come_sailaway | [Semi-Open] DYWTYLM

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[Semi-Open] DYWTYLM

Who: Wayne and CR
What: Trying to cope with the changes around here
When: Any time after leaving The Tube Room
Where: Throughout the ship
Warnings: Depression and existential ennui

Do you duck into deep blue safety? (All CR)
Wayne practically lives up on Deck Six, where he can get a decent amount of sun, soak in the hot tubs, or go and hide out down in the bottom of the pool when it doesn't seem as if anyone would notice or worry about him with everything else that's been happening in the aftermath. He keeps to where he can have an eye out on others coming and going when he's not down underwater. Which he is fairly often, likely to the chagrin of a few that know that he does this sometimes, regardless of whether or not they know he doesn't actually need to breathe. Nowadays at least he's got a relatively simple lifeline: A water-tight bag for his phone. It's not a perfect or permanent solution, but it's better than not having it at all. It means if someone wants to get ahold of him when he's down there, they can.

Someone may also simply spot him down there as they walk by, or do laps. His yellow kind of sticks out against the blue of the pool bottom.

Do you know what it is? (Close CR)
Wayne spends more time away from the rest of the ship now than he had in the months since his arrival. Call it depression, call it self-isolation, either way, the result is the same. He doesn't leave Cabin 144 for days at a time. At least he's clean, if a little bit cluttered, his bed remaining unmade most of the time and his cat figures still sitting on every available surface. There are even a couple of new ones, by now enough that he thinks perhaps he should label them.

For now, he simply exists on his own, sometimes plucking idle tunes without the need for an amplifier, other times simply dissociating in the familiar dimness of the cabin. He won't ignore anyone that comes to check in, but they may notice the light compression patches on his skin where he's leaned his head against the side of the couch or a wall for long periods.

Are you trying to live? (Wildcard)
Wayne looks lost, more often than not these days. He's been given a lot to think about recently, and all of it comes back to the sheer, crushing weight of the anxiety. It may have shifted in form, but it is very much something that he now lives with on a more present level. And now, other people know that it's a problem. Which in and of itself is a problem.

No matter where he ends up, be it the Lounge where he'll generally be curled up with a book from the library, or staring out of a window with the most dead-eyed expression, or at Sand Dollars or Stellar in the morning, Windjammer or Mikabo in the evening, or just up wherever there's a rail that he can sit beside, arms crossed atop it and eyes out on the not-so-infinite water.

It's getting harder to be (myself) (Closed, for Gil)
They needed to talk about things. He knows that. It's hard to think when he's not around the man, and he knows it's because of the attachment that he's long since given up on the idea of it being friendly or platonic. He's nervous, oh yes, but he also realizes that he can't just say that Gil is humoring him or playing along and letting him down as slowly and gently as possible. But he needs to know where they stand in the days following the head chamber, and the hourglass chamber that they'd awoken in. He needs to see him.

can I visit?

A message sent off late in the evening, when most everyone else seemed to be about to turn in. Nevermind that he's leaning against the wall opposite Gil's cabin door, wavering back and forth on whether to just invite himself in. In the end, he opts simply to wait.

I cannot hope to give you what I cannot give myself (Closed, for Crichton)
He'd promised to fix Crichton's shattered nose as soon as he had the material for it. Unfortunately, this had taken a few days thanks to the broken new system of restocking. Maybe not long at all in the grand scheme, but at least a couple of days longer than would have been preferable. But in the end, he's found what he needed: a cupcake, with pink frosting and plain white paper. He's already headed toward where he'd last spotted his friend, and doesn't actually think to take out his phone to warn the man that he's on his way. After all, he's got a cupcake! This is phenomenal news that needs to be delivered in person!

"Commander! Guess what!"

Smile back...at me...oh please... (Closed, for Helena)
He needed to sleep so badly, he had ended up passing out in his cabin before he could actually touch base with Helena again. He'd spent so long out of commission that it wasn't for another couple of days that he messaged her, already feeling guilty over the idea that he'd managed to worry her yet again.

remember when i was talking abt the cats in my cabin
and you talked about a larva

He's looking up at the pretty frosted crystal cat that represents her, now with her name written on its underside in marker.

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If she weren't clinging to her phone with both hands like his life depends on it, she would wrap her arms around him right back. It's a soggy, yet comforting hug that she's pulled into. Because she knows that he's alive. (And not upset with her over the Sparkles thing either...) She understands, knowing how often she likes to hide away from loud noises.

She's beginning to feel a little too childish for crying all of a sudden. Thankfully it isn't a loud wail.

"O-oh..." Fio sniffles. A small awkward laugh as he wipes her tears, making a poor attempt to cover up her worry. "I feel really silly now..."

Wayne sits back again and takes a moment to straighten out where he'd made some wet wrinkles in her clothes, then just lets his hands rest on her arms where she's still got them up as she holds her phone like a literal lifeline.

"It's not silly to worry about your friends. You didn't know what was happening," he points out. Then he gestures back to the water. "I don't really need to breathe unless I'm trying to talk to people so going down there to be alone is a pretty good way to get some quiet. If I know you could come hang out with me down there too I'd show you." He doesn't know if they have long enough snorkels for that, but if they find one, maybe they could figure that out.

She nods a couple of times. Wayne's fine. He's safe. Her grip around the phone loosens slightly.

Maybe if she thought about questioning his physiology much earlier, she would have been spared the unnecessary panic. Such questions don't cross her mind that often. When they first met, she was just excited over making a neat-looking new friend.

"I-I never knew that. That's really cool actually. I don't even know how to swim, so I can't really go down there..."

She's not alone in not thinking about asking about his ability (or lack thereof) to swim. He's had to answer a few alarmed questions about how he was staying down there from people that he'd talked to a lot more than he'd gotten to talk to her. He hopes she won't be too harsh on herself over a simple misunderstanding.

"Yeah, I can't actually swim, I'm too heavy." He kicks his feet in the water idly, looking toward the ocean with a small smile. "The first time I learned how to fly, I accidentally dumped myself right into the ocean and had to walk back to shore. Took a nap right there on the beach."

That little story quickly distracts her from mentally kicking herself for too long. Fio perks up with her eyes wide in awe, "You can fly too?"

But how? He doesn't have wings. Is it with magic, like how Skulduggery flies? Before she can barrage him with more questions with childlike fascination, she stops herself. Fidgeting a bit, she tones down her excitement a bit and looks down at the pool. Perhaps she should sit if she wants to talk more.

"Um... do you mind if I sit with you?"

It's not necessary to do with the amount of pool there is, but he still makes a space for her at his side by scooting over a little bit where he sits.

"Not for very long, but people like me have what's called pneumataphore. It's an internal structure that lets us propel ourselves in straight lines. I can't go up, but I can go forward really fast. My friend Helena gave me a cool pair of laces that lets me jump really high and then do that though."

She settles down next to him on the pool edge, dipping her legs into the water. Pneumatophore. That is a complex vocabulary word and Fio can be seen, repeating the term in soft murmurs to herself. His definition is short and simple enough for her to understand.

"You can jump really high with magic laces and move forward with... with noo-ma-toe-phore." Each syllable is spoken slowly. She really didn't have to say it again or repeat his explanation in her own words. She just wants to show off that she's learned a new word...

"Can I see you do it? If it's safe to..." Can't have him falling out into the ocean again.

She got the pronunciation right on the first try even, look at her go! He nods as she seems to get what he means, then thinks for a moment before pushing himself up from the edge of pool again and takes a few steps back. He'd done a demonstration like this before, but it's been a while. He hasn't had a reason to fly anywhere lately, and hasn't felt like flinging himself into the ocean.

With a run forward akin to a gymnast building up speed for a trick, Wayne hops, then executes a midair flip without pushing off of anything at all, and at the height of that, he jets off to the other side of the pool with a sound like pressurized air emitting from him, turning in a tight corkscrew until he flips back out of the flight and touches down on the opposite end of the deck easily. He comes back in seconds with a singular hop and that same corkscrew flight, landing in a skid a foot away.

"I learned I could carry people, but it upsets my balance and makes them kind of dizzy, because of the spin to keep me flying straight," he explains.

Another vocabulary word that's being safely tucked away in her brain to later show off to her skeleton dad. If Fio hadn't already dipped her legs into the pool, she would be jumping up and down excitedly over this free display of his abilities. The excitement is written all over her face however, mouth slightly agape as she observes his movements. Eyes widening especially when he demonstrates the combination of turning to a corkscrew and a flip.

Once Wayne's back with his feet on the floor, Fio claps her hands together excitedly.

"Aw, guess I can't ask you to carry me, huh? I really don't wanna mess up your balance." ...Though, she doesn't sound opposed to getting a little dizzy. "But thank you for showing me. The spin is kind of like a ballerina in the air!"

Gymnast or athlete would probably be a better comparison. This little girl just really loves ballerinas...

He takes a seat on the deck beside her again with his hands in his lap, ankles crossed. "I think it just means that I would need to warm up with someone else first before I had to fly them around somewhere," he suggests. "Like calibrating."

"Ca-li-bra-ting," she parrots the word with slightly more ease compared to the previous term she learned. Although, she's still not quite sure what it means. A thoughtful hum, tilting her head slightly.

"Like practicing with a dance partner. Is that... calibrating?"

Her dedication to learning these new words is admirable. He thinks about it a moment before nodding in a sideways sort of manner.

"Kind of. Think of it like, before you start dancing together, you're just trying to see how you move versus how they move, then you can really work on dancing together. When I first showed Helena that I could fly, we had to do that so that we could do it together."

"So a bit more like..." A pause, as she tries to think of how to phrase it in her own words. "Measuring each other's movements?"

She's been picking up complicated vocabulary terms from the adult and teenage passengers for a while now. Without classes, she's been relying on the library and listening to others' conversations.

"Did she get dizzy? I don't think I've met Helena yet." Maybe they've passed by each other a few times, but have yet to exchange names. It's impossible to know every single person on the ship. (Little does she know they're talking about "Cottontail Princess.")

"Something like that, yeah." Don't worry Fio, he's never been to school in his life and he gets by just fine...

It's surprising to learn that Fio has never met Helena, but then again there are a lot of people here, and it tends to be extremely chaotic, and they all have the people that they prefer to run with over others. Sometimes you just never get to cross paths.

"She's small, but bigger than you. Heavier so I think trying to fly with her might be more difficult than it would potentially be with you." He knows Helena can be a rabbit though, he just doesn't know that Fio has met the rabbit. So many missed connections!

"Maybe you could try flying somewhere next time we're off the ship! We've stopped by a snow resort before... and a tropical island." She would like to try flying together, but she's been up high around the ship once with Skulduggery before. Perhaps when they have a change of scenery.

"As... as long as the place is safe of course," Fio adds, with a worried frown.

Knowing the pattern of events, she wonders if today is one of the many quiet days before passengers are put through another round of terrors. Before the labyrinth, the carnival excursion seemed relatively peaceful. Wherever the Eterna stops by next, probably won't be.

"That sounds like a nice idea." It would be good to step off the ship and not be in immediate danger, but perhaps that would be too much to ask for. Still, the prospect of wide open space is a nice thought.

"I've heard about some of the terrible things that you all dealt with before I arrived. It's strange, waiting for something new and knowing it's probably gonna be worse. If something happens the next time we're let off the ship and you need help, find me and I'll do whatever I can, okay?"

After a brief pause, she nods. "...Okay. Thank you, Mister Moon."

She won't deny the help, knowing that she can't handle everything on her own. She's fortunate to have many friends that are willing to come to her aid, but she always wishes to do more in return.

"Um... if there's ever anything I can do to help you too, let me know."

With a small smile, Wayne holds up his little finger. He'd been shown what a pinky promise was by the child version of one of his closest friends, and it's the sort of thing that seems like it would hold the appropriate amount of weight in this moment.

"I promise. We'll take care of each other and our friends."

Interestingly, Wayne is the first person to offer to do a pinky promise with her. It's something she has done in prior to her life on the Eterna, with children close to her age. Those children ended up betraying her. But she knows betrayal is unlikely with the genuine people here.

"Promise!" Fio lifts a pinky up, curling hers around his. A smile, with a touch of relief.

"...I'm glad you're not upset with me."

Wayne's finger curls around the much smaller one, his free hand coming around the back of it in a gentle clasp that he releases after a moment to let his hands rest atop his knees.

"I don't know why I would be. You haven't done anything to me."

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[Semi-Open] DYWTYLM

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