1 | video
[Cybil's face appears on screen looking...well, calm and collected because she's a cop, gdit, shit isn't supposed to weird her out. Okay so she does look a bit skeptical to say the least.]
This is certainly no nightmare, that's for sure. But Pokémon? Waking up in another house when I wasn't even sleeping? I don't think I was asleep, at least. This is getting too bizarre.
The things in the bag I was given...I mean, it's nice having working communication and a radio that actually plays music, but none of my things are in there. My gun's gone, and I don't like the idea of not having my gun when there are [camera pans to a Houndour standing at attention. It looks just as stern as Cybil does. She shifts it back to her face.] these things following me around. It hasn't attacked me yet but forgive me for not trusting dogs that look like they came right from Hell. I've had a pretty rough experience when it comes to monsters.
Please, tell me...what the hell is going on? It's a step up from the fog and...damn, seeing actual residents around sure as hell is nice but I'm convinced this is a dream and...[a sigh, she shakes her head and runs a hand through her short blond hair] I honestly don't know what to make of what's going on anymore. With this place, with Silent Hill and...
[a pause, and she eyes something off-camera (her Houndour) before returning her attention to the camera]
...I guess I'll just...wait and see if anyone responds and until then I'll be walking around this...'New Bark Town' asking the residents pretty much the same things I've just asked. Doubt I'll get any straight answers. And Harry, if you're somehow here too, please contact me as soon as possible, just so I can keep track.
This is certainly no nightmare, that's for sure. But Pokémon? Waking up in another house when I wasn't even sleeping? I don't think I was asleep, at least. This is getting too bizarre.
The things in the bag I was given...I mean, it's nice having working communication and a radio that actually plays music, but none of my things are in there. My gun's gone, and I don't like the idea of not having my gun when there are [camera pans to a Houndour standing at attention. It looks just as stern as Cybil does. She shifts it back to her face.] these things following me around. It hasn't attacked me yet but forgive me for not trusting dogs that look like they came right from Hell. I've had a pretty rough experience when it comes to monsters.
Please, tell me...what the hell is going on? It's a step up from the fog and...damn, seeing actual residents around sure as hell is nice but I'm convinced this is a dream and...[a sigh, she shakes her head and runs a hand through her short blond hair] I honestly don't know what to make of what's going on anymore. With this place, with Silent Hill and...
[a pause, and she eyes something off-camera (her Houndour) before returning her attention to the camera]
...I guess I'll just...wait and see if anyone responds and until then I'll be walking around this...'New Bark Town' asking the residents pretty much the same things I've just asked. Doubt I'll get any straight answers. And Harry, if you're somehow here too, please contact me as soon as possible, just so I can keep track.
[Video]
Yeah, actually. ... I'm not sure you'll believe me right off the bat, but yeah.
[... Actually, you know, given Dahlia's.... Dahlianess, that would explain a lot. Heather had already partially concluded, during those occasional times that she was able to mull over Alessa's memories without feeling sick, that at least 75% of that cult could probably benefit by laying off the White Claudia a little.]
And... yeah, I guess you could say that.
[Heather swallowed and rubbed the back of her neck, pausing to puzzle over just how much to say. She couldn't exactly spill her guts. A) She was a stranger to this woman, and B) It would all sound totally cuckoo for coco puffs.]
[Video]
Now she's starting to sense there's a sort of awkwardness of this girl's actions, but Cybil's going to continue keeping a sort of poker face about it. But there's definite skepticism in her voice.]
You don't have any connection to that Dahlia woman, do you? Or that cult?
[LITTLE DOES SHE KNOOOOW...]
[Video]
[And speaking of Dahlia, the mention of that name? Heather winces. It's not the traumatized flinch of some kind of victim (although she has more than enough reason to act like one, especially when it came to the memories of her twisted 'mother'), it's... almost resigned. And embarrassed. As if her entire body just went "Oh... that."]
[She had lied herself in circles while Harry was here-- spun a tangled web that got her nowhere and just wound up being her undoing when Harry disappeared, before she even had a chance to really tell him the truth. She was sick of it, and she was not going to do it now. ... But, that didn't make it any less pleasant to admit this.]
Before you say anything, I hate that cult's collective guts.
But, uh...
[She raised a sheepish hand.]
I'd like to break my usual code of 'don't say sorry for anything I don't have to' and heartily apologize for any crap that Mommy Dearest is putting you through. [There's a very audible sneer in her voice at the 'M' word.]
[Video]
of course, she's caught on to that awful habit of repeating things. quite a common theme to the game.]
Mommy Dearest?
[CLEARLY THIS GIRL IS ON DRUGS TOO. OR MAYBE THIS IS SOME KIND OF WHACKED OUT DREAM. maybe she fainted on her way to the amusement park or something and she's in a kind of stupor---
oh yeah no that can't have happened. like Cybil would get knocked out.]
[Video]
Believe me, I'm not proud of it. [Her voice is sour.] M-- ... Dahlia and I do not have the best relationship.
[She trails off there to pinch the bridge of her nose and heave a frustrated sigh-- why was this so hard? She was already messing up! To Cybil Bennett! Probably the one person she had ever heard her worn and weary father refer to as 'friend'.]
Look-- I'm gonna be kinda blunt. Whatever you think you know about-- ... whatever it is that was going on there for you when you wound up here, it's about to get a whole lot weirder. There's a whole hell of a lot of stuff going on under the surface in that town and not a bit of it's pretty.
[Video]
[Cybil's way of saying how the fuck did that woman become a mother. IF THAT'S WHAT HEATHER IS IMPLYING.]
Shit. So that stuff that woman was talking about...and hell, even Harry... [kind of] you can't expect me to believe that's all true. I appreciate the bluntness, but...
[she rubs her face briefly with her hand]
Unless you're talking about the drug trade going on there, I'm finding everything a bit hard to grasp, and I'm generally a sharp woman.
[Video] UNFORTUNATELY, I gotta go to bed. XD; Got class in a few hours! BUT I'LL BE BACK.
Well... yes and no.
[Even if the supernatural stuff was all for real, that didn't change the fact that Dahlia was a filthy liar who'd been stringing them along the whole time.]
And yeah, there was a drug trade. I-- look, it's ... like, redonk complicated and I wouldn't even believe any of it myself if I hadn't experienced it, but...
[Looking somewhere between sympathetic and just plain uncomfortable, Heather shrugs expressively. Man, this was already going wrong-- letting slip that she was related to Dahlia before even bringing Harry UP? How the hell had that happened?!]
Look, just... try not to worry about it for the moment, okay? I know that probably seems impossible, but... there's nothing anybody can do about all that stuff while we're here, anyway.
[That, and she needed some time to collect her thoughts... Her heart was pounding and it was getting harder and harder not to be tongue-tied. Please do not let me screw this up...]
[Video] LOL KIND OF FELL OFF THE FACE OF LJ FOR A SECOND THERE sorry. >.<
Man it sucks being a minor character sometimes.]
I'm not worried...but I am concerned. There's a man back where I just came from looking for a little girl, and if I'm not at that amusement park...[another shake of the head, and she cups her forehead in her hand for a second.] Christ, that whole town's a mess. I'm glad I'm away from it, but I'd feel a lot better if Harry and his daughter were out of that hellhole, too. If only to help rest my conscience about the entire situation over there.
Re: [Video] XD; DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT, my activity's been pretty cray-cray too!
[She looks-- not surprised, exactly-- it's hard to tell just what's going on inside that scruffy head. But before too long, it melts into a small, bittersweet smile. Look at that. There WERE still good cops out there. Dad hadn't been lying when he'd told her about the heroic woman who'd helped him back there, after all.]
... Yeah. I know you can't like... flick a switch and forget about them, but... they'll be okay. [It was a long shot and a rough journey, but they were in the end, after all.] Trust me on this one.
[Video] FFFFFT silly activity and lives what are they.
...anyways Cybil's just going to stand there and mentally note these nervous ticks. hard to trust a kid who's acting like they've seen a ghost or something. but she knows this girl has the right intentions, and she doesn't seem as untrustworthy as some teenage delinquents she's seen.
Cybil's just a true-blue skeptic.]
I'd rather see for myself then go by somebody's word alone. [all said with a good-natured smile and though she's trying to hide it she is worried.] Unless you're saying you know the future.
[Video] I don't even know, what is productivity and can I download it somewhere?
[When the 'f' word comes up, that small smile actually blooms into something a little more characteristic for Heather-- a crooked smile on the verge of becoming a toothy grin.]
Funny you should mention that...
First thing you gotta learn about this crazy place is that it doesn't seem to discriminate what time it yoinks people out of.
[There's more fondness in her expression than she thought there would EVER be while looking at a police officer-- people she usually saw as inconveniences at best, downright assholes at worst.]
... Dad used to tell me about you a lot.
[Video] a download would be helpful, yes plz. and maybe some anti-procrastination software too.
Now then, cue one of the longer pauses Cybil has to offer as she attempts to use logic to assess the current facts she's being told and yeah.
SORRY AGAIN SHE IS A CYNIC SO EVEN THOUGH SHE MIGHT'VE LINED SOMETHING UP SHE'LL JUST. BE EYEBALLING YOU A LITTLE BIT HEATHER. her voice is a bit flat to match her kind of. bewildered-yet-unbelieving look.]
...your dad?
[pause. paaaaause.]
It can't be.
[Video] /SEARCHES ON GOOGLE. .... 8( dang.
Name's Cheryl.
'Sup?
[Little Girl (black hair, just turned seven) has evolved into Punky Teenager!]
[Video] FFFFFUUUUU...oh and warning i'm probably going to pass out in T minus five seconds
Sorry Cybil's gonna have a tough time believing this.]
...impossible. Cheryl's seven. With short, black hair.
[she knows this because she saw her briefly and also HARRY DOESN'T SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT IT.]
You better not be trying to pull something.
[Video] NO PROBLEM, it's super late. I'd sleep myself but I have to go to work soon.
[But whether she's believed or not, she's not gonna hide it. That was her concern when Harry had showed up, and she'd wound up screwing herself over big-time by trying to keep her identity hush-hush for fear of disbelief on his part.]
Yeah, and I also dressed like a Precious Moments figurine and had a hard time spelling simple words.
Anyway.
[She lifts and hand and sort of shakes her head. Now that she's gotten... that off her chest, she's feelin' better. That awkwardness has dissipated and in the wake is Heather's usual, much-more-confident self.]
I don't expect you to believe me. You don't even need to, I guess. This place is nuts.
But if I was trying to pull something, you'd probably know it. I'm not exactly known for my subtle, conniving ways.
[Video]
not to mention the improbability of practically everything that's been going on in the past 24 hourskind of. Help her actually believe.She's still keeping her cool though, and her tone is calm.]
Nuts...it feels like I've gone insane. But...
[more eyeballing. Yup, still looks like a delinquent, but she has a soft spot for kids, even ones that aren't seven years old. And again, she's been a cop long enough to know when someone's lying or not.
BUT JUST TO MAKE SURE.]
And your last name is...?
[Video]
Heh... yep, sounds like the general effect that friggin' town has on people.
[Heather DOES look like a delinquent and Cybil's instincts are pretty much correct. The kid ain't exactly a model citizen, even now. And she could still be a rotten little sneak sometimes. But lying about this? Nope. Nuh-uh. She was done with that shit. And you know what? It felt DAMN good to let that secret out.]
[She grins her usual crooked grin, answering without missing a beat.]
Mason, from womb to tomb.
[... well not.... literally, but-- ... it was a figure of speech, all right.]
Sorry for... y'know, springin' that on you, but-- ... it's really cool to meet you, finally.
[If only you knew how big and sparkly five-year-old Heather's eyes had gotten every time her dad told her stories about his BADASS COP BUDDY, Cybil. If only you knew.]
[Video]
Cheryl Mason.
[Parrot syndrome, alas. It takes her a moment to find her wording because to be honest this is coming as a shock to her. She's heard all about Cheryl, saw her once, but she'd never think...
Whatever. Whatever. Her cynicism of this place and the circumstances was unwinding pretty rapidly due to the rapid pace of information dumps taken, so her mouth twitches into a smile. Not forced, but completely mindboggled by, well...everything.]
It's...nice to finally meet you too. I'm really glad Harry was able to find you. I was worried, you know? Certainly not as much as your father, of course, you were all he could think about, but still. A kid wandering around alone in that town...[floating like an eerie demon child...or, whatever] it's a scary thought.
[Video]
Aheh, yeah, sorry for leading you guys on that wild goose chase... things wound up being a whole lot screwier than I knew at the time. [Cheryl's memories were faded, but not gone-- and although the little girl had most definitely known that something was wrong, and that something'd had to do with her, she hadn't known the full implications. Not at first, anyway...]
... I was pretty scared, not gonna lie.
But uh... so.
You're here now... I've been here awhile. ... There's a few others from around our neck of the woods, too. Maybe four of us. [Five if she counted Harry's brief stay... but she couldn't. Not anymore.]
[Video]
Y'know what the plot of Silent Hill still confuses me why the hell do I play these games again.]
It seems like a decent amount of people I've spoken to have heard of the town, so it doesn't surprise me that there are others wandering around. Besides you and me, I've only spoken to one other 'native'. [b'aaaaaaw poor Heather. :(]
How long is awhile for you? Apparently eight months is the record.
[Video]
Aheh, it wound up being a bit more complicated than that... But that's not important right now, I guess.
[It's like an abusive relationship, man, you just keep coming back. The plot confuses you because it loves you so much!]
[In the end, it DID essentially all boil down to Dahlia. Alessa hadn't asked to play mommy to the apocalypse-bringer or get burned alive, after all-- probably hadn't even asked for the Otherworld, either, although to be fair, nobody could probably have predicted that. Dammit, Dahlia. If only you hadn't been abusive, crazy, and probably high.]
And uh-- yeah, well, a few of the friends I've made here know about it. [Kaito and Phoenix in particular, it seemed, had already had their radars pinged when Cybil mentioned the 'S' and 'H' words.] Mainly 'cause I told them.
But the only ones who like... know know are my friend James and his wife, and recently another girl who showed up a coupla' weeks ago. They saw the monsters, too. .... Er... well, maybe James's wife didn't, I guess... [She still wasn't sure on that front, and.... then there was the whole thing where she was apparently dead. Heather still had to talk to James about that one...]
That's-- yeah. Eight months. I've been here longer than most.
I guess I was one of the first.