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[He looks at her for a long moment, not with the distance from before but with a tired expression that makes the dark circles under his eyes stand out.]

I would never tell you that.

[besides, she's already done a pretty good job of it all by herself.]

And I'd never leave you to go do something potentially dangerous without backup. It's stupid.

〈 with a small smile, she wraps one of her tentacles, those long, near translucent, and delicate looking threads growing out of her bell, around a finger. it briefly turns fully black. 〉

I have back-up. 〈 the corner of her mouth quirks. 〉 But we appreciate the support.

[His eyes take in the tentacle and the black and he nods with a small amount of relief. He hadn't been sure of how Venom would factor into her new form, and he's glad to see it wasn't a problem at all.

There's a moment then when he opens his mouth and starts to speak, but he stops himself at the last second and glances away, eyes looking out into the depths. He'd already told himself this isn't about him. Whatever issues are weighing them down, if he says the wrong thing before they've even left she'll probably just take off on her own and leave him behind. She shouldn't be alone out there.]

So which plant are we looking for?

〈 about taking off— 〉

Bhodu’s thumb. It’s in the bestiary.

〈 the massive bell pulses as she speaks. as it dispels the water, it propels her forward: an energy-efficient, steady, but not particularly quick way to travel. even so, she has little to concern her. the tentacles that surround her are a warning. the delicate frills of her body, now palest pink, now a delicate powder blue have their own defense. 〉

It was recently discovered, and not much is known about it. Might just be a newly identified species. Or it might be new for a reason.

[He pulls it up as she speaks, quickly reading up on it to get an idea. It's pretty far away from the sounds of it, and he's glad he'd caught her in time, his stomach twisting at the thought of her going out on her own. He knows she's not actually on her own, that there's nothing that she and Venom can't take that he could possibly help with, but it settles his worry regardless. That worry at least.

His eyes drift back to her and he gets distracted by her form before looking away again. (It's beautiful, of course. She's beautiful. Another time, he'd have told her so until he made her face as red as an apple.)]

Maybe influenced by the orb then. Got it. [Is all he says instead.]

〈 her answer is as simple. 〉 Yeah.

〈 she fixes her bag, a satchel intricately woven out of seaweed, over her shoulder. only a few days ago they had been entering the gates. now they head the other way.

leave the city and swim towards the surface. gwen turns her head up. the waters are dark. peter could have told her the exact depth at which sunlight fails to penetrate. not far, she knows that. photosynthesis is only possible in a very narrow band near the surface; then the amount of sunlight available decreases rapidly through a darkening twilight zone until it turns to midnight.

tons upon tons of water above her head. currents that she is relying on a not-always-reliable spider-sense to help her navigate. and whatever else they may encounter along the way. 〉

You know what's funny? 〈 she smiles to herself. 〉 I jump off skyscrapers without thinking, and it's this climb that's intimidating.

〈 she looks over to wei wuxian. 〉

Is it weird if I say I feel very small?

[It takes him a minute to answer.

He studies her expression for a long moment first, and then his gaze drifts out to the dark sea around them. In truth, his thoughts are far from her question, instead roiling around inside of him and churning over the unease that twists in his gut.

He doesn't understand this. What she's doing. Why she's acting like...

After a moment, he sighs under his breath and shakes his head.]

'White waves swell through wide open seas, boundless and beyond
and level sands stretch into the four directions all endless depths.'

[He recites slowly, staring out into the water again.]

The oceans are vast beyond our understanding. It's a healthy thing to feel small I think, in the face of all that.

Hm. 〈 after a little pause, she takes a breath and faces the dark.

her quote does not paint near as pretty a picture. 〉 Once more unto the breach.

〈 the first few hours pass without much worth telling. they leave behind the sandy bottom, the rocky outcroppings, much of the plant life. the city slowly becomes hazy. they lose sight of it before it becomes small. the waters they swim through are uniform on all sides. going in circles is a very real possibility; gwen is very glad something in her knows what direction is up.

nor do they speak much. for all that gwen is frequently branded as annoyingly talkative, silences come more natural. she was a quiet kid; she still prefers quiet and solitude. for wei wuxian, silence is entirely abnormal, which reinforces how tenuous this tiny truce they have nonverbally agreed to. the easy camaraderie is gone, and she does not know how to get it back, so she doesn’t. instead she focuses on the coolness of the water, the tiny little things that break up the monotony, the lack of alarms in her head—for now. 〉

[Despite the tension between them and the ever-present churning inside of him, the journey is beautiful in a way that even his mood can't ruin. Wei Wuxian has spent most of the mission so far admiring the creatures and flora around them and the trip into the depths provides him an opportunity to see even more that hadn't been present in the city.

It helps to ease his heart of the weight resting on it just a little.

At times they pause to rest, a task accomplished mostly with the aid of Venom. The first few days pass like this, quiet and uneventful. It's the middle of the third day of their journey when the first hiccup appears. It's Gwen who notices first of course, and he instinctively comes to a halt when she stops abruptly, one arm shooting out to keep him from continuing forward.]

What is it? [He's wary in an instant, gaze casting around to see what's wrong.]

Edited 2022-08-14 21:01 (UTC)

〈 in answer, gwen tears off a piece of seaweed from her bag. carefully, she extends her arm and lets it go. for a moment, it floats there. then a tremble seizes it before the current takes it. it is torn away from them like a bullet. 〉

Oceanic current, 〈 she explains. 〉 We get caught by these, no telling where we come out. Come on. We need to find a way around it.

〈 a fact which would be easier if they could see it. instead, it's like a black hole: visible only by its effects on what gets caught in it. she tries up and the alarm bells in her head get louder. down is better until she tries to move forward. following the current is right out: they have no idea how long it is or where it loops. the clangor in her head is near-deafening. we get it! we know! she thinks as if spider-sense can hear her or cares, but the warning will not stop. she winces at its insistence.

holding her head with one hand, she holds up the other, a finger up in 'wait' gesture. 〉

Give me a minute. I can figure this out.

[For the first time since they'd arrived on this planet, Wei Wuxian feels his distinct lack of knowledge about the ocean as a keen disadvantage, and he's silent as he follows Gwen's lead, wishing he could help instead of just drag uselessly along. In his mind he considers and dismisses each array in his repertoire, none of them providing the kind of help they need. Freezing the water might help if he could target a large enough area, but there's no way he has enough power to freeze what it would require.

For a moment he considers using his own blood to dye the current, and then he reconsiders immediately. The water's too fast to do anything but sweep the blood away.]

What about light? I could send light into it. It wouldn't last, but we'd see the path.

〈 meanwhile, gwen is mourning the lack of satellite. radar. hell, she'd take a shitty ms paint drawing of the currents in this area.

her eyes flit to wei wuxian. she nods. 〉

Yeah. Let's at least see what we're dealing with.

[Drawing from the residual resentful energy inside of himself, he traces the sigil for light into the water and holds it for longer than he normally would, allowing for a large ball of light to form at his finger tips. With a small tap, he pushes the ball away from himself.

Like the piece of seaweed, it drifts aimlessly for a few moments before getting sucked into the current and speeding along the current's path. As the light ping-pongs through the channel, his eyes keep careful track of it. From what they can see, going forward and up are completely out, but the light seems to favor west which means it might be safest to go east for now. It'll mean a detour though.

He frowns and gestures eastward.] I don't know how far off course we'd have to go if we go that way. Any other ideas?

〈 get a time machine. don't tell wei wuxian before leaving. wisely, she keeps it to herself. 〉

I don't want to test what breaking out of it will take so—east we go.

〈 the noise in her head lessens as she moves, though it does not fade. they go far enough east that klaxon warning starts up again…again decreasing as she edges west to then start building once more. 〉

Either there's more than one current or it's looping here…but there's a path. I think.

〈 gwen faces wei wuxian. a frown furrows her brow, but her voice is steady when she speaks. 〉

Stay behind me. Don't stray to either side.

[He nods, his expression severe for once. He's less concerned for himself and more concerned about losing her. Between the two of them she's stronger and more powerful, and far more likely to be alright on her own, but that doesn't stop him from worrying.]

Be careful. [For all that he's been avoiding her eyes half of the trip and speaking without any depth of emotion, he meets her eyes now, his concern evident.

Once they start moving, he stays as close to her as he can without letting her tentacles hit him in the face. His eyes stay glued to her form and his arms tense, ready to reach for her at the slightest change in pace.]

〈 it comes, of course, when she starts letting her guard down.

they have left behind the big current. between wei wuxian's lights and spider-sense, she judges it to be like a giant ribbon in the ocean: immensely deep, only a fraction of that wide, and long as a river.

she forgets rivers have distributaries, and so do underwater currents.

the warning in her head, grown quieter, rises to a rising screeching crescendo. 〉

Wait! Get back—! 〈 she turns around abruptly, near hitting him. her hand slams palm out on his chest, pushing him back. the long tentacles drift into the current's pull, then the delicate frills of her lower body. the eddy takes her. 〉

[He doesn't even hesitate to dive after her, covering the distance she'd pushed him in an instant, and his entire body filling with relief as he catches hold of her hand. He uses that hold to tug her into his chest as the current sweeps them out to who knows where, and he tucks her head carefully under his chin. It's a horribly disorienting ride at first, but eventually he gets used to the rushing drag of it and he pulls back just enough to look at her, the current rushing around them at dizzying speeds.]

I think we're going to need Spider's help with this one.

Already there!

〈 she does not look at him. her eyes are on her arm, and the black goo taking solid form there. it hardens into a disk like a shield, which she stabs outward. venom splits the current; the pressure at their back throws them out; they shoot, stumbling, into stiller water.

her hand still tightly grips wei wuxian. miraculously, she did not lose her bag. she huffs. 〉

Cross going "Somewhere Down Crazy River" off the bucket list.

[He lets out a sigh of relief when they're out and doesn't immediately release her. The sudden detour has left him with adrenaline rushing through him, and he lets his eyes take Gwen in just to make sure she's alright. It could have been a lot worse, they hadn't been in any real danger while they'd been in there, but the threat of danger had been real.

Eventually after another couple of minutes, he eases back and lets her go.

And suddenly, he feels exhausted. Worn out in a way he doesn't know how to name. He turns away from her, eyes staring out into the invisible currents that surround them. They've been out here doing this for a few days already and they have more days ahead of them, and he can't do this. Her light hearted jokes and pretending like everything's fine. Like she hadn't left him without an explanation as to why. Like it doesn't hurt to look at her now.

At least at home when he disappointed people, he always knew why.]

Are you going to keep doing that?

What?

〈 venom wraps back around her and out of sight. a few more tentacles sprout from her bell. 〉

[He glances away again.

He isn't the one who does this. He's the one who laughs and pretends right back that everything is fine. If she wants to pretend, why shouldn't he let her?]

Never mind. Which way do you think from here?

No. You have to something to say. You've had something to say.

〈 again and again. he starts; he stops. and she hasn't pushed. as much out of guilt for having upset him as not being thrilled to get into major disagreement number two, electric boogaloo. (she's still avoiding.)

gwen crosses her arms before her. 〉

What are you talking about? Me joking? One, it's how I cope. Two, this would be a very quiet trip otherwise. Which normally I'd be okay with, but this particular silence is very loud.

Then just pretend like I'm not here. Isn't that what you prefer anyway? Me not here. [He smiles as he speaks, and it isn't a cutting vicious thing. There is a time and a place for those smiles in arguments, but not here. Not for Gwen. Instead he only looks sad.]

You are so stupid.

〈 the words trip out before she can think them through. it's true. it's also not very helpful. she scrubs at her face. 〉

If I really don't want you near me, why would I text you? You think I couldn't have made this trip alone? Or if I really needed the backup, texted Itachi? Have you seen him? 〈 she jabs a thumb in the direction they came from. 〉 He's a fucking dragon right now.

I don't know why you texted me. [He just wasn't willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe it was a momentary lapse of sanity. He doesn't know. It's not like he doesn't think there any connection between them, but Gwen had made it pretty obvious she didn't want it anymore.]

You just left, Gwen. How am I supposed to know anything about what you want?

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