IC CONTACT (Victory Road)

[foolishwren]

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!



[Need to send Heather a private message, or start up any other thread that doesn't need a log or post of its own? Tag here with the date of the interaction in the subject line!]

[(NOTE: The old contact post containing all threads from Route 29 can be found here!)]

Comments

[foolishwren]

_{[Under less severe circumstances, any degree of moaning and groaning about something would usually prompt some teasing on Heather's part-- not this time.]}

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?]}

[exeggutorhead]

He's...I don't know kid's ages very well. But he looks a couple years older.

[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.]

[foolishwren]

A couple years, huh...

<sub>[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...]</sub>

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.

[exeggutorhead]

It...yeah, it is good.

[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.

[foolishwren]

Yeah, and that's... that's no cake-walk.

<sub>[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...]</sub>

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.]}

[exeggutorhead]

[He listens to everything she's telling him, holding onto the reassurances. He knows that they hadn't told Wrath for a reason, that it wouldn't have helped anything. It hadn't been for sure that he'd have ever gone back, and why put that on him if they didn't need to?]

[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.

[foolishwren]

... Okay. Yeah, go see what's going on.

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.