But what she sees are my faults and indecisions

[mostunworthy]

Who; Arthur and Mera
What; Arthur's getting reprimanded, must be Tuesday
Where; Their pod
When; evening, June 3rd
Warnings; Only if you're scared of redheads with tempers...



[It'd been a few days, and he still wasn't sure he'd been ready to live with Mera. He liked her, definitely, from the moment he'd met her, and he could certainly see it becoming more, but this...could stress things a bit. He'd never lived with a woman in his memory, least of all one who had no idea how surface dwellers lived, but Mera would make it, he was sure of that.

And he was going to help her. Because she was smart, spirited, and cute when she was angry. He'd been filling his days doing odd jobs, much the same as he had back home, and trying not to think about everything going on back home he needed to get back to, and he came home, assuming he was going to make the two of them food.]

Mera? You home, yet?

Comments

[winebending]

[For Mera's part of things, she wasn't sure how she felt about the invitation either. She knew very little of this world, and to have someone see her failings (if which she knew there would be many), it didn't sit well with her pride.

On the other side of things, she knew Arthur, trusted him, and had feelings for him that she'd never been permitted to have before. Her marriage to Orm had been in duty to her people, but Arthur, she wasn't particularly ambivalent as to her fate regarding him. She knew that Artur was a good man, and he wouldn't lead her in the wrong direction for his amusement.

That is she believed it until she'd spoken to Persephone. He'd let her believe that those flowers were a type of land-dweller food. That belief had caused her to be laughed at when she'd asked something she thought was perfectly normal.

If he'd care to notice, there was an unobtrusive rosebush in the corner, blooming beautiful green, blue and black roses — the colors of the ocean.

When he called out to her, her head peered around the bathroom door, hair damp.]

I left you something in the ... [She paused, remembering the word.]

Kitchen.

[There's a slight sharpness to her words.]

[mostunworthy]

[Truth be told, it really was a beautiful rose bush, though he'd never seen flowers that shade before.

Persephone. That...was pretty bad ass, actually.

He gets a sinking feeling in his stomach at the sharpness in her tone, though, and goes to investigate. There was no way she'd cooked him dinner, was there?

No. Not with what was on the plate. And now there's a rose bush...he's missing something, something important and fundamental. She's pissed and he doesn't know why...]

...Uh...thanks?

[winebending]

Don't wait for me, go ahead and start eating.

[Oh she doubted he was going to start eating. ROSES WEREN'T FOOD after all. Something that he'd neglected to tell her and made her look like a fool.]

[mostunworthy]

[They were not, but she'd looked so adorable, and then there had been a lot of fighting and frankly, it'd never occurred to him to correct her.

He's starting to get the sneaking suspicion that wasn't a great thing.]

...Uh...Mera...

[winebending]

[She made her way into the kitchen, hair still wet over her shoulders. It didn't make sense to dry it, Atlantians were meant to be wet. The only reason she dried her body was that the clothing would get wet otherwise.]

What?

[Her eyes go to the roses and then back to his face. Rest assured Arthur, she's well aware of what she's doing.]

Is the color not to your taste?

[mostunworthy]

[He can tells he's angry, but exactly why. He rubs the back of his neck uncomfortable and shifts his weight from one foot to the other.]

So. About the roses. They, uh...people don't usually eat them?

[winebending]

[Her eyes narrow slightly at him, her annoyance growing again.]

I know. Someone informed me of that. Publically.

[That was the biggest part of it, her looking like a fool.]

[mostunworthy]

Hey, I didn't do anything like that in public.

[He really feels out of his depth, here.]

[winebending]

No.

[She can't help frowning deeply.]

I asked a woman named Persephone if the color changed the taste.

[Imagine the indignity and embarrassment, Arthur, IMAGINE IT.]

[mostunworthy]

Okay, okay, I get it...kind of. And I'm sorry.

[He raised his hands in surrender.]

Look, I would have explained everything. We were sort of on a schedule.

[winebending]

We aren't on a schedule now.

[Mera crossed her arms, leaning against the wall.

She wants to know, and not just because she was stuck in a series of bubbles created for land dwellers. She genuinely wanted to know more about them, more about what had shaped him besides what Atlantis did to his mother.]

[mostunworthy]

[The threat of her killing him seemingly passed, the tension eases from his shoulders slightly and he smiles.]

Okay. Come in here and I'll make you something, um, that's real food, and uh...what do you want to know? I mean help me find a place to start.

[winebending]

Things that I'd need to know every day.

[She pushes herself off the wall and moves into the room, gathering the roses and putting them into a glass with water. She'd started reading more, but it wasn't as if there was a book labled 'things about land dwellers Atlantians need to know'.]

For a start.

[mostunworthy]

[And it's at that moment he doesn't really know what daily life is like under the ocean, either.]

Uh...okay. Um, what do most Atlanteans have for breakfast? Because 'breakfast' food's a pretty big thing.

[winebending]

[The question causes her to pause in her attempt to arrange the flowers. She'd never really thought he would ask something like that - or really anything.]

Fish.

[She turns to look at him.]

Mostly. Kelp too. Is that strange?

[mostunworthy]

[He shakes his head as he begins hunting down a pan. His plan was to make the trash omelettes his dad made and just not think about the fact that none of the eggs were actually...eggs.]

No, just different. It's kind of hard to cook food underwater.

[winebending]

We have our ways, but we don't grow things just to slaughter them.

[It wasn't judgemental, just fact.]

[mostunworthy]

[He raised an eyebrow but nodded.]

How do you feel about eating eggs?

[winebending]

I have no idea what they are.

[mostunworthy]

Really? I mean fish lay eggs.

[He was, of course, talking about chicken eggs, or the weird substitute they had here that tasted like eggs if you didn't think about it too much, which he started mixing into a scramble.]

But chickens lay eggs, too, um...birds, and we eat their eggs, usually for breakfast, because they lay 'em overnight.

[winebending]

[Of course fish lay eggs, but she doubted that he meant anything that lived in the ocean that laid them. They weren't exactly worth hunting down and eating.]

I see.

[She made her way over, peering into the goo inside the pan. It didn't exactly look like fish eggs. They weren't runny like these, and not nearly as bright yellow.]

What are you doing with them?

[mostunworthy]

I'm gonna fry 'em up really quick with some vegetables. I've never been able to pull off an omelet, but I promise it's good.

[With a little heat, they were already curdling.]

Okay. Grab the bread over there and put two slices in the toaster, then push the lever down.

[winebending]

Bread ...

[When they'd been in the open air market they hadn't exactly been shopping, so she had to guess at what this 'bread' was. Still, she picks up something brown and squishy, hoping she landed on the right thing.]

[mostunworthy]

[He smiles, nodding that she'd grabbed the right stuff.]

This is a pretty simple breakfast, but it's normal on the surface.

[winebending]

And you ate this all the time?

[She watches the toaster as it toasts. They don't have toasters in Atlantis.]

[mostunworthy]

[He rolled his shoulder in a shrug.]

Pretty regularly, yeah. I'll make an omelet next time, but this is simple stuff.

[winebending]

What about things that aren't food-related.

[She turns her attention back to the toaster. It wasn't as if she were embarrassed to ask things about him, but she knew exactly how it could be construed. In truth, it was just a curiosity as to how her king had grown. There was no deep meaning into her questions; at least not that he needed know.]

[mostunworthy]

[There were a lot of things she needed and wanted to know about the surface world, sure, but he didn't even know where to start, he raised his eyebrows curiously as he looked up from the frying pan.]

Okay, I can roll with that, but...like what? Give me a hint, Mera. Where do you want me to start?

[winebending]

It's difficult to tell you what when I know so little of the surface.

[She doesn't look up from the toaster, as if she's willing it to toast.]

What do land dwellers do for enjoyment?

[mostunworthy]

Uh...that depends on the person. We don't have arenas, at least not like the one in Atlantis. There are sports, uh, I like movies.

[winebending]

Movies?

[She looks at him, curious now.]

[mostunworthy]

[He nods.]

Doesn't Atlantis have...okay, you remember the message left by King Atlan in that lost city?

[winebending]

The recording, yes.