"Special....." Marlon found himself staring into space at the thought. He had given up on ever feeling special the entire time he attended that school. He always felt as though he was destined to graduate a kid that nobody remembered with great fondness and secretly wished was the one that drank too much at his after-grad party and end up in juvie. Getting that shell had changed all of that; even as his accidents at school continued, at least now he could close his eyes and imagine himself in the ocean, early in the morning when the sun wasn't even up yet, swimming gracefully in the water and playing tag with the small fish that were brave enough to venture close. He had something so special, something that the other kids could only dream about. Sometimes he wished he could say something, but then he would remind himself that even if they knew, they would only end up liking him because of WHAT he was rather than WHO he was.

He smiled a little at Eolande as she shrugged. "Mine are gone a lot too; at least yours probably has a set schedule. Mine could come through the door at any time; that's why I have to be extra careful about trying to morph in the pool or the bathtub. It's like........like you're Clark Kent and I'm more like the chick from Splash." He chuckled at the thought before reaching out to pat Eolande on her knee. "Being a living shadow is plenty useful. Personally, I would love to have that ability at school; to just be able to slink away when they all turn on me. But it's a useful ability any way you slice it."

He smiled back at her as he withdrew his own hand and she patted him on the shoulder. "Oh don't worry; I'll be fighting too. Who knows; I might just get a severe case of clumsiness and knock them all out by accident." He smiled at the mention of partners, then wrinkled his nose in amusement. "Well, so long as I'm not your Aquaman, I guess I can settle for being a boy wonder."