121. [Video/Action for camping crew] Backdated to the 27th

[foolishwren]

WELLP.

This camping trip sure couldn't have gone any worse.

_{[The camera is just... literally slowly panning around to show the thick blanket of snow ALL AROUND what had once been a quite sunny little meadow overlooking the base of the Mortar mountain range.]}

We have literally been snowed in for like.

A week.

Look at this shit. Look at it. Did we ask for this? No.

_{[Heaving a sigh, Heather kicks some of it.]}

At least it's probably gonna melt quickly. Um, anyway, this is just an update for... whoever cares, I guess? _{[Mostly letting the people back home know that none of them had DIED.]} We're here, we're alive, we're probably gonna fuckin' BOOK IT from town to town from this point on so that we never have to camp again, and-- oh yeah.

My egg from Christmas finally hatched.

Scarlet loves him.

Comments

[scott pilgrim bgm starts playing]

[envy_the_sinners]

Guess what, Heather.

You're favorite person is here.

Scar's been searching in the snow for three days, now, and he somehow looks just as shitty as when he showed up at Shark House on the 20th. His hair's frozen, he hasn't slept much, and the Charizard Envy lent him is. Difficult. Every inch of him is sore from all the flying.

When he does come across a camp that seems like it could be Heather, Henry, and Lust's, the uncertainty sets in. He's been searching for them for days, but now that he's here, he feels as if there's a lead weight in his chest. Maybe he shouldn't have come. Maybe this had been a mistake...

As he's been doing the entire way here, Scar reviews the conversations he's had over the past month. It's not up to him to decide what may be good or bad for Lust. He can't make things worse than they already are. He's not asking for anything, he's just going to clear things up and leave her alone. Maybe make her feel better about it all.

He feels sick.

And it's not Lust that he comes across at the campsite. It's Heather. Heather, whom he is nearly certain doesn't like him at this point. Even Henry hates him. But he can't exactly sneak across an open field in search of Lust, so it's only a matter of moments before Heather looks up from her 'gear and the two Litleos with her to see him shuffling rather pathetically through the snow in search of one (1) depressed homunculus.

FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[foolishwren]

Scar would be right.

Heather doesn't like him.

At all.

She'd started out feeling relatively neutral about him.

And had then moved onto feeling neutral but also a little jealous.

And it had all gone downhill from there.

But even then, she'd been doing a pretty good job resisting the urge to send him any angry messages or, indeed, gone off to pick a fight with him in true Heather fashion. Making sure Lust was okay is what's important. Not going to get some petty payback for something that already happened and couldn't be reversed.

But you know what?

YOU KNOW WHAT?

When Heather hears footsteps in the snow and turns around, expecting to see Phoenix or maybe even Henry, venturing out of the tent now that it's not snowing cats and dogs anymore, and sees Lust's ex walking RIGHT INTO THEIR CAMPSITE, all that goes straight out the window.

How dare he.

"--HEY!"

It's a hilariously delayed reaction, but once she shouts, she's already tromping across the campsite, straight at him.

TRAINER HEATHER WANTS TO BATTLE!!

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar's reaction, or non-reaction to Heather's outburst, is little more than a heaving of his shoulders as he deflates with a small sigh. He closes his eyes for a moment, collecting his patience and bracing himself for another session of misinformed berating.

And proceeds to silently watch. Whatever you've got for him, Heather, just get it over with so he can get on with his day.

[foolishwren]

Oh, she'll get it over with, all right!

Marching straight up to the brick wall of a man, Heather wastes NO TIME AT ALL IN... uh, planting her hands on his chest and giving him the MIGHTIEST SHOVE SHE CAN, which absolutely fails to budge him even a millimeter. You know. Unsurprisingly.

She doesn't let that failure stop her, though.

Time for the angry berating.

"Who the HELL do you think you are, showing your face here?!"

[envy_the_sinners]

Scar's brow furrows ever so slightly when Heather tries to give him a shove. Really? Did she expect that to do anything?

He opened his mouth to speak, but struggled with finding the right words for a moment. He glanced to the tent and around the site, still searching nervously for Lust. He really couldn't care less about Heather's physical threat.

"This is not your concern." He fixes her with a stern frown.

[video]

[exeggutorhead]

[...man, has Scar still not gotten there yet? But Envy's not going to ASK.]

He looks like he's enjoying the weather even less than the rest of us.

[video]

[foolishwren]

_{[Envy is a pretty sneaky guy.]}

Well, compared to being inside a nice cozy egg, this must seem like. I don't know. HELL?

What a time for the poor little guy to hatch.

[video]

[exeggutorhead]

[The sneakiest. Who is thinking that the reason Scar hasn't shown up had BETTER be because of having to get through the surprise second wave of blizzard and not because he got cold feet.]

He stayed in that nice cozy egg for a WHILE, I bet he's wishing he stayed in a little longer.

But he's a fire type, right? Maybe he'll get used to it the longer he's out?

[video]

[foolishwren]

Maybe. Hopefully. I mean, snow or not, it IS still summer-- fire-types should be frolicking through the fields at this time of year.

_{[She reaches down to pick the little guy up as she speaks. Oh god, he's shivering. POOR LATE BABY.]}

Man, though, different topic, but I gotta come up with a name for him.

Video

[the_pilgrim]

Why's he such a different color? Do...Pokemon have albinism?

Video

[foolishwren]

Huh?

... Oh.

He's a shiny.

That's what they call Pokemon that pop up from time to time with weird colorations. I guess it's kinda like being albino... except not all of them get lighter, some are darker. And some are just like... way off the charts.

Like, I think shiny Dragonites are green.

Re: Video [Did I mention I fucking love your art because I don't think I have]

[the_pilgrim]

Oh, so it's like a rare species variation....like a King Cheetah, or a Tusked Female Narwhal. That's kind of interesting, actually.

[Aw, thank you!]

[foolishwren]

Yeah, basically.

They're rare, but they happen.

There's been a couple years now where shiny eggs show up around Christmas, as gifts.

[action]

[a_sin_for_him]

That's new. I think it needs a blanket.

[Lust's voice is flat as she remarks on the pathetic looking Litleo upon exiting her tent. She's pulled on one of the large sweaters Envy sent and has a small bag slung over her shoulder, and her paper journal and a pen tucked inside.]

I'm going down to the stream.

[It isn't far. Certainly close enough that she doesn't need an escort.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

Yeah. He's probably gonna join his sister at the bottom of my sleeping bag tonight.

_{[THEY AREN'T RELATED, but Scarlet is almost guaranteed to adopt him as a sibling. Heather just knows.]}

But, uh-- hey! Why don't you take these guys with you? I bet the rocks by the stream have warmed up a little in the sun. I bet they'd like to roll around on them.

_{[An ESCORT, maybe not, but HEATHER TOOK ENVY'S REQUEST SERIOUSLY, OKAY?]}

[a_sin_for_him]

I'm taking Guttle. And a book.

[Well, her journal, but it's a sort of book. And her attention will be on recording her thoughts.]

I do enjoy my solitude, now and then.

[It hasn't escaped her notice that she's never left entirely on her own.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Heather falters a little bit. They've all been trying not to be TOO obvious about it...]

[Of course, that doesn't mean she has to STOP her Pokemon from following Lust, if THEY want to...]</sub>

Well... okay, I guess. Uh, we'll holler when lunch is ready?

A Few Hours After The Above Thread....

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust's anger at first had been a bright and fearsome thing. When Scar first explained to her - with little detail - what had happened on his arrival at camp, she had been livid.]

[But their parting had calmed her a great deal. And the cold walk back to camp, made colder still by the fresh memory of his warmth, dulls it further. She's upset and unhappy with Heather's actions, but she's lost the desire to provoke and rage at the woman. What good would that do? There's been enough fighting and damaged feelings already. Besides, she needs to return quickly to tend to Amit.]

[She says nothing when she returns, Guttle left behind with Miriam and Scar, but goes to her tent and begins rolling up her sleeping bag and taking the whole affair down.]

here we go...

[foolishwren]

<sub>[So, uh.]

[Yep.]

[After escaping from the MURDERLIZARD BOOGALOO 2, Heather had indeed made Scar's fears come true and come down to the creek's edge to hopefully ward off whatever the hell he was planning to do to Lust... and stopped.]

[Because as much of a punch to the GUT it is to see Lust embracing the man who had hurt her, the man they'd collectively been trying to get her AWAY from... she's not going to go get in the middle of that. She knows better. It wouldn't be the right thing to do, and it wouldn't help Lust in the slightest.]

[So she'd quietly gone back the way she came, fists balled and face burning.]

[When Lust returns, it's dark and Heather's gotten a fire started in the middle of camp, where she's now sitting, arms clutching herself and shoulders hunched. When the other woman walks past, Heather looks up. Her first instinct is to leap to her feet and see if Lust is all right, but something makes her hesitate.]

[It's not until Lust starts to pull the whole tent down that she can't help it anymore, and jogs over.]</sub>

Lust?

H... what are you doing? Are you okay?

[a_sin_for_him]

[Lust's lips are a thin line when she turns to Heather. She takes a deep breath, shoving down the brief re-surging flare of anger. She doesn't want to fight. She's so sick and tired of fighting.]

I can't talk to you right now, Heather. I'm taking my things and moving them down to the creek, for everyone's comfort. And I need to be quick about it, there's a wounded Pokemon that needs tending.

[There's more than a small touch of accusation in her tone at that. She can't help it. Heather's supposed to be her friend.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Lust had already been irritated with her earlier, so Heather's first thought isn't necessarily that she's angry because of what happened with Scar. At least... until that pointed tone.]

[Then she looks baffled, furrowing her brow.]</sub>

There's...

_{[What does one say to that? She's not going to leap to her own defense unless ACTUALLY ACCUSED, but...]}

You don't need to move.

_{[It sounds stupid, but that's all that comes out.]}

Video

[dreamsofahero]

The snow is rather terrible, isn't it?

Video

[foolishwren]

It wouldn't bother me if it was. You know. WINTER.

But it is AUGUST, people!

AUGUST.

Re: Video

[dreamsofahero]

It seems the weather here is often anything but what it ought to be, really.

[foolishwren]

You can say THAT again.

Were you around for that time that it rained sharks?