Mask Or Menace - IC Contact Post

[helpdesk_hero]

This is David Alleyne, I'm not available at the moment.
Please leave your name, contact information, and what this is regarding after the beep.

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

I don’t know. I really don’t. I wish I did.

[What if he knows ALL the water has experienced? He might cry.]

I’m half afraid to eat.

[besainted]

Then let's try it. It would be useful for you to know.

[ He pulls away, starting for the portal with a cheerful energy. ]

Grab a bathing suit, we'll get you lunch and run a few experiments while your suppressor has its charge.

[helpdesk_hero]

I don’t own a bathing suit.

[He rises, grabbing his clothes to pull on, quick as he can.]

Or sandals.

[besainted]

[ Damian sighs, stopping to wait next to the portal for him. Of course he doesn't own a bathing suit. ]

All this time in LA, and we still haven't gotten you one? [ It's fair, though. It's not like Damian is ever really a fan of swimming. It's hard to look perfectly ordinary with all those scars on display. ] I'll do a shopping trip while you're eating, then.

[helpdesk_hero]

Please nothing embarrassing

[Dressed at last he heads for, and through, the portal. And here he feels safer.]

Why couldn’t they give me something useful?

[besainted]

[ He huffs, stepping in behind him to close the portal. ]

Do you really think you can’t trust me with fashion?

[ Please. He shakes his head. ]

And it is useful. Or it will be, once you’ve learned to handle it. [ He nods toward the room service menu at the writing table. ] Pick something out.

[helpdesk_hero]

I think I can. I'm just worried you're going to try and make me pleasing to look at rather than comfortable.

[If he's light and joking, he isn't panicking, okay? He sighs and heads for the table and considers it.]

Grilled cheese, tomato soup, fries.

[Nothing good. All quick.]

[besainted]

[ Getting him a sexy swimsuit is for later, ok. In the meantime he's pulling out a phone, flipping through swimwear stores for the portaling to. ]

If that's what you're feeling like having. [ Not very classy, but fine. ] Just put it on the tab.

[ Annndd got it. He turns away, tugging open a portal as he goes into the back alley behind the shop he's picked out, and sealing it just as quickly behind him. Be right back. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

It's... it will use the least amount of time.

[But he nods, reaching for the room phone. Maybe he'll throw in a salad.]

Of course, they're also things, if my powers activate on them, would have VERY short experience bases.

[And then Damian is gone. And David's alone. in the silence of the room. Is it wrong that the silence is driving him mad?]

[besainted]

[ He's not gone for long, terribly conscious of the time limit they're working on. It might be the quickest bathing suit run the employees have ever seen, but he's back in a little under five minutes, bag draped over his arm. ]

Got them. [ The bag gets held out; swim trunks, even, not a speedo. You're welcome. ] Let's try this quickly, and come back to your lunch.

[helpdesk_hero]

[David would be so self-conscious in a speedo. But he seems relieved.]

Of course. I'll leave a note to leave the food in the room.

[And with that he stands and immediately starts stripping. Like he's even remotely bothered with being naked in front of Damian anymore.]

[besainted]

[ Hey, no complaints. He takes a seat on the edge of the bed, legs extended and ankles crossed, the enjoy the show. ]

This should be quick. Just into water deep enough to get off the pool floor, pause the suppressor, and find out if you have an easy out or not.

[helpdesk_hero]

And have to live the rest of my life in water? Fun.

[He definitely doesn't sound fully amused by the prospect.]

My toes would get all pruny.

[besainted]

[ He huffs a quick laugh, shakes his head. ]

Of course not, it would just be for a break. You're going to get a handle on this power.

[helpdesk_hero]

You have faith in me.

[He wished he had it himself. But damn if it doesn't sound fond when he says it.]

How did I ever get so lucky as to have you in my life?

[besainted]

[ His eyebrows quirk, but: ]

Looking like you do and talking about tight-fitted superhero uniforms to a new arrival was a great first step.

[helpdesk_hero]

Ah, it's the shallow factor.

[And look, for once he's not arguing the looks. He finishes dressing, grabs a towel, and nods to Damian.]

Pool then. Should we walk down?

[besainted]

[ They could. Or they could portal into a discrete corner of the outdoor pool behind the towel shed. Damian leans to open make just that happen, and gestures toward it invitingly. ]

I hope Rupert makes as good a use of this power as I do.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Well that's definitely something interesting, isn't it? David goes through the portal and waits for his boyfriend to join him.]

I can't imagine anyone uses it as well as you, Dee.

[besainted]

[ He just shrugs; he's pretty much only used it for actual teleportation with David, the really creative uses involved combat that he's probably better off not recounting for him. ]

I think lazily is a more accurate word.

[ The pool is all David's; he drags a poolside chair over to the edge, settling himself down for a convenient seat to observe from. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Actually, David would be proud, and give him pointers. Except he'd wonder why Damian was fighting.]

You're still creative, my lazy friend.

[He leaves the towel near Damian and moves to the pool. Finds himself the deep end and lowers himself in. Even manages a few laps of the pool before moving to tread water in the far end.]

Can you swim?

[besainted]

[ He's content just to watch, same as he had with the skating. He moves to the edge of the seat when David treads near his deep-end post, though, and offers his question a shrug. ]

You won't find me on any competitive swim teams, but I live in a city of canals. [ You know, back home. Not Maurtia Falls. ] It would be a bad idea to not know how to.

[helpdesk_hero]

I just want to make sure that if something goes wrong, you can help. I should probably do the shallows, though.

[He swims to the shallows takes a deep breath. This is something he has to do. Being scared will do nothing.Then he puts himself into a float. Closes his eyes and tries to get comfortable with that before finally, at last, turning off the device.

Water, it turns out? Not enough of a sense of self. Or maybe there is something about it being a liquid. The air itself hadn't bothered him, so maybe it's that? Who knows. But for a moment he doesn't have the device on, and he's at peace. It's perfect.]

[besainted]

[ Fair enough, though Damian trusts he won't run into that much difficulty. As David floats, Damian rearranges himself, sinking to a crosslegged seat at the edge of the water closest to David. He gives him a good few long moments, then, looking pleased and loud enough to be heard by ears under the water line: ]

I take it it's working.

[helpdesk_hero]

It is. You're a genius, Dee.

[And he couldn't have thought of that himself.]

I guess I have something I can do. Just, you know, buy a pool and die in it.