foolishwren | 032. Video

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032. Video

_{[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.]}

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.

_{[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.]}

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]

_{[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.]}

are you guys alright

(typing is hard, sorry for no caps)_

-heather

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[KAITO HAS EARNED THE TITLE: EGGMASTER.]}

It's okay. I'll be okay.

_{[She wasn't okay YET... but she would be. She always was. It wasn't over until things were okay again.]

[She pauses for a bit, then asks, almost timidly--]}

.... How did you fare?

You'd better be. [he's teasing, mostly, but there's a hint of sincerity in his words]

Me? I'm fine. [he answers quickly, almost too quickly. Because, for the most part, he is okay. He managed to realize it was all a hallucination before things got too bad.

But that didn't mean it didn't shake him up. Especially the nightmares-- those were almost worse than the hallucinations themselves]

_{[... Yeah. Little too quick for Heather's tastes. So instead of saying something, she just raises her one visible brow and gives him a look. It's not an accusing one, or a nosy, prying one-- just one that said she didn't buy it.]

[Rise had told Heather what she'd seen. Otacon had told Heather what he'd seen. And Liquid had emerged from the wilderness with a fully-grown hobo beard and about twenty pounds of pure muscle gone.]

[The nightmare visions had been bad. For everybody. Kaito didn't need to say anything... but she wasn't gonna pretend she believed everything was okay.]}

[... aaaah that look. He frowns, before shifting his gaze away and leaning his chin in his hand]

I thought some people came to Johto. [the way he says 'people' makes it obvious these are not... good people]

... Not friends, huh.

_{[Her tone is low. There's no joking in it-- because while she's more than fine with joking about her OWN nightmares, there's a line to be drawn at joking about her friends'. Even Heather had limits.]}

[there's another pause, though this one is much, much longer. He's... debating on what, exactly, he wants to tell her. He likes Heather; he considers her a pretty close friend. But... his father's death, Toichi Kuroba's murder... was something he hated talking about.

He turns back to face the screen, his expression blank. Poker face as slammed down in full force.]

My dad died when I was nine during a magic show. I was there. I saw it happen. [here is where he usually says 'it was an accident,' but...] He was murdered.

_{[She didn't really know what to expect. He was her pal, probably one of the best ones she had here, but she knew as well as he did that prior to... probably this point, right here, they'd mostly joked, paraded their cheerful, goofball sides around and generally been lighthearted.]

[So she waited as he paused, knowing that she didn't know what was coming, and hoping, for his sake, that maybe it wouldn't be too bad.]

[The hoping was pretty much in vain.]

[Unlike Kaito with his poker face, Heather's expression said it all at first. Her brows went up, then she just closed her eyes, tiredly, and sadly.]}

.... I'm sorry, Kaito.

I'm real sorry.

I know nothing I can say will help...

_{[Something about her tone suggested... a deeper understanding than most might have of the subject. Condolences were something anyone with a heart would give, but sympathy was a bit different than empathy. Like with Rise the other day, Heather's words by themselves didn't mean much, but her voice said that she knew what it was like. Knew how it felt.]

_{... So... you saw the ones who...?}}

It's fine. [it wasn't fine. He was pretending, like he always was. A part of himself died with his old man, and he had spent the last eight years pretending that he was fine.

Even with Heather, that was something he wasn't about to stop doing so soon]

... yeah. I saw them here. I thought they were-- [a shrug] Y'know, chasing me through Ilex Forest. [I had dreams where they killed you, where they killed Kay, Johan, my mom, Aoko, everyone I was close to...]

Can't say it was the best two days I've ever had.

Edited 2010-10-01 04:19 (UTC)

_{[Yeah. Heather knew you just didn't get better from something like that. Which was why she wasn't going to contest him there. Trying to bully someone into admitting that they weren't okay over their dad being murdered was stupid and pointless and Heather probably would have hauled off and punched anyone who hounded her on the topic of her own father. She almost had, once or twice. Not that many people did it. Just school counselors and social workers and other people who were just doing it because they were getting a paycheck to.]}

.... I wish I could've helped.

... I know it sounds stupid and cookie-cutter, but I know-- .... kinda know what it... feels like.

_{[She hadn't been chased by phantom figures who were murdering her friends right before her eyes-- thank god. ... But she'd seen the body in the chair, blank eyes wide open as blood pooled at his feet, and she'd seen it in so many places it almost got fucking funny after awhile, or it would have if she'd been a sick person.]}

... Your friends were able to help you though... right? _{[She hoped? Because thinking about Kaito completely alone in the woods running away from things that weren't there sort of made her chest hurt a little.]}

[his frown deepens, however, because... people don't usually say they know how he feels unless...] ... you too?

[and at her second question, he just kinda leaned back and shrugged]

They had their own nightmares to deal with. [he... was clearly used to handling his problems on his own]

_{[There's a sort of twisted half-smile on her face, but it's nothing like the ones she usually wears.]}

... Last year.

_{[Then she paused, not sure if she should-- or even if she really wanted to-- give any other details.]

[She was used to handling things on her own, too, but... she knew how hard it was in many ways. How much it changed you. It wasn't something she'd wish on ... anyone, really. ... But it looked like Kaito was already a pretty seasoned do-it-yourselfer]}

[.... ah. So she knew how he felt, too...]

Kinda sucks, doesn't it? [he tries to keep his tone light, but... well. This isn't exactly something he could joke about in good good faith.

He doesn't ask for details, either. He knows how hard it is to deal with something like this. And he hasn't exactly given Heather the entire story either]

_{[She lets out what was supposed to be a laugh, but wound up being... she didn't even know. Some sort of noise that wasn't really a laugh at all. The truth was that Kaito was much better at this whole poker face thing than she was. Right now the biggest boon Heather had going for her was that stupid bandage that covered about half her face.]}

Yeah. Yeah, it kinda sucks. A lot.

_{[LAUGHING SHOWED THINGS WERE OKAY, RIGHT?]}

... Why'd they kill your dad?

Do you even know?

[IT'S OKAY HE GETS IT HEATHER. His grin is very very wry as she talks]

They... [ohgod now here's the huge huge huge question of whether he wants to tell her everything or not. Kay knows it all, Johan knows that he's Kid and he's looking for something (even if he doesn't know about his Dad's murder yet), and Heather knows about his dad's murder but not Kid...

Why is trusting people so hard for him sometimes]

Oi, Heather. Can I trust you to keep a secret?

_{[Because trusting people is only easy for the ones who haven't had terrible things happen to them. Like, you know, watching your dad die in a horrible stage 'accident' and then finding out someone did it on purpose.]

[Heather had paused momentarily to gingerly rub at her good eye, only to stop and look back at the screen.]}

.... I'm good at keeping secrets. You can trust me.

_{[God knew she had plenty of them, herself. She knew the importance of keeping them.]}

[he leans forward again (and surprisingly, during this entire conversation, his expression hasn't flickered an inch) and... starts his story]

They killed him because my dad was an internationally wanted jewel thief. He wasn't killed by police officers, or anything like that. He was killed by a gang of criminal creeps who wanted him dead so he couldn't prevent them from getting their hands on a certain jewel. One called 'Pandora,' that could give immortality to whomever drank the tears it shed during the passing of a certain comet.

My dad was a great magician. The best there ever was. The only one who was better than me. He was murdered because he didn't want these criminals to get their hands on a gem that dangerous.

[he lapses into a thoughtful silence]

The police ruled his death a stage accident. 'M one of very few people who know the truth.

_{[... Her eye gets wider and wider as he tells his story. She can't really help it-- it's a pretty wild tale and not one she expected. But she doesn't look away. When he's finished, she lets out a slow whoof of breath.]}

... That's...

_{[Hunted for a word. Couldn't find one.]}

... I won't tell a soul.

_{[... And then, with a strangely shrewd look in her eye...]}

... Are you gonna take them down?

_{[Like earlier, something about the way she says it... seems to suggest that, again, she knows what he's talking about, on some strange level.]}

[he exhales, and his smile is wry]

You met Kaitou Kid, didn't you?

_{[There's a pause as she mouths the words for a second, brows furrowed. ... Then realization dawns on her face. Along with a very tired-looking, but genuine smile.]}

... I should've known.

You're really something, Smiley.

[he lifts a hand to rub his nose]

It's something I can't just tell anyone. Who'd believe my story, anyway? [he laughs, somewhat bitter]

And how many people would rat me out to the authorities?

_{[Heather's been unusually frank tonight, for a lot of reasons. Ones that she'd feel stupid sharing, sappy sharing. Because a person like her, well, let's just say it took somebody really earnest to put words to these kinds of reasons and actually make them sound something other than stupid. Heather wasn't earnest. She hadn't been 'earnest' in years.]

[So her weird little spat of saying things without the usual levels of goof or sarcasm slathered onto them would just have to go without explanation for tonight. Either way, she's being totally honest when she speaks.]}

I believe you.

And friends don't rat each other out. Not for stuff like that.

_{[Now if he was stealing the SOULS OF INFANTS or something? THEN maybe she'd reconsider.]

[She laughs a little then, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.]}

Besides, I.... I get where you're coming from. In a way. Not that... my situation's anywhere near that... wild, but... _{[It was similar. On a much, much smaller scale, it was actually very similar.]}

[it's okay it's just jewels, not the SOULS OF BABIES. and he totally returns them when he's done with them anyway]

Yeah? Mind if I ask about your situation?

_{[Yeah as long as there's no baby souls involved, it's all good, man. We good.]

[Heather looks a little surprised at the question, then shrugs her shoulders as expressively as she can without making everything in the history of EVER start hurting, an awkward smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.]}

Well...

My dad was a thief too, I guess.

Or at least... that's what they called him.

_{[The ones who had taken him away.]}

-- who's they? [he's honestly curious, and this tone indicates that if he asks too far, she's free to cut him off. Just because he shared doesn't mean she has to, after all]

_{[There's very, very few people she's told about this. Otacon... probably knows the most. James knew bits and pieces. The only person besides herself, honestly, who knows the full story is Douglas. The only other person in the world who knew that it came pretty close to ending that night.]

[So... yeah. She's just not sure how to go about explaining. She frowns a little, rubbing her chin.]}

They... are. Um.

... D'you know much about cults, Kaito?

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