On with the chase...

[Skye Wylder]

Skye, meanwhile, had lapsed into one of her occasional "complete" spaced-out moments. Not even half a minute after Rory left, Skye's mind began to wander. She leaned against the wall, hands in her pockets, and essentially became dead to the world.

Usually, when she did lose track of reality, she would be back in thirty seconds to a couple of minutes. Then she would stay still and quiet, infer what just happened, and proceed like normal. However, with these more extreme instances, she could stay in a pseudo-comatose state for up to two days. Fortunately, her norm was only a little over an hour, and the shortest one had been ten minutes. Unfortunately, nobody knew how to "wake her up," with the exception of Artemis, her younger sister, though people had managed to before simply by accident.

Now, it wasn't like Skye could choose to tune everything out; rather, she had absolutely no say in when it happened. It was more likely to happen when she was left alone, or after somebody had said something especially thought-provoking, though, since the general concept was that she was simply too lost in her own thoughts to respond.

Rory came back after a little over five minutes, asking if Skye wanted food. Skye, however, didn't even register that she was on a ship anymore, let alone that someone was talking to her.

[Aurora Westmoreland]

When she'd failed to receive a reply, Aurora frowned and hoisted herself up on the main deck once more. She quickly caught sight of her guest and moved up in front of her with alarming speed. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that the woman had been hit by some drug-loaded dart or something. She grinned to herself; but since she'd met Skye, nothing appeared to be normal. Maybe it was that time of the year when all the queer and unclear came out. It was then that she almost laughed aloud; her own thoughts were in a muddle because of this woman, it appeared.

"Uhm, hello? Earth to Wylder! Still in the land of living?" Needless to say, Miss Westmoreland wasn't a patient woman herself. She impatiently tapped her boot lightly against the polished wood and a mischievous thought found itself within her head.

Nodding, she then moved towards the side of the ship where a bucket was sitting innocently by the deck. Grabbing the said bucket, she quickly located a stray rope and tied it to its handle. Then once again moving towards the side until she had clear view of the water, dumped the bucket down and waited for a few seconds.

She checked to see whether the woman was still spaced out and smiled. Would anyone expect what she was about to do?

Hauling the newly filled pail along with her, she walked back up towards Skye and without a moment's warning, dumped its contents on her- completely soaking her in the sea's salty water.

"Well, you asked for it." She sing-songed and folded her arms across her chest to witness the supposed scene come to life in front of her.

[Skye Wylder]

The icy seawater quickly flowed over Skye's head and over her face and neck, soaking into her clothing. Much of the water hit the deck with a loud splash, coating her lower legs and her sneakers and raising goose-bumps all along her skin.

However, Skye remained oblivious to it all, until a good half-minute later. Then, a rivulet of water ran from her forehead down underneath her nose, and she had the unfortunate timing to inhale at that precise moment.

"Bwack-achoo!" she sneezed, then fell into a fit of short coughs with an occasional sneeze in between. After her body was sure that it had expelled all the salthingyer from her system, the coughs stopped. Skye straightened up and blinked at Rory, who was standing in front of her, with her arms crossed and a smug look in her eyes. Skye coughed again and took in her surroundings--a wet, but empty, bucket; herself, completely drenched; and Rory, giving her a "you-asked-for-it" look.

So Rory had dumped a bucket of water on Skye to get her to snap out of it? That was definitely the first time that had worked, ever. Usually someone had to fetch Artemis... so Skye supposed it was good that Rory's water-dumping had succeeded, since she didn't even know if Artemis was still alive.

Skye sniffed and pulled a hand out of her pocket to rub her nose. "That's the first time that's worked," she commented.