008. Video

[foolishwren]

<sub>[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.]</sub>

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.

<sub>[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.]</sub>

Comments

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[foolishwren]

<sub>[The hug caught her by surprise. It had been a good long while since she'd had one-- her friendship with Douglas wasn't really the 'huggy' kind. And he was the only person she'd really stayed in contact with, after Silent Hill.]

[Blinking several times, she just sort of sat there for a moment. Oh man. It's a hug. A sentimental one... Crap. How do I do that kind again? Eventually she sort of returned the gesture by patting Otacon on the shoulder awkwardly.]</sub>

Hey, no need to apologize... shit happens.

<sub>[Heather, that whole nonchalant shtick really doesn't work when somebody is giving you a hug. Apparently realizing this, she conceded and gave the scientist an awkward, one-armed teenager hug. It was the best she could summon up for the moment-- it had been awhile and she was out of practice. HOW DOES I SHOT HEARTFELT HUG?]

[Oh well-- even if she failed at that, the slight grin she's wearing is more real than the false smile she wore a few seconds earlier.]</sub>

C'mon, you'll get me all emotional.

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Heh...sorry. [He let go after a second or two longer, adjusting his glasses with an awkward smile.]

It's just...well, I kind of lost my father when I was a little younger than you. So I sort of know the feeling. [Otacon glanced away a little self-consciously, still smiling. This one? This was one of those occasional fake ones that covered everything up.] A-a little, at least. Maybe.

[Granted, circumstances were waaaaaay different and in one case not involving insane Lovecraftian horrors unless one was to count Julie *zing*]

[foolishwren]

_{[Even if she played the teenager and whined over it... she liked that hug. Hugs were good. And it reminded her of home. So when Otacon pulled away, she made sure to give him the most genuine smile she could muster up.]}

Yeah... I-- uh, figured. _{[What with the story he'd told and all.]} It's rough. ... But we get through it, right?

_{[The circumstances were definitely different, and if Otacon knew the whole story... hooboy. But she didn't plan on telling that. Nobody wanted to hear about the end of the world. Even if it had been averted. It wasn't exactly storytime material. ... And it still hurt.]}

... Thanks for listening, though. I don't talk about it much.

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Yeah. We just have to keep going.

[He paused, fiddling with his glasses absentmindedly.]

...no problem. You can trust me, Heather.

[foolishwren]

_{[Dawwhhh Otacon. Too bad Heather has trust issues. She realizes they're issues and that they're not necessarily fair, but you didn't really need to worry about 'fair' when you more or less mistrusted everybody the same amount. Heather was an equal-opportunity... mistruster. Or something. But Otacon ... he'd trusted her with something, even if it hadn't quite been direct. So that won him some points. He was a good dude. Heather didn't fail to take things like that into account when making impressions of people.]}

Heh. Thanks. That's a commodity there isn't much of in the world.

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I know. I only have one person I trust back home. [Otacon paused, seeming thoughtful.]

...really, he's kind of the only person I have left.

[foolishwren]

... Heh. Me too, actually.

_{[Would you look at that. Both Otacon and Heather only have one real friend at home-- and both those friends are grumpy old men (or Snake WOULD be...) with issues. Although Douglas, admittedly, was a bit cuddlier than Snake in temperament.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

...huh. It's almost weird, isn't it? All the similar circumstances, I mean.

[Yeah, well Douglas wasn't voiced by ~*DAVID HAYTER*~, so take that.]

[foolishwren]

I stopped believing in coincidences awhile ago. It wouldn't surprise me if everyone summoned to this weird place had something connecting all of us.

_{[This is true. /sob.]}

[philanthrotaku.livejournal.com]

...

Honestly? At this point, I'd believe just about anything crazy like that.