relentlesstide | ic inbox ♒♒♒

Arthur, it's Dinah. I'm calling a meeting regarding a new arrival. Shouldn't take too long.

Thanks.

Arthur? It's Clark Kent. Just checking you and Mera are doing alright, with all that's going on lately.

Thanks.

We're... doing about as well as you can hope. Mera is less accustomed to surface living than I am.

How are you holding up?

If there's any way I can help...? [He knows Mera and Arthur's problems aren't just the powerloss but the memories that it brings, so he can't do much.]

I'm fine, this is hardly the first time I've been powerless. The way everything seems to be rushing lately worries me more.

Not really. You can't do anything to open our gills back up, and that's about the only thing that will help at this point.

...It worries me too. Asti is bleeding lifeforce more rapidly. It might mean the thing is coming.

[The sight is pretty audible from the network.]

Yet we don't know when, how, or how to face it. This is going to be fun.

Do we have any leads at all? [He knows he's not exactly the go-to guy in the League, but at the same time, part of him realizes it's probably a futile question.] Any hints?

We have a vague idea? But nothing definitive and- would you like to meet face to face? We're due sharing the information we both have anyway.

Yes, let's meet up. One of the Water Sector cafes?

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Mister Curry, this is Lex Luthor.

[There's a slight pause here- may be nothing significant.]

A gentleman admiral from the navy was gracious enough to give me your name a few days back. We spoke briefly about a satellite which had previously crashed here. He told me you'd managed to salvage some scraps and if I wanted more facts and figures, I should come talk to you. I'm interested in learning more about what happened that day and what was found.

I hope you can take some time off your busy schedule to call me back.

[It takes a little bit of time to get back to this. The name sounded vaguely familiar at first (To be fair, dying and coming back will mess with a lot of your memories.) before he finally placed it. Lex Luthor. One of Superman's, he thinks, except this one sounds a little different, maybe younger. (A quick check of back network posts. Definitely younger.) Frankly, he's not sure how to handle this, but it seems an innocent enough request.]

Admiral Norrington, yes, I do know him. [He finally decides to be a bit wary in his answers, though he doesn't sound it, and to leave the conversation wide open for the rest of the League.] I did salvage a good portion of it from underwater. What exactly did you want to know?

[Well, so far Lex has two pieces of good news to hold fast to. When he continues, his tone is markedly less stiff, less formal despite being still so. It's nothing out of the realm of expectations- just a giddiness of learning he's so far on the right track. Try as he might to disguise it, he sometimes just can't.]

A first-hand account and retelling of the events that occurred henceforth as a result of the crash. I've learned that word of mouth can sometimes be much more trustworthy than what's printed, and I can only assume you're a trustworthy man.

I like to think I am. ['But are you?', he's thinking, not that he'll say it out loud in case this isn't something diabolical. Ah, what he'd give to have one of his villains, they're so uncomplicated.] Well... The crash was about what you'd expect. The bulk of it went down in the water off the shore, lodged into a coral reef and did a lot of damage there, but it broke up quite a bit upon re-entry so there was also damage spread across the city and the shell. I didn't get to the satellite right away, I spent the first couple of days helping with damage control. After things were under control, the salvaging efforts started. The other Atlanteans and I took to the water, along with several kedan who had shifted gills.

[Other Atlanteans. He'll keep that in mind, thanks.]

How did the satellite compare to the technology you've seen from Earth? [There can't be other worlds with the lore, alive or not, he figures. Space junk had to crash into the ocean all the time.]

[Go ahead, Lex, you really don't want to even try with them. The fact that he'll talk about them at all is proof that he knows they can all take care of themselves quite well.]

Hmm. Hard to say, it was more than the kedan are familiar with. [Not gonna make the Watchtower comparison to you, sir.] I'm afraid I'm not too well-versed in surface technology.

Any name? Logo? I assume if there was one, there are more in orbit. I just want to know who it belonged to and what its purpose was. The intranet, from what I’ve seen, continues to work well as the foreigner’s sole means of communication. [He’s trying not to be unnerved by the fact that- oh shit- he might be talking to a man from Atlantis. Nothing is as it seems, he reminds himself. He waits a second and continues.] How did the crash affect the technology you’d grown to know in Keeliai? [What about the invasion?]

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[At the door, there’s a crate, glowing a faint green, the Corps insignia emblazoned on it. When touched it emits a quiet whirr, that of a scanner, the AI announces VERIFIED. CURRY, ARTHUR., and promptly floats into the living room, where the glow vanishes. Inside, there’s rows of bottles with variously coloured liquids.]

[Attached is a note:]

Hey, Arthur, this is a variety of drinks from across the galaxy. Thought you might want to try some.

- GL 2814.4

[There is a small package on Arthur’s door - maybe a couple inches by a couple inches. Instead is a small replica of Arthur’s harpoon hand, modeled in a paperweight style. The note that goes along with the figure reads:

Sorry it’s not the real thing, but hopefully it’ll do for now. Merry Christmas, Arthur.
-Barry]

[After they got back to their suite, familiar and comfortable, Mera made them both some dinner (fish, some kind of kelp, nothing too complicated), they ate, and then they essentially collapsed in bed together (after Arthur made sure to feed Nemo and Verne and check in with Rio'era). They both needed the sleep after everything that had happened, and Arthur rested better there in their seawater submerged bed than he had in the saltwater tub at the hospital.

The next morning, he's practically curled around her, nose against her hair, his good arm wrapped around her waist. Definitely slept better here than he did in the hospital.]

[Mera had been pretty exhausted too. Turns out coming back to life really takes it out of you. Falling asleep had been incredibly easy. She was pretty much out the minute she touched the bed. In the morning she wakes with Arthur curled around her, which has always been incredibly comforting. She lies there, quietly, running her fingers up and down the arm around her waist. He needs his rest. She doesn't want to wake him]

[He's always been sensitive to her movements. The gentle touch along his bare arm makes him smile slightly against her neck, breathing out a content little sigh into the water. This is always how he's slept best, pressed against her, skin to skin, warm together in the cool water. But he's never been one to sleep forever, so it isn't long before he starts to stir a little, pressing a lazy kiss to the base of her neck.]

[She continues the gentle touches, smiling at the content sigh. The bottle may have sucked for them both but this is nice, at least. When she feels the kiss against her neck, she knows he's awake]

Good morning, darling.

[Arthur smiles a little wider, pressing another few kisses to the line of her neck, gently brushing her hair out of the way to do so before he trails his fingers over the curve of her shoulder and down her side.]

G'morning.

[She smiles and turns over to face him instead]

Did you sleep well?

[He likes this view a lot better, though he moves instead to press kisses along the line of her jaw, just under her ear and above her gills, fingertips tracing over her hip.]

Very well. Better than in that tub.