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Sarpa Sarpa

@room-on-broom asked: @febuwhump Day 5: Not Trusting Reality @loopstagirl recommended Gordon The rest, as they say, is history.

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A three-day break on the French Riviera was just the tonic Gordon needed. Rescues had been thick and fast and the last one was the straw that broke the camel’s back - almost literally.

Three days on his strongest painkillers followed by a week of intense physio and at least he could move now, even if it wasn’t as freely as he’d like it to be.

So Grandma had ordered him to go away for a few days, Penny had said she had a thing in France and would he like to accompany her and Gordon and said yes before finding out what said ‘thing’ was…

The ‘thing’ turned out to be the Cannes Film Festival where Lady Penelope Creighton-ward was attending as representative of a documentary being screened. Resigned to being bored out of his skull, Gordon found himself pleasantly surprised by a documentary about Penny’s ongoing project to turn old, polluting oil rigs into clean solar energy collectors and the impact that was having on marine life.

As a treat Penny has said he was welcome to spend the next day exploring the town they were staying at while she had more duties to perform in Cannes, and after he’d suitably protested and Penny had appropriately demurred his words Gordon found himself alone and set about exploring Saint Tropez.

The town was so beautiful. Gordon wasn’t the brother who usually appreciated architecture but this was so lovely that he made his mind up to get Virgil here. Somewhere at the back of his mind there was the knowledge (he’d rapidly consumed when Penny had first suggested Saint Tropez) that there was a thriving artist community here. It would suit Virgil down to the ground – the perfect beach, the crystal blue water and the beautiful buildings.

He rounded off the morning at the fish market. It blew his mind! There were so many varieties of fish, they were beautifully laid out and he was happy as a skylark on a spring day. Gordon picked two prime sea bream, had them wrapped and then delivered them to the hotel along with a huge quantity of other fish he’d splurged out on on a whim.

The head chef, delighted at the quality of fish Gordon had bought, changed the evening menu completely and promised the two sea bream would be specially prepared for him and Penny.

Gordon spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool planning out their evening meal and what they would fill the remaining hours with. It was early spring and it was so beautiful here that he wanted to rent a boat after dinner and just hang out on the ocean until the stars studded the sky.

Yes, that was perfect! Gordon exited the pool and as he got ready he called John and asked him to book everything he wanted. John was only too happy to oblige and as Penny entered the suite Gordon had everything arranged.

The chef had outdone himself. Starting with the tiniest square of toasted sourdough topped with finely sliced apple, an even smaller square of goat’s cheese and a smear of locally produced wildflower honey, he followed it with a simple salt bake for the fish with a courgette salad and a small dish of herb sorbet that had a hint of orange that was surprisingly refreshing.

They complemented the chef profusely before heading out to the waiting motorboat. Gordon steered them out into the open, stopping when the lights of Saint Tropez were a twinkling on the horizon.

They lounged on the seat, drinking sparkling water and generally chatting, catching up on their separate lives until they were talked out, sitting companionably watching the fireworks over the city.

Gordon blinked and frowned. Turning to Penny he almost jumped out of his skin, instead leaping up from his seat and yelling.

‘Get away from me!’ ‘Gordon?’ ‘Get away from me! What – what are you?’ ‘Darling, whatever is the matter?’ ‘What have you done with Penny?’

In Penny’s place was what Gordon could only describe as a woman with a bird’s head – the fact that this was a Kea head was not lost on him – and every time the bird opened its mouth it was screaming at him.

He backed away until he was on the opposite end of the boat before darting down into the cabin and bolting the door behind him.

Penny stared after him before pulling out her compact.

‘Penny, I wasn’t expec…’ ‘John! There’s something wrong with Gordon! We need help!’ ‘Sending Virgil now.’ ‘No, John. I need faster. Send Scott.’ ‘FAB. He’s already on his way.’

It was not long afterwards that One screamed to a halt above their boat but it felt like hours to Penny. She’d banged on the door but every time she tried to get through to him Gordon would yell back and scream for her.

Scott dropped from One like a stone. Penny had already filled him in on what was going on so he wasted no time trying to get through the cabin door. He applied one of Alan’s tin can openers and kicked it in.

Gordon was curled up under the small table, hands covering his ears. His eyes were wide and wild. All this Scott took in in a moment before reaching out to his brother. And then he jumped back as his brother screamed at him.

‘Virgil, can you see?’ ‘See and hear, Scott. I think you’ll need to knock him out somehow.’ ‘Tranq?’ ‘No, better not. I’ve no idea what Gordon’s been drugged with and it may contraindicate.’ ‘Suggestions?’ ‘If he can’t be safely moved you’re gonna have to knock him out for real.’ ‘Oh.’

Scott took a deep breath and looked at Penny, who gave him an encouraging nod. He turned back to Gordon and tried once more to talk to him, but again his brother started yelling at him and trying to make himself even smaller in the tiny gap.

Sighing, Scott knew there was only one thing to do. Moving quickly and keeping in mind that his brother was a squid at all times – and a WASP-trained one at that – Scott hauled Gordon out and quickly twisted until he had him in a sleeper hold. It wasn’t easy in the confined space, but that actually worked in Scott’s favour and eventually Gordon was unconscious.

Penny wiped a tear from her face as she watched Scott transfer Gordon to One before returning for her. There wasn’t really much room in One but what she lacked in space she more than made up for in speed, and before Penny had even managed to get comfortable Scott was telling her to strap in for landing.

Nothing was said as Scott landed One on her sister’s runway where Virgil and Grandma were waiting, and before long the four of them were rushing Gordon to the infirmary while Scott landed One properly. Virgil had, with only the smallest of pauses, strapped his brother down – which proved wise as Gordon began to stir.

Gordon, seeing bird people all around him screaming at him, began to scream back, yelling for John to help him. One of the birds bit him hard but two of the others backed away, leaving only the biter and an older bird. He ignored the tears streaming down his face and tried to stare defiantly at them.

Virgil rushed the blood test off to the analyser and set about waiting for the results. It didn’t take long since he was pretty convinced that Gordon had been spiked and sure enough the results for…huh. Not LSD, which is the drug Virgil had assumed it would be, but something very close.

Brains also went ‘huh’ but his was more interesting, and Virgil looked over to him as he began typing away on his tablet.

‘I – I think I know w-w-what’s wrong with G-G-Gordon.’ ‘You do? What is it?’ ‘There w-w-was an article a couple of days ag-g-go. Two men w-w-with the same symptoms.’ ‘They were drugged?’ ‘No – they had eaten s-s-sea bream that was i-i-infected. Here.’

He passed Virgil the tablet and there was a news article about two men who had eaten sea bream and a couple of hours later had begun to hallucinate. The descriptions were eerily similar to what Gordon was now mumbling about – bird people trying to attack him.

Virgil read on and sighed in relief. 24-36 hours they could expect Gordon to be high on a psychedelic fish that was warping his reality. No wonder Gordon couldn’t trust what he saw, what he thought he saw. They just had to hold out until then.

Penny didn’t leave Gordon’s side until eventually he woke from an uneasy sleep and finally recognised her for who she really was.

‘Penny? I had the strangest dream.’ ‘Well, it’s all over now, my love. It’s all over now.’