2500/What Next, Princess

What Next, Princess
Date of Scene:	17 July 2020
Location:	Hammer Bay
Synopsis:	Blink and Polaris have a discussion on Genosha's shores about what might happen next.
Cast of Characters:	Lorna Dane, Clarice Ferguson

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Lorna Dane has posed:
The conversation at the Mansion had clearly troubled Lorna. She hadn't meant to let it all out, on the contrary she had meant to hold her feeling in. Especially regarding her father. It was always complicated when it came to her family dynamic. Her feelings were always difficult to process, and with her position in Genosha being up in the air.. well, it left a lot to deal with.

She'd returned to the island, and the refugee camp, and had done her best to continue handling the issues that came with rebuilding a ruined nation as she had been for the past several months. Magneto hadn't returned.. yet, and people were still waiting to see what might happen.

The green haired mutant sat on the cleaned up sandy beach, wearing a simple pair of jean shorts and a tank-top. The sun half-way down into setting, and casting the whole sky in a warm orange-yellow glow.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
There was that telltale sound of one of Clarice's portals opening, the rush of energy and then the purple-haired mutant stepping out of it some ways behind Lorna's position by the beach. So that's where she was.. She approached in that quiet manner of hers, thumbs resting on the pockets of her jeans, she also with a tank top and sandals. It was hot enough out here in the tropical island, even if it was close to night time.

"Hey." She says quietly, moving to sit next to Lorna. Yes, she had questions, many of them brought up during that conversation in the gardens with the other X-men. Though she wouldn't force any out as right now she was simply enjoying the night setting down on the island even if it had a lot less life than before..

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna smiled, but it appeared and failed just as quickly as it took Clarice to portal onto the beach beside her. "Hey.." She offered and sighed, closing her eyes as she listened to the soft sounds of the waves crashing against the sandy shore. The whole cove was cleaned up, it had taken months, but the area was clear of debris. And moreover, the road to it from the refugee camp was newly paved too. Hammer Bay wasn't what it once was, but there was a new kind of stability appearing in the edges, promises of a new dawn yet to arrive.

A sigh pulled from her lips, and the green haired royal shifted her gaze back to long time friend and companion. "I'm sure you've got something to say regarding what I said in the gardens the other day.."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
It felt good to just be at peace sometimes, Clarice looking up at the sky and then at those crashing waves, chest heaving up and down slowly. She missed Genosha, but more than that she missed the -people- and the life it once had. It didn't help that she remembered this cove as it had been in the past, not the emptiness of the present.

"A few things." She admits. Yes, quite a few. Unnatural green eyes turn to Lorna and she says. "Do you really believe Lord Magneto will retaliate about all this that happened?" perhaps in a way she had feared it too, just hadn't admitted it to herself.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shoved her hands into the soft sands, her fingers curling into the cool damp below and then shaking them off after a beat. She glanced back to Clarice, and she pursed her lips together. "If all this time my father has been locked up in a bottle with parts of Hammer Bay and Carrion Cove... and I'm not there? You know he might very well think I'm dead. That everyone else is dead. I love my father, but I know that he has a tendency to..." She trailed off, exhaling through her nose.

"Act on feelings. Maybe he'll have had time to cool off and think things through. Maybe I'm over thinking it. But I'm worried. We discovered that the humans made those Sentinels that Braniac used to attack. And I doubt my father won't figure it out either.." She trailed off, her eyebrows furrowing sharply.

"He's gone through too many horrible things in his past to not react negatively..."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
"To act, indeed.." Clarice echoes with a slow nod of her own. She had worked enough for the Genosha royalty to be aware of those rumors of the past, and what she had witnessed with her own eyes as well in these years. Biting on her lower lip she brings her legs up against her chest even as the wind picks up and starts to make her hair trail about.

"Where is he? Has he made any attempts at contact?" She was actually still a bit confused on what the Genosha status was. "I know there are top people working on restoring our people but ..."

And she frowns then before suggesting. "Perhaps we should act too. Reach out to him before something happens, or he makes something happen that he could regret in the future."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged, hugging her arms around her middle as she drew her knees up and settle her chin atop them. She sighed heavily, closing her eyes briefly. "I don't know how he managed to send a signal in the first place. I mean.. hell, I can't feel him in the magnetic fields. So I have to assume his connection to the Earth is broken by whatever it is that holds him and the others." She glanced back to Clarice, her eyebrows furrowed sharply.

"And no one is going to want to stop and figure that out when they're trying to figure out how to return those trapped within..." She grimaced, "Here on Genosha we're on a knife's edge already. Half of those that can fight here won't support me when my father is a viable option. They'll go to him.. And I'll be back to the Princess in waiting... we will lose a great deal of the diplomatic support we currently have. A few people made it clear that they supported Genosha because I was in charge.. not my father. I don't know what will happen.. and I'm worried."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
"I meant. For when they are restored, we should be there. Do you know who is leading the efforts on restoring Genosha?" Clarice questions, resting her cheek on that knee that is up against her chest. "You should be the first to greet him when he's back, tell him what happened, what has been done while he was in there." a small, understanding smile cropping up on her expression. "It will be hard, but I think you are ready for it."

Yet she can also understand that it won't be easy in the diplomacy field. Even if it was something she had never ventured too much into. Politics ..., brrr.. "One thing at a time though. First we focus on restoring our people. And then, we hope to find a way forward. Together. That's what this is all about isn't it?"

Her eyes go back to the waves. "We won't be broken, no matter how much they try."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna hmm'ed under her breath, her eyebrows knitting together as she considered everything that Clarice said. The wind tossed her hair back, and she pushed it out of her face and behind her ear once again. "I suppose you're right. I can at least reassure him that I'm alive and everything at least..." She grimaced, "But... people still died. We still lost millions. If the glassy areas around here are any indication that that is where Brainiac kidnapped people.." She trailed off and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know. It seems wrong to not be demanding justice and reparations for the US government having created those machines that killed so many..." She shook her head. "I know that my father isn't likely to forgive that. I find it hard myself to not harbor those feelings." She swallowed a lump that formed in the back of her throat. There was more, far more in the tangled knot that made up her feelings too. Did she want to be heir to Genosha anymore? She'd born the brunt of responsibility, and now.. could she return to being heir? Could she go through mourning for her father again in the future to pick up the pieces again and be Queen once more?

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
"There are no easy answers, are there?" Blink dips her head just so as Lorna mentions the millions that were lost. Many were her friends. "We can only hope to do the best we can." a sigh and then she says in a reassuring tone. "I will be there to help."

But what more could she say now? Instead she contented herself in looking towards the crashing waves, imagining how Genosha had been, and what the future might bring to their future.

No easy answers indeed, but she had hope, both in Genosha and Lorna. That much was certain.