Open Tides Under Siege

[Coroxn]

"Brother" Angel replied, curtly. "I may be crowned very shortly, as may you". Ha! Right. "And then, we very well may be wishing we had treated the other with more respect. Fair warning, to both of us. And the intricacies of politics are a subject that a King may learn about night and day. Or, he may appoint a hand, to speak with the King's voice, and act with the King's hands, so as to rule when he is indisposed. Then those intricacies are no longer quite the burden they one were. Of course, you are aware of this". Being the lazy sod you are, you will appoint one at coronation, and party your way to your grave as he rules. With that power....I must let no one seize it. The country would be in ruins...But would I do a better job? He shook his head. Of course I would! I would rule as best I could, not hide behind a hand and live a fanciful life as my people starved around me.

Angel sighed. His brother thought him lackwitted, it seemed. Of course, it was he himself who was lacking. Angel's intelligence was sharp, though easily clouded by the angry rage that was so often his disposition. But that would change with a crown on his head. The daily struggle of your life is almost over, Angel. Once that gold touches your head, you will have finally won, finally proved who you were to a dead man, but more importantly, to the world. Rafael will not take away my life, I am eldest, I am wisest, I am hardworking, and I will not be cheated of my crown!

 

[Spatz]

~Phish

Phish sighed to himself quietly, he found it slightly irritating that Angel and Beauty were still at it, he had given up on his own input due to it's ineffectiveness. Soon enough Rafael interjected, trying to ease tensions between his siblings.

"Possibly the only one who's currently using a lick of sense. Shame he's just drawing the fire from Beauty to himself..." Phish thought to himself as Rafael stated his village and it's relative condition, Glaushire this time. Then he posed the question pertaining an unknown Buizel.

"Sir, if I may." Phish said off-handedly, clacking his claw twice, quickly summoning a Palpitoad Lieutenant to his side.

"Lieutenant, there is a Buizel somewhere in the castle, would you please find this person?" Phish addressed the Palpitoad, and with a nod it was off. "He's a recon expert, if anyone'll find the Buizel it'll be him."

Phish rested his head on his claws, watching as the two brothers dueled each other with words, Angel on the attack, and Rafael carefully defending, making sudden jabs ar times.

"Currentrun? Hmm, that's a trading village closer to the border isn't it? One of the main ones on the caravan circuit, never heard of the derogatory reference though, not that I'd expect to have. Deepshell is one of those low valley ones I think, closer to the center of the kingdom, but I've heard that it's a bit of a slum land, not sure though...Gaushire? Don't think I've heard if that one, must be a newer one, possibly along the mining area? Hmmm..." Phish thought to himself as he sounded out Angel and Rafael's word duel.

 

[Mai]

No. You do not needlessly insult me, Demon. I will not allow that. Deepshell has never had any truly crippling problems, and I intend to keep it that way. "That must be very intruiging, to live in a world such as yours. Dear brother, I visit my village every week, and never once had I seen what you seem to imply. I do not wish to be rude, however that was pure slander. I hope in further circumstances you abstain from hurling unfounded insults at my person."

And then he continued with his aggressive speech. Displaying little emotion whatsoever, she stopped herself from laughing only with pure stubborn will. She would not be immature like her brother, lying and pretending that he had a shot at king. "I do not understand your reasoning, dear Angel," she replied evenly. "You see, I am already a gorebyss. And with that, your argument falls apart." He was... staring at her. With an odd, critical look that was hard to analyze due to the scar on his face. What could he possibly mean? He must have something on his mind, though sadly what it is eludes me. Oh well; it won't matter when he's banished and dead.

Looking at Rafael shortly with an irritated look, she eventually decided that it would be better to be the polite, formal and calm one. "...Of course, Rafael," she conceded. "It is quite immature to be debating about this, as we are-"

Completely better than him in every way. She seethed as Angel acted like he was the one in command. You know you will be the one to lose! Stop pretending you won't!!! Resign, or I will kill you. ... Socially, of course. It would be unwise to murder. She would have gritted her teeth or punched something if it was possible. As it was, she had to lock her body in place not to spring and attack him. So self important, and ridiculously arrogant...

"Of course, dear brother," she replied indignantly. She did not want to be curt, but this was getting ridiculous. Focusing on speaking calmly, she slowly uttered her carefully placed words. "I do think that this debate should end before we say something... hindering. I do think you have an untrue belief, though; I have no intention of staying in this business once the true king is chosen." At this, she unsubtly looked at her milotic brother. "He may rule as he chooses, as I trust his judgement to be wise. Please, do continue with your insults if you deem it necessary: however, do remember your words about regrets."

You shall die. You shall die. You will have regrets. You will be shown as Ugly.

 

[Mendatt]

Apparently he thinks me lazy. I have been the king's voice to the courts since Father became unfit to be so, and rarely have I delegated the task to an underling. How dare he assume so! He doesn't know a single thing about me! But... On the other hand, I don't know a single thing about him, either. What if he really would be the best choice as a king?.. No. For so many reasons... His temper, for one, and... Well, his temper seemed to encompass most of the other reasons... His rashness and lack of tact, his inability to say a sentence without insulting someone, accidentally or otherwise. So many reasons. But I suppose he is right... I'm not helping anyone by disrespecting him, especially since I have what others would regard as little reason... "Indeed I am. I have filled the position... At several points in time." He said, coming out of his internal monologue. Hearing Phish telling someone to look for the Buizel he had met earlier, he turned towards him and gave him a grateful look, although he quickly turned back to Angel to say "But it seems we are all in agreement. One, perhaps two, perhaps all of us will surely regret this argument at a later time. Perhaps it would be most auspicious to simply return to the matter we came here to discuss?"

((This ship just got real! By which I mean active.))

 

[Coroxn]

"Oh, sweet sister, a thousand apologies do I wish to you. Of course, you must contend with but one, for I am a single soul. The slander, you see, was not slander, I assure you". Oh, I assure you it was. But damn me if I can't find a way out of it, Beauty. "You say you attend Deepshell every week? Then the whispers, murmurs, rumors I heard must be utterly false. I thank you kindly, for now I know of an informant, who's information must be bad. I shall cut him from my list, I assure you. And again, I apologise".

"And sweet sister, a thousand pardons, no, a thousand thousand, but you do know what I meant. Simply look at your tail fin. It screams Huntail. We've all seen Gorebyss before. Why deny your difference? You look beautiful. Imagine all those clones, all those Pokémon who are exactly the same. They are nothing compared to your singular uniqueness. You must be an object of great, great envy. I never meant to insult, and I am sorry if I did".

Now, looking at his sister, he did feel sorry for her. So much of her was built upon appearances, and could he blame her? His father had so abused her, and she had been given two extreme brotherly examples: the beautiful and the loved, and the ugly one who was shunned and whispered at behind his back. What was she to choose? She has not made herself, Angel thought. Had I taken more of a liking to her, had I sought to be her friend, shown her my point of view, maybe she would not be as cruel and vain as she is now...Or maybe she would. He was not to know, and could not change anything now. He repeated his apology, with great force thrown into the inflection, and he heard his voice portray all the meaning he meant.

Then his brother spoke, echoing Beauty's earlier proposal. "Dear siblings, you have wisdom beyond you years. We are all tired, grieving for our father and afraid of our futures. No doubt it has made us irate and arguable. We should forget these harsh words, born of sadness and frustration, and instead focus on these new times. Whichever of us becomes king, the people are of most importance. They must be seen to, must be taken care of. It is for them that we exist, it is for them we rule. Let's drop our folly, and give them rulers to be proud of!"

 

[Silver]

Echo strolled silently through the corridors of the castle. She had intended to follow the one she encountered earlier but he had managed to slip away from her. Hm...he couldn't have gotten too far, he is royalty afterall and I don't believe they go anywhere far from their castle...

Glancing around looking for someone who might be able to lead her to where he went she spotted a Palpitoad. It looked to be helpful enough though she wouldn't be one to know that much about others. Although it moved closer and she heard it repeating, "Find the Buizel, find the Buizel..." Smirking she made herself visible.

"Palpitoad, Palpitoad, I'm looking for some royalty. Think you could bubbling help a girl out?" Even if she didn't know this would get her she knew it'd get it's attention. If he gets me to some royalty I can ask what I want to...not from the one I met but from the sister...

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

"Enough.", Claudio said sharply, "We will have plenty of time to discuss this once the administrative matters are done with. I assure you, there's not much left to go through, so don't kill each other. Beauty, I do in fact need your input on this matter, because right about now I'm more concerned as to whether or not the kingdom I've been asked to take care of in the meantime is falling to pieces or not."

"Now, by the way you're all acting, I assume the taxes are being properly collected, that crimes are being properly persecuted and punished, and that you haven't angered the gods or anything.", Claudio continued, "Good, then. My personal fiefdom, the duchy of Kamoranthia, is doing good as well. Nothing unusal to report. I have yet to hear of any major issues from any of the other rulers or any grave issues amongst the subjects, so I'm going to say that the realm is in good shape despite the current crisis."

He turned to Commander Phish, "Finally, commander I have not received any distressing reports of oceanic raiders or other realms posing a threat to us. Has this been the case for you as well?"

 

[Spatz]

~Phish

Phish looked up slightly and realized that Lord Claudio had addressed him.

"Oh, um, no, no problems from neighboring kingdoms. I think it's due to the fact that they assume that we are no longer a threat, and assume that everything had been ruined by our late king. Uh, on oceanic raiders I've not received any reports as of recently, but that could change. I not truly certain on that regard..." Phish looked over to the doorway blankly, he couldn't think of much.

"I dunno...my men haven't really had much to do besides patrol borders. I suppose it'd be worth mentioning that there have been sightings of several mercenaries over the past couple of days, um, one I think was a Carracosta...don't exactly see those everyday, so I suppose the problem with the throne is attracting them on account of the possibility of jobs..." Phish grinned sheepishly, he had actually taken the past few days on leave to be with his children, but he didnt want to say that at the time.

 

[Mai]

Oh, of course not. Despite her seconds earlier calling for peace, the aggravated aquatic wanted to rip his throat out. The Demon would not slander, never lie... he only fakes the truth to make someone sound incompetent. That's the way it is.

"Of course, that was not slander," she replied. "How frivolous for me to think so. You were simply misinformed by one of your... informants? Interesting, I find it much easier and simpler to simply find things out myself." She truly did. Being the main workforce of Rafael's campaign, she only had two subordinates to help with those things. With only two, it was extremely different to get everywhere she needed to through ordering people around. She felt more comfortable doing it herself. There was no chance of someone misinforming her unless she did something wrong. "Well, I am going to head out to my village sometime within the next four days. Can't break my pattern, after all. A lot can happen in a week. Whenever it is, you are free to come with me and see for yourself how well it's doing."

Suddenly... he said something that both shocked and scared her. It was... intruiging, also. In the way that made her sick to her stomach. She... didn't want want be different. No! He wasn't being directly insulting, but he knew. He knows of my shininess! He must! He couldn't mean that. He was the enemy, and enemies did not act kind. They did not compliment. He... he said my mutated body was ugly earlier. He couldn't mean this. He hates me. That's the only answer. During his apology, her face had been slowly morphing for her calm expression into one of terror. She was calm enough to make her face itself slightly impartial and only a little curious, but her eyes (they were the window to the soul, her father had said) were filled with terror. That was beginning to become her default expression when talking to him. He can't mean this, he can't...

I'm not different! I'm not shiny! I am normal! "That's very nice of you. H-how-however, I am truly just a typical gorebyss. There's nothing different about me at all. I'm normal, no better and no worse." Of course they envy your scar. That makes so much sense. Flinching as he repeated his... apology, the gorebyss looked down at the table. She didn't want to see his face, her face. Yet the shining surface reflected her deformed head fin back at her, and she wished that this meeting would end soon. She couldn't handle it. Facing Demon... was not something she was ready for. Still, she opened her mouth and prepared to speak. Must be calm, must be polite. Must be royal.

The voice of Claudio stopped her, interjecting that this debate had to stop. Fine then. It will stop his insults. Swallowing her emotions, she matured in an instant and answered his questions evenly. "Everything is fine on my end," she replied. "I hope it is as well with everyone else?"

 

[Silver]

The Palpitoad had only been looking for a short while before the Buizel made herself visible to him and seemed to be...taunting him? No matter, my duty was to find this Buizel and take her back with me to Commander Phish. She already seemed willing to come with him as she was already 'looking for royalty'. Clearing his throat he said, "I'd like you to come with me as I have been sent to find you and bring you with me to find out your purposes for being here."

Echo let out a sigh. "Couldn't you tell I was already going to come if you brought me to the royals? Now hurry up and move your toady self." Using her propeller-like tail she moved somewhat ahead of the pokemon, hoping it was the right way. It nodded calmly, then quickly moved to some strange doors. The doors had a weird sense of foreboding that seemed to surround it, but just ignored it. She was finally going to get what she wanted. The royals!

Letting the Palpitoad open them, she changed her composure. Echo needed to be respectful, mature, and quiet. Maybe she could even hear some of the things happening in the kingdom. Entering she held her head high and looked around. She wanted to find the sister...Laparas, a strangely deformed Kingdra, a Milotic, and...ah-ha! The sister! She needed to talk to the sister! Although...something seemed strange about the sister...something was off.

The Palpitoad was approaching someone, but she wasn't paying attention. She needed to talk to the sister in private...but how? Clearly not paying attention and still moving she almost ran into the Palpitoad. Smooth Echo, smooth. Shaking her head clear she looked to the one the Palpitoad was saying "Sir." to. Well...it's a start. she thought, as she hoped her scar wouldn't be noticed too much, well, not as much as she already would be noticed.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

"Well, I'm sure they see plenty of jobs opening up for them in our realm due to our circumstances.", Claudio told Phish, "However, a healthy Mandibuzz develops a good sense of when and where prey will appear..."

After Beauty answered Claudio's question, the doors opened up. In came a Palpitoad from the military, and behind him, a Buizel. She seemed somewhat confused, or not toally focused, because she almost ran into Phish's lieutenant.

"Who are you, and why have you come to this meeting?", Claudio asked of the new arrival.

 

[Coroxn]

Angel took one look at the new arrival, and instantly made his decision. A spy, he thought, and a most obvious one, too. The lithe way she held herself, the way she looked, the scar that was so obvious, and a thousand other signs he had learned to recognise. The palace was full of spies, spies from all sorts of people, so learning who was a spy-and for whom they worked for-was a must for Angel. And this girl most definitely checked all the boxes, and he knew exactly who she was playing for. My sister recruits this? he said. It's really not of her taste, but...the Buizel is most definitely hers, without the slightest shadow of a doubt. He would be wary of this one. If Beauty was bringing in new spies this close to the fold...what did that mean? Confidence? Fear? Strength?

His brow crooked fiercely as his eyes strayed to hers. His scars masked his worried face. Should I be hiring spies, too? Or this girl a mere distraction? Is-argh, never mind. I'll just continue. If she causes too much trouble I'll just have her killed. Then my sour sister will know that I am capable of all she fears and more. But...That makes no sense. Why kill her, when I can use her? Make her my own? Yes...that is much more sensible. But firstly, I must make it known that I know where this Buizel's allegiance lies.

"Ah" Angel called to her. "You are my sister's, I take it? She's right over there. Thank you, sweet sister, Currentrun is doing quite fine, for what it is. I hope you village receives much of the gods' fortune."

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

She had slipped out while they were all busy arguing…

I’m not myself, not myself, not myself she kept repeating to herself as she rushed away from the palace. She wondered if they would notice her absence. Well, of course they would notice. But this is far more important. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought of it earlier.

Four crooked walls of marble, and a netting of coral and kelp for a roof. Here it was. Home, she thought to herself.

She swam through the doorway so frantically that she knocked over a shell filled with some sweet substance. Reiki looked at the mess and sighed. It was a gift from Rafael. She had never bothered to open it, though...

She couldn’t be distracted now. The Starmie flung open her closet and grabbed the bottle that was lying on a ledge at the top. It was a small, white container full of pills. The king used to take these to relieve his back pain. Reiki sighed, relieved that they were still there. She then turned and jetted outside, without even bothering to close the door. Dear Arceus, I hope I’m right.

 

[Silver]

Before she even got the chance to answer the Lapras, the Kingdra spoke up as well. "You are my sister's, I take it? She's right over there." She cocked her head to the side. It did seem the arguements were that bad between the siblings. Not able to help herself, she smiled. I'm not what you think I am, but if this works, you'll see I'm more of a child than a bloodthirsty killer.

"That's pretty silly to automatically assume I'm here for your sister. I mean, yeah you are fueding, but do honestly bubbling think she would hire someone so early in this crowning game?" she paused, smiling a bit more. This was the chance she needed to make herself less suspicious. "Besides," Echo continued. "I have come here for a job, but not under anyone specific. Didn't know what I wanted to do exactly, so I figured why not just come to the top and ask the ones in charge how I can help."

Echo looked at the Kingdra. Battle scars don't make you look good, hun. She was tempted to stick her tongue out at him, but she wasn't stupid. She may be insane, but not stupid. Looking towards the Lapras again she said, "I hope I, uh...made it obvious why I was here."

If I do get a job here I have to at least learn their names...

 

[Mai]

Surprised by the buizel spurting in so eagerly, the gorebyss looked questioningly at Angel. Is this child his? She has a scar after all... she was most likely tailing Rafael. That makes sense. She's probably a spy for that horrible kingdra. Kin sticks with kin, after all, and they do both have deformations. Yes... that's it. He sent her; it's obvious with her lack of class. She agreed with Claudio's question, but at the same time the answer was obvious. I do not need spies for this sort of thing. You're so obvious, Angel. I can't believe my true brother hasn't taken the throne yet.

... Did he truly think his spy was hers? No, no; this was a distraction. That buizel was definitely his. "Honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about dear brother. I was about to ask you the same thing! This is obviously... an odd circumstance. Buizel dear, what business do you have here? Do you wish to speak to Angel? Thank you for the compliment though. I wish the same unto you; hopefully everything works out."

The spy spoke again. Turning around inquisitively, she wondered lightly why she was smiling so much. What would a spy being caught in the middle of a meeting have to smile about? You have the weirdest taste, Angel. "I'd... have to disagree about the feuding part," she replied with a slight smirk. It's more like we're killing him politcally. "It's just a small vagueness in the succession laws, that's all. I don't truly have a job for you and have no real need of an employee in this. I apologize, but perhaps you'd find an occupation under dear Angel." He's the one that needs a spy to win. "I'm sure he'd love a helping hand, being so busy and all."

Obvious why she was here? Oh, yes! It was quite easy to tell you are working under Demon. "You were a bit misguided and sudden, but I suppose you are clear enough now that you explained yourself. I hope not to offend, but honestly Rafael and I are unlikely to need your services."

 

[Mendatt]

Rafael nearly sighed. They're both letting their emotions cloud their judgement. Beauty thinks that she works for Angel and Angel thinks that she works for Beauty... Although one can't help but be slightly impressed that Angel picked up the few political senses he does have during his minute stay at court. "Contrary to what both of you are thinking at the moment, I met this Buizel earlier, on may way here- In fact, she was the cause of my being late, although that really is no longer relevant. She asked me who I was, then asked me if I would employ her, although I did not have time to say anything but a rushed 'May I talk to you at a later time? I am rather busy at the moment.'. I am... Not entirely comfortable with one so young having a profession such as hers, but I do not see what I can do to prevent it, so I was merely going to ask if you, dear sister, could take her under your wing for a time." Rafael glanced over his shoulder to see if there was a timepiece in the room, and... "I am afraid that I must leave now. I was hoping that we could be more productive in the time we had, but due to the sudden nature of this meeting, I had no time to reschedule other commitments, and the fact that we got sidetracked several times during the meeting did not assist with us finishing before I was scheduled to meet with an emissary. Adieu." And with that he swam out of the room.

 

[NightGhost]

Dawn watched from the shadows as the meeting went on, at least it was peaceful for the most part. She saw that tensions were rising, this could go bad but it wasn't bad a the moment so she would stay out of it for now.

Don't let them get to you Claudio, She thought as she watched, of all the people there you have the most sense, and charm.

Her tail swished around as she waited for the meeting to finish up. This was all pointless, they already talked about security what else was there.

 

[Spatz]

~Phish

"Sir? I found her sir. The buizel that is..." The Palpitoad said to Phish. Attempting to get the somewhat bored commander's attention.

"Hmm. Oh, good job, but I would think you should have escorted her out of the palace, and you know, not to a confidentiel meeting..." Phish's tone was analtered, but the expression spelt a low level of disappointment in his lietenant, but then again, not much to do for so long, one gets alittle rusty.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry sir. But it seems as though it's been taken care of..." Phish only managed to catch Rafael suggesting that Beauty take care of the young Buizel. Without looking at the lietenant, Phish dismissed him from the room with a wave of a claw. Then Rafael said that he had to leave, due to other matters he hadn't shuffled around. "Sigh, what would he need to do that would find itself more important than discussing whatever it is that Lord Claudio needed discussed. I can't imagine, but then again, its ot my place, nor do I truly care..." Phish though to himself as his eyes wandered and noticed a Dragonair in the corner. "Dawn...now what is she doing here?" Phish wondered, keeping his eyes away but ensuring she remained in his peripheral, not wanting to lose sight of her, partially due to distrust.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Claudio sighed, "Well, I was about to address the issue on everyone's mind, but if you must go, then I'm not in any position to stop you."

He noticed that Reiki had already left. Probably because all the bickering got too tiresome for her.

After Rafael left the room, Claudio adjourned the meeting, "Alright, with that I'm going to have to close this meeting. You're all dismissed. Except, Commander Phish, if you don't mind, I would like to have a quick word with you."

Then Claudio noticed someone. Sitting around the corner was a Dragonair, trying her best not to be noticed.

He sighed again, "Dawn, what are you doing here?"

 

[Coroxn]

Interesting. was Angel's only cohesive thought before he delved deeply into planmaking so righteous and twisted that the words could not be portrayed by a mere pen. His mind was machine like and methodical as it whirred and clicked pieces around inside itself. His blank face was misleading, as his thoughts went round and round, fitting people where he wanted them and thinking of how to get them there. When he was done, he found that Rafael was leaving, and Claudio had adjourned the meeting. He turned his eye to Echo, and then began to leave also, saying goodbyes to everyone. As he passed the Buizel, his scarred mouth said "My quarters, two minutes. I shall make it worth your while".

With that, he left the door, and took a left down the corridor. Not too far down was a rugged, gnarled and cracked staircase. He swam up it, and was lead to a door, which he shouldered through into his room. His bed lay, made by the maids, everything spick and span and clean. It gleams, but it is not polished. He thought. Nor do I have a single mirror or reflective surface. I should hope that she does not with for one. He swam across to the table, where he pulled out a strangely twisted table with his tail. Though it seemed, at a mere glance, a strange design, it could actually seat each known Pokémon comfortably, as he could testament to. He sat upon it, and awaited his visitor. She would not be long now.