004. Video

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's dark-- lit softly by only the glowing computer screens on the counter and there's not much to be heard at first except for the rain just pelting down against the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center's windows. It's always a little crowded in the Centers, but it looks like it's at that witching hour where just about everyone-- trainers, their Pokemon, the nurses-- has either drifted into sleep or drifted into corners on their own to partake in whatever quiet activities they might want to on a depressing, rainy night.]

[Heather slumped behind the counter, just sort of watching the screen at first to make sure it's on, before speaking in a sort of hushed tone. She doesn't look too happy. Worried, actually.]</sub>

Been awhile since I talked to this thing. Anyway, I've been working at the Cherrygrove Center for some cash-- run into quite a few of you and stuff, so it's been cool. I was kinda bummed about being stuck here working, but I sure don't regret it now... If there's not flooding of Biblical proportions outside by tomorrow, I'll eat my boots.

And did you all get a load of that hail a little while ago? Intense.

<sub>[She trails off there, realizing there wasn't much of a point to this whole transmission. She was just kind of rambling-- and bothering other people because she couldn't sleep. She kept telling herself it was just the pounding rain that was making her uneasy, but the truth was, that wasn't really it at all.]

[She looks down briefly-- the screen doesn't show it but her Pokemon are curled up at her feet behind the counter.]</sub>

... Anyway... S'late but I'm bored and don't feel like sleeping. Think I'm gonna make some tea.

_{[... A pause.]}

... I don't even like tea. That much. ... Oh well. If anybody else is in town and wants some, I won't be able to drink all of it so come on over to the Center and we'll have a fuckin' tea party.

And it'll be awesome.

<sub>[She doesn't really expect anybody to come, she was just throwin' that out there. In case anyone in some corner she hadn't noticed was checking their messages and had a sudden hankering for hot leaf water and company that would probably be grumpy and unsettled.

And of COURSE she's not addressing the real reasons she's so jittery out loud.]

[CLICK.]



[ooc: If your character's in Cherrygrove or the Center itself, feel free to have your character be chillin' there in person!]</sub>

Comments

[foolishwren]

I kinda fell off the bandwagon once I graduated. I'm just a professional bum right now. <sub>[Not totally true, she still worked odd jobs and helped Douglas out. But it just wasn't the same. Part of her felt lousy for not really trying to get into another school. Money wasn't an issue-- it was just that her dad would've wanted her to...]

[She reached down to give the fluffy little thing a few tentative pats.]</sub> ... Aww, he's soft, too! Man, I want one of these. Wonder if there's any wild ones running around...

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Eh, it happens. Nothing to be ashamed of. [Says the workaholic Princeton/MIT graduate.]

Asimov's a total sweetheart. I'm sure there's some wild ones running around.

[foolishwren]

Oh, don't worry. I'm not. _{[LIESLIESLIES. But she appreciated the gesture anyway.]} So, what do you do? Are you a scientist? _{[She was pretty sure she'd seen him in a labcoat in that first communication-- that and also Otacon just sort of... emanates 'scientist'. His nerdiness was just like... an aura.]} Or a professor or something?

_{[She keeps petting Asimov, more or less COMPLETELY won over by the sheer adorability of the little cottonpuff sheep.]} Man, I hope so. He's like... what would happen if you took a pillow, and brought it to life like Frankenstein. _{[She's pretty sure she's even SEEN obnoxious late-night infomercials for animal-shaped pillows that were like, also backpacks and pencil cases and Weapons of Mass Destruction and a million other things.]} ... Except, you know, without all the... stitches and 'hurrrrrr' and stuff.

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Scientist, sort of. [He adjusted his glasses.] I'm a mechanical engineer. And I'm pretty good with computers, too.

[Asimov went right on with his happy-sheep-noises, looking quite cheerful to have Heather's attention. Otacon laughed at her remark, genuinely amused by it.] He's something like that, yeah. An electrified, sheepy pillow.

[foolishwren]

An engineer? Cool! I worked around an autoshop for a little while, enough to pick up a couple things, but that's about as much as I know. <sub>[Heather had to have figured out how to use all those tools SOMEWHERE.]

[She kept on petting the little sheep. It was a whole lot nicer than petting 'Cujo' (not that she really DID) because A) it wasn't a HORRIBLE HOUND FROM HELL and B) it didn't try and jump all over her and lick her while she did it.]</sub>

I definitely want one. I suck at camping so I was just using like... the towel they gave us for a pillow while I was on my way here. That's not nearly as awesome as like... Lightning Lamb here. ... Oh man, that is my new band name. _{[RANDOM TANGENT. Face it, though, 'Lightning Lamb' would be a great name for a band. It is a fact.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Autoshop, huh? Awesome. The last vehicle I worked on was a helicopter, actually.

[He laughed again, amused by the sheer awesome that was this potential band.] Sounds pretty good to me.

[foolishwren]

_{[Her brows shoot up. Dude, a helicopter? Now he really has her attention!]}

A helicopter? That sounds awesome, are you in the military or something?

_{[She has to admit, before Silent Hill, she was never really that into guns and crap, but after they'd saved her life more than a few times, she'd developed a bit more of a liking for them. Vehicles, less so, but hey, it was still interesting. Helicopters, man.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Heh...sort of. I work with a soldier, at least.

[Meanwhile over here we have can't-shoot-a-gun pacifist Otacon who sadfaces when anyone gets injured or killed.]

YOUR ICON OH MY GOD. he is so helpful

[foolishwren]

Well, that's pretty cool! Do you guys get to do, like, super-secret CIA stuff? _{[Oh, Heather, you have NO idea...]}

HE TOTALLY IS OKAY

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

You could probably say that.

[foolishwren]

Wow, that must be really awesome. _{[It's ... not, Heather. It's not. But she doesn't know, she's never seen the particular kind of carnage.]} I work with a detective sometimes, but it's less solving cool mysteries and more talking to creepy drunk guys in nasty apartments who want him to track down their missing girlfriend who ran off because he was a dick or something. _{[Douglas didn't usually take those jobs.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

It's...different. Really hard work, but...well, rewarding in its own way. [Except when it wasn't. Which was really often.]

A detective, huh? Do you at least like it, even if it's not all that interesting?

[foolishwren]

Eh... it's work, y'know? I feel kinda lousy just like, sitting around the apartment and not doing anything. It's kind of a depressing job, to be honest, but it beats just sitting.

_{[And then she shrugs and takes on a goofy exaggerated pouting expression.]} We haven't had any high-speed chases yet and he won't let me carry his pistol around for him, so boo.

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

I can imagine. I have no idea what I'd be doing without Philanthropy.

Heh, that's a shame. You should be careful, though--just in case things get dangerous, y'know?

[foolishwren]

Philanthropy? _{[She feels like she should know what that means. And she probably does-- she's just too lazy to remember.]}

And... yeah, I-- ... the detective and I have both had plenty of experience with dangerous things before, so... I think it'd take a lot more than some nasty old white trash guys to kill us. _{[Understatement. Of the millennium.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Yeah--it's the name of our organization.

[Otacon leaned his head on his hand and glanced out the window.] I've been through my share of dangerous things too. I might know where you're coming from.

[foolishwren]

You have? ... Oh. Right, military. _[DUH.]

You must see a lot of pretty crappy stuff.

_{[She took a glance out the window, too. Heather wasn't a huge fan of rain. It reminded her too much of that night.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

[Otacon didn't answer at first, expression turning almost forlorn.]

...yeah, I guess so.

[He smiled, glancing back at Heather.]

But it's not like all of it is horrible. Doing the right thing is its own reward, after all.

[foolishwren]

_{[Yeah, she's seen that expression before... and worn it more than once. With a small, sympathetic smile, she reached over and gave him a pat on the shoulder.]}

Yeah, that's the truth.

<sub>[... Though on that note, she... kind of has a hard time relating. She felt kind of selfish thinking it, but even though she'd saved the world, it didn't feel like there was much of a reward when said world no longer contained much of anything for her. And to top it all off, she and Douglas were probably the only ones who even knew the world had been in any danger in the first place.]

[... But that didn't mean she was going to say anything about it. Frankly Otacon had a better outlook than she did.]</sub>

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

[He returned Heather's smile at the hand on his shoulder, adjusting his glasses almost compulsively.]

So what's it like for you back home? You seem like a pretty normal civilian to me.

[foolishwren]

We-ell... not a whole lot to say. _{[HURR HURR LYING BY OMISSION HURR.]} Born and bred in Maine, have an apartment. Used to like going to the mall, not so much anymore. I'm kind of in limbo since highschool. Doing odd jobs. You know, typical stuff.

_{[She's pretty sure that most people wouldn't react well to 'WELL, I'm the reincarnated form of this chick with special powers who was supposed to give birth to a demon god, and then I barfed up a fetus and saved the world by hitting it with a katana and kicking it in the head until it died. Oh and also there were monsters', so she doesn't... you know, bring it up. It's not exactly conversation material and she's used to keeping it secret.]}

I guess 'normal's an pretty good word for it.

_{[.... Yeah.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

You're from New England? Same here--grew up in Massachusetts.

['I worked for the FBI, got kicked out, and then built a giant robot that almost ended the world' wasn't really normal conversation either.]

[foolishwren]

Massachusetts? Man, you're right next-door! <sub>[She's incredibly tempted to break out with a 'Won't you be my neighbor' Mr. Rogers joke, but refrains.]

[They pretty much both have totally dysfunctional pasts so they're in good company.]</sub>

I've never been out of Maine.

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

[Too true.]

Yeah? I haven't been back home in a long time--closest I've been lately was New York.

[foolishwren]

Man, I used to want to go to New York so bad when I was a kid. One time in high school, some friends wanted to go on a road trip down there and I wanted so badly to go... Dad nearly went into cardiac arrest at the very idea, though.

_{[Back then, she hadn't known why he was so opposed to it. Now that she knew... things, it made much more sense. She'd been full of fifteen-year-old-rage at the time though...]}