tushanshu | 003 ♒ Video;

[Ah, an occasion of dire ocean-related importance, usually the only time he bothers to post a message on these things himself. He's looking pretty pissed because what the hell are you idiots doing, but there's also... quite a bit of concern in there. Anyone who's met him can guess why easily enough, though there's no sign of the egg in the suite he's posting from.]

I think we can take that little message as a direct threat to the viable turtle eggs being discovered in the city. How many have been found so far and who's found them? We should make sure they're all accounted for and taken care of so that we can try to ensure their survival. [If there's one thing Arthur can't stand the thought of, it's these infant turtles, a new hope for this world, dying before they can even hatch. There are no immediate answers on how to protect them, but he's fairly sure that Malicant would be able to find them even without a list, so he feels it puts the foreigners at a disadvantage not to communicate.]

To "those that invited it here"? I hope you're pleased with yourselves. [Because everyone else certainly isn't, no doubt.]

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[And that gets a flat look. Are you really lecturing a telepath about telepathy?]

Yes, I'm sure it wants to enter our ranks as an infant turtle. [Said dryly.] Yes, I have considered the possibilities. It's also possible that the eggs getting closer to hatching is why Asti dove down here in the first place, isn't it? As long as these turtles live, the growth period is probably massively long.

[He will lecture a telepath about whatever he damned well pleases to lecture about because he's Batman, okay? It's written into his contract.]

There's no guarantee that they haven't been corrupted. Or that they're turtles at all. This creature has enough influence to make them seem so without the burden of reality.

[Whatever he's not going to argue he's obviously right about this.]

If it's a real infant turtle, I won't harm it.

[There's also the implication there that he really doesn't need permission, and that he's asking as a courtesy and little else.]

[Gettin' real tired of ur shit. He's widely regarded as useless and unimportant, and then he still gets lectures about things that are in his areas of expertise?]

If it isn't a turtle, I doubt you'd find out before me. I know the brain signature of a marine creature. And I'm very familiar with the calming effect that sitting up by Asti's head provides - the same effect I get from this egg. If it's a trick, it's a damn good one that I doubt your machines would be able to pick up on.

[Bruce you really don't want to do that right now. You really don't. He's in full on papa shark mode.] No ifs. You will not harm it.

You aren't infallible, Arthur.

[He says that neutrally. He's not looking for a fight. Like it or not, they're on the same side. As much as Bruce prefers to stand alone, he understands strength in numbers. And in allies.]

And should it prove to be something else?

No one is. [Looking straight at Bruce when he says that. You aren't either, bro.

His voice lowers slightly.] If it proves to be, without a single doubt, something else, then we will deal with it appropriately. But if we made a mistake and it is a real infant turtle, I wouldn't be able to live with myself for letting any harm come to it.

[Stated as plainly as possible. His connection with marine life... he doesn't expect Bruce to understand. No one really can, because they can't feel it the way he does.]

I am aware.

[Okay, that's dryly said. There are reasons that Bruce has contingency plans for himself as well as those around him.

But he recognizes in Arthur something that's also self-evident in his own conduct. A father's protective nature. So his expression softens, minimally, and he reiterates,]

I won't harm it. If you want to oversee what I'm doing, fine.

As long as we're clear. [None of the League is perfect, none of them have infallible judgement. Arthur knows that all too well from Atlantis's war with Cerdia.

His stance doesn't relax any. Arthur is a father here, in a way, with a charge that has trusted itself to him. He doesn't want to fail it the way he failed all his sons, the way he failed Dolphin, the way he failed Cerdian.]

As if I'd let you in with it alone. [But there's no emphasis on 'you' - he wouldn't let anyone in with the egg by themselves, save for Raven and Mako, his co-caretakers, and his wife and ward.] You will not pierce or damage the shell. Scans are fine.

Acceptable.

[He knows the egg isn't here. Arthur wouldn't leave it too far outside of his influence, and would argue for it remaining in water with his... co-parents, Bruce supposes. That leaves Mera's suite as the one place he'd consider to be safe. He turns to leave, and doesn't bother to prompt Arthur to follow, he knows he will.]

Come on.

[If he takes the trident before he follows, it's nothing too personal. Sure enough, the egg is nestled in Mera's suite, which has been tidied up a bit, most of the furniture moved out of the way to make room for it, the door to the pool room open. The whole suite has been warmed to acceptable egg incubation temperatures, and the lights have been dimmed quite a bit. He doesn't exactly know a whole lot about incubating an infant sea turtle already bigger than him, but he knows how regular sea turtles lay their eggs - in the sand, dark and warm, protected from predators.

When he enters the room, he goes straight to the egg, laying a hand against it and reaching out to it mentally, exchanging glimpses of emotion - safe/loved/friend.]

[Bruce watches the exchange impassively, and then steps up beside it as well. He pulls his gauntlets off - flexible as they are, he gets a better tactile sense without them - and smoothes a hand over the egg. It feels warm - unnaturally so - but the shell is as smooth and polished as a cut stone.

His examination is quick, efficient and largely harmless, though he does use a scanner from his belt, which gives him the turtle's heartbeat and core temperature. Then he frowns, steps back and away from it.]

I want the shell when it's hatched.

[It's not made of the usual calcified compounds. In fact, it's more similar in composition to the hard surface of the turtleshell.]

[Arthur watches impassively, protectively, a hand always on the surface of the shell. It brings a sense of calm not unlike sitting at the turtle's head, but he doesn't look any less alert. No one ever said there was anything wrong with his paternal instincts.]

Do you believe it's an actual turtle now, then? [Said as if it's something that he already knows and he's just waiting for Bruce to figure it out.] I can show you what its mental signature feels like.

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