103. Text (OPTIONAL TL;DR PROSE INCLUDED)

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Well. It's time.]

[She didn't want it to be.]

[But there's really no denying it now.]</sub>


There's already been a few other announcements so i'm just joining the train but i guess this is more to let his other friends know that I've got Tricia the Manectric

I found her in the PC yesterday afternoon


just so everyone who was friends with Dale Cooper knows that she's okay.


I'll be coming up to Justice Farm to get any toys or whatever he might have had for her in a bit, which i guess is a thinly-veiled excuse to come and see everybody and exchange some hugs or something because Coop meant a lot to a lot of people and i guess against all odds I turned out to be one of them.

I could say a lot of things but in the end I guess it's best to leave it at that i'll miss him and that I hope he'd be proud that i'm not handling his disappearance like i did so many of the other ones that he actually had to talk sense into me over

_{[Anyone who's known Heather for the past couple of years knows that she has a somewhat... problematic history when it comes to accepting big disappearances.]}

so yeah.

heather out or something.



As Heather put the PokeGear down on the table next to her bed, the muscular, neon-colored canine lying at her feet lifted its head intently, ears pricking and alert brown eyes focusing squarely on the trainer who, despite NOT being Special Agent Dale Cooper, had withdrawn her from the computer that morning.

Unlike her real trainer, Tricia had noticed a phenomenal amount of tension in this new one, who she knew by virtue of many encounters but had never had a chance or reason to observe for any prolonged period of time before.

Tension in every movement, every vocalization, every moment.

Tricia didn't remember her being like that, all the times that she had visited her Trainer. She only seemed to be that way now.


Heaving a deep sigh, Heather dragged her fingers down her face and then looked down at the brand new Pokemon lying obediently on the floor, staring up at her attentively.

"... Hey. Wanna go for a walk, girl?"

At the 'w' word, the Manectric sprang to her feet in a wiggly dance of excitement, muzzle breaking into a broad, panting doggy grin that brought a faint smile to Heather's own lips at the sight.

"C'mon. Just you and me. Cooj is in his Pokeball right now, otherwise he'd be spazzin' all over the place."

Rising from the bed, Heather grabbed her leather coat off the chair it hung on and pulled it over her shoulders, heading for the door. Tricia danced after her, elated to be getting fresh air after being cooped up in the hotel room all day, where there were plenty of headpats to be had but very little space to run around. Electric types needed room to run.

The nighttime Saffron streets were cool and wet. Springtime in the city was a damp and murky thing, but still a hell of a lot nicer than the bitter cold of winter.

Unlike Cujo, Tricia didn't have to constantly be reminded not to go careening off to sniff every passing Pokemon, although she did occasionally run ahead, stopping every time to look over her shoulder and make sure Heather was following.

Each time Heather smiled wanly, picking up her pace a little bit to catch up.

Until finally, a sharp whistle stopped the electric canine in her tracks.

"Hey, c'mere girl! Gotta stop at the PokeMart."

The warm gush of air that hit them when the sliding glass door opened was accompanied by a fizzle of static from Tricia's damp fur as she trotted in, shaking off lightly. She had gone with her trainer to many shops before, and she was all wags as she followed Heather deep into the racks of supplies, well out of view of the bored-looking cashier, who was sitting behind the counter and reading a gossip-mag article about Blackthorn's Clair with a half-asleep expression.

Heather, whose head had been bare most of the way there, had casually pulled up the hood of her vest, which she'd been wearing under her coat. The squeak of her boots on the shiny floors ceased when she came up to the shelf of medicinal battle supplies and halted. Panting happily, Tricia reached Heather's legs and stood, waiting for her to continue.

But she didn't.

After a moment's silence, the girl spoke, not removing her eyes from the display in front of her.

"... So there's some things you need to know, now that I'm your new trainer."

The Manectric tilted her head, curiously.

New trainer?

"The first is that I'm not good like Coop was. Not even remotely."

Heather reached out to pull a little tube of Ether from the shelf, holding it up to look at it in the light and licking dry lips. She took in a slightly shaky breath.

In a motion that was smooth as a well-practiced magic trick, despite the fact that she hadn't done it in years, she slipped the Ether into her pocket. It's like riding a bike, after all.

"So sometimes, I do things like this."

Another Ether joined it.

And a Hyper potion.

And aw heck, a couple of Revives, too.

Separate pockets, so that there would be no telltale bulges.

All the while, Tricia watched in terrible confusion. She didn't understand what was happening, only that there was directionless hostility gushing off of her trainer's young friend in waves as she filled the nooks of her coat with property that was not hers. Why? She didn't know.

But her tail moved in a tentative wag as Heather finally turned away from the shelf, and she poked her sharp nose gently at one of the pockets. A hand descended to ruffle the spiky hair between her ears gently.

"You'll be putting up with a lot of this shit from now on, girl. Sorry."

Because nobody could be as good for you as Cooper. Least of all me.

"C'mon. Let's get outta here. I'll get you a hot dog on the way back. Cooj loves those, so maybe you'll like 'em too."

Brightening up at the relative upswing of Heather's tone, Tricia eagerly pranced back towards the entrance of the shop, with Heather sauntering after her.

The cashier at the desk had dozed off, snoring lightly with the page open on CLAIR TO PLAN EVEN BIGGER PARTY NEXT YEAR?? HINTS IN LIVE INTERVIEW. As she passed, Heather paused with a slight frown, leaning back and waving a hand lightly in front of the snoozing employee's face.

Wow. Out like a light.

Ignoring the Manectric standing in the doorway and staring up at her expectantly for a moment, Heather scanned the countertop quickly, eyes darting over the tacky little display boxes and nick-nacks.



When she walked out of the store about seven seconds later, it was with a pair of cheap sunglasses joining the ranks of the other unpaid-for items in her pockets, which now had her hands in them as well, as she headed down the block and pursed her lips to whistle a cheery tune.

She wouldn't break down.

She wouldn't gnash her teeth and curse Johto for its fickleness, its unfairness.

She wouldn't hide away in her room and all but spell out to her friends, HEY LOOK! HEATHER CAN'T HANDLE IT! BETTER COME HOLD HER FUCKING HAND!

She wouldn't break down.

She wouldn't punch walls until her knuckles turned into pulverized meat.

She wouldn't threaten violence towards innocent, unassuming Pokemon eggs on public video.

She wouldn't break down.

She wouldn't cry.




And she cwouldn't go crawling to Dale Cooper with her problems.


Things would be different now.

And no one but her need be any the wiser.

Comments

Action

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

[Heather :c ]

[When you do get back however, you'll find your dad waiting for you. Well he's sitting at a table with a book and some hot chocolate. But like he isn't waiting for you.]

Action

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The door opens and Tricia comes trotting in ahead of Heather, happy as can be. She still doesn't quite understand what happened in that store, but it had seemingly passed. And the tension in her trainer's friend isn't quite so powerful any longer.]

[Which is good! Tricia likes good things.]

[Heather follows behind, pulling off her coat and sending a tired smile at Harry.]</sub>

Hey, Dad.

<sub>[She's not going to hide her sadness.]

[She knows that won't work so frankly it was never part of the plan.]</sub>

Sorry I didn't leave a note. Just wanted to let her stretch her legs.

Action

[haveyouseenalittlegirl]

[He puts down the book when she comes it. Yeah, no chance hiding it from your dad.]

That's alright.

I saved you some hot chocolate. It should still be hot, or at least warm.

[Another mug is next to him that he indicates. Yes, it has tiny marshmallows in it.]

Action

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She knows better than to try to hide that from him. ... What she's hoping has a better chance of not coming out is what she just did. ... And she thinks her chances are pretty good, considering she left that behavior behind before her father died.]

[It's an awful thing to hope for. But what Harry doesn't know won't hurt him. ... Yet, anyway, although she'd prefer it to be 'never'.]

[She smiles, dropping her coat at the foot of her bed and coming over to sit next to him.]</sub>

Thanks, Daddy.

_{[It's a simple act, waiting up for her with a hot drink at the ready, but one she appreciates more than ever.]}

[text]

[quickattackjack]

_{[This text actually comes a good day late.]}

I'll be around town.

[text]

[foolishwren]

i'll try and see you before i go anywhere

i dunno how long we'll be staying here

[text]

[quickattackjack]

We'll get coffee. My treat.

_{[Some DAMN good coffee.]}

[action]

[vulpesvivus]

[Also out and about on the streets of Saffron today would be one scientist, flanked by an oddly chipper Houndoom and with a Chatot perched on his shoulder.]

Hey.

[action] Assuming he came back with them from the party.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She went directly home after her little shoplifting venture, but she's out and about again later on. Still in the coat Liquid gave her.]

[And she's wearing those shades she stole.]</sub>

Hey.

Your hotel room all right?

[action] works for me =3=b

[vulpesvivus]

Yeah, it's fine. I've lived in much stranger places than a hotel, so don't worry.

[text]

[exeggutorhead]

How are you holding up?

[Even if Envy didn't personally like Cooper and doesn't know how close he and Heather were, he's become very overly familiar these last few months with how much it hurts to lose people. He's worried about you, bro.]

[text]

[foolishwren]

i guess i'd be lying if i said it was WELL but all things considered

i'm ok



after all, i'm not threatening to smash any eggs, right?

[text]

[exeggutorhead]

right.

and I mean, I didn't know the guy too well but from what I did know, he'd appreciate that.

[Envy appreciates it too; if she was at the point of threatening to smash eggs again he'd be flying back to Saffron right now.]

[text]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Even in text, Heather sounds weird, a lot different from the cheerful kid at the prom the other night.]

[Seems like this FBI guy vanishing is getting to a lot of people.]

Somebody who'd take off on you without even leaving a note isn't worth missing.

[text]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Very different. Very, very different.]

[When his text pops up on her screen, she has to fight very hard to just... throw something at the wall. She IS mad at Cooper. Mad at him for leaving without saying goodbye-- or hell, who is she kidding? She's mad at him for leaving at all.]

[But she also knows that that's not how it works here. No one decides to leave. No one picks a time and place. Cooper knew that. Anyone who'd been here for any length of time had to live their life knowing that any second, they might cease to exist in this world, leaving everyone they care about behind.]

[She doesn't wanna be mad at Blake. He doesn't know. It's not his fault that his words of grouchy comfort spark a flare of ugly anger in her ribcage.]</sub>

STOP.

you have no idea what you're talking about


so stop

[text]

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Blake has a great way to avoid that problem: not giving a damn about anybody. It's efficient!]

[Okay, that doesn't count the little girl sharing his apartment, but she's a special case.]

[Blake knows all about ugly anger. Comfort, that he's not so good at.]

Fine. The point is, either he left by choice or not. Either way there's nothing you can do about it.

[Text]

[francia]

[The main thought running through France's head is not again. This keeps happening, and it seems like it will continue to happen, and there's nothing France can do about it. He doesn't like to feel like he isn't in control of the fates of those around him, let alone the fate of those he cares about. At least, in his world, there was always the certainty that France would see those he cared about again once they were gone. He'd had that sincere belief, and this place has done a very good job of shredding it like so much paper.]

[The text is short but heavy for its words.]

I'll miss him, too.

[Text]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Yeah... not again.]

[The worst part of it all is that even if she was unprepared for it, Heather is not... surprised.]

[It seems, almost, as though it was meant to happen.]

[But that doesn't make it any better.]

[It's been awhile since she's talked directly to France, of course, but somehow it doesn't surprise her at all that he was friends with Cooper. She can see how they'd get along.]</sub>

he touched a lot of lives, huh?

[Text]

[francia]

[If Heather was to voice the sentiment that it was meant to happen, France would agree. He's beginning to become resigned to this, the inability to control the comings and goings of people here. To be one moment and then to simply not be: it's the antithesis of everything France strives for. It frightens him deeply, but he doesn't have the foggiest how to deal with it. It seems so immaterial, so untouchable.]

[She can't see it, but her words bring a small, genuine smile to his lips.]

Yes. He's that special combination of insightfulness and level-headedness. It's rare.

[text]

[darkenedgales]

sorry to hear that. he's a cool guy... even if a cop

[Crow wasn't terribly close with Coop -- and not nearly as close as Heather was, that's for sure -- but he was one of those people who have been here since forever, and that alone was enough of a reason for the duelist to recognize some bond between them. Besides, he really was a cool guy.]

need anything? silly pokemon jokes from the internet, stupid tv programs recs



company?

[text]

[foolishwren]

thanks but i think i really just need to be alone right now


or you know

as alone as you can be when you own over twenty animals with elemental powers and some of them are bigger than you...

[text]

[darkenedgales]

[Crow honestly prefers not to leave his friends alone when they're having tough time, but... even he knows people sometimes need some space. And time.]

gotcha



but if you change your mind and wanna see a human face around later you know where to find me

or dunno if you feel like throwing somebody off the bars to make yourself feel better

though I think I'd prefer it the other way round

or just wanna get free ice cream or something that can be arranged too

Text; private

[show_my_cannons]

Kid...

Where are you at?

Text; private

[foolishwren]

I'm still in saffron

for now anyway

you?

Text; private

[show_my_cannons]

hn. good to know

...

leaving olivine