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

_{[Oh, believe her. It was.]

[At the slimy grin that spreads across his face, Heather's eyes narrow, and her tone flattens.]}

Not well.

... What the fuck are you smiling about?

You think it's FUNNY?

What happened to her?

Funny is a harsh word... But, what a way to go, don't you think?

[Funny really is a harsh word. This news is a little lighter on him, now that he's seen her in this 'afterlife'- not to mention (once again) that the bitch stabbed him quite literally in the back.

A bit of him wonders where it all went wrong, how she could have gotten to that stage of insanity that she'd try and birth something like God. She must've known she couldn't do it...

Fuck Leonard.]

And what came of 'God'. [The last word is spat out like a foul tasting object that just won't seem to cease haunting his taste-buds.]

_{[The sour glare doesn't leave Heather's eyes.]}

Yeah. Sure was.

_{[What a way to go indeed... between the ... ingestion... and the way the flesh had started to crawl off of her body before Heather's very eyes as the god finished its grisly development... It's something that she'd watched over and over in nightmares.]}

God's dead.

I killed it.

[He rises his head to look at her again; a closed grin.]

Then I suppose I should be wishing you 'Well done', no?

I guess you should.

_{[Heaving a bitter sigh, Heather looks away. She's not sure she can stand looking at that smile for one second longer without just wanting to rip it off Vincent's face and choking him with it.]

[Instead, she swipes viciously at the dampness still coating her brow and neck. The relentless assault she'd perpetuated on that poor punching bag in there HAD tired her out, but somehow with the news of Claudia's disappearance...]}

... She thought Sunny was an angel.

_{[... It's a random-ass remark that she knows Vincent won't understand, but she doesn't care.]}

[He's surprised she's mentally lasting this long; in past meetings, Heather's lashed out, and with the subject of this discussion...

He's not complaining of course.]

Sunny?

[He doesn't know the name.

He scoffs and shakes his head. He does know one thing though... ]

She'd have thought anything was sacred here...

[Why didn't she believe him? This. Isn't. Paradise. This isn't Paradise and she wasn't saved and if they had been brought here after death, then 'Paradise' may not have even been real. Not that he had never doubted it before.]

_{[Well, these are special circumstances...]

[And besides, as much as she hates Vincent... he had been as intricately tangled up in that night as any of the others ad been. It had done him in in the end. But that didn't change the fact that he'd been there.]

[They share something, even if Heather wishes they didn't.]}

Yeah. Sunny.

_{[Don't you fucking make fun of the name, Vincent, Old Snake named the Pokemon that and he is like a thousand times manlier than you will ever be! >:c]_{At least she was happy.

_{[... Then she paused and shook herself. What was she even saying...? She didn't WANT Claudia to be happy.]}

... It's all stupid.}}

[He only raises a brow, keeps listening instead of replying. Usually he'd only stay silent when he was getting information, but this, to him, was a different case.

He doesn't feel bad for what he put Heather through, and he won't apologize. Between Claudia, Heather and Douglas (and he hadn't really cared about Douglas; he was just a pawn of Claudia's. Far too easily used), Heather was the only other sane one in the otherworld at that point.

She isn't so bad. She was Alessa. And yet...

He lowers his head once more, muttering, his tone serious.]

She could've been happy... She just needed to stop listening to all of the lies.

_{[All the lies...]

[Heather had not known what Dahlia had done to her daughter's best friend until Vincent himself had mentioned it ... hell, even Alessa hadn't known. Hadn't known that her mother had moved on to hurting Claudia, once Alessa couldn't be hurt any more than she already was.]

[But the knowledge filled her-- filled both the new and old pieces-- with a sick, hot rage that somehow smoldered even more deeply than the anger she felt for Claudia herself.]

[Even years after her death... Dahlia had been behind it all.]

[Seventeen years after her arrogance and cruelty had caught up with her and done her in, she had still found a way to hurt her daughter.]

[Of course she had.]}

... When did it start?

_{[At what point had Dahlia Gillespie decided to start filling the littlest Wolf pup's mind with poison?]}

Did she let her get into the double-digits first?

Or did she just start right in?

_{[She's not looking at Vincent-- but her voice is trembling and her fists are clenched at her sides. Alessa, the aptly-named Absol, lets out a worried whine and presses her sharp nose against her trainer's knuckles.]}

[It figures that Heather- no, likely Alessa- would figure out what he meant. It wasn't the hardest thing to guess out with how messed up Dahlia was.

Vincent looks to Heather, notices her posture, her fists; even he knows that now isn't a time to be cracking jokes. Sometimes, people had to be serious.

Vincent still doesn't know how to feel about Claudia's disappearance, really.

To be honest, Vincent doesn't even like remembering what she did to Claudia.]

As long as I remember. But believe me, it was single digits.

Dahlia was a nasty piece of work... But I'm sure you already know that, Alessa.

[If there's one person he never wants to turn up in Johto, it's her.]

_{[At this point, there's little distinguishing between the two of them. They had settled their differences back there on that carousel ride two and a half years ago, and with her past self's blessing, Heather had Remembered everything.]

[There's a soft but audible popping noise at his reply-- her fingers had clenched tighter, making the knuckles crack. The mottled scarring across them blares bright white when she squeezes them so hard like that.]

[She doesn't correct Vincent when he calls her Alessa-- if anything, that's the name under which she has the most right to feel this hatred.]}

I know that better than anybody, living or dead.

_{[Or both, as it sort of is in her case.]

[It's with chilling realization that it hits her... all of it is Dahlia's fault. Everything.]

[Her father's death... Claudia may have given the command, but Dahlia had laid the foundations for it before Harry had ever even known of her existence. How ... how is it that a woman so long-dead could reach her disgusting old talons so far into the future? How is it that even after KILLING her and ending that miserable life in flames, Alessa still hadn't been able to escape the old monster... the original monster?]

[She looks up after a moment.]}

If I could... if I could go back in time, I'd kill her again. I'd tear her to pieces and rip her apart.

And I'd-- .... I'd...

_{[Save my little sister. ... I'd even save you, Vincent. There would've been room for all of us...]}

[All that she had caused- has caused- the feelings she still is causing- all of it... Even he'd consider going back and doing the dirty work himself if it were Dahlia; he'd do it for everything she's done, if he had to- no, if he had a chance to.

Leonard was a reason that Claudia was so messed up, but it's true that it was Dahlia who was truly at fault for this whole god-forsaken mess.

Claudia could have been sane. If she had just fucking listened to him! He had tried to pull her from their grasp, but instead of results, he just had to sit back and watch her truly slide down-hill.

It was one more reason for him to trust no-one with anything important to him.
Only trust people if you want them to do something for you; even then, don't tell them everything.

It's rare that he'll let anger get the best of him (anger can make you weak- unaware, as demonstrated by his death), but this. Bringing all of this back up...]

There's no excuse for what she did.

[Valtiel is alert right now. He's studied his trainer's emotions, trying to appeal to them; he's never seen this happen.]

_{[Would you look at that... the one thing these two can wholeheartedly agree upon.]

[Likewise, Alessa is standing stiffly at Heather's side, although her scarlet eyes do flick towards Valtiel on occasion, along with her ears. Paying as much attention to HIS assessment of his trainer's behavior as she is to her own.]

[Heather lets the silence simmer for a moment or so, staring straight ahead.]

[And then she lets out a deep breath, squaring her shoulders before turning to look at the priest at last.]}

If she ever comes here... if she ever shows her face here in Johto.

I'm gonna go find her.

... You gonna come with me?

_{[Although she's not snarling or cursing like she so often does when she's angry... there is nothing but hatred in her voice, and it's perfectly calm.]

[She figures if anyone has the right to bring her to justice for her crimes-- the ones committed before and after her death... it's her. Alessa. ... But Vincent has a bone to pick with her too, doesn't he? They all do. Every child who she hurt.]}

[Vincent's voice is similar, but it's rare that it isn't calm.

There is only one real answer to that question.

He scoffs.]

Legwork isn't quite my thing... [And then silence. He's thinking on it.] But Dahlia's an exception.

[And the smirk makes its return.

She never did so much to him, and anything she did try to tell him, he knew better than to listen to. Just because he was taken in by the church, it didn't mean he had to listen to it. But Dahlia hurt the one person he may have actually classed as a 'friend', once upon a time. Not any more.

Valtiel's wondering if this means they're friends. He figures it doesn't, because Cleo and him occasionally agree on things, but he still hates her.]

_{[Yeah, that was sort of what Heather had meant... after all, if Dahlia had targeted him... well, let's just say that he'd had to have been a much more resilient person than Heather gives him credit for. Kids can't fight that kind of abuse... not by a long shot.]

[But she had hurt Claudia. Their friend-- or someone who had once been a friend to them both, many years ago. And he must still care, a little. If Heather can't bring herself not to care...]}

If you get too hot and sweaty in the process, my Croconaw's Water Gun attack is a pretty quick solution.

_{[Because telling your bipedal crocodile to attack someone you don't particularly like is so much more satisfying than just telling them to go jump in a lake.]}

[He hadn't been a target. And as much as he doesn't remember the details from the earlier years, he learnt that what Dahlia had been doing wasn't good as he grew up.

In some ways, Claudia is the real link between them, instead of their time in Silent Hill 'recently'. The three childhood friends, split apart by a deadly madwoman.]

I'll pass... but please, don't let me stop you from cooling yourself down.

_{[The reality of those kinds of things only ever seem to hit to their full extent in hindsight... But it's the truth.]

[And it's fitting, perhaps... that Claudia is the thing that unites them. Both AGAINST her plans and FOR her sake. Both at once.]

[Despite the dismal circumstances, Heather actually smirks, straightening up with her hands on her hips. Because shut up Vincent, you're just hoping to see her all wet.]}

I don't think I'll need it. See, I never had any problem with getting dirty on the job.

[It's curious what she might think about that fact.

Vincent's brow shoots up, almost looking offended.]

Well... Perhaps you should take better care of yourself?

[Yes Heather, he is calling you un-classy.]

_{[If Claudia were here, she'd be facepalming so hard.]

[And-- pffft, VINCENT? Calling someone ELSE un-classy? PSHAW. ... Although to be fair, Heather is hardly classy, so...]

[She just continues to smirk. She's not happy... no. Not at all. But well, hey. If they're going to work together in any capacity, even theoretically? It's good to get the snarky banter boundary definitions out of the way.]

[And besides... it DOES feel better to focus on this prospect, no matter how violent it may be, than on the heartache of the moment.]}

Not my fault I'm a hands-on kinda person.

But don't expect to not have to pull your weight.

If we're gonna take on that bitch, you'd better do your share.

[Hey hey! He's lacking a lot of stubble now, and his clothes are far more clean. Vincent can be classy when not in a hell-hole.

Vincent knows some of his boundaries with Heather... doesn't stop him from overstepping them though.

It seems with this subject, they can both agree on some things.]

Oh really?

[He scoffs] I can pull my weight without pulling my weight, you know?

[Cleo looks to Valtiel with an expression of disgust. They both know that they'll be pulling the weight; Valtiel just knows that it's their job and will keep telling the Meowth so.]

_{[Sorry Vincent, but you'll always be a smelly, snaggle-toothed creeper to Heather. <3]}

Yeah, sure.

We both know you're perfectly happy to just lie there and let everybody else do the work for you.

_{[Alessa, meanwhile, is just sort of standing there and looking completely unsure what the hell happened to this conversation. She can tell her trainer's not HAPPY, but she IS joking around, so.... da fuq.]}

[Hey hey hey! He is not smelly, okay? Snaggle-toothed maybe, and a creeper for sure...]

And what's so wrong with that? I point them in the right direction, don't I?

[He does. Sometime's it's their possible death, but hey, it was the only way she was going to get that seal.

Valtiel's shaking his head at Alessa, unsure of what's going on himself. Cleo's too busy grooming herself now.]

Yeah, a direction nobody ever wants to go down again afterwards.

_{[Because C'MON, Vincent. A swamp monster? REALLY? She still totally doesn't buy that you didn't know about it (even though you probably didn't).]

[At last, Alessa just sits down at Heather's feet, stumped. Because while there's certainly not much friendliness, Heather is at least more relaxed than she usually is during conversations with this particular man.]}

I wasn't to know.

[He's sticking by that.]

[Valtiel's still standing up. He will always be alert and ready if needed. Cleo on the other hand, gave up really caring before they got here.]

Yeah, right.

_{[Water under the bridge. ... Okay, no, not really, but...]

[She holds out a hand abruptly, expression turning a little more serious.]}

It's a deal, then. If she shows up, we'll take her out together.

Shake on it?

[Action]

metatrolled - 2012-03-01 13:02 (UTC) - Expand

[Action]

foolishwren - 2012-03-02 03:11 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only