( closed. ) -- valley of bones,

[metalist]

Who: Pyrrha Nikos (metalist) & Minato Arisato (moribound)
When: 8/26 IC
Where: CERES gardens
What: Shoujo petals meets a zombie movie
Rating/Warning: n/a



[ It's a rare moment alone that Pyrrha seeks to exploit, drawing out her errand for as long as reasonable before Rideaux gets irritated. Her time is well in demand lately, and as much as Pyrrha is grateful to have time to give at all, she's relieved in have half an hour to herself. To walk, to think. To not have to smile.

It's not all relief in silence, however. The detour through the gardens - a scenic route she remembers well, despite having been gone and having been nothing in turn - is a pleasant distraction from cumbersome thoughts. Pyrrha's gone out of her way to fill her days to bursting in order to fight off everything she remembers, to begin again—when things creep in, it takes all her energy to fight off the sound of Cinder's arrow loosing from the bow, singing melodiously through the air.

So, to combat that, there's flowers, and the faint babbling of water, and birdsong.

There's also an albino shiba inu blinking up at her from a few feet away.

Pyrrha's going to say hi to it, because of course she is. ]

Uh, hello.

[ Looking around, ]

Are you all by yourself?

[ He isn't, but there's a lot of trees and flower bushes close at hand blocking her full field of vision. ]

Comments

[moribound]

[Thinking that someone's awkward is usually not something that crosses Minato's mind considering who he is, but not even he can overlook the stark contrast between a Pyrrha who's not scratching Koromaru's ears...and well, a Pyrrha who's scratching Koromaru's ears.

Koromaru in the meanwhile doesn't care about this. All he cares about is that there's a nice girl scratching his ears, and he barks happily to show his appreciation.]

Here, or back home? I found him a while back chewing on my friend's shoe, so it hasn't been that long. [He says it with some sense of fondness, which contrasts with how his face looks the same as before.]

[metalist]

[ Either, really, although Minato is clearly moving on and Pyrrha follows where he leads the conversation without protest. ]

... his shoe?

[ Do dogs even do that? (She's never had a non-robotic pet in her life.) ]

[moribound]

[He assumed Pyrrha just likes dogs before this, but now it almost seems like she hasn't seen many real dogs, if at all. Talk about awkward.]

Yeah, his shoe. Koromaru's a good dog though...none of us had our shoes chewed on back in our dorm. Could CERES have done something to his code? [Koromaru whines softly, protesting his innocence- he really didn't mean to set his teeth on Kaz's shoe, promise!]

Sorry for the frequent delays! I'm still getting used to a new work schedule

[metalist]

[ The most awkward! Also, not especially knowing what to say. She's far from asocial, but this is a bit of an anomaly. Why does the shoe eating dog want them to sit and talk? ]

Would that explain - [ she looks around, non-verbally indicating their current situation, bench and all, ] -- this?

It's okay!

[moribound]

Maybe. [He ponders on that for a bit.] You know how dogs are supposedly sensitive to what other people feel? He was taking walks by himself after his master died, and he might have thought you could use some company.

[It's a pretty blunt assessment considering Minato doesn't know much about Pyrrha, but Koromaru's instincts are pretty much never wrong when it comes to things like this.]

[metalist]

Oh...

[ Blunt, indeed.

Pyrrha doesn't look to mind much, however. In truth, she's not as lonely as people might think: she has a job to keep her busy, and a nice person to share her life and her space with. Despite that, it's a kind thought, and all that matters. Her scritches ease off, but there's a smile to replace them. ]

Well, thank you, Koromaru. It's nice of you to be so concerned about me.

[ Although a small part of her wonders if she's just cloaked in sadness, to the point where a dog pities her — ]

[moribound]

Woof! [Koromaru's happy to be thanked and he definitely doesn't see the need to pity anyone- pity is nothing compared to offering people company, after all.

It's subtle but Minato's smiling, the warmth of it seemingly brightening up his entire face.]

I think he's saying you're welcome. Or maybe he wants a snack, dogs can be kind of hard to read sometimes. [He reaches out to pet Koromaru, earning an approving whine.]

[metalist]

Oh!

[ Right. A snack.

Pyrrha digs into her pockets and pulls out... a hershey's kiss, wrapped in silver, with a little scrunched up post-it note clinging stubbornly to it.

The note is signed with a J, and Pyrrha's smile changes somewhat when she reads it, but back in the pocket it goes. ]

Sorry, it doesn't seem like I have anything.