Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

Who: Whistler + OTA
What: Whistler decides to voluntarily leave his apartment for once
Where: Around town
When: Now
Warnings: N/A. Will change if needed. Update: Warnings for some discussion of self-harm in Whistler and Julie thread. 

It was odd. Generally the heat didn't bother Whistler much, not so long as he was inside anyway. But today it seemed to be getting to him. The skin of his back kept sticking just a little too much to the floor as he tried to work and his palms kept getting slick with sweat to a point where it made fiddling with small wires too frustrating.

But if he couldn't work there wasn't much he could be doing while he was holed up inside. 

Which was how he ended up outside. Something that is normally only done out of dire necessity: when he needs groceries. But today he's giving it a very tentative chance. Mostly just to get himself moving. To feel something other than floorboards and stone walls. 

If you look for him at his apartment you will only find a messily scribbled message jokingly saying 'Gone Fishing' (inspired by his conversation with a young man only the day before). But hey you should be impressed that it is legible at all given the circumstances. And he mostly figures no one is going to come looking for him. 

But if they do he can be found in various locations: 

Pools near the outside of town

Whistler has shrugged off his shirt and rolled up his pant legs so that he can lay with his legs in the water, back on the sand with his shirt over his face so as to protect his eyes. He's naturally tan so he's not overly worried about getting burned, but even so he's made sure to lay in a patch of shade. After all, tan or no tan, two suns is two suns.

Around the shops

Whistler can either be found shuffling along the town streets with his cane swinging in front of him or sitting on a bench picking at a berry muffin with his fingers and placing small bites of it almost delicately into his mouth. He's savoring it, thank you very much. 

Wildcard

Want to bump into him in a shop? Maybe you catch sight of the blind man about to try on a horrific technicolor t-shirt? Or you see him in the park napping? 

Choose your own adventure.

Comments

[redwinekindofgirl]

You do help.

[Her breath hitches in with effort as she pulls herself out of the water, sitting on the edge where her arms had been a moment earlier. She untangles her hair from the tie holding it up and squeezes out what's left of the dampness in it, then tosses it back over her shoulder.]

I've told you that. It's not all about actually... doing things.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

Am I your therapy blind person?

[He smiles weakly]

[redwinekindofgirl]

You're my friend. [She tells him firmly, refusing to reduce him to 'blind person' even in jest. It's often in these ways that she breaks him, she knows, like pushing a crowbar through a crack in the facade and prying it open.]

And... I don't know... you make me feel... important. It's nice.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[The significance of what she's saying, coupled with the significance of what she refused to say about him, does not go unnoticed. He feels it in a way that goes like static into his spine but as of yet he doesn't know the reason why. Quietly he pushes himself out of the water and scoots up the bank a bit to lay down.

He wants to dry off some before he gets dressed.]

If you ever need reminding that you're important, just give me a ring.

[redwinekindofgirl]

Easy as that, huh.

[There's no bitterness in her voice at that. There are a few people here that she could call on if she wanted assuring of her importance in their lives, but Whistler's the only one she'd call at three in the morning.

She shifts slightly, then rolls down onto her back beside him, plucking her sodden clothes away from her skin. In this heat, she'll be dry in no time. It's one of the only good things about it.]

Tell me something. A secret.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

Ya-huh. Easy as that.

[He folds his hands on his stomach, fingers knitting with one another. Somewhere at the back of his mind he takes note how strange it is that he doesn't have a large ugly scar just there below his palms. But no, no scar. Just smooth skin as if nothing had ever happened. Like the event that caused his first meeting with Julie never happened.]

A secret? Uh...

[He chews his lip, trying to bring one to mind]

My team and I found something...back home. Something dangerous. They call it a little black box but its a codebreaker. It could hack any computer system in the world.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[She peers at him, trying to judge if he's making it up or not. Whistler is so expressive for a guy who's never seen an expression.]

That's... a long way from felony phone hacking. Like something out of a movie. ... Did that have something to do with why you were driving a van?

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[He nods, clenching and unclenching his jaw]

Yeah. The rest of my team got captured, I was the only one left cuz they didn't realize I was hiding under the work table so...I had to drive the van.

[redwinekindofgirl]

Wow.

[She looks up at the sky, the silence stretching out in a comfortable, easy kind of way. A few thin wisps of white cloud drift overhead, and Julie wonders when she last actually saw rain. It feels like forever.]

That's really brave. You must have been terrified.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

Well...yeah...

[Of course. Asking him to drive several tons of steel into utter darkness with no real direction is terrifying...]

But it was also sort of exciting. I...uh...I couldn't really believe I was doing it.

[He drums his fingers on his stomach]

Now its your turn. You tell me a secret

[redwinekindofgirl]

Ummm.

[She puffs out a breath and lets her hands drop to her sides. A secret? A few come to mind but they'll only drag the talk down again. She wants to keep it light.]

Back home, I sneak out sometimes. We're not supposed to, but there's a gap in the wall where you can get into the old stadium. There's a skybox... me and my friends would go up there all the time, where no one could find us.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[He huffs out a small laugh. There's just something about that that seems very Julie for some reason]

What would you do there?

[redwinekindofgirl]

[She hums through a laugh.]

Drink, smoke, talk about all the things we wanted to do with our lives. You know. Normal stuff.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

Smoking kills, Jules.

[He playfully 'tsks']

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Julie bites her tongue. The taste of copper pulls her back into herself and she closes her eyes, folding her hands over her stomach and saying nothing for a few seconds.]

Lots of things can kill you. Might as well enjoy yourself while you can.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[Whistler hesitates, sensing maybe he said something wrong]

...sorry. I didn't mean to... I wasn't trying to criticize....

[redwinekindofgirl]

I know. [She sighs, pushing herself up and shaking a bit of sand out of her hair. Her hands fold together in her lap, her eyes cast down to her lightly fidgeting fingers.]

Sit up, I want to show you something.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[Quietly he does as asked, head turned in her direction expectantly]

[redwinekindofgirl]

Look.

[It's a pointed word, meant to mean something else when she says it to him, and she guides his fingers to the inside of her forearm where old but still raised lines mark the skin. She watches his face while he figures it out - if he figures it out - and it's not something she wanted to tell him, but...

It's not something she hides, either.]

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[Whistler's face stays blank a long while, like he's trying to listen for a sound too far in the distance. His fingertips follow the marks as though they were braille and like braille they tell him something when they are read together. And what they tell him make his throat tighten uncomfortably. His lashes flutter a few times against his cheeks and after several long moments his hands close gently but protectively around her forearm.]

[redwinekindofgirl]

I just wanted to be normal. My whole life, I wanted things to be normal, but... they never were. [She shrugs again, and it's not sadness in her voice as much as a resigned acceptance of things just being the way that they are.

Julie closes her free hand over his and squeezes her fingers around his knuckles.]

I'm okay. It's... It's fine, now. I don't do it anymore.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[He keeps his hands still where they are and his quiet comes from a mixture of not knowing what to say and having too many things he wants to say]

If...you ever don't feel...ok. I want to help...even if it's something I can't help myself...we can find it somewhere...

[Whistler knows he wouldn't be the one with the answers. It would be wrong of him to act like he would. But even if help meant knowing to get Dr. Sweets or to get someone else who knows about this stuff, he wants to be there to get that help.]

I just wanna make sure you know you aren't alone.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[It's funny that he thinks of Lance, when as far as Julie is concerned there has already been a line drawn between herself and the doctor that she isn't planning to step over any time soon. Whistler isn't to know that she's already tried that route, and that it didn't help.

This kind of thing helps more. Just knowing someone really cares.]

I know I'm not alone. [She leans forwards, and pecks a kiss against his cheek.] But it doesn't hurt to be reminded, sometimes.

[whistlewhilstyouwork]

[People seem to always compare kisses to fire, and perhaps some are more fire-like than others, but this one was more like an unexpected raindrop on his cheek. One that lingers and settles into the skin. His lashes flutter in his bashful surprise and outwardly he smiles shyly.

Inwardly...it clicks.

Oh.]

I can do that

[His voice is whisper-like as timidly he slides his hand from where it had gripped her forearm to her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before shifting away from her]

I, uh, I should get dressed.

[redwinekindofgirl]

[Julie has grown so used to his shyness when she prods particular nerves that she thinks nothing of it, just shaking her head to herself and shifting position when he moves away from her.]

You should, you know. I'm going to laugh at you if you get sunstroke. [She pauses, then hums.] I mean, I'll help you, but I'm still going to laugh.