Dylan put his hands on the bulkhead, and they went straight through. His feet began to meld with the floor, and suddenly he could feel the footsteps above him. It was all unsettling. And he was having the same problems. Suddenly the lights seemed way too bright, the waves outside too loud. And Avery… he could hear her, but he couldn't understand.
He had been right in front of his cabin door when this started. Just a small light-headed feeling that he almost mistook for seasickness. It only took himself a second to remember that he wasn't seasick. He had reached out to the wall in an attempt to stabilize himself, and his hands fell through the well. And now he was sinking slowly into his own ship.
He shouted, the panic in his voice twisitng and warping it. When he cried out, the whole ship cried out with him. Dylan began to cry, wishing for Avery to come and make it stop.
Avery felt herself sinking through the deck and her head immediately shot up.
Screw this headache, where's Dylan? she wondered, standing up slowly.
"Dylan?!?" she called, carefully making her way down. "Where are you? What's going on?"
All Dylan could do was cry. Through the tears, he could see his hands melding into the ship. He felt the water lapping at the bottom of the ship like it was at his legs. It was a startling stream of information that overran his thought processes.
"Dylan?!? Where are you? What's going on?"
He stopped sinking. He couldn't pull himself free, but he wasn't getting anyworse. He could think, if only a little more.
"Avery?" He tried. His voice was weak, and seemed to resound throughout the ship. The light of outside still closed on him, and each footfall was deafening, but it still helped, hearing Avery.
Avery heard her name, though soft, and headed in the direction she thought it was coming from. Thinking quickly, she shapeshifted into a wolf, knowing that it would give her heightened senses so that she could find Dylan easier.
"I'm on my way over there!" she said as she listened attentively.
Two heartbeats pounded in her ears, one Dylan's, the other Vaughn's. Dylan's would be the closer one, so she followed that one. Eventually, she found him, and she quickly changed back.
"Oh my gosh," she whispered when she saw him. "What can I do? How can I help you?"
Dylan gestured for her to come closer with his free hand. As she stepped up, the lights backed away, and the sounds became cleaner, more concise and quiet. He held out his hand, willing her to take it. He needed an anchor, something to keep him grounded to humanity. It seemed that she was as close as he was coming to having that.
"Hold," he whispered as she came, "I need… to hold… something real."
Avery blinked.
"Okay," she said quietly, taking a step closer. She then reached her hand out to take Dylan's, though her own were shaking. Taking his hand, she sat down next to him, fear and worry making her eyes shine.
Dylan felt Avery's hand, though not where he should have felt it. It seemed lower than where his hand was, but when he looked it was there, holding his own. The sensation soon faded, as did the rest of his feelings. The lights retreated and the sound returned, and his feet and hand slowly separated from the bulkhead. He held on a little bit longer, just taking in her eyes, before letting go tentatively and getting to his feet. He said nothing, just nodded at the ground in shock.He was feeling like himself again. It wasn't him and the boat. Just him.
Avery stood as well, her heart pounding and head swimming with overwhelming thoughts and feelings.
"I– I– Ohmygosh, I need to go," she stammered quickly, her throat feeling like it was being squeezed tightly. She rushed out of the room, went to her cabin, and collapsed onto the bed.
What just happened?
Dylan looked down at his hands. There was no glow of light from the right.
What did I just go through?
It was like the boat had become an extension of him. Or he had become the core of the boat. For a minute, he could feel everything the boat was feeling, see everything the boat would be able to see. He temporarily became the boat. It hadn't happened voluntarily though. It had just…. happened.
He called down the hall and found there was strength in his voice again, "Avery? Are you okay down there?"
Avery breathed heavily, trying to fight back her fears and worry, along with the other thoughts and emotions that kept clawing their way into her mind.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. Her voice caught on the last word, her emotions too strong for her to hold back.
(gtg for now, getting tired. Catch ya tomorrow?)
(Yeah, I'll be here. 'Night!)
(Just putting this back on page 1.)
(Moving this back to the first page.)
(Sorry, didn't think I'd get so tied up.)
Dylan went to check on Avery, knocking on her door before stepping in slowly.
"Did I do something to you?" Dylan asked, concerned. "You helped me before, at the cabin, I thought it would work here too. I didn't realize it…"
(Np, it's fine.)
Avery sat up and took a deep, shuddering breath before replying shakily, "No. No, it wasn't your fault. I was just… just scared. I was scared for you." She shook her head. "I'm sorry I worried you," she said quietly, not meeting Dylan's gaze.
"I think I ought to be the one apologizing." said Dylan, offering a weak smile, "I threw you into that mess as soon as I called your name. Anyways…" Dylan turned towards the door, "…I'm going to grab the laptop. Then we can sketch out that route?"
"Mm-hm," Avery agreed simply, nodding.
Dylan went back to his door, this time unimpaired by his ability's throwing a hissy fit. He took the laptop bag by the handle and left, heading back to Avery's room. Once again, he knocked softly as he entered.
"Here we are," he said, opening the laptop and setting it in front of them. He opnened the map and pointed as he talked, "So we think the stone's here, and if I'm right we'll land here."
(Sorry, I was gone all weekend!)
"So the quickest route would be this way, then," Avery pointed out a route as she spoke. She'd shaken off her emotions while Dylan was gone and went back to "leader mode."
(Putting this back on page one.)
(I just realized that this RP is two months old today! Congrats to those of us who've made it this far! XD)
Dylan felt odd,acting as though he hadn't melded into his own ship just a few minutes ago, but he went on, "Well, that would be the fastest route, but that runs right along the other possible sites. I don't think they'll be too happy if they see us passing by. We could probably pass unnoticed in the truck, but just in case security is tighter than the reports say, we might wanna take this path instead," he traced his finger along a route on the other side of a dense forest, "A little bit more driving for a lot more piece of mind."
Avery nodded as she examined the route.
"Yeah, that seems better. Hm, it's too bad we couldn't bring Oscar with us. He'd be able to calculate all the possible routes with their danger levels. Since this one seems good, should we mark it?"
(Just putting this back on the first page again.)
"Mark 'em both. We'll do well to have a contingency plan."
"Good idea," Avery said, using the laptop to draw a line down both paths. "Now… maybe we should go check on Vaughn? I just kinda left him standing there…"
Dylan nodded, and together they climbed up to the outside.
"Heya, Vaughn!"
Vaughn was still half leaning over the water when he heard Dylan shout his name. He pushed off the railing and turned to look at the pair, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Everything fine?”
