"…did it even come up?"
Fortunately for me, Alan is more bewildered than annoyed. From what I've been able to tell, he met Rose when he was relatively young and focusing on his career. As such, he didn't really do a lot of dating even when he was younger-. At least, not causal dating with a variety of women. Given how much of a sore point it is, I haven't asked anyone if he dated after their marriage was annulled, but I'm guessing not.
That sort of romantic history definitely seems a solid reason why a lot of more modern variants are pegged as homosexual or bisexual. Man has not had much luck with romance in
nearly any universe,
Molly Mayne notwithstanding.
Commander Scott was married to someone called Molly Mayne, but our version of her died years ago.
"Okay, so we didn't really get into her dating history-"
Unlucky for the Harlequin. Heck, Post-Crisis Alan Scott fought his way into Hell to save her soul in one
plotline...
"Then clearly you're not taking this matchmaker thing seriously."
Bewildered and slightly amused.
Of course. It's the mentor's privilege to be amused by his student's flailing about. Admittedly, in msot cases, it's usually in their normal field of work, not...

Setting him up on dates.
"-but as I understand it, she's thousands of years old and she's never dated."
"Ah… Do you mean, she's never married..?"
...Talk about a dry spell.
"Not according to her. She wants to marry someone suitably heroic, but her world's been at peace for pretty much her whole life, and while she's interested in magic research… It doesn't… Ah. Attract her."
"Her world's been at peace for thousands of years?"
Maybe the lady needs to lower her standards a little?
"Ah, all their history is recorded in warded books, so I haven't been able to study it in detail, but that's what she said. I don't know exactly how peaceful 'peaceful' is, but I'm going to assume that it means no major wars. And she's an archmage in her own right, so impressing her isn't just a matter of winning a few duels."
Not that it wouldn't get her engine purring, if you know what I mean?
"Huh. Do you think she'd let us in on the secret?"
"What secret?"
"How to stay at peace for thousands of years. It feel like we can't even manage a year."
Blame Narrative Causality. Humans are conflict-driven beings. Fighting to survive, fighting to dominate, fighting over race, creed or colour... Nearly everything in Human history ties back to conflict in
some way. and lots of Science Fiction tends to lean on that. I remember many a HFY tale where we seem like super-soldiers to most aliens of the galaxy.
"After everything that's happened, I think it'll take at least a year and a half before we have another one. So..? You up for it? It's just one getting-to-know-you date."
I hear him sigh. "Why..? Me?"
Don't jinx it, OL. You
know Events tend to come along on an annual schedule...
"Because I consider you to be the model of heroism."
The construct of his face sort of… Looks at me a little blankly.
Yeah, i don't think he's quite following you here.
"Oh. Ah... Thank you. But there's other guys on the Justice League. What about… Hal? Or J'onn or Nate? J'onn's been active about as long as I have."
"What about them?"
Yeah, but they have their dark sides. Alan is fairly clean all the way down.
"They're single heroic guys."
"I suppose that they might have made the long list. It's not-. It wasn't a condition, she just asked and yours was the name that came to me."
Which says a lot about how much he respects Alan. So different to many alternates.
"Alright, but you don't usually have just one answer for things like that. Is there a prob-?" He blinks, something occurring to him. "Is this about Giovanni?"
"Forgiving and forgetting are different things. I have to take into account the fact that they're people who made those decisions. Which disqualifies them from the category of 'ideal hero'."
Ah, there's a big sticking point, yes.
"Huh."
"I-." Peering through the murk, I see someone approaching. "As I said, you're free to say no."
But given the weighty matters behind it... Can you see him refusing to meet?
"Yeah, I could… …" He looks away for a moment. "Where does she wanna meet up?"
"Her palace? Data packet en route."
Heh. Getting him to come a'courting. She really is into the fairy-tale princess fantasy, isn't she?
"Okay. That's… A bit of a commute, but I guess it's good practice for me."
"You're actually.. going to..?"
Yeah, he hasn't done much long-range travel solo, has he? Better remind him to wear a space suit just in case of focus loss.
"I guess there's no harm in meeting the woman. That's… All."
Data packet sent.
Ah, so much easier information sharing Power Rings have. While I can't even get two Windows 10 systems to talk to each other... Dang removal of ad hoc networks.
"And then we can-. What's this?"
"An indexed account of your entire heroic career, including the handful of times you saw combat in the US Army and didn't use your ring. I thought it might help jog your memory. You know, when she asks."
Okay, OL? I know you want this to go well, but there is such a thing as over-preparing.
"Lies!
"
"Heh. Okay. Indexed?"
"Depending on which heroic virtue she values the most. Um. Ah, look, I've got an informant on the.. Atlantis situation I need to talk to-."
And not all of those heroic virtues may align with modern 'heroism'. Remember Greek heroes, who had a much more
casual approach to murder when the situation demanded it?
"And apparently I've got to check that my good suit still fits. I'll catch you later."
The projection vanishes, and I lower my left hand.
As if that matters? One bit of hoping for a better fit and
bam, he's a sharp-dressed man.
"Well. That was awkward."
"I thought it went alright."
Read the room, OL? He just had to listen to all of that conversation. Do you
know how embarrassing that sort of thing is for guys?
Robert looks at me like I've said something stupid. "No. I mean, for me."
"If that's the worst thing that happens today-."
It's be a good day, yes... Still, the day is young.
One of the Fish-Eaters comes up alongside the bubble and sticks his head in. He's in shark mode, only… More so than he used to be, and I'm not sure which one this is.
"This the right place?"
Evidently an improvement in their metamorphic skills.
"Yes, Stevie. It is."
He nods, as much as his neck lets him. "Robbie. Orange."
To be fair, there's a few different styles of sharkman. Street Sharks, King Shark, Champions Online's Shark heads (Picture a shark head attached more like a human head atop the spinal column, facing forwards. Takes a lot of tailoring adjustment in the costume editor to get a decent look out of them...)
"Where are the other two?"
"Covering for me. Things are fucked up in Nanauve. They got-. Fuckin-. Refugees."
Yeah, that was expected. Can't have the ugly fish people stinking up Ahri'ahn's above-water paradise, after all.
"From where?"
"Other cities where they're getting rid of the ones who look like fish. And they're just taking it."
As in, no-one's
objecting, or as in they don't like it but have no recourse to refuse? Big difference there.
"King Orin is still king, so they might-."
"No one's seen him. Just that 'arry Ahn fucker. It's a palace coup, mate."
Looking more and more likely, yes.
Mildly impressed that he knows the term.
"Are any of Ahri'ahn's people in Nanauve now?"
Don't want to get caught poking around, after all.
"Not swimming around in uniform, but they've got magic, haven't they?"
I shake my head. "So do I. Cornwall, can you match your magic profile to what Steven uses? I could use backup."
So, Cornwall Sharkman? That'll be a nice trick.
"Yeah. I can do that."
"Thank you. Steven, show me the problem."
Discreetly, I hope.