98. [Action for Saffron City, backdated to Friday]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's funny, because these sorts of weekends have come to be ones that Heather dreads, clear memories or no. She doesn't remember much of them when they roll around, but she remembers enough, and usually what she remembers is bad.]

[So yeah, she's sort of been walking on eggshells, waiting for this to happen.]

[BUT... between all the craziness going down throughout November... bundling over to Kanto with the rest of her family to cheer Crow on during the Tournament, spending Thanksgiving in the packed-to-bursting household of a grumpy FBI agent and the enormously large family unit he seems to have somehow gathered (despite... being himself) ...]

[It drives weird dreamy weekends filled with amnesia and horror and the Koolaid Man bursting through the wall out of the mind, a little!]

[.... Which is why, yeah, uh, she's out taking Cooj for a nighttime walk on Friday night, and doesn't quite notice anything's up yet.]

[Or the pink bunny following her around.]</sub>





[OOC: Tags may be horrendously slow due to NaNo, but I had to hiatus-break at least a LITTLE for 4th Wall! Robbie the Rabbit will be lingering in the background of any given thread, but feel free to throw anything at Heather and not bother with the spooky pink bunny chillin over there.]

Comments

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The girl and the dog carry on their way-- not too far, they have to stop and wait for a crosswalk light to come on before they can head across the street.]

[But in the meantime, the strange pink rabbit stops moving when they do. And stands there.]

[After awhile, it turns its head to look.]

[STRAIGHT.]

[AT.]

[COOPER.]

[It lifts one dirty plush hand and gives a little wave.]</sub>

[eaglescout]

<sub>[... Jesus.]

[He's not immediately spooked but there's something undeniably unnerving about the way the rabbit stares at him, and the whole waving is like a Kid Story Gone Wrong.]

[But Coop's nothing if not strangely in tune with all the weird shit in his life, even at a young age, and so after a moment of hesitation he lifts his hand in a not-quite-wave, but still clearly a response to this ... greeting.]

[Then he looks over, momentarily, at the girl and the dog. This thing, was it following them?]</sub>

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Yes, Cooper. WAVE AWKWARDLY BACK AT THE CREEPY THEMEPARK MASCOT.]

[Fortunately, after his half-heartedly returned greeting, Robbie does not seem to be interested in further communication. He simply reverts to staring, the permanent cartoony smile on his face unchanging.]

[Meanwhile, the girl and her dog remain oblivious-- in fact, the girl is impatiently giving the pole a bit of a kick, as though that will make the light change faster.]

[... But then, once it does, and they start to cross the street... Robbie begins to move once again.]</sub>

[eaglescout]

<sub>[He has a very very bad feeling about that. Just the way it moves, if nothing else, although the blood stained mouth is another tip-off. He's too far away to tell if it's real or not, but ... well.]

[He doesn't even pause to weigh his options when the rabbit starts following the pair. He just simply walks past the thing (with some distance between him and it) and half-runs once past it, those last few steps to get to the girl and the dog.]

[A striped dog. But that's among the least odd things right now, really.]</sub>

Hey- miss?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Yeah. It's certainly not NATURAL.]

[Fortunately, it's not a very quick mover, seeming to stay a measured distance from its target, and Cooper passes by easily.]

[Heather, for her part, looks over her shoulder with a raised brow. ... That quickly becomes an expression of blank surprise.]</sub>

... Coop?

_{[YOU LOOK DIFFERENT WHAT IS DIFFERENT.]}

[eaglescout]

_{[FIFTEEN SOMETHING YEARS IS WHAT'S DIFFERENT, but Cooper's not exactly aware of this. He pauses and searches Heather's face for anything to recognise but comes up short.]}

Do I know you?

<sub>[Sorry?]

[There were a few others, so far, but for some reason he can't remember it very clearly, the people who'd recognised him much like she had. Nothing is quite clear, actually. It's both frustrating and confusing.]</sub>

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It doesn't take too long to figure out what's different-- not when he looks confused like that. And doesn't know who she is.]

[Because HEY, as shaky as things are right now? She's pretty sure he wouldn't PRETEND NOT TO KNOW HER.]

[And plus, he looks...]</sub>

--Oh.

Uh-- ... I guess not.

<sub>[LOOK. AT. HIM.]

[LOOK.]</sub>

... You okay?

[eaglescout]

_{[He just kind of stares back at her and sees the realization hit her expression which doesn't really help him in the least. He'd be frustrated, except he's aware that that won't get him anywhere, so he settles with a small sigh when he points out, in true Cooper fashion,]}

But you apparently know me.

<sub>[So. You know. That's interesting.]

[And at the question, he just kind of looks at Heather again for a second before he turns to point out the walking rabbit (unless it had somehow disappeared, who even knows), answering as he does.]</sub>

I was going to ask you that.

[foolishwren]

_{[It's best not to think about it, Coop. There's no answer she can give you for why she knows your name that will make this any less weird. So she sort of waves a hand.]}

Don't worry about it.

<sub>[Not that that'll STOP him, but...]

[In any case, she then turns her attention to what he's pointing out, and the somewhat casual surprise on her face promptly turns to a very recognizable 8I WELL SHIT.]</sub>

... Oh.

Uh...

Fuck.

_[Eloquence.]

[eaglescout]

_{["Don't worry about it"? There are a lot of things to worry about, and unless the reaction to that rabbit was a priority, he'd point that much out. But as it stands, he looks over at her with a somewhat dark frown.]}

What is it?

_{[It's quite obvious they don't really have to run, but what that question really means is "is it dangerous"?]}

[foolishwren]

_{[YEAH IF AN OPPORTUNITY COMES UP, PERHAPS SHE'LL EXPLAIN TO HIM, but now is reeeaaaally not the best time.]}

It's...

_{[Possibly NOT dangerous-- after all, no Robbie had ever harmed her. But then again... no Robbie had ever exhibited signs of LIFE, either. And this one is pretty clearly alive. Like, definitely. It just waved at her.]}

... not good news.

How fast can you run?

[eaglescout]

_{[So they DO have to run, then. Okay. Coop turns his head to look at the walking plushie again before he kind of ... just falls into a walk. Not a run, mind. Not yet.]}

Fast enough. I thought it was after you.

_{[Which he points out pretty sensibly, but without malice. It's more akin to the near-innocent curiosity she probably already knows from him. Just a bit more flippant.]}

[foolishwren]

_{[It is familiar, and in a way that's comforting. She does notice that flippantness though, and she's not totally sure if she thinks it's funny, endearing, or a little bit aggravating in this particular situation. She starts to walk quickly alongside him (with Cujo falling in line next to her-- he may be a poorly-trained mongrel of a Growlithe, but he's at least pretty good at 'Heel' when there aren't any distractions).]}

It IS, but you're kinda, y'know.

Standing near me.

If you wanna, you know, GO, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine.

[eaglescout]

_{[Coop gives her a raised-eyebrow-look.]}

I don't know where I am, when I am, or how to get back to where I'm supposed to be. If you were me, would you really walk away from someone who knew your name?

_{[Yeah, not ... going to happen.]}

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather seems to think on this for a moment as they walk briskly.]}

... Actually, you know what, I TOTALLY would.

_{[She'd done EXACTLY THAT with a certain middle-aged detective a few years back. ... Not that that'd turned out too well. ... And she HAD known where, when, and what she was doing.]}

But go ahead and stick with me, if you want. I can try and explain things later.

[eaglescout]

I'd appreciate that.

_{[Just a touch dry, but he'd really appreciate to know what's going on, so sticking by her seems to be the best idea. The fact that he feels more creeped out than threatened by the rabbit following her also helps.]}

So why is it dangerous? The rabbit.

[foolishwren]

_{[It's okay, he's allowed to be dry. And Heather will let him off without a snarky remark in return, because she's looking over her shoulder to check on the rabbit's progress. Their quickened pace helps-- it's falling behind slowly but surely.]}

It's dangerous because where it's from is dangerous.

_{[And that's as good an answer as she can give, because she's never actually met a LIVING Robbie. Maybe it intends to catch her and wrestle her into its costume with it so that she can become ONE WITH LAKESIDE PARK, or maybe it would just pull out a cone of stale, dirty cotton candy and hand it to her and then be on its way. She has NO IDEA.]}