Quen was quiet for a moment before he shrugged. "Alright," he said quietly. "Fair enough, since you have your psychic affinity. I get that. But try not to take it out on me personally." With that, he started walking again.

Margaret didn't reply, just staying quiet and walking a few paces behind him. The trip was off to a terrible start.

Quen was quiet until nightfall, and then he picked a nice spot off the road and settled down on his sleeping bag, getting a little fire going without any problems.

Margaret stayed close to the fire even as she let her pokemon out. She'd camped out before, no problem, so she wasn't nervous, per se, but she was still a little jumpy. Strong pokemon liked hanging around the falls.

Quen let his group minus Sharpedo out, letting them all settle in around the fire as they wanted. Murkrow promptly went to go see Natu.

Natu chirped at Murkrow and fluffed her feathers a bit, settling in. Margaret leaned back against Metagross with Ralts cuddled up to her. Exeggcute and Espeon were settled in with her as well, although closer to her feet so as not to upset Ralts. Starmie just settled by the fire.

Murkrow clicked at Natu before settling in next to the other bird, eyeing the rest of the group as if daring them to comment. Quen just snorted at the bird pokemon, shaking his head.

Margaret raised an eyebrow at Natu, but the little bird didn't seem the least bit repentant. And Murkrow didn't seem to mind Natu, so Margaret figured she could let it go.

Quen didn't say anything either, though he did hold out a packet of jerky to her in an almost conciliatory way.

Margaret blinked, a little surprised, before reaching out and accepting a bit of jerky.

"Thanks," she murmured.

Quen nodded, munching on his own piece.

"Brave little bird you've got there," he said, nodding to Natu.

"Natus and Xatus don't worry overmuch about dark-types, I don't think," Margaret mused. "They learn Miracle Eye naturally, so they don't have as hard a time with them." She glanced at him. "Though I didn't think Murkrows were quite so... snuggly."

"He's not normally," Quen said wryly. "In fact, with that little Natu of yours is the only time I've seen him like this." He reached over and prodded the bird, who just clicked at him.

"Natu's the boldest little thing I've ever met," Margaret said, nodding. "She's had no problems facing down legendaries. I don't know, maybe it was because she was raised by a gym leader before she was given to me."

"Maybe." Quen shook his head. "Or it could just be her. I've faced down Natus and Xatus higher level than her that weren't so outgoing."

"Maybe," Margaret said. "Either way, she's odd for a Natu." She shifted slightly where she was sitting, although she was careful not to wake Ralts. The little thing was sleeping in her lap, leaned up against her.

Quen settled back after a bit, laying down and using Absol as a pillow. Absol just huffed at him and curled around his head.

Margaret settled in on her sleeping bag as well, staying close to her pokemon. Starmie was the only one that didn't settle in to sleep; being nocturnal, it opted to keep watch instead.

Quen woke earlier than he liked the next morning, groaning and rolling over to try and go back to sleep. Absol snorted and nudged him awake again until Quen whined and got up, still sleepy.

Margaret was still asleep, as well, and she was having a bit of an easier time ignoring her pokemon, right up until Espeon nodded at Natu, and Natu let loose an Uproar. Margaret yelped and jumped, flailing a little.

Quen snickered and shook his head a bit to clear it and hopefully wake himself up a bit more. Then he stretched and looked over at her before deciding that, yeah, give her a bit to wake up and get breakfast first.

Margaret grumbled half-heartedly under her breath as she got up and stretched. It was a typical morning for them, though, so she wasn't really, honestly upset over it. Once she was awake, Natu chirped brightly and hopped around to see everyone else.

Quen snorted at Natu and pulled out some Pop-Tarts, offering one to Margaret silently.

Reaching out, Margaret accepted it.

"Thanks," she said, using her other hand to rummage around in her bag for the pokemon food Aleron had sent with her. She coaxed Starmie to eat some first; the pokemon was nearly asleep, and Margaret wanted to be able to let it sleep all day without having to wake it up for meals. Once Starmie was fed, she set about the rest of her team.

Quen fed his team as well, slipping Absol a piece or two of Pop-tart, since the pokemon had a surprising sweet tooth. Grinning a little, he recalled the rest of his team once he was ready to go, once again leaving Absol out.