[FIN] Are you still mad?

[Akira Midoriyama]

Despite Rosie's suggestion the night she'd met him at his work, Akira had not near enough the courage to go visit Sera in person. He wasn't even sure where he could find her. However, the blonde's encouragement had certainly inspired the shop clerk to contact her somehow. It had been long enough. He had to know if she was still angry with him; what her current state of mind was now that she had had some time to deal with the trauma she had faced.

The phone seemed the most ideal option, but texting was too impersonal. As a person of auditory intelligence, it made the most sense to Akira to call her and listen to her voice. It would be nice to hear it again regardless of what words would be spoken with it or mood she would be in. Picking up his cell, he selected her number, pressed the dialing button, and held the receiver up to his ear.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine hadn't expected Akira's name to pop up on her phone when it began buzzing around her nightstand, signaling an incoming call, and she hesitated before picking it up, accepting said call, and holding her phone to her ear. "Hello?" She said, her tone a little uncertain. While it wasn't unwelcome to receive a call from him, she was still a little hesitant - she'd yelled at him the last time she saw him. She'd yelled at him when all he was trying to do was console her. Did he really want to speak to her now?  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"H-hello," he answered tentatively, trying to think of what to say. His mind had turned blank, half having expected to get her voice mail instead. "U-um...is this Miss Seraphine? This is Akira. I wasn't sure if you would have wanted to hear from me, but I happened to see Rosie the other day and she suggested I contact you. She, um...said you were doing a little better." He paused. "I'm glad."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

For some reason, she was a little nervous at hearing his voice; but why? Maybe because of how awful a state she'd been in the last time she'd seen him. Yes, that was probably it. Regardless, her mind sent fidgeting signals to her left hand for the fingers to flex, and though that hand was long gone, the muscles still complied as much as they were able. "Ah, this is Sera," she replied, glancing down at her arm to see - and feel - the muscles moving nervously. With a frown, it ceased. "And yeah, I'm doing better. I uhh.. Yeah, I'm doing a lot better." Oh yes, she was much better than last time; she no longer stumbled around like an apathetic, teary-eyed zombie. "Ah.. How are you doing?"  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh, that's...that's great to hear," the young man responded, his own voice sounding alien and monotone to his ears. He was acting like a robot. It wasn't helping to make an awkward situation any less awkward between the two of them but he couldn't think of how to break the ice. "Me? Well, I can't complain; not really. I work, eat, and sleep. It's a daily ritual, but, um..." He swallowed to wet his dry throat. "It's no fun without you."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She hesitated and frowned down at where her hand should've been once more. He wasn't still... Nah, he couldn't have been. He had absolutely no reason to - he even had reasons not to at this point, anyway. Pushing that thought and related thoughts aside, she pushed herself off her bed and moved to her closet, rummaging through it and pulling out the dresses she hadn't worn since before her accident, back when she actually felt pretty and wholly believed in that feeling. "Yeah, well," she started into the phone cradled between her ear and her shoulder as she pulled out a pink one and held it in front of her, "a lot of things are no fun without me, you should know that by now." While it wasn't much, her tones at least shifted more towards the way she spoke and how she acted before - a little more confident and teasing - although now it was merely a shallow projection than something she felt or believed. Not that she'd ever admit it, of course. "Though I'll be honest, being me has been boring lately, too. Oh, I got my Umbreon back," she added, her voice becoming more positive and normal - or normal for before the accident - the more she spoke. She vaguely recalled mentioning Anastasia to him the last time she'd seen him, or at least weeping about her missing pokemon. Ugh, that had been a horrible day. Well, her whole life had been full of horrible days since that day last year... Though, she couldn't just think that - there had been lots of good days, too.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

The young man's brow furrowed at the manner with which she spoke; a mere shade of what once was. Was she trying to pretend that everything was back to normal? Perhaps not; perhaps it was just the only way she knew how to express any semblance of normality. It was somewhat painful to hear, knowing that the full force of vitality that had once powered that voice would never be the same, but he supposed at least it was preferable to tears.

"Heh, yes, I guess I should," he said, forcing a laugh. "I'm very glad to hear you got your Umbreon back. And while I think I'll avoid asking how, at least for now, I can't say I honestly believe that bit about being you being boring." He took a breath, feeling like an over-bearing older brother once more, but he wouldn't have been able to sleep well if he didn't at least ask.

"I heard...that there was some incident recently involving the League going up against Team Rocket," he said slowly, giving her some time to see where this was going. "You, um...you and your adventurous friends wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you have...?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

While he admitted he would avoid asking, Seraphine completely ignored his statement and elaborated regardless. "Luke got her back," she explained happily, looking down at the dress held to her chest and wondering when she'd feel pretty enough to wear it again. "A friend of his found her, and gave her to Luke to give to me. And, I dunno, it's been pretty boring around here lately. Or at least, I haven't been doing anything too exciting." Nothing except going with her friends to fight Team Rocket, and then trying to help Luke adjust to his paralysis.

His next question was surprisingly related to her current thoughts, and she paused with a light frown as she considered how best to respond. "Well," she started while she put that dress back and pulled out another one, "I could say 'no, we had nothing to do with that' but then I'd be lying, and that's kind of pointless, so..."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh, did he?" Although he had refrained from asking out of politeness, Akira wasn't adverse to hearing about how she'd gotten her pokemon back if Sera had felt like telling him. "Wow, that's...really lucky. And here I thought someone might have had to storm a fortress or something." He smiled faintly.

At her response, however, that smile faded. "I see." he said. "Well I'm glad you didn't feel the need to lie to me, but I wonder if, had I not asked, the matter would have been brought up at all. Miss Seraphine, you're very brave to be doing such things, you and your friends. Still, though, I worry, and while I know I can't do anything to stop you, I'd like to be in the loop as much as I can. Especially if there's anything at all that I could possibly do to help."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yes," she affirmed happily, her pale eyes shifting to the Umbreon sleeping peacefully on her bed. "I'm not sure how or where he found her, but I'm just glad to have her back." If her words weren't proof enough of this, her relieved tones were. His comment about storming fortresses, though, gave her pause.

Well, that was quite a relevant way to phrase it. "Like I said, lying would be kind of dumb in this instance," she said with a shrug, eying the dress in her hand as much as she could without dropping the phone held between her shoulder and her ear. "And honestly? I dunno if it would've come up. We haven't talked in a while," which was likely her fault, "and things have happened since then that are more important, so I've been focusing on those instead of what happened when we all went. I can tell you about it if you want, but it might worry you more - you're kind of a little worrywart, aren't you?" She asked, a smile in her voice at the tease. It was true, though; from what she knew, he worried quite a bit.

"If you wanted to help in something like that, you would've needed pokemon," she informed him, hanging the dress back in the closet before she paused. "What pokemon do you have again? I remember you had a... Leafeon, I think? Last time," the brunette ended vaguely. What others did he have...? She couldn't actually recall if she'd seen or heard of any or not, but perhaps she had.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Why do you say that?" he asked, referring to Sera's comment that lying would have been dumb. Her following point stabbed at his conscience, though he guessed she hadn't meant for it to. Perhaps he should have called her sooner, as a good friend should have. But, as he'd told Rosie, he wasn't even sure if their relationship could be called that much at this point. Friends could comfort each other, not make them feel worse.

"'Since then'?" he repeated, a note of concern in his tone. What could have possibly happened since the confrontation with Team Rocket that had been more important? Had she put herself in more danger than he'd known of? With a sigh, he put a hand to his temples, rubbing them to ease the tension. He'd almost forgotten what it felt like to care about someone else since he'd just had to look after himself as of late. Would he ever stop worrying about someone or the other? Especially when he knew those peoples' actions were out of his control?

"...Yes, I suppose I am," Akira conceded unhappily. He was a worrywart, a nag...almost a parent. Wonderful. "Still, I like to know these things," he added, as a true parent would have. "Even if I can't do anything about them, I like to know what's going on with you." He could handle a little more stress. Actually, knowing might have been better than not knowing in terms of stress, considering the alternative meant leaving it up to his imagination.

As the topic of pokemon was brought up, the young man sighed. "That wasn't exactly the kind of help I meant, but yes, I have a Leafeon. I also have a Serperior whom I've been trying to train for a while, now. Ever since I heard about that run-in you all had with Rosie's sister in Kanto." He hesitated. "It hasn't exactly been easy and I haven't managed to make a whole lot of progress, but I found someone who was able to give me some good training tips."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Because there's hardly any point," she countered with a shrug as she frowned at her closet, moving to take her phone in hand again and switch to her other ear.

Since then.. "Ah, well, it's less what's happened since then and more... what happened because of it, I guess? It's weird," she tried to explain, then frowned down at where her hand should be as she raised that arm. "It's nothing that happened to me, though, so it's none of my business to go talking about it." Meaning, he would get no answers out of her even if he asked her to elaborate.

He didn't appear to take the teasing as she'd meant it, which made her frown yet again, her brows furrowed as well. "Well, I can tell you about it if you want," she repeated. If he wanted to know, all he had to do was ask.

"What kind of help did you mean, then?" A Leafeon and a Serperior - grass-types, and she'd only had experience with one of those. The red and white striped snake pokemon came to mind immediately, whether she liked it or not. Still, it was interesting to hear that he'd been training, ever since the competition - something else he hadn't gone to and had only heard of. "It hasn't been easy for me either, though it's much easier now than it was when I first started. Who's helping you? I can't remember if I told you or not but this chick named Ray has been helping me." He'd met Ray, right? Certainly. He must have. "She was at my party," the brunette added, in case he needed a reminder.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Hmm..." Oh boy. This conversation was starting to sound awfully familiar.

"I'd appreciate that," he answered in response to her offer of telling him. "I've been relatively out of touch with the world, working all night and sleeping all day." It was hardly better than before he'd started this new lifestyle. This realization frustrated him somewhat and he tugged on his bangs as he continued listening.

"I meant - " What did he mean? Not comfort, surely. "Well, anything, really. That includes using pokemon, but that just wasn't specifically what I had in mind because it's not one of my strong points. I guess I was just thinking general support."

Her following question gave him pause. "Yes...Ray. You told me all about her after you came back for a break from training with her," Akira reminded her. "And yes, I remember her from your party. I asked her for advice recently. She seems like she knows her stuff, but I'm still trying to work out how she does it."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Figuring his 'I'd appreciate that' was as close as he could get to actually asking to be told about it, the girl shrugged as she closed her closet door with her foot and moved to her dresser and the various items strewn atop its surface. "Well, I dunno about you, but all of us got a message from the League asking for help, so we went to help. Went out to the desert to find Team Rocket's hideout or whatever, but we found them in some cars instead, trying to get away, so we stopped them. I think they arrested most of them, but the ones that didn't get away blew up the cars they were trying to escape in, and some people got hurt because of it," she finished her explanation, her tones hinting that she didn't see it as a very big deal. At least, she didn't think as much of it anymore. At the time, it had been quite stressful and a little frightening, but such feelings had long since passed from her mind, replaced by more important matters.

He meant other things? Huh. "Alright," the brunette said, though a little confused. "I guess I understand. I dunno, like I said, in this instance the best way to help was with pokemon, but I dunno what anything else will be like. Support, though... I guess you mean like talking about things too? Emotional support, or something." The kind of thing she sucked at - and, as she recalled, he kind of did, too.

"Oh, right," she replied, brows raising a bit. Yes, of course she complained all about her at first - how could she forget? Probably because she couldn't remember who she'd complained to and who she hadn't. Oh well. "Yeah, she knows a lot, and I'm pretty sure it's from working with pokemon for years. She's had a lot of time to get as much experience as she has - however much that is," she ended with a small shrug that he wouldn't see, not that that was something she was thinking about.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I did, but I thought at my current level of...'trainership', I'd just get in the way." He lapsed into silence as she went into an explanation of what happened when they went to help the League.

Maybe it was the subject matter. Maybe it was her careless tone. Perhaps a little of both. Whatever it was, it caused Akira to excuse himself before setting down the phone. He must not have silenced it properly, because a few moments later, muffled curses and shouts of profanity in a mix of English and some other indiscernible language came through the receiver.

Eventually he returned. "Sorry about that," he said, sounding somewhat curt. "Yes...talking about things. Though if you'll recall, I suck at that too, so maybe it was pointless to offer my help at all. Sorry for wasting your time." A tone of annoyance had crept into his voice. Annoyance at what, though, was unclear.

"Mmhmm. She certainly has," Akira agreed briskly. "Pardon me, Miss Seraphine, but something just came up and I have to...go somewhere. To deal with something. It was a pleasure talking to you; I'll call you again soon, okay? Bye!"