Sea Star - Orm Marius

Amnesty Bay Docks - 2022

"...You're forgetting one tiny little detail: we're going under the sea and you can't breathe water."

"Oh shit-" Right, that was a factor, wasn't it. "But I thought you said you had to go see this contact first."

"Yeah, under water."

"Crap."

"Yeah."

"Well, I take back my offer then."

"Thanks though, I appreciate it."

"Yeah, anytime."

Then he perked up. "Hey, wait a minute-"

"What?"

In a couple of long strides he was at the edge of the boat leaning over. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Hey Topo!"

Almost instantly a large blue head poked out of the water.

"Topo?" cried Claudia. "No way!"

"Yeah! Hey To, remember Claudia?"

The bulbous head gave a happy-sounding gurgle. 

"Whoa! Hey Buddy, you look great - you cute octopus!"

"He's a cephalopod." Orm had joined them and was quick to correct her.

"He's an octopus." 

"Cephalopod."

"Octopus!"

"Cephalopod!"

"Octopus!"

"Hey!" Arthur cried, cutting in. "Not the most important thing right now." He turned back to Topo who was  staring up at them. "Can you please go get something from Atlantis for me? Ask Mom, she'll know what I mean." He then turned to his brother.  "Got anything special you wanna tell Mom?"

Now Orm seemed surprised. "Um, no, thank you."

Topo made some gurgling sounds and slipped back under the water and disappeared.

Arthur stood back up, grinning from ear-to-ear. 

"Uh oh," said Claudia, knowing full well that that smile meant something. "What?"

"You can come with us."

"No," Orm broke in. "What help would a Surface Dweller be in the ocean?" He had a point. "She cannot breathe water."

"Yeah Bro, we've been through this already and I'm way ahead of you." Arthur turned back to Claudia and resumed grinning. "With my intention to one day open up Atlantis to the Surface World-" Orm opened his mouth to  protest this vehemently, but Arthur shut him up with a glare. "-I've been developing a suit that allows humans to safely descend to the depths where Atlantis is, basically a high-tech diving suit." 

Orm crossed his arms over his - broad, very broad - chest.  Don't stare Claudia. "This is a waste of time. Do you want to find David Kane or not?" 

"Of course I do, but I also think Pipsqueak here would be a valuable asset to our team."

Orm scoffed.  "We are not a team."

"Unwilling allies for the moment."

"Better." 

Arthur turned to her.  "What d'ya say Claudie?"

"Has this suit been tested yet?"

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Topo was back in a surprisingly short amount of time, dragging a package behind him.