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]

"As I'll ever be."

[lostandfinder]

Chivy flipped the top card over, and nodded to Sefton, hoping he would understand that he was supposed to go first.

[polarization]

Sefton checked his cards, trying to go over the rules once more before finally laying something down. Eight of the matching suit. Simple enough.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy laid the seven of the same suit. "Have a nice day."

[polarization]

Sefton looked a little startled, but not much. Instead, he was staring at his hand. The seven of spades. If he played that, how exactly would it work...? Would he have to say both things? Would they cancel each other out? Or could he simply choose one and not the other?

[lostandfinder]

Chivy grinned, but decided to give Sefton a little longer to play instead of penalizing him for waiting. It was the very beginning of his first game, after all.

[polarization]

After a moment, Sefton simply played a nine instead. He could figure out the intricacies of double-special cards later.

[lostandfinder]

"You have to pick a suit," Chivy said. He snagged a card for himself, holding it up as he explained, "And one for talking."

[polarization]

"Oh," Sefton murmured. Then he ducked his head quickly, hoping Chivy wouldn't count that as talking. "Hearts," he decided.

[lostandfinder]

Nodding to himself, Chivy laid a three of hearts. He was trying to go easy on the rule-enforcement for now and let Sefton get his bearings.

[polarization]

After a moment of thought, Sefton played a five. It was kind of weird to actually be playing something with Chivy, yet the other was barred from being able to babble at him.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy was just enjoying the fact that he'd gotten Sefton to do something fun in the first place. Not having anything he could play with, he drew three cards before finally putting down a jack.

[polarization]

Next came the ace. "Sorry...?" Sefton said, almost more of a question than a statement. Not only was he unsure if it was the right thing to say, it felt awkward to apologize over a card game.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy played his own ace — spades, though. "Spade, I'm sorry."

[polarization]

Sefton opened his mouth... and then shut it. That answered that question, it seemed. Playing his seven from earlier, he said, "Spade, have a nice day."

[lostandfinder]

Finding he didn't have a playable card again, Chivy drew from the deck and played the nine he'd picked up. "Spade. Diamonds."

[polarization]

Sefton nodded, then played a two.

[lostandfinder]

((ooc: ... okay. I'm going to edit this into a legitimate scene-ender later, but I can't keep popping back to this and staring and not doing anything. Consider the bus ride over. unless there are DJ objections.))

... ELEVEN DAYS LATER

[polarization]

The town was going crazy. Not only was there an apparently important political convention going on, but a concert for a popular band was also scheduled to start later that night. Finding an affordable place to stay was next to impossible - Sefton counted himself lucky, for once, that he had managed to locate perhaps the only free hotel room under the $50 range.

It was a double and definitely more than he would usually spend on a single night indoors, but between the heightened police activity and the possibility of heavy rain and wind later that night, he couldn't justify sleeping outside. Reminding himself he should be thankful that he had found anything at all (and not stingy at the price of it), he pulled out his wallet and began counting the money he would need while the attendant clicked her nails on the counter.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy had been to every other hotel in town. He knew this, because the last clerk had taken great joy in listing off the other hotels in a slow, dry monotone, seeming to get even slower every time Chivy told him he'd already been there. This was his last chance — if he couldn't find a room here, he was staying outside. To say he was surprised to see Sefton would be something of an understatement, but at least it looked like he wouldn't be stuck outside, which made Chivy hopeful for finding a room of his own.

He headed up to stand next to Sefton, smiling in greeting. "Hey, prickly. You managed to find a room? Lucky guy."

[polarization]

Upon hearing Chivy's voice, Sefton simultaneously stepped to the side and found himself... not reacting all too terribly. Considering how often they ran into each other, he really shouldn't be allowing himself to get used to the routine - it was only asking for trouble. And yet...

He shook his head, turning back to his wallet once Chivy's greeting actually sunk in. "Yeah, last one here."

[lostandfinder]

"Really? Man.." So much for the last chance. Then again, if he had to forfeit to anyone, Sefton was at the top of the list. "Guess I'll have to see if I can find anywhere dry."

[polarization]

Sefton eyed him, reluctantly. "You kidding?" he asked. "You heard what tonight's gonna be like?"

[lostandfinder]

"Yeah, but there's no openings anywhere else, either," he said, shrugging. "I don't really have a choice."

[polarization]

There was a long pause, then, as Sefton considered his options. He could simply let Chivy go out into the rain (and later cry hypocrite, if he was feeling a bit malicious), or... he could do something else. Something dumb.

"How much've you got?"