foolishwren | 90. [Video/Action for Olivine Inn] Dated to whenever Team Silent + Crow gets to Olivine.

_{[It's quiet.]

[In more ways than one.]

[Actually, 'quiet' is a pretty good word to describe everything over the past few days, from Heather's perspective.]

[She's been quiet. After making an angry spectacle of herself in front of everyone, she hadn't been in much of a talkative mood. The trip down Route 38 had been spent largely in solemn silence, even after Crow had joined them mid-journey-- something that practically didn't seem possible.]

[The network's been quiet. Relatively, anyway. So many previously-prolific voices had vanished. Those who were left had understandably been left to pick up the pieces of everything that had come undone and, well, it's hard to blame them for being quiet-- those ones who had lost people, anyway. God knows Heather couldn't muster the fire to keep getting angrier as word of new disappearances had continued to flow in. The moment when she had seriously considered destroying a harmless Pokemon egg and its contents had been the moment she'd burnt herself out.]

[And, perhaps the only one that's sort of comforting right now, the city is quiet. The hustle and bustle of summer is both long ago and far in the future and as such, Olivine City in February is a great deal calmer than it had been the last time Heather had been here. That's sort of good, really. They've all needed to do a lot of thinking lately.]

[It's morning-- hardly even dawn yet.]

[At first, the camera isn't even SHOWING Heather. More a very close view of the floor, and the railing at the top of the staircase leading up from the lobby of the Olivine Inn. The cameraman is probably a Pokemon, but who knows which one it is... Godzilla has long since retired from his 'Gear-stealing shenanigans and so has Butch, now that he can WOOOOOO and QUAAAAAAG at his beloved Flapper in person.]

[But whichever one it is, it carries the camera with an air of quiet determination, and once it situates itself within view of its trainer, who seems to be sitting silently by a window in the deserted lobby, it sits itself down with a rustle and zooms in.]}

_{[Eyes shut, she almost looks asleep, except for the fact that she's absent-mindedly stroking something with one finger-- something bristly-looking and pale yellow that seems to be in the process of contentedly nuzzling its way under her chin. ... Something with four bright blue eyes not dissimilar to the odd markings on that little egg she had been threatening to crush last week.]

[The video doesn't last long. It lingers on Heather and the new Pokemon for fifteen or twenty seconds, and then shuts off. Whoever had been filming, it seemed, had no agenda outside of showing the network that, no, Heather had not gone through with her impulsive plan. Fortunately.]

[The whole time, Heather just carries on obliviously.]

[Remembering hurts... but there's nothing anybody can do to change that.]

[Half to herself and half to the creature, who doesn't seem to be aware of how close it had come to maybe NOT EVER GETTING TO HATCH, she mumbles after a few seconds.]}

... Stage five. I think.

That's acceptance, right?

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[He nods.]

And maybe they'll come back.

... I'm not gonna hold my breath.

Ven...once said that you had to have hope.

Might be worth trying.

Sometimes you need to save the hope for special occasions.

There's only so much I can hope for something that's not gonna happen before it fucks me up even worse.

Better to just leave it.

That way if they do come back, it'll give me some hope instead of draining it.

_{[Her voice is bitter. The truth is, she's a pretty big FAN of the whole 'hope' thing. But... well... after awhile, the letdown starts getting to you. The only way to keep hanging onto your hope sometimes is to just take good care of what you have left... and not squander it on things you know you'll just get burned on.]}

[Funny how he's almost the opposite. He used to be pretty skeptical, still is really, but he doesn't just want to not do anything.]

So you won't hope for them to come back.

Of course I hope they'll come back.

I just mean... I'm not gonna waste my energy getting myself all set on the possibility of it happening.

Because it's PROBABLY not.

And being let down over and over again just SOURS everything.

Sora. Sora has a memory, I think it's of Leon, and he says that even though we might not meet again, we'll never forget each other, and that our hearts will always bring us back together again.

So, even though people keep leaving, and we keep getting let down, I think we just have to remember that connection. Because even if it doesn't happen, and they don't come back, that connection's still there. It still means something.

At least, I think so.

[And that's a lot, coming from a boy who isn't sure if he has a heart or not.]

I just don't want to let stuff bring me down anymore.

Of course the connection still means something.

I just...

... If you go for too long hoping for something, and it never comes, over and over again...

_{[She trails off into a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose.]}

... It's hard to explain...

I just have to be able to keep going. ... N'sometimes if I... spend too much time pining for something that's not happening, I just... can't.

Then, just don't pine for it, or whatever. Just hope, and keep going.

[He doesn't completely believe it, but for probably the first time he's actually trying to channel Sora because Sora always knows what to say in these situations (so he thinks).]

I don't want you to be sad, Heather.

[That is Roxas talking though.]

_{[She's definitely seeing some shades of Sora there, although as usual Roxas is more solemn than his brown-haired lookalike. Not answering at first, she sighs and shakes her head. It's not out of exasperation. She understands what he's trying to do and she appreciates it.]

[It's just... there's only so many times a person can handle being let down.]}

Neither do I.

Believe me, neither do I.

... I'll be fine.

Hopefully everybody will be fine.

I'm going to hold you to that.

Don't worry.

I always deliver on the fineness eventually.

You better.

90. [Video/Action for Olivine Inn] Dated to whenever Team Silent + Crow gets to Olivine.

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