[FIN] Poffins and Possibilities

[Suudonym]

He nodded his agreement; the last thing Grande Ile needed, in the midst of its economic recovery, was for a terrorist organization to take up its dealings within the country's borders.

"I sort of forgot you were going home," he admitted, allowing the change in subject without complaint. "I guess you'll be headed to another region next, huh…?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"It kind of snuck up on me," she admitted with a small smile as she reached over to pat Pascal's head a bit. "I wasn't supposed to leave until next week, but my parents said they wanted me home early, and so I'm leaving early," the girl explained with an 'oh well' sort of shrug. Who was she to argue with her parents? They knew best, after all, and she wouldn't dream of disagreeing with their wishes, as much as she would've liked to stay the extra week. "Still, I'm excited to go home and see them again, and Epona's excited, too." She couldn't help but wonder if the Rapidash was ever homesick, and decided on a whim to ask her before their departure in the morning.

The topic of her next destination excited her, and she grinned happily, eagerly anticipating her travels. "I'm hoping they'll let me go to Sinnoh. I've heard such lovely things about it, especially about Snowpoint. It sounds like a marvelous place," Nicolette said as she bounced in place once or twice in her quiet excitement.  

[Suudonym]

The ease with which she spoke about it was almost confusing to Luke, leading him to think that she must have just never considered the implications of leaving Kodo for the next leg of her journey - or perhaps she had thought of it and it just wasn't that big of a deal to her. He nodded carefully, his words somehow uncertain, "Another League region, huh… Are you thinking about keeping up with pokemon training? They have gyms in Sinnoh, I think."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She nodded eagerly at his words, but the question gave her pause as she considered it. "Well, I would like to keep training, yes," she affirmed with a single nod, her fingers tented in front of her lips as she frowned - pouted - thoughtfully, "but I don't know that we would go to any gyms. I must admit I still don't know much about them since they don't have any here in Kodo. But, then again, I suppose that's why they're building those trainer centers they've mentioned before, right?" The concept of them excited her; they would essentially be wonderful places where trainers like her could go to receive help and guidance to improve their training methods and help their team grow stronger.  

[Suudonym]

He nodded, "The Centers are supposed to be sort of like gym substitutes, from what I understand - places to learn and get better at battling. I battled at a gym in Hoenn once, a long time ago. It's sort of a way to challenge yourself against a much stronger trainer; you can learn a lot from it." He paused for a moment in uneasy hesitation, then spoke again, "So… I take it you won't be coming back to Kodo, huh?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Once again she nodded at his words, but seemed surprised at the thought of him challenging a gym. "I didn't know you went to a gym before," she said, her eyes wide and eyebrows raised in her curiosity.

She raised her hand to run her fingers through her hair, but his question startled her and she completely forgot about the fingers halfway down the strands. "What? Well, of course, I..." She trailed off uncertainly, brows furrowing as she considered his question, and her hand fell away from her hair. Well, of course she would come back - why wouldn't she? She enjoyed spending time with Luke and everyone else, and she hadn't yet seen all of Kodo nor learned as much as she could... Her travel plans came to the forefront of her thoughts as she went over them again, as if they would affirm as much - except they didn't. Quite the opposite, in fact; after leaving Grande Ile, she would go to several other regions for whatever length of time, and the entire purpose of her travels would be to gain worldly experience to benefit whatever betrothed her father could find for her, after which she would return to Grande Ile permanently. No where in that plan was there even a hint of her coming back to Kodo. "I don't... I..." She trailed off once again as her gaze fell to the floor, and she sank into the chair next to her, "...oh."  

[Suudonym]

"It was a long time ago," he said with a shrug. "I didn't really know what I was doing. I challenged the leader over and over and over again before I finally figured out how to fight well enough to earn the badge."

Nicolette's response was unexpected; it had seemed like such a glaring truth that he had been left to assume that she had already confronted and come to terms with the fact. It was suddenly very clear, though, that that was not the case. "Do you want to come back?" he ventured. "You don't have to go to Sinnoh, right?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

His first comments fell on nearly deaf ears, as Nicolette remained absorbed in her own thoughts and worries that she hadn't considered before. The questions snapped her out of it, and she roused herself with a thoughtful, concerned frown. "Well, of course I want to come back," she said, her hands clasping and unclasping together over her lap. "Sinnoh doesn't have you, or Rosie, or anyone else in it. Of course I want to come back to Kodo where all my friends are." That made the most sense. "But... I do want to go to Sinnoh, because I've heard such lovely things about it... I want to travel and see other places, but I want to come back to Kodo, too..." Couldn't she do both?  

[Suudonym]

He leaned against the counter, trying to find the words that would help her; it just didn't seem that there was any single, neat answer that he could give. "I'm not sure what the best solution is," he confessed quietly. "They're two different places, far apart from each other. It's not like you can be in both regions at the same time. It comes down to what you want to do."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She rubbed one hand over the other in an almost nervous fashion, though given that she was leaving tomorrow, the fact that she'd overlooked such a massive oversight for so late upset her greatly. How could she have not realized that sooner? "I don't... I don't know," she admitted sadly, her gaze on her shoes as Pascal stuffed another poffin into his mouth while no one watched. "I suppose I'll discuss it with Father, and see what he wants me to do.." Yes, that was probably her best course of action.  

[Suudonym]

He frowned in a mild confusion, "You mean ask for advice?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well, yes, that - but also ask what he would like for me to do. I always ask Father before doing anything, after all," she explained, raising her face to meet his gaze, "and I was only allowed to come here after arguing the benefits of traveling. Honestly I was surprised with how fast he agreed, and it was Father who suggested I come to Kodo first. He and Mother arranged everything for me to come here, and I assume they'll do the same for where I go next - I was hoping to ask if it could be Sinnoh, but really the decision rests with Father, not me." Hopefully that made sense - it made perfect sense to her, and was how things worked in her household. Her parents - usually her father - made all the important decisions, and she dutifully agreed with them and went along with them because they obviously knew best. If her Father told her to go to Sinnoh and never go back to Kodo, then that was what she would do, albeit reluctantly and with great sadness for all the friends she would miss.  

[Suudonym]

This was not the first time she had spoken this way about her parents and their control over her life, and though he had let it go before in favor of addressing other subjects, he wasn't as willing to dismiss it this time. "You said you want to come back to Kodo," he said. "What if your father said no, never go back to Kodo again in your life?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

The thought that her father would ever say such a thing obviously distressed and saddened her, as evidenced by her depressed posture and lowered gaze. "I would be terribly upset by it, of course, and I would try to discuss it with him, but if he still said no, then... I suppose I just...." Wouldn't. The thought almost made her cry, but she refrained from doing so. It was a hypothetical situation, anyway, and tears would've been completely superfluous.  

[Suudonym]

He watched her silently, brow slightly furrowed. Eventually, he spoke, "You know, not too long ago - less than a year, I guess - my father told me exactly that. He suddenly decided to take me back to Grande Ile," and he had complied only on account of his brother's funeral, "and told me I couldn't return to Kodo again. Rosie and Sera came looking for me because I had disappeared all of a sudden, and my father refused to let them see me. He didn't tell me they had come to visit, and he didn't give me the letter Rosie left for me. He said he wanted me to give up on Kodo and everyone I had met there and focus on my role as the House's heir." He folded his arms, his expression matter-of-fact. "Here I am now, so you can see about how that worked out."

The anecdote, and all of the hard feelings that came with it, at its end, his features softened, "Your parents don't control your life, Nicolette. You're the only person in charge of your own happiness."