Entry 007 // Video

[2beamasonator]

[It's a nice fall weather sort of day, perfect for making a video post.]

It's been a while since I've used this thing, hasn't it? For anyone who cares I had been in Cherrygrove with James mainly training but otherwise not much. I left town again for a bit, but I'm back there again.

[Basically, he went on a wild goose chase out of town during all

Comments

[foolishwren]

[It's awhile before he gets a response. Not because she didn't get it right away, or because she doesn't want to talk to him. Quite the contrary. ... But what was she supposed to say.]

[The one blessing is that this is a text message... it gives her some time to get her nerve up before she replies.]

Did I say 'Morris'? Maybe you misheard me.

[... Okay, well, to be fair, she'd never claimed that 'getting her nerve' up necessarily meant her response would be clever or effective.]

[Her own experience had made her decide to own up, but... god, she's not ready for this. She's so not ready for this. Stalling tactics. STALLING TACTICS.]

What happened to you? Are you all right?

[ooc: Be sure and post on the activity check so the mods know you've posted and don't remove you!

EDIT OH WAIT NEVER MIND YOU DID. <3]

[2beamasonator]

[Harry doesn't really know what to say to this in general. His last name isn't anything special, so for someone else to have it shouldn't be a problem. It was the fact that Heather had told him different to begin with, and lingering first impressions from when they finally met in person all that time ago that made him want to question it.]

[Heather's stalling tactics work for a moment though. It'd give Harry time to think about a response. Good thing this was text indeed.]

I'm fine. I had went back to Cherrygrove with James to meet up with his wife. I haven't really seen him after that fog was here though.

[Alright, the stalling question answered for the most part Harry got back to what he was asking before.]

I'm pretty sure you said Morris the first time we met though. Why?

[foolishwren]

[How sad is this? She doesn't even know how to talk to him face to face. This is just pathetic.]

[Of course, she shoves that down to the back of her head.]

That's good. So you weren't hurt or anything?

[Didn't see anything WEIRD in that fog, did ya Harry? You know, like maybe some monsters? Or a little girl, black hair, just turned seven?]

[Of course, the return to the original topic makes her stall again, heart in throat, and her fingers are already typing more denial before she stops herself.]

[Is this really how far she'd fallen? Getting herself caught up in a web of lies just to avoid talking to the one person she should have no reason to lie to? Heather was not a dishonest person by nature, which made the fact that these untruths sprang to mind so easily just a little pathetic.]

[The worst thing about that fog for her-- worse than the monsters, worse than the crackling static, worse than the fact that she'd been suddenly and inexplicably back in that hellhole, this time ostensibly for good-- had been the crippling

pfff you didn't see that

[2beamasonator]

[Yeah, Harry saw a lot of wierd things in the fog. He was more focused on that little girl with short black hair that just turned seven who always seemed to be just ahead of him. It was like a bad hide and seek game in the wilderness where what you were looking for didn't even exist. It was a lot of running from wild pokemon who looked like monsters too.]

I'm fine. I was physically tired after all of it, but as far as being hurt there was no more then a few scratches.

[What. WHAT. Ok things were just getting fishy now. With how Heather kept changing her answer on the whole 'Morris' and 'Mason' thing, Harry was getting suspicious. Even more so then he original was-- which wasn't much more then general curiosity at first.]

First you say I misheard you, and now the police report is wrong? Forgive my suspicions, but I don't think you're telling me the whole truth here.

[Heather's super complicating the questions.]

*SEES* *JUDGES*

[foolishwren]

[Poor Harry. Under normal circumstances, Heather was blunt. Sometimes even rudely so. But this... this was not a subject she could bring herself to do anything but dance around. ... Although this time, her answer is surprisingly short.]

I said they got it wrong. I didn't say the last name was the part they screwed up.

[... although no less vague...]

pfff I can't fancy edit like you can <3

[2beamasonator]

[Yeah, he'd noticed her dancing around the subject. Part of the reason why his suspicions about her grew. He didn't know what to be suspicious of, but something was off about how she was acting about it.]

[This time though it's Harry's turn to take awhile to reply. So the last name wasn't the part they messed up? So her last name was Mason. What could that mean? Aww yeah, the gears are really going in Harry's head now. Still a bit of a confusing thing though.]

...Am I supposed to know you other then how I know you here?

[Not the best of replies, but it was better then going out on a limb with something like 'Cheryl...?' Heather really didn't seem like his Cheryl...]

HOW DARE YOU NOT BE ABLE TO EDIT. YOU DEPRAVED SOUL. <3

[foolishwren]

[It's a long time before he gets an answer. And Heather wasn't doing anything during that time but sitting there, staring dully at the screen with her thumbs on the 'Gear's little keyboard. ... But eventually, a reply does come.]

... I'm sorry, Dad. I don't think I grew up as good as you hoped I would.

SUPER DEPRAVED OF EDITING SKILLZ. 8'C

[2beamasonator]

[Oh boy does Harry not know what to do with himself when that reply does come though. So... Cheryl had been here all along, just it wasn't the little girl he was looking for. He certainly wasn't expecting to find her in a rambunctious blond teen.]

[HMM. How does one even reply to that? Heather, his daughter saying that she didn't grow up as good as he had hoped? He was glad his daughter was able to grow up at all. Heather didn't seem like that bad of a kid at all. A bit of a mouth sometimes but still. ]

I've got a lot of catching up to do then. I can only imagine how many years I've missed.

[He's thinking about 9-10 years here Heather.]

IT'S OKAY. I ACCEPT YOU.

[foolishwren]

[Guess what, Harry? Your little Cheryl was not only here all along, but grew up into an underage-drinking, miniskirt-wearing, foul-mouthed fugitive wanted on assault charges! ~*~SURPRISE!~*~]

[But you're right. She's not a bad kid. Even if she acts like one sometimes.]

[There's another stall between answers, because... this is hard. She's glad he's not freaking out (although who can say what he's doing behind the safe cover of text? He'd always been good at staying composed when he could put his thoughts into down on paper. But for all she knows, he might be sitting there and trying not to choke, just like she was...), but that doesn't alleviate the tight feeling in her chest or the stinging in her eyes. And it certainly doesn't make the awkwardness disappear.]

I'm sorry I lied to you...

I didn't want you to freak out....

[Try eighteen years, Harry. Eighteen years and a death in between.]

YAY! ME AND MY HORRIBLE OGAD DELETE AND REPOST BEFORE ANYONE SEES

[2beamasonator]

[Yeah, its very good this is text. He has time to think about his replies. Even if there have been some long waits between replies this whole time it still was time he was using to think this all through. He wasn't choking up or anything, but that didn't mean this wasn't hard to deal with. It was a lot to take in and honestly he wasn't sure how to really react to all of it right now. He'd just take it slowly, bit by bit.]

[Cheryl or Heather as he had met her here was his daughter from the future. He heard of people showing up from different times before, so it wasn't too wierd. He just... he felt that he was missing out on a lot. It was that part that was bothering him. He missed his entire daughter's life though he figured from Heather's perspective he had been there for her. He assumed that at least.]

That's alright. It is a lot to take in though it explains a few things.

[Kinda like why she was so concerned over him, when Harry more or less knew her from the perspective of "James' friend

YOU ARE SNEAKY LIKE FOX

[foolishwren]

[It WAS a lot to take in, and Heather knows. So she's not expecting ... too much.]

[Yes, it did explain some things. The way she'd been so naggy over a supposed stranger's safety (especially when she herself didn't seem to follow her own advice half the time), and why she'd gotten that look on her face the first time she'd seen him...]

[But don't worry, Harry. You were the best dad you could be, and the best dad she ever could have asked for. ... From her perspective, she's the one who didn't live up to what she should have been.]

I know.

I... I was waiting for the right time.

[The police report had soooorta busted that plan, though. The police report and the fact that poor, well-meaning Professor Layton had gone ahead and supplied them with her full name. The one she'd given him-- Mason, not Morris