[FIN] All Torn Up

[Gwennythe]

Lin knew, on some level, that he had been incredibly lucky.
There were others, like Dove, that he knew had been nearly killed during the explosion of the cars.
It was no consolation to the burning pain that he felt in his shoulder though.
The metal had gone right through it, but it was survivable- recoverable, even- though he'd not have use of his arm for a good few weeks, and he'd have pain even beyond then.
In fact, he'd realised, it was likely that he'd never be free of pain from that wound.

Eventually, someone had found him and given him a little piece of metal- a medal- for what he'd done. Had they been a couple of days later, he'd have been gone. He understood, at least, why they'd been interested in his surname now, though. He didn't feel like he deserved the medal, but then, he didn't understand the idea of giving medals, either.
He'd not been able to rid the world of any rockets... They'd arrested some, sure, but they'd failed, really, in his eyes. Team Rocket was still out there and still able to hurt people.
The thought made him clench his fists, which in turn brought tears into his eyes and a painful wince as his shoulder was very aggravated.
He tried not to cry out, at least not loudly, and cursed his luck; at least he hadn't done any more damage with the simple action as far as he could tell.
He wasn't spending any more time in the hospital room than he had to, though.

The boy was hungry, and had some coins in his pocket; the hospital had vending machines, and he wanted to get something nice to share with his pokémon too... He needed to apologise for a few things; his failure in the mission, putting them in danger by having them fainted and for them having to spend so much time since in their balls.

It was all a bit much. Careful of his sling-bound arm and bandaged shoulder, Lin found himself resting his forehead, sadly, against the vending machine he'd come to. Things had not gone how he wished at all.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Excuse me." A kind voice spoke up from somewhere behind the man, joined a second later by a the form of a girl, dressed in a pink and white dress, a raichu with heart shaped cheeks standing across both her shoulders, blinking down at Lin with large blue eyes.

The girl had large eyes too, but with a brighter shade of blue, framed by blond hair that curled in around her cheeks and chin, but not falling to far past just barely brushing at her shoulders.
"You volunteered for the job in the desert." she stated as a bridge to get to her point "I think we were on the same team, right?"  

[Gwennythe]

Lin blinked, hearing the voice behind him, then lifted his head, frowning slightly; he didn't think he knew anyone who would be fit to talk in the hospital, and he... vaguely recognised that voice but certainly didn't -know- the owner.

He turned a little slowly- perhaps with a reluctance to move in any way that would jostle his injury too much, to find himself face to face with Raichu. No, wait, there was a girl under it.
"Uh." He really wasn't up to his usual flirting best, but there was no reason to be impolite to a girl who had just come right up to him.
"I.. did?" He confirmed, a hesitant, wan, smile playing across cracked lips. "Uh. Yes. Oh. Yes, we were. I couldn't forget such a beauty." He managed to get out the somewhat lame compliment, tiredly. He had tried, he just wasn't up to it; 'sorry, Ruff', he thought to himself.  

[Blood_Goddess]

At his train the blond trainer stepped forward a little so that she could face him more comfortably, hands folding behind her back she gave the young man a polite smile. Certainly recognizing him from the mission.

At the complement a little of surprise crossed her face for a couple of seconds before she let out a light giggle lifting a hand to her lips "Oh my goodness, you are sweet. unless you're talking about Kiss Kiss, then yes~ I will have to agree with you."
This comment made the Raichu perk, looking flustered and flattered as she tilted her head down shyly.

Rosie giggled again, "I'm sorry I didn't get to properly introduce myself before, My name is Rosie. I was just here visiting a friend and I thought I recognized you," Blue eyes skimmed over his shoulder "How are you healing?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Perhaps it was meant for the both of you." Lin tried to keep the wince out of a kind smile, with a glance to the Raichu. He rather wished that Jeeves was out; his Snivy gave him so much of his confidence- he really wasn't used to not having him right there on his own shoulder.

He managed to stop himself from shrugging- it wasn't hard when he remembered just how much the action would hurt in the end- and replied with humour that he didn't quite feel.
"Well. We were all a little bit busy through most of all that. It's nice to meet you, Rosie- and, uh, Kiss Kiss," That was an... interesting name- he did like cute things though and the name and the Raichu was certainly that "I'm Lin."
He stopped himself awkwardly- he'd been about to introduce a pokémon who wasn't actually there...
The question on his healing got a little bit of a frown.
"Um... Well it hurts a lot." To be honest, he wasn't sure- he had tablets to take to fight infection, he had a sling, bandages... He'd been told he would heal up, but it would take weeks or months. "I'll survive though?" That was true, at least.
"How are you? And, your friend?" She was upright, so he supposed she was relatively okay...  

[Blood_Goddess]

"You are very kind." Rosie said graciously, plucking the end of her skirt in a gentle bow to him. Kiss Kiss too cooed happily at the boy.

"It was something else, It was nice to be able to strike back at Team Rocket for once, I don't think we've ever really had that chance before." She shook her head, giving some thought into the situation "but- you're right, I'm glad we get a chance to talk now, and to thank you. Lin- Its nice to meet you too."

"Do you mind if I ask what happened?" her eyes wandered to the wound on his shoulder, to emphasize what she was talking about.
"I am unharmed... thanks to Luke, I'm unharmed." Her smile fell a little at this topic, "Luke though... He... He'll survive, but the injuries were severe."  

[Gwennythe]

Lin looked a tiny bit surprised at the bow, but smiled, until the topic of 'striking back' was brought up in just a little bit more detail.

He was unable, from then, to stop himself from adopting a slight grimace as his thoughts returned to the mission... To the failure to stomp Rocket out once and for good.
"Well... It's just a pity we couldn't do more. That we couldn't remove them totally." They had, really, just met, so Lin made some half-hearted effort to keep the coldness from his voice upon the subject; he didn't do terribly well, though, really.

"Rocket has a lot to answer for when it comes to hurting people." An effort not to growl the response, this time. "Luke?" That wasn't the big guy... And that other guy- the... scientist? Something... That hadn't been his name... "Well, I hope he recovers well." That was all he could offer, he supposed.
"Apparently they picked me up off of the sands with a piece of metal right through me. I'm one of the lucky ones though, it sounds like. Your Luke and a friend of mine got it much worse... I'm here talking to you, after all... I can't believe we let Rocket get away with doing that to us... After all they already did..." He sighed, a little out of shame for displaying the anger as much as from the anger itself.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie's smile quieted a little, a few things making her think that maybe this endeavor was somewhat personal... Had he been wronged by the Rockets?
"I can't imagine our fight is over, but this is the first time we've been able to strike back at the Rockets, but as long as we don't give up I trust that we'll be able to make a big impact." This was offered with an encouraging grin.

"Yes, um... Luke's the young man with the red hair." She lefted a hand to a lock of her own hair, then made a gesture over her collar "And white jacket." Hoping that would help him identify who Luke was.

"Thank you, that is very kind." bowing forward a little with gratitude for his well wishes to Luke "I hope that you recover quickly too, That sounds like it was extremely painful, but I'm glad that it wasn't worse... for anyone."

Rosie hesitated after wishing him well, fingers linking together as she adored a furrowed brow and cautions tap of her toe
"I'm guessing you've had your own dealings with the Rockets in the past, haven't you." She noted  

[Gwennythe]

Lin's mouth pulled to the side, a little uncomfortably, as he considered her words.
'A big impact'; he wondered how people could feel so optimistic, but he lifted the corners of his mouth, just slightly, to show the grin, at least, was appreciated.
"It's been years..." He couldn't help but counter, though, softly. He didn't look very old, once you got past the emotion and the beaten up appearance, but he was managing to sound a little older than he probably should. There was a tiredness to his words.

The boy nodded slightly; red hair, white jacket- that was familiar. There had been a few in the team, and despite his focus during the mission, he did remember a few faces and things. Now he had a couple of names, too.
"Uh. Thanks." He frowned thoughtfully. 'Worse'; yes, it probably could have been worse, at least that day... He still had to try and visit at least one person; thank her properly and make sure she was okay... but years ago, he couldn't help but think, it had already been 'worse' for at least one person.
The feeling of loss crossed his heart right as Rosie put forward her hypothesis and, with a cautious look of surprise, Lin found himself nodding slightly.
"It's been years." He repeated, but then continued. "How can we be okay with... this? They hurt us over and over and the one... time in years we get anywhere near them they just hurt us again. All the League does is arrest one or two and that just leaves them to go right back to it in the end..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

The blond tilted her head at his reply, "Its been years since what?"
She could take guesses, years since Rocket started making an appearance, years since people started getting hurt because of them. and it was true. they have lived under their tyrant for years, and its been horrible.

Again the years was repeated, and she watched him curiously as he continued on, giving better hints as to what he meant by that.
"Well, we're not okay with this, that's why we're fighting, and will still fight as long as the Rockets keep hurting others." her face fell a little at the mention of dissatisfaction with he League, she knew that there was a lot of that going around.
"Well, we arrested a good number this time, not just a couple, and becasue of us the Rocket's base is gone." she offered instead with a light smile.
"You don't sound too happy with the League's progress."  

[Gwennythe]

"Years since..." He started, then decided he didn't really want to talk specifics with someone he didn't know very well yet. "Years since they came into my life, since they destroyed it." He finished, then offered a tired smile at her assessment that they'd struck a real blow.

"The organization lives, the members are still loose beyond the ones we got arrested... And who is to say they won't just go right back to that life once they get out in one way or another?" He shook his head sadly.
"They have been around for too long; that base is gone because they could afford to lose it." That was what he believed, anyway. "They were fleeing when we went after them... /Fleeing/. They fought only to get away because we stopped them. We didn't strike hard enough." He was almost talking to himself at the last point.  

[Blood_Goddess]

A quiet expression took Rosie's features, able to hear the weight in the younger trainer's voice, see it in his posture. this was another person Team Rocket had hurt, and this was another reason why they had to fight against them.
"I'm sorry, For whatever the Rockets did to you." She told him sympathetically.

"I agree with you," the blond nodded, glancing over to Kiss Kiss who watched their conversation with wide eyes. "they've had too much power for too long, but no one is giving up." she offered with another grin "I don't think it matters how many times they run, and you don't look like someone who wants to give up either."  

[Gwennythe]

Out of some strange vestige of politeness, the corners of Lin's mouth moved upward once more; another tired smile- this time showing a hesitant appreciation for Rosie's sympathy, and some relief that she hadn't pressed for him to go further into details. He couldn't really find words to offer in return along the same lines, so offered, instead, a simple, slow, nod along with the smile.

"That's... true." Lin acknowledged cautiously. "I don't plan on ever stopping fighting them until they're gone. It's just discouraging that we... we had them and enough slipped away, plus they erased their tracks."  

[Blood_Goddess]

This was why she fought, people like this. She didn't know what happened to him, but whatever it was it seemed to be a heavy burden for him to bear, one that she was starting to notice more and more that was pushing him into what she could assume was vengeance.
That. for its own reasons was reason to give the blond trainer more reason to worry about her fellow trainer.
Reaching a hand up to set Kiss' head, the Raichu nuzzling into the attention.

"Well, we found them once, and we'll find them again." She added confidently with a nod.
Though something in what he was saying caused her to straighten up lightly.
"and we'll keep getting better!' she smiled "How long have you been a trainer?"  

[Gwennythe]

His eyes followed her hand as she attended to the Raichu; had he been more sure of himself, in a different mood, not feeling so injured, he might have sought permission to pet her, himself, but for now, he was satisfied with a look, and offering that tired twitch of a smile.

Still, he found himself concerned.
"We did but it did take years, and they were prepared to do... this, to escape. Do you think we could really find them sooner this time? I would do anything to make that possible..."

He blinked and then looked sheepish.
"A trainer? Uh. Well, Jeeves- he's my Snivy buddy- and I have been together since I was a lot younger... but we don't have any fancy 'trainer' cards or titles. We're not League members, or anything..."