foolishwren | 045. [Accidental video/Action for Goldenrod] (forward-dated to Saturday morning)

_{[Given the work week, Heather has not had a chance to really enjoy the snow that much. Whether the Pokemon world celebrates Christmas the same way most 'normal' ones do is up for debate, but one thing is clear: holiday shopping is universal. The Department Store has been going absolutely insane with gaudy decorations and increasingly-frenzied customers buying up everything in sight. Between the exhaustion and the ever-earlier setting of the sun, Heather's been spent by the time she gets off of work.]}

[Friday night was spent mostly-asleep under a pile of blankets and obscenely fluffy winter-coated Pokemon (Arty and Cujo both seemed to have doubled in volume in the past few weeks), and when the gray winter morning light crept in through the snow-lined window, it fell largely upon the same scene. SOMEWHERE under there, there was a human being. ... Or maybe they had just eaten Heather and the tuft of scruffy blond hair and the single disembodied foot sticking out from between blanket and Cujo's tawny belly were in fact the only pieces left of her. Who could tell?]

... MREEP

_{[The alarm on the PokeGear (which was ... poking out of the blankets somewhere, giving a glorious view of the hopeless chaos that was Heather's bed. Of COURSE the alarm function had randomly turned on the video feed, too-- alarms always did dumb shit like that without being told to) had turned on, and-- oh, look at that. A scrawny, pale arm had emerged from somewhere amid the dogpile (literally) and was now groping around in search of the 'Gear. Looked like Heather was alive under there after all.]}

Hmghghh... where're you, dumb ... dumb thing.

MREEP MREEP MREEP

_{[Her hand encountered the roly-poly form of a sleeping Totodile and shoved him to the side unceremoniously before finally getting to the actual 'Gear.]}

Ugh, there you are... _{[Sitting up and making Cujo slide off the bed with an elegant thump, Heather stared blearily at the 'Gear and shut off the alarm. Ugh what time was i-- ... OH HEY IT WAS SATURDAY. FUCK YEAH, SNOW TIME.]}

[The 'Gear was dropped briefly onto the bed once more and the sleepy Pokemon came awake with various stretches and growls as their Trainer hopped around, one-handedly tugging on her (un-eaten) boots and a fresh-from-the-department-store new coat-- yeah, it was finally too cold for her to continue going sleeveless.]

--C'mon, Cooj!

_{[The Growlithe struggled out of the blankets he had wrapped himself in with an excited woof and Heather grabbed up the 'Gear again, turning the radio on as she headed for the door, one mitten in her mouth.]}

Ghotta getd'guys...

_{[Stamping one foot a little harder than the other to get her heel more firmly down into position, Heather clomped over to the door to Liquid and Otacon's room and raised her fist to knock obnoxiously as usua--- .... oh.]}

[Oh yeah.]

[Deflating, she lowered her fist sheepishly. There were already new people in that room and she'd just come preeeetty close to waking them up at like nine in the morning. Aawwwkward.]

--And the weather's just getting colder, citizens of Johto, so us here at the weather department would like to advise you all to stay bundled up indoors instead of trying to go out today! _{[--buzzed the weatherman's voice over the 'Gear's radio. Frowning down at the screen, Heather sank back to lean against the hallway's wall and heaved a big sigh.]}

.... Hnm. Maybe we should just...

_{[She trailed off there to look down at Cujo, who was staring adoringly up to her and wagging his entire body more than he was actually wagging his tail. WALK?? WALK? WALK?! OHPLEASE? circle?]}

.... Ugh, you know what?

Screw the cold. _{[... And screw the absence of Otacon and Liquid. Snake had said their being gone was no reason why they couldn't have a good time back here in Goldenrod, right?]}

[Jutting her chin out stubbornly, Heather pulled on her hat.]

_{[ooc: ACTION FOR THOSE IN GOLDENROD. Feel free to encounter Heather out in the snow if your character is hardcore enough to be trying to be out there on a day like this. Or feel free to try and stop her. EITHER OR.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Y-yikes, that doesn't give us TOO much time-- but really, as long as we can get the log moving, I obviously don't mind backtagging. Heather might honestly not be good for much talking, anyhow. XD
But yeah I was planning on having it take place in the evening anyhow. THUMBS UP.]

[Heather follows him brightly.]}

Well, if it was your MAJOR, you can't be bad, right?

[Ditto, man -- once it's up, we can just...keep backtagging until forever. && YEAAAH MINDSYNC! /fistbump

Oh my god all of this climbing -- they reach the top of the second flight and Phoenix pauses to let Lady catch up.] ...I guess. [A shrug!] I was always doodling in class, anyway...

I used to do that a little!

_{[And now she's reaching hopefully for the sketchbook.]}

Can I see?

[...it's odd, actually. He's never actually had someone ASK to see his sketchbook before -- usually, someone will be peeking over his shoulder and he will proceed to FREAK OUT, or they'll just take it from him and he'll FREAK OUT anyway.

...and since he figures she'll take it from him whether he likes it or not...he just sighs and, begrudgingly, pulls it out and holds it out to her.] Knock yourself out.

[The first thing you'll notice is that Phoenix...is actually pretty damn good. Everyone he's met in Route -- including you, Heather -- is drawn in there. People whom he's friends with, or has had significant interactions with are drawn more often, as are his Pokémon.

What he was drawing before he ran into you was Goldenrod, one of the only landscapes in the entire book.]

_{[As much of a bully as Heather can be (and once she's gotten to know Phoenix better, she'll probably stop asking and just go "YOINK" whenever she sees him with it on his person), she's not really mean-spirited. She's not actually OUT to make him uncomfortable.]

[So she grins as she takes it and starts to flip through it.]}

... Whoa.

_{[Outdoor antics temporarily forgotten, she flips through the pages, brows rising.]}

... These are really good, you know... I-- ... hey, is that ME??

[Yeah, really, most of the people who make Phoenix awkward don't do it on purpose -- he's just...incredibly awkward himself. Oh him.

And, as should be expected, he manages to look even MORE embarassed at the compliment, rubbing the back of his neck and looking at anywhere but Heather and his sketchbook.] T-thanks.

Er--

[He chances a glance back to see what picture she's referring to -- it so happens to be the first one he did of her, after speaking with her about her father post-Trucy's first arrival. And he drew her just as he saw her -- a perky, slightly pink-looking tired blonde girl with freckles. There's no exaggerations or fixed flaws; Phoenix draws people as he sees them, for all their imperfections and annomolies.]

_{[Yes. That... that he is.]

[Heather's just sorta grinning at the picture. As much as she doesn't care for her own appearance (especially those freckles), that doesn't mean seeing it in picture form upsets her. She thinks it's neat that he's just... drawing people.]

[She looks a little longer, then grins and passes the book back over to him.]}

Cool.

[Oh, Phoenix.

He takes the book back gratefully, a bit of a smile on his face. As self-concious as he is, it's sort of nice to get compliments once in a while. Plus, it's sort of nice knowing that someone else knows about his hobby -- he's had a lot of people tease him about the fact that, when lawyers pass their bar, the ONLY THING THEY CARE ABOUT IS LAW, and along with the typical "ambulance chaser" comments, they'd always irked him. It was one of the things that defined him as being a person, not just a lawyer in a blue suit.

He keeps climbing in relative silence, stopping to take a breather when they get to the fourth floor, and to let Cujo, Mia and Lady catch up. Damn all of these stairs. At least is was better than the TWELVE FLIGHTS he had to take coming down from Edgeworth's office back at home...]

_{[Heather paused to wait as well, stretching her legs. Cujo had... honestly probably gotten distracted somewhere down there and gone galloping back down to the lobby. She wasn't too worried about him.]}

So tell me.

Have you EVER played in the snow?

Like, ever?

[Probably. Mia's probably keeping him company, but Lady does end up meandering back up to the two of them, worming through their legs and leading the way up the rest of the stairs. Sighing, Phoenix stretches his arms and proceeds to follow, rubbing his neck with slight embarassment at Heather's question.]

...n-no, I haven't. We don't get snow in L.A., and I've only been to Tahoe once. And that was in the fall, there was barely any snow there even if I'd wanted to...

... Man, I am gonna educate you so thoroughly. You need to play in snow at least once before you get all old and creaky.

_{[... Heather he is only twenty-five.]}

045. [Accidental video/Action for Goldenrod] (forward-dated to Saturday morning)

[ACTIOOON]

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[ACTIOOON; ALLOW ME TO BACKTAG EVERYTHING WITH THESE TWO EVER]

[ACTIOOON; YAAAAAY I LOVE BACKTAGGING EVERYTHING EVER 8D]

[ACTIOOON; AWESOME BRO /just...going through your journals. FFFFFF.]

[ACTIOOON; XD! IF YOU EVER NEED LINKS TO THREADS, GO AHEAD AND ASK ME.]