ArchivedLogs:Shark Fishing

Shark Fishing
Dramatis Personae Eric, Nox, Sebastian, Shane, Spencer
In Absentia	2013-04-24 Nox retrieves ALL the Holland boys.
Location Somewhere in the water...
It might be daytime. It might not be. It's hard to tell, down here, somewhere deep under the bay; at the best of times there isn't all that much light filtering downwards. Just a sea of murky-dark through which shapes occasionally dark. Silvery shapes. Brownish shapes. Sometimes blue shapes. Like the two slim blue creatures streaking through the coldark water. One is closing in on a FISH. Not a big fish. Bite-sized fish, snack-sized fish, a speckledy brown tautog lurking near the bay's floor, sneakydarting under a rock. The other baps him away from the tautog. He is onto the scent of something larger, although that is not the /reason/ for this interruption. Just: "{Don't eat that, it's threatened.}" The musical humming quiet of the words do not lend themselves well to scolding and so in delivery it is just a fact. C'mon, dude. "{Endangered and /delicious/,}" answers his brother. But he lets the tautog go, obediently, and shoots up higher to mostly just /glide/ along in his twin's wake. The other doesn't answer this. His last sentence was the first he'd said for a while and, if patterns are any indication, the last he /will/ say for a while longer. Something about the ocean disinclines them to /chatter/. For a while they are just swimming. Not particularly cautiously; in this part of the bay there is little large enough to /threaten/ them. One twin leads, the other follows, attuned to the sharp-tang of pheromones that signal excitement. In the distance there is a scent growing stronger. One that's remarkably similar to the twins' own, one that inspires a host of caution and fear from the smaller fish they pass. It is this that they are tracking -- possibly not to eat. Possibly to /talk/ to. Who knows. They don't make it far enough to find out. Their path is INTERRUPTED, abruptly, by a sudden body where there wasn't one before. Small and very much human and glurbling like he is /trying/ to talk, Spencer is now mostly just /flailing/. Still dressed and carrying a /backpack/ he was clearly not planning for water. From the twins there is still little by way of /chatter/, at least not to any senses humans might tell. A sudden burst of first confusion and then alarm lacing the water, sending a nearby group of bass scattering quickly. In tandem the two turn; one loops an arm beneath Spencer's; the other darts ahead towards the surface high above. Leading the way, still. Just in /case/ the shark they've been trailing decides to show up now. His twin is close behind, kicking fast through the water to power up, up, up. Towards oxygen that Spencer can actually use. There are other things in the bay beside boys and fish and shark. And water, of course. Silt. Okay, there are a lot of things in the bay, but today there is /another/ addition, one not native to the habitat. This one has no scent, no body to disturb the ebb and flow of moon-pulled currents, barely even a mind that would prickle on the most sensitive telepath's radar. This is Nox, who has spread through the shadows cloaking the sea floor on her mission to discover the Holland twins. Today she's decided to stretch to her very limit, as previous attempts at searching were slow going and unfruitful. The downside of this means that she is slower to respond to disturbances. They register but on a different level from normal consciousness. The escaping tautog cuts through part of her awareness and takes shelter with her beneath that rock, for instance--it tickles, distantly. But it takes the woman some time to trace the reason for its darting escape, to follow it back. But when she does, the waters are the duo-turned-trio suddenly darken as if ink-stained, and the boy dragging the youngest towards the surface will find his forward progress...goes faster. A lot faster, as if the ocean itself were pushing him out. There is probably too much nervous-agitated energy in the twins to notice this extra burst of speed, save to be thankful that they are eating up water more quickly. Maybe it's ADRENALINE that makes people lift cars, right? Either way, by the time Shane drags Spencer's head above the surface into the warm night air, the boy is -- spluttering, choking, coughing, but all these things mean still very much /alive/. Not in much position to /talk/ anymore though because -- spluttering! coughing! choking! Sebastian breaks the surface a moment later. "{Oh /god/ we're like seventymillion miles from /anywhere/!}" This is not in singing-humming underwater-speak but in sharply edged nervous Vietnamese. "{Chill, dude, the bay isn't even seventymillion miles /big/. We'll get him to an island. He'll jump home.}" Shane is so calm, look! TotallyCalm. No fretty at all. Except that even out of the water the gills on his neck are rapidly fluttering, and his black eyes are HUGEwide. He's peering across the expanse of water, biting his lip as he searches for land. Of which there is -- not really much around here to see. "{-- Probably only like three miles from nowhere.}" He says this while absently whacking Spencer on the back. Patpatpat. "Keep coughing, buddy," is at least in English. "The fuck were you thinking, dude?" In answer, Spencer says: spluttercoughchoke. Nox is not content with returning the boys to the surface, especially given the way that Spencer is hacking up saltwater. She doesn't crest so much as lift beneath the three boys to create a sort of waterbed surface that supports and provides a barrier between children and bay. Thank /goodness/ it is dark out, otherwise it would probably be pretty terrifying to suddenly be lifted thus without explanation--but with the darkness, she's able to grow a head and study them with huge, dark eyes, and offer reassurance. "Is everyone alive and unharmed?" she asks, her voice buzzing around and against them. "I am afraid I do not speak that language. English is best." All right, that is probably still terrifying, even with the woman using her nice whisper. "/Holyfuckingshit/," Shane says, while Spencer says -- prooobably something similar, in Vietnamese. Shane hugs Spencer close, and /both/ their teeth bare, both their claws unsheath. Sebastian's are prickling down into the shadow-raft. Shane's are carefully /not/ prickling into Spencer, who is still coughing out a lungful of saltwater onto Nox. "Holyfucking -- holy shit -- Jesus fuck I nearly pissed myself aren't you Pa -- aren't you Jax's friend?" Shane has thankfully not pissed himself but the terror in his expression suggests he was close. At the mention of Jax, Sebastian's claws retract. His gills are rapidly fluttering, both the short set on his neck and the longer ones down his side. He curls his knees up towards his chest, arms wrapping around them, abruptly /bashful/ in the presence of a Person. Fish don't tend to care much whether or not you have clothes. Shane has none of this bashfulness, only: "Holy/crap/ what are you doing here we're like miles out." He's still patting Spencer's back, although less firmly, now. Spencer is shivering, clinging closer. Cough. Coughcough. But not quite so /desperately/ anymore. Nox is more than capable of being prickled in this shape, and the surface beneath Sebastian's claws twitches the way a horse's hide will when attacked by flies. Ow, ow, ow. But she is stubborn in her insistence on keeping them above surface. Stubborn, and heedless of anyone's state of dress or lack thereof. Except perhaps for Spencer--he might be clearing the water from his lungs but his clothes are sodden and heavy still. Wings of shadow hike up to cloak around Shane and his brother to provide some insulation, if not actual warmth. "Your father's friend, yes," she confirms, voice shaken with the bobbing of the little wavelets. Or maybe that was the retraction of the claws. Ow. "Here for you. People are frightened. Unsure if you were taken. Sick with fear." Which might be why, without asking for permission or checking with her passengers, they have begun to skim towards the haze of light on the horizon. Nox spreads along the surface, large enough now to create more wings beneath the surface to propel them while her center stays stable. "He will need a doctor," she muses. "Pneumonia is a risk." Shane's arms stay curled around Spencer, his chin dropping to rest on Spencer's head. "Spence, we gotta have a /talk/ about safe teleporting." Spencer says: koffkoffkoff. And then, a little sulkily: "-- but (koff) you didn't answer (koff) my /message/." "-- What message?" Sebastian has been quiet at Nox's words but this prompts a guilty answer from him. And, still guilty, shifting to huddle closer to his brothers: "... you were out here looking for /us/?" "Why were they scared, that's dumb. This is the safest place there is for us." Shane scowls, slightly. "Maybe the only safe place." "They did not know you were here." Nox is silent through all conversation but the question directed to her and her answer is both soft and neutral. No judgment! Just information. "One suspects there are many messages for you. It was only a guess that you might be here that led to me being asked to look for you. No one else can go underwater." She's silent a moment, then adds with a contemplative murmur, "I thought isolation was safest too. After I escaped." Row...row...row... Their forward momentum continues unimpeded, gradually gaining speed and gently rocking the trio as she slides over the waves. "The safest for them, too," Sebastian says, softer. "If we stay here." He's hugging his shins tighter, resting his chin against his knees. Shane's looking around the water as they slide across it. "-- There's a /fuckton/ of water to search," he says, slowly. "Uhh. Have you been -- have you been looking /long/?" He frowns, a little uncertain. "I left (koff) a /message/ (koff) on your /phone/." Spencer sounds kind of miffed. "Because there was /science/ and you were supposed (koff) to /take me/." He is nestling, against Shane, against Noxshadows. Which he then pokes at, /fascinated/. "You a /person/ made out of /shadow/ that is /the coolest/. /Ever/. Are you a personshadow/boat/? Where did you escape from I escape from /everywhere/. It's like a (koffkoffkoff) /magic trick/." "Such was my argument." Nox's hum travels around them in lieu of laughter. "To paraphrase the response I received...that is for each to decide for themselves. Making the decision for those we love is apparently seen as unacceptable." Who knew? Not she. She pauses in her explanation as a particularly vigorous wave buoys them up and then drops them down the other side, not unlike a rollercoaster. It takes her a moment of wobbling--a moment in which they are splashed with spray, so sorry--before she gets the hang of compensating. Then it's smooth sailing again. "For most of the week now. Perhaps longer. I do not always track time well," she goes on to admit once the boys are all stabilized and snugly supported again. Poking provokes a tendril to rise up from the cushion they're resting on and /poke back/. "I am sometimes a boat, sometimes a spider, sometimes stories." She opts not to answer the question re: escaping. The sodden boys on the Noxraft barely even notice the spray of water, at least. Spencer lifts a hand to curl around that poking tendril in fascination. Shivery fascination. "-- Sometimes a /spider/, /I/ have a /spider/." This is excited, too. He wriggles away from Shane so that he can unsling his backpack from his back and pull out -- one very sodden Jerusalem. One very sodden remote control for Jerusalem. His eyes widen in horror. "-- Bastian," he whispers, teeth starting to chatter, "I think I drowned Jerusalem." Sebastian reaches to take the large spider-bot, biting his lip and frowning. "I -- I think he'll -- we should wait till he dries out to uh -- you know we'll make him better. {Or build him a new one,}" is added in a glummer aside to Shane, "{A /waterproof/ Jerusalem 2.0.}" "Jerusalem's tough," Shane says. "-- What stories do you have?" He's shifting a little uncomfortably, looking back to the water. "-- that's a lot of searching. I -- shit." The 'shit' is very quiet. He fidgets a little more. "You've seen Jax, then?" This is from Sebastian, as he hands Jerusalem back to Spencer. Said tendril sprouts others and plays a cheatygame of thumb war with Spencer. Nox wins! But the game ends with Spencer pulling away to retrieve his poor drowned spider. Their boat makes a soft and sympathetic sound, almost like a sigh, and the tendril retracts out of respect for their being in mourning. Luckily Shane is there to suggest distractions. "Are you familiar with 'Watership Down', Spencer? It is about rabbits on a quest." Bunnies are...springing up around them. Black bunnies, without much in the way of actual substance or defining characteristics but recognizable all the same. When they leap about, some portion of their body remains connected to the main body of Nox. Somehow she is able to juggle this and swimming them towards that ever-increasing glow of city /and/ conversation. Quiet conversation. Delivered directly to the older boys through the Nox-cloaks that have curled around them. "I have seen Jax, yes. Or what he allowed me to see. I think he is lost without you and is wearing a mask." She pauses. "A very bright mask but still a mask." "Yeah! Blackberry's my /favourite/ one," Spencer says, and he's not /quite/ not-in-mourning, hugging Jerusalem to his chest, but he is distracted from impending tears over this potential spiderdeath by bunnies. He reaches out to touch one, and laughs when his hand goes through it. "It's like Pa's!" "He really likes that book." Sebastian sounds a little glum, still. He's watching Spencer's shivering. "-- He always wears a mask. People always see what he wants them to see." Shane shrugs. "Yeah, but sometimes he's just as colourful underneath. It's when he's /not/ that --" He frowns. His head hangs. "Spence, you're shivering." Spencer's teeth chatter. "I didn't know you'd be in the -- it's /cold/ here. If /I/ had a rabbit," he also decides, "I'd name him El-ahrairah. Do you know any of /his/ stories?" Clearly Nox is not traveling nearly fast enough. There is also the problem that she doesn't exactly give off any sort of heat. Two very large problems and the city is still so far away! "I know some of them but perhaps another day, Spencer. We should return you and your brothers to your home, yes?" The rabbits disappear, and the darkness rises up around the little ones igloo-like, with a gap left at the top to allow them oxygen. Otherwise they're sheltered from both wind and spray--and as soon as Nox has completed that feat, the sense of speed picks up as well. The sound of water rushing by grows louder, waves are plowed through rather than ridden. And with this increase in effort comes silence. Mostly. By each shark brother's ear, her voice hums, "You /are/ coming back, yes?" The sharktwins are quiet, at this. Shane drags Spencer back into his arms, perhaps trying to HUG away shivers. It'd probably be more useful if he had a normal sort of body temperature. "... weren't going to," Sebastian says, very quietly. "We tried," Shane says, after a pause. "It just made everything shittier." The best part about wrapping herself up around the boys is that Nox can hug them. Full body hugs. /Squeeze/. And silence, as the water grows choppier. Navigating takes more concentration, stabilizing the little shadowcraft against each swell. But they aren't off the hook just yet. Just for them, like secrets being shared, when the going smooths out briefly she whispers, "To lose a part of one's family is to lose a hand, or a foot. A heart. Staying sometimes feel harder. But going leaves one crippled for life." And that is the extent of her evangelism. She says nothing further, partially because she simply can't. There's a heavy engine sound nearby, growing louder, and their course veers. The waves pick up, the ride becomes choppier, and she's growing tired. But behind the ship-noises there are others as well--the city is definitely close, to judge by the excited squawk of seabirds loose at night. And the smell. Must be a garbage scow. Shane tenses. Sebastian slumps against a side of the shadow-igloo-boat. Both their noses wrinkle. Shane shakes Spencer, a little bit. "Hey. Hey, you gotta stay awake. We're going to get -- you gotta go home, man." Sebastian is just quiet. Still slumped. "Do you really think he needs a hospital?" he says, quietly. "I don't -- think -- none of us can take him --" Frown. Shane exhales heavily. "Pa can take him. Hey, um, are you --" He's frowning, too, as the waves pick up. "Does this /hurt/ are you -- I mean we could have -- we're good swimmers, we --" "Spence'd freeze." Sebastian does not sound much less /worried/ but he is at least practical. Apologetic. "I guess you showed up just in the nick of time." He says this a little wryly. Spencer at least manages to rouse right about here. "-- big damn hero," he says, of Nox. Sebastian exhales, too. It's probably a laugh. "Language, little man." The chiding is soft and fond but do not doubt that even in dire circumstances, Nox /means/ it. And then, just as quietly, "Hospital would be best. Pneumonia, life-threatening. Can call your father." Each sentence is punctuated by another shift, up and down, sometimes to the side, and now they're /really/ riding a roller coaster. Then, without apparent warning, the going smooths out. Within seconds, there are stones scraping beneath them and the craft that she was disintegrates into something a little more tentacley to help the boys up onto...a short spit of sand, bordered by a wall of concrete. To their left, a flight of metal stairs and above, the looming black outline of a tourist-oriented pier. "Was a quote," Sebastian says, "from a -- nevermind. Say sorry Spence." He scoots closer to his brothers during this instability, maybe for support or maybe /to/ support, it's hard to tell which. He places a hand against Shane's arm, though, his expression briefly queasy. Spence says: mumble. Shane combs fingers against Spencer's wet hair, but gets to his feet, Spencer still in his arms, when they rock up onto shore. He helps Spencer up onto the sand first, scrambling up afterwards. Bastian is soon to follow. And then look down at himself again uncomfortably. "-- Oh, gosh. If they weren't going to ticket us /before/..." "Pfft. It's dark," Shane says. But then he doesn't really seem all /that/ confident. "-- Maybe we should call Ryan instead he has a car." "Joshua teleports," Sebastian points out. He seems very reluctant to go anywhere closer to Lights and People. "Um -- I -- thank you," he says to Nox. "For, I mean, you, that was -- that was /far/ and you -- thank you." Nox is no more eager to climb up. There are lights up there, a lot of them. But she hasn't finished with the boys just yet. Once they are on their feet, limb-like tentacles looped around each to keep them steady, they are steered closer to the wall. There, half-hidden beneath a slurry of rocks and dried seaweed, is a bundle. In that bundle are two small sweatsuits--used but /mostly/ clean--and a towel and most important of all, a pre-paid cellphone. Of the cheap variety, it is true, but... "I did not know there would be three," Nox murmurs apologetically, voice fainter here in the land of ambient illumination. Other limbs are already lifting the towel, bundling it around Spencer and chafing vigorously to get the blood flowing again. "You are very welcome. Please, call. I will stay until they come." "Yeeeeah, Spence was /unexpected/." Sebastian sounds wry. He considers the sweatsuits, and, with a slight frown, hands one to Shane. "Here. Wear this." Shane frowns, too, but doesn't argue, tugging the clothes on. Sebastian doesn't. "Spence. Let's get you out of those wet clothes, 'kay? Miss Nox brought some dry ones for you. -- um -- can I --" He gestures with the sweatsuit towards Spencer. Shane takes the phone, meanwhile. He holds it a loooong time, just staring at the keys. "Thanks," he says eventually, to Nox. It's kind of reluctant. But he dials. There are three boys and a tentacle shadow monster on a little spit of broken gravel and sand below a pier. This is where the call originated from. In the time between the call and their ride's arriving, Nox has helped Sebastian get Spence into the dry sweatsuit and transferred the towel to the blue boy, to create a toga-like garment. Modesty. It is important in this part of the world. Then they are urge towards the steps up to the surface, the backpack dragged along by yet another tentacle. The staircase is not the easiest climb for exhausted youth but she is there to help, tired though she is as well. Once there, she slides into the backpack, small and compact and easy to carry. While it remains dark, she's popped a couple of eye-crown antennae outside of the carry-all. It is a somewhat creepy effect but she promised to make sure they were safe and so she shall, keeping two large eyes out for anyone in the area. "Soon this will all be only memories." Spencer is sleeping. Nestled against Shane, curled up shivering in his brother's arms. Sebastian is leaning up against Shane, too, a small huddled pile of Boy and -- backpack. And tentaclemonster. "How'd it turn out?" Shane asks abruptly. "For you. With your people. You wanted to keep them safe, right? And they thought -- otherwise. Is it -- is it better?" Sebastian has been half-drowsing himself, but his eyes open again at this question. Curious. Frowning slightly. One eye swivels to study Shane. Nox digests the question for a time then admits, "I am still finding out if it will be for the better or not. But it is...it is very good. At the moment. In the moment. It...makes me hope for things I thought I was ready to live without." Their ride arrives with a flashing set of lights, blue, white, orange, red, blinking on top of the blue NYPD car that pulls up right onto the edge of the sand. Sidewalks? They're just /little roads/. Eric pops out of the driver's seat, and he is in uniform. Bike uniform, with his normal jacket pulled over it, giving him a strange double-uniform look. He leaves the car running and heads down onto the sand towards the group of people, eyeing Nox suspiciously as he approaches. "... Hope." Sebastian echoes this quiet and kind of distant. "That's good. That's -- I'm glad. You have that." His head topples sideways to fall against Shane's shoulder. Shane just grinds his teeth against each other, considering. For a moment he opens his mouth, almost speaking, but the flashylight policecar that pulls up has him shutting it again. "Hey!" It is Sebastian who calls to Eric first, waving a hand when the flashing lights stop on the -- beach. "Hey we're here and Spence is cold and don't give her that look she's a /friend/ she -- got us from the ocean Spencer might have /died/ it was far and, um," quieter he adds, "thankyou." Shane doesn't add anything at all. He hugs Spencer to his chest and instinctively is rising when he (smellshears) sees Eric approaching; instinctively is taking a step towards him -- but then stops, rocking back a step instead, his head bowing. He stays quiet, his black eyes glistening. Ono! Lights! As the flashers wash over the little group, Nox's googly eyes dissolve or yank back into the pack or /something/. They go /quickly/, though. The backpack shifts around as she settles within it but while Sebastian is speaking in her defense, she opts to remain silent. And hidden. It does not take a telepath to read the intensity charging the air--a low profile is both appropriate and useful. Eric gives Shane a long look, silent, face professionally blank, before he turns to Sebastian. "Come on. Let's get you guys in the car where it's warm." he says, gesturing to the police car with one hand. He gives Nox another, careful, look, then nods. "You can come too. Come on." he gestures once more, ushering them closer. Through all of this, his eyes are more on Sebastian, Spencer, and Nox, than Shane. He is trying not to meet Shane's eyes. Shane looks at Eric, too, his gills fluttering. But he's silent, still. His head bows when Eric finally speaks, and his trudge towards the car is heavy. "Woah are you okay? I mean you don't have to hide /he's/ a friend, too. It's OK. He's safe." Sebastian looks concerned at Nox's sudden hiding. He isn't carrying the backpack on his back, but cradling it, much like Shane with Spencer, carefully against his chest. "-- Spence was in the water, it's cold, he might need a -- he won't stop shivering. {Also you should hug him,}" is his kind-of-sad kind-of-uncomfortable advice to Shane, but he offers this in translation a moment later: "You," to Eric this time, "should hug him." "Lights." Nox's voice drifts up from the bag, barely audible. "This is fine. Tell him, pneumonia. Tell him, hypothermia. He will need medicines for his lungs. We see it often, in the tunnels." The bag is still and silent for a moment. Then, as if in afterthought, "Hugs are an excellent remedy for everyone else though." Eric turns to go open the door to the patrol car, holding the back door open. "Do we need to take him to the hospital?" he asks, turning to look at Sebastian. His eyes flick momentarily to Shane, and his face tightens slightly, fingers gripping just that much tighter on the door. He releases it, flexing his fingers out, and then opens the front door. The car is still running, but Eric reaches in to fiddle with the heat settings for a moment. Warm air blasts through the back of the car with the loud rush of fans. "Oh -- gosh. Um. Lights -- Eric, can you turn the lights off, please? And I think we might -- yeah. Miss Nox says -- yes. Hypothermia. Maybe pneumonia. I don't want him to get sick but /we/ can't take him they wouldn't let -- can you make sure he --" Sebastian gestures towards Spencer. Shane blinks rapidly, clear inner eyelids opening and closing at the tightening of Eric's expression. "You sit up front," he says to Sebastian, scrubbing his knuckles against his eyes as he carries Spencer into the back seat, settling his brother first and then sliding in himself. Sebastian's shoulders slump. He grimaces. "Hugs /are/ a good remedy," he agrees with Nox, kind of wistfully. A low and thoughtful sort of humming emanates from the backpack. Nox is perhaps considering this lack of hugs. But...first things first. "Thank you, Sebastian," she murmurs eventually--poking an eye out and then just as quickly withdrawing it. Oh, how she would like to whisper additional instructions to Eric... But that may have to wait until they arrive at their destination. Eric steps around the police car and settles back in the driver's seat. He flicks a set of switches down below the radio, cutting the lights off instantaneously. "I can turn them off until we are get started. I'll..." he trails off, frowning. "I'll figure something out." he says. Even while Sebastian settles into the seat next to him, Eric's attention is focused in the mirror, looking back at Shane. He looks down, coughs once, then looks up. "Buckle up. Let's get you guys home." he says. Once they are on their way, the sound of sirens drowns out the ability to talk as they dart through the streets of Brooklyn, back into the Real City.