hashtagafreakingghost | Fourth 👻 Story [Video/Action for Goldenrod]

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Fourth 👻 Story [Video/Action for Goldenrod]

[VIDEO]

[It's flashback time on multiple levels. A waxy stub brushes over the PokéGear's lens, leaving the view muddy. A blurred hand swipes at it, as if it's trying to either knock the camera away or snatch it up and away, jury's out on which one. From the frustrated grunt accompanying it, seems like either would be preferable.

Whoever's holding the PokéGear, however, doesn't let go, instead jumping away. "Wick lit, wick!" Okay so it's a Litwick, now...desperately trying to get the camera to focus on the owner of the small hand. After a few seconds it works well enough, waxy fingerprints aside, and the one staring her down is an auburn-haired little girl, kneeling on a hotel bed. Around eight, maybe ten? Her small stature and incredible baby-face make it hard to tell if she's just a late bloomer or not. However old she is, she's pouting something fierce. A blanket's draped over her head and a discarded Pokémon Handbook lays open by her knees.]

Give it back, pl-please, I don't wanna!

[With each word, the defiant expression she's tried to keep up slips a little more, until she's genuinely...less distressed and more shy, and she pulls the blanket down so it's covering half of her face. Ashley is absolutely positively miserable.]

Go away. Turn it o-off, 'veryone's just gonna...

[...And there goes the other half of the blanket and she's just a blanket-girl now. Congrats.

Agatha the Litwick sighs and then lets out a confused "Lit?" The view shifts just a hair to the right, to a Ralts also standing on the bed. She shakes her head as the blanket-girl begins to whimper and just takes the 'Gear as if she's taking a selfie.]

Hello. Something seems to have gone quite terribly wrong. My trainer's somehow devolved, and she has no idea-

I WANNA GO HOOOME! 'V-VE NEVER EVEN PL-PLAYED A- A- [And now just wailing. Jane the Ralts winces.]

...where she is. We are...not doing very well in comforting her.

[Agatha's gone to try and fix Ashley! ...It doesn't seem to be working.]

I hope this isn't going to be a permanent change.

[ACTION FOR GOLDENROD / 3/12-3/14]

[Eventually Ashley will venture outside. At least she has a sensible outfit for this place. She's never out by herself, instead often holding hands with her Froslass (who is just a little shorter than her) or generally with any number of her Pokémon on hand, as she has never been out in a city by herself before. Back when they were actual kids Mike tried to get her to go exploring or adventuring but she always said no, because they could get in trouble or get hurt, and her mom would yell at her, so this feels bad and weird, but staying in that hotel room all the time's not fun either, and she has to find some way to call her parents!

While she has the natural instinct to clam up if anyone tries to talk to her or shy away from interaction, if she spies something that interests her like cute Pokémon or a bookstore or the Game's Corner, she'll get caught in one-track mode and go investigate. Curiosity, it truly is a beast. The earlier on you encounter her, the more withdrawn and upset she'll be, but she has to be brave! Or at least try to be. She's more inclined to get drawn in by an unfamiliar sight the longer the week goes on.

Ashley trips up a little on Friday night, as she...kind of gets distracted at the bookstore for too long, though, and when she realizes it's far too late, it's night. Like, pitch-black-stores-are-closing night. So that's a big problem, because guess who is absolutely terrified of the dark?

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[A trembling little nod. She's shuffled close enough so that she can just lean against the wall and slide down it. No more standing on shaking legs, instead kneeling next to him and his...weird cat-thing.

She'd cried out for so long when she woke up, waiting for her mom or her dad to answer her calls and come chase the nightmares away. It's only when she realized they weren't coming that she remembered where she was.]

There were... [No no. She can't tell a kid so young, not about this. She grasps a fistful of her billowed shirt until it hurts.] It was bad. D-did you?

[For a long moment, his only answer is to hold onto Hutch and say nothing, still but for shivering, like all the blankets in the world couldn't remind him how to be warm. Eventually, he pulls back and nudges Hutch towards Ashley, wiping his face with his other arm, and nods.]

Mm. A-a-afore the onions.

[He sits back against the wall and pulls the blanket over his head and around himself, curls up within it, tucks himself in as small as he can go. He's a quivering ball of leftover terror, but his voice comes out hollow. Blank.]

You're asposed to wake up. When you die in a dream.

[Hutch looks torn, trapped between what Dave wants him to do and the anguish of his trainer, and he just lies down between them, ears tucked back low, silent and nonthreatening.]

[She's not used to little kids...but she knows they usually don't sound like that. She sniffles and runs the back of her hand over her cheeks. Seems like she's stopped actively crying, at least.]

You didn't?

[With the other hand, she tentatively reaches over and touches Hutch. So soft. So soft and nice. It means she can scoot just a bit closer.]

...I didn't either.

[Dave goes quiet and still, even the shivering stopping, for a moment. He peeks out from the blankets at her, like empathy and gravity exert the same physical pull.]

...What happened...?

[He realizes suddenly that he's talking to someone he doesn't recognize, a girl he doesn't know, and he turns his face away, draws the blanket so tight around his head and shoulders that only a tuft of pale hair sticks out.]

You, you can hug Hutch if you wanna. He's strong.

[One of Hutch's ears twitches, but even if Dave didn't ask, the little shit, he tilts his head up into Ashley's hand so she can know it's okay.]

[Ah. Oh, he really is...nice.] Like a big kitty.

[Don't mind her, just murmuring and petting. Her head sinks down toward her collarbone, though, her other hand gripping her arm, like a half-hug.]

Um... Bad things. Big...monsters and...buzzing- [She shakes her head.] You don't wanna know.

[Hutch licks her hand gently with a tiny pink tongue, and Dave's voice comes as if from a million miles away.]

I was flying...

[He trails off, but wherever the thought takes him, it's nowhere good. He hunches forward into his knees, shaking again worse than ever.]

It k...it, it k-, it ke--kept happening, over an' over, no matter wh-what I did...I, I kept fucking up...

[The last note breaks, high and brittle, and dissolves into weak sobs again.]

[Oh. Oh no- He's really crying, really badly, and Ashley knows if she was in this position, this wouldn't work, but maybe- when she was a little kid, she did like feeling someone there, so.

She's already close enough that she just needs to lean over Hutch and put her arms around him really quickly. Just a girl grabbing a kid in a blanket, as if she's his lifeline, or maybe he's hers, or something.]

Uh-uh. U-u- uh-uh, it's n- not h-here. [He said a bad word.] N...not here. Not yours, n- not m...mine.

[Well, that move startles a frightened squeak out of him, and Hutch darts quickly out of the way of these human comfort maneuvers, though he doesn't go far. But when Ashley doesn't hurt him, when she just tries in her childish, stammering way to comfort him, Dave sags all over, leans, shuddering, into her hug. Hutch comes back, too, resettles himself with his back against Dave's legs, head on Ashley's knee.]

I--I--I kept saying, I don't wanna play anymore, and nobody l-listened...

[The blanket shifts as he lifts his hands and bows his face into them, wipes his eyes against his palms by shaking his head.]

Don't wanna play...

[Play? Play what? What happened? What did someone do? His distress grabs at Ashley's heart and squeezes, so tight she can hardly breathe, and when she's able to get a gasping breath, tears come with it.

She blinks them out, one after another, and though she has the warmth of another person and a Pokémon on her, goosebumps prickle her arms.]

Y-you don't have to. [Thick voice, little hiccup.] No- no b-bad games.

[He whimpers quietly, but it's with relief, and he just continues to hide in Ashley's shoulder until his weeping quiets to wet breaths and snuffles, silent jumps of his back under her arm. He wipes his eyes with the back of his hand, beneath the blanket.]

You're nice...

[Snrff. Hic, hic. He swallows, then looks up at her, face red and grubby from all the crying.]

You, you won't tell people I cried...? I'm big 'nuff, I--I can take care myself.

[He is the opposite of big. He's over a head shorter than her, and thin.]

[Ah. He's looking at her now, so she can't be crying, can she? She's the big kid, so she has to be composed and not a crybaby.

...Fat chance of that, though, and as she tries to swallow her own sobs, it just makes her hiccup, even as she scrubs at her face with her palm.]

O-of course... Wouldn't tell anyone. You d-don't have to... I mean, I don't really care i-if, anyone asks...b-but I won't tell anyone about you. That'd be like...bullying.

[He sniffs again, nods, and rubs the heel of his hand one more time against his damp eyes. He averts his gaze politely, but he keeps glancing up, shy and unsure, but eventually, he opens one side of the blanket to her.]

Do you wanna...there's lots of room. A-and monsters can't get you inside.

[She looks down...and then at Hutch, and then just glances away and.]

They really can't? Um... Okay. 'Kay, then, yeah.

[And just shuffles over into the blanket with him. It really is soft and comfortable.]

[Dave arranges the blanket fussily so they're both fully covered, fully protected. He's old enough to know monsters both are and aren't real; and he doesn't understand, not consciously, but something in him knows that sometimes the ones that aren't are the ones that are scarier.

Blankets and lights only help against the latter, but they do help.

He leans back against the wall, and then sighs and rests against her arm, a little ball of warmth and fluffy hair.]

Hutch, k-keep watch, okay?

[The Umbreon looks at them, blinks slowly in acknowledgement, and turns to face the hall, a silent sentinel.]

[And a guard dog-cat-thing. Alright. Ashley feels a bit more comfortable with that. This lithe kid against her, the both of them wrapped in a fluffy cocoon. It helps, to get her to stop thinking about the bad things. Buzzing and screeching, something tight around her wrists, screams.

Her body starts to tense again. Instead-]

U-um, is. Is Karkat your...a kitty? Or...your mom or dad?

[Pffhfhfahh. Dave's not really in a laughing frame of mind, but he shakes with a brief, silent chuckle anyway. The mental image is too hilarious and wrong.]

Nooo. Karkat's my friend. He's an aliemb, but not anymore.

[Soft breath out. He feels bad about it, man.]

I don't have a mom and dad. We take care each other instead.

N-no mom or dad? [Just the thought of it makes her whimper a little- because she can't even imagine...]

'm sorry. I didn't mean ta... [Gulp.] H-he's a nice alien? One of my new friends really really likes them.

[She's had just the right amount of what the heck happen to her that someone casually mentioning aliens is just...alright. Okay. Sure.]

...Mhm.

[It feels a little bit wrong of him to out Karkat as the squishiest marshmallow, but Dave doesn't want to make fun. He's still too shaken up.]

He tenslike he's mad all the time, but he--he's the best. The bestest aliemb.

[He puts two fingers idly in his mouth, mumbles around them.]

He yells 'cause he's scared of loving everybody. Hurts too much when they're bad.

Oh.

[That sounds so sad. She doesn't say so, just curls her toes into the blanket's soft fabric.]

...So you didn't wanna wake him up...so he wouldn't be hurt or sad.

[She bites down on the inside of her mouth.]

Th-that's real...considerate.

[Con-sid-er-ate.

Dave mouths the word to himself, tries to remember what it means, but it's no use. His brain can't hold onto the syllables, and he sighs.]

He doesn't sleep 'nuff.

[Neither does Dave, neither has Dave ever, but it's different when he's the one on the outside looking in.]

He says it's okay but--but that's weird. Everybody needs sleep. But...but only if he can have nice dreams.

[He huddles in smaller.]

It's not fair.

I don't know how to make nightmares go away. Mom or dad always makes mine...

[She trails off and twiddles her fingers, wrapping them up in each other.]

B-but n... not like these. I dunno how to make bad ones go 'way.

[Especially for little kids. Which is what she assumes Karkat also is.]

...How.

[He looks up at her, solemn.]

How do they make them go away?

[Oh. Oh right, he doesn't... She stares back for a moment but can't keep her gaze locked, looking down instead.]

Um. They just... When I have a bad dream, I call out for them and one of them or b-both come in and just...stay with me. 'Cause it's not real. It's not there. And they say they'll protect me...and nothing bad'll happen...and dad'll make me smile. And mom'll chase all the monsters away.

[She glances back for a moment, just one.]

And I believe them.

...I'll protect you.

[After a moment, he looks down, too, shy.]

I know I'm little, but. But I'm really fast, promise, and I know...mm, mar-tial arts, and...you're nice.

[His fingers twist in the folds of the blanket, kneading it while they remember the weight of a sword.]

You can stay with me and Hutch. We won't let bad things happen to you.

[Obviously, that kind of declaration would get anyone to look to them. Ashley stares at him, as if she doesn't comprehend what he said, or what he means, or anything about the situation.]

Wh...why? Just...just 'cause... This? You're...even younger, 'nd I'm...

[There has to be a reason why she can't seem to keep friends for very long. Has to. She just can't vocalize it.]

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knightoftimeout - 2016-05-26 13:04 (UTC) - Expand

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hashtagafreakingghost - 2016-05-27 08:51 (UTC) - Expand

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