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

[polarization]

Sefton scoffed to himself, though he attempted to hide it behind a cough. Randy looked from Sefton to Chivy. "Why not?"

[lostandfinder]

"Because they're used to it, so they think they're just normal," he said, doing his best to sound believable and not like he was about to burst out laughing again.

[polarization]

"Oh." Randy thought about that, and then asked, "But aren't they still cooler than other people? They should know that!"

[lostandfinder]

Chivy couldn't keep the serious going anymore, but he managed to stay at a grin. "You'd think, but it doesn't seem to work that way."

[polarization]

Randy grumbled to himself a little, but then turned to their host. "Mr. Neal, do you have any dinner leftover?" It seemed a child was easily distracted, especially if it was his stomach clamoring for attention.

[lostandfinder]

"Are you sure you shouldn't be heading home soon?" Neal asked, not wanting to answer either way without at least bringing it up.

[polarization]

"Ummm..." Randy replied, dragging it out as if trying to think of an excuse before he ran out of breath.

[lostandfinder]

Neal smiled and shook his head. "You'd better go home before I get in trouble. If you come back tomorrow after dinner I'll have some cookies for you."

[polarization]

Randy's immediate smile was enough to let it be known the offer was accepted. "Really?!"

[lostandfinder]

"Really. Now get going," he said with a shooing gesture. "And don't come early or they won't be done."

[polarization]

"Okaaaay," Randy said, dragging it out, then raced toward the door. Before he left, however, he turned and gave a large wave. "'Bye, Mr. Neal! 'Bye, Chivy!" Then, lowering his voice a bit, "'Bye, Seffon!"

And then he was gone.

[lostandfinder]

Neal followed him to the door just to make certain Randy was headed in the proper direction (he didn't much fancy a child-hunt tonight, thank you).

"You're so good with kids, 'Seffon,'" Chivy said after a moment, laughing again.

[polarization]

Randy was safely tromping down the path toward his own house. It seemed his earlier exploration and subsequent discovery of the two freeloaders in the cabin was enough for one day.

"Shut up," Sefton replied sulkily. "Not everyone can have your sparkling talent with people."

[lostandfinder]

Sparkling talent. Riiight. "Hey, there's no reason to so be grouchy about it."

[polarization]

"I'm sick and you sent a kid after me," he pointed out.

[lostandfinder]

"And it looks like you survived it." He brightens. "Wait a second, you're admitting you aren't superhuman."

[polarization]

Sefton gave him a sour look from his position on the chair. "Never said I was."

[lostandfinder]

Chivy rolled his eyes. "You sure act like it, mister I-don't-need-anybody,-I-don't-want-anybody,-and-I-find-rain-puddles-comfy."

[polarization]

The look turned colder. "I like doing things on my own. Why do you even care, again?"

[lostandfinder]

"Because everyone needs someone," which wasn't even said in an argumentative tone, but matter-of-factly. "You just have to settle for me."

[polarization]

"I don't think so." With one last look, Sefton closed his eyes and hoped Chivy would get the message.

[lostandfinder]

"G'night, prickly," Chivy said to himself, and went to ask Neal if he could spare something to lay on.

... 6 DAYS LATER ...

[polarization]

"Hand it over!"

"What—?"

Before he knew what was happening, Sefton found himself herded into the alley he had been lurking in front of, mere inches separating himself from the tall, angry-looking man in the hoodie in front of him. Sefton had simply been waiting for his break to finish outside the shop for lack of anything better to do, and now it seemed someone had pegged him for an easy target.

If he were anyone else, it would have been true, too.

As it stood, Sefton simply stared up at the man in momentary bewilderment. It began to dawn on him that he had been corralled underneath a fire-escape; the afternoon shadows were more than enough to hide the scene from the pedestrians outside the alley. "Hand... my wallet over?"

The man slammed one hand against the wall beside Sefton's head, causing him to flinch. "Yes! And be quick about it."

Taking a deep breath, Sefton replied, "No."

The hand lifted itself from the wall and slapped him on the face. His head began to ring—he had been recovering from his cold nicely, but his headache had stuck around uncomfortably long—yet he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out.

"How about now?"

Sefton felt the inside of his mouth with his tongue, checking to see if it cut on any of his teeth, and was relieved to find that it hadn't. He turned his gaze back to the robber. "Still no."

"Look, kid..." The thief grabbed a fistful of Sefton's shirt and smacked him back into the wall. Sefton groaned, but the man ignored it. "It's either you give me the wallet and get out of this relatively unscathed, or I take it from you after I knock some sense into you."

"Unlikely," Sefton muttered, reaching up to sloppily slap his hand around the man's wrist. Hopefully it would just appear he was too weak to get the man to let go, and not simply trying to apply as much pressure as possible before he passed out. The man frowned, but knocked him back into the wall once again.

"We'll see about that."

[lostandfinder]

Chivy tried not to make a habit of noticing when people were being robbed — he inevitably came away from the experience feeling either guilty or bruised (and sometimes both). He'd learned that the best answer was to put up a small fight over whatever money he had with him and to put anything that would look valuable at the very bottom of his knapsack. The few times someone had taken everything, he'd managed to find them again within the week, but it was nerve-wracking enough that he didn't particularly want to try it again.

He wasn't paying much attention to anything at the moment, though, having slept only half an hour last night before being peremptorily kicked out of the hotel room he'd stayed in for the last few days. Apparently someone had recognized the necklace he'd used as payment, even though he'd found it several stops ago. His right arm still throbbed from the force with which he'd been yanked from bed, and he was lucky to have gotten away fast enough that the only thing he'd lost was sleep. His lack of sleep was the most normal reason he turned too early, choosing an alley instead of following the directions he'd been given to the general store, although his knack was a more likely cause. He barely caught himself before he walked into the would-be robber, and couldn't do much more than stare at the two of them in confusion.

[polarization]

The robber noticed before Sefton did, most likely since his ears had begun quietly ringing in the back of his awareness from being knocked around so much. Considering the amount of force being put into the beating, Sefton might be able to convince the man to back off any minute now... except for the new wrench in the works that decided to arrive.

"Stay back, kid," the man warned, shifting his grip on Sefton's shirt. He seemed almost reluctant. "This ain't any of your business."

Sefton coughed. He wondered who the man was talking to and shifted his gaze, only to see... Chivy. His eyes widened in surprise, then clenched shut when the man pushed him further against the wall. He gasped and tried to reposition his hands on the man's wrists while he was distracted.