Molly and Namor: A Weighty Subject

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Molly meets Namor and the two discuss what it means to be royal, and stuff.


Sit. Lift.

Ensure heels are in line with shoulders.

Sit. Lift.

Ensure bar is straight along shoulders.

Sit. Lift.

Set.

Namor, breathing heavily, set the weights back onto the squat rack and stretched languidly. One perk of his lodging at Xavier's was that they had weights adjusted for super strength -- while he was happy to go through the motions in a normal gym, he much preferred working up a sweat.

When he opened his eyes to plot his next set, there was a teenage girl there.

Molly had just wandered in. She hadn't really been paying attention as to who else was inside because if she was she probably wouldn't have started walking on her hands just to see how far she could go without toppling over. It was a miracle that her tabby cat hat stayed on her head as long as it did before eventually falling off about 30 seconds in. After a minute or so she started to wobble and keeled over onto the floor with a giggle.

And then she noticed him, the new guy, lifting weights, or he used to be. Now he was looking at her. She gave him a sheepish grin.

"Hi! I'm Molly."

Namor studied her, raising one eyebrow. Still, he had his manners. "I am Namor de McKenzie, of the line of Agon." He paused. "You know, I really shouldn't be abbreviating the title, but I'm only one who seems to care."

Molly's eyes widened at his long name. "Whoa," she said. She tilted her head, then pulled herself up to stand. The name sounded familiar and she thought she recognized him from before, not just on the journals.

"Hey, you were there when we fought the sea monsters!" She grinned at the memory. "That was awesome! Nice to meet you Namor de McKenzie of....of...." she squinted, wanting to make sure she got that right.

"What was that again?"

She seemed really proud of his name so she didn't wanna mess it up.

"Ah, that's right. You were in the cave too," Namor commented as a wave of recognition washed over him. He found himself repeating his title slowly, making sure to pause appropriate between each division. "Namor, Marquiss of McKenzie. Of the Royal Line of Agon."

Oh, he added something else. Molly's eyes widened again, knowing she'd never remember all that. "Dude," she said. It sounded neat though. She wondered if he had to write all that on his papers when he had to turn them in to be graded.

"So you're like...a king or something?" The thing he added sounded like the title for royalty. She'd read it somewhere but didn't know all the specifics.

She got a frown with this, but Namor found himself curbing his usual harshness due to her age. "Or something. My father's cousin is the King. Like how a princess isn't the queen, but her mother is? There are titles and responsibilities for each level of the family."

"Really?" Molly said, grinning. "That's so cool! Do you get like...a castle and butlers and subjects and stuff?"

She wanted to call herself Princess Powerful but he was really royalty and stuff.

"Oooh! Do you get your own coins?"

"Modern monarchy is a lot less exciting," Namor admitted. "My father is a Duke, which means that he has a household staff. Attilan uses the Euro."

"Oh," Molly said, disappointed for him. "I bet it would've been cool to be like....going to a store to buy something and be like....'Here's 50 cents....oh look, it's me! How'd that get there?'" She grinned, giggling to herself.

"So why'd you come to America?"

"For university," Namor added while finding a bench to sit on. He'd fallen into a question trap. He may never leave. "You said that your name was Molly, correct? What is your full name?"

Molly crouched down to pick up the hat she'd forgotten about and put it back on her head. Her hair was sloppy but she ignored it. "Molly Grace Hayes, superhero at your service!" she said, extending her hand.

"Do you like it here so far?"

"I keep getting asked that." Namor took a swig from his water bottle, idly wondering if his workout had been ruined with so much rest. He then returned her handshake firmly, "Miss Hayes, I find Xavier's to be most of the things I was told and some that I wasn't."

Molly didn't seem to falter once under his grip. In fact, she seemed to have some strength of her own. He was very polite and proper and a little stuffy. But then again, he was a royal guy so that was probably just what they were like. Maybe they didn't get to have a lot of fun.

"I know! It's pretty awesome, right? They have a jet. And a dangerous room. And a library. And a pool. And a basement beach. My old school just had the library and the pool," she said. She glanced him over. He looked kinda bored and she didn't want him to keep being bored since he didn't look bored before she started talking to him.

"Well, I'm gonna go for a walk now. It was nice to meet you Mister Agon!"

Namor stared, bewildered. "That's not my na..." But she was already turned around.