foolishwren | 87. [Text/Action for Ecruteak in the evening]

Current Mood: crushed
Current Location: Ecruteak City

87. [Text/Action for Ecruteak in the evening]

_{[The following is sent out network-wide.]}

[Text]

gonna be gone today

won't be back till late

if it's important leave a message and I'll get it later

[Note left on the bedside table in hotel room, for Harry Mason and Henry Townshend]

Gotta take care of something

Won't be at work.

See you guys later in time for dinner probably

-Heather

[ACTION]

_{[There's a little rec center towards the south end of Ecruteak City. Given that the town's full of old people, it doesn't see a whole lot of activity.]

[But today, someone passing by might notice a small group of Pokemon hanging out JUST inside the door-- normally Pokemon waiting for their trainer would be playing or gamboling outside in the snow, but they look unusually subdued. Butch the Quagsire and Alessa the Absol, probably recognizable to anyone who's spent a significant amount of time around Heather, are sitting in the chairs by the entrance, although they're accompanied by two new faces...]

[A babbling Wooper is cuddled up to Butch's side, and a small, purple ball of fur is nestled deep into the Absol's bristly mane, not moving aside from the occasional little shiver or reflexive squirm as Alessa lifts her head to give it a gentle nudge every so often.]

[They're Heather's Pokemon, all right-- plus two of Kaito Kuroba's, Flapper the Wooper and Biz the Aipom, and they're clearly hunkered down morosely in the front lobby of the rec center, probably waiting for Heather.]

[But... where WAS Heather?]

[Smiling.]

[At the end of the letter, he'd told her to keep smiling.]

[Well, she couldn't do that. Maybe later. Maybe in a few hours, or tomorrow. But not today. Sorry, buddy...]

[If anyone actually went into the recreation center's lobby to see why the hell Heather's Pokemon were just sitting there, waiting around, they would likely hear it-- the repeated thwak THWAK THUD of someone viciously venting their spleen on a punching bag.]

[Which is exactly what she was doing, and HAD been doing for the past god knows how many hours. She hadn't even looked outside since she'd gotten there in the morning-- for all she knew it was past dark. She didn't know and she didn't really care, either-- which actually surprised her. She'd left that note for her father and Henry specifically with the intention of guilting herself into returning when she'd told them, because hey. They'd worry.]

[That wasn't good, she knew. Getting so sucked into hitting something that she didn't even care about getting 'home' on time. That sure was a throwback to the old high school years, wasn't it.]

[But hey... she wasn't punching a wall or a tree this time.]

[That was an improvement, right...?]}

[OOC: PokeGear responses will be replied to around 10:00 at night, when Heather returns home from beating the shit out of gym equipment. 8I]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

... Take care, kid. Send word, if you need.

_{[Hey old man...]

[He'll receive a reply fairly late at night. ... There's a few more misspellings than normal, oddly enough...]}

hey

sorry if i worrid you or somethign

[That's okay. He's up anyway.]

Nah. Always worry about my charges.

Edited 2012-01-22 05:12 (UTC)

 so i'm a charge huh...


man ever wonder where the word 'charge" comes from

cuz like it means electricity and stuf like chaarging a phone

but then it also means liek someone you're protecting

whats up with that

_{[... Sorry if you need a decoder, Ironhide.]}

... It means I consider you something important.

[Ironhide, how do you make text sound surly?]

What are you rambling about?

_{[He can make ANYTHING sound surly, clearly.]}

oh sorry nothign really


nothng

NOTHING

dammit

_{[So apparently texting after going to your friend's room and drowning the grief together with a bottle of wine is sort of difficult. Who knew.]}

[Okay, even Ironhide can tell something's off. And that's saying a lot.]

Kid... What happened?

_{[There's a long pause before she replies.]

[There's a big difference between this and last year... when her father had disappeared.]

[The biggest thing is that she CAN talk about it. ... Wants to, even. The previous year, she'd been mostly alone in her despair out of sheer humiliation. This time around is different and she wants more than ever to be able to just lean on the people who've wound up supporting her.]

[... But it's still hard to make the words come out.]}

best friedn went home

not takign it very well



got sortv drunk with my other friend who was his friend too


actually i dunno if you know about alcohol but its making it hard to type so iif you dont i should probly tell you another time




i'm ok though

i'm always ok.

_{[... Not... you know... that telling a fatherly figure that you've been drinking is usually a good idea, but ... well, she's too tired to hide anything right now, and hey 18's the legal age for drinking in Johto so there. :(]}

[He doesn't... say anything right away. What does he even begin to say? Alcohol, at least, doesn't seem like anything 'bad', so-to-speak. What does he know about things like legal drinking ages?]

You safe, kid?

[Because that seems like the best question he can ask.]

_{[Could be worse, definitely. She had some wild days in her earlier teenage years...]

[But sharing a drink with a buddy who's just as torn up over the loss of a friend as you are... okay, it may still be sort of irresponsible, but... Heather's fairly confident that she can backslide a little. Just for one night.]}

yeah

just staying in the hotl room now

feelign too shitty to go out and be a stupid punk tonihgt so dont worry

[So she's being smart about it. She's drunk, sure. But she's not out running around. That's... somehow reassuring.]

[There's another pause.]

... They tell me people come back here. Maybe you were the one who told me. Just... thought I should mention that.

_{[... All right, maybe it's because she's REALLY emotional and not sober at all, or maybe she'd have been that touched anyway... but somehow the fact that he brings that up in his own comforting way is really, really touching.]

[It's a moment or so before she responds.]}

yea

yeah i know






thanks

Just... mind it.

[It's something he's trying to keep in mind, himself. Anyone could show up. The others could show up.]

[Cliff's Autobots could show up... He has to remind himself of that.]

Have my contact information. If you need it.

_{[It's true... there IS hope. There's still hope. But for some reason... thinking about that almost makes it hurt worse. Like even the THOUGHT of clinging to that hope and then being disappointed hurts all by itself.]

[But the reminder means a lot to her anyway.]}

i'll remember

i think ill be okay for now

not going anywhere else tonight. just gonna stay here.

Good. Smart thing to do, when you drink. ... Too small for bar fights, anyway.

_{[Obviously he can't see it, but on the other end of the line, that response actually gets a giggle out of her, despite everything.]}

HEY

you'd be surprised

i bet i could win a barfight right now

i bet i could beat like, fifty dudes





at once

Surprise me when you get sober. Sounds like a better option.

_{[Yeah, it is, but she's jumping on this distraction like a cat onto a laser pointer.]}

i bet 

i could even beat YOU



yeah i said it

what

[What even.]

Kid. I could pick you up in one hand. Quit while you are ahead.

_{[Aw Ironhide let her have her fun. She'd rather occupy herself bragging about stupid hypothetical fights than let her mind drift back to...]}

one time i fought a giant freudin metaphor the size of a train

i could give you a run for your money i bet



skldgh';'sh;jl




sorry dropped the Gear

Edited (HTML) 2012-01-25 07:30 (UTC)

... You fought a what now?

_{[... Heather actually takes a moment before responding to debate whether or not she was drunk enough to try and explain the concept of a phallic symbol to a millions-of-years-old space robot.]

[Then she realized that if she had the presence of mind to stop and debate it, she was definitely NOT drunk enough.]}

never mind

[This is, perhaps, the smartest move the inebriated teenager has made all night.]

[His response is delayed, though, while he tries to sort out the meaning of her reaction, before just giving up.]

Uh. Sure thing.

_{[Yes. Yes it is.]}

anyway point is

don't underestimate me


i am an unstobbable killing machine




*unstoppable

You are drunk. That is what you are.

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