[FIN] Found a thing you might want

[Suudonym]

It wasn't in the best of moods that Luke had departed from the hospital, and when he escaped the uncomfortable silence of the ride Rosie had offered, it was with all intent to entrust Anastasia back to her proper owner, explain the circumstances by which he had come across her, and return home for the rest that had been suggested. It was with this resolve that he approached the door to Seraphine's apartment, barely avoiding the habit of knocking with his damaged dominant hand.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Unfortunately for Luke, no one responded to his knocking because the apartment's inhabitants were out, and would remain out for the next hour or two.  

[Suudonym]

The continuing absence of response to his summons was disheartening; he hoped this was just because she wasn't there at the moment and not because something had happened - again. He took his pokegear into hand, but the attempted call went immediately to voicemail. Frowning, he sent another message indicating his presence at her apartment and took up a seat on the stairs. An extended arm gestured Anastasia to his side if she wanted to join him, and he leaned on his knees in preparation to wait.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Anastasia, who had been looking around at their surroundings with some measure of confusion and uncertainty, her ears swiveling back and forth in her bewilderment, turned her focus to Luke at his gesture, and she eagerly moved to join him at his side. This building was wholly unfamiliar to her, and if Luke hadn't specifically brought her here, she would've never guessed her dear Mistress was living here now. Well, before they left and she was stolen, they all had been arguing about money and moving, so it was clear they wouldn't live in their home after that. She just didn't think they'd move somewhere so... dreary. Regardless, she settled in beside Luke to wait for her owner's return.


About an hour or so later, footsteps and voices could be heard on the stairs. While likely not a rare occurrence in a fully inhabited apartment building, this pair of voices were both feminine and at least one would be familiar to Luke and his charge. The current topic, as the pair slowly ascended the stairs, appeared to be about various apartments around the city and the girl's opinions of each. Unsurprisingly, she didn't have a strong opinion of any of them. "You'll have to help me pick one of them," her mother stated, her voice floating up the stairs and around the corner, and then she sighed. "We'll go look at more places tomorrow if you want, maybe we'll find somewhere more appealing." Her daughter only gave a quiet sound as a reply.  

[Suudonym]

Sore and exhausted, the feeling of security afforded by the building, the stairwell, and the companionship of a pokemon was more than enough to lull the trainer, and though he had initially only lowered his head to rest and think, it wasn't long before he was dozing. Though the white noise of approaching voices didn't rouse him, the hand that had rested on the Umbreon had slipped away, leaving no obstacle between her and the familiar girl.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Even as Luke slipped off into unconsciousness, Anastasia remained alert - indeed, the fact that he slept only gave her even more reason to remain alert and awake herself. They couldn't both be asleep. The approaching voices were even more familiar to the Umbreon, and she went rigid and froze, her ears sticking straight up, and her heart feeling like it stopped beating in her chest.

The woman continued to converse quietly with her daughter - as much as she could, given how quiet her daughter was - until she rounded the corner and froze, silenced. Sera raised a brow a little in mild confusion until she turned the corner as well, and froze in place as her pale green eyes alighted on the Umbreon, her breath caught in her throat.

Luke went practically wholly unnoticed by the trio, but the dark-type and her owner both gave a sharp cry at roughly the same time as they practically launched themselves at each other, with the brunette tightly wrapping her Umbreon in her arms.  

[Suudonym]

It was essentially impossible to remain asleep at the paired cries, one from before him and one from beside, and Luke raised his head with a start as the pokemon and trainer reunited. He wasn't about to interrupt them, of course, and straightened his posture to wait for a prompt to which he could offer the information about the Umbreon's previous whereabouts.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Luke would be required to wait several tearful minutes before Sera finally realized he was even there, and she raised her hand to wipe her eyes before attempting to address him, and even then it took a couple tries before she could find her voice again to utter a simple, "How?" Anastasia remained pretty much glued to her owner while the girl was kneeling, her arms still wrapped tightly around the dark-type.  

[Suudonym]

"A friend found her," he replied simply, his tone erring on quiet. He left it at that, not wanting to overcomplicate Seraphine's reunion with her long-lost pokemon with an excess of information.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

Found her? That implied that she'd gotten away from Team Rocket somehow, but how? Did they let her go? Did she escape?

Deciding that in the end that it didn't matter, the girl wiped her eyes again before resuming her tight grip on her beloved, long lost Umbreon. Her lips parted as she tried to think of something to say, her mouth working through a few phrases but none that were audible. Finally, she managed to voice a quiet, semi-choked 'thank you' as her mother passed them by with a quiet smile and an 'excuse me' so she could open the door.

After another minute or so, Sera gathered Anastasia up in her arms and stood so she could approach Luke, her face tear-stained but her expression - muted and sad as it was - more positive than it'd been in weeks. "Um," she started hesitantly, unsure of how to handle such a situation and feeling as though she needed to offer him something or speak more, "did you want to come in..?"  

[Suudonym]

"Mm," he considered the offer briefly, quickly deciding that it wasn't really prudent to insert himself into the midst of Seraphine's and Anastasia's reunion, "no, it's fine. You two probably have a lot to catch up on, right?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"Well, yeah, but," she paused to frown thoughtfully, diverting her gaze for a few moments before raising it again, "but you can still come in and sit down, if you wanted.." He had fallen asleep waiting outside her apartment, after waiting however long so he could return her precious pokemon.  

[Suudonym]

He spent a short while in silent consideration. He wasn't especially enthusiastic about hanging around, but nor was enthusiastic about walking home, as tired and sore as he felt. With a sigh, he quietly acquiesced, "Okay, just for a while. Thanks."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

With a snort nod, Sera moved to follow her mother inside, still holding the familiar weight of Anastasia in her arms, though she couldn't help but glance at the cast Luke wore, "What.. What happened to your hand..?" Did he even want to talk about it? Probably not, he sounded so tired; why did she have to go and ask about it?  

[Suudonym]

He pushed to his feet to follow Seraphine, glancing to his hand as it was mentioned. "Uh." What exactly had happened? Was there any easy way to describe it? "I was… mugged? Sort of?"