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

[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.

[besainted]

[ He takes the praise with a slight increase to his pleased smile, but waves it off as well. ]

Or ask for a quick portal to a convenient one, if things get overwhelming. They don't all have to be doorway-styled, you know, I could just drop you straight into one.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Yeah, couldn't they, like, drop him somewhere too shallow then, and get him hurt? Who knows. David carefully floats to the deeper end so he can tread water there.]

Just... a few more minutes. I need to think about how to deal with this. I think... I think I might ask Judd for help. His shields are so powerful that he can keep me out of his head with my other power. He was even the one to tell me it was still something like telepathy. Maybe he can help with this.

[besainted]

Take your time. This is your schedule we're working on.

[ And yeah, he's got to get back to work eventually, there's money to be made even at the potential end of the world, and these hotel rooms don't pay for themselves. But he can take this time, at least.

He scoots a little nearer, dropping one hand to trail fingers through the water. ]

I'm sure he can. This wouldn't be a bad way to train it, though. A good way to isolate surfaces you interact with. Do you get anything from the pool floor?

[helpdesk_hero]

If he's as good as I suspect, he could put barriers up around me.

[Telepaths back home down that all the time. But David lets himself drift down just enough to touch the bottom. And yelps, quickly paddling to the top. Yeah, that isn't going to work.]

Pools have a sense of self. Fucking hell. Pools have a sense of self

[besainted]

[ What a weird concept. But hey, if that's what David would like. He watches the experiment with curiosity, and nods when he bobs back up again. ]

I figured you'd feel something. But you have to admit, this is a good place for easing into feeling one thing at a time.

[helpdesk_hero]

It... I'm already dealing with my swimsuit.

[That's been a constant niggling fount of knowledge in his mind.]

It was in a box for a long time, waiting. Apparently summer clothes are prepared quite a bit in advance.

[besainted]

[ He nods a concession, then pauses for a wry, vaguely puzzled smile. ]

Do these things have ... personalities to you? [ Something he'd know if he still had David's last power, irritatingly. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

It’s... complicated? Not really, but they are aware of their purpose, sort of. So disappointment or yearning CAN be there? It’s weird. Mostly I get the facts. In DETAIL. I know how many cups of coffee I have had out of my favorite mug. I also know that my pen cup doesn’t understand a purpose of holding liquids. Only pens and pencils.

[besainted]

[ He considers it for a few seconds, sorting the answer through. ]

That's almost ... [ This takes him a couple seconds more, because here's a word he pretty much never stoops to: ] Cute.

[ Objects, being cute! Who knew. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

Objects have history. I always knew that. This is...

Too much. They know now. But the rest? All of it is ‘not now’. It’s... everything at once. As good as I am at arranging knowledge, I know how to organize the human mind. Anything beyond very recent history is... all in a jumble.

[besainted]

[ Also fascinating; he'd have loved to learn all this with a touch. But it's not so bad hearing it from David directly, he supposes. He shifts, methodically pulling off shoes and socks, and rolling up his pants legs. ]

You're selling yourself short with all this, David. This is an entirely different category of information from what you're used to working with, and you've had it for, what, a few hours?

[helpdesk_hero]

What I had before, what I've adapted to? It's what I was since I was a teen.

[He's in a dark mood, very dark mood. But he reaches out and turns the suppressor back on before swimming for the edge.]

I should eat before I go.

[besainted]

[ With pants legs rolled up, he dips his legs into the pool, and beckons to David with a toss of his head. ]

You should. You should also relax a little before you go, too.

[helpdesk_hero]

[Oh man. That's tempting. David wades over and runs his hands over the man's legs where they are bare.]

I can only handle floating some long. I don't really do water so much. I'm an ice guy, you know. Beaches are nice, though. I'm currently scared of sand, though.

[besainted]

I can't say the beach would be very inviting this time of year, anyway. [ He reaches a hand to comb fingers through David's short hair fondly. ] Take your hour here. Have lunch, get in contact with Judd, relax ... and start your first official training montage rested and refreshed.

[helpdesk_hero]

[The way he looks up at Damian... God there are words that he wanted to say. And he bites his tongue.]

Thanks. Less than an hour here so I can get out of here and eat without possibility of knowing what the food felt.

Damian, I...

[He wants to say it. He should say it before the world ends.]

Want to thank you.

[besainted]

[ There's quite a lot in that look turned up at him, and Damian isn't sure how to categorize it. Nor how to quite categorize his own reaction to it. There were no classes on this, and no one to get close enough to him to count as prior experience.

He isn't sure if it's a good idea to slide those fingers to the back of David's head, to lean down and draw him into a kiss, but that's just what he does. David makes it hard to plan his usual five steps in advance, and the encroaching, potentially world-ending chaos around the imPort cities makes it harder still to mind. ]

[helpdesk_hero]

[He didn't say what he wanted. It's fine. He's fine. There's still tenderness. Still a kiss. He can take that and hold on to it. Not like there's much time anyway, and he'd hate to die with the pain of rejection again.

Too many times. Too many regrets. Better not to regret breaking a good thing.

And that nice, soft kiss, he pulls back and smiles.]

Mind taking me back up there once I climb out? I want to be as efficient about my time as I can be.

[besainted]

Of course.

[ It goes without saying he would, really. He draws back from David with some regret, gathers his feet under him, and rises to go and fetch the bath towel. He holds it ready for David, head tipped as he considers the time passed. ]

Food should be delivered by now. You're sure you don't want anything more substantial, to last you a while?