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

text; + action;

[a_shadow]

Nate?

[ She isn't surprised at the lack of response, and although she doesn't know enough about what happened after Allison's death to compare the grief of Leonard to the grief Nathan must be experiencing, she feels like she recognizes this mode of mourning. Barely acknowledge the event, go numb, go silent.

She gets up, visits his home, and finds him absent. That doesn't surprise her either. She makes a few inquiries amongst the neighbors and figures out what direction he took off in, hops on her motorcycle, and starts canvassing.

She hasn't driven this fast in a long time. It seems urgent to find him. What she'll do when she finds him, she doesn't know. She just knows him being alone isn't the best thing for him.

She's going so fast, she nearly misses him when she spots him, and she has to slow and go around the block in order to catch back up to him. She parks the motorcycle some distance ahead and walks to intercept. Has he even noticed her? ]

Nathan. It's Tex.

action;

[sketchycharacter]

[He doesn't know that she replied because he hasn't even looked at this TAB in ages. He doesn't see her coming, either; the sound of his own name reaches him, but slowly, as if it's coming from a long distance away.

Nothing in his expression changes when he looks at her.]

Hi.

[a_shadow]

[ She lets him finish approaching before continuing to speak. ]

You're a long way from home, Nate.

Wandering!

[tearmeanewone]

[This must be the park people go to when they're lost and don't know where to go next.]

[Since the accident, Elizabeth has been making multiple attempts to force-shock her brain into realignment, with varying success. It's a hard thing to do when you're not sure where, what, or who will provide some kind of trigger, and Elizabeth's general disinterest in life and the world since the crash of the Moira has left her current self struggling for any kind of clue.]

[So now she's in a park. Nature is nice, she liked nature, maybe she'd have taken walks here before just to get some kind of woodland-based experience. As focused as she is on getting her nose to bleed though, it's not exactly easy to ignore a full grown man climbing a tree.]

[She stops and watches for a moment, looking around for friends or some other reason for climbing a tree, but there doesn't appear to be one. He's just. Climbing to climb.]

Hey! [She calls up.] Nice view?

[sketchycharacter]

[It takes Nate a few moments to realize someone's talking to him, and at first he almost doesn't reply. Speaking requires thinking, and that's the last thing he wants to do right now.

But he recognizes her—the girl from the library, back on the ship—and that makes her harder to ignore.]

I guess so.

[tearmeanewone]

[He recognizes her, but she couldn't pick him out of a lineup if she tried. Probably the bigger tragedy is that even after getting blitzed with his wife a few times, she has no idea who Elena is either anymore.]

[But hey, man climbing a tree.]

You guess so? Risky business for 'I guess so'.

text + action

[arcreact]

[ Worst case scenarios are easier to deal with by not dealing with them - that's what he tells himself, anyway, as he puts all of his attention on his most immediate concern: the person who's still alive. The rest of it doesn't feel real just yet. It's a good arrangement, in a way. ]

where are you?

[ He doesn't really expect an answer - he's already resigned to hunting Nate down before he even hits send - but it's worth trying the easy route first.

When that yields the expected results, he pockets his TAB and beelines directly for the garage — the fact that he just about collides with Hawke on the way is a testament to their identical mindsets. Without missing a beat or so much as blinking in greeting, he shoves open the door to the garage and points inside. ]

We're taking the bike.

[otiosity]

[Hawke hadn't tried to text Nate. Not for lack of caring but just... not knowing what to say. So instead she just blindly gets up to go do something. To find him and... well she didn't know what she'd do. There wouldn't be anything to do. But she could at least be there.

Tony's shoulder collides with her own as they both try to move towards the garage and she's happy. Happy that he's had the same idea and happy that she doesn't have to do it all alone. She nods and follows him, allowing him to get on first and then swinging her leg over the back of the seat and wrapping her arms around his waist. Maybe a little tighter than necessary.]

And you thought it was stupid when I bought it.

[It's a shitty quip but it's all she's got right now.

So off they go on the great Nathan Drake Hunt of whatever year this is. They hit every spot in the city. Every street, shop, and tourist attraction in the first district. The big farms in the second (which is miserable because Hawke learns hay fever is a real thing apparently). Tony has to climb a rather comically large tree in the third district because Hawke insisted that her lack of upper arm strength made scaling more than a branch or two physically impossible. They wander around some buildings in the fourth district that are so deep the pressure hurts their ears. They hope that Nate might be in the fifth district because he's a nerd like that, but no one has seen someone who matches his description.

After what feels like every hour of the 22 waking hours on Thisavrou and the sun begins to set, they turn around to head back home exhausted, frustrated, and just... numb. Hawke finds herself nearly nodding off against Tony's shoulder and has to keep jerking herself awake. She's tired but the heaviness of the situation, made worse because they weren't able to find Nate, weighs on her. She wants to just drink and sleep and hope that she can't remember any dreams and will have escaped 8 miserable hours.]

...He'll come back eventually, right? He wouldn't sleep in a tree or something like that. That's pushing it, even for him.

[It's said more to the ether than it is to Tony but as they pull into the garage, he's really the only one to hear it anyway.]

text

[liberaltus]

I have wine.

[Not a question, not concolences, and not a comment on the tragedy per se.

Dorian is just really good at enabling self-destruction.]

text

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate doesn't reply until the next day, and when it comes, there's no acknowledgment of the time that's passed.]

okay.

[Wine sounds amazing right now.]

At Home

[neverheardofhim]

[Shit.

Shit, shit, shit. This was the kind of shit he was supposed to have left behind. Thisavrou wasn't perfect, but it wasn't Thedas, either. People died regularly on Thedas, and even if Varric never got used to it, he still knew to expect it.

But not here. Not that bright woman he was supposed to start writing with.

After having to write letters of condolence for Hawke back home, Varric was more than tired of writing flimsy platitudes out for mourning friends and family. He didn't want his friend to receive emotionless apologies.

He waited until the man was back, and had slept a suficient amount of time, before he marched to the couch with an armful of bottles. Said bottles were dropped onto the slumbering man, all while Varric cleared his throat.]

Get up, Nate.

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate genuinely likes Varric, and since they've moved in together, he's gotten to know the dwarf well enough to think that they're pretty good friends themselves, even setting aside the link of their friendships with Hawke.

But were he capable of alternating numbness and searing agony, he still wouldn't hold it against Varric if he opted to step back from all this...this. They only met a few months ago; what can he be expected to say? What can anyone be expected to say?

He doesn't actually need to still be sleeping by the time Varric does show up, but extra naps are great because they lead to blissful unconsciousness. He cracks an eye open to see all the bottles--almost as good as sleep.]

I'm up.

At home post intervention

[otiosity]

[Hawke doesn't have any memory of falling asleep. It's like her body simply hit a point of exhaustion and then shut down. And normally she likes to stay shut down except for the sharp itch in her nose that she can't seem to rub away in unconscious sleep.

She raises her head slightly only to realize she's been dozing on Nate's shoulder and his cheek resting against her the top of her head as he sleeps. The movement of her hand to her nose dislodges a blanket that's wrapped around them both that she pretty sure wasn't there before. Tony is nowhere to be seen, probably off to his own room or to his workshop, too wound up to sleep or just too old to sleep on a couch. Tenzin is curled between them also asleep and probably the source of her itching nose.

Hawke yawns, stifles a sneeze, and then winces slightly at the soreness from sleeping upright and on a couch.]

Hey.

[She pokes Nate awake if he hadn't already woken up due to her shifting next to him.]

Let's go sleep in a bed. Properly horizontal and everything.

[the keyword is "let's". Let us.]

[sketchycharacter]

[It's amazing he was able to sleep at all. The presence of two stalwart friends on either side of him, combined with sheer exhaustion, have to be the only thing that did it. Nate's groggy when Hawke wakes him again, and doesn't register the details of her suggestion.]

No. [His face catches, and he starts to pull back.] 'mfine. Don't want to go up there.

[The quick flicker of his eyes toward the path he'd take to his and Elena's space should tell Hawke that it's not sleep or a proper bed that he objects to. He just can't face climbing into their bed alone.]

2ish days later, action

[pubcrawl]

[ With his boss basically MIA, Bull's been keeping busy with side jobs, things on the go. He keeps up his end of what the Commander wants of him just as well and just fine but there are some days here and there where he takes some time to himself, visits people he knows and hasn't seen in a while.

Such as today.

Today Bull is at the house. It isn't for any specific reason other than to see if his witty, stout friend is around for a few rounds of drinks and good banter. He really has no idea the dark cloud that hangs over the occupants.

Seems silly for someone his size to squish down a tiny doorbell under his thick finger.

Ring ring. ]

[sketchycharacter]

[It doesn't get better. The more time goes by, the more Nate is able to swallow the screams that still come out, because if he starts he might never stop. But it doesn't hurt any less and he's no more able to do anything but exist than he was before.

He's like a ghost in his own home, drifting. When the doorbell rings, he stays where he is a few moments before sighing and getting up to drift toward the door. When he opens it and spots the Iron Bull, he doesn't really react.]

Yeah?

[worn_wings]

[ Lately Daryl doesn't spend as much time out and about as he used to, between his own paranoid inclinations and the very real mistrust of the Savrou natives. If not for the weather and the damage it's done to their crops, he might well never set foot off the farm most days.

But there's stuff they need, which means he still ventures out into the other districts. And, well, he's still Daryl, which means he's avoiding as much civilization as he practically can.

So he's crossing through the park more to avoid running into anyone than to appreciate its natural beauty. The slight creak of tree limbs above and to his left freezes him for a moment, and then lead him to stalk slowly nearer, a large hunting knife in hand. His instincts here are pretty well honed-- but whatever he was expecting to find, Nate is not it. Relaxing minutely, he still doesn't sheathe the knife. ]

The hell?

[sketchycharacter]

[Why's he in the tree? Why not. It's above and away from people, but given that the tree is in a park, not very far away. But it was something to do with his hands and legs, physical and familiar.

But trees only grow so high, and when he reached a certain point he had to stop and sit there. That's what he's been doing, and he doesn't bother to move up or down when he sees Daryl with a knife.]

Hey.

1/?

[seekingmyfortune]

[It's early in the morning when Sam's TAB buzzes with the announcement of a new text. He groggily reads it from his bed, rubbing his eyes before it registers what it says and who it's from and the fact that receiving a text like this means that Nathan is not still sleeping on his couch like he was supposed to be.

Sam shoots up, gives a few calls of, "Nathan?" as he searches his house before grabbing his TAB and typing furiously.]

Shit...

[And the text message:]

Hey. Where are you?

[seekingmyfortune]

[Sam is not exactly a patient man when it comes to situations like these, and when he doesn't receive a text back after about five minutes he resorts to calling instead.

Voicemail one:]

Hey, Nathan, it's me. Call me back, all right?

[seekingmyfortune]

[Voicemail two, about twenty minutes later:]

Nathan, pick up your phone.

[seekingmyfortune]

[Text two, as he's making his way to Nathan's house:]

where the hell are you???

[Voicemail three, right after sending the second text:]

Nathan, I'm not kidding around here. Pick up your phone and call me back!

DONE

[seekingmyfortune]

[The problem with there being so many Regions and things to do on this planet is that his brother could be in any watering hole or even any of the regions and he wouldn't even know where to start trying to search for him. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack except the needle is his grieving younger brother and the haystack is a planet he doesn't even know how to navigate half the time.

Not seeing him at his own house, Sam doubles back, trying to think of places that he could possibly find him in the neighborhood, all the while continuing to leave voicemails and texts every other minute. Maybe eventually Nathan would get tired of the sound of his TAB ringing.

In a desperate attempt, Sam takes a picture of his current location--the bar they had gone to when Sam first arrived--and the accompanying text:]

Hot or cold?

tree

[ascendit]

[Nate doesn't bother texting back, not because he doesn't care, but because he doesn't know what to say. Drake had loved Elena enough to marry her - what do you say to that kind of loss? To your older self?

[He's still contemplating this up a tree when to his surprise, someone else comes up the tree, and he looks down from his rather high branch (probably too high for Drake to safely join him, considering the added weight) to find...

[Well, think of the devil.]

Hey.

[Awkward.]

[sketchycharacter]

[Nate is mildly surprised to see his other self here, and then he isn't. Their life paths may have diverged, but at their cores, they're not so different. Same formative years, same tendency to climb whatever is there. Makes sense that they'd have the same preference in trees, even if they're up here for very different reasons.]

Hey, kid.

[It's not the first time he's been unsure what to say to him, but maybe the first time he's not glad to see him. Nate knows that he's always been a living example of at least a possible future for the kid. What kind of example is this?]