exeggutorhead | 65th Transformation [text

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65th Transformation [text | action for Shark House]

[There's just a short text from Envy's number today:]

Hypothetically, if you have to use a fire extinguisher on an oven, the oven would still work afterwards right?

[Any of Envy's housemates who came to investigate the mix of angry and then panicked shouting that happened shortly before that text went out will be able to find him sitting on the edge of the couch, with flecks of foam all over his front and in his hair, staring at the door to the kitchen like he'd like to murder it. There's a thick, acrid smoke spilling out of the doorway. It smells a little like oranges. But mostly just nasty burnt food.]

[Looking inside the kitchen will reveal batter covered dishes, a frying pan filled to the edges with a smoldering black thing which may have been a pancake, and a pot that's the source of most of the smoke. It's also clearly what the fire extinguisher was aimed at. No, that wasn't a hypothetical question at all.]

[Envy, in the midst of the frustration, is hoping that he's not going to have to buy Greed a new oven.]

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... Yeah.

_{[It's not a lie. That's what it had started out as, after all.]

[Her hands find their way down to her pockets, and she turns away from Envy slightly, looking back out across the scrapyard of ruined and abandoned appliances.]}

I could make things happen, just by thinking about it.

I could make problems 'go away'.

Especially if those problems were people she didn't like.

_{[Silent Hill had always had a history of mysterious disappearances. It just so happened that a few of those disappearances, circa 1980 or so, had been the result of little Alessa Gillespie wanting very much to make her Mommy happy.]}

[Envy lets out a breath. Murder might not really bother him, but she seems to mind what her mother had gotten her to do. He can hate Dahlia that much more.]

[And it's another similarity on the pile, at any rate.]

...that bitch.

[He glances to his feet, and sees a busted up old stereo. He picks it up and holds it out to her.]

Here--throw this.

[Talking about this stuff is hard. And while he didn't ask another question out loud, he's still clearly willing to listen to more.]

_{[He's right, she definitely minds. More now than she had back then, when she'd been too young to really know any better. And it wasn't as though the people she was 'taking care of' had necessarily been innocent... given the types Dahlia associated with, the targets of her careful malice could be up-and-coming rivals for power within the cult itself just as easily as well-meaning outsiders who were too close to digging up the truth. There had been plenty of both, and Alessa had been so much more practical to use than physical methods that could be tracked back to the Order.]

[No police officer would take rampant schoolyard rumors of the Gillespie girl being a witch as credible evidence, and that was the only evidence there was.]

[Throat tight, she looks back at Envy and his offering, surprised-- and then a strained but genuine smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.]}

... Thanks.

_{[She'll take it, hold it appraisingly for a moment, and then drop-kick it as hard as she can off of the junk-pile.]}

It's why we came up here, isn't it? To let off steam?

[This time, Envy returns that strained little smile, watching with her as the piece of junk bounces a few times and finally shatters against the ground.]

...you can keep talking, if you want.

[But he's gotten the answer he'd been looking for, or at least enough to make it make more sense, and he doesn't want to full on interrogate her about her past. It's up to her, now.]

[And like she'd said before, it's not like he's told her the gory details of what happened to him, either.]

_{[Puffing slightly, she nods. It's true, after all.]

[It's a moment before she answers his gentle prompt, though. DOES she want to keep talking? Not really... She NEVER wants to talk about Dahlia. But at the same time, she can't help but be... incredibly touched just at the fact that he cares. That he had every right to just be pissed off at her and instead chose to be concerned.]

[Maybe a few more details couldn't hurt. The harmless ones that don't make her feel quite as sick to talk about, the ones that Envy can maybe relate to.]}

She made sure that the best days I ever had were the ones where I did something like that for her. She'd tell me how happy Mommy was that I'd been good. Maybe give me some shiny quarters to buy ice pops at the corner store with, or just talk in a sweet tone of voice instead of screaming.

Stupid, meaningless shit like that.

But it meant everything to me back then. I thought it was proof that if I was good enough, maybe it could be like that all the time.

_{[She pauses, hands curled into tight fists.]}

But the truth was that there wasn't a single day I didn't go to school with a cut or a bruise on me, hoping that she'd have someone for me to make go away when I went home so that I could pretend I had a mom who loved me for a few hours.

[Oh, Envy can relate to this. He can relate to this a lot more than he'd like to, and the more she talks the tighter his fists clench and the more his teeth grind and eyes narrow.]

[Maybe it's hypocritical of him considering how this conversation began, but he'd throw Dahlia off a cliff in chains if he ever got half a chance. He'd do worse.]

[He rocks forward slightly, one arm moving as though he was going to lift it, maybe to hug her or put it on her shoulder, but he hesitates and holds back before it gets anywhere.]

Our mothers would get along great, wouldn't they?

[Jokes always come easiest when he doesn't know what to say, but his voice is strained with a mix of anger and sympathy and struck nerves, and the tiny laugh coloring it doesn't sound humored at all.]

...sorry.

_{[He doesn't need to apologize for making jokes about it.]

[Unlike... most people Heather knows, he's in the extremely exclusive, limited-entry club of Ones Who Understand. He has a monster of his own, and she's personally witnessed how it still has his barbs in him.]

[So although she'd remained a little stony-faced and far-off, when he apologizes, it reminds her to smile. And she does, even if it's a strained one. To show that she doesn't mind.]}

Get along?

Heh.

They'd eat each other alive.

[He's relieved when she smiles, and his own turns a little less bitter for it.]

[It's a good thing, to have someone who understands. It's a big part of why he listens to her so much, why she's able to calm him down when very few other people would be able to.]

Hah, they probably would. Mine never did like competition.

It'd save us some trouble, I guess.

Mine either.

I guess it would be a fitting end.

_{[Not as fitting as the one Dahlia ultimately received, but Heather doesn't feel like going into that. There's little satisfaction in thinking about her death.]

[Death hadn't stopped the old hag from reaching into the future and continuing to ruin the lives of those she abused in life.]}

It would be.

[Nor as fitting as Dante's, although Envy doesn't actually know what happened there. He still doesn't really believe Al that she died and didn't just slink off to lick her wounds and gather strength and servants again. He lets out a long breath.]

I'd help you with yours, if she came here.

And I don't...really mind if you kill my mother, if she shows up. So long as you don't expect me to join in.

[He's actually grateful that she keeps offering, honestly, as messed up as it is. They're messed up people.]

...but if she did, she'd be a LOT more dangerous than she was in that dream.

_{[There's a darkness in her voice as she chuckles in response to the offer. It's far different in the waking world as opposed to the dreaming one-- more self-aware, and a little self-deprecating.]}

Thanks, but nah... if she ever comes here, I want her all to myself.

_{[But she gives Envy a smile that's equal parts murky and apologetic. The combination kind of just winds up looking tired.]}

I don't mind taking yours, too.

I guess I'm greedy like that.

_{[Messed-up indeed.]}

Anyway... I'm used to fighting dangerous things. Kinda my life's work.

_{[She pauses, then shoots him another grin that's a little brighter, with a laugh in her voice as she adds--]}

Can't exactly put that on a resume back home, but... it has its perks.

[Envy sees that darkness, and it's still a little unsettling to see on HER...but not nearly so much. He's got a much better idea of where it came from, and it's something he can understand VERY well.]

Okay then, she'll be all yours. I'm not about to take someone's revenge away.

[Her reassurance makes him feel a little better, but he's still uneasy about the idea. She probably hasn't fought anything like alchemy.]

[But...]

[She'd have a better shot than most. He's seen her fight monsters. He returns her grin with one of his own.]

I'll believe you on that. Hey...let's keep throwing junk for a little while longer.

[THEY COULD USE IT AFTER THIS CONVERSATION.]

... Yeah.

_{[THEY SURE COULD.]}

We got all night.

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65th Transformation [text | action for Shark House]

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