[FIN] Coming Clean-- About Damn Time

[Tori Honoo]

She nodded a little, though her eyes drifted to her hands and the end of her scarf. "It's not so much the talking I'm worried about..."  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Then what are you worried about? Their reaction? Don't be. I get that their your family but if they really care about you they'll come around."  

[Tori Honoo]

"Being completely alone," she admitted, almost shocked by her own honesty. "I-I mean, I know that's ridiculous, because-- I mean, we're friends, but...I don't know...." She shook her head. "It's just strange to think that I won't have family there. I don't know what Kazuki will do, but still..."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri blinked in surprise at her answer, then frowned.

"You know you're not alone but you're afraid of it? Sounds to me like you don't trust your friends or your brother."

And that was kinda a slap in the face really.  

[Tori Honoo]

"I said it was ridiculous..." she reminded him, looking now toward the ground, completely insecure. "I trusted my friends back home, too, before I came here, and now I don't know about any of them... Kazuki is part of my family, and though he's always sided with me, this isn't just some swift choice. I don't know what he'll do, and I do trust him, but it's scary..." She shivered, unwillingly. "You're a different case entirely..." she admitted, a bit more quietly, and with a pink tinge rising to her cheeks.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Yeah but you're still thinking it," Yuri pointed out.

Folding his hands behind his head he sighed. "Well yeah, going into the unknown is always a little scary but if people let that stop them we'd still be living in the Stone Age. You just gotta keep moving forward."

He blinked though as she admitted that he was different.  

[Tori Honoo]

"I don't want to think it," she protested gently, guilt blanketing every other stress in her chest. She didn't know any of them well, she thought, aside from maybe Yuri... She couldn't really expect them to trust her in return either, not after so many failures.

One step at a time... The words came slowly back into her head, though Yuri's own struck a chord she placed immediately, and she tried to meet his gaze, fighting a deepening blush at his surprised look. "Those sounds... The ones from the mountain," she started, hoping he would make the connection. "Those swablu that Hen and Jace caught... Those are what were singing, that night. The evolved form, I mean." She rubbed her arm, glancing over to Repede. "You said something similar then..." She explained, so her information wouldn't be too randomly given, in case he didnt remember that night as well as she did.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri paused to think, reflecting back on when they had been in the mountain that day. Man... A lot had happened since then.

"Yeah, I guess I did," he quietly agreed.  

[Tori Honoo]

Her heart seemed to beat louder after his quiet agreement, and the room suddenly seemed a bit warmer, though not quite more comfortable. Tucking her hair back-- again-- she looked over to him, her expression clear, aside from a timid curiosity. "This is a lot more freedom than I had ever imagined I could find...Will you still have my back? Even if only for a little while?" Something within her shifted uncomfortably as she added to her question.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Her question drew a smile onto his face, "Yeah."

"I'd be a pretty big jerk if I didn't."

After all, she'd been there for him and even saved his life recently. They didn't always see eye to eye but nobody ever could.  

[Tori Honoo]

His answer and smile, though it didn't show much, lifted a little of the weight from her shoulders, and she responded with a nod. "Okay...Good," she smiled back. "That, um... Makes me feel safer. Better, I mean."

That said, she moved closer to the door, her face pink. "I should go."  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Anything for a friend right?" He said with a little smirk.

When she said again that she had to go, he didn't seem all that concerned. "If you say so. Take care of yourself."  

[Tori Honoo]

She suddenly found herself looking at his feet. "A friend...Right," she acquiesced, her second response mostly to cover up the initial one. Again, she looked as though she had more to say, just as she had at the hospital. However, she stayed only a few beats too long, then opened the door to see herself out. "I'll, um... See you around?"  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri blinked once at her reply but kept up the smile as she started to leave. "Yeah, see you around."

It wasn't until after she was gone that he frowned. He had a feeling this would happen. You'd gotten yourself in too deep Lowell.