foolishwren | [Action in the ~*~Goldenrod Department Store~*~] FOURTH WALL EVENT POST

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Current Location: Goldenrod City Department Store

[Action in the ~~Goldenrod Department Store~~] FOURTH WALL EVENT POST

_{[OOC: HI GUYS. As per usual with my TL;DR event posts, reading this is more or less optional. All you need to know is that Heather's in the Goldenrod City Department Store, and that you are free to bother her in ANY WAY YOU SEE FIT, anywhere in the store.
Posts on my end might be a little slow, but I AM online and will be replying to every tag!
Out-of-game dudes, welcome to Route for the weekend! I hope you enjoy your stay, and hope that maybe we'll be snagging a few of you for good. ;)]}

_{[Well, Saturday came, and despite the injuries and wreckage accumulated at the Department Store from the aftermath of that robbery, a big mall can't staff itself! As such, the employees have all been respectfully ordered to come back and help with cleaning things up, because god forbid they close the store for a few days!]

[And so, wearing her stupid little employee uniform, a tired Heather got up early with her newly-recovered Pokemon in-pocket (she didn't normally take them to work with her, but given the events there, she was feeling less confident about the prospect of being without them in case of an emergency. And besides, she sort of wanted to spoil them a little bit for all they'd been through), and made her way morosely to the big shiny building.]

[The whole way, Cujo pranced and gamboled around her, completely oblivious to his Trainer's sour mood.]

[She shoved the revolving door a little harder than necessary and went through it, taking care not to let the simple-minded Growlithe get stuck in the turnstyle.]

[And gueeeessss who was right there waiting in the lobby for her, surrounded by bustling janitors carrying around busted vending machines and sweeping up rubble?]}

ABOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP!

BACK IN MY DAY, SNOTTY KIDS WHO TOOK TOO MUCH TIME OFF OF WORK WERE FLOGGED AND PUBLICLY HUMILIATED!

.... And back in your day, the elderly fell behind and got eaten by saber-toothed tigers...

WHAT WAS THAT?!

Ugh... nothing...

I'VE HAD ABOUT ENOUGH OF YOUR LIP. MY DELICATE HEART CANNOT ABIDE SUCH DISRESPECT. GO HELP THE JANITORS ON THE SECOND FLOOR BEFORE YOUR INSOLENCE BEGINS TO ENDANGER MY HEALTH.

Yes, ma'am...

AND GET THAT FILTHY MUTT IN A POKEBALL IMMEDIATELY!!

_{[Making a sour face, Heather promptly flipped the old bat off as she went huffing away to scream at someone else who didn't deserve it.]}

Don't listen to 'er, Cooj. You might be a filthy mutt, but she's a bitch and that's ten times worse. We gotta stop at the laundry room first. I'll let you chew on one of her skirts.

_{[Cujo panted up at her happily, having absolutely no idea that the supervisor had called him anything, and promptly walked into a potted plant because he wasn't watching where he was going.]}

~*~

_{[The employee laundry room yawned ominously away from the doorway, its gray-green basement lights buzzing in that ugly way that old, out-of-date electronics that no higher-up has felt necessary to replace so often do. The gaps between the tiles here were always wet, and filled with that gritty mush that resulted when bits of powdered laundry detergent spilled onto a damp floor and was allowed to sit. The whole place smelled like stagnant water from the machine in the corner that was always broken and filled up with cloudy water that nobody bothered to drain for weeks.]

[Old uniforms were strewn across the floor like corpses of long-forgotten staff members who had been trapped down here and died horribly.]}

... Same old, same old...

_{[Heather sighed and stepped in, her boots skidding slightly on the soapscum-covered floor.]}

Don't eat anything I don't tell you is okay, Cooj.

_{[She leaned over the bin of clean uniforms, digging around in it with still-bandaged arms. She needed a new hat and didn't fancy getting screamed at for not having one if she was caught without it on the job.]}

Jesus, there can't be like fifty thousand clean shirts and no hats...

_{[Then she stopped and looked over her shoulder, brows furrowed. Cujo was standing stiffly behind her, his creamy hackles raised and normally-happy brown eyes wide and staring. A low, unsettled growl was drifting out of his throat and his stare was settled firmly on the employee lockers across the room. Swallowing, Heather withdrew from the bin slowly.]}

... What is it, boy?

_{[The growl increased in volume, and Heather frowned worriedly, following his gaze.]

[The source of his anxiety became clear instantly.]

[The door to Locker no. 9 was rattling gently, occasionally thumping. There was something inside it. Trying to get out.]

[The hairs on the back of Heather's neck stood up.]

[... It's... it's deja vu all over again...]

[The rattling was replaced by an insistent, metallic banging. Heather gulped, and reached out to pick up a nearby metal laundry basket.]}

Stay here, Cooj...

_{[Slowly, warily, she approached the locker. As though sensing her nearing presence, the banging became louder and more violent. Adamant. Biting her lip, Heather reached out with a bandaged hand... and opened the locker.]}

--AAAUGH!

_{[The laundry basket went clanging to the floor as Heather fell backwards, knocked onto the damp, gritty floor as whatever was in the locker came lunging out at her like a desperate predator, barreling its warm weight into her chest and knocking her off-balance. Cujo erupted into a frenzy of barking and whimpering, knocking over the laundry bin as he turned in alarmed circles.]

[Heather thrashed on the floor, throwing the attacker off in the process and struggling to sit up defensively, teeth bared.]}

I-- GET OFF! I'LL-- You-- .... uh. .... Huh?

_{[The attacker wagged its little cinnamon-bun of a tail, the speaker on its headphones giving out a cheery little crackle of static.]}

ARF!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not really; flowers have their own definitions and meanings. My grandmother taught me and my siblings about how to send messages through bouquets one year.

Which flower are you named for? Maybe it was one I learned!

[For a nutjob, he can be very childish and easily distracted. Many sociopaths are.]

[Talib waits obediently at the foot of the ladder, looking up as if to help her find Liquid.]

Do you think he can hear you with all this construction going on?

_{[Her answer comes quickly and without missing a beat.]}

Oh! Whoops, sorry-- guess I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Daisy.

_{[... There is no REAL reason to give this guy a fake name. It's not like 'Heather' isn't technically ALREADY a fake name. ... But still, it's funny.]

[She does look concerned at his observation, though.]}

... Eesh, you're right. Hang on, if he doesn't reply, I'll just-- ... I dunno, climb up and find him. I'll try yelling first though. Hang on.

HEY!! LIQUID!

YOU WITH THE GIRLY HAIR!

_{[... One of the electric drills stops and there's a muffled, confused sounding male voice replying unintelligibly. Heather frowns and waves a hand through the gap.]} NO, no, not you! LIQUID. I said LIQUID.

_{[There's another muffled reply and the drill turns back on. Heather pauses, wrinkling her nose, then shakes her head, uttering an exasperated sigh.]}

Ugh, hang on, he must be really far back there or something. I'll be right back.

_{[She clambers on upwards through the open panel, but just far enough to scoot herself a little into the darkness. Her increasingly-annoyed-sounding yells of "LIQUID!!" are still more or less audible.]}

Now see, that is not boring. Daisy means "Day's eye" and in the French language is is a nickname for Margaret.

[He snickers at the "girly hair" comment and watches her vanish into the ceiling crawlspace.]

[He'll chill for a while at the bottom of the ladder, taking out a cigarette and lighting up.]

_{[She pokes her head back through long enough to grin crookedly, squinting.]}

Dude, 'Margaret'? Man, what does 'Daisy' have to do with 'Ma-' Huh. _{[She shrugs, then waves a hand and disappears back into the hole. Her yells are swallowed up by the construction noises for a moment or two, before her boots reappear at the edge of the hole and she starts to climb down, tramping down onto the top rung.]}

Ugh, sorry-- THAT took awhile... Pretty sure he's coming.

If he's not, I'll go back up there and kick his ass.

_{[Sitting on the edge of the hole, she leans down a little, as though checking to see where she's putting her feet before she comes down. She doesn't wanna fall off.]}

French etymology.

It's no problem; I appreciate your help very much!

[He smiles again at her before looking around the room for another possible weapon. If Liquid was truly coming, then it undoubtedly was not to greet his tormentor. If Liquid was not coming, then the girl was lying as she was about her name.]

... Ohhhh. Y'know, I took a year of French in high school and totally hated it... too many accents. _{[She squared her hands on the edges of the ledge, getting ready to inch down onto the ladder.]}

'Course, it didn't help that my teacher was a major bitch, she always

_{[And then, right in the middle of her sentence, with no warning whatsoever in her tone, she angles her feet around, hooks them around the other side of the ladder and SHOVES with all her might, sending the hulking metal contraption crashing over-- and for good measure, she's coming down with it on the other side for extra weight-- bringing it down STRAIGHT on him as he's looking the other way unless he's fast enough to leap to the side in the small, cluttered space.]

[It's not heavy enough to kill him or even really injure him if it does hit its mark-- her aim is to trap and pin.]}

[!]

[All right! Talib has been caught! ~~Give a nickname to Talib?~~]

[It take a moment for the young man to get his bearings after the ladder catches him unawares.]

/In'a'al mayteen ehlak! Bidde neek immak!/

[...Probably should ask Liquid for a translation. Arabic curses are pretty hilarious.]

_{[Trainer Heather has nicknamed Talib 'lol sucker'!]

[Crouched on the metal contraption like some kind of gargoyle, Heather peers down through the rungs at her captive, a toothy, wolfish grin on her face.]}

Whoops.

_{[Yeah, probably-- too bad Liquid doesn't work here after all.]

[Talib was right. Heather is a filthy liar.]}

[He snarls savagely at her before a sickening smile slowly creeps over his face.]

You should know, gahba, that you cannot keep me trapped forever. Eventually I will return to my proper place and for this...

[He cackles cruelly]

I will skin my pet alive because of you, and the whole time, I will tell him about the disgusting little lying shlicke who is the reason for his pain!

_{[She tilts her scruffy head at him, one brow quirking.]}

Really.

I think that'd affect me more if I had any idea what you were talking about.

_{[Because lol okay whatever this guy could go home and skin his dog and tell it that this random girl in some other world was the reason for its suffering. That was nastay but what could she do?]

[ The point <------

Heather's head.]}

Anyway.

_{[She lifts a hand, inspecting the nails daintily, as though she didn't totally just trap somebody under a bigass metal ladder.]}

I don't care whether you go home or not, feel free to leave any time. But for now, why don't you tell me about yourself? We're gonna be here awhile, after all.

This thing is so heavy, I couldn't possibly move it, myself.

... Also, did you seriously think I'd take you to Liquid when the dude asking for him is covered in blood and holding a branding iron?

[He laughs at her dismissal.]

My name is Talib. I am a torturer of the Iraqi army.

Four years ago, my pet was captured trying to discover SCUD missiles and was sent to me to be broken.

Is it any wonder I wish to find my pretty blond dog when I have just come from hearing him scream?

_{[... Oh. Well. That certainly changed the landscape a little.]

[Heather tilts her head again, the other way, and this time there's not 'o rly?' on it so much as a weird, unreadable look. This look disappears after a moment, and her eyes narrow.]}

Oh.

_{[That's all she says. 'Oh'.]

[Then she stands up-- still with all her weight on the ladder, although the thing's heavy enough to keep him pinned all by itself, really.]

[Then she takes a step forward and plants one boot on the rung directly above Talib's face.]

[Heather's not a torturer, or a sadist. She doesn't have a thing on this guy, and there's probably not really anything she can DO that would faze him, you know, pain-wise.]

[But she is a Silent Hill survivor and the blood in her veins comes from the soil of that cursed place. She had been accused of enjoying the act of killing those things that might have been human and crushing the life out of them. And, that accuser hadn't entirely been wrong.]

[She leeeaaaaaaaaaaaaans.]}

I like my Liquid non-screaming.

[The ladder rung presses against his madly grinning face, slowly beginning to crush him.]

Too bad. You don't know what you're missing!

He's quite beautiful when he's writhing in agony. Hearing him weep like a child, so delirious with pain and sickness that he calls out to his brother and father for help...It's enthralling. He's a living drug.

I wonder if I'll scream the way he does when you kill me~

People like you are why small children cry at night.

_{[She leans further, the other end of the ladder lifting up slightly from the floor as the weight is pressed against the front.]}

And I'd take it as a kindness if you DIDN'T.

I don't get off on killing people, no matter WHAT people say about me.

_{[So much for the ditz that had yammered on about daisies and French class.]}

I like that you automatically assume I'm gonna kill you, though. 'Cuz that's pretty much true.

_{[NO ONE touched Heather's friends the way this guy was talking about and lived. She eases off the pressure for a moment, but leaves the boot there.]}

... Y'know, on second thought, I think he DID mention you.

He said you were an inbred pussy. Then he laughed. I see what he meant.

[The metal was cutting into him, making him bleed.]

Heh...I like you. You're interesting~ You, ha, remind me of my sister.

No one ever came for him. He and I, we're a lot alike. No one will mourn us in our proper worlds.

_{[Good, blood! Heather approves. She's totally in approval of him bleeding.]

[But her expression goes from plain old snarly to downright disgusted when he compares her to his sister. It's not the first time she's heard it-- but it was a hell of a lot more touching coming from Otacon than it is this guy.]}

I'm sorry to say that I don't return the sentiment.

See, I kinda don't like people who hurt my friends. _{[My FAMILY.]} And I kinda kill them. You know, when I can. _{[She had gone to Hell and back for revenge before-- literally.]}

_{[Now she's leaning on the ladder again, more forcefully.]}

I would've come for him.

But nobody's comin' for you.

_{[MORE pressure.]}

And oh yeah... My name's Heather.

Got a definition for that one, jackass?

Nng!

[He can feel and hear the metal scrape against the bone of his skull.]

You never even knew he existed!

Heather...Lavender is admiration and solitude..White is protection and wishes that come true...It thrives even under difficult conditions...One of the few brave plants to survive and grow on the Scottish moors...Heh...The name of the little red-headed girl Charlie Brown had a crush on...

_{[She's looking right into his eyes, and if he looks back, there is genuine rage in hers. The roiling kind that's actually been building up for awhile and is probably unrelated to the situation at hand, but is looking for an outlet-- ANY justified outlet-- to come out of.]}

I know he exists now.

_{[Preeeesssssss.]

[She's crushing somebody right in her workplace. She'd be worried about the police if she wasn't also pretty sure this was some kind of disturbing, morbid dream. In real life, she'd probably have just settled with holding this guy down and calling Liquid to see what to do with him. But hey... it's a DREAM, right? That and there's no death in Johto so he'll probably just be teleported to the Pokemon Center or something, orz.]}

And hm.

Doesn't sound like any of that fits. 'Cept maybe that part about difficult conditions.

_{[Although she HAD had her very own Charlie Brown crush-holder, once... too bad he had been just as dangerous and disturbed as the man she was currently dealing justice to. ... Her own form of justice, anyway.]}

[It's getting too difficult to breathe; the heavy ladder and Heather's weight won't let his lungs draw air.]

[He's not going to be crushed so much as he's going to gradually suffocate.]

[Talib squirms, or tries to. Trying to find a weapon or a position that will allow him that precious oxygen.]

_{[There's scattered supplies-- mops, paint rollers, buckets... some of them are even in reach. But would they do any good? Depends on how he uses them.]

[Meanwhile, Heather is pressing down without mercy. She's not a sadist but she is a killer.]}

[It's no use; his arms are trapped.]

[Talib's body slowly stills as black blotches cover his sight.]

[It's one thing to beat monsters down while riding high on adrenalin and desperation, but quite another thing to look a human not so much older than yourself in the eyes as he struggles to do something so basic as breathe.]

[His eyes roll up as he falls unconscious.]

[Decision time, Heather. In less that a minute you'll kill send him to the PokeCenter, where he'll probably get noticed and/or hurt someone else. Or you could let up and capture him alive. Maybe the lack of air will have caused enough brain damage to make him tolerable.]

_{[... This was true. This was very true.]

[There was no actual doubt about it. Heather meant to kill him. Just as she had meant to kill Claudia-- although admittedly with a lot less passion. Liquid was her friend, but he was also alive and well.]

[... But this WAS different. This wasn't like Leonard-- who had been human once and still was, actually, although Heather had conveniently brushed that off when it came to blowing a hole in his mutilated, Otherworldly head but sure didn't LOOK it, with the Otherworld twisting his image to represent what was on the inside. Leonard hadn't even had a FACE.]

[She leans ever harder, her eyes narrowing and that old bloodlust rising-- ... but that face. He is human. On the outside, at least. And she didn't even kill Claudia, in the end (though she's sure she would have been able to... right?).]}

.... Aw, hell...

_{[When his eyes roll upwards, she eases off the pressure, stepping down from the ladder and reaching for a bundle of twine. The end of the ladder thunks back down to the ground once her weight is off of it, giving his lungs room to expand.]

[Have your breath, torturer. It ain't worth much in Heather's eyes, but...]}

[Blood flows freely from the bone-deep gashes as his chest rises again.]

[Ragged, unsteady breathes are the only response she gets. He remains KO'd.]

_{[She growls as she shoves the ladder off of him at last, twine in hand. Is she gonna tie him up? Yes she is. ... Does she know how to tie people up efficiently? No. So... um. She's just gonna... tie lots of random and intricate knots and hope that works for the moment.]}

You're lucky I believe in revenge...

_{[Is she gonna call Liquid up at last with her PokeGear? ... YES. YES SHE IS.]}

[Sounds good. Believe it or not, Talib also is very fond of vengeance. Ask him about a man named Kasim sometime; Liquid probably doesn't even remember killing him.]

[In the meantime, he'll just continue to bleed and be generally asleep.]

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