exsiliumlogs | You're all my friends

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You're all my friends

Date & Time: Before groundhogging it or after depending on preference
Location: Exsilium proper/ wilderness/ various
Characters: Chloe Frazer and you as a fond farewell
Summary: a year and a half of thievery and trouble hits its last few notes
Warnings: VIOLENCE some of it

A: E x s i l i u m

She's back to normal now. Residual lacquer stuck to her nails, hair still neatly trimmed at the edges and her trousers aren't the dirt-stained mess left behind of a little over a year's worth of close calls and fire fights, but she is herself again, and whatever magic that Facilier had carefully stuck in under her skin with a few nice words and a friendly gesture have-- for the most part-- been shaken off. Which is to say it's almost dysphoric having to readjust after being recalibrated so completely that even her old routines and habits feel unfamiliar: walking to the market to trade off another batch of heavy (only slightly roughed-up) furs is something more akin to watching video of the ground shifting forward, of footsteps in the snow and crowds filtering off out of focus.

Doesn't feel like there's weight in her arms or the sting of bitter cold on her cheeks.

Doesn't even feel like she's capable of recognizing any of the familiar faces she passes-- and she does pass them: without a second thought or even the uncertain shift of her attention that comes from purposefully dodging someone close.

How bloody rude. Particularly when she's not careful enough to keep from clipping the occasional passerby.

B: E x s i l i u m w i l d s

This, though. This is where she flourishes. These days, anyway. After too much time spent snagged on emotions and vital decisions, solitude and silent snowfall are more comforting than things like central heating or idle banter. Simple tasks are easy to fixate on (pull wire, wrap twig, bend branch, insert bait and wait), numbing pinpricks running just under layers of insulated clothing precede pain from too many hours of it spent out in the cold. Veins going tight in an effort to cling to any remaining heat. Unappealing, unattractive, inhospitable work.

And Chloe's smiling to herself through the chilled cracks of her frost-split lip as she goes about it.

Not that most people would feel right at home in a yeti-infested wilderness.

C: Wildcard

OOC: pick a different scenario or location, whichever suits you best, and we'll make it happen!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's not the answer she'd hoped to get, but it is the one she'd been expecting.

"Nothing." Which doesn't come out low or self-pitying or anything of the sort: he didn't notice; he wasn't obligated to. "I'm fine and it won't happen again."

"What won't happen again? Chloe, talk to me--what the hell is going on?" Nate is starting to sound agitated now, the light concern almost blinking out of existence and being replaced by light annoyance. "You can't expect me to hear that gun go off--" He gestures accusingly to her defender. "--in the middle of the street in broad daylight and walk away from it."

Is she trying to protect him? That would annoy him even more, so he pushes the possibility out of his head. No, clearly someone had just made her really angry...or she was defending herself.

"Did someone attack you?"

Both, technically. In a sense.

Chloe shifts back behind the heap of fur, keeps it up against her chest like a buffer between them. Between herself and talks of vulnerability. She'd only ever spoken about Charlie or Nate under someone else's sway-- never herself.

"You could say that." Telling the truth means running the risk of exposing why she'd ever been to see Facilier in the first place.

"I handled it."

Nate isn't having any of that. Regardless of the fact that she just pulled a gun on him two seconds ago, he slips his arms between the furs and takes half the stack from her to make his point.

He's also careful to dance backwards to avoid kicks to uncomfortable places in case she tries to stop him.

"I know a thing or two about how you handle things, Chloe," Nate remarks, shifting his weight a bit. If that shot had done any lethal damage, there would be a lot more screaming going on. And if she had won the fight, she wouldn't have been so spooked by his appearance. "Can we skip the dance and get down to the real answer here?"

Jesus Christ, Nate, will you ever stop pulling apart the defenses she sets up?

It's a long, weighted moment of tension while the crowds slowly start filtering back in before she speaks up again. Flicks her gaze off of him like she's confessing to a bloody crime. "I was being...controlled."

Huffed out like nonsense. Nothing.

It certainly sounds like nonsense. But he's seen some nonsense in his time, so when he questions it, its only for elaboration. After all, Nathan Drake's mind never stops moving once he's given a puzzle to solve.

"Controlled?" he starts, thinking back briefly to when she had pulled her gun on him. Probably something that involved hallucinations. "By what?"

Not 'who'. He could figure that one out on his own, he thinks, if he gets this answer out of her. Maybe.

That much she knows. Which makes elaboration easier than it might otherwise be, if only for the fact that his persistence would eventually win out anyway.

"His name's Facilier-- you've brushed shoulders with him before, actually. At Victor's little work party." Chloe pauses, purses her frost-chapped lips for a moment. "By then I was already well under whatever supernatural nonsense he'd used."

Facilier. His eyes widen for a second, and then immediately narrow as he starts putting some pieces together. Yeah. He remembered him.

His eyes only drop to her neck briefly before looking back up to her eyes. Inwardly, he is kicking himself for not asking about that stupid necklace earlier.

"I knew him before that, actually," Nate admits, adjusting his hold on the furs with a small grunt. "He came in with me when I showed up on the moon." Part of him is glad that he elf...person...healed him before Facilier tried to cut a deal with him. He wouldn't have known any better.

"Then I'd say you're lucky you didn't get swept up in all this." A genuine enough statement serving as a secondary warning with all the appropriate emphasis. Don't get involved.

Yeah, good luck. Still, he offers her an easy little grin.

"Guess the good ol' Drake luck's still going strong," he adds, only half feeling it. He still hasn't decided whether this experience in Exsilium was a lucky break or a life ruiner.

He's gotten what he's needed out of her though, so he'll change the subject to keep from driving her off. Shifting the weight in his arms again, he asks:

"You...taking these somewhere?"

Edited 2014-02-19 07:39 (UTC)

"Last shipment to the edge of the market. Not a charming job, but it gets transports more in trade." There's only a slight pause before she adds, contemplatively, setting off in her original direction, " Might take a bit more sweet talking to manage it after all this."

He happily follows and falls in step beside her. "No worries about that. You've got me here. Couldn't find a better transport bargaining chip anywhere in the tundra."

He takes a brief look around before glancing down to his counterpart. "I've been living with them -- sort of. Couple of them picked up on how much I talk to the less-native sorts. Not sure if they're warming up to the idea. Its kind of hard to warm up anything around here." For emphasis, he fakes a shiver.

She stops for a moment. Blinks at that.

"You're moving into the city proper? Never thought I'd see the day." But judging by the wary, faint smile at the edge of her collar, she's glad to hear it. "Try not to destroy it all, would you?"

He keeps walking even after she stops, because he senses that look she's giving him.

"Seemed like an ok idea," he adds awkwardly, shrugging. He could never stay tied down to one place for too long, that wasn't a secret, but the activity level gave him something to do. Things to steal. Culture to learn.

Until he inevitably figured it all out, got bored, and left again. Before that sinks in too deep, he throws a smirk back at Chloe's comment.

"Trying to bridge the gap, not widen it."

Edited 2014-02-19 08:19 (UTC)

Which surprisingly enough gets a laugh out of her. Something genuine. Easy.

"Mm. Maybe you'll be the one to patch up the damage I've done for a change."

"Wouldn't that be something?" he scoffs in return, expertly sidestepping a woman he nearly ran into. He's obviously not paying any attention to where he's going. "I'm not sure what's more impressive. The fact that I'm fixing anything, or the fact that you would be letting me fix it."

He pauses.

"Letting me try to fix it."

Because he knows Chloe will call him out on that pretty quickly.

"Suppose it would be." Huffed out under the edge of a smile before his near-collision. He might never believe it-- never has believed it-- but the truth of the matter is that she's always held out hope for him. That she wouldn't have been so disappointed in Syria if that wasn't the case. "Just mind where you step for once and you might actually have a shot at it."

"A very far, difficult shot."

"Watch my step? Come on, that takes half the fun out of everything. That's what I've got you, Sully and Charlie for, right?" he adds playfully, stopping once he reaches the next crossroad to let Chloe catch up to him. And also to keep him from accidentally tripping into oncoming traffic.

"Ouch," he adds, feigning a wince. "Tough crowd."

"Oh like we ever stop you from falling on your ass and taking the whole bloody world with you." Her elbow clips him (intentionally) once she catches up enough to press ahead. Banter's a good distraction; falling in step with him just means that it's something familiar as well.

"I hear nuclear winter does something to your sense of humor."

"Well, step it up then, you've got a job to do," he adds with a needlessly dramatic 'oof' when she clips him.

"Yeah? Well, I think I caught the ever-elusive Frazer smirk once or twice on the walk over here." Actually, if he thought about it, it was probably the most he's seen her grin since they arrived. They spent so much of the first month or so being awkward that by the time they made landfall, they had both drifted a bit.

Maybe she was onto something about nuclear winter.

"It's only elusive when we're fighting for our lives." Some part of this still has her wondering if this isn't dangerous ground. If given the distance and years between them that she ought to still be keeping him at arm's length.

Bugger it. For once, she's going to let it lie and enjoy herself. Christ knows she damn well needs it right now.

"So basically always, is what you're saying."

Its added matter-of-factly. At this point, he's happy to let Chloe lead. He's all but stopped paying attention to where he's going. Having familiar contact and conversation is a lot rarer than it used to be, and not just based on distance. There's a lot of factors keeping him from reaching out to his 'crew', so to speak -- but at his core, Nate is much more social than he likes to admit.

So even if half the conversation is poking fun at his competency, he'll take it.

"Hello, earth to Nate, I don't always live in collapsing ruins, you know." The look she tosses him is pointed despite the broad, toothy grin she's wearing. Briefly interrupted only by the need to duck in between a few passing-- wary-- pedestrians. Safe to say her reputation's now permanently damaged. "Or underground cities, or civil war torn countries or...."

"I'd say you could have fooled me, but I've been to a few of those other living spaces," he adds a bit too smugly, like he's winning some invisible argument. Chloe may be ahead of him, but its not hard to picture the smart-assed cock of his eyebrow, and the slant of his smirk when he says it. "Between you and me, the collapsing ruins have better charm."

Oh now that's just not fair. She flattens her smile briefly, tossing out a low 'tch' against the backs of her front teeth before bothering to respond. "Hey now, they might not've been five star but some of those rooms were well worth it."

Can't dock the view of a city skyline or endless Himalayan mountains at dawn. Doesn't excuse the cockroaches or springs too flat to do anything but dig in between ribs, but it's better than cozy little picket fences day in and day out.

Christ. The thought leaves an even more bitter taste in her mouth thanks to recent events.

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Not for much longer, Nate :')

FUCKIN RUDE

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