cactusy | IC contact for lastvoyages

Yeah. Deal, that's a good idea.

I'm already on the Deck.

Be there in a few.

[She shows up a couple minutes later, coming at a half-jog with both Bear and Jet along for the ride (Bear trotting next to her, Jet bounding on ahead when he sees Will). ]

When I'm not doing so hot--

[She says, as she unlocks the catwalk to the upper deck for them.]

-- and when there's not an emergency that I have to be present for, I hate it when people ask me questions about what I want, because making choices is exhausting. I thought you might want to run with the dogs, though.

[ Will has found a spot to lean near the railing. He's pale and his eyes are wild, darting various places. It looks like he's been grinding his teeth, his jaw is so tense. Everything relaxes a little as he sees Jet bound up.

He doesn't immediately crouch. Rather, he sits on the floor and puts his arms out. Apparently, Jet remembers, because he speeds up, doing a circle in the space Will has made until Will closes his arms in and hugs him. He leans his cheek on Jet's head and his shoulders droop a little. ]

I'm not...going running.

[ If he was, he'd have called Malcolm. His face is half-buried in Jet's fur as he continues. ]

They can't come with me. But...thank you.

[God, he looks even worse than he sounds. She'll wait until he's done with Jet before heading up the spiral staircase - but when she goes, she goes backwards, studying him thoughtfully.]

I'll stick to the deal of not making you talk until you're done with... whatever you want to do in there. But dude, what do you want to do in there?

[ His body language is one of someone trying to make himself smaller, as he pulls himself back up and follows Shaw. He takes in a deep breath and heaves it out before replying. ]

The wolf equivalent of ripping up the couch cushions and shaking all the stuffing out.

I've made up a program for this. I just- need time. To settle.

Okay. What is the wolf equivalent of that?

...tearing mushroom zombies to pieces.

Okay.

Does it ruin it if I watch but don't interfere?

[ Will wraps his arms around himself, pausing to think. ]

No. That's fine.

[She gives him a quick, definitive nod, and without another word, strides over to the Enclosure and unlocks it for them. Have at it, Will.]

[ Will looks slightly relieved as he brushes past her and to the console, asking for the program 'Graham 21B'. He's almost down the steps before it's done creating it for him, and he's already pulling his shirt and undershirt off.

The entrance leads to a bit of the forest next to that breach version of Seattle. Decrepit buildings loom in the background and there's a small but idyllic-looking pond nearby, not too far from the Wall. Will drops his clothes here and immediately changes. The bone-cracking noises tend to bother most people, but they don't last long. And Will has found comfort in the sharp, short pain of transformation.

He immediately runs, barking and growling to garner attention. For all the care that has been put into accurately reproducing the background here, the couple of Infected that are visible through the trees don't seem particularly accurate. They're not smart, they're not just unfortunates being taken over. These are monsters, and the fungus growing over them misshapes their silhouettes.

Will growls more loudly and immediately starts charging them. ]

[True to her word, Shaw does her best not to interfere. She knows that it's probably impossible to manage that completely - if nothing else, he'll know she's there - but minimizing herself isn't something that's difficult for her. She stands by the door, quiet and still as she watches him, forcing all her attention outwards: the way she used to during stakeouts for the ISA, times when the job had required her to crouch in the same position for hours on end without any regard for her own physical needs. Will isn't someone she's getting ready to shoot, but he's a target of a different sort - and just as she'd learned not to notice hunger pangs and bladder pressure and muscle cramps, her discomfort with the Enclosure melts away in the face of that singular focus.]

[ When Will gets to the Infected, he tackles one and immediately starts ripping chunks off. It is very much like a dog ripping the stuffing out of a couch cushion, just far gorier. But it lets Will sit in the place where his instincts are in charge and he can get all this tension out.

There are differences between his and James' positions, but Will feels like leather belts are tightening around him all the same. He's trapped, he's trapped, and no one will ever believe him-- it's easier to remember that's not true in this body. He sees antlers and immediately chases them down.

He sees a black wendigo creature fall in front of him, instead of the stag it is. He tears its throat out and rips at the glistening black meat underneath, eating his fill.

And finally, after that, he returns to the pond near the entrance, snout stained red and paws bloodied. Nothing put up a fight, and he's tired now. It's about 20 minutes from when they first entered that he washes what he can off his fur and then shifts back as he sinks further into the pond. His bones make an awful sounds as he turns human again- clearly everything is shifting 'back' into place. But Will doesn't grimace, he just breathes heavily and leans on a rock.

After a long and awkward pause, he splashes water over his face. ]

...thanks.

Yeah.

[Slowly, she lowers herself to the ground and leans backwards, pressing her back against the door.]

That new warden - I think a lot of people appreciate his intel. And I don't think anyone thinks he's a liar.

Yeah? That's...that's good.

[ Will pulls himself back out of the pond and almost immediately wraps a large white towel around himself (it came from under a rock next to the pond). He dries himself off, turned away from Shaw, then grabs his clothes and starts pulling them back on. It's a good pretense for thinking through what he can. ]

He...he's had to go it alone for a very long time. He didn't expect- hell, I don't know if he even understood the concept of someone staying to help him.

[ He looks up to Shaw, making his way to her and out of the Enclosure. He won't make her stay in here any longer than she has to. ]

[Shaw keeps her eyes fixed on the grass at her feet as he dries and dresses, only looking up when she hears him starting to make his way over to her.]

You sure you're ready to go back? I can deal.

[She knows what the Enclosure is to him; knows that to him, unlike her, it feels less like a cage than anyplace else onboard.]

[ Will rubs his face as he joins her, ending with his eyes. And then he shakes his head at Shaw. He looks more exhausted than usual, but much less like he's going to vibrate apart. ]

No, I'm...I did what I needed to do here.

[ He'll make his way out of the Enclosure in its entirety, stepping back onto the Deck. ]

Have you heard the story of Peter Pan? Seen the movie?

[She'll come up next to him, standing a few feet away and leaning forward, resting her chin on the top rail.]

When I was a kid. I know the basics, but not plot details.

Yeah. That's all that tracks, anyway.

[ He leans against the rail and looks out. He and Shaw have some of their best conversations that way. ]

The inmate in the vents- the boy who never grows up- is that Peter Pan. Except he's some kind of monster that tricks young boys into leaving their lives behind, and he throws them away like broken toys when he's tired of them. I don't know even half the things he's done to James. But I got the impression he's been Peter's favorite 'toy' for quite a while now.

There was a heavy, righteous rage that emanated off James, when he wasn't terrified for my well-being.

Are you terrified for your well-being? Beyond the panic reaction.

[She has other questions too, and other things to say, but this seems like the place to start.]

[ Will snorts with laughter, which is probably answer enough. But he verbalizes it too. ]

Hardly. I've compensated for that sort of danger, a couple of times over now. Not that James could've known that.

Fear isn't always logical, even beyond panic reactions, but - okay.

[She hooks her arms over the railing, turning her head to look at him while keeping the rest of her body facing outward.]

So it sounds like we need a game plan to help protect this guy, yeah?

[ Will tilts his chin to the side, a small acknowledgement that fear isn't logical. ]

Hmmm. We do, but I would recommend you make sure of the situation before trying to protect him. A lot of what... [ He waves his hand in the generic direction of the Enclosure. ] -that was about were James' feelings replicating mine so well. He was less in danger than everything and everyone around him. Peter hurts him by hurting other people, letting him have nothing in his life that isn't that creature in a little boy's skin.

I...didn't run away when James told me to. I couldn't leave him alone to that. So the best way to protect him might be to let Peter try and fail to hurt me, to hurt others. Fail to change things on this boat. Let James see it's safer here, even if it's not entirely safe.

I'm not... just talking about doing it for his sake.

[She speaks slowly, choosing her words carefully.]

I'm also thinking about practice for you, helping people without torturing or killing the perpetrator. I'm thinking about what we can do to help you not feel like a powerless bystander. That means that even if it turns out James doesn't need as much protection as you're feeling he does, I still want to work on this, not just go "Okay, crisis averted".

What are you thinking letting Peter try and fail to hurt you would entail? Goading him, watching him, waiting for him to attack, something else--?

[ Will's expression moves from confused to curious to impressed. He didn't think of this as a situation to work on himself, but he can see it. Now that the trauma is at least a little out of the way. He gives Shaw a weak smile and looks away, thinking it over. ]

No need to goad, Peter's already riled up plenty. Anyone showing care or connection with James is likely going to do the same, but I was willing to fight with him. I was going to go about my normal day and wait it out. Take extra precautions with the dogs.

Once he tries something, the goal would be to catch him and contact you or a nearby warden. And then it depends what you folks would want. Treating him dismissively would frustrate him the most, so that's probably what I'd lean towards.

IC contact for lastvoyages

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