"You could see them on the street on a Saturday night ..."

[lostandfinder]

WHO Chivy and ~anyone~ (seriously. Please.)
WHAT Chivy's trying to distract himself from the heat and dearth of food by bugging random people.
WHERE In and around the shelter
WHEN Wednesday, June 22 - all day.
NOTES This means that I get both, Maggie.
WARNINGS None

Comments

[polarisation]

Sefton was in the den. Lance disappeared hours ago, and Flemming had arrived and departed sometime after that. It was nearing dusk now and the teenager had parked himself by the window facing out into the yard. Dragonair remained coiled up on the pile of pillows and blankets near the center; his eyes were closed, but it was impossible to miss the way his ears twitched every time Sefton moved.

He looked out into the backyard, with the animals, Kelp, visitors (activity), and saw very little of it. He instead imagined a small town in Vermont, all the peoples' lives that would be different, better off, for one unfortunate boy to have never been brought into their lives. There was a sort of numbness that came with the images now, tied with his resign and hope.

If only.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy was out in the yard when he spotted Sefton. He didn't bother waving - catching Sefton's attention from a distance was always a hit-or-miss sort of plan, and he was more in the mood to talk to the other teen than chase him around - but just headed inside.

He pulled the door shut behind him and went to stand by Sefton. "Hey."

[polarisation]

Sefton turned to him when Chivy came in. His brow drew together as he tried to pull some of his attention away from the inside and focus on the outside. It took a moment for it to truly register who it was, and he couldn't help the slight softening of his expression.

"Hey."

[lostandfinder]

"What's up?" Chivy asked, taking a seat. He knew better than to ask how Sefton was with an expression like that, but this was at least a possible conversation topic. He watched out the window, not really seeing it either, but it was better than staring at Sefton.

[polarisation]

"Uh," Sefton said automatically, a placeholder while he tried to think about the question. It was stupidly simple, but it almost felt like there should have been more to say. Was there? "Nothing. S' just... been normal."

Normal, because he wasn't involved in anything. Normal without his interference, normal in that it was the life he should have been living to begin with.

[lostandfinder]

"Yeah?" Chivy gave Sefton a curious look. "Bad normal or good normal?"

[polarisation]

Chivy earned a plain look from Sefton, shades of his regular exasperation. "Normal's normal." You couldn't have normal if it was being swayed in one direction or another.

[lostandfinder]

Chivy shook his head. "Colds are pretty normal, they're not good." It wasn't as if Sefton could argue that he was in a completely neutral state of mind at the moment.

[polarisation]

"But... they're normal," Sefton said, frowning to himself. "You... Shut up."

[lostandfinder]

"Bad normal," Chivy insisted. "Like sunny days are good normal, if they're not too hot."

[polarisation]

Shaking his head, Sefton replied stubbornly (though quiet), "S' not good normal or bad normal. Just normal."

[lostandfinder]

It didn't look like Sefton was going to be convinced anytime soon, so Chivy moved onto a side topic. "So what'd make it good and not normal?"

[polarisation]

Somehow, Sefton got the feeling that Chivy didn't really want the answer to that. He glanced back out toward the window. "Dunno."