victory_road | I Can't Believe It's Another Hisui Catchall

Who: Heather Mason and YOU!
Where: Hisui
When: July/throughout the event
Summary: A catch-all for Heather Mason, who can be encountered doing various things and saying various swearwords under the cut.
Rating: PG-13 at most
Log:

GENERAL INFO: During her time in Hisui, Heather will be a rather tatty bandit's outfit (she was late getting to the table with all the clothes), some cozy boots, and a blue cap. Heather's new starter is a Hisuian Growlithe who she has creatively named "Twojo" (her actual starter is a Growlithe named Cujo). Over the course of the event she will be catching a shiny Pikachu (!!) and a MYSTERY THIRD POKEMON I have not decided on yet.
She is very tired and not particularly happy about the possibility that she'll never get to see her other Pokemon ever again, but for the sake of other people who she's assuming probably feel the same way, she's at least trying not to be a complete vibe-ruiner over it.

PROMPT A: General Campground Presence

One of the few things that actually help get Heather's mind off of the less-than-ideal situation is keeping busy! When she's not actively exploring, she'll be fairly active around the campground, primarily in the form of keeping the firewood well-stocked and patrolling the camp's borders with Twojo (and a nice hefty stick, in case Twojo's barking doesn't do the trick) to keep high-leveled wild Pokemon from demolishing everything.

As a hot-water-enjoyer herself, she will also be readily volunteering Twojo's firey breath to help keep the showers nice and warm.

Maybe you're joining her on these ventures! Or maybe you desperately need to wash the stank off and there's nobody else around to heat the water for you. OR MAYBE you found her sacked out by the campfires after a long day of roughing it and are in the mood for some conversation.

PROMPT B: Training and Sparring

Being an otherworldly "old-timer" at this point, Heather is used to RARELY having to worry about encountering a problem that can't be at least adequately dealt with by whipping out a level 100 Pokemon.

Needless to say, suddenly being stuck in the untamed wilderness with NOTHING but a measley level-20 Pokemon? That's like... a baby. NAY, a zygote. And she doesn't like that, no SIR. By sunset on that very first day, Heather has thrown herself into vigorous training with Twojo, hoping to stack some levels onto this pup before they have the bad luck to encounter something they can't handle.

Which means she is looking for folks to engage in friendly training battles with! She can't be the only one who's in a hurry to toughen up their new friend in case things go awry.

On that note, she won't say no to friendly sparring, either. When they're all in one place like this, maybe it's a good opportunity to meet some other folks who are into that kind of thing. You never know when you might have to jump in and just punch a wild Pokemon in the face yourself.

PROMPT C: WILDCARD!

You got another idea? COOL, go for it! You can also ping me on Plurk for plotting if you'd like to brainstorm!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah.

[Radley sighs.]

I've been throwing myself into my work to try not to think about it. But I do anyway.

[He smiles too.]

Good! I have a lot of them.

[He's a bit afraid of Fire Pokemon because he fears being accidentally burned, but Twojo is so cute he has to smile.]

Hey there.

[Lily warbles a greeting!]

_{[Fortunately, Twojo is quite a bit more reserved than her original starter. Who probably would have barreled directly at Radley like a juggernaut.]

[The little Growlithe wiggles in response to the greeting, tail wagging even harder. But she stays by Heather's feet, without running right up.]}

I've been trying to keep busy too.

Which kinda sucks, because there's honestly only so much to do around the camp itself before you start running out of ways to keep the brain occupied.

[Radley smiles more at the cute doggie.]

Yeah, no kidding. I spend a lot of time gathering every day and trying to find those parts. I can think of more improvements for the camp, but I'm not sure we have the resources to do them....

Oh, good for you.

_{[No sarcasm.]}

I should get out there and look for the parts, too.

It's just been a long time since I've been out in the wild with just one Pokemon, you know?

_{[She hasn't had to seriously worry about wild Pokemon KO-ing her entire team in years. Suddenly being in that position again is really taking her back to that first shitty disorienting week she'd spent getting from New Bark to Cherrygrove.]

[At least everybody's in one place this time.]}

It's pretty nerve-wracking, definitely. Lily seems to know her way around, so I let her guide me on where it's safe to go.

How many Pokemon do you have?

Here?

Uh... one.

Back home? Oh, jeez. Too many.

_{[She pauses to do a little mental math.]}

... I hit fifty awhile back.

Enough to make wrangling them all a full-time career, I'll tell you that much.

... Wow. Yeah, that would be time-consuming. I have about eight, with two on the way. I love them so much. They're really helpful, but they can get into things a lot too.

Heh, that pretty much sums up the Pokemon-training experience.

_{[INTENSELY LOVABLE, BUT ALSO A PAIN.]}

I've had to pay extra on so many hotel rooms because one of my dipshits shredded a pillow or short-circuited the microwave or something.

I'd kill and die for 'em, though.

[Radley winces.]

Mine haven't ever done that, but sometimes Isla gets a teeny-weeny too intense while playing and stuff gets knocked over.

[He's glad he's not into breakable things. There's still dangers from lamps, though.

He smiles.]

But that's how it is raising anything, I guess. I had a lot of ups and downs looking after the others back home. They come up with the most wild, loco ideas and they can be reckless. I wouldn't trade them and the Pokemon for anything, though.

[He would brave his worst fears for them, even electricity after what it had done to him in the past.]

Yeah? Animals or kids?

... Not that there's necessarily a huge difference between them sometimes, but you know.

_{[SHE SAYS IT WITH SOME DEGREE OF FONDNESS, having done a few babysitter gigs back in high school. She really didn't mind kids, just as long as she wasn't being treated like the parent.]}

Back home it was guys. Not that much younger than me, really, but they never had any real childhoods, so they kind of went wild with that when they could. Of course I had to step in if they wanted to do something too dangerous, but overall they had a lot of freedom they never had in their messed-up families or in foster care.

Oh! Cool.

That's... cool.

_{[She knows a thing or two about not getting to have a real childhood. And a thing or twenty about messed-up families.]}

There's... not enough people who'd do that out there.

I'm glad you're being that someone, for them.

[Radley smiles a bit wistfully.]

Yeah, they're really great guys. It makes me mad their families mostly didn't see that. Only about three of them had nice families.

Real family is made by choice, not blood.

Any random asshole can make a kid. Doesn't automatically mean they'll treat it right, contrary to what a lot of people think.

_{[There's a bite in her voice as she speaks, but it's not directed at Radley. This is just. A particularly relevant topic to her, personally.]}

[Radley nods, looking both sad and angry.]

Yeah, no kidding. And it happens in all walks of life. Me, I know what it's like to have no one, not even family, which is why I went out looking for others in the same boat. I hoped we could all be a family together.

_{[Taking note of his expression, as well as his use of... "hope" in the past tense, she pauses.]}

... Did something happen?

Well, we're not all together now, that's for sure. I wish they could come to Johto....

[There were other things that happened, but he hopes those were resolved. With Kalin, though, he supposes it never will be and he has to accept that....]

... You never know.

One day they might.

_{[Looking down at Twojo, who seems to have sensed the somber subject-matter and is now leaning against her trainer's leg and gazing upwards, Heather sighs.]}

I've had loved ones come and go here constantly over the years. Sometimes more than once.

As much as I hate the lack of stability... it does mean the chance of seeing somebody again is never impossible.

Yeah. That's something else I've thought of, how I might handle it if I do get to see them and then they're sent back while I keep staying. Or vice versa. It must be rough.

[Lily rubs him and he picks her up.]

It is.

_{[She'd say that it gets easier... but it kind of doesn't. Sure, it doesn't faze her as much these days... but getting numb to something isn't quite the same thing as getting good at it.]

[And really, who gets good at losing loved ones?]

[But at least it's better than death.]}

I used to get completely bent out of shape over it... not so much anymore. You kind of just have to... make the most of the time while you have it.

_{[Second chances being possible here didn't mean that you'd necessarily get one.]}

[Radley nods.]

Yeah. That's what I figure I'd have to do. I'd still like to see them, even if it wouldn't last....

I Can't Believe It's Another Hisui Catchall

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