[FIN] Ladies of the--cold!--Lake

[Tymiko]

"That's what I said," the girl answered in a steady, low voice, not looking at the older female. "You're not listening to me. You're just hearing words."

Distance allowed herself to be nudged away, but continued to stare, transfixed, at the fire.

Fathom got up to help Lovey with her trainer if he could. he asked the Eevee, not sure he understood what she meant by her statement.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove mentally slapped herself; why had she repeated the girl? Redundancy... "I'm sorry, Tymiko. They are really beautiful. I was agreeing, in any case," she attempted, moving closer to the tree again.
"You should come down and let me make you some dinner... I was about to fix food for my team, and it looks like you were about to do the same...Or you can fix it, if you want."

Lovey kept her eyes on the eevee kit. mustn't go too near it...> she gently scolded, flicking an ear as she attempted to be lighter. she added, shaking her nose at the typhlosion.

Sparky took his eyes off Dove just long enough to smirk at the others. Though his trainer adored children, for the most part, as did Lovey, the fire type wasn't fond of childlike foolishness, unless of course, it was Dove's playing. that had been quite some time ago, he mused, letting his eyes train again on the girl.

The older eevee tipped her head back to the vaporeon.

Lovey stepped back, nudging the eevee's side with her head.  

[Kitomyx]

"Not hungryyyyy~" the girl answered in a sing-songy voice, laughing before flopping back against some canopy leaves and limbs. It didn't look too terribly comfortable, but the girl acted as though it were no different than a feather bed.

Distance repeated, looking up curiously. But then she frowned in Sparky's direction. She didn't like the idea of the other Eevee threatening her, older though she was. Her childish defiance tempted her to touch the flames out of spite.

Fathom seemed to sense this impending mistake and quickly got up to snatch his kit away from the fire by his teeth catching the dark scruff of her neck. She yipped and struggled wildly, but even when he lay down again, he kept her firmly between his paws. She sulked, but was too sleepy to do much more. Her head drooped after a time and she rested it on her father's paws.

the Vaporeon answered. Gently withdrawing his paw from under the sleeping Distance, he got up to help Lovey in her stead.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove sighed at the young trainer's response and put a hand on her hip, running the other through her hair, her shoulders drooping further. "I'll...save some for you just in case, then..." she murmured, turning to look at the cluster of pokemon around the fire.

Lovey watched the girl turn back to them, then sat down again, fondly watching Distance sleep. The older eevee sighed.

Lovey quieted, wagging her tail once at the girl as she approached and knelt next to her and Fathom.

"Anyone hungry?" she asked, drawing a few food packets from her bag. "It's not gourmet, but at least it's something, right? She hesitated, then, wondering if she should try to fish a little while more, and if she should cook Ty's fish for her. It wouldn't do any good to cook it if she was going to be gone much longer, however...

Sighing, she looked out into the lake again. No. It was far too cold. They'd have to make due with the dried meat.  

[Tymiko]

<'Used to'?> Fathom repeated curiously. His tail swayed gently behind him as he went to the fish they'd caught from the lake. else worry.>

Picking up the fish by its tail, he went back to Dove and Lovey. <'Not gourmet'?!> he said, dropping the Remoraid by Dove's feet.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey watched the trainer pull the food from her bag as she replied to Fathom. At the mention of causing others to worry, the eevee looked back to the vaporeon.

Dove blinked as Fathom dropped the remoraid at her feet, tilting her head a bit at the pokemon. Glancing back to the tree, she sighed, then moved to pick it up. "Might as well have it ready, in case she wants some..." she mumbled to herself, nodding to the water-type in thanks.

Lovey giggled to herself, knowing the trainer had no recognition of Fathom's scolding. she told him, her own tail twitching. She had certainly missed the comfortable home they had left...  

[Tymiko]

the Vaporeon stated. He gave Lovey an incredulous look.

He sighed. Pawing at Dove's leg, he shook his head. Tymiko would not come down. At least, he highly doubted it. She was in one of her moods again. There was no point in trying to 'mother' her.

he told Lovey, looking to her.  

[Tori Honoo]

At the vaporeon's headshake, the girl sighed again, nodding back to the pokemon as she skewered the fish and placed it carefully over the fire to prepare it.

Lovey sat close to the fire again, curling her tail close to her body as best she could as she watched the trainer. she told Fathom quietly, her mind wandering a moment toward thoughts that made her ears slump.

At his prompting for her to relay their struggles, she tipped her head, embarrassed. as hard for Sparky and I as it is for Dove, maybe, but it's still...not what we're used to. Unfortunately, I'll have to admit to being raised in the lap of luxury... This whole... traveling thing is strange. And I'm not too fond of being called into that silly ball, even if she doesn't use it a lot,> the eevee pouted, a hint of teasing herself in her words. She knew she probably came across as overly pampered and silly to the vaporeon, but everything she had said was true. Her ears drooped again.  

[Tymiko]

Fathom conceded, he said, raising his head toward the treetop. anything, it might already be too late.>

<'Unfortunately'?> the Vaporeon ask, laying himself down beside the fire. He stretched his front paws out and yawned.

He wrinkled his nose in slight resentment. that into consideration.>

He tilted his head when he noticed Lovey's ears droop a second time.  

[Tori Honoo]

the eevee replied, ears drooping.

She sat her head on her paws, glancing again at the girl as she continued. She sighed. The eevee tucked her ears low,

At the vaporeon's last question, she nosed at the ground, looking off.

(almost) Satisfied with the meal the had prepared, Dove lifted the skewer from over the fire. "So...who is hungry?"

Sparky, turning his attention from the conversation between the other pokemon looked to her, huffing softly.  

[Tymiko]

Fathom wondered aloud, frowning. He sighed. plenty of decent people to meet on this island. You shouldn't have reason to worry much longer.>

Listening, the Vaporeon nodded sagely.

He chuckled lightly to himself.

Perking up his ear fins, the water-type happily came over to acknowledge Dove with a hungry, "Por," stretching out enthusiastically toward the food, the better to smell it. It was about time.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey tipped her head in a sort of shrug. She laughed, a bit nervously.

The eevee shook her head again. she finally conceded.

She cocked her head again. she said pensively, looking toward the tree now.

At the vaporeon's response, Dove offered a larger portion of the fish to him, setting the rest on a small foldable plate from her bag. "You first, since you caught it, she smiled, digging through the bag for her poffin case. Treats were good, no matter the pokemon type, and she had had plenty of practice in making them.  

[Tymiko]

Fathom answered.

He yawned.

The vaporeon blinked at Lovey's mention of 'true friends' before laughing. He rolled his shoulders backward in a lazy shrug.

Fathom's head whipped up at the word 'child'. His bright, pale eyes gleamed in the firelight. he said dubiously. the eeveeloution explained, knows it. I worry that, given the choice, she'd choose death over aging, and she may soon accomplish the former.>

He sighed heavily and shook his head.

Taking the piece of fish that Dove had given to him, the grateful water-type took the food delicately in his mouth and nodded to the trainer in thanks before taking it back to his kit and eating half. He kept the other part nearby for when she woke and was hungry.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey blinked at the vaporeon as it rose, mulling his words in her head silently as she too moved toward her trainer for food. She watched as the girl pulled apart the fish and offered it to Fathom, then moved closer and nudged her knee with her snout, tipping her head to ask if she was alright.

Dove smiled reassuringly, then turned to look back to the tree, sighing softly. Scooping Lovey into her lap, she sat and turned her back to the forest, then offered the eevee and Sparky the food she had prepared for them. "I'll be fine... I'm not the one to worry about right now..."

Sparky watched pensively, then looked back to the water type and his kit. Quietly frustrated, he asked,  

[Tymiko]

The Vaporeon didn't even look up from his sleeping daughter to answer Sparky. he asked, wondering if the fire-type had even been listening.

He shook his head.

Fathom flicked his tail toward Dove. Sighing heavily, he added,

He bent his head toward the eevee beside him and affectionately nuzzled against the ruff of fur about her neck. His tone grew harder, pained.

With another large yawn and a full-body stretch, Fathom jumped at the sound of Tymiko's voice. Her words did not seem to be directed toward the pokemon discussing her and Dove, however, but rather the only other human in the near vicinity.

"Well I know I'm certainly not the one to worry about," she said bitingly, her voice dark with indignance. "You know, Tori, you're being very condescending right now. I may be younger, but I'm a lot better off out here than you are, so don't even pretend to concern yourself about me. You don't care." A pair of livid, aqua blue eyes flashed down from the canopy for a split second before reverting back to the countless stars above. "You think you're very grown up," she continued, quoting a young woman she had admired from long ago, "but you have a great deal to learn. Good night."

The curt end she left off with did not seem intended as an announcement of sleep nor even as a good-natured well-wishing, but rather a finite and firm end to their rather one-sided conversation. Her tone suggested she was passive-aggressively upset with the older girl, but unwilling to waste the time and effort to spell out why, let alone make amends. Ty disliked others and conversing with shallow-minded people enough as it was, but if Dove wasn't aware of certain things without them being pointed out to her, attempting to communicate them would be entirely pointless in the younger trainer's eyes.