You gladly gave me everything you had and more, you craved my happiness...
Who: Harry and Heather Mason
Where: Somewhere in the woods, en route from Violet to Goldenrod City.
When: Early in the week, not long after departing from Violet. Evening.
Summary: A week or two after his arrival in Johto, Heather is finally reunited with her father. For real this time, even! But almost two years (and one HELL of a nightmarish day ( Read more... )
Where: Somewhere in the woods, en route from Violet to Goldenrod City.
When: Early in the week, not long after departing from Violet. Evening.
Summary: A week or two after his arrival in Johto, Heather is finally reunited with her father. For real this time, even! But almost two years (and one HELL of a nightmarish day ( Read more... )
Heather settles back with one hand planted on the ground behind her, munching thoughtfully on the snack and watching the fire. You know, just to... make sure it doesn't try anything funny.
"There'll be REAL food once we get to Goldenrod. There's like-- actual restaurants and stuff there. Good ones, too." ... And... bad ones, but hey. What else would one expect from a big city?
As they had traveled, a few of Heather's Pokemon, restless things that they were, had likely been let out to stretch and run alongside the winding Steelix, but chances were there hadn't been much time for anything but the most fleeting of introductions. NOW was a different story, though-- smelling food, the creature known as ARTY slithers down from her perch on the slumbering snake.
Skittering on over first to her trainer on teeny-tiny legs, she is greeted with a frown and a not-so-gentle nudge away from the sleeping bag with one of Heather's feet.
"Nuh uh. Mine. You go and find some berries or something, you're good at that."
The weasel-like Pokemon chitters grouchily. CURSES. FOILED AGAIN.
... Uh oh. Now she's toddling over in Harry's direction. Because he's got the packet. WHAT DO.
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"Do they have any jobs there?"
He doesn't actually have money of course.
Oh hey tiny creature....no. His food
....watches.
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NEVER AGAIN. The supervisors were terrifying. In any case, though, not to worry-- during that stint, she saved up enough that she's still got a decent amount of cash to spare. Enough to carry them both until at least ONE of them picked up another job.
Arty, unfortunately, is not generally one to take no for an answer. She's about to get up close and personal. Stopping a short distance away from Harry, she stretches her-- ... considerably long neck out and sniffs, whiskers twitching.
... Oh... oh hey! She remembers you! You're that GUY. ... >:( WHO WOULDN'T SHARE HIS GRANOLA BARS WITH HER LAST TIME.
... Maybe you've somehow gotten softer since then.
Have some big, enormous, totally sad and starving oh my god can't you see I'm just wasting away YOUR DAUGHTER NEVER FEEDS ME eyes.
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That's good. They probably don't want writers though...oh well. Oh hey ....little....
"One of yours?" Indicating the little mooch at his feet.
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"Her? Yeah, she's mine. Don't be fooled. She'll go and hunt and find food in the woods when she gets hungry enough. Arty, leave him alone."
Cute facade dissolving instantly, the Furret just shoots a surly glance in her trainer's direction before turning and tromping off with a huffy flick of the tail. FINE. BE THAT WAY.
Heather watches her go and just rolls her eyes.
"She was the first one I caught. ... After Cooj, anyway."
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Continues to eat then after he watches the animal tromp off.
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Poking the stick of jerky she's been chewing on to the side of one mouth, she pauses to count briefly on her fingers.
"... Ten. ... Well... eleven, I guess... That friend of mine who disappeared left behind one of his. So I'm kinda... taking care of it for him. I guess."
She wasn't sure Phoenix would ever come back, but... well, she can't help but hope the disappearance is only temporary.
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"Do you want to tell me about your friend?"
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"... Yeah, actually."
She wanted her father to meet ALL her friends, of course, but... the lawyer had been the one she'd wanted him to meet the most.
"His name was Phoenix. ... Pretty weird one, I know, but he was probably one of the nicest guys a person could ever hope to meet."
... She snorts slightly.
"Too damn nice for his own good, actually..."
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"Better too nice then not at all. Did you know him long?"
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Admittedly, she hadn't known him too well for the first few months... but sometime around September that changed. ... Because you didn't accidentally beat the living daylights out of somebody and wind up with THEM worrying their buns off over whether YOU'RE all right without feeling a little attached. Or at least she hadn't been able to.
"He kinda... helped get me through some really tough things."
Like that first disappearance...
"I think you really would've liked him."
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Major points for helping Heather through tough things. On that note.
"What sort of tough things were you going through?"
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For the sake of stalling, she takes a large bite of the jerky and just chews on it for a moment. Because obviously she can't be expected to talk with her mouth full, right?
... But of course, she can't do that forever. So eventually she swallows and sighs.
"... Stuff from that town. ... And-- ... and not having you around."
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He keeps a sigh back at that last one. He knows he shouldn't blame himself but at the same time he can't help it. He wasn't there for her. He should have been.
"Do you want to tell me what happened."
And it's clear which "what" he means.
It always comes down to that place, doesn't it.
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Hell, that was the worst part of it all.
More than losing him in and of itself, more than the inescapable gloom that had seeped in after it was all over, hell, even more than the anger of just how avoidable it could have been, was the fact that she knew damn well she'd spent those last few years of his life being an ungrateful little twit. ... And that it was only when she'd actually started trying to be a decent kid that he was taken away.
"I... yeah. Yeah, I would."
As much as she wants to tell him more about Phoenix, more about all her friends... that was stuff that could wait a bit. Deep down she'd been wanting to drag this topic out into the light ever since she'd finally hugged him back in Violet. Not because it was going to be an enjoyable conversation... No. It was just one that needed to happen.
She's quiet for a moment, just listening to the fire pop. It's completely dark now-- the sun's far below the horizon.
When she finally does speak again, her tone is soft.
"What... exactly is the last thing you remember?"
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"The last thing I remember is going unconscious after being attacked." He remembers the pain fading along with the remains of his vision as everything turned black and he stopped breathing.
"That's the last thing I remember before I woke up here."
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