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Open Tides Under Siege

It had seemed he had ruffled a few feathers. Scales, in this case. But he didn't truly care. His sister was trying to take the high road in this affair, and he simply wouldn't let her. There were two ways he knew to make her lose her air of self-righteousness. One he was saving for a public audience. The other, however, was perfectly suited for now. Here, in view of the participants, her outbursts would likely make her seem an emotional wrench. He smiled to himself.

"Yes, it is clear to me, and to us all, sweet sister, why you chose the side you did". He said this aloud, to everyone in the meeting hall and outside, such was his voice. "You fear yourself a freak. Half Gorebyss, half Huntail. If only you'd received the Huntail's efficiency and the Gorebyss' appearance, I fear it is quite the reverse:The Gorebyss' vanity and pride, mixed with ugly horror of a Huntail. I know myself to be ugly, sister, but you have a different kind of uglyness, the kind that judges on appearances. Like Rafael, your surface shines whilst the inside rots".

After his short speech, Angel took his place, duly satisfied. But, try as he might think different, kin was kin. "If you do not appose the crown, then together we could work to show the public their true King, and his true advisor. If you do appose the crown, together we will work to show the public an example of an userper"

He was being to blunt, now, but he felt the words needed to be said. She needed to know that at least part of her fears of him were true.
 
~Phish

Phish once again caught himself sighing inwardly. As much as he found himself respecting Angel, and leaning his way, there were certain things that Phish found himself not as respecting of, and that was blunt aggressive speech. It was fine during combat, but in a political situation it was a different story. Phish rested himself into the chair that has seated his family for dozens of generations at this old table. Some things were ageless, and this room was proof.

"And thus is politics..." Phish uttered under his breath, relishing the chance to have this sorted and military conflicts to have a chance to resume. The room wasn't as adorned or big as the throne room, but it was much more important, and one of the walls depicted an ever growing carving of the history of the kingdom, including the numerous successful battles and wars won by his ancestors, and thus was Phish's favourite wall in the entire palace.

Quickly a Poliwhirl in armour arrived, a look of exhaustion on his near-expressionless face.

"Commander, it'd good that I've found you!" The Poliwhirl burst, clearly tired, but wanting to deliver it's message.

"Take a calm few breaths, relax, let yourself breathe." Phish replied, and the Poliwhirl nodded, breathing in and out slowly. "Now, what is it you have to say?"

"Sir, I have two messages, the first from the border, regarding the sighting of at least two well known mercenaries having arrived within the past couple days. The second, from the nanny at your home, well...your daughter, Phiazz, she's come down with a fever..." The Poliwhirl said, in a somewhat hushed tone to Phish.

The news came as a shock to Phish, but he didn't let it show, he knew that the nanny would ensure the proper treatment would be seen to for Phiazz.

"Thank you messenger, you may return to the post from wence you came." Phish sighed, if mercenaries had already been arriving, then the knowledge of the kingdom's issue was spreading, more than it should.
 
The door to the meeting hall swung open. First to enter was a Kingdra. His face made it immediately obvious that it was Angel, Claudio's cousin and the older of his deceased uncle's sons. While most might've recoiled at the sight of the severe scarring of Angel's face, Claudio was but one year older than him, and they had known each other for many, many years. It stopped being particularly striking some time ago.

As Claudio had sensed, there was already an argument of sorts going on, and of course, none of it had much to do with what Claudio had actually wanted to address during this meeting. Angel was talking with his sister, now known as Beauty, which was certainly a strange choice of name, but an improvement over her birth name, about, what else, the succession.

Really, Claudio was somewhat surprised they came at all, what with relations within the family being a bit tense at the moment and such.

"Good afternoon, Angel, Beauty," Claudio greeted, and then noticing the marshal of the realm, "and Commander Phish. I trust you've all had a... pleasant morning?"
 
~Phish

"Ah, Lord Claudio, yes, a nice morning it has been. It truly is a shame that politics must get in the way. But as we're at that tunnel, I suppose we pass through it. Ah, don't mind my, uh, distaste for this, it's still nice to see everyone." Phish responded, alittle nervously, he wasn't certain exactly how to respond, but did his best to remain polite, and neutral. "Oh, and I had accompanied Angel because he was going the same way, as he decided to pay my home a pleasent visit."


(OOC: Guh, short post is short, not more I can add, though...)
 
"To see the Commander's children, you understand" Angel said, ruefully, perfectly aware no one would believe a word of it. The more seconds past, the more he regretted speaking at all. Was there any sense in him at all? To be so blunt at so delicate a time...He forgot how angry he could become, and how stupid he became when angry. He must be calm and collected, not angry and stupid, if he were to win this game. He began to speak again, regally, this time, as was becoming of a King. "Indeed, Commander. I have never had much time for politics, largely because politics never had much time for me".

He turned to his cousin Claudio with a warm smile. It faltered only slightly when he remembered that his 'warm smiles' struck fear in the hearts of all and gave children nightmares for years. Still, Kingship was in his grasp. Life was good. "Sweet cousin, how do you fare? Still sharp, I hope. And I fear that all this talk of succession is boring you to tears. There are a thousand other things that must be taken care of because of my.....sweet....father's most untimely demise" Untimely is right, he thought. It should have happened years ago.

"The other's best arrive soon, lest we be here till the Gods take us all"
 
For a few seconds after Angel insulted her, Beauty did nothing. She was too shocked.

After a whole minute of being fully incomprehensive, she finally realized what she said and began to tremble slightly. No, no... He did not mean that. He was wrong and a liar. He was just jealous, envious and ugly and trying to bother her. She was not a freak, she was not a freak...

Not a freak not a freak not a freak not a freak not a freak not a freak and not ugly not ugly not Ugly not a mutant he's the mutant no no no... He was lying. Lying lying lying lying lying liar because she was beautiful. She was no longer Ugly, she wasn't for a long time. She was a true gorebyss, beautiful and polite and without faults. He was the huntail, scarred and brash and trying to kill her and eat her corpse. She was the gorebyss, it was her. Her father loved her; he hated him and this was just a ploy to make her crazy. She would not allow that, oh no. She was going to be sane and polite and counter his blow.

She was still shaking. For once her eyes displayed her true fear; he knew of her shininess and was going to display it to everyone. Her father would be so horrified and she would be killed; her brother Rafael would lose the throne and Angel would have him killed too. It would all be ruined. No, no, no!

She had to respond. Make sure that he knew she was unaffected, even if she was the slightest bit unnerved. "T-That's... ssso remarkably humorous, dear brother. Your immaturity has reached an... all-time high. I-If you think personal insults w-will win you the crown, you are horribly mistaken. Once again, I d-do believe that I am on the higher ground here. Personal attacks will not get you any f-fu-further in life, and will certainly not help the public's opinion of you. Why I would want to side with someone as offensive as y-you, I have no idea. I would say more, but I do not want to stoop to your level and s-say things I will regret." Her reply was shaky, easily displaying her inner turmoil if you were listening at all. She was still unstable, trying to satisy herself with images of him being torn to shreds mentally. Then he would see who was the ugly one!

She was the beautiful one, who was formal and collected and not freaking out. Calming her vibrations (and mostly invisible underwater tears), she stared at her brother's face with a completely veiled polite hatred. "Yes, good afternoon to you too dear Claudio," she replied. "It was a decent morning, I suppose. I hope yours was wonderful. How have you been lately? If I am beginning to pry I apologize. Lately, I've been so busy! In a gratifying way, though. It feels satisfying to be doing something." Satisfying to kill my brother politically. Satisying to defeat him and hope for his exile.

... He spoke. The treasonous, ugly despicable seahorse spoke. Always denying, always trying to win a fight that he was destined to lose. "Of course," she said sweetly. "My dear brother cares so much for children... don't you. Well, I do suppose it is better late than never to be learning things such as patience. The others will come soon enough. I am sorry if this bothers you, however."

She was satisfied with her victory. However, perhaps she could sink it in a bit more... "It is such a tragedy our father died, however. If only he had lived a while longer, we might have settled things." And had Angel thrown in jail.
 
~Phish

"Amazing the hostility that siblings can have, I have a brother, though heck if I know where he is. We were damn near inseparable, even if he may have resented me a little for my rightful claim to succeed my father when the time came, but he also respected me, acknowledged his place as the younger brother, and took up a different profession." Phish commented, personally noting Beauty's attempt to grasp an upper hand in the situation. "And truth be told, my children weren't fazed by lord Angel, so clearly he doesn't have a negative impact on everyone, but maybe perhaps those who are too socially concious. I wish all were as passive as my children when it came to appearances, but vanity truly chooses to sit high..." Phish ended with a sigh, he was used to those even commenting on a soldier in a social setting, especially when he was young and went to gatherings with his battle scarred father.
 
Reiki entered through a side door, and took a seat to the right of Claudio. She preferred not to become too entwined with the question of succession, and to her it seemed like Claudio was the only one who remained level-headed these days. Indeed, Reiki felt she trusted this lapras. As far as she could tell, the other royals probably hated her. Not that she ever did anything to offend them personally, but her loyalty to the deceased king (and her secret love for him) had made the starmie a target for their contempt.

Across the meeting hall she could see Beauty, looking rather upset. From the direction of her scornful glare, Reiki could tell it was something that Angel had said that had provoked her. Why does the crown have to drive families apart? she thought to herself. Reiki had known Angel for a while, and was one of the only people that could look at the kingdra face-to-umm...gemstone respectfully. She did feel sorry for him at times, but she wished he could be less boldly insulting. Beauty was rather sensitive, and he appeared to be taking advantage of that.

I hope this meeting will be over quickly, she thought to herself.
 
Angel was oddly flustered by Phish's statement, but pleased as well. He felt that his sister was pushing the Commander away from her, and by allegiance, Rafael, and closer to him. Ah, his sister. She had taken it remarkably well, which was to say, she had not destroyed anything yet. He, however, had crushed her calm exterior. Though she was more calm and composed then he could ever have imagined, she was stuttering and her tears and glares spoke louder than her passive words.

"A great tragedy, sweet sister", he commented, and he felt another jipe coming along, so he turned from her quickly before he defamed them both any further, instead turning to the Commander. "Indeed, a remarkable description of the vain, for they rarely contend with thinking highly of themselves, and must voice-and rather loudly, wouldn't you agree, sweet sister?-their disapproval of all those who do not meet their standards".

Damn him, he had slighted his sister again. What was wrong with him?

He saw Reiki enter and sit beside Claudio. His father's nurse. And maybe more...for with the admiration she spoke of him with, it is entirely possible that she served as a concubine to the King. Well, he would have no need of that service from her, but she was more than welcome to stay as a nurse. Maybe he should say something? Maybe not...of course he would. He was not one to stay silent.

"Sweet Reiki, how are you? What a fool question, you must be grieving the King's loss as much as all of us. I apologise. I just want you to know that you still have a place in this palace, though, as I am not my father, I may not need....all of the services he required. After the coronation, rest assured, you can come back to work-but only after returning from you paid vacation. You must be given time, as time heals all wounds as well as you do".

He wondered how she would take that. Had he been blunt? Too blunt? Why did she have this effect on him, this flustering, flustering effect that made him feel as if she were scrutinizing him. Was it that she saw with her gem? Maybe. That was unsettling...
 
Rafael swam nonchalantly into the meeting room, and looked around. "Greetings..." As his gaze reached Angel, his voice got noticeably colder. Attempting to act polite, he said "I apologize for being late. I was... Sidetracked. I hope that you have all had pleasant mornings."
Studying the company, he guessed "I assume this meeting is about the succession? It is a... Pity About our... Dear Father's demise." A true pity, he thought. He had no wish for war, but he had no doubt that this would eventually reach that stage. Perhaps, with luck, he could delay it as fast as possible, but... He tried to suppress a shiver.
Noticing that Beauty was talking to Phish and Angel, he attempted not to grimace. Angel was tactless, and Beauty was simply a walking bomb. It sounded like they were arguing, which meant that any moment, things could get... Ugly. He really should have gotten here earlier... "That is why we were called here, correct?" He said, addressing Claudio, hoping that it would cause him to start the meeting, which, with any luck, would distract the arguers.
 
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... Did Phish just side with Demon. He did. This needed to be fixed. The ugly, scarred, evil Demon could not take the throne! No, no, no. After his outburst? No! This was false, when the time came she would make sure he allied with the right brother. Rafael was the true brother. Rafael was the true king. Demon was a liar.

"I wish to interject that age is truly just a number, dear Commander," Beauty replied. She could not tolerate how things were going for her brothers. The advantage was far too slanted. "Would you truly wish for an unfit candidate to take a profession simply because they are older than their counterpart? I do not want to infringe on your victory as it was obviously well deserved, but I hope that in the future your decisions will not be weighed purely with a... situational belief."

She had to compose herself. Stopping everything that would put her and her brother as immature, she leveled her head as decided she could kill Demon later- mentally, and alone in her room. Her glares ceased being glares, instead calming into a placid, calm and polite look. She kept her body rigid until she was sure she was swaying instead of vibrating. Her tears disappeared. "Of course, dear brother," she said. "Vanity can manifest itself in many ways, sometimes even uncalled for insults or tirades."

Perhaps that would stop him. Soon it would be obvious the immature one. "I am certain that whatever king would ends up getting to power would accept you graciously as well, Reiki. Not necessarily just one. Welcome to the meeting, nonetheless. I hope you are feeling well after the... death of my father. I wish I could help."

Hearing the voice of her brother greeting the group, Beauty turned her head and nodded a greeting. "Hello, dear Rafael. We were just talking about... nothing in particular." A quick accusing glance at Angel displayed that things did happen, but immediately afterwards she returned her polite expression and it was no longer evident what exactly that event was.
 
"Thank you for your consideration, Angel. I hope that this awful mess will be sorted out soon." is all she said. As much as she'd love to take what seemed like a thoughtful greeting at face value, she couldn't help but thinking this was just a ploy to gain her support. But, then again, she was just a nurse, why would the prince want her support? Maybe she had misjudged him. After all, he wasn't as easy to read as the rest of them. He could wear his deformities as a mask to hide his true feelings. Not wanting to seem rude though, she kindly replied "I was quite moved by your speech at the funeral."

"Thank you, Beauty. I know that this is a tough time for all of us. I hope that we can come to a resolution soon without anyone getting hurt." she replied. Of course, that seemed a little too optimistic. Things would probably get worse before they started getting better. Reiki then turned her attention in the direction of Claudio, who was about to speak.
 
That pause before Angel said all of her services made Claudio want to laugh, but that wouldn't be very nice. He couldn't put it past his uncle. There was more that they all seemed to agree on, though...

"Ah, yes... how... unfortunate my... good uncle's passing is.", Claudio managed to get out obligatorily, and then he continued with business, "I wish we didn't have to actually discuss the succession like this, but unfortunately, I must address that issue eventually. First off, though, I would like to make sure everything is running smoothly."

He looked at his bickering cousins, "Now, did my uncle assign any of you any lands to govern? Surely he granted at least one of you at least a village to run to prepare you for kingship?"

If not, then he's broken a lot more customs that we all had thought., Claudio thought.
 
Angel was happy with Reiki's comment. Though his first public appearance was a cause for great stress on his behalf, he found himself to be a talented writer. When, instead of some perfect prince or the angry bastard they had heard of came some scarred but well-willed Kingdra, the people had roused for him. His first public appearance in years, and his first public success. He smiled at the thought. "Dear Reiki, I thank you dearly for the compliment. The heart is a great writer, I found, and we all know when something comes from the heart. The people seemed to like it well enough. They did cheer rather loudly when I made my words about how this black dusk would give way to a golden dawn as a new king stepped forth."

"And sweet sister," he replied, turning on the Gorebyss. "You give me a great credit, for if you do not think my age allows me to rule, it must be some other great Kingly feature that you have forgotten to mention that gives me that honor. Luckily, I know you well enough to see that as the slip that was, and not treason. Gosh, what a misunderstanding that would have been!".

"And Claudio, sweet cousin, I was given a small village to run". This, he directed to the Lapras. "Do you remember? Currentrun, they call it, though many have a much flowler name for it, where they remove a certain four letters. A small place, to be sure, but run fairly well, if I may praise myself. A decent amount of tragedy has befallen since it was given to me four years ago, and I fear my large absence from the place has left me with little good to my name there. I am rather like a god to them, in that the majority doubt I exist".

In the sudden flurry of responses, Angel had completely forgotten about his brother's entrance. Best keep forgetting, or at least act that way. Make him not even worth my while in the eyes of others.
 
~Phish

"Ah that may be so, Lady Beauty, but often with age comes experience, and wisdom, which truly are needed for the placement of a prestigious, and powerful rank. That being said, I appreciate your compliment, though if I may say, my father had it figured I'd win from the moment of hatching." Phish replied politely.

"Ah and now our other prince, fashionably late I must presume...I've heard that it's best done at parties though, but I'm not social enough to know exactly..." Phish said with a chuckle upon Rafael's entrance. Soon Claudio got them down to business, and Phish sat back a touch, the current topic wasn't much of his concern, any and all villages were well inside the borders, and therefore of little concern to him.
 
Treason. He would see who was the treasonous one was, once Rafael took the throne! She held no hope for herself getting a high position (the king would not want her to, as she was not worthy), but Rafael would finally be able to punish the brother who needed it. Yes, the confidence in his abilities would be enough, the thought of her knowing that she had done what needed to be done. She was as loyal to Rafael's cause as one could ever be--it was just that she wasn't necessarily loyal for the right reasons. Of course, for her the reasons were the correct ones; Angel was the worst possible king and Rafael was the only acceptable choice. Her? She couldn't be queen. That would be just wrong.

"I never said anything about you, dear brother," Beauty replied. "Nor whether you were fit for the throne or not. However, I will say this now; you are not King yet." And if I have my say you will never be. I will do anything short of slitting my own throat to keep you from coming to power; if you happen to get the throne anyway I will start considering that option. "Threats are... not the best idea at the moment."

"If I may say my input, Claudio, I was also given a small village. It matters not, because I personally am not running for the throne... however, I tend to it diligently and visit there often. Not to be overconfident, but I do think that throughout this ordeal it has survived rather well. Its name is Deepshell."

One again Phish was siding with Demon, if rather vaguely. How unfortunate... "Of course, Commander Phish. If they truly are more qualified then it matters not. I was just saying that in itself age is not the most important quality. If it truly gives those attributes, then it can work in favor. However, if it is not present..." Trailing off, she decided not to comment on her good brother's timing. She did wonder why he was late, however. I had told him not to be late. What could have caused this?
 
"Rather well?" Angel asked, snorting in anger. How dare she! He would ruin her good name right here! "If you tread the lower waters as oft as I, you find the commonfolk talk of Deepshell as if it were in Deepsh-" he stopped, shocked with himself That was a lie, a pure lie. Defamation, pure slander. he thought in horror. And the vulgarity of his words...what was wrong with him? Did the concept of social suicide really appeal to him as much as it seemed?"-perishable. De-perishable times, though I'm sure that us mere rumor, after all, it is apposed by you, sweet sister". He waited a moment, before continuing, letting his blood cool, sift from angry and stupid to calm and collected. Calm and collected, he thought. Calm and collected wins the race, the winner of the race wins the throne. Calm and collected. Calm and collected. Calm and-fuck it.

"No, I am not king, no more than you are a Gorebyss. However," he paused, smiling. "These things may happen in the future, after all. One much more likely than the other". At this he stopped, and thought. Now that was a thought. But would it work. Was it possible? He smiled to himself, dark plans working their way to completion inside his head. He gave his sister a strange look, cocking her head. The Gorebyss-Huntail hybrid was quivering, almost naturally, but it was easy for someone who knew her as well as he did to see that she was shaken. He knew that she would break something whilst alone, that her belongings, maybe even servants would suffer greatly for the stress he had dumped upon her. She was an aggressive, offensive girl, one he could manoeuvre her into wherever he liked. But how would his offhand comment affect her? He was not winning any love for himself with these taunts, not from her, not from anyone. He had best stop, soon, before he utterly humiliated them both, and gave all the respect into the waiting hands of Rafael.

Ah, his brother. Angel flared internally. Stupid, natterbrained, forgetful, selfish, wasteful, extravagant. He didn't even seem all that Beautiful to the Kingdra. After all, Angel's conceptions of beauty where in efficiency and of beauty in character. The outside was a shell, to portray what it would, and anyone who judged by it was no doubt a fool himself. Angel cast his gaze down in anger at the table. A fool mistake. The staff here, they worked far too hard. The table was so highly polished it shone and reflected his grizzled face back to him. He quickly turned away, but the second he saw was burned in his mind. He worked hard on repressing it. He'd slipped before, many times, but his own face wasn't something he liked to live with. It was all well and good to judge others by their character yourself, but he knew that others didn't do that. Beauty, for one. Rafael, for another.

You're an ugly bastard, something said inside him. Look at yourself, then just look at your siblings! You are hideous.
True, he answered. But I'd rater be me than them. After all. I am a King. And if they ever try to take that from me...
 
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So tactless... Thought Rafael to himself. He is not fit to be royalty. Why is anyone even considering him for the throne? Deepsh... No. I will not sully my thoughts with such vulgarity. "A village, you ask? ... Yes. Indeed, he did. It goes by the name of Glaushire. You may have heard of it. Quite a few of the nobles not required to be at court frequently live there." Currentrun? Such an... Ugly name. At least we agree on that. That is it... This is beginning to get tiring... "Would you two kindly cease your bickering? It is unbecoming of you. Both of you. You are royalty, although relationships may be strained at the moment." He said, turning his gaze contemptuously at Angel, then sternly at Beauty. "And greetings to you as well, commander Phish." He said, turning to smile at him. "And on a side note... Although I would like to apologize for asking a question completely unrelated to the current conversation, did any of you see a Buizel on your way here?" He asked in a worried tone. Where has she gotten off to...
 
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Angel smiled at Rafael. "Oh brother, do come off your contemptuous high horse. You have no right to it. As our good commander will tell you, the army follows a chain of command. This chain, by nature, leaves most everyone with people to lead and people to follow, all depending on how high up the chain you are. This is in existence even outside of the military. The King rules, then we have his family, the small court, where only the most important give him counsel, the large court, where the less important may also have their say, the Lords, those people who have distinguished themselves and been given lands, the Knights, and then it run down through the common folk. You never speak wrongly to the one above you, brother, or punishment abounds. Perchance you'd best remember that, or else remember the cruel sting that will most likely follow".

For all your pretty words, your damn hard to look at, the voice teased.

Angel was ready for it. True, true, but unlike my brothers, I am not merely to look at. I am to lead.
 
"There is no one above me. I stand equal to you, and until you or I are crowned, it shall remain that way. I have no one to follow, I have only to lead. Your understanding of the intricacies of politics may work for you as a prince, but if you should become king, you may want to consider learning more about the subject." I... Really had no idea that he was so clueless. Our family is only royalty due to the support of the court, and I doubt he would manage to keep that. He thought, slightly surprised.

((Short post is short.))
 
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