onepassingnight | 002 ❊ Be careful what you wish for.

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002 ❊ Be careful what you wish for.

Once again, Nephrite appears in the Dark Kingdom... but as opposed to the gloomy caverns where he expressed self-loathing, he now has his own glorious room. It's nothing like it was. It's grand and perhaps a little overblown. Granted, it doesn't match the grandness of Beryl's tastes, but it does well enough to reflect his new-found power. The walls are draped in deep red tapestry, designs befitting of a king, and various weaponry and shields displayed proudly alongside them. In the center of a room was a seat that passed well enough as a throne to match Nephrite's ego. He had become the most powerful Shitennou with more power than even Kunzite could dream of.

With a flick of the wrist, he could take out a wall if he wanted.

But he didn't want to. He had gotten everything he wanted: power, respect, Beryl's favor. The price, he thought, was too much. Even for him. Now it only was just him. Him and Beryl-sama. The others were gone. Human. Powerless. No longer in the Dark Kingdom. He thought it would be satisfying, but instead, he's lonely. ...And Beryl's constant presence grates on his nerves. Having her favor is more a burden than it is a blessing, but he doesn't want to admit that. That would mean being wrong this whole time.

But there he sits, on his deep red chair with his chin on his fist, looking miserable. Again.

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She enters proudly, head high, steps measured and confident, Mercury in her power. Her battle uniform is proper for an audience with the powerful man seated here, and she wears it with dignity, the dark markings the inescapable sign of his influence over her. She turns sharply to face the throne, where Nephrite sits in state.

Then she kneels. Mercury places her hand over her heart in salute, and lowers her eyes to the ground, humble in service. She addresses him by name in greeting, respectfully.

"Nephrite-sama."

Nephrite hears someone enter but he doesn't look right away. He only expects to see--

--certainly not Mercury and certainly not her kneeling before him and calling him--

"Nephrite-sama?"

He echoes her greeting incredulously, much as it's music to his ears to hear it. There's a long moment of silence, of shock, of simply trying to wrap his head around this. Does this mean Mercury is now his? Not Kunzite's? Once that starts slowly sinking in, a very wide, very triumphant smirk starts twisting one corner of his mouth way back. Finding reason not to be so miserable and bored, Nephrite straightens in his seat and stares at her.

"This is almost too good to be true, Mercury. Surely you wouldn't go so far for a mocking joke," he says finally, testing the waters so to speak.

Mercury gives no sign of being upset, or of contradicting Nephrite. She stays where she is, eyes still lowered. She can feel the press of the hard ground beneath her, but it doesn't truly trouble her.

"I will do as you wish," she answers, evidently deciding that this is the proper answer to navigate the rather confusing (to her) question. "I will never speak lightly of Nephrite-sama."

This is very strange. No snippy comeback? Nephrite is almost... disappointed? No, that can't be the right word. This is what he wants. Respect and no one to mock his name. But just how obedient is Mercury, he wonders?

"You may rise," he tells her, the gears already turning in his head on how to test her. "...But I'm hungry. Bring me some food."

Mercury rises only after Nephrite bids her to, and even then she makes a small bow. Permission to leave his presence is of course understood in the command to leave, and so she turns to go without another word.

When she returns, the fragrance enters before her: the rich, warm aroma of steak, baked potatoes, and steaming vegetables. On the side of the plate, a pair of cookies look rather burned, but at least it does nothing to interfere with the mouth-watering smell of the rest of the meal.

She presents it to him on bended knee once more.

Part of Nephrite is stunned that Mercury actually obeyed while the rest of him is, for the moment, extremely pleased and smug. Maybe this dream isn't all so bad. He inhales a good whiff of the food. It's nothing like the disgusting menu the Dark Kingdom so often serves and he could almost hear his stomach rumble. He hadn't even really been hungry, but... well.

He takes the plate, taking a few bites of everything. The cookies are the last thing he tries. They're awful and yet... he can't stop eating them. He stuffs them both in his mouth, not caring how very unkingly it's making him look. Instead, he looks up and stares pointedly at Mercury, his mouth still half full.

"Do you have any more?"

She looks surprised for a second, even despite everything, caught off-guard as a rarity for the soldier who makes her living by being capable of handling anything. There are no more cookies, at the moment, but...

"I am very sorry," she is forced to tell him, "There are no more. If Nephrite-sama wishes, more can be made within an hour." She does not fear his reaction, precisely, but she somehow feels there should have been more made already.

Of course there should have been more made already! Is Nephrite the strongest Shitennou or is he the strongest? He huffs, starts to gripe, and then remembers he should probably finish chewing and swallowing the cookies before he gets mad. He only stops to spare himself the embarrassing spectacle of choking, which he (not so) suavely covers up by straining to keep a straight face and act as though he's merely contemplating the offer.

Don't you dare make fun of him, slave.

"Yes!" he finally gripes after a moment of struggle. "Make more. Do it quickly!"

He waves his hand to shoo her.

Mercury would never make fun of Nephrite-sama. In fact, she speaks very little. Instead, she simply hands him a conjured glass of water as he begins to choke, and leaves it with him as he dismisses her. She makes a crisp salute, and turns to go.

Unfortunately, Mercury and baking are not friends. Between the near-accident with the sugar, searching for the measuring spoons, and somehow once again misjudging the timing although she'd swear by anything she set the timer properly, she ends up irritable.

This time, she's determined to be prepared, calculating the exact space to fit as many cookies in the batch as possible. Luckily, the castle ovens are huge. It's only about half an hour before she stands in the entryway with an enormous tray of cookies, already having wiped the flour off her shoulder. She waits to be told to approach.

As soon as Mercury turns and can't see the shock on his face, Nephrite lets it show. Again, he gets by without mockery or even a snide look. This is some dream. Even so, his pride demands he wait until he knows she's gone before hungrily downing that water, trying to lodge the food from his throat. He was practically blue in the face from waiting. After coughing and hacking for a moment, he slumps back against the self-proclaimed throne and glares at the offending wall that clearly was responsible for his choking.

If the wall wants to stay standing, it won't laugh at him either.

He waits not so patiently for his slave Mercury to return and when she does, he beckons her. Oh, look at that enormous tray of cookies. Don't let him try to eat them all at once.

Mercury steps forward with the tray, and prepares herself to ignore Nephrite's eating habits. She holds it out at about arm level, and drops to one knee again to serve it to him. The water, she notes out of the corner of her eye, has been emptied; she'll take the glass back when she leaves this time.

"Are there further orders, Nephrite-sama?" she asks, finally speaking directly again only to say so little.

Someone is present in his chambers. An armored figure in green with the blade that might as well have belonged to an enemy of very high ranking.

When Nephrite enters, the figure turns to him.

A figure Nephrite doesn't recognize. Not a youma, no... and bearing armor that is foreign to him. He scrutinizes him for a moment, turning to face him with one shoulder pointed at him and prepared to draw his sword if he must.

"Who are you?" he demands.

The figure over two meters tall does not flinch for a moment. He expected something like this to happen.

"Master Chief Petty Officer John SPARTAN-117."

He sets the blade over his hands. A double iron sword with an horizontal pommel.

"UNSC."

What? ...That's quite a lot to spout off and he doesn't even understand half of it. He shrugs it off and instead quickly jumps to the next question. It's taking some getting used to, random people barging into his dreams.

"And why are you here?"

His eyes are on that weapon though. It's very nice-looking. He wants one.

Luckily for Nephrite, the Spartan's organization seeked for allies. He extends over what used to be the sword of an alien General.

"A gift. From us." It is a practiced military upright position what he adopts as he offers the object. "We're looking for allies."

Nephrite straightens-- or rather perks, really. His interest is certainly piqued. Not only is he offering something that he would be very interested in learning more about and how to use, but the fact that this man is also seeking allies...

You've definitely got him listening now.

He approaches the other man, taking the gift into his hands to observe it for a moment before he looks back up at Master Chief.

"Allies? What do you need allies for?"

"Tech trading."

He lowers his arms.

"We both were at war against other enemies. But we'd both use some help now."

The Spartan keeps watch on the weapon. For an object he rarely paid attention to for more than it's potential utility in battle, Nephrite seems interested.

"Barring that... A trainer."

A trainer... Normally, Nephrite would take offense to such an implication, but this man's tone is without the mockery and superiority he's come to expect from the other Shitennou. And he does want to get stronger. What he learns from another world could help him climb back to the top, where he deserves.

But he's not a fool. He's blindly allied himself with Beryl because it was all he knew and only recently did Mercury make him consider his situation differently.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Although really: as far as he's concerned, as long as you don't take control of his body and make him stab himself, he's pretty cool with you.

"War's not smart."

It's odd that a Spartan would ever say that. But he knows that humanity barely won its' encounter against the Covenant.

"We were both hit by our past wars. We have a shot at going through our issues together."

The Master Chief has had to serve as a de-facto embassador for the UNSC for one single reason, in spite of the SPARTAN-II not being originally meant to be diplomats: He had travelled farther beyond what any human had ever gone before.

His visor stays locked on Nephrite, and the blade he had given to him.

Kuja enters the room as if he belongs there, unhesitatingly, striding through the doorway, his pointed shoes clicking against the floor. The grandeur suits him, is familiar to him, and his own robes are fine, his garments glittering as he comes to stand before Nephrite. He's noted the man's pose, and even for one with as little empathy as Kuja, his state of mind is obvious.

"The king looks uneasy on his throne."

The stranger's entry catches Nephrite's attention almost immediately. He struggles to decide whether or not the person is a man or a woman at first, but once he speaks, it's a little more clear. Nephrite scrutinized his wardrobe for a moment, decided he didn't care, and went on the defense instead.

"I'm not uneasy," he's quick to snap. Uneasy implies vulnerability. To him, it does. "I'm bored."

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002 ❊ Be careful what you wish for.

/squees so loud you probably heard it XD

Was THAT what that sound was? I thought pigs were flying over my house again.

ahahaha /as i squee AGAIN

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dflskjdls aww neph lol somehow that is so oddly sweet

Nooo pun intended? You know... cookies are sweet--? ...shut up, Obi-Wan.

rofl i swear i crack up at every tag. i had to take a second to laugh before i replied XD

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I needed that smile. <3 thanks

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