Between the kindness of strangers and the rumble of the road

[foolishwren]

Who: Aoko Nakamori, Crow Hogan, Harry Mason, Heather Mason, Henry Townshend, Kaito Kuroba
Where: Route 38
When: Nighttime, August 31
Summary: Campfires are interesting places. Even more interesting when the people sitting at one are a detective's daughter, a guy who plays card games on motorcycles, an internationally-wanted jewel thief, an

Comments

[harryusedworry]

[Sitting with Lisa in his lap. Still a little put off by the amount of people. So he's mostly been in silent dad mode.]

I suppose so.

[Heather you may have to prompt him.]

[foolishwren]

[The last time Harry was probably subject to like three of Heather's friends at once was back when she was tiny, so it's understandable.]

[Still, Heather leans over and elbows him, still holding onto Hazel.]

C'mon, Dad! You know some good ones! I remember!

[harryusedworry]

[Glances over at her.]

....Well yes. I know lots of stories...

[Uncertain face.]

[foolishwren]

[C'mooooon Harry! YOU TELL THE BEST SCARY STORIES. ... For obvious and unpleasant reasons, but still!]

[Heather just grins.]

Ooh, tell the one about the babysitter, dad! That one from those creepy books you used to not let me read as a kid!

[... Yeah.]

[harryusedworry]

[Silent Hill is a really good creativity mine. ....and nightmare maker.]

Sometimes I wonder why I even bothered with that.

[A small smile though.]

[foolishwren]

You were just giving me practice at being sneaky like you.

But c'mon, how about that story?

[harryusedworry]

[He shakes his head with a sigh.]

Alright, alright. What story was that....right the babysitting one.

[Just give him a moment to think back. Right...that one. He takes a breath and enters story mode. So suddenly less awkward.]Well, that one's actually one of the stories I collected for one of my books. It was a little bit before you were born Heather. Your mother and I drove quite a bit to hear it

[foolishwren]

[Heather grins like a fiend and pulls one of the blankets over her shoulders as he starts. This is the story that gave her nightmares as a little kid when she snuck a copy of that particular anthology out of the bookshelf in her father's room... and naturally, like most things that scare us as kids, now she looks back on it with fond nostalgia.]

[When he's finished, she turns to the rest of the group with a serious nod.]

That story?

Made me turn down every single neighbor who ever tried to get me to babysit for them when I was in high-school.

[... NOT... THAT THERE HAD BEEN MANY. Mostly folks from the church trying to reach out to those shy quiet people in the Daisy Villa apartment who didn't get out much.]

[harryusedworry]

[Harry had fallen quiet after the story ended but he shakes his head with an amused smile.]

I told you not to read them.

[foolishwren]

Dad, putting that book in your shelf and telling me not to read it was like putting a milkbone on a dog's nose and expecting it to sit quietly and not react.

[Since coming to Johto and spending a year in the company of a Growlithe, dog metaphors spring to Heather's mind a lot more readily than before.]

[harryusedworry]

I underestimated your desire to give yourself nightmares I suppose.

[foolishwren]

Little kids just like scaring the living daylights out of themselves. It's in their nature!

[harryusedworry]

You also enjoyed denying things ever scared you, as I recall.

[foolishwren]

Well, my five-year-old self had a rep to uphold, y'know!

[harryusedworry]

That "rep" didn't hold up so well when it was night time though.

[foolishwren]

Dad, you are just determined to embarrass me in front of all my friends, aren't you?

[... She doesn't really mind that much, judging by her too-serious-to-be-serious tone.]