first encounter ; 0 days

[lostandfinder]

If there were any luck in the world, Chivason would have been sound asleep by now. He'd had a wonderful dinner — courtesy of sweet, old Mrs. Jann — and he'd eaten enough to be pleasantly drowsy, and then some. To cap it all off, she'd offered him a bed (a bed) and tucked him in as only a grandmother could. He didn't really have much to worry about, still having a few valuables tucked away in his knapsack, enough to cover a few weeks even if she decided to change her mind about letting him stay free-of-charge, and he certainly hadn't been here long enough to need to think about moving on.

Whatever the reason, though, he stayed in bed long enough to need to roll over half a dozen times before he finally gave up. Carefully tucking the blanket back under the pillow, he snagged his knapsack and tiptoed outside. He let his mind drift as he walked, hoping it would help him relax enough to actually sleep. He had liked his last stop, even gone so far as to make a few friends. He should have known better than to try helping Lia find her necklace. She was too excited when she asked him if he would walk with her. He scoffed softly at himself— then tripped, tried to catch himself, and faceplanted in the dirt. ⋅⋅ ⌊ ☆ ⌉ ⋅⋅

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Comments

[lostandfinder]

With a laugh, Chivy soaked one of the pieces of cloth and started wetting the bandage. "Just try not to jump, okay?"

[polarization]

"I won't jump," Sefton said with a bit of an exasperated look.

[lostandfinder]

"And I'm definitely going to be careful. So I guess we'll be fine, huh?" Once he had it all at least moderately wet, he carefully started peeling the bandage off.

[polarization]

Sefton held himself as still as possible, but winced as the bandage seemed to have stuck itself to his still-healing elbow.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy bit his lip, but he didn't stop carefully pulling the bandage away. "Sorry, it's a little stuck..."

[polarization]

He breathed in sharply, but tried to keep from making any sudden movements, or showing too much discomfort. He shook his head.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy did his best to keep from lingering, wetting the cloth every now and then in hopes of loosening it some. "Almost done..."

[polarization]

Nodding in understanding, he tried to keep his arm in place. Holding still so long was not helping his balance.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy sat back after pulling off the last of the old bandage and let out a slow breath. "Well, there's the hard part."

[polarization]

Sefton took the small break to shift his arm around his legs for the moment. His eyes were half-closed, and he seemed a bit out of it. "Mm."

[lostandfinder]

"Just let me put a new one on and you can go lay down, alright?" He unrolled the other piece he'd grabbed earlier and waited for Sefton's confirmation. Catching him unaware didn't seem the best of ideas.

[polarization]

"Let it breathe," Sefton said. "... Shouldn't we?"

[lostandfinder]

"So long as you're careful not to knock it on anything, sure." He rolled it back up. "Do you want any help getting back to the couch?"

[polarization]

"No." Sefton scooted over to the side before trying to stand. For a moment, he simply stood there. Then, he began to shuffle into the other room.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy followed behind him, ready to step in if he saw Sefton falter, but willing to keep away so long as he was managing.

[polarization]

And Sefton was downright determined to manage. By the time he got to the couch, he all but collapsed onto it, groaning to himself as the couch then was repelled and tried to slide a small distance across the floor.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy winced, but kept quiet, only snagging the blanket from where it had fallen on the ground and draping it over Sefton.

[polarization]

Sefton jumped a little in surprise, then gave a half-lidded scowl. "Soup, blankets... what's next? Movies?" he murmured.

[lostandfinder]

He just grinned and went to curl back up in his blanket pile. "Sleep tight, prickly."

[polarization]

Sefton grumbled something that sounded like it started with an S-sound, but it was hard to tell. Soon enough, his eyes dropped closed and he was out.

[lostandfinder]

Waking up the second time was better, even if he had the vague feeling that he'd slept too much, which probably accounted for the cotton balls that seemed to have grown inside his head. He rubbed at his eyes and crawled out of his blanket heap. "Mm, that was just right."

[polarization]

If the soft, somewhat congested breathing was anything to go by, Sefton was still asleep on the couch. However, he seemed to be muttering nonsense to himself, barely audible.

[lostandfinder]

"You shouldn't try so hard," Chivy told Sefton, not raising his voice and not at all trying to wake him. With that accomplished, he wandered off to the kitchen, wanting to see if there were any other hidden goodies worth finding.

[polarization]

Sefton shifted on the couch, seeming to be trying to get comfortable. In the new light, it was a bit easier to see the flush in his cheeks still present. "Mama..." he murmured.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy found a lot of dust, three bottlecaps, seven buttons, a variety of hair bands, two dozen paperclips, and a carefully hidden stash of what seemed to be valuables. He left everything except the bottlecaps and paperclips, and reset the floorboard above the valuables just a slight amount ajar. If someone realized it was there, the difference shouldn't matter, but it was enough to possibly catch attention.

He tapped two of the bottlecaps together as he came back to where he'd left Sefton, smiling to himself.