foolishwren | 96. [Accidental Video/Action for Ecruteak] BACKDATED TO THE 22ND

_{[Chaotic and occasionally-accidental videos have become a relatively frequent occurrence during the outbreak, and this video is really no different in that aspect.]

[The feed comes to life in a chaotic jumble that makes it clear that the 'Gear was bumped or jostled into turning on-- no amateur-but-deliberate filming of Pokemon attacking action figures this time around. It does, however, come to a brief halt as the carrier pauses.]}

_{[Sunny the Togekiss peers sorrowfully down from the outdoor-rafters she's perched on, apparently refusing to come down.]}

-ny!

SUNNY!

Get the HELL down-- oh my god, you know what?

Forget it.

FORGET IT.

Forget it.

Fucking BIRD.

_{[The screen whirls and and all image coherency disappears in a swirl of bouncing sky and trees. The WHACK WHACK WHACK of the mic hitting the other contents of Heather's bag as it swings at her side destroy most of the audibility too, but snippets of voices come through-- Heather's and someone else's. People who are familiar with her and the people she travels with will recognize it as her father Harry Mason.]}

Heath--r please be reason-- just stop for a moment and think ab-- you don't need to d-- let it g--

No. NO. She--

I don't CARE if she's not g-- to-- I'm going--- do what I should have done in t-- --ace!

--L MASON--

_{[The thumping stops as Heather apparently stops and spins on her heel. As she does so, the camera's view once again settles, offering an off-kilter perspective view of her from roughly waist-level. She's been staying away from the network as much as possible as the effects of the strange outbreak started to hit her hard, and now it's fairly evident why: dark, scorched-looking splotches have spread across every inch of skin like burns-- and where they crack, bright, veinlike lines like something molten spread. Her hair is smoky and black.]}

I am NOT losing you again, Dad!

_{[And then, after that raspy, croaky scream, she whirls again and keeps going. The feed times out at some point, after a lot of jumbled sounds as other voices join the apparent debate.]}

[OOC: Cooooonteeeeeext. Replies over the 'Gear will likely be ICly delayed and/or limited.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[thaaat makes him freeze in his tracks completely, and leaves him staring at the screen, eyes wide for a few moments... before his surprise dissolves]

... s'too late for that.

What's going on?

_{[If there's one thing she's learned about Kaito, it's that he's not gonna give up. But the coldness remains when she gives her reply, which if nothing else should shed some (or a LOT of) light on what's got her in this state.]}

Claudia's back.

_{[The Heather speaking to him now couldn't be further from the one who he'd comforted on that picnic bench by the sea almost a year ago. There's no tears in her voice. Only hatred.]}

[... and that explanation is all he needs to put the pieces together. His grip tightens on his gear as he sucks in a deep breath]

Stay there. Don't move. I'm coming see you.

No, Kaito.

Not this time.

You think I'm just gonna stand here and do nothing?

[He knew exactly that being alone was the last thing she needed right now, especially after an argument like that... and especially with her anger being so obvious through the gear. He couldn't blame her-- he'd be just as angry as she was... but he didn't want his friend to wind up doing something she would regret]

Heather... I know.

_{[Her reply is instantaneous, and harsh.]}

No, Kaito. You don't.

There's more to it than Dad. _{[... A lot more... that she'd only told one or two people about. Ever. One of them being her father himself.]}

If you really care?

You'll stay out of this.

[He pauses again, but his expression remains determined, and he's moving again before she can say anything else]

That's not how this works.

It's how this works.

My life isn't some spectacle for everybody to gawk at. This is something that should have been fuckin' buried long before I ever came here and I don't want anyone but ME to be there when it's finished.

If you care, you'll stay out.

[still gripping his gear tightly]

. . . and what're you gonna do afterward, Heather?

_{[The question catches her by surprise, slightly. Because to be honest, she hasn't thought about it.]}

... I'll do what I always have. Move on.

_{[Except that she clearly HASN'T moved on from things. But then again, Claudia was the last loose end that Heather had wanted to tie, and she'd never been able to...]}

You don't just move one from something like that. You're not--

[a pause, and he exhales sharply]

You're not wrong to feel that way, but acting on it like this... Heather, c'mon! This isn't like you.

_{[All these people telling her that this 'isn't like her' hurts. It's not their fault. Hell, it couldn't be further from being their fault. They don't know. How could they know? For the most part, she had buried that part of her as much as she could before coming here.]

[But now it's resurfacing just like it had back on that night when Silent Hill had claimed everything she held dear, and it's with a slightly sick sense of realization that she remembers that everyone she's met here, since coming to Johto, is fundamentally in the dark about her. Even the ones who she'd told some things.]}

... I'm sorry, Kaito.

But you don't know me as well as you think.

_{[This is more like me than anything I've done here.]}

... I know you well enough to know that you're better than she is.

[Said firmly, without hesitation, and with all of the conviction he can muster]

_{[If she weren't too angry, too fired up to do something as intrinsically relaxing and low-key as sigh, she would have at that.]

[It's such an easy assumption. Thinking that just because someone is an enemy, that means they're a level below you that you can sink to. That sinking to their level is even the central issue.]

[Again, it's not something she can blame Kaito for, but it's woefully off the mark.]}

This has nothing to do with me being better or worse than her.

And you don't know her, anyway.

_{[The last bit is unfairly scathing, because... really, what HAS she told Kaito about Claudia, apart from the fact that she's a murderer? Next to nothing.]}

[It was the line of thinking Kaito himself had clung to from the moment he learned his father had been murdered. It was the one thing that kept him from acting on his own, similar urges. So naturally... it's the first thing that comes to mind, even if there are a few pieces of the puzzle that he's still missing]

That's not-- that's not the point, Heather. If this has nothing to do with that, then what is it?

_{[Sadly, there was very little that kept Heather from acting on hers. Being immersed in violence from the moment of her father's death onwards had changed something inside her-- although how much it had changed ... well, that remains to be seen.]

[But she doesn't answer. Because she doesn't HAVE a good answer. It's NOT about 'not dipping to Claudia's level', but it's a hell of a lot easier to say what it's NOT about than what it IS about.]

[So finally, coldly, and for no other reason than because she has no idea what to tell him that won't-- wouldn't-- take hours:]}

It's none of your business.

. . .

[It stings, just a little bit... but then again, Kaito knew all too well how difficult it was to talk about certain subject. And the last thing he wanted to do was force her into it]

... if you're worried about me not understanding, Heather... we're friends. Remember?

... I know.

And that's exactly why I don't want you involved in this.

I don't want you to face this alone. Not anymore.

[Because doing so can be pretty scary]

Yeah?

Well, I want to face it alone.

_{[It's true. It can be. She knows that pretty well. Having been run through Hell's wringer and back, and all. But the truth is something she'd said to Rise once, back when the idol had still been in Johto.]

[Going it alone had been terrifying, but it had also been empowering in a way.]

[When you were alone, you had nothing to lose, and the only person you needed to worry about was yourself. No watching friends die.]

[Or watching the horror on their face when they watched you do the terrible things you would inevitably have to do.]}

96. [Accidental Video/Action for Ecruteak] BACKDATED TO THE 22ND

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