foolishwren | 87. [Text/Action for Ecruteak in the evening]

Current Mood: crushed
Current Location: Ecruteak City

87. [Text/Action for Ecruteak in the evening]

_{[The following is sent out network-wide.]}

[Text]

gonna be gone today

won't be back till late

if it's important leave a message and I'll get it later

[Note left on the bedside table in hotel room, for Harry Mason and Henry Townshend]

Gotta take care of something

Won't be at work.

See you guys later in time for dinner probably

-Heather

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_{[There's a little rec center towards the south end of Ecruteak City. Given that the town's full of old people, it doesn't see a whole lot of activity.]

[But today, someone passing by might notice a small group of Pokemon hanging out JUST inside the door-- normally Pokemon waiting for their trainer would be playing or gamboling outside in the snow, but they look unusually subdued. Butch the Quagsire and Alessa the Absol, probably recognizable to anyone who's spent a significant amount of time around Heather, are sitting in the chairs by the entrance, although they're accompanied by two new faces...]

[A babbling Wooper is cuddled up to Butch's side, and a small, purple ball of fur is nestled deep into the Absol's bristly mane, not moving aside from the occasional little shiver or reflexive squirm as Alessa lifts her head to give it a gentle nudge every so often.]

[They're Heather's Pokemon, all right-- plus two of Kaito Kuroba's, Flapper the Wooper and Biz the Aipom, and they're clearly hunkered down morosely in the front lobby of the rec center, probably waiting for Heather.]

[But... where WAS Heather?]

[Smiling.]

[At the end of the letter, he'd told her to keep smiling.]

[Well, she couldn't do that. Maybe later. Maybe in a few hours, or tomorrow. But not today. Sorry, buddy...]

[If anyone actually went into the recreation center's lobby to see why the hell Heather's Pokemon were just sitting there, waiting around, they would likely hear it-- the repeated thwak THWAK THUD of someone viciously venting their spleen on a punching bag.]

[Which is exactly what she was doing, and HAD been doing for the past god knows how many hours. She hadn't even looked outside since she'd gotten there in the morning-- for all she knew it was past dark. She didn't know and she didn't really care, either-- which actually surprised her. She'd left that note for her father and Henry specifically with the intention of guilting herself into returning when she'd told them, because hey. They'd worry.]

[That wasn't good, she knew. Getting so sucked into hitting something that she didn't even care about getting 'home' on time. That sure was a throwback to the old high school years, wasn't it.]

[But hey... she wasn't punching a wall or a tree this time.]

[That was an improvement, right...?]}

[OOC: PokeGear responses will be replied to around 10:00 at night, when Heather returns home from beating the shit out of gym equipment. 8I]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Stalking is a harsh word; for what Vincent's been doing to Heather since he got here would be 'keeping an eye out' and

also following her places when he has nothing to do, usually as a passing when he sees her.

And now, he stands in front of the Pokémon outside the door, head tilted a little, one brow raised.]}

Why if it isn't Heather's Pokémon... Where's your trainer?

_{[Cleo's on top of Valtiel, staring at the Pokémon from his head, interested in what's going on.]}

_{[The Absol looks up instantly at the sound of the voice-- and bristles. Like Trainer, like Pokemon, apparently. She gets to her feet with a skitter of talons on tile, with the Aipom on her back still clinging, and wrinkles her snout in the direction of Vincent and her Pokemon.]

[She might well have stayed that way for awhile (her only reply to Vincent, apparently, was STOCK STILLNESS), if-- well hey, speak of the devil.]}

Sorry 'bout that, you guys... we can go n-- ... oh, hell.

_{[Drenched in sweat and swiping her hair out of her eyes with fingers that were just a tad swollen, Heather had come back into the lobby from a doorway that looked like it led to a gym-like area-- there were a couple of older folks in there on treadmills, but the place was quiet otherwise. Needless to say, she'd noticed Vincent and stopped in her tracks, glaring.]}

[He takes in the changed attributes, making the obvious connection between the gym and the sweat. She seems a bit pissed off, but that is her usual reaction to him.]

Oh 'hell'? I thought you wanted to avoid that..?

_{[O lawd, Vincent, she is NOT in the mood to be messed with right now... well. Not that she EVER is, really, but judging by the way her eyes are puffy and red-rimmed... she really doesn't want to be bothered.]

[Which of course means you should bother her and see what happens.]

[She gives him a withering look, moving to stand beside her Pokemon.]}

I'm not in the mood, Vincent...

Edited (wrong icon) 2012-01-23 06:45 (UTC)

[Oh he can tell that you aren't.]

I'm just here to see if you've heard the news... [He's so loose about this, as if it's nothing.]

_{[Well, she's heard SOME news, but it's not the news he's talking about... and as big a nosy pest as Vincent is, Heather's not sure if he'd have paid attention to that boy she always hung out with being gone.]

[So she sort of gives him an unsure squint.]}

... No ....?

[His tone drops a little, less cocky, more serious.]

Claudia's gone.

[He's not sure if this is good or bad... There are so many pros and a few cons too. Crazy bitch is gone, hooray! But so is the woman he grew up with, the closest thing he had to a friend- well, before the Order got to her head.]

_{[For a second or two, the tired frustration that had been tightening Heather's expression dropped and was replaced by a sort of hollow shock.]}

... She is?

_{[She doesn't look... devastated, but she doesn't actually look happy about it either. Oddly, her expression would seem to indicate feelings not dissimilar to Vincent's own. Conflicted.]}

A little birdy told me that if the Pokegear isn't responding, then they're gone. Vanished. And guess who isn't responding...

I can only assume you killed her after I died? [It's obvious what he's thinking about. If Claudia died before, then maybe she died now. It's revenge on one hand- in a way- and yet...]

_{[If she'd been asked yesterday if Claudia disappearing from Johto would have made her feel better, she'd have said yes.]

[But now that it's happened... she's not so sure.]

[The question actually catches her by surprise. ... Yes. That's right. She'd made no attempt to hide the fact that she was planning to kill Claudia Wolf that night more than two years ago in Silent Hill.]

[Folding her arms in a posture that's almost defensive, Heather shakes her head.]}

... No... I didn't.

_{[Vincent had died.]

[He'd never heard the whole story... saw how the tale ended. Maybe it's time to tell him.]}

[His whole posture changes at the answer, his body signalling a mixture of emotions; surprise, anger, he just can't believe this. Even his mouth hangs a little open.]

You didn't? You were meant to kill the crazy bitch! Didn't you hear me the first time?

_{[Well if you would just give her a chance to explain...]}

I heard you just fine!

She killed HERSELF!

Happy?

[He stops dead in his tracks, his mouth still open; he doesn't move for a moment. His eyebrows raise and peers up through his glasses, a look of disbelief plastering his face.]

She killed herself?! Oh Claudia...

But you were meant to die- to give birth!

_{[Her eyes narrow, and when she speaks, her voice is dripping with venom.]}

Yeah.

I know.

_{[She knows perfectly well that her role in all that disgusting madness was to sacrifice her own body to house and deliver the being that would end the world. To birth it and become it.]}

But I didn't, because FUCK destiny.

_{[There's a pause.]}

... So she tried to instead.

[He closes his eyes, a Vincent's shit eating grin (tm) forming. He couldn't believe he was hearing this.]

She tried to birth God?

[That must have been messy.]

And how did that work out?

_{[Oh, believe her. It was.]

[At the slimy grin that spreads across his face, Heather's eyes narrow, and her tone flattens.]}

Not well.

... What the fuck are you smiling about?

You think it's FUNNY?

What happened to her?

Funny is a harsh word... But, what a way to go, don't you think?

[Funny really is a harsh word. This news is a little lighter on him, now that he's seen her in this 'afterlife'- not to mention (once again) that the bitch stabbed him quite literally in the back.

A bit of him wonders where it all went wrong, how she could have gotten to that stage of insanity that she'd try and birth something like God. She must've known she couldn't do it...

Fuck Leonard.]

And what came of 'God'. [The last word is spat out like a foul tasting object that just won't seem to cease haunting his taste-buds.]

_{[The sour glare doesn't leave Heather's eyes.]}

Yeah. Sure was.

_{[What a way to go indeed... between the ... ingestion... and the way the flesh had started to crawl off of her body before Heather's very eyes as the god finished its grisly development... It's something that she'd watched over and over in nightmares.]}

God's dead.

I killed it.

[He rises his head to look at her again; a closed grin.]

Then I suppose I should be wishing you 'Well done', no?

I guess you should.

_{[Heaving a bitter sigh, Heather looks away. She's not sure she can stand looking at that smile for one second longer without just wanting to rip it off Vincent's face and choking him with it.]

[Instead, she swipes viciously at the dampness still coating her brow and neck. The relentless assault she'd perpetuated on that poor punching bag in there HAD tired her out, but somehow with the news of Claudia's disappearance...]}

... She thought Sunny was an angel.

_{[... It's a random-ass remark that she knows Vincent won't understand, but she doesn't care.]}

[He's surprised she's mentally lasting this long; in past meetings, Heather's lashed out, and with the subject of this discussion...

He's not complaining of course.]

Sunny?

[He doesn't know the name.

He scoffs and shakes his head. He does know one thing though... ]

She'd have thought anything was sacred here...

[Why didn't she believe him? This. Isn't. Paradise. This isn't Paradise and she wasn't saved and if they had been brought here after death, then 'Paradise' may not have even been real. Not that he had never doubted it before.]

_{[Well, these are special circumstances...]

[And besides, as much as she hates Vincent... he had been as intricately tangled up in that night as any of the others ad been. It had done him in in the end. But that didn't change the fact that he'd been there.]

[They share something, even if Heather wishes they didn't.]}

Yeah. Sunny.

_{[Don't you fucking make fun of the name, Vincent, Old Snake named the Pokemon that and he is like a thousand times manlier than you will ever be! >:c]_{At least she was happy.

_{[... Then she paused and shook herself. What was she even saying...? She didn't WANT Claudia to be happy.]}

... It's all stupid.}}

[He only raises a brow, keeps listening instead of replying. Usually he'd only stay silent when he was getting information, but this, to him, was a different case.

He doesn't feel bad for what he put Heather through, and he won't apologize. Between Claudia, Heather and Douglas (and he hadn't really cared about Douglas; he was just a pawn of Claudia's. Far too easily used), Heather was the only other sane one in the otherworld at that point.

She isn't so bad. She was Alessa. And yet...

He lowers his head once more, muttering, his tone serious.]

She could've been happy... She just needed to stop listening to all of the lies.

_{[All the lies...]

[Heather had not known what Dahlia had done to her daughter's best friend until Vincent himself had mentioned it ... hell, even Alessa hadn't known. Hadn't known that her mother had moved on to hurting Claudia, once Alessa couldn't be hurt any more than she already was.]

[But the knowledge filled her-- filled both the new and old pieces-- with a sick, hot rage that somehow smoldered even more deeply than the anger she felt for Claudia herself.]

[Even years after her death... Dahlia had been behind it all.]

[Seventeen years after her arrogance and cruelty had caught up with her and done her in, she had still found a way to hurt her daughter.]

[Of course she had.]}

... When did it start?

_{[At what point had Dahlia Gillespie decided to start filling the littlest Wolf pup's mind with poison?]}

Did she let her get into the double-digits first?

Or did she just start right in?

_{[She's not looking at Vincent-- but her voice is trembling and her fists are clenched at her sides. Alessa, the aptly-named Absol, lets out a worried whine and presses her sharp nose against her trainer's knuckles.]}

[It figures that Heather- no, likely Alessa- would figure out what he meant. It wasn't the hardest thing to guess out with how messed up Dahlia was.

Vincent looks to Heather, notices her posture, her fists; even he knows that now isn't a time to be cracking jokes. Sometimes, people had to be serious.

Vincent still doesn't know how to feel about Claudia's disappearance, really.

To be honest, Vincent doesn't even like remembering what she did to Claudia.]

As long as I remember. But believe me, it was single digits.

Dahlia was a nasty piece of work... But I'm sure you already know that, Alessa.

[If there's one person he never wants to turn up in Johto, it's her.]

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[Action] Life has been everywhere once again. Sorry. ;-; I feel really bad that I rarely tag you.

[Action] Oh hon it's okay! ;-; Just tag me whenever you can, you know I don't mind waiting.

[Action] Thanks. ♥ Might be moving soon to a place with better internet and less stress. Should he

[Action] ;-; I'm glad! I've missed you <3

[Action] I missed you too! <3 Also, every time Vincent muse dies a little, tagging you helps!

[Action] ;-; AWWW I'm glad I can help! I love playing with Vincent.

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