Brightness in a Time of Tragedy (SG/Open)

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Zoro's "costume", as it were, had been the oddest blend of shocking, amusing, and mildly unnerving to Alaric. The transformation itself was spectacular enough, and something he didn't think he'd get used to even if he saw it a thousand times, but the end result- he couldn't help but wonder if he was going for a Bianca's-brother look or if that had just been the first thing to come to mind. Still, it certainly served its purpose well enough, and the reaction was far from all-negative, so he was perfectly content to follow the new form through the crowds of the shelter.

His mood, however, fell lower and lower the deeper in they went, the more people they passed. He really did his best to-... well, not ignore it but... push all the negative feelings aside and.. whatever it was he was trying to do.. He did that, but he still found himself so very crestfallen by actually seeing all the injured refugees and broken families and--

Oh God Bianca.

He'd been so distracted looking around as they walked that he hadn't even noticed Zoro stop until just shy of bumping into him, and when he finally realized Bianca was right there Alaric stopped rather cold. He'd known this would be awkward. He was fully prepared for that, and really would have been fine by comparison if that was all it was. But somehow seeing her- actually seeing her, injuries or no- stirred something different: unexpected and impossible for him to place.

Was... was that nostalgia? .. Not entirely but.. that kind of felt part of it? Three months really wasn't enough time to build nostalgia, was it? Three months on both accounts, for that matter- that they'd been together and that it had been since, roughly at any rate. But just... everything. Well, almost everything; several things were new or unusual here but.. oh God her precious kitties and oh God Pixie's face and just so much, he... He was honestly stunned how much he'd missed them. And her. He missed a lot of people but it....

To be fair, Bianca had been the longest he'd been with a girl since Delilah. (Naturally, Kaelea, who now passed Lilah, didn't count. They were just friends, after all.) Even still...

Thus he stood there, staring, barely reacting when addressed (and probably doing nothing to help her discomfort at being seen in this state) and barely hearing as Yuki and Bianca exchanged a few words. Finally, a few moments after that, all his thoughts came falling back into the present at once, and he fell to his knees with them, longing eyes locked on Bianca, though where about her varied greatly. His first instinct had been to lunge out and cling to her, similar to when he'd seen Yukiko, and for a moment he'd flinched as he almost did so; as he'd started to, though, he'd finally noticed her bandages and stopped, afraid of hurting her.

"I..." He wavered, not even sure where that was going. A moment later, another half-sound formed in his throat and died away. "Bianca..." he finally managed; now there was a word she hadn't heard often out of him. Alaric had a terrible habit of rarely addressing people by name, with only a few exceptions. A few more moments passed as he seemed like he was trying to think of what to say before finally he simply stopped thinking. Finally, he ended up all but throwing himself at her anyway, if slightly more restrained that his initial thoughts: one hand made to bury itself in her thick amethyst hair, while the other steadied him on the ground, and he attempted to steal as deep a kiss as his queen would allow.

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[SongofWindchimes]

The quick reply and weak smile from the woman amused Bianca a little. It reminded her a bit of Kate, as pretty much any quiet woman tended to, no matter how dissimilar the individual really was. She probably would have said something else to try to make her more comfortable, when the sound of Alaric's knees hitting the floor instantly caused her attention to snap to him. The slight haze she'd been under lifted, and her eyes took on their usual sharp focus.

They also took on a look of mild dread when she saw how he was staring at her. The weight that had been lifted when she saw the other woman slammed back down into place, causing near-physical pain. The way he spoke her name--that he'd spoken it at all--just made it worse. That was what had been gripping at her with icy fingers when Alaric first convinced her to date him. Fear of this. And yet, she couldn't speak, couldn't think of anything to say or do to break the silent moments before...

Bianca should have expected what happened next, and yet it still took her by surprise. Part of her wanted to scramble out of Alaric's reach when he got closer, but the fact remained that moving wasn't something very comfortable right now; Mercury may have been fairly small and more bumpy than outright pointy, but it had been more for emotional comfort that she'd rested against the dragon. But moving the slight amount required to prevent or break the kiss, even just turning her head away from Alaric, would have been within her ability.

She didn't. Fear and guilt swirled together in her stomach and she wasn't sure if she was going to cry or be sick, but, right now, after watching the life she'd built and clung to for years crumble, nearly taking her with it, those feelings were mixed with a need for comfort. It was selfish. It was taking advantage. She hated herself for it. But she couldn't bring herself to stop Alaric from kissing her as long and deeply as he wanted.

Zoro's reaction was similarly conflicted. The dark fox's entire body went rigid, and his lip curled back to show a few of his teeth as he felt the immediate impulse to physically tear Alaric away from Bianca. He restrained himself, however, taking in and out a few slow breaths and trying to calm the protective instincts that had flared into life. This wasn't what Bianca needed right now. He knew this would just tear at her emotionally worse than the shrapnel had torn her up physically. She was hurt and vulnerable; what she needed was a friend.

And yet, the fact that it was Alaric was probably the only reason Zoro hadn't sprung into action, because he knew that the man could never mean Bianca any harm, and also because, at nearly any other time, seeing them together would have made him happy. Alaric had broken through a barrier somehow when he and Bianca met, but had struck another those months later, and the first was replaced with one all the stronger when they parted ways. Zoro knew this was a mistake, but at the same time, he didn't want it to be.

Faux Zoro's eyes moved to Yukiko. The poor woman couldn't possibly be any more uncomfortable, he was sure. That seemed to tip the scales, and Zoro settled for padding over to Alaric and Bianca and clearing his throat very loudly, to the point that it sounded more like a barking cough. And if that didn't work, and he had a feeling it wouldn't, the fox pokemon raised one of his front paws from the floor and gently prodded Alaric in the shoulder with a claw. Just a friendly reminder that, forgetting everything else inappropriate about this, there were people--and even if he technically didn't count as 'people,' Yukiko surely did--here other than them.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Of course, had Zoro known certain elements of Alaric's past prior to Bianca- especially including but not strictly limited to the full details of his first relationship- there was probably every chance that the blond would have been a bloody heap right about now (if not months ago). Conversely, it might have eased both him and Bianca a little if they'd fully realized this was how Alaric often treated his just-friends. He thought little of the real significance of a kiss most of the time. He'd stolen Yukiko's first kiss without even thinking, for instance; similar cases weren't 'countless', but far more than he'd care to count at any rate. A little ironic considering his absolute refusal to be counted as a different sort of first under any circumstance.

Right now, all he knew was that she was here and his desire just to touch her- for any physical contact, the more the better- was overwhelming. Yuki was, quite frankly, the only other 'people' he gave a damn about at the moment, and for these few moments it seemed she had been completely forgotten. If not for Bianca's injuries and the fact he doubted she'd be nearly so keen on the thought as him and also that it was illegal, he could have taken her completely right there and really not have been capable of giving the smallest flying fuck what the crowds of currently-faceless people might think.

That said, had he ever been that far with Yukiko before and had he not been more overtaken with pity and depression at her current state, his reaction to her likely would have been very similar, if slightly lesser. Bianca was... special- very special- among those he counted his friends, yet probably not so special as one may assume from his actions without knowing him, or had they come from anyone else. Considering his track record with Riku-.. Well, his reaction to Riku would probably be dependent pretty much solely on where and in what condition she was when he next saw her.

None of these deeper thoughts occurred to Alaric right now, though, or any others for that matter. His mind had been completely consumed by this desire, but if nothing else, he at least did realize he really should check on her more thoroughly than his earlier skimming. As such, while he didn't really hear Zoro's verbal cue, he'd actually moved to break the kiss, if barely, some fraction of a second before the claw made contact. When it did, though, he was all the same jolted back to reality, startling slightly before turning blank a few seconds, and finally breathing a hint of a laugh as he settled into a sheepish smile. "... I missed you," came the mild understatement in an oddly casual tone. He still could have gladly held her for hours, but seemed to have gotten a bit of the desperate need out of his system- a fact for which he was quite grateful.

Then he fully remembered Yuki, and cringed a bit. Not that she should have been surprised in the slightest by this, especially considering Crystal, but it was still-.. "Ah.." He shifted back to sit upright on his knees again, putting a bit of distance back between him and Bianca, only to realize that wasn't really comfortable and shift instead to sit cross-legged, adding just a little more. "... Right."

He looked up to the once-blonde and back to his pirate queen- "Yukiko, this is my friend Bianca-" and back to his poor fallen lady- "Bianca, this is my friend Yuki--ko." For just a moment, he'd nearly forgotten her making a point in the past that she preferred her full first name. Not that he actually knew if that was still a thing or if she'd changed her mind long ago but that wasn't the point, he was trying to be as courteous as he could. .. You know, courteous barring that sudden outburst and momentarily forgetting she existed. Not that he abided by that rule particularly well himself when he used her name at all (more often when talking about than to her), generally flopping back and forth on which he said, but he could at least correctly introduce her.

He gave the blue-haired woman a sort of smile and a few eye motions then that he hoped conveyed a message of 'please, sit down with us'. Or more specifically, 'wow God I'm so sorry I don't know how that just happened but I guess I'm on the floor now please sit on the floor with me so I can pretend that I meant to do this just so we could all rest and not feel so bad about it please'. Of course, non-verbal communication between an awkward person and an even more awkward person was all but guaranteed to be a disaster, but he could try.

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[Prince Pony Age]

Well.

To be perfectly honest, Yukiko wasn't really very surprised by Alaric's kiss. She hadn't been actively expecting it, but she hadn't actively expected much of anything for quite a while now.

...Hey. They were both occupied. Alaric wouldn't notice if she just...

...kind of...

left...

right?

Yukiko nodded thanks and/or goodbye to the Zoroark, though obviously just a simple nod could mean anything, she supposed... Oh well, time to get while the getting was good.

She'd scooted back, half turned around, and--

"Yukiko, this is my friend Bianca-"

Upon hearing her name, Yuki failed at not-flinching but turned around with a smile. Well, as much of a half-smile as she could. She was getting a bit nauseous, she noticed.

She waved hello to this Bianca, not even noticing the pause as Alaric said her own name a second time. Instead, she just said a quick, "Hello--" and stood awkwardly as she tried to figure out why Alaric was looking at her like that.

[SongofWindchimes]

It wasn't the kissing part that scared Bianca; it was just the part that she felt she should have stopped after the 'fall to his knees, look at her longingly, and say her name like that' part, because the kiss was the part that she actually could have stopped. Still, the knowledge that this was more normal than she thought it was would have helped a little. As it was, she still felt a lot less like a horrible person when things morphed into an awkward introduction to Alaric's other friend, rather than something that would have sent her running, injuries be damned; it probably shouldn't be said how often Bianca's fears did the thinking for her and what things they thought up when they did...

"Pleased to meet you," Bianca said with a small smile, slowly becoming aware, if not on a fully conscious level, that she could be the most socially competent human being of the three. Though, she did finally get a good look at Yukiko and...well, even in her own state, a small pang of sympathy couldn't help but go through her. She didn't really notice Zoro, satisfied with this turn of events, returning to the cats.

Taylor, who had been sitting next to where Yukiko had been standing and looking between the attempting-to-flee woman and his own trainer, clearly torn, suddenly saw an opportunity and perked up. He barked to try to grab her attention, then bounded over near Bianca, then looked at Yukiko again and barked, before dashing back over to her and pawing at her leg.

Bianca chuckled lightly. "I think he wants you to sit with us," she commented, assisting in the translation of puppy pantomine. "I don't bite," she assured her with another small chuckle. And you shut up, she mentally added, eyes flicking in Alaric's direction very briefly. What she verbally added instead was, "And neither will my big bad dragon here."

Said 'big bad' dragon had gone back to being an immobile lump, hiding her face in both forelimbs. Had Mercury not been jet black, the Druddigon would have easily been visibly blushing scarlet. She gingerly peeked out and lifted her head upon being mentioned, and shifted a bit to try to sniff at Alaric, because he was closest, but froze in place when the movement jostled Bianca a little and caused her to give a quiet, involuntary hiss of pain. The black dragon whined guiltily.

"S'okay girl," Bianca murmured comfortingly, but that didn't really seem to help much. "This is Mercury," she added, aiming it in the direction of both humans, since she'd acquired the Druddigon during the gap between her and Alaric's breakup and now. Needless to say, Bianca's soft heart was causing the sweet little beast to rapidly become much like Taylor to her.

[Prince Pony Age]

While happy to oblige, Yukiko in fact had no idea what Taylor wanted from her until Bianca clarified. "Oh-- Well, all right then." She took the step or so forward that was necessary and sat down into a cross-legged position. Belatedly, she mentioned, "Oh, uhm, right, unless a Pokemon is actively attacking I am not likely to be afraid of it even if it is a dragon or the like becau--well yes I suppose that's...all."

Yukiko had gotten slightly better about rambling since she had been out and about in the world, but still only caught herself a bit into an unnecessary infodump that whoever she was talking to likely didn't care about.

After saying that Yukiko glanced at Alaric and Bianca and back, and wondered if she'd only been called to sit to be polite.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

THANK YOU TAYLOR, ran through Alaric's mind and stuck there. GOOD dog, BEST friend. Considering his silent pleading seemed to not have gotten through despite continuing that entire time until Bianca had translated.. Once she had, though, he looked back to Bianca and what would soon be the direction of 'the group'. He couldn't help but smirk a bit at Bianca's claim, evolving to a full if momentary grin at her look. That non-verbal communication he caught. Having one not-awkward person involved probably helped, or perhaps he was just better attuned to catching that nature of things; probably a bit of both, in all honesty. He resisted a comment for Yuki's sake, though.

"Nice to meet you, Mercury," he'd told the dragon with a smile upon Bianca's introduction, though mentally he continued to dwell a bit on his previous thoughts. Yeah, he was going to have to do something ni- oh hey he should sneak Taylor some of that leftover chicken he'd brought. Yeah he'd try to do that later. .. Oh actually- "Are you hungr-?" he blurted, only then realizing that Yukiko was talking. He cringed slightly, but then tried to play it off as he listened.

He couldn't help but give a small somewhat-surprised laugh at her cut-off, even if that was yet another thing that had changed since he'd met her. If nothing else, the way she cut off was pretty amusing to him. Past that, upon further thought, he did find himself a little bit torn, and wondered if this had come about as an attempt at improved social skills or if she just no longer felt worth hearing out. Though he was sure he was probably reading too much into it, that idea certainly contributed to his actions once he realized what she might have been about to say.

"Ahh, that's right. Your family trained dragons, right?" He'd no way of knowing just how bad things had gotten with said family; the way he remembered it, Yuki had run away via her own pride and strong will years before, and he'd never realized she may still have contact with them back then. In his mind, then, mentioning them was no more sensitive an issue now than it had been then. "Bianca loves dragons~" he chimed, smiling at the amethyst-haired woman it question and then back at the blu-- wow his was actually the most 'boring' hair here right now that was weird this didn't tend to happen in a crowd, huh. RIGHT but anyway. "Maybe you two could talk?" Which, of course, meant that he could sit and listen and not be quite so awkward, and also maybe a little less so later because if they got to know each other (assuming... Bianca didn't take a.. particular liking to her-they were both too injured for that right?).. Yeah if they kind of became friends of their own accord it'd be slightly less awkward for him later than being with two strangers to each other who mutually knew him.

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[SongofWindchimes]

Taylor immediately flopped down on his side next to Yukiko, looking up at her with all his doggy adoration. The Jolteon had managed to shift somewhat from must give sympathy cuddles! to new friend! which meant he'd be stuck to her for a while, probably until they had to part ways for whatever reason. Mercury, by contrast, wiggled a few of her claws in a shy wave at Alaric and then went back to being living furniture pretty quickly.

Bianca actually perked up a little when Yukiko started talking, and was disappointed when she cut herself off. If there was one thing she could listen to someone ramble about without complaint, it was pokemon, assuming she didn't start rambling herself. At Alaric's 'subtle' attempt to find common ground between the two women, Bianca quirked a brow at him briefly and decided not to comment.

Instead, she looked at Yukiko and smiled. "To be fair, I love most pokemon," she said. There was a time when it was 'all,' but she wasn't thinking about that right now. "Dragon types are just my favourites, especially the flying ones." Okay, maybe they weren't 'just,' but she was downplaying it for a reason, that reason being that Alaric had said Yukiko's family raised them, not her herself, and she was also noting the past tense. "What are yours?" she asked, perhaps placing a little more emphasis on the word 'yours' than she normally would.

Now, Bianca had no idea if Yukiko had family issues, or to what extent if she did, but her experience with her own family, who weren't really that fond of pokemon outside of using them for jobs, was that the apple could fall half a world away from the tree. If Yukiko was a fellow dragon fanatic, that would be great, but she wasn't going to act like she assumed that and get all excited, and she was interested in talking either way.

[Prince Pony Age]

Yukiko nodded at Alaric's comment about her family, and though she half wanted to clarify come things to him others were talking and also she wasn't sure she was willing to let this old flame of Alaric's know that much about herself. After all, she knew very little about this woman aside from the fact that Alaric dated her once (well probably) and he was never what you'd call picky when it came to women, it seemed. Well, that and now apparently she's a Dragon-trainer? ...Splendid.

When she was directly asked a question, she answered, "I...like Ice types, but I have no set...theme, I guess, especially since, er, half of my party found me in some way or other. I do seem to attracts Ghosts, I guess--both, ah--I mean nevermind that--I--" Yukiko hadn't intended to recall the incident in the woods with the Ghosts that was not fun stop thinking--"...I suppose Alaric would know about...that one. Somewhat. Uhm, but, really I only barely have a full party, because I... I'm against training Pokemon, morally, and I ...wanted to be a Ranger, once. And now I'm, uh." She paused, tried to think of some way to paint her current situation in a better light, and came up with-- "...Not."

Smooth.

"But, right, so the entirety of the Pokemon I own are a Sneasel, Gardevoir, Shuppet, Gengar, Cryogonal and an Audino hybrid of some sort that I can't figure out. I think she's Ice type too as luck would have it b--right yes that's. That's all." Arceus it was really awkward and horrible but Yukiko wouldn't have thought it would be so...nice to have someone at least pretend to be interested in her for some reason other than being homeless, jobless, and all around destitute.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric was really quite content just to sit and listen, even if Bianca had done a much better job at finding a subject than he had. Really he was just grateful for the end result. Yuki's mention of ghosts, however, rather did catch his attention, causing him to give an uncomfortable laugh. He let her finish then, but afterward pitched in to explain a little. "Yyyeah.. Heh."

He hesitated for a moment, wondering exactly how much detail to give, but finally settled for something kind of middling. "Back when I first met Yukiko, I ended up escorting her through the woods to Evergreen, and we got near the edge of the Haunted Grove and..." He gave a rather forced laugh. "I wish I could say it's kind of funny now but... yeah it's probably one of the worst things I've ever been through ever. The ghosts were everywhere and.." He shuddered.

Looking for a bit brighter edge, though, he grinned sheepishly and offered, "Much as I try to pride myself in being the knight in shining armor, she sort of helped save me back then." In a bit of a chime, he added as an afterthought, "And Glydre did a lot<3 Since Honey was back at our campsite and all. ... OHEY! I don't guess either of you would know yet- Glydre evolved<3 I should show him to you later~" Yes, he was legitimately slightly giddy about that fact.

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[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca just let Yukiko talk, a gentle smile on her lips and her eyes never once appearing to wander or glaze over. She had experience being a listener, but more than that, she was actually interested for reasons she hadn't quite pinpointed yet. Possibly because the girl just seemed so...cute, maybe? Not even attractive-cute, though she was sure that, in better health, Yukiko would be very pretty. Just...she really wasn't that much like Kate, but it felt like she was pushing similar buttons.

Bianca found herself noting that Yukiko liked ice types while her family liked dragons, but she didn't dwell on possible implications of that. After all, Bianca hardly had deep reasons for considering dragons her favourites; just her childhood (and adulthood) obsession with fantasy dragons and a love of flying. A bit of curiosity sparked at the mention of ghosts and Yukiko's sudden bout of backpedaling, but she quickly smothered it. If she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to talk about it.

What she moved on to, being against training, caused a red flag to rise momentarily. However, the fact that Yukiko herself did keep some pokemon, and was friends with Alaric, who was a casual trainer, coupled with the mention of Rangers, meant the flag dropped as she mentally placed the other woman in the 'caring person' category instead of the 'extremist nut' one. She'd gotten a good chewing out from the latter more than once in her life. Actually, the depressing thought flickered across her mind that, if she'd met Yukiko before her store crumbled, she might have offered her a job. Bianca had been toying with the idea of hiring help for the last couple of a months, and the fact that she was one of few pokemon dealers who started their train of thought with 'where would this pokemon be happiest,' someone who also had their best interests at heart...

When Yukiko mentioned Gardevoir, Bianca stiffened briefly, but she forced herself to recover quickly. After all, there wasn't one here right now, outside of their pokeball. The mention of a hybrid caught her interest, but Alaric spoke up and she glanced at him. She gave a small sympathy wince as he mentioned the ghosts, though the idea of a woman saving him did amuse her a little...and, by Arceus, Glydre what?

"Heh, little guy's not so little anymore, huh? Bet he's pretty happy," she said with a smile, as she silently hoped and prayed in the back of her head that he was still a little guy rather than being a full-sized, six-and-a-half-foot tall killing machine. Glydre had scared her when he was just a Gligar, not that she was ever going to tell Alaric that. Like she really had any right to comment on his choice of pokemon when she kept around ones like Lucy and Azure.

Not wanting pry for any more information than she already had about this ghost incident, but also not really wanting to think about the scorpion bat with the serial killer grin, Bianca suddenly perked up a little and looked back at Yukiko. "Oh," she said in a 'I just thought of something and should say it quick before I forget' tone, "You mentioned a hybrid? If she's part Audino...Snorunt, maybe? It's the only ice type I can think of that's compatible."

Upon realizing that she'd just pulled the breeding information of a pokemon she didn't even own off the top of her head, she gave a rare slightly sheepish smile. Sure, with her job, knowing this kind of thing wasn't that strange, but it still made her sound like a complete pokemon nerd to do that in casual conversation. "Yeah, like I said, I love most pokemon..." She gave a small chuckle. Her group really did run the gamut. Dogs, cats, birds, even a couple of bugs. She only had five dragons...which was just one less than Yukiko's total pokemon count but was still a quarter of her own so it still qualified for 'only.'

[Prince Pony Age]

It was a good thing Bianca spoke up as quickly as she did about Glydre, or Alaric would almost certainly have seen the look of sheer terror that flickered over Yukiko's face.

But it was only there a moment, and Yukiko managed to force a...no, not even half-smile, really, but at least it wasn't "oh my god that's horrible." "That's...great! Really. Very great."

Then Bianca turned to her, and Yukiko listened to her instead. And--woah what? "I--oh my, I suppose that is rather likely." The surprised look on her face must have been obvious, as well as probably awkward she figured, what with Bianca's clarifying statement a moment later.

"I see. I'm quite fond too, but my mind's better suited to integrals than breeding groups and the like, heh..." A short exhale that might have been a pathetic attempt at a laugh and a scratch on the head later, Yukiko was wondering why she felt like that was somehow the incorrect answer, despite there being no real "right" answer.

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,width:475px;color:goldenrod;border:3px goldenrod ridge;][atrb=bgcolor,#94701A]

[ Alaric ]

Alaric just gave a pleased smile at Bianca's response, and a little half-laugh at Yuki's. He knew the latter hadn't been Glydre's biggest fan, but could only imagine what hesitation he did catch had come from that fact on its own; the idea of bigger meaning scarier simply didn't occur to him. Either way, he took both as quite sincere and was rather happy with that. He was so proud of his little bat~ ...Even if he was still pretty small, hehehe.

They seemed to be talking, though, so he didn't bother noting this yet. He'd let them get to know each other, hopefully make the situation a little more comfortable. The fact that he had known both girls for a while (even if he ironically knew the one he'd known longer less) and the fact that there was a sort of heirarchy in his mind about them did make things.. a little better, he supposed. He knew how to have casual non-romantic non-chivalrous whatever conversations with each, so.. maybe both wouldn't be too bad. Still, he did like them closing their gap; 'three friends' should be better than 'two people and their mutual friend'. Yeah.. So he'd just keep listening. (Oh hey she did look like a Snorunt that made-<3 Ah his queen was great~) Bianca seemed all right at least, which had been a load off his mind, so once he was content with small talk, then he'd get into more gritty details about the store and all.

He gave a small chuckle at Yuki's claim about integrals. Yeah that was right, she was rather more math-strong than him, wasn't she? Heh. Glancing around, he suddenly noticed the white face that had been pressed against its cage for some time. A small pang of pity hit him, in the renewed idea of D': the poor kitties are homeleeesssss!; but this was quickly overpowered by the combination of oh good they're okay! and PIXIIIIEEEE<3. Grinning, he made to shift around behind Yukiko to sit on the other side of each woman and closer to the cages, then- once he hoped they'd stopped looking at him from the shift- glancing over and slipping the tip of one finger through the bars to scratch the kitty's jaw.

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[SongofWindchimes]

Bianca was...not quite surprised at Yukiko's reply, but she did feel a vague sense of relief, along with wondering if she'd ever heard someone use the word 'integrals' like that in casual conversation. Then again, this was Alaric's friend. The man who actually got Bianca to play video games--yes, that was plural; she'd gone and bought the expansion and sequel too thank you for the new thing to spend money on Alaric--and who had a bedroom full of medieval weaponry. Why had she been worried about looking like a nerd again?

"I think you got the more useful talent there, dear," Bianca said with a faint chuckle. 'Dear' wasn't a pet name she broke out much, unless you counted her occasionally addressing Kate as 'dear sister' in jest, but her usual terms of endearment for women were either too flirty-sounding or just didn't quite fit. Bianca paused when Alaric started moving, but she realized quickly what he was doing and just smirked briefly before turning her attention back to Yukiko.

"You know, I wouldn't mind meeting your pokemon sometime," Bianca said as she pulled her blanket up higher with her uninjured arm; she really didn't want Alaric and Yukiko to see exactly how bandaged she was. The words 'except the Gardevoir' were mentally added, but Bianca knew better than to even contemplate saying it aloud. "I've got one ice type of my own, actually. A Glaceon." April, her little princess. Well, one of her princesses. The other one had large claws and a much less pleasant demeanor.

Zoro was laying on his stomach near the cat carriers, looking at the two women and appearing to not be noticing Alaric at all, though it went without saying that appearances could be deceiving with him. Pixie closed her eyes at the scratching, and a bit of soft, appreciative purring started after a few moments. Pixie wuuuuved Alaric very very much, though her approval wasn't the hardest the gain out of Bianca's band of misfits; Jezebel and Spook's carriers were silent as the grave and were much more likely than not to remain so, though there was movement from one other.

The cobby cat with a bright orange, short, and very plush tabby coat came to the door of his carrier, watching curiously. While Pixie was the kind of cat who would hop in a person's lap for cuddles, Rusty was the kind who would sprawl out on a flat surface and hope the soft fur on his tummy was too much for passing humans to resist petting. Whenever he did want to get someone's attention, however, he had really only one trick, and that was batting gently at them with his big, double-toed front paws. Being unable to reach anyone in the state he was in, the fuzzy tomcat started batting lightly at the bars of the carrier door instead, letting out a soft mew.