ablativeholopleather | IC Contact/Inbox/HMD

"Will do, if only so next time you can see what happens."

But it's that grin of something cool happening, thrilled because it happened, and now that means that as long as she knows where she'll touch down, she can jump different places. Maybe even up the stairs, to surprise someone at the top. Oh, Erin's getting a heartfelt thank you for passing this part of the mail onto her, for allowing this to happen. (Maybe, if she gets a better grip on this, she can even see what it would be like to go on those shelves on purpose. She can think of a few people she'd like to surprise like that.)

"Magic shoes. I think I read a story about them once, but they weren't like this."

"Magic shoes." Yep, that's exactly what they were, and it's an amusing notion to say the least that they had specific shoes for that. He's wondering if there's such a spell for his boots, now. "And you're totally getting use out of them even if it's just to be silly with so that's like, even more of a bonus right? Totally worth it."

"I'm sure if I can figure out how to properly use them, they'll be that much more worth it. Just imagine!"

Being able to get things from higher up. Being able to explore more -

"Oh, if I had these earlier, I could have climbed to the top of the ferris wheel, probably...the other man and me couldn't reach where we'd need to go to get more than halfway up, but that was still a great deal of fun."

"Wait, you're supposed to climb that thing?" He was assured that they would have a long ride all the way around it, not anything physical involved. Now he kind of wished he'd done that his first day there.

"...No. You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to just ride it."

Listen. It was an idea, a longing, and no one had told her no.

"It wasn't in motion, if you were wondering."

On one hand, that seems like something that he should be quite concerned about. On the other, she's clearly fine, and had someone else there to spot her, so no harm done.

"I've climbed up stuff I probably shouldn't have, I'm not gonna judge. Scaled a wall because I got lost and ended up in a prison once."

"Were you arrested, or did you just come across the prison?"

No judgement either way, just an open curiosity about his story.

"Kinda surprised I didn't get arrested actually, but nah, it was more of like a prison break situation? Long story but the guy running New Muldul got usurped and locked up and like, he's a good guy and I needed to talk to him anyway but I got real lost trying to find a way in to where he was being held. So I kinda climbed the outer wall. Fell into the ocean a couple times in the process."

"You must be a terribly strong swimmer, then." Magic shoes would have helped him, no doubt, but everything about her speaks to Wayne having her attention - she's fascinated by whatever he chooses to share, and the idea of breaking into a prison is a move only a daring hero would make.

"I can't imagine how surprised he'd be to see you when you came in."

That actually gets a bit of a laugh from him. "Nope, I can't swim like, at all. I just also don't technically need to breathe all the time so I just kinda...sink? And then walk back to where I was going?" That's not alarming at all, right?

"Oh yeah, he had no idea we were coming. I had to kind of uh, fight the guy that put him there? It wasn't great. We kinda fibbed when we found him and said Viewax had offered him a pardon."

"...You don't need to breathe?"

That more than anything else takes priority. She knows that constructs don't need to breathe as much, but they were made like that. Wayne has been existing in her head as somewhere between human and not, but she'd never thought about breathing in that.

...okay yeah he could see where such a sentence would be alarming. Anyone chatting with him here might have had something to say about, in hindsight.

"I mean I do to be able to talk and stuff but yeah."

"....Huh."

What she's about to ask next will make more sense considering who she's close to, but...

"Did someone build you that way?"

A degree of politeness has been suspended in place of her disbelief.

A blink.

"Build- oh like a construct? Oh, nah man, nah. Been this way since I was a larva. All of us are."

Edited 2023-03-12 01:38 (UTC)

"And when you say larva, is that just your word for baby, or is it something else?"

Beat.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne, if this is something terribly obvious I'm missing or really rude, but since I can't see you, all I can go on is what you tell me."

"That's what I've heard, yeah." Oh no. There's a dawning realization that he probably should have had this conversation with her a lot sooner. But she's been so nice, there just wasn't room to broach the subject. Especially because...

"Wait."

"You can't see me."

Lucky that she can't witness his Dying Inside^TM face.

"I'm sorry. I've been just...assuming. One of my best friends in the world doesn't even have eyes but they perceive everything..."

Oh. Oh. This makes several things click into place.

"No, I'm sorry, I've been assuming you knew. I have eyes, but I've been blind since I was very young. My perception is made up of my remaining senses, though I mostly navigate by sound."

And to give an example, she indicates her cane, and then returns it to how it taps alongside her steps, a steady and near constant accompaniment. It's practically invisible, if you aren't listening for it, falling into the backdrop of sound that most people filter out of conscious thought.

"I've gone and made this so awkward...I'm truly sorry."

He hadn't even thought to question the cane. Or really anything else. He knew it was important to her but that was all.

Wayne is distressed.

He's also fairly quick on the uptake at least, and he reaches to lightly touch her arm so that she knows that he's right there in front of her before carefully laying his fingers against the back of her hand, that she might feel how comparatively cool and smooth he is where humans would be soft, textured and warm.

"Here, uh, if this helps any..."

"Oh my."

It's an honest response, and her touch is light, cautious. Carefully moving, until his hand is in hers. It isn't shocking that he's not human - there's enough people like that on this ship - it's just the difference there between the two of them.

"I had no clue at all."

Wayne has been very aware from the outset that he is very much nonhuman. The only resemblance is external and even then, that's kind of a stretch.

"I think we both went about this kind of backwards, huh?" Seems like sort of vital information that they both kinda took for granted.

He leaves his hand in hers so that she could build a better idea of it in her mind. He wonders if he should maybe describe himself, or let her touch his face too. How is this supposed to work?

"To be fair to the both of us, that isn't really information that comes up while relaxing in a hot tub."

She doesn't blame him, at least. It's silly, now that she thinks about it, but it's an interesting contrast between their hands - he's cool enough that it's refreshing, almost soft, and she wonders how she feels in exchange.

He chuckles a little because, yeah, there wasn't really a reason for any of it to come up before, when they were just chatting and generally being friendly.

Where his hands are cool and smooth and oddly malleable under a firmer touch, hers are warm and soft and interesting, the textures of her fingers subtle but noticeable. He lifts her hands just to be able to look a little closer, to see the fine hairs and little patterns of follicles, nails that he only known very few creatures to have, before he'd arrived here.

"Well, I guess now is the time to ask questions," he suggests, though she might note a hint of nerves with it. Time to go back to being a curiosity.

"Yes. So if you have any for me, please do ask - I won't mind, if they come from you."

That nervousness was heard, understood, and addressed.

"And I'm sorry again if any of my questions were rude - being on an entirely different page from you doesn't go and excuse that."

There's a moment of pause, then a soft smile that he sort of hopes gets conveyed in his voice now that he knows the broader picture.

He shakes his head on reflex at the apology. "Nah, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm mostly just grateful knowing it now instead of like, someone saying something about it later and assuming I was doing it on purpose." He's done plenty of dumb things in his life, hurting his friends' feelings absolutely should not be one of them. "But uh. Heh. I guess you kinda get why I can't swim, now."

She nods, since she knows he can see it. "I suppose it's also a little hard for me to grasp since I swim quite frequently myself. In the pool, it's simple - there's boundaries on the edge, and no need for that rope I spoke of."

A little pause, and she decides to give him another piece - not a secret, just a good memory. "I learned when I was young, like that. It was how we made sure I didn't drift away, but that I also wasn't deprived of getting to learn."

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