likewatson | 010 [text]

[Welp, that sure is a thing, all right.

But of course, you might be asking yourself, how did Clara end up in control of Harry's Gear in the first place? And that is a very good question — one that, to answer it, we need to rewind the clock back to a simpler, quieter era, where man and Pokemon lived in peace and all was harmonious in the world.

So in other words, about fifteen minutes ago.

Coincidentally, "fifteen minutes ago" also happens to be the point when Carmen Sandiego arrived in Cerulean City, soaring high on the wings of her marshmallow owl and scoping the ground for the sight of a now-familiar cowboy hat. They did this once before, in Cherrygrove, back when Harry had first arrived and she'd made her mad dash for Dale Cooper's sake; today, she's riding an owl instead of a dragon, and there's no real hurry — just the faintly insistent eagerness to see the familiar face of a good friend.

She'd arrived, greetings had been exchanged, the obligatory courtesies had been bodyslammed through, and then she and Harry had gone to one of the nearby street cafes to stake their claim to a table on the patio, leaving their rosters to play in the establishment's courtesy playground for Pokemon attached around the side.

And here they are, and Harry's here, and Carmen's here, and she found him, and she's smiling.]

What a sight for sore eyes you are, Sheriff.

[And Harry —

Well. It's a little complicated, for Harry. He was actually nervous about this reunion for who knows what reason. Maybe because it's been so long and so much happened between when Cooper disappeared and now, like Cooper coming back and disappearing again. Or maybe it's just because Carmen seems to make him nervous, regardless. Not a bad kind of nervous, mind, just generally —

Fluttery is an inaccurate because of the way people usually use it in casual conversation (like, to describe romantic feelings, which is so far off base it's not even in the field anymore), but let's go with that. Generally fluttery. What he's feeling more than anything right now, though, is relief.

And he's smiling, too, absently turning and turning the cup of coffee in front of him.]

You too, Carmen. What brings you to Cerulean, anyway?

[Well, far be it from her to actually help with alleviating those feelings of flutterdom.]

You did.

[In a sense, and with a certain amount of explanation attached — but keeping things concise is a good way of making a point, and so she does. She also leaves a space between words here, so he can linger on the implications of that for a few moments before she clarifies.]

I didn't leave Blackthorn by choice. A few weeks ago, I ended up thrown to Pewter City—

[Absently, she touches her fingers to her eyebrow, running the pads of her gloved fingertips over the skin like she's remembering something that isn't there.]

—It's not the first time that's happened; the last time, it was Azalea Town. In any case, I was there awhile. [Pause.] But you asked me to come home.

[And linger he does. Up go the eyebrows and everything, though just a fraction, and they're down again by the time she picks up where she left off.

He nods, turns his attention to his coffee for a moment.]

Yeah, I've heard that happens. This isn't exactly home, though, is it?

That depends on if you think "home" is a place or a person.

[He's right, though. This isn't home. She has a small handful of places and people she'd give that designation to, and this isn't one of them. But with Hiccup on the other side of the world and Coop even farther out of reach, Harry's not quite home but he's close enough to pass.]

[Harry's not sure whether to say he'd love it if she'd come back to the Farm, or whether he should keep that to himself, but he'd love it if she'd come back.

But that's a little selfish.

A slight shift in topic:] What have you been up to?

[There's no polite or tidy way of saying, "becoming the unofficial protégé of a sociopathic monster no wait hang on I didn't mean it like that", so she doesn't. But that's fine, because there are other things she's been up to, instead — ones better suited to a casual afternoon conversation.]

I rented a house for a short while, back in Pewter. Spending a week cooped up inside with my entire roster loose and Zack forbidden from playing on my Gear was an...interesting experience. Hiccup's in Cinnabar; another young acquaintance of mine disappeared for home. And it was Father's Day this past Sunday, of course.

[Well all that sounds... not very fun, but such has been the trend, he guesses. Worlds flipping upside down and inside out, people coming and going, stumbling off elsewhere. He frowns a little, then tilts his head.

Wait.]

Your — all your pokémon? Loose at once?

Forty-nine.

[Can you just hear the exhaustion lurking underneath her tone.]

I pulled them out of the PC because of the way things were glitching. I didn't want to take the risk of leaving them trapped in there if something happened to disrupt that system, among everything else that was behaving strangely those days.

...don't you have a whale?

[Because.

Harry's having some problems picturing this in his head.]

The whale came third to the incredibly violent man-sized stag beetle and the murderous dream-haunting ghost.

[Sigh.]

Like I said; it was an interesting week.

Jeez, Carmen.

[And he thought the flesh-eating snowflake in the backyard was bad.

...oh, hey.]

Speaking of murderous pokemon, there are some new additions to the house. We got a pool! And... Albert keeps his giant flesh-eating snowflake in there.

[...what.]

Albert has a what?!

[WHO JUST CASUALLY REMARKS, "OH, SPEAKING OF MURDEROUS POKEMON" LIKE HE'S COMMENTING ON THE WEATHER?

...and why does Albert even have a — no you know what DOES SHE EVEN WANT TO KNOW]

A Cryogonal. It's — it's literally a giant snowflake. And it's carnivorous. Since it's so hot out, if we don't keep it in the pool, it'll turn to steam, and... well, he keeps it chained up. So.

[So that would be a PROBLEM.]

I've heard of the Pokemon, but why in the world would he catch one?

[IS HE CRAZY.]

Because he's Albert?

[WHAT OTHER EXPLANATION IS THERE? He probably wants to do science to it.]

010 [text]

action;

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