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[canniballistic]

[It's very late at night when his sphere switches on - but that's normal for Abel, who is conditioned to the largely nocturnal lifestyle of his homeland. No, what's weird about this is probably the fact that, as his hologram appears, it's very obvious he's in the bath.

And what's weird about that is that he's fully clothed, submerged up to his

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[celestial_okami]

[When Amaterasu comes on the sphere, she's breathing hard, shaking in a way that only the very nerve wracked can. Her head is bowed so the sphere can't see her face through the shag of her bangs, but it hardly matters when she's making her way straight for him.

The door to the bath opens to a battered goddess, her hand fisted in her kimono as she sinks to her knees beside the tub. Someone's been having horrible nightmares, and she's hoping he won't notice that she's trying to staunch a few wounds. She'll be fine, she's just horribly rattled.]

Abel, what are you doing in the water? how can you even talk in there?

[canniballistic]

[Were he not so intimately familiar with that stance - wounded but determined all the same - she might have stood a chance of fooling him. But even from underwater, he recognizes the look. Stiff, unsteady motions.

Not a second after she's all but fallen in through the door, he bursts up out of the bath, his voice only dwindling to a rasp once he's past the initial exclamation.]

Nevermind me! What's happened to you, Ammy?! Who did this?

[celestial_okami]

Don't know, I was sleeping and had a bad dream.

[Which for her is as incredibly unsettling as the dream itself was. She's never had nightmares like this before, much less been wounded in a dream only to wake up and find that the injuries were real. Completely ignoring how soaking wet he is, she wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his shoulder.]

Something was chasing me in the dream, and I turned to face it when it caught me. I woke up like this.

[canniballistic]

A bad dream? [He's had quite a few, himself, and all disturbingly similar to her description - but none that turned out as badly as hers seems to have. Abel is careful as he puts his arms around her in turn, knowing that her dress will probably end up soaked, regardless, from where she's sitting.]

Are you sure... That's all? [A half a wheeze stilts the words; he's running out of air again.]

[celestial_okami]

Abel, don't suffocate. It is silly when I say it, isn't it? Yet I could not sense anything else in the room with me, and I could not smell anything either. It was as confusing as it was startling.

[Yet even now her wounds were healing as she leaned against the tub to rest her head on his shoulder. While it was comforting to hold him, she could hear his labored breathing.

So she pulled back, caressing his cheek as she met his gaze.]

I'll be fine in a few moments, do not worry. I will stay close by for now.

[canniballistic]

Didn't I say last time? It isn't silly. I'm really... Worried. [He isn't quite choking, water still clinging to him, running from the sopping mess of his hair, but by the time she pushes away, the strain is too much to ignore.

And he won't start floundering and risk further injury in front of Ammy, all inflated sense of pride aside. Grabbing the hand against his cheek, he sinks back into the water reluctantly, careful not to drag her arm in with him.]

What am I going to do? I think I'll be sick. Like this, I'm even more useless than before...

[celestial_okami]

I worry as well. These dreams, there is something wrong about them and I do not know what it is.

[She holds on to his hand, concentrating enough on her kimono to rearrange it and make it sleeveless. The long flowing sleeves dissolve into specks of light, and her fingers dip beneath the water, leaving a waterlily floating on the surface.]

You are never useless, Abel. Stop that. I do not understand what is happening, but things will surely be sorted out. They always have before, haven't they?

[canniballistic]

That's putting it far too lightly. You can't be hurt in your dreams. It's simply ridiculous! [He barely notices the change to her ensemble, twirling the flower the flower that springs up at her touch in a circle with his free hand. The look on his face is grim and maybe a little tired.

He hasn't slept well, and now this...]

I can't disagree, but this is too much to be happening all at once! I'm turning into some sort of freak-- And, goodness, who knows who else might be, as well? There's no way we can get back from this.

[celestial_okami]

And rain can't make you breathe underwater, now can it?

[She gives his hand a gentle squeeze, stroking his knuckles with her thumb. If he was going to have to spend more time in water she would have to learn to endure being wet more often.]

You are not turning into a freak, Abel. Though should you sprout fins and find yourself capable of transforming into a sea dragon I should be very impressed!

[Her tone is gently teasing in an attempt to inject some levity into the conversation, but even so her mind is beginning to try and sort out all the strange occurrences. How often did things like this happen on board the Crucible?]

[canniballistic]

I don't know why everyone assumes it was the rain. I've been eating the food here and breathing the air, too. Why can't it have been all of that? [As if this helps his nonexistent argument at all.

Doggedly refusing to be cheered up, Abel frowns and sinks a little deeper into the bath. It's not as if he's unused to total insantity--it's just been a while since his last personal experience with it. (At least to this caliber.)]

I don't want to be a dragon, though... I want to be me! [Were his hands webbed when she came in? Because the one that he gently prods that waterlily away with certainly seems to be, now.]

[celestial_okami]

I do not know, I was eating the food and breathing the air as well. Perhaps it was more than one thing?

[With a soft huff, her tail thumps against the floor.]

No matter what form you take you'll always be Abel to me, be it a cat or a dragon or a tengu or a woman. Abel is Abel.

[But she does notice the webbing, with no small amount of concern. What kind of magic was this?]

[canniballistic]

That makes more sense, doesn't it? Wouldn't they have put up some sort of warning, if something as innocent as going for a swim could do this to a person?!

[He doesn't really believe it--because the Alliance crew haven't warned the lot of them about anything, and isn't that the far more disturbing truth? Perhaps not a worse realization than his potential fate, but decidedly unpleasant, all the same.]

I-I don't really want to imagine myself as any of those things, either...

And you hate the water, don't you? So you wouldn't be able to come visit with me as much, anymore. I'd be completely alone!

[celestial_okami]

They should have, but when have they ever been sensible about these things? I preferred it when Orion was more frank with us.

Well you've already been half of those, and you turned out just fine, so don't fuss so much.

No you would not. I would still come be with you, no matter what happens. As long as you do not mind the smell of my wet fur, at least.

[canniballistic]

I don't seem to remember him ever being that way. It must run in the family.

[Briefly, he makes a face--] Wait, which half?!

[...And then promptly follows up with an expression that says "Eh, nevermind." before smiling wanly.]

Oh. I'll not claim to like it best, but I've never been bothered by the way you smell when wet. It can't be much better than me.

[celestial_okami]

He was a little more open with us than these people are.

[Too bad she has to go and say it anyway.]

Ah! I forgot that you do not remember Eos. You were transformed into a woman once and believed you'd always been that way. I was made male and thought I had always been so as well. It was much later when you were turned into a cat.

Mm, the smell of your uniform isn't very appealing when it's wet I will say. I like its smell much better when it is dry. It is a little saddening to know that you won't make everything smell like sweets while you are like this.

[She did like rubbing that smell into her fur...ahh well.]

[canniballistic]

I-I remember... Being a cat--

[But the rest of that will have to go (blessedly) unaddressed, as her next tangent has made him realizing something far more damning about this whole situation. It's so important, in fact, that he sits right back up out of the water, looking purely horrified.]

That's right! H-How am I going to drink tea, like this?! If I hold it underwater, it will all just float away! Or- Or what about cake? I don't want to eat soggy cake! Or cookies, or donuts, or...