More Young Justice Trash

The Non-Human's Day out

-I made another mood board for these three-

-I added a couple new side-characters to expand Kaldur's social circle and explain what he does all day during the school year-

Frequently, when Kaldur was without occupation, and hadn't enough time to return to his home, the boy found employment in various places about the Happy Harbor docks. He didn't need much money, and what he needed was well met, so he'd often work in exchange for lunch or just to keep busy. 

Today he was assisting two friends; an greying fisherman known as O'Donald, and his daughter-in-law Simrit, a beautiful Punjabi woman no more than ten years Kaldur's senior. They were two of his favorites to meet with; Kaldur would remove the algae and  barnacles from the lower side of the boat while they unloaded from the morning's catch, and then just after noon they would treat him to lunch with them while packing up for market.

"Hey man, mum wanted me to bring this for you." Simrit set a thermos on the wood. "She doesn't really understand, but says that if fish need water, than you'll die from being out in the sun."

Kaldur chuckled, accepting the drink. "I can't lunch today, I'm sorry. I'm meeting some friends."

"Oh, no need to hang around us old timers, go see your friends." She smiled down at him. 

"Meg, I know you like to bring your boy toy everywhere, but some of the girl's were saying that he's kinda creepy..."

"You mean Conner?" She asked, surprised at who could think her housemate was a threat to them. "What has Conner done that makes him creepy?"

"What hasn't he done, girl? He's been suspended like four times for rampaging, breaking things and beating people up! The girls just aren't comfortable going to the beach with just us girls and some big violent-acting guy we barely know..."

"He's nice, you just need to give him a chance. I mean, he knows I collect cool earth rocks, so sometimes he brings them home to show me."

"Yeah, that's really cute, but I need a little more evidence before I'm comfortable. Plus, it's a cheer-only hang out, he can go hang out with his other friends, it'd probably be more fun for him."

"But Conner d--" M'gann cut herself off, guilt shifting uneasily inside her. "All our other friends live in different states..."

Thankfully, she was saved by Karen speaking up from the picnic table. "Well, I gotta head out girls... and Conner" she gestured awkwardly at Conner, who was sat next to the table on the soft grass, staring at his phone like it was his entire reality. "Megan? You coming to the beach later?"

"Oh, no thank you." She said quickly.

"Ah well maybe later, Ciao."

"Bye." M'gann hurried to her housemate's side. "We better go too, we're meeting a friend in town."

"But, you said all your friends lived in out of state?" Wendy asked.

"AHA!" M'gann said, and legged it across the green. 

"KALDUR!" Conner cried in relief at the sight of his savior. he dropped his phone and sprinted at the team leader.

"Wait, SUPERB--" The kryptonian threw himself at Kaldur, encasing him in a bear hug as the two flew off the dock into the water.

M'gann let out a squeal of shock and ran over towards the woman that Kaldur had been standing with. Seeing her friends splashing about in the surf quickly changed her yelp to one of excitement as she doubled her speed and threw herself in after them, cackling.

Kaldur resurfaced, treading water and supporting Conner's entire weight, partially because Conner refused to let go of him and partially because Superboy's swimming was clumsy. Since he didn't trust his friend not to pull them both down like a cinder block, he headed to the dock edge and began trying to force the other boy onto it.

M'gann resurfaced, the water having washed away the façade as she returned to her green skin and a silver swimsuit; she looked like a 1960s cartoon of a space girl. Luckily, she and Conner were immune to how cold the ocean water was that morning. "We missed you! You were gone ALLLL Week!"

"Only for five days..." He stared into the green water, picking at the wood on the dock. He heard his fisherman friend chuckle and fumbled, embarrassed, lifting Conner into the dock.

"I'll leave you three to it." She chuckled, strolling off.

"Who's that?" M'gann asked, attempting several somersaults in the water.

"An acquaintance." He sighed at the realization that unlike he and M'gann, Conner wore non-aquatic synthetic fibers, and would now be wearing sopping wet clothes for the rest of the day. Kaldur would never say so, but he sometimes felt overly responsible for his friends, or, in laymen's terns: he felt like he was the only one with more than three braincells. 

"What are we going to do?" M'gann grabbed him firmly around the arm, almost activating his tattoo markings into shocking them. "We HAVE to do something!"

"Yes, I agree, but calm down." He smiled, lifting them onto the dock too, grateful for his underappreciated Atlantean strength. "What do you feel like?"

"Alien life wasn't confirmed until Martian Manhunter arrived in the 1960s." Conner explained. "There had been and continue to be reported sightings of unidentified flying objects, or alien life, but the only confirmed cases are either heroes or villains. Same with Atlanteans."

M'gann giggled. "We've known about humans since they started lighting fires! Not to mention when they started chopping down trees, building tall buildings, and sending things into orbit!"

"I thought you didn't go on the surface of mars?"

"Let's just say it's not unheard of. What about you Kaldur?"

"We thought they all died out for a time, but we started visiting the surface to befriend them again and, let's just say that aside from overfishing, human sailors undertook unsavory action towards what they called 'mermaids', and we decided to stay away from the surface."

"What does 'unsavory action' mean?" Conner asked.

"Let's not worry about it right now." Kaldur replied quickly. "Is this a good place?"

"It's a perfect spot!" M'gann clapped, slinging a picnic blanket over an overgrown bank of soft, dry grass overlooking an icy clear stream that lead to the ocean. "Oh, this is wonderful!"

"M'gann, are you wearing the... solar cream?"

"Uh huh!" She splayed onto their back, soaking up the rays. Unlike Kaldur, who was black and allergic to almost every skin project, and Conner, who needed all the sun exposure he could get, growing up underground and without an atmosphere sort of demanded wearing sunscreen. "I want a lemonade."

 Conner passed one. "Have you ever had this?" He asked.

"Not yet." Kaldur replied. 

"Me neither."

"It's good. Try it." M'gann lazily pushed the basket at them. 

Between the two of them, the boys managed to open a bottle. Conner took a sip and almost immediately spat it up. "OW!"

"Are you okay?" Kaldur asked quickly.

Conner flapped his hands, face gritted. "Ow! OW! It's...." He swallowed hard. "Angry!"

"It's sour, but it's really good!" M'gann replied. "I reacted like that too, but you get used to it."

Kaldur took the bottle from him and, with the knowledge that it would be sour, he managed to keep his reaction slightly lower as he tensed up and gulped down the bitter liquid. "Wow..."

"It's angry, right?" Conner asked.

"I can't say it isn't..." Kaldur responded, handing it back. "Let's have our picnic."