76. [Accidental Video/Text/Action for Olivine]
[The feed opens in a decidedly innocent fashion. It's jauntily wobbling back and forth as its holder walks, and the screen is filled by a big blue :D face, backed by an even bluer sky. ... And the occasional waving green tips from the sand dunes he's passing. Yes, Butch the Quagsire is on the beach, waddling happily down to the shore with Heather's
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...What's wrong?
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Nothing.
[... yeah, because that's... real convincing.]
... Nothing you should be worried about.
[She hopes.]
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Is that guy from the cult causing trouble already? Because you know there's no way Liquid and I are going to let him get away with that.
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No, it's not... him.
... Surprisingly.
[Even now, there's still a twinge of humor in her voice as she says it. Not even the end of the world could make Heather lose her sense of irony.]
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Well, that's good. Because really, any thought of what Liquid might do to him otherwise kind of ends in a lot of blood and a few missing teeth.
...So what's bothering you?
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I...
[... It's somehow embarrassing. She'd made such a big point of contact all her closest friends and-- well, okay, not all of them had been close friends, some had just been friendly acquaintances who happened to know about Silent Hill-- ... over a threat that in hindsight, was really nothing.]
[So Father Vincent was in Johto. Great. What could he do? Not a lot, really. Be annoying and pervy, and possibly a giant manipulative pain in the ass. But that's it.]
[But this... this is so much worse.]
[Not on a practical level, really. No... she was even less likely than Vincent, probably, to do anything to hurt anyone. Heather knows that.]
[But...]
... it's something else.
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[But he's probably never seen her like this.]
[Her brows crease upwards, and for a second or two, she just looks ... well, young. And vulnerable.]
... I dunno if I do.
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[This was pretty strange, that fact definitely hadn't escaped him. Otacon adjusted his glasses again, a distinctly worried look on his face.]
...mind if I ask why not? I mean...is it something that awful?
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[Yeah. It's really that awful.]
[An odd thing about Heather's feelings over Claudia's arrival is that she can't seem to settle on any one... there's just too much, and it's been cycling over and over and all around like some kind of emotional whirlpool in her head. Anger, sadness, pain, worry...]
[But right now, talking to Otacon, and thinking of what Claudia took from her ... the prevailing one that's coming out on her face is fear.]
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[His hands fidgeted nervously before settling on yet another compulsive adjustment of his glasses.]
...please. Talk to me. If there's anything we can do to help you know we're going to do it.
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... The woman who killed my dad is in Johto.
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[Well that...complicated things.]
How dangerous is she?
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... I don't know.
I honestly, honestly don't know.
[There's moments where she feels sure that Claudia won't hurt anybody... knows Claudia won't hurt anybody.]
[But then there's others... like when she thinks about everything she has to lose here... and everything she's already lost...]
[That's when the paralyzing fear creeps in, creeping up through her chest like cold, tight tendrils, and she feels equally certain that somehow, some way, Claudia will find a way to take things from her again. ... Even though her head knows she won't.]
... She...
Um.
She also killed Vincent... back home, I mean...
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But I won't let anything happen, Heather. neither will Liquid, you know you've got us on your side.
[A small, slightly nervous smile.] I'd better make sure she doesn't get us mixed up, then.
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[Her plan had been... fairly final.]
... But... thanks.
I just... never thought this would happen.
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