foolishwren | 79. [Video/Action] Backdated to the morning of October 1st!

_{[So what's the best thing for someone who's been spending their time alternately fretting and pretending not to be fretting over circumstances well beyond their control?]

[A) More fretting
B) Meditation
C) A DISTRACTION]

[If anyone answered anything other than C, they're either very silly, or Cooper.]

[Heather is neither (.... okay, maybe she's the former quite often), so needless to say... when the posters for the Johto-wide fighting tournament going on in Goldenrod City hit the streets, they were the first thing to catch her eye. In fact, anyone spending any amount of time with her in person has probably noticed the way she's been stopping in the middle of whatever she was doing every single time she passes one of the damn things to look at it contemplatively, with a cocked head and a sort of half-wistful, half-devilish look in her eye.]

[As such, nobody whatsoever should be surprised when she pops up on the network on the day of signups ending with one of the flyers in hand. She'd been waffling on account of the fact that her father was sure do disapprove, but... man, she's been spoiling for something like this for months, and she's got... more than a little steam to blow off. Steam that isn't always so easy to blow off in a world where society expects you to resolve all your conflicts by letting animals do your fighting for you.]}

YO Johto, what's the happs?

_{[She grins broadly and then flourishes the poster at the screen.]}

Guys. Guys. Look.

Look at this.

Best thing ever, or BEST thing ever?

Who else's gonna sign up?

I'M gonna. ... Assuming the puppy-eyes work on Dad, I guess. They're a little rusty but I was once the puppy-eyes champion so I should be okay. And for anybody weirded out by the surreal idea of ME doing puppy-eyes, ask yourselves this: how ELSE could I have gotten away with all the crazy crap you totally know I got up to as a kid?

_{[A sly, knowing nod.]}

Yeah, makes more sense now, doesn't it.

ANYWAY.

_{[Another flourish of the poster.]}

So if any of you are planning on being in this thing, gimme a shout! I wanna size up the competition and stuff. ... And also, transportation? I'm in Ecruteak, so... if anyone's in the area, I guess we could carpool, or something? _{[She's not opposed to the idea of leaping on a strange Pidgeot if she HAS TO, buuuuut...]} I mean, the Tournament isn't supposed to LAST too long, so I'm guessin' we'd all only be gone for like... what, a week or two at most? Then I'd be headed back to Ecruteak because seriously, nice place.

Anyway... _{[She trails off, eyes flicking off to the side of the screen.]} I'd better go convince Dad that I won't die if I do this. _{[Eyes back to the screen, she gives a somber, soldier-like nod and salutes solemnly.]} Wish me luck, my people.

_{[BOOP. End feed.]

[TIME TO GO FIND DAD.]}

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_{[She starts to open her mouth, probably to make a cocky 'Damn straight' remark or something... but something about the way Nanao said that makes her stop. Because... it doesn't... sound like it's a casual statement. It sounds like there's... something else. And that makes Heather's internal alarms go off.]

[There's a brief flash of ... could that be nervousness on her face? Then it goes right back to her default 'Wanna make somethin' of it?' look.]}

What's that supposed to mean?

{Raising an eyebrow, but taking a different tack.}

You know, those Shedinja caught many people's souls.

{And just pausing there - she wants to see if Heather is able to figure this one out on her own. Maybe it'll be less traumatic this way.}

{Maybe.}

_{[Unfortunately, there's probably no way this isn't going to end up traumatic somehow.]

[Heather stares.]

[What... is that... she wouldn't be saying that if she hadn't... no. No, she'd have said something sooner if she had, right? Why wait til NOW? Unless-- ... unless this was...]}

_{[... No. ... Maybe.]

[Shit.]

[She was there. She saw something. What did she see?]}

_{[As closed-off as Heather is sometimes good at seeming, ultimately she wears her heart on her sleeve. It's probably not hard to tell what's going through her head right now.]

[For someone as perceptive as Nanao, maybe it's even easy to see that deep down, there's a hell of a lot more fear than there is anger about this.]

[She's legitimately tongue-tied for a second. What... what does she say? What does she DO? She doesn't know what Nanao saw. But she's pretty sure that no matter WHAT, it's something that can be used to hurt her with. And that prospect is paralyzing.]}

_{[... But she swallows that up and yanks her usual attitude back in front. ... A little late, but...]}

Yeah, so?

Heather, you have my word that I will never breathe a word of this to anyone. I promise.

{There is one thing Nanao does not do, and that is blackmail someone over serious shit like this. She remembers her past life far too well for that.}

But it seems to me that we both had rather awful parents in a former like.

_{[What happens next isn't really any kind of reflection on Nanao, because she did legitimately handle this as gently as possible.]

[It's more a reflection on Heather, and the magnitude of anyone seeing the things Nanao saw without Heather actually meaning for it to happen (and she still doesn't know WHAT she saw... only that it must have been from Alessa's life, and really that alone tells her that whatever it was, there's a very high likelihood of it being something that she has never told anyone about and never planned to.]

[There is a brief flash of absolutely genuine fear on her face before she instantly cuts the feed.]}

{Nanao just nods sadly. She understands.}

I apologise, Heather. Until next time.

[... But the old man is watching.]

{Creepers gonna creep?}

[YUP.]

{Heather you really need to learn to lock certain conversations.}

_{[Sob she really does]}

_{[DADBOT WHAT'RE YOU DOIN]

[ARE YOU CREEPIN]}

[IT'S CALLED THREAT-ASSESSMENT OKAY.]

_{[JEEZ OLD MAN SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF!!! GOSH]

[she might deserve a lecture about not locking certain conversations, though]}

79. [Video/Action] Backdated to the morning of October 1st!

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