equivalences | CONSIGNMENT: IC INBOX

FROM: strider.dave@cdc.org

ill give you a page of the dagger comic im working on

FROM: elric.edward@cdc.org

You're making a whole comic?

[ He was actually on his way to help anyway, because he is nice ... deep down. Now he gets to laugh at Dagger too, so this works out. ]

FROM: strider.dave@cdc.org

its a 12 part series

[Or however many parts he does before he gets bored.

Dave is actually on a branch above whichever platform he's supposed to stay, with something vaguely reminiscent of a tent below his feet. He's just chilling up there with his blackglass, like climbing ain't no thing (and it isn't; he flew).]

[ That's some dedication.

Eventually, Ed moves to Dave's tree and climbs onto his platform. He expects to find Dave but all he sees is a flattened pile of waterproof cloth and some metal poles. It makes him wonder if Dave had even tried ... to make tents happen. After some looking around, he finally spots the guy lounging on a tree branch. ]

What are you doing up there? You'll fall. [ is he in permanent dad-voice now. how does he stop being in dad-voice??? but yeah ed doesn't know about the flying. ]

[Dave...sort of tried? He tried a little harder than he did the first time. Maybe. Ok, maybe he tried a little less.

Either way, Ed has entered the Dad Zone. Dave gives him a faintly incredulous look, swinging both legs over the side of the branch.]

How do you know. Did someone equip you with the ability to see the future.

[ And Ed will remain in the Dad-zone until he's the one needing ... a dad ... also how old is dave ....

Ed rests his hands on his hips. ] It's just a logical inference. [ Accidents happen. If Dave did fall, there was a chance he would just plop back down onto his platform. But there's also the chance he ... wouldn't.

And the distance from here to the ground below is quite a considerable one. Anyway, back to the tent. ] Come down here. I'll show you how it's done.

[Thanks to Weird Time Shit, Dave turned sixteen less than two months ago... So Ed is a little older. Lucky him.

Dave just jumps. It's not too far of a drop (several feet), but he kills some of his speed through Nifty Flight Powers and...well, his landing defies physics. It doesn't shake the platform and he doesn't roll to absorb the shock; he just lands like he stepped off a staircase.]

With your weird science magic or like a genuine, hardworking member of the proletariat.

[ There was something so bizarrely light-footed about that jump. The platform should at least be wobbling a little, but it doesn't.

The way Dave lands doesn't appear to make sense either. It's almost weightless. Ed assumes it had something to do with his abilities. Almost everyone in camp had something special about them. ]

It'd make no sense to show you something you can't even do. [ So yeah, he's doing it to old fashioned way. ] What was that just now? It's like you weighed nothing at all.

Oh, I can fly. [Said like it's the most normal thing in the world. He stoops to yank out a couple of the poles and holds them up next to Ed.]

Called it. [He says it decisively.] Knew these suckers were taller than you.

[I have no idea what kind of tents the CDC distributes so I can't...fact check...but I'm rolling with it.]

[ That comes as quite a surprise, because he can't say he's met many people with the ability to fly. That must be how Dave got up there on the branch. His astonishment is cut short when the short joke is made. gdit ]

Why, you--!! [ Ed snatches the pole from him. ] Don't think I won't push you off this platform!

You'd only push me off the platform because it wouldn't do shit.

[Besides impair Dave's dignity, but he leaves that part out.]

Anyway, I'm just stating the facts. Is that what gave you such a hard time when you got your first tent.

[He leans over to start picking up the canvas. What a pain.]

[ It's true. He wouldn't push Dave off if it would actually hurt him. ]

You're such a pest! My height has nothing to do with it! I should just leave you to sleep in the cold!

But then you'd have to live with it on your conscience if I died of exposure.

[He says this like it's a completely reasonable argument. Which maybe it is, but less so when he's being an annoying shit.]

Also, dude, keep your voice down or you'll wake everyone up. [Because he was so considerate about waking Ed up...] Or call down a new wave of animal attacks.

[ Sad but true. Dave may be annoying, but he couldn't leave him out there with not even a tent for shelter. ]

You had no problems waking me up!! [ Nope, he's still going to kick up a fuss. ]

[So many of these kids have the MO of "outwardly abrasive, but will save your ass (while giving you shit about it the whole time)"...]

I texted you. That's different. Anyone who can't sleep through a text [or a series of them, apparently] deserves to be woken up. Anyway, are you gonna dispense your tent-building secrets to me or not, o wise and mighty virtuoso of wigwams.

[Dave holds out one end of the tarp to him.]

It wasn't just one text. [ More like 8. Probably. He doesn't care to remember. There's another confused look at that last thing about the 'wigwams', but he's come to realise that Dave rarely ever makes much sense. ]

Wait, we should finish the frame first. [ Ed picks up the poles and starts joining them together. He hands Dave some poles too. ]

[Surprisingly(???), Dave doesn't argue with Ed about the poles. He just takes them and more or less does what Ed is doing, kicking the tarp to one side.]

I could have sent you more. [He would have sent more if he didn't get a response before that, tbh.] But I was rudely interrupted.

I really don't want any more. [ He stresses, just in case the shenanigans are going to continue after he tries to go back to sleep later. With the poles on his side joined, he now motions to join them with Dave's. Eventually, eventually, their frame will start looking more tent-like. ]

Promise me you're actually gonna go to sleep after we fix this up.

[Dave's shoulders raise in a shrug.]

Who knows. Getting a decent bit of shuteye is kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. Shrieking eldritch horrors and the like don't really make it easier, even after they decide to ollie back whence they came.

[He hooks his half of the frame up to Ed's, then stands back to inspect it.]

[ With the frame finally looking like a tent, Ed picks up the tarp and hands one end to Dave. ]

You're worried about that thing showing up again? [ It is a real concern, so the irritation lines in his frown ease. They were more at a disadvantage compared to the people with actual rovers to protect them. ]

No. [Wait.] Well, yes. If it doesn't come back, something else will show up instead.

[He says it with the offhand certainty of the cynical, as he takes his end of the tarp and tries to fit it over the frame with questionable success.]

And even besides that, I dunno. A lot has happened. [Which is...kind of an understatement, between repeated attacks and crew changes.]

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