[FIN] I Know You

[Akira Midoriyama]

A brown-haired young man sat on a park bench in the middle of the day, his face weary with fatigue from the work of the night before. The warmth of the noonday sun made him want to do nothing more than take a nap right where he was, but he'd just woken from one a half hour ago and he knew this had to be done.

Taking out his phone, Akira scrolled through his contacts until he had found the one that Sera had given him - Dove's number. Only it was under a different name. He dialed it and put it to his ear as it rang, waiting patiently for someone to pick up.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove had been awake for hours and was well into her day, currently in the process of starting her jog, when her phone rang at her hip, her running slowing to a stop. Pausing a moment to catch her breath and stare at the message on the display of the phone, asking if she would accept the number and in turn, the call. After a moment of debate, she accepted the call and put the phone to her ear, hoping it was one of the few people on the island she had offered her number to, and not another leaked call from a stranger back in her home region.

"Hello?" she asked, setting the phone to her shoulder to switch off the timer on her pokegear and check on Lovey as she, too, took a break.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Unfortunately, it was, indeed, a number leaked, and it was from someone back in her home reigon. As for being a stranger...well, that was a difficult one.

"Hello. Is this Dove?" the voice asked politely. "This is Akira Midoriyama. We met at the hot springs a few weeks back and I believe we have a mutual acquaintance - Seraphine. I had to leave early due to allergies, so I wanted to apologize that we didn't get to speak properly," he explained. "I hope you don't mind that I asked Seraphine for your number. Is now a bad time to talk?"  

[Tori Honoo]

When he spoke, her eyes widened and her body went completely still. For a few moments, she offered nothing but surprised silence, closing her eyes and trying to gather the thousand thoughts that went through her mind in that instant. She was certainly getting in her cardio, a voice in the back of her mind thought as her heart picked up twice the pace it had been beating as she jogged.

Finally, she found her voice, though it was soft. "Now is fine, if it's good for you," she told him almost nervously. "Where are you? I'd... rather talk face to face, if that's okay..."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"If it wasn't, I wouldn't be calling," Akira answered, sounding a little puzzled. It seemed like common sense to him. "I'm sitting on a bench in a park in downtown Camphoreon. Think you can come find me? I'm not going anywhere for a while." A pause. "Unless it would be more convenient for me to come find you."  

[Tori Honoo]

She laughed a little. "That's... Probably the most vague direction I've ever been given. And I'm awful at directions..." Come on...You know that...

She sighed, then blinked as another eevee appeared at her heels and leapt up into her arms. She caught it, again tipping her head to hold her phone to her shoulder as she gave Lovey a fond smile as she appeared at her feet. "I'm not too far away, I think. I'm in the park, the one close to most of downtown...I can try to find you." If it meant a chance to all to him, even if she was still unsure how to approach him, she would do her best to find him.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh, sorry. I suppose I assumed you knew the city well enough to use the reference point. Pardon me." He glanced over the back of the bench toward the street behind him. "Do you want cross streets...?"

Getting to his feet, Akira began to walk along the sidewalk separating the park from the road. "You can stay where you are. I think I see you not too far off. Be there in a minute." Hanging up, he put the phone back in his pocket and began to walk, holding up a hand in greeting as he got closer.  

[Tori Honoo]

She shifted her hold on the eevee as it playfully pawed at her hair, then looked around. "Oh, I mean... I know it well enough, but there are a lot of benches in this park, Ro--" She paused, biting her lip, and was grateful when he spoke again. She nodded as turned to look for him when he said he had spotted her, then hung up her phone and tucked it away into the pocket of her sports gear.

The headphones she had worn were also tucked away, tugged from the mouth of the tiny Pokemon in her arms as the young man approached. "Behave! You look like Lovey, but you certainly don't have her manners yet, Trill..."

As Trill settled at her gentle scolding, she switched her gaze back to Akira as he drew nearer.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Hey," he called, sticking his hands in his hoodie pockets as he got near enough for her to hear. "Sorry if I seem tired. I work a night shift, so I'm usually sleeping around this time," Akira apologized. "Are you from Sinnoh? I don't read magazines, but you do seem somewhat familiar."  

[Tori Honoo]

Lifting her head, she drew a ball from her hip, her apologetic look to Lovey returned with that of understanding as the true eevee disappeared into its luxury ball. As that ball was returned to its chain at her belt, she moved to grab another one as she greeted him. "Don't worry about it! I'm sure it must be--ah!"

She dropped the oddly colored ball from her hand as light radiated from the Pokemon in her arms, then bent to scoop it up as a tiny mew floated in front of her, upside down, it's head cocked as though it didnt understand. With a sigh, she returned to full height, shaking her head at it in frustration. "Guess you're alright like that... At least you don't have long fur that way."

She turned her attention to Akira again as Trill trilled and turned her attention to the male as well as immediately darted for his side. Though it didnt touch him, it tilted its head, staring curiously at the glint from the metal of his iPod, fixated.

Though the girl kept her eyes on the Pokemon, she answered his question, her shoulders falling and her voice wounded. "Really...? Please don't..." Was he trying to be funny, or did he honestly think she didn't realize who she was looking at? Either way, the girl looked hurt.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The boy's brown eyes widened at the sight of the legendary pokemon. He resisted the urge to look around, not wanting to seem too suspicious. Still, who knew who was watching them?! The city was dangerous! Heck, the whole reigon was dangerous!

"A Mew? Seriously?" he whispered in exasperated tones. "Put it in its ball, quick! Before someone sees!"  

[Tori Honoo]

The ball still ready in her hand, she silently called Trill back, then looked it over as it sealed shut before clipping it to a more secure chain.

Her hands now free, she wrapped one arm around her middle, her fingers lightly rubbing her arm as she looked back to the brunette. "You were saying?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Do you just let that thing out whenever?" he asked, alarmed. Rubbing his temples, he sighed. "I'm not going to ask where you got it, but you really should be more careful. I don't know how long you've been here, but this city is full of thugs and gangs and - and all sorts of people who would rob you as soon as look at you," Akira lectured. "Please try to be a little more cautious."  

[Tori Honoo]

Though she knew he was serious, she stared at him a moment, before bursting into soft, bitter laughter. "No, no... I keep it in its ball most of the time, unless it decides it wants to look like Lovey. New addition to the team."

She shook her head, the laughter gone, now. "You don't have to warn me about the gangs and thugs. I've unfortunately witnessed them first hand," she told him, moving toward a shaded area under a tree before sitting and stretching her legs, hoping he might follow. "I haven't been robbed yet, but kidnapped comes a little closer to personal, don't you think?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Still don't know why you'd let it out at all in public until it was properly trained," he grumbled, but shook it off. It wasn't his problem. Then the girl had to go and mention her personal confrontation with the particular persons he'd just mentioned. "You WHAT? Then why the hell aren't you being more cautious?! I would have thought that someone who just got kidnapped would have learned a thing or two from her experiences!" That street light pole over there looked nice and cool. Maybe he could rest his forehead against it a while. Or a few times with considerable force.

No, no, not the time for that. Deep breaths, deeep breaths... This girl wasn't one of his sisters; it wasn't his job to look out for her. But really, she hadn't seemed to have changed at all, so what in Arceus' name gave her any right to go flouncing about the streets the way she did? He looked at her from where he stood on the sidewalk, determined to keep his mouth shut from then on. At least about matters that weren't any of his -

No, nevermind. "Actually, I'm sorry. Maybe now's not a good time for me," he said with a sheepish smile. "I seem to have woken cranky. We can talk sometime when you're less...busy."