This Shouldn’t Happen | Log + Network (Morning After)

[firacrux]

WHO: Seifer Almasy (Guest starring Nida)
WHERE: Blacksmith, Schoolhouse, Inn
WHEN: January 10th - couple days following
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS:Nothing beyond the usual casual profanity. Will update if needed!

---

Network Video:

UN: ItsTooEarly

The video clicks on to show Nida, annoyed, with Seifer leering over his shoulder completely invading his personal space. “Come on, ask ‘em!” He insists, leaning down to try to peer at the tiny screen on the wrist device. Apparently oblivious to the way he was more or less leaning wholly on Nida’s shoulder. Because Seifer’s a giant brute with no concept for how heavy he is.

"I'm asking, stop it. Geez, lose some weight. There aren't weights here for me to keep my strength training up," Nida grumbles. Then looks a bit calmer after a moment.

"Okay, Seifer's an idiot who managed to lose his wristband. If anyone sees a black one hanging around, come staple it to his wrist, okay?"

In emphasis Seifer held up his wrist in front of Nida for the camera to see, casting him a mild glower at the comment. “Maybe you need to find a way to improvise, scrawny.” He quipped lightly. Nida was absolutely not scrawny, didn’t stop Seifer from making the accusation for his whining.

"I'm already carrying your weight, so clearly I've improvised."

Seifer dropped his arm then, smirking. “In that case I’m doing you a favor.”

Blacksmith:

The first, and presumably most likely location to search outside the house was the blacksmithing forge, where Seifer spent most of his time in the village. His search involved first a cursory search of the floor, tables, and work benches he most commonly occupied. “Hey, has anyone seen a watch?” He called to whoever might be around. Regardless of the reply he’d then move his attention to digging to the bottom of the nail storage. Emptying everything out, sorting through it, then having to pile the huge mess he made back in. Finding no success he moved on to his other frequent projects. Gears and hinges. If it had fallen into the fire he knew he would be out of luck, but surely the melting plastic smell would have alerted someone to the problem earlier.

With how clean they kept the blacksmith it was hard to believe it wouldn’t have been found and placed where he usually worked. After a few more rounds of searching, including digging among the tools and even performing a cursory sweeping just in case he decided that there was nothing to be found there. Time to move on.


Inn:

Second on his list was the Inn. Being a frequented spot for afternoon meals as it was easier to catch lunch there than run home and cook, he spent a little time nearly every day there. Figuring out where to search would be much harder here. Sure he poked around searching under things, on things, and in things that might make sense for his watch to have gone but this location was better for asking people than searching himself. Upon finding someone he’d turn his attention to them.

“Hey, you haven’t seen a loose watch around have you? Black one? Mine took off this morning it’s the damnedest thing.”

It really was, given he was pretty sure that wasn’t supposed to be possible. And yet here he was, watch-less and confused.


Schoolhouse:

While less likely than the other two candidates Seifer knew he’d be remiss if he didn’t search every feasible location, no matter how unlikely. He’d spent a good number of hours there back and forth researching forging techniques and really anything else that caught his fancy. Fortunate that the schoolhouse had been well stocked with instructional manuals. Evidently whoever set them there had taken some mercy, enough to allow them learning materials. Regardless, that wasn’t Seifer’s goal today. Instead he could be found searching beneath desks and chairs, checking under edges of shelves or any other small crack on the floor or otherwise where a wrist watch might have scurried off to.

Honestly, at this point he wasn’t even sure why he was trying so hard. He barely used the thing and didn’t care for its existence until it was gone. It just felt weird to have lost the thing that wasn’t supposed to be able to come off. Finally, frustrated with his search for the day he slumped down into a chair to sulk. This was insane. Things don’t just walk off on their own. Something had to be going on, but what? Idly he kicked at the leg of a nearby desk, huffing out his frustration. If only there were monsters around he’d really like to blow off some steam.


Wildcard:
(OOC: Use this post for any of the in-between areas one might bump into him!)

Plenty of opportunities to catch Seifer out and about, looking distracted and confused. His expression was one of serious confusion. Where in Hyne’s name could his watch have gone off to? He knows he had it on when he went to bed. So how could it have escaped off of his arm and wandered off on its own? It was completely illogical.

Even so he was still searching. On his way between locations he’d stop to search alongside the roads, in water run-off ditches, digging through brush, anywhere he thought a watch might be hiding. Didn’t help the thing was black so of course it would blend in with the shadows. Why couldn’t he have a bright one for a situation like this?

At one point he nearly climbed bodily into a patch of brush, having spotted something he was almost certain was the wristband in question. By the time he climbed back out, with twigs and dead leaves sticking to him he was holding…

A twig. “Damn it.” He cursed, scowling at the twig as though it had personally offended him.



(OOC: Network responses will be from Nida’s wrist device, sometimes involving both of them bickering. Enjoy!)

Comments

text; un: maine

[bloodbathing]

[ The fuck kind of excuse is that for not working out, Nida? ]

Lean harder. Engage core.

[ Since Nida still has the breath to complain. ]

UN: OMGFU

[firacrux]

[That gets a laugh, Seifer gladly taking the advice to put more of his weight on Nida's shoulder.]

Ain't sure how that's gonna help with the watch but it sure makes me feel better.

[So helpful!]

Re: UN: OMGFU

[skyward_eyes]

[Okay, good thing Nida’s got some text to speech going on here, and he’s glaring at the synthetic voice. Just the coldest, most furious stare. Something he picked up from Squall.]

Okay, so, here I thought we were friends after bonding at the Inn. Bite me. Seifer, stop that before I make you stop.

UN: OMGFU

[firacrux]

[The spitting image. He'd almost think Nida had absorbed some of Squall's frostiness.]

[Hm. That sounds like a serious threat. The question is should he call the challenge? He thinks he should call the challenge.]

Oh yeah? Would you deny a friend in need of support?

[Wrong kind of support and you bet he's pushing it.]

[bloodbathing]

[ "Friends"? That's ... something to think about later, Maine guesses. ]

Strength training's important. Can't slack.

[ He's trying to help! (And is the worst at it!)

Belatedly addressing the actual topic at hand: ]

Removed wristband? How?

[skyward_eyes]

Hold that thought a moment, Maine.

[With Seifer leaning that far forward, his balance is off. And Nida knows what to do in this position. The camera's feed blurs for a moment as it all goes down. Seifer, however, has a front row seat as Nida's left arm rises to hook around his neck. The right grabs the arm Seifer has so kindly draped over his shoulder. With a quick jerk and a small move toward standing he flips Seifer over his back and onto the floor. Then he sits back down, runs his fingers through his hair to smooth it down, and lowers the device to where there is feed of him again.]

Okay, now that I've probably woken Rinoa up via a sack of rocks hitting the floor, back to you. I don't know how he did it. He's an idiot, to quote a friend of his.

Also, yes. If you ever meet Malik, tell him that for me. Strength training is damn important. You need that in your life. And I frankly think we need something in town to help with that.

[firacrux]

[There's the briefest moment of realization on Seifer's face just before Nida moves. It's not enough time to respond, it's not even enough time to brace. Quick as a whip Seifer finds himself meeting the floor unceremoniously with a heavy thud. And a lot of swearing somewhere off camera.]

Son of a-!

[There are some more colorful terms down there with him whining about it. Though interestingly no real anger seems to be in his tone. Just a lot of complaints. Mostly because he knew this was coming and asked for it. After a few moments he gets back up, straightens his shirt, and plops right back on Nida's shoulder.

Not as heavy this time.]

You're a chocobo's ass, Nida.

[So he has declared and so it shall be.]

[bloodbathing]

[ Well, that sure is a lot of blurry movement. Maine makes a face as he waits for the screen to settle. When it does, he sees that Nida took care of the leaning-issue.

Huh. Good to know. ]

Sure. [ Malik. Will do. Then: ] Help how?

[ Pick shit up and put it down, Nida! It's not hard!

Ah, and there's Seifer. Who looks like he knows how to take a fall, at least. Maine's well aware of how important that is. ]

What's ass?

[firacrux]

[Damn right he can take a fall. And even a little bit of ego bruising, so long as he gets his revenge in continued annoyance of Nida. Poor, poor Nida. Doing him a favor and this is the thanks Seifer gives him.]

Nida, of course. Thought I said that?

[He offers oh so helpfully. Wearing the biggest shit eating grin. Yes he misunderstood that on purpose.]

Inn

[313_248_317_60]

Had Connor been doing anything important? Frustratingly, no. Is he still radiating an air of slight offense at being interrupted? You bet. His LED spins once, a steady blue as he regards the human.

"By 'watch', you mean the tracking device?" He lifts his own communicator-laden wrist in pointed indication. "The one typically fused in place?"

[firacrux]

"Is that what they are?" He asks, completely ignoring Connor's slight offense at being bothered, he's checking under a table. Is that a light on his head? Weird. While digging under the low table just in case he lifted the arm that normally had his permanently attached watch conspicuously missing.

"The very same. Can't imagine how I lost it on accident." If it were on purpose he'd have shared the information with the rest. Not that he'd been especially trying to be rid of the device. Truth be told he had no idea what the thing might be for other than communication. Tracking devices, devices that spy on you, not especially well known to him. There aren't many satellites around his world yet.

He's about to learn to be a whole lot more paranoid isn't he?

[313_248_317_60]

"Among other things". A complete list has been... irritatingly difficult to piece together—along with many, many other facts about this place. But location data is definitely being logged.

Connor watches the human's search, making no move to assist. His right hand twists idly at his own device.

"What were you doing when it went missing?"

[firacrux]

"How?" Truth be told he's not especially familiar with that kind of technology. His world has a strange mixture of highly advanced and behind the times compared to others. It's odd. Probably the moon's fault. "What else you think?" It's an idle question. Being military meant he was accustomed to being observed and kept track of at all times. Annoying, sure, not the kind of violation of privacy that might enrage someone else though. Just how life is.

Eventually he gives up, standing and dusting himself off idly in frustration. Nothing.

"Sleeping." Which makes the disappearance even weirder.

[313_248_317_60]

His eyebrows lift. "Are you asking how tracking software works, or the specific qualities of these?"

Either way, Connor's not sure he's interested in offering an education. He's no PJ model. And there are more interesting questions at hand.

"Do you live with anyone else?"

[firacrux]

"The software, really doubt you've got a better idea than the rest of us on these things in particular." His conspicuously missing device for example.

"Yeah. Neither of 'em are pranksters though, and I'm pretty sure they'd tell me if they knew how to take mine off and not theirs."

[313_248_317_60]

Wonderful. An ignorant (primitive?) human, asking him to teach them the fundamental hazards of technology. Connor presses his lips together... and ignores the request. There's a more pressing topic to address.

"And you've asked if they saw anything? Someone coming in, or out?"

[firacrux]

Acutely aware his first question was being ignored Seifer narrows his eyes, clearly not amused. Alright, fine, if that's how it's going to be he'll answer only the questions he feels like answering as well. Curiosity isn't allowed with this one.

"No, I'm an idiot who didn't touch base at home first and figured that under the Hyne-damned shelves at the Inn was the most obvious conclusion." He grumbled as he surrendered his search, turning to settle his scowl on Connor. "Yeah I asked. And before you ask no, no one would have broken in without one of us noticing." He guarded the front door, Nida guarded the back, both of them slept lighter than a motion alarm.

Schoolhouse

[moderndayassassin]

Desmond was never much of a reader before, but there wasn't exactly much for him to do here, even if logically he could probably go out and find things to do. They had projects going on that could use a strong competent person involved, but he was still adjusting to going outside let alone volunteering for active interaction. He'd been doing better, but Connor's disappearance sent him on a spiral. He didn't stay at the house where the others could find him, so he was hiding out at the schoolhouse occasionally.

It gave him time to read up on brewing, which he and Bull were in the process of putting their heads together for. He was far enough toward the back of the schoolhouse that he just watched Seifer frantically looking for a bit, curious what he was looking for. Something small probably, since it wasn't so easily found. He put down his brewing book and got up, approaching the other guy. He looked familiar but only vaguely so. "Lost something?"

[firacrux]

Reading is useful. Perhaps not always as useful as practice and experience, but it was a good starting point. Hence why he spent some time there trying to pick up information on all manner of topics he'd never been able to learn before. Like cooking, knitting, and blacksmithing. Funny how all in he'd jumped once he learned he could do things other than fight monsters or wage wars.

Not that any of that was important at the moment. What was important was that he was trying, desperately and to no avail, to find that damn watch. At the question Seifer picked his head up and shot the guy a flat look that, if anyone could read expressions would very clearly state 'duh'. "What tipped you off?" He asked dryly, holding up his arm where the conspicuously absent watch was... well not present.

"Something I don't think I'm supposed to lose." He grumbled, going back to scouring under a shelf in the vain hope that maybe upon the third inspection it will have appeared.

[moderndayassassin]

Desmond was trained from childhood in a similar way to Nida and Seifer, but he did have some time in a normal life. When he got to read whatever he felt like and see movies and go to the grocery store. All of the ordinary things that he ate up and valued. It didn't last too long and now he was here, so normal was out the window. The books were helpful though. He might actually put his mind to something useful.

He was genuinely surprised when Seifer showed him the lack of the wrist band. "Wait, I thought you couldn't get those off?" He tried once and it didn't go well, and people told him not to try again. Eventually he just got used to it. He w ore a watch occasionally on earth, so he pretended it was the same as a cell, and not something strapped on him agains his will. "Seriously I'm not sure anyone's been able to get it off so far."

[firacrux]

Normal may be out of the window, but so was anything they were used to. Had to start over from scratch here. Daunting, but at least they weren't alone. Seifer certainly wouldn't have thought of half the things the people here had come up with were he having to rely only on himself. Books were very useful. Nice to have some guides.

"I thought so too," He confirmed, straightening back up after a brief search. No dice. Nothing but dust under there. "That's why it's so weird. Not like it should have just fallen off on its own, right?" Maybe his was defective?

[moderndayassassin]

"I don't think so. People who have been here for awhile I don't think can take it off." It really seemed bizarre. Desmond frowned at him. "Maybe yours wasn't put on correctly or something. It's not like we know what our overlords or whatever do to keep them stuck." But that also meant he wasn't sure how he was going to get it back on either, even if they found it. Oh well.

Desmond looked at his own for a moment, and happens to see the video of him and Nida talking, before tapping it off. "You know Nida, huh?" He liked Nida. He was cool. He shrugged. "I'll help you look." Two eyes were better than one in this place, because it did have some nooks and crannies between all the books.

[firacrux]

"That's what I thought too," But his had come off without his noticing and simply disappeared. Which was... really weird. Incredibly weird. "Maybe mine was defective." And whoever was responsible for bringing him in knocked him out or something to replace it later? If so, why didn't they just bring a fresh replacement so he wouldn't notice? It didn't make much sense. If he found it he could at least put it in his pocket or something.

"Nida? Yeah, we live together. Same world." The implication was that they'd known each other from before, so it was only natural to bunk up with familiarity. What little piece of it they could find. "Thanks. Doubt we're gonna find it, be on my head if it turned up and I hadn't tried." He would try. No matter how futile he'd still try. Sometimes stubbornness came in handy.

[moderndayassassin]

"Yeah, that might be. You'd think they'd replace it quick though, if they want us for sure to have them." So basically Desmond was on the same wavelength in suspicion on this. Nothing happened without reason from what he could tell of this place. He kept wanting to take it off, but on the other hand, it meant being disconnected from the network and communicating with others. Now he can really tell why someone would be frantic to get it back, even if it was a trap.

"Cool. He's a good guy." They've had a few conversations and all good, so Desmond considers them friends or on friendly terms at least. "Not sure if we'll find it, no, but it's worth looking. I gave up on losing my cell phone a few times and always found it like a month later." Not the same thing, as his phone was never forcefully strapped to him, but who knows with this place. "It's weird that this thing is so high tech when the rest of the place is old school tech."

[firacrux]

"You'd think," He agrees. It doesn't make a lot of sense that they'd take his watch for repairs or whatever and not slap on a replacement if his having it was so important. Which might imply his not having it was part of the experiment. But why? To what end? Not that he was expecting he'd ever understand the reasoning behind it. It was especially strange given the devices, as far as any of them knew, couldn't be removed by normal means.

"He sure is," Seifer's grown more fond of him as time goes on. So far he's been pleasantly surprised. Nida seems like good people. Better than himself by miles. "What's a cell phone?" He asked idly as he proceeded to try to shove a shelving unit over enough to try to peer under it. Just in case. "That's a good point. Figure it's part of whatever science experiment is goin' on. Like the bunker. Haven't been there, heard it's got some weird stuff going on."