text; + action options; (cw character death)

[sketchycharacter]

[locked to people who know Elena Fisher]

elena's dead

[....yeah that's all. Odds are good that Nate will not want to reply to questions, condolences or comments regarding the recent tragedy, though Chloe Frazer might. However, he can be found...]

wandering; Once the shock has passed—if it ever does—Nate wanders for hours. Fuck, maybe days, he doesn't know. He just doesn't want to go back to the house in Region 1 where she isn't.

Eventually he finds himself in a well-wooded park. For lack of anything else to do, he climbs a tree.

at home; When he finally does make it back, Nate parks his ass on the couch, where he'll be sleeping until—well, he can't count on there being an "until." Maybe he'll just live on the couch forever. Sorry, Pepper, Varric, etc.

at the ingress complex; Nate comes by the facility a couple of times, to ask for news or if they can guarantee that they'll be able to bring her back, because he knows that people have returned, and he knows that they don't always.

He walks away both times, unable to stand it if the answer is no.]

Comments

[sketchycharacter]

Yeah.

[He's glad to be spared the platitudes, because they're both obvious and meaningless. He leaves an awkward silence hanging in the air, though, because to try and rush past it when he doesn't know what to say himself would also be bullshit.]

[worn_wings]

[ Slowly, warily, he nods, if only to show he heard. Not that Nate's apt to be paying much attention, because fuck. ]

You wanna get shitfaced?

[ That is, honestly, his best attempt at sympathetic helpfulness. He really hasn't got better coping mechanisms than that; usually, back home, they deal with loss by just pushing it down or maybe massacring a herd of the dead or burning down the occasional building. ]

[sketchycharacter]

Kinda, yeah.

[It wasn't his first move after what happened. Is that a good thing, or does the relative health of coping mechanisms not matter in the face of something like this? Who knows. Nate's not strong enough to turn down an invitation, in any case.]

[worn_wings]

[ Unhealthy coping mechanisms are better than none at all, right?

Don't answer that.

He nods. ]

Come down and I'm buyin'.

[sketchycharacter]

What, they don't offer bottle services to trees?

[There's a long moment, then some rustling in the branches. And finally Nate drops down. His ass kind of hurts from being up there so long.]

Watch out. Gotta get my sea legs back.

[worn_wings]

[ He nods, and steps back obligingly. Daryl is good at personal space. ]

Where you stayin'?

[ Because ideally they'd pick a bar with not too far a dragging-back-home distance, for after. ]

[sketchycharacter]

I was staying in the tree.

[Obviously. But that's apparently a no-go now.]

Figured I'd make my way home eventually. [He waves vaguely in the direction of where he lives.] Or pass out in an alley.

[worn_wings]

Nah, we'll get you home.

[ If nothing else Daryl is pretty supportive in binge-drinking endeavors. So, hooray friendship? ]

[sketchycharacter]

Great. I'll try not to puke on you.

[Hooray friendship. Hooray poor life choices, which mean about as much as good life choices at this point.]

[worn_wings]

[ A day when you get to make life choices is better than a day you don't, right? At least they've got that going for them.

He just huffs a somewhat humorless laugh and gives Nate a friendly thump on the shoulder as they walk. ]