[FIN] Home Is Where the Heart Is

[Suudonym]

"I don't know; I guess I have mixed feelings about that," he said, frowning contemplatively. "Like, on the one hand, no, he was a huge jerk who locked me in a guarded house without my consent and yelled at me every time I was upset. …But on the other hand, I know he was having a hard time too. Asch was as much my father's son as he was my brother."

He breathed a sigh, attempting to lighten an expression that had quieted considerably. "It'll have to work out eventually," he shrugged. "If there's one thing Father will sacrifice his pride for, it's appearances. I don't think I'm going to be able to get out of going back this winter."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her eyes fell to where his hands were on the rail. She had known that his father had lied to him in the past, a pretty significant lie too. She hadn't known much else, but what Luke was saying about his father gave a whole new, and rather uncomfortable image. She understood that people grieved differently, but she didn't like how Luke had to be treated becasue of it. She shook her head "I'm sorry... I don't think that's a good excuse. I can't think of any time when it's a good excuse to treat someone like that."

She had never once regretted Sera and her's decision to go find Luke in Grand Ile, this just make her wish they had gone there sooner.

She looked back up at him as he continued. "Why do you think you have to go back this winter?"  

[Suudonym]

He more or less agreed with that sentiment, but it was good to hear it from someone else. It was often difficult to avoid feeling selfish amongst ongoing feelings of bitterness, knowing that he had prioritized his own wants over his father's. The memory that there were others who had prioritized him as well, however, was reassuring.

He raised a hand to the back of his head idly, "Well, my birthday's in December, which isn't usually anything worth noting," hence why he'd been able to stay in Kodo for the last two, "but turning 20 is kind of a rite of passage in Grande Ile, so Father will probably want to make a big deal out of it." He was kind of dreading it, knowing his father, but at the same time it seemed it would be easier to peacefully acquiesce and suffer through it than to put up a big struggle.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie's brow furrowed slightly, though concern showed more than any kind of anger. The more she thought about this the more not okay that was.
She had seen how Luke was, first hand, she had been there with him. And the idea that anyone, in a time when Luke could use a father, or a friend, that his father would instead get angry with him.
Who does that?

Though at the same time, this was Luke's father, as terrible as he had treated Luke, she of course always hoped that maybe someday it would get better.
"Has he always been like that?"

"Oh, I knew you're birthday was over Christmas" she recalled, not realizing that might have been the reason for his visit home "I didn't know turning 20 was so big in Grand Ile though." She noted how he explained this though, he didn't seem at all excited about the idea, "How big is this? Is it really going to mean that much to your dad?"  

[Suudonym]

He frowned slightly, his tone quieting, "He's always had a short temper, and I always kind of got the feeling that he was disappointed in me. I know he's always been focused on my safety, but a lot times it seems like that was just so there would be an heir for the family name." He looked to Rosie with an apologetic smile, "Sorry, you probably don't want to hear about all this, huh?" It was kind of depressing, after all.

"Uh…" He thought about it, but since he'd never witnessed a twentieth birthday specifically, he had no experiences from which to draw a conclusion. "I guess as big as Father wants to make it. He's majorly caught up in appearances, and these social kinds of things tend to end up as places for all the lords to get together and talk about political stuff."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"No, no Luke, You're the one who had to live with that..." She shook her head at his apology, "Please don't be sorry, I know its not my place to ask I just... I had no idea it was like that with your family." Moving her weight back onto her feet, one hand still on the railing, looking back at him.
"Its a little hard, but." She paused shifting a bit "This was your life, this is your life, If you're willing to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." This was Luke, and in all honesty, even if it was hard to hear she wanted to know, if only to know him better.

My it did seem like his dad took it very seriously, this surprised her, and for all the wrong reasons even!
"Ohh... Sooo then hold off on the surprise party, It'll just be a bit late." She said as if taking a mental note and grinning a little playfully.  

[Suudonym]

He laughed. "I'd say I'll look forward to it, but I guess that defeats the point of it being a surprise, huh?" In all honest, though, anything in Kodo with his friends would be infinitely superior to the unnecessarily formal event his father would undoubtedly make of it.

He regarded Rosie as she spoke in an odd mixture of tension and repose, overtaken by the sincerity in her words. "It's not that I'm not willing to talk about it," he said with a slight shake of his head, a wistful smile in his features, "I just wish I had more good things to say about him." He assumed that all dads probably weren't jerks but had thus far witnessed no clear evidence of such. A slight discomfort worked into his expression, and his voice, when it finally came, was timid, "Honestly, though, for all that he pisses me off, I'm kind of afraid. It feels like one day someone will call and say that he's dying." A pause, and a small distress in his eyes. "I don't… think I could handle someone disappearing again…"  

[Blood_Goddess]

She inwardly delighted at the laugh that the comment had got from him, and she couldn't help but giggle back. "We'll find a way to make it surprising, somehow."

There would have been a time before when she might not have been able to relate to what he was feeling, she could try, and she could be supportive, but she wouldn't know the way he knew, and to a point, she didn't and probably would never be able to.
Due to recent events however, she was finding it just a little easier too.
"He is still your dad, nothing can change that, and I think despite everything there is always this part that still... hopes, and always care."

Her expression fell when he voiced his worry of someone else dying,
A hand reached over to touch his arm, in an attempt to draw his thoughts back out a bit. "Luke, I'm sure it'll be okay."  

[Suudonym]

Luke nodded stiffly, understanding the sentiment and believing it, in part. He knew many of his father's harsher actions were out of concern for his son's well-being. He just seemed to have a difficult time expressing that concern effectively, and it was difficult to remember that under all the scorn from being confined and cut off from his friends and scolded for grieving.

The touch pulled his attention back to her, and though he struggled for a moment, he eventually managed to find a faint smile, "Yeah. I'm sure it will."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie smiled gently back, then straightened up "You want to go walk?" She offered "Though I bet you've been walking all day, we can find somewhere to sit instead."  

[Suudonym]

A small shake of his head, "Walking's fine. I think I've gotten pretty used to moving around most of the time." It was nice, though, to be able to move around however he wanted, especially when he thought back to all of the bed rest. That was certainly enough bed rest to last a lifetime.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Alright." She agreed, taking a moment to consider what direction they should go.
Perdy was still flying out over the water, so it would probably give him more distance he would feel comfortable going if they stuck to the beach.
Plus it was nice to walk on the sand.

taking her first couple steps in a lively stride, she linked her fingers behind her and started walking, pausing only to wait for Luke.  

[Suudonym]

Luke followed at her side, content to walk in comfortable silence. His thoughts idled out, and to replace them there came into his head a melody. Given his company, he didn't mind allowing the song to reach his voice - a tune Rosie would likely recognize from the night aboard the ship, but fuller, stronger, and fueled by a different set of emotions.  

[Blood_Goddess]

The silence between them lingered, but it didn't feel awkward, or forced, it was just... nice, a nice walk, with her friend. She was content with her own musings, knowing a topic would come up whenever they so felt like speaking.
But it was not talking that broke the silence, instead, it was song.

Lifting her head, Rosie looked over at Luke, blue eyes bright when she recognized the song, thought it sounded much much different this time around.
It was his lullaby from back on the boat.
She had to admit, she really loved the way he sang it this time.

Instead of interrupting him, she continued to say nothing, speaking her opinion only with the smile on her face, and through her movements as she stepped into a delicate spin that continued along the sand in a dance to match the sound of his song.  

[Suudonym]

A large factor contributing to the tone of the song was likely his expression, for the mouth producing the sound did so through a smile this time. This kind of feeling, this rare ability to forget that anything painful had ever happened, this swelling happiness that made him wonder if he'd ever been happy before in his life - this was something he loved beyond expressing simply, and so he shelved his reservations, took hold of her hand, and moved with her.