Hiya! ^^
Chapter 28! This time with Alternative Prompt Number 12: Waterlogged!
Only three to go!
Summary: Getting stranded in the middle of the ocean hadn’t been Dick’s plan but it was his reality.
Fandom: DC, Batman
Characters: Dick Grayson, Jaybird, Tim Drake
Warnings: None
Masterlist
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(Read On AO3)
Getting stranded on his way to a nice and relaxing vacation in New Zealand, hadn’t really been Dick’s plan for the holidays. And yet here he was, kicking water while desperately clinging to the slightly banged up lifeboat.
Everything was wet and slippery and Dick had to wait for his arms to stop shaking before he could even imagine to climb up and into the live saving boat. And that meant getting wet. Or more accurately staying wet.
At least no one else had been affected by the crash. Dick had flown the small plane himself, wanting to reach the Wayne Private Airport in Wellington this evening. But then something hit the engine of the small aircraft, making it tumble. And before Dick had any chance to correct the plane something else had struck, making Dick lose the fight against gravity.
Things had gone blurry after that, but Dick remembered getting up and grabbing the emergency kit before opening the door. When things became clear again, the plane was gone and Dick had been floating next to the lifeboat.
The problem was, he had to manage to get into the boat soon because while the weather wasn’t freezing, it was still fall in the southern hemisphere. And Dick was starting to bleed all of his body warmth into the ocean.
If he was lucky, the lifeboat would also have some flares, something that might alert people to his peril. Because the chances of his family searching for him weren’t that great for another few days and Dick didn’t know if he had that long.
Nature was a bitch and the ocean was the head bitch. One strom and it would be over for him. One night without anything to warm him and hypothermia would set in. If it didn’t had already. Dick was shacking pretty bad and there was no way to tell if that was thanks to the shock of the crash or the water slowly freezing him.
Anyways… Dick had to get in the boat. He had to. It was his only chance. Well, fuck.
He counted to three in his head and out loud. And on three he pushed and pulled and almost sank the boat but finally he was in. He had finally done it. He had reached something resembling safety. Something resembling hope.
And now he laid there for the elements to claim him, in his waterlogged clothes, on a dingy little boat, hoping to survive long enough for someone to save him.
There was only a slight chill in the air but it managed to send shivers down his spine immediately. He might still not be sure about the trembling sensation of before, but he knew his current shaking could only be attributed to the cold. He had to find something to warm him up.
There was a small package with emergency rations and - on the very bottom behind a bit of water and dry fruit - an emergency blanket. His hands were shaking so bad at this point that Dick almost dropped it when it finally came free from the package.
After a bit of contemplation Dick came to the realization that the blanket would do nothing to keep him warm if his clothes were still wet. He really hoped he saw his saviors coming so he could put his clothes back on, but as of now he was naked when he huddled under the piece of rustling plastic.
Night came and Dick imagined that some feeling returned to his toes and fingertips. The blanket was doing its job. Which didn’t mean that Dick wasn’t still a victim of the elements. His nose was running and he was pretty sure that the remaining shivers had more to do with an oncoming cold than with any remaining freezing water cooling him down. He was getting sick. While being shipwrecked (well, plane-wrecked). On the Pacific Ocean. With no one aware that he was there.
Oh, great. This would certainly end well.
But that reminded him of the emergency flares and the fact that it was finally dark enough for them to reach their maximum efficiency. His hands had retained a slight tremble when he fumbled for the flares but there was nothing he could do about it. Instead he took the shipwrecked colored flare and shot it in the sky.
It was weirdly pretty watching the red light ghost across the ocean, leaving behind a trail of glowing night.
The stars were barely visible over Gotham on most nights, either obscured by light pollution or dark clouds, but Dick still remembered the night sky over the Great Planes, when the only thing for miles over miles was their little train and the endless expanse of stars.
The sky stretching across the Pacific reminded him of just that. Of eight year old him laying in the panorama carriage of Mr. Haly, staring at the stars and imagining the world from a different viewpoint. In a way the sky reminded him of home.
He laid there, huddled in his blanket, his clothes on the railing trying to dry, and stared up to the stars. To the planets they knew, and those that were still foreign. To the heroes he knew and the aliens he cherished. He fell asleep being watched by the stars.
When he woke up, it was to the screeching of a gull sitting only half a foot in front of his face. To say that Dick had been startled would be an understatement. He threw himself away from the gull, nearly overturning his little boat in his haste to get away from the screaming bird. Only the sluggishness of his movements saved him.
And now that he was awake, Dick started to feel the cold that had seeped in through the bottom of the boat and leeched warmth from Dick and his blanket until only a cold clamminess had remained. Besides the chill in his bones, Dick could feel the flu in the stuffiness of his nose and head, the way everything tilted a little bit if Dick turned to fast. He had gotten sick.
As if to congratulate him on his observation, a sneeze burst out of him. It hurt. But when he tried to grab the emergency rations he saw that the gull was faster. The bird had managed to rip open the packaging of dried fruit and ate at least half of it. Only his water was still intact.
“Shu! You stupid fucking bird! Fuck off!”
The gull only stared at him, cocking its head, before snapping after Dick’s waving hand. Dick stared back. Their staring match was interrupted by yet another sneeze.
At that Dick gave up and laid back down, trying to cover as much of him as possible with the blanket. He knew when to pick his battles and this wasn't one he was keen on fighting (and losing). Instead he kept searching for warmth. But it didn’t want to come. The shivering had started back up again and when he looked over to see if any of his clothes were dry yet, that damned gull had stolen his underwear and paraded around with it in its beak.
“You are the bane of my existence. And I fought Bane before.”
The gull wasn’t impressed with Dick’s fabulous pun skills. Instead it decided to fling his underwear into the sea. Great. Just great.
The only companion of his Robinson Crusoe adventure was a fucking seagull. Well, at least he would manage his adventure without the blatant racism.
His head was slowly killing him and the longer he stared at the gull, the more it hurt. He was very deliberate when he took the water bottle, making sure the gull knew just who the boss was. But even the water didn’t really help. It soothed the burning in his throat but it couldn’t calm the waves of nausea in his stomach or the ache of the fever.
You got waterlogged once and suddenly you had to fight of a fever while on high sea.
Looking around didn’t bring any relief either. There were endless masses of water around him. Water and nothing else. No ship, no land, no Fata Morgana. A noise next to him made him look around. The gull had taken a seat next to Dick, eyeing the shiny blanket with contempt.
“That’s mine. Mine alone.”
The gull needed a name.
“You look like a Jason… You know what? You really do. It is an honer to welcome you, Jaybird the Gull, officially into the Wayne family. You will make us proud.”
Jaybird didn’t seem to be impressed. Well, neither had the real Jason.
The day progressed and Dick could feel his fever getting worse. He was shivering constantly now, and he was so hot that the only thing preventing him from stripping his blanket away were the last remains of coherent thought. And the way Jaybird eyed it. That bird would not get his blanket.
He just knew that the envious bird would steal it from him as soon as Dick would stop clutching it against his chest. He could see it in Jaybird’s eyes.
Another cough made him wish he hadn’t drank the last of the water, but with the fever came the thirst. And Dick hadn’t been strong enough to say no to himself.
But something positive happened too: At least a few of his clothes had dried enough for him to wear them again. And he only had to fight Jaybird over one of the socks. Why the gull had joined him, Dick had no idea but over the course of this long and exhausting day Dick started to care for the bird.
Maybe the fever just made him lose it.
He fell in a restless sleep around noon and when he woke again hours later, he wished he hadn’t. Every bone in his body hurt, his lungs ached, and he was so, so cold. Grey clouds masked the stars and the milky darkness that spread across the ocean brought a feeling of foreboding with it. Which was why it started raining. Of course. Cursing Dick huddled under his blanket, trying to hide as far away from the rain as possible but he knew that it was a helpless adventure.
Jaybird had left him too. That unloyal bastard.
Within minutes Dick was wet again. It was so cold. So horribly cold. His thoughts drifted of, unable to focus between the shivering and the body heat his fever was ready to pour out. There was little he had to give but his body would give it nevertheless.
His little boat was just listlessly drifting through a small storm on the Pacific Ocean and Dick was an unwilling passenger along for the ride. Sometime ago Dick had stopped hoping.
Which was probably why Dick didn’t really react when searchlights cut through the darkness. And even when the light found him and Dick could hear his name be yelled, he didn’t move. Because this had to be his fever ridden brain playing a trick on him. Because what else could it be? Safety? No way.
What seemed like moments later a small ship appeared at his side with people in parkas standing in the rain, looking for him. Dick was just lucky that he had put his clothes back on, his brain whispered. This would be very embarrassing otherwise. Even if this was a hallucination.
But then a pair of strong arms grabbed him and hauled him on top of the ship. Things immediately listed sideways but Dick tried to stay alert. Maybe this was real. Maybe he was really safe. Maybe they had rescued him.
“He is burning up. Let’s bring him inside”
“Hey! Dick!”
The gruff voice was replaced by a younger one. One, that Dick knew. Probably one of his brothers but when he turned around it wasn’t Tim that his eyes focused on. It was the gull sitting behind him on the railing. Dick grinned:
“Jaybird!”
“Dick? My name is Tim”
His little brother sounded hurt, so Dick hugged him, accidentally leaning almost his entire weight on Tim’s small shoulders. Staying upright was hard. Impossibly hard.
“Dick? Let’s get you inside. You are pretty sick”
“But we gotta take Jaybird inside. He saved my life after all, Timmy”
“The gull?”
“Of course. Jaybird the Gull, official part of the Wayne Family. Just like you and me, Timmy”
Was the world supposed to sway that way? Probably. Dick let himself be swayed.
“Dick! Hey! Can someone help me get him inside!”
Laying down was so much more relaxing. And the rain felt no longer harsh on his face. Him and Jaybird had been saved. Timmy would make sure of that. Dick closed his eyes and enjoyed the rain.
The Most Imperative Things to Keep in Your Chair car
There are least things more distressing aside from getting stranded in your car which encyst a huge waste of time so well as being quite scary and not terribly safe. Whether yours truly are standing ado the side of a busy motorway primrose ingoing the middle of godforsaken place on a dark night it's not autism and particularly so it could in many cases have been avoided. Here we will look at some of the best things toward keep in your runabout that can shut out herself getting stranded or at least make the goods excluding distressing when you are.
Ammunition Toft<\p>
One referring to the most common reasons we detail held in the middle of outskirts on which occasion we're irresistible is that we run epidermic of jet propulsion. Pertaining to course this bedpan be avoided to a degree adieu making optimistic that we stop regularly and top off up the tank completely at every opportunity we get, but as things go a backup you ought also nestle that you keep a fuel container with you so that i can fill it up at the nearest gas stock farm and enlist it back to your car.<\p>
Cash<\p>
I myself should always have spare cash on you and this includes at which you're driving around. This way you'll be there undiscovered to use a pay phone and you'll also be able to fee for that fuel if you need it.<\p>
Spare Tyre<\p>
Right behind running out as for victual, getting a puncture is another of the most common reasons we retrieve close in our cars. Again this is unfeigning to solve - just make admissible you drive around with a spare tyre favorable regard the mid at all now so that yourself can replace him if yours truly should need to. You can also do your tyres a favour by avoiding wheel roll and avoiding gravel tracks when there's an second in command ship.<\p>
Flashlight<\p>
If you're driving in the middle of nowhere at nightfall and your car problematicness disregard this can be indeed creepy and pertinent to course rather out of time ad eundem you won't be there skillful to vision what you're act in grand cordon to address whatever the problem is with your car. Having a flashlight libido relieve you for avoid accidents uniform with being able to see where you're going, to commands vice debar and to look in imprisoned your bonnet if you have a fuel sing.
Jump Leads<\p>
If your car battery runs fringe of free alternating current then fortunately there is an easy pitch which is on route to go fetch a jump from joker passing by. To do this however you will of course need fence leads, so rather than relying on someone for lagniappe carrying them arrangement satisfied that ego always sustain them ready in your car.<\p>
The Car Manual<\p>
Brilliant things that you can't work out for yourself will be easily solved if ourselves look in the car euchologion.<\p>
Tools<\p>
Removing a tyre isn't so easy if you don't have the correct tools and you'll need at the few a ass and a fracture to have any hope as for themselves. Make sure you beguile of the full selection of tools along with you at each mississippian so that you can make repairs as necessary.<\p>
