[PRP] Welcome Back

[Suudonym]

It had been some time since Luke had told Ray that he would visit again - long enough that he suspected he was about to make a liar of himself if he didn't find the time to stop by. Of course, it wasn't as much a sense of obligation that inspired him as it was a simple knowing that he hadn't seen her in a while. The last time that he had, in fact, Ray had become one of the only people who had known him with whom he had shared the details of his circumstances, and so it seemed only polite to share the update to said circumstances as well.

He arrived in Sagestone aloft a green and white Pidgeot, as was the norm - though this time he understood why Leste was so uneasy about passing over the forest (in fact, he had returned to his own cautious habit of carrying his sword with him). He returned the pokemon to her white pokeball and made his way towards the building that he understood to be Ray's place of employment in hopes that she was there.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Normally, there would be a high chance that Ray would be on a job by the time someone stopped by to see her, leaving them with the option of waiting for her to return, or come back later.
Today though, Ray found herself standing outside the main office, under the shade of the awning with her elbows supporting her weight on the railing around the patio.
The more odd thing about this would be that she wasn't alone, five other guides were standing around or sitting by the benches on the patio as well, chatting idly to one another and occupying themselves with anything laying within hands reach.

Ray was boooerd, she listened to the conversations going on around her, but her eyes were staring blankly off toward the mountains.
Not a single client today, and it was the end of the weekend, this wasn't good at all, though she had already expressed her suspicions with her co-workers.

"Hey look."

Mossy eyes blinked as the voice of one of the other guides caught her attention, looking over tot hem just in time to see them nod in the direction of the town, and a person making their way up the road toward them.

"Well well-" Ray chuckled when she recognized the man, and with a wide smirk she hopped up over the banister and made her way to meet him.
"Look at this! You stopped by this time Red!" She held a hand up fight a high five.  

[Suudonym]

"I said that I would," he replied with a nod and a smile, raising a hand to reciprocate the gesture. "What's up? Slow day?" It seemed somewhat odd that so many of the guides would be gathered together, but he supposed he didn't know what qualified as the norm in terms of busyness for this line of work.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"That you did, that you did." bobbing her head, gripping his hand after she smacked it and grinned.

At mention of a slow day, Ray took one more look over toward the building, a shrug meeting look though her grin didn't quite real its usual limits.
"Its been a slow few months actually." She corrected. "Blame global warming right?" she chuckled, making a mention at how hot it was out today, though she shook her head and with a mocking grim tone confessed; "I don't believe in global warming"  

[Suudonym]

"If the heat is the problem, maybe bringing along an ice type could help?" he suggested. "Maybe a move like Haze or Mist... or Icy Wind might be more effective, I guess." That actually didn't sound bad in general. It would be like having a portable air conditioner.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The tall women seemed to straighten up a bit, tickled by the suggestion, as was implied by a chuckle.
"Ah, Red, As cool as that sounds- behehe- cool. There are a couple of problems with that, firstly, I don't know any ice types that could help me out, and second, I doubt that would really help draw anyone over anyway."  

[Suudonym]

"No? If it's in the middle of summer and you advertise that the caves are practically refrigerated, people might come even if they aren't really interested in the tour just to get out of the heat. Ah, but I guess that doesn't do anything about the first problem, huh..." Where did one even find ice types? Probably somewhere near the peaks of the mountains? That wasn't exactly a leisurely trip, and just for the sake of a pokemon that may or may not be there...  

[Blood_Goddess]

"You know Red, you're a smart kid, great with pokemon, and you react sharper then that sword you carry around." She said with a flick to the blade's hilt.
She opened her mouth to keep talking but paused when she did a double take on the sword "Oh hey, you're carrying that thing around again- ah anyway, I know you don't remember me and all that but you're going to have to relearn when I'm joking around." She let out a laugh and clapped his shoulder.  

[Suudonym]

He gave a somewhat sheepish laugh in return, "Well, the root of the problem there is that I never really managed to figure that out in the first place - which I can say in total confidence because I remembered everything a little while back."  

[Blood_Goddess]

The women's usually half lidded eyes widened a little more as she straightened back up to her full height.
"You remember again? Hell hey! how did that happen?"  

[Suudonym]

His gaze fell at the recollection, though he maintained a smile, albeit a somewhat rueful one. "When I said before that someone died," he said, referring to when he had roughly explained the cause of his amnesia, "the someone was Mieu. I've been remembering feelings every now and then for a while, but seeing his pokeball and holding it in my hand... I guess it kind of gave back everything it took away."  

[Blood_Goddess]

The smile that seemed to be permanently fixed onto the odd women's face faltered, before it fell completely at the news that Mieu had been the one to die.

She of course had suspected it had been a pokemon, truth be told, the news of a human dying tended to take a big priority in the news, and if it happened in the town over it would have been something they would have heard about, but the news of a pokemon dying generally wasn't as popular in news media. It always seemed odd to her, while at the same time... it wasn't terribly unusual, was it? at least not as much as they made it out to be.

Reaching a hand out, she clasped it onto Luke's shoulder, squeezing it. "I've never met a trainer who can comprehend being able to handle thing kind of thing let alone live through it. I'm sorry"  

[Suudonym]

He ducked his head reflexively, unable to keep up a natural smile and unwilling to force one. He wouldn't really say that he had handled it, given how he had reacted, but he supposed in a way that he was handling it now, even if belatedly. The sword on his waist, the blade that had taken Mieu's life from him, was heavy, but that weight compelled him to carry it all the more. "It's okay though," he said, lifting his disposition. "Mieu was always trying to make sure that I was safe and happy, so I don't want to live in a way that would worry him."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Ray lifted a shoulder, nodding in knowing agreement and patting his shoulder again "Its good that you took something away from it then, well, after a while anyway."
She lowered her shoulder, giving him a more sympathetic look, but returning her grin to her face "But hey, Welcome back Red, its good to have you back, or you know, all those important memories of our deeply bonding moments." She added.

She paused eying him "... That was also a joke, in case you didn't... you know."  

[Suudonym]

He nodded in reply and took in a breath, sorting the heavier feelings aside. "Like for instance the time I whacked a guy with a cane?" he contributed. "Or any of my other equally dignified moments?"