Selene truly couldn't believe what was happening. Here she was, stood with her brother and the girl whose presence was literally painful to her, and a Zorua who insisted on barking questions at her as quick-fire as bullet seed, as though her brain wasn't already whizzing at the speed of light trying to comprehend this situation. With a deep breath she managed to keep her eyes still, fixed on Jake's face, the one part of all this that didn't feel so awkward it made her skin crawl despite the fact that his dumping his lunch all over Valorie had dragged her into this situation in the first place. Her hand rubbed at her arm nervously, her right foot tapping her toes on the ground rhythmically, drumming out a steady beat that was intended to calm her nervous breathing and heartbeat.
Valorie responded to her rubbish greeting, and Selene didn't know what to say to her at all. She'd missed her, Selene, well sure she'd missed Valorie too but acknowledging that seemed to imply her own weakness, her own feelings that ultimately she wasn't sure that she was ready to acknowledge at that moment. It was difficult, she wanted to pull the shorter girl into a huge hug and admit how much she had truly, in her heart, missed her too but her arms wouldn't move, her whole body felt frozen, rooted to the ground, pinned down by gravity. Her limbs felt heavy, full of sand. As for catching up...that sounded Sel's idea of a nightmare. Spending time alone with Val at the moment would be far too difficult, she would be constantly picking around her own words and thoughts like mines. This day was proving to be too much for her already. Feeling Blu's pokeball at her belt like a rock, it was all too easy for her to run outside, hop on the Altaria and flee the island once more. But as afraid of this situation as she was running away wasn't an option again.
"Jake, you're such a dork," she stated simply, shrugging her shoulder slightly, hoping that her lack of reply to Valorie wasn't too obvious. "I'm so sorry Val, Jake was hit with the klutz gene of the family even more than I was." She punched her brother in the arm lightly, but hard enough so that he felt it through his coat and sweater, before fixing Valorie with a smile. "Val, I would love to catch up but I need to show my brother around, this is Jake, my brother unfortunately dumped his lunch all over you. Jake, this is my...my friend from the Academy, Valorie. She's a really fantastic trainer, she has a particular interest in dragon-type pokemon and is one of the smartest people I...the smartest people here." She frowned slightly at the end of her awkward, overly formal sounding introduction that didn't at all hint at the close relationship that she and Valorie had shared. It wasn't that Selene was intentionally trying to be hard and off-hand but her coping mechanism insisted that she keep the conversation as light and objective as possible.
"Oh hey, well now I do feel like a dork, dumping my pasta all over my Sis' friend. Huh, that's a great start," Jake laughed, smiling at Valorie warmly, his eyes lingering for just a moment too long. Selene watched her brother, the slightest of frowns creasing her brow. Surely not. She was looking into this far too much, she had to get a grip and stop micro-analysing everything, or she really would make her own awkwardness far too obvious. "Anyway, we still need to eat Sel, why don't you guys take a seat and I'll go get myself a refill. I'll grab you a plate. And I'll even look where I'm going this time." He smiled and turned, dumping his first tray on an unused table, making his way back to the serving area.
Selene looked at the zorua in Valorie's arms as he began munching on the spaghetti that was caught up in his fur. She smiled as he pronounced her name in multiple incorrect ways and a small laugh escaped her.
"Hi Kiyo, nice to meet you. My name is actually pronounced Seh-len. But I do like Saline, I may well change my name to that someday. Ok, I'm a trainer, I'm a friend of Valorie's and I'm a student at the Academy, I am quite tall for a girl, thank you, I do like Zorua's very much, they're intelligent and quirky pokemon and thank you again. You have pretty fur, you're a interesting and I enjoy talking to you," she looked up at Valorie and grinned a lopsided grin. "Interesting pokemon you've befriended there Val," she paused, took a deep breath and swallowed before looking round. She gestured to an empty table. "Shall we sit? Jake should be back in a moment." She pulled a chair out, hesistated, then moved to the other side of the table and sat, leaving the chair that she had pulled out open for Valorie to sit in. She leant on the table with her elbows, tapping on the top with her nails nervously. Her eyes flicked from Valorie to the rest of the hall, Jake seemed to be stuck in somewhat of a queue, she could practically see the saliva from his mouth. "How have you been? You're looking really well. How's Mark? How are classes? Have you caught any more pokemon?" The list of general, unrevealing questions she could pull out to avoid any meaningful conversation was endless.