lieutenantantichrist | [17] [Text/Action for Mahogany] - "Whenever You Get Involved, Someone Gets Hurt."

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[17] [Text/Action for Mahogany] - "Whenever You Get Involved, Someone Gets Hurt."

[ACTION]

[In a low-rent corner of Mahogany, there's a real gym. No mazes, no boss trying to fight you in exchange for something they call a badge, no lackeys, just weight machines and a floor covered with rubber mats, the way it should be. Open twenty-four hours, and this late there's no human in this room but Blake. He's in a sweatsuit, gray in contrast to the brown of the Hitmonlee holding pads for him in its upraised paws. The only sound is his harsh breaths and the thump of his fists on the canvas. His shoulders are hunched like a boxer's. His eyes look straight ahead. Judging from the sweat darkening the back of his shirt, he's been here a while.

On the other side of the room, a Snubbull is sitting on the floor, looking at a Gear that's resting on the mats. A Musharna floats beside her. Fifteen minutes of frustration proved that claws are no good for texting with, but she wants to talk to someone. She really wants to.

She snubs softly, so as not to make her trainer angry. The Musharna's eyes show no reaction, but the buttons on the Gear depress. The text that Steve watches appear seems to be accurate, more or less. The transcription might come strange through the dreaming creature. It's close enough for what she needs.]

[TEXT]

Hello lo low hello

Please talk to me.
I want to talk.
I will tell you my favorite story.
He told it to me when I couldn't sleep. His eyes were closed for some of it but I shook his knee and got to hear the end. Without the end it isn't a story.

Once
upon a time there was a girl. She was poor and alone because her parents were dead, and child services didn't exist then, so she had to go to live with her wicked stepmother and do work for her. Hard work, the kind that nearly killed her, but in time she got used to it.

Then one day she heard the prince was giving a big ball. She asked to go, but her stepmother wouldn't let her. So she tried to run off and get a ride to the castle from a knight, but her wicked stepmother had tailled her, and she found her and dragged her off the horse. While she was going, the wicked stepmother threw the knight a gold coin. He held onto it, and he kept looking at it all the time. He kept thinking about the girl.
He wanted to help her, but he couldn't.

The knight went to the ball, and he was going to kill the prince, but there were too many guards around watching him, so he ran away.

Then the knight went to find the girl and save her. The wicked stepmother grazed him in the neck with an evil spell, but he killed her and all the other guys too, even though he got hurt bad. At first the girl was scared, but then she was free and she was okay. She got to go back home to her real parents. The knight was a hero. All the papers said so.

And everyone lived happily ever after.

..........
..........
..........

Tell me your favorite story.
Voice or video if you can.
The words alone are lonely.

Tell me please.

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[Hmm, good question, and it takes a few moments for him to respond. He rubs his chin, brow furrowing.]

Well, it's less of a punishment and more the fact that there's nowhere else to go. A couple small islands, the mainland, and endless water as far as the eye can see. Maybe he wanted something new. Something beyond the sandy shores. Or maybe he just wanted to be the first to really explore what else was out there because everyone else was either too complacent or too scared to try.

[He shrugs. Really, the legend's vague, so the actual motives are left unclear.]

Couldn't tell you if he wound up somewhere better or worse. It's an old legend, but I'd like to think he got what he wanted in the end.

[The kind girl's voice is too much for Steve, and her little dog face crumples. She snubs with an audible thread of distress.]

I don't know. He's strange. He's not angry like normal. I didn't do anything.

Whichever you like best. Happy, or sad, or scary, or with fighting. I want to hear.

_{[It's hard to imagine a Snubbull's face crumpling even more than it already is, but the sight is downright heartbreaking.]}

It's okay, I believe you.

Where are you guys right now? What town, I mean.

_{[It looks like they're in a gym, and she knows where most of the gyms are. Mostly because she frequently finds herself needing to do the exact thing Blake is.]}

[Steve has not seen this face before. She's certain she would remember one like that. One ear lifts in curiosity.]

What's Russian?

An old woman chicken would be interesting. She would have to work hard to balance.

There are a lot of Pokemon legends...my trainer never pays attention to them. He says he's not from here and he's not sticking around, so he doesn't need to hear about [She takes a moment to remember the phrasing] Magic Animal Jesus.

[Her little paws fold tightly together. Worry etches her brows.] I don't know if I'd want to know the future.

Edited 2014-06-25 08:30 (UTC)

Mahogany. We've been walking a lot.

[More pacing restlessly, the past few days.

A flash of stubborn loyalty comes over Steve's face.] He didn't do anything, either. He didn't hurt anyone.

[The Musharna's eye moves almost imperceptibly. Mist rises from its nostril.]

any one here, now

[The man's voice is calming. He has an odd sort of accent she doesn't recognize.]

A funny one. Or one with lots of action.

Right. Well...

[He rubs the back of his neck; what kind of story can he tell a pink dog? It's been awhile since he's heard any fairy tales, and the ones he remembered weren't very action-packed or funny.

...the pink dog mentioned a gun, didn't it? It's not exactly kid-friendly, but he has one in mind that might fit the bill.]

Don't think you've ever heard the story of Ned Kelly?

[In the background, a pair of sneakered feet scuff backwards as the thump of a hard blow resounds. Steve's ears flinch, and she focuses on the story.]

That must have been horribly crowded. But if they had somewhere else to go, that's all right.

They thought they had somewhere to go.

[Which is why he said it was a bad story.]

But when they reached that planet, for some reason people started getting sick. Really sick. They kept dying and dying, and trying to keep them alive cost a lot of money.

...So, their home planet decided to stop sending help and pretend they'd all died instead.

[Steve's stubby arms gesture sharply in time with her snubs.]

What's wrong with home? Maybe there's nothing out there at all. It doesn't mean that the people who want to stay there are stupid or scared! Nobody's keeping him there because they hate him!

[What Steve doesn't notice is that the sounds of fists striking canvas have stopped. The sneakers in the background turn.]

[You'd be surprised at the variety of a pink dog's interests.

Really, more than anything, she just wants something to listen to.

But she perks up with genuine interest.]

No, I haven't. Was he a hero?

[Steve is rapt. She's a very curious little dog.]

Was it needles? My trainer says a lot of people get sick from dirty needles and crack. And their teeth fall out.

That's a terrible decision. Couldn't they take back the people who were still alive?

[Ash laughs at that, but it's not a particularly nice laugh.]

That would have made fixing the situation too easy. No, it turns out that the planet they chose lacked protection against what they now call the Mars Rays. Taking everyone back would have saved them all, but it would have also been expensive. It would have meant admitting that they made a mistake during the preparation, too, and the government couldn't accept that.

So the survivors stayed there, and the longer it lasted, the more hateful they became.

That depends on who you ask that question to. The law-abidin' sort can't stick'im, but he's regarded as a real Aussie legend t'most.

Ned Kelly's a bushranger; that's what people used to call those on-the-run who choose to hide out in the wild. Anyway he was accused of a couple of things; stealin' horses, a few fights, an' fer...well he wasn't polite t'someone important.

[That's a rather mild way of saying Ned Kelly had passed a lady a box of calves' testicles.]

Mind you he didn't start most of the trouble; trouble just had a funny way of findin' him. Probably didn't help that he got on the bad side of the cops around his place. Point is he was accused of crimes he hadn't committed; the last straw that drove him to the life of a bushranger was when they threw his mum into jail on trumped up charges.

He was famous for two robberies; didn't fire a shot in either and made off with bags of cash. He had a thing for the police though; he didn't even raise a hand at any of his hostages, but he had a fierce hatred for policemen. They were the only ones he wanted t'actually kill, an' he an' his gang took down as many of the cops as they could when the police had them cornered at Glenrowan. It was a shoot-out; an entire troop of cops versus the Kelly gang wearin' their own home-made armour. I call it an armour, but it was jus' some pieces of metal cobbled together. So it wasn't any surprise when the gang started droppin' like flies. Joe Bryne went down first; he was Kelly's right hand man. Then Dan Kelly, his younger brother, an' another of his mates, Steve Hart. The two of'em were next t'go. So the last man standin' was Ned Kelly himself. An' this crazy bastard, he makes one last charge against the police, goes out guns ablazin'. One of the cops has the good sense to notice that he's not wearin' any armour around his legs and takes him down, gets him in the legs and finally arrests him.

Now by this time the Kelly boys had gotten themselves quite a fair number of supporters. For one, most people believed him from the start, that he'd never done any stealin' in his life till he became a bushranger. In fact, most people thought him a kind off hero fer standin' up to injustice an' unfair treatment by the police. A huge crowd tried to save'im; over thousands of people signed a letter beggin' for a pardon from the governor, or the judge, I can't remember which. They still hanged him in the end though; there's a famous line where the judge tells him as he sentences him to die: "May God have mercy on your soul", says the judge. Kelly, he just goes, "I'll see you there soon." An' what do y'know? The judge bites it jus' two weeks later.

An' that's the story of Ned Kelly. S'not funny at all, but s'got action an' guns. Hope y'like it.

[... well, that's weird. This is Blake's number, but unless Blake hit the magical crab shrooms again, it definitely wasn't Blake who wrote this message. Yusuke hasn't really felt like talking to anyone recently, so despite the strangeness of this situation, he almost doesn't respond. Curiosity gets the better of him in the end, though, and so, a few minutes after he's read the text, he picks up his 'Gear again and turns on the video.]

Who is this?

[Yusuke looks tired. Sounds tired, too.]

Hey, never said they're stupid. It's just for him, it wasn't enough. And honestly, I'm... kind of in the same boat. My friends and I had this big plan to sail out to other worlds, and apparently we get there someday.

[Of course, that kinda got interrupted when he got flung here instead. Now, when the fist pounding stops, Riku pauses for a moment, grabbing his chin and watching the camera closely. Hmm, what's her trainer gonna think about all this?]

_{[Mahogany! In that case, Heather's pretty sure she knows where they are. Mahogany isn't a big town.]}

Okay.

Steve? I'm gonna come see you guys, okay?

_{[There's rustling as she grabs a couple of things on her way out the door.]}

I can tell a story on the way, though. Would you like that?

I can do that. Let's see, happy ending, happy ending...

[He takes a deep breath, partly because that's just what he does, but also because he doesn't want to fill his time of thinking with just silence. His chosen tale might have been based on a memory, but he had a feeling that those involved might be offended about the severe changes he was making.]

Ah. Okay, so once upon a time there was a grumpy old Shroomish. He didn't like to leave his home or get to know anybody else, so soon all the younger pokemon grew afraid of him, and dreaded having to pass by where he lived. One day, a pack of Poochyena were going out to hunt for berries when the youngest, a curious little girl, wandered off to see who it was that made her family -- who she thought couldn't be afraid of anything -- so scared. If anyone had noticed what she was doing, they would have called her a fool like they had done so many times before, but they continued on their way and soon, the Poochyena was separated from her pack.

Lost and still burning with curiosity, the Poochyena bravely made her way up to the grumpy old Shroomish's house. It wasn't dusty or dirty, like you might've expected from a guy like him, but it was so clean the Poochyena had a hard time finding evidence of anyone living there. She snuck further into the house, using her nose to track down this mysterious old man she'd heard so much about, and eventually she found him resting in a dark room.

Being so young, the Poochyena -- she didn't really understand when people needed to sleep. When she woke up, she wanted her brothers and sisters to be awake, too, so even though she'd been told that she shouldn't, she'd gotten in the habit of pouncing onto whoever it was she wanted to play with. Not being afraid of the Shroomish like the rest of her family, the Poochyena jumped forward and landed on top of the Shroomish. Not surprisingly, he didn't think that was as great as she thought he would. Startled and angry at being attacked while he slept, the grumpy old Shroomish let out a puff of Poison Powder. When he saw who it was -- and how young she was -- the Shroomish did something he hadn't done in years.

He began to feel bad, and another feeling that he didn't know what it was, but I'll tell you because I'm the one telling the story, so I know. He felt some compassion.

Being a Shroomish, and a grumpy old one at that, it wasn't exactly easy for him to carry the Poochyena out from his house and into the town. Once he'd gotten there, though, he found another challenge. Every time he tried to ask one of the other pokemon for help, they ran away in fear. Some even fainted on the spot!

[He clears his throat some, preparing for a lower, gruffer tone, with a lighter one soon after.]

"I'm sorry," he told the Poochyena. "We live in a town of fools. Can't they see that there's work to be done? You need help."

The Poochyena, though poisoned, moved closer at his words, licking him on the cheek. "It's okay. I've been told I'm a fool, but I can still see that you're not the mean old man everyone thinks you are. We just have to show them."

He was mean, and he was old, but even the Shroomish didn't feel like arguing just then. Instead, he sat with her and talked until the moon shone bright in the sky. By that time, the Poochyena's pack had noticed her disappearance, and had spent hours searching for her. When her scent led them to the Shroomish's house, their hearts grew heavy and they made their way home with their heads hung low -- so low that they nearly missed her as they walked by. But because the Shroomish was talking with her, and she was of course the more chatty of the two even feeling as sick as she did, her mother and father heard the sound of her voice and were quick to rush over.

"Thank you for watching over our daughter," they told him as they used the berries they'd gathered during the day to cure the young Poochyena. "We've never known of a Shroomish who was as kind as you to stay and talk with someone in need." But they had, their daughter told them, and her pack was stunned to hear her speak so enthusiastically about the grumpy old Shroomish they'd all feared for so long. After making sure the Poochyena was healthy once more, the Shroomish made his way back to his home, now too clean and too empty.

It didn't stay that way for long, though, what with the pack of Poochyena returning the next night to share their haul of berries with him as thanks, and then the night after to see if he needed anything more. Night after night, they visited the grumpy old Shroomish, bringing with them food, stories, and friends, until eventually there wasn't a pokemon in the area that hadn't heard of his kind deed and grown to like speaking with him.

The Shroomish still thought of them as fools, of course, but he never was quite as grumpy again, and the youngest Poochyena became his favorite fool of all.

[Hiccup falls into silence after that for a few moments, then breaks it with a light cough. He couldn't be certain, but he had a feeling he'd fallen into rambling somewhere in there and could have missed his mark.]

The end. Sorry, you know, if that wasn't happy enough.

[Magical crab shrooms are always possible...but this time, the screen doesn't show a field or a Paras. It's just a Snubbull on the floor of a gym, with a Musharna beside her, and the sound of thumps and huffing breaths in the background.

It's very good to see a familiar face, even if he looks odd and withdrawn, a little like Steve does. She snubs softly, and a text will arrive soon after.]

Hello Yusuke. I want to hear the best story you know. Or maybe just one you like. Just something. Do you have one?

[The little Snubbull is more upset than the words seem to warrant.] And everyone you'd leave behind isn't enough for you too!

[Aimed low at the form of a sitting Snubbull as it is, the Gear screen shows only the slow approach of a pair of feet until they are right behind here and come to a stop. Steve is drawing in breath to continue when she freezes.

A voice comes from above, pitched very soft.]

What do you think you're doing?

[The more the girl talks, the more sure Steve becomes.] Heather, it's you, isn't it? [Steve's ears perk up.] Yes, I want to hear your story. And I want to see you!

[Then they lower.] But you shouldn't come.

Money and being embarassed aren't a good reason to let people die. That's a waste.

How did anyone live?

See, the plot was halfway decent but the ending was all awful. There was nothing satisfying with that!

Hmm... Let me think of a better one for you. So you want people fighting and winners at the end?

Not everyone fell sick, and some who did were first healthy for fourty, fifty years. So by that time they had plenty of children. ...Children that watched their friends and loved ones grow ill and die, and started hating the people that remained on their original planet for not suffering like they did.

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[17] [Text/Action for Mahogany] - "Whenever You Get Involved, Someone Gets Hurt."

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