11687/Pretentious Scene Title Aluding to Dark Tragedy!

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Pretentious Scene Title Aluding to Dark Tragedy!
Date of Scene: 21 June 2022
Location: Hall of Justice - New Troy
Synopsis: Arthur briefs Dinah and Mera on what's been going on. Also he is awesome while doing so.
Cast of Characters: Arthur Curry, Mera, Dinah Lance




Arthur Curry has posed:
    The trip for Arthur Curry to Kennebunkport was fast. At first it was a blur of a rush, the Atlantean Prince darting through the water like a human missile fired toward the coast. As he rushed in that direction his eyes were bright and golden, his sight widened to take in all that was around him, listening to the voices and thoughts of the creatures of the sea even as he hurried to see what there was to be seen.
    Yet there were no signs of the disappeared People of the Brine. No hunt of a war party or vessel or monstrosity that had raided the settlement and rushed off. There was only the relative 'peace' of the wild seas and it seemed like the ocean had swallowed up the settlers and none remembered them at all.
    Which was when the hunt was at a close as Arthur had stood on the pier of Kennebunkport, shaking his head as he connected his cell with the League's computer system, asking it to run a search on the surrounding areas for something... out of the ordinary.
    Only for the AI to reply in its sharp electronic tones, << Question: What quantifies as out of the ordinary? >>
    Only to have Arthur snap back at it, "I don't know, use your imagination!"
    Which, needless to say, didn't help much.
    Yet it was while the AI conducted its search that he decided to head back to the hall of Justice. To at least have a central focal point from which to investigate. Just before he left, however, he sent out text messages to Mera and to Dinah, to let them know where he would be. Terse words, simply declaring...
    "Found nothing. Be there in ten."
    And that was it, for eleven minutes later Aquaman /burst/ from the ocean, leaping clear of the river that bordered Metropolis as he landed /heavily/ in front of the grand building. Then, still dripping water, he stalked into the large headquarters of the league, not caring at all that he left wet footprints.

Mera has posed:
    The exiled Princess of Xebel is quick to arrive at the Hall of Justice, even taking the time to change out of her armor and into civilian clothing of jeans and tee because some people prefer not to look like an ocean hobo. Somewhere she acquired a t-shirt that declares 'Fishy Business', showing that there is a sense of humor to the fiery-haired Atlantean royal. She appears utterly unimpressed by the Halls of Justice, walking through the promenade and to security as if she were in a midwestern mall.
    Mera has little trouble finding the room Arthur is in, following the trail of still-wet footprints with a rolling of her eyes and a little hydrokinetic flex to capture the water into a floating sphere to prevent anyone from tripping or sliding. Just before the door, she discreetly drops the sphere of water into a potted plant before silently slipping into the meeting room.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah was already near the Hall when she got the call. She'd been sent to look into a nearby complaint but it had turned out to be nothing. Thus, she was in full costume. Upon receiving the text, she continued her ride back to the Hall of Justice. Driving the motorcycle down into the private parking garage for members, in the back entrance, up the stairs instead of using the elevator. She made it to the meeting room with plenty of time to spare. There she settled down to wait.

By the time the hobo arrived, she had a cup of coffee. She was mid sip as he padded through the door, dripping on the floor and she could only imagine there was a path of water through the entire building.

"Guessing I should call maintenance to deal?" she commented with a hint of a smirk. Then she saw Mera enter and gave a nod in greeting, while reaching for the phone to make that call, not realizing Mera had already saved them from any slip-and-fall lawsuits. "Would you say the trail he left behind is more a creek or just a rivulet?"

Arthur Curry has posed:
    When he had arrived only to find Dinah there already, Arthur had smirked right back and said, "Ya know, some people are in a hurry." As if she was not, nor had ever been in her life. But he does take the hint and after a few moments with his eyes glowing golden as he walks around toward the computer controlled display in the center table... he's mostly dry. Though the Hall itself might be a little more humid than before.
    "Mera's on her way, she's an Atlantean noble. Not a bad sort. Entirely."
    But then, of course, there she comes through the door, "Hey. You have an updated map of Atlantis and its environs? The League system only extends to..." He gestures and causes the hologram display to become a map and to expand as he motions with a circle of his finger in the display, "Right about here."
    That having been said he takes a deep breath, "Just figure that'll make it easier, as for news I don't got much of anything. None of the sea creatures knew anything that I could tell."
    And suddenly he /thumps/ into a chair and grimaces, "So... I think I need to catch you guys up, since I'm gonna ask for your help."

Mera has posed:
"Mmmm." Mera considers Dinah's question, tapping her lip with one finger as she considers Arthur and hiding the hint of a smirking grin at teasing her nominal prince, "I believe the term 'piddle' fits. The only thing creeky is his knees." Pause, "I took care of the water. Namor doesn't drip on the floors, you know."
    But on to more serious matters. The grin is wiped off, and Mera nods to Arthur as she reaches into a messenger bag and pulls out a series of rolled maps. "It isn't completely up to date with some of the newer expansions, but I can mark those." She pauses, and turns to Dinah, "I'm Princess Mera of Xebel, but please just call me Mera... The title is a little ostentatious, mmm?"
    And then back to Arthur, as she unrolls the maps and pulls a pen out to make the notations on new settlements. "Brine Kingdom expansion is here. Xebel colony here. Kingdom of the Sea Lights has talked about expansion here and here, but there's internal politics keeping it from happening. And the Emperor is planning a military outpost in this area"

Dinah Lance has posed:
The choice of 'piddle' made Dinah grin. But then it was destroyed by the knees bit. But in that moment, she decided she did like this Mera. But then it was down to business. Though she did add, "An honor to meet you, Princess Mera."

She considered the holographic images, paying close attention as she set her coffee cup aside. This was all new to her since she wasn't physically able to do down to such places without a submarine. Which was on her to-do list. She just hadn't quite made it that far.

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "This is the Black Canary, Canary Mera, Mera Canary." There, introductions done even as he reaches his arms up behind his head to start pulling his hair back into a pony tail that gets a scrunchy twisted around it for now. Then he folds his arms over his chest as he takes a look at the maps and the changes.
    "Yeah, Namor doesn't do a lot of things," Arthur says in his casual rejoinder tone of voice even as he settles in. He looks up at the map while Mera populates it with more data, which has him focusing on it and frowning to himself. A deep breath is taken then he shakes his head.
    "Alright, so these are my thoughts. And they might be wrong. But I have a vibe about this thing and it reminds me of some crazy I've been dealing with before."
    "I think I told Canary some of this." He says as he looks sidelong to her, but then back to Mera. "So alright, try if you will imagine a young wildish Arthur swimming in the ocean. Exploring his newfound homeland and all, right?"

Mera has posed:
    Dinah is given a quick wink and a ghost of a grin before they get down to business. Once her notations are finished, the Atlantean sea-witch straightens up and moves to take a seat with all the regal grace as if she were sitting on a throne. "I'm sure I can stretch my imagination that far." She tells Arthur, tone utterly serious despite the teasing.
    "I trust your instincts." She adds, "We'd be fools not to; when I was training, my weaponmaster told me often times intuition is the subconscious processing of data. Your 'vibe'" And she even air-quotes it, "May very well be you picking up on things without realizing it."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Dinah doesn't confirm or deny that he's told her anything. After all, she isn't sure what this is leading to yet. Though honestly, he probably did at some point. "Wild is easy. Young..." She left it at that, trailing off the word as though it was a difficult concept to grasp.

Thankfully Arthur had taken care of her faux pas when she failed to give her own name to the princess. Bonus points for him. She'd have to give a thank you for that later on.

For now she fell silent again to wait for the tale of a young wildish Arthur.

Arthur Curry has posed:
    A nod is given from Arthur to Mera as he looks thoughtful, though it's clear he's not quite as fully on the bandwagon about his vibe, as if he might need more convincing himself. Yet he presses on with his story. "So, this is hard to describe... but while I was swimming, up around Iceland the feeling of the world around me changed. Normally when I'm out there it's... like a lot of the ocean is an extension of me. But I hit this point where everything sort of paled. The back and forth of the creatures, the feelings of the currents, it felt like there was something underlying it."
    Arthur straightens up a little, "Eventually I came across schools, colonies of fish, sea creatures. And all of them to me were these... blank canvases, their thoughts weren't present, they moved and conducted themselves in what seemed like a... semi-normal way. But nobody was home."
    Shaking his head, "So being all brash and confident I started to follow the creatures, rushed after them. And I noticed as I got further and further away, deeper into the ocean, that they stopped even acting like other sea creatures. They just seemed to be... going about things in a rote manner. But also I noticed that some of them their flesh or scales had become... transparent in places."
    He grimaces and shakes his head, "So, I'm all cocky as hell, figure whatever it is I'm about to kick its ass." He waves a hand to the side, "So I rush ahead and the creatures start to fight me. I keep going, pushing through, getting past these things, and the deeper I go the more weird they get, seeming in some ways like amalgams of each other. Until finally..."
    He spreads his hands, "I get to this central area, in this huge circular... structure, almost like a maze of sorts, but it kept changing around it. And I see this huge thing with either one gigantic eye or it was a ton of little eyes, fins, flippers, tentacles and at this point I'm really pi... angry. So I hit it with everything, give it the full King of the Oceans blast and tell it to stop doing whatever it's doing."
    He frowns, brow furrowing. "And it tells me no."

Mera has posed:
    "Even the mountains of the earth were young once." Mera tells Dinah, in a tone that indicates that she's just as disbelieving of the idea of a young Arthur, "But I guess the difference is they grew up." Requisite teasing done, she sits back and listens to Arthur's story.
    During the telling, Mera's expression goes from considering to a frown to an blank expression as if she is trying to digest exactly what he said. "Around Iceland, you said? Mark it on the map?" She asks, nodding towards the holographic map. "How far from Xebel would you say you were?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
As he tells the story, Dinah's expression shifts from neutral to a hint of frown. It is not a tale she's actually heard previously. She'd heard some of the stories of his youth but this was not one. She tried to imagine or envision what he was talking about, difficult for a land dweller in the best of circumstances. Far worse when he got into how it felt to him.

But when he got to the end, she didn't even interrupt to comment on his change of terms to be less offensive. Considering she said far worse, she wouldn't have been. Maybe the Princess would. But something in the ocean telling him no?

Her frown was full fledged now. She did not add anything verbally. For now.

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "That's the thing," Arthur says back to Mera, even as he gestures to an area that is roughly several hundred miles of possible rough ocean floor and trench. "It was a long time ago. But what happened next makes it harder."
    He looks to Dinah as it's likely she knows what comes next if she remembers the old story he told her this little part of. Then he looks back to Mera. "When it told me no. I blipped." He says that, "Instantly it was... hours later? I had no idea how much time passed, later on I found out it was about twelve or so. But I had apparently passed out, or froze, or went into another dimension or whatever. Yet I 'woke up' and it was gone. The maze. The creatures. The thing. All of it gone, and no evidence of it. I swam around for another few hours and found nothing."
    Shaking his head, "It got to a point I wasn't even sure if it had really happened. I had to sit down and have a very stern talk with myself." A slight smirk slips over his features then he says...
    "So jump forward a few years. Just a few." Since he's not old, dammit. "And half a year ago I'm walking through a fish market and I find these fish that had transparent skin. The people who had caught it were all furious thinking it was some disease. I asked where they found it, and they showed me on the map. I went out there. Nothing."
    He takes a deep breath, "Then, couple weeks ago, a fishing vessel floats into New York harbor. Not under its own power. Just floats. People board it and it turns out all the people on board were turned into monstrosities like I fought ages ago, with clear flesh and mutations and... a mess of things disgusting."
    Then Arthur lifts a hand to move the display on the holograph for a moment and points out different locations creating a triangle, somewhat North and West of Xebel's land. "Here is where I was when I was before. Here's where they got the transparent fish. And here's where the boat was when it lost contact."

Mera has posed:
    The Princess of Xebel remains blank faced as Arthur continues his tale, utterly expressionless even when he indicates on the maps where he was and the other places. There's a flicker of interest when she notes the location, but otherwise she remains stony-faced and considering.
    Finally... "There's powers in the ocean that dwarf any mortal." Mera says slowly, "Legends, old wives' tales and myths that vary kingdom to kingdom. I didn't find any specifics when I did my research in the Atlantean archives, but maybe..." She shakes her head, red hair falling in her face to impatiently be brushed out. "Maybe it's something that isn't in the archives because it's older."

Dinah Lance has posed:
Looking at the markings on the map as she tries to absorb everything, Dinah's mind immediately notes the triangular shape. And being a land bound being on the planet, her mind goes to the Bermuda Triangle. Eyes flicking down as if she could see it on the map but these maps are focused on the other regions, not that far south. A moment to shake her head at herself for even going into the realms of myth and suspicion instead of focusing on reality even for a moment.

At mention of something older than myths and legends, she glances at Mera. "That doesn't sound ominous at all."

The sarcasm is strong in that sentence.

Then she looks to Arthur. "Is there any way we can try to help research this? Being we aren't able to get down there except with heavy equipment."

Arthur Curry has posed:
    Arthur nods then he says, "There's one last thing before we get down to brass tacks," As he pulls his cellphone from his pocket in its hearty enclosed case, swiping it to life with his thumb then setting it down on the side of the holo display, letting the League's system access it.
    "I followed that path to Kennebunkport and looked around, then asked the League AI to do some searching." The image of the cellphone's display flits into life on the hologram as Arthur flicks past a few website excerpts, some social media posts, then an image of a news story connected to a local newspaper's website. He pauses on that and embiggens it properly.
    And there on the screen is an image of an article about 4 missing people and a local veteran being found extremely ill with a rampant skin disorder that they shut down the hospital for once he was admitted. "This may be a thing." He takes a deep breath and looks to Dinah and Mera, "So I figure I'll look into that. Mera, if you can make a run and have a chat with Eyebrows I'd appreciate it, mebbe do some digging if you have the time. Canary if you mind working with the AI and checking along the coast for similar stories and giving a heads up to some of the leaguers... well that'd be a help."

Mera has posed:
    "I'd rather not involve His Majesty until we have something more concrete." The stony expression cracks and Mera makes a face, as if she finds the idea of talking to Namor as unpleasant as Arthur does. "But I suppose it's gotten too serious to be kept from him."
    Dinah is given an apologetic lifting of one shoulder. "I apologize. It is vague and ominous, but surely as an member of the Justice League you've encountered things of that nature. I hesitate to get more specific for fear I'll taint the investigation with a red herring."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Often we have no chance to research or hints. It's just some kaiju landing in the middle of a city or an alien invasion or the supervillain of the week," Dinah admits with a nod. "I respect the caution and likely for the best to wait until there is something more concrete."

Then she looks to Arthur and nods. "I'll work on research. See if there are any other reports around the globe that match. We can brief the League, the few that might be able to operate underwater especially, so that they can be prepped when we find something."

Arthur Curry has posed:
    "Alright, and if you think it's too early Mera... I understand. But if he squawks you tell him I suggested telling him. A'right? A'right." That said he extends a hand over the map and says, "Alright everybody in."
    He'll wait all of three or four seconds for people to put their hands in and even if they don't that doesn't stop him as he says, "Alright, Team Aquaman on Three. One-two-three. Aquaman!" And if anyone is in with him they'll have the privilege of joining him in that cheer as he steps back and says, "And break."
    Then his smile turns crooked as he starts to walk toward the door, pausing long enough to touch Dinah's hand in passing and give it a small squeeze if he's able before he heads on out.

Mera has posed:
Although she may have several years on the surface world now, Mera is still new to pop culture and so she doesn't quite get what Arthur is doing. "I'll handle Namor." She promises him, with a rolling of her eyes, "I've plenty of experience."
    Mera just stares as Arthur makes his chant, not putting her hand in or joining in. "Is this some sort of surface world ritual I haven't encountered yet?" She asks Dinah, "Or is it Arthur being Arthur?" She shakes her head, and makes her way out as well. No hand squeeze for Dinah, though. As much as she likes the blonde, she doesn't *like* her, after all.

Dinah Lance has posed:
As Arthur puts in his hand, Dinah leaves him hanging. For all of three seconds. Then she finally grins and puts her hand in atop his, shaking her head a bit. He was a bit silly but at the same time, she liked the silly. This place was often filled with people who were entirely too serious.

Only she screwed up the phrase because he gave bad instructions. She said "Team Aquaman!" While he just said his own code name.

"It's a little of both," she offered to Mera by way of explanation. Then she was rising to her feet, picking up her coffee cup. Her free hand turned in Arthur's, a little return squeeze. Then she hefted her cup in the same motion, in her opposite hand. Drawing the eye to the movement. "I need a refiill then I'll settle in for some computer time." A glance to Mera as she was about to depart. "A pleasure meeting you, Princess Mera."