2013.10.08 - From the Sea

It's been a series of gloomy days in New York, with the last hurrah of summer fading into the chill winds of autumn. Out of work for the day, with time left to kill before catching the ferry over to Manhattan, Fern has decided to visit the beach/landfill of Great Kills Park. It's not exactly beach weather, but Fern loves the water, and is content to stand on the sand, her shoes off and dangling from two fingers. It's a little chilly to be barefoot, but it beats heels in the sand. She's wearing a slightly worn, plaid overcoat, barely shorter than the skirt that peeks out from the hem. Strapped across her body, a messenger bag hangs at her hip. One hand comes up, swiping the red hair from her face, but the wind has it almost immediately back.

Kaydin has been swimming in the cold water, and enjoying it. He then begins to head to the surface and as Fern looks out to see, she sees him surface, almost as if the water was a part of him before he looks about, blue eyes finding the woman and looking to her eyes before he begins to approach her, hand moving for his satchel. Justin Hammer pages: Next time I see them will be when this is finished, at the end of October. Then I get to hold my breath and hope it fits.

A curious frown tugs Fern's brows together as someone emerges from the cold water, the very thought of swimming on a day like this almost making her shiver. It's obvious that it's a male, and when his hand moves to his satchel she tenses for a moment. She has her mace and whistle in her bag, but unless it's an obvious threat, she doesn't tend to reach for them first. Besides, she can always bean him with a heel if he's threatening and run. So she watches as the water drips from his hair, standing her ground.

Kaydin pulls out a clear faceguard and puts it on his face and a breathe is heard as he approaches her. "I am surprised." Kaydin says, his voice having a thick accent and his English sorta broken, obviously not his first language. "Normally I do not see many air breathers at the beaches this time of year."

Fern has seen a lot of strange things in her time in The Big Apple, so someone putting on what might be some sort of breathing mask is one of the least shocking things. It's sure not on a par with a guy turning into a wolf. Her posture relaxes again at once, but one brow does quirk mildly at the term 'air breathers'. Still, her smile comes, always waiting to bloom. "It's getting a bit cold for most." Her eyes, a different shade of blue than his, shift to the water as she adds, "I like watching the surf." Looking back, she asks, "It looks like the water is cold."

"I forget that surface dwellers are not resistant to the cold." Kaydin says with a nod. "I am Kaydin formerly of Atlantis." He says as he watches her. "Gets colder deeper below." He says with a smile as he then looks about some before looking to her. "Why do surface dwellers wear such shoes knowing they cant be useful everywhere?" He asks, looking to her shoes.

Well, that was sufficient to bring a touch of surprise to Fern's face, and she echoes, "Atlantis?" The last time she ran into a guy from there, he was threatening people at the harbor. But maybe not all Atlanteans are like Namor? The smile is reassuring, and she interjects, "I'm Fern. Formerly of Ohio." Because that seems like the thing to do. Kaydin's question has her looking at her shoes, without an answer for a moment. It's not something she's ever questioned. "A lot of people think they're fashionable," she finally says. "I only wear shoes like this for work, because people think it's more professional. I prefer to wear more practical shoes, usually."

Kaydin nods. "I was banished from Atlantis but before that, I was a part of the military. Soldier." Kaydin says to her and when she says Ohio he simply tries to think of anywhere that could be, but when nothing comes to mind he then turns back to her shoes. "Agreed, More practical shoes would be better. If you are ambushed or attacked, these will slow you down." He says with a nod.

"And they're terrible for walking on the beach," Fern says agreeably. There's a pause, before she adds, "And they make my feet hurt, most of the time." The things one must do to fit into the business world. His thoughts on the practicality of heels isn't surprising to her, since he's said he was a soldier, and she's had more than her fair share of ambushes and attacks. A light cloud of concern darkens her blue eyes. "Banished? That's terrible. You can't ever go back?"

"If I return to Atlantis, I will be seen as an invader and executed." Kaydin says, taking a breath from the mask before nodding. "So I am here, to track down our two kings and their wards. King Orin. And King Namor." He says with a nod. "If I cannot serve my home, then I will serve my kings who are trying to make things better on the surface."

That surprised widening of her eyes come again as Kaydin actually says Namor's name, her expressive nature giving away that she's got some reservations about him. "Um... I think I ran into your King Namor once," she says, a bit cautiously. "He... wasn't really very happy, I thought." What with all the ruckus he was raising and the threatening to hurt people. No, she didn't exactly grow immediately fond of the submarine guy.

Kaydin nods. "My apologies. King Namor has the same opinion of some of our older Atlantean kings: That the surface only causes problems, that they would invade Atlantis, stealing her treasures if given the chance. And If I find any of Atlantis' treasures I will have to try and reclaim them for my home. However, King Orin has made considerable strides in trying to bring peace between the seas and the surface. I believe the surface calls King Orin, Aquaman." He says with a curious tone as if he didnt know why.

Fern tilts her head, and the frown softens into something more sympathetic. "I can't actually blame him, if that's the case. Too many people here think that the world is theirs to use and throw away when they're done with it, and they don't really respect other cultures." She looks back to the surf, contemplating the Atlantis mythology she'd heard as a child, trying to reconcile it with there actually being an Atlantis yet again. Still, she's come to terms with aliens and mutants and all manner of things she never thought really existed before, so Atlantis is just one more. "I haven't met your King Orin, but I've heard of Aquaman." One of the few superheroes, along with Superman, that she isn't totally oblivious of.

"King Orin wishes to establish Atlantis as an independent nation, and he has made great strides to try and keep both sides peaceful. In truth, I pity the surface dwellers. Atlantis is nearly an utopia...Course I do not know if I can say that since I was indeed banished from there." Kaydin says with a bit of a nervous chuckle.

Tipping her head to look up at the taller Atlantean, Fern regards him a moment. He's made no threatening moves, and has seemed pleasant in their conversation so far. Before she realizes it, she asks aloud the question she had been thinking, "Why did they banish you?" Her eyes widen quickly at her forwardness, and she hurries to tack on, "I mean... if you want to say. If you don't want to talk about it, that's ok."

Kaydin seems to become somewhat more somber but nods as he reaches into his satchel for something similar to a photograph. He hands it to her, in it were what seems to be a family. A fair skinned older woman with a taller dark blue skinned man with white blue symbols along his body, wearing a very grand armor. Kaydin is seen in the picture between two younger teenagers, both teenagers younger then Kaydin but seeming identical in age. The blue skinned boy seems to be trying to look serious and dour like the man behind Kaydin with the blue skinned girl seems to be smiling happy, her body seem to be full of energy despite it being a still picture. "This is a picture of my Family. a few days ago, my sister was attacked by the son of a nobleman. Since the damage was not permanent to my sister, his sentence was not as strict. But to see her now...what life she had is gone. She does not smile...She does not talk. She moves about but does nothing, she needs to be fed or she will starve. Physicians say she will recover with time but...I could not stand what he had done. I approached the son and tried to get him to realize the gravity of the situation. We struggled...he tried to grab my weapon, I disarmed him and killed him without intending to." He says to her calmly. "Because of my service to Atlantis, I was simply banished instead of killed."

Fern takes the offered picture, studying it while Kaydin talks. Having once been friends with a blue furred mutant, the hue of skin in the picture isn't so jarring to the young woman, and her eyes settle on the girl as she listens to Kaydin's story. When she looks up there's a sadness in her eyes, and she offers the picture back with soft words. "I'm sorry, that's an awful thing to have happened, all the way around. Sometimes it feels like all the time in the world won't be enough to heal some wounds, but I hope that the physicians are right." She doesn't say the rest of her thought, but it's clear from the look in her eyes that she is pained for him not being able to return to his family. She would be devastated without her own, even if they're far away now. "Is there a way you can at least get news about them, and them about you?"

"A ward of Aquaman's, named Tempest, can freely go between Atlantis and the surface. I am hoping to ask him if he can tell me about my family during the visits. Other then that, I do not know." Kaydin says calmly as he puts the picture away. "So while I am banished I want to serve my people and my king, hence my coming to the surface to find my kings."

"I hope that you find him and that he'll be able to help," Fern says, her eyes lingering on the man as he puts away his family photo. "If I could help somehow, I would. I'll at least remember the names Orin and Tempest, and on the chance I run into them, let them know you're looking for them in case you haven't found them yet." Granted, that chance is slim, but she does tend to run into a lot of people that know each other. She's just one of those magnets. "It's good that you're still loyal and want to serve. And that they didn't kill you." Because that would have been pretty darn final. In most cases.

"I have ran across tempest a few times but the times were busy. I am hoping to join the group calling themselves the Titans. In the mean time I will do as King Orin does, and protect those unable to protect themselves." He says calmly.

Fern nods, again lifting a hand to attempt to brush her hair out of her face, only to have it blown back immediately. She turns enough to let the wind do the work of keeping her hair back as she says to Kaydin, "Your King Orin sounds like a good man." And hopefully he's run into Namor and given him a chill pill. People who don't bounce back as well as Fern could have been traumatized by his appearance in the harbor. Truth be told, she had thought Namor was a villain, and while she's still not sure, she's at least not so inclined to paint him that way still. "Like someone good to follow. It's always nice to look out for people who can't look out for themselves."

"Both of my kings are good men. King Namor simply has been betrayed by the surface too many times. While he may seem to be a villain to the surface, he does what he does for the good of Atlantis." He says to her, trying to convince her not all of his people are bad. "We just have short tempers." He says with a shrug.

"A lot of people up here do, too," Fern admits readily. Although she can only say she's run into two Atlanteans in her life, one has been scary and the other perfectly nice, so she'd never assume them all to be one or the other. "And I can't blame him for wanting to protect Atlantis. Sometimes what's protection to one can be scary to another." She's not one to make unwavering opinions on one meeting, after all. There's a sheepish smile as she adds, "I've been known to have a bad temper sometimes myself." A beeping interrupts her words, and she pulls her phone from the pocket of her coat, pushing a button to stop the noise. "My alarm," she explains. "So I don't miss the ferry back over to Manhattan." She doesn't rush away, but hesitates to ask, "You'll be alright? Do you need food or anything?"

Kaydin chuckles. "If you wish, I can swim you back to shore, it would be faster then that Ferry." He says before nodding. "I am alright, I do not need food and I know how to take care of myself, but I do thank you for your concern." He says with a bow of his head.

Fern smiles at the offer, but declines politely, "I think it might be too cold for me to be in the water today. And I'd be dripping wet when we got to the other side and I'd probably catch my death of cold. But thank you, Kaydin." She pauses to swing her bag up, opening it to root around for a moment before bringing out a pristine white card and offers it out to him. Her new business cards came in yesterday, declaring her as Justin Hammer's Personal Assistant and giving her work and cell phone numbers. "If you need anything, here's how I can be reached." Hopefully his pouch will protect the card like it does his picture.

Kaydin nods as he looks to the card and then moves to his satchel and puts it in a secure pocket. He then nods before waving her off and returning back to the seas.