tapestodiane | 021

Entry tags:

021 - audio

Does anyone else play Tetris?

_{[Guess who finally discovered the game apps on his 'gear! And guess who's been playing the games ever since! Spoiler: this guy. Cooper sounds pretty excited, actually, in that almost kid-like way that the ones who know him will probably recognise. He speaks fast and chipper.]}

Damn good game. Very engaging, very challenging. I've yet to get past the 100 lines mark, but I'd very much like to believe I'm getting there.

_{[Beat. You know, sometimes he really doesn't want to be here, but this games-in-the-gears-thing certainly picked him up.]}

Falling puzzle pieces _[:D] ... that Minesweeper game isn't half bad, either. And if I've got my facts right there are more games available for purchase at the PokéMarts. So, Network: any recommendations?

_{[You should be able to HEAR the grin in his voice, seriously.]} Nothing like a good game to keep you occupied.

_[Action_{for anyone in Ecruteak! You're likely to find him somewhere in the middle of town on a park bench or something, cross-legged with an Eevee asleep in his lap, playing Tetris on his 'gear like a boss.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Cooper is too - he genuinely adores that fluffy critter, and perhaps even moreso because she was Dee's.]

[He nods, looks out across the town ... and can't help a small grin brought on by the combination of pokémon moving about, the gorgeous fall colours and the fact that yeah - for the first time in what feels like quite a while, his default mood is okay.]}

Can't complain.

_{[See, Cooper? Letting people in HELPS.]

[She grins, in turn, ruffling the Eevee's ears up some more.]}

Yeah.

Sure can't.

_{[Not TODAY, anyway.]

[Damn nice day.]}

_{[-- w-well, yeah. But only as long as they stick around...]

[He reaches out to scratch the the Eevee beneath her chin and down towards her chest fluff absently and throws his other arm up on the back of the bench, looking pretty much at ease.]

[Damn nice day indeed.]}

You know what they say about fall, Heather?

_{[PSH. Better to have good memories about them than have them all tainted by 'I wish I could have...'!]

[Heather leans back against the bench as well, looking over at him with one side of her mouth quirked up.]}

Nope. What do they say about fall?

That it's the year's last but loveliest smile.

_{[He throws her a warm grin.]}

Can you see it?

_{[She pauses thoughtfully, looking around at the fiery colors blooming over the town's rooftops, smile growing.]}

... Y'know, I think I can. ... That's a nice saying. I like it!

_{[Winter was more of a grin, really... a cold, hungry grin.]}

_{[Or fragile, brittle remains of what used to be as opposed to what devoured it. It all depends on how you look at it, doesn't it?]}

Yeah ... Fall just might be my favourite. Now, there is something to be said for every season but there's just something about the beautiful way everything goes to lie in wait that I find very appealing.

_{[There's a light sweeping gesture to that. He's really been enjoying fall since it kicked in properly. First time he's had the opportunity to really sit back and do so.]}

_{[INDEED IT DOES. Heather is ... frequently morbid, though.]}

Fall's okay...

I guess if I take away the whole 'Ew, going back to school' association, it might be my favorite.

Are you saying you don't like school?

_{[Just a hint of a dry kind of teasing teasing there. (How could you not like school? Gasp! Shock!)]}

_{[IT'S A TRAVESTY.]

[She snorts.]}

What, you did?

... Actually, don't answer that. Of course you did.

I bet you were one of those kids who got up every morning like, 'Oh BOY! Time for another day of learning adventures!'

_{[He finds that quite funny. He'd laugh, but he settles with a somewhat faraway version of those probably-wellknown grins.]}

Actually, I didn't like it at all.

Really?

_{[She totally had him pegged for one of those super-earnest kids.]}

_{[Which is totally understandable, but still false. Mostly because life was beating him up pretty bad when he was a kid, and school turned into yet another thing to deal with.]

[And then there's also how he was always pretty bored with it. If he skips class to tape a sex ed class ...]}

Really. Not until college, at any rate. Those first few years just never seem to cut it, do they?

_{[Poor Coop... his life has been so rough. :(]}

I guess not.

_{[She pauses for a second, thoughtfully.]}

... What was college like?

Eventful.

_{[... to say the least, but it was a worthwhile experience. So he says it with a small contemplative smile.]}

If nothing else, it was certainly interesting. I studied prelaw, anthropology and psychology. Got to help in a study of average people gone mad and attend an autopsy.

I was in charge of a floor where almost everyone were into drugs. I also met a very interesting girl. In the end I decided to graduate early, but it's safe to say I learnt a lot in that time. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

_{[Those were the years that had really shaped him.]}

Are you in college, Heather?

_{[Heather's demeanor changes almost immediately at the question. Her mouth quirks to one side and she turns her head away as she scuffs her heel against the ground with a scrape.]}

.... Nnnnot exactly.

I just sorta... quit after high school.

_{[If her father had been alive... she'd probably have been able to scrape enough last-minute good grades together to get accepted SOMEWHERE. But after everything... she'd spent that last year of high school just forcing herself not to walk out and never look back.]}

_{[Hm. He takes a moment there to look her over, considering the meaning behind the change of tone in both words and position. In the end, he just tilts his head and reaches out to pet the Eevee again (now curled up an dozing off in her lap), so he isn't openly scrutinizing her when he speaks.]}

No plans?

Not really.

_{[It's something she still feels guilty about, even now-- although obviously being in Johto sort of relieves it a little.It's not like she could go to college here even if she WANTED to.]}

I started filling out a couple applications during my senior year but I didn't really do anything with 'em. _{[Douglas had all but BEGGED her to, and she'd sat down at the kitchen table in his stuffy little apartment and started to fill out forms, but only got so far before calling it quits.]}

You know, I didn't start college until three years after high school.

_{[He'd decided to go places instead. Get his act together. He'd been entirely too broken up about too many things to even think about further education - and he thinks that's the case with Heather, which is why he offers her that little piece of information.]}

Really?

Didn't you feel... y'know, out of place?

_{[Not having BEEN to college, she's a little stuck on the idea that she should have gone the moment she graduated-- Harry, bless his heart, had been a fairly earnest parent and had always made it SEEM a little that way when he talked about college. She hadn't minded so much because, given her not-so-spotless track record, hearing him talk that way had made it seem POSSIBLE that she could go to college.]

[And then shit had gone down.]

[So now, after graduating in limbo, the only comparison she can think of would be like... entering ninth grade at age eighteen and sticking out like a sore thumb.]}

Sure did.

_{[In Cooper's case, he'd actually done tests in order to graduate high school early, so he hadn't been outrageously older than the other college students. Still .. feeling out of place isn't exactly a new thing. He's always been the odd one out, never quite fitting in with anyone, so there's a lot more behind that confirmation.]}

But it wasn't too bad. I focused on my studies and got one or two friends along the way. There's not a lot else you can ask for from college.

I was never that good at studies.

_{[Heather was an example of a kid who was smart but had little motivation, and a distinctly un-academic disposition to boot. In the end, she'd really only wanted to succeed to make her father proud-- fuck everything else.]

[And once he was gone... as much as she STILL wanted to do well for him, it had just seemed so... hard, sometimes.]}

... or friends.

_{[GOOD ones, anyway. Between moving a lot and wasting more time trying to be a rebel than trying to find real friends, she just hadn't ... made any that lasted.]}

Edited 2011-11-02 15:45 (UTC)

_{[Well ... they've got that much in common, then. Cooper is still bad at the friends thing and before he left for three years he wasn't very motivated for studies either. So he looks into town, a little thoughtful. He knows what she means.]}

It's a learning thing, I guess.

_{[She's gotten better at the friend thing in Johto. After all, she's always been a naturally-social and outgoing person... and without the restraints of secrecy and past reputations holding her back, it's been far easier to make friends here. ... Not to mention, there was a nicer crop of GOOD PEOPLE to choose from.]}

I guess...

But yeah, uh... I wasn't really... planning on it.

I figured I'd just get a job... see where things went from there.

_{[Skipping town and just STARTING OVER somewhere else had occurred to her, too... but the world wasn't kind to eighteen-year-old girls with no family support or college education to carry them on their first time on their own.]}

_{[It really isn't. In that aspect and many more, the world is an unfair place. But he nods - it's not a bad plan. Hell, he only applied to college himself when the circus rejected him. (Said he was overqualified. Pff.)]}

Sometimes that's the best you can do, isn't it?

_{[See where things go, that is.]}

021 - audio

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action] ugh sorry this one took me so long :C

[Action] It's okay! I've been tagging slowly too. XD

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]