[FIN] I'd feel a lot better if my mom weren't dead.

[Tori Honoo]

"Weird...At least she got it back, though, right?" she asked, rising from the couch to take her bowl and mug back to the kitchen now that she was finished.

Have you two talked since..." She braced herself for his reaction, whatever it might be, to her gentle urging for him to talk openly about his family.  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah," he nodded. In the end, that was all that was important - though it certainly wasn't of no significance that the Vaporeon had been returned voluntarily, even of the reasons were obscure.

He opened his mouth to respond, but what was produced instead of words was a crestfallen expression. He closed his eyes momentarily, lips pressed together, and invested a moment in only breathing. When he replied, it was with a practiced smile, "Yeah. Not very often, but we end up talking sometimes." Most recently, at their mother's bedside.  

[Tori Honoo]

She watched his face fall and his eyes shut, her heart sinking. Though she hadn't meant to crush his spirit as quickly as she seemed to have done, she did wonder if he would talk about it at all. It wasn't good to let things like that bottle up; eventually, the darker thoughts would overwhelm you and you'd find yourself lost for long, long periods of time, though of course, she was one to talk. In fact, she noted mentally, she was downright hypocritical when it came to that matter. His false smile bothered her even more, however, and she stopped herself from shaking her head.

"Well... at least he's around. People like that...with such strong connections... They seem to show up when you need them most, you know?" she said gently, praying she wasn't making matters worse. "You really shouldn't have to bear all of this alone, Luke."  

[Suudonym]

He laughed lightly, shrugging, "Well, he shows up when I send him a message, I guess." As far as connections went, his with his brother's wasn't really… orthodox. His hands tightened slightly on themselves, however, at her words, a subtle strain reaching his expression. "It's okay," he affirmed, "I'll manage." Just as he had managed everything else, piece by piece, day by day… He could only pray that dawn would eventually appear on the horizon. He didn't know how much more he could take.  

[Tori Honoo]

She smiled weakly at his laugh, though it faded at the strain in his features and the clasping of his hands. Whether stubbornness or insecurity, she didn't know, though she decided not to press him on it; this was only the second time they had spoken, afterall, and the first hardly counted as 'getting to know each other'.
This, their second talk, hadn't quite turned out the way she had imagined it either, though.

She watched him a moment more, brow furrowed in concern. "I'm sure you'll get through this. It'll be hard, but... you seem like a strong man with a good h--....heart." she finished lamely, realizing only after she had given her genuine encouragement that it might be taken the wrong way.

After all, he had gotten through the surgery and seemed to be doing well, physically. She just hoped he wouldn't take her sincerity as a joke.

Though... it was funny in hindsight. After a moment's pause, she laughed weakly. "I-I'm sorry."  

[Suudonym]

Luke stared for a moment in surprise, unsure of her intentions for the… interesting word choice. He laughed mildly-- Actually, no, he laughed fully, discarding his usual concerns about being too animated or too loud or too anything that could potentially irritate his fragile health. He did make himself stop, though, when he realized his breath wasn't coming quite as easily, and he coughed lightly to recover. "It's fine," he said, amusement still evident in his tone.  

[Tori Honoo]

She smiled, joining in on his laughter in embarrassment. "No, really I didn't mean it in that way. I just... I didn't think about the circumstance before I spoke..." she explained honestly, her cheeks flushing bright pink. "I meant what I said, but I didn't even think about the play on words...!"

She looked to him, then hung her head in mild embarrassment, still grinning. At least she had been able to make him laugh, even if it had been a mistake. Tucking her hair back behind her ear, her cheeks and neck still flushed, she peeked up at him again. "Sorry again!"  

[Suudonym]

"It's fine, it's fine," he repeated, waving off her concern. "I know what you meant. The double entendre was just a nice bonus." Laughter was such a rare commodity these days that he would take it wherever he could find it, even if it was tiring.  

[Tori Honoo]

Dove returned to the couch then, taking her seat once more. Lovey, deciding it silly to try to sleep with her human and the other talking so much, uncurled herself from beside the boy and instead pawed at his leg, tail wagging at the smile on his face as if to encourage him to continue laughing before she turned and let herself off the couch.

"I live to entertain, I guess," she said, shrugging lightly. She tucked her hair back again, then drew the locks over her shoulder to play with the long ends. "So...What's so great about Kodo?" she asked for lack of a better topic. He had chosen to live here after all. "I'm still really debating on if I want to move here permanently. Camphoreon is a pretty busy place, huh?"  

[Suudonym]

"For me, I think it's the people," he answered, petting Lovey lightly as she departed from the couch. "But I mean, that's probably just me. Being confined at home, for years there were only two people I could really call friends, so it was amazing to come here and meet so many people." If not maybe a little overwhelming and also often embarrassing due to his ignorance and naivete about the world outside his home. "I haven't been to a whole lot of other places, though, so I don't really know much about its merits as a region."  

[Tori Honoo]

She smiled, though a separate emotion hid behind the expression. "The people here are great, yes... at least the few that I've met," she agreed, looking away into the fire Sparky had started. "It's strange. I didn't have many... truly close friends in my region, but I've always been surrounded by people. Being here is... kind of a huge adjustment."

Watching the fire a moment longer, she turned back to him. "I guess it's relaxing, in its own way," she shrugged, watching Lovey paw at Sparky's side in silent conversation. "And honestly, the people I left overseas are... not."  

[Suudonym]

"It's different," he agreed. "Maybe it's just because I haven't seen a lot of other regions, but Kodo seems so different. It's got this kind of 'fresh start' atmosphere to it." Probably not so much for people who had lived there for all their lives, he surmised, but Kodo seemed to be a bit of a hub for people who wanted to get away from their homes.  

[Tori Honoo]

She paused a moment, his words turning in her head. "A fresh start, huh...? she said almost distantly. "A fresh start would be nice, I guess... In some ways. It'll definitely be a challenge...

She looked up, regarding him quietly, a small, almost hopeful look on her face. "Youve made a lot of friends since coming here, right? Even though you only had a few back home...?  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah," he confirmed with a nod. "Rosie and Yuri and Emil… Tymiko is nice too, and Dith has always been helpful…" Realizing he was slipping into something akin to rambling, he shook his head and pulled in his focus, offering an amiable smile, "And I met you here too." Because he certainly wouldn't have spoken of such topics at such great length with someone he didn't feel he could trust.  

[Tori Honoo]

She smiled back, the hope in her face even more evident now. "Well... it's good to know I at least have a few friends in town, I guess," she laughed, her face turning pink. Never in her life had she travelled somewhere only to find it this hard to meet people. Maybe the friends she might make here in Kodo would be more worth it in the long run...