Heather Mason (
foolishwren) wrote2016-06-07 02:02 am
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IC CONTACT (Victory Road)

ffzzbrrttzzckssshhhh
"Yo, it's Heather. I'm probably asleep or one of the Pokemon ate my 'Gear or something so I can't answer you right now. But feel free to leave a message or something.
I'll probably get back to you. ... Probably. Peace out."
Click!
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[(NOTE: The old contact post containing all threads from Route 29 can be found here!)]
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[This kind of reaction to an arrival...really HASN'T happened before. Not like this. There's never really been another arrival like this, not even Lust's all those years ago.]
I'm...it doesn't matter right now. Later.
[Figuring out how to put an emotional state into words isn't easy for Envy at the best of times, much less at a time like this.]
He's from later on than he was. After things really went to shit.
[He's never talked to anyone about what happened in that ballroom, except for when Scar had asked about what happened to Gluttony. But there's a heaviness to his voice. He sighs, roughly.]
He's not okay. Lust's got him right now, I just wanted to tell you before you got back.
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[Biting her lip, she covers one ear to listen better over the ambient noise as he elaborates.]
[And oof.]
["He's not okay" is an ominous enough statement about anyone returning after 'going home'... but somehow it's a billion times worse when it also happens to be about a child.]
Jesus. Okay...
By 'not okay', are we talking... like, upset, or... evil supervillain?
[SHE DOES REMEMBER THAT THIS ONE HAD TO BE DEPROGRAMMED BEFORE HE WAS READY TO JUST. HANG AROUND.]
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No, he hasn't gotten more evil. He's just...really sad, and quiet.
[Heather may not have spent a ton of time with Wrath but he knows she knows that nobody could ever describe that little tornado of a kid as 'quiet'.]
And he's got...do you know what automail is?
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[But that doesn't mean it's good, and she does grimace at the word 'quiet'. Because yeah... even if the little ragamuffin had primarily interacted with his fellow Homunculi and tended to regard the "house humans" as curiosities... you ALWAYS knew when he was around.]
That sounds... bad.
[She's known Envy and Lust both well enough to know that there was no happy home to go back to for a Homunculus. Who even fucking knew what happened to that poor kid, if time passed on his end too.]
Uh, I think... I remember Al talking about it.
Fancy prosthetics, right?
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They weren't actually his, it's complicated and I don't think I should try to get into the whole thing out loud right now. But they were taken right before when I'm from.
I think it's been a few years for him since then, he's older.
But yeah, it's bad. A lot happened to him.
[There's a pause, and when he speaks again he's muttering. It's partly so he won't be overheard. But more than that, his voice gets smaller. He can let Heather hear it, she's one of the only people he WOULD let hear exposed shame without fighting it the whole way.]
Some of it was me.
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[He and Alphonse had both imparted various minor details over time, and she vaguely remembers something about an arm and a leg. But wow, okay, the kid's an amputee now apparently.]
[Envy's next words are the kicker, though.]
[She's heard him when he's feeling guilty. But never on this level. And usually also never without a lot of digging on her part. The acute pain in his voice actually stuns her for a moment, and it's quiet enough that she's almost not sure she heard it right at first.]
... What did you...
[The first possibilities that come to mind are horrendous. But those thoughts are borne of her past-- of the Order, and what it did to children-- and not the former-monster she's come to know and love as a fellow survivor.]
Actually, hang on. I'm coming home, okay?
[She's got Potions, her Pokemon will be fine for one night without seeing Nurse Joy.]
You can tell me when I get there-- or meet me outside, if things are too... you know.
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[It's not like she doesn't know what he was like before. She's seen what he was like before--both when he first got to Johto and the day he forgot everything. And she also saw at least some of how pissed off he was at Wrath's initial arrival...and whatever else Al had told her after the fight on the beach. It's been pretty obvious for a long time that he wasn't exactly nice to the youngest homunculus back in Amestris.]
[But in the years since it happened, not telling anyone and avoiding thinking about it? And being surprised tonight by seeing the aftermath in Wrath's personality for himself? In his mind, his role in that has twisted up even worse and larger than it already was in reality.]
[He's going to have to admit to it. He doesn't want to.]
I...yeah. Yeah, okay.
You can take your time, though, he's sort of... [Skittish? Sort of? Envy's not sure how to describe it but it doesn't seem like someone else who Wrath didn't know well coming in abruptly would be the best idea.] I'm going to go try and talk to him, and I don't know how it'll go. You've got time to finish at the Center.
[Yeah he heard that tune he knows where she is.]
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[So the fact that she stops, halfway across the lobby, is testament to how far she's seen him come over the years. And him wanting to try and face the situation head-on is reassuring, too.]
... Okay, I can... well, I just lost my place in line. [She pauses to make a face at the gap that instantly closed behind her.] But I'll... hold off, for a bit.
If you're sure.
Just... let me know if you need me. Okay?
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Okay, sure. I'll tell you more later.
And...thanks.
[He lets out a slow breath. It's already steadying, just to have talked to her.]
I don't...know what to say to him.
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[When she speaks next, her voice is gentle.]
... Well, 'I'm sorry' is always a good place to start.
And you guys worked through some of your baggage once already, didn't you?
[Even if that had been Homunculus Business (tm), she does remember that it involved Envy eating some amount of crow.]
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We did...it wasn't really like this though.
[It had been a lot easier to deal with apologizing to an angry Wrath than it is to figure out how to approach a depressed Wrath.]
[Especially since he's had longer to think on things past the static frizz of shock, he's pretty sure he's connected the dots on who that very sad ""horse"" really was.]
I'll try it. I guess...I can't do any worse.
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I mean... you said he was sad and not mad, right? Like, you and Lust would probably know better than me how to read the situation, but... you know, just keep an eye on how he's doing and be willing to back off if it seems like talking is making things worse?
How-- how much older is he, anyway?
[She can't remember if he mentioned that or not, but last time the kid was like, what, roughly a fourth grader? ... A very poorly-socialized fourth grader?]
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[He didn't know Wrath COULD age back in Amestris, so it's honestly surprising now that he's thinking about it. But then again, Wrath had always been strange like that.]
He's not so easy to read anymore. But he did say he was glad we were still here.
[Which is still a whole lot of a feeling, even just repeating it.]
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[Well, that could mean they've got a teenager on their hands, but... still a kid.]
[Heather remembers being a troubled kid. In fact, it's usually only in moments of startling clarity that she remembers she's not still a troubled kid.
Growing up is way different from how she thought it would be when she was younger...]That's good, though. That he said he was glad.
[She hopes, anyway. She's not going to try and read any hidden meanings into the secondhand information he's giving her.]
If he came to the house on his own, that probably means he wanted to see you guys, however bad stuff got back in your world.
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[He really is so, so relieved by it. As much as he's not sure he deserves it, one thing he's never been too concerned with is whether or not he truly deserves any good thing he's offered in this world.]
That's what I'd been thinking. He had to walk all the way here from New Bark, he wouldn't have otherwise.
[It IS nice to hear that she, a certified non-anime-villain person, had the same thought. Heather will probably note that he's at least not sounding quite so twisted up like a feelings pretzel anymore.]
It just...did get really bad, especially for him. We never told him before.
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[It took her MONTHS to get to Goldenrod! Multiple! Assuming he just got here, if that little guy went straight from New Bark to the house, he must have been trucking.]
[She's getting closer to the front desk, so she lowers her voice a little bit for the next part, because...]
How could you have? Telling people about their future is... complicated enough when it's an adult. I don't know how it could even...
[There's no changing what happens back home. It's been a long time since it's ever come up, but she's... had enough conversations with departed friends to know that it doesn't work, that nothing goes back with you. Whatever happens... would happen.]
... What matters most is that he's here, and safe. And whatever happened... you can make up for it.
[Maybe it's a foolishly optimistic thing to say about a situation she doesn't know all the details of... but they're all here for a reason. She has to believe that.]
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[The only thing that could have been helped is that he would have arrived and known that they already knew what had happened. That they'd already forgiven him, long ago. That he didn't need to be afraid that they wouldn't want him back.]
Yeah. Yeah, he's safe now. [Safe from Dante, safe from everything that had gone on in their world. Safe from the old, vicious him. He takes a slightly shaky breath.]
I want to try to. [So badly, more than he can describe.]
I think things might have calmed down out there...I'm going to go see. I'll talk to you when you get home.
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I'll be back in a bit.
[She tries to sound... well, not upbeat, but at least not let her concern show too hard. He'd noticeably calmed down over the course of the phonecall and it's best he stays that way when he rejoins the others.]
Good luck.