Who will be there for you?

[yattagarasu]

Who: yattagarasu and OPEN
Where: The fringes of Azalea Town, but not too far out
When: Friday, September 10th, evening-ish (forward-dated because I won't be here tomorrow and I only remembered this date not too long ago!)
Summary: Kay goes to pay respects to the deceased in the only way she can. AS USUAL, action or prose is fine with me, whatever sails your

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[darkenedgales]

Just like Kay's Murkrow, Crow didn't like the idea of staying out in the rain, or at least not for long. Therefore, as soon as he'd finished a short training session with his team (he wasn't a slave driver to have them fight in such weather for more than half an hour, really, and even then, Gale seemed to be willing to continue) and buying the necessary supplies in the mart, he was ready to go back to the PokeCenter and probably collapse on his bed

[yattagarasu]

She normally wouldn't have noticed, and later on, Kay couldn't have said why or how she even had; it could have been a flash of bright hair or a faint sound or just a hunch, but she did turn. When she saw just who it was walking away, she gave the flowers a quick glance, and then took a step back. That step back turned into three, and then she was jogging after her friend, half-wondering how much of that he'd heard. Not that it mattered, he knew most of it anyway, and Kay wasn't the kind of person to be ashamed or embarrassed at talking to the spirits of the departed.

"Crow!" she called, once she was a little closer.

[darkenedgales]

Oh crap. He hadn't planned for that.

Hearing his name being called, Crow stopped walking and turned around to face Kay. Honestly, having seen what he just did, he wasn't sure what to say, so he looked away from her. "I, uh, didn't mean to eavesdrop or anything."

Smooth, Hogan. Real smooth.

[yattagarasu]

About as smooth as a bumpy road, as far as Kay was concerned, but (for once), she didn't say anything remotely like that. Instead, she studied him curiously, not sure why he looked so awkward. Or why he was even avoiding looking at her at all. It wasn't like he'd walked in on her changing or something.

"How much did you hear, anyway?" It wasn't demanding or upset, just curious.

[bakaitoukid]

Stealth might not have been a part of Kid's modus operandi, but that didn't mean Kaito didn't have the ability to be sneaky in his repertoire. Like any good thief before him, he had managed to perfect the art of sneaking around, which made shadowing people a cinch when heists required him to do as such.

Even so, that was not how he wound up stumbling on Kay's private ceremony on the edges of Azalea (he liked to think he had plenty of respect for people's privacy, unlike certain detectives he knew). Drizzle or not, his Pokemon team was ready and willing to train, and Route 33 was the perfect place to do so. So with his backpack restocked with potions and other healing items just in case, Biz perched on his head and his still unnamed Eevee trotting close to his heels, he left the sleepy town of Azalea behind to spend the afternoon on Route 33

[yattagarasu]

This was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder not more than a minute later, not intended to startle but to alert him to the fact that Kay was very much aware of his presence. Not that she had been, but she'd finished with what she needed to say, and timing had led to her spotting her fellow thief.

... Who had been startlingly close, now that she thought about it. She'd have to ask him for tips on stealth in rainy weather at a later point.

"I must have gotten terrifying without knowing it if I scared you off before I even turned around," she greeted him lightly. "Or did you just finish training?"

[bakaitoukid]

For the third time that afternoon he stopped in his tracks, this time prompted by the hand on his shoulder. The grin he gave her from over his shoulder was slightly sheepish (almost as if he had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar or something similar) and apologetic. She didn't seem upset or embarrassed that he had intruded on something so personal though, and that was a good sign.

"I was just about to start, actually," he said as he jerked a thumb toward the Aipom on his head, who lifted a paw to wave at Kay.

"And I didn't mean to eavesdrop either, in case you're wondering. Er. Sorry about that."

[yattagarasu]

"It's fine!" She waved off the apology just as blithely as she'd interrupted him, retracting her hand to return Biz's wave and idly stretching. Kaito might have been mischievous and stealthy, but he wasn't the type to eavesdrop on something if he knew privacy was desired. Though truthfully, Kay didn't mind either way. She just rarely had company when she'd visited her father's grave before, and she hadn't expected it here, when he didn't even have a grave to visit.

"I'm finished, anyway," she added on the same breath. "It wasn't anything too exciting, so you didn't miss much."

[overthedratini]

Johan hadn't thought much of it when Kay said she was going to get more supplies. He'd offered a simple "Don't stay out too long, it looks like it's going to rain." and went back to sitting with Lazuli and watching over the Eevee and sitting with Byrne. It wasn't until a few moments after Kay had left and a few more moments of watching over her Eevee that he'd recalled he himself could probably use some more supplies, and with that in mind, he left Misola with the Murkrow and the two babies and set off - not necessarily after Kay, but moreso after a few things he could use

[yattagarasu]

For her part, Kay didn't budge once she'd finished speaking. There were things she still wanted to say - there would always be things to say, no matter how long she talked - but they weren't things she could actually voice. Not without the risk of losing her composure, and seven-- eight years now had taken the edge off her grief. Did it assuage it completely? No, but she hadn't expected it to. Loss was something that stayed with you, even though you could usually suppress it. Renewed loss was just something a little more recent and painful.

She sighed after a few more minutes and started to turn back to town (the others would notice if she took too long), but then she caught sight of a familiar figure. Considering their last night in Azalea had been a date, that this night was almost exactly the opposite... she didn't miss the irony. Still, Johan was always a welcome sight, and she turned more to face him directly, inviting him over with a crooked smile and a small hand motion.

[overthedratini]

He froze instantly as she turned, his expression mirroring that of a deer caught in headlights. After all, if he had been right that he was intruding, worried or not, he'd be in the wrong, and-- ... He let out a breath after a few moments, realizing Kay was waving him over. At the very least, that meant she wasn't upset with him. Not that she ever really had been before, but...

While he normally might be much better at being able to tell how she would feel and react, he mused as he jogged over, this was... completely new territory for him, so he should be prepared for anything. Though from the looks of things, Kay was still Kay, odd smile aside (though it was still a smile, which meant she was still Kay) so... hopefully there was nothing to worry about after all. As long as Kay could be okay, that was all that mattered to him right now anyway.

"E-Ehe... Hey, Kay," he started as he arrived to stand directly across from her, now fully able to see what she had been speaking to earlier behind her.

[yattagarasu]

The Swiss Rolls and the flowers were definitely in plain view, an offering for a grave that wasn't there, but Kay had done her best with what limited supplies she had. Spirits could probably see and hear you anyway, or so she hoped; surely her father's ghost wouldn't be restricted solely to his own world if his living daughter was no longer in it.

"Hey," she returned the greeting with a brighter smile, giving the flowers a glance before looking back at Johan. She'd thought she'd feel a little more awkward around him after that talk with Kaito, but she'd been able to act the same-- more or less. She certainly didn't seem awkward now. "I wasn't out that long, was I?"

[savethefarron]

Snow and Franziska had just pulled into town. Like, literally, the two of them had been passing by in the rain when he'd spotted Kay. He'd told Franziska he'd catch up, she'd called him a fool, and then he was alone. Well, alone with the distant addition of Kay.

But now that Franziska was disappearing into the distance and Snow was left on the path in the rain, he realized he had no idea what he was even going to do. He'd sent his travel-partner ahead so he could talk to Kay, make sure nothing was up, but... Now he'd watched her a second, and he really got the feeling it was something a little private for him to barge into.

But he couldn't just stand there, now that he'd probably pissed off Franziska for the night. So after a minute or so, he reached a hand into his pocket to pull out a PokeBall and silently push the center button. His Flaaffy appeared on the ground in front of him, ducking her head in surprise at the rain, then noticing Kay. She seemed to sense that it wasn't playtime though, choosing not to get disgustingly

[yattagarasu]

Kay had been so lost in thought that she'd entirely missed the little pink thing approaching-- when normally she would have seen Thundara coming a mile away and done a Baywatch-esque run to greet her. As it was, she jumped a little, looking down at the Flaaffy with widened eyes. "Thundara...?" Not like there was any other Flaaffy around who'd just show up like this.

There were a few other questions on her mind, like what she was doing there, and the thought that she ought to look for Snow... but as the little pink sheep cuddled closer, she bit her lip and pulled her closer.

"Hey," she murmured, lifting her fully into her arms. "Wet wool can't be fun, huh?"

[savethefarron]

The Flaaffy crawled eagerly up onto Kay's lap, nestling her damp nose under Kay's possibly damp chin and pressing, as if she couldn't cuddle her aunt quite enough. 'Flaaffy,' she sighed, but it wasn't an unhappy sigh so much as one resigned to the rain. She was trying to keep all electrical activity to an absolute minimum, but the rain seemed to bring out the static, so there was no doubt that Kay was tingling a bit in some of the places her skin had in contact with Thundara's wool.

Snow, meanwhile, watched this exchange from afar. He waited a couple of minutes until he was sure that his sheep had interrupted her in the most pleasant way possible. Then he sidled up behind her, quietly pulling something from his pack as he did.

The first thing Kay probably noticed, though, would be the sudden and distinct lack of rain hitting her in the head. Because after his casual but stealthy approach, he (somehow, through no fault of his own, cough cough) found himself standing directly behind her, holding an umbrella over her head with one hand

[yattagarasu]

It wasn't a painful shock, but maintaining close contact with something that kept giving you little zaps (like continuously shuffling your way across an expanse of carpet and then repeatedly grasping a doorknob) wasn't the most pleasant feeling; Kay finally settled for wrapping her muffler around the bare sections of her arms and holding Thundara that way.

It wasn't long after that. As accustomed as she had grown to the rain falling on her head and working at plastering her hair to her forehead, it took Kay a minute to register that there was a distinctly different sound as the rain fell, and that there was no longer water dripping down on her. Snow probably missed her surprised stare as she turned her head, but then she grinned in a "Whoops, I've been caught" manner and shifted her armful affectionately for better cuddling opportunities.

"I figured the drizzling would stop eventually," she offered meekly.