upon noelle's knocking, she would be able to hear a horde of paws scrambling against flooring. barking and panting surge toward the door. a chorus of doggy voices rise and slam against the barricade like lilycove's seas, and as the frame is cracked open, noah appears, hands on two wet mightyena snouts to push them back in.

"noelle! are you looking for kyle? he's working right now," he quickly says, "you wanna— wait."

he grabs a mightyena by the sides as one slides through his legs. the dogs seem happy to see her, but noah takes precautions while their original owner isn't here.

"you wanna come in?" noah says, body hunched over to corral another dog as collar tags jingle.

with the war's end, time seems quiet. every moment, every hue, seems slowed by the quagmire of some silent suffering.

Noelle Lane

The sound of scrambling paws is something that's faintly familiar to Noelle. It reminds her of the brief time she stayed with the couple. Faintly, the feeling of nostalgia is enough to bring her some sort of solace as a smile creeps onto her face. The familiar wet black nose - the sound of tags merrily jingling...

Sure, those same scrambling paws had jumped on her several times whilst she tried to sleep on the futon or stolen her blanket to play tug of war, but the familiarity was nice.

"O-oh, uhm," she knows why she's here, but the words die in her throat when she's confronted. She could just lie - say she was searching for Kyle and leave. But, the lingering feelings of doubt wouldn't escape that way, would they? For a moment, a shadow of doubt is visible as her lips fall from their smile. Tension causes fine creases on her face, as she struggles to find a proper expression.

"I wasn't...looking for Kyle." She corrects him in a low tone, "I was actually looking for you, Noah."

His offer for entrance is given a nod, "can I? I-if you're in the middle of something, i-it's actually not that important!" Yet another attempt to escape what's brought her here.

noah faber

noah's expression petrifies save for the blinking of light eyelids. seldom does anyone come to see him— but despite noelle's uneasy expression, the gym leader welcomes the subversion of expectation.

"well you found me." noah says. another push of a wet snout acts like a button. the mightyena paw backwards and sit like a parted wave with wagging tails. "come on iiiiin. there's nothing i'm really doing. got a bucket of fried chicken if you want some?"

a hand grips the door frame to pull it wide open.

"kyle wouldn't forgive me if i turned you away anyway."

Noelle Lane