Video

[plate_builder]

[The message posted is a very brief one, and for anyone who has seen Reeve before, definitely not in character. The man looks to be in no small amount of pain, his head in one hand, his teeth grit, tears stinging at the corners of his eyes. Even when he speaks, his voice is clearly gasped out through pain.]

Has anyone... seen a little black and white

[His voice breaks as he curls up just a bit and clearly the image gets too close and a lot of his hair because his hand holding the phone has gone to his head too. And then after a moment of labored breathing the communicator is lowered back to where Reeve can be seen. But not centered now. Sorry, he's not looking closely.]

Cat. Stuffed animal. About six inches tall, responds to 'Mini-C'. At least twenty meters from the main fountain. Probably further away.

[Another flash of pain across the man's face.]

Please, if you've seen him, bring him to me.

Comments

video;

[kallig]

[Well that doesn't look good.]

I can search for him, if you'd like. If you're injured though I'd prefer to tend to you first.

[The healer in him is louder than anything else.

And he can't leave the poor man to suffer if he's hurt, even if this stuffed animal is very important to him.]

[plate_builder]

[Sadly, the pain and the lack of Mini-C are actually quite intimately tied.]

I... I need him more than a medic.

[kallig]

Are the two of you connected somehow?

[He's met ghosts bound to their grave, he's seen a Sith's soul and a Dashade share a body, the seemingly dead and gone come back to life.

So the idea him being connected to this stuffed animal isn't so far out there.] Is that why you're in pain?

[If that's the case, then his priority will indeed be to find Mini-C.]

[plate_builder]

Indeed. To both q-

[Cut off again for gritting teeth and a bit of shaking.]

He wandered off. I can't see where.

[kallig]

When I find him, is it safe for me to pick him up?

[He doesn't know how it works. And better safe than sorry. At any rate, he's already on the move.]

[plate_builder]

[Yeah, well, it's a big city, good luck. Poor thing can't even make noise.]

Yes. He'll know. I think.

[Hard to tell. Hard to be in his head from this distance.]

[kallig]

Can you manage to keep talking to me while I search? About anything at all.

[So he can keep a look out for Mini-C while keeping an eye- or an ear- on the man's situation.

He'll try to be quick, at any rate, using the Force to rush all over- starting with the area that had been specified.]

[plate_builder]

[Unfortunately the area is basically 'everything that isn't close to Reeve'. And can the force pick up on stuffed animals imbued with magical souls? Probably. Actually, the force is probably the best answer.]

I don't-

[Another wince]

I don't know. Might. Pass out.

[kallig]

Try to keep talking, alright? Tell me your name, perhaps. Where you're from. Your favorite color. Whatever comes to mind.

[Well, he can already sense him anyway- so if he needs to get to him, he will.

For now, his search for Mini-C continues- and he's searching for him, too, through the Force. If the two are tied to each other, then there should be something to pick up on through that bond.]

[Video]

[deal_me_in]

Uh-oh. Your little buddy wander off?

[plate_builder]

Yes. Far. Further than...

[He's wincing, and that means he's not doing well at continuing the statement.]

Twenty-five or so yards.

[deal_me_in]

[Reeve's not looking to hot. The information isn't good either, but at least there haven't been too many things that Cayde's seen wandering around that might mean trouble for a wandering doll.]

And from the fountain. But in any given radius from there?

I'll have a look around.

[plate_builder]

There... was a building. Something fell on him. That's-

[Another hiss of pain. That's when the little guy got further away than he should have been. And when he stopped making sense. And the pain became debilitating.]

Find something that collapsed. A hole?

[deal_me_in]

Crap.

[The video abruptly shifts, and it's more obvious that Cayde's on the move as things blur behind him.]

Collapsed? That's like every other thing around here. Let's see...holes...small places a little guy like Mini'd be able to sneak through...

[plate_builder]

[Ouch, looking at the blur makes his head hurt. So solid pass there. He doesn't bother looking at the screen.]

He... fell. Dropped him beyond safe limits.

[And kept Reeve from safely getting up to go find him. This distance limitation is brutal.]

[deal_me_in]

Sounds like Mini needs one of those kiddie harnesses that they used to stick toddlers in. Like having yo-yo children.

...yeah don't ask, some pre-Golden Age inventions were pretty strange.

[Just because he's trying to lighten the mood doesn't mean he isn't taking the matter seriously though. That's Cayde in a nutshell, really.

He's switched the tablet communications to voice and tucked it in a pocket while he continues to move.]

Dropped, you said.

...hell I sure hope he didn't go there.

[Because there's only one place that immediately comes to mind.]

[plate_builder]

[Normally the two of them are better at this than that. Or they're learning to be. This had been their testing of limits. And he hadn't expected it to be so bad so fast.]

Don't know. He was... Far.

[He hurts so bad from it.]

He's stuck. I think.

[text]

[in_extremis]

It sounds like you're overdue for an upgrade.

[plate_builder]

Yes, but...

[He's in a lot of pain. Right now he needs to deal with A before he deals with B. So if someone could C to helping him, he'd appreciate it.]

He's far away. Further than on Risa. Hurts.

action now. in my defense, I didn't go into this with a plan

[in_extremis]

Texting could not have been the easiest kind of response for Reeve to deal with in this case; Tony was going to have to figure out some kind of HUD soon so he could shoot off another response as quickly without fumbling around with the communicator. It took him excruciating seconds just to pull it out when he realized his mistake, already used to interfacing with a subconscious thought and resenting the time it took. In fact, he had been close enough to the fountain, observing the progress at the nursery, that he gave up on the tablet as soon as he had it in hand, snarling at the inefficiency of the system and marching for the central square. "Reeve? Buddy. Marco!" he called instead. Instant communication, just like that.

it's fine plans are for people who plan and stuff

[plate_builder]

Marco? That isn't his name. For a moment he's just focused on breathing in and out before at last, in a brief moment where the pain isn't as bad, he raises his arm and a voice.

"Tony, here!"

[in_extremis]

The response took long enough that Tony started to grow concerned that he had missed some window and wandered erratically around the fountain, glaring at the ever hovering data point as though he could directly accuse the Agrii in this way for causing this problem. Sure, he had no idea if Reeve would be better off where he had come from, but the likelihood of his little furry friend running into a tragic urban spelunking accident had to be lower in a city with more stable infrastructure. Tony was spinning on his heel the moment he heard the voice, searching, then jogging to slide down onto his knees next to Reeve. "You're a mess, Casanova," he chided gently despite the dramatic entrance, voice low like he was dealing with the victim of a debilitating hangover because that was the best reference Tony had for how Reeve had made it sound. His eyes darted, looking for what might have been the most unstable element here to try to get Reeve focused, and he offered a remarkably cool hand along Reeve's face, checking for a fever or at least some relief.

[plate_builder]

"Not Casanova," Reeve groans, because yeah, the head ache is a lot like a hangover. With less dehydration.

The cool hand does help some, even if there isn't a fever, and Reeve closes his eyes to lean into the touch. That feels so good. But still his head throbs.

"If you help me to my feet, if you could just... Help me look around?"

[in_extremis]

It was obvious that took effort, so Tony breathed a laugh at Reeve's commitment to propriety, but this was short lived. It was good to know Tony's instinct had been productive, but unnerving that he would respond like that to such a small gesture. If he had been at his full strength, Tony was sure he'd be receiving something more like a strongly worded letter for this presumption of intimacy. Reeve didn't strike him as someone who allowed himself to be coddled, but Tony had been surprised by him before.

Whether or not Tony's read was correct, Reeve was obviously sensitive right now and Tony wasn't eager to find out what kind of damage he would be doing by hauling him up. "Sure thing, you let me know where you're at, we'll take it an inch at a time. Like a Qunari," Tony murmured as he pressed the back of his hand to Reeve's forehead, then pushed his hair back so they could at least approach this problem with some decency about them. And if the distraction helped, good, they had a working plan; if making him laugh was just more painful, Tony maybe could stop, after just a few more. Out of stalling tactics fast, he scooted closer to tuck a shoulder under Reeve's arm, then worked them both to their feet.

[plate_builder]

Now now, a strongly worded letter wouldn't work out well because that would be a waste of Reeve's limited paper supplies. And he isn't going to waste replicator rounds on more paper just so he can write a letter. But yes, he wasn't one given to being coddled, usually.

But really, there is nothing that quite lives up to that comment, and in spite of his pain, Reeve bursts out laughing. Of course he is soon wincing as well.

"I don't know. You'd really go more like half an inch at a time there. The girth is pretty intense too," Reeve groans as they get to their feet, mostly on Tony's power. Damn, that's helpful. This is beyond helpful. "Back home this wouldn't happen. Could-"

He pauses to wince.

"Could be on the other side of Gaia and wouldn't hurt."