Tidal-Bore

3. Finding Atlantis

Since there wasn't much to do in the depths of the ocean and Wooyoung quickly lost interest in staring out of the window, he spent his time playing games with the others. Yongguk had insisted on going over his notes for the millionth time and Yeosang pretended to be busy with their schedule, but Wooyoung caught the latter glancing over in boredom multiple times. The hours to the bottom didn't pass faster spent in stiff fretting, so Wooyoung was quick to relax into his seat with a card game he found buried in the drawers of the submarine.

Kiko and Petra paid him company, at ease with his flirtatious charm that neither of them had to take seriously.

"So, strictly speaking, aren't the Atlanteans component of your studies over mine? Not that they cannot be regarded as a society, but their life on the ocean floor undoubtedly makes them a marine lifeform," Wooyoung brought up a discussion topic while he sorted his cards. Their game was automatic, almost irrelevant on the side as they talked. Yongguk lost focus on his notes as his head sought an answer.

"From what we know, they have no fins or scales, which makes them human to me." Kiko placed her card down and Petra worried her lip between her teeth. She startled when Yongguk came up behind her, uttering in his low voice to explain how to best play her cards.

Caught in their battle of wits, Wooyoung and Kiko sped through the game.

"Certainly, we know they can communicate and have their own language and culture, which makes them a society like ours. However, anything living in the ocean is maritime biology, no?" Wooyoung probed further, amused with his game even when the answer didn't matter.

"Yes, from my perspective, but no from yours. Any social structure and human behaviour is yours, no matter where they live," Kiko batted back. She dropped her card and Yongguk reached over Petra's shoulder to play another one for her. With a curse on Wooyoung's lips, he drew another.

"Good point. Now what if they turn out to have descended from humans and share their evolutionary roots but they developed to match maritime lifeforms as means of survival? Aka humanoids with webbed fingers?"

In Wooyoung's opinion, a folk that lived in the dark depths of the water without sunlight and surrounded by fishes that called for assimilation couldn't be too human. Not after thousands of years. The Atlanteans may have their own language and culture and enough brains to respect a diplomatic meeting with the surface scientists, but they had to be freaks of nature.

Not that Wooyoung minded. He was here to explore and research, and he liked to think that he could befriend anyone, no matter their quirks.

"In that case, we share. I dissect their children and in the meantime you ask the parents how the social hierarchy works," Kiko said with a roll of her eyes. Wooyoung giggled, satisfied with that brutal answer.

Petra was winning their game.

Uncaring about the competition going on, Yeosang gasped in his corner.

"You will not dissect anything down there, not even a fish. For the next four to six weeks, we are babies who need to be introduced to life. No eating what you aren't supposed to eat and no dissecting what you aren't supposed to dissect," he scolded. The warning was only half in joke. He knew Wooyoung and Kiko too well to underestimate the mischief their combination brought.

Wooyoung leaned back when Petra dropped her last card with a cry of joy. As she twirled around to thank Yongguk, Kiko let her cards sink with the sigh of an old man.

"You say that, but what if I meet a hot girl? Do I need your permission to eat her or should I go straight to the town chief with a formal letter of application?" She flashed a triumphant smirk when Yeosang blushed a furious red.