[video .001] -- Route intro post

[thinkimsuperman]

((OOC: oh my god, you guys, what am I even doing? Late intro is so late because of NaNoWriMo and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING, besides. Enjoy :'D Sorry if I derp this up like the derp I am. Also, feel free to add your own character tags. Tag add new/delete and add/remove to entry is set to any user because I am too trusting))

[the feed shows Douglas Cartland blinking in the middle of a random field in the sunlight, shielding his eyes from the sun. He's got his 'gear in one hand and his Shuckle in the other and he's staring hard into the screen]

How the heck do I... how am I supposed to work this thing? Is it like a phone? One of those new video phone things or...

[pause]

Oh, it's recordin'. Okay. Well uh... not sure if anybody can hear this but I'd really like to know where I am. Some woman gave me lunch and shoved me outside when I woke up this morning, but that's not really important. What I really wanna know is where I woke up.

Hello? Anybody listenin'?

[he frowns]

There's no way this is Maine.

[he resists the urge to say "I have a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore", because this isn't the time at all]

Comments

[Video] I'M GUESSING IT WAS RIDICULOUSLY EPIC? 8D

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[Douglas is still just grinning widely at her, just ridiculously happy to see her. She'll probably never have any idea just how much he missed her]

I've got time. Go right ahead.

[Video] IF I RECALL CORRECTLY, YES.

[foolishwren]

_{[THEY CAN JUST... HAVE MISSED EACH OTHER.]}

Well...

_{[She pauses, rubbing her chin. It's SERIOUS BUSINESS time. Where to start...]}

Okay, first of all, what do you know? I'm sure you've already had the influx of random strangers telling you you're not in Kansas anymore. _{[Douglas might have refrained from making that joke, but Heather has NO SUCH BRAIN-TO-MOUTH FILTERS and she will damn well make it for him.]}

And... when was the last time you actually saw me at home?

_{[It could have been yesterday, it could have been last week... Time worked funny here. After all, Harry had arrived directly after his own DEATH... despite the fact that an entire year (... two if you count the one she spent in Johto) had passed since that day for Heather.]}

[Video] I CAN'T IMAGINE HOW IT WOULDN'T BE

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[Douglas listens intently, nodding at the appropriate parts. And damn, he's glad she made that joke, because he's too old for Wizard of Oz references at this point. Maybe]

Yeah, a lotta people've told me this is someplace called Johto, but that doesn't mean much.

[a pause]

It's been... wow, a couple of months or so, I guess? I was really startin' to worry about ya.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She pauses, taking a moment to let her shock show.]

[Months?]

[She's been here for a year and four months, but... that didn't carry over back home, did it? It didn't for anyone else...]


[... And that's when she remembers that she'd sort of been on the verge of up and LEAVING when she'd been yanked into Johto to begin with. ... Maybe that's it. It sends a slight stab of guilt through her gut to know that if that's what wound up happening, she did so without so much as a word to him... but then, it doesn't really surprise her, either. She had a tendency to do things like that.]</sub>

I-- ... holy crap, Doug, I'm sorry.

It's-- ... uh. Well. I guess it doesn't matter now.

_{[Raking a hand through her hair, she looks down at the screen with a furrowed brow.]}

What they told you is right. This place is-- ... well, it's a different world, basically. Different universe, as far as anybody can figure. Not a bad place, all things considered, but nobody like... came here on purpose.

_{[She shrugs expressively.]}

I woke up here after falling asleep on the couch to some bad fifties movie.

_{[She pauses for a moment, and then decides... what the heck, she has to tell him sooner or later.]}

That was... over a year ago.

_{[TIME. WHAT IS IT AND HOW DOES IT WORK.]}

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's okay.

[he offers her a little smile, but it fizzles out and is replaced by a look of complete and utter shock and something else, something almost like fear, when she says that last part]

Over a... over a year?

What...

How...

How the heck does that happen?

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[O-oh shit... don't have a heart attack, old man!]

[Heather winces sympathetically, reaching up to scratch compulsively at the back of her head.]</sub>

I know it doesn't make much sense, but... y'kinda... get used to it here after awhile. Time works funny.

_{[She wonders if she should tell him that her father came here from the very day he'd died-- when, to Heather, almost two entire years had passed-- but figures that can come later. ... Of course, she doesn't know he's already TALKING to Harry...]}

But-- I mean, it's okay, you know?

This isn't a bad place! ... Not... not compared to what WE'VE seen.

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

I dunno if that's something that I'm gonna get used to right away, time workin' funny. I like my time the way it is.

[he forces a smile, still a little freaked out]

Yeah, I guess once you've seen the stuff we've seen, you've seen it all.

Nothin' could be worse than Silent Hill.
Even if this place does have... ya know... monsters.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Truer words never spoken. Anyone who's seen the Otherworld has had a glimpse of Hell, and there's not much you can do to top that.]

[But Heather smiles, encouragingly.]</sub>

Believe me, as spooky as some of the monsters can get around here, they got nothin' on Silent Hill. This place is like... if places were books, Silent Hill would be some kind of... giant pornographic Lovecraft novel with lots of illegible footnotes and graphic illustrations of eldritch abominations, and this would be like... a coloring book.

_{[... And there she goes with the wacky extended metaphors that don't quite work. Take comfort in this, Douglas-- Heather may have been 'gone' for a year and a third, but she apparently hasn't changed too much.]}

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

Ya know, I always liked coloring books.

[he smiles back, and this time his smile is a lot more genuine. Partly because of the encouragement in her words and partly because there's even more comfort in just how Heather that statement was. The full brunt of just how much he missed her didn't really hit him before, and the wave of nostalgia now makes him realize just how lucky he was for that fact]

Maybe I'll like it here. Seems sunnier than Maine, and who knows, maybe I won't be so lonely here. I was never the best at makin' friends back home. Not ones who stuck around, anyway.

[he's still grinning]

[Video]

[foolishwren]

_{[Once his smile's not so forced, Heather's becomes a little more real, too. You can always tell because it widens around the edges and makes her eyes squint just a tad. For someone who could have made a career of having precious little to smile about, she sure has one of those faces that seems built for it.]}

Whatever else it might be, this place is good for making friends.

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

Seems like it, from the people I've talked to so far. And I'm glad to know even if it doesn't work out I've at least got one person I can call a friend.

[Douglas just grins bigger then, and seeing her smile become more genuine it just gets bigger. Douglas may be a veritable crop of frown lines, but he sure can smile when he wants to]

I can't even begin to tell ya how much I missed you back home, kiddo.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

You can always count on me for that.

<sub>[... Aaaand now she has to resist the urge to start whistling 'You've Got a Friend In Me'. Fortunately, she has the strength of will to do so.]

[Of course, what he says after that makes her chest ache a little bit, like before-- she's not sure she has the heart to tell him that Johto was probably not responsible for her disappearance. But hey... after this place, maybe if she ever went back... she'd make a different choice rather than just up and leave like she's assuming she did.]

[So she just smiles back.]</sub>

Well, you're a pretty nice sight for sore eyes, yourself.

I was worried about how you might be doing back there without me. ... Least now I can keep an eye on you, huh?

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[another grin]

I know I can, kiddo. And you can count on me. I promise I'll always be here for ya. You know, now that we're in the same place again. I know you've got your dad for stuff like that, and I'm glad. But you can still come to me if you need anything. I hope ya know that.

[and then a laugh]

I dunno about that. I'm lookin' pretty old lately. But it'll be good to have ya keep an eye on me again. You know, make sure I don't cause too much trouble.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She knows. She's never been the best at showing it, but she appreciates it. It's probably evident in the way she's smiling.]

[So she laughs.]</sub>

Yeah, I'd better not have to march down to any stations to bail you out, you rapscallion.

_{[... Then realization dawns on her face and she actually brightens up. Hopefully.]}

Wait-- so... so you've talked to Dad?

_{[... She has no idea what dark tones that conversation took.]}

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

I promise you'll only have to bail me out once or twice. I'll be on my best behavior.

[he's still grinning, but it falters a little then]

Yeah, I did. Real nice guy. We actually got along really, really well until he realized who I was. I don't think he likes me too much. [or at all]

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Oh. O-oh yeah. :I;]

[Suddenly Harry's cold reluctance to discuss the subject of the detective back when she had first filled him in on everything that had happened to her on that fateful night-- including Douglas's unfortunate role as a pawn of the cult-- is coming back to her.]

[Uh oh.]</sub>

... Oh. I, uh... I'm sorry. ... About that.

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[his smile widens a little. If he could pat her on the head right now, he would]

Hey, it's not your fault, Heather. I know you can't control your parents.

[a little pause]

I'm glad you get to have him back here.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

_{[VIRTUAL HEADPATS.]}

Yeah, but-- man. Talk about awkward... _{[It's not that she doesn't understand where her father is coming from. She does. Hell, it's not like SHE wasn't angry at Douglas at first for the exact same reasons that Harry was. ... The difference was just that he'd gone on to help her through more than just Silent Hill. Fair or not, he'd earned her forgiveness in her eyes.]}

But yeah. Me too.

It's... it's pretty much everything I ever wanted. After... you know.

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

Sure it's awkward, but I had it comin'. I can admit that. After everything that happened...

[he pauses, looking awkward and a little sad]

I'm really sorry... about it bein' my fault. Never sure if I said that enough.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's more than just awkward for him... Heather can already tell she's in for an unpleasant conversation later. An unpleasant conversation with her back-to-life father, who she hasn't yet argued with ONCE since they were reunited. Well... she supposed it would've had to happen sooner or later...]

[She bites her lip, looking somewhere between guilty and sympathetic.]</sub>

Hey, I made it pretty hard on you in return, so... Not saying that it's like, equivalent exchange or anything, but... if the world were fair, it'd probably be over. _{[She's long since accepted that.]}

I know you're sorry. ... S'enough for me.

_{[She'd been bitter, right afterwards... but it had faded. Even if it WAS all his fault... he'd put his own life on the line for her sake, and then stuck by her after. It counted for something.]}

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[he shakes his head]

You didn't make it as hard as ya think. I was lonely too. You took care of me just as much as I fussed over you, even if ya don't realize it. [a small smile]

I'm glad you forgive me now, though. If you didn't I don't know what I'd...

[he lets the words trail off and he looks away for a moment]

I hope you know I'd be huggin' you if I could right now.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

_{[The smile returns. It's a softer one than what she was wearing at first.]}

N'I'd be returning it.

_{[Heather had always been a fan of hugs.]}

... Thanks. For... you know. Being there for me back home.

I dunno if I ever actually said it, but... I don't think I'dve stuck it out at school and stuff if you hadn't been around.

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[he smiles widely at that]

No problem, Heather. Thanks for lettin' me. Guess we were both just lucky we had each other, huh? You sure made my life more interestin'.

[Video]

[foolishwren]

... Yeah. Heh... lucky.

_{[It's true, they ARE lucky ... things could've been worse. A LOT worse. ... But it's hard to think that way, sometimes...]}

[Video]

[thinkimsuperman.livejournal.com]

[he pauses, slightly awkwardly, and then smiles again]

Sure didn't feel like it was lucky at the time, though. I hated seein' ya so torn up and knowin' it was... my fault.

[he glances away. He doesn't want to talk about it, but he figures if they're going to be here together it's going to have to be discussed at some point]