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It was raining and the sky over Wales was thick and impossibly grey. Gulls cried overhead and it wasn't too warm anymore. Truth was it was a tad chilly, but nothing soldiers couldn't weather with a pint and some grousing about later. Still Chloe was sent for and only that it was of urgency, for time, but not for matters of national interest per se.
Triton was crouched, one knee down on the rocky cliff overhang watching something…happening on the coast waiting for Chloe to show up or not. Time was never anyone's friend but the grieving though, and sometimes waiting was an agonizing test of patience. Still, perhaps the most patient of the Royal Family,it even wore on him at times.
Chloe of course comes as she's bidden, no questions asked. She's brought her purse, the one that holds her knives and her mirror. She's got a long yellow raincoat on as well. It's a color she favors, and it looks good on her. She comes up to him, murmuring, "Triton." A greeting, but also an attempt not to startle him. Soldiers' reflexes can be nasty; it's best never to tempt them. She crouches beside him. Morganna shrieks a falcon's cry and takes wing.
Triton still wore his twin kama on hip, knives attached to thigh and sickle swords on his back. Wherever he was he was loaded for bear but presently he did not start. The scout spy wasn't one to jump at shadows; dive into them, certain, but not jump. There was a lot of yellow come to answer the call. He decided she must either be very confident, or maybe Hell was very bright that it was a strange camouflage for those that lived between fire and fate for long whims of time. Either way he had to agree it really did suit her.
Today, with the sky and rock Triton's green skin faded back to a green grey colour matching closer to the stone and sky and weathered ea below than the warmer shores of Attilan. His voice was muffled through the breathing mask that allowed the fish-man to walk on land and it was not lacking in some tone of appreciation. "I'm glad you were able to make good time. This was… superficially important, but of urgency."
Chloe smiles softly at Triton. With no immediate threat in the area, she relaxes. Morganna scouts from the air, ready to report any danger she can see. Chloe, meanwhile, studies Triton's features as best she can with the mask in place. "Of course," she says. "The gardens are thriving. They can spare me for awhile."
Triton was as still in peace as he was in war, and as always could be trying to make sense of either. In the end he equated to what was a hard read. Having most of one's face covered up did this, but his eyes seemed to say enough. There was no war to be found here, at least not at present. A webbed hand waved her over and he shared, "Few things. One, I have knowledge that one of the translocation points is possibly nearby. I wanted to investigate possibilities of this. The other item is… that." He stood up and extended one clawed finger out at the horizon and traced it for Chloe to follow until coming to end on a peculiar sight. There was against the slate sky an entirely too-vivid rainbow striping the sky with such saturation the indigo and violet bands were even prominent. The soldier was not without a sense of poetry for this world.
Chloe nods curtly in acknowledgment of the official stuff. "Of course, sir," she says. "Whatever you need from me, you know you've only got to ask." He's 'sir' when she's in soldier mode. When she's helping him do Attilan's business. But then, when he shows her the rainbow, her eyes widen outright girlishly, and she smiles as she says, "It's beautiful, Triton." Her features show her wonder. They didn't have sights like this in Hell, and it takes her breath away.
Triton was really a man of subtleties. His directive was simple for the world: for people to have a place, to fit into it, and do what needed to be done. He spent more time bringing people back to the fold that were lost, to give them back up, protection, and a place to live among their people so they didn't have to be alone in the world. This?
This was one of those tiny moments that made all of the hunting and war worth it.
Seeing her face light up to express delight? Something months ago that wasn't even a probability, but now? Something beautiful in the world gifted back to her; taken and returned? This made his missions entirely worthwhile to him. Hope restored.
He squint his dark eyes watching her instead of the phenomenon. Bands of refracted light may not seem like much but they had purpose. "It's important, Chloe. To be constantly reminded what it is we fight for. To protect. Sometimes it is a world. Sometimes an ability to smile. I-" He stopped. Weirdly he found himself poor with words at inconvenient times and kept it honest. "I wanted to share that with you. For you to see this yourself anyways."
Chloe's features soften. "You're so good, Triton. To me, to the people you help." She continues to take in the beauty, and her hand strays to Triton's without her thinking about it. "I fight for things like this," she says quietly. "And our people, and you, so that you can continue to do what you do." She finally looks away from the rainbow to look at him. "Where are we?" she asks. It didn't occur to her to wonder til now.
Triton could go through life asking for near nothing, well, little other than Maximus leaving his things alone. The hand that found his? He found himself oddly unopposed to this. Scaled fingers and webbing curled around her hand in his. He didn't even answer her right away. He enjoyed the simplicity of sharing that singular moment; quiet but immense. Her question, geographic in nature, received a very different answer in return. "We are right where we need to be reminded of what is important before the fight to come." Between the slight tilt of his head and the squint of his eyes there might even be a smile under the mask if such a thing existed. "Reminder for us both I think." For now the rest of Wales could wait. This was important; it was important to him. In twenty minutes when the sun shifted the mission would still be there. The world at peace to be enjoyed by a woman that did hard time in a Hell dimension? Perhaps not. It was a wager on Chloe's peace of mind he wasn't willing to take.
As stated;
This was important.
Chloe holds Triton's hand in hers, fingers exploring the webbing before settling on clasping. Everything about Triton fascinates her. She looks back to the rainbow in its brilliant perfection. "I'm so glad you brought me here," she says quietly, "and that you were thinking of me. I think about you a lot." She sits up then and rummages in her purse. "I want to show you something. She takes from the purse a hand held silver mirror. "This was a gift from my mother. That much I remember. It lets me see across distances. I thought maybe sometime when you're away I'll be able to see you, and if you're looking into another mirror or a pool, I can talk to you for little bit."
Triton had the short stick when it came to terrigenesys transformations. he was scaled, clawed, webbed, finned,and barely humanoid in most regard. Still, the man had feelings even if he tried ever to only employ them for reasons of state instead of for himself. Living outside of everything was hard enough without more to leave behind. His fingers locked loudly around hers saying more than words were at present. "You can do that? How far? I have one in muy apartment in Atlantis, but something small like this? I could- yes. I…would really enjoy that company actually. Yours."
Chloe leans shoulder to shoulder with Triton and angles the mirror to him. "You'll have to take me to many places," she says, "because I can only look in on places I've been. Or I can communicate through a reflective surface." She sighs softly. "Only for a few minutes. But if we arranged a time, a where and when, I could at least say hello and see that you're safe."
Triton considered the perameters of this and rubbed a thumb over hers thoughtfully, "Were that possible I think you might enjoy quite a bit of it. Not entirely certain what cuttlefish have to say but Namor seems adamant about their prosperity. Maybe you can explain it to me." There was a muffled tone of humor. Apparently talking to fish was not in the operative's ballywick. "We can get a mirror that travels. I'm certan Crystal or Kamala know of such a thing. Maybe Corvus. He's familiar enough with New York without being my couin asking 100 questions he doesn't need answers to." His gills instinctivly tightened against his body considering the wonders of what Maximus could do with just a little information. "Until that's feasible? Yes. Maybe you could come on ops if my cousin is convinced it is in our interests."
"Another hand mirror would be enough," Chloe says. She gazes at Triton, mask and all. The rainbow is lovely, but this is a sight more fascinating to her. "I would like that," she says. "I know you don't need a body guard, but I would do a good job. Or as your assistant. Whatever you want me to be. I'm sure we can convince Prince Maximus." She lays a hand to the side of the mask, caressing Triton's face thus. "I'll appeal to him. He might find perverse delight in it."
Triton arched an eyebrow ridge and chuckled, "Color, um, Maximus isn't king. I answer to my cousin, Gorgon, head of our royal guard. This is mutable by Black Bolt." He paused and watched her eyes admitting, "I will help him, but I'm not answerable to him. it is…complicated." He stopped and rest his forehead against hers. "How long foo we have with them?"
Chloe exhales a breath of relief and says, "Ah, the Captain of the Guard, he will probably be more reasonable." She smiles softly, then presses a kiss to the mask. "Three," she murmurs, "maybe four or five. It's not a lot, but it's something." She tucks the mirror away again, putting it safely in her bag. Then she shifts closer to him. "It would make the time away more bearable."
Triton chuckled with a modulated tone. "He's usually the one that gets us into trouble, but…probably, yes." There was a stillness on the bluff, and much more said in the silence with the simplest of gestures from her. He was not diving out of the way of the wave of emotion. His free hand cupped her cheek in the webbing of his fingers. Both sets of eyelids squint closed and quietly resentful that he had no ability to return the gesture. "It's something. We will figure it out."
Chloe nods and smiles at him without guile. There's a sad sort of humor there, how restricted they are by circumstance. Still, the mirror, it's something. "I'm glad to have the chance to try," she says. "Triton, you're so wonderful. The kindest man I know, and the dearest. I think about you all the time." She strokes his head delicately. Curse the mask, but it's necessary. "Maybe when we go back to Attilan, I can get a swimsuit."
Triton chuckled and offered, "Corvus has a dive suit. Still leaves one of us living behind glass, but there's some neat things I didn't tell anyone about. I have a garden there you know. Under the water. I built it up over a couple decades. It's not quite the same but it's…something I would like to show you sometime. And I'm not kind I'm…tolerant. I try. I will tell you the insentivisation for trying is…pretty fantastic."
"I would love to see it," Chloe says. "Someday, it'll happen." She takes his hand again in both of hers, studying the twining of their contrasting skins. "You're kind as far as I can see," she counters gently. She looks up at him and smiles. "Does this mean that we're… that… you know I've got eyes for no one else, and I'll be faithful and true." It's okay to say that now, right? Maybe? Fortune favors the intrepid.
Triton didn't object, and instead closed his webby hand around hers. That was a lot to think about. It was inviting a lot of difficulty into her life and terrifically complicating his. It was, in the end, already complicated. There was silence and a faint gurgle of bubbles whirring through the saline lines through his suit. "I would declare you as such. It will not be without scrutinty, but what are they going to do to me?" He arched an eyebrow as if to ask 'seriously'.