Not with a Gasp, but a Gurgle

TAVI

Your Excess is my Abundance.

The water nudged Tavi forward with impatience. The downpour had been streaming down into the Gasps and their volume had now exceeded what could be drained away. Tavi was still waist deep and felt the weight of his wet trousers and boots and each step made him feel vulnerable. It was to his relief, that Cian suggested he would take a look at the gate. Was there confidence in that voice? Tavi had realised, witnessing Cian unhooking a bag from his belt, that the Garanenzian would be able to work the lock. Perhaps his mission was not over, after all.

Tavi half waded, half swam to the bin to see if he could get it to budge on his own. He noticed Cian, with his back in the way, had unfurled something on its lid and Tavi was reluctant to break the young man’s concentration.

Instead, Tavi hooked the end of the crowbar on a thin pipe above and wedged his toe into a crack in a wall panel. He hefted himself up and peered through a small opening into the building. A few service lights were on and it illuminated a floor strewn with rubbish and chairs that were overturned. He looked down to Cian, nodding to confirm that no one, at least on the floor above, were home.

Pick yourself up, up off the floor
Wipe the tears from off your face, because the cops are knocking on the door

He's doing his best to stand firm as there is a small current in the water pressing against his legs underneath the surface. Nothing that will just weep him off his feet, but it is enough to make him feel a bit unsteady and concerned. He continues working the lock, throwing some glances over his shoulder every now and then just to be sure no one is trying to sneak up on them and after some more rattling, the lock clicks open.

Quickly, he moves to hide his tools away again and securing the bag back on his belt before there's a risk it falls down and disappears into the water. "Right, now we just need to get this bin out of the way." He mutters and has a look around and whatever trash might be bobbing past them and he tries to get a better feel of how the water moves around his legs.

"I think there is a current going in that direction, so we could use that to our advantage. See if it will help moving the bin." He makes a gesture with his hand as if to point after the items drifting by, then wriggles his way in between the small space in front of the gate to get a shoulder against the bin to be prepared to start pushing whenever Tavi was ready as well.

CIAN

TAVI

Your Excess is my Abundance.

Tavi ducked his head left and right as he peered into the building. He was interrupted by the sudden movement that Cian made as he grabbed whatever it was he had on the bin. Tavi grinned with the assumption his accomplice had bested the lock. Mastery. Tavi pulled the crowbar free, tucked it away and stepped off the ledge, his frame bursting into the water. It was slightly deeper now as he waded up to the opposite end of the bin.

Tavi nodded his head with approval at Cian’s suggestion to use the forces about them to shift the bin out of the way. ‘Let’s do it,’ He replied as he wedged a shoulder and arm in the gap between the bin and gate, echoing that of Cian. He put a palm on the corner of the bin and grimaced, eyes squinting in effort, as he began to push.

At first, the bin seemed almost bolted to the ground but it suddenly gave way, scraping along the floor, the sound muted by the water that rushed above. Once the gap was wide enough, Tavi put his back against the gate and pushed the bin away with his feet, the added force and the current, pushing the bin far enough away for easy access to the gate.

Tavi had no time to rest from the effort. He was now completely drenched from head to toe and he flicked the hair from his head with a quick jerk, letting fly a spray of water behind. Pulling a package from his pocket, he held it to Cian and called out loud and clear over the rush of water. ‘Lasti. You earned it. Head out the way we came, you got time before it floods. Or, if you want to join me, we gotta move now.’

He peered in past the gate. There was a long hall, filled with water, that seemed to turn and eventually lead to a stair, but the water line was now a mere half a meter from the ceiling and rising rapidly. Time was of the essence.

Pick yourself up, up off the floor
Wipe the tears from off your face, because the cops are knocking on the door

The bin stands firm in place and Cian is close to considering trying to help push it somehow with magic, even if he is pretty certain he can't muster that amount of focus while already pushing against the bin and straining against the water at the same time. However, nothing more turns out to be needed when the bin finally moves and then the current helps pushing it away just enough for the gate to be able to be opened. Though the sudden shift has Cian slipping, but managing to keep his head above the surface while he gets his feet in under him again and can stand.

A bit disorientated, he looks to Tavi and almost hesitates before taking the offered package. As if surprised he is actually being given the money. At least it's waterproof.

He nods in thanks while stuffing the package away into his jacket and tries to wipe grimy water out of his face when the second offer comes again. His gaze moves past the gate as well and he tries to make up his mind quickly. The reasonable part of him shouts to just take what he got and get out. Back to safety. Another part of him wants to know what they can actually find in there, and a third little part is adding that he can't just leave Tavi to do it alone in these conditions.

"Let's hurry up and get in there then." Is his response after a few seconds of mental arguing with himself and he flashes Tavi a small grin that hopefully hides all his concerns about staying. He'll probably regret this decision as many of the others he's made.

CIAN

TAVI

Your Excess is my Abundance.

The waters were up to their necks and climbing. The trickles down buildings and platforms above were now waterfalls filling the air with a roar. The current was picking up as the water from the alleys began to pour in. The torrent swirled into the dead end street making the water choppy and disorienting.

Tavi had exhaled as if holding his breath at Cian’s reply. Relief. He mirrored the grin, eyes flashing with excitement as to what may lay ahead. ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’ he exclaimed over the roars of water. His grin dropped as he lurched, grabbing the gate to keep him upright. The gate swung open and using his foot, Tavi propelled himself into the narrow passage.

The noise of the rushing water had dulled and was now filled with echos of the water slapping the walls of the passage. It was dark inside but the end of the passage was well lit, creating reflections that danced on the peaks of the water that sloshed about. Tavi found that with the rising water, he swam more than walked and having turned the corner of the passage he was relieved to find the stair, but it went the opposite direction to what he thought.

‘Doesn’t look like it’s going to the floor above, huh.’ Tavi panted, his relief turned to dismay as he climbed its mere ten steps to an open doorway, and steps leading down into more water. It was a room with its floor level lower than the doorway, filled waist deep with water, illuminated by a few lights. The other side of the room had a few steps above the waterline to a similar elevated door and above the middle of the room, a missing ceiling panel opened presumably to the floor above. But stealing his attention was the noise of crackling, caused by arcs of white flashing over the water. Tavi swore. The source seemed to come from a few cables that ran down the side of the wall, gashed to expose its metal insides, by some recent damage.

He turned to look at the steps which were slowly being lost in water tread by tread, turned back to the room, feeling agitated that none of this was going to plan. If the water joined up…

‘Cian, what’s your read? Maybe we step across...’ He gestured to a ladder nearby and some old timber crates and cabinets about that they could make their way around, but given their bad condition one wrong step could mean their last.

Pick yourself up, up off the floor
Wipe the tears from off your face, because the cops are knocking on the door

With how the water just keeps pouring in and rising, Cian is starting to realise more and more that they must be in some lower section of the Drench with no working drainage system to speak of. At least not one that can handle this amount of water at once. Or it's plugged up with trash and grime. Whichever it is, they will soon be in big trouble if they stay put for much longer.

His expression does not at all mirror the excitement on Tavi's, but all Cian can do is to hurry up and follow through the gate and more or less swim through the water when Tavi takes off. If he takes just a second to hesitate, it will be too late and he will basically be cut off and Tavi would be going in alone. It would just look very bad and as if he just abandoned his companion.

They make it inside somehow and Cian gasps in relief as they find some floor to stand on above the water level and he takes a moment to rest with his hands on his knees while looking this and that way at the surrounding death traps of rising water. And electricity. Just his luck. In his mind, he is cursing himself for not deciding to specifying in water magic as a child. It would have been very useful now. As if he could have foreseen this moment.

"My read..." He begins when asked and straightens up with a groan. "...Is that we're pretty fucked whichever way we go. However, I am not keen on trying to go diving in this dark, so I'll take my chances trying to go up." He points up to the opening in the ceiling, not knowing how long he would be able to hold his breath under water but what he does know is that he can climb at least somewhat well.

"We need to get higher up anyway, away from the water. Surely it cannot rise much above the second level... I hope. And we can just dive out from a window up there when we need to get back up. The way we came is more or less blocked off by now."

CIAN