[FIN] Rise and Shine

[BlackFireKitsune]

Seraphine could hardly believe her ears when she heard the good news that Luke not only had the transplant, but that it was completely successful. She'd had to wait, of course, before she could visit, but when she was finally allowed she all but ran down the hallway to his room. She had been tempted to burst inside, but something made her slow to a halt just outside and carefully push the door open instead. Not that she had any idea what or why, which was weird, although it was punted to the back of her mind for the time being in favor of seeing how her friend was doing now that he was alive and awake and ******** alive. "Luke..?"  

[Suudonym]

Doubt and worry kept his thoughts more active than not in the time following his waking, and Seraphine would find the boy more just slightly more coherent than he had been the last time she had visited him postoperatively. His complexion, though still pale, had lost the deathly pallor that had presided for the days of his wakelessness, and he turned his head towards the opening door, raising a hand only slightly to offer greeting. "What's up?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She remained in the doorway for several moments to merely watch him, taking in the fact he was awake and the healthier shade of his skin than before, and mostly the fact he was awake and alert and responding. "You are, for one," she replied with a relieved smile as she walked over and all but fell into one of the chairs near his bed, and looked him over for another moment or two. She felt almost silly for how scared and worried she'd been, but at the same time, she couldn't shake the lingering fear that he came incredibly close to dying. "How're you feeling?"  

[Suudonym]

"Better than I would have expected," he replied, investing a small effort in a shrug. "I've been worse, that's for sure." His throat was raw from the abuse of the life support system that had sustained him, but he at least owed a proper conversation to his friends. A hesitant concern took briefly to his features as he debated whether or not to voice his wonder, but it was only a moment before he made the decision, "Don't suppose you've seen Asch around?" His father's behavior haunted him.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera could hear the slight hoarseness in his voice, but chose not to comment on it, instead smiling at his ability to respond so well so soon after surgery. She never thought she'd be so glad to see someone in a hospital. "That's good though. You had all of us worried so bad, you know that?" No, actually, he probably didn't know that, but that was okay. She would just have to tell him.

His sudden question surprised her slightly, as was evident on her features. Unlike his father, however, her demeanor didn't change to anything shifty. She honestly didn't know. "No, I haven't, but I heard he came to visit before you had your surgery," she supplied as helpfully as she could. "Why?"  

[Suudonym]

"Sorry," he said quietly, eyes trained on the plain sheets of the bed. He couldn't qualify the exact amount of anguish his friends had suffered on his account, but he could regret it regardless of its length and intensity. It had never been his intent to cause anyone any distress or worry.

He pressed his lips together just slightly, a vague sense of frustration answering her reply. "It's nothing, I guess," he said. "Just some weird dreams." Weird dreams of disturbing imagery, his father's meaningful dodge of the earlier inquiry, and an unrelenting feeling that something was just not right. It wasn't really any kind of reasonable basis for reasonable concern.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The fact her admission of their worry had driven him to a sincere apology made her frown. "Hey, I didn't mean it like that. We know you didn't want to go into a coma or anything like that. Or at least, I don't think you wanted to," she added in an attempt to lighten the mood. "All that matters is you're fine now."

A brief, confused pause, then, "You had dreams? While you were comatose?" So did that mean Ellia had dreams too..? She almost asked what kind of dreams they were but instead refrained, choosing to try and help by replying, "Well, if I see him, I'll tell him to come visit you. I only ever ran into him once though, so.." She shrugged; honestly she had absolutely no desire to see him again, but if she did, the least she could do was let him know about Luke's worry over him, even if it seemed a little unfounded.  

[Suudonym]

"Not especially," he confirmed with a light smile. "But it was kind of my fault, so…" Coming from the boy who would fault himself for dropped toast landing buttered side down, the sense of guilt didn't really mean a whole lot though.

He nodded to assent to Seraphine's curiosity, grateful when the nature of said dreams wasn't asked after - though he probably wouldn't have described them even if so. The exact memories were unclear, but he didn't recall anything especially pleasant. "Thanks," he said. "If I could get my hands on my 'dex I'd send him a message, but." A shrug. Nothing to be done about it for the time being. His belongings would be only be returned when his condition had further improved.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Sera stuck her tongue out and made a light 'thpbbbtt' noise. "Oh please. Yuri and Dove already told all of us exactly what happened. It's not at all your fault." Honestly, it wasn't his fault that some creeps held a particularly deadly grudge, and it didn't seem likely that Sera would accept any sort of attempt at making himself out to be the guilty party.

"Oh," she said, eyebrows raising slightly as she quickly glanced around, but didn't see any of his things. She hadn't even thought of that, but she kind of had other things on her mind anyway. "Well, no problem," the girl shrugged lightly as she leaned back into the chair. It was so much easier to relax now that she knew for sure Luke was fine. She'd be able to sleep normally again. Or, well, as normally as she could in a tiny, dreary apartment in a building full of noisy people who liked to stay up late and others who liked to get up ridiculously early. "When d'you think they'll give you your stuff back?" A pause, then, "And your pokemon?" Mieu was probably worried, if her assumption, that the fire-type would react at all like Anastasia would if they were in opposite positions, was indeed correct.  

[Suudonym]

Seraphine's plain refusal of his claims of guilt was clearly unabating, and so he gave up on the endeavor despite his continuing feelings on the matter. There wasn't any convincing either of them.

"Probably when I can actually move around a bit more," he guessed with a slight shrug, displeasure with the thought apparent in his expression. "I know they don't want pokemon running around in here, but I'm worried about Mieu…" Mieu had always been protective of him, but the disposition had intensified since the Flareon's return. Luke had no doubt that the fire-type was beside himself after being forced back into his pokeball by an obviously suspicious stranger.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

When Luke didn't continue his claims of guilt, Sera took that as a clear sign of victory. The news of his stuff though made her frown too. She wouldn't want to be stuck without any of her things either. "When d'you think that'll be? A few days or something?" Poor Mieu... Although all things considered, her pity and concern were probably a direct result of projecting Anastasia's predicted reactions onto another Pokemon, one that, if she helped, could possibly make her even a fraction closer to her missing Pokemon. "Do you know who's taking care of him?"  

[Suudonym]

"Probably something like that," he shrugged. He assumed his belongings would be returned to his possession once he was deemed fit to actually leave the bed. It was frustrating, but there was nothing he could do about it for now. "One of the nurses said they're being kept in the hospital's storage, so I guess it's kind of like a mini pokecenter? I don't really like it, honestly, but I don't have much say in it…"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well, that isn't too bad, at least," Sera said with a small shrug and a pitiful attempt to be positive. Really, though, it could be much worse than a few days - he could be stuck in this dreary room with no chance of seeing his pokemon for a week or a month or something. Or two years. "Ah, okay.." Storage didn't sound especially cool, but if it would only be for a day or two tops then that wasn't too bad. If he suspected he'd be stuck without them for a week or more then she might've offered to take care of them in the interim. "That shouldn't be too bad, I don't think." A brief pause, and then, almost hesitantly, "I bet Mieu will be glad to see you though."  

[Suudonym]

"Yeah," he confirmed somewhat sheepishly. "I feel really bad about Mieu though… Everything happened so suddenly, and I'm sure no one's let him out to explain what all was going on." The Flareon had behaved protectively in the excess before. He could only imagine how the fire-type would act now - after being forced from his trainer's side once more, Mieu would discover that that trainer had in fact very nearly died this time.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Maybe one of them did?" She suggested uncertainly. Memories surfaced of when she ran into Luke with Mieu, and how Giselle had suddenly appeared and seemed rather talkative, metaphorically speaking. Usually the ghost-type was much more aloof than that, so maybe she'd told him stuff? It was still a little weird to think pokemon held full conversations though, especially when all she heard were their high-pitched cries and noises. "Well, once you get to a better room you can let him out and I bet he'll be really happy then."

A brief pause and then, with a small smile, "Maybe the next room will have a window."