foolishwren | 007. Video

007. Video

_{[It's dark. But judging by the orange, flickering light lighting up Heather's face as she does the customary squint-at-the-screen-to-make-sure-it's-recording motions, she's got a campfire lit. Satisfied, she puts it down on her pack and adjusts it a little before taking a seat in front of it. She's already laid out the sleeping bag and everything.]}

[Cujo the Growlithe and Arty the Sentret are both out of their Pokeballs, for once-- both are curled in a furry heap somewhere just barely in-view of the camera. Both are asleep .... unlike whatever owned the big red glowing eyes that were glimmering faintly in the dark somewhere behind Heather's back. She doesn't seem too concerned, though, as she's not paying much attention to them, for... for some reason. ... You'd think she'd be concerned.]
Yo.

Sorry to disappoint and all, but unfortunately, my little science experiment did not result in my death, so here I am to annoy you all a little more. Merry Christmas.

I'd also like to extend my thanks to Zack for helping me out with it. He fought valiantly in the great bee battle._{[She flips the horns at the camera and gives a serious nod.]}
You rule, bro.

Anyway. Was hopin' to catch one of those things, but by the time I got back to the scene of the crime-- _{[Why yes, the 'great bee battle' HAD mainly consisted of them running like sissies back to Cherrygrove. Is anyone surprised by this?]} -- they'd all decided they had somewhere better to be. Figures. Ignorance always flees in the wake of science, am I right?

Anyway..._{[The customary pause in which she remembers what she'd originally decided to annoy people via pointless video transmissions for anyway. ... After a moment or so, she snaps her fingers before tugging her knees to her chest and propping her chin on them. Now she remembers. Camping in the woods at night was something she'd never done as a kid (she and her father hadn't really been the country type), but every kid knows there's a few traditional activities one must take part in. She doesn't have anything to make s'mores with, so that left...]}
Oh yeah. So. Nighttime on the way to Violet City. Did I mention before that these woods are creepy as hell at night? Camping sucks. But... I'm bored, and even though I'm prooobably gonna regret this...

_{[She sort of wished she had a flashlight to hold under her face spookily, as was tradition, but aw heck.]}

...Anybody got some good ghost stories?

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_{[It went without saying that Heather was no wimp and knew how to fight, but... well, you know, street smarts and ferocity don't exactly take you THAT far against a trained soldier. Much less one of les Enfants Terrible. Heather's fist couldn't go anywhere.]}

SON OF A--!

_{[... And then she recognized who it was.]}

.... Oh I am gonna fuckin' KILL you, you lousy-- ... _{[Words failed her temporarily so she made up for it by giving him a vicious kick in the knee that he probably would not even feel. Because he was Liquid.]}

The hell d'you think you're doing sneaking up on me like that, Abs McGee?

_{[Moment worthy of one of her vaguely-insulting shirtlessness-related nicknames: check.]}

[Hello, Heather's foot. Meet Liquid's knee, which has much in common with a rock.]

You would hardly be the first to try. [He just sounded amused.]

Scaring you, by the looks of it. [He ruffled her hair like he would a little kid's, just because he likes being a dick.]

Or would you rather I tell you a lackluster ghost story?

_{[Well, THAT was fun and resulted in a great big bucket of OW... yeah Heather wouldn't be trying THAT again unless she somehow got her hands on a pair of cleats. For now, she just winced and stood on one foot, bouncing the painful one slightly.]}

Yeah, well I'll be the last... _{[She muttered that part in a dangerous tone, but didn't seem too intent on killing him anymore. Mainly because despite her hotheadedness, she knew a losing fight when she saw one.]}

Honestly, I'll take lackluster ghost stories over THAT any time. You big troll.

_{[She swatted at the hair-ruffling hand but hopped backwards slightly.]}

Shut up, Cooj. _{[She said this to the Growlithe, who was still yapping excitedly. But not doing anything else. Some guard dog HE was.]}

So what the hell're you doing out in the middle of the night anyway? Is this revenge for when I called you an Abercrombie model back in Cherrygrove?

I still don't know what the hell an Abercrombie is.

[They probably didn't like their models as scarred-up as Liquid was, anyway.]

But I was out training, if you must know. I got your video and decided to stop by.

[Meaning 'I thought it'd be fun to scare the bejeezus out of you', obviously.]

It's a store where they sell generic clothes to people who pay way too much for them. It... wasn't that great of a comeback, honestly, don't think about it too much.

_{[His reasoning for being there got a derisive snort out of her and she flopped back down on the sleeping bag, gesturing grumpily at the campfire.]}

Well, since you're here, you might as well sit down. You can't have any of my food, though, because you're terrible and you should feel terrible.

_{[She was a vengeful little thing but Liquid still has some brownie points for helping her with her little chemistry experiment earlier, so he's cool... for now.]

[Meanwhile, Cujo had decided that the threat level had escalated from 'Bark' to 'Run around in big circles around the campsite, still barking'. Arty the Sentret, thoroughly trampled and looking like she wanted to murder something, had retreated deep into the sleeping bag.]}

Ah. A civilian thing.

[He'll never understand you civilians.]

[Liquid took that invitation and sat down, getting comfortable a short distance from the fire-- enough to enjoy the light, but not enough to get too much of the heat.]

I've got my own. [Apples, as a matter of fact. One of which he takes out and tosses idly between his hands.]

So, how's-- [beat] --will you shut that bloody dog up?

_{[Heather's voice is grim as she answers.]}

Nothing short of a nuclear strike will shut him up. He'll quiet down in a moment, just... hold onto your eardrums in the meantime.

_{[She's obviously been through this before and knows the drill. Sure enough, after awhile, the Growlithe quiets down. Of course, he also decides to thoroughly investigate Liquid with his nose, which may or may not be an improvement.]}

...Fantastic.

[Oh, great, now he had to try to fend off a wet dog nose that seemed inexplicably drawn to his crotch.]

[through grit teeth] Lovely animal you have here.

_{[DOGS WILL BE DOGS~]}

Yeah, he's quite the charmer, isn't he?

_{[She doesn't do anything to stop the mutt, naturally. That's how it works, Liquid. Scare girls and then you have to deal with slobbery animals saying hello in unwanted ways. Just be glad he's not humping your leg or something.]}

Anyway... now that my heart has stopped having an attack, I feel better. _{[Placing her elbows on her knees and then her chin in her hands, she just watched him, raising a brow.]} Weren't you traveling with Hal?

[He'll just keep shoving Cujo's stupid head away until he figures it out, then.]

...Hal? Ah, that's Otacon's real name, is it?

[The engineer hadn't told him that yet.]

Yes, I'm traveling with him. He took a job in town, so we're stuck for a week.

[If only you knew why he was really hanging around the nerdy engineer, Heather.]

_{['Stupid' was putting it kindly. This was not a very bright dog. At least he wasn't violent.]}

Oh-- yeah. That's how he introduced himself to me, anyway.

_{[She brightens up hearing that he's sticking around town for awhile-- she's fond of him and... well, especially after hearing what he'd told her tonight, what she'd sort of gleaned from him before had become even more obvious. He'd had a hard life.]

[IRONICALLY, he had mentioned that he worked with a soldier, and LIQUID was a soldier, so Heather just sort of assumed... WRONG ENFANT TERRIBLE, KIDDO.]}

Hm. I see.

[It's an easy mistake for her to make without any more information than that.]

He's been working in the Pokemon Center. You'll probably run into him sooner or later.

Yeah, considering that's probably where I'll be staying. Dunno if I'm gonna wind up getting a job myself, though... I've still got a decent wad of cash from the last job and being tied down somewhere gives me cabin fever.

_{[Not that she did a whole lot of traveling at home, really, but she did have a tendency to wander.]}

I understand. I was never particularly fond of staying in one place for very long, either.

[Normally because he was in a warzone at the time and hanging around meant getting caught by the enemy, but even to an extent outside of battle. Since he didn't have a place to call home, he never had a reason to stay somewhere unless he was ordered to.]

Yeeeah. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm a hobo or anything, but anything that's like, 'stay here for seven days OR WE WILL ARREST YOUR ASS' is just... no thank you.

_{[It was likely that there would be at least a few warrants for Heather's arrest out there before this whole epic Pokemon adventure was over.]}

It does seem like something of an overreaction, doesn't it.

[There might be a few out for Liquid eventually, as well-- he didn't like it when people told him he had to do something OR ELSE. He'd usually take the else.]

Seriously.

Not a fan of the no-weapons thing, either. I'm sorry if like, the Pokemon are supposed to protect us from everything ever but I'd be a lot happier if I had my guns with me, personally.

_{[... Of course, Heather + guns in the Pokemon world was more or less a disaster waiting to happen so, y'know, it's a good thing she doesn't have them.]}

I'm not afraid of being in trouble with the law, but it's pretty inconvenient if they're going to jump on you because you only wanted to work three days before moving on instead of SEVEN.

Tch. I hardly need weapons to hurt someone, but I share your sentiments.

[God help the police if they tried to apprehend Liquid against his will.]

[The girl liked explosions, wreaking havoc, and carried guns. Liquid was liking her more every minute.]

What kind of firearms did you carry?

Neither do I, but they help.

_{[Said the scrappy bottle-blond teen who was probably easier to imagine hanging out in the food court of some mall or whining about having to do homework or something. Buuut, she wasn't lying.]}

Well, I guess 'carry' isn't exactly the right word. _{[It wasn't like she packed a handgun while she just wandered around in public.]} But a variety, I guess. _{[She doesn't know all the technicalities and brands as much as she just knows that she can shoot them and they go boom and kill things, which was really all she cared about at the time.]} Handgun, shotgun, submachine gun... That one's my favorite.

[Her punch hadn't been half-bad, and Liquid knew a fighter when he saw one. Heather was definitely the type who could see herself through a sticky situation.]

So you like a little firepower, eh? Good.

[Though he was willing to bet that she couldn't tell a Makarov from a Winchester.]

_{[That much was definitely true. If nothing else, she was a real survivor.]}

Oh yeah. I used to think guns were kinda nasty, but my mind got changed in a hurry. If it goes boom and kills the bad guys, it's good enough to me.

_{[THAT she couldn't. Her guns had come to her by chance and supernatural manifestation-- she hadn't had much choice in the matter so aside from knowing how to FIRE one, most guns looked more or less the same to her.]}

[He tilted his head towards her.]

But what does a girl like you need with that kind of weaponry?

_{[That gets him a significant glance, one brow rising.]}

... I hope you meant that to be a question regarding my age and not my gender. _{[Because hey, she can understand being surprised at a barely-out-of-highschooler needing weapons, but being surprised at a female needing weapons, pffft!]} Otherwise I'll have to kick your ass on principal.

_{[Poking at the fire with a stick, she shrugs her shoulders.]}

I have some stalkers of the psycho variety. If I didn't have some of that nasty equipment on my side, I'd probably be dead by now.

_{[And so would the world. Or... well, her world. Apocalypse and all. ... No need to bring the monsters into it-- Heather's hesitant to talk much about the Silent Hill stuff. At least stalkers are something that most people will believe, and it's not a lie, after all. Those cultists love their holy Alessa...]}

Of course. Some of the world's greatest assassins are women. I meant that you're both young and a civilian, and civilians usually don't have that kind of firepower.

[He doesn't completely buy it-- Liquid is hard to pull one over on. Especially because when most people had a stalker problem, they went to the police, they didn't grab the nearest submachine gun.]

I... see. They must have been very persistent stalkers.

[But he won't push it. It's not as though he's told her much of anything about his life-- she doesn't have to tell him about hers.]

Oh. 'Kay, we're good then.

_{[And yeeeeah, Liquid's right to be a little suspicious. There's a lot more to it than just 'stalkers'. .... Even without the monsters, there's STILL a lot more than just 'stalkers'.]}

Persistent isn't the half of it.

Anyway, long story short, about a year ago, it got to the point where... well, let's just say that firepower was very necessary.

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