[Closed] arthur needs a batsignal or be less antisocial

[animosus]

Characters: Hal Jordan animosus and Arthur Curry relentlesstide
Date: 15th October
Location: Water sector
Situation: Hal dumps trash into the water to summon Arthur
Warnings/Rating: Littering is bad, kids


In the time since Hal had arrived, he'd more or less touched base with the relevant people from his world. Except for one. But Arthur had always kept to himself so he wasn't surprised that he'd have to go out of his way to track him down. So Hal settles down by the edge of the water with something he's found to be the closest equivalent to an apple and uses his ring to drag rubbish bins towards him. Every now and then he tosses one into the water. The faster Arthur shows up the less rubbish in the water.

Hal will fish them out when they've served their purpose... and he's making sure it's dry trash! No disgusting food polluting the water here.

Comments

[relentlesstide]

Arthur's mostly kept to himself for a multitude of reasons. The network doesn't exactly interest him. People from home don't exactly interest him either, for the most part, since none of them are his family and most of them are obnoxious teenagers in masks (or so it feels). He's also been preoccupied with caring for the massive turtle egg that he and two others found during the last stop (who knew a baby turtle that size would take up so much time before it even exits the shell).

And today? He's been missing his wife. Waking up in an empty bed is never pleasant.

Still, he can't not respond to fishy distress calls, so when he catches a feeling of annoyance and confusion from the life in the canals, he presses his lips together tightly, grabs his trident, and marches out to investigate. You don't fuck with the fish, okay. (Maybe there is some truth to Bart's assessment that he has a Google alert set up for anything water-related.)

When he finds the source of the litter... he is less than impressed. "I hope you're planning to pick all that up."

[animosus]

When Arthur finally shows up, Hal leans back, grins and takes a bite from his snack. "There you are. You're a hard man to reach."

Then he constructs a giant net which he sends into the water to scoop up everything he's dropped and proceeds to return everything from where he got them. No more trash! Hal shrugs in a way that says 'happy now?'.

He's pleased to see Arthur alive again. He'd heard he was back, but he hadn't had a chance to see for himself. And while this wasn't the best circumstances, it was the best Hal could do. No, that was a lie, this was the best thing he thought he could do.

[relentlesstide]

Arthur watches him pick up the litter (that he put there) impassively, arms crossed over his chest. At this point, he barely even considers that his old teammates might not have seen him alive recently (or with his hand in-tact) because it feels like the incident with the Black and White Lanterns is far in the past.

"I'm not, actually. Any of the others know where I live and how to reach me by console. Unlike some of you, I don't feel the need to hide," he points out flatly, kneeling down by canals and turning his attention to the little fish swimming in circles in the water. He dips a hand in, and they swarm around him as he mentally whispers soothing things. "You upset them."

[animosus]

"They'll get over it." Especially since Arthur is doing his fish talk. So far Hal hasn't been given a reason to regret his actions. He ponders what would happen if he dropped the core into the water. Friends joked with each other, but somehow he thought that Arthur wouldn't take it that way. He never did have much of a sense of humour.

"I asked Barry. So clearly not all of us know." He pauses. "And long time no see, in case you hadn't noticed because you're busy being indignant for the sealife."

[relentlesstide]

The fish do eventually seem to calm down and stop fluttering around his hand as frantically as before, but Hal's comment still makes Arthur give him a flat look. After a moment, he stands up again, wiping off his hand on the side of his pants. "Don't drag the marine life into this just because you don't know how to track down someone who doesn't even hide," he says, tone as deadpan as he can manage.

"...I didn't know Barry was here." Whoops. "It has been a while. When did you arrive?"

[animosus]

Hal waves Arthur's admonishes off. If he wanted to be lectured, he'd go elsewhere. The whole point of this was to catch up with an old friend.

"Last month? Barry showed up about a week after me." He gives him a look that says for someone who claims not to be hiding, he sure wasn't paying attention. It didn't have to be obsessively checking for new arrivals, but it would of been nice of Arthur to keep an eye out.

[relentlesstide]

An entire month. Has he really been that out of touch? Then again, it's not like there's much togetherness in the League here, and he's generally kept out of the loop of things. Still, he doesn't want to admit that to Hal, of all people. "Next time I'll check the newsletter," he remarks dryly. "I've been... preoccupied since Sinbrilee. It hasn't been a great month."

[animosus]

Hal has no idea what one would mean about the lack of togetherness. He's always been good at drawing people towards him. You could put him anywhere and he'd find a way to fit in.

Other than around Bruce, Bruce could go and sit in his own corner. They didn't need a Bat.

"Oh yeah?" There's a touch of concern in his tone. Arthur keeping to himself was nothing to worry about, but an admission from him was. "What happened?"

[relentlesstide]

One of the main differences in them, maybe. Arthur has always felt like he never really fits in anywhere, land or sea. A constant in the League, and yet not a man that the others can say they know inside and out. It's a little lonely, sometimes, even more so now that his wife is gone.

A shadow crosses his face. "Mera disappeared from here very recently. And I've been occupied caring for a viable turtle egg I and two others found in Sinbrilee." La dee da, glossing over the loss of his wife a little because it still hurts. "I also have my protege to look after." Excuses excuses.

[animosus]

Hal understood a missing loved one, but what did a turtle egg have to do with anything? Unless he'd missed the fact that Atlantean biology was really strange... He has no idea how to ask if it was his and if he should even ask it. Arthur saying he found it could very easily be a cover up story.

Several strange expressions passes his face before he forces it back to neutral.

"Sorry about that. I guess trying to summon you like this didn't help things."

[relentlesstide]

Arthur's expression falls flat as he watches the expression on Hal's face change. Just what the hell is he wondering? "It's over six feet tall and requires a lot of attention. It's not mine. I really did find it." But he's not as phased by the obvious question on his face as he could be. Tritonians actually do reproduce through eggs (though Poseidonians are more mammalian), so it isn't that strange.

"Don't worry about it. I wasn't doing anything else today anyway." A flash of discomfort crosses his face as he thinks back to his suite, empty except for a massive egg. Sad bachelor life.

[animosus]

Hal's expression is of one who doesn't quite believe that weird insistence on something he hasn't actually said anything about and wanting desperately to have the topic dropped and moved on. He does not need to know about Atlantean reproductive biology thank you very much. He also doesn't need to know about his team mates sex life or lack thereof now.

Instead he tries to force a little cheer. "So if you're alone now, that means you're free to do whatever you like, huh?" Being a bachelor is the best, marriage is a ball and chain.

[relentlesstide]

Hey you're the one that was implying things with your face, Hal Jordan. Don't bring this on him, he's not the one who assumes things about other people's biology. Arthur lets it drop, though. He's explained why he's been busy and doesn't check the network as often as he maybe should, and it's fine to leave it at that.

What Hal thinks is 'cheer' is actually pretty depressing, though. He knows he doesn't mean it that way, but... "Spoken like a perpetual bachelor. I'm not sure what you're implying. My wife never kept me from doing anything."

[animosus]

"You can't say you've never given something up for love." He didn't hold it against Carol, but it didn't change the fact that Hal had once tried to do that for her. Sure he was an extreme case and had to choose between her and the corps, but it was a basic fact that compromise was inevitable.

But everyone knew Hal Jordan hated being tied down by anything, least of all the shackles of domesticity. And hey, he was trying his best to make Arthur feel better.

[relentlesstide]

"I don't regret any of the sacrifices I've made over the years for Mera and my family, nor the sacrifices I've had to make for my country," he says quietly. He gets that Hal is trying to make him feel better in a way, but Arthur can't admit to anything like that, even just to lie to acknowledge Hal's trying. He and Hal are different in that way, to Arthur, his wife and his family are the most important things in his life. So instead he just tries to lighten the mood a little, running a hand through his hair and saying exasperatedly, "Besides, the last time I did the bachelor thing, I dated a woman who ended up marrying my son. Marriage is a blessing."