foolishwren | 56. Video/Action for the Violet City Pokemon Center

_{[This is the last place Heather wants to be. And when the feed blinks on, it shows.]

[There's the usual busy murmur characteristic of a Pokemon Center lobby on a Monday morning. It's been awhile since Heather's been under these fluorescent lobby lights, and she looks a little washed-out and pale. Sleepy, too-- and blinking in irritation at the bright lights. She must have rolled out of bed not that long ago, and her cheeks are still flushed from the cold walk between the hotel and the Center.]

[Judging from the pink plush cushion she's leaning on and the colorful Poke-care posters splashed all over the wall behind her, she's sitting in the lobby. There's a small (say, less-than-a-football-sized) dusk-colored egg in her lap-- but weirdly, none of her Pokemon can be seen. Normally at least one or two of them are present in her transmissions, either chillaxin' in the background or (in Cujo's case) doing something derpy, but none of them are there.]}

Hey, guys... uh...

I just thought I should letcha know, Phoenix is... um, he's in the Pokemon Center here in Violet. He went yesterday to get somethin' for his cold and didn't come back, and apparently he uh... collapsed.

But they said it doesn't look like it has anything to do with him being sick, it's like...

_{[She rubs at one of her eyes with the heel of her palm, grimacing.]}

... Those faints that people've been going into lately.

So, he's... um... he's doing okay.

_{[Around this point, a familiar (to some) shiny blue head pops into the frame-- Phoenix's Quagsire partner, Butch, is clambering up onto the seat next to Heather. ... And onto Heather.]}

Ooff-- Butch, jeez, hang on-- _{[She hastily grabs her bag (the smaller, owlless one) and slips the egg she was holding inside before it gets crushed under the giant amphibian's weight.]} Anyway, uh-- I'll-- ... I'll be taking care of his Pokemon till he wakes up, I guess. But yeah, I just thought I'd give people the heads-up, in case anybody was... I dunno, worried.

_{[Weirdly, Butch looks as stupidly happy as ever (as he curls into a ball that's like twice as big as the lap he's trying to sit on), so Phoenix can't be in that bad a state. But for some reason, Heather still looks very uncomfortable-- and she's not the sort to worry unnecessarily about somebody when she knows they're more or less fine.]}

... Anyway. So, uh-- hey, Kaito? _{[She addresses the camera.]} You guys gotten to Violet yet? I thought maybe if you were here, we could all-- I dunno, meet up for lunch or somethi-- hey! _{[The camera jostles wildly-- looks like Butch is batting at it playfully. It shakes around a bit before the view steadies again-- upside-down and facing in the opposite direction, towards the front desk.]

[Two Nurse Joys are standing behind the counter and looking in Heather's direction very conspicuously. One of them has an expression darkened by consternation-- the other looks a little confused. The first says something quietly to her under her breath, and upon hearing it, the second one's eyes widen and she claps a hand over her mouth.]

[The camera jerks again as Heather grabs it back from Butch and turns it back to herself, but her attention is on the nurses now-- her expression briefly unreadable. But hey-- it's no secret to anybody who's been in Johto since the summer that Heather's relationship with the nurses of Violet City was an antagonistic one. Hell, she turned that Center upside-down on more than one occasion-- and laughed in the face of their authority, with no regrets (or shame)! Oh, the youthful shenanigans! Any second now she's gonna direct her gaze back at the camera and do a classic Heather "THEY MAD?" smirk or something, right?]

[.... Right?]

[Heather swallows hard, hunching her shoulders a little, as though trying to look a little more inconspicuous-- and then hastily shuts the camera off. Her last expression before the feed cuts out is one of... jeez, it kinda looks like ... guilt.]}

_{[ooc: For those in the Pokemon Center, Heather can either be found milling uncomfortably around the edges of the Center lobby, looking like she just saw a Wanted poster for herself, or (most likely), hiding out in whatever room Phoenix's in to avoid contact with the Nurse Joys as much as she can.
ALSO, for those who weren't around back when this happened, this is why Heather's not feeling too hot about having to see these particular Nurses again.]}

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[Dash may not know Heather particularly well, but she is definitely getting the impression that something is... off. She follows after the blonde, walking backwards for a moment to give a final goodbye wave to those nurses. They were her coworkers after all, and she'd rather have them preoccupied with waving at her than giving suspicious looks in Heather's direction.

Once the two are outside, Dash gives Heather a look-over, hands in her pockets. She's been picking up a few human mannerisms as she goes, it seems.]

Hey... You... gonna be alright? [Beat.] Those guys... said some weird things about you, but I just don't think they've got everything right. I mean, they say weird things sometimes. [She heard those stories about Red. Pfft everypony knows nopony can stay at a mountaintop that long if they're not a pegasus!]

_{[Half the time Heather's great at hiding things, and the other (increasingly-more-common) half, it seems like she can't quite get that friggin' heart off her sleeve.]

[Needless to say, once she's outside, she shoves her hands into her pockets, shoulders hunched uncomfortably. She's not gonna lie-- at least not blatantly... She'd rather clear things up, even if it IS probably just confirming what the nurses already said.]}

Look, I...

I should probably tell you that whatever you heard is probably true.

[She just stares for a moment, head tilted slightly to one side. Sure, she could tell Heather wasn't acting like herself, but she was expecting something... defensive, at least.]
... Uuuh, you sure? I mean, they... said you attacked people with... some kinda pole? [Questioningly, for confirmation.]

Sounds pretty crazy to me. [Though, she's visibly getting a little anxious. She really doesn't want to believe something like that happened, naturally, but considering the little knowledge she has of Heather's "sucky homeworld"... It might all be true.]

_{[Heather was stubborn, hotheaded, and sometimes wrongly convinced of the justifiability of her own actions-- all this was true. ... But when it came to attacking people without realizing they were people at all... yeah. She wasn't going to deny that. It scared her too much.]

[So when Dash tentatively voiced what the gossip mill had been circulating, Heather was at first silent, then just sighed and averted her gaze, raising a hand. The message was clear: Guilty as charged.]}

It's not as simple as that, but... yeah, it's true.

[Gulp. She shifts uncomfortably on her feet, eyes darting about as she mentally flails about for words.]

Why would you even-- Wh-- [Beat.]
Why'd you... do something like that?

_{[God, Dash, make her feel even guiltier why don't you!]

[Heather winces, then moves to sit down on one of the benches outside the Pokemon Center.]}

Because-- ... I didn't know they were people at the time, okay?

_{[... because that makes perfect sense.]}

[Sorry, Heather. ;; Tact: Dash has very little.

That statement has her gaping, then staring intensely off into thin air. She looks Heather over with a frown, but soon moves to join her, climbing into a spot beside her. Naturally, she doesn't just sit there, and rather chooses an awkward half-crouch. She may be picking up additional human-inspired habits, but her pony mannerisms with forever stay.]

Whadya mean you didn't know? [Beat.] Like... you weren't seeing right or something?

... Sort of-- I mean-- no, I mean-- ... sort of.

_{[Raking her fingers through her hair again (it was starting to stand on end by this point), she heaved a sigh and kicked one leg.]}

Something... happened in this place a few months ago. I guess it only affected the non-natives... anyway, there was... Everybody was seein' stuff that wasn't there... people, places...

And I... uh.

... I thought I was... back home.

_{[... She thought she was back home, so she assaulted a bunch of people with a blunt object. Yep. Protip: Heather might have been kidding around when she'd said her homeworld was kind of lousy, but she had not been lying.]}

[Hang on, give Dash a moment to piece things together.

At the mention of Heather's home, she reflects on their talk about the dark land of Maine, immediately backtracking to specifically the giant worm with teeth the size of her arm. And Heather didn't think they were people...

She's looking a little less anxious when she speaks again.] And it... happened to everypony? Er-- everypony not... from here?

[A pause.] Do ya mean you saw, uh... monsters and stuff? [Dangit, Maine, you and your giant worms.]

_{[Heather's folded her arms in a would-be casual gesture, but anyone paying attention would be able to see the discomfort in her posture.]}

... It was different for everybody.

I dunno what most people saw.

_{[Well, she knew a few... But they weren't really relevant to this, and she wasn't about to talk about anybody else's experiences for them.]}

... But most of them didn't go psycho and attack people.

_{[She rubs the back of her neck.]}

But yeah. I saw monsters.

Edited 2011-02-26 20:44 (UTC)

[She briefly eyes Heather sidelong, silent as she tries to word a good response. Even if Heather admitted to lashing out at Dash's coworkers, it really didn't seem like it was her fault. And considering the circumstance...]

Hey, ya know... If I was seeing monsters everywhere, I'd attack 'em too. [And would probably be so sure in her sight that she wouldn't have stopped attacking and would have ended up legitimately hurting people.

A-awkward pause.] And if it happened to pretty much everypony, wouldn't those guys've heard about it by now? Can't you... explain what happened to them? [Dash, it's not that simple.]

_{[Her voice is a little bit cold when she answers.]}

Oh, they heard about it.

_{[It HAD happened to everyone, and naturally it had been news in Johto for quite awhile. Yet another reason to be wary of those otherworlders, really...]}

But I didn't exactly have a fantastic relationship with those guys before it happened. _{[They'd already (rightfully) branded her as a trouble-maker, and she had nobody to blame for that but herself.]}

[A despondent look crosses her face for a moment; she folds her arms over her chest and slumps her shoulders.]

... That's not fair. It's not like you meant to hurt anypony, right?

I didn't.

_{[Heather might not have been the best kid on the block, but she wasn't some kind of sadist. If she was going to hurt someone, she'd damn well have a reason to, first.]}

But life's not fair.

56. Video/Action for the Violet City Pokemon Center

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