[IC] PMD: Explorers of the Unknown

[Marlowe]

It really looked like this was going to be an easier mission. That was to be expected, she thought. Cash would be crazy to put them on a tough case when they had just met each other. Lumi listened to what the others had to say before Cash trod towards the entrance to the meeting room and left. They were finally alone. She tossed a glance at Sora, wondering if he would be the one to approach her. She prayed he wouldn’t; she hadn’t even figured out what to even say to him.

”Breakfast sounds great! Any suggestions?” Rieka leapt off the chair and padded to the Quilava. ”Actually, we should introduce ourselves first! I’m Rieka, that’s Enya, and Marlow… and Lumi, the leader of our team back at Fisher Town!”

Marlow raised a paw to his chest and dipped his snout as Enya fluttered back over to his shoulder. ”Pleasure.”

”So, yeah, any suggestions? I’m starving here,” Enya squawked.

Lumi looked between all of them. Despite not having eaten for hours, she didn’t feel hungry at all. She pushed away from the table and made her way back to the door. ”You guys go ahead without me. I’ll catch up,” she told them before she slipped out of the room.

Marlow, Rieka, and Enya watched her departure, but only Marlow frowned. Meanwhile, Rieka turned back towards the rest. Her eyes glowed with excitement. ”Sorry about Lumi, she can be a bit weird sometimes. Anyways… about that breakfast…”

[PrankFox]

When the other team agreed to go to breakfast Asher sent a grin Sora’s way, pleased he was already getting some connection between them. “Nice to meet you all,” he gave them a toothy grin, “I’m Asher, the big one is Ozzy, his partner Sellie, and the quiet one is my partner Sora.”

With introductions out of the way Ozzy bounded forward to stand next to Asher. “There’s a great little café that’s run by a Serperior,” he licked his lips, “They make these awesome bite sized cream puffs and omelets.” There were a number of other things that were specially made by the serpent Pokémon, but those were definitely the best ones.

Sora was only slightly hungry and he knew that he would probably just get a drink and sit quietly while the rest of their new team talked. His eyes flickered to Lumi as she told them to go ahead without her and frowned slightly. Lumi had never turned down food in all the time he could remember, but it had also been a decade since he’d seen his sister. So much has changed since they had been running around playing games in the yard and getting underneath everyone’s feet in town. He pushed the pang of hurt away as well as the memories. No time to dwell on the past.

“I’m gonna run back to the house real quick, I forgot something. I’ll meet you at the café,” Sora told Asher who just gave him a nod. He would have to find something at the house that he could've reasonably forgotten before he went over there. Just as to not raise questions since it was clear that Lumi didn't want anyone to know they knew each other. He appreciated the fact that his partner didn’t pry much anymore though as he pushed out the door and followed after his sister.

It didn’t take long for him to catch sight of the pale coat and quicken his step to catch up. “Lumi!” He kept a few steps behind her, not sure exactly what her reaction would be. He honestly didn’t really know what he was wanting from this conversation. Confirmation that she didn’t hate him maybe, he didn’t know. “Um, have you heard anything from the rest of the family?”

[Marlowe]

Her pawsteps burned against the cobblestone. Her ribs rattled with the rapid thrumming of her heart, the blood that it pumped through her body roaring in her ears like the vicious screech of a feral Pokemon. Lumi ground her teeth together as she made her way down Sunspear’s Main Street. Of course Sora was still around. What was she even supposed to do? If she was smart, she’d just leave Rieka, Enya, and Marlow behind and head off elsewhere. They would do well with Cash and the rest of them. Meanwhile, she was small enough to not garner too much attention on her way back to Fishertown. That was, if she was lucky…

A familiar voice from behind her made her nearly leap out of her fur. Whirling around, she came to be face-to-face with her remaining brother. A storm of words threatened to spill out of her maw in response, though she swallowed them. No. Now wasn’t the time to argue. Too many Pokemon would see and they would get too much attention. Her amber eyes darted to one corner of the square, then to the other. The citizens of Sunspear seemed to be very entertained with their own endeavors. They smiled, laughed, and chatted with one another. Despite everything, it felt like the world was about to collapse on top of her and she was going to be crushed under the rubble. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bring herself to look directly at her brother. At her very own flesh and blood.

”I haven’t heard anything from Sable for a long time,” she admitted. That wasn’t a lie. Sable hadn’t even tried to reach out to her, though she guessed that was her fault as well. It wouldn’t have taken long to have sent a bird to check up on her eldest sister. ”I can only guess that Fawn’s doing great studying in Twilight City.”

Her paw scuffed the pathway. She wanted to sink her claws into the stone and scream at Sora. Screech at him, ask him why he was pretending things were so normal. All she did was blink up at him in a somewhat disinterested glance in turn. ”How have you been?”

[PrankFox]

The hurt that Sora felt when Lumi wouldn’t look at him was expected, but it didn’t make it any less potent. He was careful to keep any of it out of his expression though. He already felt like she hated him and he wasn’t sure how he felt about her. He had hated her before, when she acted all happy and like nothing was wrong when they were younger. Now she looked like more than a bit of a mess with her long, unkempt fur.

He swallowed down the urge to scream, or cry, as she said that she hadn’t heard anything from the family. “Yeah, I haven’t heard from them either.” He figured he could’ve reached out, but he didn’t know how to. He didn’t want to remember the horror, the shock, or the grief that his family had been put through when they got back from Ember Cave. He fought off the physical shake to banish the thoughts from his mind as Lumi asked him how he had been.

His mouth opened to respond, say he was fine as he always did, but he paused. He wanted to confide in his sister. Tell her all the pain and hurt that constantly pushed into his mind every day, the nightmares that he dealt with every night. When they were younger he wouldn’t have hesitated. He would’ve spilled his guts to her in a heartbeat, but they weren’t the same anymore and he doubted he would receive any sympathy from her.

“Not great but I’m making do,” he shuffled his paws on the ground and stared down at them. It was about as close as he felt he could get to being honest. The ‘not great’ could be assumed to be anything. Money trouble, difficulty at the guild, literally anything. “And yourself?” He did genuinely want to know how she was, but he didn’t really expect honesty. He kinda regretted even chasing after her at all right now.

[Marlowe]

It wasn’t unusual to see that their family hadn’t reached out to them. Sable surely wouldn’t. She would never forget her face when they returned home without their brothers. Her father’s reaction was even worse. Lumi remembered the pain that drowned his almond eyes, the way his muzzle scrunched up as he tried to prevent a scream. Even though they stuck with the plan of not telling their family what happened, it was almost like they knew. No one ever said anything about it, but the way they sat at the dinner table, two family members short, silent, staring at one another with sorrow… there was no way that they didn’t blame them. Their father must have already passed; she wondered if he forgave her in the end.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Sora spoke. ”Good.” she replied automatically. Lumi’s voice was dry, strained. Her eyes rested on the floor again. ”I’m good. Glad to see you actually find a place for yourself in Sunspear. Can’t say the same’s happened with me.”

Even though she despised Fishertown, there was almost nothing she wouldn’t give up to go back there. At least there weren’t people there that would judge her for what she had done. Lumi prayed to Arceus that her team wouldn’t either. They would never see her the same way again.

Lumi raised her eyes, but they refused to lock onto Sora’s. Instead, they fixated on a spot right past his cheek and against the warm clay walls of a building. ”You should go with the rest and get something to eat.”

[PrankFox]

Sora could tell from Lumi's response that she was not 'good' as she said, but it wasn't his place to ask anymore. They had burned those bridges a decade ago when Lumi had left to go to Fishertown. He hadn't sent her a letter or spoken to her since then. He just nodded when she said she was happy that he had found a place here. He didn't know how genuine that was. "Yeah, it's been good so far." He was happy here, for the most part, but even with Asher living with him he always felt lonely. He was so used to a house full of siblings that living with one other pokemon wasn't enough. Not that he thought he could handle it.

He tried to meet his sister's gaze when she looked at him, but quickly gave up when he could tell she was staring past him. He wanted to say something else, but he didn't know what. That he was sorry they had fallen apart, that he hadn't tried harder to keep his brothers at home, or for basically acting like she didn't exist for a decade?

Instead he sighed and nodded, "Sure, ok," he turned to start making his way towards the café that was recommended, "You should get something too, at some point." He didn't know if they were going to be able to work together very well, but at the very least he wanted to make sure she was functional. He had no idea how kindly she'd take to him nagging at her. Not well he'd guess.

Without saying anything else he padded quickly towards the café. When he stepped in he could see the long bar that stretched along the back wall with the window to the kitchen behind. He could see the vines of the owner, and head chef, moving about and picking up materials to add to whatever was cooking. He was reminded that he hadn't eaten anything that morning when his stomach growled quietly at the smell of cooking eggs and roasting vegetables.

"Over here!"

He glanced up as he caught sight of Asher waving at him from a collection of tables that had been pushed together to accommodate the large number of Pokémon. He padded over and pulled himself into the booth next to his partner. He just gave the other team a quiet nod of greeting before reaching out for the water that had already been distributed to everyone, trying not to look at the obviously empty seat where his sister was supposed to sit. It reminded him too much of home.

"We were just talking about what kind of abilities we have and how well the team is going to mesh together," Asher told him without needing prompting. "I think we have a solid lineup that will let us take care of most anything we run into." The Quilava looked excited to have new Pokémon to talk to and plan with, his fiery mohawk flickering away.

"Ok," Sora's voice was somewhat subdued, "What've you figured out?"