thisavrou | text; + action options; (cw character death)

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.

[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'.

Not if you know what you're doing.

[He's quiet, enough that she might have to strain just slightly to hear him properly. Kind of rude, really, but he's not thinking about manners in tree-ground communication just now.]

What's it matter?

[He could fall and break every bone in his back and not feel a thing.]

[She really is straining to hear him, but even if she doesn't catch all the words, he doesn't seem to be too thrilled climbing a tree. It makes Elizabeth question why someone would climb to a great height and not be at least slightly excited about it...]

Hey, you're not about to do something drastic, are you? [She calls up, eyeing him a little nervously now.] Because if you try something, I'll have to do something about it.

[Which, shockingly enough, she can. Elizabeth remembers her collapse, her inability to create and see tears in Rapture, and by all accounts that collapse should have been permanent. But somehow, somewhere along the way, she'd lost her pinky again. Which meant she could see-- almost everything. Some things were covered in haze, and she hasn't been able to walk through a tear. But objects? That's like riding a bicycle.]

[It takes a second for him to realize what she means, and he lets out a huff of disbelieving laughter when he does.]

Ha. No. I just wanted to climb. [As much as he'd wanted to do anything. Which isn't very much.]

If I were going to off myself, I'd go somewhere higher.

Glad to know you've given that some thought. [It's an attempt at some humor, but there's truth to it in her experience. The slowly dying don't always think straight, or apply logic very well.]

[Elizabeth scans the branches thoughtfully, then slips out of her heels and jacket. She lays them at the base of the tree and starts climbing herself. She's not terribly good at it, but given she's never climbed a tree before she's going to cut herself a little slack.]

[That's the damndest thing. He doesn't want to die, he just doesn't want to live like this in a world that Elena's been ripped out of. It's pretty perverse for Nate to envy the suicidal, but he's be lying if he said he didn't even a little.

He's surprised when she starts climbing, but doesn't make a move to stop her. It's a tree. She can climb it if she wants.]

Sorry, was this your tree? I didn't know. I can go up another one.

[Ironically enough, Elizabeth hadn't wanted to live in a world that Ivan had been ripped out of. She hadn't been doing such a great job of living without him, honestly. Twice now her inability to handle loss nearly killed her-- the lesson is lost somewhere in her mind, though, and instead she's climbing a tree after a guy who seems a little too down to just be dealing with a rough patch.]

If we're talking finders-keepers, I'm pretty sure this is your tree. But it seems like a good one to climb, and I've never climbed a tree before. Is that a problem?

Nope. Just stick to your own branch. My ass is too delicate to handle it if you climb on this one and it breaks.

[Nice to know the smartass in him didn't die with Elena, he supposes. Not that he's getting any amusement out of it. Nate stays where he is, and if he's a little unsettled that she'd feel the need to come up after him, he doesn't show it.]

I'll assume you mean I look sturdy, as opposed to the typical interpretation of that suggestion. [It's probably worth noting that as Elizabeth is pulling herself up one branch at a time, she's doing it in a skirt. And doesn't seem particularly bothered by it.] And you'd be right-- my ass is sturdy enough to handle a fall like this.

[It would hurt, but she'd live. Probably.]

I meant make sure the branch is sturdy.

[He wouldn't call her fat to her face even if he thought so, but she's obviously not. Saying it would make him look like an asshole and stupid.]

As long as there's room and no one falls, it's a free tree.

I'm not an idiot-- [Elizabeth says with a sharp sigh, mainly meant to blow her hair out of her eyes.] --just an inexperienced tree-climber.

[And there she is in a nutshell. Elizabeth 'I Read About This Once, Bet I Can Do It Just Fine' DeWitt. But she decides that caution is warranted anyway, and parks herself on a branch on the other side of the trunk, holding the one above her for balance and quiet insurance.]

...It's actually pretty nice, the view. [She says nodding outwards towards the horizon. It reminds her a little of Columbia, but there's more life to it. No unending, plain cloud cover catching all the light. There are buildings, noise, people.]

[Another day and he might have reached out to give her a hand. Today, though, the inexperienced tree-climber is on her own. Good luck.

He's quiet, half-listening to her and taking in the sights.]

Yeah. Looks peaceful.

[Like the people who live here can be happy.]

text; + action options; (cw character death)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject