[Two things will tip Tucker off to something being terribly wrong here. One, Kyna is actually calling him, and two, her voice is trembling. It sounds like she's been crying.]
[Tucker is running around the city like a chicken with its proverbial head cut off, but the second he sees a message from Kyna, he ducks behind a wall to answer. He doesn't bother with the location. Something's Up.]
[He wants to ask which spires but honestly, there are only a few of them left.]
Right. I'll be there in a minute.
[It takes a few minutes, actually, but close enough. He finds Kyna in an area that's not currently a battlefield, and, making sure he wasn't followed by anything, he comes up.]
Hey. What's going on?
[He's nervous. Being serious and dodgy like this isn't Kyna's MO.]
[She freezes when she sees him, eyes still red from tears. Nervous is a good thing to be, especially because Kyna hugs Tucker immediately, taking in a shaky breath.]
[Shit. He knows almost as soon as he sees her face. It's either Wash or Harlan and- Yep, there it is.
He slowly brings his arms up around Kyna's back. It takes him a minute to respond because, fuck, he can't believe that Harlan "I survived mind-reading two demons and being charmed by a vampire" Halliday is the one out of the three of them that gets himself killed. How the fuck?]
[Delivering news like this isn't her thing, especially when it's about someone she cares for. Someone like Harlan. She doesn't know how to say it gently, but she figures Tucker would prefer blunt over schmoopy bullshit, so she takes another breath and buries her face in his shoulder for a second.]
It was that big battle at Sorrow's temple. The Null got him.
[Fuck. It figures. A lot of people went down that day, as far as Tucker can tell. He didn't go into the warzone, even after the big battle was over, but he went past just to see. Bodies fuckin' everywhere. And somewhere in that mess-
Nope. Not now.]
Hey, listen. Hope's still alive. He didn't die for nothing. He'll come back. People always come back here.
[Even if he has his own doubts, about their being able to keep Hope alive long enough, and about Hope being strong enough to revive people, he can't say them. Not out loud.]
[Tucker's not exactly an optimist, so that means either he actually believes it, or he's just telling her what she needs to hear. She's not sure which it is right now, and she's not sure she wants to press.]
God, I just... Maybe we should have stuck together. Maybe he'd be okay if...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
audio!
[Two things will tip Tucker off to something being terribly wrong here. One, Kyna is actually calling him, and two, her voice is trembling. It sounds like she's been crying.]
also audio!
What happened?
no subject
[Kyna hesitates. How is she supposed to tell him? It can't be over the phone.]
I just... need to find you, okay? I'm by the spires.
no subject
Right. I'll be there in a minute.
[It takes a few minutes, actually, but close enough. He finds Kyna in an area that's not currently a battlefield, and, making sure he wasn't followed by anything, he comes up.]
Hey. What's going on?
[He's nervous. Being serious and dodgy like this isn't Kyna's MO.]
no subject
It's Harlan. He's... Delmar called and said...
[God, she can't even say it.]
no subject
He slowly brings his arms up around Kyna's back. It takes him a minute to respond because, fuck, he can't believe that Harlan "I survived mind-reading two demons and being charmed by a vampire" Halliday is the one out of the three of them that gets himself killed. How the fuck?]
What happened?
no subject
It was that big battle at Sorrow's temple. The Null got him.
no subject
Nope. Not now.]
Hey, listen. Hope's still alive. He didn't die for nothing. He'll come back. People always come back here.
[Even if he has his own doubts, about their being able to keep Hope alive long enough, and about Hope being strong enough to revive people, he can't say them. Not out loud.]
no subject
God, I just... Maybe we should have stuck together. Maybe he'd be okay if...
no subject
[He cuts her off.]
We're literally in the middle of a fucking war. Do not blame yourself for this.
[The last thing he needs is her getting it into her head that this is her fault.]
no subject
[It's hard to process that they've found themselves in such a mess, even days later.]
I just... I don't get how it could be Harlan.
[Somehow, he's always seemed invincible to her.]
no subject
[He didn't mean to be so harsh about it, but maybe he managed to nip that bud, at least.]
And I know. I mean, out of all people.
[He's always thought Harlan was reckless, but he didn't figure he'd actually die. Well, he did, logically. Everyone dies. But not soon.]