[FIN] Facing the Music

[Suudonym]

Luke forced his eyes up to her for only a moment before returning them elsewhere. It was something discomforting, yet… nice. Rewarding, maybe. He didn't so much mind singing if it was only Rosie. A slight nod answered her appreciation, and a small voice expressed his own, "Same from me. Thanks."  

[Blood_Goddess]

At this thanks she brightened, perking up as her face flushed a little.
She spun again, still on a very pleased lift-high from the music that they had shared, and the expressing of song from both of them.
falling back into place next to Luke as they walked, she considered a question for a moment before she asked.
"Can I ask you-? Where you learned how to sing?"  

[Suudonym]

"Um…" Where he'd learned… He didn't really think of it as learning, per se. "Well, you know that I was kept at home for seven years," he explained, "so it was kind of… really boring. Natalia used to bother me about taking up violin again, which was a problem because I'd never actually learned violin," that had been Asch, of course, "and my parents didn't want to waste lessons on music when I had more important things to learn." He ran a hand over the player still in his hand, his thoughts in reverie. "It was frustrating because I thought music was something I was supposed to know, but they wouldn't let me learn - and I liked it so much. So I made a point of listening to it a lot, almost constantly, and I got into the habit of singing along…"  

[Blood_Goddess]

She would have guessed that it would be so simple as having singing lessons, She knew he had spent a lot of time at home, so maybe he picked it up to pass the time.
But as he continued she was starting to see how unlikely that might have been, especially if he had to relearn so much, about a life that had not even originally been his.

The trainer listened with her head slightly turned so she could watch where she was going, with an occasional glance over at Luke.
"I can imagine that would have been frustrating." She agreed, not able to imagine her life without knowing music.
"Have you ever though about still picking it up sometime?"  

[Suudonym]

He lifted his shoulders in a brief shrug. "I'm not sure," he responded vaguely. "I haven't really considered it. In the place I grew up - the first place, when I was a child - there was a piano. Apparently I was given lessons for it but didn't take them well. Wanted to just listen instead."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Yeeah" Rosie agreed, nodding "Its certainly more fun to listen to."
More then once she found herself in the predicament, of being in the middle of playing music, or learning music, and just wanting to get up and dance to it at the same time. She had yet to find a good solution to that problem.
"Well~ as long as you enjoy it then, you don't need to learn. I know I keep saying this but you have a really great talent. But that's yours, enjoy it the way you want to."  

[Suudonym]

He gave a fading nod that shyly acknowledged her words, if not agreed with them, and moved to offer the mp3 player back into her possession. The pokemon center loomed nearby, and with it their destination. Well, that kind of took whatever wind was in his sails straight out of it. "I guess this is it then," he said in a hushed tone that was largely directed at himself, regarding the sign that indicated the storage facility.  

[Blood_Goddess]

A tiny breath from Rosie, intending to sound much like a happy laugh escaped her at his response.
Though, at the sight of the pokemon center, her smile faltered as well, suddenly bringing back the reality of what they were even walking for.
Not letting her smile fade completely, hearing Luke's voice again with a much quieter air... she knew he didn't want to do this.

Rosie looked over at him, reaching a hand out to take his wrist in her hand, sliding her fingers onto his palm, and squeezing, encouragingly, thankfully remember that she was standing at his left side, where his hand was cut up still, so she made sure not to hurt him.
"Yeah."  

[Suudonym]

His fingers closed on hers instinctively, and he drew a quiet, steadying breath before advancing through the gate and towards the locker that had been indicated in the letter. 119, 120, 121-- Luke stopped in front of the number, regarding it with some reluctance. The last he had seen Asch had been in the overgrown chapel, but his brother had stood in this place after that, wearing the burden of a terrible decision on his shoulders. And now Luke stood in this place as well, facing the consequences of that decision as best he could but still so close at any given moment to falling in on himself.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Staying with him, not able to offer any words to make any of this better, she just... stayed with him.
He seemed to know where he was going, even though as they seemed to draw closer, Luke suddenly stopped, and wordlessly stayed there.
Rosie looked from the numbers on the locker, up to Luke.
Still, she said nothing, keeping her hands on his arm, and standing by him, until he was ready.  

[Suudonym]

In resignation he took the letter from his pocket to reference the combination necessary to undo the lock, feeling for all the world like Pandora opening the box. Daylight reached the locker's contents, illuminating most noticeably the larger items: the sheathed sword he recognized as Asch's, an unfamiliar rapier, and one known and one unknown violin case. There was also a collection of other items present, amongst them things like clothing, some kind of book, and what appeared to be a photograph. He reached a hand out in hesitation but failed to make contact with any of the items, as though fearing that they would shatter at his touch.  

[Blood_Goddess]

As the storage opened, Rosie glanced around inside, the items around not being the least bit familiar to her. But as she shifted blue eyes from one to the others, the repeating thought played in her mind, 'these had belonged to Asch'... belonged to the boy who was responsible for the reason Luke could stand here next to her right now.

She didn't touch anything, though she watched Luke's hand as it seemed to try to, but stopped.  

[Suudonym]

He wasn't sure what to do, faced with all these things, and so he forced some curiosity into himself and moved his hand to the least familiar item: the book. He maneuvered it to support on one hand while the other lifted the cover, his brow furrowed at the apparent purpose of the thing… Nope, it was exactly what it looked like. A cookbook, full of recipes for poffins. He blinked in surprise at the pages, uttered a sound alike a laugh. "What the hell?" The back of his hand raised to his mouth to conceal the grimace that spread there. "I didn't know him at all, did I?" It felt so distant and foreign, trying to imagine what kinds of things Asch did to spend his free time, what kind of skills or talents he pursued. All he had were these final hints and implications.  

[Blood_Goddess]

When he finally picked something up, Rosie leaned forward a little to take a look at what book it was.
"A cook book for pokemon." she noted, a little surprised.

At Luke's words she leaned back again. "You lived separate lives." She said, regretfully. How could they have known much about one another....  

[Suudonym]

He shook his head briefly, knowing that what she said was true but hating it nonetheless. The decision their parents made almost twenty years ago would never stop haunting him. Exhaling quietly, he closed the book and set it down, resting a hand lightly on the hilt of his brother's sword. It was a longsword, versus his own broadsword, but they had been trained in the same style so he assumed he would be able to wield it if he tried…

They'd come specifically to retrieve the pokemon, though, so Luke abandoned the thought of the blade and searched for the pokeballs amidst everything else. He wasn't seeing them, though… Maybe Asch had changed his mind after writing and sealing the letter, since it didn't look like they had been stolen or something-- He paused at the glinting reflection of something shiny, taking familiar-looking jewelry into his hand and frowning at it thoughtfully before looking to Rosie, "Isn't this kind of like what Vahy'n wears?"