#Makaria the Chandelure

[maro-and-makaria]

Taking Mak on the train again, which is always a gamble.

She's perfectly safe to be around, but Giratina help me, does she hate being in her Pokeball in public. Mak, I say to her. You're huge. Trains are not large. Please.

And she sometimes goes into the ball, but she loves to pop out in the middle of a train ride. She just wants to look out the window, but people don't really like having her appear suddenly. Sighs.

At least we're Unovan? With one of the Subway Bosses having his own Chandelure, it's made people relax around her a little bit more.

Her royal highness is demanding I get out of bed on time, so brb. Will let you all know if she gets us asked to leave again.

[maro-and-makaria]

It was a long process.

The Litwick line gets more territorial as they evolve - when she was a Litwick, she was much more comfortable around new people, but that's because Litwick parasitize on humans and larger Pokemon and rely on seeming non-threatening.

The first step was to have her consider me her trainer instead of potential prey. This sounds very dramatic but it was mostly giving her attention and taking attention away when she tried to feed on me without consent - luckily she is vain. She likes attention and being around people and she really always has. I really just had to let her know humans were interesting and can provide things she likes.

Once she got attached to me and let me be her trainer, we had an easier process. She trusts me and cares about if I'm upset or not, so if I let her know a person is okay, she won't always want to engage with them, but she'll usually leave them alone.

Usually, we go through a bit of a process - I make sure Makaria meets new people in a neutral location first, like in a park or something. (Not all Ghosts are good in public, but if they're introduced to it early the Litwick line actually responds well to it - a Chandelure that hasn't gotten used to humans before evolving tends to be more troublesome. They often live in abandoned places and only interact with humans as intruders. Makaria tends to behave in crowds unless someone is getting in her space, in which case she usually goes into her ball). That lets her get comfortable with them before I bring them to her territory.

Occasionally we'll have to do multiple sessions, but since I've worked with Makaria for so long (most of both of our lives), I can usually avoid trouble. It's a matter of working with her comfort zone, my comfort zone, and the comfort of anyone we're talking to.

Problems tend to come from the human side of things. I had a boy I was interested in actually lie to me and bring his Vaporeon to my house (he told me it was a Flareon that liked to stay in its ball). Halfway through...activities, I hear Makaria shriek and I rush out to find his Vaporeon has actually Fainted her.

He had the nerve to be put out when I took her to a Pokemon center instead of continuing. Mak had a setback with territorial behavior after that that took a while to help her work through.

Hi can we share stories abt how we first met some of our pokemon?

if you have a pokémon reply ^^^^

[friendball-irl]

Hey, you're also based in Unova, right? My Chandelure has been freaking out the whole day, do you know what might be happening? (- @maro-and-makaria) (OOC: Maro doesn't know about the apathy arc) (thought it might be fun to imply a Wide range of effect? The ghosts of Unova are noticing something's up...)

Eh, something, something, Muted Lunala, y'know, that stuff.

[maro-and-makaria]

In another episode of "Makaria is vain as a peacock", she saw me working on an art piece and has decided it's really important that she gets the same kind of patterns painted on her arms that I was sketching for the background. I know this because she tried to steal my paintbrush to try and paint them on herself.

There has never been a Pokemon worse at levitating things than she is.

And that's why I'm scrubbing paint off my Chandelure's glass this afternoon.

[maro-and-makaria]

Woke up from a dead sleep to find Makaria hovering above me.

Mak, I say. It's the middle of the fucking night.

And my beloved Ghost who does not need to sleep just continues to hover there. So I get up to give her a closer examination, see if she's okay.

She has a tiny scratch on one of her left arms. That's literally the issue.

This Ghost woke me up from a dead sleep for this.

Ugh, going back to bed. It's lucky I bought some Steel restorer last week - remind me to make a post about the overlap between Steel type and Ghost type care at some point.

(for anyone unaccustomed to Chandelures - they literally get scratches all the time, it's just a minor aesthetic thing. Like acne on a human, it doesn't hurt them. Mak is just VAIN.)

[maro-and-makaria]

Makaria doesn't really like them, except for a few friends she learns to tolerate over time. The secret to her heart is being friendly and engaged with her.

Are people in a mood to do a reblog game? I kinda just wanna read through things right now...

How do your Pokémon treat guests? Are they super friendly or protective of you and your house?

Mine are generally good with guests, though they can get into mischief. If they like someone and don't want them to leave they have a tendency to steal something of theirs to keep them there longer

[maro-and-makaria]

One thing I constantly hear from people when they meet Mak for the first time is, "Doesn't that thing set things on fire?"

This is a risk with other Fire types, and with Chandelure that fight competitively. Naturally, however, Chandelure flames don't burn the physical world - they burn souls.

[maro-and-makaria]

@belamew

Getting ready to take the seeds to the post office to see how to have them sent to you safely and Mak keeps trying to take the package to see what's inside 😭 she's not great at levitation so it's easy to not let her have it but it's making putting my boots on take forever.

[maro-and-makaria]

[Selfie of someone laying in bed. The picture is taken at an extremely awkward angle because the person is clearly trying to capture in frame the two-foot tall Chandelure that is sitting on its chest. What can be seen of its face looks extremely tired.]

Someone decided she wanted to cuddle.

[maro-and-makaria]

Mak likes Frozen too, but only the second one. She gets excited whenever that weird pink Charmander shows up.

Agony.

I thought, "man, I haven't watched Frozen since it came out. I'm bored, might as well turn it on."

...

Snuggs and Boodles now raise hell if I don't turn it on every night. Y'all, there's so many movies where humans gain a Pokémon typing, please, I can play so many other movies 😭 but nope!!! They won't let me play anything else. I have to play it at LEAST once a day all the way through.

[maro-and-makaria]

That's a thing with having people around - Mak responds to my emotional state so much that if I get uncomfortable around someone, I'll sometimes have my Ghost in their face looking to chase them off. This sometimes works out okay, but sometimes I'm upset about something else and then I have to explain to my Ghost that it's not the person she doesn't like! I just have negative feelings sometimes!

[maro-and-makaria]

Grass is probably the type I know the least about, second to Fighting. I know Fighting is a really popular type but I don't run in competitive circuits, okay! My Pokemon likes to watch TV and go mushroom hunting in the woods with me, she's not really a Fighter.

[maro-and-makaria]

so one thing you have to do with a Chandelure is to polish their glass. Chandelure glass has a tendency to try and get clouded and covered with wax from the Chandelure's candles, and it doesn't make them feel pain, but you have to clean them or their glass can get cracked and weak and THAT hurts them.

Guess who knows this (I KNOW she knows this) but still tries to avoid getting polished as much as possible like a kid trying to avoid brushing their teeth?

[maro-and-makaria]

You don't have to stick to the common choices for service mons if you have specific needs!

[Blurry picture of a Chandelure in someone's kitchen. The Chandelure appears to be in the process of attempting to steal their cup of tea.]

Although the more unusual choices do have their downsides.

So... entirely hypothetical question but... if I were to get a service 'mon... what would you recommend?

Well, Flare, that depends on what you’d want a service ‘mon for! Let’s say, hypothetically, you’re looking for a Pokémon that can tell something like… when you’re about to panic, or spiral, and can help calm you down.

First off, you want a Pokémon that’s agreeable and trainable. Canines work well for that, though not all canines are built the same either, and there are plenty of trainable options out there! Just be sure to avoid particularly resistant species.

Next is the emotion sensitivity part. Psychic-types, Fairy-types, and some Normal types can be great for this. Sylveon and Espeon are common go-tos, though you’d need to raise them from an Eevee to foster that bond naturally. I’ve also seen Ralts, Chimecho, the Togepi line, Comfey, and Altaria used for that purpose.

But really, any type that has a calm, friendly demeanor, gives the sorts of comfort you enjoy, and can pick up on emotional cues can be helpful! So think of what Pokémon you’d bond with best as well. If you want Fire-types, Growlithe, Flareon, and some starters like the Fennekin line are also great.

[maro-and-makaria]

Someone's happy.

[maro-and-makaria]

Makaria is being so brave about getting Steel restorer paste on her arm and not whining about it at all. (Lying)

Have you ever seen a Chandelure make a whiny face? Once you have it's unmistakable.