016 [Video | Texts | Action for Goldenrod]

[miniworth]

[The feed turns on early on Monday morning, and hey - it's Miles. He hasn't been posting anything much the past couple of weeks, has he been? He... appears to be aware that the Gear is on, but he's not looking at it at the moment. Instead, there's Remus, his Plusle, wrapped snugly in the ends of his blue scarf, waving cheerfully at the camera.

 

And then you'd notice that he's... sitting somewhere rather high up. In fact, why does the city seem like it's so far away?

---Oh. Right. It's because he's sitting on the roof of the Goldenrod Hotel.]

[He stares out at the dawning city for a few seconds before, without turning to actually look at the camera, he addresses it.]

It's already been ten days since the New Year, but I was wondering... what year is it here, at least according to the Christian calendar?

[He then turns to finally look at the camera, and that's when you'd notice that he looks - as usual - tired and... perhaps sadder than usual? This weekend had been very tiring for him and his friends, after all. He was still sick, that fever was persistent... and he probably should be resting, but he had to get out at one point. Which was why he's here, seated on the edge of the rooftop, looking out at the city.

He gives the camera a small smile.]

What year was everyone born in, by the way? My birthday was in 1992, but I suppose there are a lot of people from different times here in Johto.

[And he blinks a couple times, yawns, and with a muttered "maybe I should sleep" he reaches over and turns off the video.]

I know I should have contacted you earlier, Phoenix, and I'm sorry, but... I'm all right. I'm with Merlin right now, and Ken.


...Perhaps you've heard from Ken already, but I promised I'd contact you when he woke up. He's fine now, Mr. Shinjiro.

Comments

[foolishwren]

Yeah... same here, actually.

Well, at first anyway. _{[Then she'd wanted to get older so that she wouldn't have to listen to him anymore. You bet she'd grown out of that in a hurry once she realized how stupid that was.]}

Need some company?

[miniworth]

[That gets Heather an amused sound.]

At first-- that's true. Now I'm aiming for something quite different from him. [And he's nodding at her question, scooting over slightly.]

[foolishwren]

_{[When she makes it to the rooftop, she spots that empty space beside him and heads over to plop down.]}

I'm pretty different from my dad, too.

[miniworth]

.....It's not that we're really different.

I don't know. I didn't really think about it until I found out about my future.

[foolishwren]

... What'd you find out about your future?

[miniworth]

...That the person who was supposed to raise me for the next fifteen years was the man who killed my father.

[foolishwren]

_{[.... Yeah. She wasn't expecting to hear THAT. And it actually stuns her into silence for a moment or two.]}

... That's...

_{[She doesn't even have words for that. She can't imagine what that would be like.]}

... That's awful.

[miniworth]

[Miles' sense of "normal" has been totally screwed over because of Johto. /siiigh]

....I suppose so. But if I hadn't come here, I wouldn't have known anything.

[He fiddles with the end of his scarf.]

I... probably would have grown up still believing that I was the one who killed him.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Heather's sense of 'normal' had been totally screwed over long before Johto, so at least Miles was in more or less good company.]

[She reached out to wrap an arm around his shoulders.]</sub>

I guess so...

But... why would the man who killed your dad want to adopt you?

[miniworth]

It's.... a long story.

[He shrugs a little, swinging his legs.]

In summary, though, from what I've been told, he adopts and raises me for the sole purpose of one day framing me for murder.

[foolishwren]

_{[.... Whoa. ..... Whoa.]}

... Wow.

_{[When she speaks, she sounds no less appalled, but there is a little of her normal sarcasm in there.]}

That's dedication.

[miniworth]

[Pfffft.

Yeah, he laughed a little. Extremely dryly, of course, but there he is with that awkward little grin of his.]

Of course he'll be dedicated -- my father and I were the ones who ruined everything for him: his clean, spotless record as a prosecutor. And then a bullet in his shoulder.

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather shook her head, letting out a dry little chuckle of her own.]}

I think you just might have an even more screwed-up family situation than I do, kiddo.

_{[She reached up a hand and ruffled his hair a bit.]}

But hey, at least you're here, huh?

You've got Phoenix, and Larry... and all the other friends you've made, right?

[miniworth]

...I'm glad I came here. If it was possible, I'd like to stay here and not worry about anything back home.

[He pauses, then, raising a hand to pat down whatever hair Heather mussed up.]

But I can't stay. My father was killed trying to catch Mr. von Karma, and he's going to kill someone else just so he can catch me. I....I won't let him do that.

[foolishwren]

_{[She smiles a little.]}

I've been starting to kinda feel that way too... wanting to stay, I mean.

<sub>[But then, she didn't HAVE anything important back there like Miles did. ... Well, there was Douglas... and she honestly did worry about him all on his own. He wasn't the happiest man... and he didn't have a thing to live for. Not really.]

[But aside from him... nothing.]</sub>

If you do go back... good luck.

[miniworth]

....Ken's making me promise to come back.

So I'll do my best not to get sentenced to death or anything, and I'll tell you all about it.

[foolishwren]

Hey.

_{[Plopping her hand onto his head, she turned it towards her, giving him a look with raised brows.]}

You're not gonna get sentenced to death, all right?

I met future-you so I know you won't.

[miniworth]

...Aah..

[A pause.]

...Miss Heather. Has something ever happened to you, a situation where you were helped out by a friend, and no matter how grateful you were, it still felt like you should have done it yourself?

Like.... it was something you had to do, as a duty?

[foolishwren]

... Hm.

<sub>[Taking her hand off, she planted it on the roof beside her and looked out at the buildings surrounding, brows furrowing.]

[It's a weird thought, because what he said makes perfect sense to her... and yet, she can't think of a single instance where it's ever actually happened. Not to her, anyway.]

[Heather had never had much luck with lasting friendships.]</sub>

... I can't say it has.

<sub>[In the end... she HAD done the things that she alone had been meant to do.]

[Alone.]</sub>

[miniworth]

....Well, to be honest with you, it hasn't for me, either. Not yet.

[He swings his legs, looking out at the buildings as well.]

In the future, Phoenix was the one who did everything in the end. I do get framed for killing someone, and I was arrested... and he was the one who defends me and proves Mr. von Karma's crime. I found that out after I came here, and I was glad. That my father's death isn't just going to get forgotten.

But at the same time, I thought that it just wasn't fair. He was my father, and Manfred von Karma was the man that my father died trying to prove wrong-- and I, his son, just failed him.

[He pauses there, frowning.]

....This time, I know the truth now. I'm not going to let Mr. von Karma fool me, and I.... I'll be the one to arrest him, without Phoenix's help. And if-- if I fail, then that means it just wasn't meant to be.

[foolishwren]

.... _{[Heather swallows a little bit.]}

... Sometimes it just happens that way, Miles.

Life doesn't work out according to what should happen, most of the time.

I mean... if friends don't come into the equation, it's happened to me, too.

_{[She'd had the chance to deal the justice she'd been longing to-- take the revenge that was so rightfully hers-- yanked out from under her nose, as well.]}

[miniworth]

......I know. I know.

And I know what can happen to people who're alone, when they fail. [He shivers, then.] I...I'm still scared to leave this building without Ken, or let him be alone.

But I have to do this. Even if Phoenix can help me in the future, he can only do so after someone's already died... I don't want anyone dying because of me anymore.

[foolishwren]

... No one died because of you, Miles.

You hear me?

No one.

<sub>[Her own story was on the tip of her tongue-- but she bit it back. It was so similar to his, in some ways. She, too, had been deprived of the chance to bring justice to her father's killer.]

[But there was a very important difference.]

[Miles wanted to arrest his father's murderer.]

[Heather had wanted to tear the life from hers with her bare hands.]

[And that wasn't the kind of thing she wanted the kid to know about her.]</sub>

[miniworth]

He was murdered just so that Mr. von Karma could frame me! All because-- all because I was stupid enough to let that gun discharge, that night...

Mr. Yogi's life wouldn't have been ruined, either. He wouldn't have been tricked into killing Mr. Hammond if I hadn't let that gun fire.

[foolishwren]

Miles.

_{[Heather turned to him with a sharp expression.]}

My dad was murdered because he had the audacity to take me in and protect me from the people who were after us.

If I'd never been born, he wouldn't have died.

But it still wasn't my fault that they killed him. They're the ones who did that.

This Karma guy? He pulled the damn trigger. He killed him. Not you.

_{[She's not even sure if those are the specifics, but from what she's been able to piece together, that's more or less what happened.]}