[PRP] Getting to know you

[TawnyAngel]

//Nothing for me Zla, thank you,// Viktor replied, and a moment later the ghost had gone, opening and closing the door as he couldn't phase the wallet through it. //He is,// the golden Espeon went on with a soft smile to the normal type pair. //I am very fond of him though, I can't remember a time when he wasn't around.... And who might Byakko be, little one?//

He wasn't sure if Dove's answer was reassuring or not. She didn't want to use it one people but she trailed off as if she might. He couldn't condemn her though, he knew his parents were the same.... Actually that wasn't fair, there was no eye dropping hesitance there at least not from his mother. He had never seen his father handle a gun, though he knew the man had when he hadn't been around.

"Well, tyres is different," he shrugged and smiled a bit. "It's just not something I think I could do myself though, carrying one. I can understand why people do," another shrug, "just not something I could contemplate so I was curious.

"As for where to start, I can find that out for you when I go," Dith continued with a little nod. "I will find out and then pop back to you with information to look at, how about that? I expect if there aren't pamphlets around here somewhere I can easily print out from a website."  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey turned to her daughter as the little one spoke, and laughed softly at the comparison as Diana spoke up again. << Byakko is also an Espeon! She's just white with pretty red eyes, even though she can't use them...>> she explained, proud to be able to make the connection herself. Her ears did droop a little as she explained her friend's sight problem, but she furthered it no more for the time being and settled for a content expression instead.

Dove stayed quiet a moment longer, then shook her head. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but I don't want anyone else hurt either...Better...safe than sorry, I suppose..." She didn't like that she found herself feeling as though she needed the extra protection, especially with her team, but as things were, it couldn't be helped.

When he gave suggestion on as to where she could look for info, and then offered to get it to her himself, she smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Dith," she offered brightly, tucking back a loose hair again. "Is there an age limit set for it? I mean... I turn twenty one in a few weeks, so it shouldn't be a problem, but I'd like to be sure before I get my hopes up."  

[TawnyAngel]

//Ahh, I see,// Viktor inclined his head slightly. //A true albino then?... I can't remember the code Dima uses, but she would be one of the extreme forms.//


It was a difficult balance... well not balance but... but... egh, issue he supposed. If he had a gun and had a choice between killing or seeing a friend killed what would he do? He didn't know and he didn't know if that said a good thing about him, a bad thing, or nothing much at all. Contrary to popular belief getting older didn't make you wise to all of life's difficult questions or at least if it was meant to it had passed him by.

"Psh, no," Dith smiled and made a dismissive gesture, pleased enough to let the subject he had brought up himself drop. "These courses, anyone can take them. A lot of people taking them in fact are retired, looking for a new skill and... and maybe a little new purpose in life now they have left their jobs. Basically so long as you are fit enough to do it you are welcome. As I say I don't know about the cost of it here but it is not expensive to do in the UK, they want to encourage it of course. The idea of it of course is to have people on the scene of a heart attack, stroke, whatever it might be in just a minutes. They don't want to limit it then, you see?" He always felt his explanations tended a bit towards the convoluted. Was that just the second language thing or was he merely given to rambling? He so seldom explained anything in his own tongue that he really had no idea.  

[Tori Honoo]

Diana seemed a bit confused until her mother nodded. <>

Dove giggled softly at his dismissive behavior around the subject, and nodded again. "That makes sense.. I'll look into it as soon as I'm well enough to start into it. It'll give me an excuse not to go home next month, though I'm not sure my brother will approve..." Of course, there wasn't even the slightest chance her parents would approve of her staying, especially if and when they got word of her hospitalization. Her brother would be slightly more at ease with the idea of her learning, but putting it into practice would be something she would be wary about explaining in even further detail. She was plenty old enough to make her own decisions, she reasoned, but the consequences of not accepting her role's responsibilities was a little unsettling, even so.  

[TawnyAngel]

Viktor hummed, eyes half closing as Dith found an especially nice spot on the back of his ear. //Couldn't say... I don't know much of the peculiarities and my own evolution was... mmh, long ago now. There are pictures of me as an eevee though. My markings were much the same, but I was darker.//


"Heh." Dith grinned and shrugged. "My parents - well my father really does not approve of me doing this. He wants me to move back to the UK, be safe. He has always been very protective of myself and my sister which is understandable really I suppose with the whole," he shrugged again and waved a hand, "political dissidents in terrifying communist state thing. Anyway, I ignore him any you should your brother. It's our lives, not theirs."  

[Tori Honoo]

The little eevee peeped again. << Does it hurt to evolve? Mamma hasn't evolved yet,>> she pointed out, still young enough not to mind the obviousness of the statement. <>

Dove stayed quiet a moment longer, mustering a smile as he again dismissed the problem. "I don't like how complicated it's gotten with my family, but I guess that's my only choice unless they drag me home for my birthday," she sighed, looking to the flowers he had brought for a moment. "They haven't done anything so far, and my brother only just now found me, so..." The way she spoke made it clear that it pained her to deceive her brother, though when it came to her parents, she was less inclined to pity them. They were, of course, family, however.  

[TawnyAngel]

//Humm,// the tips of Viktor's tails twitched. //The process itself doesn't but I've heard that some who evolve through stones, as we do, experience a strange sensation along with it. I saw a bright flash when I evolved, but I had just been kicked in the head so that might account for it.//


Things weren't complicated with his own family, just a bit awkward with the ones who wanted him to just come home. Oh, and the one that wanted him to learn to shoot guns but that was a different kind of awkward.

Sighing slightly Dith sat back in his chair and shook his head slightly. "You know, they can't 'drag' you anywhere. If you don't want to go Dove - for birthday or otherwise - then don't. I understand that... well they're family, and you don't want to upset them?" An assumption on his part but he felt a fairly safe one. "But, well... what are you afraid they might do?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey seemed to soak in the information, and waited a moment before answering again before her kit could speak up. <> she chided gently, smiling as the little one slowly sunk back down beside her and huffed softly, her ears tucking in embarrassment. <> she drifted off a bit, her glance moving toward her girl in the hospital bed. Fighting wasn't something she ever wanted to do, but now with not only Dove but a kit as well, it seemed that it was something she could no longer avoid with a clear conscious. Realizing the espeon had mentioned he had been kicked, the eevee shook her thoughts clear from her mind and refocused again. <>

Her eyes strayed from his face, and she rubbed an arm tiredly. "It's... really complicated..." she told him finally, before taking a deep breath. After a moment's pause, she looked to him, abruptly more resolved than before. "I know this is...horribly impolite, but would you mind if I speak openly about them for a moment...?" Seeing her brother had opened her eyes again to the strains of home yet again, and while she rarely spoke of her family to anyone, and she barely knew Dith, she felt she needed to talk to someone. At least Dith was an adult and might actually be able to give advice. However, if he refused, she would accept it with absolutely no grudge.  

[TawnyAngel]

Viktor gave a little sigh and shook his head. <> Not that he was complaining of course but it did seem very strange. Million to one chances had to happen to somebody he supposed, but it was still surreal.


Dith paused, listening to Viktor chirp softly to the pair of Eevee. "Of course," he said after a moment, "I don't think it's impolite." Why him though? Why should she trust him?... Maybe she preferred to tell somebody she didn't really know, he knew some people found that easier. Whatever the reason though it didn't really matter; she wanted to talk and he was happy to listen and that was all.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey blinked in amazement as Viktor gave his story. As she shook her head, her ears drooped. <> It had been a very good stroke of luck, quite obviously. A moment longer, and she looked up again. <>

His agreement to listen as she spoke gave her more pause, before she finally spoke again, her thoughts almost disconnected, proof that she didn't even know where to start. "I ran away from home, to escape a marriage I wasn't ready for... It was a relationship I thought moved too fast, and when I finally removed myself from it I realized how...not real it was to begin with. It's horrid, and I don't want to go back and face any of it even though it's been solidly ended, especially as it wasn't even just for us, but also for stability for our families. My parent's are all politics, and my running off means immense disapproval. It's... shameful, the way I've behaved lately, but coming here has opened my eyes so much. I hadn't forgotten about home... far from it, but things had finally begun to settle a bit here when it came to living, but my brother found out and now I don't know what to do." A long, long pause. "They're still my family, and they've every right to want me home after... well, especially after all this. I almost feel selfish not going back to safety when there are many people on the island that would give anything for the chance, but I can't just leave everyone I've met and this...freedom. Even if it's not freedom, it's still more real than anything." Another pause, this one taken to wipe away the stray tears that played in her eyelashes.

"I love them, and I've disrespected them in how I've gone about things. It'll be my twenty first birthday, which, to them, is...basically a huge deal, and it's not like I actually have any plans here, so I can't honestly tell them no... and I can't keep ignoring them like I have, especially now that I've seen how easily we can be..." She looked around the room at the machines that had once monitored her every heartbeat, bloodpressure, etc. The stands that held the drips. She had nearly died, and hadn't spoken to her family in months...  

[TawnyAngel]

<> Viktor glanced up at his trainer, half paying attention to the human conversation, and then looked back over at Lovey and her daughter. <> Viktor tilted his head slightly. <>


That was a lot to take in. Dith let out a slow breath and sat back in his chair, which creaked slightly in protest. "Alright, here is what I think," he said after a short silence. "First, don't feel selfish. I feel bad for upsetting my family but what we're doing here is for the greater good. There is nothing selfish about putting yourself in harms way for others, quite the reverse. I couldn't back out of this partially because doing so would make me feel selfish. I have valuable services to offer, I can't back out merely because of my family.... A very good friend of mine once said that 'personal is not the same as important'. I don't agree with him entirely but in some cases it rings true and I think this is one of them. What your family wants you to do, if you are willing to keep fighting, is less important than what we're fighting for." Where was Jack now he wondered? He was still convinced his friend was a Rocket and so he must have been displaced by the loss of their base but he knew he hadn't been arrested and didn't believe for a moment that the quiet little man was dead.

"Let's see. The rest...." The rest was more complicated. Escaping a marriage sounded so... where was she from again? "Err... is it common where you come from? Arranged marriage I mean." Had she already told him where she came from? If so he had promptly forgotten and would be very embarrassed. "How was it going to make your families more stable?... I'm just trying to understand why it was so important to them that you marry one particular man, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that kind of custom." Very medieval. He wasn't going to say that aloud though not in a million years because it was a really horrible thing to think, and Dith tried very hard not to be horrible.

"In any case, whatever their reasons...." Dith trailed off a paused as he looked for the right words. "I thin you were right to refuse the marriage and to leave, but I don't think you were right to ignore them. As you say their are your family, and you love them. If you think going back for your birthday is a good way to reconnect I would certainly recommend that but don't let them talk you into doing things you don't want to. It's your life and life is short and, yes, fragile so it's all the more precious. You can't spend your life fulfilling other people's selfish desires... well you can but I don't think you should." Hopefully Dove wouldn't be insulted by anything he'd said but as much as he tried to be nice Dith also strove to be honest.  

[Tori Honoo]

Lovey smiled. > The eevee fluffed her ruff a little in a makeshift shrug. <> the mother admitted, nuzzling her kit a moment as it shifted and settled again. Diana, though, unlike her mother piped up happily again. <> she told him excitedly, before flopping down to the bed again and crossing her paws like a lady.

Dove, meanwhile, took in everything the man had to say bit by bit, the weight heavier by every passing moment. Wary of being selfish, as she had been chastised for it in the past here, she shook her head a little, still conflicted, but finally chose to speak up. "You're right... What they want is so much less important than what we're fighting for, but I just...it's hard trying to break the habit and picture myself as useful. I really think I'll find a training class. Even if it's just a little," she repeated more quietly, her eyes downcast again. She wasn't so helpful as Dith. She could help with the basics of pokemon care, and given desperate measures, she would have at least known to try anything, but in reality, she felt she had very, very little to offer as of now.

The rest. She closed her eyes for a minute. "It's more common than you would think among people of our rank and heritage, but my family isn't that traditional and it's really not what you would consider 'common'..." she explained with difficulty, knowing full well that she had thought it out before. "My father is a high ranking politician... sort of like what Luke's father does, I think, if you...know how he is." Dith knew Luke, right? Yes... "It wasn't a 'properly' arranged marriage, at least not by official paperwork that the public would have any interest in." She shook her head. "Our fathers were friends in University, and powerful men on their own... a connection like that between colleagues looks good, and... I never really spoke out against it." In the end, her parents hadn't even known what a horror her ex had been. No one had known, and reflecting on it, she wasn't entirely sure she had realized the extent of it herself. "It doesn't matter now, though," she offered finally, brushing a few more tears away from her eyes. "That part, at least, is over, so far as I know." Those scars, at least, could be hidden from most eyes.

She nodded again at his suggestions about her birthday. "I'll...think about it. Just facing them is enough to give me worse nightmares than those about absol, though," she attempted to joke, her words too true and her tone too light.

Far from insulted, humbled even, she looked up at Dith again. "It's not just the relationships at home that I need to fix though, and I don't know if I should start here or there." She knew he had seen her interaction--or lack there of-- with those in the van with them.  

[TawnyAngel]

Our rank?... Hu. Dith listened quietly, lancing his fingers together in his lap. Complicated. Was she crying? Dith pulled his chair closer with a squeak that made him wince and then, settling down again, reached out to lay a huge hand over one of Dove's. "I'm glad that you're not allowing yourself to be pressured into anything... but what do you mean by relationships here? Ah... the first I've seen of anyone since I came back to Kodo was meeting by the van, so I'm afraid I'm not really up to date with what is happening with anyone." Not that he would have been with Dove anyway given they had only met once before and briefly at that.

Viktor hummed and bowed his head slightly. Oh dear, what was wrong with the girl human?  

[Tori Honoo]

She shook her head quietly, unsure of where to even begin. "A-Ah.... well..." Well this was awkward. If Dith had known them before, which she was under the full understanding he had, he would be shocked to hear some of the things that had happened, and to be honest, she wasn't even sure she had the right to recount them all. She could, at least, give him a little insight into her own personal experience without stepping on the others' toes... She forced the tears back and attempted to explain.

"I... wasn't prepared to face anything when I came over, and a lot of the people I met were already going through really hard times... I made a lot of them worse, but it's not really my place to explain the situations in the first place. It was an accident--misunderstandings, most of it--but the damage is still the same." A pause, as she thought it through a little more. "I can't really... 'get close' to any of the trainers from the group that went into the desert with us. I mean, Yuri tolerates me, and I didn't know a few of them, but...it's hard to work up the confidence when you've gotten it so wrong so many times before, and recently. It's awful when you've been surrounded by people your entire life, even if you only thought they cared."  

[TawnyAngel]

Ah.

Dith raised his hand to the side of his face but twitched it away quickly, reminding himself not to fiddle with the dressings. The lack of details meant he didn't quite know what had gone on but Dove gave him the feel for it anyway. Puffing out his cheeks Dith rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head slightly.

"Well... I don't know, I haven't got a lot of advice to offer there," he said after a short pause. "All I can say is... if you do want to make amends you do need to approach the people concerned, whoever they are, and apologise. No excuses, no 'I didn't mean offence', or any of that just sincere apology and a promise that you will try not to do the same again. That's all anyone can do in the end, try to do better next time. We're all human, we all make mistakes... and I am sure you are cared for. Your family is not perfect either." Arranged marriage was a bit much though and in a League controlled region he had no idea what impact any official could hope their daughter's marriage to have, but sometimes people didn't make much sense he supposed.