014 Bushels ❦ [Action for Mahogany]

[buckyouup]

[Applejack has been quiet for the last few days. Hardly in the mood to talk, the southerner has been taking advantage of the warmer weather to get in some training. Never wanting to sit still, she takes every opportunity to run or fight or do something, but outside of her pokemon, she insists on being alone. She has to keep herself busy. So she doesn't think. So she isn't reminded.

One year. One whole year. And that's just the time she remembers. That's not counting the time she's been here before. She hasn't seen her family, her home, her orchard, in a year. She knows that time works strange here, that for her, time isn't moving back home, but that doesn't quite translate to her emotions. To her, she's spent a whole year of her life chasing strange animals while her family and her farm is without her. Stuck in some strange land, located who knows how far away from home. If she was never brought here, what would she have experienced at home? Would this year's haul be a good one? Did Apple Bloom get her cutie mark? She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think at all.

If you happen to be wandering in a secluded part of town, you may notice Applejack training. She may be running laps, or doing sit-ups, or training her pokemon, but one thing is instantly noticeable: she looks like shit. Her clothes are torn and her body is dirty and covered in scrapes and bruises. She looks like she hasn't slept in days. She doesn't want to. She dreams of home.]

Comments

[foolishwren]

Nah. You shouldn't be sorry.

<sub>[Heather knows that she's something of an exception.]

[Most people get homesick. It's pretty natural. But Heather...well, even if you stripped away all the horrors she's experienced back home, the simple truth is that there never really was a home. Not really. Most of her childhood in this life had been spent moving from place to place, each one more dismal than the last.]

[And the previous childhood... well, let's not even get into that.]</sub>

It's not your fault you have a good life that you're missing out on right now, AJ.

It's normal to wanna go back to it when you end up somewhere else.

[sitdownbecider]

Yeah, maybe.

[She really doesn't know what to say.]

But, I suppose there ain't nothin' wrong with not wantin' t'go home, either. Some folks just got stuff they don't wanna see again.

[She could never feel that way herself, but she's seen enough insanity to understand why someone would want to run off and not come back.]

[foolishwren]

Yeah.

_{[That's all she has to say about that, apparently. They're coming up on the hotel now.]}

What floor are you on? My folks and I are on the second.

[buckyouup]

I'm on the third.

[She sighs.]

But y'don't have t'carry me all the way up there. Let me sit down for a minute an' I'll be able t'make it on my own.

[foolishwren]

All right, all right.

You're home free to do whatever once we get inside.

_{[She shoulders the doors open and steps in. It's late, so while the hotel is obviously still OPEN, the lights are a little dim and the guy behind the main desk looks a little drowsy.]}

[sitdownbecider]

[Once inside, she staggers her way to a chair and sits down. Mm, cushion.]

Thanks, Sugarcube. I owe you.

[foolishwren]

Nah, you don't.

Just take it easy, okay?

We can't make anything come faster by wearing ourselves out.