IC Contact (Hadriel)

[storyseeker]

This is Elena. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Comments

Video;

[restinglichface]

[Lup's been a little busy checking in with her fam, but it doesn't take long into the chaos of Hadriel's big fire before she's calling one of the few people in this place she actively cares about.]

Just checkin' in that you're not caught up in this whole thing. You're good, right?

Video;

[storyseeker]

Lup, hey! We're good, we're both good. [Far from the glow of the fire, but the way it could spread, that might not always be true.] What about you and your brother? No injuries?

[restinglichface]

[Lup's instant swell of relief is all too obvious.] Good. Knew a stupid fire wouldn't be enough to take the two of you out, but, y'know, thought I'd check in.

We're good. Just moved our shit to a new place in the south end of the cave a few days ago. Timing could not have been better for us.

[storyseeker]

Good. If only everyone could have been so lucky. Do you know what caused it?

[text]

[pocketspa]

hey
you or whatever
lups not like under your bed or smth right
and/or have you seen her today

[Guess who's gone on a canon update and now has a very concerned brother trying to act less concerned?? It's fine. This is fine.]

[text]

[storyseeker]

[OH NO]

No, I haven't talked to her today. Or yesterday, actually. Is something going on? When's the last time you saw her?

[text]

[pocketspa]

[HE'S FINE. He'll be more fine when she's back, he just. Doesn't know that yet.]

iunno if goin ons the word she just
messes around sometimes
thought you might be in on it

but uh
paintball party
i think
couple of days

[text]

[storyseeker]

No. I'm sorry.

[This is worrying.]

Do you think she might have gone exploring in the caves?

[text]

[lifetothefullest]

[Lance is... Having a lot of problems right now, and he's been trying to just handle them himself, but with Brennan's mysterious disappearance--that he's doing his best not to freak out about--he can't keep doing that. Not only does he need to ask someone for advice on what to do about her being missing, but he's been really unwell the past few weeks and so has nothing in his apartment to feed Brennan's fennec fox, and no real idea of how to fix that.

So he's decided to reach out to Elena, for several reasons; she knows Brennan, she's competent and capable, and Lance believes he can trust her at least to this extent. It's still difficult to ask, but he has to.]

I'm sorry to bother you, Elena, but I was hoping I could ask for your help on something.

[text]

[storyseeker]

[Elena's not expecting to hear from Dr. Sweets, but she's not bothered by the sudden request. She's more concerned about what could have prompted it.]

You're not a bother. What's up?

[text]

[lifetothefullest]

[That had pretty much been the response he hoped she'd give, but he'd still been kind of afraid she wouldn't and he feels guilty about having to inconvenience her even if she says he isn't. But he's committed, at this point.]

It's a few things, but you haven't seen or spoken with Dr. Brennan recently, have you?

3/16 text; this time in the right place THANKS MOBILE

[nonscriptum]

someone or someTHING attacked me on my way back home

stay inside, ok?

I should probably link both

[storyseeker]

WHAT? Are you okay?

[nonscriptum]

it looks worse than it is but i'm almost home

[He knows it's a non-answer. He doesn't want her to freak out when she sees him.]

can you get that first aid kit we macgyvered?

invitation-- thanks a BRUNCH!

[fernbeleafer]

[ sometime this week, when elena is out and about, a small bird with long skinny legs flaps hurriedly down nearby. once it has their attention, its long skinny beak opens and words come pouring out! real actual words which don't sound bird voicey at all. in fact, it sounds like a familiar weird redhead they might know: ]

"Hi Elena! So I'm throwing a brunch in the orchard this Friday morning around elevenish and I'd love you to come! Please bring anything you--"

[ whoops, maybe there was more to the message? either way, the bird takes off again to fly out toward the horizon and back to its home island in the distance. feel free to interpret that unfinished request however you might, brunch buddy! ]

[storyseeker]

[Oh, a talking bird. This isn't the weirdest thing she's ever experienced, but it's new, and—oh, now it's gone. Huh. Well, she'll definitely turn up Friday around elevenish; sounds like fun.]

text, midday on 10/3

[pocketspa]

[It was a year ago, he realizes, that he was doing this same gambit. Lup was missing, he'd run around worried and pissed and overall sick, until he had to survive the week alone. He hadn't gotten more than a few details from her then. He feels like he barely knew her.

Now, maybe it's a little different. Lup's still missing, but-- she'll come back. He knows it. But with Nate and now Cecily gone, he's running horribly short on people he knows can put up with him, or would even be interested in doing so.

It's two days after Lup's disappeared that he finally reaches out.]

hey
you owe me a birthday promise
i know we were both fucking trashed but elves have a great memory
you busy?

sorry for being a BIG SUCKY SUCK THING

[storyseeker]

I do?
Oh
I forgot about that
I'm about done for today

[She's absolutely been wallowing and doing nothing else.]

SHHHSHSH UR FINE

[pocketspa]

[Of course she has. So has he. But he's tired of aching. He needs something, so here he is.]

cool, cool
wanna help me make em?
we got a big kitchen
i already have the butter but yknow
otherwise theyre just the same as normal brownies

backdated to 12/24; a paper left on her apartment door

[pocketspa]

[However Elena manages to find it, a paper has been left tacked to her door the day of the 24th, a scribbled message on it with a drawing of a bush and a candle on top. The whole thing manages to glow slightly and smell like wassail, though how it's doing that makes no logical sense. The text upon it is loopy and sloppy, and reads:]

You're Invited!

What: It's Candlenights, baby!
When: Tomorrow
Where: Horny House (y'know, Lup and Taako's place)
Details: Wear pants, bring gifts, prepare to lose both

We know you're not doing anything better with your time! You better be there!

[It looks inviting enough- or so the twins thought. But the party is real, and they hope she'll attend.]

[storyseeker]

[But why bother bringing the pants then, why not avoid the pretense altogether]

[pocketspa]

[because then he gets to keep them and wear them the next time they meet up gosh Elena do you know nothing??]

[audio] 4/6, late night

[synthedick]

[This is a call no one in this world or any other wants to make, and certainly not Nick; however, when faced with a charred, decaying, and eviscerated corpse he suspects is Nathan Drake's, he doesn't have any other choice. He can't just let it go with the thought that Nate will come back, as people so often do. He's disappeared once from the city already, and he wouldn't be the first person in Hadriel to end up in the grave and never come out. If that happened, and Elena didn't know what happened to him—

He was a cop once, in another life. He's been there with that thought plenty of times. He does his best to remain composed as he gives her a call, biting back disgust and anger and everything else that's boiling inside him.]

Elena, it's Nick. You home?

[storyseeker]

[Elena's up and worried, not because she thinks Nate can't handle himself but because even he knows better than to get distracted with a sketch or a promising path of exploration in a jungle

in the middle of the night. He could have fallen from a tree and busted his ankle, and that'll be a pain until they get someone to heal it because Nate's whiny when he's incapacitated. (She can relate. Neither of them like being hemmed in.)

He hasn't answered his phone, but he probably left it somewhere, or managed to break it. Or something. He's fine, but it still bugs her, so she's up.

Elena's face falls when she sees it isn't Nate on the line, but she rallies.]

Hi, Nick. Yeah, I am. What's up?

[synthedick]

[There's a definite pause as he tries to figure out how to put this.]

I'm coming over. There's... [an indistinct grunt, discomfort bleeding into his tone] something I need to talk to you about.