17505/Returning To Genosha

Returning To Genosha
Date of Scene:	28 March 2024
Location:	Kiana's Tropical Cove
Synopsis:	Cain shows up in Genosha to repay a debt from when he and the exec he was bodyguarding were rescued at sea.
Cast of Characters:	Kiana, Cain Marko

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Kiana has posed:
The weather is beautiful tropical weather at least for the moment. The surf shack and its cove are south of Hammer Bay, the capital of Genosha, a good fifteen or twenty miles. An intersection on the road running south along the coast has a small jewelry stand, a diner and little garage that deals with boats more than cars. Plus a few tiny dwellings. From there it's a good twenty minute walk at least to find the ravine and the path through the cliffs that leads to Kiana's cove.

The damage when the Wild Sentinels had largely destroyed the island has been undone by the intervening four years, plus a dash of mutant powers to repair the land and regrow the plant life. And at the moment, Kiana is out floating in the water near to shore. She's wearing the same aqua and deeper blue bikini that she was wearing when she showed up at the sight of the sunken Roxxon ship where Cain Marko had defended his employer from the attack by the Green Goblin. Kiana sticks her head down into the water and looks around, then pulls it back up, flipping her head to get her hair back presentable. "I should find some more pearls for Old Ned. If I'm going to go exploring Gotham and New York, I am going to need some money, I bet," she says to herself thoughtfully.

Cain Marko has posed:
It's, perhaps, a strange thing to consider but The Juggernaut is not as distant or disconnected from Genosha as some might first assume. In truth, though he's not a mutant he is often mistaken for one and the circumstances of his affiliations, grudges and activities have kept him part of the circle of history that binds mutant kind together whether he likes it or not.

Being an ally of The Brotherhood and at one point directly hired by and working for the Queen of Genosha herself certainly counts for that...and so he's not unfamiliar with this land or its challenges and triumphs even though he's hardly what one would call a regular visitor. Either way, it's with a certain degree of surety and confidence...well...more than usual at least...that he makes his along the path towards that special cove, having received some directions and hints from the diner patrons some distance back. it probably helped that he came to them in his yet gigantic but not 'omg run the hell away' avatar armored form though to be certain, Genosha is hardly without specimens of exceptionally size or unique physical traits. There's still 'something' about being The Juggernaut though.

Neverthelss, his immense body is still a sight to behold and not easily missed as he draws near, straining and stretching his casual everyday garb like saranwrap struggling to contain its contents and as he comes to a stop near the edge of the beach he espies Kiana emerging from the ocean surface with her best impression of the Little Mermaid's hairflip as she does so.

He observes for a half second and then finally put his fingers to his mouth and gives a shrill whistle to try and attract her attention. This then followed by a booming runbling, "Hey!!!" -- which most likely will get her attention. Probably should have led with that.

Kiana has posed:
At the crossroads there was a young South American teen who probably gave a few surly looks when he heard Cain was asking directions to Kiana's cove. Though if Cain actually looked his way, the thin youth did his best to hide them.

As Cain calls out to her, Kiana sits up in the water and her face lights up at the sight of him. She covers the distance to the beach as quickly as a dolphin could, rising up out of the water to jog across the sand to the big man.

"You're back!?" she says excitedly, jumping off her feet to give him a hug and get her hands up onto his shoulders. "I didn't expect you back," she says, the pretty South Pacific island girl's face lighting up beautifully at the surprise. "How are you? When did you get here? What brought you back?" she asks, peppering him with questions. Also getting his clothing wet with salt water.

Cain Marko has posed:
At most the boy was given a quick sideways glance. The sort of survey that might have given the young lad the impression of being noticed by an earthquake or glanced at by a volcano. Not even a deliberate attempt to cow him it's just...he can't help but be himself even when being utterly neutral about someone or something.

Kiana, however, does get a surprised but not annoyed grunt as she hugs him and soaks his tee-shirt all the way through given the height differences between the two. The grinning kaiju on the shirt muddied up by the spreading wash of salt water and clinging tightly against his ridiculously huge upper body as a result.

"Hey, hey, careful! I didn't sign up for no wet tee-shirt contest!" He quips though he also returns the hug with a friendly draping of his massive arm over her to hold her to him briefly as he flashes her a sharkish grin.

"And..yeah. I'm back. I didn't exactly leave yet. Just went into Hammer Bay to conduct some business...and now..I got business with you still..."

He pulls back, releasing her from his tree trunk of an arm now and backing up as he looks down at himself and takes a good look at how wet he is. "...Assumin' I didn't get soaked all the way through at least!"

Kiana has posed:
If Cain had forgotten that Kiana told him she'd washed ashore on the beach in Genosha, badly injured and with no memory of her past... and quite unworldly and naive on top of it, her next question would probably remind him right away. "A wet t-shirt contest? What kind of contest is that? Do you win a wet t-shirt for winning it?" she asks, completely serious, and her pretty brown eyes lit up excitedly at his presence.

She lets that massive arm hold her against him until he releases it, at which point she drops back to the ground, landing lightly on bare feet. "Did you make a lot of money at your business?" she asks. He'd tried explaining to her how she needs to get paid if she's going to be saving people at sea. Though she'd said she didn't have much use for money so far.

"You should come swimming, the water is wonderful," she says, face bright as she slips her hand into his massive mitt, tugging just a bit which has no chance of moving him towards the water unless he chooses to go that way.

Cain Marko has posed:
Whelp that reminded him.

"Uh." he rumbles, realizing his ironic joke just flew over her head and the particualrs of her story flooding back to him. He looks her up and down, eyes widening slightly and then he just manages with a slightly embaressed tone, "No...not quite. Just uh...if anyone asks you to take part just...tell 'em no thanks. Trust me."

When she begins pulling on him, he allows the forward momentum to begin though he says, "Naw I'll pass. Might change m'mind though but I didn't exactly come ready to take a dip....and yeah I got my business done..."

Her statement about her not needing money is indeed on his mind though but her clear naivete and lack of worldly wisdom seems to be weighing on his mind as well as he continues by stating, "Listen...I know you said that you didn't need it but..I kinda think you do and I always repay all my debts. I wanna give you what I owe ya for the save and....uh..well..I kinda think you might like what you can do with it. Doesn't mean you gotta stop divin' for pearls but havin' a little backup cash won't hurt ya. In fact, might even make it easier for you to see more then this isle, right?"

He stops moving and flips his hand into his back pocket, withdrawing an overly stuffed wallet. "Whaddya say? Aint everyday somebody can say The Juggernaut paid 'em something...."

Kiana has posed:
Kiana stops pulling when Cain expresses he doesn't want to go into the water yet. She lets go of his hand, the pretty teen's head tilting to the side slightly as she listens to him talk about repaying his debt. "You don't have to. But if you want to... I was thinking of exploring some of the cities I have seen lately. And I know I might need some more money there. I saw New York, and they had this place with a big round wheel with lights that people would ride up to the top on. And there was music, and games. A woman I met said the games are rigged so not to play them. And there were all sorts of smells from the food there," she says, and it sounds an awful lot like Coney Island.

"I'd like to go and see that again. And I need to get more clothes to go there, so the money might help," she agrees. When she first brought Cain back to the Genosha where she'd also brought the sailors and the exec who hired him, all Kiana had besides her bikini was an old worn men's button up cotton shirt she said was Old Ned's.

She looks at the wallet curiously as he pulls it out. "I'm glad you came back," she says, shining that sweetly innocent smile up at him.

Cain Marko has posed:
"Aw don't smile at me like that... Yer gonna make me have to go bust up a bar punch The Hulk out just to feel dangerous and threatening again."

He knows this reference might go right over her head but it was more for him then it was her. She might not be able to recognize it, but any other 'tough guy' sort would see Mr. Marko's embarrassed expression for what it was: A huge mean guy getting his armor pierced by kindness and perhaps some true concern. She rescued him out of the goodness of her heart but her present circumstances are such that he can't help but have some empathy. The Juggernaut can be cruel, vindictive, carelessly and unimaginably destructive with no regard for the law or others, true, but he also has some honor and a seed of morality that can be stoked from time to time.

"Sounds like Coney Island." he says as he takes a seat on a large rock and begins counting out a wad of Genoshan currency.

"..Yeah the games are rigged but -sometimes- ... the fun is in playing anyway to try and outwit the games and the fun is in the trying, not necessarily in the winning or losing.."

He offers her a grin again, "Course....I don't like losing and usually I don't. But yeah, getting you some clothes is a good start. This should cover you with that plus food. But be careful. You'll want to stash it some place safe and only carry around just enough to keep ya going so that folk don't try and take advantage of you."

With that he holds the currency in one meaty hand though he considers things and glances around, "You got anything dry to put this in? You don't want this ever getting wet."

Kiana has posed:
Kiana moves over to sit on the rock beside Cain Marko, pulling her legs up to sit cross-legged there as she listens to him as if accepting sage advice. "I'll be careful," she promises. She glances at the shack and thinks for a moment. "I have a bowl I can put it under to help keep it dry," she says.

The water that is still on her tanned skin from being in the ocean, suddenly just flows away off of her and falls to the sand. After a moment's thought, the water making Cain's t-shirt wet does the same. He's seen her cause a little stream of water to rise up out of the ocean, a hydrokinetic. And even remove the salt so it was fine for drinking in doing so.

She takes the money then now that she's dry. "I bet Ned or Rafael will have something I can use," she says with a nod. "I'll ask them. Or if not I can buy something like you have," she says, gesturing to his wallet. "I'll have to see what kind of clothes to get. It seemed like it was cold out of the water there, in... Coney Island."

Cain Marko has posed:
"Oh wow. NIce..."

He had been considering pulling his shirt up and off to try and wring it out but she saved him that trouble. Holding the cash out for her had held him back from all that.

He'd seen her use her powers before but even Cain Marko can appreciate the subtle application of such abilities. It is indeed a reminder of her nature.

Her words, however, cause a mild frown to touch the red-haired brutes face and he purses his lips, lightly bearded jaw setting into a look of mild worry.

Uh.." he begins, searching for the right words in consideration of her innocence and then he simply says, "Well let's keep how you got the money as our little secret. I'm sure good ol'Ned means well and your other friends but they might not understand or...say the best things. Plus I don't want 'em either accidentally or intentionally taking advantage of you and your cash."

He allows a grin again. A slight look of that old 'charm' returning to him now as he moves more into his natural territory: Being a dangerous force of nature: "...Like I implied the other day...wouldn't want to have to pay any of 'em a visit..."

He let's her take the money when she's ready though and then nods, "Make getting clothes a priority though. Then you can go where you want. You're right, New York is going to be cooler then a place like this, on average. Gotham the same..."

There's another pause as he considers this carefully and then: "..I'll give you the means to get in touch with me. I think I better keep an eye on you..."

Kiana has posed:
Kiana's face lights up brightly. "There is a phone at the diner that they let me use. Though I have to keep the call short because it is expensive if someone is in the United States," she says. She slips an arm about his back when Cain makes clear his intent to protect her. Or she tries at least. Her hand makes it to the middle of the back of the massive man as she leans a little against him.

"I'm very glad to see you again," she says, looking down with a pretty, shy smile. "I still don't have many friends. And you were so kind and took care of me when I was too tired to get back home," she says. "And with the storm too." She didn't like the lightning. Mentioning it causes her to glance out to sea. "Rafael said there will be a storm coming tonight. They have... things up in space that can take pictures and know what the weather is," she says.

Her other hand strays down to toy with a little silver anklet with a charm shaped like a seashell on it.

Cain Marko has posed:
Cain permits the hug once again and grins once more, despite conflicting and warring thoughts that are now welling up.

They cause his grin to fade ever so slightly...

"Kindness isn't somethin' I'm usually associated with. Well, y'know...you saw for yourself. Listen.. I'm not exactly seen as the best guy back in the Stat--well--uh--the rest of the world. I break things...and folk sometimes come after me. Sometimes I go after them. I told you before about how I protect folk -- and yeah I do but...I'm also sometimes the guy that folk try and get protection from. It's complicated. I don't want to see you gettin' wrapped up in all that but I will look out for ya. I pay my debts."

And it's the right thing to do. Debts be damned. Not that he can bring himself to say that.

There is a pause again. Another heavy beat as he looks at her and then shrugs a little bit, "You want me to hang around?" he asks simply. "..Cause of the storm. I don't need to be heading back to New York until tomorrow. No rush..."

Kiana has posed:
The tanned girl gives the immense Cain Marko the gentlest smile as he's trying to explain how he's seen in the world. "It's ok to be complicated," she tells him. "You're kind to me, and that means a lot," she tells him simply.

She leans her head against his shoulder, eyes going out to sea. Maybe just on the horizon it is starting to look a little darker, though it's tough to tell.

At Cain's question for her, Kiana looks back up to him and she gives a soft, shy smile, her eyes dropping from his for a moment before flitting back up as she gives a timid nod. "I'd like it if you did," she tells him softly. "And I can take you back there when you need, if you'd like," she offers him.

Kiana leans her head back against Cain's shoulder, feeling comfortable by his presence.