ANNOUNCEMENT WATCH AS WE SPIT IN THE FACE OF FIRE

[METEOR]

METEOR

<<Meeting Theme Song>>

The meeting had been called. Meteor heard the paws leave the cave system ahead of him. Voices echoed off the cave walls and ended up here, in the outermost part of his part of the cave system. What had been Valerius’s. Meteor had wanted to slit his father’s throat and move into the pharaoh’s rightful wing for years. He rejoiced in having his birthright.

But he hated sitting still for Vale to fuss over attaching golden chains to his horns. The regalia bored him.

“I am not a narcissist like my father, Vale.” Meteor, however, didn’t open his eyes. “I don’t enjoy this process.”

“Only a bit more gold.” The shapeshifter clicked xyr tongue. The crow walked through his mane to attach another chain. “Why do you think narcissists are more common than psychopaths? An idiot narcissist has more success than an idiot psychopath. The prosocials are so predictable, aren’t they? But a psychopath has to use logic to lead them. A narcissist?” Vale cackled. “A narcissist is a ram amongst sheep. The prosocials want a leader. The narcissist postures dominance in a way the fools like!”

“I am superior to narcissists. Yet I have to copy them?”

“Of course. Prosocials do not listen to logic, they listen to emotions. Especially their defective emotions. Guilt! Shame! Empathy! We’re immune, which means we move them without being moved ourselves.” Vale laughed to xemself and jumped from Meteor’s forehead to the right ram horn. “You can’t toss aside an advantage like that! Psh, they call us antisocial… what are they, if not happy to serve?”

Meteor opened his eyes and stood. With hardly a glance in the mirror—enough to verify Vale hadn’t played a prank with his trust—the lion strolled out of his quarters.

The cave system was empty. Everyone was waiting at the top of the volcano, where the bones of the fallen laid below the sky. Valerius and all the rest had been cannibalized already, and thus secured a more favorable reincarnation. According to the cult’s beliefs, anyway. But how else did you convince a bunch of idiots to be practical and eat any available meat during lean times?

“If you believe we’re born to lead them, why support me?” Meteor asked. “Why support Valerius when he lived?”

Vale fluffed out xyr feathers. “Leadership is boring, mkay? Much easier to whisper in Valerius’s ear. You, though? Might not need so much nudging to make the optimal play.”

Then Meteor’s paws brought him to the face of the volcano. He squinted in the sunlight. A few voices, a smattering of cheers. Not far from the exit to the top.

The crowd parted for their pharaoh. At the lip of the volcano, Valerius’s bones (minus his head, which rested on Meteor’s wall) and the rest of the cannibalized fallen. Quite a few of the bones had already been taken to turn into memorial art, armor… how practical. How necessary to weather the coming storm.

From the lip of the volcano, the lava within was visible. The flow of molten rock had slowed and decreased back to normal levels. Most creatures avoided the rim because of the lava’s heat. And upon the volcano’s lip? A ragged boulder of obsidian.

Meteor leaped to stand at the top of the traditional announcement ledge. By all accounts, this rostrum made of obsidian shouldn’t have survived the eruption. Yet it had. And, according to legends, it had survived every eruption since the foundation of the cult. As Meteor stood tall, he considered whether this implied the gods existed. But he discarded the question immediately. If Requiem and Vayu existed, they were distant and refused to speak. So, then, if they existed and approved of him killing Valerius… well, what was the difference between them not existing at all and Meteor taking his own fate into his paws?

Vale leaned down. Xyr beak brushed Meteor’s ear.

Whatever Vale whispered, it elicited a laugh from Meteor. The lion tossed his head. Vale’s wings beat as the three eyed crow flew into the sky and circled. From above, Vale’s cackling caws carried.

Meteor fixed his golden gaze on the crowd. And smirked. “Why aren’t you cheering? We are still alive!”

And so the crowd cheered. He waited for their cheers to die before he launched into his prepared speech.

“We are the Descendants of the Departed. By Requiem’s grace and Vayu’s mercy, we have survived the eruption and earthquake.” Meteor tilted his head to look at his father’s corpse. His tufted tail lashed. “Pharaoh Valerius perished by the gods’ will. And by the gods’ will, my reign begins.”

“In the stories we heard as children, is it not a golden age when Requiem and Vayu intervene to elevate a Vizier to Pharaoh? The island’s devastation is but an illusion. Make no mistake, we are at the cusp of glory.”

“I have surveyed the damage. Despite the devastation, the keystones to our home’s biodiversity survived. Restoring the rest of the Island will be trying, and difficult, and require all of our combined efforts, but we will recover. For now, our primary hunting grounds are the Hawit River System, and the forests alongside it, for it and its tributaries’ banks have survived. The coral reefs thrive, though the fish are slow to return. And there is no shortage of coconut crabs.”

Meteor sighed. From one paw, claws unsheathed and tapped impatiently at the volcanic stone. But only for an instant. “Currently we lack earth elementals amongst our ranks. Therefore, our efforts have two goals. First, recruit earth elementals… capturing them is an acceptable recruitment strategy. Secondly, planting seeds and saplings. If every individual, when xe leaves the cave, spends fifteen minutes of planting? Then we will slowly, but surely, progress.”

“However, while we revitalize our home, we will need to take care not to disrupt the surviving ecosystems. I will begin diplomatic negotiations to trade for necessary supplies.” Meteor smirked. “And, in the meanwhile, we will sharpen our claws and carve bone into armor. If other groups refuse to trade with us in good faith? If other groups do not have the supplies to spare? Then we will raid.”

Meteor paused. He glanced at each of the templars with slight nods. Regardless of how each of them came to the island and their various levels of loyalty or belief in the gods, they had proven themselves as capable fighters. A leader without the loyalty of sharp claws was no leader.

“For obvious reasons, I have no promotions or demotions to announce.” Meteor’s golden eyes narrowed. “However, we are in lean times. If anyone has the energy to spare, I have a few tasks which need completion. Speak now or see me later, if you wish to prove yourself.”

[kole.]

Back in his youth, Kole had been all for theatricals and overdramatics. With time, that had changed... Drastically. Though he, personally, was still as showy and ostentatious as ever, he'd grown tired of it from others. Was that hypocritical? Almost certainly, but flashy displays tended to bore him.

He'd never been the biggest fan of all the jewellery when Valerius wore it. Not his thing, you know? At most, he'd internally scoff and roll his eyes. But on Meteor...? 

Let's just say, Kole slammed his jaw shut. His voice wasn't heard amongst the cheers, but that was only because he couldn't seem to find it. He certainly looked the part of the Pharoah, Kole thought slyly to himself. That celestial pelt, with all the gold, and the sheer sight of him atop that pretty black boulder? He'd have to wire his jaw shut the next time he knew Meteor was going to get dressed up like this.

Kole didn't much care for all the deities talk that went on around the place. He'd been everywhere, called so many different places his home, all of them worshipped something or someone different. If he had to believe in every damn God his home believed in he'd have no room left to worship himself, and that was a travesty that simply could not be. The rest, though, was of some interest to him. There was a level of irony to earth elementals actually being needed while he possessed a body that didn't harness the power, but he noted down that capturing was now on the table once again; he'd always been good at that, in his personal, professional opinion.

And truth be told, he didn't mind spending a couple of minutes a day planting seeds. He'd done more tedious shit for less, in his long, long life. He wasn't the greatest at crafting armour, but he'd give it a shot, he was sure he could come up with something... And then came the fun bit. Raids.

Kole loved raids. He loved fighting in general; everything about it. The adrenaline rush, the pain, the euphoria of sinking his claws and fangs into fresh meat, of all the blood spilled everywhere... Yes, he was more than willing to take part in any raiding. He could be a useful asset, too, with his and Meteor's little... Arrangement.

Not unsurprisingly, Kole was all-but willing to jump at the chance to enhance his status, in just about any way. Which was, of course, why he stood up so fast when Meteor asked for volunteers; had nothing to do with getting close to the extravagantly clad lion, of course. Nothing at all...

"I'll take a task," he offered with a non-committal shrug of his shoulder, feigning disinterest. "Anything to get rid of this boredom."

[KNOX.]

The lioness barely lifted her gaze upon the initial bout of cheers, taking in Meteor's appearance only when he leapt onto the obsidian. Even then her eyes barely stayed on him when Vale took off and she followed the crow through the sky for a moment. In the midst of the second set of cheers in response to Meteor's words, she pulled herself from her lounging position and her jaws stretched wide in a yawn rather than adding to any of the noise. She was sure grateful to have survived the event when she knew those who didn't, but she wasn't sure she was all that excited about it. 

Knox carefully stretched her limbs as the new reigning Pharaoh continued on in his speech, shaking her mane out and sitting back to finally rest her eyes back on Meteor. The devastation they faced was harsh, but an important course that had to take its place. Where it temporarily puts them in a period of rebuild and hungry mouths, it did its part in giving them something to feed on while it could and now the parts of the deceased would carry on to supply them where it was necessary. It would bring them together to work and resettle into new places within their social circle. Some, like Knox, hardly made much more of an appearance but a face in the background before, now she had a real reason to step up and offer what she could.

That was what it was truly grateful for when it came to its own survival.

And by the sounds of the meeting, it could first... plant seeds. Well, not everything could be horribly heroic or a large gesture, they all had to start somewhere. She took note of the idea of capturing those that could help. A sound idea, but she wasn't sure how much she'd go poking around looking for one. She would much rather wait for the chance at a raid, looking forward to her own preparation for that possibility. And finally, the speech was coming to an end and that's where it really stood out to her. A chance to be given a task directly from the Pharaoh, to prove itself as he said, was exactly the thing it hoped for from their current predicament. 

Knox moved forward a few paces from her original position near the outskirts of the crowd, watching Kole for just a moment before looking toward Meteor once more. There wasn't much to her tone, while she was eager to help she wasn't one to give much in the way of outward emotion. "I also am willing to take on a task, whatever is needed of me at the moment."

[Chernabog]

Chernabog sat tall among the others of the cave, in the far back, her wings folded neatly at her sides and her head held like a regal woman. To her, she was the pinnacle of strength among the Departed - for it was her who bore the heated air as she flew, who suffered molten rock on her wings and smoke in her lungs. Not that she would openly boast those feats. She boasted enough in the fighting pits.

She watched and listened intently as Meteor spoke with a sense of knowledge and purpose. She was respectfully quiet, even as her lips curled into a vicious smile at the aspect of capturing Earth Elementals. Maybe she could find a few.

Chernabog spoke after Knox and Kole, a strong voice that never wavered in tone or volume, "I'll take a task as well." 

[w]isker

[METEOR]

METEOR

@KOLE.

The golden chains rattled. Requiem and Vayu, the metal was annoying. Valerius had enjoyed these “ram amongst sheep” customs, but Meteor had to consciously keep from pawing at the regalia to remove the things. Maybe it’d become endurable. Maybe he’d turn into a narcissistic psychopath.

Meteor stopped thinking about ripping off the regalia and tossing it into the volcano when Kole stepped forward. His expression became a smirk. Give Kole a chance to earn status? A given.

“There are sections of the toppled forest which are completely untraversable from the logs.” Meteor narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want a wildfire, but a few paths should be cleared to make these sections easier to navigate. Is a controlled burn within your power?”

@KNOX.

Meteor looked to Knox and nodded in approval as it requested a task. The maned lioness was, as a born cult member, reliable in a way that Kole and Chernabog were not. She had grown up with the stories of Requiem and Vayu. She knew the volcano inside and out from playing within the lava tubes as a cub, even the ones that she now couldn’t squeeze into. And, of course, intimate familiarity with the dangers of Vayu's sacrificial lava pit. Meteor knew that, because he and Xanti, also born into the cult, also had that level of expertise.

“Knox. If we had an Inquisitor of Vayu’s Destruction, I would give xem this task, but, we don’t, and yet the gods must be in balance.” Meteor spared a glance, with a slight frown, to Vale circling overhead. Then looked back at Knox. “Because of the earthquake, useless human plastic has washed up on our beaches. Please sacrifice this unpleasant disgustiness by tossing as much as you can into the sacrificial lava pool.”

@Chernabog

The lion’s gaze slid to the tall dragoness in the back of the crowd. He was surprised she’d volunteered. Thanks to her, the Hawit River System survived the eruption because she had diverted enough of the lava flow into the ocean. And she should’ve had Vale helping her, but the inquisitor had flown off to save xyr own skin. Meteor knew Vale, apparently, had full faith in Chernabog and thought xe would be unnecessary… but was that a convenient lie?

Meteor shook the thoughts out of his head. More important to focus on Chernabog’s task. Give her something that wouldn’t insult her, but wouldn’t require her at full strength.

“Chernabog, go to Viper Island and capture one of the snakes.” Meteor’s tail flicked. A dangerous ask for anyone, except the dragon who could probably tank a few bites of venom. “It’s about time we start investigating whether they’re sentient or not sentient.”

[Viper Bordeaux]

i drank myself to death to be the afterlife of the party

when the afterparty came, I was rolling in my grave

This whole volcano situation is seriously cutting into Viper's regular lifestyle. Viper skated by in life by doing the serious bare minimum with some extras to make himself look impressive and that was it. Viper had an agenda and this was not part of it. This week was booked, dammit! He had things to do! Iniquitous people to see behind closed doors where an exchange of goods may or may not take place. Now, he was going to have to cancel all of his business deals for the foreseeable future because... lava had rained from the sky and almost killed them all. What a stupid situation to be in. Viper had spent most of his life almost being killed and killing people who wanted him dead first. This was the least interesting thing that had happened... ever.
Viper pulled himself from his pouting over ruined plans long enough to speak up. "I can make some meals with what we do have to pass out to those who are working to clear debris." The French serval spoke up, swishing his stubby tail to draw attention to himself. If he was going to have to do something, he might as well make it something he liked doing. There wasn't any need for any perfectly crafted illicit substances or comfortable (paid in full at the time of arrival) nights to be had these days.

[METEOR]

METEOR

The lion’s gaze slid to Viper. His upper lip curled, exposing a fang. How narcissistic, to draw attention to oneself only to announce a silly little thing like that. This behavior was unacceptable during a crisis, especially with their shortage of meat.

“Viper.” The lion’s measured voice carried. “That is not a task. That is kitchen duty, which is expected of you during even the best of times. Today is not one of those times.”

Meteor’s gaze narrowed. “You will clear garbage from the beaches. Either you help Knox or do it yourself, either is fine, but you will not sit on your ass while the rest of us fight to survive.”

Then a glance—a not so subtle glance—to Kole. The vampiric coyote knew what to do if the serval decided he could backtalk the pharaoh.

@Viper Bordeaux