No. She did not see it. He had not produced anything to see. Was she looking in the wrong place?

"There is nothing wrong with splashing. This is a pool. I had a swim and I am not dry. Go ahead and have your splash, Bubblehead." She was thinking that he was trying to be polite, but it was difficult for her to tell. Maybe he was just mocking her? Kalos decided he was trying to be nice... and failing. That wasn't his fault. He was only a man-boy.

Bubbleshead went to the bottom of the pool again. Again Kalos watched with hardly a blink. This time he did the same thing but less. He stood on top of the water. Weirdly, when he took a step, he fell backwards. How did be fall backwards instead of frontwards? He had been taking a step to the front...

"I like your cannonball better than your shit." Each time, he'd called out the name of his trick just before he hit the surface of the water again. The cannonball was far splashier.

>> "There is nothing wrong with splashing. This is a pool. I had a swim and I am not dry. Go ahead and have your splash, Bubblehead."

She didn’t mind being splashed? Andy smirked as the thought of really splashing her crossed his mind. If there was one thing his powers were good for, it was splashing. He hadn’t even been trying before…

Brown eyes locked onto Kalos, Andy balled his hands into fists, ready to invoke his powers, before his conscience stopped him, forcing him to think twice about attacking an eight-year-old girl, even if it was just with something as harmless as water.

Shrugging his shoulders, Andy gave an inward sigh, dipped his nose sharply, and went down under the water. You can do this… you can do this… Andy thought as he focused on performing his “I can walk on water like Jesus” trick to the best of his ability, before he started to feel his legs buckle from under him. Uh oh...

SPLASH!

Andy resurfaced with great reluctance, afraid of the negative feedback his audience (aka Kalos) might provide him with. She was only an eight-year-old girl, though. What was the worst she could say?

>> "I like your cannonball better than your shit."

Andy’s eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Was that supposed to be an insult? “You’ve never seen my shit before, so how would you know?” he questioned her, jokingly. Insult or not, how could he be angry? She was just a little girl who didn't know any better. He probably shouldn't have even said the word 'shit' in the first place... Oops.

“So, what about you? You got any tricks up your sleeve? I mean, other than your tentacles.” He’d rather not see those again, mostly because that’d require her to pull off fingers and toes, one by one. Yuck!

> “You’ve never seen my shit before, so how would you know?”

Kalos scoffed. "What do you mean? You just showed me this thing. You say shit and then splash a little splash. You say cannonball and splash a big one. Far more splash. Much better trick. It was clear that she had no earthly idea what the true meaning of that word and, frankly, she was offended that he would think she was stupid enough to fall for his word trick. She hadn't seen it? Pshaw. He just showed it to her!

> “So, what about you? You got any tricks up your sleeve? I mean, other than your tentacles.”

"No tricks. I'm just Kalos. Kalos is trick enough from the gods." She supposed that she could jump in just the same as he had. "I could try your cannonball if you want." She would leave his shit alone considering the fact that its existence was in debate.

Kalos said the word ‘shit’ again and, for a brief moment, Andy cringed as though in pain. It was a word he said - and thought - nearly every day, multiple times a day, but he was allowed to. He was sixteen. How old was Kalos? Probably eight or nine, maybe even seven… What if she thought it wasn’t a bad word now that she heard him say it twice? Then Andy realized she was only saying the word because she thought it was the name of his second trick. Oh…

Andy’s face broke into a smile and a few chuckles escaped his lips. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, he chose not to correct her. “Yeah, well, the point of the second trick isn’t to make a splash. It’s to walk on water… But it’s not easy.” It might not even be possible… but he’d probably keep trying in his free time, anyway. Why? Because he wasn’t a quitter.

>> "No tricks. I'm just Kalos. Kalos is trick enough from the gods."

Andy quirked an eyebrow. It was strange interacting with someone who believed in more than one god, but he knew better than most that imposing his own beliefs upon others was wrong. Or maybe it was just a part of her Atlantean act? Whether she was lying or not, Andy kept his mouth shut for fear of upsetting her, just as he would be upset if someone told him his moms shouldn’t be allowed to marry.

>> "I could try your cannonball if you want."

“Uhh…” As young as she was, Andy found it hard to believe she had never done a cannonball before, but if there was one thing he was good at it was going with the flow. “Yeah, go for it,” Andy said with a smile before swimming to the other end of the pool to give her room.

As it turned out, the point of the second trick wasn't to make a splash. That was good, since it hadn't been nearly as splashing as the first.

"You did do the standing part okay. The walking was not so much okay. That's where it turned into a splashing trick." She did her very best to sound encouraging. He was just a man-boy, after all. He would have to practice if he wanted to be a man.

And then it turned out to be her turn to try the cannonball. The little coral girl grinned with coral teeth and pushed herself up to her feet. "I don't think my splash will be having as big. But I can try!"

Her coral toes clicked as she clattered back just as many paces as Bubblehead had. He went almost all the way back to the wall so that is definitely how it was done. She turned, very serious, and ran full out. Her joyous whoop echoed around the room when she left the ledge of the pool and curled up as best as she could.

SPLOOOSH.

Kalos was surprised to hit the bottom of the pool. How high had she splashed? Did she do it okay? She tried to splay her hands and get some momentum to swim, but her fingers and toes were heavy and they felt loose when she moved too fast. She didn't want to scare him again. He was just a man-boy. So she paddled pathetically slow. Maybe she should just walk along the bottom of the pool to get to the ladder? Kalos could hold her breath for quite a while, she wasn't in a rush.

A look of worry flashed across Andy's face as he watched a determined Kalos charge toward the pool. For a second, he was sure she'd slip, fall, and break into a million of tiny coral pieces, but she didn't. Andy let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and smiled in relief. He didn't care how big of a splash she made; he was just glad she didn't get hurt trying to do something he encouraged her to do.

Or at least, he didn't think she got hurt. Andy lifted an eyebrow in confusion when she didn't immediately resurface and dipped his head underwater to check on her. Much to his surprise, she seemed to be struggling to swim, as though something was weighing her down, and Andy didn't think twice about swimming to the bottom of the pool to help her.

Once he got close enough, he held out his hand and, with a twinge of concentration, engulfed her entire head in what looked like a bubble of air so she'd be able to hear him. "Are you okay? Why are you swimming so slow? I thought you said you were Atlantean..."

Just as Kalos was starting to think that holding on to her fingers was a bad idea, the very reason that she wasn't letting them go swam right on over. And, weirdly enough, he tried a neat trick that gave her air. WHERE DID THE AIR COME FROM!?

"This is much more good trick." She continued to paddle along with small and ineffective motions. She really couldn't let her fingers go now. He was looking and he didn't like them. But his new trick did make for many Kalos questions. Did he have to breathe? He sure seemed okay.

"This is consequence of holding coral for hands and feet. I don't swim with it, but you have delicate feelings I don't want to hurt." She was only telling it like it was.

Andy didn't let Kalos's flattery phase him. Figuring she was trying to deflect his question, he narrowed his eyes at her with even more suspicion than before and asked her again, all the while maintaining just enough concentration to sustain the psionic repulsion field that engulfed both of their heads. "Why do you swim so slow if you were born underwater?"

Oh, he had almost forgotten about the creepy tentacles she hid behind her even creepier detachable toes and fingers... Wait a second. Did she just say he had delicate feelings? Furrowing his brow, he quickly said, "I don't have delicate feelings." In hindsight, he was probably one of the most sensitive students at Xavier's, but Kalos didn't have to know that. No one did.

Andy winced slightly in pain as he started to feel the strain of his powers. If he kept this up for much longer, he'd end up with a really bad headache, but he wasn't finish talking with Kalos just yet. "I can handle seeing your tentacles. I was just... surprised when I first saw them, that's all."

And then, just like that, the bubble of air around Kalos's coral-shaped head was gone.

"I was born in Atlantis. She countered. "Not some uncultured seabed. We had air, anóitos." Born underwater? Technically true, but they had breathable air. They were not all mermaids and fishmen. Not even the gorgon were all able to breathe under water. Kalos certainly wasn't. But she had learned to swim all the same. Even the slaves of the undersea kingdom needed to know that much.

She saw the moment that Andy's feelings were affected by her words and Kalos regretted them.

> "I don't have delicate feelings."

Too much or too strong a denial was only more confirmation. She couldn't say that, of course. He might have been just a man-boy, but he was a demigod. She watched him warily as he spoke more unbelievable denials. She would not risk her fingers for him. He could say he was fine with it until they were both at the surface. She couldn't believe it.

"I can make—" He must have waited until she was ready to inhale so that he got the most revenge. Kalos sucked in a mouthful of water when she expected air. The bubble he was providing for her, that she had come to take for granted, was now gone. A petty and sensitive demigod would always be unreliable.

Kalos choked and squirmed and increased her fervor for swimming to the edge. Her fingers, she stubbornly kept in place, but most of her toes were missing chunks by the time she was clawing her way up to the side of the pool.

She sputtered and coughed and pulled herself up. It would have been faster to go the way Bubblehead went. It would have been easier to go to the ladder. She did not trust him.

"I am— sorry for your feelings." She coughed, but every breath made her thankful for the air that surrounded her and that the demigod was not in charge of. He could not take this away.

>> "I was born in Atlantis. Not some uncultured seabed. We had air, anóitos."

Andy didn’t know what Kalos just called him, or if it was even a real word, but he could tell she was annoyed. Clearly, she didn’t like it when he questioned her Atlantean heritage, probably because she didn’t want to accept the facts: Atlantis was never an underwater city; it was a tourist destination, a newly discovered country that was no different from the United States. Perhaps it had a bit more biodiversity, but that didn’t mean it was overrun by mermen with tridents…or little girls made out of coral.

She was a mutant, just like everyone else at Xavier's, not an Atlantean... right?

“What do you mean, you had air?” Andy continued inquiring, even when he knew he shouldn’t. He really didn’t want to upset the little pink-skinned girl any more than he already had, but he also really wanted answers.

But then he called his feelings delicate and something inside Andy cracked.

No longer wanting to hear her voice or even look at her, he dropped his water repulsion field as he lowered his hand back to his side and averted his gaze. His headache disappeared almost instantly, but his entire body still felt tense, angry even. It was an awful feeling that he couldn’t seem to shake until he glanced back at Kalos and realized she was choking on water.

Eyes widening, Andy was both surprised and confused by the fact she couldn’t breathe underwater. A part of him even enjoyed watching her struggle as she desperately clawed her way up the side of the pool, or tried to.

Who’s the weak one now? he thought, a small, devilish grin forming across his lips before his conscience convinced him to rush to the little pink-skinned girl’s aid. 

By the time he swam over, however, she was already halfway out of the pool. Feeling a twinge of guilt for not helping sooner, he sped to the surface and climbed out of the pool to check on her. She was coughing up a storm, her face much paler than before, but at least she didn't drown...

Resisting the urge to tell her I told you so, Andy crouched down and patted her gently on the back. Sighing, he asked, “Are you okay?"

>> "I am— sorry for your feelings."

Andy furrowed his brow at Kalos's apology. Did she think he did this on purpose? "Hey, I didn't know you couldn't breathe underwater... and, for the last time, I don't have delicate feelings." The anger he felt bubbling inside him said otherwise, but she didn't have to know that. He took a deep, calming breath to regain control over his emotions and crossed his arms. “Seriously, what kind of Atlantean can’t breathe underwater?”

He was coming toward her while she coughed and Kalos could not drag herself away fast enough. He caught her. She cringed underneath his... gentle pat? Confused, embarrassed, and terrified that he would hit harder next time or maybe add in some kicks, she scrambled away and tucked her exposed tentacle toes beneath her. With her back to a wall, that meant he could not hit her there. She could raise her arms this way and keep her face from getting broken.

"Most people can't breathe under water." She dared to speak, but only just. Bubblehead would have to strain to hear.

> “Seriously, what kind of Atlantean can’t breathe underwater?”

She wouldn't cry. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing how his words wounded her. How many times had she heard that taunt before? Based on her appearance, it was expected. She had been considered one of the most useless gorgons, small and with no redeeming qualities.

"You do not listen. Why should I speak?" She squeezed herself into as small a space as possible, ready to put her arms between them and keep him away. How could she get hero Mirror here? Surely a hero would save her.