Issue 1 Downtime

The facility in New York needed older students to help supervise the high school aged students, they'd said. And what better opportunity to get better accustomed to he surface than to help young mutants acclimate to their new life! Not to mention, the British government would overlook... Well, best not to dwell on past misunderstandings.

So the new RA was carrying in the belongings he'd brought in he first wave, all inside an immense glass tank that he carried in front with deceptive ease. Shirtless, blue-skinned, and shimmering, he drew more than a few looks as he entered the dorms, as did the hose he dragged behind him into the open door of the RA's suite.

Kay was watching from her window in the second story, mumbling to herself at the sight. "What the heck... Is that an aquarium?"

As the hose was connected a few minutes later, and left running, the answer was likely "yes."

As Zeryn disappeared through the front doors Kay ducked out into the hall, curiously following the hose to the RA's suite.

Kay would find the door propped open, and the hose running into the bedroom, where the immense tank was partly visible. As she looked, Zeryn came lugging the mattress from the school-issued bed out of the bedroom, toward the door where she was.

Kay ducks away from the door and against the wall.

And thus she isn't spotted right away by Zeryn as he wrestles out the mattress, which while light by his standards, is obviously awkward and uncooperative. This close, she'd be able to see the way the water coating his skin pooled a bit where he gripped the bed, and how his gills flared in annoyance as it got stuck in the doorway.

And she'd see his eyes open in surprise as he noticed her when he turned to pull the mattress free. "Ah! Hello!"

Kay lets out something that amounts to "Eep!"

Zeryn blinked in surprise, worried that his first contact with the students here was about to go badly. "I'm sorry, is something wrong?" he asked, taking her in as he did.

"Didn't mean to spy on you!" she blurts out, tugging on the too-long sleeves of her hoodie.

"Oh, no matter," he said, grunting as he yanked the mattress from the doorway. "My entry was hardly discreet, curiosity is rather natural." He gave the mattress a shove down the hall, then turned back to her. "But where are my manners. My name is Zeryn," he said, offering his hand.

"Kay." she mumbles, shaking his hand real quick and because her mind hasn't quite put things together she looks a little surprised when it comes away wet. Her gaze is pretty much fixed on the floor because every time she glances up she sees his bare chest which makes her eyes snap to the floor again.

"And it is a pleasure to meet you, Kay," Zeryn said, bowing slightly as he withdrew his hand. "Would you care to come in? I do not believe they would appreciate me leaving the water running unsupervised."

"Dunno... you seem kinda busy..."

"No, not today. I only have the essentials for now until they can arrange to install more... Adequate sleeping accommodations for me here," he said.

"Wait what? Is that why you threw out your mattress?"

"Indeed, I don't have much use for it. Thankfully, they've been kind enought to make some alterations to the room so that I don't need to keep that in my bedroom," he said, nodding along the hose as he led the way back in, stopping to see if she'd come too."

"Wha?" she says, now too confused and curious to not follow him.

"Someone actually suggested that I could use the lake," he scoffed as he went on. "Can you believe that? Like I'm a flounder sleeping in the mud."

"You sleep underwater?"

"And it would appear that I am getting ahead of myself," Zeryn said. "My appologies, I'd gotten rather used to that being something people had already heard. Yes, I sleep underwater. I'm what surfacers would call an Atlantean, being a mutant simply gives me more freedom than the rest of my kind," he explained, causing the water coating him to pool in his hand by way of demonstration for a moment before spreading back over him.

"Hold on... You're a what?" she blinks.

"I suppose that the name shouldn't quite apply to all of us, true. Only a handful of us live in Atlantis, compared to the many other settlements we have. My family makes its home a bit north of the island you call Fiji," he admitted, misunderstanding the thought behind her question.

"There's people... living in the ocean?"

"Oh, indeed. Your people generally don't see us much, since we can't breathe out of water, but we are there, rest assured. There's a small settlement about fifty miles northeast of New York, for example."

"There's..." she blinks.

People living underwater. And they still look more human than I do...

Zeryn gave her a curious look. "Yes? Is something wrong?" he asked, somewhat concerned. Am I doing this job incorrectly already?

"I should go. Let you move in..." she mumbles.

"There's really no need. Much of my possessions haven't even arrived yet," he said. "Have I offended you? It would likely surprise people that I'm aware of it, but I do know that there are some aspects of your culture I'm not familiar with yet, if I have then I apologize."

"No. You just... look more human than me."

Zeryn cocked an eyebrow again, studying her after this proclamation. "Well, I do see a bit of difference to you physically, I suppose, around the nose, but I would hardly say that it makes me look more human than you," he said.

Kay just stares daggers at him.

A fact which is not lost on Zeryn, who actually winces. "Would it be asking too much if I ask you why that angered you, so that I can hopefully not offend you in the future?"

"Cause you don't know what it's like being me."

Zeryn nodded at that. "I will admit the merit of that arguement," he said. "You're right, I do not know, because I do not know you yet. Would it be possible to persuade you to enlighten me?" The same words probably would have sounded sarcastic from some people, but Zeryn seemed sincere from his tone, at least.

"If you don't get it then you're not gonna get it." she mumbles.

Zeryn, again, considered that. "It is possible that I will not get it, yes," he said. "But stranger things have happened. Would it hurt to attempt it?"

"I don't look human. What's there to explain? And it's not fair that someone who lives underwater looks less like a fish than I do."

Zeryn's mental "ahhhhh" was apparent, even if he didn't say it as a little bit of clarity was shed on the issue. He studied her for a moment more, this time taking in the concealing clothing, the attempts to hide her hands, trying to play things back in his memory a bit. "I think I begin to understand... though obviously you are taking lengths to keep me from seeing exactly what you mean, but that is your prerogative. And if you are saying that you have been mistreated for your appearance, then you are correct. That is not fair. It is something that I have observed in my time on the surface from those up here, and to be completely honest it baffles me, and disgusts me."

He studied her for another moment. "You are correct that I do not know what you have had to deal with. And if it seems that I have an easier time of it, I truly am sorry. But assuming that I cannot understand is premature."

"Uh... Thanks? I think?"