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“Where were you from? What was it like?” Laventon had been intrigued at the answers that her companions gave, and the fact that she was from an entirely different area from them only fueled his curiosity.
The questions were innocent, and given how freely Colress and Cynthia could answer it, it wasn’t as if anyone could expect how loaded that line of questions was for Lynn.
“Uhhhh, it’s complicated.” The flinch seen out of the corner of her eye told her that Colress caught the implication quickly, and Cynthia had a grimace that indicated she understood as well. “Birthplace or where I was raised? Or where was I before-” She waved her hand vaguely towards the rift in the sky, “-that.”
“… Whichever you’re more comfortable with, dear.” Apparently even Laventon caught her unease. “I was just wondering what home was for you.”
Home.
What was home for her?
Where was home
“I-” her voice caught on something, and she had to look away from the expectant faces. “I guess Olivine. It’s where my
family
was, and where I went back to when on breaks from my journey. It was… Nice. I guess.”
Her voice petered out near the end, and Laventon finally asked about the ‘journey’ that all three of them had referenced at one point or another. It was surprising to meet someone who had opted out of the childhood journey like Colress, but he had apparently picked up training Pokemon later on in life.
Lynn mostly let Cynthia take the lead on explaining the concept to Laventon, who was shocked about how common it was to let children run around with Pokemon.
She was listening, but her mind was only halfway there as she stared into the distance.
Olivine was familiar, but she wasn’t sure if she would truly call it home. It was where her possessions that she couldn’t carry were stored, and her grandparents lived there.
And her feelings were… Complicated.
It probably wasn’t helped by the fact that she had been uprooted so many times, that by the time she made it to Olivine, she didn’t even cry when her parents gave her to her grandparents. It was just another thing that happened, and she had no control over it.
And Olivine never felt fully like it was home either. Some part of her expected yet another thing to happen and take her away, so making friends just. didn’t happen. Adding in the problem her grandmother seemed to have with how odd Lynn was only made things worse.
When she went on her journey, she made Pokemon friends, and that was the beginning of maybe understanding what people meant by home.
And o ne b y o ne, they all died.
Melody was the only one left of the original team when the Epidemic started, and, if anything, she was the closest thing that ever felt like Home for Lynn, now she didn’t even have her anymore.
Oh. Tears joined that thought. They hadn’t fallen, so it wasn’t immediately obvious, but she knew the others would be able to see them welling in her eyes if she stayed any longer.
Suddenly, she stood up and tried to hide wiping her eyes as a general face wipe, and tried to speak.
The sound that came out was clearly an attempt at words, but her tongue locked up and negated any clarity.
Shit.
The questions about her wellbeing were already coming, and she just waved them away before turning on her heel and speedwalking to their quarters.
It wasn’t like she could talk like this, anyway.
She pulled her hat low in some attempt at giving herself some privacy from the townspeople as she tried to get to the building where she slept.
I want to go home.
And home was nowhere to be found.