Waterstone

[Delaney Wilder]

​

Velusia​

​

[member="Delilah Keyes"]​

​

Throughout all the weeks they spend together Walker's mind kept circling around that one memory of their first morning together.

The beach.

They had explored it together, had quite some fun there, but it was something else that made his memory tug right back there. Her explanation of the infamous pirate ship sunk there, still hiding amidst the tide and the deep shadows beneath. It wasn't the promise of treasure or adventure that made him plan this. It was her expression when she had been telling the story.

Oh, her tone had been one of low-key snark and amusement, but her eyes?

They shined.

It was the same glint that Walker saw whenever they pulled a score, whenever they played their little games, whenever they were together. It was enough for Ducarte to use a sizeable portion of his share of their last heist to make a... date for them. A date that would have been strange and weird for others, but for them? Well, it was still far out there for them.

He was sitting on the beach, waiting on Del to arrive.

They had agreed to meet here and it was supposed to be a surprise for her.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She'd woken up to an alarm she hadn't set, an empty bed, and a note.

The only mollifying part about it to start with had been the warm croissant and tea on the side table.

She munched and sipped as she got dressed (comfortable clothes, he'd suggested, but for what?), scanning the note with less annoyance as she woke up fully, trading that in for puzzlement and interest. What in the world was Walk up to? He hadn't told her to bring anything, so she milled around the apartment for a couple of minutes after she was ready. Why? She wasn't sure.

But this was new behavior from Walk, entirely out of the blue and out of their usual zone, and that rarely meant anything good as far as Del was concerned.

Paranoid?

Noooooooo.

*****

The beach was empty but for the mewling of gulls and the crash of easy waves. She had her shoes slung over her shoulder as she navigated the sand to the spot he'd specified. She saw him from a distance, dark silhouette against the intense shades of the Velusia dawn. She didn't call out, but picked her way carefully down the dunes toward him.

"You never struck me as a morning person," she teased once she was close enough.

"Also. Alarm clock? Not a great surprise, for the record."

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

He was looking out against the ocean tide when he heard her speak.

Turning around Del was already almost there - only underlining that she could be quiet when she really wanted to. "Oh, I feel like I am slowly dying inside." Walker retorted with a smirk, before turning back towards the horizon. It was beautiful in its own way, a brilliant shine of orange, reds, purples and hues in between. You didn't get to see this kind of view at the other times of day- made him wonder if he should get up more often at these sort of times.

Nah.

"Lots and lots of tea helped me through." His arm wrapped itself around her waist as her body pressed against him. "Sometimes we must make sacrifices for the greater good, Del."

The tease came soft as he kissed her gently.

"Good morning." A nuzzle brushed some stands of hair away and then he gestured towards the ocean. "Remember the first morning we walked here together? We had ice cream."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She kissed him back with a small smirk, standing next to him to look out over the water.

"Well, as I remember it, it wasn't 'morning' per se," she teased. "And they were ices, purple and more purple."

Oh, she clearly remembered.

"So, why did you get me up at the arsecrack of dawn? They aren't even selling ice cream yet. Everyone sensible is still in bed, Walk."

Her tone completed that with an unspoken 'you, however, are crazy'.

But she'd shown up. It would have been a lot easier to read the note, roll over, and go back to sleep. But she'd hauled herself up and out to stand here on the beach with him. Bathed in purples and reds, they watched the sun finally sliver over the horizon.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

Walk couldn't help but smirk at her tone.

"I was reminded of the story you told me- an infamous pirate ship sunk beneath the tides of the ocean. Waiting to be found, explored, taken for all its riches and secrets." His voice had gained an edge to it- not one of danger, but one of adventurous story. It would have been one of the first things that Del noticed about him, back when they first met.

That when he got into something... he can spin a tale, spin it beautiful and enrapture anyone around.

"I thought... why not surprise you?" Smile turned broader when she started to realize where he was going with this. He gestured for her to follow, they wandered through the dunes and had to descend down a slope of sand, before they reached a small alcove. There was a skiff there, it looked really expensive and that's because it was.

"Used my share to get some scans and to get that." It had taken a long time, but eventually (when Walk already lost hope) they came through positive.

Something huge was out there, rich with metals that resonated with the sensory equipment.

"We are going diving."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She didn't say anything at first.

Mostly because she was trying to figure out just what to say here. It wasn't often that Del was caught without an immediate response to a situation, caught with metaphorical pants down.

He vaulted onto the skiff and held his hand out to her. It was a silly, ridiculous gesture, but she accepted his hand and let him 'help' her up onto the small boat. She scanned, eyes taking it in and trying to figure out just how to say what she was thinking.

Cause 'this was a really stupid way to spend your share' would probably go over about as well as a dying rancor and he was just so excited.

So she waited. Thinking. Trying to figure out a way to not lie to him, but also not rain all over his parade. It would have been easier to just lie. That came as naturally as breathing for Del. But, while she'd kept things from him, she had never blatantly lied to him. Even from the beginning.

She didn't want to start now.

"People have been looking for that ship for centuries, Walk," she said carefully, finally.

She leaned against a railing, hip resting against it.

"I'm sure there's something really interesting getting pinged there, but.... if someone could find it, don't you think they would have by now? But," ​she paused, reaching out to take his hand and smile at him. "I think going and checking it out with you sounds great."

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

At first Walk didn't notice the silence.

Too caught up with his own excitement and desire to get this show on the road to pay attention to the serendipitous quiet that seeped in at the tail-end of his sweeping story. Eventually though, once she was on the ship and started talking, Walker realized what was happening here. She didn't believe, didn't think it was possible.

But that was missing the point.

Ducarte took her hand and pulled her in for a kiss, a hard one, a firm one, one that spoke of things and promises. One where his hand roamed down and pushed her tight.

Then a whisper against her lip as the kiss broke, while she leaned in for more. "Ain't about the destination, 'bout the journey." Walk nuzzled her softly, before kissing her nose and stepping back. "Whatever we find, nothing, everything, something in between, it will be good, because we accomplished it together."

Partner.

Turning around Walk got to the controls of the skiff, the soft hum of the engine sounded next and already the ship started to rock, as it was powered to run on the water.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

Del smiled against him. Chuckled and shook her head slightly, but smiled.

It put some of her concerns to rest, at least. She still thought it was a pretty frivolous use of his cut, but they had already agreed to a joint operating slice before divvying up the remains. It was discretionary cash and she had no right to tell him how he should use it. Or how he shouldn't, in this case.

"Alright, well, in that case," she kissed him firmly and quickly before he headed off to the helm.

Knowing he wasn't specifically getting his hopes up on finding it? That let her relax a bit and enjoy the moment for what it was. Leaning over the railing, she watched as the sun came up slowly over the water, casting first red, then violet and finally into the deep purple of the ocean she was more familiar with. Delilah was not a dawn riser, after all.

They skimmed lightly over the surface of the water, the skiff bouncing with each new wave, setting a steady rhythm broken only by the occasional crest of a more robust wave. She shook her head again. This she could enjoy. So long as they both had their feet on the ground.

Or in this case, deck.

Once the sun was fully above the horizon, she wandered over to him again. Leaning against his back, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder so she could see what he was doing.

"Didn't know you knew how to handle a boat," she commented with a smile.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

"Well, hellooo sailor." Walk teased as he felt the familiar weight of her body press against him. His eyes didn't leave what he was doing though, his hands moving smoothly from one control to another one to levers and buttons. Similar to how experienced his hands were at pushing and pulling and holding her, when they were... playing.

"Mhmm." The man confirmed it with an absent tone, brushing his cheek against her head and smelling the nice scent of her shampoo.

Lavender, that was good.

"When I was a little boy my ma took me... camping, so to speak." They didn't often talk about their pasts, only sometimes. When the beat of their hearts joined as distance between bodies gave away to warmth and embrace. When rain ticked against the glass and they were mumbling the hours away before sleep could truly take them. But it was a rare occasion that Walker brought his up outside of those particular tender situations.

"Rough uninhabited world. She still had hope that I would grow into a mighty warrior." Smirk tugged up at that thought, sad only slightly. "She taught me how to hunt, how to survive, how it build a boat and how to use it."

Shrug of the shoulders.

"I build one at home when we got back and would sneak away at night to sail."

Not one of the safest things to do, but Walker wasn't the one to let danger keep him from his fun. "When I got older I moved from handmade ones to... these beautiful beasts." A soft beeping at one of the consoles tipped Walk off.

"Almost at the dive zone."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She listened quietly, her lips soft just against the curve of his neck. Not kissing, just resting there. Just because they didn't usually talk about it, didn't mean she wasn't interested. She prefered listening to him talking about his past over sharing her own. But sometimes, she offered in return, only when the topic didn't really mean anything.

"I grew up by the sea," she murmured quietly, tasting the salt from the spray on his skin. "Small town. When there wasn't... well. Peace times were fishing times."

When there wasn't war, she had started to say. But he understood.

"Mom was afraid of the ocean though. The beach was fine, but going out on the water? She forbid it. Got the paddling of a lifetime when she found me on my uncle's boat- even though it was still tied up in the harbor."

He already knew that her mother was not a particularly violent woman. Her up bringing had not been like his in that regard.

She tilted her head slightly, gaze moving from the far horizon to the soft, insistent tone on the console.

"Like, with suits and air tanks? I.... .have no experience with that."

Del was a bit of a jack of all trades. She knew a lot about most things they had encountered so far. But this? Entirely outside her wheelhouse.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

It was not often that Del's brought up something from her own past.

Since that one day where he realized she was a Mandalorian he let it lie like that. If she wanted to tell him something, share something about her youth and past? He would listen, but other than that Walker didn't poke at it. In truth he was content with it, there was some natural curiosity, but their relationship was about the present and not the past.

"I wish." Walker mumbled with a soft chuckle, shifting his hip slightly to get access to one of the controls to his left. "I will teach you how to dive, if you want, it's amazing."

Head shook in the negative though.

"Too deep for that though, we got something else for that." About ten seconds after Ducarte said that the skiff started to shake, before it began to transform. From the edges translucent steel rose up, wrapping itself in a bubble around the ship. "We will have the best view without any of the risks involved."

Walk sounded mildly disappointed.

Because he was disappointed... he loved taking risks like that, but this time it wasn't about that. Once the skiff was sealed tight, he let go of the controls and carefully turned around, pulling her closer to him and kissing her. "Getting excited yet?" Whispering against her lips, before stealing another kiss.

Then another.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

"Mmm another time," she answered about teaching her to dive.

The transformation of the skiff into a submersible was interesting to watch, even if she wasn't a gear head like Walk. Head tilted, dark curls swaying as she turned, taking it all in before reaching the apex again, snugged up against his back. He copied the move a moment later, but this one brought his arms around her and she smiled against his mouth as he offered a series of kisses, his own excitement clear from tone and intensity.

"Well, let's see what's down there first," she teased, kissing him back.

This was how it went with them. She wasn't about to try to change him, his enthusiasm, even if she did think it was a little naïve. And he so far hadn't tried to change her cautious cynicism. In truth, it was one of her favorite things about him, even if it worried her a bit. It was only a matter of time before one too many things piled on optimistic shoulders and sunk them into realism.

They stood in each others arms, watching as the sub dove deeper. The waters changed from the jewel tone purple to a dusky twilight and finally to midnight- the opposite of the sunrise above them.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

The water pressed into the transparent metal from all sides and gave them a brilliant view on the underwater scenery.

He watched her for a moment, ensuring that she was okay and not shaky about this entire thing. Sure, Walker was an optimist, but he realized fully that this wasn't meant for everyone. She seemed alright, answering his hungry mouth with hers as water wrapped itself around the ship and swallowing it whole.

The deeper they went the darker it all became around them as the sun's rays started to dissipate and reflect away from the depths.

Once their view was interrupted by the shadows Walker turned around again, pushing a few buttons and in reply lights started to radiate from the skiff itself. It lighted up their surroundings, immediately showing a wave of strange fish that got scared away from the sudden source of light. "It is always strange to me,"

Turning around Walk noticed how she had walked over to one of the sides, staring down into the depths, so the smuggler followed and wrapped his arms around her waist. "how we insist on exploring the Galaxy, while so many mysteries still rest to be found under the sea." His lips found her ear again, tugging softly before going down to her neck and kissing.

"We got some time, before I will need to take control again. What do you want to do in the meantime?"

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She'd moved away when he'd turned back to the controls for the moment, drawn inexorably toward the transparent dome and the view of the darkness below. One hand laid lightly on the inner curve of the glassine hull, and somewhere between then and Walk moving up behind her, she lost track of time and place, staring down into those depths.

His hand at her waist a moment before he pressed against her pulled her back, and she took a deep breath, wondering, briefly, for just how long she'd forgotten to do that. Couldn't have been more than a minute or two since she'd gazed down and yet....

Something stirred in the back of her mind, a piece she barely remembered knowing, let alone where she'd heard it before. But sometimes bits of poetry, random doggerel was like that, and she let it out slowly, line by line as he leaned against her back.

"The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,
And round the pebbly beaches far and wide
I heard the first wave of the rising tide
Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep;
A voice out of the silence of the deep,
A sound mysteriously multiplied
As of a cataract from the mountain's side,
Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep.
So comes to us at times, from the unknown
And inaccessible solitudes of being,
The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul;
And inspirations, that we deem our own,
Are some divine of foreshadowing and foreseeing
Of things beyond our reason or control."

She tilted her head slightly, giving him a longer line of neck to nibble on, a smile ghosting over her lips when he did.

"Just how deep are we going Walk? Cause depending on the answer, I'm sure we can think of something."

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

His kiss deepened as did his intentions once her drawl reached his ear.

"As deep as we usually go..."

A soft squeeze here, fingers trailing down and then Walker pressed against her. There was plenty of time to kill and there was no rush at all, they could take their time, enjoy themselves, explore the depth and expand on today in every way they liked. This was how it often went, sometimes Walk thought they were traveling through the Galaxy just to find new places to... explore.

What was next, he wondered?

Maybe a vulcano...

There were options aplenty.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

"Can't even still see the surface from this far down."

A while later, the pair sat on the floor. Walk's back was against the wall and Del leaned against him, head tilted back. The way that it curved up above them they could easily see out above them, having reached entirely aphotic depths. Above the surface, Del knew, it was probably nearing midmorning. But here, in the depths, it was black as pitch.

She shifted, slightly uncomfortable, but settled back against him a moment later with a certain smug contentedness. His hand traced lightly up and down her arm and, in one of those rare moments in life (but more common with Walk than she cared to admit), she felt a certain peace.

Of course, Del wasn't particularly good with sitting with that feeling. Especially when it came to Walker. Almost as soon as she became aware of it, it became something with more weight than she wanted it to be.

Coming up to her knees, she turned around, offering him a hard, short kiss on the mouth before standing up and sauntering over to the controls.

"Got to be getting close to the sea bed, right?" She asked over her shoulder, trying to make sense of the read outs.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

There was one simple reason why they... fit so well together.

Well, there were more reasons, but this one was the main one: Walker was content to ride out the waves, instead of trying to overstretch himself. Why try to grab more than you could, if you could simply be happy with what you already had? There were never attempts to bend Delilah more than she could handle (even if that was a fair amount in itself).

"Lost track of time there for a while." Walk admitted with a smirk as he watched her swaying hips moving away from him to the controls. They hadn't ever gone that deep and he was still reeling a bit.

After a moment of just... sitting there, he managed to push himself up and steady himself against the transparent wall.

"Ain't the last time we doing that," He eyed down for a moment before shaking his head with another grin, following closely behind and pressing closely against her again. Tender, Walk felt it as she leaned in gingerly. "Want me to give you a crash-course?" His hands were already on hers, slowly guiding her to the right controls.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

"Mmm absolutely not," she replied with a smirk to his comment.

She shifted slightly, getting more comfortable with him at her back as his hands covered hers.

"Want me to give you a crash-course?"

"Well, seems only fair," she murmured quietly, smirk turning down right smug.

He walked her through the basics of the controls, pulling up the ship's status first, then cycling through to sensors. They were close to the sea floor, she'd been right, but more importantly they were close to something utterly massive. The sensors read it as ferro-metallic, and the image that the sonar brought back up.

"Well I'll be damned," she said with surprise. "There's actually a ship down here."

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

The smile against her skin turned two shades of smug, but Walk didn't say anything yet.

Didn't have to really.

But more importantly he knew better than to start throwing a party before their eggs were hatched. It was a ship, aye, but was it the ship that they were searching for? (Well, Walk was searching for while Del was bemusedly along for the ride for him) That was a question worth asking and he nodded to voice it. "Aye, the probe already picked up on it being huge." Walker was an optimist and he loved tech, so he probably would have bought the skiff anyway, even if there wasn't anything ship-shaped here. After all, there was more out here than a lost pirate ship filled with treasure. "Could be the Pirate Queen's ship, could be just a wreck, won't know 'til we get closer." But Del would feel the excitement rolling away from him by the way he pressed against her to take a better look at the scans.

The 'caution' and 'logical pragmatism' was more for her benefit than his.

It had to be the ship they (he) was looking for, had to be. But he didn't stop her lesson even then, containing his excitement to show Del just how to navigate the little ship past ridges and coral reefs, once a large tentacle beast suddenly detached itself from the shadows and sped away.

"Dang, that thing was huge, you see that?"

With a quick gesture Walk positioned the lights so the rays would follow it during its escape. "Freaky... but oddly pretty, the way its skin reflects the light."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

"Mostly freaky," Del mumbled with an over dramatic shudder.

It was easier to disguise actual unease with that sort of over reaction, after all. They were deep beneath the waves. And despite her draw to the sea as a child, there was a deep distrust of what was beneath the depths- in the dark, in places that could not be seen. She loved the shore, yearned for the sea- but only the surface of it. Things like that were why.

She kept her attention on the controls instead of the 'interesting' ocean life. Glancing up only once they got close enough for the sunken starship to loom out of the black at them.

"Hull looks intact," she said, tilting her head slightly. No way, if it was *the* ship, the hull would be intact after all these years.

She hoped Walk wouldn't be too disappointed.

Of course, she realized, they'd have to check out the inside if that was the case.

Maybe there would still be something interesting inside.

"I assume you've already figured out *how* we're getting in?"

[member="Walker Ducarte"]