2015-03-03 - Fish and Chips

The beaches just out of San Francisco are abuzz with activity today, despite the fact that it is not exactly 'Summer weather'. Pedestrians have gathered at the edge of the sand, watching events unfold as teams of rescue workers cordon off an area surrounding the source of everybody's interest:

A beached humpbacked whale.

The source of the beached whale: an oil spill further out to sea. The whale is practically covered in oil whilst people try to hose it down, and hopefully get it back out into the sea... once the oil spill is dealt with. News reporters stand by, each one providing live coverage to their respective channels -- when a water spout arises from the ocean, firstly on the far side of the spill, then again nearer the sand. At the head of the spout is Orin -- Arthur Curry -- clad in mail and leathers of Atlantean design, his expression grim.

Glancing upward, he spots a figure flying above the bay -- a streak of red and blue flying straight for the Titans Tower. He can see her face -- someone that looks very familiar to him, which draw his attention from the whale, shielding his eyes with his right hand. His left is submerged in the water of the spout he is 'riding'.

"Kara...?" he projects mentally, a question.

Kara Zor-El had been flying over to help with the beached whale as soon as it came up on the news. She had been at Titans Tower, but today had been a slow day. Though she does notice, amongs the crowd, a familiar sight in Arthur on another whale. "Arthur?" she asks herself, before flying down to the beach and landing near the whale and the crowd. She waves a bit to Aquaman and waits for him to come onto the land before she does anything. Maybe the whale's like... a friend or something?

In the comics, Arthur talks about 'this is his world' in direct reference to his telepathic abilities, and he does it throughout the Obsidian Age, the Waterbearer Saga (which follows), Sub-Diego... I've read them all. It even states in the wikis that Atlanteans are naturally telepathic."

Arthur blinks.

He was right. One more missing piece from his mind, found again. The water spout slowly descends as it nears the shore, and the Atlantean walks through the shallows toward Kara and the whale. He is frowning, and lifts his flesh hand to massage his jaw, his eyes on Kara -- ignoring the cellphones and cameras that turn in the direction of the two heroes.

"Kara?" he asks again. "It is. By the Great Oceanid, I am glad to... never mind." His gaze turns toward the whale, and the frown upon his brow shifts from 'confused' to 'sad'. He says nothing, for the moment, as to why he is here in San Francisco.

Kara Zor-El nods a little. "Um... so are you here because of this guy?" She peers at the beached whale. "Or girl? I havent exactly checked. I was just going to put him back in the ocean." She rubs her hair a bit "Everything okay?"

"I'm not sure..." Arthur replies regarding his state of mind, sounding more dubious. Letting his hand fall to his side, he draws himself and nods to the whale. "A she," he says in a sad tone of voice. "I will wash that accursed oil off her first -- is there... something you can do about the oil in the water?" He points with his left hand, the one //made// of water, out to the wrecked ship and oil-spill in the sea, before turning back to the whale.

Arthur waves away people nearby, and crouches by the whale's eye. He lets out a breath.

Kara Zor-El nods a little. "Um... I can get rid of the oil in the water..." She points to her eyes. "You know... zap and burn, then a quick funnel to get rid of the fire." She pauses. "Just... can you make sure there arent any animals around when I do it?"

Kara heads away from Aquaman to let him get the oil off of the whale. Then flies off over the oil spill, looking around to see that there arent any sea critters who would become crispy fried once she does what she's planning on doing.

"There are none," Arthur replies softly, knowing she will hear him. His expression and tone are... distant. Nevetheless, he lifts a hand to his temple and projects a command out to sea, just in case: >> Stay away. It is not safe. <<

Turning back to the whale, the sea-monarch rises to his feet and extends his water-hand to the ocean -- but before he can do anything else, a reporter breaks through the line and runs onto the beach, kicking up sand as he goes.

"Aquaman! Aquaman! Care to make a comment?"

Arthur glowers.

Meanwhile, over at the shipwreck, most of the oil is out of the ship, and in the sea -- creating a great, black stain a hundred or so meters across at its widest point. A helicopter flies away from the oil tanker itself, bearing its last load of the ship's crew.

The area is as clear as it is going to be.

"A comment?" Arthur asks darkly of the reporter. "You wish a comment?" The Atlantean's lip curls. He goes to say something -- possibly something biting, laced with venom -- but he thinks better of it, and waves the man off. "Go. Away. You are frightening her."

Kara flies out to the shipwreck, then stops and takes a deep breath, before blowing at the spill, forcing all the escaping oil to stop gushing into the ocean. A quick change to freeze breath ensures that there will be no more spillage. Kara hears what's going on with Aquaman and the press, but still needs to fix the ship. She flies to the tear in the side of the hull and grabs the steel panels, bending it back into place like one would with aluminum foil. Followed by a blast of hear vision along the tear to weld it shut.

Kara then flies over the oil spill. Arthur got along with the press worse than she did. Wow.

Kara fires off her heat vision at the oil spill in a wide beam, causing that part of the ocean to literaly light on fire. Then she waits about a minute before she starts flying in a circle around the burning spill. First slowly. Then faster. And faster.

Until she's going faster than the eye can follow, causing a localized vaccuum funnel to start channelling the flames into the funnel, along with some of the water.

A few seconds later, the lack of oxygen within the funnel snuffs out the flame, leaving just the water.

After it's all done, Kara flies back to Aquaman and the press before the Atlantean scares them as much as they're scaring the whale.

Kara Zor-El sets down by Aquaman. "Okay... um... spill's taken care of." She murmurs to AQuaman, "Everything okay here? You don't need superhearing to know you sound ticked off..."

Lighting up the oil is spectacular; it has onlookers turning away, shielding their eyes -- then looking back again after a second or so. Out come the cellphones, and the cameras turn in Supergirl's direction (more interesting than watching a man in orange mail and green tights talk to a whale). Much 'oohing' and 'ahhing' ensues.

"Why can't the fish guy do that?" someone in the crowd asks, near enough to reach both Arthur's and Kara's ears as she lands next to him. Arthur's jaw tightens, but that is the limit of his reaction. "Thank you," he murmurs for Kara to hear, and then he says something soothing to the whale.

With his Waterbearer hand extended toward the sea, the Sea-King summons another spout of water, twisting in the air as it arches over the shore... and lands upon the whale. The water continues to twist, slowly surrounding the great animal, pushing sand out the way. It looks as if the ocean itself had reached out a hand to grab one of its own -- to slowly, gently, inch by inch draw it into the water. Arthur looks at Kara while maintaining the hydrokinetic 'link', and smiles a weary (but relieved) smile.

"Good to see a familiar face," he remarks.

Kara Zor-El smiles a bit while Aquaman returns the beached whale to her ocean-y home. She says back quietly, "No problem. Havent really seen you around for a while. Not since that stuff with um... you know the undercover stuff. Everything going okay in Atlantis?" she asks with a smile. She then pauses. "Or want to talk somewhere without all the press?"

Arthur's cheek twitches at the mention of Atlantis.

Nevertheless, he nods to Kara -- and casts his gaze across the nearby crowd, reporters, life-guards... too many people. Too many air-breathers, for him right now. He arches an eyebrow at Kara. "I remember..." he murmurs as his hands fall to his sides. The ocean returns to 'normal'. People applaud. "I remember fish and chips; is that... diner still here?" A hint of a smile tugs at the corner of his lips.

Kara Zor-El looks around. "Um ... if you mean Jim's, yeah, it's still there. And I still work there as a waitress part time. Cmon..."

---

A short while later...

Arthur sits at Jim's Diner over a plate of chips and fish that he has yet to touch. He seems more interested in either staring out the window, or looking around the Diner itself, spotting and noting familiar details. Leaning back in his seat, he has his left hand on his knee, while his right idly taps the side of his plate. The place is relatively busy, but with plenty of places to sit, and people enjoying their meals are more than happy to stare at Aquaman and Supergirl -- murmuring amongst themselves.

Arthur is too distracted to pay them any attention.

"I'm fine, Kara. I /am/ pleased to see you," he remarks softly, making another attempt to smile. He picks up a chip. "Atlantis is... still Atlantis." His voice sounds stronger now, as an attempt to rouse himself from his reverie. "How have you been?"

Kara Zor-El sits at the table with Aquaman. Jim seems happy enough - he's always trying to get Kara to come to the diner in her supergirl outfit for the publicity, which Kara always says no about. But Arthur seemed perturbed and there wasnt really time to go change. Well... there was, but it wouldnt have been appropriate at the time. So here she is eating fries and watching Aquaman at the booth. "Arthur... seriously, is something wrong? What have you been up to the past year?" She pauses when the waitress brings the sodas. "Thanks Tiffany." Kara says with a smile before the waitress goes away.

"It's nothing, Kara -- nothing that concerns you." Arthur replies with a wave of his right hand. He gives Tiffany a slight nod, and returns his attention to Supergirl. "There are some things I need to set right -- and I will. It's just..."

He puts the chip back down on the plate.

"I'm a little hazy on the the details the last time I saw you. It... didn't involve missing clothes, a scandal and an irate dolphin trainer at the marina, did it?" He looks more concerned that such a 'scene' might be /true/ rather than false.

Kara Zor-El peers at Aquaman. "Um... you convinced me to enter an underground fighting ring and I wound up fighting some sort of werewolf girl then some big guy, then that dolphin got hurt. Kara Zor-El rubs her head. "And ... you were sort of... dressed up sorta like a pimp. No missing clothes though, unless what my outfit for the underground fights would be considered under-dressed."

Arthur closes his eyes.

He nods, smiling.

Then his expression saddens, a cloud (as it were) passing over his face. "I remember... thank you. Poseidon's Salty Pate! This is frustrating..." He grits his teeth, closes his eyes again and raises both hands to either side of his face. At the mention of being dressed like a pimp -- he laughs.

It feels good to laugh.

Covering his mouth and pinching his nose with his left hand, his face is still visible through it (albeit distorted by the swirling water of his 'prosthetic'), and he shakes his head. His eyes twinkle with new mirth. "So that part was true... I knew some detail of it had to be true -- I was afraid which one." He lets out a breath. It takes a while, but he finally gets around to answering Kara's question about his own doings -- more or less.

"I will be... around more. For a while." He tells her. "I will check in with the League very soon. Atlantis is... under temporary new management."

Kara Zor-El looks at Aquaman curiously. "You don't remember all that happening?" She then blinks. "Under new management? Wait.... was there a coup in Atlantis?"

Arthur nods his head, slowly.

"It's a long story, Kara... the short-short version is -- well..." He lets out a breath and puts both hands on the edge of the table, squaring his shoulders. "I was betrayed. Lost my hand. Was given a new one -- " he lifts the Waterbearer hand and wiggles its fingers a little, then puts it back down. " -- Lost my memory... parts of it (fish out of water for too long)." He shrugs and finally starts eating his chips.

"My brother is on the throne now. Mera is... I'm not sure where Mera is. I... survived my execution, barely, and so they have no legal grounds (by Atlantean law) to hunt me down, but... that won't stop them. ...There, I think that covers it, the clipnotes at least."

Kara Zor-El widens her eyes as she listens. "That's... that's horrible! What are you doing to do about it? I'm sure Superman and the rest of the league will help. So will the Titans if you want our help!"

Arthur shakes his head resolutely.

"Orm is the enemy. My people... are misled. I do not want to do as I did in the beginning -- descend upon my kingdom with the might of the sea and //take// it back by force. Too many innocents will suffer (Orm has seen to that). And... there is enough blood on my hands." He smiles at Kara fondly. "I appreciate the offer -- and should it come down to it, will ask for aid, but until that time... this is something I must do myself. I must find another way." He pauses to eat a little more, then his appetite disappears again.

"In the meantime, I have some blanks to fill in," and he taps the side of his skull with his right forefinger. With his other hand, he reaches into a small pocket in his leggings and produces an Atlantean gold coin. A frown appears on his face. "Will this about cover it?" he asks concerning their meals, effecting a dry smirk.

Kara Zor-El looks at the gold coin. An ounce of pure gold. "Um.... I think that will cover everyone's meal in the entire diner. For the entire day." She looks back at Aquaman. "Well if there's anything I can do. Or Kal. Or any of us. You know you just have to ask. Help with Atlantis. Finding Mera. Anything."

The edge of Arthur's mouth twitches, whether in a smile or a frown or a combination of both, and he gives Kara a slow nod of his head. He does not speak to say 'thank you', but it is evident in his features, however much he tries to maintain his stoic 'poker-face'. As Tiffany passes by again, Arthur tosses her the coin and says, "Everyone's meals today are on me -- Tell Jim the rightful king of the Seven Seas decrees you should be tipped handsomely." He looks back at Kara and smiles.

"I think I did that right, yes?"