032. Video

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Beep beep! What's that, Lassie? An incoming message?! Oh, looks like it's coming from one Hal 'Otacon' Emmerich's PokeGear! How lovely. What does the nerd have to say toda-- .... HEY, THAT'S NOT OTACON!]

[The screen blips into life on a face that's bruised, scraped, and... freckled?]

[Once its owner is sure the thing is on, she withdraws-- making herself a little easier to identify. Sheepish smile and all.]



[Behind her appears to be a standard little camp set up in the woods-- nothing... really fancy. But she's not the only one there-- somewhere behind her, there's.... some shirtless guy wandering around and his indistinct bitching about something or other can be heard.]

[The mat-furred, sleepy Growlithe in her lap just looks content to be there, although it's obvious he's had it as rough as his owner.]</sub>

So. Uh.


_{[Her voice is a painful-sounding croak-- hardly more than a shadow of what it is normally.]}

Apparently I'm a wanted criminal.

... Anyone know what I did? ... Was it awesome?

I love that mugshot. It's so majestic.

<sub>[Yeah, she's making light of it, but her heart's not... really into it. Though it's sort of hard to tell the difference between that and the plain old exhaustion that's obviously leaking into her every movement and word.]

[... Meanwhile, in the background, Liquid has noticed that the camera's on and has started flexing his manly man-muscles at it in true Photobomb fashion. Heather doesn't notice yet.]</sub>

Uh... anyway... I'm not... sure how long I was gone, and my 'Gear is uh... pretty thoroughly broken-- Hal's off in town getting stuff to repair it with, so... if anyone... like, tried to contact me, m'sorry, I probably didn't get it...


I uh... really hope everyone's all right.

_{[She probably doesn't need to clarify that she's talking about that fog. Now that she knows what had happened wasn't real, and that others had experienced their OWN nightmares... well, let's just say she's really hoping she didn't knock anyone's skull in. ... And the question "DID I knock anyone's skull in?" is implied at the end of her statement.]}

......

_{[And around that time, her Heather Senses pick up on Liquid's trolling behind her, so she reaches out to turn the camera off while looking over her shoulder.]}


Liquid, get the fuck out.

_{[End feed.]}




[Locked to Kaito and Rise]

[Another video feed, a little later than the first one, but not by too long. Otacon apparently was able to fix the 'Gear enough that Heather could receive those two messages that had been waiting a good week and a half to be received by this point.]

[And... judging by her hardly-disguised guilty expression, she's more than feeling the weight of guilt for worrying her friends. Especially since she saw Rise just the previous day and hadn't... even known how ... candid a message she'd left days before.]

[After a couple seconds, she breaks into a sheepish, crooked grin.]

Uh... hey, guys...


... I got your messages...



[Locked to Harry, James, and Mary]

<sub>[This one's in text, because she knows good and well that James at the very least will be freaking out over how she looked in that video feed, and she's not sure she can take his quiet concerned expressions.]

[But she can't avoid sending this-- if she saw Silent Hill in that fog, then she's... pretty sure that they'd have seen something similar. ... Well, she's not sure about Mary, actually, but given the connection... better safe than sorry.]</sub>

are you guys alright

(typing is hard, sorry for no caps)_

-heather

Comments

[video; private; I WOULD PAY TO SEE THAT. ]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

..."later"?

[And, wow, finally a post where there actually isn't a lot to say in italics!]

[video; private; one of us should draw it. just sayin' ]

[foolishwren]

... Yeah.

Last year.

_{[WE ARE CHAMPIONS OF TL;DR.]}

[video; private; and because I can't draw instruments to save my life, THERE'S YOUR HOMEWORK ]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[Brb, getting this all out straight in his head. Be puts his Pokegear on the group so he can lean forward on his hands, brows furrowing.]

...when your mother tried to...summon the god. You father killed it, and then you two went into hiding.

...and then, last year, you had to go back?

[video; I WILL DO THIS AT SOME POINT ]

[foolishwren]

Yes.

_{[... To both.]}

[video; I AWAIT THIS WITH BATED BREATH <3 ]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[...he nods. At this point, he's gathered enough informatin to piece together a rough idea of what's happened to Heather thus far; and, really, he doesn't want her to share any more if she doesn't want to. So instead of another question, or a prompting of any sort, Phoenix merely tilts his head a bit, giving her that look that indicates he's waiting for her to speak before saying anything else.]

[video; N-NOW TO GET OFF MY BUTT AND START DRAWING THIS ROUTE ART ;-;]

[foolishwren]

_{[Each little lull in this conversation is a sort of internal battle for Heather over whether or not she should say more. So she's quiet for a little bit, compulsively fiddling with the zipper of her vest while she stares intently at some little thing off-camera.]}


.... Well.

They found us again.

[video; Yes. Yes, you do. ]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

...so you had to fight?

[video; *FEVERISHLY TRIES TO FINISH HOMEWORK* ]

[foolishwren]

_{[There's a hesitation, and when she does speak, her voice is almost too soft to carry well over the 'Gear's speakers.]}

... Yeah. Yeah, I guess you could say that.

[video; BEAT THAT HOMEWORK DOWN, BEAT IT DOWN WELL ]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[Another furrowing of his brows.] ...it was more than that, then?

[video; *WIELDS HER PENCIL WITH AUTHORITY* ]

[foolishwren]

_{[Another long hesitation. There have been more and more of those as this has gone on, haven't there? But this time, she doesn't break it. Just sucks in a deep breath, shuts her eyes, and nods, reaching up to surreptitiously cover her mouth with one hand in a would-be casual gesture.]}

[video; *CHEERS ON*]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[The silence is heavy, and...really, Phoenix feels weird about breaking it. So he stays silent as well, once again, waiting to see if Heather wants to elaborate or not.]

[video;]

[foolishwren]

_{[On and on it stretches, with Heather's brows peaking more and more until finally she takes another breath, this one deep and shuddery, and straightens up, taking a subtle swipe at one eye before staring back at the screen, hard.]}

Anyway. Now you know about the monsters.

_{[And WHAM BAM just like that, it looked like storytime was over. Heather had used up all her sharing points or something. Please insert another token and try again later.]}

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[...and he nods, acknowledging the end of the conversation with a bit of a sad smile, closing his eyes briefly and exhaling lightly.]

...thank you, Heather.

[video;]

[foolishwren]

_{[Her voice is sort of thick-sounding when she answers, though she's kind of trying to disguise it as gruffness.]}

Don't thank me... I'm still the one who gave you those bruises...

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[And he waves a hand dismissively, quirking a bit of an awkward smile.]

Don't worry about it. I had it coming. [There's a bit of an "I'm used to it" in his tone, but really, if he'd just left well enough alone...]

[video;]

[foolishwren]

_{[SOMETHING resembling a smile makes the corners of her mouth curl up a little bit.]}

Unless you were poking me with a stick or dancing around and going 'neener neener neener', you didn't have it coming. _{[And... she just cannot picture him doing that.]}

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[--and here, have a genuinely amused laugh.] I should have just let well enough alone, really. But... [He couldn't stand it. Not when she was a friend, not when she was a friend who was going through nightmares far worse than his own. Pathological helpfulness can be a bit of a curse sometimes, seriously.]

[video;]

[foolishwren]

_{[That, she can agree with.]} Yeah, you should've... but still.

_{[It kind of went without saying that you shouldn't approach rabid animals, and that had sort of been what Heather had been acting like. But... poor Phoenix and his helpfulness.]}

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm still breathing, right?

[Don't jinx yourself, Phoenix.]

[video;]

[foolishwren]

_{[Aaaand that was exactly what she was going to say to him because Silent Hill had left her more than a little superstitious.]}

Don't go jinxing yourself, lawyer-man.

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

I-I won't, I won't. [Too late, Phoenix!]

[video;]

[foolishwren]

_{[Q-QUICK, PHOENIX, KNOCK ON WOOD!]}

You'd better not...


Anyway, uh...

_{[A low laugh.]}


I guess I must seem a little crazy now, huh?

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[BUT SOB THERE IS NONE--

--and Phoenix quickly waves a hand mismissively, smiling in a sad -- but, oddly enough, warm, at the same time -- way. Crazy? Pffft.] Of course not. Anything's possible, right?

[...besides, he has a medium for a sidekick. Kind of makes you incredibly prone to tales about the metaphysical, seriously.]

[video;]

[foolishwren]

... Heh. Well. Thanks for not thinkin' so. _{[... Or SAYING he was thinking so, anyway...]}

[video;]

[cheapblusuits.livejournal.com]

[C'mon, would this face ever lie to you?]

Er--anytime? [Ahaha. Haha. Ha. This is such a word conversations, thinks Phoenix, if we're laughing about judging the mental stability of a young woman. Goodness gracious.]