[Call]

[moralmisconduct]

[To Laylee. There are matters Hojo needs to discuss.]

[To Lucrecia. This one is difficult, and each dial tone sounds ominous in his ears.]

Comments

[moralmisconduct]

[His voice might be interpreted as impatient, or merely exhausted. In any case, the tone was clipped and not at all friendly.]

You have been careless.

[moralmisconduct]

I should hope not. Having to fill out paperwork for your untimely demise would make my life that much more difficult.

[What he doesn't say, of course, is that she has actually been surprisingly useful around the lab.]

Putting that aside, I believe you have been working on an upgraded containment chamber. Something which would supress Sephiroth's psychic abilities.

Tell me about it.

[phone call → Hojo]

[inmyeveryday]

[When that call finally goes through, Lu doesn't exactly recognize the number, but she'll answer anyway. It could be anyone from the WRO calling, and she knows it.]

Lucrecia Crescent.

[Call]

[moralmisconduct]

[He wonders how long it has been since they last spoke, how many months since the night he escaped from Reeve's apartment. He had all but forgotten about her before her re-emergence - no, not forgotten, the memories of her had merely lain dormant and dangerous until she appeared again - but now her face flashes involuntarily into his consciousness with terrible frequency and clarity.

His dealings with Sephiroth drains him. It makes Hojo think of her.

For a moment, after hearing her speak, he says nothing at all.

Before he sighs, and mirrors her words.]

Lucrecia Crescent.

[phone call → Hojo]

[inmyeveryday]

[Prank call? It was shaping up to be that way. No one was saying anything, and before she can say anything more, a voice finally pipes up.

...definitely not a voice she was expecting on the other side. She has it in mind to hang up the phone right then and there, not to speak to him. She hadn't spoken to him for some time as it was, but... but now, here he was calling HER of all people.]

How did you get my number, Hojo.

[Not a question, a demand to know. It scares her to know that he has her number, but...]

More importantly, what is it that you even want?

Re: [phone call → Hojo]

[moralmisconduct]

[Good question. What did he want, dredging up her number, stalking her shadow on the network, knowing- Knowing they are better off without each other?

Her words, haunting him. I love you. But she has been frozen in time and he has changed. What did she know of the deeds he had done in her absence?

A part of him is trying to bridge the gap.

Why?]

I was wondering.

[His voice is mildly hoarse, as if it has been overused. As if he has been shouting, or screaming. As if he has not been sleeping at all.]

If you would like to see your son.