foolishwren | 93. [Video/Action for Cianwood Inn]

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Location: Cianwood City inn

93. [Video/Action for Cianwood Inn]

_{[Well, THAT had been fun.]

[After over a week, lots of bad weather, a few waterlogged hugs and a whole lot of flying, Heather's finally back on Cianwood, with a nurse, a mysterious young woman, a bird-obsessionist, and a magician-thief in tow.]

[She's exhausted and wants nothing more to just faceplant on the bed and let her father play host to the new additions to the 'family' (and the one returning member) for awhile... but as usual, something's come up.]

[The feed comes on from above-- she's flopped on her back on one of the hotel room's beds, hair still curly and wet from the shower she spent at least forty-five minutes in after arriving back on the island. She'd had to use an unoccupied hotel room (with Arty guarding the door to make sure no unsuspecting guest walked in on her) to do it on account of the fact that she'd been accompanied by four equally tired and dirty people who ALSO needed showers.]

[She picks tiredly at one eye, the camera wobbling above her on account of being held up with just one hand.]}

Sooo.

Yeah, I uh... was totally planning on visiting some people on the way home, but... yeah.

All that weather sort of sucked all the sociability out of everybody. Sorry, Cliff. Wish I'd made it.

_{[YEAH, she's spoiling the surprise, but hey, she can always drop in on him and Ironhide later, assuming no giant storms pop right the fuck out of nowhere like last week. Ugh.]}

But anyway, back safe and sound, nobody died, the world's still turning, chocolate and peanut butter are still an awesome combination, life goes on. Hope nobody got too battered during all that crazy apocalyptic weather.

_{[And around this point is where she'd usually turn the camera off (and maybe she intended to but is just so damn tired it slipped her mind) but the screen blurs as she rolls over, propping herself up on her elbows and resting the 'Gear against the bedspread next to her instead. Next to it are two things--]}

_{[--a battered old medallion with red marks inscribed on it... and a piece of paper. The camera's gaze only lingers on it for a second or two, but quick readers might be able to make out the words Make her suffer written in loopy handwriting before the 'Gear moves again.]

[This time, it's aimed crookedly at the side of the bed, where the somber, doberman-like face of a Houndoom is watching the off-camera Heather in silence.]}

....

Gonna have to come up with a different name for you.

_{[End feed.]}

[AUDIO // LOCKED TO COOPER]

_{[Later that night:]}

Hey, Coop.

You got a minute?

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_{[He can understand her general iffyness about trying to verbalize it, but what's interesting here is that Coop's been in similar situations - he never did keep many friends, but he still had a few romantic partners, and that's cause he always did take the risk.]

[... although, to be fair, it was also often a case of love first and friendship later, but that's how it happens when you live for the moment.]

[Still, though, he sounds like he gets it. But he'll just point this thing out.]}

If you trust him to be the friend you just described to me, I don't think you'll have to worry about losing anything.

_{[She lets out another sigh, and there's a somehow defeated note to it.]}

I really, really wish it was that simple.

But a friend is DIFFERENT from a... you know. And... I'm not some low-self-esteem wreck or something, I think I'm a perfectly fucking good friend. I've got plenty of friends and I think I do well by them, so I've gotta be doing SOMETHING right, you know?

But it's different.

Having a really, really good friend isn't the same as having a frigging girlfriend and if I were in his shoes, and his screwed-up, wrong-side-of-the-tracks buddy with more issues than a National Geographic subscription turned out to want that ...

I'm not even his type. He ca-- he SHOULD do better.

_{[Oh, he's definitely sensing those issues she's talking about. Not that he can blame her, given what she's been through, but he still thinks he's wrong.]}

Heather, friendship is the basis on which you build any lasting relationship. You are a good friend - I know as much - and there is no doubt in my mind that you will be an equally good girlfriend.

_{[First time he ever called her his friend, too.]}

_{[She doesn't really take notice of that right off the bat-- maybe it's because SHE'S thought of him as a friend for awhile now, but she never even really realized that he'd never used that word to describe her before. It'll probably occur to her later on...]

[But for now, she's got a point to shoot down!]

[Her tone is challenging.]}

All right then, Mister Relationship Advice, if all it takes to be a decent girlfriend is being a decent friend, would YOU want me for one?

_{[BECAUSE YOU SAID IT YOURSELF COOPER SHE'S YOUR FRIEND!!! HA. >8I]}

_{[That brings a small chuckle just because of the way she says it. Almost smug.]

[He doesn't miss a beat though.]}

If I several years younger and knew you as well as I do now, I don't think I'd write you off.

_{[Because really Heather, first impressions? ... :I let's work on those.]}

_{[HA TOLD YOU S-- ... wait that wasn't what he was supposed to say.]

[A moment of shocked silence follows that (he totally threw off her groove there), before she splutters--]}

--well, no, that's-- c'mon, Coop. You're being nice. Because you're a nice guy.

Like, I appreciate the SENTIMENT and all, but guys like you? Like Kaito? There's a REASON they don't wind up with people like me, even if they're friends!

It's not that I've never had guys interested in me. But they're not-- you know. Good guys. And that's FINE, it's LIFE. Good people deserve other good, not-fucked-up people. That's how it goes. I'm cool with that.

_{[Junk attracts junk.]}

_{[... wow, Heather. No.]}

Have I ever lied to you before?

_{[Because seriously. Now he knows what to work on with her. She'll work on making him open up to people more and he'll work on her self worth. Good deal, y/n?]}

Heather, you're not a bad person. If you consider your friends to be good people that means they believe you are as well.

_{[SOUNDS LIKE IT, though Heather would rather he focus more on HIS end of the deal than hers.]}

I don't think I'm a bad person!

I just-- look, you can be a good person and be absolutely crap material for stuff that's more than friendship, okay?

_{[Well he'd much rather focus on hers, so there you go.]

[There's something almost wary and careful when he speaks here, though. He knows she's been through hell and back - but he doesn't really see why THIS is where it all settled, in her notion that she doesn't deserve romance in her life, since she seems to accept friendship.]

[Then again - maybe she doesn't in the way he'd first thought.]}

Why are you so convinced?

_{[She smacks a hand to her forehead and drags it down her face.]

[Why is it so hard to put into words? It's so simple in her head...]}

It's-- ugh, it's not that I'm convinced of anything, it's just... my life had been freaking crazy okay, Coop? That stuff-- it changes you. And it's not even like it's something that happened later ON-- I was BORN out of it. Literally.

I'm like the physical incarnate of that ex who was totally cool when you were just friends, but turned out to be a total psycho with issues out el wazoo once you hooked up with her.

I mean-- look!

I'm calling up an FBI agent in the middle of the night to talk about my inability to go have a boyfriend like a normal person!

Who does that?!

More people than you'd think.

_{[He says, somewhat dryly. Not to say that teenagers normally call him up about things like these, but there WAS that one time a teenager showed up naked in his bed for not entirely different reasons.]}

_{[It actually takes a minute before what he said sinks in, because she's busy acting out an imaginary conversation with a 911 operator.]}

'911, what's your emergency?'

Yes, hi, I'm too messed-up for a boyfriend.

'Oh my gosh!!! I'll send an ambulance over right away!'

Forget the ambulance, toots, I need the FBI in here, STAT--

.... Wait, what?

Edited 2012-07-09 07:46 (UTC)

_{[He has to find that amusing. He really does. The world would also be a totally better place if the FBI was focused on boy troubles, seriously.]

[HE UH. Halts a bit at having to clarify but seriously he's thinking about Audrey right now and that had been a weird, weird moment.]

[..also, to be fair, also pretty nice and oddly sentimental. Because he kind of misses that town and the people there and he's had run-ins with Audrey once or twice in Johto, too.]

[ANYWAY;]}

You're not the first person to seek me out for advice so far into the night it's better described as morning.

_{[He'd been so tired, man. So tired. And then his bed was already occupied 8(.]}

_{[In a perfect world, the worst emergencies would be boy troubles, running out of ice cream, and possibly having too many kittens at once.]

[Needless to say, there's a moment of silence.]}

... About boys?

_{[Yes, Heather. Also, nudity. YOU'RE NOT THE WEIRDEST TEENAGER WHO'S EVER BEFRIENDED COOPER.]}

_{[about me]

[No but seriously there had been a great number of topics that he'd been happy to help with, to sit down and discuss, if nothing else because Audrey had clearly needed a friend.]

[And again, that's not all that different from Heather right now, is it?]}

Yes. Among other things.

_[awkward.]

... Oh. Well.

... Guess it's good to know I'm not alone.

I should point out that even if you were, I wouldn't have minded.

_{[Despite the whole conversation, she chuckles a little bit.]}

... You're a good guy, Coop.

_{[There's a small pause, and a small smile. c: he tries to be and appreciates that.]}

Thank you, Heather.

Don't mention it...

_{[Then she heaves another sigh and flops back on the bed, not caring that her head missed the pillow.]}

Anyway, it's just... there's a lot of people who might be cool, might actually be pretty friggin' great people otherwise, but when you stop and think about it, it's like... wow, they would be the WORST husband. Or wife. Or whatever.

Unless they wound up with someone just as messed-up who could deal with all their shit.

It's not their fault, or anybody else's, it's just... it's just what HAPPENS, you know? It's LIFE.

And it's not like I had a good track record even BEFORE all that shit went down a year before I got here, so...

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93. [Video/Action for Cianwood Inn]

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