voice;

[whathawksdo]

[ How long has it been? About eight days? Nine? Since Hawke had been minding her own business on an errand in Heropa. Eight whole days of total radio silence from her, save for the unfortunate few who ran afoul of her in Pan's jungle. Of which at least one or two was likely not expecting to hear from her again and yet... ]

Word of advice to those who don't realize this, but if you do kill another imPort, try not to bury them.

[ She sounds absolutely haggard, voice scratchy and dry and short on breath altogether. Since, hey, you try being dead and buried for a few days and come out sounding just fine, okay? ]

Because, surprise, we do come back! And clawing your way out of your own grave? You don't even want to know... how inconvenient that is. I could go on forever and ever, but...

[ How about she just doesn't, instead? It's only a weak attempt to make light of it, not a real offer to expand upon. ]

Comments

( video. )

[desequilibre]

Who is responsible?

[ He hadn't known. But now he does, Athos is ready to stab someone for her. ]

video;

[brushoff]

[ this is so morbid, this is totally Dorian's jam. ]

One of the perks of being turned to a charred corpse when I died: there was too much to do to prep the body for anyone to bury me. Still, welcome back! Shall I find you a button for the 'surprise, I died' club?

voice; aggressively private

[stealwithit]

[ For a long time, there's just silence on her end of the channel. Or rather, the sound of Kasumi not knowing what the hell to say or how to handle this. She'd worried about people close to her being caught up in the mess in Heropa that she'd only been so lucky to almost miss entirely, thanks to her decision to get the hell out of town around New Year's. She'd worried and worried, but most people seemed accounted for afterwards, except for Hawke. She figured the mage might have just needed some alone time (a feeling Kasumi can identify with strongly) to process the horrific events that played out -- or maybe that was Kasumi's form of denial, of deluding herself into thinking her friend couldn't have possibly been killed during it all. (And she certainly would have an even harder time believing that it another friend was responsible for the very thing.)

It's quite some time before she finally manages to mutter a word. Or in this case, two: ]

...Welcome back.

[whathawksdo]

[ Staying extremely audio-only here. The last thing she needs is anyone actually seeing how roughed up she still looks from the entire ordeal (so much dirt...). It does take a moment for her to process a response to "who", though. After a short silence, she'll manage a weak: ]

It doesn't matter. It was unavoidable.

[ Bull's going to feel bad enough without a bunch of Musketeers getting on his case. ]

[whathawksdo]

[ Still voice on her end, but really, it's for the best. She's still such a mess. ]

You really are an irreverent bastard, aren't you? [ That said, she doesn't actually sound offended. Some things are best mocked, things like this. ] You know I'm going to be eternally disappointed if I don't find a button for that in my mailbox sometime soon.

[darkpants_warmfeeling]

[Jacob is horrified, and it shows in his voice. She clawed out of her grave? He knew things had gotten bad in Heropa, but he hadn't known Hawke had been a casualty.]

Damn, Hawke. Where are you now? I'll come check in on you.

voice; super aggressively private

[whathawksdo]

[ Sorry, Kasumi. She couldn't charm her way safely out of this one. ]

Kasumi... [ Had she seen the thief anytime during the jungle? No, she hadn't. That's a minor relief. ] Thanks. I would say it's good to be back, but I'm pretty sure my everything still hurts.

[whathawksdo]

[ On one hand, reaching out to the network was to inevitably ask for help. On the other, she isn't sure she wants Jacob, of all people, to see her like this. Which is, in all fairness, incredibly vain of her. ]

I'm just... somewhere safe? Resting? [ Neither of which are actually lies. ] It's fine. Really.

[brushoff]

Would you want me any other way? [ because hoo boy does he know that some things are best mocked. Some things you've gotta mock. ]

And damn, now I'll actually have to make the stupid thing.

[mightthinkthat]

Very unlucky of you. Are you all right?

[whathawksdo]

See? Another fine example of your hubris damning you. To making club buttons, at that. Possibly starting an entire club, too, just to go with them.

[whathawksdo]

I'm alive, aren't I? [ Not a very specific answer, is it? ] I'd worry more about the playground they managed to leave me under.

[ Or, more like, the children who'd been playing on said playground ]

[mightthinkthat]

I'm sure they'll repave that. The stories will last forever.

audio;

[rassera]

[Speaking of those unfortunate few...]

Could be worse. Could've been concrete, right?

voice; permanently private, not-so-permanently aggressive

[stealwithit]

[ Kasumi, for one, has apparently perfected the art of arriving to the party fashionably late. Usually, the party is an actual party, and not a doomsday event, but this place is weird like that. ]

I can imagine. You said you were buried? That's pretty morbid for someone to do. I thought people coming back to life was common knowledge around here...

[whathawksdo]

I get the feeling Bull and Dorian decided not to buy into something they hadn't seen happen.

Or... or maybe they didn't want to leave a body out in the open in a jungle. I don't know.

[ It's a private line. Surely it's okay to mention names. ]

[whathawksdo]

Ancient witch crawls out of tomb in Heropa's city park, park now rumored really, actually cursed forever. Something like that?

[whathawksdo]

[ Oh. It's Kaneda. That's... ]

Could have been. Sure. [ Followed by quite a pause. What do you even say? Besides: ] This feels awkward. Is that just me or... no, it's definitely awkward.

[mightthinkthat]

Less cursed and now haunted, but yes, the general idea.

voice

[mousquetaire]

Someone buried you?!

Dear God, Hawke. What happened?

[ He hadn't known she died. He'd known she was out of contact, but he hadn't thought this was the reason. ]

Were you in Heropa?

[stealwithit]

... Bull-- what?

[ Bear with her for another moment or five. ]

What did Bull do to you?

[brushoff]

Actually, there's already a club! Though, I believe Will's club is more for people who've died at home, and less those who've died here.

[ a pause, and a cavalier shrug. ] Shall I bring alcohol with the button? I suspect you'll need it.

[whathawksdo]

[ There's a perfectly reasonable explanation, really! ]

He stopped me from making a horrendous mistake, that's what. I was trying to kill Kaneda at the time and I would have killed Bull, too, if I'd had the chance.

[ There's a lot of effort going into not sounding shaken over the entire ordeal, but it's a difficult task to pull off, how fresh it is still in her memory. Right along with all the false ones, everything she'd done during the curse. What a mess. ]

[whathawksdo]

[ Hawke isn't quite up for answering the first two, not publicly, leaving her to blatantly skip over d'Artagnan's first two questions. The third, however, is a different story. ]

I was. Lucky me, right? I can't even run an errand without something evil trying to ruin my life.

[whathawksdo]

Haunted! Of course. That is the better word, isn't it? Shambling undead mage rumored to return to playground every full moon and all.