[FIN] One Step at a Time

[Blood_Goddess]

It was kinder... yes, Rosie did not see how dealing with the death of a loved one should be dealt with in any other manner.

She blinked, a little timidly at the words, and the manner they were spoken, but was prepared to speak again, before Luke had interrupted his father.
She fell silent, glancing over at Luke.  

[Suudonym]

"I'm not going to argue with you here." Luke's words were abrupt and harsh despite their level volume. "You go on an awful lot about how I disrespect Mother and Asch when you're the one standing there lecturing me at their graves."

"And you go out of your way to cross me 'an awful lot' despite knowing my orders to you." Lord Fabre turned again to Rosie, his expression a little colder as a result of her earlier failure to meet his expectations. "As a 'friend,' why don't you talk some sense into this thick-skulled fool of a child - or are you perhaps the cause of this behavior in the first place? I don't remember him being so blatantly contradictory before he fled to that region."  

[Blood_Goddess]

What was she supposed to say to that? What could she say? And how?
her face flushed a little, shaking her head lightly and glancing down.
"Please don't" She spoke timidly, feeling greatly intimidated.  

[Suudonym]

"Don't what?" He lifted his chin slightly, a cold glare lingering on her. "Don't say things that are true? Don't try to make my son see the folly of his behavior? Don't work to put this family back in order? Here's one for you: Don't you walk into the middle of our matters and tell me--"

Luke stepped in front of his father, returning the frigidity of his stare. "I'm not sure how you expect me to respect you," he said. He awaited no reply before he turned, reaching a hand lightly to take Rosie's wrist and begin back the way they came.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She wasn't sure what her problem was, but something about this situation completely made her mind go blank with a great deal of fear. Scared of what exactly? Had she the mind to think of anything past the words that Luke's father was saying to her.
She could only look at him for so long, by the time he turned the topic onto her walking in on their matters she pulled her eyes down again.

Why couldn't she just talk? She knew she could say something, but for some reason the idea of saying anything just terrified her more.
Heck, maybe it was better that she didn't say anything, clearly he had his own opinion about Luke, and about what Luke was going through, and nothing they said was going to easily change that.

When Luke stepped forward to interrupt his father again, Rosie shifted, finding her wrist being taken and Luke leading her away again. Holding her breath.  

[Suudonym]

Luke moved forward without looking back, mildly surprised that his father neither pursued them nor even called after them. He nonetheless continued moving at a fairly brisk pace to expend the burst of energy his anger had afforded him, only slowing when they were cleared of the graveyard's entryway, though even then he continued wordlessly on for a distance. Eventually he found a place he found sufficient to stop and did so, though he failed to turn to face Rosie, standing with his head down and his shoulders rising and falling with his breath. "Sorry."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Though she was quiet, her own breath came uneasily, only made worse when they finally stopped, and Luke spoke.
Rounding her shoulders, and lifting her hand to her mouth, unable to stop the sting of tears welling up in her eyes.
"I didn't mean to..." she started, though not sure where she should finish it. Understanding that she was being a bit unfair.

It was the first time that Luke got to see his father, and it just went so terribly, Knowing that Luke and his dad were not on good terms right now.
And then there was Luke's mother and Asch... If Luke had just had more time, without his father there.

"Are you okay?" She asked, taking a step forward "Luke?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke remained facing away, raising the back of his fingers to his mouth to stop words that he didn't really intend to say. Eventually he chanced a laugh to lighten the atmosphere, but it was small and humorless, "He's always had a bad temper. Gets angry easily, gets frustrated easy, goes into a tirade at the drop of a hat. Mother was always the only one who could talk him down from it once he got going. She was good at that, because she was always calm and gentle." He drew a shuddering breath, folding his arms loosely with his hands at his elbows.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Blinking her vision clear, she watched his back as he spoke, eventually leading the conversation away from his father, into his mother, something she never recalled Luke talking about.
rubbing at her cheeks with a hand she stepped up next to him, putting her hand on his back for a second before letting it fall to her side.
She could imagine how much more difficult it must have become with her not around.  

[Suudonym]

He tensed slightly, his voice having lose much of its strength when he spoke again, "Maybe he wanted to rely on me, and I abandoned him. As much as I was expecting an apology from him, maybe he was expecting one from me just as much." Under any given circumstances, it was never long before thoughts of self-accusation became the most prominent in his mind.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"An apology for what?" She asked. After what she just heard, the way that he talked about Luke, the way he talked to him. what in the world would Luke have to apologize?!

But it didn't take a genius to noticed that Luke didn't want to just think that way, Luke voiced regret at how it had happened.
there was a hesitation before she tilted her head, shaking one hair out of her her wet eyes.
"Do you want to try talking to him again?" She asked, "What you just said... with wondering if he was trying to rely on you... if he's just hurting in different ways..." she didn't seem to know how to form her words as well, but she hoped she made it at least a little understandable.  

[Suudonym]

"For being so selfish," he replied quietly. "For leaving to return to Kodo right after Mother's funeral without asking or even thinking about what he might have wanted." He had been thinking of Mieu, hoping that he might still find the Flareon somewhere in the region, and unwilling to leave his friends in the fight against Team Rocket. At the time, it had seemed a reasonable decision.

The suggestion of returning to his father was hardly pleasant, and he raised his shoulders stiffly. "I don't… think so," he replied at length. "Not now."  

[Blood_Goddess]

With a gentle nod she voiced her understanding, "Okay."  

[Suudonym]

He half turned towards her, penitence in his features, "I'm sorry. I didn't think he would talk to you like that."  

[Blood_Goddess]

She shook her head in reply, indicating it was nothing, even though it had oddly upset her more then she expected.
If it was anyone else it wouldn't have, but it probably had to do with the fact that this was her best friend's father.

"I kinda of already imagined he might not be too happy to see me being here... we did kidnap you after all." she pointed out. Though she hoped now that his father had not put that bit of information together.