[FIN] New Chapter

[Blood_Goddess]

It wasn't hard to tell whenever Rosie returned home, the clopping of hoof falls approaching the house, and if that couldn't be heard, the sound of a Rapidash jumping the back gate into the yard would be hard to miss.

Another successful jump, Rosie beamed, lifting over her hands to the Rapidash's neck to rub him down as he slowed his pace and brought them toward the back door.
Rosie dismounted, letting the bag over her shoulder fall to her side. and walking along side Pastin into the backyard while Northern zipped past the two and up to the glass, where she pushed her hands on.
"He's heavy today." the Jirachi said, tilting her head.

"Who is?" Rosie asked, glancing over from where she was busy filling a clean container for Pastin.

"Luke" Northern looked over to Rosie, pointing a finger inside.

The blond blinked in surprise at first, it was much too early for Luke to be home, but as she finished with Pastin, running her hands over his neck she made her way over to the door that she slid open.
Sure enough, Luke was sitting in the living room.
"Luke- You're home early." She said, slipping her gloves off as she made her way across the dining room.  

[Suudonym]

Despite his best efforts to believe otherwise, it was difficult to avoid feeling like a failure, and after the conversation with his father - if the man could be called as much anymore - Luke had spent his time sitting sideways on the sofa, his knees drawn to him and his shoulder leaning into the couch's back cushion. He thought that by now, with all of the positivity blossoming in his life, he would have risen above feeling this way, but apparently all it took was one tiny shove to push him over the threshold he was so sure he had left behind him. It was a deadly spiral: He knew that the feelings of worthlessness would only worry Rosie, but the idea of worrying Rosie only furthered the feelings of worthlessness.

As if summoned by the thought of her, Rosie's voice broke into the house's silence and jarred Luke from his self-deprecating introspection. He lifted his head enough to press the heel of his palm against his forehead, exhaled a long breath, and turned to face Rosie, biting back the worst of his feelings with a faint smile. "Yeah," he said. "I, um... kind of quit."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Well, something was wrong, that much wasn't hard to tell at least. and of course she felt sudden worry as to what might have happened to make him come home early.

Arching her eyebrows as she walked over to lean against the back of the couch to look at him, her mouth opening a little when he said he quit his job.
"Oh-" She started, trying to guess from his features if that was a bad thing or a good thing? she knew he was having trouble, and he didn't like it. So she would guess it was a good thing. But he didn't look like he was okay.
"What happened?" she asked to get the full story.

Northern drifted in with Rosie, seating herself next to the girl and leaning forward to look over and Luke.  

[Suudonym]

"Uh..." His attention fell; the story of his severance with the embassy was less uncomfortable to recall, but it was still unpleasant. "I asked if there was anything I could do to learn the job better, and the answer was more or less no. So I was told I could quit or they'd file a complaint to have me fired."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Oh.... well..." She folded her arms over the back of the couch, leaning her chin down on it and tilting her head so she could still look at him. "This is a good thing thought, right? you really didn't seem like you were happy there." she pointed out.  

[Suudonym]

He turned from her slightly, as if in doing so he could hide the worst of his feelings - he knew better, of course, but he indulged the reflex nonetheless as he searched for a response. A good thing? In itself, probably so, but the consequences were beyond his expectations. In his departure from a political career path, he had inadvertently destroyed something that he had always hoped to repair. "It's not the worst thing that could happen," he ceded halfheartedly.  

[Blood_Goddess]

She couldn't really guess why it had gone so badly... maybe it had ended on bad terms, maybe he wanted to keep trying at the job?
"Whats wrong?" She asked again, a little more softly.  

[Suudonym]

He rested his palm against his forehead, burying his fingers in his hair. His father rejected him. His last living family considered him inconvenient garbage. Luke pressed his lips together, stubbornly unwilling to say any of it. He couldn't just remain silent, though. He wasn't such a good actor that he could just pretend the loss of his ambassadorship was the only thing bothering him, especially not to Rosie of all people. "I don't really want to talk about it right now," he replied, the words small. "Sorry..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

It was obvious at this point that there was more to it then just quitting a job she knew he wasn't fitting in with.
"No- its okay, you don't have to." Rosie replied

Northern looked from Luke, with a furrowed brow, over to Rosie and back.
"Its been a long time since I felt this." She admitted in an air of absentmindedness, almost as if she didn't mean to speak allowed. With a small effort pushing herself to her feet onto the back of the couch.

"Do you need anything?" Rosie asked Luke, after glancing over to Northern  

[Suudonym]

It had been a long time for Luke as well, but at least in the past it had been a more gradual decline. The taste of the pleasant, happy days he had experienced only made the recent turn of events that much more bitter.

He shook his head quietly, searching his thoughts for a way to change the subject as though he could pretend his gloomy mood was nothing worth mention. "I was thinking about changing my name," he said idly. "Just to take 'Lucien' off anything official."  

[Blood_Goddess]

Rosie lifted her head off of her arms at that, arching her eyebrows. "Really? So you've decided to keep just 'Luke' then?"

This was actually pretty nice, she called him Luke always, but it was so odd to have to get used to Lucian whenever they went to grand ile.
sliding herself forward she plopped herself down onto the couch next to Luke, sitting up a second later. "Or- I'm not going to have to start calling you something else completely, am I?"  

[Suudonym]

He smiled lightly and shook his head, "No, just Luke. It's mostly just a formality at this point, but I hate having to write 'Lucien' on anything that asks for my name."  

[Blood_Goddess]

"Oh good." she leaned back, folding her hands in her lap, still looking over at him "I do like Luke. its you."

She paused, wanting to ask where this had come suddenly, but suspected it had something to do with what had happened today, and he already said that he didn't want to talk about it.  

[Suudonym]

A partial shrug, "It's what's familiar to me." His only memories of 'Lucien' were those of being called it without warning and against his will. In Kodo he was only Luke, and apparently he wasn't welcome in Grande Ile anymore anyway...

"I was thinking about looking into Special Ops too," he said, broaching the next item on the list of things he had been considering that afternoon. "I was thinking about it before too, but then that space was made for me at the embassy, so..."  

[Blood_Goddess]

It wasn't familiar to anyone, and the means in which it was introduced to him were... In all honesty ridiculous. She said it before and she would say it again, they're not allowed to change what they called him just becasue they feel like it.

He moved onto another topic though, Luke bringing up special ops. She sat up from the couch "That sounds like a great idea! You would fit in really well with special ops! much better then politics, I think it would be something you would actually enjoy anyway."