Cats Hate Water, Right?

[work_wife]

WHO: Robin Buckley, You
WHERE: Temba Bubble
WHAT: Clumsiness with swimming, Chased by Predators
WHEN: During MerMay
WARNINGS: Possible injury/blood in second prompt

I. Even More Clumsy

If you were always a mer, and clearly they were always mer what are you talking about, then clearly one should not get tangled up in their own tail. Right? Right. Clearly. That is the only absolute truth that one should be able to take away from all of this. There should be no clumsiness.

Except there's Robin. Who definitely pulls the short end of many sticks in her tail and fins. The tail is long, slender, graceful looking, at least when Robin's not moving. And her fins are wide, billowing, beautiful like a fancy male betta fish. In motion the dark green, gold, and bronze swirling patterns of her long tail and fins should be beautiful.

Except she's Robin. And in the moment she's somehow managed to get herself tangled up in her own too-long tail which was also then tangled in with a bunch of greenery. Not to mention the fact that her shirt was clearly caught up in some prickly sort of plant.

She's stuck. And Robin is just struggling enough to make it worse. Because of course she was.

II. The Aquakat Issue

The best part of this whole place is that it's so wonderful and safe. Super safe. Like, sure, Robin sometimes got tangled up in all mess of things because she was not the most coordinated mermaid, but there wasn't any real danger. This place was so much better than Hawkins like that. There wasn't even anyone who was really against her as a person. She almost felt like she might be safe if she shouted out to the limits of the world that she liked girls. Except for the few situations where things in Temba had gone very weird, they were safe here.

So yeah, there's no problem with Robin enjoying some time stretched out on the 'roof' of a ruin, fiddling with her communication device to try and explore more functions of it. There's no reason she should be watching out carefully, right?

Problem with that theory: there are predators in the waters. Including some that normally wouldn't range in Temba. Not that it was the first time an Aquakat had ended up in the city. Just, you know, the first time that it had arrived in a fully aquatic environment, making it even more deadly than before. Such a creature had slipped into Temba before the dome closed, and... Well...

If nothing else, at least Robin has a decent instinct for when shit is going bad. She doesn't see the cat specifically, but there's something that has her suddenly sitting up and tucking her comm device away.

"Is someone out there?" she calls, looking around. "It's not funny if you're staring and being a creeper!"

Comments

I

[out_of_order]

"Easy, easy- stop moving so much." The advice comes paired with a light laugh. Cal drifts over towards her, his own movements perhaps seeming enviously fluid by comparison, the deep blue scales of his tail shimmering with a faint dusting of copper just a shade off from his hair.

"Here, just relax a moment- let's see if we can get you out of this," Cal says, coming around to inspect the problem, BD-1 poking his boxlike head over his shoulder to look as well.

[work_wife]

Stop moving so much? Are you kidding? This is Robin, and she's not coordinated, and so many other issues. Of course she's going to get tangled up even further.

"I'm not sure I can really relax. Being trapped is bad. And the little sharp bits are trying to tear one of my fins."

[out_of_order]

"Yeah, but moving around is just making it worse- especially with the sharp bits," Cal counters, moving to try addressing that part of the problem first. Between all the fins and movement, he doesn't want to risk using his lightsaber to cut her free.

"You'll be okay- here. If you have to steady yourself, just put a hand on my shoulder."

[work_wife]

Steady herself? Doesn't really seem likely. But she reaches for his shoulder to try and stay still. Which wasn't going well.

"But it hurts. Maybe if I just twist this way and..."

Nope. She's yelping in pain.

[out_of_order]

Cal winces at that, not only in sympathy given that her movement catches him briefly on the spiky growth. "Ow, ow-" he hisses, rubbing at the scratch. "What'd I say about not moving?"

[work_wife]

"I'm really bad at not moving. I need to keep some part of me moving at all times."

And if her body wasn't moving, her brain would be, and that is its own trouble. But she tries for the moment to stay still. Fuck. Stay still.

[out_of_order]

"Even when you're asleep?" Cal asks with something of a lopsided smile. He glances over his shoulder at his droid buddy's beeping. "I'm okay, it's not deep. Let's try this again."

He looks back to Robin's problem, carefully working at removing the points she's gotten herself snagged.

[work_wife]

"My bed is always a mess in the mornings."

But that's the nightmares and ptsd behind that. He's still not trying to make her upset so she gives a tentative smile back and lets him work.

"Uh, so, what's with the little toy robot with you?"

Listen, she doesn't know. Forgive her.

[out_of_order]

The Jedi chuckles as behind him, the droid gives something of an electronic raspberry, sounding somewhat offended by that.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it," he says to try placating the little guy before he glances at Robin. "BeeDee's a friend. Got me out of plenty of fixes. We watch each other's backs."

[work_wife]

Hey, be offended. She didn’t know any better. But she might now. Was that really a raspberry noise? What the hell?

“Uh, did it just make a rude noise at me? It knows how to do that?”

[out_of_order]

"He tends to pick up things pretty quickly," Cal explains as he smothers a snicker.

"BeeDee knows how to do a lot of things." He pauses as the droid beeps. "-and he'd like to inform you that he's not a toy. He's an exploration droid."

[work_wife]

Yeah, okay, he picks things up quickly. But it's a rude noise. Why is it making a rude noise? Is it a real thing? In the whole 'is this a person' way? Because, well, apparently that could be a thing.

But now he's getting more info out there and she is just staring in shocks.

"You're serious? Did he explore on his own or something?"

[out_of_order]

Cal continues to work. It's much easier now that he's got Robin distracted from moving.

"I'm sure he's done his fair bit. But mostly he accompanies people who do. The man he was previously with used to study old ruins all across the galaxy. He's got quite the repository of data in that little noggin of his," he says, grinning at BD's proud-sounding confirmatory hoot.

II

[in_extremis]

The place didn't feel particularly safe to Tony. With most of his cameras out, he felt blinded and defensive, and started to stick more closely to the ground as their repairs dragged on. They weren't even the only project that he had to focus on, and as itchy as living without them made him feel, they weren't the priority. Plenty of people were keeping their own watch, he was supposed to be trusting them, he could absolutely do that, if he just didn't ever think about it. He could focus on gathering furniture and comforts from this building and totally not think about how he should have been the one watching at all. If he had been watching, that sudden shout wouldn't have made him jump.

He listened anxiously for the reply, because it shouldn't have been him that anyone was talking to, and when it didn't come had to let his shoulders droop with some dread. Carefully, he wound his way up the building and out a window, following the direction of the call, until he was peeking up over the edge of the roof, slowly unfurling his long, black claws along the tiles. Robin's brilliant colours did catch the sunlight wonderfully, so Tony thought he knew the answer when he greeted, "Have you been having problems with people staring?" He pulled himself further up then, where he could fold his arms to brace his chest, his tail still curled into the darkened security of the window below. "I don't think they can help it. One of the downsides of being so enchanting."

[work_wife]

Oh. There's someone. Robin looks up and catches sight of him. Barely. Dude's still in a bit of shadow and he's definitely darker in appearance. Which is working for him. Probably. She's not a good judge.

"Yeah, that's hilarious," Robin dismisses. She knows she isn't a looker. "Seriously, were you though? Staring?"

[in_extremis]

It probably didn't much matter what Tony said, it rarely did and most people heard what they wanted to, so he committed after dropping his chin into one hand where he could drum his fingers thoughtfully against his cheek. "I could be. If you were doing something extraordinary that you're feeling self-conscious about, though, I did miss it, you'll have to run that one by me and I'll let you know if you have anything to worry about," he suggested.

[work_wife]

More like Robin didn't think she was at all that enchanting. Hasn't had a lot of suggestions that way in the past either, so it wasn't like she knew how to believe it. Hell, she didn't even believe it from Steve and she believed a lot of things from her best friend.

"If you weren't... I just... I just had this feeling that someone was watching me. Guess I'm crazy."

She's not. But she can't tell that there's something swimming just out of sight in a kelp patch, considering lunging at her.

[in_extremis]

In Tony's experience, a gal developed that keen sense for being observed by experience, and he did give a cursory glance over his shoulder to try to find what was triggering that sensation. "Maybe," he did allow, "but a respectable scientist rules out all reasonable possibilities before committing to their conclusions. You didn't answer me, when I asked if someone's been bothering you." He tipped his head, then gave another look around for who in town might have been putting Robin on edge. There were some reasonable options. In fact, he pushed away from the wall, floating out over the open street to get a better view below, because one of them did stick close to the ground if he could help it. "If you've been spending time in the library, it's not really a personal thing, but it is pretty hard to shake..." he muttered.

[work_wife]

Oh, no, it’s definitely not experience. At least, not when there is people. It’s monsters. Perhaps that’s why she’s scared. But she doesn’t know what to do with it.

“No, no one has been bothering me. So, taking it as given that you’re a scientist,” because if he was going to claim it, who was she to argue, “what would you theorize is leading to the heebie jeebies here?”

Thanks, Dingus, for putting that into her lexicon.

“Because I swear my scales are all shivery in a bad way.”

Wait, library?

“I haven’t been in the library lately.”

[in_extremis]

Tony took his theorizing very seriously, or at least that was what his crossed arms to stroke thoughtfully at his beard said. With lofty confidence, he declared, "Typically, the source of a heebie and/or jeebie is similar to that of deja vu, or a sense memory with an unrecognized trigger. An unanticipated shift in the water pressure, perhaps. Without reason to be on alert for a stalker, or less malevolent watcher, we must interrogate the subject's previous jeebie experience." He came floating closer again, but still kept the facade of the building as a boundary, leaning forward on his elbows to be as close as he would permit himself so his electric smirk was at least partially effective as he invited, "We could start by exploring your range of shivers."

[work_wife]

Yeah, she's used to people who take it very seriously, so she's not going to begrudge him it. Maybe she's not as science talented as some of the brats had been, but she is going to listen and take it seriously.

"Usually my previous 'jeebies' had to do with monsters about to attack us," Robin points out. Which probably isn't a good thing. "But there's no predators here, so that's not likely."

[in_extremis]

Robin was even more serious in person. Worse, it didn't seem like Tony was getting a reaction from her as much as he was encouraging it. His smile waned, and he drew his hand up to rest his chin again, black fingers fanning out then drumming back in against his cheek like clockwork. "What makes you say that?" he had to ask. "There's plenty of monsters. You've seen them. Is this a philosophical thing?" One finger lifted to twirl thoughtfully as he produced the axis they were trying to define. "The difference between an animal, a predator, and a monster? A person isn't an animal, but he can be the other two. Maybe an animal can't be a monster, not really." Maybe it was him that Robin had sensed from the start.

[work_wife]

Yeah, sometimes she was just like that. But if she wasn't tense over the whole 'being watched' thing he'd definitely see she's a goof. AS it is, she's frowning. Because she wasn't expecting a philosophy question here. Not that she can't roll with that. It just feels... Well, it's weird to have it next to the threat sense she's got going on.

"We may use 'predator' to describe a person, but I don't think a person is really a predator in the sense we use it in. They aren't alike. Might as well have different terms. And Animals only do what is natural, so they are never monsters. But monsters are."

Like Demobeasts. She doesn't care. Those are monsters. No debate.

"And..."

She goes very still in the second, because she could have sworn she saw something move. Without thinking she darts closer to Tony. Just, you know, safety in numbers.

"I think I saw something move."

[in_extremis]

"Monsters are monsters," Tony was ready to agree, but his smirk barely lasted to his final hiss, which trailed off as Robin went rigid with her focus snapped off of him. When she suddenly came at him, he pushed up straighter, prepared for a punch and less prepared for how strong she might be, and very quickly had a change gears with a reassuring hand on her elbow to draw her in. Actually seeing something was more of a problem than a creepy feeling. Keeping his focus on her, other hand up and hovering to box that in so she knew someone was watching her back so she could look around, he murmured, "Do you still see it?"

[work_wife]

Does she still see it? No. Because it was barely even a motion before. But she’s definitely cowering. But it was nice to have someone jumping to the defense here.

“I don’t-“

And then there’s motion again rushing between buildings. Fuck.

“It was there,” she says, pointing.