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hi guys! uhhhh i hope i'm doing this right

my name's sora and some friends and me are trying to build a boat!

we finished a raft first cause it was easier, but i've only seen hand tools laying around so getting the wood and shaping it and stuff sure is taking awhile. we've made a couple before so even though we don't have anything fancy it'll probably just take a few days, but it'd sure go a lot faster with help.

and maybe sandpaper, i only found a little bit.

anyway, is anyone else used to building stuff?
even if you just wanna help out that'd be great! i guess i don't really have a way to pay you or anything, but i'll let you name the boat! that's fair, right? or if we get lots of help we could probably make more than one.

a skiff should be just enough to get around and i figure to hold 2 people it'd have to be like..... 8 feet long, and for 3 maybe at least 12. it's gonna take awhile though! even with my dad and all his stuff back home it was almost 3 whole weeks. i kinda figured if we got lots of hands that we could make up for not having any of the special gadgets. like i heard you can sand wood down by just using rocks inside a shirt! i already have lots of blisters

oh! and riku said it'd be cool to see if anybody knows how to uhhh what was it

make a lens? so we could use
a torch as a spotlight?

i think that part'll be a little further off

[local islander seeks diy enthusiasts and carpenters of dubious skills to build boat and possibly create tiny fleet. he also enjoys long walks on the beach and cakes with fruit inside, not to be confused with fruitcake.]

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yeah i've got oars down, and we're making rope just out of cloth right now, you know like doing some braids and then braiding the braids. but we haven't done life preservers yet though maybe that's just cause we're used to no using them

what're you gonna use your boat for? we're gonna try and go around the other side of the coast and see if we can draw up a map at least

i'm not making one. just asking about yours. it'd be good to have a map.

how many of you are going?

oh! i thought maybe you were asking cause you wanted to help

but it's four of us! so we can row in shifts
we're gonna try and map out a star chart too since it's hard enough just doing stuff in the dark

i know a couple people said there were signs that said not to go towards the lighthouse so i'm hoping we might be able to find things the other direction at least

if you need extra hands. [ he likes keeping an eye on people. and he likes initiative.

~~watch out sora he's a dad~~ ]

I can get my hands on rope or make some.

[considering how long it's been since he's seen his family, the dad energy is honestly a comfort.]

can you teach me how?

to make rope

then i can practice and i won't have to rely on other people to do it for me forever

[ don't encourage him sora he's as bad as his batdad!!!!!! ]

of course. where are you? I'll bring you some.

[don't batdads need robins???]

oh thanks! i'm at the shore

i live in the boathouse

[ do you really want to be a robin, sora? ]

on my way.

[ approximately twenty minutes later, a man in a dark jacket carrying a lantern which casts him in blue flame appears. dick has a bag with him filled with inner bark material. he stops outside. ]

Sora?

[two words: sparkly shorts]

[Sora doesn't mind spending time on his own. That is- he's glad that his friends are here because they mean so much to him, because he's worked so hard and so long just to see their faces again. To know it'd be okay to finally go back home all together. But it isn't that simple either, because they aren't meeting up somewhere new or visiting a strange world to explore. There isn't a going back after this.

He wouldn't describe himself as restless because he's always enjoyed sleeping too much for that. But there's no napping through the way the thoughts circle around each other. There's only what he can do with his hands, something small to stay busy.

He's been collecting logs that had washed up in the storm, carting them down the beach by rolling them into the water just enough to rely on it's buoyancy to do the heavy lifting. It's a long process, but they've got nothing if not time, right? A small pile in different shapes and sizes are near the boathouse, outside the shelter itself- and pulled up onto shore is a raft. The design is simple but sturdy- wood that's been tied together in a series of loops while steering poles and oars are propped up near the storage shed. And that's where Sora is when he sees the light coming. He's rounding the side with his lantern dangling from the crook of his elbow. His hands are a little sore from working nonstop the last few days, but the worst part is trying to find the splinters in his palms and work them back out. Light is in short enough supply as it is.

Still, he pauses for just a moment when he sees the blue light. Begins walking again once he hears his name. And then, because that's who Sora is- he raises one arm and waves; the single light point on an expanse of dark shore.]

Hey! Over here!

[ he looks down to the light in the darkness. the figure is illuminated enough. dick can walk blindfolded. he keeps his lantern close to him for now. losing it means death. they come back - he isn't afraid of that. it hasn't made him reckless. he would disgrace his training if he acted without caution. and despite walking away from gotham (and from bruce), dick wants to be a good son to him. a good partner. that's all he ever wanted.

he keeps the lantern close for shape of wings below the flame. they could be a bird. but he thinks in death he can't escape what he had turned into.

the creature holding up his life's light is a bat. ]

Sora? [ dick starts briskly walking towards him. ]

It's me, Dick.

[He hasn't spent the time in darkness that some of his friends have- adjusting to what it means to be surrounded always by not just an endless stretch of black, but by the hopelessness and despair that comes with it. But he hasn't had the kind of training that some of the other people have had too- practicing to be skilled fighters or- ninjas or something. The idea of a skillset that's honed by those experiences isn't beyond him because he's seen the results, people who've come through the other side. But that isn't the same as cultivating a mentality around caution or measuring one's actions.

It's a transparancy that Sora carries all over, with the same readiness that keeps his heart on his sleeve. If he has any second thoughts at all about jogging across a relatively isolated beach, in near perfect darkness, towards a stranger, it's hard to know it. His gaze goes from the silhouette first to the lantern, the only thing that's really distinct at all, until they're finally near enough that he can start to pick out the details in his face. Even then, the illuminated spectre is a presence all it's own: a bat.]

Hey! [The's a clip in it turning the word into one with two syllables- like hello.] Thanks for coming all the way out here.

[His own lantern remains tucked into the bend of his elbow, but it frees him up enough that Sora's able to rub at the back of his neck- somewhere between sheepish and self-conscious.] Sorry if you were busy doing something else. I didn't even ask first.

[ sora does approach a complete stranger with an open heart. dick feels he is a trustworthy man. even if he is not likeable. or nice. but in his opinion it's wise to trust him.

he wants to be trusted, too. ]

No problem. I wasn't busy. [ he keeps busy. but he also can put it aside. he tries to prioritize the same way.

beacon has been challenging. he's just a guy. ]

I've got supplies. There should be enough for all of you going.

[ there are enough and some. dick is always prepared. he has brought extra to help with homemade life vests too. ]

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