8997/Ripples

Ripples
Date of Scene:	08 December 2021
Location:	Gymnasium - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Garth is good at swimming. He can also fly. And do magic! But is he better at underwater tag? Yep. That too!
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Garth, Gar Logan

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The indoor pool is one of Terry's favorite places in the Tower during the autumn and winter months. Having been on the swim team in school, the teen is quite a good swimmer-- not spectacular, but he was dependanble and helped round out the team with his stamina.

It has been some time since he had a regular swimming schedule, though, focused as he had been on increasing his parkouring skills and gymnastics. The water was left by the wayside, for a bit.

But that was changing. It was time to take the speedos out of the closet, shake the mothballs off and get back to the water!

Which is what Terry is doing right now, just having barely finished a robust set of laps. He is not in his feline form, his pale human skin and bright red hair glistening wet, his broad chest expanding with every breath as he touches the side of the pool and decides that a breather is in order. Arms resting over the edge of the pool, he lets out a few breaths and counts down from thirty, before taking another breath and kicking off the wall, turning around in order to swim back to the other end of the lane, his strong legs and arms moving through the water with increased ease. It's just like riding a bicycle, right?

Or, in the case of some people, like falling off a bicycle.

Garth has posed:
Garth is clad in a relatively similar Speedo style suit, although it's not of the brand. Atlanteans aren't always as considerate of modesty as other cultures, as shown by their so-called King often appearing in public in little more than a pair of briefs. Garth's suit is scaled and shimmering, calling to mind a great sea dragon perhaps or an eel.

He's in the water with barely a thought, skimming underneath and coming back to the surface with ease, even passing underneath Vorpal as Terry goes back and forth, finally coming up on the other side of the pool, "I thought cats had an aversion to water," he says with a raised eyebrow.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry gasps, removing his goggles once he reaches his destination, brushing water out of his forehead to avoid chlorine falling into his eyes. "Whoa-" he says. Of course, he had seen Garth in action back during the search, but it was different, having him just streak under you like that. Like a knife through water. "-- it depends what I'm getting wet for!" the teen laughs, and shakes his head to get his long-ish hair out of his face. "But it's mostly because fur takes so long to dry. That's why I'm like this now..."

He gestures to himself- decidedly human, with pale skin that is par for the course with his red hair and freckles. He still retains the gymnast build that he shares with his feline form, but that is all. Which is a good thing- competition speedos don't exactly make room for tail holes. And tails would be impractical while swimming, anyways. "It's hard to get good swimming speed when covered in fur. Too much drag. And I already lived through too many shaving jokes back in highschool." He grins and gently glides towards Garth's side, his legs kicking in a steady rhytm.

"I didn't even hear you dive in. How did you dart through that quickly under me?"

Garth has posed:
Garth nods, "Not really a problem for me. Atlanteans are naturally aerodynamic, I suppose, although you'd never know it from Arthur's habit of growing the largest beard imaginable," he says.

To the question, he gives a shrug, "I don't know. How do you walk across a room? Swimming to me is the most natural thing there is. I don't have to think about it. That's one of its blessings. I can simply let my mind be free. Even if a pool is a poor substitute for the Atlantic."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Reaching the other side, Terry grabs a hold of the edge. "So you don't even have to think about it. Of course, you do it twenty-four seven, whereas we land-bound creatures can only do it so long every day because we have other things that we need to do outside of swimming. Whereas you Atlanteans get your things done /while/ swimming."

He glances over at Garth, a look that is part mischief, part envy, "It must be amazing to move through water like that. I've always wanted to fly, but the closest I could get to it was the feeling you get while swimming. But it's totally clumsy compared to what you do. Everybody has the cooler powers!" he laughs and pulls himself up to sit at the edge of the pool for a few seconds, shuddering as his body hits the air after coming out of the heated water. He lets his legs move idly in the water, while looking over at Garth.

"I have a confession. I am... not as comfortable swimming in the ocean. For a very stupid reason."

Garth has posed:
Garth floats easily, "Flying is also very good, although it takes me more concentration to do that. Still, I can understand how very freeing it can be, especially compared to regular walking. Although if one could run like Wally, I imagine foot paths can be much mor einteresting," he says.

He floats over to the side of the pool near Vorpal, resting his arms on the edge. "A stupid reason? Are you afraid of fish getting in your swimsuit? Because they don't usually do that."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry laughs, "No, not that-- see... when I was little, my mom took me to the beach, somewhere in California- I don't remember where. And just as I was running into the water- it was a clear day and the water was like /glass/- WOOSH, this stingray just unearthed itself. It had been laying there and had covered itself up with sand. My mom told me that if I had stepped on it, it would've stung me."

He brings his foot up to rest on the edge of the pool, one arm grasping his knee. "And since that day, I... dunno. I am always kind of a bit scared of what might be laying there. If I let my mind think too much about it, I get a sick feeling in my stomach and I can't wade in. If I just go for it and don't think about it, it's not too bad. But if I /think/ about it..."

He shudders, this time not because of the cold. "And then, of course I haven't told him this, but Gar getting attacked by that turtle monster right off the boardwalk kind of intensified that for me for a bit. It took me a few months after he had healed to venture back to the beach."

He chuckles and glances over at Garth. "I glitter-bombed General Zod's bridge and fought a horde of demons inside Raven's soul-self, and I am scared of /stingrays/ and other beasties hiding in the sand. Isn't that the most pathetic thing ever?"

Garth has posed:
Garth is not usually much of a sympathetic type, not exactly a shoulder to cry on. He's been through enough hardship that, for much of his young life, it has hardened him and made him, if not quite cold, certainly jaded. But he seems to understand, nodding along at Terry's words.

"Ray's can be intimidating creatures. Sleek and surprisingly dangerous. You are wise to be wary of them. They tend not to be aggressive, however, and would likely steer clear of you. As would any turtle monsters, should they have to deal with me," he says with a wry grin. "I have a very good track record in defeating seaborn Kaiju. Perhaps if I accompany you sometime, I can help you overcome your reticence. If anything, however, I'm sure your caution is a good counterpoint to Gar's more brazen approach."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The redhead chuckles at this, "Actually, of the two, I am the more brazen one. He is constantly having to tell me to stop being so impulsive. Yes. /That/ is how impulsive I am, that Garfield Logan is telling me to cool my jets sometimes."

He shrugs, "It was a thing before I got my powers, but since I became the Cheshire Cat, it's kind of... more? I see something that looks like fun, I have the urge to just do it. If I think an idea is great, I feel tugged to go for it." He glances at Garth, and grins, "I see something I like, and I just want to try it." He glances at the water, "Often, I am able to temper it, my chaotic side, but sometimes it just breaks through and I do... things. Like go to the Roller Derby with my friend Harley... Quinn. Which isn't so bad. But other times I- you know."

He waves a hand, "End up kissing my doppelganger. And that didn't work out too great. Fortunately, only one of the three guys I've kissed since I joined the team has turned out to be a total catastrophe... and since it was my doppelganger, I guess that means it was me!" he laughs.

Gar Logan has posed:
"That was mutated by some weird stuff," Gar is heard to say as he walks in, then he makes a show of covering his eyes. "Ack! Blind! We need to get you a tan sometime, Terry!" Whether he has one or not, the 'pale ginger' joke is still an easy one to make. "What's up, dude? Shiny." He points at the trunks Garth has on.

As for him, he apparently hasn't decided what he was coming to the gym for, still dressed casually and in no particular way for swimming, gymnastics, or anything else. "Oh, you're more impulsive than Bart sometimes, and definitely not the best at making decisions."

This leads to a brief pause. "Most of the time."

Garth has posed:
Garth chuckles, "I think it's better to push at the world, to go after things, than to hide away from them. I did too much of that in my early life, especially wh en I came to the surface. I was afraid, plain and simple. I felt so much of an outsider, so much a stranger. I didn't know the TV shows or the movies or the songs. I'd never eaten ice cream or ridden on a roller coaster. I was an alien, basically," he says. "But not like Kori, who's an alien who'll fit in anywhere because she's just going to be her no matter what."

"And romance can always be complicated. I've never been good at it, Poseidon knows," he says.

He looks up at Gar as the green-skinned young man joins them, "Thank you," he says in regards to the remark about his suit. "I suppose being impulsive is part of the team ethos. There's always Nightwing or his fellow Bat-apprentices to advise caution, after all."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"We've been over this, Garfield, I catch fire when left out in the sun for too long." The teen rolls his eyes, and then confides in Garth: "I don't actually combust. But I turn red like a lobster and then peel. That's what I get for having that heavy Celtic ancestry- Donna jokes that I'm part Tuatha de Dannann. But the moral is, I can't tan."

Kicking a little bit of water, he says, "Right, but you belong here, you know? Even if you feel like you don't, you've got your old friends who love you, and you've got new ones whether you want to or not," he gives the Atlantean a grin, and focuses on him after Gar makes his remark.

"Huh, you're right, that's rather shiny. Is that actually metallic, or is it fabric that looks metallic?" He tilts his head this way and that, looking at Garth's suit as if to catch the shimmering, "That's so cool. I want, like, a whole outfit made of that."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan deadpans, "You could just infuse it with glitter and you'd be done." Oh, he's being a tease about that. It's one of those things.

Walking along the edge of the pool, he does so away from the reach of either of them as he practices as if trying to follow an invisible line when being tested for drunkenness. "Me, I don't really tan either. I just get..greener. But I change into different things so much that I think it all kind of resets. I dunno. I never thought about it, really."

Now he continues the walk, only after doing a handstand, progressing that way for a bit. Quite the showoff. "We've got others here to worry about being more responsible. Life's more fun this way. And that looks like scale to me."

Garth has posed:
Garth considers, "I'm not sure of the composition. It's Atlantean weave. Probably real scale, although of a creature of the depths not seen much above the water," he says. He watches Gar show off idly, having been used to such displays from years of being friends with Dick Grayson, the original showoff.

"I tan very easily, but my complexion's always been a little bronzed to begin with," he says, making his lavender eyes all the more striking for that. "I spend most of my time in the water and not basking in the sun, though."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Lucky you. I have to switch to cat if I want to bask in the sun." Vorpal smirks, and then chastises Gar: "Gar you're being lame. Either put on a swimsuit or stop walking so close to the pool, you'll ruin your clothes!" he chuckles, and then glances back at Garth. "Scale weave. Huh... that's interesting. It looks good on you, though," he says, with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Having said that, he slides off the edge and dips into the water, where he quickly dives under and then emerges right next to Garth, tossing his hair back. "I was about to ask a very stupid question- about what kind of underwater games do Atlanteans play. But all Atlantean games are underwater. So I'll rephrase- do you know any games you could teach me? Probably kid games, taught to little kids who haven't gotten their sea fins already."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan veers away from Terry as he returns to the water. "I didn't know anyone was using the pool!" he exclaims, getting back to his feet. "Hopefully they didn't come from any of the people you said some Atlanteans look down on for being more, what was it, throwbacks? Does that mean they evolved from that to the way you guys are now?"

Crossing his arms, he adds, "You know I could just turn into a basking shark if we want to stay on that line of thinking." It's not exactly that line of thinking, but leave it to him to take it in that direction. "Ooh, is this like reindeer games? Just fishy games instead?"

Garth has posed:
Garth cocks his head, "Atlantean sport tends to be a bit on the rough side. Think of lacrosse or football, only with edged weapons," he says. "For all our claims of civilization, we can be quite barbaric. But there are simple things, like good old fashioned tag. I think they even do that here," he says.

And with that, he drops underwater and jets beneath, flying past Vorpal at incredible velocity and giving him a playful slap on the abs before he surfaces, "I believe 'you're it' is the phrase?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry is taken by surprise and jumps a little at the slap, "Hah! No fair, I didn't get any warning!" he complaints, but it is clearly exaggerated for effect. "But very well. Your days are numbered, Garth. You have awoused the rath-- er, aroused the wrath of the Cheshire Cat!"

Bracing against the wall, he shouts, "To the chase!" and pushes off it after getting his goggles on again, diving underwater and trying to reach Garth to tag him, aiming to slap the closest part of him that he can reach.

Of course, Terry is not an atlantean and he doesn't swim like he was born to it, good though he may be by human standards.

Gar Logan has posed:
"This isn't gonna go well for you, dude," Gar says to Terry after Garth dips back into the water as well, catching him quickly in passing. No matter how good a swimmer a normal human is, it isn't the same as someone born to do it.

In his case, he can't quite match what Garth's capable of, but he does have a way to make it close. Taking on his own hybrid Atlantean form, he dives in and quickly flows through the water, close to a natural with it. He's been able to fly as an Akiar, and he can swim like an Atlantean. First, he tags Terry along the backside.

Garth has posed:
Garth does have the agility to dodge fairly well, although the size of the pool provides a certain degree of limitations. He jets just underneath Terry and Gar alike a couple of times, narrowly missing them and even threading between Terry's legs once before he surfaces and rises into the air, backflipping to land on the edge of the pool.

"Feel free to play amongst yourselves for a second while I watch," he laughs.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
At the slap across his backside, Terry lets out a yelp and emerges for a second, "Hey, no fair! He tagged /me/! You can't tag me, that's not how it--" but then he sinks underwater and instead tries to give Gar a slap as good as the one he gots across the backside. All throughout, Garth's form darts here and there underwater, with Terry reaching out to touch him- and narrowly missing!

Eventually, he emerges t see Garth backflipping onto the edge, and he raises an eyebrow. "Oh I see how it is!" he calls out, and then turns to Gar.

"Your days are counted, Logan!" he says with bravado, and lunges for Gar, his glistening body airborne for just as a second as he goes for the msot dramatic tag ever, towards the green Atlantean hybrid. *Splash*

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan surfaces just enough to taunt, "Oh, I'm sorry. There are rules? I'm not up on Atlantean culture!" He ducks back under and surges around, doing a fine job of avoiding Terry's efforts to catch up to him, then he's suddenly soaring out of the water like a dolphin as he glides past Garth's spot, taking on a reclining pose just long enough to say, "Paint me like one of your fish girls!" Then he adjusts and lands in the pool again with minimal splash, coming back around for more with Terry.

They grapple, catching hands, their path putting them in closer proximity to Garth himself.

Then, in unison they both reach for an Atlantean ankle, to tug!

Garth has posed:
Garth finds his ankles double grasped and let's out a yelp as he's yanked into the pool. It's probably the least gracefully he's entered the water in his life, tumbling forward and then twisting his body to land on his back with a noisy splash.

Of course, once back in the water, he has the advantage again, his strong and lithe body yanking back and using their grips against them to kind of bonk them against him until he can try to get a headlock on at least one of them, "This is rapidly turning into just wrestling, which I think surface people already have," he smirks.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Fortunately for Terry, he's not the one grabbed in the headlock. That's because Gar can breathe underwater in his fish form, whereas he can't. The redhead figures Garth probably took that into consideration.

Or he hopes, at least.

"Yeah, well, when in Rome-" Terry says, trying to slip behind Garth while he's busy with Gar, "-do as the Greco-Romans do!" he tries to wrap his arms around Garth's waist and entwine his legs with him, in order to immobilize him. Whether this is successful or not is, of course, to be seen. "Give it up, Garth!" he says, his mouth close to Garth's ear, "The new Dynamic Duo is in town!"

Gar Logan has posed:
"Hey! Hey! Watch the ear..fins!" Gar blurts after bumping into Terry, getting his arms around Garth's torso in the midst of the headlock being cinched in. Yes, he does have the added benefit of being able to breathe better within the water, and he kicks his legs to churn things up a bit more in an attempt to flip them over in the pool. Back in the oversized aquarium, he didn't get the chance to /really/ swim and test out the capabilities of this form, and it's powerful for what it is.

Garth has posed:
Garth holds on rodeo bronco style, his legs flung out of the water now and then as the two others attempt to wrestle him down. He is superhumanly strong and fairly capable at hand to hand combat, so he can give them a hell of a tussle, but at last, he goes underwater and releases, slipping free and just sitting on the bottom of the pool for a moment, sticking out his tongue before he rises back up to emerge from the water again, his dark hair slicked down to his head.

"New dynamic duo, huh? Which one of you wears the little green shorts? Oh, wait, what am I asking?" he says, gesturing to Gar.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The redhead laughs and brushes his hair out of his face and glides over to Garth, "Nah, he doesn't wear little green shorts- not from lack of persuasion," he says, stopping close to Garth, breathing hard a little. He swallowed a little water in the tussle, but nothing bad- no more than a little cough. Arms moving idly to keep himself in place, he gives Garth a smile, "... you've got moves. But one day. Mark my words- one day, I will become super awesome at swimming and tag you fair and square!" And he tries to give Garth a slap across the backside like Gar did.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan slips free, is let loose, whichever fits the narrative for them. Back to the surface he goes, at least with his head popping up as he treads water in place. "He's tried to get me to wear lots of things, but little green shorts? That's more Nightwing's style. Well, it was."

The fins and ruffles of this form make it so /easy/ to move around in the water, almost as if he's walking within it. Just like wings help with flight...

"You're doing better than I expected for someone without flippers and stuff," he tells Terry.

Garth has posed:
Garth takes the smack with a laugh, shaking his head, "I don't usually let people count coup on me. Guards back home usually get roughed up when they try," he teases. "I suppose I'll allow it this time, dynamic duo," he says. "But next time...next time...!" he says, imitating villains he's known.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The redhead leans in, putting a hand on each of Garth's shoulders, "Next time... I will RULE THE WORLD!" he says, gleefully joining in the imitation, and adding a cackle that becomes a full maniacal laugh, complete with overtones and gusto. For a very brief glimpse, Gar might see a little of that temptation to surrender to chaos emerge. For a split second, the glee feels /earnest/.

And then he's powering down his laugh and it fades into a chuckle, and it's just Terry goofing off in front of Garth, both hands still on his shoulders, bobbing back and forth in the water.

"- I actually wonder how many people become villains just to be able to do the laugh," he admits with a grin. His eyes are quite red at this point from the pool, his goggles having slipped at some point during the tussle, now relegated to some corner or another of the pool. He blinks a few more times, noticing the irritation in his eyes.

"We should probably hit the showers. The chlorine's going to turn my hair green and I'll be called Terry of Green Gables, just you watch," he says, his fingers easing up grasping Garth's shoulders, but the hands remaining in place, as if anchoring himself in the water for a second.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan swims around and retrieves the eyewear. "Ze goggles, they do nothink!" he says, putting on an imitation of a German accent as he sets them atop Terry's head like a..tiara.

He was taking note of the way Terry started acting, watching him somewhat more closely until that moment passes. Could've wound up with something very odd happening here, if the things that have been taking place around Metropolis recently were any sign.

"I'm thinking that's a good idea, then we could go get some sushi. My treat. Unless you'd rather have a Big Belly Burger or something. You probably don't eat much down there /but/ fish and seaweed and all that," he muses, flowing into a leap out of the pool to land as normalGar again.

Garth has posed:
Garth smiles, "Sushi's just fine by me. There's a world of nuance in different kinds of fish, after all, especially with all the preparations you surface dwellers come up with. So long as the fish is ethically sourced...some of the farm fisheries have practices that make my blood boil," he says. "I suppose that's true of burgers, too, but I'm not the prince of Cow Land."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The redhead chuckles at the tiara goggles, and then he slowly lets go of Garth's shoulders. "Right. Food. We should eat! But let me take a quick shower to get the chlorine out of my eyes!" he says, giving the two a smile as he dives and then emergeces on the other side of the pool, climbing quickly as if motivated by hunger.

"You two go on ahead to the main room, I won't be long!" he calls over his shoulder, not turning around, but making his way to the showers with a quick pace.

"And Gar? It's /definitely/ your treat!" he calls back, chuckling.