82. [Video] Backdated to November 1st!

[foolishwren]

[It's about eight in the morning, the day after Halloween night. Juuuuust the right time for the bright early-morning sun to be shining in through everybody's windows. The Ecruteak Inn in particular is RIGHT in the perfect place for that light to be blaring in, which is why the first thing that shows on the screen (accompanied by the scrapes and

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[action]

[blacklodged]

[At some point - probably when it's still sort of early - Cooper's going to be knocking on the door to their room. Possession or not, he feels fairly guilty about what took place the previous night, and he'd like to check up on Heather and take the opportunity to apologise.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[That's because Coop's a good fella.]

[Needless to say, the Heather that answers the door is all kinds of disheveled, and only partially from their tussle the previous night. She does brighten up a little at the sight of him, although as soon as she remembers that... oops, he's a cop (although her impression of him is much better, he's never gonna be able to get away from that label with her entirely), her grin turns sheepish.]

Uh... hey.

Here to pick something up?

[... AS THOUGH THE FIGHT NEVER HAPPENED.]

[action]

[blacklodged]

[He shakes his head, but does glance past her into the room at the ... rather enormous loot pile and observes it for a moment, before he returns his attention to her.]

No, I wanted to see how you were doing.

[I TRIED TO STRANGLE YOU. PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE OKAY. (With that, he actually glances at her neck to see if there are any visible marks from that.)]

[He looks pretty worn. He quite obviously lost sleep over this, because he remembers a LOT of it - and that's also something that might be noticed, in the almost sheepish way he leans just slightly against the door frame when he normally always stands straight.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[There are definitely some marks there. He wasn't exactly gentle last night. But apart from the cuts and bruises, she seems... relatively normal? Aside from looking frazzled.]

[The truth is, she actually remembers the fight in relatively clear detail, too... she remembers his rage, and her amusement... and she's actually just sort of in awe of it. She's not MAD, in any case. So she just.. blinks up at him a little bit.]

Me? I'm FINE.

... I mean, I feel like I have a hangover from hell even though I didn't have anything to drink last night that I can remember...

What about you?

[I TRIED TO TEAR YOUR EYEBALLS OUT. I AM GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU STILL HAVE YOUR EYEBALLS.]

[action]

[blacklodged]

Me?

[As if genuinely wondering why she'd ask him that. But it's also to buy a little time, because he's not sure how to answer.]

[Yeah, he might be a cop, but he certainly doesn't look like his stoic FBI alter-ego right now. Not only has he been out of uniform for ages (and for once he's actually wearing something so casual as jeans) ... but there's the somewhat subdued behaviour here, too. Did I say he felt fairly guilty? Yeah, it's a little more guilty than that.]

I'm okay. [But that's not importanttttt.] Can I come in?

[action]

[foolishwren]

'Course.

[She backs away from the door, finally starting to pick up on his ... oddly subdued mood.]

[Folding her arms, she rubs her shoulders a little and stands there, watching him for a second or two. She doesn't have her mask on anymore-- it's over lying on her bed.]

[After a time...]

... Is this about that catfight we got into last night?

[NO. YOU THINK?!]

[action]

[blacklodged]

[He closes the door behind him and can't help another curious glance at all the loot when he enters the room - he might ask about it later, but for now is just taking in how much and how varied it is.]

[BUT YES, HEATHER, OF COURSE IT IS. And he looks at her in a very 'yes, yes it is' way before he sighs and lets his expression shift into one of apology.]

Yes. I wanted to apologise.

[Such a Good Guy, can you tell?]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[... He's apologizing.]

.... Dude, I spent all of last night thinking I was a BIRD.

I'm PRETTY SURE you don't need to personally apologize for the fact that you went all Chokestab McGenocide on me. It wasn't you.

[.... WELL ON THE BRIGHT SIDE SHE'S NOT MAD AT HIM?]

[action]

[blacklodged]

[He grins briefly - very briefly. He knows it wasn't his actions but because of Reasons that's part of why it weighs so heavy on his mind.]

I suppose it's partly the principle of the thing. But I still hurt you.

[And god forbid he ever hurts anyone in any way ever. His actions or not, that's one thing he never wanted to experience again.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[Okay, she can definitely understand being all torn up over hurting people unintentionally. It's actually a pretty big fear of hers, too-- it's one of the reasons she got so bent out of shape when she found out she'd beat the hell out of Phoenix, thinking he was a monster under the influence of that fog.]

[But c'mon, they're both okay!]

Coop, I tried to rip your eyeballs out.

I distinctly remember wanting to eat them.

I think we're evenly-matched, here.

[action]

[blacklodged]

[And with that reply he finds himself thinking about Albert. Because sometimes, Heather and him really aren't that different. Albert would also tell him to get over it and move on already, because he can't hold himself responsible, god. The addition of his nickname also helps with that momentary comparison.]

[And is the reason he smiles seemingly to himself for another short moment, this one pretty sincere.]

I suppose we are.

[That still comes across a little weak though. AH WELL. His voice goes stronger with the next sentence, though.]

I guess we'll just have to appreciate the fact that no one was hurt too badly.

[If you'd gotten his eyeballs? BAD. If he'd managed to strangle you? ALSO bad.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[SHE AND ALBERT BOTH HAVE HIGH ASSHOLE CAPACITIES.]

Seriously. That's all we can do. I mean-- whatever happened last night-- [And she ALREADY SUSPECTS it was ghost Pokemon, despite not having received any official word on the matter.]-- it wasn't anything we could control.

... And if it makes you feel any better, I was never scared. Not once.

[... Maybe she should have been. But she wasn't.]

[action]

[blacklodged]

[THAT THEY DO. And yet they're both his pals.]

... Yeah. That does make me feel better.

[He sounds like he's thinking about it before he comes to the conclusion that it does, but having arrived to that he's starting to visibly ease up about the whole thing. ...He's pretty sure Applejack was scared, though. He's going to have to talk to her next.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[... Yeah, Cooper, you were SERIOUSLY creeping on Applejack. THAT deserves an apology. :Ib]

[But Heather's coo', she can take care of herself.]

[Once she sees Cooper ease up a little, a bright (... LITERALLY. THERE'S GLITTER IN HER TEETH) grin crosses her face. Now she can be obnoxious.]

You were so mad.

[HEE HEE.]

I thought steam was gonna start comin' outta your ears.

[action]

[blacklodged]

[:c please don't remind him he's going to be thinking about that too much the next few days.]

[...and ah. He. Should have seen the obnoxious coming. He raises an eyebrow, looks from her teeth to her eyes, and responds in a probably surprisingly flat tone-]

Well, Heather, you were very easy to get mad at.

[nnnnope still not okay with joking about it just yet. NOT JUST YET. He distinctly remember wanting to KILL her, and if there is one thing you do not ever take lightly, it is that.]

[action]

[foolishwren]

[Heather has a very, very twisted sense of humor. You kind of have to, to survive what she's lived through. But sometimes she... seems to legitimately not know when it's NOT OKAY to joke about this sort of thing.]

[NOT EVERYBODY THINKS MURDER IS FUNNY, HEATHER.]

Yeah, I was being a total douchebag.

Sorry about the scratches, by the way.

[Change the subject, Cooper. CHANGE IT.]