sovereignty (there go your hero)
Riri is different now. When they were in that cave, Shuri hadnât known if they would ever be released and there had been an air of unreality. The world faded away, it was just them and even if the situation was terrible, they had each other. That sentiment is much reduced when faced with the trappings and responsibilities of her station. Shuri is a princess of Wakanda and if the council had their way she would be Queen. Her mother served Wakanda for so many years, she deserved to rest and enjoy her retirement as a dowager. The only thing stopping her is Shuri. She isnât ready yet, she never wanted to rule. She never expected to be the only one left.
âWhy are you still awake?â Riri rolls over from under the covers, propping herself up with one arm and Shuri looks up from the small screen in her lap. Shuri didnât notice when she woke up.
âSomething came up.â Shuri had an idea and she wanted to record it before she lost it.
âSecurity or science?â Riri asks and Shuri can only smile. The best thing about Riri was her mind, unfortunately it made maintaining the façade of peace, hard.
âBoth.â Shuri doesnât give any more details, turning the display up and sliding up closer. Shuri can see the moment of hesitation, a slight hitch on Ririâs part before they kiss. She pulls away eventually, around the time when Ririâs hands start to go south.
âDo you really want to know?â Shuri doesnât think she does. Riri didnât like not knowing yes, but a little ignorance wasnât always bad. Especially when your girlfriend was planning to overthrow your own countryâs government or potentially kill thousands of people in defense.
âWell, when you say it like thatâŠâ Riri is smiling but it doesnât reach her eyes.
âThe news our intelligence is picking up is not good. We are worried about our neighbors.â The snap worsened a lot of things. Wakanda had helped but they refused to take refugees. They also refused to tolerate the many prejudices that the outside world tried to enforce on them and the way they did things. Shuri has been trying not to let her frustration and apprehension affect her actions but itâs hard.
âWhat? The beefed up security isnât enough?â
âNothing is impenetrable. The world hates us.â Shuri doesnât know how much her girlfriend paid attention to the news before she came to Wakanda but Shuri did. She didnât have a choice anymore. Every day foreign news and government slandered Wakanda and blamed their problems on Wakanda for refusing to give away wholesale their technology or their resources. When they werenât trying to steal from their outreach centers or harassing their citizens.
âNot the world, people trying to jack your shit.â Ririâs response makes Shuri snicker.
âThat is still too many people.â Shuri flops down on the bed.
âI have the keys to opening a door that will protect my family, and I donât know if itâs the right thing to do. But nothing else has worked.â
âWhen you say keys, is that metaphorical?â
âNo. Iâve replicated the plant that was lost. If I wanted I could raise an army.â Shuri doubts the council will agree with most of her ideas, but if Namor has proved anything itâs that there was nothing Wakanda wouldnât do when it felt threatened enough. The Talokans were a threat, but so was the rest of the world. The rest of the world just didnât have vibranium yet.
âDo you want to?â Ririâs voice is weathered by sleep, making the question all the more innocent.
âI am tired of fighting.â All this fighting and she couldnât save her brother. All this technology and they couldnât save her father. All this intelligence and no one but a retired field agent could find her for weeks.
âThen do something else.â Riri says as if itâs the obvious solution and Shuri is momentarily exasperated.
âGo to sleep.â She would face tomorrow's problems in the morning.
âMmhm, you too.â Riri reaches forward to pull her arm and Shuri allows it settling both of them properly into bed. Back at the underwater cave she discovered the American was a not only a blanket theif but a cuddling fiend. It worked out well, Shuriâs body temperature ran low and Ririâs hot. Shuriâs last thoughts before falling asleep is hope that Riri would never hate her, because unlike her brotherâshe would never let go.
blakekathryn
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
