[FIN] Horse sense (Citrine and Dith)

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

Looks good to me! =D

Getting stronger was also on the agenda of another person out and about on the plains.

Having joined the KSOVD Dith was feeling the need to step his game up a bit, train more seriously with his pokemon and in a variety of environments. Today he was training with Dolly, working on her speed and endurance. The huge Rapidash's plate-sized hooves ate up the ground and threw up clods of dirt in their wake.

Dith had thought they were completely alone until he saw Dolly's ears p***k up, her attention was diverted off to their left. Dith turned just in time to see a Ponyta leap over a hedge, a rider on her back. Before they could make themselves known however the Ponyta started up at something on the ground, throwing her rider to the ground. Dith swore under his breath and urged Dolly towards the fallen girl, not that she had needed much encouragement.

Dolly skidded to a halt a short distance away from the pair and Dith jumped to the ground. The girl was moving, that was a good start. "Hey, are you alright there?" he called as he jogged towards her; the answer was probably 'not really' but any coherent response would be reassuring.  

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

Dith stopped a few feet away from the young woman, Dolly standing at his side. The smaller equine's bristling didn't seem to bother her; she blinked placidly and whickered a greeting.

Dith meanwhile wasn't quite sure what to do next. "Uh.... Okay," he said slowly, "but you've skinned your leg there you know, that could do with cleaning up. I'm a friendly giant, I promise, I just want to help out." At least it seemed she wasn't concussed and that nothing was broken but there could be all kinds of nastyness in those grazes, leaving them until she got back to wherever she'd come from wasn't a great idea.  

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

Phew, that was a bit better. Dith beamed and nodded; "Da, I never go anywhere without a decent first aid box." As he spoke he opened up one of Dolly's saddlebags and fetched out a fair sized first aid kit. "If life were a video game I would always be the healer class," he continued, moving to kneel beside the young woman. As he drew closer to her something started to nag at his attention and he cocked his head to the side, his single bright golden eye narrowing thoughtfully. Had he met her before? She looked vaguely familiar but he couldn't even begin to place her. Given she hadn't said anything though he guessed maybe not, he knew that he tended to stick in people's minds.

"Here," Dith said, opening up the box and fetching out a pair of disposable latex gloves, "Let's see.... Good, you don't seem to have anything embedded here so I'll just use some antiseptic wipes to clean up the cuts if that is okay?" Dith paused then and looked up at the girl for confirmation before going any-

Oh, 'the girl'.

"Ah, I am a nitwit." Dith grinned apologetically. "I should introduce myself! My name is Dimitry but people usually call me Dima or Dith, either is fine! My friend there is Dolly."

Dolly snorted and bobbed her head in greeting.  

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

Wait, what?

Dith stared for one beat, two, and then he beamed and laughed. "Citrine! Arceus, you've grown!" Well of course she would have, she'd been... well he wasn't sure quite how old but young for sure, very young. And here she was now, still so very young and yet older all the same. "How have you been?" he asked, gloves set down on the box and forgotten for a moment as he unconsciously rubbed the scarred side of his face. "It seems like forever since I last saw you, I can't believe I didn't recognize you!" He supposed it wasn't all that bad though as she hadn't remembered him right away either, but damn! He'd seen Rosie grow up, the others too, but he'd seen them consistently so the change had come over them almost without him noticing.  

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

"I know how that is," Dith said with a sympathetic smile; true he had no idea what Citrine's family stuff had been but he'd had his sister's stuff to deal with that had taken him away from the region for a little while. Seemed Citrine's had taken longer to deal with though, and he had no intention of prying if she didn't want to share.

"I don't mind," he continued with a small shake of his head, remembering the gloves now and putting them on. "It was... hu, I guess a year and a half ago now. Several of us went out to the desert with the KSO on the tail of Rockets fleeing their destroyed base. We caught up to a few of them, had them beat, but then one of them blew up the jeep they had been in and," Dith waved vaguely at his face, "there was some shrapnel. We all lived however, and all of us are now back on our feet." He was glad of that, very glad; he had feared that Luke would never recover. "So goodbye binocular vision," he shrugged and smiled a little at Citrine, "I am used to it now; not walking into the side of doorframes anymore, just the top like I always have."  

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

When Citrine addressed her pokemon Dith glanced back at his own, smiled, and looked to Citrine again. "I think they're getting on okay."

Indeed Dolly had dipped her head down and was happily snuffling at Applejack, enjoying getting to know a new friend.

"Ducking though, you would have thought I would learn by now but apparently I'm not that bright. This will sting I'm afraid but I will try to make it quick, okay?" With that said Dith started to clean up Citrine's grazes with deft gentle hands. "They're a tough lot," he said as he worked, "I volunteer properly with them now, and Luke is an officer. Did you meet him? I'm afraid I don't recall. Good people though, doing good work. Team Rocket has gone mainly underground since they lose their base, there have been isolated incidents but nothing big. None of us doubt they will be back though and when they are, we will be ready." As Dith spoke his voice lost its jovial tone, gained a hard edge and a bass rolling growl. They had hurt his friends too often, next time he saw them he would pay back what was owed if he possibly could. They deserved no mercy.  

[TawnyAngel]

Lural

Dith looked up briefly, saw the glistening in her eyes and looked down again to give her a moment of privacy to hide her feelings if she wished to do that. "You don't have to make up for the past," he said softly as he reached for dressings to go over the grazes. "You were not here for good reason, it's not a fault you should feel you have to compensate for you know. We ah...." Dith paused, sighed, shrugged. "We do our best for what we think is most important at the time, da?" Looking back up again he flashed Citrine a smile. "Join as a volunteer or an officer if you believe it is right, but not out of any sense of penance. You deserve better than that.

"As for getting stronger though, I am doing the same," Dith gave a decisive nod. "Perhaps we can train together? Help one another? What do you think?"