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

_{[He nods - he'd figured as much, but he still gives her a calculating once-over. Whether she sees that or not it's probably still clear that he's not planning on leaving, at least not immediately.]}

Well, as they say, Heather: a picture says more than a thousand words.

_{[... He's not gonna leave, is he.]

[She shakes her head a little and turns around at last, massaging her fingers and still fighting to catch her breath. Judging by how red in the face she is, who knows how long she's been attacking that thing.]}

Yeah?

Does this picture look like one that wants to have a chat?

_{[He smiles slightly because that is a small victory in his book. Stubborn teenagers don't always make a habit of facing you, after all.]}

Not really.

_{[And does he look like that matters to him? No. She didn't ask him to leave, after all, so he can stand around and look at the picture if he feels like it.]}

_{[You can bet that if they'd still been on the same contentious terms they had once been on, she wouldn't have even given him the satisfaction of looking in his direction. But as it was, she HAD turned around, and considering... well, Heather, that WAS something of a victory.]

[She's glaring at him, now, in that dull way that people do when they don't want to SAY anything but they're hoping the person will get the message and leave anyway. ... Because she doesn't WANT to tell him to get lost or fuck off or any of the myriad of other things she'd been stockpiling to snarl at anyone who interrupted her. Anyone INCLUDING her friends.]

[But... well.]

[She's not mad at him. Not mad at anyone. She's just mad.]

[But when the glaring doesn't work, she spreads her arms and just snaps.]}

What.

_{[What do you want Cooper.]}

_{[He doesn't shrug but a hint of the motion is there. He figured out what she's doing (and why) a while ago so he doesn't have to ask - he's just waiting for her, in a way.]

[Wasn't she the one who'd told him to talk about things, anyway?]

[That said, he's not exactly about to stop her from what she's doing. So he nods at the punching bag, carefully neutral. Almost innocent.]}

There's no need to stop on my account.

_{[Yes. Yes, she was-- and that very conversation is poking up in the back of her mind right about now. It's infuriating in that way things are when you KNOW you know better but you just don't WANT it to be that way.]

[It's not that she's forgotten the lesson she learned the previous year-- hell no. Far, far from it. It's why she left notes for her father and adopted 'brother', why she came HERE to let out her anger on something harmless before she went and talked about it.]

[But that old stubbornness had kicked in a little-- that old embarrassment. It was easier since everyone had KNOWN she was friends with Kaito. She wouldn't have to go to the trouble of explaining her situation to people she'd been hiding it from. Wouldn't have to come to terms with her OWN shortcomings as much. But she still dreaded the prospect of talking about it... putting into words. That was why she'd stayed out here well into the evening.]

[So at Cooper's innocent suggestion, she PUFFS for a moment, and then spreads her arms, tone defensive.]}

I'm not punching a WALL.

_{[.... Heather jeez he never said that you WERE stop projecting disapproval where there isn't any.]}

Good. That would be foolish.

_{[And with that he gives her a bit of a parting nod, a 'bye for now', and leaves the room - but not in a hurry, which probably makes it clear that he'll still be around.]

[But if she needs to keep punching things he'll leave her alone to do that for as long as she pleases. It's probably similar to her what meditation is to him, after all.]

[In the meantime, he'll spend some quiet time with her pokémon. They seemed worried.]}

_{[Okay, good. He's leaving. She turns her back again, throwing another vengeful but somehow halfhearted punch at the bag.]

[.... Wait actually on second thought she doesn't really WANT him to leave.]

[Because in hindsight she was totally being a jerk just now and that really isn't fair.]

[He probably didn't even get that far off before she calls after him.]}

Coop, wait a sec! Sorry, I'm not-- ... I'm not mad. Wait up.

_{[She grabs a towel from a bench by the door and wraps it around her shoulders before following.]}

_{[Coop's surprised, but in a good way. While he doesn't actively think of her as a friend he does think of their relationship as something of a friendship, and well ... he's glad to see she seems to value it the same way, or at least enough to talk to him.]

[He stops and turns, waiting for her to catch up.]}

Looked pretty mad to me. Are you feeling any better?

_{[It's not accusing - he knows she's not mad at HIM.]}

_{[Jogging looked too desperate, so she just sort of... speedwalks after him until she'd gotten to him, whereupon she stops, chest still heaving slightly. She'd gone at that bag so long that it'd actually left her feeling a little lightheaded now that she'd stopped.]}

I'm not-- .... well, yeah. I'm mad. But not at anybody. Just at... I don't know. Not really.

_{[A little more TIRED, but... not much better.]}

Anger is the second of the five stages of grief.

_{[In other words, anger is a perfectly normal response. Being angry at circumstance isn't new, and coming from Heather, almost expected.]}

_{[Yeah, especially considering that for Heather, all four of the other stages ALSO tend to involve anger...]

[She lifts a hand to rub at one painful-looking red-rimmed eye, sort of grateful that this place is practically deserted. She's a hell of a lot more composed NOW than she was EARLIER and it had been a blessing that she'd been able to be that way while nobody was around.]}

Just the second, huh?

_{[She tries to force a laugh, but very little actually comes out.]

[Grief, huh. He must know what happened. Or at least have guessed. Part of her is sort of relieved. It means she doesn't have to explain it. Explaining is the hardest part. Even in the times when she feels like she can do it, the very thought of it is often exhausting. So exhausting that she just doesn't want to say anything.]}

_{[He gives her a small crooked smile that reads kinda sad. That was a rather pitiful laugh, but he knows her pain.]}

The first one is denial.

_{[Which, if she's anything like him, he figures she had at least a touch of that before she decided to go and beat up gym equipment. But he'll hand it to her - it's a much better solution than a brick wall and leaves fewer scars.]}

_{[Oh, you bet there was denial...]

[Hell, her first (irrational, because although Kaito could be a rascal, he wasn't that mean) thought had been that he was playing some kind of trick on her.]

[It had quickly been replaced with a sick feeling when she'd realized that no. No, he wasn't.]

[The way she turns away from Cooper slightly, folding her arms and tucking the towel's corners in with them to pull it around herself like a blanket, is just a little pitiful.]

[She doesn't try to laugh this time around, although her voice holds that bitter semi-self-mockery he's probably gotten a little used to hearing from her by now.]}

Think maybe if I speed through the other three as fast as possible, it'll go away quicker?

_{[Yeah, he knows the tone. He takes a step or two towards her, puts a hand on her shoulder and squeezes lightly. He can't do much else for her right now.]

[Well, other than offering an ear, he supposes. But naturally he doesn't ask if she needs that outright.]}

That's his Aipom out there, right?

_{[She doesn't look up at the touch, but she nods a little bit.]}

Yeah...

And his Wooper.

_{[She supposed Crow must have gotten one or two as well... but she hadn't seen her other friend yet that day. He's probably not taking it much better than she is.]}

_{[He's quiet for a moment, but remains where he is, looking at her in a sort of quiet understanding.]}

Always catches you by surprise, doesn't it?

_{[Johto hasn't been too bad to him, even if that's largely his own doing, but people going (and coming) in such an unpredictable way ... well, it's the worst part about the place, no matter how many times it's pointed out.]}

_{[There's a pause, but then she sniffs audibly and nods again.]

[She's had a lot of friends disappear over her time in this place. Some close, others not AS close but still important... but not even Phoenix's disappearance had her feeling... feeling like this.]

[Heather had a knack for words. Not eloquence so much as being able to find the right ones for a feeling, even if it wound up sounding uncomfortable.]

[But she can't think of words for this, and the brief battle that takes place on her face even as she turns it to face away from Cooper probably shows that. He's seen her on several occasions shortly after losing friends, by now... Aoko, Old Snake, L... But none of those did this.]

[When she speaks up again, her voice is tight and strained.]}

... I didn't think he'd go anywhere.

_{[Yeah, this is big. He's seen her upset a fair number of times and he's always listened, but this is different because it's present, now, it didn't happen a few years ago. It makes it worse to talk about by default.]

[And he's not sure where, exactly, he stands with her. It wouldn't normally stop him from going about things his normally perhaps-too-blunt way but he finds himself thinking a little more carefully about Heather in particular just because they got off to such a rocky start.]

[Dale Cooper isn't usually uncertain about things, but he finds that he is here. It says a lot, really, but it's not about him. In the end he just sighs softly and sort of lets her be, for now.]

[But man she must get a hug later.]}

We never do.

_{[Heather's probably more sure of where she stands with him than he is... but that's the furthest thing from her thoughts at the moment.]

[She's not really crying-- between the sweat and all the tears she'd shed earlier, there's not much in there for her tear ducts to work with anymore. He's come across her around the tail end of her energy reserves, and now she just looks drained-- shoulders slumped, head hanging. She'd pretty much only been able to keep going at that punching bag out of pure inertia. Bodies in motion want to stay in motion and all that. Yaaaay high school physics.]}

... He was one of the first friends I ever made here.

_{[Again, he smiles a bit in response. She's talking, and he figures that's a good thing.]}

So you go way back, huh?

_{[He didn't know, even if he assumed. He'd only talked to Kaito twice or so but from what he could tell he was pretty similar to Heather, so it doesn't surprise him to hear that they'd been friends a while.]}

_{[A very small nod.]}

He got here not too long after I did.

Few weeks, maybe.

You're going to have a hard time the next few days.

_{[It's not insensitive, though. Of course not. This is Cooper.]}

_{[Insensitive? Maybe a little. But ... well, it's the truth. And how can Heather be upset at him for speaking the truth? It's something she knows.]

[She lets out a sort of sobbish laugh, reaching up to rub an eye again. It looks painful. They're always sore and exhausted-looking, but right now they look like she's been scrubbing them with steel wool.]}

You figure?

_{[Sniffing, she pulls the towel from around her shoulders and rubs her hand dry on it, although there hadn't been much to wipe off of her face, tear-wise. The single nice thing about dehydration: shuts those tear ducts up good and hard.]}

... Feels like... feels like it's gonna be a lot longer than the next few days.

Like maybe just forever.

_{[It's almost hilariously dramatic-sounding, especially coming from a girl like Heather. She'd experienced so many losses before. All of them lingered in one way or another, but ... well, she did move on. She'd moved on from Phoenix, moved on from James and L and Old Snake and all the others... hell, even from her father's, although that had only been because he'd returned.]

[But this was different. She sort of knows she'll be embarrassed for saying that later, but she's emotional enough right now that she can't bring herself to care.]}

_{[He raises an eyebrow slightly, because - yes. That was a rather unexpected response from her and he tilts his head slightly to look her over.]}

Few things last that long, Heather. Pain isn't one of them.

_{[NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE]

[But it's actually true. It gives way to resignation and acceptance, or in SOME cases, guilt and the fact that he keeps feeding it, but it's not like she needs to know that.]}

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