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Air. The one thing he wasn't breathing right now. Instead, he was breathing water. One more way in which his world had been turned entirely upside down.
Air. How long ago how it been since he'd actually had any to breathe? It was almost impossible to tell time down here below the surface of the ocean. Since he'd laid on the beach and let the air dry his skin, slowly raising goosebumps? As deep down as they were, he should have been freezing, but he wasn't. It was just like he was back up on the surface.
It all still seemed like a dream. Those strange, horrible creatures swarming the beach, the arrival of the Atlanteans, and the sudden discovery that he possessed powers the likes of which he would never have dreamed of. Strength. Command over water. And, most strange of all, the ability to leave the world of air behind for the world of water and understand the languages of the deep. And it had just gotten stranger from there.
What did it all mean? Was he like them? A creature of the water and the air? But that had to be impossible, didn't it? There sure as hell didn't seem to be any other black Atlanteans. There were some African-Americans in that other place, Sub-Diego, but they hadn't always been that way. And he'd never been more than twenty miles outside his little seaside town.
All of which made him very perplexing to the Atlanteans, especially Aquaman and Mera. Especially especially with the way his powers were like hers. And both of them thinking he reminded them of someone, of maybe multiple someones. So people had been poking and prodding him. Finally, he'd had way too much of sitting around and being treated like some curiosity or being interrogated like he'd had something to hide. He'd pushed past them, saying he'd needed some air.
Heh.
Needed some air. Real smooth, Jackson. Real smooth.
Did it count as deep breaths when you were sucking in water? How did that even work? What if it suddenly stopped working? He wondered if he'd run out of air or be crushed by the pressure first. Hopefully the second. He'd always heard drowning was a terrible way to go.
Deep breaths.
Air. How long ago how it been since he'd actually had any to breathe? It was almost impossible to tell time down here below the surface of the ocean. Since he'd laid on the beach and let the air dry his skin, slowly raising goosebumps? As deep down as they were, he should have been freezing, but he wasn't. It was just like he was back up on the surface.
It all still seemed like a dream. Those strange, horrible creatures swarming the beach, the arrival of the Atlanteans, and the sudden discovery that he possessed powers the likes of which he would never have dreamed of. Strength. Command over water. And, most strange of all, the ability to leave the world of air behind for the world of water and understand the languages of the deep. And it had just gotten stranger from there.
What did it all mean? Was he like them? A creature of the water and the air? But that had to be impossible, didn't it? There sure as hell didn't seem to be any other black Atlanteans. There were some African-Americans in that other place, Sub-Diego, but they hadn't always been that way. And he'd never been more than twenty miles outside his little seaside town.
All of which made him very perplexing to the Atlanteans, especially Aquaman and Mera. Especially especially with the way his powers were like hers. And both of them thinking he reminded them of someone, of maybe multiple someones. So people had been poking and prodding him. Finally, he'd had way too much of sitting around and being treated like some curiosity or being interrogated like he'd had something to hide. He'd pushed past them, saying he'd needed some air.
Heh.
Needed some air. Real smooth, Jackson. Real smooth.
Did it count as deep breaths when you were sucking in water? How did that even work? What if it suddenly stopped working? He wondered if he'd run out of air or be crushed by the pressure first. Hopefully the second. He'd always heard drowning was a terrible way to go.
Deep breaths.
