Catnapping - OTA

[death_from_above]

Who: Spark and whomever
Where: All around the train
When: After the mission, before the platform
What: Spark being introspective while trying to pretend he's still just... Spark
Warnings: Angst, possible violence mentions.


Spark often claimed that he slept through missions to explain why he was absent from them, so he was free to have Gar or Privateer Pirate show up. But this time he actually had slept. He'd been sleeping a lot since that world with the fake lives, that one that felt so much like a storm from Nautilus.

But he was....

Lonely. That was it. He was lonely.

He was more settled now than he had been after the fish world, but he was still barely eating and avoiding people. Or had been. He just...

He wished Adrien would show up here. Or The Doctor would know who he was. Rose. Nino. Connie. Nita. Kirika. Dominic. Greg. Donovan. Luna. He'd even take Jacob or Gabriel at this point, though each had their issues. Of course if he was bothering with wishing... Quilt.

He shook himself and walked through the train, looking for someone who needed a cat to snuggle with, or tell their problems to. Or a friendly face from Nautilus, since none from his real home or Paris were here...

Comments

[sevenyearsasleep]

"For the first ten years of my life, I never left the forest. If me telling you about the whole country bored you, I'm pretty sure that would be even worse."

[death_from_above]

"Nah, lots of good puns to make in a forest. And they tend to have lakes and rivers with yummy fish."

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link thought for a moment about telling Spark he hadn't really been distracted from thinking he was one of the Heroes from Nautilus. And felt more convinced than ever by the lengths of distraction he was going to.

"There's a small stream in the Kokiri Village. They're a tribe of eternal fairy children. I grew up with them. Which made me weird...and a bit of an outcast. The Great Deku Tree looked after all of us, but, he never told me I was adopted, or y'know, not a Kokiri...."

[death_from_above]

"Sounds like that tree was a bit nuts, he didn't think you'd realize the apple fell far? Barking mad, I'd say if he expected you to beleaf that."

[sevenyearsasleep]

"Oh...he was a good dad. I think he let me believe I was defective to toughen me for the things to come."

There was a disconnect in those two statements, and Link belatedly realized that, his cheeks flushing slightly.

"It wasn't that he was cruel or anything. It was just...he knew what I was going to have to do later on, and...that...that was why. Not that he didn't care about me, or anything."

[death_from_above]

"Never said he didn't care, but sounds like his mismanagement is at the root of the problem."

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link smiled lopsidedly. “Nah. Can’t blame anyone for it. Not really.”

[death_from_above]

"I thought you were finally getting these puns, why did you have to branch out into taking me seriously?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

“He was my dad. And he died pretty horribly. I guess it’s hard to joke about?”

[death_from_above]

He flopped back. "Well that's depressing. dead set against making jokes about it, then?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link nodded. “Sorry.”

“I’m fine with jokes about me dying though,” he offered.

[death_from_above]

He sighed. "Well tell me about the rest of your family. Gotta be someone funny in there." Based on his looks, anyway.

[sevenyearsasleep]

“Oh. My birth parents were both killed when I was a baby. You’ve met great-grandson/brother though, right? Shadow?”

His expression brightened considerably.

[death_from_above]

"You're going to tell me that the only one you can make light about is named Shadow?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

"What? No, no, you just asked about family, and he's the only person I'm actually related to that I know who isn't dead. And...I guess I'm pretty bad at teasing people who aren't present? I mean...like I said, make fun of me all you want?"

[death_from_above]

"I guess I can try, but till today I'd have said the only thing funny about you was your looks. almost proved me wrong for a bit there, kid."

[sevenyearsasleep]

"The ears, huh?" Link shrugged with a smile.

[death_from_above]

"Why would it be your ears?" he said, giving him a weird look. "No one's ever mentioned your nose?" He might be yanking Link's tail a bit, now.

[sevenyearsasleep]

“Malon’s said something once or twice,” Link said earnestly.

[death_from_above]

He put his paws over his face in frustration. "You were cracking jokes so well a bit ago, what happened? Was that just to break the ice?"

[sevenyearsasleep]

"Sorry...I'm, ah, I know I'm not much fun. But, uh...the jokes about my dead adoptive father, kind of...hurt?"

[death_from_above]

He huffed a bit. This part would be easier as Gar, but he was Spark and had to keep playing the role.

"Donovan says that the best way to honor someone's memory is to smile and laugh. It's why we had a party instead of a funeral after the war. So everyone could laugh and smile and talk about all the things they loved about the people who were gone."

[sevenyearsasleep]

"...must be a cultural thing," he said quietly.

[death_from_above]

"There have to be some good things you remember that talking about make you smile."

[sevenyearsasleep]

Link considered that. "He'd tell us stories. He'd help us when we'd get into arguments with one another...sometimes he'd even stop the others from bullying me."