tapestodiane | 025

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025 - video

[It's probably been a while since the network heard from this guy. It's safe to say he's been preoccupied - between being lightly obsessed with Tetris, the Halloween possession thing happening (which actually affected him more than he cares to admit), the train hijacking and those three days ... he's had a lot to think about. And, in truth, still has.]

[But Christmas perked him up and with the new year just around the proverbial corner he's feeling like things just might get better, and you know what else never fails to lift his spirits?]

[Local wildlife.]

[That's right. So today the network is treated to a video of a group of trees. It's pretty early so the sunlight is warm and yellow and sparkles just so in the snow, and as the video sloooowly zooms in on one tree in particular ... you can see there's a Hoothoot snugly nestled in a hollow of the trunk, looking asleep and kind of ruffled up.]

[It's actually a very beautiful image, because Cooper has a tendency to catch them like that.]

[And then he zooms out. ...no, wait, he's zooming in again - a little closer this time, really focusing on that sleepy little owl. Despite his thing with birds, he can always appreciate them from a distance. And this little fellow is admittedly very cute.]

Look at that.

The spitting image of comfort. Right there.

[He sounds sort of breathless and utterly wistful, then zooms out again just for a pan of the scenery - snowy tree trunks and the little lake behind him. The water isn't all frozen yet so the sunlight gets to show off in the surface there, too, before Coop aims the gear back towards the bird and zooms in on it again.]

Almost makes you jealous, doesn't it?

[Action for anyone in Ecruteak! He's hanging out just on the edge of the forest, stalking the wildlife.]

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_{[AWESOME, he's not pissed off. This clearly means that she needs to nail him with another one the moment he turns around. But for now she just grins back. WHAT A LOVELY MORNING-- oh and here comes Cujo.]

[He always goes running off during morning walks and now he's gallumphing back over to Heather like a big orange juggernaut-- giving her the convenient excuse to break off the (long-distance) eye contact. She can't throw snowballs while he's facing her, after all. That'd give her away.]}

_{[He's fully expecting another snowball at this point, though, and he's not going to play the unsuspecting target that easily - so he just sticks his hands in his pockets, leans lightly against one of the nearby trees and watches the pair.]

[He'll see if you're trying to throw something at him, Heather. Bwahahhaa.]}

_{[Darnit Cooper, don't you know you're supposed to play along? GOSH.]

[Needless to say, she notes him watching them out of the corner of her eye-- well that just won't do. And she can't just walk away, either. That'd be like losing!]

[So after a couple minutes of dodging happy dog 'attacks', once she's sure the 'target' isn't just gonna turn away, she leans down to ruffle Cujo's thick neckfur with both hands, and while doing so, discretely mumbles the secret command ("Go get 'em").]

["Go get 'em" pretty much refers to anybody, although usually she POINTS at the person she wants Cujo to go and mob with his slobber and enthusiasm and smelly snow-covered coat. Right now she's not pointing to anybody, so he just sort of spins excitedly for a moment (not too out of the ordinary) before deciding she must have meant the only other visible person around-- the nice guy over there leaning against a tree!]

[INCOMING GROWLITHE.]

[With Heather waving her arms as though she totally did not intend for this to happen.]}

HEY! COOJ!

_{[Oh, she's good. She's VERY good. And she almost fooled him, too, but he's pretty damn sure she sent the growlithe that is coming right there oh haha HELLO, GROWLITHE IN THE FACE.]

[That does a pretty good job of distracting him, no lie. But he's spent enough time with Tricia to just accept the dog, in a sense - he immediately offers pettings to get Cujo to sort of sink back down in the happy yes yes scratch me there no lower-thing that Trish does all the.]

[Then again, Tricia always did seem a LITTLE more focused than Cujo, but ... well, here's hoping? Maybe they're not too different.]

[So he does that, and honestly in part because he can't help himself. He's gotten so much more confident with animals during his stay here and now when he knows how to handle them, he really just wants to. So he really doesn't mind Cujo's rather sudden and demanding presence.]

[He does look around to see where Heather went, though, because no, he did not forget about her.]}

_{[YEAH. SHE REALLY IS. B)]

[Heather grins shamelessly as the FBI agent gets engulfed with dog-- Cujo might be big and rambunctious, but he treats everyone as his best friend. That is to say, with lots of slobber and enthusiasm. He is rather susceptible to scratching though, so while he may not be nearly as focused as Tricia, he rather quickly melts into a happy, snow-covered, upside-down puddle at Cooper's feet. BELLY RUBS BELLY RUBS OMG PLEASE?!]

[He's quite the distraction indeed.]

[... Too bad Cooper looks up at Heather right at that moment, though-- because she was absolutely right in the middle of winding up a throw like a baseball pitcher. ... Except instead of a baseball it was a snowball.]

[And he, you know, turned around.]

[Cue the quickest faux-innocent about-face in the history of about-faces. She shoves the snowball into the pocket of her coat in the process.]}

_{[Oh, that's ... not obvious at all. Though he does consider himself pretty lucky that he didn't look up a second later, or he probably would have gotten that thing square in the face.]

[He fixes her with a look and leans down, rubbing at Cujo's fluffy stomach with one hand ... and then he abandons that in favour of gathering snow instead, because you know what?]

[If she's going to do this he's not going down without some resistance.]

[So he's looking at her and making a snowball and his expression is the kind of neutral that could go either way, but right now he's really just sizing her up.]

[He's got a snowball and she's got a snowball. WELL. HOW WILL THIS END.]}

_{[One of the nice things about winter clothes, whether it's a scarf or a high-collared coat, is that you can sort of bury your face in them up to your nose. This is good both for staying warm and hiding incriminating grins. The latter of which she NEEDS to do once he gives her that LOOK.]

[Aw man, busteeed.]

[But it's not until he comes up with a snowball of his OWN that she gives him a slightly incredulous look. ... Really? You really wanna go here, Coop? You do know you're challenging a snowball CHAMP, right? Can you handle this?]

[At first she just stands there (one could expect a tumbleweed to blow by)-- but then, just as Cujo scrambles upright and attempts to shove his snout into Cooper's hand to get at the snowball (what, it looks tasty!), she pulls out her own snowball and CHUCKS it. ... With quite a bit less accuracy than before, since she's in a hurry.]}

_{[Yeah, he ducked that pretty easily - it just barely brushed his shoulder - but Cujo manages to get a bit of a nibble out of his own snowball in that time, so he pushes the fire dog back, then waits a second, aims thoroughly ...]

[And throws. With what is probably surprising precision.]

[Not his usual brand of ridiculous though, he still has to get used to how far snow goes when thrown, but in all honesty?]

[He can probably give you a challenge for that champion title, Heather.]

[It is so on.]}

_{[Actually given his accuracy, he might be able to skip the 'challenge' and just TAKE the title. She's totally just assuming that, being the srs bsns cop and all, snowball fights are beyond his professional sensibilities.]

[She needs to learn to STOP assuming things.]

[The ball nails her in the shoulder and she stumbles backwards, yelping.]}

HEY!

_{[Dude, how had he thrown from that far-- okay, she's bending down to gather up more snow. IT IS INDEED SO ON.]}

_{[He doesn't answer but her calling out like that makes him grin a little crookedly because that? Was a fine hit, if he may say so himself.]

[he makes a shooing motion Cujo's way before he leans down again to make another snowball. He's not as fast as her because in order to BE precise, he has to make pretty even snowballs and he's out of practise, but he can still make up for it with his ridiculous sense of accuracy.]

[... and hey, he still has the cover of trees, should he need them. It'll just be two steps back and he'll be sort of protected. Aw, yes.]

[Not gonna do that right now though, that wouldn't be particularly fun.]

[Aaaand a THROWww- aiming for the same shoulder, just to be annoying.]}

_{[It hits her again-- same spot-- as she straightens up with a particularly large snowball.]

[Cujo is successfully shoo'd, although it's admittedly mainly because Coop threw that ball. The Growlithe is an easily-distracted beast, so he just sort of takes off running happily.]

[Heather, meanwhile, takes a half-running start before hurling the snowball in Coop's direction with a little more accuracy. TAKE THAT!]}

_{[HE TAKES IT - in the chest, but he's undeterred!]

[He even makes a little 'yah!' sound when he throws the next one (aiming for the same spot again, just because he can), and now he's getting comfortable with how the snow behaves and how to handle it and, as a result, getting confident.]

[...and as a result of THAT, getting into it. Congratulations, Heather, the FBI agent is playing with you!]}

_{[It's like a Christmas New Year's miracle. She knew he had a playful side in there somewhere, and they can both probably agree that this kind of fight is much more preferable to that possessed altercation on Halloween.]

[She lets out a bark of triumph when hers hits him, but lifts an arm to block the next one-- damn his aim is good.]

[Now she's running to the side, aiming for some snowbank cover and shielding her face from any potential incoming missiles with that arm.]}

_{[Yes, this is much better - and easier on the mind, especially in Cooper's case. It's safe to say he won't have to mull this over and feel guilty about it later, which is a pretty nice change from his usual behaviour.]

[When she stops to get away he pauses to quickly dry his hands on his coat and get some gloves on, because ... well, cold. Leaves him open for a few seconds, but hey. He'll try to step into some kind of cover himself.]

[Not the FOREST, but there is like, two lone trees a bit from it some distance away, and he'll head there.]}

_{[DUCKING BEHIND THE SNOWBANK-- it's not as good as a fort, but she doesn't exactly have time to construct one. And besides, she likes roughin' it.]

[Once she's back there, she starts grabbing handfuls of snow out of it and hastily shaping them into spheres. As she does so, she hollers over the top of the bank.]}

YOU DO KNOW THIS IS WAR, RIGHT?

_{[War, huh? He grins, because he can live with this kind of war. He doesn't shout back quite so loud, but she can probably hear him easily anyway - it's pretty quiet out, after all. Still early, few people.]}

Self defense, Heather!

_{[SO THERE. She started it.]

[And because he knows she's probably loading up on snowballs, he's going to have to do the same. Remembering the small, rough-and-tumble neighborhood he grew up in, though, he realizes some kind of wall/fort/barricade might have to go first, so he kicks up some snow to go between the two trees - real quick, stomps it down to get a foundation, he'll have to keep working on that as he goes, and then gets down behind one of the trunks because WHO KNOWS when Heather will show her face and start throwing those snowballs she's undoubtedly been making...]}

Can you prooooove I threw the first one?

CAN you?

_{[Shouted tauntingly. She knows she's the only one around who could have, but hey. It's fun to argue.]

[Needless to say, she's all about working FAST, so before too much time has elapsed, she pops back up and hurls several in his direction in a small volley. RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!]}

_{[He doesn't answer that, but he does grin to himself, because given enough time he probably could without the shadow of a doubt - that said, he doesn't feel very inclined to, and he needs to make MOAR SNOWBALLS.]

[Hers swish by not soon after and he has to stand behind the tree kind of comically like people in cartoons in order to not get hit because they're really not that thick and leaning out even to check what's happening is totally dangerous in this game.]

[He doesn't feel up for snowballs in the face, after all, and a few of those came pretty close to his hiding place. He's sure at least one hit the tree trunk.]

[When he thinks she's at least temporarily out he sloooowly leans out to check ... he thinks he's in the clear, but he can't be too sure ...]

[and then decides that he'll take that chance, gathers up his handful of snowballs and starts throwing back.]

[She's probably already taken cover, but you know what, whatever. If he gets one or two lucky shots in, he might get her anyway.]}

_{[His luck's run out for the moment-- although his snowballs sail neatly over the snowbank where she's hiding and paff into the snow somewhere beyond, there's no yelp or general noise of outrage that would indicate she's been hit.]

[This is because when he ducked for cover himself, she'd scurried around the bank and thrown herself to the ground-- crawling swiftly behind a smaller bank on her stomach.]

[Once, over a year ago, Old Snake had taught her some stealth basics. She doesn't have the handy-dandy cardboard box he'd given her, but then again, it probably wouldn't be much use out in the snow.]

[But HEY if she can get closer without getting hit.... >8)]}

_{[Aah, he's gonna have to give it to her - she's definitely a clever girl, and a worthy opponent.]

[He doesn't stop to look too hard, but kicks up some more snow on the will-at-some-point-be-cover and goes to cover behind the next tree, keeping an ear out.]

[He thinks she might have moved, but he's not sure IF and even less sure WHERE. He obviously also knows a thing or two about stealthing, what with the many times he's gone undercover and on stakeouts, and even if it's not like ... military training or whatever it's still something he kinda knows.]

[But for now, he'll make more snowballs, and just ... listen.]}

_{[It's hard to be totally silent in snow-- which Heather finds out quickly the first couple of times she tries to get closer. CRUNCH CRUNCH-SQUEAK-- dammit.]

[Okay, so she'll just... crawl VERY SLOWLY to the next back. ... Keeping her head down while she does.]}

_{[He totally heard her. Which means he's got a general direction to go for, but he still doesn't want to try and spot her. And when he loses, well, hear of her when she slows down, because that does work in her favour, he slowly stands, leans close against the tree and listens some more.]

[Nothing like trying to hear where people are than being as quiet as you can yourself, after all.]}

_{[This is so intense. So intense.]

[You know that giggly feeling you get in sneaking games like this, where it's so hard to avoid cracking yourself up and giving yourself away, but otherwise the jig is up and you'll ruin the fun?]

[Heather's dealing with that, but to her credit, she's biting back the urge to just throw herself out of her cover and cackle maniacally.]

[Slooooowly crawling....]

[Somewhere there's the plodding noise of snow slipping off a tree branch and hitting the ground, but it's hard to say if it's HER or not.]}

_{[Well, he's going to assume it's her. She knows where HE is - him, he has to take chances.]

[So he does, swiftly turning and tossing a snowball in that direction, eyes narrowing as he scans the area. Still quiet. Maybe she'll give herself away.]

[If it WASN'T her, there's still a small chance she might react to it if she was close by, after all.]

[He's got a few snowballs in his coat pockets at this point because they are big and easily accessible enough, and he's just lurking behind his tree.]

[.. and yes. Yes, it's SO intense and actually a TON of fun. Who knew sneaking around could be such a blast when there aren't real weapons involved?]}

_{[... Okay, she can't wait too long. Life is short. At the sound of the plopping snow far away, Heather leans up briefly to check on his positio-- HOLY SHIT HE'S LOOKING IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!!]

[Instantly she snatches up a handful of snow, compressing it in her fingers, and chucks it at the agent while his head's turned.]

[... She TRIES to duck back down as soon as it's thrown, but it's a wild move and she probably gave herself away.]}

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