<div class="floatleft">(http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5499ff2ce4b0b85c868a2158/t/556fb05ae4b01eeb36c217a6/1433383003661/)</div><hr/><strong>Name:</strong>Arthur Curry/Orin (https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=239229.msg11802466#msg11802466)<br/><strong>Affiliation:</strong>The Atlantean Empire.<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Saturday the 17th of October 2015, 21:57<br/><strong>Location:</strong>Gotham Clock Tower, Central Gotham<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>M'gann.<br/><strong>Theme Music:</strong>Starvation - Thomas Bergersen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnGaCAHhGfo)<br/><br/><hr/><hr/><strong>Summary:</strong>Orin drops the subject, having noticed M'gann's uncomfortable demeanour, and moves on to the next point of discussion; if there's anything particularly interesting happening in her life, and how her friends are ATM.<br/><hr/><hr/><br/>Orin had, of course, expected the strangled, startled reaction from M'gann; she was a relative innocent in the world, and there were certainly ways in which an action such as putting her across his knee could be misconstrued to mean certain<em>other</em>things that, when he thought of them in regards to M'gann, elicited a repulsed shudder from him. She was an attractive young lady, of course, even he could see that...but with how close they were and how they were effectively family? It just made him feel...<em>weird</em>...to think about her like that, and decidedly<em>not</em>in a good way. Besides, even without those connotations, it was infantilizing  to the extreme to punish her the same way you would a naughty toddler. Grounding wasn't much better, of course, but as he understood it the humans regularly grounded unruly teenagers up until they left the house, and even if M'gann was technically older than Orin, she was still effectively the equivalent of a human teenager and - obviously - required proper guidance and support where previously she'd received none. So...he'd expected the squeaking "eep" and the feelings of embarrassed revulsion echo through the bond, but what he didn't expect was the...slightest hint of something else. Something that was subtle, quiet, almost not there in just how little she felt it - or how well she hid it, depending on which one it was - like a little spike of...humiliated, excited remembrance. It was odd, and he had no idea what brought it on or what she was thinking about, but something told him that he didn't want to know; if she wished to speak of it, she would say it, but the fact that she had seemingly made an effort to hide it from him, or that it had only been a small feeling in a brief moment suggested that it was either too personal or not important. Either way, it wasn't his place to ask.<br/><br/>Instead, he elected to change the subject. They were done with that line of conversation, after all, and to pursue it would be to invite further folly on the both of them and possible mortification if it turned out to be something she<em>really</em>didn't want to talk with him about. He understood that there were things that you didn't want to talk to your parents or family or anything like that about, and he assumed that it was just one of those moments where things would likely just work out better if he didn't pursue the topic. So instead, he turned to her and placed a hand between them on the edge of the roof, curious about other, less interesting aspects of her life recently. For one, he'd know met her new friends - Artemis and Mar'i - once, and he new for a fact that they weren't your average civilians. Mar'i had admitted to being Half Tamaranean from an alternate universe of all things, so at least she could understand M'gann's need for companionship and her loneliness now that her actual family was unavailable to her...with M'gann it was slightly different in that they<em>could</em>likely reach her and yet...just didn't, whereas Mar'i couldn't actually see her friends or family again since they were dead in another universe. He wasn't sure which one he'd rather be; having a dead family in a different universe? Or having family that seemingly wanted nothing to do with you? A tough decision, to be sure. At least M'gann found somebody who could empathise a little. He turned his head towards her. "So, Little One...how are your friends? I haven't seen either of them in a while, and I find myself wondering how they are doing. I can't look after you all the time, after all." He winked slyly. "Has anything interesting and<em>not</em>disastrous happened in your life recently? We so rarely get the chance to catch up, we should probably take advantage of it now while we can." He grinned at her. No more awkward topics of conversation for them that night, at least not if Orin had anything to say about it.  Now was the casual catch up portion of their night, now that they knew they were both safe and relatively happy. Maybe they could go get something to eat a bit later? It had been so long since they'd eaten together, after all...he'd mention it to her a little later and see if she was amenable. For now...it was nice just to engage in a little idle chit-chat. Almost like a<em>normal</em>family, if there was such a thing.