IC Contact

[foolishwren]

ffzzbrrttzzckssshhhh

"Yo, it's Heather. I'm probably asleep or Godzilla ate my 'Gear or something so I can't answer you right now. But feel free to leave a message or something. I'll probably get back to you. ... Probably. Peace out."

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP.
[Need to send Heather a private message but don't particularly wanna spam up your friendslists? Feel free to leave it here! Please include the name of the game and IC date of the message in your comment to help avoid confusion. For OOC contact, feel free to send a PM or IM the mun at Phantastus! peace out yo]

Comments

Backdated to Christmas Morning

[no_ufo_ending]

I'm up. I'm up.

_{[Henry is one of those losers that likes to SLEEP IN on Christmas. The presents weren't going anywhere, gosh.]}

[foolishwren]

C'MON!

It's Christmas!

Up and at 'em!

_{[YOU'RE NOT UP. YOU ARE STILL VERY MUCH SIDEWAYS. So Heather's gonna lightly buffet your head with a pillow until that changes.]}

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry lets out a long, reluctant grown before slowly sitting up. His Pokemon agree with Heather though and Prince and Cheerios are both bouncing on his legs.]}

Do I get to go back to sleep when we're done opening gifts?

[foolishwren]

Sure, yeah, 'course you can.

_{[If he can GET to sleep in the middle of a bunch of Pokemon bouncing around with all their new toys.]}

Now c'mon!

I wanna stick everybody's gifts under the tree before they get up so it's all like, magical and shit when they come downstairs. You need to help me.

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry blinked at her--one eye at a time.]}

Ho ho ho.

_{[He gets to his feet, trying very hard not to trip around the eevees winding around his feet, and blindly stumps his way over to the closet where his own small, but thoughtful gifts had been stashed.]}

I have to admit, it's nice having Christmas in a house for once.

[foolishwren]

Right?

Shit, I can't even remember the last time I had Christmas in a house.

<sub>[She'd been in and out of apartments for so long even before arriving in Johto and committing to a life of hotel rooms and tents.]

[Once she's sure Henry's up, she turns and heads over to her pack to dig out a bunch of packages that she'd hidden securely under a snoozing Claudy.]</sub>

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[With the gifts in his arms (some of them are incredibly well-wrapped because that's just one of his weird Henryisms), he quietly shoos Burger out of the way as he makes his way out into the living room.]}

I can start a pot of coffee. I don't think they'll be asleep much longer.

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather's are... adequately-wrapped. She's pretty good with paper but she also just doesn't care a whole lot. THE PAPER SPARKLES, IT'S GOOD ENOUGH.]}

That sounds like a good idea.

I know Envy'n'France have had plenty of Christmases, but this is like... Greed and Lust's very first one. It's a big deal!

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[Henry creeps his way over to the tree and starts stacking the larger gifts first. He can't help but grin a little.]}

It must be so strange and exciting to experience a big holiday like this for the first time.

_{[Johto didn't seem to have many of its OWN holidays now that he thought about it.]}

[foolishwren]

Right? Not to mention with a bunch of people around.

Like... we always get somethin' at the end of the bed on Christmas morning from like... Poke-Santa or whatever... but it's not the same as having a tree and a bunch of packages to unwrap.

_{[She starts to artfully stack hers, too. Some are a little awkward-shaped-- there's no good way to wrap a fake taxidermy Stantler head.]}

[no_ufo_ending]

Yeah...

<sub>[He has to admit, he's curious about the egg he nearly tripped over on his way out of the bedroom. And with the new and even stranger ones showing up, who knew what would come out?]

[Henry moves over to the kitchen to start the coffee.]</sub>

When we were young, my dad would--

_{[Wow. Has he...literally...never spoken about his dad before? Like, the NOT HARRY dad? This feels surreal as he realizes it. Henry was still sort of a man of mystery in ways.]}

--he'd put on the radio and find the cheesiest station he could while we all opened our gifts. We could do that.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Once Heather's satisfied with the organization under the tree, she picks up the last package and follows Henry into the kitchen with it. It makes more sense to shove the set of dishware somewhere on the counter than leave it lying under the tree where some Pokemon could break it.]

[But she looks over at Henry with a quirked brow, distracted from putting it down.]</sub>

... Really?

... I don't think you've ever told me about your fols before.

_{[She's gotten so used to Henry just having... SHOWN UP. Like the Silent Hill stork dumped him into the Masons' laps.]}

[no_ufo_ending]

My childhood wasn't very exciting.

_{[Once he has the coffee going, he reaches for the radio on the kitchen counter.]}

It just sort of...happened. Our family was pretty big, family members in and out all the time.

[foolishwren]

Wow...

_{[She tries to imagine what that must have been like. But there's no basis for comparison.]}

I guess I kind of always pictured you as a loner.

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[He puffs a quiet laugh once he finds the right station.]}

Nah, I didn't just...appear one day.

_{[Though sometimes it felt like he did. No strong childhood friendships, no family vacations he revisited again and again in his memories. It just happened. And he grew up.]}

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather sits down at the kitchen table, grinning.]}

I thought you just like, emerged from a circle of toadstools in the woods or something.

_{[But she's interested. She props her chin on her hands.]}

What's it like, having a big family?

It was always just me and dad, even back home.

[no_ufo_ending]

Loud. There's always something happening. If you aren't loud too, you tend to get overlooked.

_{[A lot. With all the little cousins and nephews running around, even though Henry was the youngest of his siblings, he was hardly the youngest in the family.]}

[foolishwren]

_{[She nods. It makes sense, although it doesn't paint a very good picture of Henry's childhood.]}

... Not much attention for you, huh?

[no_ufo_ending]

I'm sure they would have paid attention if I had asked.

_{[He shrugs, obviously not bothered. He doesn't feel like he was wronged. His family weren't mind readers.]}

[foolishwren]

... Well, you're gettin' plenty of attention now whether you ask or not.

_{[AND HE MUST BE OKAY WITH IT or else he'd probably have left, right?]}

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[He cracks a smile at that.]}

I think dragging me out of the woods is a little more than just giving me attention.

_{[More like saved his life. Or his sanity.]}

[foolishwren]

Well, it's still attention, isn't it?

<sub>[BIG attention!]

[She leans over to soundly ruffle his already-tousled hair.]</sub>

Stopping you from turning into a wild mountain man counts.

[no_ufo_ending]

_{[He raises his arms to protect his head and laughs.]}

Yeah, yeah. Too bad I didn't get to grow my wildman beard.

[foolishwren]

Well, you missed out on No-Shave November, but who says you can't grow one next year?

[no_ufo_ending]

That's true. Good thing I stopped smoking. I won't have to worry about accidentally catching it on fire.