[HC] Airless

[Bezyle]

Bezyle, Belinda, and Joseph had made their way up to the next floor where it had been revealed that the head of the Voth family was in good health. Well fed, and outside of unusual slaves that he was forced to endure on a regular basis didn't have many complaints. He was released of course as soon as the Queen arrived and they cleared up the misunderstanding, but then the Queen and Bezyle had other things to discuss, things on a massive scale that her chancellor couldn’t hope to answer. After the Chancellor was freed to join the others down a floor, Bezyle had requested for Joeseph, the Queen’s head scientist to take a seat where the chancellor had previously sat.


The table had been successfully cleaned, and all of the leftover mess from the chancellor and slaves being relatively mess had been cleaned up and in a hurry, would not want to risk being separated from the people that they depend on. The dim lights were brightened, and the music stopped abruptly as though planned, rehearsed even. “My Queen, we have had many discussions now about the state of this ‘Calamity’ that we have been dealing with…” He stood at the end of the table his back to both the Queen and Joesph, both hands, biological and mechanical cuffed behind his back. As curtains opened to reveal a now cloudless moonlit sky he tapped his foot once and continued.  “and I have to inform you a little birdy has told me that one of your men. Is profoundly rooted in research in regards to its origins, benefits, consequences… to tell you the truth that is why we took your boy here. We initially hoped that he would tell us what we needed to hear and we could move on… with that information but as it turns out… you only have one scientist… the others are all just monkeys following an original design… so, of course, the random guy we grabbed didn't have the Intel, a hilarious part is who would have known it was maelstrom… would have been better off having you collect our intel for us like normal… but you know the saying.. Liars make the best promises…”


He turned to them now facing, them… so I wish to make a series of deals with you as I request and require some information and services… in exchange… I promise to let you have a small piece of the pie… and I will not crush you in the process…” He words echoed in the room, they were quick and harsh, the tone, and the atmosphere intended for it to come off as a threat, but the words used made it seem like he was bargaining. He tapped his foot one more time, and the music began to play once more.

Music

[marcyllenesyrox]

Deep in her gut, she knew that the chancellor was going to be taken sometime during her reign. He always appeared calm and was sort of a pacifist, which made him an easy target. Putting heavy amounts of guards around him would have made the kingdom suspicious, so she decided months back that if something like the situation she was in now decided that it would unravel, then she would just have to go and get him herself.
As the end of the explanation and conversations about the incident came to a close, she moved against the back wall and watched the room clear out slowly. She, along with Joseph, was asked to stay behind, so she made sure to order the slaves to bring the man down to the lobby. She always had a bad feeling about the slave girls and looked upon them in disgust. Of course, she had purchased slaves before, but they were male and were obedient as they could become. These girls seemed.. out of place. She scowled and looked away, letting her eyes wander to the two men now left in the room, where she switched to a smile, pursing her lips slightly.
“So, I’ve heard that you started a new experiment. Training them early from birth, hmm?” She paused, not receiving an answer or even a sign of a nod of the head, so she bit her lip and stayed quiet.

With her chancellor being returned back to her, Belinda grew weary of the situation at hand. She thought it would be easy enough to just get the man and leave, but the uneasiness in the lobby served its purpose. She sighed inaudibly, cursing herself for not listening to her gut. Something was about to go on, clear by the lack of being dismissed, but she did not know what. All that she could tell was that it was not going to be pretty.

She placed her fingers against her cheeks, letting her eyes linger on the man who had his back to her. Her stare broke when the man began speaking, breaking the silence of the room. She did not quite care about what he had to say, but if getting out of here alive with her chancellor meant listening to him, then she would do her best to be patient.

“You took action because of some slander a man weak enough to sneak into our territory relayed to you? That is quite messy of you, Bezyle. I would have suspected you of a more honorable man than that.” Her voice quieted as she tucked a piece of spare curls behind her ear again, a truly anxious habit.

“You could not trust my original word, and stay out of my plans? There is no gain for you to receive from doing this.” She stepped forward out of anger, before realizing the action and stepping back, trying to keep her composure. “What are you looking to gain from this? What are you trying to do? I will not have you threaten the sanctity of my kingdom for your little games.”

She glanced at the back of Joseph’s head, gritting her teeth slightly. There was no way that anyone could have known of his experiments. She made sure that he was secluded except in times of delivery. There was a leak. somewhere or somehow, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

[Aril]

Joseph watched the chancellor and slaves leave, putting the chemicals he gathered away and straightening his coat. As soon as they had passed out of sight, Joseph refocused on the Maker and his Queen, the major threat in front of him. The knight listened to Bezyle’s words carefully, he figured that something was worthwhile in them.

Hmm, well now that would explain a lot wouldn’t it? Sure there were countless unintended side effects, beast transformation being the main one he cared about, but everything else seemed to fall in line with what Joseph remembered of the notes that went missing. In fact, he had a much better understanding of the feats now. The knight couldn’t help but spend a brief moment wondering if his Queen had been his benefactor for most of this time. Alas, it didn’t matter now. If so, Joseph would remember to thank her properly later.

His Queen spoke next. Something seemed a bit off but he didn’t pay it much mind. Joseph had to turn things over in his head, figure out the best action for him to take. He too was curious about the intent of the Maker and his Queen had very viable points. The knight would wait for a proposal to weigh in but until then...

Joseph bought himself time by finding and bringing a seat to his Queen as he thought very carefully about what to say. He bowed his head, making sure she settled before speaking. “Do you know whom in Maelstrom it is you’re seeking then?” He hoped to deflect the topic from any deals so far, perhaps playing naive would distract them. The knight needed to know exactly what was common knowledge and what wasn’t and how to exploit it.

Joseph was going to lose this game. He recognized it nearly immediately as it wasn’t one he was skilled at. However, it seemed as though both of the major players saw him as a piece to be valued. Joseph had nothing to worry about… yet. The knight internally shrugged, as long as he got to do his work he didn’t mind what happened.

[Bezyle]

Bezyle couldn’t help but smile at the signs of weakness in the queen's actions; the subtle movements cause his eyes to hone in on them like snakes darting at prey they dashed to her hand's moves. “You, speaking of honor to me, is as silent as the depths of space… pure nonsense… widower…” He caught her eyes as they looked towards Joseph, and he couldn’t help but widen his half-cocked grin into a smile. “So this is him. Would make sense you keep this one close… the mad scientist who has a better understanding of the calamity than anyone else… outside of meticulous of course…”

As the queen stepped forward out of anger and then stepping back, Bezyle quickly gripped her by the arm with his cold metal fingers. “My little games…” It was at this point, Bezyle had known that he knew better than to try and take on the Leviathan. The flipside to that was that she was in his house. “This is my house… you will mind your manners” He then pushed her further away towards a chair. “I want your scientist… to work with me more closely… preferably downstairs where my experiments take place… in exchange, I grant you full access to my resources, the trick to this is a simple one. Meticulous will belong to me, and you will run the house if you do not want to find yourself turned into a rabid creature with no sense of humanity left… it would be in your best interest to do as I say…”

He then clapped his hands twice and out came Shell, with a Meticulous grunt strapped to another chair. It was obvious who he was, as he had all of the proper brandings on his flesh. An x slave, who had initially been given to Maelstrom as a gift in exchange for Bezyle’s arm. “Im dain cin” He spoke calmly, as the x slave instantly went silent. The male still appeared to struggle, but sounds and cries couldn’t be heard from his lips. It was as if someone had stolen sound from him entirely. “I'm still cin” The struggling then stopped, and the male became frozen as though he were a statue. “Now you see Belinda… this is why I hold all the cards… most of your men… are sleepers… they are under my control… I gave them to you but at anytime I can take them back, I can have them turn against you… I can make them useless in your hands… if you wish to maintain your power, then you will do as I say or you will be punished for your insubordination.”

Shell then brought a small jar, with a golden lid, for the most part, it was full of dirt, but removing the pot carefully, and placing the maelstrom grunt’s hand in the jar. A scream somehow let loose, a violent transformation followed this into a dog. That began to bark, escaping its restraints, almost instantly. The beast actually charged for Bezyle first, only to get kicked to the side, whimpering the beast quickly learned to ignore its pain, to charge at Belinda. Teeth were sharp, and foam roared around its mouth as its claws clacked against the floors craving her human flesh.

[marcyllenesyrox]

Oh, how she wanted to rip that man apart right then and there. Did he really think he had the power to lay his hands on her? Or was he just brave enough to have the audacity to think he could get away with it? Even so, she knew a more severe punishment would be in store later after he was done rambling on in the idiotic tone of his. Belinda gritted her teeth, falling back into the chair that was placed behind her a few moments ago. If she didn’t have manners herself, she would have made sure to put him to rest in the most horrendous way possible. He knew she would be able to, yet he was still acting like the big bad wolf. She bit her lip out of rage, glaring at the direction of the man who continued addressing her in a belittling manner. There would be no way in hell that she would give into his demands. They could only be arranged over her dead corpse. And hell would freeze over if that was going to happen.

“You have no need of my scientist. If you are needing information so bad, why don’t you fucking get your own scientist?”

She spoke out of tone, but in all honesty, she did not give two fucks about her image in this room. Everything was taken from her before, and she was not allowing it to happen again.

“Or are you too weak to go out and scourge for your own men? Do people know of your sick tendencies?”

Once he spoke again, she bit her tongue, lowering her voice, listening to his words, holding back the multitude of insults that were running through her thoughts. With the mention of a deal, she rolled her eyes.

“Do you really think I would want to make a deal with you? What would I gain from Meticulous?”

She scoffed loudly, turning her head away to glance at an imaginary flaw on her nails, flexing her fingers in front of her, appearing uninterested.

“You take me as a fool.”

Belinda continued messing with her nails as the man droned on, ignoring any threats he aimed her way. It was better not to entertain the child, was it not? When she heard the familiar muffles of one of her men, she glanced over quickly to see the castle worker strapped to a wooden chair. With the appearance of another of her court, she would definitely have to keep her composure.
Her expression showed no interest as she once again went back to her self-manicure, her attention only being taken back when she felt the warm breath of the beast against her legs. She crossed her legs calmly, staring at the dog for a moment before looking up again at Bezyle.

“Oh, so you think you can scare me with your magic tricks, hmm?”

She kicked out her leg, kicking the once-manlike creature.

“Are you trying to scare me or impress me? Or are you just compensating for something with all this “power”?”

She moved her fingers in air quotes, smirking at the man, before placing them under her chin, leaning against the arm of the chair.

[Aril]

Joseph nodded as he grabbed a glass, fiddling with some of his vials, pouring small amounts into the new container. He was merely a man tinkering with his hobby, or so he tried to appear. The words the two giants in the room threw around him were merely power plays, ones that attempted to show who was the biggest threat there. No, that wasn’t his place, it wasn’t his strength. However, as things were escalating, it would be best for him to play to his strengths and make an equalizing force between the other two.


The sound of the dog broke Joseph’s concentration for a quick moment. He glanced over to see his Queen kicking it and watched it set its sights on him. The knight popped open a small vial, throwing the lye that sat inside onto the beast as it ran towards him then grabbed a second glass of water and threw it over the lye. The beast yelped and cowered away, tending to it’s face as it was slowly eaten away. Hm, a bit too slow for Joseph’s liking, but he supposed that’d help get the message across.


“I wonder how strong a house’s foundation would be if one could attack it from the inside…” He mused after they paused in their shpiels. “You’ve brought up guests and manners but strangely you haven’t particularly shown any.” Joseph walked over to the crying dog and gave a very unsettling smile. He watched as some of the liquid made it’s way into the beast's mouth and he gripped it tight with his right hand, holding it in as his feat took over. The beast struggled as it began to fill with the slow corrosive substance. It’s struggling whimpers echoed throughout the room.

Joseph was satisfied and he let the beast go to whimper in a corner as it attempted to cough up some that had slid down it’s throat. “A single man took down a rabid beast with his mind and one hand,” Joseph looked at Bezyle, “I wonder what this man would need to make sure things are taken care of in a civil manner. So I leave you with a choice Maker, treat my Queen with the respect she’s earned or see what can happen should I focus my mind on taking down your house.” Perhaps this would prevent the violence coming between them. Joseph’s first goal was self interest, then knowledge, and after that… well that was up to them now wasn’t it?

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