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[sketchycharacter]

"This is Nate. Leave a message and I'll probably get back to you."

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;A;

[nicearsenal]

Oh I bet that went over well.

[sketchycharacter]

It went about as well as you'd expect. On both ends.

[Elena's upset, Harry's battered.]

[nicearsenal]

Is she okay? Must have been a pretty big shock, it sure as hell was one for me.

[sketchycharacter]

More or less. She'll be all right.

What about you, though? What happened when you saw him?

[Nate knows that Chloe picked him over Harry back then, but they'd still had a thing for a while, and there had been no bad blood at first.]

[nicearsenal]

Oh you know, you're just minding your own business, heading to medical to get some crutches and suddenly you're face to face with a dead man.

[Yeah she's a bit shaken. Just a bit.]

Jesus Nate he looked a mess.

[sketchycharacter]

[Making potentially assumptions here]

Look, I didn't tell Isha's dog to attack him, he just wouldn't listen when I said to leave Q alone. And he deserved it when Elena broke his nose.

[nicearsenal]

... wait wait. Hang on.

He got attacked by a dog? Who is Q and why wouldn't Harry leave them alone and... Elena broke his nose?

[sketchycharacter]

You know that robot dog that's been hanging out with me? Did you not meet him? That's Q—I was looking after him for my friend. And he's apparently pretty protective.

[Well, he already knew that. He just didn't realize how sensitive Q was to body language and tone.]

[nicearsenal]

Well no wonder he was so pissed off when I bumped into him. All that on top of dying's enough to ruin anyone's day.

[She sighs and on her end, she's glad Nate can't see how flustered this has left her.]

This space malarkey sure likes to lay it on thick with a trowel, doesn't it?

[sketchycharacter]

It sure does.

[He hears that sigh and he understands exactly the feelings behind it. Or he thinks he does.]

He still hates me. I wish I knew when that started.

[nicearsenal]

[There's a long silence, and when she speaks again her tone is somewhat deflated.]

If it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure you're not the only one in his dog house.

[sketchycharacter]

Yeah?

[He's mildly surprised. Sure, none of them had been Harry's best friend by the end, but Nate had attributed his willingness to put Chloe in the line of fire to the spite of the dying.]

I know he didn't make sure you were clear of the grenade, but I figured he'd be more willing to forgive and forget with you.

[nicearsenal]

Yeah well. He might have if I hadn't got pissed off and told him some home truths.

[not exactly helpful, really]

[sketchycharacter]

[Uh oh.]

What exactly did you tell him?

[nicearsenal]

[iyup]

That you weren't the one who did the seducing. Amongst other things.

[sketchycharacter]

Oh.

[Yeah, okay. No need to go into detail, he can imagine what the other things are.]

What, did he think I came in and swept you off your feet and away from him?

[Chloe Frazer is not an easy girl to sweep.]

[nicearsenal]

I guess he must have.

[IS THAT NOT THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING YOU HAVE EVER HEARD NATHAN]

Nate what the hell are we supposed to do now?

[sketchycharacter]

[It's like he never knew her at all.]

I have no idea.

[Ugh. This is awkward now. For a guy who ran away from potential heartbreaking like it had a gun aimed at him, Nate had made the transition to close, platonic friends with Chloe incredibly well. Their past had never been weird, except now it is, kind of.]

It's a little late to apologize for sleeping with you, not that I would anyway. [Even though, for the first time, he feels a twinge of guilt.] Plus I don't think it was ever about that for him and me. Harry had it out for me way before he knew.

[nicearsenal]

Whatever the reason he kept it pretty well hidden, I had no idea until Istanbul that he even had a problem with you. It wasn't like he and I were even- we had fun but it was never anything serious. At least it wasn't for me.

[But apparently not for Harry.]

Do you want to know what the worst part is though?

[sketchycharacter]

[That's how he'd justified it in his head. Harry and Chloe were nothing serious, and Harry and Nate—well, they weren't the kind of best buddies where a stolen girl or some stolen cash would be the end of the world. And Chloe had been free to make her own choices, not a thing that could be possessed by anyone.

It's all true. Knowing that doesn't make him feel much better.]

What's that?

[nicearsenal]

I don't hate him. I never thought about how I'd feel if I ever saw him again because he was, you know, dead, and it wasn't like it was ever going to be an issue.

[Man this is a surprisingly soul baring conversation to be on the phone.... card... space tech... thing.]

He was a prick but he didn't deserve what Lazarević did to him. He didn't need to die like that.

[sketchycharacter]

...I don't either.

[It's the distance afforded by the TAB that lets him say it when having this talk in person might be too close, when he's not sure he could admit it to Sully or Elena. Chloe is the only other person here who ever cared about Harry Flynn.]

I should. I am angry at him, still. What he did to Elena—

[No, he can't go farther down that path. Even now the thought of losing her chokes him.]

But it shouldn't happen have happened that way. We should have all come out of there and gone our separate ways.

[nicearsenal]

What he did to Elena was unforgivable.

[And it was. Out of all of them, Elena alone had been the only one to try to go Harry's aid. The one person who had no previous connection to Harry Flynn, had never been on friendly terms with him, had never had a beer with him or sat up half the night trash talking with him, or even rolled about in the sheets with him for a few careless hours of fun, no strings attached sex.

Or at least, that's how it had been for her. Maybe Harry hadn't seen it that way.

And maybe it was because she and Nate had known him that they hadn't been the ones to step forward and help him when he was bleeding and half-dead with a ticking time bomb in his hand. They knew him well enough not to trust him, knew him well enough to know that he was pissed as all hell at both of them.

But Elena had only tried to help, and she'd been hurt the worst.

She huffs softly on the other end of the line.]

It's not like we can chew him out about it now, can we? We did get away. He died. He died and he just-

[There's a lump in her throat and she hates it.]

This is such bollocks.

[sketchycharacter]

[Yes. Yes it was. Nate will never forgive Harry for hurting her, never forget the way his stomach had lurched and his heart had cracked when he saw Elena lying on the floor of the temple. In that moment he hadn't known that she wasn't already dead from the initial blast, and it had been days before he'd been able to fully breathe again.

It hadn't even been personal, he knows that. He hadn't targeted her. That just makes it worse.

But he still can't hate Harry. He wishes he could.]

He's finally got one over on us, huh? The ultimate trump card.

[He huffs a laugh, without any humor.]

I guess...we let him live his life, now that he has one again. It's not like we can put him in jail for what he did. [And if people here got thrown in jail for their pre-Ingress misdeeds, he and Chloe and Sully would probably be there too.] Maybe he'll make fewer stupid decisions this time.

[nicearsenal]

Well there's no batshit, balls to the wall crazy Serbian warlord around for him to follow around this time, maybe he will make fewer stupid decisions.

[On her end, she sits down and slumps against the nearest available rock as she sweeps her fingers through her hair.]

Jesus this is turning out to be one fan-fucking-tastic week, all things considered. Tell me Nate, how exactly do we wind up in these messes because if this is karma for something then it's an even bigger bitch than I thought.