[FIN] Rapid Recovery

[Tori Honoo]

While coming home from Kanto had been a lot harder than she had imagined, Dove herself striving for normalcy, anything close to the routine she had finally willed herself to adapt to in the months before she had boarded a ship to the other region, not knowing what was in store for the group amidst the throes of friendly competition. Of course, there had been limits forced on her, as result of the recent events. Her favored morning activities had been set aside for now-- there was no way for her to take her early morning run to clear her head, not with stitches adorning her sides and the arm, which she still kept bandaged-- and she did her best to simply rest instead.

Today, however, she had woken like clockwork, and though her body ached terribly, she allowed herself up earlier than she had been allowing before, knowing that the rest wasn't going to ease her mind. She found the same to hold true throughout the day, well into the afternoon, and finally, when she felt she might combust if not distracted from her thoughts, she pulled out her phone to search the contacts, stopping as one rolled to the top of her screen. After a moment's consideration, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes, and sent a message, hoping his answer would be a positive one.

[Hey, I know this is a little out of the blue, but what are you up to? I'm free right now, if you'd like to train a little...]

He had accepted her offer once before, and now, more than ever, she was hopeful she could see it through, especially now that she had seen the enemy first hand. For the moment, it seemed like a good way to take her mind off of the issue while addressing it directly as well, and maybe even help someone in return.  

[Kitomyx]

[Hi, yeah, I just woke up. Where do you want to meet?]

Akira yawned as he sat up on the couch, raising his arms to stretch. What time was it...? Already pretty late. Getting up, he headed to the kitchen, his stomach rumbling a little to remind him he had slept through lunch time.

Opening the fridge, he ignored the beer bottles his roommate had stocked it with and looked for something to snack on. He supposed Dove had already eaten lunch, but maybe there was something else he could bring to make it a sort of picnic.

Nothing much in the fridge... He turned to the pantry...only to find cookies. Argh! That Taiji...he knows I can't have stuff like this! Why'd he put it in plain sight? That b*****d...

[Did you want to have a small picnic? I can bring some snacks.]  

[Tori Honoo]

The arrival of his quick response was met with an excited glance to her phone, though a pang of worry sparked a little as she read and responded to it. [Oh! I hope I didn't wake you! We can meet in the fields just outside of town, if you'd like. Plenty of space to train. Unless you've got someplace in mind. : ) ]

She sat back a little more, then blinked at his second text, a small smile gracing her features. [Sure! That sounds great. Want me to grab anything? I'm already out, and there's a store across the street.]

Yes, good. This was good.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

[Nah, I had to wake up anyway. That place sounds good. I don't think you have to get anything else, but you can if you like.]

After grabbing a couple of water bottles, a few juice boxes, some fruits, and (against his better judgement) the cookies, Akira put them in a bag and headed out, his pokeball in his pocket.

He thought he knew what fields Dove was talking about, but he hoped he could find her there. At least with the lack of buildings it would be easier to spot someone else even if they were far off.  

[Tori Honoo]

[Okay... I'll see you there!]

With the message sent, she tucked the phone away again, then headed into the store across the street, not wanting to show up empty handed..

A few minutes later, she found herself in the fields, watching calmly as Tobi toddled around her feet with a pecha berry in it's tiny hands, nibbling it a bit before offering it to the eevee sitting at his trainer's side. For Dove, at least, it was calming, to just relax and watch, and as the breeze caught her hair she closed her eyes, finally almost used to the soreness from her sides and arm.

Opening her eyes again, she looked around the fields, searching for sign of Akira.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"You picked a nice spot," he said, coming up beside her as he set down his bag. Retrieving a blanket from it, he stood and whipped it open, allowing it to unfold and spread out so he could lay it down on the grass. "Hope I'm doing this right. I haven't gone on a picnic like this before."

Kneeling on the sheet, he moved to bring out the various food and beverages from the bag and set them out so that Dove could take her pick. "Say, who's that?" He asked, nodding toward Tobi as he set about his task.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove jumped, a little startled when he appeared beside her, curious as to how he had managed to sneak up on her without he immediate notice. Then again, she wasn't really paying attention as well as she could have been, she realized; her searching for him had become absent glancing around the fields as her thought tossed and turned once more.

She then rubbed her side, offering him an apologetic look and trying not to wince more than she had. She watched quietly as he set up the blanket, and giggled a little, glad for the distraction. "You're doing it right... Not feeling romantic today, are you, Akira?" she teased softly, also kneeling to sit and place what she had bought on the blanket, though she moved somewhat gingerly and laid no extra pressure on her left arm.

At his question, she glanced over to her pokemon and watched as Lovey accepted the rest of the berry with a supreme gentleness and licked the little togepi's face. Dove smiled brightly at the delight squeal it gave, then looked to Akira again to answer him. "Tobikuma, but I call him Tobi. He's my newest one."

With another glance at the baby pokemon to see that Lovey watched over him, she tucked her hair back behind her ear. "How have you been?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Doing what right?" He gave her a quizzical sneer. "What are you talking about? Picnics aren't always romantic. They're like going to the movies. It's only romantic if you think of it that way." But, of course, if he knew that girl, she was bound to think romantically. "I just thought it would be nice to eat outside with this weather. I slept right through lunch."

Noticing the care and attention with which she paid her left arm, he glanced over at it. "Something the matter with your arm? What'd you do to it?"

He nodded at her introduction of the egg pokemon. "Tobikuma," he repeated. "'Flying cloud'. Cute." Glancing back to Dove at her question, he leaned back. "Me? I've been good. Getting by. How about you? I heard you went on the trip to Kanto. What did you do there?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She paused a moment at his sneer and correction he gave, then sighed softly to herself, her smile evanescent. "I know, I was just teasing," she offered in return, rubbing her arm a little as she looked around at the foods they had both provided. "And it is a nice day for this type of thing."

Tobi, at both mentions of his name, stopped to watch the two, and toddled over toward them and looked to Akira expectantly, it's eyes blinking up at him as I trilled happily to him at the compliment. While its actions made Dove smile, and she was clearly glad for Akira's well being--which she told him, urging him to elaborate-- the smile faded again quickly, for a look of hesitantancy and unease at the combination of his questions.

"Oh, well..." She looked up at him again, but avoided direct he contact. "Kanto was...an experience I could have relly lived without. We...ran into some armed rockets and their pokemon." it was disheartening to give sub news, and her words were heavy. While directly involved, she had all but refused to talk about the incident-- everyone with her had been there, and to expound on it only seemed like it would be a greater burden than good.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh...sheesh, am I really that fun to tease?" Akira wondered aloud, shaking his head. "You, Nate, and Seraphine. I swear, you're all conspiring against me." He didn't seem angry in the least, however, as he leaned back to lie on the blanket and fold his arms behind his head, relaxing in sun.

Hearing the Togepi react to its name, he looked over and smiled at it. "Hey, little guy. Seems like you like that name, huh? Well hopefully one day you'll be able to fly and make it more appropriate."

Lying back down, he gazed skyward as he listened to Dove speak. "Really? In Kanto?" His voice betrayed his surprise. "And I thought they were supposed to be most prominent here in Kodo! It seems like you guys got out okay, though...what happened? Did you call the police?"  

[Tori Honoo]

She smiled softly, thorough he gaze became somewhat distant. "You've always been fun to tease... I just have a little more freedom now to do so," she shrugged. The fact that he had set her with that group made her brows furrow a moment, but she dismissed the thoughts, in favor of making this distraction the best it could be.

At Akira's direct address, Tobi toddled to him, waving its stubby little arms up at him. "That was the idea, yes..." she explained, watching the baby Pokemon with fondness.

The topic soon returned to Team Rocket, the very thing she was trying to be distracted from, but she had thought it up, she reasoned. She hadn't had to tell him, but...he had always been big on knowing the harm that had come to his friends, constantly fretting over them with a desire for them to 'let him worry.' Whether or not they were true friends then--or more importantly, now-- was still a mystery, but she seemed to want to follow the advice all the same.

She shook her head. "Not until afterward... The rocket members weren't exactly kind enough to give us that option..." She rubbed her arm again, her gaze dropping to the blanket. "A lot if us got hurt, but we made it out...Some of us with some scars." Poor Rosie even had emotional scars she was sure would be even more difficult to overcome than the physical scars. Her brows furrowed a little. "You haven't had a chance to talk with Sera, then?" she asked, moving her eyes back to him. She could only guess he was a normal acquaintance, considering how casually he had mentioned her before, and if he didnt know what she was telling him already, it only made sense. Her hand dropped from her arm to her side.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh. Well it might have been nice to know that sooner. And why," he added, feeling somewhat embarrassed. "It's not exactly fun being the invariable subject of amusement all the time." He wasn't sure what she meant by 'more freedom', but he chose not to comment on it, fearing the answer would lead into more dangerous territory.

Absently patting the baby pokemon on its spiky little head, Akira continued to stare upward as he spoke and listened. "Togetic or Togekiss?" he asked idly.

He sat up as she spoke about Team Rocket and the occurrences that had taken place on Kanto. "'Option'?" He repeated. "No, I mean - were you held at gunpoint or something? Were you a hostage? What kind of situation was it and who was with you? How many Rockets were there?" Glancing at her arm, he was silent a minute, thinking.

"Not about this, no," he answered in response to her question. "I don't know if she'd tell me, either. She has enough to deal with and other friends to talk to. I'm just an acquaintance." Speaking matter-of-factly, his tone seemed void of resentment or jealousy as he said those words. "Maybe she didn't consider it important enough to tell me. What business was it of mine, anyway? Not as though I was involved." He lay back down.  

[Tori Honoo]

"It just is..." she said quietly, though her tone fell into a range more distant. "If you want me to stop, I will, though. It's not like it'll really get me anywhere."

She looked to him again and watched as he petted her pokemon, though his question confused her. "Hm? ...Both, I would imagine, eventually...." That was how it's evolution went, afterall.

She tucked her hair back with her uninjured hand as he sat up, then rubbed her shoulder absently as she stared at him. "Yes, actually..." she said quietly, her gaze falling away from his in favor of the blanket they sat on. "They caught half of our group unaware by shocking a metal picnic table, and then the rest of us were taken care of by their pokemon, all the while under gunpoint..." She shuddered hard, still not making eye contact. "And there were two of them...Faleen Ewell, and..." Her brows furrowed, and she stole a glance over at him. "Izaya Orihara.... Who was also trying to bargain with me not too long ago, offering information about you."

The information he gave afterward was stowed away in silence, and she refrained from listing the people involved unless he wanted and asked for a specific listing. He had just said it was no business of his, and yet, even that tended to rub her the wrong way. "You might not have been involved directly, but people you know were..." she added quietly, hoping the hurt wasn't evident in her voice.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh, right, I forgot it wasn't one of those dual-evolution pokemon," he said, thinking. "They just seem so different to me, but I guess not all pokemon end up looking similar to how they started out."

"Huh...just how many of there were you? If there were only two of them, it sounds like you could have easily overtaken them. Not that I would know, seeing as I wasn't there," he added, quickly amending his statement. He didn't want to have sounded critical of the actions they had taken. Perhaps he too would have acted differently than he expected under the pressures of stress, danger, and fear.

Akira blinked up at a cloud. His brows furrowed at the names. Faleen Ewell wasn't familiar to him, but the other... "Really? Why would a random Rocket claim to know anything about me?" He hadn't at all been aware that Izaya was a Rocket. What did that mean about the identity he had bought from the info broker, then? Was he a pawn of the Rockets without even knowing? He hadn't had any trouble so far, he supposed... Maybe Dove had been mistaken about names and messages. What sort of Rockets revealed their real names and faces, anyway?

At Dove's words regarding how he was indirectly involved, Akira sat up slightly, leaning forward a little on his forearms to prop his back off the ground. "Not people I know well. I'm still pretty new to this city and its inhabitants. Besides, you said everyone came out of it alright, right? Doesn't sound like it was too big a deal. Did they take anything?"  

[Tori Honoo]

"It's okay... I had to do a lot of reading up on him when he found me, so...I would have probably thought the same had I not," she explained, reaching out to pick the Togepi up and set him in her lap. Tobi bounced contently in her lap, though he watched Akira curiously.

When the conversation returned to the incident, the girl frowned, tilting her head as she thought. This wasn't exactly the distraction she had been hoping for, but the urge to talk to someone--anyone really--about it was nearly overwhelming. She had yet to find someone that might be willing to listen, and while Akira seemed like the worst possible choice, just talking about it seemed to be the best therapy--even if she did feel ridiculous for it.

"Seven, aside from me, but they took out at least half of us within the first few seconds with that shock..." Her shoulders tensed, but she tried to stay calm. "The rest of us got held at gunpoint, and forced to call our pokemon back..." She shook her head, absolutely despising the helpless feeling that settled over her shoulders shoulders just thinking about the situation. "We weren't able to do anything... They trapped us completely." She rubbed her shoulder.

She watched as he propped himself up, her face falling into an expression of complete and utter disbelief before aiming him with a glare, her tone heated and low. "You lying jerk. Don't give me any of that--I know you bought your Akira identity from him." How dare he. After telling her so many times to take off her mask, and here he was, not only with a 'mask' that he had purchased, but also with the gall to act as though he had no idea who the mentioned Rocket was--especially when said Rocket had recently caused so much pain. The least he could do was own up to it.

As for the incident itself, she couldn't really blame him for taking it lightly--though she did, a bit; she had yet to actually explain anything, and yet it bothered her tremendously, especially now with her temper already flared up. He had known her for years, and while, no, they apparently hadn't been friends as she thought they had been, the idea that she was grouped with 'people he didn't know well' still tweaked a nerve. "We got out in the end, but went straight to the hospital," she explained tensely, trying to clam down; the only thing that was his fault was feigning ignorance about the rocket-- one of the Rockets that had almost killed them. "Sera and her Absol had bullet wounds, Rosie had a head wound, and my sides and arm were torn open. Not to mention the fact that Rosie's favorite and only sister turned out to be a rocket and she knows about it now." She rubbed her shoulder, her eyes narrowed at her knees. "I'd say it was a pretty big deal..."

Tobi trilled up at her with a soft, confused, "Prrrriiii?"