[ video! ; forward dated to morning of the 21st ]

[itemfinder]

Trevor Kirby has opened communication!

[Somebody was tossing his communicator in the air while he tried to think of how to explain himself, but somebody happened to bobble the thing and turn it on (but not drop it!) in the process. So now somebody is giving the camera a somewhat panicked look.]

Shit. I didn't— uh. I mean, hi. I'm... Trevor. But that's not, that doesn't matter. What matters is, has anybody else figured out how we're doing the food thing? Because I don't really have a lot in my place, or any money really. I've been trying to look around, though. Or if anybody needs help doing... whatever it is you've got to do with nobody around, let me know?

Comments

[ video ]

[biomagnet]

Jeremy Daveen has opened communication!

[ The camera turns on, but it's facing the wrong way. Toward the floor. There's a long stretch of nothing despite the fact that he knows Chivy must know who it is thanks to the damn caller ID built in. He breathes. In, out, in, out. Just before Chivy's "must fill the silence" threshold hits (and he knows this one almost by heart by now), he finally speaks. ]

... You're here?

[ video and video and video ]

[itemfinder]

[There's a bit of a sudden zoom effect when Sefton comes on, as Chivy first brings it closer to look, then further away to actually put it in focus. He's lucky the thing is well made, because lesser electronics might crack under the pressure of his grip.]

Sefton? Where are you?

[ it's the video that never ends ♪ ]

[biomagnet]

Where d'you think? I—

[ He still doesn't turn the camera around, though notably the image of his floor is beginning to shake just a smidgen. ]

You're in the City. Aren't you? Where else'd you be?

[itemfinder]

The Cave, then? I mean, yeah.

[Of course he is. Which, honestly, feels like it's forever away — but at least he's here. In the more general sense of the location.]

In the City. At the, by the daycare. When did you get there? Or, uh, wake up?

[ text forever ]

[deshabille]

Milena Tichý has opened communication!

I've been wondering about the food. Where would we get it even if we did have money? There are other necessities, too.

[biomagnet]

Daycare? [ What does that have to do with anything, Chivy? ] Since... weeks ago. Two—no, three. Definitely three.

[ Chivy's presence here is giving him far too much hope for him to handle, and reminding him of the ache and numbness where his power used to be. It's the most he can do to simply... talk. ]

[ you get text with video, so you can hear the clacking. because then it matches sort of ]

[itemfinder]

i don't know but it just seems like it might be easier with money.

at least there's water i guess.

[deshabille]

Who would we exchange money with?

We'd all be dead already if there wasn't.

[itemfinder]

It's... not important. Three weeks? Seriously? [He's really regretting not messing with his communicator earlier, but trying to figure out the City had seemed a lot more of an immediate concern.]

[itemfinder]

really, i really don't know.

there are groceries and stuff though i know i saw them. there's got to be somewhere we can find food.

[biomagnet]

Three weeks. Chiv— [ He cuts off. Breathes, deep and audible, like he's trying to steel himself. ] It was just after you guys left.

[deshabille]

Where have you looked so far?

[itemfinder]

Left? On the...? Oh. That was, was it really three weeks?

[biomagnet]

It really was. It's been... My power—

[ No, okay. We're not talking about that, because his voice is beginning to quiver. The camera pulls away without turning to him, still shaking. He's not the most macho of guys on the best of days, but that doesn't mean he's about to start crying on a public network. Absolutely not. ]

You're safe there, right? It's just the... food thing?

[itemfinder]

uh, around. [Okay, possibly that's a really stupid answer.] i haven't been going in a specific way or anything. i'll try to do that now.

[itemfinder]

[Hold up, hold up, hold up.]

Yeah, that. Food. But you're, what about your power? [You get a very short window to either answer yourself or let him actually come to a conclusion, Sefton. Your choice.]

[deshabille]

I'll take the outer ring if you take the middle.

[biomagnet]

Nothing.

[ There's more to that statement than just a dismissal. ]

[itemfinder]

[There's a long moment of just silence, while Chivy tries that thought out in half a dozen different ways, and lets it connect with his lack of anything until out in the sands (but not yet with the fact that his knack is different now, that can come later).

And then he's moving, communicator hooked onto the handlebars of his bike in a stand he's very glad he was bored enough to put together, and very firmly not asking Sefton most of the questions he's thinking.]

That's good, unless they gave you shoes. They didn't give me gloves, so if you got shoes I want to know where. I mean, I have gloves now, but they're not mine. They're different.

[biomagnet]

[ During the entire silence, Sefton says... nothing. He's waiting, perhaps simply letting himself sit in the knowledge that Chivy is here too and maybe he's not alone, not as scared and terrified into complacency as he had been for three weeks straight. Maybe now he can actually start to move and make sense of what's been happening. ]

S' the same.

[itemfinder]

See, a little positive. Plus it means we're less likely to drown, I'm good with that. And my hands are warm. I don't— [This is the one person here who would actually understand that, and he's not sure he actually wants to try talking about it. Not seriously. He takes a breath before continuing.] I got a bike, though.

[itemfinder]

yeah, sure. um, but tomorrow maybe. but yeah i can definitely do the middle.

[biomagnet]

[ He gets it. He gets it all anyway, because it looks like they're both in the same boat, just set adrift at different points in time. ]

S' it... got a little basket?

[deshabille]

That's fine.

[itemfinder]

[Chivy laughs, louder than he meant to and louder than the comment deserves, but it's something.]

Not yet. But I'm working on it. You open the rest of the day or do you have work or something? [Not that that changes anything, just he needs to figure out if he's just finding Sefton, or finding Sefton and distracting him from something he's actually supposed to be doing.]