reality_crossroads | Going Swimmingly

*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.*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

palmerthing

*Palmer chuckles and shakes his head.* Silly kid.

From:

save_us_alice

[wiping the sand out of her eyes] To be fair, he probably gets that from me -- I was a bit of a wild child myself, pre-fire.

From:

palmerthing

Damn, I wish I could play with him. *He sighs. Touching people is just too dangerous, especially a little kid who might do something stupid.*

From:

save_us_alice

[Alice gives him a sympathetic look] It really is a shame about your inability to touch. I wish I knew something we could actually do about it.

From:

palmerthing

I could wear rubber gloves if it would make you feel better, but I doubt that's enough. *He sighs.* Maybe I should just stop trying--no, no, bad thought.

From:

save_us_alice

[Alice pulls Chester a little closer to her] As a protective mother, I'm going to have to politely but firmly insist you keep trying. [then, more gently] Maybe some sort of full-body suit? Is it just pure skin-to-skin contact that's the danger?

From:

palmerthing

Right. Yeah. Sorry, it just . . . it gets hard, ya know?

Any kind of physical contact is bad. I have a bit of control over it, but not much. Not enough to touch anyone safely. *He looks sad, but also kind of hungry in a way. It's a bit difficult to avoid thinking like a wild animal sometimes.* Fuck it, I'm gonna grab myself a couple more fish. Eating usually helps.

*With that he goes down again for a moment, returning with quite a large fish. The fish thrashes a bit, but then Palmer changes horribly and devours it whole.*

From:

save_us_alice

I do appreciate that it's tough for you, yes. And I'm sorry that's just -- too easy to be dangerous. It really is a shame.

[she watches as he goes under, then comes back up with that giant fish and and -- wow. She makes sure Chester's sun hat is covering his eyes for that display] Er -- feel better?

From:

palmerthing

It's a big help, yeah. *He's slowly changing back, tentacles retreating into his flesh, taking what's left of his meal with them.* I know that it's awful to look at. Sorry about that.

From:

save_us_alice

A bit more warning might have been appreciated. . .though, admittedly, after some of the horrors I've had to fight in Wonderland, that actually wasn't as awful as it might have been.

From:

palmerthing

*He looks chagrined for a moment.* It's gonna be hard to remember every time, changing is starting to be normal for me. I'm happy it wasn't too bad though.

From:

save_us_alice

Oh, things like gills and fins like before, that was fine. Just -- all the sudden tentacles and whatnot when you scarfed down that fish. Reminded me a bit of the Queen of Hearts.

From:

palmerthing

Yeah, tentacles tend to freak people out. I'm not sure why, they're not nearly as bad as some of the things I could do.

From:

save_us_alice

True. . .I don't know what it is. Do we just have an instinctive fear? Some ancestral memory of things in the ocean that could drag us down?

From:

palmerthing

That would have to be a Hell of an ancient memory, humanity's ancestors were last aquatic when?

From:

save_us_alice

No idea -- Doc might know, but I've never asked. But -- well, there's still things in the ocean with tentacles that can kill us now. Though, admittedly, it's JELLYFISH tentacles that would be the most likely for any random person to encounter, and we don't ever seem to fear THEM.

From:

palmerthing

Jellyfish are nasty little things, it would make more sense to be scared of them than not.

From:

save_us_alice

Indeed -- my father had a bit of a fondness for sea creatures, and he told me there's jellyfish that are barely bigger than your fingernail, and yet can kill you if they sting you enough times. Made me rather anxious about ever encountering one.

From:

palmerthing

Yeah, it's amazing how nasty tiny creatures can be. Gotta make up for the smallness somehow, I guess.

From:

save_us_alice

Indeed -- if you are small, you must be twice as vicious to avoid being on the wrong end of the food chain. [looking him over] And actually, the Thing would sort of know about that, right? I mean, I know YOU'RE a big man, but the basis of the Thing is a sort of sentient disease, right? That implies virus or bacteria. . .

From:

palmerthing

Yeah. I'm a man, but we're a disease. Every cell of me is infected. It's a rather nasty disease, and I'm glad that the old me never knew what happened.

From:

save_us_alice

Yes, that probably is for the best. Strange how something like you would come about, but I suppose there's a niche for everything somewhere. . .especially if it's as adaptable as you.