit inside. She tossed her head in confusion before looking back at her 'sister'.

Rory shrugged, "Probably not unless she seen them attached to us, but most likely not." He listened as she tried her best to explain how the pokeball worked to the Ponyta. He ended up getting slightly confused as he listened to her attempt to explain but grinned when he picked up on her rambling again.

"She'll be fine," he said as he reached out to pet the new Ponyta again.  

[Gwennythe]

<> Octavia didn't seem impressed or unimpressed by the fact, more... confused. <> She confirmed, tossing her head up and giving a happy snort when Rory petted her again.

Tambrey nodded.
"Well... She does need to get used to them... I mean, I don't think the base would quite appreciate having a Ponyta wandering out-of-ball all the time, right? I'm sure y're right; she'll be fine." She held up the pokéball again and watched for Octavia's reaction.
The Ponyta reached out and touched her nose to the object.
"Well... Okay then." Tambrey smiled nervously and pressed the button, gently, against Octavia's nose, releasing the familiar bright red that transformed the pokémon and took her inside.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Pinkie commented

"Well yeah," Rory nodded, "It's just new to her." He smiled as the familiar red beam of light engulfed Octavia, drawing the pokemon instead. He pulled Pinkie's ball off of his belt before recalling her back. "Ready?"  

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey looked at the ball in her hand as it made the noise, registering the new pokémon.
"I... have a fire type. Uh." She blinked a little, then, a little spur of the moment, aimed a hug at Rory, before clearing her throat and pulling away a bit again. "Ah. Um. Yes. Ready." She nodded. "Where are we going?"
Well, she knew it would be 'out of the labs'; she suspected it would be either outside or a training room.  

[LexThetaSigma]

Rory chuckled as the statement left her lips, "That you do. You'll get used to it," He had been about to return her hug when she pulled back from him before he could. Instead he wrapped an arm over her shoulders as he guided her out of the lab. "I figured we'd take the girls outside; let Octavia break her new legs in."  

[Gwennythe]

As he wrapped his arm over her shoulders, Tambrey felt herself leaning into Rory a little, and comfortably, as they walked.
They probably -looked- like a couple, maybe, to someone who might spot them right now, but if she had realised that, perhaps she didn't mind.

She nodded.
"That's a good idea... Um. She was getting all a bit, uh, 'dancey'. It'll be nice to see what she's like outside..."  

[LexThetaSigma]

"She was excited," Rory explained, "from whatever Pinkie was telling her." He gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze as they kept walking. "She'll love it outside. She'll be able to stretch her legs better out there."  

[Gwennythe]

The comforting squeeze certainly didn't instill any desire to move out from the side-by-side , travelling, embrace.
Tambrey nodded, pursing her lips with thought.
"I wonder what Pinkie /did/ tell her... It was definitely best to have her there like that- thank you- but I sometimes wish it was easier to understand pokémon." The dark haired woman mused before tilting her head- slightly toward Rory's shoulder, in fact.
"Oh, right; uh, Ponytas like to run, don't they? I knew that." She insisted, quickly but added "I guess I wasn't quite expecting her to be ready for that sort 'f thing right fr'm the start though."  

[LexThetaSigma]

"We'll never know, but it seems to have kept her calm and help her adjust," Rory commented, not ready to remove his arm just yet. "Thank you for letting me and her be a part of it."

He smiled slightly as her head rested slightly on his shoulder. "Oh yeah," he answered, "It's not too surprising. Baby Ponytas are pretty much ready to run the second they get used to their legs."  

[Gwennythe]

She smiled as he thanked her. Tambrey was pretty sure he already knew the the whole thing, Octavia's very existence, wouldn't have been possible without his help. Yet he was thanking her as well as she'd been thanking him.

Her brain was also very insistent that she notice their closeness; her own actions, his actions, the position they were walking in... Her mind had it's own little commentary for the whole thing, part of her but separate, narrating each move of the pair of them, and loudspeaking her feelings, all around her head. She thought at it to shut it up, but that just seemed to encourage it.
The grunt blushed while she fought with her own mind in her head, but remained aware enough to catch Rory's last statement.
Introspective analysis of her own feelings could wait, just for the moment.
It was something she'd heard before but forgotten, or dismissed as exaggeration of the creature.

"They really are?" Tambrey blinked a little, then realised how un-surprised she really ought to be. Quadruped, herbivore, built with running as a natural defense as much as the fire... Fire would cost energy as a primary defense, surely much more than purely running away. The running instinct of a prey animal... Of course a Ponyta would want to run so soon.
She lifted a hand to her head and lightly 'face palmed'.
"I can't believe I didn't think about that... Well. I guess that gives me more 'f an excuse t' train outside now. Palu and Pygi'll like that..."  

[LexThetaSigma]

Whatever it was that had him feeling comfortable enough around her to keep his arm around her shoulders and walk around with her like this, he tried to ignore and just focus on the feeling. Whatever had started making his heart pound in his chest around her, he didn't want to think about.

"Yeah, I used to love watching the newly hatched Ponytas. They wobble a bit, take a few steps, then they try to start running," Also whatever made him open up with her was another thing he didn't want to think about. Or the slight urge to kiss the top of her head. There was a lot he was choosing not to think about right now. "Yeah, they'll definitely like that. Plus there's not too much to accidentally set on fire out there," Rory chuckled.  

[Gwennythe]

Frak. It had to be clear to her now, just the position they were walking in. It had to be clear, too, just what had happened in her head... Or was that the wrong word? Should it be heart? Tambrey had a terrible, creeping suspicion that it probably should.
It shouldn't have been such a surprise and yet, she hadn't exactly seen it coming... Or she had but had played blind to it perhaps.

Either way, she wasn't saying anything for now. However, she also wasn't making much of a move to get out of the position they'd found themselves walking along in.

"Aw..." Tambrey smiled, thinking about 'newly hatched' Ponyta. She supposed, in a way, Octavia was 'newly hatched'... She was just a bit... uh, bigger, than most hatchlings. "That sounds adorable... And... That 's a boon. I'm... kind of actually looking forward t' seeing her first flames- uh, you know, 'attack flames'- if that makes sense? Dreading it a bit, but looking forward t' it too..."