This is Herpworld. Here, the reptile class is a superpower...in one way or another.
Ah, orbit...over Herpworld. It's a spectacular view of the planet. This particular part goes over Florida. On Herpworld-R, Florida is much bigger than you'd think.
It's very quiet up here...and very cold. Nobody can survive up here. A tartigrade could probably tough it out for about two centuries...alas, they'd have to come out of hibernation sometime.
Like a flash of light, something enters orbit...and freezes in place, hovering in orbit. She generates a field of cosmic energy around herself, to keep herself aerated. She's a blonde girl...from Florida. She's in a black one-piece that sports a yellow lightning bolt across its front.
Meet Beatrice Leep...better known as the new Captain Marvel. She's trained hard, and acquired a lot of power for this role. She's even gotten a blood transfusion from a Kree specimen.
As she hovers in orbit, she looks down, upon her motherland in Florida...and sighs. Like any teenage girl, she hates coming home. To her, home is prison. And it will be for as long as it takes for her to learn that no place will ever be quite as much like kin to her...as Coconut Cove, Florida.
On Herpworld-R, Florida's got a lot more swamps. Out here, it can be nearly impossible to tell where saltwater meets freshwater. For that, there are many eels in these waters.
Some of the wharfs are very long. They have to be. They get a lot of users...all year long.
In some of these shallows, the West Indian manatee lives. They swim slow, and keep to the surface, gently moving themselves along with pan-shaped tails.
On a wharf nearby, Roy Eberhardt sits. He's hardly a Coconut Cove native. He's no Montanan, either. Either way, until recently, he often wished he was back there...back when his family lived there, doing the MoJ's good work. He's just recently fallen for Coconut Cove. Long may he stay that way.
At least his family has finally stopped relocating. THAT'S going to help a ton...
Near his bare feet, a pair of manatee calves surface...and wiggle their noses. Roy gapes down at them, and gawks.
Moments pass. As they do, Roy and the two calves get to know one another. Or at least, their souls do. For both of them, this is a memorable experience...
And then, their humongous mothers just have to swim past, and ruin it. Sadly, the two calves dive, and follow after their mothers.
Roy sighs, too, and looks out across the waters. He tries not to think of Beatrice, his BFF. Alas, a rather naughty part of him has wanted to, of late... And not just of her, either...
At the landed end of the wharf, Beatrice teleports into view. Roy's back is turned; he doesn't see her. He doesn't know that his BFF is now Capt. Marvel. If he did, he'd panic. It's hard to believe that he's Percy Jackson in another reality...
Roy hears her footsteps thumping all over the wharf...but he doesn't turn around. She stops near him. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see her bare feet, and parts of her bare legs. They tempt him...but he dares not charge.
She leaps, and lands on her ass near him, causing even more thunder. She adjusts her top. Now, she's in a black bikini. And now, Roy is VERY tense...
"Sorry I'm late," she says. "Those soccer riots can be a bitch."
Roy smiles. "Does your dad know you talk like that?"
"As much of a bitch as my stepmother already is, would you expect his vote to mean anything?"
In near-solace, they sit and swing their legs over the water. They...talk a lot less than in the old days. Roy's not sure why. Beatrice, OTOH, is almost very sure why.
His hand is within her reach. She struggles with herself to embrace it. She likes him a lot...and hence, would hate to scare him away. Right now, she's not sure what would be worse: scaring him away by telling him that she loves him, or scaring him away by telling him she's Capt. Marvel.
"You've," she clears her throat. "You've been spending a lot of time with Mrs. Matherson lately."
Roy shrugs. "She's been depressed, ever since her son got transferred to an adult prison. And she's been lonely since the divorce. She seems to fancy me...and my writing. I can't imagine why. I've never been big on the English language. I've always seen myself as more of a man of science."
Here, Beatrice would love to tell Roy about her language skills as someone who knows how to speak Kree, and write Kree glyphs. But then she'd have to tell him how she knows all of this, as well as why the hell she hasn't told NASA about the Kree...which she'd rather not risk.
"Yes," she says instead, smiling and fixing her own blonde hair. "And a savior of the endangered species, I must add."
Roy turns his head, and studies her. "A bit bold, don't you think?"
She clears her throat. "Of course. Who am I to preach such rhetoric? I'm just," she hiccups. "I'm just a bitchy soccer player, after all."
"You know, you've been acting strange lately. More than usual, I mean. Is everything alright between you and your stepmother? You keep telling me that she's unbearable, but you never..."
"Me and Stepmom are good; that's not there to talk about. I can assure you that whatever the fuck is going on with me it's none of your damn business, Cowgirl. So can we just shut up about that, and enjoy this moment, for fuck's sake?!"
Roy smiles. "THAT'S the Beatrice the Bear I know. Very well." He turns back around. "Sorry I judged you."
Beatrice heaves a sigh. Shit; she's ruined yet ANOTHER chance to tell Roy about how she feels for him. And she'll have to carry that all the way to Hala or Breakworld, the next time they send her into space...