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

[lieutenantantichrist]

[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.

Comments

[berkthorn]

[Her enthusiasm gets Hiccup to sit up a little more, not that Steve can actually see that, though his good feelings die a little bit at that last addition.]

...Your trainer being grumpier than normal? Is there something bothering them?

[lieutenantantichrist]

[Steve's ears pull back tight to her head.]

I don't know. Grumpy is normal. This is... He kept talking to himself. He's always complained that this isn't the real world, and that he's stuck here, but now it's...

He kept saying that what people said about there being a million worlds was bullshit. The same thing can't happen at the same time in different ways.

He kept saying that.

[She's quiet for a while as the steady thumping sound goes on.]

Your story was really good.

I'll remmber it.

[berkthorn]

Well, it sure is the real world to you, isn't it?

[That seems a simple enough problem to tackle -- alternate realities on the other hand? Hiccup makes a low, thoughtful noise.]

...It is a lot to think about. Some people are stubborn, you know? Where I live, there are some of the most stubborn people to ever exist. They just need time. I'm... I'm sure he'll return to be a regular old Shroomish-type in no time, huh?

[After a little bit of hesitation, Hiccup switches his feed over to video to give the Snubbull a warm, if sleepy, smile.]

...Thanks. If I come up with another one sometime, would you like me to send it to you?

[lieutenantantichrist]

It's the only world I've ever been to. [Her jaw juts out firmly, as though she's making an argument.] I think it's a good one.

[Then she lets out a sigh.] I hope so. I'm used to stubborn.

But the most stubborn people in the world, really? They must be something else.

[She perks up to see a face come to join the voice. He looks like a nice boy, and he has a nice smile. It makes her feel a lot less alone.]

Yeah. I'd like that a lot.

[berkthorn]

Yeah. I think so, too.

[He loves Berk and can't imagine staying away forever... But the pokemon world was his first choice of an extended vacation spot.]

Oh, they are. They definitely are. My dad... One time he didn't even want me to know that he was listening to me. He was, but...

[Hiccup gives a weak chuckle, shaking his head.]

To prove it, he just gave my advice back to me as if it were his own. And my friends never stay put when they're supposed to. I guess I kind of don't do that either, though...

You'd be surprised at the kind of fights Vikings get themselves into.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Humans are so strange. I don't think I'll ever understand them.

I like them, though.

Friends don't stay put a lot around here, too...People go away all the time.

[She doesn't have much time to be sad over that before she's distracted.]

Hey, what's a Viking?

[berkthorn]

Yeah. I don't always get them, either.

[Dragons, he's pretty much got. People, though? Nope.]

I guess some things never change...

Let's see... Well, I'm a Viking, but I was never the best example of one... Usually they're big, strong people with a bad attitude and a bad smell. They've gotten better about it over the years, but learning to ride dragons is still their greatest improvement.

They're really...nice people, in the end. Most of them.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Oh, I see. Humans have types too? Like Cop type, that's what my trainer is. I've never heard of Viking type before.

Nice and strong to dragons, those are both valuable things! Worth a bad smell.

[berkthorn]

That's a good way of putting it -- and I've met some Cop types before. They're good people.

[Hiccup nods in agreement.]

Yeah... I think so, too. But dragons are just as strong against us as we are against them. It's like how dragons have a hard time fighting each other, I guess. That's why we try to work with them instead.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Yeah... [Steve's face falls, and she looks troubled. Then she looks up with a stubborn cast to her eyes, as though the boy had argued.] He's not bad. He isn't.

[Then she looks thoughtful.]

Are you a Dragon-type trainer? You must be brave. They're big. I'm not scared of them, though. Lots of big things that growl aren't really so scary.

Usually.

[berkthorn]

Okay. [He isn't going to fight her on that, but that got his curiosity's attention.] Do other people think that? Maybe people who don't know him as well?

I...wouldn't say I'm brave, dragon trainer or not. [Not compared to others he knew, anyway.] I don't have to be afraid of them because they're my friends.

[Usually, indeed. Not that he's going into that.]

[lieutenantantichrist]

He barks loud and he has a scary face. That makes people afraid, like Shaun the nice boy who thinks he hurt somebody but he didn't.

[She pauses her rapid snubing and takes a few breaths to calm down. The Musharna floats patiently.]

But lots of people know he's okay. Like Ash and Heather, and even the lady in red who kicked him a lot.

[She rests her head on her paw.] Making friends is brave, too.

[berkthorn]

I knew a cop like that, too. His name was Albert. But...he was my friend.

[Well, he was the Shroomish, really, but Hiccup thought of him as a friend, too.

...He sure does miss the guy.

Maybe it's best not to push the poor dog on the subject of Shaun, since she seems to be getting worked up. He smiles, partly to encourage her, and partly because it was kind of funny to imagine the only lady in red that he knew kicking some gruff guy around.

Oh Hiccup, if only you knew.]

I guess it can be. It does get scary sometimes, doesn't it?

[lieutenantantichrist]

Albert...I remember someone called that. He was grumpy, but he was nice.

[Her trainer was so happy to meet another Cop type. There were a few of those, but then they went away. Steve didn't understand why that made him so angry. Sometimes people are here and sometimes they aren't. It's how life is.

The boy's smile cheers her up a little.] Yeah. Fighting's easier. You know what you're going to get, then.

[berkthorn]

Yeah, that...sounds like Albert. Maybe it was the same guy.

[It is how life is! but... Didn't make it any easier when it happened. Not that Hiccup's ever really been angry about it. He tended to swing more towards sad and disappointed.]

Most of the time, yeah. You do. [He sighs.] I wish people could see that even though it's easier, it doesn't always make it the better option... But what can you do, when dealing with warriors?

...At least it's better than running away from the problem.

[lieutenantantichrist]

Maybe it was. He's been gone for a long time now. Wherever he went, I hope he's doing all right.

[That's something Steve can understand.] Yeah. Fighting's fun, but you can't do it all the time. You'd get tired.

I don't know how to tell him that.

[berkthorn]

Have you tried talking to him? I mean, you obviously care a lot about him, and I've only been talking to you for a little while and can see you're a smart one.

He might listen, if it's you.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[She likes being called smart. But she thinks about his suggestion, and her ears lower.] He's been strange for days. He won't listen to me, even when I have someone to translate.

I don't know what to d

[That's when she hears the voice behind her. It's a voice pitched low, whose calm is a distinct reminder of how calm can be a temporary thing.]

Might listen to what?

[The Snubbull yelps in alarm and drops the Gear. Blake looms above it. He looks tired, his breath coming ragged and his eyes sunk deep. He says nothing else, and waits.]

[berkthorn]

[Welp, time to sit up more. Couldn't speak so easily to someone who was a human.]

You're scaring your dog, you know. And it sounds like you've been worrying her for a while now.

[lieutenantantichrist]

My dog's not your problem.

[Blake's arms hang at his sides. He can still feel the motion of striking over and over, embedded in the muscles. He looks coldly down at the black screen and the young male voice it emits.

He ignores the needle of guilt that jabs at him, and does not look in Steve's direction.]

Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong.

[berkthorn]

Maybe it isn't my business, but she asked for people to talk to her, to tell her stories. Happy ones.

[And if the story Steve had told was meant to be a happy one, well... She obviously wasn't getting enough of them at home. Whether it was intentional or not, Hiccup had noticed the depressing inconsistency.]

I don't know what it is that you're doing, but it's not helping anyone.

[lieutenantantichrist]

[He looks over to Steve. She's crouched low to the ground, ears pulled back, and finds the courage to stare back at him. It must be true.]

Storytime's over.

[A hint of humanity leaks into his flat voice.]

I'm not doing anything. Just thinking over some shit.

[berkthorn]

[Hiccup is silent for a few moments, eyeing up the screen. Finally he sighs.]

You know, sometimes it helps to get out of your own head, while you're thinking. If you keep it to yourself, it can lead to...bad results. So you should talk to someone.

It doesn't even have to be a person. In fact, sometimes it's easier when it isn't.