uccellodifuoco | 8th Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Voice

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8th Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Voice

[Ikki has never been a man to really care about those festivities, he never had time for them before and now he has no reason at all to care. Maybe, had Esmeralda lived longer, had them met under other circumstances at another place away from the cruelty of Death's Queen Island... Maybe he would have celebrated Saint Valentine's Day with her, maybe by his own will or just because she wanted to celebrate it and he didn't see a reason to upset her over something so small.

But Esmeralda is dead and he's a warrior, a soldier whose live belongs to Athena, for whom he will fight and die as many times as he has to, until his Cloth moves on to another warrior. So this day has no meaning for him. Neither was he present for previous experiments so for him it's all a normal day, there's not even the feeling of something missing. He had planned to maybe ignore the world during the day, for no other reason than being himself, but... Hyoga's habit of eating his footwear is starting to annoy him.]

Oi, anyone here is good with animals? I can't seem to get my wolf to stop eating my footwear.

[A pause.]

And no, books so far haven't helped with it.

[ooc: ~~First tag reserved for manmade_angel, please wait.~~ Done.]

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[He just smiles, taking her hand in return and squeezing it lightly as an answer, his other hand casually brushing against her cheek a bit as he notices the teary eyes.]

It's okay. I know that I'm not alone here, I've made some good friends.

[At least Smoker, and he has his pet.]

I've had it worse before and survived it to reunite with my brothers, so it's okay. You don't need to worry about me, Nill, though I appreciate it.

[Oh, wow. Nill's never... had anyone hold her like this. It's so personal, so tender. She's able to blink back her tears and smile at Ikki's reassurance. Friends would hold a person up as long as they had breath left. At least, in her experience, they would.]

[Nill looks briefly at the hand on her cheek, then nods almost imperceptibly. She doesn't want to jar his hand. Though she's having a bit of trouble meeting his eyes again, she's blushing so much.]

[He didn't thought about it, just moved as instinct told him but as he notices that she's having trouble meeting his eyes again and the blush climbing to her cheeks, Ikki experiences some self awareness as well. It has been a long time since he was openly tender with anyone, Shun included, and even if he doesn't regret it he gets a bit more nervous than he should. The hand lingers on her cheek for a second before it reluctantly moves again, Ikki himself looking away.]

Well...

[Awkward, what do I to say now. Hyoga decides to bark then and Ikki hasn't been so glad to have him as now.]

Right! Where do you think we can find chewing toys?

[Change of subject is good right? Dispels the awkwardness and blushing? Even he seems to have problems with that.]

[Oh! Right, yes, they're trying to find Hyoga something to chew on! That was the whole point, wasn't it... Instead of standing here staring into Ikki's eyes and wondering what he could be thinking about her.]

[But they have something to do now! Nill backs off a little, trying to cool her face down with her hands before gently taking Ikki's hand again and pulling him in the direction of the item shop. Perhaps there will be something there...?]

[Ikki isn't a man comfortable with staying idle anyway, it makes him think too much and in this case get even more nervous. On the other hand he can't help but hope that she didn't take it wrong how he changed the subject, she may think that he's only interested in finding the chewing toy or doesn't want to stay there with her. He really isn't good at being social so he's kind of just expecting her to be offended or something by something he does or says. Even Shun suffered that, but he kept trying and chose to not take it too badly because he knew Ikki better than that. But Nill doesn't know him so...

Anyway, he follows her lead to the item shop, with Hyoga right behind them, not bothering to recover the hand that she has took. She can keep it for a while if she wants, he doesn't mind. As they get to the shop Ikki talks again, trying to show that he's not just interested in the search.]

Have you ever had a pet?

[Nill is perfectly content to change the subject for the moment, given how she isn't sure how these feelings are developing so quickly. If they don't talk about something else, she'll just stand there holding his hand until the sun goes down. And that can't be very entertaining for Ikki...]

[So conversing it is! Though Nill actually hasn't had a pet, so she shakes her head. She's watched other people's pets before, but she hasn't had one of her own. So to carry on, she gestures to Hyoga and tilts her head. Where did Ikki find him? Is Hyoga his first pet? Really, however he interprets her head tilt, she'll be happy to listen.]

[Stand there and hold hands until sunset may not be very entertaining, but it sure is something Ikki has never been able to do before so he wouldn't complain anyway. Still he wants to know more of her and can't help but want to let her know more of him. It sure feels strange how quickly he's thinking those things and getting those feelings but... With how sweet and pure and pretty she is Ikki can't reason why they wouldn't build so quickly.]

Hyoga's my first pet, I got him last December. We received gifts and he was mine, honestly I still wonder why anyone thought it would be a good idea that I had a pet. So I'm really pretty new at this and have no idea of almost anything. I gave him the name of one of my brothers too, because the animal seems like an arctic wolf reminded me of him.

[No, he's not very imaginative with the names.]

[So Hyoga was a gift. Well, for someone who might have been missing home, a companion would be a very good gift. Even if Ikki doesn't think that he makes a good pet owner, sometimes pets were able to fill a hole in someone's life. Offer companionship and love. The fact that Ikki named it after his brother tells her that he must miss them more than he claims.]

[She pats his shoulder--you'll do just fine with Hyoga, I'll help!--and leads them both into the item shop. She looks around at the piles of stuff, wondering where to begin.]

[They are in his mind more than what he would like to admit, but it's natural, the situation wasn't the best even if they had defeated Hades. He can't help to worry and be wary about what may have happened to them. And Ikki's life has many holes, some produced by himself, the rest forced by other people since he was born. Some may be refilled, others will always remain, glaring at him like daggers.

Ikki allows her to lead them and starts looking around the stuff there as well. Unfortunately he's not really sure what they are looking for so even if he starts to search randomly he's more at a loss than her.]

[Something to chew on, something to chew on... Something that a puppy would find entertaining, too. For the first few minutes, she follows Hyoga around, taking notes as to what he finds interesting. So far, nothing in particular.]

[Then, she spots a large rawhide bone at the edge of a pile. It's almost as big as Hyoga is, but maybe that means it would keep him occupied for a while? Nill picks it up and offers it to the pup, waiting to see what he does with it.]

[Hyoga doesn't often step into stores, Ikki's a bit of a worrywart in the inside and keeps him away from places with piles of items, just in case those would fall or something and hurt the animal. So the animal is naturally curious and wanders around, sniffling at the objects but not getting interested by anything in particular.

Until the nice girl that's now with his owner picks up this big and beautiful bone. Yeah, Hyoga will be bitting it even before she offers it to him. Trying to cling to it with his teeth. This is his now, girl, let it go.

Ikki just... Looks at them. Interested in Hyoga's obvious appreciation for the bone, of course. He wasn't staring at Nill looking adorable offering the bone to the animal. Nope.]

[It looks like they have a winner! Nill shakes a little in silent giggles and turns over the bone to Hyoga. So silly Hyoga, what's Nill going to do with a big bone? She pats him on the head a little, to try and reinforce that he should chew on that and not shoes, then catches Ikki looking at her.]

[She blushes, realizing she's happy that he's paying special attention to her, then stands up and moves next to Ikki. Looks like his chewing problem is taken care of...]

[Hyoga chews happily n the bone, barking cheerfully once as she pats him on the head. Shoes? What shoes? He has a new giant bone to chew, all for himself. Except that something is off with it and the animal stops chewing on it for a second as the animal thinks.

Ikki blushes very lightly on getting caught looking, until he reminds himself that he was just looking at the whole scene. Yeah, no need to be embarrassed... Though she didn't seem bothered by the staring, that's good, right? He smiles at her as she moves next to him.]

You have a gift with animals, don't you? Thanks, now I won't have to be going to get new shoes each two days.

[Meanwhile, Hyoga has decided to fix the problem with his new chewing toy by pushing it against Ikki's legs and rubbing it against him. Unfortunately this also cuts whatever Ikki was going to add.]

What the-?! Hey! What are you doing now?

[Nill giggles again as Hyoga pushes his bone against Ikki. She thinks she knows what Hyoga wants--he wants to play a little, maybe? Perhaps Hyoga was also chewing on shoes because Ikki wasn't paying attention to him.]

[She pats Ikki on the shoulder briefly, indicating that he should watch her for a moment. She reaches down for an end of the bone and pulls lightly for a little tug-of-war. Of course if that's not what he wants, Nill knows enough to let go before Hyoga thinks Nill's seriously trying to take away his bone.]

[Ikki had to take care of his little brother since he was young, but even with the orphanages, he wasn't able to enjoy much of being a child or play with Shun. He was always worried about them getting separated or his brother getting hurt, so he forced himself to be stronger and stronger, he grew up too fast and too soon. And even if he took well care of Shun, he rarely played with him, instead using their time together to try to make Shun stronger, specially when Mitsumasa Kido found them and they learned they would be separated no matter what.

Ikki pays attention to Hyoga, he really does. The wolf is well feed, clean and healthy. But Ikki doesn't play with him other than running behind him when they go out for walks and the puppy starts to run. Ikki just doesn't get what "having fun" means. So he watches Nill with a mix of complete confusion and surprise.

Hyoga growls as Nill starts to tug at the bone, but it's a light growl, mostly a playful one before the animal tugs back with all its strengths, letting go after a bit because that's the fun of a tug-of-war. The animal would prefer it if it was Ikki doing it but it won't complain for now. Maybe seeing this girl will get Ikki to do the same.]

[Nill grins as she and Hyoga play tug-of-war for a bit. She never had much time to play with other kids her age either, but somehow she grew up knowing how to play. With dogs, with children, joking with adults, she manages it all despite her rough patch before she knew Haine.]

[When Hyoga lets go, Nill swings it a few times, making as though she's going to throw it. She finally tosses it a little ways away, so Hyoga can fetch it. Once the puppy's back, Nill gives Ikki an encouraging look and gesture--you try this time!]

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8th Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Voice

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