[FIN] Mourning Dove

[Tori Honoo]

Dove stood quietly at the ocean's edge, her hands tucked away in the pockets of the jacket that hung over her shoulders. Her eyes stayed unwaveringly fixed on the horizon as the waves fell and broke at her feet, her expression blank; she had finally decided to leave the confines of her new home, though she had yet to speak to anyone she had passed on the way here. After long hours of mindless wandering through the town, she had found herself on the beach, still lost in stone silence.

Lovey stayed a few paces away from her, her ears tucked low. Her trainer was starting to frighten her with her change of moods; just yesterday she had been so upset she had barely made the effort to get out of bed, and now...

Now the silence was different.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri was just out walking on the beach, minding his own business. It was sunny and decent out today. Unlike some of the cold, blustery ones they'd had lately. So, well, it was a good time to get out and about. Although it was still too cold for casual beachwear. Thus, the raven haired man was in his usual attire as he walked along.

Repede was at his side, occasionally darting ahead, sniffing things, and chasing the surf. However, the canine paused when the shifting winds brought a familiar scent to his nose. He wuffed at his partner, who took his gaze from the ocean to look at his companion.

"Hm?"

The Growlithe then motioned with his head towards the girl down the beach. Oh... huh. Yeah she looked familiar all right. Yuri kept on at his unhurried pace, eventually coming within earshot of the girl.

"Hey, I seem to keep running into you. What's up?"  

[Tori Honoo]

Though her attention had been absently trained on the crashing sound of the waves as they shattered at the shore, it was tugged back to reality as the monotonous rhythm was broken by the man's voice. Turning only a fraction to glance at him from the corner of her eye, she sighed, closed them, then returned her gaze to the waters in front of her.

"Looks like it," she said almost flatly, her voice almost alien to herself. She offered nothing else, standing still as the breeze caught her hair and tossed it behind her.

Lovey, ears still low, looked toward the pair as they continued to approach, offering a small, weak tail wag in greeting.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Talk about the cold shoulder," Yuri said with a blink as he came up to stand within a few feet of the girl. He hadn't expected such a grim reply. Seems like everyone was out of sorts lately. First Luke, and now Dove? Just what was going on with everybody?

Repede woofed back at Lovey, but could also sense the ill ease in the air. Things were not right with these two.  

[Tori Honoo]

She closed her eyes again at his response, realizing that even in her mood, none of this was Yuri's fault. He certainly hadn't done anything to deserve such cold greeting, but in her current mood, it was almost all she could do to even speak to the man, let alone save face and pretend she was happy.

"Sorry. It's been a rough few days..." she explained quietly, her voice still barren of emotion. "How're you?"

Lovey stayed back another moment, then padded slowly toward Repede, careful to keep a safe, small distance between her and the downcast girl. She glanced at the growlithe, shaking her head almost timidly.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri sighed a little. He wasn't particularly fond of dealing with situations like this, but well.. it looked like Dove could use a friend. And he was here. So.

"Can't complain really, but yeah I can tell you've had better days."

He wasn't going to ask. Instead he would wait and see if she brought up the subject on her own. Repede looked over at Lovey as he sat on the sand next to Yuri, lifting a paw in the air at the little Eevee.  

[Tori Honoo]

The comment actually brought a grim smirk to her face, though it faded almost as quickly as it had come as she spoke. "I look that good, huh?" she asked sarcastically, taking a deep breath. Really she needed to calm down.

"What have you been up to?" she asked, still emotionless. Even though the last time she had spoken to Yuri had been incredibly embarrassing, she felt not even a flicker of shyness within her. Recent events had made her almost numb to everything around her.

The eevee watched the growlithe lift his paw, then ducked her head a little, nodding toward her trainer. She wouldn't go any closer at the moment... she had been trying to help the girl overcome her sadness the past few days, and had accomplished nothing.  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri placed a hand on his hip, lifting a brow as he watched her. Wow, yeah, she was really out of it. Usually this girl was pretty cheerful and stuff, but now she was just... flat lined.

"Well right now I'm watching a girl act as if the world was ending and she didn't give a damn."

A bit blunt, but well... that was just Yuri. He didn't particularly beat around the bush.

"And to be honest, it's kinda disturbing."  

[Tori Honoo]

Though a good portion of her wanted to bite back and tell the man that her world had indeed ended, she wouldn't allow herself to give into that, to make herself sound so pathetic, though looking back on her actions later, she would realize that she had indeed seen her ex as her world. Oh, how blind she had been.

"There are parts of it I shouldn't care so much about."

She clenched her jaw as she kept her eyes on the sea, forcing back the tears that now pricked at her eyes again. How weak was she, to have tears start again after so few words?  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Yeah, like what?" Yuri asked.

However, he could kinda see where this was going. He had a strong hunch that this had something to do with Dove's infamous boyfriend. The one that sucked so much. And if that was the case, well, he knew she was probably better off without him.  

[Tori Honoo]

She stayed quiet a long while, not trusting her voice. Dropping her gaze to her feet for a moment, she dug her toe into the sand, not really caring if it dirtied her shoes. "I um--"

She took a deep breath and raised her gaze again. "I'm just not sure how long this 'vacation' should last."  

[BlackPidgeot]

Yuri raised the other brow. Hm.

"Oh yeah? Thinking about going home to the boyfriend?"

Yeah, he asked that on purpose.  

[Tori Honoo]

After a beat, she shook her head, kicking the sand off of her foot and turning to walk again, her chest tightening uncomfortably. "What boyfriend?" she asked smoothly, mentally choking on her words.

Lovey watched as the girl started walking again, throwing a desperate, sinking look to the young man and the fire-type. She wasn't sure how to handle the situation at all; even though she had grown up with the girl, she had never seen her quite like this...so dead and cold.

Then again, Lovey had seen more than her fair share that neither she nor her trainer had recognized.  

[BlackPidgeot]

"Yeah that's what I thought," Yuri said at Dove's comment. When she started to walk away though, Yuri didn't budge. He just stayed right where he was. However, his mouth didn't stop.

"So you're just gonna let some moron continue to rule your life even after you broke up with him?"

Cause well, she sure was in a bad mood over it. And Yuri wasn't exactly encouraging a pity party here.  

[Tori Honoo]

She stopped a few steps away, her shoulders tensing. Though she refused to agree to what he had said, a deeper part of her tightened at his words. "There's more to it," she snapped, turning to face him, though her gaze didn't meet his eyes. "It's not that easy."