foolishwren | 75. [Video/Action for Olivine City] Backdated to Saturday morning + afternoon

Current Mood: mischievous
Current Location: Olivine City

75. [Video/Action for Olivine City] Backdated to Saturday morning + afternoon

_{[So something happened that morning. Something ... owly.]

[What, exactly, do you do when you suddenly find yourself in possession of way more fluffy spherical owls than anyone would know what to do with?]

[... TRY AND MAKE SOME MONEY OFF OF THEM, OF COURSE!]

[Anyone in Olivine City, whether they've settled down with a house or are just staying there temporarily, may witness a rather odd sight on this sunny Saturday afternoon.]

[A teenage girl and a scruffy twenty-something man, toting bold-printed signs and... what seems to be a large red wagon full of Hoothoots]

[Behind them, a rambunctious oversized Growlithe, and-- a little further back-- a middle-aged fellow in a brown coat (despite the summer heat), toting a Togepi and a Pichu and keeping his distance, because it's totally uncool for a parent to walk right next to the kids while they're trick-or-treating (although either he or one of the Pokemon would seem to be filming them surreptitiously with the 'Gear on and off, judging by the snippets of Hoothoot Sale Adventures occasionally popping up on the network).]

[... Or in this case, being the best little owl salesmen ever. Even if Henry doesn't particularly look like he wants to be there. Still, the little parade almost looks like it needs some kind of ridiculous owl-selling theme music.]

[Throughout the day, if anyone has a residence in Olivine, they may have THIS show up on their doorstep:]}

_{[... And the girl will glance over at her companion, see that he's not planning on speaking up, and then clear her throat loudly.]}

HEY there, good sir and-or madam!

Would you like to buy an owl?

[ooc: Anyone over the network is free to purchase their own adorable roly-poly spherical owl for 500P! It's assumed that any left will be sold to people here and there in Olivine. Except for the derpiest two. Heather has special recipients in mind for those.]

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[Quiet sounds good. Somewhere to aim for, at least. Even if it'll be hard, on her own, she intends to make it there.]

I'll see how fast I can make my way up there. Although on foot it should take a while. So don't wait on my account.

Don't worry, we're probably gonna stay there awhile once we do get there... 'least that's what usually happens, barring emergencies.

Well, I'll still try and hurry. I'd rather get out of this town soon anyway.

Where're you at now, anyway?

Violet?

Good guess. You know this route well, don't you?

Heh, yeah. I've been up and down this path a few times.

Violet's easy to get stuck in... worst city ever, right?

_{[... Of course, Heather's got her own reasons for disliking the place, but that doesn't change how weirdly easy it was to find yourself tromping back there a billion times...]}

I had to go back there like three times in two months...

Did you run out of supplies?

[She can't think of any other reason to have to go back there.]

It's pretty boring here. And there's too many people for my liking.

No, I had to... meet people.

Like Dad... and a couple others. _[Cybil...]

I couldn't just... wait around for them to get to me, y'know?

I didn't wanna lose my chance to see him.

_{[Like she had the first time.]}

Ah... [That's right, normal people had people they were desperate to see.]

I'm glad you managed to find them, though.

_{[... Ahahah... 'normal'. About that...]}

Me too.

_{[She's not sure what she'd have done if she missed her chance again...]}

But yeah, I'd rather not have to go back there again. I hate that city.

I don't think anyone sane would want to go back to that place.

I don't want to see the mind that would enjoy being there.

Even on a good day, that place is full of whackos.

_{[Although Vincent had apparently grown tired of the scenery by the end, he'd still smarmily played up his own 'fascination' with it... or maybe that had just been to get on Heather's nerves. She wouldn't have put it past him.]

[Claudia, on the other hand... perhaps she'd been seeing something different than Heather, or maybe she really had thought all that hideous decay was the work of God...]}

... Far as I know, though, it's still a regular town most of the time... just... shows its dark side to a lucky few people.

_{[The word 'lucky' is of course uttered with the darkest of sarcasm.]}

I can't really imagine it. Or maybe I can imagine it all too well.

[Angela wraps her arms tightly around herself.]

Heather - when you were there. Did you see the fire?

... The... fire?

_{[... Needless to say, Heather's first thought is... THE fire. Her fire. Hell yes, she saw that. But... how would Angela know about that?]

[Unless... that part of Alessa's history was so inextricably tangled-up in the Otherworld by this point that it manifested for everybody? .... Or maybe Angela had just seen something of her own. Heather couldn't be the only person with reason to fear fire, right?]}

I saw... a fire.

Sometimes. It's kinda personal.

Why, did...

Did you see fire there?

Yeah. It was everywhere. But James didn't seem to see it. It made me wonder if I was going crazy.

[She doesn't offer more. It's too personal and too mixed up in her own private thoughts.]

_{[Heather sure can't speak for the personal level... but after a moment's contemplative lip-chewing, she pipes up.]}

... The way that place works... I think people see different things. It... changes. Depending.

James didn't see the same things as me, either.

_{[The monsters and environment he'd described had been similar, but it just hadn't meshed up exactly. Even the things her father had seen all those years ago had differed a little.]}

Yeah... But I don't know how it works. It makes next to no sense, you know?

How can one person see what another person can't? And he saw some of it. I think... I think he saw my father. And he saw the fire at the end. He mentioned it.

[She offers no further details.]

Yeah, making sense of it just doesn't work. Y'just gotta sort of... go with it. _{[Part of her feels like apologizing for having been responsible for making the town the way it was... or at least making it powerful enough to hurt outsiders. She never told James the truth about that...]

[But that sort of confession is a little much for Heather to deal with right now, so she settles for grimacing a little awkwardly and rubbing the back of her neck.]}

It's... complicated.

_{[... Her father? ... Okay, Heather's not much of a people-reader, but the more bits and pieces Angela drops, the more sense she starts to make...]}

Edited 2011-09-14 15:05 (UTC)

I wasn't really too concerned with it while I was there. Other things on my mind. But now I keep thinking about it a lot more.

[She shakes her head.]

It doesn't matter. We're free of it now.

_{[That's one thing Heather is all too happy to agree with.]}

Yeah.

This place is a second chance. For all of us.

_{[Whatever Angela had gone through, Heather doesn't know... but she's got no doubt now that this place is a hell of a lot more pleasant than wherever Angela had come from before... even outside of the town.]}

Yeah. I can agree with that.

[Her voice holds a shred of determination.]

_{[And that earns a big smile from Heather-- an encouraging one.]}

M'glad you're back.

You can't be more glad of it than I am. [She laughs a little, nervous though it is.]

I guess not!

But then, I'm glad we're all here.

_{[Because... seriously, anywhere is better than that place.]}

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