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[shorelined]

@kaldur'ahm.shayeris | ■ ▲ ◌ ▼

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[shorelined]

[ one of kaldur's hands goes to his neck, where his gills are. ]

I have always had them. [ obvious atlantean racial traits, the way more people from shayeris do than people from atlantis. ]

Robin - Dick Grayson, Kid Flash and I founded the Team, together with Superboy. There's been two Robins since Dick, who goes by Nightwing now.

[ he hesitates briefly, lowering his gaze. ] One of them died.

[reneger]

Sounds like a completely different lineup than I'm used to.

( superboy makes him think of jon--much, much younger than any of the rest of them. kid flash--that'd be wally, right? but which wally? technically it'd be neither of his own, wouldn't it. )

A tragic, horrifying death, right? Crowbars involved, explosives--the whole nine yards.

[shorelined]

What lineup are you used to? [ kaldur asks, instead of saying dick grayson doesn't know me, here —although that is something on his mind, something that weighs on him. ]

I do not know the details of his death. [ but the way jason speaks of it now make kaldur wonder. he's alive, clearly, but that is not to say nothing happened. ]

[reneger]

NW has a fishboy--Tempest. ( garth, but jason's not too sure where to draw the lines with names here. kaldur gave him dick's, but he's not going to spoil any unnecessarily. ) Used to be Aqualad.

The Teen Titans have Robin the fourth, Raven, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Beast Boy, Starfire-- ( tbh he's not sure how kori deals with it. ) But only three of 'em are sidekicks.

[shorelined]

I only know of three Robins. And I do not know Raven or Starfire.

[ tempest. he thinks to ask whether it is garth, but doesn't. it is probably best if they do not share names beyond what is known to the both of them already. ]

The Team consists of Superboy, Miss Martian, Nightwing, Batgirl, Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Bumblebee, Lagoon Boy, Wonder Girl, and Impulse.

[ him and artemis, too, if undercover work counts when no one knows you're undercover. ]

Former members include Rocket, Zatanna, Kid Flash, Artemis, Aquagirl, Tempest and Troia.

[reneger]

( he recognizes quite a few of those names, but one of them sticks to him in particular-- )

Artemis. Redheaded Amazon? Built like a tank? Little taller than I am?

[shorelined]

[ kaldur promptly shakes his head. ]

A blonde and human archer.

[reneger]

Huh.

( not his artemis, then. )

We don't have one of those.

[shorelined]

Are you familiar with the Light?

[ moving on from heroes to villains... ]

[reneger]

Not in the least.

( not the name, anyway. )

[shorelined]

A collective of supervillains working together. It is their response to the Justice League in my world.

[ he glances away from jason for a moment here, thinking back to being undercover, everything he's done - ]

[reneger]

( he could get deeper into that, but-- )

What's on your mind, fishboy?

[shorelined]

I went undercover with Black Manta to learn of the identity of those who form the Light.

[ it's an honest answer, and one that doesn't offer too much information as to how much it weighs on him. ]

[reneger]

Is he your old man? ( a beat, before: ) He's the land-dweller's from my side of the 'verse.

[shorelined]

[ kaldur's head bows. ]

He is. I did not learn of it until recently.

[reneger]

You know what they say, ( hands opening and gesturing out. ) can't choose your parents.

[shorelined]

I know.

[ kaldur's head remains bowed a moment longer, before he straightens again. offers a hint of a smile and a hint of a shrug. ]

It was difficult to learn of, regardless. [ an admission. difficult to learn, too, that his king and mentor had kept this from him for so long. ]

[reneger]

My old man was a piece of shit.

( everyone knows this. it's not a secret. )

An asshole. Started fights with my mom over jack shit. Went off too long, came back fucked up. Bragged about getting attached by the bat--typical street thug bullshit. So I can't say I get it--finding out half your dna comes from a super villain. But considering half mine comes from a dead lackey, I can relate.

[shorelined]

[ a nod, this time. ]

Our parentage does not define us.

[ it's something he's spoken to artemis about more than once —long before he'd ever thought it would apply to him as well.

still, he believes it no less now than he did then. ]

[reneger]

No. Our choices do.

( it's a lesson he's picked up from bruce himself. one jason--didn't believe, but learned to. that blood doesn't make a person, nor did bruce make him, or anyone else. jason todd makes himself.

it's the same for kaldur. )

[shorelined]

[ that is true and it's something kaldur knows. something he believes.

and yet — ]

Some choices are impossible.

[ "i know you've been forced to make impossible choices" dick had said to him while he'd been undercover at dick's behest.

it's his burden to bear. ]

But I agree.

[reneger]

Sounds like you've got something more important on your mind, fishboy.

( deep answers without any answers as to why they're deep. something is going through this kid's head. jason doesn't need to know, but he's--curious. )

Wanna talk about it?

[shorelined]

It is nothing.

[ he wants to talk about it. he doesn't want to talk about it.

he shouldn't burden jason. ]

[reneger]

You're lying to me.

( his voice remains loose, even if the words carry a harsh conviction. )

Is it 'cause you don't wanna talk, or you don't know if you can trust me?

[shorelined]

[ the harshness beneath the words, beneath that casual tone has kaldur look up, at jason.

then he slowly shakes his head. ]

It is neither. [ is the quiet admission. ]