[PRP] The Meaning of Christmas

[Tymiko]

"That's for sure," the girl laughed at Dove's remark. "A party?" She gave Yuri a lop-sided grin. "I thought you hated parties. Not like that's stopped you from attending the last few, but usually you at least pretend to be reluctant about it. And now you're inviting people?" She hurried to the sides of the other two humans.

"Christmas..." she murmured under her steaming breath. "Oh, that's right. And I guess we're pretty much all loners, aren't we?"

Distance continued to paw at Yuri's boot, still wanting to know if he would pick her up, but Tymiko noticed. "Distaaaance," she chided, "do you want to turn out to be a spoiled little Eevee who doesn't have the strength to carry her own weight?"

"Eeeeve, eevee," Distance answered guiltily, loping back toward her trainer in order to keep up with her strides.

"That's what I thought." Grinning, the water trainer picked up speed and began to run until she was practically ahead of Yuri. "Race you there!" As if she knew where she was even going. But the girl was impatient and she wanted to get out of the cold. It didn't matter to her, as long as they were going somewhere.  

[Tori Honoo]

At Ty's 'loner' comment, Dove took a deep, silent breath and nodded, glancing off into the snow by the younger trainer's feet. "Yep..."

When Yuri started to walk away, she turned to follow, allowing a small, small smile at Tymiko's youthful challenge as Lovey took off after her. At least Lovey's spirit didn't seem to be affected by their lack of familiar holiday company.

After another soft pat to Sparky's nose, she hugged her arms around her middle again and followed quietly after the others, the typhlosion staying at her side to keep her safe and warm.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Hey, I never said I hated parties. Just the ones I've been to here were pretty stuffy." He just wasn't one for dressing up and watching people dance. It was pretty boring, really. "Back in the Lower Quarter we had some real parties." This all said as he kept walking.

At the mention of being a loner, Yuri just smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "That's just how I roll."

Repede then barked indignantly, as if reminding them that he was still there.  

[Tymiko]

Distance, who didn't think she could hope to keep up with Tymiko or Lovey, lingered behind with the fire-types and their humans. In her mind, the fire-types were the best to be around in this weather, anyway; they were always warm.

At Repede's bark, the little Eevee looked up to see the Growlithe's scar and couldn't help staring. No one had taught her that staring was rude; nor that some questions were impolite to voice. So she neared him and asked,

Ty laughed when she saw Lovey at her heels, but as she stopped to catch her breath, she noticed none of the others - not even her own pokemon - had followed suit. "Aww, some on, you guuuuys," she called back to them. "Hurry up!"

At Yuri's mention of 'real parties', she sneered. "Yeah, I'm sure military base parties are real fun," the trainer teased sarcastically. "What did you do there? Have practice drills? Dig trenches?" She had absolutely no idea what they did in the Lower Quarter or how much it was like the concept that came to mind when she thought 'military', but either way it didn't seem much more interesting than formal parties. At least at those, people tended to wear interesting garments, but at the Lower Quarter...? "Lemme guess. You all wore your uniforms."

Then a sudden thought came to her. "What did you do at the Lower Quarter for Christmas? Don't tell me we're going there right now...?" She ran back toward them to avoid yelling as they closed the distance from how far she had gone ahead. "Yeah, right, Yuri! Some loner you are. You have Repede. And me and Tori, don't forget! Weren't you just saying 'the more the merrier'?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

He's just not in as much of a hurry as you are Ty! However, her questions drew a blink and Yuri nearly choked as he started laughing. "Pffft... Ha ha ha ha!" In fact, he was laughing so hard that a little bit of moisture was gathering at the corners of his eyes. Eventually he calmed down enough to answer her questions.

"No no, you've got it all wrong Squirt. The Lower Quarter isn't part of the military. It's the poorest section of Devoirue, the Capital of Grande Ile. It's where I grew up. I was only in the Guarde for a few months." The slight waver in his voice still hinted that he was highly amused with the misunderstanding.

"A lot of those guys in the military wouldn't know how to party if their lives depended on it." He coughed a little and muttered, "especially Flynn."

He then smiled a bit fondly as he thought back to past Christmases back home. "We would decorate the buildings and streets with lights, flowers, and whatever else we could find. Everyone pitched in, so it was a community thing. It's never as flashy as the Noble Quarter, but we always put a lot of hard work into it. And when the day came, we'd have a party in the square around the fountain. There's exchanging of gifts, dancing, games, and of course tons of food. It's been a tradition for as long as I can remember. I bet those guys back home are living it up right as we speak."

Repede was listening to Yuri talk about their home when the little Eevee approached him and asked about his scar. The Growlithe didn't at all mind. ""

When Ty called him out about being a loner, Yuri grinned. "Yeah, I guess you're right."  

[Tori Honoo]

As Dove walked just behind with the pokemon, she listened, a small smile finally tugging at the corners of her lips as Tymiko bombarded Yuri with questions. At least she wasn't entirely alone, she reminded herself again as she watched Lovey prod around in the snow at Ty's feet. Things could have been much worse.

It was when Yuri began to describe his hometown celebrations that her heart began to hurt once more. She wished for nothing more than to be home with her family, with her friends... Rubbing her arms again in a weak attempt to ward of the chill of the air, she forced a smile at Yuri's story, keeping her pace behind them the same.

Sparky listened closely to the eevee kit's question, curious himself as to where this new pokemon had gotten his battle marks. At the growlithe's answer, he nodded to himself, looking toward his mistress again. Repede was honorable, he decided, and if he could bring himself to trust Yuri as Dove did, the day might go along smoothly...  

[Tymiko]

"Heeey! What's so funny?" Ty demanded to know. She playfully punched Yuri in the arm while trying not to smile. His laughter seemed to be contagious, even if it was her he was laughing at. At last he managed to gather enough breath to explain.

"Oh. Well, then, why didn't you say so?" she cried, feeling foolish. "That's a funny name for a city section. And you still could have had a party during those months you were in the Guarde!" The girl whacked him again for good measure, though it wasn't at all forceful.

"Who's Flynn?" the curious trainer asked. "Did he grow up with you in the Lower Quarter?" Since he didn't know how to party, according to Yuri, it seemed safe to assume he didn't. But the fact that Yuri had brought him up anyway seemed to mean that he was rather important to the young man.

The way that he talked about the decorations they put up also caused Tymiko to grow more intrigued. She knew of a couple of other 'street folk', but she'd never heard of them doing anything like that. "Wow...that must have been so amazing. Wish I could've seen it." It sounded like Yuri had truly made the most of his circumstances and had really been happy living how he'd lived, even if it was in poverty.

That was something she whole-heartedly admired. It was one of the reasons she had chosen this adventuresome lifestyle, striking out on her own. "I bet it was waaaay better than the Noble Quarter's. Theirs was probably all stuffy, like those parties you hate." She glanced back at Dove. "But Tori likes 'em! Don't you, Tori?"

Distance squeaked and fell behind a bit to hide behind Sparky, preoccupied with the idea of facing down an Ursaring. Her dad said he'd faced some with Tymiko and some guy named Luke when she was just an egg. This one must have been extra tough if it had left a scar on Repede, though. she murmured, still unable to conceptualize such a feat. Though the Growlithe certainly seemed tough, he was just so...small, especially compared to his trainer. Distance couldn't imagine him facing down a whole Ursaring.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Ow, hey!" Yuri jokingly whined as Ty punched him in the arm, making a feeble attempt to shield himself from the blows. He wasn't laughing at her really, but the mistake was just incredibly humorous to him.

When asked about Flynn, he smirked. "Yeah, actually he did. His old man was a captain, so we were kinda brought up differently."

Her amazement at his description of Christmas in the Lower Quarter, only served to further his reminiscing. "Yeah, it sure was something."

Yuri's attention then turned back to Dove as Ty was now asking her questions. It seemed that she had become a straggler back there. She was being really quiet back there.

Repede seemed to hold his head a little higher now, looking pleased at the compliment from the little Eevee. ""  

[Tori Honoo]

When Tymiko addressed her by her real name, Dove looked up nodding a little to the girl. "I certainly missed them this year," she admitted, smiling sadly. "The one here wasn't too bad, though. It was almost like the ones at home...And they're not stuffy!"

She did giggle a bit at the girl's description of the parties she was accustomed to. To a child, they really would appear stuffy; Dove had even thought it herself on more than one occasion.

The way Yuri had described his hometown's festivities though made her secretly ashamed; though the balls she had attended were rich and grand, with multiple planners, she was sure that they had just been planned to impress. She couldn't even imagine the amount of heart that must have been put into what Yuri could remember.

"You had fun last night though, right?"

Lovey nodded, watching the small kit fondly, wishing she were still young enough to be so curious.

Sparky turned his head to Repede curiously. he asked, glancing forward toward Yuri again, most specifically, the sword at his side. It was obvious the fire type was still wary of the man, even though his trainer did appear to trust him.  

[Tymiko]

"What do you guys mean by 'stuffy', anyway?" Ty wanted to clarify. "Do you mean it was crowded, or stuck up?" She suspected Yuri and Dove likely had different ideas of the word, to say nothing of her own idea.

As they walked, the trainer was quickly growing bored again. Small talk just wasn't her thing. "So just where are we going? I want to know! Are there lots of people there?" When Distance started to fall behind due to her cold paws, Tymiko absently reached down to scoop her up in her arms.

the Eevee replied to Sparky. She wasn't sure about manners much, yet, but she was pretty sure her dad would have called the fire-type's statement rude.  

[TRHQ Yuri Lowell]

Yuri's eyes slid over to Dove as she asked that question. Eeeeh. "It was all right, I guess." He wasn't going to go as far as to say he had fun, but it was about what he had expected. His friends being there was about the only good thing, but he at least had enjoyed their company.

"I think stuck up about sums it up," Yuri said in reply to Tymiko. Yeah, Dove might take some offense in that, but well... that's how he felt about it.

He then smirked at the girl's verbal prodding. "You'll see. We're almost there."

"" Repede acknowledged. "" Back then he'd stood no chance against the Ursaring.

True to his word, the little group arrived at a run down building. Pushing open the door with his elbow, Yuri entered with a bright smile. "Hey everyone! I'm back and I brought the stuff and a few friends."

Several people turned to look and gave a cheer while a few kids came running up to them. "Yuri! Yuri! Did you bring the pie?" "Can I see?!" "Can I play with Repede, Yuri?"

"Whoa whoa, hold on! How about letting me in first?" Yuri said with laughter in his voice as he held the bags above the kid's heads. "Yeah you guys can play with Repede as long as it's okay with him." Which he had little doubt of. The Growlithe was wagging his tail and practically basked in the attention of the children as they ran over to and started petting him. A couple of girls then came up to Dove and Tymiko, smiling. "Is that an Eevee?" "Oh what cute Pokemon!"  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove stayed quiet at their chatter about the party, forcing herself to realize that they hadn't been raised in the same circumstances. She forced a smile, making herself believe that they were teasing her instead, holding no ill will toward either of them. Opinions were opinions, no matter who's they were, and everyone was entitled to them...

When Yuri announced that they were almost there, she looked to him, then to the door that he opened for them, surprised at the rush of cheers and the few children that rushed them as they entered.

Lovey's eyes popped open wider as she paused behind her trainer. When the little girls noticed her, she yipped excitedly, her tail switching back and forth in joy as she jumped at the feet of the children, just begging them to pet her.

Sparky on the other hand stayed as he was, watching everyone carefully. Children were not his favorite, at least, not this many at once. Coming up behind his mistress, he tapped her hip with his head.

Dove blinked, then smiled apologetically, digging into her bag for the fire type's pokeball. She definitely didn't need an annoyed typhlosion on her hands...  

[Tymiko]

The girl nodded at Yuri's reply as she continued to walk. That was about what she had figured. It was in the past, though, and what really mattered to her right now was finding out where they were headed.

Distance wanted to know, peering over Tymiko's arms to face the older fire-type.

Soon, though, they had come to a building from which many kids came toward them. Distance got nervous and tried to bury herself deeper in her trainer's arms. Tymiko herself was too surprised to know what to do or say. Evidently, these people knew Yuri, so she looked to him imploringly.

The girl noticed with some envy what Repede allowed himself to be pet by the kids when she herself had been advised against it, but that had been a while ago when they had first met. Perhaps he was fine with them touching him because he knew these children better than he had known her then. She turned away and concentrated on the others in the room.

Lapsing into a sort of silence, she nodded quietly when a couple of the girls came up to her and Dove, guessing that Dove and Lovey would probably appreciate the attention of the strangers more than she and Distance.

"Yuri..." she whispered, leaning over, though she still wasn't sure if he would be able to hear her over the commotion of the other children. "...who are these people?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

The little girls that were gathered around, were mostly focusing on Dove anyway, looking up at her with obvious admiration.

"You're really pretty," one of them said shyly. While another one jumped up and down excitedly. "Are you Yuri's girlfriend?!" The other girls then gasped at the possible realization and looked at Dove expectantly. "Are you? Are you?"

Meanwhile the other children played with Lovey and Repede.

Wading through the sea of excited children, Yuri managed to get over to the kitchen the building had to offer and placed the bags on the counter. "Special delivery, Madeline, it's all here."

"Oh, thank you so much, Yuri! Would you be a dear and help with the cooking?"

The man smirked, "Yeah, no problem."

And that's when Tymiko came over, whispering her question. "Just some people from around the community. I guess you could say they're my neighbors."  

[Tori Honoo]

As the typhlosion returned to his pokeball, the little girls' chatter caught Dove's attention, bringing a soft flush and smile to her face. "Thank you, sweethea--" she started, choking on her words at the girl's next question. "O-oh, no!" she giggled, bending down to one knee to talk to the children eye to eye.

"Yuri and I are just friends. We haven't even known each other that long," she explained, tucking her hair back again and looking to Lovey as she rolled around playfully, yipping softly at the children petting her.

She lifted her head and glanced around the room, looking for the man, tilting her head as the woman addressed him. Who knew Yuri was such a people person...? "You guys seem to know him pretty well, though, huh?"