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Outside of the company of others, Luke was best described as listless. He aware enough of himself to recognize that it wouldn't do him any good to sit inside all day, but he didn't exactly want to be amidst Camphoreon's excessive crowds. Everyone was always in such a good mood, as though perfectly unaware of their mortality. It was painful to watch, but he supposed he had just as easily forgotten that very basic fact.

The farer reaches of the park offered an alternative to bustling, happy masses of strangers and provided the peaceful quiet Luke sought from the city. The sunshine was pleasantly warm, the whisper of the rustling leaves drowning out the distant sounds of everyday life. The boy sat on one of the area's weathered benches, one foot drawn up to rest on the seat so that he could recline an arm and head against the knee. His ever-present sheath was absent from his person, and the Flareon that usually kept company with him when he was otherwise alone was nowhere to be found. Headphones were pressed into his ears, and he half hummed, half murmured along with the lyrics of whatever music came up on the shuffled playlist. It was definitely easier when he didn't have to act like nothing bothered him.

"Ah--" Luke snapped upright, hands instinctively darting after the abruptly stolen earbuds, and stared in sheer surprise and confusion at the responsible individual. His features settled into a mild distaste, and in acknowledgement of Asch's words, he returned to his previous posture and turned his head to face opposite from Asch. "You can thank me for that one," he muttered vaguely. Great, just who he always wanted to see.

Luke frowned; he didn't exactly appreciate having his circumstances blatantly mocked. He rarely appreciated anything Asch had to say to him. When he responded, it was with considerable anger, his volume suddenly elevated almost to shouting, "Yeah, I kicked a damn puppy. Clear to the other side of the region. That make you happy, you b*****d?!" He returned again to his previous posture, features still scowling. Leave it to the magnificent jerk to not be able to take the hint when someone wanted to be left well enough alone.

Arceus, he had never wanted to punch someone more at any other point in his life.

His first instinct, of course, was to divert the question. 'Why do you care?' 'It's got nothing to do with you.' 'I don't have to tell you anything.' What did it matter, though? Asch was a criminal anyway, and he already hated him too. In all likelihood, there was nothing Luke could do to lower his brother's opinion of him anymore, and even if he could he doubted he would care much at this point. "What is this, a damn circus? I killed a guy. Now shut up and go away."

There was a certain irony in hoping to be fearful, but Luke certainly wished that he had lacked the will to act as he had. Things surely would have worked out better that way. "I don't have to convince you of anything. Leave me alone already." The anger had faded from his tone, leaving his words bitter and dejected.

He ignored the first remark. He'd already had that conversation with Yuri, and he sure as hell wasn't repeating it with Asch. The next, however, brought his posture to tighten slightly, as if in defiance. "I'm not going home," he said. "I already said I'd do everything I can here. That hasn't changed." He didn't want to fight, and he didn't want to hurt people, but his pokemon still stood with him and his friends were still in the battle. He wasn't leaving now, not by a long shot.

The comment on involving the police went similarly without response, if only because he could find no words to answer it. There was some irony to the threat of a shameless thief to call the police on the person who had killed someone in defense of his friends, but at the root of it Luke couldn't help but think that things would be more right if he were arrested. He was no better than Asch - perhaps even worse than Asch, if one weighed the crime of murder against that of theft. It was painful, all of it.

Luke turned on his brother suddenly, glaring. "What's wrong with not wanting people to die, huh?! I don't want you to die, as much as you're pissing me off!" He returned his gaze vaguely to the scenery, looking without seeing. "If there's a way to do something without hurting someone, then that's obviously the best way to do it. I'm just... sure there was some way out of it, and I just couldn't think of it... He didn't have to die. I just couldn't think of anything better."

He huffed. "If you can get that, then why can't you get why it might kind of upsetting to kill someone? Sorry, but I'm not some kind of practiced murderer." The breath on which he concluded was shuddering; everything was hard to say, and Luke wasn't really sure how he was producing the words at all.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" he murmured indignantly. "I'm not so inhuman that I could just 'get over it' in a couple hours or something... I came out here so I could think by myself without bothering anyone." Until you showed up, you arrogant b*****d.