3465/From Sea to Shore

From Sea to Shore
Date of Scene:	20 September 2020
Location:	Hammer Bay
Synopsis:	Namor shows up and sweeps Lorna off to Atlantis
Cast of Characters:	Lorna Dane, Namor

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Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna waded along the sandy beach on Genosha's shore line, her toes sinking into the sand as she walked barefoot and tired. Her shoulders were slumped, and she wore a simple black swimsuit, with a long trailing wrap around her waist. She was exhausted, so she did what she usually did when she was tired but her mind wouldn't give her rest.. She walked alone on Genosha's tropical waters.

Her long green hair was tied back in a formal style, hinting at her earlier presence in formal talks with various would be Councilors and foreign agents seeking.. well, whatever they could grab as Genosha slowly continued to empty out. What had been a mass amount of humans and mutants left behind had slowly trickled down to about seventy thousand souls. A mixture of manufactured and mutant made buildings now stood in the ruins of Hammer Bay. The old refugee camp by the sea long since abandoned.

The green haired woman had sunk herself into running what Genosha needed and tending to its daily necessities far beyond the expectation of what a Queen was supposed to do.

But then again was she even considered a Queen? She'd had no coronation and now her father was alive. He'd left Genosha.. but he was hardly dead either.

Namor has posed:
There's a sudden breeze, perhaps simply the shifting of the tide. But soon footsteps behind mirror her own for a few moments, and he simply says, "Heavy is the crown, as surface dwellers love to say."

King Namor, Emperor of the Deep, Lord of the Seven Seas, etc etc, stands behind her. Water is quickly drying against his skin after what was likely a quick movement through the air, and he watches her with his usual stoic expression he typically has within the first moments of seeing anyone.

"I've been occupied with matters of ruined kingdoms in the ocean, so I apologize for my long absence." He doesn't apologize to just anyone, but he does apologize to her. "I'm here now." he assures.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna paused as the sea's spray changed, the pressure in the air shifted, and she registered among her senses the shared pop of electrical nerves that made up Namor's presence. She turned, rocking back on her heels as she wrapped her arms and looked up at him, a slow tilt of her head that sent her green hair shifting over her shoulders.

"You have an empire to run and last I remember a mess threatening your people and mine." She shrugged lightly, her voice soft and laced with the exhaustion that still tugged at her shoulders. It wasn't quite a dismissal of his apology, but neither did it remark on the strangeness of it. It was accepted and that was that.

A measured inhale and exhale followed as she glanced down at the sand between them on the sea shore. "For once it's been quiet, I've been working to handle the situation here." A pause and she glanced up at him. "You haven't missed any new and exciting developments."

Namor has posed:
"You've experienced the destruction of an entire kingdom." Namor looks around, and despite his composed and regal tone, she can likely pick up on the nuances of how he shows genuine concern by now. "Regardless of survivors, regardless of the capacity to rebuild, you've experienced the great loss of a ruler."

He carefully steps closer to her, entering her personal space even beyond her mutant senses, and reaches out to place a gentle yet firm hand on her shoulder. "How many people can you truly talk to about such things?"

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugged once, and she bit back the urge to sigh. She'd always been the ruler of a ruined kingdom for as long as she'd 'ruled'.. all six or seven months of it. Not the shortest reign in history all things considered, but neither did it feel all that remarkable. After all, everything she'd worked for in the former refugee camp had been destroyed by Magneto. Not that the world didn't know that by now either.

Still, she was too tired to care, or perhaps was on the edge of another depressive spiral. It was hard to say, when her thoughts were muddled with restless energy and her mind refused to rest.

"Well hard to say, victims of genocide? Sure, there's plenty of those around. Those that were supposed to be in charge and have struggled to rebuild?" She shrugged and waved her hand back and forth as if to make light of it all.

"I don't think it matters anymore. I.." She trailed off. "Maybe I should just abdicate whatever claim I have."

Namor has posed:
"Well, you'll have to ask yourself, is this still your kingdom? Is this where you want to be? Your people are still alive, and you don't need this land to be a queen." Namor stares out into the distance of Genosha as he speaks, never removing his hand from her shoulder.

"I would be a king, an emperor, no matter where I was. I would still be the king of my people. So if this seemingly cursed place is not where you see your kingdom..." He motions his free hand to indicate the horizon of Genosha. "Then perhaps you should find out where your kingdom truly is."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, shaking her head. "That is not what I meant. I've told you before.. I wasn't born to this. I wasn't raised with the expectation of ruling people. I had it dropped on my head and then ... I just tried to do my best." Her voice was barely a whisper at the end. Her lips twisting into a grimace.

"You know it's not what I chose. I told you before, that I wished to see the world, to experience it as others do. To learn." She reached up a hand to drag her hands through her hair, but her fingers butted up against the intricate braids and little pins that had been tucked into the formal style she'd worn earlier. She wrinkled her nose in annoyance, and let her hands fall away.

"I will always be responsible for Genosha's safety.. and I would drop everything to be here should they need me. I just.. I am tired Namor. I know you and others want me to remain Queen for various different reasons. And yes, many of them are very good reasons. I know.."

Namor has posed:
"Sometimes being royalty is about knowing when you can no longer rule." Namor states without any real judgment in his tone, then releases her shoulder to walk toward the ocean, stopping short of the water to stare out over it.

"If you truly wish to travel the world, to experience all that the surface has to offer you, then you can have that. There are ways to make sure that your people and even this land are safe." He turns back to look at her, his expression still rather hard, but even still, he manages to convey compassion through his firmness. "I am the king of most of this planet. If you want this, you will have it."

Lorna Dane has posed:
A heavy sigh dragged from her lips, the same old argument had come around full circle. Though argument was putting it rather severely. Namor wanted Genosha, but he hadn't pushed it. Had never had a need to do so. She'd said no, and he'd danced around the ease at which he could help her. Give her everything she wanted... if only she'd stop having such silly notions such as worrying what everyone thought.

Lorna reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "I know. And thank you. I appreciate... the offers and support. I do. I just.." She pursed her lips breaking off whatever she'd been going to say.

"I am simply tired and haven't been sleeping well." As if it explained all her woes, all her issues. And perhaps in some small way it wasn't entirely incorrect to say either. She sank down onto the sand, rocking back to sit, and reaching up to rub at her features. She pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes and released a rather drawn sigh, her shoulders rising and falling.

Namor has posed:
Namor walks over back over to her, taking a seat in the sand next to her, then reaches out to wrap an arm around her shoulders. "You unfortunately cannot simply worry everything into being better. At some point you have to make a decision."

He reaches over to gently tap her lips with a single finger. "You only have to speak, and some of this weight can be lifted from your shoulders."

"But perhaps that isn't what you need right now." He eases up, his fingers going to her cheek now. "What //do// you need?" He finally stops offering things, and simply asks, not one to fall into the follies of the average man.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna turned her green eyed gaze toward him, looking ever so slightly dubious as he settled down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She ended up curled against his side, and her eyebrows furrowed at his words. It seemed another sigh threatened to escape her and she fell silent for a long moment, seeming to honestly weigh his question. It was perhaps the first time in a long while she'd actually tried to consider what she needed rather than wanted at the given moment. Or at least tried to.

"I need to ... I just need to get away from everything for a few hours. I've spent too many weeks here trying to rebuild everything anyone asked of me, trying to do everything and ... I.. I am so tired of it all. But every time I try to sleep, my mind just keeps screaming at me that I'm forgetting something and then I am up and trying to solve more problems.. and.. it's.. I can't keep it up."

Namor has posed:
"Then we'll go to my kingdom, where you have no problems." Namor states as a matter of fact, his arm shifting down to wrap around her waist, his intent clearly to lift her up. But he doesn't quite yet.

"You'll sleep, eat, and relax at your leisure until you feel like you can think." He moves a bit of hair from her face with his fingers, looking down into her eyes. "I will help you do all of these things."

One could almost mistake his last comment for his idea of a joke.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's eyebrows shot upward as his had dropped to her waist, her gaze flickering down to her hip and then back up as he reached down to brush her hair back from her face. She blinked up at him, her head tilting slightly to the side. "Oh really? Your kingdom, where last we'd spoken, that was under threat by some strange creature form the deep that we still weren't entirely sure what it was.. but that tormented the old kings of Atlantis so much they needed Poseidon to come help?" She mused, her voice dry.

"I am still willing to try to help you handle that, if it is still a problem that is and you didn't just handle it in the past few weeks and didn't feel the need to tell me." She added with a bit of a doubtful looking glance over the ocean in front of them and then back.

Namor has posed:
"I said where //you// have no problems." Namor leans in to press his forehead against her's for a brief moment. "If this creature decides to actually appear, I'll tear its heart out. I am not Poseidon, nor the old kings of Atlantis, I am King Namor, Imperious Rex."

"But yes, you can help me once Princess Mera is done questioning //Arthur//. I believe he has information that I don't yet have." He shakes his head, suddenly standing, and trying to lift her up with him. "But we can concern ourselves with this later. For now, I believe you asked for luxury."

She didn't, but that's what he chose to hear.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shot him another doubtful look as he stated that Atlantis was where she was meant to have no problems. But judging by her arched green eyebrow she didn't believe that either. It was hard to truly be relaxed when at the bottom of the ocean where the slightest problem could mean she'd be crushed beneath the thousands of pounds of pressure or drown almost instantly without aid. Or if she didn't worry about the nebulous factions at court that he'd only ever hinted to her about.

Or at least... all of this is what her mind supplied for her.

"Not everything has an easily defined cardiovascular system to rip out.." She chimed, a teasing smile on her lips. "Lobsters for instance, and I assume Leviathans based on what you told me, have water vascular systems and no central heart." She was being cheeky, proving that she'd been hard at work reading up where she could on marine life. A researcher she was at the bottom of all things. A scientist with electromagnetic ties.

"Wait, Princess Mera? Who?" She blinked, stumbling slightly as he tugged her up to standing alongside him. "Arthur? What? You mean that guy--you said he wasn't worth your time?" She'd mentioned she'd run into him once on a ship fighting the lurkers and Siren-like creature on the surface. She'd nearly drowned...

She reached out with her other hand to steady herself against his arm, blinking owlishly. "Namor, what's going on that you're not telling me?"

Namor has posed:
"I always find something to rip out." Namor assures, suddenly swooping into the air and flying over the ocean at fairly impressive speed, but not so quickly that they can't speak.

"Princess Mera is the Princess of the Atlantean kingdom of Xebel. She abandoned her wedding for reasons that are still mostly rumor, but I'm fairly sure are mostly because her husband, the King of Xebel, is a weak coward." He practically spits out, clearly having no respect for the man.

"I was so busy with my own investigation that it occurred to me that Arthur likely has information, as much as I don't want to admit it. I have no desire to be in his presence, so I sent Princess Mera to question him instead."

But, of course there's more, and after a brief moment of silence he adds, "The Kingdom of Xebel was recently destroyed, which is why she's returned to Atlantis. It was some sort of sea creature attack. I believe it may be related to what we're looking into, but I don't know that for sure yet."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna could fly, she could fly perfectly well on her own. Heights did not bother her. She was typically.. the one in control of where she was going at any given time. That was not the case as Namor picked her up and flew upward and over the water. She rolled her eyes, squinting against the blast of wind that tossed her hair back and ruined whatever was left of the formal hair style. She pressed her features against his neck, trying to shade her face from the wind that buffeted them.

She listened, or tried to anyways, she wasn't even sure if she was aware there were various petty kingdoms within Atlantis. It made sense, but her knowledge was severely limited.

She didn't try to tell him that Arthur had saved her from being on the wrong side of a boat and from drowning. At least.. she think he did. Kitty had implied as much.

"Xebel?" She managed, "You never told me about that before." He hadn't told her anything about the various inter-kingdom factions. There'd never particularly been a need.

Namor has posed:
"The Atlantean Empire spans across 70% of the Earth. Think about how long it would take you to tell me about every country on the surface world." Namor is quick to retort, before diving down into the water, breaking the surface tension with his own body so that she doesn't have to experience the force of it.

Marine life parts for him, sharks and even the smallest of fish seemingly moving out of the way out of either fear or respect. "Of course, there is no Earth equivalent of myself as a ruler, but I suppose, from an American perspective, you could think of me as the president of presidents."

He looks over at her, her outfit obviously not meant for deep sea diving. "We'll have to get you out of your clothes." he notes with a perfectly straight face.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna winced, bracing for the suddenly burst of sea water as she spotted the way he angled downward. It was never particularly fun for her to go from air to a bubble about her. It put her in a state of vulnerability. She had to trust that Namor wouldn't let her drown. She had to trust that she wouldn't get crushed by the weight of the ocean's pressure on the way to Atlantis. There was a mountain worth of issues that could wrong, and had she not done it several times already.. she'd likely have refused to try it had he ever stopped to explain it to her.

"No, that's not what.. I mean, where is it?" She managed, reorienting herself and her sense of direction as water rushed past all around them.

His words as he glanced down at her earned a faint blush across her cheeks. Before she shot him a look, "This is a swimsuit! It's meant for swimming Namor." She huffed, rolling her eyes as she tried to not think at all about any other implications he might've been leaning toward with that comment.

Not when those dolphins she saw not too far away could very likely hear and damnit, she'd already been teased once that they did hear rather well.

Namor has posed:
"Far enough that I didn't know it was being attacked until it was all over." Namor answers a bit somberly, until finally approaching the rather complex but beautiful architecture of his kingdom. He swims between spires, past Atlantean guards, and finally into the gates of his home, which are closed behind him by two of his Honor Guard.

He holds out a hand, and is immediately given something by a blue-skinned woman, which he quickly attaches just below Lorna's collar bone. It'll pinch for a moment, but when the air bubble releases, she'll find that she can breathe just fine, and the water isn't even stinging her eyes.

He looks down at the swimsuit, then shakes his head. "Still seems inadequate." he retorts once more, but doesn't seem to push, instead holding up a hand to dismiss the people filling his throne room. They make themselves busy in other rooms.

"Now you're miles away from your problems."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's eyebrows furrowed sharply as Namor admitted to having missed the attack on a far flung point of his kingdom. Whatever had happened must have occurred relatively fast, he was fast enough that a flight from Genosha to the mid-Atlantic and down several thousand miles to the bottom of the sea was over fairly quickly after all.

She reached out a hand to press against his shoulder in sympathy, though she didn't voice it. The admittance must've stung on some level.

But as they paused in the way to the throne room, Lorna blinked, her gaze swinging from the Atlantean woman to Namor as he pulled out something new that she hadn't seen before. Mostly he'd offered masks, high in technical aspects.. but nothing shocking. Nothing that-- She broke off as whatever it was pinched, frankly stung, she cursed, surprised and spluttering as the air bubble popped around her, leaving her breathing without aid and with her hair a floating tangle of green around her features. Her hands reached up to pat at whatever was on her collarbone reflexively, trying to feel out whatever it was that was attached to her skin there.

She blinked repeatedly, squinting and frowned at him. "What--" She twisted around in the water, using her magnetic powers to angle her body upright. After all, her natural buoyancy did not lend well to deep sea movement. Her body was still after all, closer to a human's in that regard.

"What? My clothes? Namor, I've worn Atlantean clothes, they're hardly much more or less than this." Granted it was certainly far //plainer// than anything he'd had provided for her. And it certainly didn't scream foreign Queen either.

Namor has posed:
"Clearly I'm being far too subtle." Namor states without context, heading for his throne that's currently covered in some sort of plush sea plant that feels more like velvet mixed with cotton than an actual plant, and rests himself down on it with his arms spread.

"Are you hungry? I can have food prepared. And your quarters are still as you left them." he asks, watching her intently from his throne as he just seems to quietly enjoy her being out of her element.

"You'll get used to movement. This is a more simple solution while you're down here. There's no point in you being stuck in a single room like a prisoner." he explains, closing his eyes to just sort of enjoy the ambience of his home.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna frowned, her eyebrows furrowing sharply as he spoke, and her arms crossed as she floated, light spilling from her finger tips in a faint magnetic glow as she kept herself in a comfortable direction--with her toes pointed down and closer to the floor of the throne room. "You could've waited for me to get the potion that Wanda made me and then I'd be fine.." She mused, of course she kept a few in her rooms here. The problem was that it was inelegant in the extreme. It gave her gills, and some form of webbing for swimming, handled the issue of extreme cold and pressure.. but it had a time limit. A hard one. And when those physical changes had run their course, she ended up puking up sea water as body return to its natural state. Hardly ideal.

The current caused her hair to cloud around her face and she huffed a breath, shoving it back from her features as she glanced back at him. "I uhm... I dunno? Sure, I guess..." She'd had Atlantean meals several times by now. And then been surprised when he'd brought down surface food now and then for her. Still, food wasn't on her mind, nor were her worries for the moment. She was too focused on managing her hair, and keeping it out of her eyes, and trying to figure out what was on her collarbone and how she could breathe.. and well. Suffice to say she was distracted.

Namor has posed:
"I don't wait if I don't have to." Namor states without any real hesitation or shame about it. Then he motions for her. "Come here. You're a queen, surely you can relax on the throne."

Someone, somewhere, has likely received some unheard and unseen message about the food. He doesn't bother her with the details. "I didn't come to you because I had pressing news, or needed an update. I came to you out of the selfish desire to see you."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's pale skin was even more apparent in the water's glow, and perhaps the reason why her blush only became more apparent in return as she floated there, staring up at him seated on the throne with no small measure of awkwardness. She'd never dared to sit on her father's throne before Genosha had been destroyed. So her experience around them was more or less wary respect. Nor had she ever constructed one for herself during her reign. It had seemed silly when her whole kingdom lay in ruin.

Still, she slowly approached, half swimming, and more or less tugging herself along using her magnetic powers. It was awkward, and it was clear she wasn't used to managing the movement.

She seemed to struggle with what to say as she managed to settle herself in front of him, her gaze dropping to the throne and back.

Some part of her still hesitating to actually sit, how was she supposed to sit down //anyways// when half of her wanted to float upward? "Gee, I missed you too." She drawled, trying to cover up her awkwardness with a dry comment.

Namor has posed:
"I know." Namor dryly states, reaching out to take her wrist and pull her forward as his other arm starts moving in to wrap around her waist. "Food preparation will take approximately an hour."

Reaching up, he waves a hand, effortlessly willing the water to move her hair from her face. "In that time, I'll help you relax."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna let out soft sound as he tugged her onto his lap and secured her there. She'd more or less expected it, but the bubbles that trailed past her lips in response were all the same. She blinked in surprise as he shaped the water away from her features, which would sorely be tangled when she tried to brush it out next time. If the servants that were assigned to her rooms let her while she was here that is..

Her gaze swung back toward him, and she bit her lower lip to bite back the first response that came to her mind. "You see, when you say it like that there's really no way to take it that is even remotely polite in public."

Namor has posed:
"I'm not polite." Namor says as his hand firmly grips the back of her neck, and he starts to lean in. "Imperious Rex." is all he declares, as if that's all anyone really needs to know about him in this moment.

Things are as he says they are, because he is the king, and politeness is only as necessary as he decides.