foolishwren | 008. Video

_{[When the screen comes on, it's pointed straight at the sky-- specifically, at the deep, smoke-gray thunderheads starting to roll in. The foliage just peeking over the bottom of the screen's view is whipping around in a frenzy, buffeted by the foreboding winds that have sprung up in the face of the storm.]

[Heather's voice then cuts in over the roar of weather. She's YELLING to make herself heard.]}

Can you BELIEVE this!?

Can you friggin' believe this?!

All day yesterday I'm slogging along through the heat and then the moment I get to the city to actually chill around in civilization, THIS happ--

_{[A handful or so of wet leaves is quite suddenly plastered against the camera lens. Thank you, 60 mph wind. Thank you]}

Ackplthh--!!

_{[... And apparently Heather was hit in the face by several, too.]}

PLHHHFFLT! If I have to spend another week sitting in the Pokemon Center in order not to drown, I am gonna...... oh boy.

_{[Aaaand here comes the rolling wall of pure downpour. The camera turns sharply and any viewers still watching are treated to a tilta-whirl of grass, dirt, a running Sentret, and occasionally Heather's boots as she high-tails it away from the rain. THAT'S RIGHT, HEATHER. IF YOU RUN FAST ENOUGH, YOU CAN OUTRUN NATURE.]

[Eventually the video feed cuts out.]}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

_{[Heather relaxes a little. Admitting insanity, at least when done in a generally, y'know, accepting way, tended to be a good sign. As opposed to the whole 'I'M NOT THE ONE WHO'S CRAZY!!! IT'S EVERYONE ELSE WHO'S CRAZY!!!" shtick she's heard so many times before.]}

Hey, at least you admit it.

Too many people don't.

[shrug] Madness runs in the family. Denying it would be futile.

[As fucked-up of a family as he had.]

Heh.

Sometimes I'm not so sure it doesn't run in mine. Buuut I'm pretty confident about how I turned out.

_{[Dahlia Gillespie would not be winning the 'Sane Mom of the Year' award any time soon. Or any kind of award any time soon. Or ever.]}

Perhaps all families have some measure of insanity to them. I'm not much of a judge.

[At least she didn't have a Spartan existence living amongst soldiers while her father told her every day that she was inferior and would amount to nothing, so that she grew up with festering hatred and the bloody-minded determination to prove everyone who ever doubted her wrong. By any means necessary.]

Yeah... wouldn't surprise me.

_{[She definitely didn't, and for that, she was grateful. ... On the other hand, at least Liquid hadn't been burned alive and forcibly impregnated with an occult god at the age of seven. Between them, Heather and Liquid could probably demolish small planets with the sheer force of their traumatic backstories.]}

[If traumatic backstories were artillery, Liquid would be ruling the world right now. Heather could help if she liked.]

You've not turned out so bad, though.

[This is the rare compliment from Liquid; take note.]

_{[Heather had no desire to rule the world, thankfully.]

[She raises a brow at the compliment, not having expected it. But she did take it in stride.]}

I like to think I turned out all right.

_{[Then, with a grin, she added--]} I only turn the crazy on when I need it.

[The compliment was supposed to make up for unleashing the batshittery on her.]

That's the way to do it.

_{[It did. At least for the moment. Heather's been around the block, she knows that sometimes crazy is just to be expected. Wariness was something she'd learned the hard way was necessary and of course creepy deluded speeches gave her the wig, but... honestly? Now? She was confident that on the off-chance Liquid or anybody else she met turned psycho, she'd get out of it one way or another. .... But she'll listen a little more closely next time she's camping. No more sneak attacks, at least if she can help it.]}

Yeah, s'kept me alive this long, there's gotta be something about it that works.

[Good luck with that. When Liquid wants to sneak up on something, it gets sneaked up on, unless that person is either crazy prepared or as good a stealth operative as he is. But none of his crazy is going to be directed towards her-- she's not the object of his batshit obsession.]

[He pulled a bottle of water out of his pack and took a swig.]

I don't knock a method that works.

_{[True, but... she can dream! Needless to say, she doesn't believe on just randomly hating on somebody until they give her reason to. So Liquid's still cool in her book.]}

Only an idiot would.

[It was a good thing she wasn't holding it against him-- he kind of liked her. It would be... annoying if his batshittery drove her off.]

Of course.

[You know what, this topic of conversation wasn't really leading anywhere good. Maybe it was time for an abrupt change into something less... about crazy.]

Did you hear how long this storm is going to last?

_{[Quite possibly a VERY good idea.]

[Heather shrugged broadly.]}

No clue. I hope it cuts it out soon, though. During the last one I was more or less stuck indoors for like, ever. Drives a person crazy.

[Liquid sometimes had those.]

Tch. Perhaps there's something broadcast on these... device things.

[Guess who was before cell phones? Yeah, Liquid and his PokeGear were totally not best friends.]

Hm. Well, we can check.

_{[Her video function was still kind of wonky after all that rain, but maybe there was some kind of newscast thing she hadn't discovered yet. She pulled it out.]}

[Whenever Liquid got this thing to actually work, it was mostly by chance. For some reason, he was a total derp when it came to technology other than weaponry or vehicles. He could manage to fix a helicopter engine with duct tape, a paperclip and a yard of string, but couldn't get the bloody radio to work on this.]

Bloody thing.

_{[Being a modern teen, Heather was pretty good at getting things to work in general, although she was no expert. Could do wonders with a cell phone, though. Too bad this thing isn't that much like a cell phone. If anything, it kind of reminds her of those old-fashioned Gameboys. Which she hadn't used in years.]}

'Kay, pulling up the main screen... well. There's a little raincloud icon in the corner. I guess that's pretty accurate.

008. Video

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