Distant Reunion [Karimi]

[Blue]

Raza moved down the chilled sidewalk with deliberate strides, mentally noting all the aches, pains, and stiffness as they made themselves apparent. While the bulk of his therapy was done with, he still had a bit of healing to get through, expedited by regular day to day activities.
He didn’t mind the pain. After all, just being up and walking was a feat in itself. Nobody was sure he’d ever be getting out of that hospital bed, let alone in a year’s time. He’d endure it. This was worth the effort.

Behind him, the quiet patter of his partner’s own steps created a simple rhythm. The totodile was observant and calm, which he appreciated. He didn’t think he had it in him to care for an overly rambunctious pokemon at the moment.
Pausing outside a row of shops, Raza glanced around silently. It was rather frustrating…he desperately wanted to fight the Scourge, but he knew that neither himself nor his pokemon were up to the task. He needed to collect these ‘signs’ so that he’d be of use. And he needed to toughen up this ‘partner’ of his. Perhaps a visit to the gym wouldn’t be a half bad idea. He cared not for the badge, but for the experience. He might even be lucky enough to find a few worthy opponents inside the city itself.
It was a start, at any rate.

toska

[toska]

karimi only vaguely recalls making the travel from di manes to juturna village, the automatic pokeball release when she was ambushed by the scourge, the commands that she issued out of habit and practice. what she does remember are the harsh words that she had thrown at neo (or rather, it was probably more approprite to say that they exchanged such words). karimi shouldn't have thrown such a temper tantrum, not now when things were at their most desperate. not when neo wasn't the sort of person to be stopped from doing anything that she really put her mind to. she should've known, she should've known better, but the damage is done and will she ever see neo again?

she rides through the streets of proserpina on her arcanine, since emerson is the fastest pokemon that she owns. that, and the scourge battles in ceres forest had been too exhausting for her braviary to be flying his trainer around afterwards. they need to get to a pokemon center, lest they are ambushed by hades agents on the way to juno. which karimi considered as a possibility, since she and neo were the last two significant eos researchers who were actually going around kohaku to do something about the hades agents.

emerson would have gone faster, but the streets are as crowded as ever. knocking pedestrians over would hardly be conductive to their trip to the center. that's the only reason that karimi was able to see a dead man - or someone whom she had assumed dead, anyway. she thinks that she's seeing things at first - not too surprising for someone who feels like she hasn't eaten in forever and slept even less, but karimi stops her arcanine nevertheless.

she stares at him openly for a few seconds as she gets off her mount.

without a word, she throws her arms around him and attempts to squeeze the air out of him (okay, maybe not so intentionally).

Blue

[Blue]

Debating and weighing his options were the only things on his mind, and as such, he was woefully unprepared for what happened next. He’d hardly turned his head in the direction of movement when somebody was on him, grabbing him. Raza’s entire body went stiff as a board yet thrummed with violent energy, and had he already felt comfortable with that stylus thing, he’d have drawn a sign right at the woman before even thinking about it.

He’d have to practice that. Such a long pause between action and reaction was likely to get him killed.

Luckily for the woman, there was such a pause, which gave him enough time to remember that attacking people on the streets was not likely the best course of action. Instead he reached up stiffly and yanked the stranger off of him without particular care.
“What are you doing.”
He snipped the words at even as he stared coldly at the offending person. It took a moment before something rattled loose in his head and fell.
He knew that face.
No. Once he had. That person was dead now. So who was this. Who was this person with the face of his sister?

“…Alia.”
It was a statement, surprisingly flat and emotionless, given all that had occurred since last they had seen one another.

toska

[toska]

it's a good thing that raza didn't end up blasting his sister with a ranger sign, since the arcanine probably would have thunder fang'd him if he tried anything funny. he probably wouldn't want that even if the arcanine wasn't over level ninety. he's just protective, okay. months of fighting the scourge can do that to you.

"ra...za?" she tries to blink back her tears, but they spill over anyway. shit, she wasn't supposed to be crying, not at a time like this. karimi had thought herself stronger after everything that she had been through over the past year, and the alia karimi that decima town knew would never be crying in front of her sibling. not even if she were beaten bloody by one too many teenagers with cruelty in their veins.

(now they fight monsters with cruelty in their souls)

"oh my god, raza is it you, is it really you-" she grabs him again, as if he were a ghost who would only disappear in the crowd if she didn't. "oh my god i thought you were dead like everyone--"

she stops abruptly before she can finish the sentence. fuck, she didn't mean for him to find out like this.

Blue

[Blue]

Silently, Raza watched the tears roll down his sister’s face, perplexed for a moment. What was happening? There was a hollowness opening in him, and it didn’t allow him to make sense of the situation.
What was going on? Why was she crying? Why was she grabbing him, making his wounds ache?
And then she stumbled out the words, and he remembered.
“Oh.”
Yes, right. They were all dead. Devoured by the scourge, literally or figuratively, it didn’t matter. A ghost of a smile suddenly appeared.
“That’s right, everyone’s supposed to be dead. I had thought that too.”
Then the smile disappeared again, just as abruptly. He couldn’t figure out how to react to this. It was like there was something missing, something important, that would lead him properly down this interaction. Honestly, what was going on. He’d met a dead person just now, but he couldn’t decide if it really changed anything or not.

In the end, he decided it didn’t. He’d seen the blood and the carnage. He’d felt the pain and the suffering. His only goal was to eradicate the Scourge. Seemingly relieved to have come to that conclusion, he let out a small sigh.
“Sorry, Alia. I already know. I saw it happen to our parents, and to grandma. After almost a year, I assumed you all had died too. I’ve been in the hospital until recently.”

toska

[toska]

"raza, i'm...i'm so glad that you're okay" her words are muffled against him, but intelligible. "i'm sorry, it's just... really hard to track down people these days and the only siblings that i was able to meet were zara and larsa through eos, and arza in a dream-"

somehow, being next to raza makes their deaths all the more significant. she starts crying again as she is reminded of her failure to protect them.

"i - i thought that they'd be okay! i thought that we would all be okay when they walked away and now-" now none of them were okay, and there's nothing that can be done for them. just look at her, one of the three top eos researchers in the region, and blubbering against her brother like it helped anything at all.

alia steels her nerves again and tries to continue the conversation. "you've been in a hospital for a year? in proserpina?" god, now doesn't she feel stupid for charging out in the direction of decima when everyone was around her all along. she could have trained more, dissected a few more samples, saved a few more civilians -

she blinks at him. "...so what are you doing now?"

the arcanine gives a short bark. alia follows her pokemon's gaze. down to a vaccinated todidile. she had collected enough pokedex entries to know that much.

"raza-" panic begins to rise in her throat. "raza, no."

Blue

[Blue]

Oddly he found himself devoid of a similar sentiment as she. She was a live. But he’d already locked all of that away, had already chosen to steel himself and move forward. So was he happy that she was alive?
Honestly, it didn’t much affect him anymore.
“I’m not blaming you.”
Why should she apologize? He was probably the last to get out of that city. It was likely for him to be dead, even if the others survived.
Well, he pondered, at least his efforts hadn’t been entirely in vain - the others had lived, if for only a short while.

He hadn’t bothered to really sooth her physically, arms still at his sides, but the front of his jacket was now considerably more damp than it had started out.
“No. Not the entire time. I started out in Nerio. Then I was transported when things got dangerous. I’ve just completed physical therapy yesterday.”
And gone to get his pokemon today.

Speaking of which, before he had a chance to flatly answer another of his sister’s questions, the Arcanine pointed out his partner. The totodile stared somewhat dispassionately up at the young lady, having watched the entire encounter with silent interest. He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, but it hadn’t seemed his place to really pry.
Raza, for his part, blinked slowly as Alia began to panic.
“I’ve become a Ranger.”
He finally responded, again not quite understanding her intense emotions.

toska

[toska]

raza's forgiveness is almost more than she can handle, and karimi tries to crush him in a bear hug again without thinking - "oh my god raza you are the best little brother and i - " then she remembers to pull away."oh, shit, you're not still injured, are you-"

guess not, but karimi tries to keep a little more distance from her brother. raza probably liked his ribs where they were currently.

"a...ranger?" she repeats faintly. karimi would have expected his brother to have become a breeder, knowing his temperament, but a ranger. a recruit who was expected to go toe to toe with the scourge -

"but why?" she's not quite believing what she's hearing. "raza, it's too dangerous, that's just -"

her words die off as karimi remembers the encouragements that she had given to proserpina's researchers not too long ago. her encounter with the vullaby trainer. a grimm survivor. she had given them all her blessing, hadn't she? and now she is going to deny raza?

"raza, i..." she swallows, opting for the truth. nevertheless, her voice sounds small to her. "...you're the last one that i have left"

god, even zara could have done better than that.

Blue

[Blue]

Raza had actually visibly winced at the hug, despite his best efforts. He didn’t call her out on her…overabundant affection though. Somehow, it felt like it was normal, even if it was from a distant and now-lost past. It would take awhile for his wounds to completely stop aching, even after all the time spent healing and in therapy.

A curt nod was all Alia got in response to her question at first. Yes, a Ranger. Someone who would always have few pokemon, and thus few pokemon to lose. Someone who could actually fight on their own.
It was perfect for him, in his opinion.
Her objections make him blink, and every so slightly a frown pulls down on his features, a certain sharpness added to his gaze. What was that? Why was she questioning him? She seemed even more distraught over this than finding him alive, and he tried to wrap his brain around it.

Her quiet, heart breaking response stunned him into rapid blinking.
“Oh.”
He said it rather dumbly, until his brain finally caught up.
And then he shuddered, a full body affair. And the need to vomit crawled alarmingly fast up his throat, making his eyes water.
What…why would she say something like that. Something that brought every horrible, dark thing that haunted his nightmares into such sharp focus. He couldn’t afford this, to have anything else precious. He’d already lost everyone, and then come to terms with it, and then steeled himself. Her appearance was crumbling everything he’d spent the last year trying to build.

Abruptly his shoulders started to shake, his head bowed. But it wasn’t the sound of crying, but rather of laughter, that came from him. It started softly, and then turned into a full blown fit of chuckling. Normally his laugh was a warm thing, but this sounded more like a hollow echoing of his insides.
“Don’t do that. Until recently, we both thought everyone was dead. I’ve already buried you all in my mind. It should stay that way, its easier.”
He laughed again, and then abruptly grabbed his sister’s upper arm, stepping in close. His face was almost dangerously devoid of feeling.
“I have to do it Alia. I have to. I have to kill them all.”

toska

[toska]

shit, she didn't mean to startle him like that. to be fair though, he did say that everyone was dead without breaking down.

"oh my god, i'm sorry raza.." she had spent too much time being the only one who suffered the decimation of the karimi family. to have someone else who feels the same - it was surreal, really. surreal and sadder than it should be. she recoils when he laughs with such a foreign sound. it didn't sound right, not coming from the brother that decima had loved (the brother that decima had killed). "raza, what's going on-"

and suddenly she is jerked forward by an inch or so.

no.

this is not the brother that she knows, not the brother that she had loved. she grits her teeth.

"not that i haven't killed plenty of scourge during my time at pax, but aren't you a ranger because you care about protecting people?"

she's really the last person who should be lecturing on this sort of thing, but she doesn't like the emptiness that resonates in his tone. it feels wrong to be coming from the boy that she's known for most of her life.

Blue

[Blue]

Raza’s hand dropped back to his side, as though he’d not been gripping his sister’s arm in a vice seconds before. He blinked down at her, eyebrows slightly arched, as though he’d never even thought of that before.
To protect people? For the sake of protecting others…?
Well, he supposed that WAS what he was doing. If he slaughtered all the Scourge, nobody else would suffer in the same way.
His head tilted slightly to one side, an old quirk when he was thinking hard on something. Though usually he crossed his arms to accompany it - this time he did not.

“I guess, I am protecting people by eliminating the threat.”
He finally straightened and returned his unwavering stare to Alia’s face.
“I became a Ranger so that I could fight. I can summon up the power of pokemon and attack. And I only have a few pokemon with me, which is preferable given the high chance of death when fighting Scourge. I won’t lose an entire team of six ever again.”
His eye twitched ever so slightly as he said the last, even though his tone was flat.
It was hard not to immediately visualize all his pokemon from the past.
Finally he seemed to realize something, and he finally posed a question of his own.
“Alia, what are you doing? You’re with EOS? What field?”

toska

[toska]

watching raza is painful. it's like watching a whole person move with bits and pieces ripped away from him. she can almost feel how much he must ache, just looking at the gaping holes in the brother that she once knew so well.

what would it take to restore him? as far as karimi knew, fighting the scourge only took more and more out of the eos recruits. it isn't a path to salvation at all.

she listens to her brother's words and supposes that is where they differ. where raza sought to keep losses to a minimum, the alia who lost a single important partner sought to keep several pokemon, enough to overwhelm the enemy without losing even a single one. they are different styles that were aimed to achieving the same end.

"i...i'm a researcher now." she bites her lip. "i've been one for about eight months. i have office space in kohaku university and everything." she laughs bitterly. "it's a real dream come true."

except she wasn't careful for what she wished for, and everything else is crumbling down around her. she had wanted her dream so badly, but not like this. never like this.

Blue

[Blue]

“Congratulations.”
It was probably not what she was expecting to hear from him. But, flat as his tone may be, he meant it.
“Though I doubt you spend much time in that ‘office space’.”
A slow blink answered that bitter laugh. He scraped his mind, trying to remember what she could be referring to. Somehow, he found places completely blank.
He was suffering some memory loss, but no longer cared enough to even realize it.

“I would assume all of this is closer to a nightmare, for everyone involved. But I’m glad to hear you are involved. If I need vaccines, I will contact you.”
Raza seemed more steady when discussing practical things - like fighting the scourge.
He tentatively held out his cgear, tilting his head slightly to one side.
“I had to get a new one, so if you would like to re-register?”

toska

[toska]

"no, i don't" she tries to smile, as painful as it may be. she's had a lot of practice since the rest of the family had been annihalated. "you know me, always chasing after the pokemon."

except they're now scourge and she's chasing them so that she may kill them and dissect their corpses. and one day, they'll be called heroes for it. there truly is no irony more bitter.

"are you sure you're alright?" karimi is pretty sure that she knows already, but anything to stop him running off immediately like this. it's a bad question. nothing productive would actually come out of it. karimi takes his c-gear and registers her number, email address, and kohaku university address in both nerio city and the main eos office in sol. foolproof, as long as raza had his c-gear. "raza, just...text me often at least, okay?"

she's never been the helicopter big sister. she's sure that this must be strange for the both of them. "if you need anything, anything at all, i'll be there. i promise. there's a gardevoir in di manes who will give you three, but you should definitely call me if you need more." 

Blue

[Blue]

Raza gave another of his characteristic blank blinks.
“Yes, I am healed enough to be out of the hospital now. I just have some residual soreness, nothing serious.”
It was impossible to tell if he didn’t understand her question, or if he answered it wrong on purpose. After that, there was a quiet pause as Alia registered her information into the cgear - the only person in the entire device as of yet.
To be honest, it wasn’t likely Raza would be adding anybody who wouldn’t be useful in some way.

“I will notify you when I enter new cities. And when I successfully kill Scourge. Would that be sufficient?”
He didn’t really mind keeping her updated, he supposed. It would be easier for them to meet up for vaccines and the like, in any case. He nodded at the rest of her information, either not noticing or ignoring her concerned tones.
“Thank you for the tip. I’ll make sure to grab them when I enter Di Manes. And should I require help, I will contact you.”
He pocketed the c-gear, and then tilted his head slightly at his elder sister.
“Was there anything else? I should be moving on as soon as possible.”

toska