<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, 22:00<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 contemplates pressing the issue of Connor, but decides against it after sensing M'gann's obvious regret and discomfort. Instead, he focuses on her diatribe about her new job / hobby and expresses his happiness that she has found something she enjoys, even going so far as to ask if he can attend her next "job" to show support and see her perform.<br/><hr/><hr/><br/>Honestly, Orin needed to try and curtail M'gann's tendency to ramble at least a little bit; she tended to speak so quickly and so much that it was difficult for him to get a word in edgeways before she was off on the next topic. No sooner had she assured him that "Connor" was on their side and that this "Cadmus" likely couldn't make any more clones - which Orin doubted; if he was still alive and had managed it once, he could easily do it again...this "Cadmus" would have to be tracked down and "persuaded" to halt his research...Orin had issues with killing when it wasn't necessary, but he was certain that if he did some digging he would find something he could use to imprison Cadmus in Atlantis, away from everybody else - then she shifted back to her personal life....which, come to think of it, was likely a defence mechanism. It had been brief, but he had definitely caught the sudden pulse of regret and mortification as she apparently realised that she had revealed Connor's "Secret Origins" to somebody who hadn't yet had the pleasure of an extended meeting, so it was very likely that M'gann was attempting to sidetrack him. Whilst his thoughts were still on that mystery clone - so it hadn't worked entirely - it did tell him that M'gann was unlikely to tell him any more about Connor without his explicit consent...which just meant that he should stop pressing the issue lest he create friction between himself and M'gann, and just go and carry out his own investigations. If there was somebody with a similar powerset to Superman flying around, it was unlikely that he had gone unnoticed...he would run into him eventually. That line about him not being as idealistic as Superman was concerning - part of why Supermans power level had been easy to stomach was simply that he was a good-hearted idealist - but...he would decide whether "Connor" was a threat once he had more information. He had taken all he could from M'gann, and he wasn't about to risk annoying or upsetting her. So for that moment in time...he figured that it was best to simply "drop it."<br/><br/>Not that it was boring listening to M'gann recount her personal life; far from it! He was actively interested in her life and dearly wanted to be a part of it, it was just that sometimes other things took precedence considering all of the responsibilities that he had to juggle. Honestly, it was rather tough at times; he had to balance being the King of Atlantis (In Absentia, of course, though he did still hold council every couple of days or so), a newly-arrived Superhero, an Ambassador for Atlantis - he had had to visit several human officials on his arrival, lest they become offended and whine to their superior politicians about it -<em>and</em>somehow maintain a healthy and active relationship with his niece. How he was supposed to do four things in the time that most people found for two, he had no idea...but he still had to do it. Still, the fact that she found a way to exercise her desire to use her abilities in a way that made her happy and made her life easier without hurting other people...that was amazing, and something to be celebrated in his mind. Everybody had something marketable about them, of course, something that could easily be used to make a living if they could just find it; M'gann obviously had found a niche as a stage performer, using her shapeshifting abilities to her advantage. Kori easily had the figure to be an extremely popular model in whatever industry she decided to enter - swim-wear, fashion, advertising...he was mildly surprised that the thought had never occurred to her to try her hand at what the humans called "Adult Modelling," in actual fact - and he himself? Well, if he wanted to, he could easily make a living as a self defence instructor or one of those "animal whisperers" that the humans liked to watch on daytime television...of course, the difference was that he could<em>literally</em>talk to most animals whereas the humans were largely guessing most of the time.<br/><br/>Either way, it was good that she had found an outlet, and no matter what she might have said, he doubted many people could be as good at stage performance and imitation as M'gann. She could, after all, literally change her body and voice on a whim to an identical match of the person she was imitating if she so desired. He shook his head, forcing thoughts of the Superman clone from his mind - as important as it was, he got the distinct impression that she wanted to stop talking about it, and he respected her discomfort enough to not make her more uncomfortable - and offered her a small smile. "So long as you are enjoying yourself and getting enough to live off of, that's the most important thing," he said, leaning back just a little bit on the roof-edge that they were perched on. "Too many people stumble through life not knowing who they really are or what they're meant to do...I'm glad that you, at least, have found something that you are good at and that you enjoy. It's too rare a thing these days, especially for ones such as us whose personal lives are...never exactly clean or ordinary." He turned his head to look at her. "I would very much like to see you perform some time...you must let me know when your next 'gig,' as the humans say, is set to take place and I shall see if I can't attend. That is...if you don't mind?" A loaded question? For others, perhaps...but M'gann knew, he hoped, that he wouldn't be offended if she refused. After all, not everybody can perform in front of people that they knew, and he wouldn't want to make her job awkward or uncomfortable. Still...he did want to watch her perform. It had been too long since he'd seen much of her "out of uniform," and even longer since she had been happy or having fun. It would be nice to see her smile again, if nothing else.