[PRP] Three Years Later

[Suudonym]

"A long time ago," he said, thinking back on the order of events. "Before Mieu was stolen. Which... honestly, is the reason Mieu was stolen in the first place." He lifted his shoulders slightly as he drew a breath, releasing it in a slow exhale. "The woman who took him attacked us - me and Yuri - and even though I'd grabbed her and could have stopped her, I was afraid of using force, so I thought I could just talk to her and try to reason with her and, well... you know how that went. Someone who's already willing to hurt you to get what they want isn't really the kind of person who's going to listen politely and seriously consider what you have to say." And that was something that he had confirmed time and again in recent years.

He considered her question for a moment before speaking. Yes, it was idealistic, to the point that many would have derided it as childish, but Luke was also an idealist, and he understood the sentiment as something that he had wondered himself.. "Depending on how you think of it, it is helping everyone," he suggested. "Sometimes all you can do to help a person, especially a person whose circumstances you don't know, is stop them from committing an atrocity. You know, when someone's arrested, they aren't sent to prison to rot. If they can, they try to help the person so they can return to a normal daily life. Letting them go free so they can hurt more people and bury themselves deeper in the hole they're in is probably the worst thing you could do."

He lifted a hand to pass through her hair, lowering it gently to the side of her face. "This might sound kind of silly," he said, "but what about self-defense training? From what I understand, it's half learning techniques and half learning the confidence to use those techniques against people who want to hurt you. Maybe that could help? Even if it's just the first step, you know," he shrugged lightly, putting on a smile as he echoed advice that he suspected she would recognize, "one step, one foot in front of the other - as long as you're moving, you're making progress."  

[Blood_Goddess]

That was something she was familiar with, a situation like that. the last two times she had pokemon taken from her she had no way to react other then to try and reason with them... and one attempt for a Rocket to steal her pokemon.

He made his point though, she understood where he was going with it, and it wasn't that she disagreed, but if she knew how to do anything different, she though she would have done it by now.

"I want to stop them as much as anyone else does." She told him shaking her head. She never wished for Rockets to just die, or to rot, she hoped that after they got the help they needed they could go back into the world with the rest of them. "I understand all of it, I'm not saying I like what I'm doing, but its just all that I can do."

Pulling her hands off of her face, and looking back to him at his touch.
She paused after he spoke, feeling a great deal of nostalgia in his words, the same words that helped her get started on this journey.
She looked like she was giving it some real thought, maybe... it wasn't a bad idea. It still made her nervous, but what was the harm in trying? It was better then giving up and falling stagnant, that wouldn't be fare to her pokemon least of all, she owed them her best try.

Pulling her hair back from over her shoulder a little nervously, she stepped closed against him, laying her head on his shoulder and putting an arm around him.  

[Suudonym]

He responded by raising both arms around her, speaking quietly, "You're a lot stronger than you're giving yourself credit for, and I have no doubt that you can do it. You just need to get yourself out of the mentality that you can't. As long as you have yourself convinced that you can't do it, that'll be your limit."  

[Blood_Goddess]

A small nod against his shoulder answered his words. Still uncertain, still very uncomfortable, but he was right, she didn't want to just quit, as much as she felt she was being forced to.
She could at least try what Luke suggested, she had nothing to lose from it.  

[Suudonym]

He tightened his arms around her briefly, leaning his head to a side to better see her. "Think you should let your pokemon know?" he suggested. "I'm sure they'll happily stand with you every step of the way." Even if the destination they reached wasn't the one they had set out for, he was certain they would be glad to know that it wasn't for a lack of effort.  

[Blood_Goddess]

Again she nodded. "I'm going to talk to them." She confirmed, let the team know what the plan is. She knew they would support her, but she couldn't help but feel badly for holding them back.

Taking a light breath she leaned back a little, keeping her eyes on his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'll work on this."  

[Suudonym]

She leaned back, and he closed the distance shortly after, even though only momentarily, to set a kiss on her forehead. "We'll work on it," he encouraged; he didn't know how much help he would be to her, but he at least wanted to stand beside her and offer as much as was within his power.