talokanilarrogance:
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Fish man. Namor shot the man, M’Baku, a sharp look. Dark brows arched, his mouth in a tight line. Then he huffed out a sound of petulant amusement, his head cocked to the side. “Nothing here ever will be,” he answered. “You may be King because of Shuri but you live because of my clemency.”
A moment was taken to breathe before he spoke again. The surface air against his skin pushed and pulled at his temper.
“…Just as I live because of hers.”
He considered what M’Baku said and looked across the water again. The world beneath it, the one above it. Two halves of a whole, splintered along the seam. Years and years he had gone without parley, without yielding. The seas did no such thing but for now, the waves could part.
“Talokan extends its resources in the reconstruction and re-fortification of your city,” he said quickly. “Is this the change you wish to see, King M’Baku?”
“It is a start.” M’Baku’s expression lightened. He watched as the other man looked over the water and allowed himself to listen to the soft ebb and flow of the waves hitting the shore. It was peaceful. And yet, the King of Wakanda knew just how destructive and dangerous the ocean, and everything hiding beneath its surface, could be.
“What do you know about the Jabari, K'uk'ulkan? Or is it Namor that you prefer?” He took a few slow steps forward so that he was standing next to Namor, gazing out over the water with him. Truthfully, they had more in common than either had acknowledged. He preferred snow over sand, and the solid strength of stone over the changing nature of the waves. But even within Wakanda, an already reclusive nation, the Jabari were even more so. The seclusion, beauty, and protection of the mountains could be compared to the dark depths of the ocean where the Talokanil had created their home.
