deercountry | august catch-all

[the first time he lets go of pal's hand since they came down to the shore is now, to sit on one of the jutting rocks and unlace his shoes. to be fair even that is tentative, done with a glance that is taking measure of how pal is handling this. not fussing, he swears, just... concern, in general. in situations like this he prefers careful observation of all the variables, even if it's just to know when to squeeze pal's hand tight.

rio's having a good time though, already skittering to the water and diving under, head popping up to regard them impatiently.] You're going to have to tell her not to swim too fast, she'll eh... zoom around.

[here's him not asking if pal's sure, because he knows pal will tell him. it was his idea after all.]

[Palamedes would be lying- and everyone knows how likely that is- if he claimed he hasn't thought more than once on the way here that he would like to go back home, actually. The pull of the mystery at the bottom of the ocean, of the history of this place that might shed some light on their current circumstances, is great; but the oppressive mass of water is great and terrible, as they approach. He hasn't minded the sea, at a distance; when Viktor coaxes him down to the safe distance of the docks to tell him about ships, that's fine.

But standing on the shore with nothing between him and the water besides a stretch of wet sand is, hm, different? Too close in some ways to the last horrific journeys out to sea he's had, and just different enough in others.

He watches Rio having fun in the water - which is slightly glowing! wow! that actually does help, considering - and blinks himself out of a heavy frown when Viktor speaks. Ah, yes, they are here-]

Honestly, a straight zoom down might help matters. Hang on- [He has a tiny backpack here for putting Sea Objects in, which he now takes a moment to tighten the straps of. He's not going to lose his cool sea objects if he has to go down there, nuh uh.] Do I- hmm. Where do I put my shoes?

Rip off the bandage mentality? Perhaps. [viktor muses, shoes put to the side and on top of the same rock he's sitting on.

which he gestures to.] Here is fine. If they get stolen that is just the sort of fast paced life we lead, I'm afraid.

[he can reach out again, hand running down to squeeze pal's forearm. rio splashes to remind them the water is here, thank you.] I should warn you, adjusting to being able to breathe water is, hm... unpleasant.

[Well, he felt almost good about ripping the bandage until that tidbit about adjusting. Like, he doesn't want his heart to explode from the shock or something? Maybe taking it slow is a better idea; Rio will have to wait for Palamedes to be done making faces, which he is doing right now.

He does laugh at the shoe thing though. God.]

The fast-paced life of having my favorite [only] boots stolen? It's almost as if you don't like the yellow.

[But! Alright! He twists his arm to take Viktor's hand and give him a swift kiss on the knuckles, then Boldly marches towards the water. Ennh... ugggghh....]

Can you count down? That'd help.

Frankly I'd be terrified to see what boots you would get to one up this choice. [though he does like the boots, despite himself. he thinks he might have a weird palamedes based bias though, shocking as that is.

his lips quirk, at the kiss and the march, following after as well as the sand and his leg will manage. at least the water isn't freezing, sun warm enough that he doesn't flinch when they hit it.

he does turn to take both pal's hands, walking backwards himself carefully as he leads them further in- to the knees, to the waist.] Very well. Three, two, one-

[and that's when he's far enough to dunk himself underwater, tugging pal with him. rio whirls happily around them, glad they're finally doing something, and the sensation of taking a breath of sea water is... hm, weird.]

Something garish, of course. Maybe orange.

[The yellow is nice, thanks for supporting his choices. They match the... house, or parts of it.

But ah, here they go, and Palamedes makes a point to only focus on Viktor as they head into the water. Viktor, and not the uncharacteristically comfortable water temperature; holding Viktor's hands, and not the steadily heavier feeling of his increasingly waterlogged clothes.

The split second that Viktor is underwater and he is not is almost funny- tall guy privilege- but then he is under, and he shuts his eyes and holds his breath automatically. It's only carefully reminding himself that the water is fine that makes him breathe it in before he outright panics - would not be great for his first underwater breath to be in a panic - and it is... fine? It's not super great, and his first act upon opening his eyes is to make a face Viktor knows well: it's the 'must we eat weird foods with flavor?' face, except for saltwater.

So that's great. He's not freaking out, which is better than the alternative.

...And nobody said anything about talking underwater, so he lets go of one of Viktor's hands to gesture... down? Time to do the horrible swim?]

You know there are shoes that have lights along the soles, if you want to truly sell the effect.

[don't. hilarious but at what cost.

he has to wonder how much is some ridiculous magic and how much is the fact they are squids- the breathing of course but the pressure regulation for going deep, the way the salt doesn't sting his eyes and he can regard pal's face as he copes with all this. maybe it's magic coaxing them to be more like squids, for a time. alarming.

either way his lips can't help but quirk at the weird food face, letting go of only one of pal's hands so he can cup pal's jaw to convey something like comfort or compliment for making it this far. rio nudges up, all but glowing in against the dark water.

viktor gives him a nod, lacing their fingers. no latching onto rio yet, though she stays by pal and will gladly rocket them wherever they need to go. a slow swim through the glowing trail might not be so bad, except Ocean. viktor certainly enjoys it, aside from glancing over to check in with pal every once and a while.]

[Next fashion statement: Palamedes invests in Heelys, thanks for the inspo. Or: luckily they are underwater, and no one need follow up the suggestion of light up shoes that earnestly, because he might have.

No. Well. ... No.

So: the water. Palamedes squeezes Viktor's hand, absently reaching out to give Rio an appreciative underwater pat with his other hand. This is just reminiscent enough, all of a sudden, of when Rio had hauled him out of the water and she and Viktor had mostly-dragged him away from the beach, but if he shuts his eyes very hard for a few seconds, he can put that sudden dizzy rush of dread in a box and ignore it—

Eugh.

So he's not enjoying it, but he manages to catch Viktor's eye and give him a reassuring half-smile - reassuring mostly that he's not bailing, not that this is like, a cakewalk. Rio's easy presence on one side and Viktor earnestly enjoying the water-besides-the-anxiety-anchor are better things to focus on, so, he'll do that...

After a few moments of kind of not hating it, the shadow of a Large Fish passes over them outside of the sparkling path, and Palamedes lets out a startled and underwater-warbly-] Fuck off—

[why do they make them that big!!!]

[sadly palamedes cannot be encouraged to more shoe crimes, not yet at least.

regardless viktor tries to keep from purely motherhenning, or tutting, or any of the ways he could keep his attention and concern on pal. frankly he wonders if this is some sort of immersion therapy for pal, set stubbornness rather than some intense interest in admittedly interesting ship wrecks. just not that interesting, compared to what can only be called trauma.

in fact it's one of those People things he isn't really sure what the accepted, right answer was. insisting pal not put himself through it? offering soothing words and leading him carefully? one thing he's learned from his time with pal is there isn't really a right or wrong way to their interactions, simply their way and how that panned out.

so, basically, he settles for being chill about it. half and half. occasional glances over. it seems to be going well even, until a shadow passes over.

huh, big fish. living next to a highly polluted area of ocean with intense mutations means it doesn't particularly impress him, which certainly makes it easy to turn and grasp both of pal's hands.]

Rio- [he manages to put into the water, a nod to where she's calm and eying them curiously. he hope it imparts that they aren't in danger, like a measure of what to be concerned about. just a big old fish. probably.]

[why are fish that big? illegal

Or: Palamedes does not like the Large Fish Quotient of this ocean, enjoying it a completely inverse amount to how much he enjoys the Large Rio Quotient. He looks between her and Viktor a few times, like if he does that enough, nothing else just outside this safe tunnel of illuminated water can possibly... be large and threaten him with its presence.

It's a process. He tugs Viktor in by both hands, leaning the rest of the way to kiss his forehead in thanks. The novelty of the underwater kiss will occur to him in due time, but maybe in full on the way back. Still: the forehead kiss, because he's, hm, kind of embarrassed? It's just uncomfortable enough to have visible fears, and Viktor is handling it perfectly in every way, without fawning and drawing more attention to it. He isn't about to bluster about how fears are for little babies or anything, that's ridiculous, but he might hate more than the large fish itself to be handled with kid gloves.

So. Good. A kiss for gratitude, since Palamedes would rather not glub nonsense at him.

The next time a big fish shadow (threatening) passes overhead, he simply stares at Rio until it's gone. Whew. Okay. He gestures then, letting go of one of Viktor's hands; they can Continue.]

[viktor is made aware underwater kissing could be a thing, a matter that makes his lips quirk before he settles on regarding rio as well. that would be an excellent distraction, and no one could kick them out. maybe a big fish would get too close but otherwise.

when they're ready to start moving again rio decides to tuck close, trying to nudge them into play as she darts around. viktor rolls his eyes at her, gesturing towards a ship coming up, lips quirking when she darts ahead to check it out first.

he wonders if the little rooms of the ship will be more comfortable for pal. he points towards the opening in the side rio is nosing at, brow lifted. then a pause before he pulls out his omni and decides to cut off the communication problem of talking underwater.]

She's going to want you to break the crates open for her. She's gotten quite annoyed when they aren't rotten enough for her to manage.

[Yes, the only thing Palamedes likes more than being underwater is being underwater in a cramped and slowly decomposing room, for sure. Or: probably not really, but he'll live with it for Rio's sake. If he ignores how tiny ship cabins are, then perhaps the fact that there's a ceiling will feel better than happening to glance upwards into nothing but deep water overhead.

Pros, cons. The omni is a genius pull, and he skims the text, giving Viktor a Look. This lady, she's so needy...

He doesn't pull out his own omni to reply; he'll do that in a bit, for Conversation, but busting up rotten crates isn't that difficult. Specifically because he's a necromancer and they are all covered in living gross sea things, which means he can blow them up by thinking about it. He drifts towards Rio, to peer into the opening in search of Crates, nudging her to find him one. It only takes a gesture from him once she does to kind of... squelch all the assorted algae and barnacles into jelly, which gently cracks open the crate in turn for how deep they managed to wiggle into the grain of the wood.

It's both very disgusting to look at and not as disgusting as it would have been on land, congratulations. Tada!! Now, he takes out the omni.]

You know she's only after my attention.

[After he's already done the crate opening, he says this.]

august catch-all

for palamedes, august where pal loves the sea so much

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