While Poseidonis, the capital of Atlantis, did have a Zeta Tube, Kaldur wanted to show us his home town of Shayeris first (and I imagine visit his parents as well). As such, we ended up taking Moya down to the ocean floor instead. The bioship once again proved how adaptable it was by showing no problem cutting through the deeps of the sea, though the pressure was causing her to compress a little. There was still plenty of room on Moya's command deck for the five of us though, and she had made much of her front hull transparent so that we could see the watery landscape rolling beneath us.
"The idea of an underwater civilization is so fascinating." Kori said, leaning back in her seat as she looked at Kaldur. "Are the deeps of the planet peaceful, or is living at the bottom of the sea a constant struggle?"
From his seat in front of the controls, Kaldur hesitated for a moment before her replied "It was… difficult just after the Sinking, but we have adapted since then. We now live in harmony with our environment."
Kori hummed. "Such a thing would be unthinkable back on my home world. The depths of Tamaran's oceans are full of large, violent beasts. Which is to say nothing how detrimental my people would find of the lack of light."
"As I said, we have adapted, including to the creatures that live down here." He said. "As for the light, well, why don't you see for yourself." As he said this, I noticed a bloom of light coming from behind a ridge in front of us, getting brighter as we approached. I got out of my seat and stepped towards the window, stopping the moment Moya crested over the ridge.
Imagine a massive coral reef, one the size of a small city. Now imagine that it had been shaped by Greco-Roman architects, and you have an idea of the sight that was sprawling out before me. Spirals covered in columns reached up from the ocean floor, coral cliff faces with archways, and domes that reminded me nothing so much as clam shells. All of it in vibrant colors that made the whole city look like a rainbow in my eyes, lit up by countless lights that wavered in the water.
My hand touched Moya's transparent surface as I looked down at the majestic cityscape that splayed out before us, taking in every detail I could. After a few seconds I noticed that Kori had taken up position next to me. "You know…" I whispered. "If I had kept my normal life… I never would have seen anything quite like this."
At that she leaned into me, and her hand found mine. The two of us stood in silence like that for a long moment.
We traveled deeper into the city before Kaldur slowed the ship down to a stop. We had pasted most of the larger structures that made up the heart of Shayeris, and now we were amid a field of smaller bubble like buildings. I figured that this must have been a residential district, and Kaldur confirmed as much when he said "We have arrived. This is my home." He pointed to the nearest building.
We all got up as a hole formed in Moya's floor. Kaldur was the first to dive through, and I moved to follow after him. Superboy put a hand on my chest and stopped me though, looking concerned. "Wait, I thought you couldn't swim." He said.
I grinned. "Technically, I couldn't not sink. But not anymore." I stepped forward and jumped in.
This was the first time I was really testing out my underwater propulsion tech. I had long anticipated that that it would come up at some point, so I had gone to Ted a while back and purchased one of his aquatic drones to assimilate. Of course, while the high tech water jet thrusters were nice, it wasn't until I got the buoyancy feature of the aerokinetic core working that I could keep myself from sinking to the bottom. In addition, though it wasn't really built for it, the fluidics manipulator function of the core worked surprisingly well underwater. Combining it all meant that I could basically make some internal alteration to my flight form and have it function underwater.
Externally though, my current form was an attempt at making my technological features more… smoothly integrated with my human form. Seeing as how it didn't need all of my control surfaces like I did in the air, most of my body still look recognizably human, with the exception being my forearms, my legs below the knees, and parts of my chest and back. The skin in those areas was a scale-like mesh with visible seam lines tracing up and down the region. As I hit the water the seams split apart and panels folded away to reveal the various intakes and outtakes that were just beneath my skin.
Human skin was still a bit of a pain for me to get right, still took an annoying amount of time to return to normal if I did anything 'extra' with it. However, the mesh skin I had come up with before Amazo was a lot easier to work with, so I had the idea to use it to cover subdermal modifications which I could easily pull back and restore at will. It wasn't perfect, but it was a step forward.
I spun in the water as I got my bearings and watched Kori and Superboy jump out after me. Kori was wearing her costume as it was good for water use, and I had managed to convince Superboy to put on a black wetsuit with the S-Shield on the front ("For the love of- it's not tights, it's a wetsuit. Do you really think your jeans will survive over a day in seawater?"). Both were wearing rebreathers on their face, far more advanced than anything that existed back on my home.
M'gann slipped out after them, and I noticed that she formed a set of gills along her neck. Wait, does she actually need to breathe, or is that just for aesthetic purposes? I wondered. Considering how thin the atmosphere was on Mars, I just kind of assumed that she didn't need to breathe at all. "I wonder if I'm the first Martian to ever be this deep in water?" She said, her voice carrying an odd warble through the water. I still heard her clearly through the comm she wore though, as they incorporated vibrational microphones.
"It seems probable," Kori remarked as she floated towards me, her flying ability only marginally less effective in water. She arched her body as she did a little corkscrew around me, and I couldn't help but smile a little as I watched her.
Kaldur then led us towards an entrance into the closest coral structure, which turned out to be tunnel. I was actually a little surprised when not long after we entered the structure the tunnel terminated in a moonpool, and opened up into an air filled house. I guess I just expected that most of an Atlantian's house to be full of water. The room itself was small and circular and looked to be some kind of foyer. "Is everything here made out of coral?" I asked after I emptied the water from my 'lungs', my hand tracing over the patterned blue floor. It looked like tiles, but it didn't feel quite right. They tessellated across every wall around us, shifting in color with each new surface.
"Yes, though it is not a natural breed." Kaldur replied as the rest of my roommate climbed out of the pool. "Atlantian architects have spent millennia cultivating coral in various kinds for building material." We then all followed him through the adjourning hallway and into the house proper. All sorts of lumpy but comfortable looking furniture was spread about the circular room, recessed lighting casting the space in soft tones. "Mother, Father, I am here with the friends I have told you about."
"Kaldur!" A woman with flowing golden hair and a flowing two piece dress walked around an archway, a bright smile on her face. He skin was almost the same shade as her hair, and I noted she shared Kaldur's gills and webbing. She embraced my teammate in a warm hug. When she pulled back she spoke again, but it was in what I assume was Atlantian Greek.
A man then walked out from the archway following Kaldur's mother, this one with dark skin and short black hair in a simple bodysuit. Seeing how he had the same gills and webbing, it wasn't a difficult guess that this was Kaldur's father.
Kaldur returned his mother's hug as he said something back in the same language. He then pulled back and gestured to the rest of us. "These are my friends from the surface. Everyone, this is my mother and father, Sha'lain'a and Calvin."
Kori stepped forward, and said something in the same language that Sha'lain'a had just spoken in. The Alantians present were surprised by how she knew their language. I wasn't entirely sure when she picked it up either, but she probably just asked Kaldur for it at some point.
M'gann then also spoke up in kind. I suppose that her telepathy made it pretty easy to learn languages.
And then Superboy said something I didn't understand either. Huh. I… guess that those Genomorphs gave him a pretty thorough education.
A beat passed before everyone looked at me. I shuffled my feet. "Well, this is just embarrassing." I muttered. For everything I've studied over the past few months, languages was not one of them. To be honest I had always been kind of rubbish at other (non-programming) languages, so I hadn't really bothered aside from what Kori had taught me. Hell, I probably knew more Tamaranian now than what I knew about high school French.
Calvin chuckled a little at this. "Don't worry about it," he said in English. "English is something of a second language here in Atlantis, useful for when we need to communicate with the surface."
"Ah," I said. "So, uh, it's good to meet you. Your son is a great friend and teammate."
"Oh, you'll have to tell us all about it!" Sha'lain'a said. "Kaldur is always so terse when he talks about his adventures on the surface."
Kaldur, predictably, looked a little sheepish at this. "Mother, there are many thing about my missions we can't talk about. Some things have to remain secrets after all."
Calvin put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Of course we know that, but we still want to be a part of your life if we can. And even if we can't, we want you to know that we're proud of you."
Next to me, Superboy shuffled a little. Glancing sideways at him I could see that his muscles had tensed a little. I nudged him with my shoulder and grunted inquisitively. He grunted back, but it took a few seconds before he said under his breath. "You're still working on DNA stuff, right?"
I arched an eyebrow at that, but I said "Yeah. It's still going to be a bit though, I'm learning genetics from scratch."
"Good. I'm still not strong enough. If I don't get stronger he won't-" Superboy clamped his mouth shut and looked off to the side. "Never mind."
I frowned as I looked at him. Did he really still think that Superman didn't like him because he was half Kryptonian? I really thought that misconception would fix itself at some point, but I guess the two hadn't talked to each other. Weird. Well, knowing how stubborn Superboy could be, I didn't see much of a point in trying to convincing him otherwise right then. Instead I just said "When we get back there's some stuff we can try out. I have some ideas about how you might get some more control over your strength."
That seemed to placate him, and I turned my attention back to everyone else in the living room in time to hear Sha'lain'a say. "Now, I know it is a bit late for it, but what does everyone say to continuing this over a late lunch?"
Kori emphatically agreed before the rest of us could say anything.
Second lunch with Kaldur's parents was a pleasantly normal affair. We talk about surface life compared to underwater life, about Kaldur's earlier life, and what his parent's did for a living. His father was with the Atlantian military, and his mother… was an accountant (well, I guess they really are needed everywhere). Afterwards we said our goodbyes and headed onwards to the Atlantian capital.
Though Shayeris had captured my first-impression wonder of Atlantis, Poseidonis was impressive all the same. The city was massive, easily the size of New York or London. The whole city sprawled out over some very uneven terrain consisting of rolling plains, rocky peaks, and flat mesas. It was much more of a mess in its layout compared to Shayeris, but most of its traffic swam above the haphazard streets. The numerous points of light illuminating the city spread out in spiraling pattern, a view from the mesas showing most of the city in all directions.
The Royal Palace was atop one of these mesas, and it was the closest to classical Greek architecture I had seen since I got there. Rather than the shaped coral that most of the other buildings were made out of, the palace looked to be made out of stone and tile. Given how pristine the sprawling structure looked, I could only assume that it was maintained via magic. We had to wait outside for a minute or so as a messenger brought word of our arrival, but soon enough we were brought to the throne room.
It was decorated much how I thought an undersea throne room would be: pillars, shells, statues of seahorses, and guards with tridents, everything done in pastel colors. At the end of the long chamber were a pair of thrones, the first made out of rough coral, and the second out of spiraling shells. The first, which I assumed was Aquaman's, was empty, as the man was currently helping the League out with some flooding in Norway.
And on second throne sat Mera, Queen of Atlantis. The woman was much as I imagined her, slender with sharp features in a flowing green two-piece, and deep red hair cascading behind her, held back by a tiara-like crown. She smiled as she saw us approach. "Kaldur, always good to see you. And of course any friends of yours are welcome as well."
I took a step forward. "It is an honor to meet you, Queen Mera." I said, giving her a slight bow. I hoped that was appropriate, I didn't really know anything about Atlantian formality.
She gave me a nod, but said "Please, no need to be so formal, you are guests. Might I assume that you are members of Kaldur's team on the surface that I have heard about?"
"Yes," Kori said. "There are others that are not here with us, but we are the members that live at the Mountain. I am Koriand'r, and this is M'gann, Superboy and Jacob."
Surprisingly, I noticed that her eyes alighted on me for a moment at the mention of my name, but before I could say anything the Queen said "Well, we are happy to have you here. There is a lot to see in Poseidonis if it is your first time, are you planning to stay overnight? If you'd like, you can spent the night in the palace in one of our guest rooms."
"That is very generous of you," Kori and, and after we all looked at each other in affirmation she looked back and said "We would be delighted."
"Excellent." The queen said. "I do hope that you look favorably upon my kingdom while you are here. Anything in particular you are interested in?"
The others didn't comment, as they really didn't know many specifics about Atlantis. So I stepped up and said. "I am looking forward to seeing the Conservatory. There are a few things about magic I'm eager to learn."
"Oh?" Mera leaned forward, her interest peaked. "Are you an aspiring mage?"
"Not exactly. I have a very… unique form of magic I want to learn more about, and I was hoping one of the world's greatest magic academies could help me it figure out."
The queen hummed, an odd gleam in her eye as she considered me. "You know, as the headmistress of the Conservatory, the study of magic is one of my passions. And I am always interested in seeing new forms of it. This evening, after I have finished my royal duties for the day, come by the palace library. I would love to help you tease out whatever mysteries are troubling you."
I blinked in surprise and stood up straighter. "I… would be honored, your majesty. I mean, if it is not too much trouble."
She smiled as she gestured. "Of course not. In fact, I must insist."
I just nodded and smiled as she turned to the others and asked after them, but internally I was a bit confused. I mean, I guess it wasn't too unusual that a mage like her would be interested in poking at a new form of magic, but she was a Queen. And she didn't even know what my magic was yet. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was missing something.
After Mera had finished, she said "As much as I would like to continue entertain you, I am afraid I have other duties I must get back to. Keeping everything running smoothly and all that."
"Not without me, I should hope." A voice behind us call out. We turned to see a man swimming down the carpet with easy stride, dressed in a red, black, and gold skin suit. He was tall and well-built with slicked back dark hair. "Not to disparage your own statesmanship of course, but with our king playing superhero, someone must pick up the slack."
Mera gestured. "Everyone, may I introduce Prince Orm, King Orin's brother. He often fills the role of Regent while my husband is away."
"Which is more than he should be, in my opinion." The man remarked, but he had an easy smile as he regarded the lot of us. "Still, if his association with the surface has brought fine people like you down to us, I suppose it is not all bad." His eyes settled on me and stopped, and I noticed a slight flutter in his body heat. "May I have you names? I do keep an ear to news of the surface, I may have heard of you."
I arched an eyebrow, but I approached. "I'm Jacob, pleasure to meet you. I go by the name Machina when I'm on the job."
Orm blinked as he looked at me before he extended his arm in kind. "Ah, yes of course. I vaguely recall you being the subject of discussion a few weeks back. Some major incident in one of your cities, I'm afraid I cannot recall the details."
"I don't like to talk about it." I replied. He seemed reasonable enough. I really hoped that was actually the case. The only thing I remembered about the man from my life before was the episode of Justice League where he threw a coup and tried to wage war with the surface world. That version was much more angry and aggressive than the affable man in front of me though, so hopefully that wasn't the only difference.
"Ah of course." He said neutrally.
Kori floated forwards. "I am Koriand'r, and I go by the title of Starfire. It is wonderful to be visiting your kingdom, and I hope to see as much of it as I can. Queen Mera has offered to let us stay the night to help with this."
Orm smiled. "Mera has always been a gracious host." He said. The man then straightened up a bit, as if he remembered something. "Ah dear, this is unfortunate. I am sorry to leave so quickly, but I just remembered. There is an appointment with my advisory council that I must keep. A rather dreary matter involving taxes on imports. I wish you the best for your stay here." With that, the prince turned and swam away.
I stared after him for a long moment. I was definitely missing something.
We didn't go straight to the Conservatory after that, as there were plenty of other things to see in the underwater city on the way. We stopped at bazar that ran down one of the longer, winding streets of the city, and I was happy to find its contents were just as varied and weird as I imagined them to be. Sure there was plenty of fish, but there was also strange rocks, underwater fruits, jewelry, junk, magical junk, magi-tech junk, and all sorts of knick-knacks for the aspiring tourist. I'd have to remember to come back here when I had currency they would accept.
Our current stop was at the end of that street, and something of a 'park' with a lot of natural flora and fauna. Coral was in abundance of course, though there were also kelp 'trees' and 'grass' littering the area. What made this spot special though was that it had something that was a cross between a zoo and a biotech exhibit. Apparently there was a market for magically enhanced sea animals among the Atlantian populous, typically for pets but there was also a few used as beasts of burden or guard animals.
I wasn't sure if their guard sharks could shoot laser beams from their foreheads, but it was a distinct possibility.
At the moment though, I was in the 'pets' section of the exhibit, looking over a fine selection of cephalopods. One of the octopuses managed to squirm out its enclosure and then swam up to me, darting around and looking at me curiously. Judging by the size it was a Mimic Octopus, about twice the size of my hand. I reached my hand out to touch it, but it darted to the side before tagging my arm with one of its tentacles. I smiled and tried again, a little game of tag developing between the two of us. Eventually I managed to tag it back when my other hand sneaked up behind it. It grabbed my hand before crawling up my limb and settling on my shoulder, changing color and texture to match my skin.
I think I just gained the underwater equivalent of a shoulder parrot.
"Jacob! Look at what I found!" I heard Kori say excitedly behind me.
I turned… and paused when I saw what she was holding. "Kori that's a giant isopod."
"I know! Look at all of his wiggly little legs!" She cooed as she cradled the massive sea louse in her arms like a baby. The creature (insofar as I could determine the emotions of a magically enchanted sea bug) seemed baffled by the treatment, but was going along with it regardless. Kori tickled its chitonous underbelly and she said "Aren't you just the cutest gorbnek? Aren't you, you snermak rebluk? Nek bra'k sh'moor zenbles!"
And now my girlfriend had devolved into Tamaranian baby talk. Great.
Kaldur looked between her and the creature in her arms, and then glanced at myself. "Ah, now I get it."
I scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Before he could reply, a voice from behind us spoke up. "Kaldur!" we turned to see a pair of teens swimming up to us. One was a lithe male with long dark hair in a topknot, at the other was a slender female with short auburn hair. Both were dressed in that mix of skintight and flowing fabrics that seemed to be the norm underwater, though the girl was in much more vibrant yellow and green compared to his grey and blue. The guy swam to a stop in front of us and said "I got you message, though I thought you'd be coming to the conservatory straight away."
"My teammates wished to see a few things along the way first." Kaldur said before he looked at me. "Jacob, this is Garth and Tula, my oldest friends."
I drifted closer and held out my hands. "Pleasure to meet you both. Have to say, Atlantis has not disappointed, and I haven't even seen everything yet."
"Great!" Tula said happily. "I've always been curious about the surface. It's nice to know that someone from up there likes it down here are well. If you're staying a while, Garth and I can give some recommendations for places we like to go to."
"Well, I'm not sure all of those places are quite suited to those just visiting." Garth remarked. Tula looked at him and a slight smirk crossed his face, causing her to blush a little. The moment passed quickly, and Garth looked to me. "So, I heard that there were others with you."
I nodded and pointed off to the side. "That's M'gann and Superboy over there." I said. The pair were currently watching an Atlantian mage direct a large school of fish with rainbow scales to swarm in intricate patterns.
"And I am Koriand'r!" My girlfriend, having been briefly distracted by the Atlantian salesman telling her to put the isopod back, then floated over to us. Her hair didn't have the same fire effect underwater, but the heat of it did cause her hair to expand and flow in some interesting ways. And seeing as how she was still excited from meeting her new best crustacean friend, she was framed by a halo of air and rippling water as she greeted the two.
"By Poseidon!" Garth muttered under his breath as he looked Kori up and down.
"I know, right?" I said.
He then realized that he was staring and started to stammer "U-uh, I mean, it's a pleasure to meet you. I had heard that the surface had, uh, unique humans of their own, but I wasn't expecting something like you. Wait, I don't mean that in a bad way! You are quite beautiful- no, wait!"
Despite his stumbling, Kori brightened. "Thank you!" She leaned in a closer and her expression turned a bit sly. "So are you."
Garth was a sputtering wreak at that comment, his face turning red. Tula wasn't faring much better, though she was feeling a tad more indignation. She swam in between the two of them and poked Garth in the chest. "G-Garth! What is wrong with you?! You- did you forget all your manners?!" she said before she looked at Kori. "And you! You can't just- you stay away from him!"
Kori, of course, was confused by this. "Did I do something wrong? I am sorry, I am not familiar with Atalantian customs. I was returning his compliment."
Tula huffed. "You don't see why-?" She started to say before she simply took Garth's hand in her own, weaving their fingers together. She held up their hands and looked at Kori expectantly.
Kori looked at them for a moment before a look of understanding crossed here face. "Oh, I see, it was rude of me to only complement one of you." She took Tula's free hand and moved closer. "You are quite beautiful too."
Tula was completely bewildered by this. Of course, this whole exchange had me smirking from ear to ear. Social awkwardness was so much more amusing when I was not a part of it. Kaldur saw my expression and raised an eyebrow. "You are… surprisingly accepting of your girlfriend's behavior." He remarked.
"Kaldur, she's a borderline naturalist who flirted with half the team before we started dating. I knew what I was getting into."
It was at that point that Tula seemed to have enough of this craziness and excused herself from the group, with Garth following after her in a mild panic. Kori looked after them, worried. "I am not sure I did that right. I believe I should go clear up any misunderstandings." And with that she swam after them.
Next to me, Kaldur let out a small sigh. "I believe I should go prevent any misunderstandings." He said, before he followed after her.
I floated there alone for a few moments, shaking my head. Teenagers, I thought with a sort of weary amusement. Speaking of which, M'gann seemed to have caught the tail end of that little event, and drifted over to me. "Is… this sort of thing common? Among humans, I mean."
"Well, the added bit of Tarmaranian mixes things up a bit," I commented. "But if you're talking about the slight significant other drama we just saw, I'd say it's typical among teens. Not a given, but typical."
"Ah. I'll need to remember that." She said. "I mean, I start school tomorrow, so I need to be sure I don't make a social mistake like this." She straightened a little when she realized what she implied. "I-I mean, I probably wouldn't do that, it's not like I'm going to be flirting with the boys because-"
"M'gann…"
"I just need to be sure I make a good first impression, the first episode made it very clear that a bad first impression can ruin things for the rest of the year-"
"M'gann."
"And need to be sure I'm not too weird, I have to make sure I do everything right and normal or-"
I sighed and drifted forward, my hands coming up to press onto either side of her face. "Smoosh."
M'gann let out a little 'eep' and went stiff at the contact. "I, uh, ok? What are you doing?"
"You were being unreasonably adorable, so I decided to smoosh your face."
"Jacob!" She wormed her way out of my grasp. "You can't just do that to a person!"
"If you don't want that, you shouldn't be so adorable when you fuss." I countered.
"I'm not… trying to be…" she trailed off. "That's just how I am."
"Well then I'm sorry, because then the only reasonable course of action for me is to smoosh your face. Smoosh." I proved my point by smooshing her face again.
"Jacob!" She protested and squirmed again. I laughed before releasing her face and bringing her into a hug.
"You'll be fine." I said. "The kids at school will love you, I promise." The Martian small noise before wrapping her arms around me in turn.
It was at this point that Kori came back, and she eyed the two of us with confusion. "What is all this about then?"
"Huuuuuuuggggggs."I replied.
She looked at us for a moment longer before she shrugged and drifted closer, joining the hug by coming up behind M'gann and wrapping her arms around both of us. Pressed between the two of us as she was, the Martian let out a small, high pitched noise, causing me and Kori to laugh.
Superboy then drifted near the group hug, and small frown on his face as he eyed us. Kori must have figured his issue was his current non-inclusion, so she remedied this by pitching us all into him, and the lot us yelled as we tumbled through the water as a ball of people.
To my surprise, Kaldur didn't immediately come back after resolving the minor spat between his friends. I left the others behind to go find him, and a short while later I located him sitting on a rock among some tall kelp. He was looking down at some people checking out a selection of exotic fish, a downcast expression on his face.
I frowned, but I swam over to where he had settled, and sat down on the rock next to him. "Did... Kori really screw things up that much? I'm sorry, I could try to smooth things over myself if you think that would help."
His brow twitched a little as he looked at me. "…Thank you, but that's not…" he trailed off. "It is nothing, we should get back to the others."
I had to hold back my sigh. Alright, let's go for the hat trick, I thought to myself before saying "Kaldur, trust me, I'm an expert when it comes to 'it's nothing'. Kori gives me enough flak for using it as much as I do. So I can tell when 'nothing' means more than your trying to let on."
The teen look at me for a long moment before a mirthless smile crossed his face. "I… suppose I have been distant lately. I had a bit of a… lack of purpose recently. A feeling of listlessness."
I tilted my head. "I thought that's what your vacation was for, to clear your head."
"It was. And during that time I came to the decision to leave the team."
I sat up straight in surprise. "What? Why?"
"To put it short… I missed my home. And with Koriand'r leading that team, I felt I wasn't truly needed." He paused for a moment before he sighed. "And there was something else. Something that made me wish to return here for good. Someone I had given my heart to."
"Ah." I grunted. "Well, if you made your mind up, far be it for me to tell you otherwise. But, then why did you come back at all?"
"Because when I last returned here, I found that she had started dating my best friend."
My teeth clenched and I had to stop myself from drawing a sharp breath. "Ah… shit. That sucks, man."
Kaldur grunted. "I suppose I should have expected this. I spent too much time away. Or perhaps… Garth was just the better man."
I snorted. "Oh, 'better man' my ass. You're second in command of a superhero team while Garth is just student."
He frowned and looked at me. "He was at my side when we save King Orin from Ocean Master. He did not turn down the chance to be our King's apprentice because he did not have the mettle. Don't think less of him for it."
I held my hands up. "Alright, but my point stands. Unless Tula said otherwise, I refuse to believe that you didn't get her due to a personal failing."
He was silent for a few seconds before an odd expression crossed his face. "You don't suppose… there is anything I can do to change her mind?"
I pulled back a little. "That… is a very loaded question. Besides, why would I know the answer?"
"You are older and more experienced, so I thought perhaps this sort of thing may have happened to you before. As well, you and Koriand'r seem to get along quite smoothly. You are much better at romance than I."
…This universe really is bizarre if someone can say that to me completely seriously, I thought as I tried to keep my face straight. I mean, when in the goddamn hell did I become the expert on relationships? Oh right, when I started hanging out with a bunch of teenagers. Out loud, I said "Well, I haven't had this exact thing happen to me, but I have been rejected before. And yeah, it sucks."
"What did you do about it?"
"Well… nothing." I said with a shrug. "There was nothing to do but pick myself up and move on. I mean, do you honestly think that Tula and Garth are bad for each other? Not 'suboptimal', but will actively make their lives miserable by being together?"
"…No."
"Then you probably don't want to hear this, especially so soon… but you will get over this. Tula seemed like a nice girl, but if she's not interested, then it's not the end of the world."
Kaldur looked at me, his mouth pressed into a thin line. "Would you be saying the same thing if Koriand'r had rejected you as well?"
I frowned. Really should have seen that coming. "Yes," I replied. "I would have felt miserable, but I know would get over it." Probably. To be honest, part of me got annoyed at Kaldur for comparing the two. No offense to Tula, but Kori was just so much more… no, that line of thought isn't helpful right now. Focus on Kaldur. "My point is, there are plenty of-"
"Please don't say 'fish in the sea'." He said with exasperation.
"…I was going to say women out there." He must never know. "I know it sounds trite, but I'm sure that there are a lot of women out there who would be interested in you."
"…but none of them are Tula." Kaldur said as he hung his head, with a solemn melodrama that only a teenager could manage.
"Oh for the- you have to actually give them a chance. Just pick one that seems interesting as see what happens. Maybe you'll be surprised. Like, I don't know…" I glanced around the park at the few people passing through, and I pointed at a girl that appeared to be Kaldur's age. "That chick."
The girl in question was of the same subspecies as Kaldur, with webbed hands and feet, and gills lining the sides of her neck. Unlike Kaldur though she had iridescent blue scales along her arms and legs, as well as a strip running down her spine. Her long white hair was done up in a loose ponytail, and floated around her head as she looked closely at a dangerous looking lionfish.
"…Jacob, I have no idea who that is." Kaldur said. "Would you really just walk up court a woman you just saw?"
"Me? Oh, course not, I'm an awkward introvert with just enough cleverness too trick people into thinking I'm charming. You on the other hand are a calm and stoic badass. You have webbed hands, she has webbed hands… you can both commiserate over how hard it is to buy gloves."
Aqualad snorted, but I saw a slight smile grace his face. "Upon reflection, it's amazing you have gotten as far with Koriand'r as you have."
"I know, right?" I said before I held out my hand to him. "Alright, come on, the others are waiting."
He straightened as he took my hand… which I grabbed forcefully and pulled. "But first!" I said with a grin as I quickly dragged us down to the group of people. We came to a sudden stop in front of white haired girl, she blinking in surprise at our sudden appearance. "Haaaave you met Kaldur?" I said before I jetted away, cackling like a mad man as I left two confused teens in my wake.
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A/N: So, bit of a status update, I've been dealing with some minor health problems for the past few weeks. Nothing serious, and I'm looking into it, but a combination of fatigue, lightheartedness and eye strain have made writing difficult at times. Updates will slow until I get a handle on this.