Marlo was an important fish, he was a shark! Well, his species did not matter much, however, the position he bore here across the reef, did matter. He could get things done, and in this case, Tim had to talk to Marlo first, if he wanted to get back into the sect without being labeled a murderer, and or traitor!
A few days ago, he had a bad experience with several stingrays from within the sect. He experienced a deadly brawl which only allowed him, and Ortana (another stingray), to escape! Now Tim didn’t know if Ortana was still alive, he didn’t know if she made it home, but if she did, then he had to know how she had portrayed him within the sect!
This was the safest course of action, because he couldn't just barge in the sect right now. He wasn't able to predict how its members would react! Ortana could've said simply anything to preserve her privileges and her very life, and Tim wanted to know just what she said! That was why he wanted to talk to Marlo, he wanted to play it safe.
Koob, the barely verbal pufferfish, proved to be an excellent tool as well. He acted as the messenger, and went to fetch the headmaster, Marlo. He aided the previously mentioned, and important motives.
In the meantime, as Tim waited a comfortable distance away, he spent his whole time pondering over things. He wanted to have a plan for every possible scenario, just so he'd survive whatever the sect had to throw against him. He wanted to be ready!
In that spirit, he thought. “If Marlo tries to bite me or some shit, I'll blow his head off! Erg, if I can? That fucker probably has the best mana quality in the sect, so let's hope that I don't have to fight him. My mana is still rustic as shit.”
Tim waited for more than half an hour. Though at some point he got tired of waiting, he was still a bit happy about the delay, because he was given more time to accumulate mana points. This was great for various reasons!
If the sect attacked him, then he'd have plenty of mana to defend himself. If the sect re-accepted him, then he'd still need three-thousand points of mana in order to use the micro shift ability. He was certain that he wouldn't fit within the sect's hidden passages, as they were too snug for a stingray such as himself to push through. Tim's wingspan was two-and-a-half meters long, after all, it was no laughing matter!
At some point, Marlo did arrive, and met Tim right out here in the open, a few meters above the coral reef's rugged textures. He seemed baffled, as one would expect him to be, because it was really rare for the reef to be visited by such a monsterous stingray!
“Hmm…” Marlo pondered, and after a moment, he noticed a couple of patterns across the other's skin, so he thought. “That's a ribbon-tail ray alright, but why is he so big? This is really weird.”
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Moments later, he started talking to Timothy directly. He didn’t see Tim as a threat per se, regardless of the circumstances, so he felt comfortable to make an approach.
He asked, “What brings you here, sir stingray? I have to admit, your presence amongst our reef is quite a surprise, as we are not used to seeing folks your size.”
With that said, one thing was obvious! The sect didn't recognize him anymore, even Marlo wasn't able to recognize him, regardless of how he was smarter than the average fish! Tim acknowledged the other's confusion, and he could even abuse said confusion if he really tried to, but he was hesitant to do that.
He didn’t have a plan in mind for this particular situation, and he didn’t feel motivated to make some new plan either. For that matter, the best solution for him was to be direct about his new appearance, and tell the whole truth.
First, he said. “It's me, Marlo!”
Afterwards, he added. “I’m Tim! I ate too many damn panzer crabs, and they made me huge as shit! You probably heard about them, they're these really annoying, flat, crabby bastards...”
At some point, Marlo expressed. “I'm more surprised that you managed to eat one of those, Timeeth. Their shell can induce a rather horrendous toothache… good job!”
There was a lot to ponder here. Marlo hadn't even fully accepted that this massive stingray was actually Timothy. It was difficult to paint a mental picture of this situation, even though he had a very visual example to work with here. Tim's shadow was somewhat as overwhelming as that of the moon's, he was massive, yet Marlo was hardly convinced that the little stingray he knew had grown so big, as even magic had its limits of how magical it could be!
Regardless of the odds and ends, Marlo went on to discuss the past. Tim didn’t have the greatest reputation in the sect, so it was due time to talk about it. Then again, Tim wasn’t hated or banned from the sect either, so Marlo didn’t even second guess himself as he proposed an invite.
He followed along, “It appears that your adventures have been interesting, Timothy, but do you care to join us, and explain yourself to the rest of the sect? I can assure you that most of the sect still accepts you as one of our own, but you still need to make an appearance, to soothe their curiosity. Fish are becoming more and more social by the passing day, emotional too, so I’m sure they’d be happy if you explained to them how you became this big. I know you ate a bunch of crabs, but come on, give our younger ones a good story for them to follow...”
“As if my big flat ass could fit in the lair. I’d love to come, Marlo, but I'd probably get stuck somewhere and rot.” Tim followed along, he joked.
He didn’t tell the other that he possessed the micro shift ability, but that was only because he wanted to keep his cards close to his chest! If the sect ended up threatening him, or attacking him, then he’d like to have the element of surprise, and simply shift sizes if an upcoming situation demanded it.
For that matter, he played the role of the helpless ole stingray, and asked. “Is there another entrance for me to use, one that’s stingray friendly? I don’t wanna get stuck.”
Marlo then answered, but as he did, his tone and posture even seemed worried, as he explained. “We have a lot of new entrances, kid. The lair suffered quite a quake!”