2025-02-26 - Ships in the Night

Christopher has been wandering the park with his strange little pink friend in the front pouch of his hoodie like a kangaroo mama with a joey for a while now, trying to cheer it up. He'd figured out what it liked to eat and it was healthy so far as he could tell, but still not happy. Every so often it would call out with its sad little song and listen, but the response it wanted never seemed to come. Still, Christopher had heard that others had found their matches and he had hope that at some point, little PinkiePoof, the name he had dubbed the bun, would find their soulmate.

But it's getting late and the park only has a half hour or so before close. The fireworks are about to pop in the sky, and so he is boarding the ferry to go back to Fable Island and the resort, the small pink bun mostly curled up asleep in his hoodie.

Huck has mostly finished his shift, having accompanied a group of Deaf tourists back to their accommodations on Fable Island. He had to return to the park to clock out and get his things, so he's preparing to get off the same ferry Christopher is boarding. In his dress shirt breast pocket is his own little pink critter, currently munching on a hunk of Snickers bar, which is apparently its favorite thing in the whole wide whole wide whole wide world of favorite things. With a smile and wave to the ferry captain, Huck begins to disembark. As he does so, the little thing in his pocket decides to lilt its little song.

Bum Dah DuBum Pah

Chris makes his way onto the ferry and is moving toward one of the rows of seats when he hears the little lilting song coming from somewhere behind him. That's when there's a sudden wiggling commotion in his pouch. Usually, the bunny wriggles about when it hears songs, but it never really does much more than that. But this time, there's a more frantic scrambling than usual and he has to try and catch it. "Hey, hey, careful.. we're on a boat little buddy," he says as the bunny calls out with the same song.

Bum Dah DuBum Pah

It looks around, ears flicking, nose twitching and Chris too turns to look around, but doesn't see anyone on the boat with another pink critter, so his brow furrows a little.

The two creatures' song is returned and called back and forth a few times – if only Huck could hear it.

Huck steps off the boat onto the pier, and then notices the commotion happening in his pocket. He looks down, "Hey, what are you doing, Duder?" The little creature is practically swimming in his breast pocket, and it drops the Snickers hunk. Huck grins a little, "You dropped your snack..."

Bum Dah DuBum Pah!!!! it squeals, almost as if begging Huck to hear it, but he just isn't able.

"Are you alright?" he asks, and leans over to pick up the dropped chocolate. As he's bent over, the little guy leaps out of his pocket and darts, scrambling back toward the plank of the ferry. "Whoah! Hey! HEY! DUDER!"

Christopher's own bunny leaps out of his pocket and makes a dash for the other side of the boat, rushing back toward the plank, but the boat is already beginning to pull away from the dock and by the time that Chris catches up with it, the little thing is leaaaning out over the edge singing that song mournfully.

It's then that Christopher spots the little pink critter on the gangway on the island. And the person behind it. He lifts both arms and waves at Huck shouting "Hey! I think your bunny and mine are friends!" There are people staring at him on the boat, but some of them see the small pink rabbit at his feet and the one on the other end of the dock. There are some "awww"s and some "look mommy"s. He doesn't realize that Huck can't hear him though.

"I'll come back!" Will he have time? The park will be closing soon and he's not sure if he can get a ferry back to the park at this hour.

Huck slows as he reaches the edge of the pier, watching Duder and then finally noticing Christopher waving his arms. He takes a knee, his tail wagging behind him. "Are you okay? Wait... is that...?" He looks at the parting boat and squints, finally seeing Christopher's snugglebunny. His eyes widen a little as it all comes together. "Doodles, that's your mate buddy partner thing, isn't it?" He sighs, furrowing his brow. He looks at the other folks watching and is frustrated. No one wants to fail in front of a crowd.

He bends over and wraps his long claws carefully around Duder. "If you trust me, we can do this." He holds it tight and then walks backward a few steps from the edge of the water. He inhales, glancing at a little girl that's watching with almost teary eyes. "It's okay," he assures her. "I got this." He looks back at the rapidly increasing distance between the ferry and the dock and then sprints as fast as he can toward the edge.

Step. Step. Step. LEAP!

Huck hurls himself into the air at full running speed, but instead of falling into the water, he just keeps moving forward about fifteen feet above the water. "WOOHOOOOO!!!!" he shouts as he flies toward the boat.

And then Huck is HURTLING through the air, leaping at the boat and Christopher's eyes widen in shock. He's seen a lot of things in his time hanging around the park but he's never seen anyone take a flying leap toward the ferry like that. Some might back away reflexively, but instead Chris rushes forward to the rail and reaches out a hand, as though he might just pull Huck onto the boat in case he falls in. He also has no idea that Huck can make that distance without his help. So it's only when Huck is about to clear the railing that he finally realizes he needs to get OUT of the way.

Scrambling, Chris dodges to the side and falls onto the deck next to the tiny pink bunny that trills happily as it spots its other half, singing its little song over and over again. It practically hops around in circles and Chris reaches for it to make sure it doesn't actually fall off the boat in its excitement, pulling it into his lap.

"That.. was .. crazy," he tells Huck when he lands. Impressed.

Huck's shoes drop onto the deck of the boat, and in the same motion, he falls to one knee. It's a classic superhero landing that's not at all necessary, but he's practiced it because darn if it doesn't look freaking cool. He laughs once on solid 'ground' and then lets Duder go. Indeed, it runs directly toward its other pairing.

Huck looks over at Christopher, pushing up to his feet and laughing. "Thanks!" He looks at the two animals, then back at Christopher. "Are they making the same song?" he asks. "Everyone keeps telling me they sing..." Then he absently adds, signing it as he says it, "I can't hear it. I'm Deaf."

He watches the little bunnies a moment more, and then extends one of his claws out to Christopher as his long tail swishes about behind him. "Oh, hey, I'm Huck."

It does in fact look freaking cool, especially to Chris who has never met Huck and never seen him do anything like that before. He works on peeling himself up off the deck where he fell while the two snugglebunnies hop around one another and chirr and sing happily, rubbing noses and being adorable to the "awww"s of those around them. It's a reunion of the fuzzy kind.

He nods when Huck asks if they're making the same song, "Yeah, they are," without really thinking about it for a moment. Then when Huck signs he says, "Wow. So you wouldn't know if the song matched. That's wild that we just happened to be passing each other at the right time." He then says, "I'm Chris," and fingerspells out his name letter by letter. "That's.. one of the few things I know how to sign," he admits sheepishly. "I'm just learning. Mostly from youtube videos."

He takes the extended claw and gives it a shake, eyes drawn to the tail by the swishing, but he doesn't stare, his eyes flicking back up to Huck's face. "That was one hell of a jump!"

Laughing, Huck confirms, "My roommate has done a pretty good job of helping me sort of hear it with my hand on his throat as he makes the sounds. Like, a bumdah DuBumbah, I think?" He shrugs, nodding, "Nice to meet you Chris. Oh, and that's Little Duder," he notes, gesturing to his snugglebunny as the two critters do their thing. "So... do they like... do it now...? Or something...?"

As for the jump, "I'm still figuring it out, the flying I mean. I'm not real fast yet, but it's wild for sure!" He meets Christopher's gaze, "What department do you work in? Seems like we might have to schedule playdates for the kids," he says with a chuckle.

Christopher nods when Huck explains the song, agreeing that it does sound something like that. "I called mine PinkiePoof," Chris says when he gestures to the two snugglebunnies. Though when Huck asks if they 'do it' his eyes widen a little and he glances over toward them suspiciously. "Hopefully not on the boat.." They don't look like they're doing anything more than curling up in a little ball next to each other though.

"It's pretty cool," Chris opines. "I was like oh man he's jumping. Oh shit what if he falls? And then.. bam. Made it all the way over." But then Huck asks what department he works in and he admits, "Oh I don't.. I don't work here. I'm staying over at the resort." He nods in the direction that the ferry is going. "But I'm not leaving any time soon so.. we can definitely figure out playdates." He then looks back at them and frowns slightly before looking to Huck. "Seems kinda mean to separate them right away. Do you want to like, keep them together? I'm okay if you want to take them. I just don't want to make Floof sad again right after they found their friend."

Huck tilts his head a little, "Wait, you called it what?" He notes, "Sorry, odd things like names sometimes are hard to read."

"Huh," responds Huck about Chris' employment. "You're just a visitor, but, one of these things found you, too?" He purses his lips in thought. "Have you been here a while? Are you like one of those super-wealthy perma-tourists that just kind of lives at Disney?" It's not asked with any negative judgement. "What's keeping you here?"

He pulls out his phone, "Here, let's swap digits so they can hang out." He looks over at the critters again, making sure they are indeed not up to anything inappropriate, and they thankfully are not.

Christopher says, "Oh, sorry," and then he fingerspells out PinkiePoof for Huck. He's got letters down! And while it definitely makes things slower, he can at least manage that.

He nods. "Well, I don't know if it was looking for me. It rolled in on the room service cart and then just ran out in the room. And then it just kind of stayed and hung out." He smiles a little as he looks down at it. "But it seemed pretty sad. It seems a lot happier now." The questions that follow after are met with a faintly uncomfortable shift as he reaches into his pocket for his phone.

"I've been here for a while, yeah, since the holidays," Chris admits. "I don't know if I'm going to be a perma-tourist but I'm still figuring things out." Then he nods toward the little pink critter and says, "There's a couple of things keeping me here. Some unanswered questions. And now this little guy. Can't just up and run off on him now."

Mercifully they are just being cute and not at all inappropriate. He gives Huck his number as well as his room number at the resort. One of the luxury suites at the top of the building. Then he takes Huck's number in turn. "Thanks, yeah, definitely want to give them some time together. Figure they'll both be happier." He grins. "It's good to have friends."