Sorry I have to elaborate now. Thinking about my freak. The Maladie. The Whitlock.
Let the world know that I think his phobia of drowning began as an irrational fear that something was going to drag him under. Whether it be a force of his own making or something similar to what drowned him in the first place, I think being in deep water or being submerged triggered a knee jerk reaction to start thrashing so he couldn’t be grabbed.
Now that fear has made itself at home though?
It still follows the same logic, ie it’s less about the water itself and more that theres something in there that will take him if it gets the chance and it will Not let go. Issue being that ontop of that fear, he’s kinda terrified of the fact that it sounds comforting, which he knows is a train of thought that he should not be giving in to. Last time he was pulled under he felt at ease in a way that he’s been scrabbling to experience again ever since- he was embraced in a way that scratched an itch he’d been reaching at for years, and while it was painful at the time I think he’s felt taunted by the fact that nothing has been able to match it. Even the presence over his shoulder acts as a perpetual reminder that there’s always someone with him, but it will never fulfil the closeness and yearning he’s been driven mad trying to sate.
That water though dude.
That totally real presence in there can do that.
Somewhere in the depths there is something singing in a way nearly nobody else can hear but him, and I think he’s scared shitless by the fact that it might be the exact thing he needs to feel seen and understood in a way little else manages.
