After The Storm

[Maleficent]

March 1^st, Year 1, Throne Room

For all the calm Maleficent always seemed to exude regardless of circumstance, at present, there were a few, subtle, signs of the incandescent rage that simmered just below the surface. Despite the way she held herself gracefully as per usual, her thin fingers moved almost erratically, gripping at and tapping on the armrests of the throne. Click. Click. Click. The sultana's angular jaw was visibly tensed, and her yellow eyes seemed to burn with an unforgiving ferocity. 

Nervous under her hooded gaze, her remaining overseers waited: Frollo, Nasira, Facilier and Lindsay. Tabs and Shiloh were also present.

For a time she said nothing at all, and no one dared to speak. Silence seemed to lay in a thick, tangible blanket over the gathering short of an eternity before she, finally, made her address. Ignoring the majority of the group, the dark fairy turned her attention to Crow, and spoke softly - unnervingly so. 

"Would you care to repeat what you reported to me earlier?"

[Crow]

  Following in his lady's example, Crow was also carrying a notable shift in tone. He was professional as ever, but the general air of amity - feigned or otherwise - had all but vanished completely. Ordinarily he worked around the difficulty of no face to express with, but here it was utilized to its fullest, giving an onlooker the impression of something almost... sterile. When Maleficent turned to address him, he gave a brief but no less respectful bow. Courteous, but efficient.

  "At once, Your Excellency." The vizier's back straightened, turning to address his current audience. His hands clasped neatly behind his back, furthering the image of a cold, businesslike courtesy. "There is much to cover, but I'll try to keep this brief."

  "Yesterday, the Legion encountered the other factions during an excursion out to sea, in an attempt to establish a new base of operations on the islands. We failed." A slight incline of his head betrayed what was otherwise an eerily still posture, as if he were considering his next words. "Due to unforeseen circumstances - namely the intervention of a giant sea monster - we were overwhelmed and our fleet was lost to the sea. It is only by a pittance that the other factions sustained losses as well."

  "It is with deepest regret that I must inform you that our attempts at recovering our missing Legionnaires have... also failed. Of the few we did manage to find, there were no survivors. And for those still missing, we are left to assume the worst." There were barely any bodies to find that weren't already scavenged or destroyed, Crow noted quietly. It was fortunate that Scar has been found in one piece, battle wounds notwithstanding. He made a note to return him to his family once this meeting was done.

  "Perhaps the most grievous of all is that these heavy losses might have been avoided." Here there was a new edge in his tone, though his body language did not follow suit. "For... incomprehensible reasons, the Legion's commanding officer at sea, Overseer Claude Frollo, saw fit to disregard not only enemy forces," his mind briefly went back to the Freedom Fighter's dragon, "but the very sea creature that destroyed our ships."

  His report was only half finished, but Crow felt it necessary to give it time to let these words sink in.

[Lindsay Curie]

Lindsay has been.... unfortunate? Fortunate? It was hard to tell. She had been absent for both the battle at sea and the recent insurgence. The first battle found her repairing her ship in the courtyard, the second one had occurred while she was in orbit. She should really consider an alert system. It would flag her if she were needed on the surface...

For... incomprehensible reasons, the Legion's commanding officer at sea, Overseer Claude Frollo, saw fit to disregard not only enemy forces, but the very sea creature that destroyed our ships."

Fluid form seems to freeze its idle motions, suddenly solid and still. As eerie as Crow and his own posture, golden gaze slides to the Overseer at her side. She’d heard this one’s name before, mostly spoken with disdain. But this...? This... ‘Claude Frollo’. From these descriptions, there was human stupidity, and then there’s... well, there’s that.

Single pupil quivers and shakes, splitting into two, four, eight—

There’s a blink, and a slow, even mimicry if a breath. Eye opens, and it’s a single pupil once again.

Focus snaps to the Vizier again. Lindsay remains silent.

[Tabs]

Tabs was at a lack for much to say or do, as he was sure that was what was expected of him. He was merely left to his own thoughts. This had better be worth his time, he thought. Given he was not present or in any other way involved in the naval trepidation, he sincerely hoped he was not about to be blamed for that -- for everyone else's sake, not his own -- for he could make quite the… case for himself if need be. His eyes, though technically only displays, seemed shadowed. He floated idly, black lips barely making the shape of a tiny frown. He gave the impression of a tensed coil spring, ready to snap the instant he be unfairly accused of anything. Because he knew this wasn't a meeting to discuss rainbows and sunshine.

His coiled state gradually vanished when Crow spoke. A few smiles began to appear as Tabs stole a glance at Frollo. He remembered him; the rudeness, the one occasion of ignorance when Tabs was visibly extremely ill. The abomination got the impression he was going to get some enjoyment out of this meeting after all, if it was going to go the way he thought it was going to go. Lifting his hands, he clasped his claws behind his back, feigning the poise of innocence, though his mischievous grins gave away his true feelings.

[Nasira]

The moment Nasira stepped in the throne room she felt the animosity, like a bone-deep nip of the wind that blew through the streets of Agrabah before a storm. Her shoulder still smarting from the assassin's dagger, she joined the other overseers, her mood downcast. There was a dangerous light in Maleficent's eyes when she asked Crow to repeat what he told her. Her quiet words gave Nasira a chill.

"For...incomprehensible reasons, the Legion's commanding officer at sea, Overseer Claude Frollo, saw fit to disregard not only enemy forces, but the very sea creature that destroyed our ships."

Nasira set her mouth in a hard line. Frollo's plan was a house of cards on a crooked table. She sorely remembered how he scolded her for trying to warn him about the dragon. Granted, the dragon did fly off in the end, but none of them could have known that at the time. Distraction. Right. The dragon flew away because of the sea monster - another threat Frollo bizarrely chose to ignore. The mice might as well say they refused to accept the cats, for all the difference it would make to their fate. 

Crow paused. Lindsay's liquid body grew rigid like a board, and the pupil in her single eye split into multiples of two. Nasira blinked and glanced at Tabs. She found all four of his faces grinning mischievously, like this was all just a big joke at Frollo's expense. Nasira looked away in disgust. Tabs had been around far longer than she, so this was likely not the first time he had seen something like this happen. All the same, the topic was their future. There was nothing remotely funny about that. 

[Shiloh]

Blue eyes turned cold at Crow's words. She hadn't been around long before the events that had transpired at sea, nor had she been at that battle, but she had seen the immediate aftereffects. Around the room, the others gathered seemed to all have similar reactions to hers.
All except Tabs.
He was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Her gaze met Nasira's for a moment, and she was sure she saw a flicker of disapproval in the necromancer's eyes at Tabs' reaction. Given the current company, she had to choose her next words carefully.
"I don't believe this is a laughing matter Tabs."
Her words were as cool as her gaze, laced fingers tightening around each other in her lap.

She then turned her full attention back to Crow, waiting to hear the rest of the report.