I live in the real world, you live on a higher plain, I appreciate that.
-Law & Order.

The first day of Stephanie going to the Gotham Academy, it became glaringly obvious to Tim, watching from afar like he did with everyone else he considered a friend, that she was not going to take any shit about being a scholarship student, or being mocked for where she came from.

Or wear those fucking skirts and let the teachers try and make her change her mind.

To be fair, the whole 'boys will wear pants and girls will wear skirts' thing was so wholly out-dated, sexist and stupid, Tim was a little unsure as to why Bruce allowed the "requirement" to continue. But, he had to say, watching a teacher introduce Steph to the rest of her first period class, try and bring up her having to wear a skirt after the next day and then watching to the old woman's face turn from an interesting shade of fire truck red to corpse white when the blonde gave her a sticky note was COMPLETELY worth not understanding.

He will admit, it was a little sick that he poked through the garbage for that note when classes were done for the day, but it's not like he cared once he read Harley's somehow perfectly legible hand writing explaining how easy it would be to sue the school for what qualified as sexual harassment and borderline-pedophilic voyeurism if they continued to bother Stephanie about the skirts. The pants were ordered from the school and paid for; shut the fuck up about it.

This was followed by the exact same message being found in all the other school teachers's trash cans.

Followed by it being printed on the school website the next day and about two-quarters of the other girls following the trend because it was just so much more comfortable.

Lunch wasn't a problem for her. While the students weren't allowed to leave the school grounds for food, and Steph didn't find it prudent to join in on some clique so she wouldn't be The Lone Loser, he realized that this was planned. Because, sure as the bell rang and everyone else was headed for the lunch room or the stone tables along the grounds; Steph headed for the back along the brick wall where some of the trees made it easier for her to sit along the top and be joined by Jason and either Cameron Mahkent (out of his usual frosty guise, of course, he didn't have a death wish if Harley found out and wrecked it for Steph) or Klarion who brought her lunch. Often it was some sort of meat dish with garlic rolls.

The first time one of the other students tried to give her a hard time, she noted that she wasn't breaking any rules, and drove it home by Bud lifting his head over the side of the wall to growl down at the upperclassmen. Whom ran away as fast as he could and didn't see Steph grin before feeding the jumbo sized hyena a piece of her meatloaf.

She was exceptionally good at science and phys ed; which A) kept the usual bullies away because she'd proven she could cream them at dodge ball or blow them up with very few pieces of lab equipment and B) meant that he was usually assigned as her partner.

He'd call that an unparalleled success in reporting to Bruce that maybe, possibly, she could handle a normal life and be approached for taking up a training position on The Team the next time the League had a nomination meeting.

The trip to the Atlantean/United Nations Embassy was a real eye opener to Stephanie's take-no-shit attitude.

True, it scared the shit out of Tim when it happened and he's unlikely to look forward to any event similar happening again, but damn if it didn't give him some vindication in his hopes for the future.

The fact that Ocean Master, formally better known as Prince Orm of Atlantis before he got outed as being the miserable, jealous bastard that was leading the Purists in an effort to usurp the thrown from his brother, crashed in on the party going on was not all that unexpected to Tim. Bruce had actually made sure that he would have access to his Robin gear in one of the hidden rooms Aquaman had set up, but, much to Tim's chagrin, was too far away to get to without attracting attention from the other Gotham Academy students that were crowding as far away from the Purists and Orm as they could.

Despite the fact that Orm was obvious in trying to make his display of rounding up all the more fish-like students of the Atlantis Royal Academy to humiliate them publicly closer to the humans. Tim could guess why, but would know more when Orm started grandstanding like he always did before news got to Aquaman or the Team itself.

It was more of the usual, even if it pissed Tim off to no end. Mentioning of the "MIΓAΣ"being as low as the humans that were scurrying away from the higher forms of life like krill from whales. Boasting that he could do as he liked and nobody among them would be able to do anything. Getting Tim riled up when he grabbed at a squid-looking young Atlantean, tossing him to the ground and lifting up his trident.

The Atlantean guards were down for the count. The human guards had been gassed well before that. Tim was out of reach to do anything, even as he was trying to press closer to the Atlanteans and maybe try to at least distract Ocean Master.

He considered himself lucky that at least he was close enough to see Ocean Master look rather surprised (and pathetic) when he found his trident grabbed from the bottom so he was leaning backwards like a ballerina and was spun around by his hideously long coat so he was suddenly facing the humans and away from his intended victim.

"...What?"

"There's really no need to act like such an asshole, Orm. Smug sadism doesn't really go with what you're wearing."

Ocean Master turned on his heel, teeth bared and found the young, very frightened Atlantean being picked up off of the floor and dusted off with little fear of the much larger and more dangerous villain by the blonde Tim had been keeping tabs on for weeks now.

Her back was to him, but Stephanie knew how to take care of herself in a pitch black alley in Gotham's slum districts. If Orm made a swift motion under the bright lights accented by the blue water fountains in the center of most of the hallways of this particular building, she could more than recognize the motion and, in Tim's opinion, get well out of harm's way.

"How rude," Ocean Master started up, looking to the younger Purists to tighten in around the other humans so that they (Tim) were much more cut off from any aid that might come rushing in through other points of access, "One would think that a weak human would know to show a bit more respect to the true heir of the throne of Atlantis. Or at least be a little more afraid of backlash."

Stephanie, after giving the squid boy a light smile and making sure he was close to her back, finally turned around and looked at Orm entirely unimpressed. She reminded Tim much of that lioness queen in the Lion King surrounded by hyenas and he had to hide his grin at the image overlapping with ease in the comparison.

"You'll have to forgive me if I'm not afraid of you, Orm. I find it hard to be afraid of anyone that has set himself on fire, twice, while attempting to make pop-tarts."

Silence. The Atlantean students behind Stephanie, the squid boy, the human students and the Purists all looked, for lack of a better word, started at the way Stephanie answered. The Purists also had an air of absolute confusion, doubtless, because most of them probably didn't have a clue what pop-tarts even were.

"I've never-" Orm attempted to lie, lie and save face, but was interrupted by Stephanie rummaging around in her pants pockets and pulling out her phone, scrolling through her photo cache with ease and then holding the phone up where the so-called prince could plainly get a good look at a picture of himself. Himself in much plainer clothing, in some kitchen that looked very much like an underground bunker with too-bright lighting, his fine looking shirt sleeve on fire and a toaster off to the side of the counter flipped over with little flames of its own licking out of its open metal carcass.

Humiliation, shame, horror, disgust, all flashed across the Atlantean's face before settling, unfortunately, on absolute, boiling rage.

Tim silently and without attracting attention to himself, fiddled with the watch on his wrist that doubled as a recording device, both visual and verbal. He also noted that at least ten minutes had passed since Orm's group had broken in, five minutes since they'd put down the guards and added on another ten minutes since Orm started talking. The silent alarm Tim knew set off the minute Orm's biological signature passed through the entry points had probably gotten word to, at least, Red Tornado which meant that he was either already on his way or sent to the Team.

The Robin without his suit had faith in Stephanie that she could keep this going; words that wound without the up-start of real violence, and buy the others more time to get there before someone else got hurt.

He'd gotten to know her, and knew that she preferred talking to fighting and was damn good at it after all of her time with Harley and Jason and even all the people that had been trickling into her life for upwards of years now. Bruce even commented on that sort of ideology being a damn good skill in their own line of work that much more people needed more often than not.

"So, this is permanent?"

Queen Mera and Lagoon Boy looked positively wretched as Stephanie looked down at what constituted as Atlantean bandages along the arm she'd used to push back Orm's magic attack that he'd aimed at Topo when the poor young Atlantean had tried to bring down the pressure that had surmounted on Stephanie after she'd made a comment about how Orm was only dropping in uninvited to attract his big brother's attention, like the baby of the family that he was... "Until recently, of course."

Tim glared at the teacher that had been hiding in a closet until the cavalry had come along as well as the students that had kept backing up from the verbal and physical altercation between the super villain and their classmate and realize that they was a good reason both Steph and Jason considered the academy teachers "fucking worthless" and most of their peers "too dim to exist."

Speaking of Jason, he was sitting near the food bar that the Atlantean Embassy had set up before this shit-storm had happened, very close to where Tim was sitting as his own way of telling Tim he was glad that Wayne's ward had at least done what he could when hell had broken loose; "Grabbing a chair and using it for a weapon. Not very effective on Atlantean's, but an A for effort, kid." Tim had blushed and been able to actually take the moment to ask how Jason had heard what he was doing with the heroes that had crashed in when Orm couldn't take a high school student's much more brilliant come-backs.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when Jason hesitated what he was going to say and simply answered, "News travels fast. Hero channels, Gotham underworld; it's practically the same thing."

Which Tim translated to mean that Jason had been with the Team, probably feeding them dinner, and followed with thundering wrath when the call came in from the Embassy alarm system. But at the moment they were surrounded by civilians and Jason was trying to be discreet. Yes, good.

Tim would have grinned, faking shyness, but he was still focusing on Stephanie speaking with Mera and La'gaan as Kaldur and Garth continued to direct more guards that kept coming in from Atlantis to move out the Purists they, Conner and Cassie had brought down fast and hard. Conner and Cassie would probably wander over to Jason and Tim once the other, friendly but scared group of Atlantean teenagers were taken to zeta transport and the other human teenagers were out of sight, actually able to converse more open and friendly.

Topo wasn't leaving any time soon, either. He had stayed close to Stephanie when the skirmish had started in earnest, using his own magic the best he could against the purists, but it would have been for nothing if Stephanie couldn't hold her own to begin with. Being more fish-like than the Purist Atlanteans meant that this was probably the first real time he'd actually been on land, legs a little difficult to secure in running and jumping and he kept forgetting that he was a lot slower than in the water he had grown up in; which lead to his falling down often and making more of a target of himself, which was why Stephanie got hurt with magic to begin with.

He felt even more guilty when the heroes of Atlantis and the surface showed up and it became glaringly obvious that Stephanie and the exceedingly scary Jason (who had come in like a tank and took out three of the much larger Purists without the use of the knives strapped to his legs and stuffed inside his leather jacket first thing, managing to scare the shit out of the younger, smaller Purists with ease) were the humans La'gaan often spoke of with affection as well as exasperation.

Now he hung back near Kaldur, back to a wall near the queen and where he would be able to walk over and apologize in earnest to Steph when she was done having her injuries looked over and have the...unfortunate...runes now engraved along her arm, magic burned into her skin, explained to her.

Queen Mera looked like she wanted quite badly to beat Orm unconscious a second time as she went about her continued answer to the blonde, "Yes, I apologize. If you were Atlantean I could have at least been able to hide the runes so that they wouldn't be visible to the naked eye with the addition of your own magic, but being human it wouldn't work. It might even cause bone damage."

"Friggin' scum buckets," La'gaan hissed under his breath, tightening his hands on his arms as they crossed and his sorcery tattoos glowing with his anger.

Mera made to admonish him, but Stephanie beat out any words she might have spoken, "I get it, you don't want to injure me, and that's okay, but I'd really like to know what it means if I'm gonna be wearing it for the rest of my life."

Topo and La'gaan visibly flinched where they stood as Stephanie said just the right thing to push the button between them that made them think of pain, abuse and trauma.

"It... It means Impure in ancient Atlantean," Mera spoke honest and lowly.

"Impure meaning something along the lines of trash, I take?"

"Yes, that's about right," the queen nodded, unable to understand how much saying so hurt, but having a vague kind of understanding from having students that had to listen to such words more often than she would have like in the royal academy.

"Huh. Cool."

The sound of heads whipping in Stephanie's direction at that statement was practically tangible from where Tim stood, Jason not tensing up like he expected, but face less impassive than it had been before Steph responded with all the ease of someone talking about possibly buying a kitten from the pound.

"I'm sorry," La'gaan practically choked out, completely disbelieving in the face of her casualness, "What?"

Stephanie seemed to understand the look on her friend's face and rubbed delicately on the bandages covering the sensitive, raw flesh underneath, smiling at him as she explained, "Trash has a way of being a very philosophic subject. I've been wanting to get a tramp stamp of my own for months and if I'm going to have one, I was always going to aim for something like that. You have heard the phrase, 'One person's trash, is another person's treasure' by now, right?"

La'gaan's mouth clicked shut when he realized it had been hanging open as Steph talked easily about something he had been thinking on since he'd been attacked in his youth and had his ankle marked with the exact same word Stephanie now wore, and that Topo had burned into the skin of his chest just a short while ago.

He nodded, though he didn't realize it.

"Then of course," Stephanie continued, "There's the chain of thought that everyone is trash, whether they might have been called so by someone else or called themselves such at some point. There's all sorts of different trash. Toxic waste, eco-friendly, recycling, high class, white, emotional, popular and so on. Isn't being labeled trash and deciding what kind you want to be for yourself better?"

Queen Mera, having absolutely never heard anyone she'd ever met think of those runes in a better light, found herself grinning at Stephanie and looking between the girl, La'gaan and Topo as both boys were tracing the outline of their own rune markings. Topo over the the skin tight shirt he always wore, like he was looking for a pendant or a necklace. La'gaan by leaning back against a nearby wall, crossing his legs and his toes tracing the leather cover he wore everywhere.

"And anyway, Vodka" Steph continued, directing her words entirely unto La'gaan now and earning his attention in its fullness with the nick-name, "I like it, and that's all that matters."

The young hero who more often than not was with Mera's husband than with her (his only being with her now because he was in the ocean off the coast of Asia assisting Martian Manhunter with something they'd found in the lower depths that would be keeping them both busy for weeks) seemed to look like he was going to say something in the affirmative, given that she'd gotten him to smile at that last bit, answered with something Mera was pretty sure neither she nor miss Brown were expecting, "Tell me why you call me that, and maybe I'll agree with you."

"You're going to agree with me anyway, but I'll throw you a bone. Vodka originates from Russian; short-hand for the old phrase meaning Water of Life."

From his spot next to Tim, as well as Conner and Cassie, all of them having settled down to listen in, Jason sighed; seeming disappointed that Stephanie was giving up their private joke so easily. Or he was letting out a huff of air like laughing, given that the look on La'gaan's face was amusing in and of itself; lips pressed together and eyes squinting at Stephanie like she was speaking a language nobody had ever spoken around him.

"What does that have to do with me?"

Stephanie sighed, good natured, "Make an effort, La'gaan. Water of Life is redundant because water IS life; but life is ever-evolving, which makes it beautiful, which means..."

She paused a moment, giving the Atlantean a chance to answer.

Five seconds...ten seconds... Cassie sat up in the stool at the food bar she'd taken with a little gasp, but was stopped from saying anything by Jason pressing his finger to her nose and silencing her easy by tapping it a couple of times... Conner and Tim looked like they were reaching pretty deep to make a connection...

After another ten seconds, La'gaan raised his hands, speaking plainly that he had no answer and Stephanie groaned, heading over to where Jason was grinning and awaiting the punchline.

"Which means we've been calling you pretty, beautiful, handsome, etc, for months now, La'gaan."

She would later look up the color La'gaan turned from blushing was 'Peacock Green' and consider using it for the new paint she'd be applying to her apartment ceiling, but until then she would bask in the moment, La'gaan covering his face with his hands, Jason cackling, "That's my girl!" like a lunatic and chew on something that looked like fried octopus but tasted like chicken while she waited for Harley to come and pick her and Jason up.

It was either that or spend hours on the bus with the teacher she'd told to shut up on no uncertain terms when he'd tried to condescend to her about putting herself in danger to protect someone who wasn't even human. The teacher and the students would either ask annoying questions or sit in silence being a little afraid/in awe of her. Harley, in comparison, would just bluster about hating travelling to the ocean and make it fairly clear that Steph would, doubtless, be the one to tell her mother how she got the tramp stamp.