84. FOURTH WALL video/action/whatever. GO NUTS. Backdated a little to the morning.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Another day, another long shift at work. Heather doesn't really mind, though. It's one hell of a difference between the hectic stress of the job in the department store that she had last year. What a difference having SANE bosses can make, even if the job is more boring.]

[As the morning sun creeps higher behind the snowclouds and lights up the powder drifting down from the sky, Heather is seated at one of the stools behind the counter in the diner where she now works, and is making herself incredibly useful by balancing all the salt-shakers she can find on top of one another.]

[And then putting all those little sealed packets of sliced cheese she can find on top of THOSE.]

[It's a quiet morning, okay? Leave her alone!]

[Needless to say, one of the owners of the diner-- an old married couple-- spots his newest employee working on the Leaning Tower of Cheesa and just sort of shakes his head, sighing. Kids these days.]</sub>

Miss Mason, as much as I hate to stifle the budding artist in you, the soda machines need cleaning.

_{[Heather heaves an enormously-dramatic mock sigh as she gets up.]}

Ugh, finnneeee. You're just jealous of my deeply creative spirit.

You got me. I'm turning green. Dish-soap should be in the back.

<sub>[Having chill bosses is AWESOME. Heather had decided she liked having bosses she could banter with almost as soon as she got the job. She sticks her tongue out at him as she passes, on her way to the back door. And then she has an idea!]

[Pulling out her 'Gear, she hits the network button.]</sub>

HEY GUYS. Who wants to watch me CLEAN SHIT?

<sub>[Because clearly if she had to do boring things, it would improve everybody else's lives to watch her do them.]

[But behind her, the boss clears his throat meaningfully, and Heather rolls her eyes.]</sub>



Oh, that's just Danny!



_{[OOC: COME AT ME BROS. Feel free to assume that Heather is elsewhere if you don't feel like dealing with Danny-- 4th Wall is like CRACK: THE EVENT, so I'm happy to stick her wherever.]}

Comments

Let's go with outside there because Mom doesn't need to deal with Danny

[adoptivemother.livejournal.com]

[Oh hey look there is a woman. Does she look a little familiar?]

Excuse me? Can you help me, I'm a little lost.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[YEAH. YEAH, MOM DOESN'T NEED TO DEAL WITH DANNY. Heather doesn't need to deal with Danny either. Guess what she did? She SHUT THE DOOR and went on break. Maybe he'll be gone when she gets back. 8(;]

[So she's outside by the door, puffing a little in the cold air (but it's warm enough inside that she's not freezing right off the bat.]

[... And then someone speaks to her.]

[Heather looks up, blinking.]</sub>

Uh-- ... hey, uh... sure. I'm not a local myself, but...

_{[... What is with this weird sense of deja vu...]}

action

[ahokonakamori.livejournal.com]

[. . . U N S U R E of what just happened. But maybe she should go help her bro out anyway.]

He-Heather! Are you okay!?

action 8D AOKOOOOOOO

[foolishwren]

<sub>[See Heather. See Heather crabwalk backwards out of the backroom.]

[DO NOT WANT TO BE AROUND THE CORPSE KTHX-- wait. That ... voice.]</sub>

... Aoko?!

[rollingprince.livejournal.com]

[A lot of silverware and cups are starting to mysteriously go missing in the diner!

Either someone's decided to steal some of the stuff from the diner, or it could be do due that rolling Katamari ball that's making its way across the counter table.

At least it's playing some pretty awesome music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMH49ieL4es).

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Why is it always Heather who has to take care of the weird shit.]

[She's actually looking for clean silverware to put out when, looking up with a frustrated scowl, she spots the little ball trundling down the counter.]

[It's then that she notices the background music has changed.]

[... What.]</sub>

I WOULD LOVE TO DEAL WITH DANNY BUT D: WHAT WOULD MARY DO?!

[pwndby-pillow.livejournal.com]

[And a woman is coming in for something to eat judging by how she immediately found a place to sit and looked at what menu they did have.

Though when she heard the shout she couldn't help but try to peer in to the back room at whomever it was that screamed.]

PROBABLY JUST BE HORRIFIED :(

[foolishwren]

<sub>[And Heather is... hurriedly exiting the backroom. Looking ruffled and wide-eyed. She shuts the door behind her. ... And then scoots a few wastebaskets in front of it. Not that that'll matter since it opens the other way, but... it makes her feel better, okay?]

[Then she dusts herself off and makes her way shakily to the counter. Ffhfhfhfhf. 8(;;]

[Feel free to grab her attention, Mary-- you may also notice that she's in a dress. (gasp)]</sub>

[nasa-dreams.livejournal.com]

Not me!

[foolishwren]

_{[Yeah, unless you're dead and hanging from the ceiling, nope. Not you.]}

[action]

[memoryboss.livejournal.com]

_{[As Heather is lying on the floor recovering from the heart attack, she just so might happen to have her face assaulted by a tongue attached to a possibly familiar growlithe (http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/336/f/9/double_headed_growlithe_by_bloodlive_mazohyst-d342gye.png)]}

[action]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Of all the things she DIDN'T want after getting the living daylights scared out of her by her favorite surprise corpse... it's probably a double-head's rancid tongue all over her face.]

[She doesn't even realize what it is at first-- she just shrieks and scrambles backwards, trying to shield her face with an arm.]</sub>

AAAAH! AAAAIHHHH! Get off!!

ACTION

[dontshootmebro.livejournal.com]

[SHE REALLY HAS NO IDEA WHY SHE'S BACK HERE

but hey she's chilling in a diner, sitting at the counter and looking at the newspaper and drinking a nice cup o' joe when suddenly, she hears a crash.

she folds the newspaper down and looks up over the counter, wondering what the heck was going on back there. not to mention why she thought she heard a familiar voice hmm hmm...........]

What the hell was that?

ACTION

[foolishwren]

<sub>[That was Silent Hill popping in for a visit, Cybil. Sorta like you!]

[Needless to say, she might be surprised by what comes popping out of that store-room... it's that little girl! ... In a waitress dress.]

[She shuts the door hurriedly behind her and sort of... hastily shuffles some wastebaskets in front of it, for all the good that will do.]</sub>

GUH.

[burnsfirst.livejournal.com]

<sub>[Laura had absolutely no idea where she was. She didn't recognise a thing - the people and the creatures were only the beginning of the chaos outside - it was almost like a dream, except this didn't feel like one she'd ever had before.]

[Her dreams were different. But not this different.]

[A diner had seemed like a safe haven, really. She always felt better at the Double R and Norma was always kind to her and sometimes she'd listen to her stupid, mundane troubles. Like boy problems.]

[Not that she ever told her her real troubles. The big bad ones.]

[In any case ... diners are typically nice places. She likes them. If nothing else, she could at least ask directions.]

[So when she got seated at the counter, ready to ask both for a coffee and some help, she really hadn't expected more than that.]

[Seeing the door open into the back room had ... been a shock, to put it lightly. When the body falls down, she gasps loudly and puts her hands over her mouth, just STARING.]

[No tears, no screaming, just ... staring. In a way that suggests she'll never take her eyes off the corpse dangling from the ceiling.]</sub>

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Luckily for Laura, this diner is pretty damn friendly, all things considered!]

[... Unluckily for Laura, she happened to walk in right at the moment that the waitress discovered a DEAD BODY in the back. ... A dead, ROTTING body, no less.]

[Needless to say, aside from the dangling corpse, there's also a scruffy blond girl around Laura's age HASTILY CRABWALKING BACKWARDS away from it, until she's on the tile again, and then she's scrambling upright and pulling the door shut before whipping around, scrawny chest heaving.]

[... And then she spots Laura.]

[... Oh.]

[Uhm.]

[....... Awkward.]</sub>


.... Hi.

[dattepoyo.livejournal.com]

[excuse me ma'am, there appears to be a Danny in your immediate vicinity. not to worry. there is someone here to help!]

[sunglasses and determined frown and all.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[YOU FIGHT THAT CORPSE, KIRBY.]

[In the meantime, Heather is scrambling to her feet and making for the door with all the urgent desperation of a cat escaping a bathtub.]

[... And tripping on Kirby.]</sub>

[walkwithbob.livejournal.com]

<sub>[Oh and there's no way you can forget about this guy, can you?]

[Heather will not even see him at first. She might be doing something mundane, maybe finishing up her shift, and she'll hear his voice. In her head.]</sub>

Fire ...

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Of course not!]

[Except she HAS... but only temporarily. You can bet she'll be refreshing her memory real quick. And in more ways than one.]

[She was wrapping up her shift, with the sky rapidly growing darker outside-- she's standing at the counter, jotting down some numbers. The patrons are gone, some of the lights are shut off--]

[... And then she hears it.]

[At first she's not sure if she imagined it or if it was said out loud... but either way, it sends a chill down her spine and she lifts her head.]</sub>

... Bill, was that--

_{[... But no, the manager's nowhere around. She's quite suddenly by herself in the diner. When did THAT happen? Maybe they were in the kitchen...]}

[taaaaank.livejournal.com]

[SURELY YOU KNOW THE DRILL BY NOW (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDkeLx2SyfY), PUNY SURVIVOR WITH AN OBNOXIOUS PENCHANT FOR ESCAPING.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[YEP. She might not remember her last encounters as anything more than some fuzzy recollections of a lot of running and screaming, and of impending doom. Not in the form of a zombie, ironically-- but in the form of the inevitable drawing-and-quartering that she would undergo at the hands of The Manager when she discovered the wreckage of the entire supplies department.]

[But needless to say, Heather is stumping back home to the hotel through the snow, which The Music starts.]</sub>

...

_{[Old survival instincts are prickling at the back of her skull.]}


.... Aw HELL.

_{[RUNNING. RUNNING. RUNNING]}

[Video]

[serpensrex.livejournal.com]

[The Commander apparently picked the worst possible time to turn on the Gear and is now screaming. Loudly. Because what the hell man, why is everything horrifying today?]

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[And his screaming coming out of the 'Gear is NOT helping.]

[Now Heather is screaming.]

[SO MUCH SCREAMING.]

[The only thing NOT screaming is the dead body hanging from the ceiling.]</sub>

[action]

[exeggutorhead]

[Envy had just wanted to get food at this diner, and maybe look for Heather since he thinks this is the same one he saw her working at...]

[Was that her shouting? Envy's gonna go check this out.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Oh hi Envy. How do you like that hanging dead body?]

[It's very... um. Ripe-looking.]</sub>

[action]

[nicepartner.livejournal.com]

[Ash was just wondering around until-]

Uh, are you alright?

[action]

[foolishwren]

_{[Ash, you're such a nice guy. Unfortunately, Heather isn't so nice. At least not when she's scared.]}

I just got ambushed by a DEAD guy.

Do I LOOK all right?

[Action]

[unwantedgod.livejournal.com]

[Heather meanwhile is walking to see what the....]

....




You have got to be kidding me.

[Action]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[HEEEEEERE'S DANNY.]

[But Heather's not sure what's the bigger mindfuck-- the fact that DANNY just fell out of the ceiling of a Johto diner's backroom, or the fact that, when she looks up and over her shoulder...]</sub>

... WH--...

_{[Looking back at Danny, and then over her shoulder at herself again.]}

... What.

[action]

[darkenedgales]

[Know that feeling when you walk into a café in the morning, expecting to get some caffeine that would help you function the entire day, but end up feeling throbbing pain in your already injured arm and watch it start glowing with bright, red light the moment you step into the building?

WELL CROW NOW DOES.

Doesn't help that there's some pretty terrified scream coming from the back. A very familiar voice screaming, too. All of that, combined with the fact his birthmark lightening up is hardly ever good news is enough to make him storm into the room.]

Heath--

[OH HEY IT'S DANNY.]

... What the fuck?!

[action]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[IT'S PRETTY MUCH EXACTLY WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE, CROW. A CORPSE FALLING FROM THE CEILING.]

[Heather scrambles backwards until she reaches Crow, and then stumbles upright.]</sub>

Don't get too cl-- ...

_{[What, what's glowing red?]}

[tinykeytothesky.livejournal.com]

[Peeks after the blonde lady--why hello Danny.]

W-WHAAAA?

[foolishwren]

_{[Yeah uh, the blond lady is going to be ushering the little kid AWAY from the back room. ... A little roughly.]}

Baaaack into the lobby.

NOTHIN' TO SEE HERE.

[Video]

[show_my_cannons]

[There is a big, black face, peering into the 'gear.]

Heather-- What?

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[At first, the 'Gear just gives a nice view of a swinging body. A rather gruesome swinging body.]

[And then it's snatched up and Ironhide gets a shaky Blair-Witch-Cam-style view of Heather RUNNING out of the back room.]

[It's a little while before she slows down, and when she does, she's OUTSIDE. And wheezing. She turns to face the way she came for a second before finally bringing the 'Gear up to her face.]

[... And doing ANOTHER double-take.]</sub>

... I-Ironhide?

_{[... BEEN AWHILE SINCE SHE SAW HIS REAL FACE.]}

[dumpsterdives.livejournal.com]

[ Sup Heather, there's a young woman standing in the backroom doorway, a cigarette between two lightly-yellowed fingers. She narrows her eyes at the dangling corpse, looking...nonplussed. ]

And that's when Heather discovered that this-- [ Her tone is synthetically emotional, as if she's narrating a story. ] --was the 'secret ingredient'.

Dun dun duuun.

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather's not sure what's more unusual-- the corpse that just fell from the ceiling, or the mysterious teenager directly behind her who ... knows her name somehow. But for the moment, Mysterious All-Knowing Teen is less disturbing than the corpse. So she scrambles upright.]}

Get back!

Out!

_{[And she will be unceremoniously shoving Kiden baaaack out of the storeroom, and away from the corpse. Not that Danny ever... you know... did anything... except hang there and look gross, but... she doesn't wanna take any chances.]}

[old-saint-nic.livejournal.com]

[foolishwren]

More like, NO NO NO.

[Video]

[isahero]

[Hey, Heather. Sorry, but for a moment there's only a scream as America had meant to say hi to her and to say he'll drop by one day.

That was a little traumatising though. Thanks.]

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[AUGH WHY IS EVERYBODY SCREAMING JESUS]

[It's not making it any easier for her NOT to scream.]

[So she does. At the 'Gear.]</sub>

SHUT UP!

JUST SHUT UP!

[action]

[minge-baggy.livejournal.com]

[Suddenly, a balding, grey-haired scientist holding a blue glowy device phases through the backroom wall, coming to a dead stop in mid-air. He pivots to face the corpse, staring at it for a good few seconds.

Then he grabs it by the head with a blue beam of light from his device and begins to swing it from side to side like a ragdoll, repeatedly slamming it into the walls and causing many morbidly satisfying THWACK noises (despite causing absolutely no real damage to the body). Throughout this, he doesn't appear to notice... well, anything else that isn't the corpse he's currently flailing about in a comical manner.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Wh--I-- ... well, THAT'S a new development.]

[Heather just sort of.... sits there... and watches Danny get thwacked around the small space. A few items from the shelves tumble onto the floor in the chaos.]

[Danny, of course, has no complaints... considering that he's a dead body.]</sub>



..... uh.

[likescats.livejournal.com]

[Action. Looking down at you. Here's a voice in your head.]

ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... l-looking up-- OH GOD IT'S THE GRIM REAPER.]

[She... she stares up at him with wide eyes for a second or two.]</sub>


.... Am I dead?

Action

[theworstmother.livejournal.com]

[Well here's a voice you probably never wanted to hear again. And she is not happy sounding.]

Alessa.

[Yup, crazy mommy is standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. Totaly normal right?]

Action

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... No. No. Fuck. This is not happening.]

[Suddenly Danny is the last thing on her mind. She twists around to stare over her shoulder, shocked.]

[... IS it shock? Or is it fear? Maybe some of both. But there's definitely some of the latter.]

[Old fears die hard.]

[But the look of baffled horror disappears almost instantly.]</sub>

Dahlia.

_{[No, you're not 'Mommy' anymore. That ship sailed when you SET HER ON FIRE.]}

[bymypages.livejournal.com]

[Hey Heather, this book was somehow in that room waiting for a light (the door opening), so when that BODY COMES HANGING OUT OF NOWHERE, you aren't alone in going AUGH. Consider that body being shoved back up into the ceiling if possible by a large, red and black shadowy hand.

Weiss is still in the middle of going DAGGAKJGAKJGALKGJAREJAGK so do excuse his lack of words outside of that girlish scream.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Well, if the body didn't scare her, the giant red and black shadowy hand sure will.]

[She recoils with something between a gasp and a shout.]

[And then snatches the first thing that comes to hand on one of the shelves, and hucks it at the hand.]

[Enjoy some canned peas, Weiss.]</sub>