route_1065 | Cue sax of the yackety variety.

Who: Anyone in the Goldenrod Hotel
Where: The Goldenrod City Hotel
When: Starting at 5:00 PM on December 19th and ending at 4:00 AM on December 20th.
Summary: POWER OUTAGE IN THE GOLDENROD CITY HOTEL. See here for details!
Rating: Probably PG to PG-13.
Log:
A pair of deep, enormous red eyes sat in front of the receptionist and stared, intensely.

The receptionist pursed her lips and frowned, staring back through a pair of horn-rimmed glasses.

Claudy's enormously fluffy feet were reflected neatly on the glossy countertop, as were the wickedly-sharp talons that stuck out of them.

Those were the main things keeping the unfortunate receptionist on duty from shooing the owl Pokemon, although the beak wasn't much of an incentive, either.

"Um... young lady," she said hesitantly, trying to lean around the large bird, her chair creaking. "The lobby is intended to be a space for EVERYBODY..."

"And it still IS a space for everybody," Heather said, unloading a shoulderful of soft, folded blankets onto one of the lobby's sofas and dusting her hands off. Several other blankets had already been partially tied up over the back of the couch and stretched out to attach at the corners to rows of chairs that were painstakingly arranged in aesthetically-pleasing, tunnel-wall-like patterns. There were also the beginnings of several pillow-built barricades, and even some large cardboard boxes standing by on reserve, should the pillows run out before construction was complete. "It's just a COOLER space for everybody."

The receptionist's frown grew and she sighed, rubbing her temples and trying to ignore the Noctowl's unblinking stare. She was fairly certain that it had been placed there SOLELY to distract her from stopping the construction of 'New Lobby'-- and it was doing a fairly good job.

Why did the difficult visitors ALWAYS come downstairs while SHE was on desk duty?

Meanwhile, the wind howled outside, piling snow against the glass doors to the outside and plastering against the windows-- not that there was much to see out there, besides flying snow. It blotted out even the rest of the city's lights, which normally lit up the plaza outside like daylight even after dusk.

"Miss, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to take all that down," she said for the fifth time in the past half-hour, and as usual, she was completely ignored as the scruffy blond girl tied a few more blankets up (with some difficulty due to her bandaged hands).

Biting her lip, she started to stand up.

Maybe if she just went over and started... taking all the blankets down herself--

And then suddenly, there was a low mooooooan of electricity deciding spontaneously that life wasn't worth it anymore and turning itself off.

The lights went out.

Silence reigned in the lobby.

.... for about five seconds.

"Oh my goodness..."

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED--"

"/OLD WOMAN OWL SCREAM"

_{[Feel free to make your own threads! They can be down in the lobby, they can be up in the rooms, they can be anywhere! Is your character in the bathroom plucking their eyebrows when the lights go out? WE WANNA HEAR ABOUT IT, SO GO FOR IT. Are they falling down the stairs? POST THAT SHIT.]

[Threadhopping/jacking is totally encouraged, so TAG AROUND TO YOUR HEART'S CONTENT, MY DUDES. If your own thread isn't getting replies right away, go ahead and jump in somewhere else! Look out for other characters in the same areas as yours-- lobby, hallways, staircases, etc! Have fun!]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Miles' at-home friends had been... all right. Even Heather knows them, and if she asked, Miles would flatly state that Larry, at least, hadn't changed. Phoenix was still the same, too, fundamentally. Fortunately or unfortunately, having not yet met Manfred von Karma meant that Miles was still vastly ignorant to the horrors of the world.

Miles... was definitely different from other kids his age. Always had been, probably always will be. But he was a child nonetheless, and having an older person to comfort him was.. a relief. A relief he hadn't had ever since his mother retreated into her broken shell after DL-6....

And so he shrugs at Heather's words.

"I guess I'm just.. .not used to it. It wasn't until I came to Johto that I had anyone to speak to, about my father's death.."

Heather nods-- probably inadvertently bumping him on the head with her chin in the process.

"Yeah. M'still getting used to it myself, to be honest. I didn't have much of anybody either to talk to about mine, back home."

There was Douglas-- but as much as she loved Douglas, he was no better at talking about the bad things than she was.

He understood her-- and that was what had mattered at that point. Their friendship was in constant, silent acknowledgment of what happened, and the two of them looked out for each other. But they didn't talk that much. Not about that.

"Tell you what. If you try, I'll try too. Think that's a deal?"

"I'll try." He nods at her suggestion, and he knew he'd talk to people. He'd felt the relief of actually letting it out.. and he knew he would talk about it.

"I-- I just.. couldn't, back home," he confesses. "My mother and I immediately moved away after the trial... we couldn't even afford to take her to the hospital, so she was always sad, and I had to take care of her."

There hadn't been any time for him to dwell on his sadness, really.

She nods, as well.

"Yeah... I think I can understand that. It sucks and it shouldn'tve happened, but..."

She was gonna say 'shit happens', but... he probably gets the point.

"... I guess that's the good thing about being here. Gives folks like us a chance to actually be ABLE to talk about it, y'know?"

Heather'd had PLENTY of time to dwell on her sadness- she hadn't let it overtake her, of course-- but she'd be lying if she said she didn't struggle. No amount of pluck and bootstraps (things she had both of in spades) could yank her clean from everything that had happened.

"I'd say... take advantage of this while you can. ... Y'never know what it might be able to do."

"...I'm very grateful for everyone I've met here."

And he truly means that. He knows that, one day, he would do anything he can to repay those who helped him here.

Heather grins a little. People were lighting candles now, so it was more visible.

"Yeah, me too. If I'd told myself six months ago that I'dve actually wound up with so many friends, I'da called myself nuts."

Then she frowns, wrinkling her nose for a second.

"... Well, I'm not actually entirely certain I'm NOT, but... hey, what can you do. So."

She gives Edgeworth's shoulder a jostle.

"Wanna help me build this epic fort?"

".....Is that what you were doing? I've... never made one before.." That time, Larry and Phoenix had made it and thrown Miles in, but that was all.

He gives the mass of pillows around them a contemplative look, and when he turns to Heather, he's smiling, just a bit.

"Sure!"

"Never?!"

Heather mimes an expression of ABSOLUTE SHOCK AND HORROR.

"Jeez, did you EVER have a childhood? C'mon, I'll show ya the ropes."

This was what Heather was better at than comforting-- the part where you smiled through the bad stuff. This, friends, was how she functioned. Maybe it was sort of childish, and maybe it WAS a little evasive on top of that, but... hey. It had kept her alive more than once. Standing up (and presumably forcing him to as well, if he wanted to stay clinging), she gestured out across the (mediocre SO FAR, anyway) assortment of blankets and pillows she had been arranging.

"You have much to learn, young grasshopper."

"Well-- Phoenix and Larry made one, once, but I was too clumsy and kept breaking it so they just made it for me.." He kind of hides his face in embarrassment.

"I don't know if I'll be able to do it right."

Well Heather, at least kid was cheered up a bit, now.

... She can't help but snort at that mental image.

"Aw, don't worry. I promise not to make fun of you TOO much if you mess up!" SHE TEASES, SHE TEASES. "Here, you can start by stacking some of those pillows over there."

HE IS EMBARRASSED FOREVER but stacking pillows-- that he can do. ~~He might be better at tying blankets if he'd only known how to tie a cravat.~~

"A-all right."

He picks up some of the indicated pillows and starts stacking them.

There are a great many number of ways to make a fort. Tying stuff ain't always necessary!

So, as Edgeworth starts to stack the pillows, Heather disappears briefly to grab some more, bigger ones-- to serve as a 'roof'.

---and on the way, Heather, you might run into the kid's Growlithe Pess, who's running down the stairs with a bunch of blankets held tightly in her mouth.

Wh-- Cujo? Heather thought she told you to stay upstairs (because he would totally rampage around and destroy the whole fort in his excitement otherwise)-- ... oh wait!

"Hey there, Pess-- aw, what's that you got there?"

WHY COULDN'T CUJO BE WELL-BEHAVED LIKE PESS.

"Lithe!" is Pess' muffled reply as she waves the blankets proudly, spinning herself around Heather's ankles. She'd stolen even more from Phoenix, Heather, aren't you proud?

....If Heather saw the way Pess and her puppy catapults Miles off his bed sometimes, she might doubt her mental exclamation.

Cue sax of the yackety variety.

...And then Miles' dysfunctional family grows.

Heather is used to dysfunctional families. 8Ib It just doesn't get worse than Dahlia.

Until you get TWO Dahlias. 8(

8(; POINT

I HOPE IT NEVER HAPPENS 8(

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