Twas the week before Christmas… (part 2)
Again, Apiary Bees, if I borrowed your OC and messed up a name/pronoun/anything, let me know! I’ll fix it! Part 1 is here.
Elvin was entirely on edge as he entered Sunken Venice, showing his new VIP pass and navigating the security checkpoints. The place was a mess. Rubble and toppled bookshelves were everywhere. People in white uniforms so dirty they looked tan or, worse, pink with half-washed out blood were running around everywhere. Elvin eyed the other two Dragon representatives nervously. Amelyani seemed to be holding it together well, though Elvin wasn’t sure how much they could see through that charmed blindfold. Niirah, on the other hand, had an expression on her face he knew well, the barely contained rage mixing with horror into a dangerous combination.
Shadow was being quiet for once, though whether that was because Niirah had requested it or the somber atmosphere, Elvin couldn’t be sure. When they’d heard the news, it’d been the first time Elvin had ever seen Shadow go so still. “This didn’t happen. This isn’t supposed to happen.” They’d said it at the Fashion Check briefing too, quietly near Myu’s side. Myu had responded by taking Niirah’s cookie stash and setting it out for the ethereal entity without another word. Elvin knew what they were talking about just enough to get chills down his spine.
Niirah held up a hand to stop as they got near another group, the Illuminati delegation. They were easily recognized by their blue uniforms… except for, well…
Amelyani tried not to snicker. “Xie, do you even own a shirt?”
Despite the rabbit mask, it somehow was still easy to recognize that the man was smiling as he gave Amelyani a thumbs up. Owen just shook his head. “We already had the argument on the way over. He’s not going to wear one.”
Inanna looked over the Dragon delegation with quiet analysis. Niirah shot her a humorless grin. “Happy holidays, huh?”
“I half expected you to talk your handler out of the uniforms,” Inanna jabbed, with no real heat behind it.
“What? Scarves are stylish.” Niirah flipped the end of hers over her shoulder. “And I managed to get the fancy yellow sashes out of storage.”
“Much to the chagrin of a couple monks,” Elvin chimed in. “Anyone seen the Templars yet?”
Owen pointed towards the security checkpoint. “I think they’re still trying to get their pets through security.”
Sure enough, a few minutes later the Templar delegation made their way over. Willry was holding a very annoyed looking cat. “I know they’re stressed, but just because the cat is named Bitey doesn’t mean he’s a threat!”
“Dawww…” Amelyani tried to pet the distressed cat, but Rhiannon stopped them before Bitey could snap at them.
“They’re holding my Smiler until they can be sure it isn’t a weapon,” Osterby said. He looked around the assembled group and sighed. “All the faction leaders had the same idea it seems.”
“Unfortunately,” Inanna sighed.
Niirah shot her a suspicious look, but wasn’t able to comment when a member of the Venice staff began ushering them all towards the temporary Council room to get started. Elvin gritted his teeth. Politics were bad enough; politics in war time were worse.
~~~~~
Four hours later, the temporary delegates were finally released for a break. First had come the swearing-in, which came with a long list of expectations and promises they had to make. Then once everyone had been sworn-in, the staff had debriefed everyone on the situation and what was being done for the survivors of the explosion. They’d been launched into a world outside their depth as Council Staff described the current political climate and reviewed a month’s worth of reports, all for their sake. Eventually the group had been released for lunch, with the warning that the afternoon session held the part everyone dreaded: nominating and voting on a Chief Councilor.
“So, who’s it gonna be?” Niirah asked the room at large over a mess of turkey sandwiches.
“We really have to talk politics over lunch?” Inanna muttered darkly, her mouth half full of sandwich.
“I’m no monk, but I can read the patterns well enough, Beemom,” Niirah retorted, emphasizing the nickname. “The factions sent the Apiary and friends to take control of things in Venice, and your nomination was the catalyst for it.”
“So what?” Inanna grumbled.
Osterby dropped his sandwich as the realization kicked in. “The Illuminati want you in charge.”
“Well I don’t want it,” Inanna insisted.
“The Pyramidion had a point, though,” Owen pointed out, grabbing a bag of potato chips. “You’re definitely someone we all trust.”
“Inanna? Sure,” Amelyani chimed in. “The Lumi supercomputer’s schemes? No way.”
“Can’t we just put it off till after Christmas?” Willry asked. “This is all happening super fast.”
“We need a Chief Councilor to declare a Christmas truce.” Owen chimed in. “Gotta pick someone.”
Elvin cleared his throat. “I’m with Amelyani. I don’t think it should be Beemom… no offense… or any of the Illuminati group for that matter. If we all got sent in response to you, there’s a reason, and that’s to politely stand in your way.”
“Well don’t expect us to pick one of you troublemaking lizards,” Inanna shot back, looking miffed on general principle. “You’d start causing chaos…”
As if rehearsed, the three Dragons all started talking over Inanna.
“Nawwwww…” “Who us? No way!” “We’d neverrrrr….”
They descended into sniggers.
Osterby sighed. “I suppose that means one of us Templars-” “No!” Five voices immediately chimed in. Xie stopped petting Bitey long enough to make an X with his arms.
“Aw, come on.”
“Any of us is going to be manipulated by our home faction.” “It’s only temporary though!”
“Who else would we pick, one of the smaller factions?”
As the noise in the room grew, Rhiannon popped her last piece of gum into her mouth and started chewing. By the time the noise had reached a dull roar, Rhiannon had gotten the gum to the correct consistency. With practiced skill, she blew a bubble… larger… then let it pop with a surprisingly loud noise. The room fell quiet as everyone turned to look at her. Rhiannon held up the empty gum container.
“Rhii’s right,” Inanna said. “We’ve got no time for this. If it’s not one of us, who?”
“Not the Phonecians,” Willry immediately spoke up. “They’re suspect enough as it is.”
“Could do someone from the Council’s own delegation. Someone factionless.” Elvin proposed.
“They’re tightwads,” Owen immediately chimed in. “Sure they’ll be neutral but at what cost?”
Before anyone else could speak there was a knock at the door. Xie got up and answered it, revealing Osterby’s Smiler and a very cheerful looking Council of Venice member on the other side. “Oh! Hello! I’m here to deliver this little guy to an… uhm…” He looked down at a holiday themed clipboard. “Mr. Osterby?”
“Here,” Osterby replied. The Smiler spotted him and trotted over, bwooing happily.
“You have a lovely pet robot there, sir. Very well behaved! If you were to need a pet sitter while in meetings today, I’d be more than happy to lend a hand.”
As the white uniformed agent gushed at Osterby, Elvin felt a small tug from Shadow. “I know him from before!” the entity hissed quietly.
Unable to ask more questions without drawing attention to himself, Elvin nudged Niirah and pointed under the table to his own swirling shadow. Niirah glanced down, then smiled, clearly taking Shadow’s activity as a sign. She cleared her throat. “Pardon my interruption, but I was wondering if I might know your name.”
“Oh! My apologies!” The agent said, turning towards Niirah as if she hadn’t interrupted. “I’m Agent Arlen Askew, at your service. I’m part of the support staff for the Council.”
“Nice to meet you, Arlen. How do you think we are doing so far?”
“Oh, you’re all doing marvelously for your first day. I imagine it’s all very disorienting for you, being thrown into this so suddenly, especially right before the holidays.”
“Yes, we are all very eager to get back home for that, but…” she sighed a tad bit too dramatically to be natural. “We have to pick a Chief Councillor first and no one wants to be that person.”
Osterby opened his mouth to say something but caught the look Inanna was giving him. The Illuminati were going to let the Dragon make this play, whatever it was. Osterby settled back to watch.
Arlen didn’t seem to have noticed. “Well that’s no good. The Chief Councilor is a great position!”
“But we’d have to cut ties with our faction,” Niirah pointed out.
“Only temporarily. Besides, think of all the new friends you’d make! I wish I could…” Arlen seemed to cut himself off.
Niirah’s open expression twisted slightly on itself, turning vaguely conspiratorial. “Did you want a seat and get skipped?”
Arlen looked frazzled. “Oh it’s fine! I’m not good in long meetings anyway. Tend to tune things out a lot. Honestly, it’s fine!”
Niirah leaned back in her chair, smiling. Arlen was making his excuses and leaving at that point, looking flustered from having been pinned so easily into the half-admission. Niirah made eye-contact with the others as soon as the door was shut again. “I think we have our butterfly.”
“He isn’t a Council representative. We can’t just bring him in and put him in charge, if that’s what you’re suggesting.” Osterby pointed out.
“Yet.” Niirah replied, turning to the Illuminati faction. “How many favors can I cache in for a virus?”
“You want to change the roster in the system?” Owen guessed.
“No…” Niirah grinned. “I just need a scenario to malfunction on a certain Council Rep. Then we just make sure our new friend is in the right place at the right time.”
Amelyani cackled. Rhiannon gave a thumbs up. Inanna just shook her head. “You realize this is going to just cause more problems with everyone on high alert, right? Sure, he seems nice, but he’s just some random agent.”
Niirah shrugged. “Which is worse, acting as we are expected to and putting someone potentially corrupt in power? Or putting a guy who the enemy doesn’t expect in charge and working things out with him?”
to be continued
