foolishwren | 82. [Video] Backdated to November 1st!

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82. [Video] Backdated to November 1st!

_{[It's about eight in the morning, the day after Halloween night. Juuuuust the right time for the bright early-morning sun to be shining in through everybody's windows. The Ecruteak Inn in particular is RIGHT in the perfect place for that light to be blaring in, which is why the first thing that shows on the screen (accompanied by the scrapes and jitters of somebody picking the 'Gear up) are the bright white bars of sunlight across the wooden inn-room floor.]

[The next thing it shows is ALSO covered in the bars of sunlight, but it's so BRIGHT that the glare actually maxes out the screen's capacity for a second or two before it adjusts and shows that the gleam is actually the sunlight reflecting in a million little points off of what seems to be a fairly impressive pile of NOT candy like one might expect there to be on somebody's floor after a successful night of trick-or-treating, but... shiny... things?]

[Yes. Shiny things. All kinds. Eyeglasses, doorknobs, strings of still-lit decorative Halloween lights, a genuine police badge, a set of handcuffs, a roll of foil tinsel, some well-polished pots and pans, small hand-held mirrors, coins of all shapes and sizes, more than a few pieces of (gulp) expensive-looking jewelry, a weathervane, several articles of clothing studded with those fake rhinestones, bottles of glitter (as one may imagine, the glitter is now EVERYWHERE), flashlights of all shapes and sizes (all of them are still turned on), a large (and opened) tube of "Sparkle Fun" toothpaste, what appears to be a small army of glossy Mr. Mime-shaped garden gnomes...]

[And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Somebody was productive last night.]

[The unmistakeable sound of a panting dog suddenly invades the speakers and a giant orange blur passes in front of the screen briefly, accompanied by the click-click-click of blunt claws on hardwood.Then the sound of licking, followed by a hoarse groan.]}

Nnngh....

_{[Around this point, the view begins to zoom out. .... Erratically and jerkily, like the most poorly-filmed dramatic zoom-out in history, because instead of using the zoom button, the camera-holder is literally scooting backwards across the floor on his butt, all the way to his sleeping bag. Only then is the whole scene revealed.]

[Sprawled across the sparkly spoils of their night on the town are two very, VERY tired teens, now only partially-dressed as the thieving monkey and corvid they started the night out as. Kaito Kuroba is face-down on top of a small, tangled pile of beaded strings (you know, the rainbow-colored kind that hippies hang on their doors), with his monkey-ear headband slid down over the back of his head. And part two of the dastardly duo is flat on her back, half of her poncho rumpled up around her neck and her mask is halfway off. As is expected of someone like Heather, she bears the telltale marks of having apparently gotten into a physical FIGHT with someone at some point during the night, and somewhat LESS expected of someone like Heather, she also has what appears to be an infant Tyrogue clinging to one of her legs.]

[It's like The Hangover, ADD Teenager Halloween Edition.]

[The screen stops jittering once the filmer is safely settled on his sleeping bag once more.]

[Cujo is busy rousing his trainer by licking what's visible of her face while she mumbles protests and sort of feebly slaps him with one hand, while Kaito is dragging his face up off of his uncomfortable-looking pillow and squinting blearily in the bright morning light. Biz the Aipom scampers onto the screen and hops up on his trainer's shoulder to proudly present him one of the many wallets stolen during the night. Nobody particularly notices.]}

Wh... huh...?

Cujo, go 'way ... where... whuhappen...

_{[At last, the mystery filmer finally speaks up, in that mild, quiet tone some of the network may be familiar with as coming from the scruffy, twitchy photographer that follows Heather and her father around and occasionally talks about serial killer owls.]}

Oh, you two are up.

Mr. Mason says you have to give all that stuff back today.

_{[The two teens stare at him blearily, and then down at their piles. ... And then at themselves. Kaito reaches up to run his fingers through his hair and produces a small shower of glitter. Heather lifts her leg in the air with a mildly horrified expression at the pink... thing on her leg. Then they look back at Henry.]

[The feed cuts.]

[BUT A FEW HOURS LATER, a much-more-cleaned-up Heather will be popping onto the feed again, hair still sticking in every direction (she'd had it gelled to look like a Murkrow's head feathers) and glitter still sparkling pretty much... everywhere. ... Including her teeth, when she grins sheepishly.]}

Uh... hey, guys... so um... Kaito and I found a bunch of... stuff... that was apparently stolen... by kids in costumes. That totally weren't us.

... So if some weirdos grabbed something from you last night, it might... totally be here.

Yeah.

Uh.

... Happy Halloween.

[OOC: Action for Kaito and roomies, obviously! Otherwise, if your character was in Ecruteak, feel free to assume that the dastardly duo nicked something from them and will be sheepishly returning it at some point today.
Blue = Kaito, Orange = Heather, Brown = Henry.]

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_{[He shakes his head, but does glance past her into the room at the ... rather enormous loot pile and observes it for a moment, before he returns his attention to her.]}

No, I wanted to see how you were doing.

_{[I TRIED TO STRANGLE YOU. PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE OKAY. (With that, he actually glances at her neck to see if there are any visible marks from that.)]

[He looks pretty worn. He quite obviously lost sleep over this, because he remembers a LOT of it - and that's also something that might be noticed, in the almost sheepish way he leans just slightly against the door frame when he normally always stands straight.]}

_{[There are definitely some marks there. He wasn't exactly gentle last night. But apart from the cuts and bruises, she seems... relatively normal? Aside from looking frazzled.]

[The truth is, she actually remembers the fight in relatively clear detail, too... she remembers his rage, and her amusement... and she's actually just sort of in awe of it. She's not MAD, in any case. So she just.. blinks up at him a little bit.]}

Me? I'm FINE.

... I mean, I feel like I have a hangover from hell even though I didn't have anything to drink last night that I can remember...

What about you?

_{[I TRIED TO TEAR YOUR EYEBALLS OUT. I AM GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU STILL HAVE YOUR EYEBALLS.]}

Me?

_{[As if genuinely wondering why she'd ask him that. But it's also to buy a little time, because he's not sure how to answer.]

[Yeah, he might be a cop, but he certainly doesn't look like his stoic FBI alter-ego right now. Not only has he been out of uniform for ages (and for once he's actually wearing something so casual as jeans) ... but there's the somewhat subdued behaviour here, too. Did I say he felt fairly guilty? Yeah, it's a little more guilty than that.]}

I'm okay. _{[But that's not importanttttt.]} Can I come in?

'Course.

_{[She backs away from the door, finally starting to pick up on his ... oddly subdued mood.]

[Folding her arms, she rubs her shoulders a little and stands there, watching him for a second or two. She doesn't have her mask on anymore-- it's over lying on her bed.]

[After a time...]}

... Is this about that catfight we got into last night?

_{[NO. YOU THINK?!]}

_{[He closes the door behind him and can't help another curious glance at all the loot when he enters the room - he might ask about it later, but for now is just taking in how much and how varied it is.]

[BUT YES, HEATHER, OF COURSE IT IS. And he looks at her in a very 'yes, yes it is' way before he sighs and lets his expression shift into one of apology.]}

Yes. I wanted to apologise.

_{[Such a Good Guy, can you tell?]}

_{[... He's apologizing.]}

.... Dude, I spent all of last night thinking I was a BIRD.

I'm PRETTY SURE you don't need to personally apologize for the fact that you went all Chokestab McGenocide on me. It wasn't you.

_{[.... WELL ON THE BRIGHT SIDE SHE'S NOT MAD AT HIM?]}

_{[He grins briefly - very briefly. He knows it wasn't his actions but because of Reasons that's part of why it weighs so heavy on his mind.]}

I suppose it's partly the principle of the thing. But I still hurt you.

_{[And god forbid he ever hurts anyone in any way ever. His actions or not, that's one thing he never wanted to experience again.]}

_{[Okay, she can definitely understand being all torn up over hurting people unintentionally. It's actually a pretty big fear of hers, too-- it's one of the reasons she got so bent out of shape when she found out she'd beat the hell out of Phoenix, thinking he was a monster under the influence of that fog.]

[But c'mon, they're both okay!]}

Coop, I tried to rip your eyeballs out.

I distinctly remember wanting to eat them.

I think we're evenly-matched, here.

_{[And with that reply he finds himself thinking about Albert. Because sometimes, Heather and him really aren't that different. Albert would also tell him to get over it and move on already, because he can't hold himself responsible, god. The addition of his nickname also helps with that momentary comparison.]

[And is the reason he smiles seemingly to himself for another short moment, this one pretty sincere.]}

I suppose we are.

_{[That still comes across a little weak though. AH WELL. His voice goes stronger with the next sentence, though.]}

I guess we'll just have to appreciate the fact that no one was hurt too badly.

_{[If you'd gotten his eyeballs? BAD. If he'd managed to strangle you? ALSO bad.]}

_{[SHE AND ALBERT BOTH HAVE HIGH ASSHOLE CAPACITIES.]}

Seriously. That's all we can do. I mean-- whatever happened last night-- _{[And she ALREADY SUSPECTS it was ghost Pokemon, despite not having received any official word on the matter.]}-- it wasn't anything we could control.

... And if it makes you feel any better, I was never scared. Not once.

_{[... Maybe she should have been. But she wasn't.]}

_{[THAT THEY DO. And yet they're both his pals.]}

... Yeah. That does make me feel better.

_{[He sounds like he's thinking about it before he comes to the conclusion that it does, but having arrived to that he's starting to visibly ease up about the whole thing. ...He's pretty sure Applejack was scared, though. He's going to have to talk to her next.]}

_{[... Yeah, Cooper, you were SERIOUSLY creeping on Applejack. THAT deserves an apology. :Ib]

[But Heather's coo', she can take care of herself.]

[Once she sees Cooper ease up a little, a bright (... LITERALLY. THERE'S GLITTER IN HER TEETH) grin crosses her face. Now she can be obnoxious.]}

You were so mad.

_{[HEE HEE.]}

I thought steam was gonna start comin' outta your ears.

_{[:c please don't remind him he's going to be thinking about that too much the next few days.]

[...and ah. He. Should have seen the obnoxious coming. He raises an eyebrow, looks from her teeth to her eyes, and responds in a probably surprisingly flat tone-]}

Well, Heather, you were very easy to get mad at.

_{[nnnnope still not okay with joking about it just yet. NOT JUST YET. He distinctly remember wanting to KILL her, and if there is one thing you do not ever take lightly, it is that.]}

_{[Heather has a very, very twisted sense of humor. You kind of have to, to survive what she's lived through. But sometimes she... seems to legitimately not know when it's NOT OKAY to joke about this sort of thing.]

[NOT EVERYBODY THINKS MURDER IS FUNNY, HEATHER.]}

Yeah, I was being a total douchebag.

Sorry about the scratches, by the way.

_{[Change the subject, Cooper. CHANGE IT.]}

I thought we weren't apologising.

_{[Dryly. Perhaps even a little aloof. He'd say he's sorry about the bruises, but yep. ... those scratches can still faintly be seen, by the way - some of them did break a little of the skin, but it isn't obvious until you really look.]

[DOES THAT COUNT AS CHANGING THE SUBJECT? Probably not. He's regarding her with a small frown, sort of ... seeing where she'll go with it. Since she obviously seems to take it very lightly. Then again - it WAS a light night for her, so he supposes he can understand that, but he can't help but feel a bit almost on guard at the way she's handling the topic.]

[It was vaguely traumatising to snap back and have that kind of memories flood you, okay.]}

_{[Sob, sorry Cooper.]

[She finally seems to notice his flat tone, though, and sort of tilts her head at him a little. ... Not ENTIRELY unlike the way she did it the previous night, but without that somewhat-sinister playfulness.]}

Hey, I'm just trying to make you feel better.

_{[SHE JUST SUCKS AT IT. Something has to break in Silent Hill before you can get out. In Heather's case, she's got a pretty hefty crack running through her sense of appropriateness when it comes to humor. It was, after all, her coping mechanism.]}

_{[Of course. But here are two people who deal with trauma in very different ways - and Coop's response to murder and monsters (be they actual monsters or not) is that you really shouldn't joke about it, so he can't yet understand why you would.]

[He recognises the shift in her tone though. He's not really looking at her, but lets out a slow sigh.]}

I wanted to kill you, Heather. I find it hard to joke about things like that.

_{[Touchy subject alert.]}

_{[Yep. Different people, different coping methods.]

[She's not quite mature enough to really understand that yet. So she sort of LEGIT BLINKS.]

[You do? :Ia]

[He may notice that she looks LEGITIMATELY SURPRISED by this revelation. Not that he'd wanted to kill her, but that he can't joke about it.]

[She shrugs, a little awkwardly. It's pretty obvious she knows she fucked up SOMEHOW, but she's not totally clear on the where.]}

... Well, a lot of people have wanted to kill me. I just kinda HAVE to laugh about it. _{[... Otherwise she'd be screaming.]}

Sorry.

_{[That's actually somewhat new information. Cooper knew she was an important figure with the cult, but not that a "lot" of people wanted her dead.]

[He considers asking about it, but isn't sure if this is the right time.]

[... but yeah, he gives her one of his typical, really-looking-at-you looks when he picks up on that surprise. And with her words, he supposes it makes sense, even if he can't fully get behind it.]

[He does accept her apology. He doesn't really say so but the softer tone should reveal it.]}

I'd rather laugh about other things. _{[And with a lightning flash hint of a smile, this is an attempt to ease both his own slight hostility and her .. what, sort of confusion?]} Besides, you did enough laughing yesterday.

_{[Just ... don't spin on it in the wrong direction now and we're good.]}

_{[Oh yeah.]

[Allies, enemies... you name it, all kinds of people wanted Heather dead or at least considered killing her at some point... even her own father. Having THAT kind of bomb dropped on you can be a doozy. ... Even when you totally understood his reasons and maybe even sort of agreed with him, or wished a little, for his own sake, that he'd done it. Actually, maybe it was even more of a doozy that way.]

[Needless to say, she looks back at him just a LITTLE worriedly. After all, she didn't exactly want to destroy this new friendship so soon after it had started. At least he's not... like, pissed.]

[She smiles back, although it's definitely a tentative 'soooo I'm not in trouble right?' smile more then any of her normal ones.]}

Yeah, I guess I did.

It's just sorta what I do.

_{[Laugh away the horrors... best way for her to survive. Sure, it meant sacrificing a little sanity, but it sure as heck was better than the alternative.]}

Everything was a lot funnier last night than it probably shoulda been.

_{[No, no, he's not pissed. It takes a lot to piss him off. The most accurate description right now might be that he's frustrated and tense, but it's quickly wearing off in favour of a sort of ... calmer weariness.]

[Still slightly edgy, but he's likely to remain that way for a while with our without her influence.]

[So no, she's not really in trouble.]}

I guess your costume was accurate in that regard. Remember when I likened you to corvids?

_{[... Buh.]}

Uhh-- ... you did?

When was that?

_{[It's slipped her mind, judging by the blank, curious look on her face.]}

_{[He's not all that surprised she doesn't remember, it was like five months ago, but Coop is like an elephant and he Never Forgets Anything. He gives her a small grin in response and reaches out to gently tap the side of her nose (twice).]}

A while ago. I told you they're aggressive, playful and intelligent. Still very much applies.

_{[... Cooper, wat.]

[The odd (and unexpected) display of affection catches Heather by surprise and all she does at first is sort of blink and go cross-eyed when he reaches out to tap her nose.]

[After last night, you'd think such a bizarre little gesture would almost be alarming, but Heather grins crookedly, quirking a brow at him in that quintessential teenage "... haha what was THAT" way, leaning her head back a little.]}

That's right... guess it sorta does.

_{[Right on the money, Coop. As usual. You strange man you.]}

_{[Of course it does. He looks at her for a moment - completely unfazed by her wtf-reaction, of course - and then nods, almost to himself. That settles that, doesn't it? He's said what he wanted to say, and he feels like he could really use a walk. Not to mention he should give Applejack a call. Soon. (Oh, god...)]

[So this is where he'll take his leave, pretty much. Which he'll announce in a sort of out of the blue-fashion, because that's his style.]}

I'll see you later, Heather.

_{[Annnd make for the door. He stops with a hand on the handle, though, and throws another glance at the loot pile because ...well hell it IS pretty eye-catching. And he obviously needs to make some kind of comment about it before he goes. Otherwise it just wouldn't be right.]}

I hope you weren't planning on keeping all that.

_{[Slightly raised eyebrow, perfectly even tone. Don't worry though, he's not going to go Mr Law Enforcement on you guys.]}

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