57. Action for the Violet City Pokemon Center

[foolishwren]

<sub>[So some people in Violet City might have noticed something.]

[That something being the same blond girl who'd been hanging around the Pokemon Center during the day (and retiring to her hotel room at night) with a perpetually guilty expression... had continued hanging around the Pokemon Center with a perpetually guilty expression, but had also been growing increasingly exhausted-looking.]

[That worry she'd said she didn't have for her unconscious friend? ... Well, looks like something triggered it.]

[A couple days after the last transmission, she checked out of her hotel room and started staying in the Center more or less full-time, catching catnaps every so often but otherwise seemingly living off of caffeinated beverages and pure, concentrated force of will. Undoubtedly a few people have probably tried to confront her about this, but probably got either blown off, or an intense bloodshot stare until they quit.]

[... But her unexplained constant vigil apparently reached its peak around eleven o'clock on Saturday night. There's only so much weight one's eyelids could accumulate before they just went down and didn't come back up again. By the time midnight hits, anyone who happens to walk past and peep into the private room (one of many just beyond the lobby of your average Center, kept for anyone who might need to be spending the night due to illness or injury) that one unconscious Phoenix Wright happens to be residing in, they will see (in addition to the totally-zonked lawyer on the bed, surrounded by his loyal Pokemon (who... may in fact be crushing him, actually)... well, this.]



[Coffee just didn't do it after awhile, apparently.]

[Nestled somewhere against that uncomfortable tangle of limbs that she's only able to contort herself into on account of not having hit her thirties yet, is an egg that's somewhere between charcoal-gray and midnight-blue, a little smaller than a football, with a shell that's.... cracked?]</sub>



Pii-iip pii-iip pii-iip...



<sub>[An attentive listener in the doorway just might be able to catch a thin, tiny cheeping coming from the general direction of Heather's ill choice of bed. ... Good thing she's wedged into that shape too tightly to have much risk of shifting position and crushing whatever's hatching from that egg...]

[.... Buuuuuut maybe somebody ought to wake her up anyway.]



[ooc: So yeah, thanks to a conversation with Dahlia, Heather's been pulling a stupid and trying to stay awake as much as possible. If your character's in the area and they're the type to notice and care (or maybe just be snarky about it), feel free to assume that they've had a (sadly unsuccessful) talk with Heather on the subject!]</sub>

Comments

[action] gah that art is so good ;;

[wistfulfocus.livejournal.com]

[Serah had initially planned to just walk in, heal her pokemon, and leave. That is, until she saw a rather pathetic girl curled up on a chair. After glancing at her a few times, she walked over to her and shook her a bit.]

Oh, I'm sorry to wake you up.. here [out of her pocket, she pulls 500P and offers it to the girl.] take this. It isn't much but you should be able to afford a night or two. I'm sorry that you have to sleep here.. [... Heather kinda looks like a hobo right about now. SO SUE HER.]

Hm? What's that.. pulsating sound?

Re: [action] awww, thank you! <3

[foolishwren]

_{[ooc: I'm GOIN' TO BED SOON, but before I conked, I just wanted to mention that Heather's actually in one of the single-person rooms past the lobby where injured or sick people are allowed to stay, keeping an eye on her friend! XD I don't know if that'd change anything-- in my reply would you like me to just assume Serah walked into Phoenix's room to speak with her?]}

Re: [action]

[wistfulfocus.livejournal.com]

[ooc; CRAP, clearly i did not read carefully enough. xD yeah! that works. maybe the door was creaked and serah just happened to peek in? C: again, sorry for not reading so carefully. ;; i saw the art and was like, 'omg gotta tag'.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

_{[ooc: No worries, man! It happens to the best of us! XD;; My favorite is when I accidentally tag a post that's locked to a few people. AND THEN FEEL LIKE A HUGE LOSER.]}


.... Hnngh?


<sub>[Heather lifts her head slightly, scrunching up her face and squinting-- ... only to see a crisp 500P note being waved in front of her nose.]

[She stares at it with an utterly blank expression for a second or two, before her attention drifts to Serah.]</sub>


.... Whazzuh?


_{[... Pardon her she's not really awake yet.]}

[SO NOT HERE]

[restardom.livejournal.com]

[ but if she was, better believe she would get you a blanket and scold you for sleeping like that as there are totally better ways to sleep in chairs AND THAT ART IS GORGEOUS. ]

[SO NOT HERE]

[foolishwren]

_{[BUT THEY WOULDN'T LET HER DRAG A COUCH FROM THE LOBBY IN THERE AND SHE DIDN'T REALLY WANT TO TEST THEIR PATIENCE THIS TIME, SHE'S BEING A GOOD GIRL and thank youuu ;-;]}

[voice] Your aaaart ;o;

[shellderkillder.livejournal.com]

[Shelly was going to ignore this entirely - hell, Heather could be crying in her sleep and he'd force himself to ignore it - until he saw... that cracking eggshell.

He'd rather not have a poor, innocent newborn wandering around on his own.]

Ms. Mason.

[Doesn't he know any other way to initiate communication with her?]

[voice] XD; thank youuuu

[foolishwren]

_{[And the whole idea of Shelly looming around in Phoenix's room while he's canon-updating to this point is hilariously creepy-- I mean]}

.... Nmmh.

_{[She is pretty damn zonked-- and her body just wants to stay that way. If she had a blanket and weren't so securely wedged in, she'd have rolled over and pulled it over her head. But she wasn't. So instead she just made disgruntled scrunchy faces for a second or two before opening her eyes blearily.]}

....?

_{[But the peeping continued...]}

[voice] <3

[shellderkillder.livejournal.com]

Ms. Mason, your egg is hatching.

[voice]

[foolishwren]

It's-- ... oh.

<sub>[She looks down at the slowly-but-surely cracking egg, and then up at the person talking to her.]

[..... OH HOLY SHIT IT'S FRANKENSTEIN WITH A MONOCLE AS;LGSA;GLH;LG]

[And now you know what a half-awake spazzflail from a teenage girl looked like when said teenage girl was literally stuck in a rolly-chair.]</sub>

[this icon is not serious enough for the situation at hand]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[It takes a long while before Phoenix's mind even begins to register that hey, buddy, you're waking up. After being asleep in this world for so long, the growing feeling of consciousness is wholly unwelcome to the lawyer who was pleasantly sleeping his life away, and he struggles valiantly against the pressing urge to wake up, forcing himself to stay in a half-awake, lucid limbo for a good half-hour or so.

...inevitably, though, whatever guiding forces that control Johto deem that, no, you, Phoenix, you ARE waking up and we don't care if you want to or not. With an irritated groan, Phoenix pries an eye open to stare blearily at the room around him, still too out of it to register exactly where he is or what's happening.]

Furr...?

[The soft mewl from the middle of the bed prompts the lawyer to try lifting his head a bit to see what it is -- and is met with a concerned, tan-and-brown furry face peering up at him from where the weaselly Pokémon was lying curled up on his stomach.]

Wha...?

[It's also at this second that his memories decide to completely curbstomp him.]

MAYA--

[--he begins to shout, before something else clicks and he realizes that he's not in Los Angeles anymore. Again.]

...n-no...No, not--

How could I...?

[He hauls himself into an upright position, emitting a small gasp of surprise when his forearms buckle and he falls back down. Little pins and needles are already pricking at his extremities, and it takes Phoenix a few more tries before his limbs decide to agree with him. Guess that was one consequence of not moving for a while...

...hey, now that he thinks about it...]

No way--

[Consciousness now rushing back quickly, he psushes himself up again and reaches over to grope for his Pokégear on the nightstand, ignoring the frantic cries and jostling of bedsheets as Lady tried to worm her way up to his face--

--before promptly freezing and just...taking a few seconds to stare at the girl sprawled on the chair near the door.

For Phoenix, it's been a whole year before he's seen any of the faces he's so used to seeing in Johto. Go figure that it had to be her, whom he had viewed as being something like his family--

--who'd he'd promised to help, once he returned home--

--who would happen to be the first person he sees upon returning to his world.]

_...Heather?

[but it's so beautiful]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[WELCOME BACK, PHOENIX.]

[You may notice that despite the fact that you've been gone a year, the exhausted girl in the chair looks exactly the same as when you last left her. ... Well, maybe a little more tired and miserable-looking, but the same general principal. Also, the still-not-entirely-cracked egg peeking out from between her arms? It's exactly the same as the one she had a year ago when he last saw her, apart from the fact that it's starting to hatch.]

[When he speaks her name, she doesn't stir at all-- the kid is truly dead to the world at the moment-- and it looks like she's been there for awhile, too.]</sub>

[8( I need more sweepy Phoenix icons]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[HE WISHES HE COULD SAY THAT IT WAS GOOD TO BE BACK.

He shakes his head, breaking out of the slight daze seeing Heather had thrown him into, and continues to reach for his Pokégear, eying the date by way of the LCD backlight. He was still a bit fuzzy on the details, but it looked like not THAT much time had passed since he last remembered being here.

It was...pretty jarring, considering that a whole YEAR'S worth of memories where now rolling around in his head. He's able to swing his feet out of bed, at least, before knocking anything over or falling down again; but he doesn't trust his legs to hold his weight, not yet. Especially not when his Furret seemed determined to drape herself all over him and damn, she was heavier than he remembered--

--and oh god what was that thing in Heather's arms and what was it doing. Given that there's...not much else he can do, Phoenix stares at it rather apprehensively. A few circuits are still reconnecting, please stand by...]

[I CONCUR]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[That thing is an egg, my dear lawyer. It is in the slow but steady process of ~*~hatching~*~. Fortunately, it seems to be doing okay on its own (even if it's taking forever), and Heather is too... er, tightly-wedged into that chair there to really be putting it in any danger of being crushed.]

[Speaking of Heather, it looks like she's at least semi-abandoned the hotel room she'd been renting-- if Phoenix even remembered that.]

[The smaller of her two bags is on the floor next to the chair, as are her boots.]

[ALL FOR YOU, MAN. Somebody had to take care of your Pokemon! And make sure you didn't disappear.]</sub>

[not here!]

[chakram-ofwit.livejournal.com]

[Oh man. Rachel knows the feeling of just crashing after a few days of no sleep. Where you just can't help it anymore. She's been there, more times than she's like to remember. She's just gonna sympathize with you Heather and move on.]

[not here!]

[foolishwren]

_{[Were Heather's body capable of showing its appreciation for the sympathy, it would have raised her hand and given Rachel a thumbs-up. But alas, no.]}

[action]

[bakaitoukid]

[WANDERIN' THE HALLS OF THE POKEMON CENTER YEEEEAH

... no, Kaito was here for a reason, and that reason was to check up on his own friend who was currently going through a massive canon-update coma sleep. To get to Crow's room, he has to pass Phoenix's, and it was by pure chance that he glanced inside... to see a bundle of blonde hair and dirty clothing curled up in a very uncomfortable looking position on a nearby chair. The peeping noise, though soft, floats into the hallway, and he stops to stare for a few moments.

He keeps the moments short though, and swiftly crosses the threshold of the doorway into the room, immediately heading toward the closet to snatch an extra blanket. Once that's done, he approaches the sleeping Heather (blanket draped over his shoulder) and gently attempts to remove the egg from her arms with every intention of holding onto it while she sleeps.

Hey, he isn't about to wake her up. Uncomfortable position or not]

[action]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Livin' like a hobo: Heather knows how to do it right.]

[When the blanket is gently laid over her, she doesn't even stir at all, much less wake. She'd be wondering where the hell that blanket came from in the morning, though.]

[The egg would come out of her arms easily enough-- she wasn't holding onto it too tightly. But it would feel hot in his hands-- and there was definitely something moving inside the shell-- prodding and pecking at it from the inside.]

[Needless to say, it's... probably safer with Kaito than it is with Heather at the moment.]</sub>

[action]

[bakaitoukid]

[Once the egg is removed and the blanket is draped over Heather's sleeping form, Kaito plops down onto the ground next to her back, holding said egg in his lap]

Oi oi, little guy... [He speaks softly, as to not wake Heather]

There's no way I can convince you to wait until she wakes up, is there?

[action]

[seasalttwilight.livejournal.com]

[And you're getting a blanket thrown over you. You're welcome Heather]

[action]

[foolishwren]

_{[She is going to be wondering where the hell all these blankets came form next morning.]}

[action]

[seasalttwilight.livejournal.com]

[Someoen has to take care of her]

[Action] Look, I'm actually tagging with Coraline for once! :'D

[exp-loraline.livejournal.com]

[Coraline has been staying in one of the other Center rooms for a couple days now, on account of scrapes and gashes from a little too much haphazard adventuring. She didn't think she needed a hospital room for that, but she opted to stay there a few nights anyway-- if simply because there were more people around. And hey, she was a child in possession of several baby Pokemon and a giant blood-guzzling bat-- who knew when she'd need the help?

... Which is why there is now a gangly Doduo chick wobbling into Heather's room, attracted by the calls of a baby Murkrow. It approaches curiously. Dat is an egg with another bird inside! THIS MUST MEAN IMPENDING FRIENDSHIP. And there is a girl in the way of said FRIENDSHIP.

And so both the Doduo heads begin to nip at Heather's clothes. Coraline will notice her bird's absence and come to investigate soon enough-- until then, enjoy the pestering beaks.]

[Action] WOOOOO

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Heather wasn't a fan of being poked at by sharp things in general. At worst it hurt and at best it tickled. So, y'know, not the best thing to be happening when she was sound asleep.]

[The first few nips get some mildly-disgruntled noises out of her, and when they persist, Heather removes an arm from around the egg to swat at the offending beaks.]</sub>

Not gonna play. Go back t'sleep, 'Lessa.

_{[Apparently having mistaken the beaks for her young Absol's blade, she then brings a knee up to her chest and buries her face in one arm.]}

[Action] IT'S A MIRACLE.

[exp-loraline.livejournal.com]

Duah... Do do! [So squeaks the Doduo as it gets swatted away. It takes a few wobbly steps backward, tiny, normally invisible wings flared out.] Duo...!

[Coraline's head pops into the doorway just as her Doduo is approaching Heather to attempt even more pestering. She bites her lower lip and speaks in an urgent whisper:]
Spink! Forcible! You get back here right now-- you can't just walk into someone's room li--

[Spink & Forcible doesn't seem to be listening, instead tugging at a leg of Heather's jeans.] No-- Bad bird, you-- Ugh! [After glancing left and right, a barefoot, bleary-eyed Coraline tiptoes into the room, arms outstretched toward the Doduo. She has a Pokeball in one hand.] C'mere... Come on, that's a good bird...

[Spink & Forcible apparently doesn't want to go back into her Pokeball; she begins to give short, alarmed bird calls. They sound vaguely like mini foghorns.] DUAH! DUAH! DUAH!

[C-cringe...! How's that for a rude awakening?]