Phone Call of Bad News

Who: Hannah and Lucius
Where: The phone
When: 6:31PM, on the dot

Well, the chat with Chance could've gone better, but it could've gone worse, too. She was actually going to miss that guy. Maybe she'd be able to come back before too long, and see him again. Take him on that promised hunt before his whole town went to shit. One down, two more to go, and Lucius, by necessity, had to come first. So she lay on her back in the dry loam out in the woods, her car parked not far away, and stared up at the branches with their colorful leaves while his cell phone rang and she waited for him to pick up.

Lucius was just leaving Isabella's house when his cell rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw Hannah's name on the caller id. Flipping it open he smiled into the receiver. "Hey you, what's up?" he questioned as he continued down the road. He was thankful to have a bit of a distraction from his thoughts, even if just for moments.

"Lots of shit," Hannah said shortly, this time not stalling before getting right down to it. "I've gotta leave town, Lu." And cue the "what the fuck?" questions. This was just hell. She wasn't used to saying goodbyes to people-- she was used to just leaving. She didn't usually have people to say goodbye to.

"What?" he questioned, taken aback by her statement. "What do you mean 'leave town'? Like leave town and come back in a week or like leave town and I maybe never see you again?"

"As in, leave town for a couple weeks at least, maybe a month or two," Hannah answered, staring up at the pre-sunset sky. "I don't know how long. I want to come back, after-- but it'll be a while."

He sighed. Great, he just starts getting used to this whole having friends thing and now one of his few friends in town was suddenly up and leaving. "Fuck... That, that really blows." he muttered. He wasn't the best at goodbyes himself, having never really cared about someone enough to really say goodbye. "And here I was just getting used to your dirty little mouth." he teased.

"Yours isn't that much better, dude," Hannah countered. "But it does, I know. Blows fucking chunks. But I just can't not go... it's the family. When they need me, I go." That was the deal. They gave their lives for her, she dedicated her life to them. And she was glad to do it-- it just sucked to actually be leaving behind people she cared about, this time.

"My mouth is only bad because you rubbed off on me." he replied. He hated to see Hannah leave, hated losing his friend but he sensed it in her voice that there wasn't a way to talk her out of it. "I guess you gotta do what you gotta do..." he sighed.

"You can call me if you want," Hannah offered. "My cell phone number's the same. I might not always answer--" Because she might be off killing things, stalking things, or threatening people into telling her where to stalk things... and having her phone on her during any of those times would be a bad idea. "--but I can always call you back."

He nodded. "Yeah. Guess a phone call is better than nothing at all right?" he sighed. "Well I hope all that works out for you. Hate to see you go, but you got my number too. Don't forget about me, Hannah."

"I got a good memory, dude. I've been honing it for a long time. I ain't gonna forget you." She grinned. "You're gonna miss me, aren't you." She made it more of a statement than a question, because despite the novelty of it all, she could tell he was going to.

"Of course I'm going to miss you." he said matter-of-factly. "I finally start making friends for once in my life that are worth it and you leave, jeez. Teach me to make friends." The last sentence came out in a clearly joking fashion, hoping to lighten the mood slightly. Saying goodbye wasn't something he thought he'd have to do.

"If it makes you feel any better, dude, I'm in the same boat," Hannah answered, a little reluctantly. "I'm a hundred and nine years old, and I'm still getting the hang of this fucking 'making friends' thing. The last time I've had to do something like this was...." She had to think back, actually. "Shit, forty years ago? So I feel you, Lu, I really do."

He sighed. "Well I guess I'll be seein ya then." he told her. "Wish you luck with all that family stuff, whatever it is."

"Oh, I'll need it," Hannah groaned. "Believe me, this is going to be one hell of a hunt they've got me on. I'll come back when it's over... I just don't know when that'll be." Or if there would be a Marquette left when she did. And if the Marquette that was left would still have her friends in it.

"Just be careful Hannah." he breathed. "I'll talk to you later... be safe. Kill some bad guys for me." God this was harder than he thought.

"I'll fucking carve your name in one," Hannah grinned. "You be safe, too. Bye, Lu. Lucius," she corrected, giving him his full name for once.

"Bye short stuff... I'll miss ya." he replied, trailing off and then snapping his phone shut and stuffing it into his pocket. Her saying goodbye again would have just made the whole phone call harder. He sighed and continued down the street.

Hannah set her own phone down on her stomach when the line went dead, and went back to staring at the sky. This was just shit. That's all it was. Lots and lots of shit.

Two down, one to go....