THE FLUFF CORNER

[wolfintheattic]

NO LONGER IN USE

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Henry Townshend | Silent Hill 4: The Room | ROUTE 29 UNIVERSE

[no_ufo_ending]

[a_sin_for_him]

When Lust came in, she was burdened down with shopping bags. Venturing out had been a mistake, but she'd been doing nothing but wandering aimlessly about the house, trying to avoid all the fuss of the silly holiday. She'd always thought it was at least a little foolish, but now...

Which was why she found herself in the kitchen of Shark House with more bags of Must Sell Now holiday goodies than she could reasonably eat and a few bottles of plum wine. She couldn't even drown her sorrows with Envy, he was one official to-do away from being happily married, as far as Lust was concerned. Lucky bastard. And Greed had a veritable harem to choose from. Also a lucky bastard, though Lust knew damn well she could have the same if she really wanted. It was just so much of a bother.

But that didn't mean she had to be a cliche on the couch all by herself.

"Heather? Henry? Anyone home? I have candy and liquor!"

And there were good odds one of those two were home and doing nothing, and she figured the announcement of booze and chocolate was like shaking a bag of Poketreats where Guttle could hear.

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry's eyes appeared around the corner because he liked both of those things. Candy moreso. He was half asleep, having dozed off face-down in some random location again, but the promise of free candy had drawn him from his slumber.

"Not going out?"

It was a rarity when the two of them wound up alone and Henry was glad that the Poke'gear-related animosity (that came from his side) was more or less gone. He couldn't feel too weird around somebody he occasionally got baked with. You learn things about one another while you're watching the wallpaper dance.

He loved staring at tree bark with Envy, but something about the couple of times he'd ventured into the void with Lust had been special. And he found himself hoping that she would want to do it again today. Haha. That was a weird thought.








Oh no.





Henry had already entered the kitchen and when this realization from the FUCK YOU gods hit him like a thunderbolt, he'd wheeled around on one foot and slammed right into the door frame while trying to make his escape.

[a_sin_for_him]

"I'm not going out by myself today, I'd likely end up fleeing authorities at some point."

She could. And she could probably find perfectly acceptable company. But she didn't want to. There would also be the sad and desperate men on the prowl, and those who's plans had fallen apart in the middle and were left sobbing, miserable messes at the cafes and bars and restaurants. And of course the happy people. Maybe even some so damned happy looking that she wouldn't be able to resist giving them a small lecture on the realities of romance.

She was pulling out bottles of wine when Henry hit the door, and she paused, a bottle in hand, to raise a speculative eyebrow at him.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to get utterly trollied with me this evening, but apparently you have a pressing engagement with the kitchen wall."

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry sat on the kitchen floor with his hand clapped over his throbbing forehead. Surely he hasn't really just thought that. He was just...high. Yeah, that was it!

It was then that Henry remembered that he was actually out of zest and had to grate more before he could make tea. He swallowed.

"Yeah, we're going steady. Ow."

[a_sin_for_him]

"Looks like a rather abusive relationship to me. I think you can do better." Lust turned to the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen fries. She offered it to Henry, for his head. He sounded as though he'd hit the frame hard. Solid surfaces and human bodies didn't often go well together under those circumstances.

"Here."

WAITING MAKES THE HEART GROW PARANOID AS FUCK

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry puffed out a sigh as he sank down onto the uncomfortable plastic bench along the far wall of the Pokemon Center. He always sat near the windows when he brought in his whole team. Following Heather's advice concerning training all the little ones up at the same time was working. Townshend was slowly becoming someone who could actually call himself a Trainer without the competition stifling a laugh.

It felt a little weird not to have Cheerios or Clam out and waiting with him so he flipped out his Poke'Gear and tried to beat Envy's score at Five Nights at Fantina's. This would take a while. He and his team were pretty far back on the waiting list.

[a_sin_for_him]

She wasn't stalking him.

It was just that she'd been busy, and if her only chance to take Guttle to the Pokemon Center for a weight check happened to be when Henry was also at the Center, well, those things happened.

Just like she happened to always wander into the kitchen when he was there, or out into the yard. They lived in the same house, of course they were going to run into each other frequently.

Except they hadn't used to, and Lust was well aware that she'd fallen into a habit of simply being in the same place as Henry.

But she wasn't stalking him. In any sense of the word. And the only reason she took a seat right by him is because they were housemates. And...friends. It was perfectly normal for one friend to see another in a public place and join them.

"Hello, Henry."

[no_ufo_ending]

And just at that exact moment, one of the robotic pokemon popped up on Henry's 'Gear screen.

"Ah!" And then Lust Appeared. "AHH!" He fumbled the device and nearly dropped it on the hard Center floor, having half jumped out of his seat, arms extended. Once the danger (or that danger) had passed, he deflated back into his seat and gave lust one of those dazed sleepy looks.

Perfect cover up.

"Oh, hey."

[a_sin_for_him]

While Lust had changed her opinions on Henry in many ways since first meeting him, she still maintained he was the jumpiest human she'd ever encountered. Raising an eyebrow, she settled herself down on the bench.

"Wherever you just were, I don't think I'd like to visit."

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry's mouth drew into a strained, straight line. "Yeah. Nobody needs to go there."

He frowned down at his GAME OVER screen and quietly exited the game. It would be rude to stare at his 'gear while she was talking to him. The idea of Lust liking him back hasn't even entered his head and the past few weeks have been dedicated to squashing those dumb Valentines Day leftover feelings by actually getting out of the house.

And now that doesn't even work.

SPELLCHECK

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry was not a hard man to find. If he wasn't stretched out on his sleeping bag with his Pokemon tapping away at his 'gear he was in the kitchen standing in front of the microwave watching the instant macaroni spinning around inside.

It still had about 40 seconds to go. He was in his Snorlax PJs and not really ready for the day. Even though it was noon.

[a_sin_for_him]

Lust still wasn't quite sure why she was doing this. It still seemed silly, in some way, to her. A former femme fatale assassin launching her own radio acting career? It wasn't even a career, there was no money in it. She'd written up a little something based on a drama she'd heard back home, and she was just going to send it out over the 'gears.

Maybe. If it even got recorded. But she had the script, she had her 'gear, she just needed Henry.

Luckily he was in the first place she looked. She was already fully dressed, made up and put together. She was holding a sheaf of papers in her hands.

"Henry? Are you functional?"

[no_ufo_ending]

"Hnnnnn?" Henry's first reply was one of those non-committal grunts he was pretty well known for. Then he noticed who it was. He straightened up and tried very hard to look like he hadn't literally rolled out of bed.

"Oh, hey....sure, I guess. What's up?"

[a_sin_for_him]

"I have a script."

She held up a handful of papers. It was all hand written, it never occurred to Lust that there easier ways to go about it. And make copies.

"I thought you could look it over, tell me what you think. It's strange, but people like strange. It's about a man who opens the door to his kitchen to get a snack and walks into a strange other world instead."

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry blinked rapidly at the stack of papers. She did it. She actually took his advice, wrote a radio play, and now she was asking...him? For advice? Why not Heather or her brother or literally anybody else? The Receiver swallowed.

"Sure." He took the script and flipped through it, allowing himself a few precious seconds to admire her handwriting. "That sounds like something that would be on The Twilight Zone back home...and people loved that. It was popular for a long time."

CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

[no_ufo_ending]

Ever since the attack, Henry had been scarce. He wasn't missing, exactly, just hiding. Hiding in the furthest corner of the house away from the chaos of the outside world. And he'd been quiet. Quiet, quiet, quiet.

Until about three that morning.

"Hoot hoot. Hoot hoot. Hoot hoot." Three-o-clock! It was three-o-clock and the world needed to know! "Hoot hoot. Hoot hoot. Hoot hoot."

[a_sin_for_him]

As though waking up covered in lavender fur hadn't been bad enough.

Lust had been in a foul mood ever since a nasty run in with an Espurr, and things were suddenly much worse. The damned hooting had woken her, and within a moment she was leaping out of bed...

To promptly fall flat on her face as her ankles abandoned any attempts to keep her upright. It felt like her feet had been wedged into permanent ballet points. And shrunken. Which was more or less exactly what had happened to them.

The noise she emitted was more yowl than anything else. Damn it all! She couldn't even walk properly, she had to totter along on her hands and feet - which were all paws. But she did, in search of the source of the persistent noise.

That Hoothoot was going to pay.

[no_ufo_ending]

Henry the not-so-wise-owl hadn't locked the door. Why would he? He and Heather shared that room. But there he was, a grown ass man perched in a hunch on the very edge of the dresser, his wings bunched up around him...hooting.

Staring into nothing and hooting.

[a_sin_for_him]

She had to push the door open with her head.

She didn't have thumbs anymore.

"What is...." She trailed off, giant eyes narrowed, when she saw what was making the noise. Her ears were flattered into her hair, but they perked - as much as they could - in confusion.

"Henry?"

[no_ufo_ending]

Every feather on Henry's body (which was many) stood on end when the door came open. He let out one more HOOT before twisting his head all the way around and peering at Lust with huge red eyes.

The way she stood there in the doorway on those freakishly tiny hands and feet sent him rocketing backward to the Otherworld for a moment. He did not like Hot Friend meshing with those memories so the only thing he could think of to say was,

"It's...it's three-o-clock."

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

[no_ufo_ending]

It's just another day in Crush Hell for Henry Townshend.

He'd been doing pretty well lately squashing down those feelings. His methods thus far had included actually training his Pokemon, staring deeply into his cereal any time Lust was in the room (and thus having cereal on-hand nearly 70% of the time a man can love cereal okay it's not weird) and today, taking photos.

Henry had snapped a few very nice pictures of the Eevee Pile as they dozed in a patch of sun streaming through one of the windows and as he turned to see if he could find any other dozing Pokemon, there she was standing by the microwave. The glow from inside illuminated the curls in her hair in an almost hypnotic way.

This time Henry would have to push aside his fears because this was art and he was not going to let some crush butterflies get in the way of snapping the perfect photo. He stood with great conviction and moved closer.

"Lust...I need. I need you to stay perfectly still. Only for a second."

[a_sin_for_him]

Oh god, what was on her?

She immediately assumed that was the cause of Henry's instruction. There was some bug or dirty thing on her and she needed to be still lest he hit her in the face in brushing it off of her.

So she freezes. She hardly needs someone else to brush bugs or dirt off of her, but...there's something nice, in Henry's offering. It's silly, but she notices those things. She notices him.

Odd man that he is.

[no_ufo_ending]

There comes no gentle contact, no puff of air to send away any foul thing. Instead there is a snap.

"Perfect."

Henry looks into his 'gear with a small smile. He had been worried that the light wouldn't show as sharply but with the new filters he downloaded, it worked just right!

"Thank you."

[a_sin_for_him]

"....oh."

Lust blinked, taken by surprise. He'd...taken a picture of her. She hadn't expected that at all. Why in the world had he done that? She thought he took pictures of...well, she wasn't sure, come to think of it. Trees. Clouds. Not people.

"You're welcome, I suppose." She glanced over at him, lips pursed in puzzlement. "Why did you do that?"