Reluctant Priorities [Invite]

Sleep. Shit that was something Nex hadn't done properly for the last few days. Since that day on the river's edge he was uneasy, or perhaps annoyed? What were they planning? He couldn't trust Josh as far as he could throw him. The Zora wasn't a fighter himself, so he had to be careful about how he handled situations involving the Hylian. They were a rabid sort, after all. He had seen what the man did to a Wolfos and the reaction he gave after being told his actions were wrong. Too tightly wound. Moreover he felt that Josh was only good for killing. Level headed thinking wasn’t his strong suit which was why Maude was the perfect partner for him. She was squirmy and lacked a spine. She’d think long and hard before rushing into a situation -- but she was a woman and that accounted for something utterly different.

This whole issue as we -- woman, man. Anastasia confused his senses. While primarily female, in many regards they were a male. Nex felt tense about it. It was as if he had forgotten something rather important regarding such a division. He never found himself overthinking the matter. If it was not offensive to one’s senses it would do right? He felt himself exhale from his gills in a measured response of annoyance. The puff of air rubbing over the drying surface irritated his scales. He was getting a headache. It was best not to overthink things and just blame people for shit until he got an answer. He did find amusement in the other advisors scrambling when he stared silently after they asked stupid ass questions. He knew the answer, but watching them scramble, none-the-less, was satisfying.


Nex narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. In the dim light one could barely see the sharp, red marks carved between his webbed fingers. Tattoos marking conquests, along with the jewelry that pierced the lips of the gills on his sides. The daylight had yet to break. Lamps lit with resin, resting in a basin made from a bivalve shell, one could perchance read, finding it did the eyes little strain. He stiffened at Anastasia’s response. It had been sharp. It seemed to shitty advisors were in here looking for answers as well. The white fish seemed particularly defensive. Perhaps it was simply his imagination? His brow arched, lips parting to reveal the razor sharp fangs that lined his jaws. So the albino wasn’t as spineless as the others about. Mirth rumbled from his throat, causing his face to contort and his right eye to scrunch up in the process. The branded flesh was not difficult to notice. Among the markings that painted his body like an artist’s canvas: his face was the most apparent. For a Zora scars and tattoos were quite elite, letters and shapes marking significant milestones in one’s life.

Even with the markings over his wrists still rather suspect… Some things were better left unanswered.

“....yes.” He seemed to ponder her question. “I am well enough.” Leaving it at that. “You’re still up.” Not that he cared the reason. “Have you made progress on the history of the former royal family?” He would ask, stepping into the archives.

As he walked his cloak fluttered behind him. Though only walking from the Throne Room to the archives he felt a bit more comfortable with his cloths. He reached out his hand and pulled out the chair from one of the tables before seating himself. Leaning back an arm draped over the back of the chair, leaving his left side leaned toward Ana. His posture expressed a favoring of the left side, so the male was likely left handed in these cases. He looked down, adjusting his pink, coral bracelets, waiting for Ana’s words. He took a moment to consider asking a seamstress to sew him something more fitting for a king rather than the tattered remains of his cloak. He felt it brought bad memories and bad luck so he would make due with something cleaner… He considered a white cloak, to elude to a purity long gone from his person. He smirked darkly before his lids slid open, having closed in his morbid considerations of manipulation.

His cerulean eyes drew up to peer at Ana from beneath his frills, the veil like covering giving the appearance of air, or the dancing membrane of a biri. “You know we don’t talk Ana… I know I put you to work straight away but it doesn’t mean you’re my slave, not entirely.” He quipped. Hopefully it was simply the sense of humor beholden a king. “You’ve clearly survived this long, but being blessed with such a pale exterior,” the word blessed almost spat in the disgust for Nayru’s irony…. “...you couldn’t have survived without tribulations to face.” Why was she so clever and not dead.

Anything different in this world had scarcely any chances for survival.

Nex hadn't always been blind, but due to his lack of self care the Zora was not able to retain the sight in his right eye. There was a chance he could have saved it, but the burden of his uncaring nature and self-destructive drinking habits had caused a great deal of, irreparable damage to his body. Beyond his blindness, the weakness of his jaw kept him from being a true hunter. Depending on Zora made fishing rods and Hylian perfected bait was what kept him fed during the spring and summer, but come the winter months: he was left to survive on dey, tasteless rations that provided his weekly calorie intake, meaning he had to divvy up his single pack rations for days. perhaps what was the most mortifying was, with a weak jaw, his fangs were useless as weapons, pushing back as a form of intimidation. Were someone to call his bluff it meant a losing fight for the biteless eel.

His dagger became a serving tool in his protection, becoming replacements for his fangs. Because of the imbalance he favored his left and kept his good eye sheltered beneath his hair to fool his enemies who felt he did hold preference to one side, something he's learned some warriors are capable of. Far be it for him to give Josh leeway were it to ever come to that. A poison dipped dagger helped as well. The stunning properties of a Biri's poison always had quite the sting on non-Zora. After becoming sober Nex wasn't just able to relinquish poisoning his body. The nerve damage caused by his contaminated ink and the scarring in his stomach made pain a daily regard. He turned to sipping drips of diluted Biri poison to numb the pain in his stomach before and after a meal.

He aborted at the white fish. "I am interested enough to ask." Perhaps Ana would come to learn that such from Nex was a compliment. "Me? No. I do not believe there is anyone successful that has had everything in life handed to them." He found slothful folk a wasteful blight on the community. "Their sort needs to be put to work or culled. You cannot advance in the world on the back of others, who've their own weight to pull." He was intelligent, something some rulers lack, preferring to rule with heart rather with the cold perspective of reality.

He leaned back, legs spreading as he presented his belly, offering a relaxed posture bot granted to a king, but a mortal who's worked their time in the unforgiving world order. While the majority of his scales were a pale blue, comparable to a cloudless, summer sky: his belly scales had a lighter hue, clouded winter skies with tattoos painting his body and flecks of silvery scales. His jewelry pierced the edges of his gills, chiming occasionally when he moved this way and that. The bracelets over his wrists matched the one at the end of his swimming tail. He had since removed his loincloth, meaning he was likely without weapon, something Zora of the River always kept close, but it was rather dangerous to assume that, a king of all person, would roam without his weapon. The silvery coloration tried down his abdomen, before becoming lighter towards the softer scales between his legs, only to fade away into the darker, almost grey, blue scaling.

"But you are quite different. I have blue scales," though it was clear by the coloration of the healthy male… he was either younger than he declared or could have come from a different river. Hybridisations among Zora were rare and for the king to be one was absurd. It was easier and more logical to assume him of Western rivers as opposed to claiming him a hybrid. "You have obviously gotten around long before you came here. What brought you to Lake Hylia? Were you born here?" Nex couldn't tell if she was, her scales…

The male shifted his weight to lean forward to try and touch her skin.

Though he was not a very brave, nor a trustworthy fish, the Zora knew how the mind worked and how to manipulate it to his desires. The eyes and ears worked in tandem. He would move to physically present himself as something he was not. He held himself with confidence, yet his self esteem was laughable. When combined with the spoken tongue that he able to audibly to create a foreboding presence that hid his reluctant and spiteful personality, something a larger predator would feast upon. If a dog could sense fear, so could a savage Hylian or rabid Goron, but with enough bravado the inescapable terror that Nex lived with was a questionable weapon to be endured were he cornered. The aquatic saw his body as a tool, just like with anything else in this world. It was something to be made use of, lest be a slovenly, wasteful sloth better culled and tossed aside. With his posture in combination with his words, he could change a situation's outcome, driving it into his favor. In the case that his words failed, though, he kept his fang close at hand.

Nex moved to press his claws digits to his chin as she explained her circumstances. It was rather odd to have been abandoned without cause, but given the fish's coloration it was no surprise. She was as freak, an abomination. Her survival in the rivers and sea would have been cut in nearly half being so bright. She would have certainly been a risk to have. But if one thought in such primitive ways they could not progress. As far as the Zora could see she was highly intelligent and quite easy to manipulate due to her solitude. She was cautious, but not so fearful that she was incapable of, apparently, telling others off that intruded on her time. A cornered rat, as they would say, bit hardest. It would be a waste not to make use of such an individual. Were he honest she did look goofy. While much of his Ocean Zora traits were muted by his River traits, he was still a hybrid himself. His scales were a bit dull and his patterns more attributed to a Western born River Zora, which he was in fact a Northern Born.

Nex had moved forward and seeing as Anastasia did not pull away he placed his webbed hand to their thigh. "Well it matters not what the cretin think, so long as you've use you'll not be thrown away by me." He looked to her from the close proximity. "If you're to survive you'll have to use that intelligence of yours to outsmart these piles of chum. So we'll help one another out, hmm?" That was his offer.

After all a king needed allies around the throne. It was wholly up to Anastasia, but in the same it seemed as if it were an offer that she wouldn't have much choice in. The way in which he pressed his hand to her leg and leaned close was predatory. The aquatic had seen many things in his life, experienced. He would move to stand, his hand shifting from her seat to the back or if, the male looming over her.

"Listen, Anastasia," He began. "don't look to those who can apply your skills or worth to something productive. What you're doing here, for me, is for the Zora nation. Your actions, your presence and power over the people will soon be carved into stone. You can make yourself... whatever you can write yourself as. Would you prefer to be a corpse in the river, or a ghost?"

Nex was glad to see Anastasia wasn't stupid. To be feared was better than being a hapless corpse rules by the tides until dragged to the bottom. After a moment he drew back his webbed hand. Conniving, controlling, convincing: Nex had the ability to strike fear into others without even trying. It was like welding a great magic, untapped potential. He sat back, hands moving to his lap so he could push himself to stand. The older male motioned his hand, ushering the pale scaled female to follow him. Adjusting the jewelry on his wrist he turned heel to leave behind the library.

His footfalls echoes across the palace halls. The underwater structure was built on a foundation of limestone and coral, the petrified corpses gathered at the river's end and the eroding land which spilled back into the waters from whence it came. While this portion of the palace was aboveground, it was for meeting with outsiders and building a clear, formal place in which to store their history and grow as a people. Nex was starting to understand why it was always devoid of Hylian influence. If the only other semi competent race in the land did not come for audience, and their people hadn't the same sort of welcome with waterways open to the Hylian throne room...

"I am considering how to change this, our way of life. It has not changed for hundreds of years and it is becoming a hindrance more so than a benefit." To be bereft: "Uncompassionate riff raff built to disappoint." He crossed his arms behind his back, cupping his hands against his lower back. "They have become complacent and truly believe that by staying the same they can continue to amass wealth and progress beyond their current state. So long as they remain as they are they shall become consumed by the darkness…" It was the darkness that had consumed the sea that he remembered.

It was the one that consumed the growing companionship he had come to gain. It was proof that certain individuals could not be in charge of their own destinies. He recalled Raisara and the power she had, the nobility she wield. Yet amongst all of that privilege, she had nothing. He would not let his power to amount to nothing.

As they marched further into the palace, the more water became part of the landscape. Rivulets cascaded from the ceilings like silk drawn curtains, spilling into narrow passages against the standing walls, allowing lotus that decorated the grounds to survive. Lightning bugs dances about, creating a dim light in which to cross through, crickets serenading insect and Zora alike as they played their closing songs as the day slowly rose over the horizon. Thanks to the enormous cliff face the domain was guarded from the harsh sunlight just a few more hours. The distant rumble of the falls drew closer as they marched further into the hall.

The king came to a halt towards the end of the hall. The curtain of water shielding then from the belly of the semi-aquatic environment that created the Zora habitat. He waited for her to catch up before stepping through, leading to a pool shin deep, tadpoles and other fry, swimming about. Here, in particular, the king hatched his Biri, which he later transferred to the greater lake. Nex knelt down to scoop up the Biri hatchling, the tiny fry like beads of clear pearls writhing in his hands. After his observation he set them down and stood, facing Anastasia.

"While it is your job now to ensure our historical text accurately depicts the former royal family's worthlessness, I will need you, just you Anastasia, to write a new story, one written from the evidence of the past." He explained. "Find what evidence you can of the power of the other nations and how they surpass our own. To encourage our people to change we must strike their pride. If they see that even the Gorons prosper from change, to be left behind would shame them." This was her task…

"You are willing, capable right? If you are to remain a ghost they have to fear the power you have. Your power lies within the knowledge you can manipulate."