foolishwren | 81. [Video/Action for Ecruteak]

Hey, 'Zilla, you got the 'Gear?

This stuff NEEDS to be documented.

_{[That's the first thing that can be heard over the feed. When the camera first comes on, a pair of large, familiar reptilian red eyes are blinking down at it. Is it recording...? Oh, okay, recording! Good.]

[Then it zooms out a little, enough to show-- HEY! That's not the Totodile that last hijacked the 'Gear!]

[With newly black-rimmed eyes, a proud red crest, and a new ultra-manly thickened jaw, it would seem that the bratty little Totodile who'd last been seen moping on the network over whether or not he was a good Pokemon... had finally evolved, after a whole year of wanting to stay 'the baby' of the gang. What prompted his choice to finally start growing up?]

[Well, that's a story that'll have to wait till later, because he lets out a satisfied snort at the sight of the red recording light, and then turns it away from himself-- only for the screen to IMMEDIATELY be filled with a grotesquely-detailed rubber Mightyena mask, snarling and sporting a wild mane of black hair over the top!]}

RAAAARRLLGGHHBLAAARG!

_{[... Oh wait. The black hair is just Heather.]

[She yanks the mask off, grinning widely.]}

I can't even handle all these epically cheesy costumes, man. Some things really ARE universal.

_{[The camera shifts a little-- it's from a much higher vantage-point than normal now, considering all the previous times the camera-croc's been the one filming, it's been from a vantage point on the FLOOR unless he was able to persuade Honey the Butterfree to carry him-- and it becomes apparent that they're in a costume store. There's rack after rack of jumbled costumes everywhere-- looks like it's already been pretty thoroughly ransacked by local kids, but there's still plenty of stuff left. It's just... everywhere.]

[Hanging the mask back up, Heather bends down to start picking through the other odds and ends, which range from cheesy and cheap-looking to actually fairly interesting.]}

Maybe this time around, we'll actually get to ENJOY the holiday instead of spend the whole time running away from rips in the fabric of space and time...

_{[OOC: Action for anybody in Ecruteak, obviously! Feel free to assume your character is already in the shop, Heather will gladly harass them to try on stupid costume crap with her. Also feel free to address the camera-croc.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{["Coop", huh? That makes her the second person in Johto to call him that.]}

I should be offended, Heather. I thought we'd started getting to know each other.

_{[Answers with a crooked smile.]}

_{[It's the first time she's referred to him by that, and she wasn't even really thinking about it when it came out.]}

What, you don't think so?

C'mon, the zebra stripes just scream FBI agent.

_{[He could tell. In many ways, it makes him a little happy. Only people he'd call friends tend to call him that and she's inching her way into that category with more and more ease.]

[But he's still going to fight back about the suit, because come on.]}

Because of our herd-like tendencies and ability to blend together to confuse predators?

_{[So much dry skepticism in that raised eyebrow, can you tell?]}

Yeah, exactly!

_{[BURRRRNNN. ... Partially.]}

C'mon at least try on the tie.

_{[Can you say no to this face, Cooper? CAN YOU?]}

_{[HE CAN. He takes the tie from her, though, under the guise of actually trying it on, but instead just holds it up next to her face as if considering something.]}

Hm. Or maybe you should let your hair get two-toned again. Combined with this tie it could be a fashion statement.

Yeah, I--

...

... Heeeeeey.

_[COOPER.]

_{[BURRRRNNN. C:]

[He gives her a wide, shit-eating grin and drapes the tie over the rack where it belongs.]}

Got anything else in there?

_{[She scrunches her face up in a somewhat petulant SCOWL, although inwardly she's QUITE amused. Anyone who can dish it out as well as take it has Heather's respect. Because c'mon, isn't it just more fun that way?]}

Hmph.

_{[She starts to dig again, hanging the suit up in the process. Just for that diss, she's gonna find something REALLY silly.]

[... Oh hey.]}

You know you've ALWAYS wanted to dress up as a foreign children's cultural icon.

_{[Painstakingly pulling out a horrific-looking mascot-suit thing with a big shiny "BARNABY THE SHINY CHARIZARD" logo on the plastic. Hey, shiny Charizards are KIND of purple... and dinosaurs...]}

_{[FUN FACT: Cooper grew up in the 50s/60s. He has NO IDEA what that costume is supposed to be the equivalent of. Especially since the Barney show started airing three years after his time.]

[He might have made a comment about it had he known, but as it stands, he just reaches out to touch the fabric with an expression that's an interesting mix of critical and nonplussed.]}

This is for children?

_{[It looks TERRIFYING. So much accidental nightmare fuel in the huge dead eyes of the head-part of it.]}

I know.

Sobering, isn't it?

_{[Heather isn't a fan of mascot costumes. At all. Three guesses why.]}

Very. Do you know what it's from?

_{[TV show, book series?]

[...Coop that's not the point, you're trying to find a Halloween costume.]}

Kid's show, I think.

_{[Still, she puts it back. She's not mean enough to actually bother him to wear that. TIME TO RESUME THE SEARCH!]}

_{[YES. That sounds like a good plan.]

[He starts poking among the racks himself, too, but none of the costumes catch his eye enough to pick out so far -- he does linger a little by a stereotypical princess outfit but doesn't actually call Heather's attention to it. (He can probably find something better to get back at her for the zoot suit with.)]}

Did you find a costume for yourself yet?

_{[Yeah, Coop, you're gonna have to get more creative than a princess costume if you wanna top the zoot suit.]

[She shakes her head as she hunts.]}

Not yet.

Me and Kaito were thinking of doing something matching but no final decisions have been made.

_{[Of course, dressing up as their Pokemon would eventually be the way to go.}

_{[Which isn't a bad idea at all - but until there's that, there will be terrible ideas, and Cooper makes a bit of a face as he flips through the hangers. Most of these are terrible. BACK IN HIS DAY ...]}

I'll look forward to seeing whatever you come up with. But if you show up with anything like this I might have to pretend I don't know you.

_{[Stops to indicate a full body suit ... of a baby costume, complete with fake pudge and whatever accessories you can imagine. Seriously - that's just bordering on terrible.]}

_{[She'd been partially distracted by a colorful Ho-Oh costume (that had been designed by someone who had clearly never actually seen Ho-Oh in their lives), but looks over curiously.]}

Hm? Like wha-- oh JESUS--

_{[And quite suddenly, she's not next to him anymore.]

[... She's behind him. She literally just hid behind him. And is just sort of... barely peeking at what little she can see of the costume in the gap between his arm and the rest of him.]}

What the hell is that.

81. [Video/Action for Ecruteak]

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