cape_kore | Audio -- Day 97

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Audio -- Day 97

[He still hasn't quite gotten used to this whole 'network' thing, which is why he doesn't use it that much. Today, though, there's good reason for using it. The video is conspicuously turned off, but his voice, when he begins speaking, is almost too calm.]

I'd like to ask whether anyone's seen Charlie Luciano today. He's tall --

[Relatively tall, at least, given who's speaking.]

-- dark-haired, Italian... well, you'd know who I meant if you'd met him.

[There's a long pause, as though he's trying to decide whether to hang up or not, and then:]

Given the recent spate of... disappearances, I'm not exactly optimistic, but if anyone has any information, I'd very much appreciate it. I'll be...

[There's almost a break in composure, and then his voice comes back a little more strongly, even more coldly.]

I'll be looking around the town, just in case.

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[ Ned's voice is uncharacteristically short and businesslike. He leaves the setting on audio, because that's what Meyer had done, and it seems only right to reply in kind. ]

Where are you right now?

[ He's not going to leave Meyer to look alone. Even if he knows that the looking is probably pointless. He can't imagine that Charlie would voluntarily avoid Meyer or refuse to answer any messages of his. But there are possibilities. Grim ones, but plausible. Charlie might have gotten drunk in the bar and be passed out there. He may be in the woods, too hurt to answer. He may be any number of horrible things that aren't quite so horrible as vanished without a trace ]

[It takes him longer to respond than it should. He'd been half-hoping that one of the replies to his query would result in information, but he'd known, somehow, that it wouldn't. His own response is just as brusque as Ned's; there's little emotion behind it, not even concern.]

At the house.

[He doesn't ever call it 'home,' and without Charlie there, it's even less like home than it had been before.]

[ The interval between asking and getting an answer back is pretty much agony, for Ned. He thinks about just getting up and storming over there, but he suppresses the urge. When Meyer does answer, it's only a matter of minutes before Ned is knocking at the front door. It shouldn't have taken that long, even, but he had to tell Daneel where he was going, first, reassure him that he was feeling healthy enough to manage it, tell him not to worry if he looked for Ned and couldn't find him in the house. That done, Ned crosses the distance between their houses quickly and shows up on Meyer's porch, white-faced and tight-jawed ]

It's Ned. Let me in?

[He doesn't come to the door, though he hears Ned outside. What Ned might hear in response, instead of a door being opened or a verbal answer, is a loud clatter and then the sound of something heavy and ceramic shattering.

If Ned tries it, though, he'll find that the door is unlocked -- in his panic to look around the town, Meyer hadn't bothered to lock the door behind him when he'd come back in to make the plea to the network for information.]

[ Ned's mind, prone to jump to the worst possible conclusions, has terrible images of Meyer slumped on the floor, a broken vase or plate or something of the sort nearby. Once he hears that sound and feels a spike of terror at the thought of Meyer in danger, he doesn't hesitate to barge right in through the door and find him in the house, though he's usually respectful of other people's privacy and space. ]

Meyer?

[ There's a definite note of panic in his voice as he looks around, doesn't spot him anyway, comes through the door to the kitchen and sees him standing there, looking like he's relatively in one piece (at least, on the outside), which is more than can be said for the jar that's lying in two dozen or so pieces, scattered all over the floor. It doesn't look as if it merely tipped off the edge of a counter, but as if it was thrown rather violently. Ned claps a hand over his heart, letting out a large breath of relief, though it's a temporary feeling. ]

I thought-

[ He stops, shakes his head. Nevermind what he'd thought. ]

[Though he'd known Ned was outside and likely to come in, he still startles a little when Ned rushes into the kitchen and speaks. He's still staring at the broken pieces on the floor, but eventually looks up at Ned.]

What did you think?

[His tone isn't anywhere near as flat or emotionless as it had been on the network. In person, it's much harder to hide the anger that's coursing through him. If Ned looks over Meyer's shoulder, he'll see the broken remnants of one of the cameras lying on the counter, having been violently smashed to pieces.]

[ Ned hadn't been intending on finishing his sentence, but he senses that today is not really the day to fuck with Meyer or not answer such an easy question, so he says, simply ]

I thought something had happened to you, too.

[ Happened to Meyer, just like something had happened to Jesse and Galen and Kenzi and Elizabeth and now Charlie, all these people that Ned knows and cares about getting hurt and killed and traumatized, or else just vanishing into thin air and leaving him behind. ]

I came to help you look.

[ And, Ned thinks, to comfort him if (or, a creeping cynicism tells him, when) the search didn't turn up anything ]

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