2204/He Came From Beneath The Sea

He Came From Beneath The Sea
Date of Scene:	24 June 2020
Location:	Boardwalk - St Martin's Island
Synopsis:	Garth returns after his long absence. Luckily(?), he happens to run into Vorpal and Beast Boy first.
Cast of Characters:	Gar Logan, Terry O'Neil, Garth

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Gar Logan has posed:
It was back to the scene of the crime, or rather the PSA that went wrong back when Gar and Terry barely knew each other.

Walking along the boardwalk near the beach, Gar was in his business suit, so to speak, namely the purple and black of his Titans uniform. The..Mutant Town problem was fresh on the minds of many people, but that didn't mean other areas were free of danger. The area is more populated than it had been before the weather improved, and if that certain something was still out there somewhere, who knows what danger it could bring to a beach that had more people around, swimming and more?

Beast Boy had been in the area multiple times before, during his rounds. Sometimes, as a bird flying over the waterfront. At times, as an aquatic creature himself, searching that way. "So..you holding up all right, with all of this?" he asks his friend.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry O'Neil is nowhere to be seen- instead, Vorpal the Cheshire cat walks by Gar's side. Unlike the green Titan, the salmon-colored cat doesn't have a 'business suit', by virtue of still not being able to decide on a final design. A tank-top and shorts didn't exactly say 'hero', but what are you gonna do?

Hands in his shorts pockets, he glances at Gar. "About as anyone could expect, given the circumstances." He glances out towards the beach and smirks, "The water looks so inviting. You know, you're going to have to get a different suit when the weather starts to get truly scorching. Black from head to toe is a great way to be re-christened as Heatstroke Boy." He is the Cheshire cat, after all. A little bit of levity to lighten the weight that is on everybody's minds doesn't hurt. Too much.

Garth has posed:
Garth is swimming underneath the water just off the shore, procrastinating before actually going to the surface. Making surface life a part of his world again has been a slow process and he's still unsure about it. Lots of old friends and faces to see. Old enemies, too. He isn't sure how entirely he'll be received when he does. So, for the moment, he lingers, enjoying the warmth of the shallow water and the prismatic hint of light breaking through down to shine on him. Anyone glancing out might merely think him a scuba diver, his dark suit covering him neck to foot, easily flicking back and forth underwater as if born to it. Which, of course, he was.

Gar Logan has posed:
"It comes with the territory, dude," Beast Boy replies. His costume doesn't have pockets, so his hands remain out and by his sides. "I was going to ask if we'd have to give you a lion cut before the summer, especially if you're going to have a costume." That is, if they get that far. Of course they will. Of course the threat will be dealt with in time. Right?

He adds, "Besides, I can just go for a swim if I need to cool off." The beach looms just a few feet from the boardwalk, and he hops down onto the sand to continue his path closer to the water. "Wasn't that almost the exact spot I almost got eaten at?" He pauses, adding, "And I was pretty close to where that guy's diving." Or at least it looks like he's diving, but without a mask or tank?

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I don't need any cuts thank you very much. I'm wearing heat-appropriate gear," he gestures to himself, "Not a black bodysock that's a heat magnet." He grins and winks at Gar, giving him some friendly teasing before stepping onto the sand himself. He winces a little. "Oh man, sand feels /weird/ in this shape..." he looks down at his bare feet and makes a mental note to try to come up with some modified footwear that won't get shredded when he reflexively draws his claws, and then looks up when Gar speaks.

"Yeah, this is about the place. Things are warmer now... you don't think our old friend will come back, do you?" there is a hint of concern in his voice as they start walking towards the location. He says, "You're in a way different place now. You can handle it, if it comes back. And now you've got extra backup instead of a useless flailing civilian."

He grins, and nods, "Yeah, it's about where that dude is. Maybe we should go closer, just in case." Because, even though the chances were one in a million, any time Vorpal was around one in a million chances could happen nine in every ten times.

Garth has posed:
The sudden presence of something other than himself in the water draws his attention, something starting to surface not far away from himself. He does a reflexive check with his marine telepathy, finding something strange and unexpected, an unfamiliar lifeform that starts to emerge.

Garth lifts his head above the water to see the rather unusual pair of civilians along the beachside. Civilians as far as he knows, of course, "Wait, don't come in, there's something out here," he says. His purple eyes glow for a moment and a lick of wave rises beneath him, carrying him to the shore to interpose himself between these strangers and whatever the creature might be, both for its protection as much as theirs.

Gar Logan has posed:
One is green and costumed. The other looks like a walking, talking feline type. They can't be normal. "Hey, check it out," Beast Boy says, pointing toward the water when Garth calls out to them. The glowing eyes, while not something he's seen in person before, remind him of something, or rather someone.

Cupping a hand to his mouth, he calls over, "Yeah, we know! I've been coming down this way every week or two, in case it's still around!" He might not be close enough to sense it, but the animal empathy that kicked in the first time around revealed a creature in pain and confusion, not to mention hungry as can be.

Then, he whispers to Vorpal, "Dude, I think that's Aqualad. He was one of the OG Titans!" This, as Garth is drawing near.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Observe, Garfield," the Cheshire cat suddenly says, his tone academic as he points with one finger to the approaching Garth, "THAT is how one properly does 'the wave.'" His ears flick as Gar whispers, and he raises his eyebrows as he watches the approaching stranger.

The build is wrong, but then again he was a svelte eighteen or so when he was in the team. The build, with the well-developed shoulders, screamed 'swimmer' (or acrobat, but seeing as this is the water...) The glowing purple eyes were another part of the puzzle. As the attached-reporter from the Planet and unofficial Titan historian at this point, he had spent hours poring over old Titan articles and photos at the Planet in preparation for his articles. The fresh young faces of the Titans of then were pretty familiar to him. The feline steps forward and raises a hand in greeting, "Hey there... we are more or less aware of something going down in the depths around here. It tried to eat the green guy a month or so ago."

He pauses and looks at Gar. "Was it a month? Or more? I forget." He then looks back at Garth and says "... my friend here thinks you're Aqualad. It could be the sunstroke talking, too. He's wearing all black without any head covering." He flashes Garth one of the trademark grins for which Cheshires are famous.

Garth has posed:
Garth raises an eyebrow, "Your friend is observant, then, although I prefer to be called Tempest now," he says. "I left Aqualad behind some time ago." he says, but there's a soft note of surprise. He wasn't sure anyone would remember him.

"Perhaps I can communicate with it," he says, trying once again with his marine telepathy, attempting to establish some sort of connection to the creature as it emerges. "Are you adventurers yourselves? You seem rather colorful for your average beachcomber," he adds. His hands hang loose at his sides, fingers flexing in case he needs to do any spellcasting on the fly.

Gar Logan has posed:
If they were any closer to the water itself, Vorpal might find arms shoving him into it. Instead, Beast Boy rolls his eyes and says, "Clearly my brand of humor has rubbed off on you. And c'mon, do you think we'd be going around in costumes all the time if it was that uncomfortable? Some of us aren't covered in fur from head to toe." Even if he often has a very fine layer of it, almost velvety at times.

"Yeah, I think it was at least a couple months ago now. We were doing a PSA about not polluting the ocean - and I was nailing it in one take, thank you very much - and I guess this giant turtle thing thought I was a snack because I was looking all awesome as a dolphin, and..." That story could go on for too long if he started embellishing. "Tempest, huh? Anyway, we're Titans. Didn't you hear? The band's back together with some fresh faces, just in time to save the world from trouble."

He rubs the side of his head, looking out over the water. It might be he's feeling something.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal smirks, "I'll take your word for it. I guess we'll find out when I get a costume, but you're paying the doctor bill if I overheat." Turning back to Garth, he raises his eyebrows again. "Oh wow, so you /are/ Aqua--Tempest now, huh? It's a pleasure to meet you... I'm Vorpal and I'm one of the new Titans. This here is Beast Boy- he joined a few years after you left the team... but Donna is back at the tower. So's Vic. And Wally... and others." A beat. "Are you here to rejoin the team?" there's that flutter of hope in his voice- and then a thought occurs to him. "... have you kept up with... you know, the news of what's happened since you left?"

He glances at Gar out of the corner of his eye. He knows that look, and glances across the ocean as well, just in case.

Garth has posed:
Garth blinks for a moment, a bit surprised to find Titans on one of his first forays back to shore, "I...I was thinking about it," he says. "I wasn't always kind when I left. I didn't even know the team had..." he shakes his head, "I needed to be by myself for a while. To find my potential," he says.

He finally makes contact with the mind of the strange creature, finding it confused. "Come, friend. I can help you," he says. He speaks a few words low in his throat, a trilling sound and then his hands begin to glow, purplish energy interweaving before his body and then flowing into the creature, "I cannot restore what you have lost but I can take your pain away..."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Yeah, ahh..there was some real bad stuff that happened, and we were kind of disbanded for a while, but that's all in the past," Beast Boy explains, summarizing it to the level he must think it needs to be. "I'm sure you'd be welcomed back if you were interested. I know what it's like to have to find yourself."

Before he's able to say much more, the creature /is/ close enough for him to sense it, to sense much of the same things he caught the first time around but not since. "You can feel it too," he acknowledges, but he's moving back away from the water. He won't be surprised a second time, but maybe in this case it won't be a problem. "You can help it?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal looks from Garth to Gart... Gar. and, sensing that he is definitely out of whatever wavelength they are on. "While you two do the leviathan whisperer thing, should I start potentially guiding people out of the water? Just in case it gets... temperamental?"

He is determined not to be useless, even if he was a fish out of water where it came to marine monstrosities. He also does not feel he should add details to the 'bad stuff happened' summary, at least not for now. He doesn't know if Tempest is aware that some of the team-mates he knew have perished, and personal considerations aside, it is also a very bad idea to shock a person when they're trying to help a potentially dangerous marine entity.

Garth has posed:
Garth rises slowly up from the ground as his power flows into the creature, hovering a bit in the air. His mind is directly connected to the creature, "I am...trying,' He says aloud in answer to Gar. "It will not be easy. His suffering is great," he says. His power flares for a moment and some of the excess debris falls out of the creature, splashing to the water below.

"It never hurts to be careful," he says, his mind momentarily flooded with the pain and confusion he draws from the creature, leaving him to let out a small cry of anguish before he steels himself again.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan watches this, splitting focus between what he's picking up on, what Tempest is doing, and Vorpal assisting in clearing the area. "Yeah, it was..really hurting, and I don't know what's happened since then," he says, a grimace following right about the time Tempest reacts to the rush of sensation.

He can't see the thing yet, but he has an idea of where it is before something outlines it, and the sound of things being removed can be heard. "I think it's about to surface," he warns.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Maybe you can help it feel at ease if you adopt a form it might find familiar, Gar..." Vorpal says, and looks at Tempest with concern when he cries out.

But, it is not his wheelhouse, and he doesn't know exactly what he could do, aside from providing crowd control. So he quickly starts rounding people out of the water-

"Alright, everybody out of the water in a calm and orderly manner. There's nothing to worry about!" he says, loud enough to be heard, but hopefully not loud enough to startle the creature that is about to surface, "Just your standard wounded creature rescue."

In case things turn pear-shaped, he can easily scoop people out of the water using his Rabbit Hole. Hopefully it will not come to that.

Garth has posed:
Garth luckily can manage the problem without things getting much worse. As he draws off the pain from the creature, it starts to pull back into the water, the instinctual urge to escape from its torment easing off as Tempest alleviates its suffering.

"I think...it will be okay," Tempest says, slowly beginning to descend again, "I let it know of a nearby trench where it may find privacy while it recovers. I only hope that it is not harmed again. It has shown me where it found the pollution which caused this...transformation. Those responsible will pay for their sins," he says, a hint of anger in his voice as the glow about him finallyd ies down.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Like what? When I was pretending to be Flipper, it was more interested in making me its next meal!" Beast Boy reminds Vorpal, then he inches closer to Tempest just in case there's something he needs, perhaps left unprotected by the state he's in. That doesn't seem to be of great concern, fortunately, and even before the man of the sea shares what he's worked out, Gar can feel things getting better.

He wipes his brow, then rubs an ear quickly. "Good thing you're around, because with all the people around here that could have turned into something worse than last time. Whatever you did right there? That's pretty cool. And just for the record, I'm totally down for some righteous justice. You doing okay, cat?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I'm fine," Vorpal says as he returns to the two, "I'm all wet now. There was a kid who refused to get out of the water. And then he splashed me." He looks down at his soaked shorts and partly-soaked shirt. "Is the sea creature hungry? Does it like brats? Just asking for a friend."

When he comes up to the two of them, he says "So we can locate the source of the pollution with the data, we could get Vic to send one of his toys to retrieve it safely so toxic goo doesn't get on anybody, and then celebrate with pizza. The usual."

The Cheshire cat fixes Tempest with a look, "You seem to have come back with some new tricks."

Garth has posed:
Garth nods, "I'm just glad I could help it. The confusion was almost the worst part, it just couldn't understand what it was feeling, barely even had a sense of where it was," he sighs. "Neutralizing these polluters quickly would be a good start."

He raises a dark eyebrow to Vorpal, "Yes. I have been training in Atlantean sorcery during my time away. It has...broadened my capabilities widely. I think I will have more to offer than merely 'talking to fish' now," he says, having heard that criticism more than a few times.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan waves a hand. "Yeah, that's what Aquaman's for, right?" he quips, then he gives Vorpal a rather wide berth. "Don't you even think about it," he says. Wet cat! Well, not exactly like wet dog, but it's the thought that counts. "And you can't do that, dude. No tossing kids to fill it up."

It's the talk of the pollution that has him frowning. "This is exactly why we were doing that PSA. If it's still getting dumped somewhere, it could be making more of these things. I hope it can, you know, at least get kind of better now."

Big problems in the world, but there's still time to deal with something a little closer to home.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I don't know, Tempest. Looks like talking to fish just proved extremely effing useful right now." Vorpal grins. "Not only did you pacify the monster that almost made a meal out of my bestie here, but you also can pinpoint the source of pollution. You're already an ace in my book." He tilts his head. He then looks at Tempest's outfit, and then at Gar, and scratches his chin. "I'm also feeling decidedly underdressed. It's like I showed up in pajamas to a business meeting or something. I need to decide on a costume soon..." he mutters. But then he brightens up and looks over at Gar, "This is the point where you do the 'I bet the other guys would be thrilled to see you' spiel, Rosencrantz," he says with a wink.

Garth has posed:
Garth smiles, "Aquaman can do far more than talk to fish, I assure you. And, honestly, fish are better conversationalists than plenty of human I've met."

"Thank you," he says, "I am...pleased that I can help make a difference. And a costume is a useful thing, if only to help mark you out from civilians. People know they can come to you for help. And they're rather spiffy, I think," he says, rather proud of his own new costume.

"I look forward to seeing some old friends. And, hopefully, making some new ones," he smiles.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan gives Vorpal a nudge after all, but not too much of one. "Maybe we can find you something soon, once everything's settled down. Aqua..ahh, Tempest here probably wants to get some business of his own taken care of. Right?"

He gestures in the direction of the big 'T' building Garth would be familiar with, having been there and left before Gar himself even showed up. "Whenever you're ready, whether now or later, I know you'll be welcome there. Though, I don't know if you heard the news but this alien dude calling himself Brainiac just /stole/ all of Mutant Town, and he was behind what happened in Genosha too. I have the feeling everyone might be needed to stop him. Not trying to pressure you, though!" But, times are rather urgent.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Yeah, they're certainly spiffy," Vorpal agrees, taking note of the design, and then looking at Gar's. In his mind, he says to himself: Geometric versus asymmetric? Primary or secondary colors? Black and purple seemed to be the new black. Skintight or loose? The possibilities were enormous, and while it seemed everybody he met 'in the business' had come upon a winning design, everything he came up with felt like amateur hour.

How much did Janet Van Dyne charge again? She was a friend of Lois', wasn't she? Perhaps if he talked to Lois...

And what? Out himself to her? Wouldn't that open a can of worms!

"Yeah, we'll let you be like Bee Bee says, but do stop by the tower. We'll let them know that you're in the neighborhood. You would fit right in in our alien invasion fighting pic-nic, it'll be as if you never left." He grins.

"Now that the Mystery Of The Creature From The Sea has been solved, Garfunkel, do you want to celebrate with food?"

Garth has posed:
Garth nods, "It was nice to meet you both. And I'll be stopping by soon, I just want to..." he says. Truth is, he had to work up a bit of courage to do it. He wanted to see his old friends, but was afraid they were hurt that he'd left and been gone so long.

"I'm glad they finally got the thing built. We were just talking about it when I left and to see it there is something of a reality check for just how long it's been," he says.

"And don't worry about calling me Tempest. If you're a Titan, then my name is Garth." And then his sorcery wraps around him again and carries him into the air to fly away. He really has picked up new tricks.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Yeah, cool. Just, you know, don't be a stranger?" Beast Boy says. He knows a thing or two about being ready for something or not, especially something as significant as this. It leaves him watching Tempest departing in that way, which results in him sharing a glance with Vorpal, eyebrows lifted up.

"Food sounds great right now. Just, back on the boardwalk, at least. One close call here is enough," he answers, but before they go he wags a finger at Vorpal. "And don't think I didn't see you looking at my butt in this."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
As Tempest takes flight, Vorpal watches him go and then he sighs with a sigh as deep as the sea.

"Why is it that everybody gets a flying power but /me/? Is there any justice in the world, I ask you? Oh we unlucky few that trod the earth on sole and foot while you lucky bastards fly and flutter and flit and flitter across the ether."

Bout of bad poetry done, he adds, "I like him, though, he seems cool. And his suit /is/ spiffy. I wish I had come up with that design, with the asymmetry and whatnot. It screams 'Wonderland', with the proper alterations." He pauses and asks "Do you think he'd be mad if I copy it?"

As they start heading out, the Cheshire cat raises an eyebrow, "Garfield Mark Logan, how dare you accuse me of /that/?" He reaches over and puts an arm around Gar's shoulders, waiting a beat for the punchline to work, and says "I look at your butt in /everything/! Race you to Giorgio's!" he says, suddenly taking off in a trot, "Last one there buys lunch!"