tom cruise, EAT YOUR HEART OUT, [ stolen by: postman ]

[` wade winston wilson]

Arm floaties? Check. Swimming trunks? Check. Goggles? Check. Flippers? Check. Snorkel? Check.

Wade grinned as he came to the end of his mental checklist. He was ready. Flexing his arms and neck, Wade adjusted his goggles and snorkel over his face before making his move. One flipper foot went up and over the fountain and into the water, followed by the other. One he was in the fountain Wade moved downward, lowering his body so that he was sitting in it. Hmm. He hadn’t really thought about the fact that fountains were pretty low for snorkeling. Well, it was too late now. Wade was already in the fountain – he would just have to make do with what he had. So, giving a small shrug he plunged himself in the water and began exploring. There wasn’t a great deal to see. The fountain was small, and the bottom was littered with coins, which was going to make finding his golden dollar very difficult. Actually, it wasn't his dollar per se -- Wade had seen a kid the day before tossing the coin into the fountain, his eyes closed shut as though he were wishing for something in particular. Wade didn't know what there was to wish about, possibly his lack of height, or something close to that, but he still thought it a waste of a good golden dollar coin. He had thought about jumping in after it yesterday, too, but then thought better of it. He would look like a complete idiot if he jumped in with all his clothing on, and as much fun as stripping down to his boxers might be, Wade had decided it would be better if he got his swim gear. Of course that meant he had to go out and buy some swim gear; Wade didn't really own such things. He was on a mission, after all, and that mission didn't include stopping to swim in fountains. Wade didn't normally let small things like that stop him from doing something anyway, so he went shopping and bought all the necessary items he needed -- oh crap, sunscreen. Wade cursed himself in his mind as he realized his skin wasn't protected from the sun. Ah well, it was a little late for that. He would just have to take whatever sunburns he got like a man. Now, where was that damn golden coin?

One would think that a golden coin would be easy to find amidst all the other coins in the fountain, but apparently it wasn't going to be easy. Wade supposed that was half the adventure of this swimming expedition. He had to search through all the coins in order to find the one he was looking for. That one was a dime, that one a penny, that one a quarter -- a quarter! Who the hell threw quarters into the fountain? Wade was totally going to be keeping that one. Hmm, would it be terrible if he decided to take all the coins from the fountain? It wasn't like anyone else needed them -- if they did they wouldn't have thrown them into the fountain in the first place. Pennies Wade had no use for, dimes and nickels were only worthwhile if there were a bunch of them. Perhaps Wade would just take quarters and that golden dollar. That was all he really wanted anyway. He couldn't carry around small change anyway without alerting people to the fact that he was coming. He was good at his job because he could get around unnoticed most of the time -- loose change would ruin that. Besides, Wade didn't want to ruin any wishes that might come true for all those people that threw pennies into the fountain, not that he felt any of the wishes would come true anyway. Wade didn't believe in hocus pocus like that. He had never felt the need to throw a penny into a fountain, mostly because he didn't have anything to wish over. What did he want in life that he couldn't get himself? Oh, a pink pony would have been nice, but unless Wade spray painted a white one to look pink he figured his chances of getting one of those and being able to keep it was pretty slim. Laura was picky about the things Wade brought home -- she had only let him keep Caley because Wade didn't really know where Caley originally went. Wade didn't want to bring anything more home anyway. Laura would just hog it like she was hogging Caley -- today the pair were out doing something. Wade was pretty sure they were out getting Thin-Mint Blizzards without him. He had been the one to suggest them in the first place, and then Laura had said no because it was late, and that was probably where they were now.

Wait! Was that the gold dollar coin Wade was looking for? He moved himself closer to the coin and grinned, then coughed as he accidentally inhaled some water. Shaking his head Wade moved it up out of the water and pushed the snorkel and goggles atop his head. His eyes hadn't strayed from the spot he had spied the gold dollar coin, and he kept them there as he reached a hand down to retrieve it. A grin lit up his face as he brought the shiny gold coin out of the water. There it was, the coin he had been searching for. It was just as shiny as he remembered it being when the kid had thrown it into the fountain. What luck! Pushing himself to his feet, Wade ignored the looks people were giving him around the fountain. He was sure he had caused a commotion, not that he cared if he did or not. What people thought about him really didn't concern him -- it was just flattering to know that they thought about him at all, because that meant he was worth thinking about. Still grinning, Wade waded back to the edge of the fountain, blinking as he realized someone was staring at him with their mouth hanging open. Obviously they had never seen a man snorkeling in a fountain before, poor thing. Sitting on the cement edge, Wade moved one flippered foot out of the fountain, and then the other, letting them rest on the warm cement of the sidewalk. He fingered his coin before shoving it into his pocket, looking back up at the shocked onlooker. "Have you ever been swimming in a fountain before? It's not as easy as it looks. The water's too shallow to do any actual swimming -- it's really only good for snorkeling. Or practicing how to snorkel. If you want I can teach you -- it's not that hard. Just don't breathe in the water, don't have any fears of the water -- I mean, if you're afraid of water you'll have all sorts of problems and probably end up drowning, and I don't do drowning victims." He shrugged, and glanced away from the onlooker, his eyes going through the crowds of people wandering around slowly. They were still trying to make up their minds about him, which was fine. Eventually they would decide he wasn't worth watching anymore -- not unless he pulled another fun stunt. His eyes returned to the person standing beside him. They had closed their mouth finally. "I'm Wade, by the way. Who are you?"

[` david matthew stanton]

David thought he might be getting the hand of this ‘being aboveground’ thing. Maybe.

It really didn’t help that he only ever managed to think that for a few seconds at a time, though. After that few seconds of feeling that he might actually be getting somewhere, he’d realize just how terrified not being in the sewers made him. He was always anxious and edgy and a little bit afraid. He’d been normal enough, once upon a time, but now? Now David could be considered a highly odd individual, at best. Certainly one wouldn’t guess just what he was by looking at him, but he’d had quite enough of people for some time. The massacre had left him more anxious and paranoid than ever, and he tried not to come out of the sewers when he could help it. People were of a very scary, dangerous sort. You could never really tell just who was who – or who was what – just by looking at them. David supposed that he should be the last person to judge, but personally he’d like to know if a potentially dangerous mutant decided to come pick on him. Call him crazy, but that sort of knowledge could be just a little bit useful. After all, it wasn’t really like he was capable of taking care of himself. His powers were unpredictable, at best – and dangerous, at worst. That didn’t exactly give David a ‘warm, fuzzy’ sort of feeling. He hated not knowing when he could just … go off. Maybe it really wasn’t as bad as all that, but David didn’t like the idea that he might hurt innocent people. Maybe he was too idealistic, but he liked to believe that bad things shouldn’t happen to good people. Life really didn’t work that way, though, and that was highly unfair. Some people never did a thing wrong in all their lives, and only managed to earn themselves a gruesome death at the hands of some deranged killer. David didn’t want to be thinking about that sort of thing, though. It was depressing, to say the least, and that wasn’t what he needed. Today was going to be nice and normal and not filled with thoughts of impending doom. David wasn’t sure quite how he was going to manage it, but he would. Everybody had to be feeling pretty doom-and-gloom these days, really. Uncertain times, and all.

David was really just wandering aimlessly, by this point. He was waiting around, and that made things a little tricky. He didn’t have time to go back to the sewers – at least, he didn’t think he did – but being around people for any length of time in a setting that wasn’t his workplace made him highly uncomfortable. He was rather out of practice when it came to what was ordinary and what wasn’t, but for all that he really didn’t have too much trouble going unnoticed. He was an unobtrusive sort of man, really, and nobody tended to give him a second glance. That in and of itself was something that David could appreciate. At least he didn’t have some sort of physical mutation; then he would have been really and truly too afraid to leave the sewers, even for the most urgent of reasons. As it was, he was afraid enough. There were few things in the world that didn’t scare him; it was far more rare to find something he didn’t fear than something he did fear. He just felt … odd … surrounded by people. As though something were wrong about the situation. He knew they had no way of knowing just whom or what he was, but he still couldn’t help but feel ill at ease. He supposed that it just went with the territory, when one was a Morlock. They weren’t known for being the strongest, most assertive mutants in the world, after all. David supposed that it was well and good that they lived in the sewers, then. A group like the Morlocks, living aboveground and in the open? They would have been sitting ducks. David had lived aboveground, once, but thankfully he’d never come to much harm in the process. These days, he knew better. These days he wouldn’t have wanted to live out in the open. Tensions were running high between humans and mutants, and between … well … between mutants and other mutants. There was no side that was truly safe to be on, and David didn’t know if he wanted to be on anybody’s side but the Morlocks’. They had a good thing going; they sort of just stayed down in the sewers, minding their own business. It was an ideal existence, for somebody like David. He’d made himself useful, and he belonged, and there was really little more than he wanted out of life.

At first, David noticed nothing unusual as he was making his way past the fountain. It was only when he really looked that he realized that something highly unusual was happening. Was that a man swimming in the fountain? He supposed that it couldn’t really be called swimming, but he was at the very least snorkelling. What on earth? David didn’t think he’d ever seen anything like this happen before – or heard of anything like it. He knew one thing for sure – he wouldn’t have wanted to swim in the thing. Heaven only knew how many germs entered the fountain on a daily basis. David really hadn’t intended to stare at the man in the fountain with his mouth hanging open like an idiot – but – there he was, doing just that. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. He’d been caught in the act. The last thing he needed was to get told off for staring like a moron. He fidgeted a little as the man climbed out of the fountain and started speaking. Wait … was the guy talking to him? David didn’t see anybody else in the immediate vicinity responding, so he took that to mean that the strange man was, indeed, speaking to him. “N-no … I haven’t.” David figured that honesty was the best policy. He’d never been swimming in a fountain before, nor had he had any desire to do any such thing. David shook his head vigorously when he heard the offer to teach him how to snorkel in the fountain. “T-thank you. That’s v-very kind of you, but … I d-don’t think I’d be very g-good.” Damn it, there went David, stuttering again. He felt extremely awkward in this situation, and that really wasn’t helping matters. David was certain that this man wasn’t somebody that anybody would define as being ‘ordinary’. He finally managed to close his mouth and stop gaping at the other man, by the time he was properly introduced.

“My n-name is David.” He really didn’t know if it was a good idea to be introducing himself to what could very well be a crazy man, but it was too late for that now. What was done was done, and couldn’t be undone. Not unless one had some sort of crazy powers, of course, but even then it was probably a stretch of the imagination.