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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"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."

"You're real calm for someone who's nearly been assassinated a few times." Tommy said, taking another drink.

Of course she would be. She's never been dead before, not even for a minute. The living were pretty glib about death until it got close enough to see. Even then, people simply forgot about it until the next time.

Not Tommy. He'd been dead for several months once. He could still see it.

Kassi looked at the bottle for a moment as something approximating a grim expression crossed her face.

"It's easy to be calm when you know assassination is how you will die. You live with the idea of death so close to your skin that you no longer fear dying, just everything after."

She shrugged. And took another drink.

"Fear will make you crazy. I choose sanity."

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"If you ain't afraid, you're insane." Tommy said.

"And everything after dyin' ain't really so bad. Dependin' on where you're goin'...it can even be peaceful." he said.

"I doubt there is any peace for half breed Atlantean with a rebellious streak."

She grinned.

"My definition of sanity may be different than yours. You really don't know much about us undersea types, huh?"

Sent from my iPhone

"I'm from southern Missouri. There ain't a whole lot of water-people around there." he said.

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