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Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
“Skizz,” Impulse whispered.
The man looked up at his best friend sitting in front of him. “Hm?”
Impulse grimaced, doubt flashing in his eyes. “Do you think we’ll ever find land?”
Cool water bubbled with the force of two men rowing, but otherwise, the waters were still. Moonlight caught the edges of the ripples, creating crescents of white on the endless black of the sea. Four oars silently pierced the glassy cold, all thrusting backwards, one set after the other.
“Of course, homie!” Skizz reassured, softly but firmly. “Any day now.”
Impulse shivered, momentarily releasing his grip on one of the oars to pull his beanie further over his ears.
“Okay. Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”
Skizz smiled. “I’m always right, nooch!”
“Get a load of this guy,” Impulse muttered with a smile, turning his head slightly so that his expression wouldn’t go unnoticed.
Skizz let his eyes flutter closed for a moment, taking a second to enjoy the cold, seasalt wind drifting past. Sure, the air was a bit nippy for his liking, and the rowboat’s hard seats were driving him crazy, but it wasn’t all bad. Quite honestly, a little adventure with his best friend was far from the worst situation he could find himself in.
“What do you think you’d do if today was your last day alive?”
Impulse exhaled loudly. “Oh, I don’t know. Jeez! That’s a hard one.”
“I know, right!?” Skizz laughed. “There are so many things that I still wanna do!”
“Yeah, you’ve gotta finish your base, and work on ego, and shadow, and… oh DUDE! You’d have to miss Decked Out Three!”
“Noo! Aww, gah!”
Impulse chuckled. “I guess you could ask Tango to make a mini Decked Out for your final hours, if he’d be willing.”
“He’ll just slap a stone box down with a ravager in it. Then I wouldn’t even have final hours; I’d get final seconds at best!”
They laughed in unison, and their oars seemed lighter as they both thrust forward again.
Swish, swish.
“I wonder if Tagno’s noticed we’re missing yet,” Impulse mentioned casually.
“Nah, he’s probably too busy sitting in some stupid mountain.”
“Haha, yeah. He starts some grand project, and all of a sudden we don’t see any Tango for the rest of the season!”
Skizz laughed. “And he doesn’t see any sun for the whole season!”
“That’s probably why he’s going with the vampiric theme, so his pale skin naturally fits in with the mood.”
“Or maybe he’s just an actual vampire,” Skizz suggested with a giggle.
Impulse shrugged. “Honestly, at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
Their arms were both burning with the constant force it took to keep rowing. It was hard to tell in the endless darkness, but Skizz believed they were making some good progress. They’d be seeing grass on the horizon in no time.
“Ahh, man, I can’t wait to get back to the shopping district.”
“Yeah?”
Skizz sat up straighter. “Yeah! I gotta get back to jailing those… those hooligans!”
“That is true, you never did get the chance to use M.E.G on any actual prisoner.”
“Hehe, ‘shut up, Meg.’ Name it!”
Impulse shook his head with a snort. “Oh, come on, that’s the easiest one that you’ve ever done.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. Or maybe you just watch all the shows that I do, hmm, homie buddeh?”
“Fair, yeah.”
Skizz’s stomach rumbled, and he smiled shamelessly.
“You know, we’re gonna run out of food if you keep eating it all.”
Impulse reached down under his seat, fishing around for their last shulker of golden carrots. He pried the lid open and blindly reached around, until finding a bunch of carrots in the magical container space. Skizz still rowed along behind him as he pulled the food out, the rippling water maintaining a soothing rhythm, a constant, soothing sound.
“Here,” he said as he passed the carrots back.
There was a moment, as the carrots left his hand and entered Skizz’s, where the rowing stopped, and the world was still. The waters cleared, likening themselves unto a mirror, one in which Impulse could see the extent of the shadows under his eyes, and the gauntness to his frame. And then the moment ended, as his friend began to eat, and the rowboat rocked, sending faint ripples out to shatter the mirror before it had fully formed.
“Thanks, Impy.”
“Mhm.”
His muscles protested at the sight of the oars, sitting innocently in front of him, and a horrifying thought occurred to him. Impulse exhaled, his breath barely visible for a moment, before being whisked into the night.
“We’ve got to keep going. For them. For the hermits,” Impulse whispered, too quiet to be heard over his friend’s nibbling.
Skizz swallowed the last bite of carrot, already missing the tang of gold in his mouth as it went down. With a sigh, he brushed a few crumbs off of his scarf. The thought crossed his mind that it would feel good to lie down for just a moment, even if the boat was way too small for a man of his size to do so. Plus, he didn’t want to drift away from… whatever land they were heading for.
“Keep. Going.”
He looked up at Impulse, who had whispered the words just barely loud enough for him to discern. As he watched his friend slowly, painfully reach for his oars, he thought better of answering him.
The little rowboat moved forward again, although half as fast, with only Impulse rowing. With more dread than he would ever admit, Skizz reached for his own oars, and started to push forward once again. There was a little validation, at least, in knowing that Impulse hadn’t been the only one to have the thought.
The thought that they should just stop rowing.
They entered a rhythm. An inhale, and a row from Impulse. An exhale, and a row from Skizz. It was slow. They were tired, after all. A yawn from one. Mirrored by the other. And on they went.
“Is that the sun?” Impulse asked eventually, and Skizz looked up.
There was no sun visible, of course, yet there was no denying that the sky had begun to lighten. The moon seemed more faded against the clouds and the open air, and the stars, their glimmering companions, bid their farewells as they gave way to the coming dawn.
“I guess it is,” Skizz mumbled, the corner of his mouth upturning. “The day comes after all.”
His grip on the oars became more lax as he tried to enjoy the increase in light. It would get colder with a new dawn, yes, but that would give way to a day full of an unrelenting warmth. Like a hug, which he could really go for right now.
Impulse lifted his head higher. “Still heading east then, I guess.”
“Still heading east.”
They both slowed their pace, watching as the clouds began to properly come into view. The sun still had yet to emerge over the horizon, but its golden colors began to light up the edges of the clouds, the pale yellows reflecting across the water. Along with something else… something… something green.
“Impulse,” Skizz choked out.
The man turned to face his best friend sitting behind him. “Hm?”
Skizz smiled, tears glistening in his eyes. “I… I see… land.”
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.
Swish.