[FIN] Drowning

[Blood_Goddess]

Folding one leg up onto the couch, and leaning her shoulder up against the back cushions Rosie tilted her head against it watching Luke.
"You should drink as much water as you can tonight, it'll help you from feeling too sick tomorrow." She said when he just held the water.

"...Do you want to talk about it?" She asked. "With your father?"
It was bad enough to get him to go drink over it, she couldn't imagine he was any better from what happened though.  

[Suudonym]

He looked to the water as it was mentioned, realizing with her explanation that he hadn't known why she had handed it to him and had simply accepted it because that seemed to be her expectation. He nodded his understanding, raising the glass lightly to his lips.

That frown that came into his expression at her prompt wasn't downcast as it was indignant, nearly angry. "I called him earlier," he said. "I thought maybe he'd be more reasonable, but when I said I wasn't going to apologize, he hung up on me."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"He hung up?" Rosie furrowed her brow, "Is he really that mad about what happened?"  

[Suudonym]

He nodded faintly. "I believe that he cared about me when I was little," he said, "before I lost my memory. Apparently I was sick as a child, and he gave me Mieu so I'd have company. But I guess we were apart for so long that he stopped thinking of me as family so much as someone who's conveniently related to him. I think, probably for a long time now, he just thought of me as a successor... someone to pick up after him and keep making him look good even after he's not involved himself anymore."  

[Blood_Goddess]

She shook her head, glancing down at her hands. "Is that why you were saying that about being worthless? becasue of what he thinks?"  

[Suudonym]

Luke's gaze fell, a small, affirmative hum in his voice. "'You're not worth anything to me if you won't succeed my legacy,'" he paraphrased. "...I guess I probably should have known it would come to this sooner or later. The way he talked, it sounded like he'd been just waiting for the chance for years."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"So he might have just been trying to set you up for failure." She frowned.  

[Suudonym]

"Not intentionally, probably," he said, emptying the glass he had been gradually drinking from. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the only reason he didn't outright object when I said I decided to marry you was because he didn't want me to decide to leave the family myself." He frowned lightly. "He said he'd 'tolerated' a lot."  

[Blood_Goddess]

That didn't make any sense to her, other then to think that this man just didn't actually care about Luke. as Luke was explaining it, he worried about a successor.
How could he think that about Luke? how could he think that about his son?

"I'm so sorry..."  

[Suudonym]

He leaned into the couch tiredly, bitter reminiscence in his features. "When I was sick a couple years ago and I went home for the first time, he started on about how the doctors in Grande Ile would be at least as good and I should just stay, but I didn't want to. So my mother..." He stopped, as though his mind had suddenly blanked, but he eventually continued the thought, his tone more subdued, "She said, 'why don't we go with you.'" He shook his head. "But to Father, Parliament was more important, so he refused. ...I think he's been that way a lot longer than I noticed."  

[Blood_Goddess]

It wasn't very often that Luke talked about his mother, she could tell from the pause after he brought her up that it was still not something he was very used to talking about.

Slowly she lifted her shoulder off of the couch, watching him closely and noticing the change in his speech pattern.
"I didn't know that happened..."  

[Suudonym]

For a while he remained silent, his gaze distant. "That was a long time ago," he said at length, murmuring. "If he'd agreed then, I wonder if things would be different..."

It was easy to see that the concept was difficult - the idea that maybe if his father had been less stubborn their family might still be whole, and the knowledge of just how powerless an 'if' was. With a sense of desolation in his disposition, he shifted his posture, moving to Rosie and curling up against her like a frigid animal finding a source of warmth. "I don't think I really know anything about your mother," he commented offhandedly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

"A couple of years right?" She asked, remembering him mentioning having to go back to Grand Ile for his medical records, if she remembered right that was also when his dad punched him. she frowned at the thought.

As he moved over to her, she shifted slightly enough to accommodate his presence better and allowing her to put her arms around him.
the statement that followed a unexpected, and as much was expressed by the surprise in her voice.
"My mom?"  

[Suudonym]

He nodded his confirmation. Just a couple of years ago... And from that point on, things had gotten progressively more and more difficult to deal with. Certainly his life was due to reach its turning point soon.

Once more he nodded, speaking softly, "What she was like, or the kinds of things she did..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie was taken a little off guard with the subject change, not that she minded, its not that she didn't like talking about her mom, people just rarely asked, she faintly wondered why the sudden curiosity, but at the same time found it kind of nice.

"What was she like..." She started, taking a moment to think about what to say, physical description would be kind of pointless to say, Rosie had pictures displayed of her mother in the house, so she was confident that it wasn't a good place to start.
"Well, Mama was strict, to the point, and never messed around with anything." She started, tilting her head to the side as a light smile played on her lips. "-She was amazing," her summery followed, knowing very well that the traits she explained might not have been positive in many people's perspectives. "I mean- with her being a single mom, working a career, still finding the time to spend with her two kids, and making sure we had everything we needed." Rosie shook her head gently "I still don't know how she did it, but I could always remember never going a night when she wasn't there to tuck me in."
She paused to give it some more thought, lowering her head a little more with a look on her face as if she was pulling up fond old memories
"She went to ever residal, every parent teacher night, every doctors appointment, she was always there when it really mattered. Especially for me, since I was a really... uh... sensitive kid" she finished with a light chuckle. "Really strong willed, but always loving, and encouraging... even if he didn't always want it." Rosie paused here, a smile still on her face as she let her train of thought kind of wind its way around "oh- one of my favorite things was that she would to sing to us a lot, and she had the most beautiful voice." Rosie recalled with an airy sigh. "Grandma always said that she was waiting it by going into business- Not that mom ever regretted it- but she would sing all the time when she was at home, I don't even think she knew she was doing it half the time, she's also the reason I know piano and the harp. The big one at Uncles house? That used to be hers~ I never got as good as her."

"She, was strong, the strongest person I've ever met, she always knew what to say and the right thing to do..."
She paused it there with a sheepish smile. "There's too much to say about her really... Mama would have liked you."