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Namor the Sub Mariner (imperiusrex) wrote in valarcomm,
@ 2012-10-04 04:57:00

Entry tags:

emma frost (white queen), namor mckenzie

Namor opens his eyes to find himself in bed. His bed; a warm, human invention. It isn't what he was expecting.

He reaches for his phone and finds his mobile, then struggles for a moment to remember how the device works before one lifetime's memories manage to supersede the other's. The phone is only used for personal calls, and there are only a few contacts in it.

Ring, ring.

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	white_diamonds 2012-10-04 09:09 am UTC (link)
	The phone rings a number of times before it is picked up. Emma rolls, snatches her phone, and glances down at the screen, frowning. "Hello?" Emma's voice is deep and quiet, full of sleep and edged with concern. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-04 09:27 am UTC (link)
	Emma's voice is an anchor to reality, but the question is still on his lips, and he won't have any rest until he has an answer. "I realize how odd the question may seem... but what year is this?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-04 10:25 am UTC (link)
	Still sleepy enough, Emma doesn't immediately assume that he's playing some stupid prank. She doesn't think much, in fact, knowing that it's an odd question but unable to think fast enough to be sarcastic about it. "It's 2012. What's wrong?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-04 11:10 am UTC (link)
	"Yesterday it wasn't." He pauses, the ideas in his mind too complex to shape into words. After a moment, he says, "I had another dream." Another pause. "It was four years long." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-04 11:08 pm UTC (link)
	Emma's brain catches up quickly. She doesn't sit up, but she does open her eyes and focuses on her ceiling. "I'm sorry." There wasn't really anything else to say. She didn't ask him whether he wanted to talk about it because she assumed he'd called her for a reason. After clearing her throat quietly, she spoke. "Tell me about it?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-04 11:50 pm UTC (link)
	"I don't know where to begin." The memory makes little sense in the context of what he knows about his other self's life. His other memories took place over the course of a few years, but they were recent years. This... "It was the Second World War." He tries to think of a way to express the enormity of the experience, and settles for, "The entirety of it." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

white_diamonds
2012-10-05 12:09 am UTC (link)

"Hm." Emma feels unhelpful, but then supposes there isn't much to help with. She remembers her dreams and how little comfort she could find upon waking from them. "Were you a soldier?" Emma realizes that doesn't make sense. If he was around both to witness World War II and the X-Men, it would make Namor impossibly old. But she knows impossible things are possible in the dream world and doesn't question him on it yet.

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imperiusrex
2012-10-05 06:35 am UTC (link)

Was he a soldier? The word doesn't feel right when Namor brings his experiences to mind. "I fought. I wasn't a member of any military, but there was a group of us. Churchill called us the Invaders." Dozens of faces come to mind. Allies, enemies... even a few friends.

"I remember all of it. The battles. The life. Day to day existence. Minutiae. Four years of it, as real as the last four years of my life here."

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	white_diamonds 2012-10-05 10:14 pm UTC (link)
	Emma exhales quietly. There is a prolonged silence in which she shifts quietly in her bed and considers what to say. "I'm sorry." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 04:43 am UTC (link)
	"It's a nuisance." He admits this with a vulnerability that few have ever heard from him; when he says 'a nuisance,' the word 'terrifying' springs to mind instead. "I spent last night leading a search for Captain America's body in the North Atlantic. How are you able to manage two lives in your mind so much better than I?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

white_diamonds
2012-10-06 02:50 pm UTC (link)

For a moment, Emma almost jokes about her superiority. But there's something about his tone of voice and the darkness that surrounds her. Bravado is more appropriate for daylight. "I..." She falters for a moment and it's the only real sign that this is difficult for her, too. "What else is there to do? It'd be a waste of energy to mourn for people who may not even exist in this lifetime." Her voice is soft enough to be a whisper. "I get angry and I try very hard to remember that that life isn't my life here. And when it's too much, I turn it off."

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	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 09:13 pm UTC (link)
	"Hn." He can hear the cracks in her facade, the bitterness below the cold logic. "Do you have many to mourn?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-06 09:19 pm UTC (link)
	"Yes." Emma's response is dull. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 09:26 pm UTC (link)
	He shifts in bed, looking to the empty space that Emma would be occupying if she were present. "Would you prefer not to speak of it?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-06 09:29 pm UTC (link)
	"There isn't much to say. I was an instructor at special schools for people like us and they often died. Senselessly. Violently." A pause. "Children." Emma sighs quietly and shifts, pulling her sheets closer. The room seems to grow larger and she feels lonely. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 09:39 pm UTC (link)
	"Yes," he says, the memory of Toro's face as he heard the news of Bucky's fate coming to mind. "That seems the way of things in that world." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-06 09:43 pm UTC (link)
	"It's worse than you know." Emma smiles, but there is no humor there. "Are you going to be alright?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 10:00 pm UTC (link)
	"In time," he says, not quite certain if he means it. "I apologize for waking you." Namor is lying; even during their worst fights, he's never been sorry to talk to Emma. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-06 10:03 pm UTC (link)
	"It's fine." Emma says this quickly enough that she feels just a bit awkward after. She clears her throat. "I don't have plans for tomorrow anyway." She adds this quietly and makes a face at empty air. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 10:25 pm UTC (link)
	"Even so." A silence follows as either of them try to find something to say. Finally, Namor breaks it with, "I suspect my initial crisis has passed. I should try to sleep before tomorrow." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

white_diamonds
2012-10-06 10:28 pm UTC (link)

"Alright." The pause that follows is full of something, perhaps an expectation that is not going to be met. Emma considers inviting him over, but stops herself before the words can come out. She is still mourning the loss of an old relationship, after all. And it isn't exactly as though she's entirely set herself up on the concept of getting back with Namor in any sort of way aside from flirtatious tension. "I hope your sleep is dreamless."

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	imperiusrex 2012-10-06 10:36 pm UTC (link)
	Come over, he wants to say. I would appreciate your company. But it's easier not to put himself out there; he feels vulnerable enough as it is, and while he isn't opposed to separating her from her paramour, it seems inappropriate to attempt to do so just now. "I suppose I should wish you the same. Good night, Emma." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	white_diamonds 2012-10-06 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	"Good night." She doesn't think she sounds disappointed, but she certainly feels it. Quickly, she disconnects the call and casts her phone aside. Sleep doesn't return easily, but when it does, it is without memories of that other world. (Reply to this) (Parent)