2750/Beaches and Bottles

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Beaches and Bottles
Date of Scene: 02 August 2020
Location: Hammer Bay Refugee Camp
Synopsis: Gabby and Hope come to visit Lorna on Genosha.
Cast of Characters: Lorna Dane, Gabby Kinney, Hope Summers




Lorna Dane has posed:
The bottles of bits Genosha that Brainiac had stolen had been recovered and returned to the island nation to whence they belonged. However with Mutant Town's resizing had come damage to the device used to return those captured. Genosha was at a standstill until a work around could be completed.

After having spent long hours at the earthen fortress that housed the bottles, she'd been kindly told to take a break. Which led the Queen regent to head to the beach. The white sandy shoals were pristine and clear of any debris, and children played up and down the beach nearest to the refugee camp. Which is where a long pier stretched out to the sea, where goods from more sympathetic donors were delivered on the regular. For now? The sun was setting on the tropical beach.

The waters a warm seventy degrees, the waters clear blue and teaming with life of various creatures. Not too far off shore, spouts of dolphins could be seen now and then for those that kept a close eye. And beyond that? According to the treaty recently brokered between Namor and Lorna... Atlantean vessels swam and patrolled the island's coasts.

Lorna sat on a beach towel, looking tired and sitting with a brown wrapped sandwhich and steel canteen of water beside her. She wore a simple tank-top and pair of shorts, likely over something that could be worn as a swimsuit if she cared to join the swell of waves that crashed against the tropical shore. But for now, she sat, she brooded, and propped her chin up with her hands as she stared out at the sea. She was //relaxing// yepp. Definitely.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
It had been awhile since Gabby was allowed on Genosha after the... kerfluffle with her powers being kept secret. It was all worked out now though, and she wanted to revisit to help where she could. If she could. Even if it was just to help cheer up Lorna as best she could. She'd brought with her a backpack nearly teeming to the bri with who-knew-what as she pads along toward the beach where she pauses to stare out at the sunset over the water. Then she simply drops the bag... and races toward the beach literally kicking her shoes off mid-run. Her shirt is tugged off overhead, too, though thankgod she has a sports bra beneath.

"WOOO! BEACH! I'm gonna cannonball!" Much as she could. There really wasn't a cliff or anywhere she could leap off of though she does her best to give a mighty leap when she reaches the water's edge. Only to SPLOOSH in the shallows landing on her butt with a laugh as she gets soaked.

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope has been incommunicado for a few months. Arriving in a future (past? world?) where things were far better than she expected meant she needed some time to figure out where and when she was before she could decide what to do next. Things are the school still seemed to be normal, but when she heard there was a group heading to Genosha for a routine aid run, she got herself onto the plane.

Protocol might keep some people from seeking out the queen, but Hope's never been much of one for standing on ceremony. The Blackbird landed and while things were being unloaded she slipped off and asked around until she figured out enough to head for the beach. She's not quite as excited about it as Gabby, but she scoops up the backpack and discarded clothes with a smirk as she follows behind, raising a hand in Lorna's direction.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna practically jumped as Gabby came bolting out from seemingly no where to run and jump into the shallows of the gently lapping waves. Her eyebrows shot upwards as she bit back a curse as sand flew and she was abruptly and completely tossed from her thoughts. "Gabby? Hope??" Her eyebrows shot upward in surprise at the sight of either of them, and she pushed herself up to stand.

"When did you two get over here?" She asked, clapping off her jean shorts of loose sand as she approached Hope at least. Gabby was still in the water and .. well, she wasn't quite ready to get splashed either.

Most of the refugees had given Lorna space, and so the X-men were more or less alone on that particular strip of beach.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney laughing picks herself up from the water before turning to slosh back to the sand. Some sand stuck to her legs and defintely to her feet but otherwise she's just mostly soaked and dripping with her hair half wet. She grins broadly at the surprised Lorna's reaction. It got her out of her thoughts at least! A good thing, she hopes.

"Like what, ten minutes ago?" She looks to Hope for confirmation before giving a shrug. "Figured you could use some company until things are worked out. Oh! And I brought stuff for the people still stuck," she adds with a gesture at her bag that Hope had picked up. "I made a ton of little puppets and stuff to put on a show for them. I mean I figure there's kids in there, too, maybe something silly would be nice? Or is that too stupid?"

Hope Summers has posed:
"Just a little bit ago," Hope answers Lorna, waving back toward the landing area. "The usual haul, I'm told." She grins at Gabby's explanation, raising the bag in demonstration. "Plus a little bit of Gabby special. How's the weight of the world sitting?" She says it casually, like it's just the sort of thing that happens - being expected to save an entire people.

Then again, she's got some experience in that arena.

"Nobody told me it was such a //nice// island," she adds, looking out toward the water. "Definitely nicer than Utopia."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's expression warmed at Gabby's words, "I don't know if anyone in the bottles can see out.. but the Pyms have offered to take trips with supplies inside. To make sure that everyone has what they need. We can add that to the boxes and make sure the kids inside get to play with it, how's that?" She offered, her voice soft.

A green eyed glance swung toward Hope, her eyebrows furrowing sharply. "Utopia?" She blinked a few times. "Genosha is beautiful on its own. And the natural beauty is something that my father dearly cared about. The cities were entirely green energy, and we worked hard to maintain the health of the oceans around us. Considering Madacasgar is only a short boat trip away.." She trailed off, considering Hope.

"The Sentinels only attacked Carrion Cove and Hammer Bay.. its where people lived."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Oh," Gabby pauses at that. Not sure if they can see out... but the mention of care packages earns a quick nod. "That'll work!" she agrees cheerily as the plan shifts. Always easy to please and roll with the punches. Beaming warmly she bounces on her feet. "Oh yeah this place is great. I mean, I didn't get to see it all and a lot of it was in bad shape, but..." Her hands spread just gesturing around.

"This is SO much better than New York. Not that the lake isn't nice. But it's a BEACH." She looks out over the water longingly only to squint at a few of the Altantean patrols that go nearby. "Huuuuuh. That's new."

Hope Summers has posed:
"It was off the coast of San Francisco. It was..." Hope pauses, considering, then shrugs. "I never really asked, I guess, but it had become the last stronghold for mutants before I showed up. Then after we took care of the Purifiers and the rest everyone sort of split between the X-Men on Utopia and the ones who went to reopen the school and...Anyhow. It was definitely not this nice."

Following Gabby's gaze out the water, she smiles faintly as she nods. "Glad to see you worked something out with Atlantis. How are things going with Wakanda? No problems with the refugees?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna smiled at Gabby, "I hope to make sure that Genosha stays nice.. we'll see what happens as we rebuild.. There's a lot of clean up that has to happen. But the coast was mostly untouched." She murmured, it was untouched because as mutants tried to escape the cities they were rounded up and slaughtered on the edges.

A glance was spared back to Hope as she continued to speak of 'Utopia'. "That's.. interesting.. why there?" She muttered, and shook her head. "Never mind, I don't want to know." At the mention of her working something out with Atlantis, she colored, and reached up to rub the bridge of her nose. "Erm.. yes... King Namor has agreed to working with Genosha.." She shifted her weight on her toes, and glanced back to the sea briefly and then back to Hope. "Shuri has been working with the team to resize people. And among others that have been increasing donations in preparation for those in the bottles to be returned. One way or another.. we're going to more than double the population here."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"King? Ooh, is he single?" Gabby asks all of a sudden VERY interested in the possibility there as she grins toward Lorna. Oh yes, she wanted info on this. She didn't know this Namor but... "Not Mystique in disguise again I hope like that last guy. I mean eesh. What a weirdo." Nodding solemnly she glances back over her shoulder regarding it all, then looking back to the pair.

"Sounds like we need to avoid making the same mistakes. I mean. Maybe not mistakes, maybe like, find a different way to do stuff if similar things happen so you end up on a happier island." A solemn nod is given.

Hope Summers has posed:
"Good news, I really don't know why," Hope grins at Lorna, shrugging. "Never came up. So. You can ask if you want, I still won't be able to tell you." The quirks a brow at the blush, turning a sidelong glance toward Gabby just in time to hear her question.

"I mean. He's pretty hot. Kind of a douche though. Where I came from, at least." She considers for another moment. "Still, the abs are a definite point in his favor."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna reached up to drag a hand through her hair as she shot Gabby a look, her head tilting to the side and she blinked repeatedly. "Uhm... he's definitely not Mystique in disguise and uhm.. he's not married. And has no consort.." She bit her lower lip. Her gaze turning back to Hope and she seemed a little stunned.

"I thought he was rather nice. Maybe a bit full of himself.. but that's not surprising.." She paused, her eyebrows furrowing. "Have you seen him before Hope?" The abs comment certainly earned her sideways glance.

"Also Julio, Doug, and Bobby were all down there in Atlantis when I visited. Apparently they were helping with some artifacts, isn't that interesting?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney nods with apparent satisfaction at this. So long as it wasn't Mystique like that weird kid she'd seen trying to propose to Lorna at the mansion that actually was Mystique and actually not proposing... but anyway. Her arms cross over her chest as she considers the information Hope gives along with Lorna's responses too. "Abs are good," she has to agree with a single nod.

"Awww man I missed going to Atlantis? There's an ACTUAL Atlantis? I wanna see sometime!" Hmph. Oh well. She's easily distracted again at least with a softshell crab walking by on the beach, which she ducks down to run after. "Ooh here crabby crabby!"

Hope Summers has posed:
"He'd thrown in his lot with the mutants on Utopia. Not sure what the Atlantis situation was that he had the free time for it," Hope muses. Hindsight really does bring up all the things you didn't know enough to question at the time. "We did a few missions together. And then there was- Well. The other part I don't- I try not to blame anyone else for."

Though the way her brows furrow, it seems that's a part of being a bigger person that she's not entirely succeeding at.

"Artifacts, huh? Julio and Doug I get," she tilts her head. "Bobby..." And then she grins. "Well, it least it was probably interesting."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna cheeks remained faintly pick at Gabby's commentary about abs, and she glanced away briefly to cough into her hands. "Yeah abs //are// nice Gabby." She glanced briefly at Hope, her eyebrows furrowing slightly to mirror the other mutants. She pursed her lips together in consideration.

"Well that makes me feel way less special in managing to broker a treaty then. Geeze. Alternative mutant nation stole my ideas." She pursed her lips, folding her arms briefly as Gabby aww'ed about wanting to go to Atlantis.

"I'm sure you can come visit sometime Gabby, if we ask very nicely and if he needs more X-men I suppose." She really wasn't all sure about that. She'd been shocked to find the others there when she'd walked out to the throne room. "Bobby was there.. I guess because he's one of the few to be okay with not breathing regularly and being ice... pressure and cold don't bother him. Apparently. And it's likely a good thing he was there. Julio was off his rocker." She watched as Gabby broke off to chase a crab.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney scoops up the crab only to hold aloft high over her head. "Mr. Crabbington the Third the Second!" She declares. "Or is it Jr? Hmmm. Anyone have a pocket knife? He needs a stabby so he can patrol the beaches efficiently." She glances over to her bag contemplating but she doesn't have weaponry. That wasn't something she'd packed alas.

"Oh, yeah, Julio's got the Earth powers stuff. I think being in water probably would feel weird. And I think he and Bobby are dating or something so makes sense they were together," she adds in with a careless shrug. Her attention shifts again to the crab bringing it up to her face to stare into it's stalk eyes. "But we don't know what's going on around us do we, Mr. Crabbington? Nope. We're just kids... Oh, wait."

She lowers the crab looking rather struck as if she'd just remembered something important. "It's August now, right?"

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope laughs, shaking her head. "I wouldn't feel too badly about it. Our Namor wasn't much for doing anything he didn't decide to do himself. He probably did it just to flip off all the regular nations who were mad about Utopia, if I had to guess."

When Gabby asks for a knife, she snorts, shaking her head. "I'm not donating a perfectly good knife to a crab that's already got claws," she points out. "I believe in him, he can totally defend himself."

Her lips twitch. "People always underestimate the kids, Gabby. You learn to roll with it right about when you get old enough that they start to take you seriously. It's one of life's great unfairnesses. The ice thing makes sense, though," she nods to Lorna. "Hadn't thought about that. Good to see familiar faces when you go in for negotiations though, right?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna laughed softly, "Gabby he's probably terrified. And no, he doesn't need a knife, as much as you want to help.. I'm sure the crab can do what it needs to." As Hope chimed in, the green haired woman nodded and gestured to the crab. "See? It'll get in his way. And yes, it's August.."."

As Gabby spoke about Bobby and Julio dating, she hrmed, "Well that explains why Bobby went down there. And explains the looks. And Julio's remarks." She mused, "Ohhh, Julio is the boy that Bobby meant I bet when he said he'd met a guy at cafe." She glanced back to Hope then.

"Well.. I didn't see them for negotiations.. It was more post celebration of said terms being agreed on and our paths just happened to cross. That's all."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"That's good, Julio deserves someone nice," Gabby affirms with a nod as her guess is pretty much clarified. She looks to the crab in her hands though considering. "Oh. I didn't mean to scare him. Sorry Mr. Crabbington." With that she stoops down to place him gently on the sand again to let him skitter off anew.

She doesn't seem very upset over the loss of her crabby friend at least as she grins broadly. "Oh, good! That means I'm sixteen now! I can learn to drive now officially!"

Hope Summers has posed:
"I should probably learn how it's supposed to be done too," Hope says thoughtfully at Gabby's announcement. "I mean, it's not that hard to figure out," she adds, waving a hand. "One pedal to stop, one pedal to go, you move the wheel the direction you want to go. But, uh. People tend to have a lot more rules about how things are supposed to be done when there's a functional society. Go figure."

"We should do it together, Gabby," she grins. Probably at the mental image of the panic around the roads.

"Good for you, Lorna. It's good to see you taking steps. You holding up all right though?" she asks, giving her a closer look.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna nodded to Gabby's comment that Julio deserved someone nice. "Bobby does too. I think they'll be happy, if that's what they're looking for." She mused, and as Gabby promptly announced that she was sixteen because it was August, she arched a brow, tilting her head to the side. "We need to have a birthday party for you then. A proper one. With gifts. And I would love to teach you to drive, if you want the assist." She offered.

Plus there was little to no chance of wrecking a car with her in it.

Hope's question about her holding up earned a slight grimace. "Well my advisers turned out to be willing to try to murder my father to enact their religious beliefs that he would die and all of mutant kind of rise up. And are now either dead or locked up.. "She sighed, "And I don't know how my father is going to react to anything once he's released from the Bottles.. and I don't know how we're going to get everyone out of those bottles safely." She bit her lower lip. "So I'm holding up.. I guess.."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney grins broadly at the suggestions. "Yeah we can learn together! Oh, and Lorna can teach us!" Though she imagines that Logan or Laura might want a say in that, too. For now though they weren't here, and she was bouncing with excitement at the thought. "Okay great!"

In spite of her distraction she IS paying attention to the talk of the city in the bottle. When Lorna starts about how her father might react, she steps over to give Lorna a hug. "Well maybe he'll learn now not to surround himself with people that would do that to him. I mean that's pretty awful... And you've done great while he's gone! No wars or anything. That's a great job!"

Hope Summers has posed:
"Doug said something about your dad earlier," Hope nods, a faint smile at one corner of her lips. "I knew there was no way he was dead. Takes more than some Sentinels to take him out."

Gabby's assessment of 'a great job' seems to match up with Hope's assessment too. "He'd have nothing to complain about, for sure. And, you know. Maybe he's learned something about being careful with the whole demagogue thing. People are nuts when they start to believe in something that way. It's not good for either side."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna smiled, "Sure, I can try to help you learn how to drive." She mused, and glanced back as Gabby rushed over to give her a hug. She sighed, returning it even if Gabby was somewhat damp and sandy. "Thanks Gabby, but if it's all the same I want to give up being the responsible person for the only mutant nation on the planet. Let my dad have it back. I'm exhausted from ruling for six months." She murmured.

Even if she'd brought Genosha out of the darkest time it'd seen yet, and brokered more alliances and international deals than it had ever had previously... She was done. Or would be as soon as her father returned.

"Here's hoping he can be talked down and will be reasonable about things."