[Post 039] Video/Action for Saffron City and Route 7 [Backdated to 30th of May]

[francia]

[The feed opens up to the outskirts of Saffron City just before Route 7 sometime in the mid-afternoon. It's a picturesque scene: green, summer-lush trees, well-combed grass, and a herd of multi-seasonal Deerling dotting the scope of the camera. The focus of the shot shifts after a couple of seconds to show one autumn-form Deerling in particular that is eating out of the palm of France's hand.]

[In the background, however, unnoticed for the moment by France, there is dust rising, and those watching the 'Gear might pick up the beginnings of static noise as a number of stampeding Blitzles careen towards France's back.]

[France grins at the 'Gear, voice cheerful and boastful although increasingly distorted by the static noise.]

This is Bénézet, the newest addition to my team! Isn't he a lovely and unique specimen among these cre...

[At this point, the feed's audio is far too distorted to be understandable. A moment passes where France continues speaking inaudibly before France finally notices something's up. He looks away from the 'Gear, which subsequently shifts the focus off-center to give a view of France's shoulder, the sky, and a rising cloud of dust before there's a blare of static and the feed abruptly cuts out.]

Comments

[Video, private]

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[Cooper understands that face - his dreams have a tendency to be unpleasant as well. There are many nightmares there, many things he'd rather forget if he could. And it's one of those things he's now going to share.]

[There's some silence on his end as he makes the feed private and he stops to gather his thoughts on the matter, on what to say exactly. He's used to keeping things from people because it's easier that way. Because it's his thing to deal with. His fault.]

[Then he starts from where he usually tells this story. From where it matters. And he does so softly, but tries to remain detached.]</sub>

Six years ago now my former partner and I were tasked with protecting a woman who had been a victim - and witness - to a federal crime of great severity. We were supposed to never leave her side.

I fell in love with her.

_{[And god, it hurts to think about still.]}

And for that reason I failed in my vigilance when the attempt on her life was made.

_{[A beat.]}

She died in my arms. I was badly injured.


My partner was responsible.

[Video, private]

[francia]

[France lets Cooper gather his thoughts, waiting with a level of attentiveness that's rare to see from France. He cares about Cooper in a way that only Envy precedes and in a way that's wholly different from his relationships with other Nations. Cooper is someone that he can sincerely call a friend, and that's true novelty for France.]

[He listens quietly while Cooper is speaking, up until Cooper comes to the phrase "I failed in my vigilance." At that, France breathes in sharply and doesn't let the breath out until after Cooper finishes. He remains quiet for a long moment, a muscle in his jaw working, and when he responds, France's voice is low and strained.]

Did you see justice served?

[Video, private]

[tapestodiane]

_{[He doesn't answer the question immediately. He carries on after a moment - showing that he heard the question, despite the lack of answer. Eyes downcast.]}

My partner snapped. He was put into a mental ward. The woman we were supposed to protect was his wife.

<sub>[And that - is a bit of an admission. Because he'd gone behind his partner's back, falling for Caroline. He hadn't meant to, and neither had she, but he can't help but take the blame for ultimately allowing himself to act on it, even for that one blissful day.]

[Despite knowing now that it had all been Windom's doing. He takes a breath, steadies himself, and keeps talking.]</sub>

I now believe he was responsible for the original crime she witnessed and the torture he put her through. He killed her and very nearly me. I didn't know why.

_{["Didn't", because Windom had given him an idea in the lost days. Practically told him.]}

He escaped the ward not long before my arrival here.

[Video, private]

[francia]

[That is quite a bit of an admission, and France can tell. He doesn't know all the details, just what Cooper is telling him, but he can feel a lot of it from Cooper's demeanor, from what France can guess from the information given and what he knows of human nature.]

[Love can make people--even the most logical and moral people--crazy. It is a fact that France knows well. Too well, in a lot of ways, and much better than many others, human or Nation. Love is France's greatest asset and his most coveted poison. As much as he'd like to pretend he's always been in control of it, France has never been able to control his love, not entirely. To be controlled by one's emotions, to have them manipulated: it's the cruelest thing that France has experienced and is able to do.]

God...

[France passes a hand over his lower face, rubbing the palm of his hand over the stubble lining his jawline.]

Did he come to you somehow during the lost days?

[Video, private]

[tapestodiane]

Yes.

<sub>[And he's still feeling the effects of that encounter all too clearly, like Windom's still there, breathing down his neck. There's fear and apprehension and a lot of grief.]

[Windom had been his partner, mentor and friend. He'd changed so suddenly. In many ways Cooper had hardly been able to recognise him.]</sub>

He threatened people I care about. I ... can't be sure what is going on in his mind. But he's hurting me by hurting others.

If he can, by making me do it.

_{[And that's ... well. It's certainly not "it", because there's a lot more that weighs Coop down, even on the best of days - but that's what's on the forefront of his mind, the worry and fear, the very reminder of what he'd left in Twin Peaks, of his past altogether. And it's painful. So very.]}

[Video, private]

[francia]

[France goes very still at that last part. It's a strange kind of stillness, so absolute that Cooper might realize that France has stopped breathing altogether. He remains frozen like this for a long moment, his eyes still on Cooper but obviously no longer seeing just him. It's the kind of expression you see in paintings sometimes or particularly lifelike statues: something captured, chiseled in and then left behind.]

[For a moment, he looks inhuman.]

[But then France breathes in, and he blinks a couple of times like he's waking up, reigning his thoughts and himself back in. It's not a complete process: there's still an oddness about his eyes, and, while he's paying attention to Cooper, he still seems to be seeing something else at the same time.]

I understand.

[His voice is soft, thin, like it's coming from a long way off. He doesn't specify what exactly he understands or which side it accords understanding. It's a combination of both.]

[France swallows.]

Can you do anything to stop him?

[Video, private]

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[Cooper doesn't see the change in France, at first, as he's looking away, focused on something distant. A memory, probably, or maybe a feeling, what-ifs and could've-should've-would've, before he focuses on the screen again and stops at the look on France's face.]

[He doesn't think he's seen that look on his friend before. It makes him reconsider something - not telling him, because he doesn't regret it, not really - but about France, maybe. Coop always knew he had a much deeper side to him than what meets the eye, but this seems different from that. Older.]

[Then again, maybe the story warrants it. He blinks when the question reaches him and the way his gaze flicks away, just for a second, means "no". It's defeat. And he looks it, uncertain in the face of this very personal, very real danger.]

[He never beat Windom at his games before. Not a single time. And he has a hard time seeing why this time would be any different.]</sub>

I'm trying. Truth is, I really don't know.

[Video, private]

[francia]

[France nods slowly. He doesn't speak immediately, instead reaching up and absentmindedly tucking his hair behind his ear and then untucking it as he threads his fingers through to the ends. He lets his hand drop back down to his side, his head dipping forward slightly.]

You give it your best.

[He smiles, and it's a sad, sympathetic expression.]

There are times when it's impossible to know.

[Video, private]

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[He bows his head forwards a little in subconscious mimicry as well as what could be a nod. He knows it. Further into his mind there are still the otherworldly words of wisdom - "Don't search for all the answers at once". He tries. He might even have one of the most important answers right now, but it doesn't make him feel a lot better.]

[That has to do with what he hasn't yet said, but it's in part because he's not sure he understands it.]

[So instead, there's some silence. Again. But it's a companionable one, and despite how tired and worn Cooper looks, he feels a little better.]

[He's still frightened. Worried. And while he's not calmed by having shared all this, there is something nice about knowing that he can probably bring it up again if he needs to. Without having to explain one more time, or without having to hide it.]

[He sighs, a slow exhale.]</sub>

I know. Sometimes, that is a comfort. Not in this.

_{[He still doesn't know if Windom is here or not. He thinks it's unlikely, but the fear that he just might be is eating at him.]}

[Video, private]

[francia]

[France nods again, not adding anything immediately. He fiddles with something off-screen for a moment, not actually looking at it or Cooper but rather at a spot near to Cooper's shoulder on the screen. His expression is as faraway as his tone was earlier, a combination of contemplative and disconnected.]

[After a long moment, he refocuses on Cooper. He smiles again, less sad than before but just as sympathetic. There's an air of kinship to about him, too.]

Comfort in such things only comes after one reaches some sort of closure.

[France breathes out, an almost laugh that remains unformed.]

I've never been lucky in that.

[Video, private] so, so sorry for late, but didn't want to leave this thread. ;; <3

[tapestodiane]

<sub>[Coop doesn't smile back. Can't, really, in the face of everything pressing so hard at him. But his eyes are softer when he meets France's gaze through the Gear and it strikes him that he really cares for him and is truly happy to know him.]

[And he trusts him, too. He's only the second person in this world to know any of this - and Coop's been here for a very long time.]

[The words come to Cooper with a near-bitterness that he's not sure is imagined or not, but that he feels he can recognise and understand.]</sub>

It's difficult to come by and perhaps even harder to recognise.

_{[Quietly. Tiredly.]}