bravenewworld | Meeting of Minds

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Meeting of Minds

Who: Ami and Yuuna
What: Ami and Yuuna are reuniting.
Where: Cafe near medic center
When: Immediately following this conversation

Ami was reading, which was honestly no surprised, as she waited for Yuuna at the cafe they agreed upon. It was near the medic center as well as a park in case Yuuna wanted even further privacy on the subject. She had already gotten served an iced tea since she couldn't have anything hot without Rei around.

Aurora noticed Yuuna before Ami did, what with her nose stuck in a book. And Aurora snapped her tail and stood up, bounding over to Yuuna, having missed the other and Ami was quick to stand as well, smiling brightly as she set the book down. While they're reuniting had been initially awkward, it was still Yuuna, her senpai and big sister figure.

"Yuuna!"

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Yuuna, with her Farfetch'd Mifune in tow, approaches the cafe with a broad smile and bends to rub her hand along Aurora's head. It's nice to see you too, little lady. The smile doesn't waver when she hears her name, and even the dour samurai Pokemon has to give an avian grin.

"Hey there."

She approaches and grabs the girl into a titan's hug, spinning her around before dropping her back to earth. She felt a little bad for not saying something sooner but honestly there were a lot of things going through her head the last few months.

"It's good to see you. Sorry, I know I should've said something but...things have not been the easiest."

The new scar, for instance.

Aurora purrs and presses her head against Mifune in greeting as well, careful to discharge the static through her tail.

"OOF!" she held on though, blushing brightly at such a display but allowing it all the same. She was too happy to see Yuuna again than she was to be seen in public acting in such a manner.

"Clearly, or you would have said something sooner," she smiled as she gestured for them to sit. "I hope I still remembered your favorite drink, at least?" She's taken note of the scar, only she doesn't ask yet, though she intends to. "Shall we?" she gestured to Yuuna's seat.

Yuuna does take her seat, looking at the drink absently. It is of course exactly her favorite. Lemon tea, with just a little bit of sugar to it. Mifune hops up on another unoccupied seat, setting his leek down and folding his wings like arms, watching the pair.

"You know I went out on an expedition with Merrill, right? I didn't tell you where we were going because I didn't know exactly. But that expedition went...badly."

Getting right to the heart of the matter.

"We found the first evidence since the Cataclysm of Merrill's homeland. And, have you ever come across something that you thought was going to be amazing, but it turned out to be horrible? Beyond your wildest expectations kind of horrible?"

She nodded and smiled, though as Yuuna spoke, her smile fell. She frowned at the mention of how things went badly and perhaps, quickly.

"I... can't say that I I have, probably not to the degree you and Merrill-san endured. I mean, the gods are already both amazing and terrifying in their own right, so a maddened god it not beyond my wildest expectations, even as horrible as it was. But... what happened?"

“We found the ruins of Arlathan. Exactly where the map the Savior gave her said it would be.” Yuuna lets that sink in a moment, before she continues in a lower voice. “Arlathan was worse than Gigas. It was…everything Merrill expected it to be, turned on end. They enslaved Pokemon and people alike. They were warriors and conquerors who performed dark rituals. There was some evidence of…blood sacrifice, and other…things.”

Fists clenching, she lowers her head, frowning even more deeply. “I think…what hit her the hardest were the things that her people still do. The tattoos on her face? Those were given to slaves. And slaves didn’t get to have shoes. She grew up believing that those were the things that her people did to honor each other. And she was so, so wrong. I’m…not sure exactly how to describe some of the other things we saw, but that’s why I’ve kept to myself. I couldn’t leave her side. She’s getting better, but she needs time. And she needed me.”

"Is there anything I can do? I know several psychologists who might be able to help as well?" They weren't nearly so overwhelmed now that the attack by the god was becoming more distant. Some still went for grief counseling, of course.

"I... I am sorry to hear that, should we be worried about Arlathan in the near future as well?" She would prepare for it, of course, but a part of her wished that they could just deal with one thing at a time, but that was never the case.

The ruins of Arlathan...

"I wonder if their history might connect to Gigas and Sanctuary, both cities share.... such views, at least on different matters. But that doesn't explain the scars, Yuuna."

"No, I think she just needs time to recooperate. She'll get there. But she does things her own way. She always has."

Yuuna frowned a little bit at the question, shaking her head emphatically. That was a definitive no.

"Arlathan is dead. It's been dead for centuries. All that was left was a shattered city. It's gone now, and all that remain are her people. The Dalish. They're peaceful nomads. they won't be a problem."

The commentary about scars though, made Yuuna immediately a little self conscious. She held up her arm and studied the new marking with a clinical expression of boredom.

"This? Came from a Tyranitar."

"Rei is like that as well," she smiled fondly as she glanced in the direction of the shrine. She looked back to Yuuna and pressed her lips together.

She nodded but would still look into the culture of Arlathan and whether it had any cultural effect on Gigas and Sanctuary. What were the blood rituals, and what could they do to prevent them, or at the very least, know how to counter them?

"If you don't wish to talk about the Tyranitar, I would understand, but I would be willing to listen." She knew that Yuuna had lived through it all, already, so whether she wanted to discuss it when so much was already on her plate? She wouldn't push.

“I don’t mind talking about the Tyranitar, but there’s not a whole lot to say. It wasn’t anything all that special, it was just a fight. We were traveling and ended up passing too close to it’s territory. It took offense, and then bit me. I fought it off, and we ended up getting away without any more injuries. The other scars, though?” Yuuna peeled up the bottom of her tank top, showing several more healed scars along her stomach and sides, along with the copious amounts of muscle that came from her Fighting typing. “These were from some Beedrill that I stirred up by accident in the ruins, and a couple of booby traps.”

Honestly, as morbid as it seems, the competitive Fighting Type woman is pretty proud of these scars. They’re not so bad.

"Booby traps?" she lifted a brow, focusing on that above all else. "Why were there booby traps? How were they maintained and active after so long? Or was it because the ruins were crumbling?"

"I have no idea. Maybe we stumbled into places we weren't supposed to be? There were some rooms that had remained sealed, but not many, and those were the places we found those traps. Simple things, really. Dart traps. They wouldn't need much in the way of mechanical parts, and what they did need could've been made of stone and not corroded."

"I'd be curious to examine them, if only to understand ancient mechanics since cultures before the cataclysm were more advanced in many ways. But that isn't the focus, or what's important," she offered. "I'm glad you're back, and that the worst of your travels are over. But now you are back..." and she toyed with her tea, careful not to freeze it.

"If you don't mind my asking, what is it you plan to do now?"

Yuuna hadn't exactly thought to bring back the devices, sadly. But she'll just move right on along, taking a swig of her drink and meeting Ami's icy blue eyes.

"What am I going to do now? Honestly, I don't know. I still have my Ranger duties, and I'm back on active assignment as Division Three's commander. I guess mostly play catch up with that, and go back to what I was doing before we left."

"Will..." she pressed her lips together, unsure to ask. She's worried about the answer, because of her own father and less to do with Yuuna. She swallowed.

"Will you be here for my wedding?"

"Will I..." Yuuna stopped, putting her hands on the table and blinking. "Will I be at your wedding...?"

She stood up suddenly, gripped the table, moved it aside with casual ease, and grabbed Ami out of her seat and into a hug.

"Ami. I would sooner eat my own jacket than miss your wedding. Gods, what kind of question is that even?"

She felt ashamed, and panicked for a moment when Yuuna moved the table only to be caught up in a hug. She was tense for a milisecond before she hugged onto Yuuna just as tight. She felt awful for asking but at the mention of why she would ask...

Well, Rei already knew...

She swallowed and looked away.

"I-I am sorry for asking. It isn't-" She bowed her head. "It... my father won't be able to make the wedding," she offered gently. She only ever got postcards and letters of his art in the mail and when he was near Union they would have lunch. "You know... he came by Union when he heard it was attacked, came to see if me and mama were alright... I told him about my wedding with Rei, he wished me well... but he won't be attending- can't, he says."

Something about a sea voyage and trying to paint and explore the deep oceans.

If her own father wasn't going to attend.

"I-I thought... you might... be on another expedition, I just wanted to know. I'm sorry, Yuuna."

Of course. Her father. Yuuna knew about some of those issues. He’d been one of those people who’d taken off as soon as he could get out of Union. An artist, and in her mind? The exact opposite of what Ami deserved. She smiled sadly and kissed the top of Ami’s head, setting her down gently.

“Ami. Honey. I wouldn’t miss your wedding for the world. I’m not going on any long expeditions anytime soon. The next one I might take isn’t until next spring, and even that won’t be but a week or two. And even if I was? I’d reschedule things to work. I’m going to be there. I’m not your dad, I’m your friend, and I’ll always choose you over any expedition. Don’t you worry about that.”

She pulled Ami’s face up gently with a poke to the chin.

“You matter. You’re important to me. And I will never, ever abandon you.”

She let out a sigh of relief and hugged onto Yuuna even tighter, leaning her head on Yuuna's shoulder. She smiled and swallowed.

"I'm glad, you are my maid of honor, after all," she whispered, smiling. "It would be hard not having you there," emotionally and by tradition. It was hard enough for Rei to be missing both of her parents, she didn't want to keep seeing more empty spaces on the day of their union.

At being told she matted and that she wouldn't be abandoned... she couldn't help the tear or two that came out. She didn't enjoy such public displays, but it was like when Rei assured her that she would never abandon her either. The little girl that had watched her father walk out the door after a kiss to her brow and pat to her head still feared watching her mother and fiancée and friends do the same. Saying I love you, but you're not important enough to stay for.

She wiped her eyes and sniffled.

"Thank you."

Yuuna was a lot of things, not all of them good. Brash, self-destructive, actually destructive, whimsical, goofy, and even a little bit cynical now that she'd spent two years as a trainer out in the field. But the one thing she was not was uncaring. She knew Ami's history as well as anyone else, and she knew the other needed some reassurances sometimes. Yuuna was hardly someone she would personally consider a pillar of the community, but she'd grown to realize just how much her opinion and her actions mattered to the people around her. That came with command, and it came with a hefty responsibility.

And it also came with some perks. Like getting to hug someone and know that it meant something.

"Always, sweetie. Even if I have to fight my way through a hungry Tyranitar to get there."

She inhaled deeply and couldn't help the smile on her face, she pushed some hair from her face.

Her circle of loved ones was small, she had a hard time opening up as a child and it carried long into her teen years. Yuuna and few others had gotten past her walls during university, and then there had been Rei and Usagi and Haruka and the others. It had all clicked into place, that they were sisters in arms so many, many years ago. But Yuuna had always been there from the start.

"It- I wish there was more I could do, to show you how much a part of my life you mean to me." She wasn't one for grand gestures except when it came to Rei.

"If there's something... please let me know, I've missed you terribly and I feel like you've been doing a good deal of reassuring me since you're return. I much rather celebrate that."

“Hey, sometimes we need that, and I haven’t been around to reassure you much lately now have I?” Yuuna quipped, running her fingers up Ami’s cheek to brush away a few stray tears. She knew what she meant to her little kouhai, and it wasn’t like she needed to be told. The drink alone had been enough, but Ami clearly wanted to do more.

“I will, of course. I really don’t need much right now, but if I do you know I’ll call. Life’s been pretty simple lately, though, except for the operation. No real problems, just lots of sitting around in my pajamas with my Pokemon and Merrill. Sad we didn’t get to go to Gigas with the rest of you though.”

"The shrine does have hot springs, if you would like to utilize them for the two of you? We have plenty of space for your pokemon that would wish to attend as well."

At the mention of Gigas she frowned and tilted her head.

"Admittedly, it was... enlightening, but wholly unnerving in some ways," ways she only confessed to Rei at this point. "It's a very.... detached city. It's technology with no heart done for the pure sake of money and less to do with any heart, rhyme, reason, or to fulfill a need."

"Detached is...not exactly what I'd hoped to hear, honestly." Yuuna sucked in a breath, looking off to the west with a critical eye. They were neighbors of this city, and it was so painfully clear that Gigas didn't really understand the way things needed to be.

There's something more, too, that sticks with her. She'd read Sophia's report, and Waver's as well, and what had stood out to her was something odd. Something more personal, related to a cave, and an old friend.

"I heard there were arenas. Is that true?"

"I'm bad at lying," she offered as her only condolence.

At the mention of the arenas she frowned and nodded.

"They, admittedly, have better healing facilities than we do, but that's because they had to get better at healing injured pokemon. It is a partnership with their pokemon, but it is a working one with the understanding of a 'master' and 'an owned animal,' rather than one of equals depending on each other." She rested a hand on Aurora's head and the Luxray nudged at her elbow, trying to comfort her. "If they are out of their pokeballs, it is to fulfill a task. They aren't bad people, though, at least not the citizens themselves, I think they just genuinely believe what they're doing has no harm."

That's not why she's bothered by it. It's nothing to do with Pokemon, but rather something else. An ugly nightmare, the memory of a false face. Something she'd only seen the once.

"What about people? Do they fight in these arenas?"

"Only against pokemon, but not against each other, at least not that I observed.... but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Why do you ask?" well... more specifically, why was that her focus?

“Because of a bad dream. Nothing important. Just…something that I’d thought about,” Yuuna answered airily, tension flowing away from her immediately. She didn’t really want to discuss what had happened in the caves with Diancie, really.

"Are you having a lot of bad dreams? We could have a Drowzee take a look if you like?"

"I have a Spiritomb that takes care of it. This was a while ago, though. Don't worry about it anymore, sweetie. It's in the past."

Literally.

"Alright, well, just as I know I can go to you, I hope you know you can always come to me as well. Shall we head inside to order some food? It's a counter service cafe."

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Meeting of Minds

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