[FIN] Aftershocks

[Suudonym]

Detecting the path of her gaze, he crossed a hand to cover his wrist as if the motion would cover it. The sincerity of his pleasant expression faded slightly, and he shrugged dismissively. She couldn't have known, of course, given that she was hospitalized at the time the events had transpired. "Not at the convention… The trainer who thought I was Asch wasn't happy to see I wasn't arrested, I guess." His shoulders raised and fell again; there really wasn't any helping people of that mindset.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Her eyes widened slowly. "... What?" She hesitated again. "He did that to you?"  

[Suudonym]

He made a quiet sound in affirmation, raising a hand that lingered gingerly at the source of a headache to run through his hair. "Kind of amazing… If they hadn't said anything, I would have thought for sure they were Rockets. They took my pokemon, even. Turned them in to the center saying they'd rescued them from a thief, so I guess they were just doing what they thought was the right thing." A slight dullness took to his features, a small remorse or want for understanding. "It feels a little unfair, though…"  

[Blood_Goddess]

This news left Rosie speechless, lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but stunned into completely silence.
Trainers had attacked Luke... after the League had cleared him, after they had proven that he wasn't a Rocket. Trainers had gone ahead and not just injured him, but took his pokemon.
Of course Luke might have mistook them for Rockets, they had acted JUST like one!

Her mouth closed sharply, while her face flushed. "That's more then just a little unfair. That was disgusting! I don't- I can't even... " She reached a hand up to her head, trying to compose her words more clearly. "Are... are you alright? Where are your pokemon?"  

[Suudonym]

He tucked his head down slightly, feeling somehow at fault for the display of indignation. He didn't particularly want to chance adding fuel to the fire, but nor did he want to keep secrets, so it was with some reluctance that he gave his reply, "I'm, well… I've been better, I guess." A small gesture with his left hand, "There's this, a couple fractured ribs, a concussion… I got my pokemon back, though. The person I stayed with overnight - Abel," by this point it was easier to discuss if the friend was ascribed a name, "picked them up for me while I was being checked out. They're all fine, so there's that, at least."  

[Blood_Goddess]

This wasn't right, this wasn't okay. not even a little bit.
They had been reasonable, they had talked to that trainer, they had given him no reason to be hateful or hurtful, and somehow, he though it was in his best interest to take it upon himself to HURT another human being for no reason other then suspicion that had been proven to be false, ignoring the reassurance and reasoning of his fellow trainers.
And Luke, of all people! Of everyone who didn't deserve such treatment. that trainer would be SHAMED if he had any idea not only to know what Luke went through, but what Luke had done for this island, how he worked to try and keep it and its residence safe.
"Shame on them!"

Rosie spoke before she continued to sit in silence, one hand clasped around the fabric of her skirt, her face only blushing more as she sat, her mind buzzing with the feelings of frustration and shame that she tried to put to words.
Only catching what Luke was saying after a few seconds.

"... Good, I'm glad you have your pokemon back... I'm sorry this happened..."  

[Suudonym]

He wasn't really used to seeing anger from Rosie, in any form, and wasn't sure how to respond to it. "It's all right," he said at length, quietly. "It was just a misunderstanding, and it wouldn't have happened if I had had the sense to report the things that happened with Asch." Somehow the conclusion he arrived at was that he owed the trainers some defense, knowing that their intentions had been well placed. They had taken his pokeballs to the center, after all, so they could be properly returned. They could have just as easily thrown them into a gutter. He gestured to the Umbreon, "Besides, we got Anastasia back. A month in a cast and a headache are kind of a low price to pay."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Its troubling." Rosie said "Its bad enough that you had to go through something like this, but the fact that a misunderstanding, one that was clearly explained and proven was completely disregarded and lead someone who is under the League to something so terrible, and on nothing more then suborn denial! We gave him every reason to understand the truth, every reason, you didn't even come close to hurting anyone, unlike the real Rockets..."
She shook her head "We are Trainers, under the League, its a terrible day when one of our own turns on another becasue of fear, we're all scared, I'm scared... but we can't afford this."

She gave a pause, taking a deep cautious breath into her aching lungs. "Its not okay that he did this to you."  

[Suudonym]

"It's not so unreasonable that he would doubt, though," he said, eyes down. "I was questioned privately, after all, so he has no idea what was said. For all he knows, I was putting on an act by not fighting back and lied my way through the interrogation. Rockets have sneaked into all kinds of places before and not been found out." He remembered specifically the event where the League's arrival in Kodo had been announced, where one of the representatives had made the open accusation that there were Rockets hiding amidst them. None had come forward, of course, but Asch's presence there had been evidence enough. "I agree that he went about it the wrong way - even against a real Rocket, there's no need to continue to use violence once they've been immobilized - but if it's just me, then it's okay. If this is what he needed for his peace of mind, then I can accept it. I could tolerate worse."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"You turned yourself in, He saw you turn yourself in. Why would he doubt that, and even so, resorting to what he did! He broke your arm, your hand... your wrist. I don't know what he broke but you are in a cast because of him! In ANY case how is that okay?"
She was having a hard time with Luke's apathy toward this, When Rosie herself was getting more and more upset about the the more he defended this.
"So what if its not just you? what happens when he thinks another trainer is a Rocket? Why are you insisting that this doesn't matter when it involves yourself?"  

[Suudonym]

"I don't know, maybe Asch stole pokemon from him once," he hazarded, "or from someone he knew. Maybe he was at the contest in Sandalwood and has been worried ever since then. I don't know." Countering her anger was exhausting, but he didn't want to cede his point - he didn't feel he was wrong in this. He shook his head, "I don't care if it's me as long as it's no one else. If he attacks someone else - especially for no good reason - then we'll have a problem. I don't really care what happens to me, though. I've managed through worse. I can deal with a broken hand and a few days with a headache."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Well it was you, and I have a problem with that."
She said, though more quietly, she looked away, she got the hint, he had a headache, and this was odiously not going anywhere, so anything else she might have said, fell into silence.  

[Suudonym]

"It was you too," he murmured after a time, referencing the fact that he wasn't the only one in the hospital to be treated.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She blinked at his reply, taking a moment to repeat the words in her head before she glanced back up at him.
"Me?"
She paused, reaching a hand up to her bandaged side. "This wasn't... the same." she tested quietly, a little confused.  

[Suudonym]

"No," he agreed, a slight bitterness in his otherwise quiet tone, "it was preventable."