who: helena and others! what: variety catchall for the month. when: end of july/ all of august. where: across the boat. warnings: likely discussions of death.
Helena gives the little nod she can, and goes perfectly still, letting Crabb do what she needs. Fortunately for them both, the vines on her throat are snug without being attached - it means there's slack that comes out when Crabb pulls, before it catches and starts to tear.
The vines aren't too happy, and the one that's tearing tries to wrap itself around Crabb's wrist - the dying spasms of something wildly trying to preserve itself. The prey being held is already secured. This is a new threat.
"Enough 'a that," Crabb grumbles, batting the piece that tries to wrap around her away with her other hand, before finishing yanking them the rest of the way to clear Helena's throat. There. One one of the worst issues down, next... "Alright, now the stuff around your torso. We'll get you down proper when it ain't gonna keep squeezin' the life outta you while I try."
There's a rustling from the plant that could be best qualified as grumpy. It won't fight back on Helena's torso, but why is this newcomer so intent on trying to steal its prize? Why does it deserve it?
"I'm considering just staying in my cabin until they go away, at this rate..."
"Wouldn't be the worst idea, though I ain't sure the cabins are entirely safe. Easier to clear out, I s'pose..."
She keeps at it until Helena's got all of her breathing apparatus unobstructed once more, then sets about freeing her legs. Arms and easing her to solid ground after that.
"And don't you worry about it, sure wasn't gonna leave you like this."
"It's so frustrating," she admits, because there's nothing else to do when you're bound by magic flowers but to talk. The vines are getting more stubborn now, harder to tear, because they're getting more properly annoyed about things.
"The halls aren't safe, the decks aren't safe, and if the cabins aren't safe, then where is? Perhaps I'd feel different if I could see the threat, but as it is, every time I so much as sit down, there's a risk."
Of being lost in dreams, or spirited away by vines, or followed by ghosts that needed to stay in the past. There's no real end to it, and it wears on one's patience.
"Mm, yeah, you've got it a lot harder than anyone else who can try their best to avoid the things." She grunts a bit as she puts more strength into tearing the vines away. "This has gotta be the hardest to dodge crap we've had happen onboard..."
The rain, before Helena's time, you could mostly avoid by staying inside and only interacting with other water sources when you had time to wait for the effect to wear off. The rifts didn't really breach cabins, so you could resort to Helena's plan to hide away if needed. This is... a lot worse.
Plants in the end are no match for a Crabb, but they're still going to fuss.
"I just...wish I knew how much longer I have to endure. So I don't have to cling onto someone as a working pair of eyes for longer than necessary. I'd rather not be troublesome."
Which is a very nice way of saying that her independence is at risk, and she hates it.
"Mm." Crabb tilts her head a bit to herself. "How much is that you actually worryin' about bein' a bother to others versus it bein' a bother for you?"
Then, adding: "For what it's worth, the last thing that affected the ship like this before the rifts stopped around the end of the month. Reckon between the two, a precedent's set for this mess."
But she can practically hear the varied voices in her mind chastising her for trying to hide her own worries behind concern for other people, and strung up like this, it's not like she can exactly hide.
"It's...hard to explain, even for a writer, but...I just don't want to seem helpless, at the end of the day."
Her voice has gotten softer, and her head droops forward, looking a bit more tired than she did before.
"There's a difference between people helping you because they don't mind and them helping because they think you can't do without them. The latter is...not something I want anyone to think."
Crabb's voice gets a little softer, more thoughtful. "Mm. I hear you, I think. Makes it real easy to convince yourself askin' for help's a bad thing, wanting to be seen as capable enough to handle yourself no matter what."
Crabb's had her own streaks, inherently different from how Helena experiences the world but... wanting to be independent, useful. It's rarely worked out for her long term, trying to keep the standards she set for herself up.
"And I don't reckon anyone sees you like that, y'know. For what my opinion's worth." Seeing as the only person close to Helena she's really close with is Erin, as far as she knows, but...
"...It's worth a lot more than you think. Thank you."
Without the vines on her torso, it means she can take the deep breath she's been needing. In, out. Calming down, instead of letting herself walk in circles in her mind.
"Putting it all in plain terms like that, it makes it seem like I've been being terribly foolish. Seems you've been helping to free me twice over."
"If there's one thing I've got a knack for, it's speakin' plain-like. Pretty sure it's half my charm." That last part's sort of a joke, but honestly, the fact she's as blunt as she is really is a bonus in many of the people close to her's eyes. "Ain't even all that foolish, gettin' all up in your head about somethin'. Just bein' human, really. God knows I've struggled with the whole... trustin' that the people around me ain't just humouring me."
Just ask Erin and how much effort she's put into getting Crabb to not see her as an exception to a rule.
"But people who care about you will wanna help you. You just gotta trust their reasoning's what they say it is, y'know?"
"That's the curse of a poet, I think. We're always looking at words for a double meaning, for hidden layers that aren't being expressed. It's wonderful, when you're trying to understand someone, or when you're trying to write a line, but...it's harder to let something just be."
The good news is, once Crabb frees her legs, the weight of her body will pull on the others on her arms, and help create more slack to tear.
"Speaking plainly's a gift. Don't ever think it's not."
"Eh, sometimes it can bite you, even if not the same as bein' the more literary sort can. Can't tell you the amount 'a trouble it's got me in, when I ain't been careful about it. But it balances out, I s'pose. Ain't like I'm all that shy about trouble."
Tearing and tearing... she keeps an eye on the way Helena's weight is pulling at the remainders, because, "Alright, gonna support your weight and set you down properly on your feet when you're free, no use in risking you falling on your face if your feet hit the ground wrong."
"Thank you...I think it took my cane as well, but it can't break that."
It is, to be sure, just peeping out of the leaves nearby, but Helena leans into Crabb, trusting her to make sure she doesn't get hurt. The plant is almost mournful now, clinging even as the weight pulls them back and away. No prize, no corpse to keep. Just disappointment all around.
"But to address your point...sometimes being poetic gets you in trouble you don't even think is a problem. That I know well enough."
"Not realising folks have read you wrong until it's too late?"
She makes sure to set Helena right and steady on the ground, away from the plants on the wall. Puts herself in the space between, just in case, when she reaches to free the stolen cane, too.
"And then needing to extricate yourself from a situation before it becomes as inescapable as the vines, all the while worrying about how this now reflects on you and their opinion."
She nods, and the plant remains still. Pouting, like a child told to go inside instead of playing in the mud. It'll leave them be, but woe befall whoever gets near it next.
"Guess my second blessin' is not giving a rat's arse what most folks think 'a me, by now," she says, at the same time as she yanks the cane free and hands it back to Helena, "though even I ain't totally immune. But yeah, I reckon I get what you mean."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
The vines aren't too happy, and the one that's tearing tries to wrap itself around Crabb's wrist - the dying spasms of something wildly trying to preserve itself. The prey being held is already secured. This is a new threat.
no subject
"Enough 'a that," Crabb grumbles, batting the piece that tries to wrap around her away with her other hand, before finishing yanking them the rest of the way to clear Helena's throat. There. One one of the worst issues down, next... "Alright, now the stuff around your torso. We'll get you down proper when it ain't gonna keep squeezin' the life outta you while I try."
no subject
There's a rustling from the plant that could be best qualified as grumpy. It won't fight back on Helena's torso, but why is this newcomer so intent on trying to steal its prize? Why does it deserve it?
"I'm considering just staying in my cabin until they go away, at this rate..."
no subject
"Wouldn't be the worst idea, though I ain't sure the cabins are entirely safe. Easier to clear out, I s'pose..."
She keeps at it until Helena's got all of her breathing apparatus unobstructed once more, then sets about freeing her legs. Arms and easing her to solid ground after that.
"And don't you worry about it, sure wasn't gonna leave you like this."
no subject
"The halls aren't safe, the decks aren't safe, and if the cabins aren't safe, then where is? Perhaps I'd feel different if I could see the threat, but as it is, every time I so much as sit down, there's a risk."
Of being lost in dreams, or spirited away by vines, or followed by ghosts that needed to stay in the past. There's no real end to it, and it wears on one's patience.
no subject
"Mm, yeah, you've got it a lot harder than anyone else who can try their best to avoid the things." She grunts a bit as she puts more strength into tearing the vines away. "This has gotta be the hardest to dodge crap we've had happen onboard..."
The rain, before Helena's time, you could mostly avoid by staying inside and only interacting with other water sources when you had time to wait for the effect to wear off. The rifts didn't really breach cabins, so you could resort to Helena's plan to hide away if needed. This is... a lot worse.
no subject
"I just...wish I knew how much longer I have to endure. So I don't have to cling onto someone as a working pair of eyes for longer than necessary. I'd rather not be troublesome."
Which is a very nice way of saying that her independence is at risk, and she hates it.
no subject
"Mm." Crabb tilts her head a bit to herself. "How much is that you actually worryin' about bein' a bother to others versus it bein' a bother for you?"
Then, adding: "For what it's worth, the last thing that affected the ship like this before the rifts stopped around the end of the month. Reckon between the two, a precedent's set for this mess."
no subject
But she can practically hear the varied voices in her mind chastising her for trying to hide her own worries behind concern for other people, and strung up like this, it's not like she can exactly hide.
"It's...hard to explain, even for a writer, but...I just don't want to seem helpless, at the end of the day."
Her voice has gotten softer, and her head droops forward, looking a bit more tired than she did before.
"There's a difference between people helping you because they don't mind and them helping because they think you can't do without them. The latter is...not something I want anyone to think."
no subject
Crabb's voice gets a little softer, more thoughtful. "Mm. I hear you, I think. Makes it real easy to convince yourself askin' for help's a bad thing, wanting to be seen as capable enough to handle yourself no matter what."
Crabb's had her own streaks, inherently different from how Helena experiences the world but... wanting to be independent, useful. It's rarely worked out for her long term, trying to keep the standards she set for herself up.
"And I don't reckon anyone sees you like that, y'know. For what my opinion's worth." Seeing as the only person close to Helena she's really close with is Erin, as far as she knows, but...
no subject
Without the vines on her torso, it means she can take the deep breath she's been needing. In, out. Calming down, instead of letting herself walk in circles in her mind.
"Putting it all in plain terms like that, it makes it seem like I've been being terribly foolish. Seems you've been helping to free me twice over."
At least the vines are a straightforward problem.
no subject
"If there's one thing I've got a knack for, it's speakin' plain-like. Pretty sure it's half my charm." That last part's sort of a joke, but honestly, the fact she's as blunt as she is really is a bonus in many of the people close to her's eyes. "Ain't even all that foolish, gettin' all up in your head about somethin'. Just bein' human, really. God knows I've struggled with the whole... trustin' that the people around me ain't just humouring me."
Just ask Erin and how much effort she's put into getting Crabb to not see her as an exception to a rule.
"But people who care about you will wanna help you. You just gotta trust their reasoning's what they say it is, y'know?"
Almost there with the vines.
no subject
The good news is, once Crabb frees her legs, the weight of her body will pull on the others on her arms, and help create more slack to tear.
"Speaking plainly's a gift. Don't ever think it's not."
no subject
"Eh, sometimes it can bite you, even if not the same as bein' the more literary sort can. Can't tell you the amount 'a trouble it's got me in, when I ain't been careful about it. But it balances out, I s'pose. Ain't like I'm all that shy about trouble."
Tearing and tearing... she keeps an eye on the way Helena's weight is pulling at the remainders, because, "Alright, gonna support your weight and set you down properly on your feet when you're free, no use in risking you falling on your face if your feet hit the ground wrong."
no subject
It is, to be sure, just peeping out of the leaves nearby, but Helena leans into Crabb, trusting her to make sure she doesn't get hurt. The plant is almost mournful now, clinging even as the weight pulls them back and away. No prize, no corpse to keep. Just disappointment all around.
"But to address your point...sometimes being poetic gets you in trouble you don't even think is a problem. That I know well enough."
no subject
"Not realising folks have read you wrong until it's too late?"
She makes sure to set Helena right and steady on the ground, away from the plants on the wall. Puts herself in the space between, just in case, when she reaches to free the stolen cane, too.
no subject
She nods, and the plant remains still. Pouting, like a child told to go inside instead of playing in the mud. It'll leave them be, but woe befall whoever gets near it next.
no subject
"Guess my second blessin' is not giving a rat's arse what most folks think 'a me, by now," she says, at the same time as she yanks the cane free and hands it back to Helena, "though even I ain't totally immune. But yeah, I reckon I get what you mean."