|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:42 pm
 If anyone told him, to his face, that the Shadow Herd was defined by the "evil"ness of its members, Anopticyte would have laughed in their face. The laughter would have lasted for a long time and would have lasted as he flew away back home. Not because the Shadow Herd wasn't unpleasant or that its members didn't lack a moral compass or even that it didn't lack the same ethical values as the vast majority of herds. Oh, no. All of that was true--most of the Shadow were total scumbags (with the exception of his sister Tonestue and possibly her friend Akane). No, the reason for his amusement was that the true defining feature of the Shadow Herd was ambition. Nearly every member of the herd had a firm goal in life and had set about achieving that goal by any means necessary. It meant that the structure of the herd was unstable, but so what? Life in the Shadow Herd, especially as a courtier, was like that sport that some monkeys engaged in where they rode breaking ocean waves on slices of wood. Keep your balance, and you could ride the wave to wherever you wanted to be.
Ever since he was a foal, Anopticyte had decided he didn't want to be a soldier. Being a soldier meant being under the iron hoof of his mother, and, well, Ani just couldn't stand Retinadeath, and that was a fact. Retinadeath had snubbed his littlest brother, and there was no standing for that. No, not at all. It would also mean rubbing shoulders with his father, and he wasn't too fond of Osteocyte, either. So instead, Anopticyte had turned to the world of the Dark Courtier. It had a lot to recommend it--that exhilaration of keeping your head above the others, the challenge of riding the metaphorical waves, and it meant he could work with his adopted sister. Tonestue had decided against the warrior's life so that she could raise children and heal. Ani could see himself working alongside the arcturus to great effect. They had talked about it a lot when he was a yearling. Both of them wanted more than just a courtier's life--both of them were aiming for the top of the courtly ladder. Chaos Duchies. Oh, yes. That was their goal in life.
He had thought long and hard about what role he wanted to play in his herd's future, and in the end, he had decided on his rank, his title, and his job description. Now all he had to do was have a chat with the Queen and he'd get the ball rolling. Piece of easy. He'd never met Queen Blodeuwedd, but how hard could it be to chat with her? He sauntered into the area of the Shadow Forest reserved for the Queen's reception area and bowed in front of their mighty ruler. "Your Majesty, I request an audience with you."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:42 pm
 Queen Blodeuwedd, only known living grandchild to the great Shadow King Moloch, both rulers of the Shadow Herd, was quietly relaxing on this wintry day, considering what color she wanted to paint the snow. It was obviously too white. Blood might make a nice accent to the cold, pure white. Shame that so many animals were in hibernation. Made it harder to find in the snow, and she wasn't in the mood for hunting a pathetic bird.
Sighing in boredom, she considered what else could be done on this day. Retinadeath had recently had foals, and had dragged Plamen into helping her, once more, keeping her officers and their extensive clans busy. Belenus was off skulking somewhere, and, to her knowledge, that monster Triginta Tres was still nursing her hydrophobia on that island of hers. Thank all the Signs that the water around the island moved too fast to freeze over in the winter, or they'd have a disaster on their hands.
Fortunately, something was coming along to ease her boredom. One of Retinadeath and Osteocyte's get, by the bone and flame markings, the Lyra wings, the absence of a man, and the spiked headpiece. But not one she'd seen hanging around the Shadow Army, which meant that he was by default a Dark Courtier. Joy. A mook probably not worth her time, unless he was attempting to drop a scheme in her lap worthy of his stepfather Plamen. Getting to her feet and shaking any snow off, she replied, "Speak, Dark Courtier Anopticyte."
Oh, yes. It helped to keep the minions off guard if you seemed all-knowing and all-powerful.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:02 pm
Eh? How did she know his name? Retinadeath and Blodeuwedd got along well, but it was on a boss-employee basis. He couldn't see the two of them chatting with each other. "Oh, our Tony is doing just fine, got children of her own on the way!" "That's nice, our Belenus just met a lovely starborn girl, we think he'll be bringing some foals home soon!" Retinadeath was too unsentimental, too sycophantic for that, and Blodeuwedd, so far as he'd heard, didn't give a crap about anyone else unless they could help her schemes along. She'd only taken that blue dumbass on just to create heirs with which to annoy Belenus (though if heirs were kept busy in-fighting, it could be good for everyone). As for Osteocyte? He didn't think she and Ost had had a conversation since he'd shown up, Anand in tow, and demanded to know when he could start kicking people while they were down (quite probably in those exact words, knowing that git).
Okay, fine, so Queen Blodeuwedd didn't care about her herd, but that didn't mean she didn't pay attention to their names. It certainly kept people off-balance if she started talking like she knew everyone's name. And rank. But rank, really, was easy--the queen inspected the troops every so often, and Ani didn't think he was being vain if he considered himself to stand out. That was neither good nor bad, he was neither pretty nor ugly, but he was distinctive. Of course she would have recognized him. Right, then, to business.
Er, how did one go about this kind of thing? He knew how Tonestue would do it, but while Tony could make things sound sincere, he just made them sound...sarcastic. Normally he considered that to be a gift; right now, it was probably a curse. "As you know, Great Queen, I have taken the rank of dark courtier because I believe it best...utilizes my talents." Okay, stumble, but other than that, pretty good start, pretty good start. "However, I feel that I am not doing enough for the herd. I think I could best serve the interests of your mighty subjects if I were to be placed in a higher position where I could do more...good." It sounded weak, it had no arguments, but screw it. She could at least give him suggestions how to gain her trust. And at least it sounded like he was trying to sound sincere. He had no doubt that she knew full well he was insincere. Chances were, he was being graded on acting ability, not on intent. That's how life worked in the Shadow.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:31 pm
Unfortunately for Anopticyte, acting was part of the test. Another part was political savvy, and a third part was loyalty. Loyalty and intent was just straight-up assumed with the Knights. Which was in the capable, mentally unstable hooves of Retinadeath, anyway. Ax-crazy Blod might be, but she was not the type to like being betrayed or being stupid about the possibility of betrayal. Though Blod did have to admit that she didn't have the names of all of the Shadow Herd members memorized, especially given its current size. And Anopticyte was correct in that Blod and Retinadeath weren't the type to sit gossiping about their families. Blod made a vague mental note to ask Belenus to present his offspring to her one of these days.
It wasn't a great start out of Anopticyte, and did presume that she knew him well enough to know why he'd opted to be a Dark Courtier instead of a Knight. However, given that, yes, the Shadow was mostly a grandstand for ambition, especially those who were the type to beat up anyone they didn't like just because it was Tuesday or something, it was a fairly obvious assumption that everyone who had the option had gone with their rank because it showed off their own petty schemes of grandeur. And Anopticyte was definitely making with the grandiose.
He just wasn't making with the loyal sentiments or grandiose ways of getting on Blod's good side. And, from what little she'd observed of the various Dark Courtiers, Anopticyte was one of a number who did not have a reliable sponsor in his blatant quest for Chaos Duke rank. Blod felt no real pressing need to break it to him gently. "I see. Cute," she said sarcastically. "But I have none who I know of who could or would offer at this time to vouch for your character to be a Chaos Duke. We'll talk once you have at least one reference who can vouch for your worthiness to be a Chaos Duke."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2014 5:05 pm
First Anopticyte was confused. Then he was dumbfounded. Then he was angry. Then he was impressed. She'd been honest, frank, and uncompromising. For some reason, he hadn't expected that of her. The sarcasm was a nice touch. If there was one thing that could soften a blow to the self-proclaimed king of snark, it was sarcasm. Huh. Suddenly he found himself respecting and even admiring the queen more than he had before. Enough certainly not to blow his top at his refusal. But not enough to not feel hurt and ashamed.
Okay, so he didn't have any clout. He didn't have Ret's backing like Tonestue did, and he didn't have Plamen's backing like Feral did. Well, crap. Now what was he supposed to do? Work for one of them, he supposed. Or, better yet, show them up, and work for two sponsors. Hm. Yes. The more he thought about it, the more he liked it. "Thank you for your frank appraisal, my queen," he said as formally as he could (which wasn't very). "I will return to you when I have evidence of my usefulness in a higher position." With that, and without waiting for a reply, he turned around and left the queen's presence.
Now. Where could a star find the Chaos Duke of Fire at this hour...?elfstar89 Time for an RP with Plamen, perhaps? I think this one is pretty much done.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:57 am
Blod snorted softly to himself as Anopticyte removed himself from her presence without any display of formality or respect. If he wanted power, he was gonna have to fix that. Oh, well. The other Dukes and Duchess of Chaos were strong loyalists. Tonestue would do anything for her adoptive mother Retinadeath, and Retinadeath was nothing if not loyal to Blod. Plamen was probably more loyal to Retinadeath than to his queen, but he still held a lot of respect for her, since she'd elevated him as soon as coming to the throne, and let him have pretty much any and all kinds of free rein he wanted for chaos in the herd. Relatively sane, too, despite all appearances to the contrary. Feral der Martertod was easy enough to buy with having arranged something between Feral and her consort/his beloved's brother, Cometary, as well as vague promises of rare alone time with her consort/his beloved, Tepey R'Pat.
If Anopticyte was going to get power, he'd need the support of at least one of the three. They were nothing if not loyal and highly diplomatic. By the time they were willing to speak for him, odds were, he'd have improved his manners, and be ready to take on his place as the fourth Duke of Chaos.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
