Medusalith Amaquelin ♛ Queen of the Inhumans (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
accidentalqueen) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
eachdraidh2015-07-10 11:46 pm
accidentalqueen) wrote in eachdraidh2015-07-10 11:46 pm
001; visual; seelie
[ It troubles Medusa to have to do this: to admit to what she doesn't know. But she doesn't have the luxury of trying to remain proud. Her people need her. ]
Greetings, fellow shard-holders of the Seelie Court. My name is Medusa. Where I come from, I am the queen of a people known as Inhumans, in a kingdom called New Attilan. I speak to you today to ask you for your help, and for whatever information you may have.
First, if you have heard of us— the Inhumans, our city of Attilan— or our allies the Fantastic Four, the Avengers: I would speak to you. I would know how long you have been here, where you were, what you were doing when you were taken, what you have learned since. It does not matter if we knew each other before. If we share friends in common, then you may consider yourselves friends of mine.
[ Until the moment in which they prove themselves false. But Medusa carries on as though this hasn't occurred to her. See how answers, and if there are enemies who come out of hiding. ]
If you are an Inhuman, of any tribe or city— know that you can always come to me for aid. The time for petty and superficial differences has passed. We are one people, and as one people I will defend you and stand for you as I would any citizen of New Attilan. Should we ever leave this place, you will always be welcome there.
[ This, too: she has ways of knowing who might pretend to be one of her people as well. But if they're here, others besides Kamala...she needs to find them. ]
Second, I would like to hear your opinions on what we've been called to do. Tell me what you think of this war, and of your experiences. If you fear reprisal, speak to me privately and I will keep what you said in strictest confidence. I will come and meet you anywhere you desire. You see, I cannot pledge my allegiance and my willingness to serve before I know who and what it is I pledge for. To stake myself is to stake my kingdom and my people, and I cannot do so lightly.
Greetings, fellow shard-holders of the Seelie Court. My name is Medusa. Where I come from, I am the queen of a people known as Inhumans, in a kingdom called New Attilan. I speak to you today to ask you for your help, and for whatever information you may have.
First, if you have heard of us— the Inhumans, our city of Attilan— or our allies the Fantastic Four, the Avengers: I would speak to you. I would know how long you have been here, where you were, what you were doing when you were taken, what you have learned since. It does not matter if we knew each other before. If we share friends in common, then you may consider yourselves friends of mine.
[ Until the moment in which they prove themselves false. But Medusa carries on as though this hasn't occurred to her. See how answers, and if there are enemies who come out of hiding. ]
If you are an Inhuman, of any tribe or city— know that you can always come to me for aid. The time for petty and superficial differences has passed. We are one people, and as one people I will defend you and stand for you as I would any citizen of New Attilan. Should we ever leave this place, you will always be welcome there.
[ This, too: she has ways of knowing who might pretend to be one of her people as well. But if they're here, others besides Kamala...she needs to find them. ]
Second, I would like to hear your opinions on what we've been called to do. Tell me what you think of this war, and of your experiences. If you fear reprisal, speak to me privately and I will keep what you said in strictest confidence. I will come and meet you anywhere you desire. You see, I cannot pledge my allegiance and my willingness to serve before I know who and what it is I pledge for. To stake myself is to stake my kingdom and my people, and I cannot do so lightly.
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Lady Medusa, where are you currently?
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Returning to Caer Glaem from Leathann. Should I be elsewhere?
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[She gets a smile.]
But the Son of Zeus would have words with you. Important words. [He winks.] I have news of events from afar and would like to speak with you on the matter personally.
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Video---Action
[With a few things in hand, actually. He has a large picnic basket, and he's wearing a pair of black aviators for some reason.]
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At least one of them thought to bring refreshments. Medusa's only brought herself. ]
Hercules. Where on earth did you find sunglasses?
[ It definitely adds...something...to his look. ]
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I found them at the Station. Along with a few other things. Come, I'll show you.
[He gestures back towards the Fairy Ring, specifically the node that indicates the Station.]
We'll be able to talk a bit more privately away, and you'll be back in time for dinner.
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[ Maybe if they have sunglasses, they will have something that might be more useful...? ]
There's no need to hurry things on my account. This is all I intended to do today.
[ Meetings, she means. But off to the Station they'll go. It'll be nice to go somewhere that hopefully has air conditioning once more. ]
And I suspect there's a great deal to talk about.
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[Herc will leave it at that and lead her through the maze to a small place he'd actually been renting out. The Station was, as these things went, fairly comfortable. And it was an easy place to make money when you were as good at gambling as he was (an excellent poker face, good enough to fool Ben Grimm), and as capable with your hands.
The place isn't large, but it's comfortable enough and decorated passably. And once he's gotten her more settled, presumably at his table, with the food pilfered from Caer Glaem's larders laid out? He grins.]
I have news from the other side. Good news, at that. Clear your calendar for the ides of July, Lady. I have spoken with Thor, his brother, and young William Kaplan. We have arranged a secret meeting upon the shores of Leathann.
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[ The surprise only lasts for an instant, because Medusa's no fool, and the answer's quite obvious. ]
Thor is on the other side of this war. And how many others?
[ Her hair gets bigger in her agitation, claiming as much space around them as possible, a moat of bright red that no one can cross without alerting her. ]
I do not want to go to war with our friends, Hercules. Is that what we're meeting to discuss?
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[Hercules holds up a hand in a stop gesture, indicating the hair around them. He...didn't like the idea of her getting angry and smashing up his place, after all.]
From what Thor tells me? William Kaplan of the Young Avengers, his brother Loki, Johnathon Storm, James Barnes, and Erik Lensherr or Magneto, the Master of Magnetism, are all here on the other side.
[And he folds his arms now, expression darkening.]
We're meeting them to discuss ways around it. We are not going to war with our friends. Avengers do not fight Avengers. X-Men do not fight X-Men. It is just a meeting. I imagine that we will discuss how to approach conflicts, but I have made a pact with Thor. He and I shall, if forced onto a battlefield, deal with one another. Keep each other occupied, as it were. I imagine each of us can find a partner to do that with, to play at fighting.
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Johnny is here.
[ For a moment, she bites her lip, and lets herself be vulnerable. Her oldest friend, on the other side— it doesn't feel good. This conflict isn't justified, like the last time the Inhumans were at odds with the Fantastic Four.
But she recovers. Her hair withdraws and draws up, a few swelling inches making all the difference. ]
On the broader scale, are we willing to work together? Towards some solution, or at least a return home?
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Johnathon is indeed here. I have heard as such from Thor and young William.
[At the other comment though, he sighs, unsure.]
As for that? I would very much like to hope so. I know my role, I know what I can do. But I know too that the Monarchs are not so forgiving. Anything we do must be done in absolute secrecy. There's nothing for it but that. To find a better way to play the game, as Loki put it.
I for one, know that Thor and his brother will work with us. And I know too that I will not support a cause that wishes to allow any sort of cyclical time to continue. We've seen what happened at Ragnarok, and nothing changes if that continues.
The Seelie cause is foolish. And I will not fight for it.
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It may not matter, Hercules.
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[That look was bad. Very, very bad...]
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[ She doesn't have the words. She doesn't have the science, the explanation. Black Bolt never shared them with her before. ]
I fear something has gone very wrong. Something that has driven my husband to do dark things. Things that he hid from me, knowing that I would oppose.
[ Queens can't put their faces in their hands. She can't retreat from this. They need to know. They must discuss this. ]
The end of everything.
[ She can't hide her face, but her hair curls around her. ]
The universe may be ending. Is ending, if the weight of his actions lend any truth to the claim. I did not think the possibility was real. The Illuminati...what have they ever done, truly, to prevent anything or effect any change? One way or another, things have always continued no matter what. We always survive. We carry on. Yet if what I've been told is true, the threat is very real, this time. More real than it has ever been. And Black Bolt has acted in such desperation that I fear— we will not prevent it. It will not be avoided.
This tag is awful and I am sorry.
What do you mean, Medusa? The world is ending? In what way? How?
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[ She should have beaten the answer out of Black Bolt when she had the chance to question him. But she'd been too busy being angry over his presumption in trying to take back his throne— ]
I have only pieces. I had to put it most of it together on my own. I know it must be different than what we've faced before before. No invasion from space, no Galactus. Not a threat just to Earth or even the galaxy. It would have to be larger than that, more dangerous than that, for it to be worth the trouble of hiding from everyone. Something they could count down to and predict when, something they had been preparing for long enough in advance and anticipating it. They have these signals I had not seen before, until this started. A little light in the palm of the hand to summon their band of Earth's smartest and most responsible men to face impending doom. From what, I don't know. Something they couldn't fix.
[ She pauses. A restless swirl of the hair, before it curls itself around her chair, and the worry slides into something much hotter. Furious. The kind of fury that breaks galactic empires under your heel. ]
A group of men who felt they were the only ones to be trusted with the Infinity Gems, hiding them on Earth, keeping it secret from their friends and families for years— what wouldn't they dare take on, all on their own? And what would drive my husband to give our son to Kang, to have him hidden in the timestream? He threw our son to the wolves to save him from annihilation. Not the death of our people. Not the death of Earth. Everything.
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[Hercules rises now, suddenly worried, genuinely worried. Kang is no laughing matter. Kang is the source of a great many headaches for everyone involved. Kang is...quite possibly...short of Typhon, the last name that he ever wants to hear is involved in some way with his friends, allies, or friendallies...or whatever you call Medusa. And Infinity Gems? By Zeus that is just...]
Zounds! You're serious. You...the Infinity Gems? KANG?!
[Herc scrubs his face, still trying to parse all of this and not get angry right along with her...]
Who are these men?
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[ She hadn't considered before what Hercules might have been up to, so of course, maybe there were things he didn't know...but this was years ago. ]
At the time their plot with the Gems came to light, there were only six men. Reed Richards, Iron Man, Charles Xavier, Doctor Strange, Namor, and my husband. This was when I ruled the Kree— after you met with the Unspoken. We all believed Black Bolt dead at the time, so I answered the summons they sent for him— that was how I knew about the Infinity Gems. It wasn't long before the Avengers caught on. I imagine everyone thought they disbanded once it all came out.
[ She should have thought about this before. She should have tried to intervene, questioned Black Bolt more intensively. Refused to allow him to keep secrets from her any longer. But hindsight is always 20/20. ]
The core group remains the same, I imagine. They only trust each other, so they would stick together. I know Maximus has fallen in with them now, and someone must have taken Xavier's place, but I don't know who would fill that role.
[ Should she tell him that Charles, their Charles Xavier, is dead? ]
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It was the last time, before Typhon, that he'd actually had to fight in earnest. When he'd had to be more clever and cunning and not just a great fighter.]
THOSE buffoons again?! Did they not learn the last time?! When they launched Bruce into space...and he returned?! You'd think that having the Zeus-Damned Worldbreaker turn up in Manhattan would be enough to show them that their meddling was unwarranted!
[He's missed the hint about Charles. He's angry. So angry.]
And they have the gall to call Thor and I buffoons, and Henry arrogant! But they toy with powers beyond their control, yet again!
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[ In another circumstance, she might have tried to calm him. But Kang— he gave their son to Kang. The Illuminati will all be lucky if she doesn't reduce them to broken heaps when she gets a chance, when their machinations and failures put her only child in danger. Put her people in danger, her friends in danger, the whole universe in danger, everything that they ever fought to protect.
It's easy to believe that whatever's happening, the Illuminati caused it, or at least exacerbated it. By now it's a pattern of behavior she should have started calling out long before. And Medusa's not even aware how close to the truth she might be. ]
Of course they did, Hercules. If they did it once, they would do it again. They would simply think: next time it can all be controlled. Firing Hulks into space and hiding the power to change the fabric of reality and who knows how many other stupid, arrogant acts?
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Those...idiots are going to be their own undoing one day. Why! When we get home, I'll make sure that all of Asgard and Olympus are made aware. I will make peace with my sister to stop this idiocy.
[He slams his fist into his hand, and that act alone shakes the foundation of the house.]
Henry, Bruce, the other Henry, Steven...the Avengers will put a stop to this nonsense.
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But she knows better than to suggest they should distrust their greatest allies. She wants to believe they would never join in such foolishness. ]
Provided we remember, then yes. By all means, we have to act. But here and now, we need to consider what this means for what we do next with respect to this situation. This war, and the Void.