[FIN] Those in Need

[BlackFireKitsune]

The past couple of days had been so stressful and full of unexpected things. Dove had been traumatized, Yuri had been arrested, and Luke had been shot, comatose, and would shortly die without a transplant. He'd had time before; time and energy and hope. Now he had nothing but a bed in the hospital that he lay in, completely unaware of anything, including his impending death that loomed ever closer. The thought was terrifying, almost stifling, and with every hour that passed without news of a transplant happening, more and more of her hope died away. What had started out as defiance in the face of her friend's situation, that regardless of anything he would be alright because he had to be alright, there was no way he couldn't be fine, had gradually declined into a vague nauseous feeling gnawing in the pit of her stomach. What if he wouldn't be alright? It had been three days now, three whole days, and still nothing. Luke was passing with every hour and nothing was being done, because apparently nothing could be done until they had a heart that would work for him. Seraphine didn't fully understand the intricate details of heart surgeries, just that they were incredibly complicated matters, and for whatever reason not just any heart would work (otherwise they probably would've taken one from the multiple people Yuri killed).

Regardless of anything, the passage of time made her think more than anything else that Luke could die tomorrow, or the day after. The hospital literally only had a day or two in which to find a heart and have the surgery, or he would die. The thought sickened her, threatening to make her break down in public, but she choked it off, stifled it and beat it down deep inside her as she wandered aimlessly around the city in the early evening. Visiting hours were over, and she didn't feel like going home just yet. She wanted to walk off her feelings, or at the very least, attempt to. The only pokemon visibly following her was Isabella, although Giselle, ever present to watch over her mistress, was floating around unseen after them.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Now THATS a posture I didn't expect to see you holding yourself in." a brash voice broke whatever peace might have been floating around the girl.
A tall figure moved in front of her and stopped, leaning forward slightly as a mossy eye blinked out from behind her hair at the girl.
"Or a face. What happened here then?"

As direct as ever, Ray had her hands shoved into her jacket pocket, one boot kicked up against a fire hydrant to help her lean forward.
She had no pokemon out with her, it would appear, but she did have one pokeball attacked to one of the empty slots on the shoulder of her jacket.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine had barely been paying attention to where she was walking, except for the fact that there was still sidewalk in her vision so that meant she wasn't in the street, and therefore had been paying even less attention to the people around her. While this could prove detrimental, depending on the people around, in this case it merely surprised and startled her. She came to an abrupt halt with an appropriately surprised look on her face, but the question made such an expression morph into one of despondence once again. "Oh." It was that chick again. Sera didn't even have the energy nor the will or even the desire to show her dislike. Hell, she didn't have the energy or any of that to even feel that dislike or displeasure she usually held. All she was capable of was worry for Luke. "My friend's really sick," she explained quietly, "and he could die in a couple days if they don't get this transplant he needs."

Isabella, unlike her mistress, had been fully aware of their surroundings and not at all caught off guard by the older woman's entrance. The Absol, judging from how unenthusiastic Sera had seemed the past few days about pretty much everything, figured they could be here for a while, so the dark-type halted beside her mistress and sat down on the pavement to wait.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray actually looked surprised by what Sera had relied. Not because of the news, but because this girl not only seemed to have friends, but friends that she was thinking about...
"Ah..."
Wow, Ray must have actually not pegged her as closely as she thought, assuming this was the kind of girl who cared about no one but herself.

The women lowered her foot off of the hydrant standing up taller. "I am sorry to hear that. For what its worth I hope your friend gets what they need and pulls through."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

To Ray's credit, when she made her initial assessment of Seraphine caring only for herself, it had been entirely correct. Her feelings about herself and others had changed gradually since then, though especially within the last several days. Sera stared at the ground awkwardly for a few moments, not really knowing how best to respond to such a statement, so she simply shrugged and quietly said, "I hope so too."

She remained silent a few moments longer before turning her gaze up at Ray. "So what d'you want?" It was a pitiful attempt at getting back to her normal behavior, and the bite her words normally would've held was entirely absent. It was obvious that any effort to try and come across as behaving as she usually did would be a resounding failure.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Want?" Ray shrugged "Nothing in particular, Other then to satisfy my curiosity about your downcast posture." She glanced over the girl. "Its a... valid reason."
She tilted her head, squinting her eyes a little at the girl.

"Did you expect me to ask how the trainings going? I can be more predictable if you want." She righted her head "How's the training going?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine didn't respond to Ray's answer to her question - instead, she got mad at herself internally a little for making her disposition so obvious - and instead sighed and kicked at the ground with a heeled foot. It was hard to turn her sad, scared feelings into anger in such a situation, although she still tried. "I don't want you to be predictable. And how the hell do you think it's going when my friend's dying?" She snapped bitterly. How could she even think of anything else the past few days?  

[Blood_Goddess]

"And not to leave that as a rhetorical question, I'm going to answer it, and say that training as of right now is non-existent."
Her notched eyebrow arched, as it was very clear that she had disproving thoughts toward that behind her eyes.

"So what are you doing that can be helping your friend right now? Is walking the city with a sad face helping him?"
She asked, but there wasn't a tone of teasing in her voice like there usually is when she talked to Sera, in fact, her voice was rather serious.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She huffed at Ray's answer to the question, although her lack of a denial proved the answer correct. The woman's actual question, however, garnered a little bit of fire behind the brunette as she turned to glare at Ray. "No, but how the hell would training help him either?" She snapped angrily; ever since she'd found out about Luke's comatose state she'd had absolutely no desire to train. Not that she really had too much of a desire before, but now that feeling was nonexistent, and would be until she found the will to pick it up again - probably not until after Luke got better.

If he got better, an obnoxious voice in the back of her mind added.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"It won't. But you're jumping the gun here bloomie." Ray held a hand up in a gesture for her to calm down.
"There isn't anything you can do for your friend, so what you need to do now, is do something to help yourself, and this moping and worrying." She wiggled her finger at Sera. "Its not only bad for your pokemon's moral, but it's going to give you age lines wwaaayyyy sooner then I'm sure you want."

"SO" The tall women unfolded both her arms. "You have your phone on you in case the hospital calls about your friend, you have that covered, so now we need something constructive to do with all this energy,"
With another gesture of her fingerless gloved hands, Ray turned to walk down the road.

As she turned her back it was revealed that she in fact, was not alone. A small Brown toned Zubat hung quietly from the braid behind her back, moving only to twitch a wing out in surprise when the women suddenly started moving again.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

...bloomie? The hell? The mention of Sera basically not doing a single good thing - the comment about premature age lines didn't help - so when Ray turned, the Zubat was all but disregarded as the girl huffed and turned away as well. "What's this 'we' s**t?" Last she knew, she was wandering around by herself, as in alone, as in not with anybody freaking annoying. She was about to walk off in a different direction, but wasn't immediately sure where that was. Where was she even going to walk to anyway? Nowhere in particular until she got bored and/or tired and went home. Ugh.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray of course didn't got but a few steps away before she stopped, and turned to the side, glancing over at the girl who was clearly not going to follow. to no surprise at all.

The wiry women watched the girl in complete silence, though didn't take her visible eye off of her for even a second. Crossing her arms, she seemed content to just stand there, starring, and waiting to see what Sera would do.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Ray didn't answer her question, and when her footsteps obviously stopped, Sera could almost feel the older woman's gaze on her - whether or not she actually was, the brunette just felt suddenly an embarrassed feeling as if someone was staring at her condescendingly - so she spun around and glared. Aha! So she was staring at her. "What are you staring at?" She snapped, her small hands balled into fists. Ray was proving a good distraction to keep her mind off of Luke's condition, which made it easier for her to get angry at things.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray turned to face her fully, clearly not put off by the girls anger.
"I haven't quite figured that out yet." she replied, her eyes squinting a little.
Her long stride brought her swiftly closer to the younger women, pausing as she leaned forward.
"Why don't you tell me." Ray set her with a very serious look.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera didn't quite grasp what, exactly, Ray was getting at, but she tried not to miss an opportunity to be a stubborn little b***h where she could. "Why the hell should I tell you anything? Figure it out for yourself."