Espilver Week 2023

Day 1: Absence

The first thing Espio notices when he pushes open the front door is that the house is entirely silent.

The second thing he notices is that the living room is in full disarray.

And the third is that Silver seems to be gone.

Where those three statements can certainly all be true at the same time, the chameleon notes with a deep sigh as he studies the various strewn-about pillows, Vector's knocked-over desk chair, and the sea of papers and dirt of a fallen plant that cover the wooden flooring of the living room. Silver does have the occasional moment of rambunctiousness, and he certainly also is not above getting so distracted with what he is doing that he completely misses the mess he is making. Even if the sheer silence the whole place is shrouded in does make Espio blink... "I'm home!" he calls up the stairs just to be certain, but also there not a single response comes. Well, maybe something just came up and the hedgehog had to leave, the chameleon tries to soothe himself- even if there is no scribbled paper or anything with an explanation laying on the coffee table.

Which is odd, because Silver would have left immediately after writing out what's going on following Espio's prior-expressed wishes, and thus it would not have ended up and become unnoticeable in the sheer mess that inhabits the living room now.

"He'll be alright," Espio speaks out loud, shutting the door again and heaving out a deep sigh at the clutter. If it had been Charmy he'd have made the bee clean it himself, but Silver at least is responsible enough to do so anyway if he doesn't forget; and the knowledge that concentrating on meditating in such a space is going to be rather difficult chips away at Espio's resolve as well. Thus the chameleon shakes his head in fond exasperation at his beloved, bending down to grab all the pillows of the couch first and rescue their leafy companion next. Silver will return shortly and Espio will give him a small chiding about leaving such a chaos and the hedgehog will happily help with cleaning up everything Espio has not yet, as it tends to go.

That is what the chameleon figures, except even when the minutes stretch out into the better part of an hour and the living room is looking a lot more tidy there is still no sign of Silver returning.

And that does begin to worry Espio, just a bit.

Filing the last papers away onto the plastic frames in one of the lockers, nicely alphabetised, the chameleon flicks his tail. He'd kept an eye out for a note from Silver with an explanation on it while cleaning, but even now that the floor is entirely paperless, he's found nothing of the sort. And the oddity of that gives him this... feeling of discomfort prickling on his spine, he thinks he can best describe it, and something else he cannot describe at all, as if there's someone staring at him, but a pensive look over his shoulder shows the living room to be empty. "You're just anxious because you don't know what Silver is getting himself into. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and it makes you stressed," he scolds himself, shaking his head as he puts away the final papers and leaflets and books-

But as he turns around he jolts.

And staggers, and his back crashes right into the metal locker, because he ran into something.

"What the-?!" the chameleon gasps, hand shooting to grab a shuriken by instinct, its gleaming end held out threateningly at...!

Empty air?

Because there is nothing in front of him.

"...What," Espio repeats, more slowly, moving out his other hand to press into the space again. And he can swear there is something there, his hand feeling all odd and tingly which dissipates and keeps rising up again as he pulls it away and keeps pushing it back in, and the chameleon winces when that same feeling extends to his own chest as if that sensation gets brushed against it by something invisible and inaudible but still there.