The Octorai looked to the skies and saw the little bird among the stars. Perhaps she wasn’t being as discrete as she thought she was. Maybe the crowd was simply more perceptive this year. In comparison to the speed and number of individuals she interacted with from the other year, it was greater now.

Then again, she wasn’t doing anything differently this time around.

Nonetheless, everyone who’d approached her had been friendly, so it was more of a surprise than anything.

Agatha waved to Sialia with a claw, “hellooo! I’m moreso here to visit the Magi, but I might join the party. I’ve been thinking about it, so I’m taking some time out here first to observe. What’s it like on shore? Is there anything you like so far?” She squints at his wings. “Oh that’s a nice accessory you have there! Did you get it from over there?”

Of course, she referred to the party, and nodded in its direction.

@ask-serafinas-harem

It was reassuring in a sense to see a Darkrai come from the populated beach, into the water. As Oscar drew closer, Agatha slowly recognized him by his face and the telltale symbol on his worn spikes. The same symbol that was on the invitation?

“Oh, hello! Oh it’s nice seeing you again!”

It’d felt like ages had passed since she talked to Oscar on this beach during the last Magi visit. Honestly she wasn’t entirely sure how much time had passed in this world. Had it been a year? A few years? Decades? What was his name again?

She smiled and wove an arm under the surface, lighting it up in bioluminescence. She didn’t think that in itself it would be a surprise to him, but the action was moreso to clarify what she enjoyed about it. Agatha was no stranger to bioluminescence in the Deep either, but she appreciated the differences between that and of what they floated in now.

“And what are you up to over there, do you live here? Your marking looks like one from the invitation-“ Agatha gestured towards the center of her coral collar, adjacent to where Oscar’s marking laid. She did recognize the marking from their first meeting, but it’d been her first time seeing it in the context of a larger group or event. “Though I might be mistaken. I forgot to surface before I opened it, so it...”

The elderly mermaid twiddled her claws in the air to simulate dispersing paper, and chuckled.

“I tried to mark my collar when I was younger, but it doesn’t feel good, so I haven’t bothered with that in a long time.”

@kuixotic

Agatha noticed the Sylveon well before she was in range, and curiously watched her draw closer and closer.

“Hello there! Well, I’ve only just arrived,” she tilted her head from side to side as she came up with her words, “but it’s been good so far.”

Agatha paused to think, then added on.

“I know not all humans are bad. But I simply haven’t had enough direct experience with them, is all. And they don’t seem to react kindly to Darkrai. Keeping a distance feels like a less troublesome option.”

She regarded Sylvia- this one had human-like anatomy. Anthros were also a rarity in her universe, and so Agatha was intrigued. She looked to the shore once more.

“Have you talked to any of the humans on shore? What do you think of them?”

@aro-pokeverse

Surprised by being so outwardly called out, Agatha stared at Aya for a moment.

The Octorai then dipped down into the black waters, leaving a brief blip of bioluminescence in her disappearance. She hadn’t been expecting anyone to initiate conversation from such a distance- and she preferred not to raise her voice, at least not now. There was no way that no one else on shore wouldn’t be hearing this either.

Agatha quietly floated just below the surface, listening to the ocean and anything else above.

Then a laugh escaped her lips. What a funny little child. She never would’ve dared to do the same when she was much younger, and surely the ogerpon couldn’t see her very well. The mermaid had a mixture of admiration for the little one’s bold approach, and concern for their safety- not all merfolk were friendly.

Lucky for Aya, Agatha had no ill intention.

Agatha felt a tug towards the beach, to potentially have a proper talk with the ogerpon later.

For now, she lingered below the waves for a time. Eventually Agatha resurfaced some distance away, facing the beach once more.

@asktheoger