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

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Current Location: Ecruteak City

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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 puffs up a little.]}

Well, I already know enough to take on this challenge.

But I'm just saying, a little more couldn't hurt.

[He studies her for a moment, before editing the security on the device.]

You know enough when you have a weapon. Against... certain things. How intelligent were those monsters? Able to plan, to seek your weaknesses?

To judge the range of your weapon and the strength of your strike?

_{[Okay, serious business time. She sobers up a bit, but the spunkiness that the looming Tournament infused her with isn't totally gone.]}

Well, some were smarter than others... The ones you saw there were mostly the dumb kind.

_{[The dogs had just been dumb animals, for the most part... the closers had seemed fairly dim as well. The nurses had wielded weapons like people, but had behaved like little more than mindless automatons. The slurpers, though... they'd been pretty smart.]}

Some of 'em knew how to sneak and lie in wait, or fake me out... go for weak spots...

.... And a few of them were just like fighting people. ... Just... people who were a lot stronger than regular people...

_{[Leonard and the Missionary... not to mention, herself.]

[... Literally, she's not going to mention that. Even if Ironhide HAD seen Silent Hill, she's pretty sure that'd still be a pretty big mindfuck.]}

Only a few?

[He's listening. But he's still skeptical. Yeah, he mostly saw the dumb kind. And they mostly looked like the kind you ran away from, when you could.]

[If she wants to join the tournament, hey, he won't stop her. He just want to make some kind of point.]

Hey, don't gimme that look!

I just mean... those ones were special. They weren't like the rest. There were a lot of the rest.

_{[It's a GOOD point, and honestly, she does need to hear it. Even as she protests, she knows it's something she'll be keeping in mind.]}

I'm just saying, they ranged from bullet-fodder to insidious and everywhere in between.

[He will give her that look if he damn well pleases. Look. There it is.]

Then, by that logic, you are more used to fighting the rest than those who could think.

W- ... well, so?

I bet MOST people have fought more losers who don't know how to fight than they have actual competent ones!

... Besides, I fought a lot before that place, too. I just don't count it much 'cause... y'know, high-school brawling isn't exactly the same thing as a tournament. But it taught me a lot!

_{[Awww look at her get all defensive.]}

[He regards her in silence again.]

You think I have fought a war against 'losers'? Hmn? How many others like me are here? Soldiers. Warriors pulled from combat.

You are capable against the creatures you know how to kill. Not arguing that. But you face too many unknowns to be overconfident.

We can work, sure. But overconfidence has lost more battles than anything else I know of. Gotten more good 'bots... killed. Or worse.

[Or sent them off the deep end into axe-crazy revenge. His face falls for a second, remembering.]

[That particular soldier is alone now. He just has to hope for the best, and that... that is almost painful to think of.]

_{[W-whoa. She holds up her hands a little, sensing she might've treaded a little close to a nerve. ... Or... a wire, or something. ... A-and unaware that she's unknowingly stepping on another one.]}

Hey, I didn't mean it like that.

I just meant... you're ALIVE, aren't you? You won for millions of years.

That means you're stronger than all the stuff you've fought, ever.

And-- ... and so am I, and I fought things that could've killed me in a heartbeat if I hadn't been just a little quicker, and a little smarter. That means something!

... At least I think it does.

[Ironhide... doesn't answer her.]

[He doesn't even acknowledge the first part of her statement, dropping his eyes instead.]

[Because there's... one thing he wasn't stronger than. Just one. And that was all it took. When he does finally speak, it's subdued.]

... Not discounting what you have done. Only saying you need to be more prepared.

_{[She doesn't know, Ironhide. ;-;]

[When he suddenly grows solemn, she frowns, tipping her head a little, brows furrowing in concern. That was... not the reaction she'd expected. He didn't even look mad. Just... she's not sure WHAT to describe that as. Just that she didn't expect it.]}

Well... I mean-- ... yeah, that's... of course.

... But that's why I'm asking you to show me some stuff!

Even if it's not much, every little bit helps, right?

_{[YOUTHFUL OPTIMISM]}

[He knows she has no idea. Honestly, he wouldn't even know how to begin telling her, if he had to.]

[Still, he doesn't look at the 'gear.]

I will help.

... Thanks, Ironhide.

It does mean a lot to me.

... I never had anybody to show me stuff like this when I needed it back home.

_{[Harry had taught her all he could, but... even he hadn't been able to fully prepare her for what was ahead.]}

... It was my duty, back home.

Helped keep the others safe. If they knew how to protect themselves.

[He just has to hope it sticks with them.]

... I wish there were more people who'd do that.

Would've ... made things turn out a lot differently where I come from.

And sometimes... you can make all the preparations. All the training... only... to have it make no difference, in the end.

_{[... Heather goes quiet at that.]}

... I guess that's kind of what happened.

_{[She'd never known why her father had done half of what he did, until it was already too late... only then had she figured out just how much he'd sacrificed to try and keep her safe.]}

... But I don't want that to happen again.

[That makes him look up.]

...

What happened?

_{[Oh man. How is it possible to even BEGIN to explain what had happened to them?]

[She makes a face, briefly. Not an 'oh god how do I get out of talking about this' face, but an 'oh god how do I TALK about this' face.]}

... Dad literally sacrificed everything to protect me.

Everything.

... And bad stuff still happened.

A lot of bad stuff.

_{[His efforts, his preparations, had let her save the world. ... But that couldn't erase everything that both of them had gone through just to crawl out the other end alive. ... And Harry hadn't even gotten THAT the second time around. Johto is literally the last chance he has to be with his daughter now.]}

All his plans, all those years of dodging the bullet... it's not that they didn't matter, 'cause they did, but...

[He gets what she means, more or less. How could he not understand? It was how he'd always thought things would end.]

[So, once again, there's silence.]

[He nods.]

But it feels as if they do not. Because of what happened.

... Yeah.

Pretty much.

_{[There's a pause. ... And then, in a quiet voice.]}

... You know what that's like, don't you.

[Ironhide... doesn't answer. Again. He doesn't know how to. What does he even say to that?]

[He opts for a version that's easiest to say. Which is... just an agreement.]

Yeah. How did you guess?

... Well, I figure, live for millions of years... it's bound to happen eventually.

_{[... That and she can just sorta... y'know. Tell. From the way he talked and looked right now.]}

You would figure right.

[Not that he has any intention of delving into this discussion any deeper than that.]

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

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