Under the Sea

[Empathy]

Flying as a rather sour blue star, Fran was finishing her shift in a rotten mood. The bad press. People jeering. Crime picking up. Me being too slow. And people. There were just so many people in Jump city. I guess that's why they call it a city. With a last turn around the slums, Sun was finished. But she didn't feel like going home to the tower. Cramped. Too close to the crowd. Too much activity. The star-girl yearned for some space. To leave the Earth atmosphere. But yielding to that temptation could lead her to another self-imposed exile. Not yet. I haven't done enough.

But she needed to get away from the city, with its cage-like buildings and staring humans. Glancing west, she remembered her trips to the Ocean. It had been the Atlantic at the time. Nice, big open spaces with only the fish as company.

And if she went deep enough, nobody.

Sighing, Fran relaxed a bit, expanding her star and cooling it down to a comfortable white before heading West. Within minutes she saw the water. The giant ball of plasma then plunged into the sea, letting the cooler liquid surround her. After a bit of work, Sun stabilized her density to match that of water. It made it easier to float around.

And the occasional fish got lost in her plasma. They didn't burn -she shut off her selective heat- but the lack of oxygen made the little animals quickly swim back out of Fran's star. Pushing ahead, the living star went deeper and deeper, lighting the way with her own energy in the dark depths of the sea.

Soothing space.

[Kenni]

A routine evening swim at the surface of the ocean was nothing in an Atlantean's day.
Well, fine, any normal citizen of that far-submerged citadel liked to keep to themself, rather than gallivant about the surface where humans could spot them. How else d'ya think they've been kept secret so long?

In this Atlantean's routine and his alone, an evening swim was perfectly acceptable. His friend dear Speedy was usually too preoccupied with his lady-friend to hang out with him lately. He didn't want to think about beloved Ink too much, but he found himself sighing forlornly much too often when in the Tower, waving as she would pass by, or hearing her laughter down a corridor while she was spending time with her gentleman-friend, Ian.

Thus, the raven-haired East Titan still kept pretty solitary hours, even amidst the deluge of new membership at Robin's Tower, if only to return to basics and clear his head.
Old habits died hard.

Old habits were also...soothing.

"What manner of glow-fish be this, that floats on the wind and knocks an ocean-dweller from his back-float!" wondered the Prince out loud, after flipping over and spluttering in the drink. Just seconds ago, a flowing force with a sphere of influence the size of a large...well, sphere, had submerged itself in the salt-water he called home-sea.
He could tell it was spherical from the manner in which the water flowed away from it, as it disappeared from his view.

It wouldn't hurt to tail it, make sure it wasn't a hostile force from some alien planet out to suck dry the Earth's largest salt-supply, or anything.

But Garth was hardly suspicious of anyone.

Plus he wasn't getting very hostile vibes from this one, regardless of his lack of psychic powers that related with anything non-native to the sea.


"Triton's Tongue, but you are a lovely lantern of the sky. Whither and why do ye float, so deep and dark this ocean-floor towards?"

His eyes still adjusting to the shock of bright Sun against dank depths, Brooks shielded them, never thinking for an instant that there could be a person in the midst of the orb with no real physical boundary.

[Empathy]

Inside her Star, Sun was visibly relaxing. She was blissfully unaware of Aqualad following her. As she entered the unfathomable depths of the pacific the mutant girl could feel the space around her. Not quite the endless void that was true space, but close enough. Fran gave another sigh -a very deliberate move when you didn't breath- and let her star expand to a very comfortable size. Now the size of a large classroom, and a few times shinier, Sun decided to stop a few miles into the ocean. No point reaching the very bottom. The darker depths were not a problem. But there wasn't a point either to reaching rock bottom: the point was to feel free and not have ground below your plasma.

Things were calmer at this depth. There were a lot less fish, and most of the remaining ones knew better than to approach the glowing sphere.

Of course. Right as I think this, a big something is approaching. While Sun was not usually your most observant titan -the plasma dulling most of her senses- but under the sea the water helped a lot. As the other large body approached, Fran could feel the underwater waves through her plasma. Within seconds, her light revealed a humpback whale. It was even larger than Sun imagined. "Heh. How are you doing, cousin?" She said as the curious mammal circled her. This was the first time the living star talked.

The whale responded with a song. In awe, Sun fell silent and simply listened to the giant. She was still oblivious to any other presence around them.

[Kenni]

"How curious! An uncharted specivilian? Methought mineself educated on the full roster of ye, O friend of the sea. An oversight; I beg pardon." said the Atlantean in awe, although still a bit blinded by the contrast between the calm blue light emitted from Sun's star, and the dank depths they'd reached.

He was soon distracted by the large newcomer to the group.
Broooks 'sat', a posture he had picked up from Speedy from many a session watching movies in the Titans' Common Room without any space left on the couches. In his cross-legged state with palms leaning forward on his ankles, he listened to the beautiful song before making another move.

"Greetings and good-eve, dear Archibald! Curiouser still than I about our visitor, be ye not, old boy?" he greeted, swimming around the underwater-lantern to pet the big fella's forehead.

A deep-throated response reverberated throughout their general area at the greeting.

The whale, though bigger than 50 Aqualads and Suns, was Aqualad's junior by at least 5 years.

[Empathy]

Sun was even more surprised when another humanoid life form appeared this deep under the sea. As Aqualad began to spoke, she recognized the East titan from the news. "Aqualad?" Her star turned an unsure yellow hue. He spoke in a rather odd fashion, taking Fran off guard. And then he started greeting the majestic whale. Inside her star, the girl just blurted, "Wait, you know him? And he's called Archibald?" Or was he just kidding her? But the giant mammal seemed to be responding to Aqualad's words. Like an old friend.

Another point Fran noticed was how fast the Atlantean could move underwater. He swam around her star in what seemed like the blink of an eye. The much slower titan flew closer to the whale as well. She made sure to have her selective heat off completely, not wanting to scare away Aqualad's friend. "So, hm." She felt like petting the giant, but didn't know if that was appropriate. Somehow, Fran suspected this wasn't a pet. "How long have you two known each other?" The question was adressed to both, although only Aqualad spoke English. "Also, any way normal humans can learn Whalish?" Fran was very interested in the species which was larger than her star.

But if Aqualad was here, did that mean Atlantis wasn't far? Or was there a Titan emergency in the area? Fran took out he T-com. Do I get reception down here? The device didn,t have any green bars to indicate such a thing. The only way to know was to call the tower. The star-girl bit her lips as she hesitated. I can just ask him. Her head faced the Atlantean. "Any particular reason I bump into you down here?" She didn't want to seem rude. But the ocean was a big place.

[Kenni]

"O-Oh! The lovely lantern, it speaks! Be ye from distant depths, or a galaxy, far far away? Thou sinkest rather splendidly, O respected being of ancient magicks!" mused the seaprince aloud, corruptions from latenight Star Wars exposure doing his thought process in.
‘She’ hadn't done much 'swimming' so much as sinking so far, so the boy wasn't sure about the sphere's skills in swimming, so he made sure to only mention what skills ...’she’, had displayed so far.
For had not her voice been female, upon further concentration?

As the bright lantern mellowed, yellowed and spoke, he heard his name.
"'Tis he which ye--ahmn, Milady calls, aye, whilst Archibald be he, truly."

Both eyebrows raised slightly, as his smile grew shyer, and his patting of Archibald more tentative. He'd been throwing around the idea that this was some sentient life form, although unsure whether it was from an ocean far away, even a different planet. Now it seemed it was a she, and--did his eyes deceive him as his ears might be doing?--human?

What manner of human could she be, to have such a presence about her this spherical, and a light-generator this...self-generated?

“Triton’s Thoughts, we have swum the depths together for years, under countless cool moons. His singing voice far exceeds my own capabilities, as 'twere.” chuckled the boy, floating peacefully as Archibald made his slower rounds of the prince's general circumference, then moved on to envelope Fran in the circle as well, now circling both teenagers and observing them with the dark, intelligent eye facing inwards to them, whalesong chirping inquisitive notes all the while, which he would continue to utter gently for the next 15 minutes, give or take.

"Ah--as for learning Whalish...the. Ahmn, the males alone possess prowess in the way of the whalesong, in order to...serenade their...potential lovers. 'Tis a bit of a 'show-boating' procedure, methinks. Perhaps Sir Archie fancies Milady...ah, forgive me. Milady's name was? Methinks I know of one other who would like to know--!"

Archibald slapped Aqualad's tail with his own at that.

It sent the grinning boy spinning a few metres past Fran. An unnerving feeling of lack of oxygen occurred when he brushed through her atmosphere, however, causing the boy to shudder visibly..and try again. His fingers warily swept through the very invisible border between Sun's circumference and himself, and while curious about it, he only answered her query, assuring her of his vacation-like circumstance, rather than alerting her to any Titan emergency that didn't exist.

"From afar off, Milady's form alighted upon the waters in which I had been relaxing. At one intrigued, mine body left mine sense no quarter as I hurriedly made after Milady...I have over-swum mine boundaries, yes?" he asked sheepishly, hand faltering and at once laced with the other one behind his back.