HAPPY HARBOR
JULY 30, 17:29 EDT
"Recognized: Ephyra B05."
Ephyra walked out of the zeta beam and stretched rotating her arm a bit, before she heard a dolphin's whistle and distinctive happy clicks.
She had on yoga pants and sports bra to suffice for her shirt; a yoga bag slung over her shoulder from her session she had earlier with Black Canary. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail; her distinctive blonde streak in her hair, was left to hang around her face, as a bang.
She decided to go to the beach on top of the hill and relax there too, but not before checking on Hector. How he even found out where the cave was she had no idea.
She walked through the halls until it opened up into a large room where she saw Hector with the last person she'd expected to see for a while: Superboy.
She hadn't spoken to or seen her fellow clone since their last mission a few days ago.
She'd spent two days in Themyscira to get a better understanding of her flight combat. She spent another day in Atlantis to get a better understanding of the kingdom's layout.
Today she'd just spent time with Black Canary and worked out in her apartment for an early yoga session, before eating out for a quick brunch.
Dinah also gave her advice to let them handle what school she would go to, but Ephyra had her own mindset on that.
She was sure the Justice League could pull strings to get the non-human members of the Team into schools, but she had a legal guardian, so it was technically up to Ted.
She decided she'd practice a few poses for yoga later that she enjoyed, or was having trouble with, and thought the top of the cave might have a better view and relaxing atmosphere.
Imagine her surprise at seeing Superboy with her dolphin.
To add to her bafflement, he wasn't grimacing, brooding, glaring, grunting, or anything else that came close to Superboy mannerisms. He was just smiling - scratch that - laughing; smiling and laughing.
She felt a sudden urge to thrash the body snatcher (Sean had been doing some more intros to movies over their time together) who had taken over Superboy.
Rather than making matters worse or awkward, she just snuck up until she was at the top of the small set of steps that led down to the water's edge, where Superboy stood waste deep rubbing Hector's back, while the dolphin cooed.
"He really likes to be rubbed on his head, but at a drift to the side."
Superboy jumped and glanced back at her. She couldn't read the emotion in his face but she was relieved to see no sign of anger or disappoint - of course that could be hidden beneath the veil of undetectable emotion.
"Just don't try and roll him unless he does so on his own, or he'll bop you in the chest as hard as he can."
Superboy only continued to stare at her and a flash of anger, or maybe it was irritation, went through Ephyra.
She recalled the advice she'd been given and swallowed, shoving it down and didn't allow her emotion to reach her eyes or facial features. She just gave him a shrug before pivoting on her heel and walking to the corner of a cave where a door gave way through the rock and led out onto the beach.
It closed behind her and a moment later, Hector popped up in the water where she walked along the shore, before it turned rocky in one area.
She spread out her yoga mat and decided to do it on the shore rather than up at the top. Hector's company was welcomed and calming.
She proceeded into the regular motions that Black Canary had taught her before proceeding to doing downward dog pose, before shifting into the upward-facing dog. She repeated her process trying to get a fluid motion by starting and then ending with her hands together at heart's center.
"What are you doing?"
Ephyra glanced over her shoulder from where she stood on one leg with her hands at heart's center, before letting the leg down and touching her toes.
"Yoga."
"Why would you want to do that," Superboy asked again with a frown on his face.
"Black Canary does it and taught me how to do it. Apparently it's supposed to calm people."
Superboy was suddenly at her side and she tilted her head at an angle to make out his face, shadowed a bit by the sun.
"Do you mind...if I join you?"
She gave a shrug before standing up again, "Shoes off."
He makes a face and she crosses her arms over her chest as a clear message of stubbornness.
He grunts before removing his boats and socks, setting them beside her own shoes, before taking his place beside her once more.
She takes up the first pose with her hands at heart's center and both feet on the ground, before moving to lifting one leg off the ground while letting her foot rest against the side of her opposite knee.
Superboy followed, though appeared awkward at doing so and leaned a bit before staggering to the side. Ephyra caught his arm and steadied him, to which he let out a grunt of thanks.
"Don't feel bad. I screwed this up a trillion times, before I got better."
He just eyed her before she resumed back to the pose and then led him through touching his toes and then downward dog. When they went to upward dog he found slight trouble, but managed to return to downward dog.
They did this process three times before he spoke again while they had both feet on the ground.
"Ephyra?"
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry."
She glanced at him a bit surprised, but quickly felt herself rushing to reassure him. "It's not your fault. Wasn't mine either...entirely." He frowned at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your thunder of being 'the bigger man', but it really isn't your fault. Kaldur and a few others put me in your position and I understand that me constantly talking about the different people in my life, when you're limited to a handful you have doubts about, could eventually make anyone snap. I was mostly excited, but I still shouldn't have left you behind."
He nodded just a little. "I know, but I shouldn't have overreacted. M'Gann told me that you were just experiencing life and everything was probably more exciting. Kaldur even spoke with me about that as well. Flamewalker wasn't really helpful in his advice, just told me to suck it up so you'd stick around more."
Ephyra felt a twinge at the thought of M'Gann, but brushed it off. She lived with Superboy at the cave, most likely more often than Ephyra ever would, but that didn't mean she was being replaced.
Kaldur wasn't a surprise, especially after he'd tried giving her advice about being patient.
Flamewalker was both a surprise and unsettling; maybe that's just how he treated all his teammates.
"I hope you didn't slam him into a wall," Ephyra replied.
He gave a small smile, "Came close to it, but Kaldur immediately smoothed the tension."
"That's our Kaldur."
His smile widened before falling. "I really am sorry. I got upset over something really stupid. You received your actual..."
"...'Earth name'?" She inquired.
His smile returned a little. "Yeah, 'Earth name'," he said; both of them thinking about how M'Gann had described her human alias name. "I like Trinity by the way."
He let out a heavy sigh, looking guilty. "I just...everything snapped. Superman just won't give me the time of day, but yet you have three people who accept you, two of which are you donors and another is just a random person from the league. You have an additional two; one who serves as your friend, while the other serves as your legal guardian. The closest experience I've had with something like that was when I stayed with Wally and his family for a few days. But you seemed to be picking up things quickly and experiencing life in the real world, and I just assumed you drop me when things got busy."
She immediately shoved him and he staggered. "Don't ever think that!" she snapped. "I will never abandon you! Ever!" She sighed. "We're clones; we're the only ones who understand what it means to be a replica of someone."
Superboy eyes her before the warmth seeps into them and he holds up his hand.
"We need to stick together."
Ephyra smiles and takes his hand, "Always and forever."
He chuckled a bit at the last part before water splashed into his face.
They turned to see Hector balancing on his tail as he swam backwards clapping his fins with bubble laughter sounds escaping.
Ephyra just laughed before she was drenched and her hair clung to her face, and it was Superboy's turn to laugh.
"Okay, Yoga over," she said, and on the tail-end of her words she dove into the water and chased Hector.
Hector let out cheerful clicks and whistles, and the fun ensued as Superboy dove in and they all swam around, paddling or kicking on their backs.
They climbed back onto the rocky area of the shore and sat drenched, with their legs dangling off the edge into the water, while Hector swam around or rested beside them.
She spent the rest of the time reconnecting with her fellow clone and catching him up on everything.
She told him about Sean and what he was teaching her, as well as how they spent time watching movies and talking about TV shows.
She spoke about Ted and Gregory and how life at the gym was; as well and how many kids are given a place to stay or build character, if not just the simple need to protect themselves. That led to her mentioning Black Canary and how she gave her good advice acting as a good therapist - Superboy had just scoffed saying that Batman had already announced she'd be their trainer and therapist might as well be added to the list.
After that she told him about life with Wonder Woman and Aquaman - surprisingly at his request - and he even asked if he could meet them, as well as visiting their homes. Ephyra was surprised, but ecstatic, and quickly accepted, though told him she couldn't take him to Themyscira.
Superboy seemed to be a in a better mood after hearing about her life and decided to tell her about life at the cave.
He confirmed that Aqualad had been telling the truth about how he felt about Superman, by telling her that the team did in fact go camping. He even told her about a little side adventure that took place where he had a bunch of hallucinations, a few of the Joker. He summed it up to basically stating his time was spent with M'Gann most of the time, while the other times he hung out with Robin, Wally, and Kaldur'ahm.
She found herself giggling as he described how Flamewalker had told him to snap out of his attitude with her, or he'd, quote, "roast him like a Thanksgiving turkey, before serving him to Ephyra on a golden platter".
"He did not say that," she said still giggling, while he eyed her with a pouting expression.
"He did," he grunted. "He's lucky Kaldur was there, otherwise I would have smashed him into the ground."
Ephyra gave her clone a gentle shove with her shoulder. "No you wouldn't."
He just grunts and they remain silent before she speaks.
"I'm really glad we're back on better terms."
He nods with a soft smile. "Same here; to be honest my stubbornness kept me from saying anything sooner. It won't happen again though. I can't let whatever problems I may have with Superman jeopardize what I have with you and the Team."
"Good," she said before adding sternly, "Because if you ever do that again, I'm going to fling you across the room, before you can blink. Then I'm going to thrash you until you snap out of it."
He just laughs and she glares at him like she had when they'd first met, and he'd given the same reaction at her threats.
"You know one day, it will happen, and you'll regret ever underestimating me," she warns.
He scoffs but his eyes are filled with laughter, "Okay, sure. But you haven't been able to make me back off unless I want to."
"Really?" She asks innocently, "So...that wasn't me who kicked you square in the jaw when we first met?"
His expression of smugness faded and his expression became blank while his cheeks became a light hue of pink.
She made a face and clicked her tongue, "Huh - guess I'm closer to taking you down than I thought; imagine that," she says in a breezy tone as she exhales on her nails in slight exaggeration, before she rubbed them against an imaginary collar, examining them and then slipped him a sly look.
His expression changed to one of a scowl and he just grunted to which she grinned.
A/N: So what did you guys think?
They're friend's again.
Next chapter, will be two more days of decent normality.
I'm sorry if some of you find the lack of missions boring or slow paced, I promise that's coming soon.
Well, until next time, sweet peas. ^_^