nextgenerationmarvel | Coping Mechanism (Kassi)

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Coping Mechanism (Kassi)

Texas Marion was correct in her belief that Tommy had a way to deal with the events of the demon invasion of New York. Were he a normal man with a nine-to-five job like, say, Dawn or most of America, he might have just had a couple of beers and slept off the experiences of that day and chalked it all up to being a mass hallucination that he would never have the misfortune of participating in again. After all, the entire story was so crazy that no one would believe it that wasn't there. Even then, Tommy could have pretended it never happened and carried that belief to his grave. After the fight with the monsters, he'd thought of catching up with Joe and Roxanne and just staying in one place for a while.

Mephisto's voice in his head ruined that idea immediately.

"Excellent work, Ghost Rider. Dormammu's incursion could not have been allowed to succeed. Your...allies were of use but do not believe that they can save you from your fate. You are mine, now and forever. For now, I leave you to your own devices until such time as I have need of you again."

Tommy didn't both saying good-bye to the others and he didn't leave a forwarding number. He simply hopped on his bike and rode out of New York like a bat out of hell, not stopping until he almost laid his bike down outside of Chicago. He'd spent the last few weeks moving from town to town, taking down criminals and allowing the Rider out at night when his willpower finally failed him.

One evening he remembered to look up long enough to find himself in New Oreleans, Louisiana. He'd spent most of the evening on Bourbon Street drinking until he could barely stand and then stumbled out of the bar into the hot, humid night. He passed the crooks, thieves and other riffraff of the city, wandered beyond the canals and managed to get down to the waterfront. He stared at the water and a thought crossed his alcohol-fueled mind.

It would be so easy to just head right in and not walk out. Just a few minutes and no more Mephisto, no more sharing my body with a demon...and no more bein' afraid of going to Hell. No more putting it off.

Before he knew it, Tommy was heading down into the water.

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After the shenanigans of Dormammu Kassia didn't have time to party the madness out of her head--though to be fair she probably wouldn't have anyway because demons weren't that weird considering she'd dealt with Lemurians before. Not even a day after things had quieted down Kassi was called home for War Games, the faux battle/gladiatorial fight-fest that was the yearly Atlantian passtime. Namor still had hopes of his daughter maybe proving herself and one day taking charge of the army so Kassi had to show up, play along, and kick ass.

A few weeks of brutal combat later the Games were over and Kassi was relieved. She checked her trident at home and took off for the nearest place she could make land and hit up some bars. New Orleans fit the bill nicely. Folks there never really questioned a scantily clad girl with a bunch of blue-skinned pals rising from the sea like Venus gone Burning Man. They'd seen weirder, surely. Tonight though, Kassi was alone. At least until she felt the water's temperature change ever so slightly alerting her that someone was in the water nearby--and heading a bit too far out to just be swimming. She surfaced just a few feet away from...the dude from the demon fight?

"Hey, dude. You need to stop. Like now."

If anything, Tommy expected anyone trying to stop him to come from behind him. He could easily pretend he didn't hear them and fall into the water. He was about to do just that when some girl popped out of the water next to him.

Tommy Templeton didn't spook easily but between the alcohol and the shock, he lost his balance and fell into the water. He surfaced quickly but he was trying to back away from the new girl while trying to keep his head above water and was failing miserably at both.

It was probably comical to anyone watching. Like Kassi.

When he could speak, Tommy looked at her and saw...the crazy girl with that poker-thing? He couldn't remember what it was called what with being soaking wet and all.

"Wait. What the hell are you doing here? How did you find me?" he asked, reaching for his gun...only to remember that he'd left the guns in his hotel room. He hadn't intended to go back.

And now he realized that someone had just caught him trying to kill himself.

Now he was embarrassed and angry.

Kassi half-giggled, half-snorted as Tommy flailed in the water. Dirtwalkers were so damn entertaining.

"I should actually ask you what you're doing here. You're kinda on my lawn, technically. About...several leagues thataway is Atlantis. I was just coming up to do some partying and boom, there you are." She grinned.

"You know, you could have just asked for my number. It's way easier than trying to come find me. That and my dad's kind of weird about hot guys."

Something was pretty off, but she was going to play it cool. Did he just try to go for a gun? Yeah, cool was probably the way to play it.

Tommy finally just stopped flailing and sighed, spat out the water he was gagging on and then looked at Kassi.

"I thought we figured out, somewhere in all that shootin', that you're jailbait." Tommy said grimly.

"You live in the water?" he asked, suddenly realizing what she'd actually just said. Atlantis sounded like one of those fairy tales but she said she was from there.

Then again, he already knew women who could turn into werewolves, goddesses and could punch holes in tanks. And he knew a guy whose dad had served with his grandfather in World War II. This wasn't the craziest thing he'd ever heard.

"You ever been to New Orleans before?"

"And I thought I made it pretty clear that the rules for jailbait only apply if you're American. And half the time, I ain't American," Kassi said with a slight smirk.

"Let's try this again. Hi. I'm Princess Kassia McKenzie. I'm Atlantean. I do the whole mermaid thing and live 'under da sea' and have diplomatic immunity in the United States. I'm legal via technicality and by similar technicality you're in my world right now."

She shrugged.

"All the time, actually. One of the only places in the world that doesn't question the girl from the ocean. Or card."

"Funny thing about laws is that they believe in you even when you don't believe in them." Tommy grumbled, finally gathering himself enough to get to his feet.

He rises and realizes how silly he looks and can't help a self-deprecating smile.

"Tommy Templeton. Southern guy from a town you ain't ever heard of and the guy whose suicide attempt you just interrupted. Won't be tryin' it again, so don't worry. My courage just went out the window." he said, turning to walk back toward dry land.

"Now I need vodka." he said, looking back to Kassi.

"You comin'?" he asked.

"Diplomatic immunity. I'm a damn princess. Literally."

Kassi is stunned still for a moment when he owns up to his presence in the water being a suicide attempt. She (more or less) believed him when he said he wouldn't try it again, but that didn't make it any less awkward.

"Yeah." She shook her head and moved forward to follow him. "I mean, you did say vodka. You okay with me having just sort of ruined your death wish?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you hadn't ruined it, my boss would have found me in short order and ruined it for me. And I'd rather look at you instead of him." Tommy said with a grin, pushing his wet hair out of his face.

"Vodka it is." he said.

"What can I say, boobs are always better than the alternative."

Kassi ran a hand through her hair and by the time they reached the beach her hair and clothes--in this case a bikini top and a short, skirt-like thing--were dry.

"Who's your boss? Oh, and are you buying or am I charming folks for our drinks?"

"You always this forward or am I special?" he asked her.

He was still soaking wet and he squished a bit as they walked away from the beach and back toward Bourbon Street. It was annoying and somewhat uncomfortable but he set himself up for it.

"My boss isn't important. He ain't a very nice guy. I've got cash but...it's soaking wet. Don't worry about me, though. Have fun." he said.

"This is forward?" Kassi gave him a legitimately confused face. When they got closer to some bars and clubs, she adjusted her top a bit to allow for more cleavage and fluffed her hair.

"It's cool. I've got you. You want anything other than vodka? Want to score us a pool table? Don't worry; you'll dry pretty soon. There's a fan by the pool tables here."

Just ahead of him, Kassi pushed open the doors of a bar just on the edge of the more "tourist" areas, stepped inside and stretched out her arms.

"Hello dirtwalkers, your queen has returned!"

It was cheesy, but surprisingly enough people cheered and the bartender reached for a bottle of vodka off the top shelf.

"Did I mention I'm a regular?" she asked Tommy with a grin. "Diplomatic immunity rules."

Tommy watched as Kassi interacted with the patrons of the bar and realized that she was, in fact, a regular in this place. He hadn't expected to come here with someone so popular but then again he hadn't expected to come back. He looked just as silly as Kassi did amazing right now and it was enough to make him chuckle.

What would Joe think of this?

"Why did you call them 'dirtwalkers'?" he asked, curious about the terminology.

"Dirtwalkers is sort of slang for people who don't live in the ocean. They walk on the dirt." She opened the vodka and handed it to Tommy.

"It's a slur down below, but I'm 3/4ths dirtwalker so I not only can use it with irony but also with affection."

"A slur is a slur no matter who's usin' it." Tommy said, shaking his head. He took the vodka bottle and a nearby shot glass and poured himself a drink.

"So people really live in the ocean? Even with all the oil spills and stuff?" he asked.

"Yep. And oil spills are awful. They piss us off and they cause real issues. Garbage is another big problem. It's really, really frustrating. People like to mock Atlantians for being war-like but I swear if people don't stop screwing up where we live we'll have ample reason to wage a war."

"You guys ever thought of somethin' less intrusive, like goin' to Washington? Make an alliance? The more you guys start fights, the more reason people feel like they gotta defend themselves." Tommy said, taking another drink.

"Last time that we tried that the ambassador ended up in a lab because someone in Washington thought he had to be a mutant. Before that, the guy was a side show in a traveling circus. Countless others were just outright killed. Diplomacy hasn't gone very well with the other guy taking one look at the blue skin most Atlanteans have and seeing only freaks." Kassi downed two drinks in rapid succession. "My father made some minor progress, but only because they needed him in WW2."

"Your old man fought in World War 2, too? My grandfather did. He got to work with Captain America right before Cap disappeared. Funny enough, I ended up being friends with Captain America's kid." Tommy said, noting how small the world was starting to get. It was probably always this small but a small-town boy wouldn't know that since he was from a small town.

"So your old man is okay with you just comin' here and drinkin'? I mean, you're a princess. Don't you have to do princess stuff?" he asked.

"Yeah. Dad was one of the Invaders in WW2 alongside Cap. He took Cap and Bucky's deaths really hard. It took him awhile to go see Cap after his return. That's the benefit and the curse of a long lifespan: you grieve longer but if your friends happen to just be only frozen you're around to get a beer with them when they thaw."

Kassi nodded at the bartender for more vodka.

"I wouldn't say he's super okay with it. He's never fond of me running around on the surface and he hates that his custody arrangement meant I grew up here half-time, but I'm a lot like my dad so he accepts that I'm wild. Especially since I do my princess stuff when I need to, though it's not the kind of princess stuff you're thinking. I'm not some Disney ditz."

"I'm a lot like my old man, too." Tommy said. "But I prefer workin' on my bike and helpin' people when and where I can."

He left out the part about being possessed by a demon that tended to come out at night. Like right now. The Rider was oddly silent tonight and that worried Tommy more than hearing it in his head.

"I don't know if I could take livin' forever. It sounds like a recipe for disaster."

"Dad'll die eventually. We all will. We just tend to live closer to 200 years than 80 something. And there's really no way to know how long I'll live because I'm a good chunk more human than others. Though Atlanteans are a lot more active and are generally healthier. I don't know. I might not mind being alive forever if it meant I was in good shape and mostly cute."

"Living forever is overrated. It just gives you more time to think about all the stuff in life that you fucked up." Tommy said, ordering a beer. The bartender passed him the local brew on tap and Tommy took a drink.

"So you have regular skin and other Atlanteans have blue skin? Are they okay with that down there?" he asked.

"I try not to think about the stuff that's fucked up more than just to acknowledge it." Kassi took another drink.

"Nope. There are advisers in the royal service who would love nothing more than to get rid of me. They tried a couple of years ago and failed miserably."

"I bet your old man wasn't happy about them tryin' to kill you. They still tryin'?" he asked her.

"Not happy is putting it mildly." Kassi shook her head.

"Yeah, they tried again last week but at least last week they did it during an authorized event so it would look at least a little less deliberate. I freaking love War Games."

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