Space
The bottom of Four's holding tank wasn't normally the place to go looking for Scott. Gordon yes, but not Scott.
For all that he was Four's back up pilot, and had been Four's primary until Gordon was operational, the water wasn't his natural habitat and it wasn't the place he'd retreat to to recover his strength or clear his head. Normally he'd have gone for a run, contrived a reason to launch One, suited up for jetpack or wingsuit practice or gone out flying one of their civilian aircraft. Knowing that, he'd deliberately picked the opposite to buy himself a little more breathing room from his family.
So that was how he'd come to be in the tank, wearing his trunks, a weight belt and almost antique SCUBA gear- the only things he could access undetected- sitting cross-legged on the floor and using the bulk of Four above his head as cover. He would have gone and sunk himself into the caldera's dark throat, but open water diving required more equipment and a dive buddy and/or an open radio link for safety's sake. Having no desire for either, or to get a dressing down from Gordon if he'd tried without them, he'd opted for the tank instead.
But this being Tracy Island and wired to the gills with cameras and security gear, not to mention the onboard equipment on the Thunderbirds, he wasn't surprised when Gordon splashed out of his launch tube and swam down to see what was up.
Scott waved half-heartedly as Gordon adjusted his buoyancy compensator and sat down opposite him.
You here why? Gordon signed, emoting his confusion and concern through his body language and what could be seen of his face. Normal sign language etiquette would have had him mouthing the words at the same time, but it didn't really work when he had his helmet on and the regulator in front of his mouth.
Space. Scott signed back, unable to mouth words with the old style regulator in his teeth. No want talk.
Gordon frowned, concerned. Scott just looked so done to Gordon's eyes, like he was over everything. Why? He asked, worry starting to poke at him.
Too much. Was Scott's reply.
Too much what?
Everything. With that, Scott laid back onto the floor of the tank as much as the bulky air tanks would let him and shut his eyes.
Okay, that wasn't good. While he would have his moments when he needed to retreat and regroup, Scott almost never pulled away like this. Gordon mulled over what approach to use next. While it was tempting to grab Scott by the SCUBA harness and haul him to the surface for a proper conversation, he'd only end up with an armful of angry older brother. Right now Scott was in a holding pattern, trying to deal with whatever it was on his own. If he was careful, he might be able to lure the eldest back towards the family so they could help him.
After a moment's thought, Gordon lay down next to him and rested a gloved hand on Scott's bare arm. O-K-C-A-N-W-A-I-T Gordon tapped out in Morse.
Scott blindly reached out and found Gordon's chest. T-H-A-N-K-U he tapped back.
For his part, Gordon just watched and waited, fending off the rest of the family with a quick update for now as he assessed the situation. It was a positive sign that he accepted some company. Next to himself, Scott was the second-most extroverted of the brothers. He liked people, like being around them and talking to them and interacting with them. It was rare for Scott to retreat into himself. But even the most extroverted of extroverts could reach a saturation point, especially with the stresses their family had.
Playing a hunch, Gordon tapped out a few commands on his dive watch and brought up Scott's last few mission reports on his HUD, frowning when he skimmed through and didn't see anything that could have triggered this. The recent news reports didn't unearth anything and he flicked a message up to John, asking him to check Scott's emails and phone for anything that might have upset him this badly. The almost instant negative from John told him the second eldest had already snooped in search of the cause of Scott's condition. Gordon frowned. Scott had zero social media presence so that was out, and John reported that nothing bad was happening at Tracy Industries. Virgil joined in the conversation to say that he hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary this morning until he turned around and Scott had vanished, leaving his phone, watch and comms earbud on the breakfast bar.
He was about to ask Virgil to search Scott's room in case some clue was there when he felt eyes on him. He turned his head to look and saw Scott looking at him curiously. Without his comms earbud or radio he could only see Gordon talking, maybe even hear his voice, but not make out words. You upset reason look why. Gordon signed, stumbling a little as he tried to phrase it the way he wanted- 'Looking for the reason why you are upset' as verbal English would have phrased it. Worry.
Scott nodded slowly. No one reason, life work rescue stuff too much. He replied. Need space, quiet, break. Sorry worry.
O K. Gordon finger spelled it out. Ready leave? Better?
Ten minutes. Was Scott's answer. Getting better.
Gordon smiled. F A B. He finger spelled. Out ten minutes, send Virgil, fish you out. He promised, miming casting a fishing rod and reeling it in.
Bubbles burst from the regulator as Scott laughed. Understood.
Gordon nodded as he pushed off from the bottom of the tank and swam up to the surface, calling the family as he did to let them know the eldest was okay and to let him have a quiet afternoon. He quickly received a round of affirmatives in reply- they all understood the value of getting a little space some days.
A/N: Something in NZSL is that people have a 'name sign' that functions like a chat handle so that they don't have to spell their name all the time and to differentiate between several people with the same name- for example one of my teachers was Victoria and her name sign was 'blush' so she would mouth her name and sign 'blush' at the same time. Out of curiosity what do you all think the brothers' and Kayo's name signs would be?
As far as I'm concerned, Penelope's sign would have to be 'pink' and Parker's has to be 'nose'.