[PRP] Second Opinion

[Suudonym]

Add one to the top of the list of less than desirable things that had happened since his arrival in Kodo. More and more Luke was coming to believe that everything would have worked out better if he had stayed home. Maybe that wouldn't have prevented most of the events, but it at least would have removed him from them all. There was nothing wrong with feeling a little selfish, right? It wasn't as though he could go back in time and tell himself to stay in Grande Ile or anything. Even if he could, he doubted he would have listened to himself.

It was a relief to be free of the hospital and all their damned tests - he'd hated even normal wellness examinations as long as he could remember - but the information he bore in mind upon leaving wasn't even close to reassuring. He'd assumed he was sick somehow, something like pneumonia or bronchitis or some other general illness that he often heard of but never experienced himself, and that surrendering and visiting a clinic would allow him to feel normal again. By the time he resigned himself, he was almost looking forward to it.

But that was that. They wouldn't proceed any further than the most basic treatment without having information on his previous medical records. And what a load of crap that was; even Luke didn't have any information on his previous medical records. The only way to access something like that, he surmised, would be to ask the parents that had deliberately hidden his past from him. That was sure to go well.

It wasn't quite a last-ditch effort, but it wasn't without some small sense of desperation that Luke sent a message from his pokedex contacting Dith, I could use some advice on some medical stuff. Could I talk to you?  

[TawnyAngel]

Not exactly the kind of message he had expected from Luke.

Luke, to the best of his knowledge, didn't really like or trust him all that much; if he was asking for advice like that either the young man trusted him more than he had thought, or he was desperate.

Of course, was Dith's reply, where are you? I'm in the park near the mall; can meet you wherever suits?

Whatever the reason Luke asking him, he intended to help in any way he could.  

[Suudonym]

Luke considered the reply for longer than was really necessary, be it out of hesitation, indecision, reluctance, or an outright combination of the three. There wasn't a whole lot he could do about it, though. A silent sigh of resignation.

That's fine. I'll meet you there.

The park in question wasn't terribly far, and he had already started moving by the time he hit the send command. It wouldn't be too long before he arrived, wandering the area in search of Dith - not that the older man was usually too hard to find. It seemed kind of sad to take advantage of the pleasant late-summer temperatures without the Flareon that always so loved to accompany him on nicer days, but that couldn't really be helped.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith perched on the edge of a park bench, holding his bottle of water in both hands to stop himself fiddling distractedly. Medical stuff. He was hoping that it was something minor and embarrassing, but as ever he worried that it would be something bad. Bad things just seemed to keep happening to his young friends, and to him for that matter.

Eventually he spotted a familiar shock of orange-red hair and got swiftly to his feet, raising a hand in greeting as he headed over to the young man. "Luke! Good to see you... how are you?" He tried not to sound - or look - too worried but he didn't think he did a very good job of it.  

[Suudonym]

Indeed, not terribly hard to find - especially when he was standing. Luke returned the gesture in greeting, raising his hand slightly and attempting a facade of friendly nonchalance. It was a difficult mask to wear, under the stress of everything, and he was certain he wasn't keeping it up as well as he would have liked.

"Hey Dith," he greeted. "I've... been better, I guess." Not much guessing needed for that one. His disposition was consumed by a deep worry more innate and dreadful than common uncertainty. Even Luke was aware that he was in all likelihood doing a pitiful job of upholding any appearance of normalcy.  

[TawnyAngel]

Okay so it wasn't something small; Luke was worried about something, very worried, and it was about something medical. Not good, not good at all; the sooner he found out what was going on the better.... Probably Luke would rather not talk about it out in the middle of the park though.

"It's not far to my flat let's go there to talk?" Dith suggested after a heavy pause, still regarding his young friend with concern. "I will make tea." Tea did not solve everything, but making tea was his knee jerk reaction to almost anything that was wrong.  

[Suudonym]

The suggestion of relocation was received well if only because it was something that could be done and called productive; he nodded slightly and voiced an acquiescent "sure." That afforded him some preparation time, as well - he hadn't really given much thought about what he wanted to say or how he wanted to say it, and the prospect of having some leeway to explore the various combinations of the words was a welcome one. A bit of a lack of foresight on his part, but it seemed it would work out all right.  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith nodded to Luke's response and set off in the direction of his home. Every so often he glanced down at Luke, wondering what was wrong, if something had happened. Whatever it was, it was not obvious. Maybe it wasn't even something wrong with Luke, it could be a family member. He'd never heard Luke talk about his family, but then Luke seldom talked about anything personal or at least if the boy (sorry, young man) did not do so in his presence.

He would find out what was happening soon, but soon did not feel like soon enough.


They made it to Dith's flat without incident, and once inside Dith sent Zla off to make the tea and gestured towards his big corner sofa. "Tea will not be long; please, sit," he said to Luke, doing so himself as he spoke. Once he was settled he took Viktor's pokeball from his belt and released the golden Espeon, who blinked around and then hopped up to sit on the sofa next to his trainer.  

[Suudonym]

It didn't really fully occur to Luke where they were going until they got there, and by then he couldn't help wondering if it was all right to just intrude like that all of a sudden. Well, it was probably fine, given that Dith had made the suggestion himself; he attempted to banish the recurring worry from his thoughts and seated himself.

His attention was drawn to Viktor when he appeared, his thoughts wandering to another eeveelution. That was a depressing line of thought, though, and so he diverted it to something different. "Tymiko gave me an egg a while ago," he said, staring at his hands in his lap, "an Eevee. It was Luna's, right? And Fathom's." That probably couldn't be further from what he had actually intended to speak about, but it was at least a somewhat more pleasant topic.  

[TawnyAngel]

Okay, so they were now avoiding the subject? He could do that, for a little while; it would probably be easier if Luke decided when he wanted to talk. "That's right," Dith nodded, smiling slightly. "I have one too! I already find myself wondering about what I should evolve it to. Right now I am down to 'not espeon, umbreon or flareon', because I have psychic, dark and fire covered. Maybe vaporeon, in homage to the father? We shall have to see."  

[Suudonym]

A slight darkness swayed across his expression at the mention of Flareon and fire-types. He breathed a quiet sigh in what could be perceived as grudging resignation. "I was thinking about Vaporeon myself, but I wonder if it isn't more practical to have a fire-type around." The idea of acquiring another Flareon was painful - he wasn't at all interested in replacing Mieu, even if continued to believe that he wouldn't be able to recover the Eeveelution - but fire-types could produce heat and light, making them more beneficial to have on hand in various situations. Maybe that wasn't something he needed to think about, though. There were plenty of fire-types in the world; it didn't have to be a Flareon.

He raised his eyes momentarily - only momentarily, as he was continuing to dodge the actual reason he had wanted to speak with Dith and didn't want his company to realize it. "Actually, I've been thinking that I should ask if you want it back, the Eevee. Tymiko wouldn't take no for an answer, but I'm not sure you want it in my care," his hands tightened on themselves, "since my own stupidity got Mieu stolen."  

[TawnyAngel]

Damn; maybe he shouldn't have mentioned Flareon. After a moment of thought Dith cautiously raised a hand to give Luke's shoulder a brief gentle squeeze. "I do want it to be in your care," he replied quietly. "If you made a mistake in what happened, you have learned from it I'm sure. And remember you are not the only one to have lost a pokemon that way; you should not blame yourself so much as you are for a wrong that was done to you."

At that moment Zla drifted into the living room with a; "Haaaunt," of greeting, and a try held in his disembodied hands; as well as making tea the ghost type had located the cookie jar and a pair of little plates.

Dith nodded his thanks and gestured for the tray to be set down on the little table next to the sofa. "Remind me how strong you like tea?" he said with a small smile to Luke as he picked up the smaller of two steaming pots, which contained the tea-concentrate. "And do you like milk, honey, jam in it? Oh and please help yourself to cookies; I made them the day before yesterday so really they need eating up."  

[Suudonym]

There were a number of things he wanted to say to that - that he was reluctant to act on what he had learned for fear of losing his control over his temper, that he knew a wrong had been done unto him but couldn't shake the understanding that he could have prevented it - but he kept it to himself. There was no good to come from lamenting over what was already so far beyond is control. "I'll try to be more careful," he said quietly. Certainly he didn't intend to lose another pokemon, but he had even fewer plans to lose one that was a gift entrusted to him.

Luke watched the Haunter in passing curiosity as it dutifully conveyed its efforts to the table. It was sort of impressive what pokemon could be capable of sometimes. He never would have trusted, say, Tenebrae with such a task - not that the Umbreon would have been able to complete even without his mischievous streak, with his distinctly animalistic paws. The question summoned his attention back to Dith, and Luke answered with some uncertainty, "Uh, around normal, I guess? Moderately? Sorry, I don't drink tea all that often." Mostly because he never thought to buy any, really; he certainly never really disliked it when he'd been served it after meals at home. He did, however, recall his preferred additive, "Milk is fine. Thanks."

There was a slight increase in the tension surrounding the boy as he came to the conclusion that it was really in poor form for him to beat around the bush any longer; he did his best to avoid fidgeting. It was with great force of will that he finally voiced his thoughts, "I was wondering if it's possible to have treatments done even if you don't have your medical records."  

[TawnyAngel]

Dith paused in the action of picking up the teapot for a moment, looked over at Luke, and then kept pouring. "That depends," he said carefully as he added hot water to the tea concentrate. "Emergency treatment, obviously, and simple things... but I am guessing you don't mean anything too simple like an antibiotic course...?" Dith poured milk into the tea, stirred it carefully with a teaspoon and then held it out to Luke. What was going on here? He was definitely getting worried now; the question was a worrying one, and Luke looked very tense.

Now tense himself Dith waited for Luke to speak again, and entirely forgot about pouring a cup of tea for himself.

((N.B, I am doing my best to research, but more or less pulling medical stuff out of my arse. Correct me if I am wrong and you know it!))  

[Suudonym]

He accepted the cup gingerly, watching the liquid as it swirled from its own remaining momentum and allowing its warmth to soak through to his fingers. After a pause, he responded, "No, nothing that simple." That would have made things much easier, wouldn't it? Somehow he forced himself to remember that nervousness could escalate to panic and that panic would only make matters much worse, and he drew a long sigh in an only partially successful effort to breathe some composure into himself. The words taking form on his lips were surreal and hateful, and he made a mental attempt to distance himself from them, "Something to do with an arrhythmia, a congenital heart defect, and a minor heart attack..." He tightened and loosened his fingers in an uneasy rhythm.

((I am in the same boat, my friend, no worries. This RP is a no judgement zone. XD))