Orientation

"…and he even found this drive-in movie theatre place!" M'gann finishes in a burst of words, her eager hands stirring blissfully away at a new concotion. "Of course, we don't have a car, so we couldn't actually drive in, but I linked us into the minds of the other viewers and we could hear everything that was going on!"

Kaldur smiles and shakes his head as he stacks another plate on the rack. He's heard that dish-washing is something of a menial task on the surface world, but even after two years, he is unable to resist the sheer novelty of the exercise. (Like bathing. Every so often Kaldur takes a shower, just because of how weird it is.) "I am glad that you and Connor are once again on equable terms." He smiles at the girl.

"Oh… yeah… that." M'gann looks incredibly self-conscious all of a sudden. "That was totally all my fault, I mean I just never really thought about what Conner might know or what he might not know and I just got all mad and Emily and the others at school were all…"

Kaldur holds up a hand before the girl can talk herself out of breath. "Misunderstandings are common in relationships." He smiles. "For Conner as well as for you. I am sure you have nothing to apologize for."

She relaxes somewhat and lessens the death-grip she has on the mixing bowl. "Thanks." She looks down thoughtfully at the bowl. "It's just that… it's all so different than what I thought it'd be."

"Relationships are difficult." Kaldur nods understandingly. "I remember when Tula and I…"

"No, no…" M'gann shakes her head, a smile lighting up her features. "I mean, kinda, yeah, but it's not just… the thing with Conner. It's more like…. All of it."

For a moment this puzzles Kaldur and then realization dawns. "Ah." He smiles. "Yes, no matter how you have studied it, nothing quite prepares you for this world, does it?"

"I… I watched so many shows about Earth," admits M'gann, blushing a little. "I listened to every one of Uncle J'onn's stories. I thought I was all ready for it, and yet…"

Kaldur nods understandingly. "I also was enraptured at an early age by my king's tales of the surface world." He confides. "My teachers gave me many stern admonishments for my habit of swimming off to stare at surface vessels. When my king offered me a chance to work alongside him in the surface world, I accepted it eagerly. But it wasn't… quite as I'd pictured it."

"Tell me about it." M'gann laughs, and it strikes Kaldur that she actually doesn't do that an awful lot. "I mean, I guess I should have figured in the time delay from the television waves and everything but…" She gives an uneasy shrug. "It's all so different. No roller skates or soda fountains or even that disco stuff that they did all the time in the TV shows. I thought I'd be ready for it but…" She gives a little shiver. "I… just… I feel like I'm out of my league with all this stuff here. I never feel like I know what's going on."

"But surely you know better than anyone." Kaldur arches an eyebrow. "You are our telepathic link-up, all our communication goes through you."

"But... exactly. The telepathic stuff," answers M'gann, playing with her fingers. "Remember how when I first met you guys, and I read your minds without asking and Conner got all…"

"It did not take a great deal to irritate Superboy, back then." Nor does it now. "Still, I see your point. I recall a similar situation upon my first foray into the surface world…" A smile tugs at Kaldur's mouth. "…a most unfortunate misunderstanding regarding a bathroom." Shaking his head clear of the memory, he continued, "And there were others. When I first accompanied my king upon his quests, I was shocked at the lack of respect shown to him. I nearly attacked several officers on his behalf."

Miss Martian's face lights up with an impish grin. "Somehow, that's not too difficult to imagine."

"Oh?" Kaldur arches an eyebrow. "I must confess, I still find myself astonished at the informality of the surface world. Robin and Kid Flash tell me that for a long time, they mistook my demeanor for scorn—a 'cold fish' was the term they used for me, I believe."

"Seriously?"

"Robin apparently found it very amusing." Kaldur shrugs, pretending to ignore M'gann's sudden giggling fit. "For my part, I could not understand their apparent rudeness, and put it down to simple snobbery. I even wondered if they found me, the newcomer, offensive and inadequate to their crimefighting circle." Again Kaldur smiles. "I could not have been more wrong."

M'gann has turned to study him, and she is hugging the mixing bowl to her chest. "How did you… manage to figure it out?"

"One tends to make friends of the people you fight alongside." Kaldur shrugs. "Formalities and etiquettes matter little when lives are on the line. But still they did not truly understand until I lost my timidity…"

"Timid?" M'gann's eyes are twinkling. "You?"

Kaldur coughs. "I WAS the newcomer, after all. I was afraid of asking foolish questions. But when one of them made a rude joke about King Arthur in my presence, I forgot to worry about how they might view me, and sharply called them out, challenging both to combat."

"You WHAT?"

"I lost." Kaldur tilts his head shamefacedly. "And King Arthur chastised me for my temper. But the next day both came to apologize to me. To them, my king was simply another hero, like their mentors. They had never thought of him as royalty." Shrugging, he stacks another plate on the rack. "And that was that, largely. My little outburst showed them how I felt about rank and etiquette, and they no longer wondered at my 'coldness.' For my part, I better understood their casual attitude toward matters, and no longer took as great offense. Of course, they also take care to no longer insult my king."

Kaldur looks at M'gann, who has fallen silent and is simply staring at him. "The world of heroes can be strange and frightening, Miss Martian. But one cannot worry overmuch as to what others think of you." Stacking the last dish on the rack, he moves toward the door, patting her on the shoulder as he passes. "It is best simply to act."

A/N: Didn't catch all of the last episode, "Images," which looked to have some interesting development on M'gann's character. But what I saw didn't seem to conflict with what I'd already written for the Kaldur/M'gann conversation, so I figured I'd stick it up anyways. I'd better hurry if I don't want the show to outpace my story in terms of development. Already "Coldhearted" addressed Kid Flash's maturity issues. And now I need to come up with a conversation with Zatanna, which I hadn't counted on at all.

Still. Not really complaining. Cool to see awesome shows when they're on, and the latest episodes have been really cool. I think I've got three more chapters in this thing. Some of them are already written, but I can't post them up yet.

Kaldur, as an alien to the surface world, can empathize with M'gann's situation. He, of course, handled it much differently, because hey, he's not just working alongside some uncle or whatever, Aquaman is the KING of over 2/3 of the world! And initially he wasn't thrown in with a bunch of teenagers, like M'gann was. Kaldur, to my mind, is the sort who wouldn't really bother to fit in, with the gills and the webbed hands and all. That's probably part of the reason for his formal nature. But of course, it is fun wondering what his first meeting with Wally and Robin was like.

Zatanna next. I've got some ideas floating around.