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[raisedroyal]

[Natalia looks around herself cautiously and adjusts her quiver strap. Only moments before she had been following behind Luke and the others as they made their way through the desert, and now they have all seemingly left her! Luke... wouldn't abandon her, would he? Certainly not after he had promised! ...Unless perhaps in his eagerness to join up with Dorian General Grants her very presence had somehow escaped his mind. However, that's not something she wishes to dwell upon for very long.]

Luke...? Luke! Just what is the meaning of this! Did you not agree to let me accompany you? I demand that you return immediately!

[No, no... this is silly; demands never work with him. Natalia takes a deep breath and starts forward. She can't prove him right about not belonging outside the castle. She must simply have gotten herself turned around; she'll catch up to them on her own. Definitely.]

[[OOC: Post-factory, pre-Akzeriuth. Somewhere around there!]]

Comments

[raisedroyal]

[And after he's already doubled the number of questions floating around in her head, too. Natalia considers this. On the one hand, it's good to know that there are a great many things in store for her, and yet on the other...]

[If something happened to Luke, and if there were some way to prevent it, she'd certainly do what she could. After all, he doesn't seem particularly happy.]

Is there nothing that can be done? You said yourself, that there were many possibilities... is there not some way we can change things so you don't have to suffer? [What is this blasphemy, Natalia. It goes against the Score.]

[fonicfraccion.livejournal.com]

Suffer?

[Luke raised an eyebrow at her response, looking anything but amused.]

Where exactly did I say I was suffering, Natalia? That's rather presumptuous of you.

[He paused a moment, before shrugging.]

I will admit the road it took me to get to this point was less than pleasant, but I am pleased enough with the end result. There is no need to change my past. Besides, the main issue of my existence is one you can do nothing about anyway.

This tag was better the first time but I elbow-slipped-lost-it.

[raisedroyal]

[Natalia blanches. It's true that Luke never said such a thing, and yet she had assumed. The mask, the way he carries himself, the manner in which he has been almost cruelly joking with her; she took those things to be indications that something was wrong.]

No, I just...

[But that isn't the case, is it? This Luke has endured, and he has conquered she supposes. It's how he is. He may not even need her help at all. Perhaps he's right and she truly is being presumptuous. She glances at a patch of grass to the right of him.]

I'm sorry, I suppose it would all sound rather silly.

XDD <333

[fonicfraccion.livejournal.com]

Hmph.

[Luke moved toward her, a bit of a smug look on his face. Though it softened once he drew even with her, and for a moment, he almost looked like the real Luke again.]

...when you see an Asch, be kind to him. He's more important to you then you yet realize.

No it really happened. OTL

[raisedroyal]

[Natalia manages to hold her ground, although to say she wasn't just a little bit uncomfortable around this Luke would have been a falsehood.]

[Nevertheless, the "advice" takes her a bit by surprise. She did hear what he said before, but the implications of Asch's identity haven't fully registered in her mind yet. She only understands that somehow the two of them share a connection. A replica - it just doesn't make sense. How can Luke be anyone but the person she has known all this time?]

Luke, you should know that I don't go out of my way to treat people cruelly. But do you really believe that man can be trusted? After all... he and his comrades were the ones to kidnap the Fon Master. [She sounds unsure. What to think.]

Aw... XDD

[fonicfraccion.livejournal.com]

[Luke ran a hand through his hair, disturbing it for a moment and revealing a lock of pink, standing stark amongst the red, before it was concealed again. He was trying to decide how to best word this without revealing... well, everything.]

Things were done for a reason; when you return, you'll find Ion being returned almost... easy. Out of the Six God Generals, he's the only one that could be your ally.

[There was emphasis put on the "your", and it was clearly deliberate.]

[raisedroyal]

[Returned? Natalia can't imagine why they would return him unless they no longer had need of holding him hostage. Which begs the question as to why the God-Generals keep coming after Fon Master Ion in the first place. Leverage, a power struggle within the Order of Lorelei, or perhaps there's something only Ion is capable of seeing to?]

[Natalia considers this for a moment. Luke didn't say 'our' ally. He said... 'your' ally. Intentional, she assumes, but it explains so very little.]

My ally... [Which means, if nothing else, she should try talking to him the next time they meet. Perhaps Asch can be persuaded to explain his motives.] Yes, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.