inbox;

[stressors]

● "Hey, it's Shiro." ●

"Sorry you missed me. Leave me one and I'll call you right back. Thanks."

☏ call. ✉ text. ⌨ video. ☄ action.

code over at pagans

Comments

[impulsors]

Busy waiting around in cars. Right.

[ the radio earns a brief squint, but not much of one; shiro's voice rings level, and so keith takes his cue. he slouches back against the seat, flicking through the few keys on the ring. ]

They're wasting your time. What do you even do while you're waiting?

[stressors]

Sudoku.

[impulsors]

. . . you're kidding.

[stressors]

Yes, absolutely.

[impulsors]

[ oh my god. his eyes swipe around the car for a beat before he slumps against the seat. ]

. . . guess it is pretty tiny for doing anything else.

[stressors]

I guess I can't tempt you into a crossword.

[ but he is opening up the glove compartment -- and brandishing maps of old town, of westerley's high volume cities. all of them heavily marked. ]

[impulsors]

[ ??? lea. . . ning. . . over?? ]

What are those?

[stressors]

I've been tracking the upsurge of activity in the area.

[ there's the click of an uncapped pen.

keith should stop him before he pulls out reading glasses, too. ]

. . . It helps to see where it's most concentrated.

[impulsors]

[ i think you forgot who keith is. he's only craning his neck to look at the nearest map, a hand splaying over shiro's arm for balance. ]

How're you tracking the activity? [ wait. ] Did you actually drive to all of these?

[stressors]

[ i won't remember until keith's got a corkboard full of pictures of shiro's face ]

Only when I've been called for back up.

Most of the time, I've been listening to the radio.

[impulsors]

[ he cocks his head to it, as if he's only just noticed that it isn't somebody yodeling about buttercups. ]

. . . is that the guy you're picking up?

[stressors]

[ buttercup baby, why are you always bringing me down ]

. . . which one?

[ there's more than one person talking on the radio. ]

[impulsors]

The one who's complaining about the coffee.

[ as one voice falls and the other answers - ]

That one.

[ and then - ]

Wait. Does the Company bug everyone who works for it?

[stressors]

. . . don't worry. At the very least, my lines have been -

[ . . . ]

Secured.

[impulsors]

[ narrowing his eyes, every inch a boy who may not enjoy using euphemisms but can certainly feel one hanging over their heads like a sword.

or his arm, certainly. ]

Right. I get it.

[ back down he stares, over the lines and drawn-mazy streets - ]

. . . this doesn't look like anything new, though. We already know mobs show up where there's people.

[stressors]

Where there's Company.

[ but he's leaning back in his seat -- and maybe he's not looking at the map this time, when he's staring at keith, his dark head bent over the paper. ]

But some of these agencies are more private than that. It makes sense to storm Company offices. But in the recent days, there have been attacks on local businesses where they don't exactly advertise that they're Company affiliated.

[impulsors]

You think something at those businesses're setting them off?

[ no, that's a stupid idea -- he shakes it off at once as his head turns, brows stitching black. ]

Or -- someone's starting them on purpose.

[stressors]

I don't know, but there's some kind of method in all this madness.

If only we had some kind of hint as to which side's making the move.

Then maybe we can better redirect our efforts to putting a stop to these mobs before they get out of hand.

[impulsors]

They've been happening all over Oldtown. And in some of the other cities, too. That doesn't look like a lot of method.

[ but hey, he's always game to buy into a conspiracy.

meanwhile, i can't believe they've been in one another's personal space for like ten tags and they're still talking plot, these motherfuckers. ]

Can you get any records from the Company? If we could see when people started getting called in, we'd know if they started mobilising before or after the mobs got started.

[stressors]

[ especially when he's been staring intensely at keith's face the entire time.

from like inches away. ]

. . . I'll get a friend to look into it. He's already working on what he can to bring the fighting to a standstill at least. Until we think of another strategy.

[impulsors]

How?

[ exactly what kind of friends does a driver have. <-- a thought that he should be thinking.

only shiro is very close. ]

. . . we don't even know where the mobs're coming from yet.

[stressors]

[ they did go from having keith wrapped around him to -- this.

which might go some way to explaining the way his eyes drop to keith's mouth when he lingers, when they don't immediately pull away to remain in their little boxes of personal space. ]

. . . he's an admin, so he's got a bit more leverage.

At least, when it comes to directing our men out of a fight.

[impulsors]

. . . that's only gonna work for so long.

[ but the tone's too soft for the words, eyes lidding just a little with a separate train of thought. ]

If the Company wants people taken out, they're gonna notice that he's getting in the way. He's just buying time.

[stressors]

[ . . .

all right. maybe he's not really thinking about the mobs when he asks - ]

What do you think we should do?

[impulsors]

We have to find out who's giving -

[ a swallow, thick and felt. ]

The orders. After that, we can figure out what they want. Right now, we don't know. . .

[ but the word's twisting, slipping, lost. mint-and-coffee's a flicker on his tongue; his gaze's clinging to shiro's mouth.

what was he saying? ]

Anything.