route_1065 | We saw the operation you tried to pull today

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: Goldenrod City

Entry tags:

We saw the operation you tried to pull today

Who: Carmen Sandiego, Heather Mason
Where: Goldenrod City
When: May 7th
Summary: A day-trip out to Johto to get a riding lesson from your childhood hero(ine) sounds like it should be AWESOME, right? ... Well, maybe not if the horse is on fire.
Rating: G
Log:

Before living in this world, Heather would have sworn there was no difference between the two yellow shades known as 'goldenrod' and 'saffron', but there was nothing like spending three years in a place with color-coded towns to teach you how to distinguish them. She squinted when she stepped out of the train station, shielding her eyes slightly against the glare of the sun off those golden buildings.

Goldenrod was definitely brighter.

Tricia the Manectric panted at her side, eyes also squinted until some passing cloud-cover moved in. She licked her chops and looked up at Heather as though asking 'WE'RE HERE, CAN WE GO PLACES?' but the girl shook her head, slipping her bag off of her shoulder as she sunk down onto one of the benches outside the building.

"Stay, girl. Carmen said to wait somewhere public."

The electric dog let out a slight whine but obediently sat down as well, watching the crowd mill in and out of the plaza.

Heather wasn't expecting a long wait-- not from Carmen Sandiego, who always seemed to know exactly where to be (and where NOT to be), but she fished out a water bottle and a candy-bar from her bag anyway. The weather had slowly but surely been getting hotter.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Over the course of her time in Johto, Carmen had embarked on her share of brutal flights. It wasn't that the distance bothered her, nor was the time in air really a problem; she'd been the greatest detective in the world long before ACME had come up with the C-5 Corridor, so traveling all over the world on a moment's notice (and usually by her own hand) was something she'd been accustomed to since her teens.

The problem, frequently, was Johto itself; somehow, the level of stamina she'd had for cross-country blitzkrieging seemed to have diminished ever since she'd set foot in the nation. It wasn't that she'd changed, she'd frequently insisted to herself. It wasn't that she was old or tired or out of practice. Something was just different, and that meant longer flights had a nasty tendency of taking more out of her than she was used to.

This one was no exception. Still, it was nothing like the time she'd made a mad dash across the country to retrieve Sheriff Truman when he'd first stepped blinking into the Johto sun, and it was vastly different from the reckless, desperate flight she'd undertaken on the morning she'd woken up separated from her detective and pushed herself nonstop until she was securely back in his— ...proximity.

So while she was admittedly tired as she and her Dragonite swooped in over Goldenrod City, flying low to look for the other member of their impromptu rendezvous, it wasn't enough to make her sluggish or take all the pep of adventure out of her.

As evidenced by the fact that once she spotted Heather on the bench, she gave the Baron a nudge and guided him into a tight parabolic descent, timing it carefully to leap casually off at the nadir of the swoop — which left her securely on the ground as the Baron continued back up into the air, rocketing off into the sky once again.

Giving her shoulders a quick roll, she reached for the first Pokeball on her belt with one hand while holding up one finger at Heather with the other.

"Hold that thought," she said without preamble, and gave the ball a toss to the ground.

... Had she really expected Carmen to arrive any differently?

... NOPE. Not really.

All the same, she jumped slightly when the scarlet-clad woman suddenly made a perfect landing off of a gracefully-swooping dragon, because that sort of thing can be a little startling whether or not you're expecting it.

"--Hey! I, uh-- ... oh."

She promptly shut her mouth again, eyes flicking down to the ball.

Tricia, on the other hand, had no such reservations and instead promptly transformed into one gigantic wiggle at the sight of Carmen. She didn't bother staying put. With a cascade of happy panting, she bounded straight over, mouth wide open in a big doggy grin.

HI!

HI!

HELLO!

HI!

As her Kadabra, Chief, erupted from the ball (and meanwhile, up in the air, the Baron began his usual routine of circling the city and doubling back to rejoin Carmen on the ground once her flashy entrance was sufficiently complete), Carmen spared a brief moment of attention for Tricia — leaning down to reward her delighted canine admirer with a brisk round of enthusiastic pets, ear scratches, and general who's-a-good-girl loving.

"That goes for you too, beautiful," she told the dog with a touch of humor, sparing the time for one last pat before nudging her away. Then, in a no-look move clearly born of months upon months of practice, she stepped confidently into Chief's space, slinging an arm around his neck and hopping one foot up onto his tail, and in the blink of an eye, the two of them disappeared.

OH BUT LADY LADY IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU, TRAINER IS GONE AND--

... OH.

With a somewhat bemused look as Carmen and her Kadabra poofed out of existence, Tricia sniffed at the spot where they'd stood for a moment before looking back to Heather as though asking WHAT HAPPENED?

Heather, who... was frankly a little confused herself, merely shrugged her shoulders, bottle of water halfway to her mouth.

"Ooookay...?"

Never fear, Tricia; Carmen's departure was brief and rapid, lasting only long enough for her to make a quick hop over to the Pokemon Center and trade out her exhausted roster for a lineup that would better suit her for being in town — and namely, to pull her Rapidash, Tornado, out of the box for the time being.

In almost comedic contrast to her previous dramatic entrance, when she reappeared the second time, it was walking casually on foot, followed by Chief and looking for all the world like any other random trainer out for a stroll through Goldenrod on a hot day in late spring.

And of course, as soon as Tricia was in sight again, she wasted no time in heading right over to resume the petting and loving. Well hello to you too, Tricia, it's so nice to see you again, it seems like forever since we were waging a silent war for mattress space just about every damn night, you beautiful girl you.

"There," she said with a light shrug. "Now the trip is over with. Hello, Heather."

Unlike Heather's starter-Pokemon, Tricia was quite intelligent. But one thing she and Cujo had in common was that it didn't take much at all to make them happy.

Once Carmen came striding up out of the crowd, Tricia happily went back to soaking up all that attention, and Heather, for her part, lifted a hand to give a small, sheepish wave. The wave was accompanied by a grin that, while slightly more troubled than usual, was genuine.

"Hey, Carmen. It's been awhile, huh."

Frequent visits to the Justice Farm aside, it... felt like a long time. Maybe because Cooper had been gone for perhaps a month and it felt like five.

She got up from the bench, hefting her bag and heading over. She'd traveled lightly-- just bringing enough for an overnight, and only bringing Pokemon she trusted not to be havoc-causing hooligans.

If memory served, Cooper had tended to keep Aidan and Tricia together — they were friends, as she recalled, and got along well. She'd have to remember to give him his own chance to catch up, she mused as she stroked Tricia's fur. It bothered her more than she liked to let on, the thought of his team being split up. Sometimes it led to thoughts of her own being divided that way, and every time she imagined it...no, it was just intolerable.

"Since the dance, isn't it?" she answered, and instantly wished she hadn't. Speaking of imagining things—

"You brought your Rapidash, I hope," she continued quickly, before she could get too caught up in memories of the overnight stay at Tohjo Falls. "I don't mind letting you borrow Tornado if you didn't, but the lesson will benefit you more if you do it on your own horse."

That was something that Heather didn't like to think about, herself.

Tricia leaned heavily on Carmen's leg, tongue lolling out as she panted happily, all lingering worries about the locations of her trainer and team-mates temporarily wiped away by the familiar face (and hands).

At the reply, Heather nodded.

"Yeah." She didn't elaborate, probably for the same reasons that Carmen didn't.

The dance was the last time she-- or, as far as she knew, anyone had seen Cooper.

And that was something she didn't want to think about, either.

"And yeah, I brought her." She grinned, a somewhat feeble chuckle escaping. "I'd be pretty dumb if I didn't, huh?"

Reaching down, she gave her pocket-- the one containing her Pokeballs (as it always had, although it was probably about time she gave in and just got a belt to put them on)-- a pat.

"She's right here. ... She won't cause any trouble, but since she's so big... I figured it'd be better to let her out once we're out of the middle of the city."

"Then let's get to it," Carmen answered briskly, sparing Tricia a few more pats before straightening up and brushing her gloved hands lightly together. Soon or later the fatigue was going to catch up with her — it always did, even when she wasn't in Johto — and it'd be for the best all around if they got things taken care of before it did.

Meanwhile, obediently, her Dragonite made another pass overhead, his shadow coasting across the plaza as he waited to see where his trainer would go; like the horses, he was a little too big for an easy landing himself, so he'd sooner wait in the air and touch down to be recalled in a place where the crowds were a little more sparse.

Heather nodded, rubbing her chin as she looked around.

It had been a good few months since she'd last been in Goldenrod... but it had been 'home' for quite some time, back in her first year. The streets were falling back into place in her mental map.

"The National Park's a little too far away, but... there's a lot of nice big parks in town, too."

She remembered sledding down the hills in more than one of them that winter.

"I think the nearest one's just a few blocks away."

She had already started to take a couple steps in that direction before catching herself and looking back over to Carmen.

"... I mean. Unless you had somewhere else in mind."

"It's there or one of the routes," Carmen pointed out with a hint of a shrug, extending a hand to Chief to motion him along as she followed along in the direction that Heather had picked. "I know the one you're talking about. We'll see if it's clear enough, and if not, there's no harm in moving on."

There was a sort of brisk efficiency to her demeanor today, perhaps a little moreso than there might otherwise have been. Part of it was the fault of the long flight, certainly, but there was another, subtler influence, too — that this was one of the first times she was really interacting face-to-face with one of their tight-knit group since Cooper's departure (Hiccup didn't count, because Hiccup was forever the exception), and she was still a little off-balance because of it.

So she was quick to move them along — not hurrying, just authoritative, like a woman of action with a plan already in mind — and soon they were at the park in question, marking out an open, quiet space that would probably suffice for a crash course in riding.

The briskness was probably for the best.

Likewise, Heather's usual wisecracking attitude was significantly subdued-- for many of the same reasons.

Unlike Carmen, she had been to see their mutual friends, and had been reaching out in her own way just to stop herself from falling into total grieving isolation.

But Carmen had arguably known Cooper better than most, and seeing her scarlet-clad childhood idol for the first time after the special agent's disappearance was a sobering reminder of it all.

She walked quickly and willingly-- normally she'd be all about beating around the bush with casual chitchat, but today it seemed she wanted to get down to business just as much as Catmen did.

Once they reached the park, she pulled out the ball she'd been idly fiddling with the whole way there, and opened it. A tall Rapidash emerged from the ensuing flash of white light, whickering quietly. Carousel had always been a remarkably calm animal, although being out in the fresh air made her ears perk and nostrils flare.

Losing people was not precisely a new experience in Carmen's life (technically, she couldn't remember enough of her parents to properly say she knew what it felt like to lose them, but she certainly didn't have them, nonetheless), but her recent attempts at coping with it had been an undeniable challenge. The problem with having one reliable method of coping that always worked was that when some doe-eyed detective came along out of nowhere and blindsided her into trying to give up her bad habits, it left her with no method to fall back on — what irony, that he'd talked her out of the one way she might've dealt with losing him, himself.

Her instincts said two things, in moments like this: run and steal. Reaching out to others didn't make sense when she was used to having no one to reach for in the first place. And thanks to Special Agent Dale Cooper, she knew already that she'd find no consolation in stealing.

But that left running. Running, she could do. And that was part of what brought her here, because whether it was on wings or on horseback, speed and power would make her feel better, and at this point she'd take all the better she could get.

She'd wait to draw out Tornado, though, until she'd had an opportunity to befriend Heather's horse first. Calmly and unflinchingly, she regarded the Rapidash with an appraising eye.

"She's lovely," she remarked to Heather, and then, "Hello, there."

Carousel had the sort of big, soft brown eyes that were easy to fall into. Had Heather from a time a few years before her rather morbid equine encounters in Silent Hill-- and hadn't had a lifelong fear of flames-- she'd probably be just as crazy about her horse as any other young girl.

Snorting gently, Carousel stepped forward, nudging her nose softly against Carmen's hand in a polite inquiry on the subject of treats.

Heather, standing someone further back, let out a chuckle.

"Yeah... she's always been real good. ... Which is kind of funny, actually-- she was a gift and I'm pretty sure the guy who got her for me like... bought her off the back of a TRUCK somewhere, so I thought she'd turn out like... really highstrung and nuts."

There had been multiple jokes exchanged about Heather's new pony potentially being a backwoods meth baby, but time had proven them wrong.

Patting Carousel's nose gently, Carmen returned her attention once again to Heather. She hadn't brought any treats with her firsthand — not seeing the point, given how far she'd had to fly anyway prior to her arrival — but getting hold of some would hardly be difficult. Particularly with Chief around for speedy travel.

Still, something about the way Heather was carrying on made her frown slightly. She'd always had a tendency to babble a little, but it seemed somewhat moreso here, which Carmen assumed was something to do with apprehension about the horse in question.

"What is it that bothers you about her?"

Carmen was right-- Heather always had a tendency to fill the gaps in conversation with a whole lot of somewhat-meaningless jabber, but there was a distinctly nervous quality to the way she was doing it right now.

But there was no better way to get it to stop than to call her out on it, and she shut her mouth with a click, surprised.

"... Oh. Uh..." she said slowly after the brief 'oh ugh am I that obvious' moment had passed. "... Mostly, the... uh, fact that she's on fire, I guess."

Because when she got right down to it, that was mostly what it was. The incident on the carousel (for which the Rapidash had been named) had been disturbing, uncomfortable on a deeply personal level in that wonderful way that only Silent Hill could be for Heather, but if the horsey thing was the ONLY thing, she'd have been able to get over it.

In the end, didn't it always come down to the fire?

"I mean... I know they don't burn you if they like you and stuff, but..."

"But the fire bothers you," she finished, generally unsurprised. Strange, really; she'd had her own problems with Fire Pokemon back early on, but then she'd started collecting them one by one and had generally become acclimated to them. She had a history with fire, too, but she didn't let it bother her the way that it seemed to bother Heather.

"Even when it's on your own horse."

Heather sucked her lips inward, shifting from foot to foot for a moment. It had been sort of inevitable that this would come up... but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"... Yeah. Pretty much."

And then, after a pause, she spoke up again to reluctantly elaborate.

"I've never been good with fire. It's... sort of a phobia. ... Which makes this whole thing really dumb, but... I swear I wouldn't even be trying to ride a fire horse if it weren't important."

As she said this last part, she gestured somewhat haplessly to Carousel, who had put her head down to crop at the grass.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We saw the operation you tried to pull today

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject