ohmyarceus | DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT (for Team Rocket's glory)

_{[Heather has heard of Walter.]

[Heather has heard a LOT about Walter.]

[But Heather sure as fuck doesn't know what Walter LOOKS like, so she has no idea what kind of a conversation she's about to walk into.]}

Ooh, yeah, I've had one of those before.

Hard to take care of.

_{[Angela Orosco's sad orphaned starter had pined and pined,, right up until she'd come back to Johto and been able to take it back. Heather had been kind of relieved. She's never had a motherly streak and never will.]}

[ He strokes over it's skull, ignoring how it squirms when he touches under it. But he seems fascinated. ]

How cruel. Perhaps we can find your mother. [ He looks up to Heather again. ] Does this world often give companions that...'fit' us so well?

Oh, all the time.

Except when it does the opposite and gives you something so unfitting that it comes back around the other way and becomes fitting again just out of sheer irony.

Mine was a dog.

I hate dogs.

_{[SO MUCH THAT THE PAIRING COULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANYTHING BUT DELIBERATE.]}

I don't like dogs either. [ He seemed to draw into himself a little at the mention of dogs. Vicious animals. But he still sounded quite mild, despite the obvious discomfort. He looks at the Cubone in his hands again and speaks to it. ]

I will keep this one, but I wouldn't keep a dog. Is your Mother sleeping? Mine is.

I got over the dog thing eventually. But only because the one they gave me wound up being kind of impossible to hate.

_{[But at the question, she quirks a brow. It's an odd question to ask, but well, they are talking about Cubones...]

[So her own reply is given without hesitation. It's almost matter of fact.]}

No. My mother's dead.

And may she stay that way.

[ Walter hadn't expected Heather to respond. He raises his eyes back to the camera. ]

You did not like her. I suppose, not all do. My mother has been asleep since I was a child. [ But he was about to wake her up, then this happened. ]

That's an understatement.

_{[Knowing that she, however indirectly, had put Dahlia in the ground where she belonged has been a source of grim satisfaction for Heather ever since she'd regained the memories of it. Of course, it's somewhat tempered by the fact that Dahlia's carefully-laid plans had been able to ripple far into the future after her death, but you take what you can get.]

[She tilts her head, though, a little curiously. 'Asleep' sounds an awful lot like a child's interpretation of 'dead', but this dude can't be younger than thirty.]}

Sleeping, huh.

[ He nodded in a curiously delibrate way ]

I was about to awaken her through the 21 Sacraments for the Descent of the Holy Mother. But then I awoke here, and I cannot complete it. [ He touches his neck subconsciously. Why was he alive? He hadn't yet awoken Mother, so this couldn't be a gift from her. ]

... Well, fuck.

_{[SHE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE NOW.]}

[ Walter's a bit bemused. Why are you looking at him like that? But he remains...pleasant. In that unweaving, staring sort of way. ]

Were you taught of it as well?

_{[How exactly does she handle this? That's the question.]

[Because while Henry hasn't ever quite told her the whole story, there is one little thing she has over him when it comes to an understanding of Walter's mission. The cult kid experience is something you just don't quite get unless you've lived it, and she had, even if it had just been for seven sad years before Alessa got locked away in a basement.]

[She could try to reason. But she knows that won't work. You don't undo decades of brainwashing in one conversation with a stranger.]

[And lord knows in this place, just finding him and putting him down like Old Yeller won't solve any problems.]}

You could say that.

[ He smiles softly, unaware of her thought processes. She seemed quite young however; ten years had passed since had sacrificed himself for the ritual and in that time the Wish House had shut down. But perhaps she was from another part of the Order. ]

The world was about to be cleansed of sin...but I can be patient. I don't understand why I am here. [ Really, it's very jarring and confusing. Even as he looks down at his Cubone again, trying to understand. ] I did everything as the striptures described.

_{[The gears are whirring in her mind fast enough to overheat, but well, no one can claim Heather Mason isn't good at operating under stress.]

[She pauses before speaking further, fingertips pressed to her mouth. Is she gonna go this route? Is she REALLY gonna? Well, she's gotta say something, so full speed ahead.]}

... Well, who showed you the scriptures?

Not everybody interprets them right.

A priestess called Dahlia. [ YOUR MOM DID IT. He begins to recite the passages, in a tone that says that he's had them memorised for a long, long time. ]

The First Sign. And God said, at the time of fullness, cleanse the world with my rage. Gather forth the White Oil, the Black Cup and the Blood of the Ten Sinners. Prepare for the Ritual of the Holy Assumption.

The Second Sign. And God said, Offer the Blood of the Ten Sinners and the White Oil. Be then released from the bonds of the flesh and gain the Power of Heaven. From the Darkness and Void, bring forth Gloom, and gird thyself with Despair for the Giver of Wisdom.

The Third Sign. And God said, Return to the Source through Sin's Temptation. Under the Watchful eye of the demon, wander alone in the formless Chaos. Only then will the Four Atonements be in alignment.

The Last Sign. And God said, separate from the flesh too, she who is the Mother Reborn and he who is the Receiver of Wisdom. If this be done, by the Mystery of the 21 Sacraments, the Mother shall be reborn and the Nation of Sin shall be redeemed.

[ He looks back up at her ] Only the Mother Reborn and the Receiver of Wisdom remained.

_{[There is literally nothing Heather can do to stop her eyes from widening at the name 'Dahlia' leaving his mouth-- no amount of numbness could really have prepared her for that.]

[It's only as he elaborates on the sacraments themselves that she's able to throw a proverbial blanket over her brain like one must do to quiet a screaming bird, and the brief look of surprise turns to a deliberate sneer.]}

Dahlia?

No wonder it didn't work. She didn't want anything or anyone to be redeemed.

_{[IT'S NOT A LIE.]}

I'll bet she told you the wrong thing on purpose.

It was working. [ His demeanour doesn't change but there's a cold firmness. After having it be drilled into you, repeatedly beaten if you didn't recite it perfectly...punishment and cruelty is one way to inspire faith. ] What I was taught was true; humanity is a cesspool of hatred and sin.

I was following the ritual perfectly. I had Ascended beyond the flesh. My worlds were fully formed. My Sacraments were the perfect choices.

_{[Heather honestly can't compete with the cult's indoctrination.]

[She knows good and well that if it hadn't been for Dahlia's own decision that Alessa's loyalty was no longer something she needed to concern herself with keeping, she might have gone on to be just like Walter. Or Claudia. Or any other cult kid whittled into a weapon over the years.]

[She can, however, answer coolly:]}

But now you're here, and can't finish it.

Weird, right?

It's almost as if Dahlia misinformed you.

[ He pauses. She has a point there, although she seems to speak strangely whenever she mentions Dahlia. His hold tights on the Cubone, who squeaks and squirms and looks at him, worried. ]

Nowhere in the ritual did it say- If this is Paradise, then why is this creature orphaned? It can't be.

But...you are right. I'm alive. If I was to complete the 21 Sacraments, I would need to start again. And I could not find another Mother Reborn, or Receiver of Wisdom. [ His Sacraments had been too perfect to just replace. All of them in truth - Gloom, Despair, Source, Temptation. He couldn't pick at random and find the perfect fit. There's also the ritual components such as the White Oil to consider. ]

...Why are we here? Must this world be purified as well, before I can awaken Mother? [ For a moment, he sounds like a lost, confused boy. ]

_{[Deep down, under the kind of controlled panic she's been operating under ever since Walter's identity dropped, there's the slightest tug at her heartstrings.]

[Claudia's first assumption had been that this was Paradise, too.]}

It's not Paradise, and it's anyone's guess as to what we're here for.

But if you want my theory, it's so that we can avoid making the same mistakes we did before.

You said it yourself.

You can't do what you did again.

_{[This is accompanied by a kind of meaningful look. PLEASE DON'T GO MURDER 21 PEOPLE HERE WALTER. NOT ONLY IS THAT BAD BUT ALSO IT WOULDN'T EVEN WORK, AIN'T NOBODY STAYIN DEAD IN THIS PLACE]}

Mistakes. [ What mistakes had he made? He couldn't think of any. As a boy, he had made several - it was why he would be locked in the Round Room, beaten, forced to drink water with leeches in it. But what mistakes had he made since, after being a spirit and being granted Holy power? He speaks slowly, softly and very, very carefully. ]

I don't understand. I had done exactly what was ordained. It was working...

I wasn't there, so I could be entirely off-base.

But I'm gonna guess it wasn't working. At least not in the way you thought it was.

_{[It makes her feel kind of gross, talking to a cultist like she's on their level. But she's not going to repeat the mistakes she made with Claudia, when she came here. In that sense... she's entirely earnest. Snarling out her real feelings on the matter had only made things worse.]}

Either way, those sacraments aren't going to do you any good here.

[ He doesn't answer but it's clear he disagrees, levelling her with a strange gaze. ]

Maybe not. But there will be another way to purge the sins of humanity. And Mother... [ His hands tighten on his Cubone again, who wiggles violently. But then he loosens his grip, holding the Pokemon to his chest like it was a soft toy. He doesn't know what to do about her. She's not here at all, not just sleeping far away and blocked from him by people in other apartments. ]

_{[That gaze makes the hairs on the back of her neck all want to stand on end, but she doesn't break eye contact. Cultists are like freaking dogs. THEY CAN SENSE FEAR.]}

Well. Maybe there will and maybe there won't.

DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT (for Team Rocket's glory)

TEST DRIVE MEME

[Video]

Re: [Video]

sorry this took me a bit! I had a busy day!

NO WORRIES sorry if my replies are awkward cos /fucking Walter/

HAHA IT'S FINE, WALTER IS A SPECIAL BOY

gdi Walter

no subject

no subject

1/???

2/???

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

I have no idea if I'm doing Walter right btw

oh dude you're doing fine! I'm really enjoying this thread!

Aaaa just nervous cos Walter is tricky and in this setting too!

I understand! But you really are doing great!

/)-(\

<3

(no subject)

lmao their first actual in-game interaction will probably be way less dramatic than this

Or it might be worse depending on circumstances!

HAHA TRUE