you're the sun that breaks the storm

Chapter 2: i would shine like a lantern in the dark

There was a new island out there somewhere, and it came from the moon.

All of Wormwood's new friends had seemed concerned at first (some of them had talked about there maybe being waves and flooding, which hadn't happened; WX had looked at the moon with its brand new crack in it and said "OH NO, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?" which was closer to Wormwood's own worries), but that concern had quickly shifted into excitement. Even from WX, who hated water but loved the moon so much.

"THE MOON IS INORGANIC AND GOOD," WX had explained to Wormwood once, when they had asked their friend why.

They didn't completely understand. WX talked a lot about "inorganic superiority" and Wormwood quickly figured out what organic and inorganic were, putting it together from context cues. And they could understand that WX liked friends that were like them a lot! But they didn't understand why sometimes WX talked like they didn't like organic things when they did. They liked their friends, and potatoes and pumpkins and asparagus and berries, and the little pets, and the bees.

But they did understand that WX loved the moon. Maybe even more than they hated the water, because they wanted to go to this, as Wilson called it, "Lunar Island." Eventually. When the organics had found out exactly where it was, WX had explained. And the quickest route there.

"You should probably practice before heading out to the deep ocean, though," Wilson had said, worried. "Even if you know the way there."

"I WILL HATE IT," WX had informed her.

"I know." Wilson sighed. "I'd help, but I'm going to be part of the expedition..."

"You mean the four boats sailing off in different directions hoping to bump into an island?" Winona had asked.

"...I do, but 'expedition' sounds so much better."

"It is a nöble quest," Wigfrid had chimed in then, all enthusiasm, "sailing the öceans intö the great unknöwn, bravely facing the terrörs we find!"

"Hopefully not too many terrors," Wilson had said, though without too much hope behind it. Wormwood had perked up, though, when she continued, "Why don't you take Winona out with you? Or Wormwood?"

"...I WOULD APPRECIATE THIS SUGGESTION SLIGHTLY MORE IF BOATS WERE NOT INVOLVED."

"Well, don't worry." Winona had clapped WX on the shoulder, but only for a moment. Other friends didn't touch WX much, Wormwood had noticed, and not for long when they did. Maybe they thought WX didn't like it? Or really thought they didn't like them? Why would Wilson suggest those two then? "Just let me know if you want a boating buddy, we can paddle out to get a little salt for Warly while he's gone."

"Will go with robot friend too!" Wormwood had volunteered happily. "Happy to."

That had led to now. Winona had been away from camp with Walter, though WX had not stayed long enough to listen to Wanda explain what she'd gone to help him with. They had decided to go out on the boat now, and had come to get Wormwood.

"YOU DO NOT NEED TO BRING ANYTHING. I HAVE CALCULATED WHAT WE WILL NEED AND PREPARED ACCORDINGLY."

Their friend seemed so on edge! Wormwood bugled quietly to themself in concern as they helped them raise the sail. "Nervous, WX?"

WX was silent for a moment. Then, "THE OCEAN IS HATEFUL. BUT I HAVE DECIDED TO DO THIS AND WILL NOT BE DETERRED BY TERRIBLE THINGS."

Bravely facing the terrors, Wigfrid had said, and Wormwood frowned. "Can wait for--"

"NO," WX said quickly. "LET'S GO. BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND."

Ohh. Wormwood understood then; sometimes they had to do something like that too. Doing something fast could make it easier to do! It was like that for them when lighting a fire, or the few times they'd had to hurt a friend.

"Okay, friend," they agreed placidly. WX shot them a look, seeming unsure about their sudden calm, but they just smiled at them, and WX looked away again.

"STEER US IN THE DIRECTION MARKED ON YOUR MAP. I WILL STAY BY THE ANCHOR AND MAKE THE BOAT STOP."

"Pointing floaty to tasty rocks!"

Boating was actually kind of fun! It would have been more fun, or at least Wormwood thought so, if WX hadn't been so miserable. They didn't like their friend feeling bad, though, and WX was gripping onto the anchor winch as if it would keep them from falling overboard, even if they wasn't close to the edge of the boat.

"You okay, WX?"

"OPTIMAL SAILING CONDITIONS." WX admitted, "IT DOES NOT IMPROVE THE EXPERIENCE. WHY IS THE SALT SO FAR?"

"Moon place might be lots farther."

WX groaned, a creaking sound of stressed gears. Wormwood frowned in concern, reaching back to their backpack.

"Come here please?"

They wanted to leave the wheel and go to WX, but they had taken responsibility for the wheel! And if the floaty hit rocks and started spitting water, WX would be a lot more upset. Even with the boat working perfectly, they looked very reluctant to let go of the anchor winch.

But they did, a deeply suspicious look on their face, steadying themself by holding onto the lightning rod they had constructed directly in the middle of the boat. "WHAT IS IT, PLANTLING."

They was close enough to pass things over to now, and Wormwood did, pulling a gear out of their backpack and pressing it into a surprised WX's hand. "Sound upset, friend. Feel better!"

WX wrapped their hand around the gear. Looked at it, then back at Wormwood. "WHERE DO YOU KEEP GETTING GEARS?"

"From place with ouch friends and meat tweeters," Wormwood explained. "Go there sometimes for fast rolling friends."

WX's eyes widened. "SHOW ME WHERE THIS DESERT IS WHEN WE RETURN," they requested. "IT IS FAR SUPERIOR TO THE OCEAN."

Wormwood hummed agreeably, watching them eat the gear. "Really like it. Better now?"

"...BOATS ARE STILL HORRIBLE. BUT THIS IS TOLERABLE." For a moment, it looked like WX would say something further, but then they looked away again. "--SALT FORMATIONS APPROACHING."

"Oh!" It took a little figuring out as the two of them tried not to bump the boat into the salt; they pulled down the sail a little too early, and didn't have oars, so had to raise them again and then pull them back down, and WX finally dropped the anchor as they drifted up close among the formations. But they did it! And they didn't even hurt their boat, which was so nice.

"Floaty friend safe," Wormwood hummed.

"GOOD. FLOATING NEMESIS MUST REMAIN HEALTHY UNTIL WE REACH LAND AGAIN."

Wormwood laughed. From the smile that crossed WX's face, they thought that it was probably a joke, anyway! They admired that smile as they got out their pickaxe. "WX is so brave."

WX paused before striking at the salt. "...CORRECT. BUT WHY?"

"Sailing ocean facing terrors," Wormwood repeated. "Like strong friend said."

"WE HAVE ENCOUNTERED NO TERRORS." WX seemed honestly confused; Wormwood tilted their head, equally so.

"You hate water though." Didn't that make it a terror? Wormwood wondered if they had misunderstood the word.

"...OF COURSE I CAN FACE THE GLORIFIED SALT PUDDLE. THERE IS A PIECE OF THE MOON SOMEWHERE IN IT AND I WILL REACH IT."

Wormwood nodded, hefting their pickaxe. "Friend wants to do something, and then does it! Even with bad or scary things. So brave."

"YOU ARE SAYING THAT I AM DETERMINED. AND ALSO BRAVE. YES. THAT ASSESSMENT IS CORRECT, PLANTLING."

Determined. That was a good word. Wormwood might have their favorites, but all the new words they learned from their friends were so nice.

There were eight salt formations there, not quite clumped up together, and it took a while to mine them all. Especially since they had to keep moving the boat a little to go from one formation to the next, and had to stop to eat some jerky partway through. At this time of autumn, the nights were very short but the evenings were long, and the sun was low in the sky long before they'd finished their task, with Wormwood fishing the last of the salt out of the water. (They had happily volunteered to get the salt and rocks from the water, so that WX wouldn't have to lean out over it. WX was so brave, but did not have to do that.)

On the way back, WX seemed much more confident, if not actually happy to be out there. Wormwood thought maybe they might never be, but if they was feeling a little bit better, that was nice. WX put fuel in the mast's night light when it started getting dark, no longer seeming to feel the need to hold tightly onto the anchor or the lightning rod.

It felt like it got dark a little bit early though. Wormwood frowned, looking up for the moon, and felt a drip of water land on their face.

Their expression cleared immediately. "Oh! It's raining!" The only reason they didn't give an excited bugle was because they knew that WX was hurt by water, and it seemed so unfair that it would rain while they were on the boat. Wormwood looked over at them. "Brought rain taker, friend?"

WX was already opening an umbrella, a sight that made Wormwood smile and relax. "DOES THIS PLANET REALLY NEED MORE WATER?" they complained, and Wormwood couldn't help laughing.

"Rain good for friends, not like salty water." They rummaged in their backpack again for a moment, pulling out their rain hat. Webber had made it for them weeks ago, and WX had brought it to them, and they had taken great care of it with the sewing kit Walter had given them when he'd noticed how sad they'd looked about the wear and tear on it.

"Here you go! Friend hat."

"I THOUGHT THAT THE STRAW HAT WAS A 'FRIEND HAT'." WX sounded a little amused despite the rain and ocean, taking the hat and putting it on. Wormwood grinned a jaggedy grin.

"Different kind. Friend made, friends gave, good for frien--"

A dark sky with rain meant more than just rain; Wormwood had almost forgotten because it was night! Lightning split the sky and thunder cracked at the same time, and Wormwood grabbed onto the wheel again, startled. "Oh! No! Bad."

"WE HAVE A LIGHTNING ROD. YOU HAVE SEEN HOW THEY ARE--" The boat rocked, and WX grabbed onto the anchor winch again. "--SURGE PROTECTION-- OH NO."

"Bad," Wormwood agreed again. The water was choppy now, thankfully no big big waves, but now both they and WX were holding onto parts of the boat, on high alert and highly stressed.

The storm had come on very quickly, and while they weren't that far from land, it hitting during the night was very bad. The little night light didn't seem to light up much in this weather, and while Wormwood let go of the steering wheel to try to refuel it, they heard the unsettling plinking music that they used to think was kind of pretty, and saw the big dark floaty man swim up to the side of their boat and grab hold.

Two shadowy hands rolled up their sail.

"Bring friend back down!"

That caught WX's attention, and with a frustrated noise they let go of the anchor to move over and stomp at one of the hands as it retreated. It pulled back off the boat entirely, and the dark floaty man moved away as well when WX approached it, like the ones back on land would move away from the fire...

"Friend, careful!" Wormwood grabbed WX's arm and pulled them back towards the middle of the boat, then jumped and held onto them tightly as lightning struck the rod with a cracking sound, making it spark. The next surge of the waves almost knocked them both down, and WX steadied themself on the lightning rod -- Wormwood winced but nothing happened.

...IT WILL ALSO PREVENT YOU FROM BEING HARMED BY LIGHTNING, WX had said...

There was something else important, though, and it buzzed at Wormwood's mind, and they looked around to see that the dark floaty man had come back-- WX kicked at one of the hands again and it retreated--

Like they'd move away from the fire...

Wormwood hated fire but they helped chase away those hands because it was very bad when the light went out at night. They let go of WX and ran towards the hand, and slipped.

They heard WX's alarmed noise, saw that the dark floaty man was in their path (maybe it would go away again at least?), then darkness took the boat completely as the hand snuffed out their night light before Wormwood could reach it.

They grabbed onto the steering wheel blindly, totally by luck, and felt the cold of the ocean on their legs. They had been very, very close to falling in!

"WORMWOOD?"

"Still here, robot friend!" From that hissing sound, it might not be for long, though.

They felt metal hands, chilled and slippery with rain, grab them by their arms and shoulders and pull them back onto the boat, towards the lightning rod. It glowed a little, just a little bit, just enough to keep Charlie at bay, but it wouldn't last for long.

Despite the rain (where had their umbrella gone?), WX was opening up their chest and prying out two of the little circuits inside of them, careful not to drop them as the boat surged on the water. Sparks flew off them as the water hit them.

"WX, stop! Getting hurt!"

"WATER LEVELS DANGEROUS," WX agreed grimly. "IT IS WORKABLE."

They reached up, took the rain hat from off of their own head and placed it on Wormwood. "I NEED A CHARGE."

One of their arms stayed around Wormwood, and Wormwood closed their eyes and held onto them tightly as WX reached for the lightning rod with their other hand.

There was a zapping sound, a strong smell. Wormwood didn't feel a thing, but the sound WX made was pained, and they felt them shift, heard something click into place.

"WX? Friend?"

WX was quiet for a moment, and Wormwood opened their eyes. Light illuminated from WX now, not the lightning rod, a lot more light, and they was closing up their chest again, eyes fixed on the side of the boat. Wormwood looked over to see the dark floaty man looking back at them.

"YOU CAN DO NOTHING MORE TO US," WX observed, as the rain started to let up, and then added, "HA HA."

The night was short, but it felt very long. After Wormwood had taken their hat from their head and insisted that WX put it back on, they stayed exactly where they were until morning, watching the figure as it watched them right back. WX had apparently been right, because it didn't move either, didn't do anything else to their boat, and disappeared for good as the sun rose.

The storm had washed them closer to shore, luckily, not away, land in sight again now, and they both wordlessly lowered the sail again. Wormwood hugged WX tightly, then, and WX made a surprised sound.

"PLANTLING?"

"Glad you're okay, WX." They sniffled, then added, "Eat more jerky now."

"YOU SHOULD EAT AS WELL."

Wormwood was kind of hungry, and the world was a lot less colorful than usual, but they shook their head. "Not hurt."

WX considered that. "THEN CLOSE YOUR EYES WHEN WE REACH SHORE. I WILL DESTROY PART OF NATURE TO MAKE YOU A HAT."

Wormwood closed their eyes, resting their head against WX. Their shell was hard, and smooth, and warm, and now that they was dry the sparking sounds and grinding of stressed machinery had given way to pleasant clicking and ticking. "So sweet, friend."