I'm the Bad Guy

[Tabs]

Jan 8th

Tabs didn’t think of himself as having much of an ego per-say, but he felt that the role of an expendable warrior was a gross misuse of his talents. Oh sure, the freakish alien thing could do damage if backed into a corner, but he was better equipped to simply escape harm rather than properly fight on the frontlines. No: he envisioned a different destiny for himself on this, his favorite planet. 

Tabs was sure they needed someone of his particular skill set. After all, such a strict allegiance came with potential for rebellion from within. Who would soothe these relations? And what of bringing new loyals in? Brute force could only go so far. This abomination spent tens of thousands of years observing and commentating on societies; he knew your typical overlord was always at risk of being target to those who saw themselves as “good” and took it upon themselves to try to eliminate the “evil”. Seeing his side win would be an uphill battle if some clever conditioning wasn’t put in place to make the underlings willing and happy to be a part of the Blackbloods.

Skinny hooves clacked on the stone ground with a distinctive rhythm as the creature moved himself to the center of the room. Orange suit was sharp and he held himself with eminent composure; after all, fake it ‘til you make it, right? He had earlier voiced his concerns that he would be most useful to his leaders if he was used properly. Though it seemed he was the first to enter the room, his facade of confidence remained firmly in place. Tabs was preparing to pitch himself as the Blackblood’s propagandist.

[Crow]

Ordinarily, Crow preferred to send one of his scouts to these meetings. He could gather everything he needed to know simply by watching through the eyes of another. But if he were being frank, Tabs was a creature that interested him, enough that he wanted to meet him face to face. Er... monitor to mask? Either way.

Crow strutted into the room not long after Tabs had arrived, and took a cursory sweep of his surroundings. It appeared that the others, if any, hadn't arrived yet.

"Ah, so much for being 'fashionably late.'" he hummed idly, and languidly propped his weight against his cane. In truth, he made a point to not be late at all, if he could help it. But it was chatter for the sake of hearing his own voice, so it scarcely mattered.

[Nasira]

A ghazi warrior named Tabs had requested an audience with the higher-ups, and it had been granted. The afternoon was cooling into evening when Nasira walked into the room where the meeting would be held and stifled a yawn. It had been a long week. She would spend twelve to fourteen hours a day working and would be in no hurry to wake in the morning to rinse and repeat. She was not particularly eager to be here right now, but her superiors wished it, and she was not consulted. Besides, whatever Tabs had to say, it must be worth hearing, otherwise, they would not have been able to host the meeting to begin with.

She noticed Crow and wordlessly inclined her head to him. Nasira did not know the new vizier very well, but she hoped they would get along or at least tolerate each other.

Her dark eyes then flickered to Tabs, the host. Nasira had never seen a television before. The closest thing she had to one was a crystal ball, and its reception left much to be desired. But unlike her crystal ball, Tabs' four screens were translucent; Nasira could see all eight of the ghazi's glowing red eyes and four toothy grins. Could Tabs be a living medium between the living and the dead? 

[Crow]

A few moments were beginning to pass, and then a few more. And then more still. Crow clicked his tongue, the sound dulled from within the ostentatious mask.  At first, it didn't seem like he noticed Nasira walk in.  His choice of headgear did seem to be full of blind spots, after all.  But as her head inclined in his direction, he spoke, hardly budging from his leisurely position.

"Nice to finally meet you, Miss Nasira."  Crow's mask finally tilted to acknowledge her.  In one fluid motion, he shifted his weight forward, off his cane and into a bow, his hat falling expectantly into his open hand.  The stance held for a minute, and then he was up again, back straightened and hat returned from whence it came.

"Ah, in person, that is.  Hmhm.~"  He quickly corrected, a light chuckle following suit.  He assumed they had a little time before the show was about to begin, and it was only the neighborly thing to do to say hello, after all.

[Mortaray]

Tabs was quite the oddity even among the great sum of creatures the Blackblood Legion had. Even as Mortaray stared at him now, he felt confusion lace his features. The skinwalker stood at the door, his scarred hand gripping it lightly before he strolled into the room at a steady but not rushed pace. He was curious as to what this gathering would be about. It wasn't often that the Mal would inquire to let such a meeting take up their time. So it must have captured her interest.

Heterochromic hues gazed towards the new vizier, Crow was his name, or that's what Mortaray remembered him to be called. He was unsure of what to think of the other being. He seemed to have his wits about him, but Mortaray would withhold his judgment as usual until he was absolutely without a doubt in his mind sure that Crow was fit for this. He did however largely spark his interest. He was uncertain if it was due to the way Crow posed himself or because of his appearance or even smell. Everything about him intrigued Mortaray, perhaps it was because he shared a very odd resemblance to an old 'friend' of his.

Huh. He hadn't thought of Draler in a while, actually, he never thought of Draler before today. Why was that?

He exhaled sharply throwing the thought away, now was not the time for idle what ifs mainly if Draler had stayed in his life. Would things be different by now or would they stay the same? Right. Not the time for that though. He refocused his attention the other overseer and Vizier. His head inclined slightly to both Nasira and Crow in greeting. His hand resting on his chest as well. A small bow of sorts but not nearly as much as Crow did. "Good evening, Miss Nasira. Mister Crow." He greeted softly. "I hope the day has faired well for you two."

[Dr. Facilier]

“Now now, I know I haven’t got much to show y’all from my time here, but trust me, once we get into—“

The sound of pawsteps near his door caused him to draw the curtains to the room shut, leaving the large tribal masks that hung on the wall in absolute darkness, while the witch doctor slinked his way out into the light of his personal chambers.

Before him stood a silver striped canine, whose sky blue gaze stared deep into his eyes with a neutral expression. She completely ignored the red velvet curtains, having just caught the tail end of Facilier’s…conversation.

“Sir, I was ordered by Nasira to come find you. The meeting with Tabs is tonight and he requested all overseers and the new vizier to be present.” Sol said, bowing her head.

“Ah of course. Just let me grab my---“

Before he could finish his sentence, his shadow handed his staff to him, placing it into his hands. Facilier nodded to it in thanks, and followed Sol out towards the meeting room.

Once the Akita had left the room, Facilier emerged from the shadows, between Nasira and Mortaray.

“Nasira! A pleasure to see you here.” Facilier said, before turning to his old friend Mortaray.

“And Morty, always good to see you, old friend.” he said, with a genuine smile.

Facilier then turned his attention to the new vizier, who he hadn’t met yet, but news traveled through the grapevine quicker than he’d like to admit. A strange man, he’d been told.

“I am Dr. Facilier. And you are?”

[Nasira]

Crow's head hardly gyrated when he spoke, and the mask made it impossible for Nasira to read him. To her surprise, Crow bowed. Flattered in spite of her uneasiness, she mirrored him. "The pleasure is mine," she said deferentially.

Okay, Crow seemed alright - aside from the Big Brother vibes, but even that was nothing new. When Jafar was still alive, he had spies everywhere. Any sign of dissent had been dealt with ruthlessly, and soon, no one dared to criticize him. Even his halfwit predecessor had a couple of spies at his disposal. Still, it was unnerving knowing that she was being monitored, whether it made sense or not. Either she was just one of many Blackbloods kept under surveillance as a routine measure, or she was being watched because she was still considered a potential threat. Or both. Oh well, it's not like it really mattered why. 

Nasira was about to change the subject, but Mortaray and Dr. Facilier had arrived and addressed them both. "Good evening, Mortaray, Facilier," she said cordially to her fellow overseers. Mortaray asked how their day went. "It did," she lied, not wanting to complain in front of Crow. "I got a lot done this week." That part was true was at least. It would have been so disheartening to achieve so little after enduring so much stress.

[Crow]

As the Overseers were filing in, Crow shifted his gaze to Tabs.  "It appears you'll be entertaining a full house this evening, Mr. Inquirer."  There was a slight incline, and beneath his beak, a smirk pulled at the corner of his lip.  "No pressure." 

He wasn't wishing ill upon the creature, nor was he hoping for their failure.  But if they truly wanted to be a public face for the Legion, they would have to quickly adjust to more than a tough crowd.  And in spite of how charismatic the members of the current audience could be, Crow couldn't imagine a single one of them to be the type to be easily impressed.

Speaking of charismatic, he turned to the Overseers that were addressing him, beginning with a nod towards Mortaray.  "Oh, I can't complain."  He replied with mirth in his voice.  Truthfully, Crow held a certain respect for the way Mortaray chose to conduct and carry himself.  He looked forward to seeing his work in the future.  And as for the good doctor, Crow had to admit: he just liked his sense of style.

"Call me Crow."  He bowed his head, leaning his weight on his cane.  "It's a pleasure, Doctor."  He extended a gloved hand towards the Shadow Man to shake.

[Tabs]

“Punctuality has become grossly underrated,” Tabs replied to the very first thing spoken to him, though he didn’t turn around.

After that, Tabs found he was left alone for a while. To this, he didn’t object. It wasn’t hurting anything to let the Overseers settle in. This was something Tabs intended to be very casual; after all, all he wanted to do was make suggestions. He was less afraid for his safety than he was afraid he’d be turned down a job. Working for the Producer was hell and if he could force himself to be chill, he would. He counted himself lucky to be among his allies and, unlike some, actually wanted to be there.

His hooves clicked as he turned himself around.

“I’ve long since been numb to that,” he responded to Crow’s second comment with almost jarring earnest.

His hooves lifted up and the creature stayed suspended in the air, hovering a few feet from the ground. He assumed an almost meditative pose by folding up his legs, before he waved one of his claws. Near a wall, a blob of purplish light appeared and formed into a short table with what appeared to be refreshments of sorts. Strangely, the only things he made appear were coffee and donuts. Flicking his claw back in the other direction, several office chairs also formed from thin air. It seemed his ability to spawn objects was limited to a certain theme.

“Ha ha,” he chuckled, “Do make yourselves comfortable. And, unless anyone objects, I would like to get the ball rolling.”

[Scar]

Large paws noiselessly padded across the floor as Scar made his way towards the council room. The aged lion could only hope he hadn't been summoned for some trivial purpose that would only need a moment of his attention. As far as he was concerned he could occupy his time with far more interesting things; overseeing Kula's training immediately came to mind. Still, he could hardly ignore his summoning and so here he was.

Emerald hues scanned the room as he pushed his way in, taking note of everyone's presence. Nasira, Mortaray, Facilier, Crow and some... creature whom he did not recall meeting before were already present. A somewhat sly grin crossed Scar's features as the black-maned lion approached the group and settled himself, near to Mortaray, on one of the plusher office chairs that had spawned within the room, long tail flicking idly once he got comfortable.

He debated introducing himself but decided against it, wondering if Tabs would be able to discern his identity through his appearance alone. Besides if the strange being wanted no further delays then introductions and other formalities could wait.

Instead, Scar simply inclined his head towards his fellow overseers and turned his attention towards Tabs, emerald hues narrowing just slightly as he took in the strange creature's appearance, studying him critically and warily. What purpose did he come here to achieve?... Scar supposed he would find out soon enough.