[PRP] For the Love of Music

[Akira Midoriyama]

It was a little past noon as a young lady slumped over the outdoor table. Three empty ice cream float glasses stood beside her elbow as she buried her face in her arms. A Leafeon sat at her feet, nudging her leg every so often before finally just settling its head on her knee. The figure groaned, but reached a hand down to stroke the pokemon's head.

"What am I gonna do, Happa?" she whined. "I don't know what to do anymore...how to help, how not to help...I thought this life would be easier, but it's not!"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Noon was a rather busy time in Camphoreon, he'd noticed, both on the road and along the sidewalks - not that he minded, especially on his days off. It made a perfect place to settle down on a bench with his guitar and a song - well, one of the perfect places, at any rate - to hopefully offer passersby a chance to listen to a song. Music always soothed his nerves and he assumed it did for others as well, whether or not that was actually the case.

With his large guitar case strapped to his back and his thumbs in his pockets, Abel moved through the thin crowd at an easy pace. As he began to pass by an ice cream shop, a quiet song started to leave his lips, causing his colorful Espeon to make a pleased churr as he trotted along after his friend, following closely so as to avoid being stepped on by others on the sidewalk.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Though the youth had a pair of headphones draped about the back of her neck, no sound seemed to come from them. Akira had tired of the songs she'd brought on her mp3 player; a lot of them were too painful to listen to in times like these because of their reminders. Thus, there was nothing to keep her sensitive ears from catching the notes of music that drifted toward her as a stranger walked by. Happa's ears perked too. The Leafeon raised his head and barked a greeting at the colorful Espeon who approached.

Turning her head so she could get a better glimpse through her somewhat disheveled curtain of hair, she listened. Suddenly, she too raised her head before calling out to the singer. "Excuse me! What...what's that song you're singing? If you don't mind me asking," she added meekly, looking down at her shoes when she realized how odd her random request must have sounded to the completely unfamiliar passerby.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The bark caught Isaac's attention, and his head swiveled towards the Leafeon to which he offered a return bark to be polite, though he didn't stop just yet.

A young girl's voice reached his ears and Abel halted and turned to look for the source of the sound, his colorful eyes quickly scanning and easily finding the girl sitting at a table and looking rather sheepish for distracting a stranger. Isaac, once Abel had stopped, also stopped and peered between his trainer and the girl with her Leafeon. The distraction had also ceased the blonde's singing, and the response he gave her was simply a vaguely confused look as he raised a hand to the back of his neck. "Ah," he started uncertainly, "I was singing? Sorry, I don't always notice when I'm doing it." Whatever tune had been in his mind and floating from his lips had been startled out of his wandering thoughts when the girl's question pulled his attention. Whoops.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Oh. That's alright," she said quickly, waving a hand in a careless gesture. Though, honestly, she didn't understand how anyone could forget a song - especially one that had only just died on their lips. "Sorry to bother you."

As Akira regarded the stranger, however, brown eyes settled upon the guitar case and her lips parted slightly in surprise. "Um...do you play?" she couldn't help asking.

Happa looked from his own trainer to the other to the Espeon, unsure of the exchange going on between the two humans.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

He merely nodded in response to her dismissal, and when her eyes wandered, so did his - mostly to the three ice cream float glasses sitting on the table. Had she had all of those by herself, or was she the last one there out of two or three friends? Well, either way, he wouldn't judge. When she asked her next question, one he received fairly often when he toted his guitar case around, he smiled and stepped closer to the table and out of the way of passersby. "Yep," he affirmed readily, his hand lowering to return his thumb to his pocket. "I play guitar and sing along the streets sometimes, or in the park. Do you play an instrument?"

Isaac moved to follow Abel out of the way before sitting down with his tail curled around his paws, offering a polite smile to the Leafeon. He'd heard such questions asked of his owner before, so this was nothing new to him.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

At the confirmation, Akira's face lit up. It quickly dimmed to a glow of embarrassment, however, with the question that followed. "Well, I've tried to teach myself piano, but I'm miserable at it. I can read notes, though. In fact, I,uh...I used to compose some songs in my free time in high school. But those days are long gone." Her lips turned up in a melancholy smile. "That's a lovely Espeon you have there. What's its name?"

The Leafeon returned Isaac's smile uncertainly, perhaps a little shy. he said quietly,  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Yeah?" Abel said, his brows raising. "That's still pretty sweet that you can write music like that. Or used to - why'd you give it up?" He asked with a light frown, his head tilting a bit.

Mention of his Espeon made the blonde aim a grin down at the pokemon before lifting his gaze back to the young woman, "That's my buddy Isaac, and I'm sure he appreciates the compliment."

The aforementioned Espeon half-turned to clearly regard the woman before offering her a warm, pleased, "prrreeeee" at her words. He didn't want to be so impolite as to not even acknowledge her compliment. With that done, the psychic-type turned back to the Leafeon, the ends of his forked tail twitching idly as he offered him a warm smile. he said, dipping his head a little in his gratitude before he straightened back up again. he offered along with another small dip of his head,