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Penny couldn’t see exactly what happened next, but she sure did feel it. Something grabbed her by the collar as she was about to plunge through the doorway and into the rising water. She stopped with a sudden jerk and bounced upwards as whatever had a hold of her wrapped itself around her waist for a better grip. She smacked back against the metal flooring with a sharp gasp, hitting it hard enough that the wind was knocked out from her. Penny was in a daze but it felt like she was being dragged up by something. Her vision still a blur, she found herself pressed up against what felt like a cold, marble statue. Her stupor began to fade as she made out Odessa’ face through the fuzziness. 

"... You are really pretty, y' know?"

Penny couldn’t quite make out Odessa’s facial expression, but she had to be joking. 

[color=goldenrod]“Yeah, well, you really take my breath away,”[/color] she said. Well, she tried to say it. What actually came out was sharp, painful gasps for air. She held onto Odessa’s freezing body as the girl lifted them beyond the threshold. Normally she would be uncomfortable with this sort of closeness, but given the circumstances she didn’t even notice. She sucked in one final, massive breath of fresh air and exhaled deeply to center herself. Penny could breathe normally. Now only if her eyes went back to normal. 

Penny kicked the watertight door shut, knowing it’d have little to do to stop the sinking but would at the very least prevent them from falling down the hallway if another shockwave hit. She continued to collect herself as Odessa scanned their surroundings. They were sinking at an alarming rate, yet there was something surreal about sitting on what had once been a wall. She cast a look out over the horizon that they were becoming dangerously close to being underneath. Paradise, looking like nothing more than an amorphous black blob, was waiting for her. She stood up despite the pain in her head and the ache in her body. There was no time to rest.

Odessa grabbed onto the railing and held out a hand for her. Penny accepted it without hesitation and quietly uttered an earnest, [color=goldenrod]“Thank you.”[/color]

With Odessa’s help Penny was able to make it onto the railing of the boat and see the lifeboat descending into the water below them. Rather, she saw the shape of something bus-sized and guessed it had to be the lifeboat. She sighed with relief. The others were safe. Now they just had to find a way to get down there. Penny doubted she’d be in any condition to walk if they jumped to the lifeboat. They could possibly survive a drop into the water, assuming they didn’t freeze to death. However, surely Odessa could just lower them down with vines. 

[color=goldenrod]“One second,”[/color] said Penny. She grabbed a marker from her bag and held it between her teeth like it was a dagger and she was a pirate about to scale the side of a ship to ransack. She wrapped both of her arms around Odessa and spoke through gritted teeth, [color=goldenrod]“Okay. Don’t you fucking drop me.”[/color]