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 Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 3:48 pm
There'd been the stupid note, of course. And the stupid other sun hunters, who knew where Mikael's stupid dad had went.
He wasn't even sure why Lawrence had left them a note about going to bang his ex, but he didn't know why Lawrence did anything, and now it was up to him to fetch him back. He didn't care if Lawrence stayed down there, personally.
But Mik cared, so here he was, struggling into diving flippers.
If Lawrence was a dog, the first thing anybody should have taught him was the Leave It command.
"What if we see something embarrassing?" Jorm asked.
I know, augh! Malkam thought back, And that's probably all it is, too. RESCUING, come on. I mean, I can believe he's done this, and after he TOLD me...but this is NOT my problem, okay?
He checked his suit over.
I'm just going to go down there, drag him back, and whatever else happens, I'm not getting involved.
Rodney, because he was also an idiot, had sent along a care package, because he thought Lawrence was actually down there trying to rescue someone with something besides his d**k.
Malkam didn't really have a problem with water.
The swim wasn't like going out in a pool, though. Once the sunlight faded, it was just the from the headlamp knifing through the dark. The water muffled all sound,
and there was the overwhelming and smothering feeling that if something crept up on him, there was no way for him to see it coming.
It would be easy to disappear down here.
He would have felt better if he'd brought someone else along.
"I'm here," Jorm squeaked.
Well, yeah, I know you, Malkam thought back with affection. I just meant I should have taken Mik. Why do I always end up on rescue missions. It's not even my stupid job.
"Just family, huh?" Jorm asked shyly.
There was a glowering silence from Malkam, before he said for what must of been the thousandth time, "He's not my dad, but yeah. I'm doing it for Mik."
It seemed like he was never going to find the cave, and the portal, but when he finally got out, he shook a pair of shoes, a t-shirt, and jeans out of a plastic bag so he didn't have to walk around looking like Jacques Cousteau.
He hoped by being here he didn't break some kind of international diplomacy laws.
If things got worse again, that was all on Lawrence's head too.
Get down here, drag him out of his undersea coral bed, and get home. That was Malkam's entire plan.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:03 pm
Lawrence was asleep again, because other than reciting excerpts from books, singing and waiting, there just wasn't anything to do down there other than sleeping when he could. He didn't feel great at all and he was starting to worry he'd be down here for ever, or at least until Melvin was done with whatever he was doing. He'd just waste away on a diet of not much and nothing to shave with and only basic facilities.
He was wrapped in a blanket, his thin sides rising and falling slowly with every breath. He hadn't shaved and had a faint shadow, his hair ungelled and unshampooed, without his usual careful makeup and he looked much older and much more human than usual, hugging the pillow with his mangled arm.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:14 pm
It wasn't how Malkam had expected to find him, looking sad and old and miserable.
"Hey," he said gruffly, looking around at the bare walls, and although he'd promised himself he wasn't going to ask Lawrence any questions because he didn't want to know, he found himself asking incredulously anyway. "...What, there's no TV or anything down here?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:21 pm
There was a moment, in that half awake haze between sleep and consciousness that Lawrence thought the voice he heard was his father, criticising something about his life choices, something uncannily familiar. For an instant he was a young man again being yelled out of bed, and then he was not.
He stirred and looked up, giving Malkam an exhausted sort of look.
"I don't know if Atlanteans watched television." he said. "But no. Just me and my things."
He moved to sit up and let out a brief grunt of pain. Back pain wasn't life threatening but it was very very present after a few days of sleeping on a solid stone floor. "You didn't strike me as interested in this sort of place." he said.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:30 pm
"I'm not!" Malkam said, "Why the hell would I be interested in his stupid project! Like that's what you're interested in. Like you're down here for science. I came to get you, because everybody else is upset about it, and I don't want to know what you've been doing, I'm not interested in your like, excuses, and if you're getting married again I'm not going."
He probably would, if Mik was going. That's why he'd showed up (with the same amount of extreme resentment and reluctance) the last time.
Malkam dug out the things Rodney had sent down, pushing them at Lawrence. There were his pills, and some cream for his hands and face, and some vegan travel biscuits that were hard and bready and sweet. There was also a silvery,
silky scarf that glittered depending on how it was turned in the light. Woven into it were metal beads, inscribed with runes.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:50 pm
Lawrence gave Malkam a calm but a little exasperated look, not entirely pleased with the immediate accusations but not entirely surprised either. "I'm not getting married again." he said. "You don't care but I came down here thinking Melvin was in trouble. He was not."
He took the items with a looks of obvious relief, immediately taking his medication with some of the water he'd been left by Melvin.
"I just can't get back."
Picking up the scarf he looked genuinely surprised. "He sent his scarf?" he said, finding the soft silky fabric jarringly luxuriant after being here so long. He shrugged the blanket off his shoulders, revealing himself to be mostly unclothed. "That's a godsend." he said. "All of it."
Taking out the cream he set about carefully rubbing it on his cheeks, something he normally always did in absolute private but didn't much care at the moment. "You are one of the last people I thought would ever come to help me you know."
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 4:58 pm
"Ahhhhhh! Warn me, God!" Malkam said, looking away as Lawrence just immediately like, threw his clothes off.
"What do you mean you can't get back? You mean you're not coming back?" Malkam asked, already working himself up into a fit of temper. "s**t, you know, I thought, like, that's probably what you're going to say, I'm going to get all the way down here and you're like, I'm staying here forever, to live on...rocks, and whatever. And YES, he sent his stupid...fairy thing, look, he took you at your word at the whole rescue thing, and thinks you're heroic, and thinks you'd go after someone if they needed you, and whatever."
Malkam clearly did not believe it.
"And what, why are you surprised at me?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:12 pm
Lawrence gave Malkam a weary look and for a moment wondered how someone so entirely rude could have come from him.
"Look." he said in his usual calm and level way as he tended to his cream. "I am not down here by choice, I just.. You were there, you've seen what deep water does to me first hand. That's why I can't get back. I'm not staying here by choice."
But he couldn't help but be lifted up a little at the fact that Rodney believed him, because for once in his life it was true.
"And I'm surprised because you don't at all seem like someone who would care about my wellbeing in the slightest or be willing to put up with the enormous hassle and danger it is going to be if you get out into that water out there with me."
Finished with his cream and feeling a little better he put on the scarf and found himself wearing a very warm and comfortable set of stylish layered clothes. Soft was the watchword, everything snug and exactly what he needed while still maintaining his usual style (with an Atlantean twist)
"You make it no secret you dislike me Malkam."
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:19 pm
"Mik was worried," Malkam said, not looking at him, "because he does like you."
Malkam didn't think he'd ever be able to understand why.
"And he can't swim, and your...whatever has basically the fighting skillset of a possum, so it's me. You don't have to act so excited about it."
Malkam dared to crack an eye open at Lawrence, looking relieved he was finally dressed.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:23 pm
"My husband." Lawrence corrected with an edge of hostility. "Not my whatever. And I am of course very grateful, I just assume this is some major and significant imposition upon you is all."
He felt a bit better with some warm clothing on, it was a start to dealing with this.
"Are you sure you can make it back with me?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2017 7:05 pm
"That's what I came here for, isn't it?" Malkam asked. "If you can do your best not to like, freak out and get all clawy and drown me, yeah. And yes, it's a huge stupid hassle, but if you were dead it would be worse, I guess."
Dead like...
He felt Jorm curl around his mind sympathetically.
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:07 am
Lawrence looked stunned into silence by Malkam's comment. It was as simple as I would rather you weren't dead but it was possibly one of the nicest things Malkam had said to him in a long while.
"I'll try." he said, and it was all he could do to say he'd try, because once he was in the water it went somewhat out of his control.
"Just don't..." and he tensed up as even the thought of that oppressive darkness crossed his mind. "Don't leave me. Down there I mean."
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:30 pm
"If I wanted to leave you at the bottom of the ocean forever I would have saved myself a trip," Malkam said. "But no. I'm not going to leave you."
Although he couldn't speak for anyone else when they got back, depending on what exactly Lawrence had done while he was down here.
"Are you planning on going like, soon?" Malkam asked. "I mean, I can use a breather. And you've got your biscuits. But I didn't want to stay too long."
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:51 pm
Lawrence always felt a little bit weary when talking to Malkam, the young man was taxing to deal with and earning his approval was a completely hopeless endeavour. And yet, he couldn't help but keep trying.
"I can go whenever you want." he said. "I've been down here quite long enough at this point."
He picked up the biscuits and took one, quietly eyeing Malkam.
"So just say the word when you are rested."
He chewed quietly and swallowed.
"You could try being nice for a change you know, surprise me."
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2017 5:53 pm
"I am being nice!" Malkam growled. "I brought you nice stuff! I came down here! Do you want flowers? You can't even take flowers underwater. And I'm not bringing you those. I just brought me. And stuff from your- from Rodney. And Mik really wants you back. So, sorry if, as usual, it's not packaged the way you like."
Malkam shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at Lawrence sullenly.
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