revivalproject | Cats Hate Water, Right?

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!"

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That was twice now, so it was hard to hide the puzzled expression on Tony's face as he remembered how much Gladio had insisted he wouldn't be a good fit for helping these kids learn. He must not have known this was how they talked about him, or just thought everyone had such an easy time making that kind of impression, like Robin thought it was normal that people would risk their lives for her. Maybe those things were normal.

"Why didn't you join the club?" he had to ask. Her friends were doing it, they frequently fought monsters, she was clearly thinking a lot about it.

"Which club?" she asks as she finally comes to a stop near the hospital. Time to get him inside, so it'll probably be better to just let them both sink down. "Think that blue haired lady might be in? She's so scary."

That was nice, just sinking, maybe Tony would lay right there on the ground until it didn't hurt so much. It was as though his voice dropped with them as he tried to lead Robin along his logical path, "With Gladio, and Steve, learning to do the fighting stuff."

It was only the reminder that Tae could be kind of scary, to a guy who didn't really want to sit still and admit he needed any care, that energized him again with an anxious glance around the hospital, like he could spot something to fix this before anyone could professionally assess it and deem him vulnerable. "No, no," he still defended, "just do what she says, no reason to be scared. Unless you're into that kind of thing. Then I can tell her this is your fault."

"Oh. That? I'm not coordinated enough for that. I'd hurt me and the people around me. I'm not even good with guns like Nancy is."

So yeah, she's sort of left to trail behind others. Sometimes that's just what people do. Though she's not going to say that she's scared of Tae in that way or not. Though she might be blushing. Just a little.

"Stop fooling around," she grumbles before swimming them toward the door. "You're not dying on my watch. I'm tired of people dying."

"Most people," Tony said, drawing it out to allow for the possibility that Nancy had some kind of gun-savant superpower, "learn that kind of thing, maybe with a guy that's offering to teach them, and get stuff custom made for them, and be their dad." He opened his free hand, like he was just presenting a possible reality and not a direct suggestion for the unbelievably ideal situation that Robin was being handed. Tony's learning journey was rarely so gently supported, more lonely and painful, and there was no reason any of these kids should have been going through that. "You're right, though, Steve doing all of that is kind of embarrassing, he should just be able to roll over and swing a mace without trying."

From what Nancy had heard, no one had taught Nancy so much as she was just good at it. But she's rolling her eyes.

"No one wants me to have a weapon I could hurt them or me with. I know that. Some people are too clumsy to be trusted with a blade and that's okay."

She just wishes she could do more. Just not with a weapon in hand. Not one she could hurt herself on.

Now though she's pulling him toward the hospital doors. Someone's got to be here.

That was one of the problems that the whole 'learning' part was supposed to solve, but as Tony was pulled through the water and into the stillness of the hospital, he didn't think he had much arguing left in him against a brick wall. "Right, right," he mumbled, "the only thing you'll ever be able to do is music, I did know that, this one's on me, I don't listen."

Yeah, but the things that Gladio offers to teach people seems too dangerous. She needs a different way to support her friends. Something that isn't about coordination or brute force. Which was a point she's made before.

"I'm not a hero like you. I'm a thinker. And the one time I did try to help, I definitely got people hurt. So I'm going to keep staying back to think. I mean, not everyone can be like you. Now stay here, I need to find the doctor."

Obeying a direct order like that was never really going to happen, so Tony still trailed a few feet after Robin, until he encountered a doorframe that he had to lean on for just a second, gritting his teeth as he gingerly felt at the deep furrows that were turning the water red behind him. Maybe staying put wasn't so bad, and getting some distance from Robin then to watch her guiltily was a little less painful. He probably shouldn't have been pushing her, if it meant being more like him. Some people didn't need thirty years of experience before they realized they could make the choice to stop hurting people.

He tried to rally when she returned, affecting a smirk for the good doctor, unconvincing with the apologetic knit of his brow and exhausted brace against the door. "There's my hero," he welcomed, and gave Robin's arm an appreciative squeeze to send her off, assured that he was in good hands.

Robin is being brave just to fetch Tae for him. She even, strangely enough, gives Tony a tiny hug as thanks once the doctor approaches, and then she's off like a poorly coordinated bolt, leaving Tony in the Doctor's good hands.

And of course, there's just an exasperated look on Tae's face to hide her concern. But they'll get him patched up.

Cats Hate Water, Right?

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