Going Swimmingly

[palmerthing]

 *Palmer has found a lake today and is giving it an uncertain kind of look. Not only is such a large outdoor feature a bit unexpected when there appears to be nothing in particular dividing it from the couches and chairs in the main area of the nexus, not only would he probably start turning into something aquatic on automatic as soon as he tried swimming, but he's fairly sure that he saw Gollum from The Lord of the Rings swimming in there and that's just too much weirdness for him. Not that he has any room to talk, but he's not up for that meeting yet. So he sits on the beach and watches the waves. Hopefully there won't be any merfolk or cartoon fish, one fantasy character at a time is bad enough.*

Comments

[save_us_alice]

[that gets a laugh] Okay, fair enough. You seem to be doing pretty well at fitting in.

[palmerthing]

Yeah, I'm doing good. Aside from the shapeshifting bit, at least.

[save_us_alice]

One could argue the shapeshifting bit is a major part of you fitting in.

[palmerthing]

This is sort of . . . who I started as, though. Depending on how you define 'me,' but that's a separate issue.

[save_us_alice]

I imagine that definition can get rather complicated, yes, depending. . . How do you define you?

[palmerthing]

As the Thing that is the-dogthing-plus-Palmer, more or less. Or the Thing made out of Palmer. The Thing that used to be Palmer?

I guess I'm just Palmerthing.

Har har :p

[save_us_alice]

"Palmerthing" is the easiest to say out of all those options, admittedly.

[palmerthing]

By quite a bit, yes.

[save_us_alice]

Mmmm. . .I suppose the most important question, though, is -- are you, whoever that is, happy? Do you feel like you've found a place here?

[palmerthing]

. . . yeah, I think so. It's nice here.

[save_us_alice]

[she smiles] It is, isn't it? I may not be like you, but -- I feel more at home here than I did in my own world. [pause] Granted, we're talking about a world where my parents died in a house fire and I ended up in an asylum for ten years, but. . .

[palmerthing]

More reason to go forward than back for both of us, huh?

[save_us_alice]

[Alice nods, then looks at Chester, who seems to have finally gotten over not being allowed to eat sand] Granted, if I tried going back now, the presence of a small child would spark off SO many rumors. I mean, I technically got married to Victor in my world, but we kept it very quiet because -- well, he sort of already existed there.

[palmerthing]

That makes sense, I guess. *Palmer is equally pleased by Chester calming down, despite a sad inability to actually play with him.*

[save_us_alice]

Mmm -- another reason to be thankful for the Nexus. My world's Victor is already married to someone else, so if I hadn't ended up here and met the one Doc knew. . . [she holds Chester a little tighter]

[palmerthing]

*There's that annoying human desire to use touch as a reassurance again. Palmer ignores it.* But you did, so that's alright.

[save_us_alice]

[that gets her to smile] I did. And it's quite more than all right now. Don't know what I'd do without him, really.

[palmerthing]

Probably best not to worry about it. Ain't likely to happen any time soon, after all.

[save_us_alice]

It had better not. [after she'd nearly lost him to her own self-loathing and stupidity before. . .the thought of something actually taking him away is -- well. She'll try to concentrate on Palmer's assertion it's not likely to happen]

[palmerthing]

*Palmer would probably be willing to help, if he knew how, but when it comes to worries there's not much he can do.*

[save_us_alice]

[to be fair, there's not much anyone can do] Sorry, I feel like this conversation started taking a sad turn.

[palmerthing]

Yeah, man, that happens sometimes. It's alright. *He stretches a bit, even though they both know he doesn't need to.* So, anything else you feel like doing? Assuming you can get the kid to move, at least. *Kids can be amazingly stubborn at times, after all.*

[save_us_alice]

I know. Just didn't want it to go that way. [she looks down at her little one] Are you going to make another fuss? [Chester looks up at her, then lightly bops her nose with his fingers] . . .I'll admit I don't know what THAT one means.

[palmerthing]

Presumable that he has opinions about your nose? Not sure what they actually are, though.

[save_us_alice]

I hope they're good opinions. Not that I think he's got anything to worry about if he doesn't, as he's almost certainly inherited his father's.