[center][img]https://fontmeme.com/permalink/190821/a81e055e4e790c51b8f7e02018220f48.png[/img][/center] [INDENT][INDENT][sub][hr][/sub][COLOR=teal][indent][sub][B]Location:[/B] [COLOR=#BFD7D7][I]Poseidonis, The Kingdom of Atlantis[/I][/COLOR][/sub][/indent][/color][sub][hr][/sub] [INDENT] [color=gray]The taste of blood dropped onto the young princess’s tongue as she moved backward, her eyes moving across the arena like quick bolts of lightning. A cocky, slight smirk forming on her lips as she spun the trident in her hands around and swung it at the last remaining enemy. The sound metal striking metal would be the last sound in the room before a loud resounding [b]‘thud’[/b] echoed the arena as the metallic body fell to the ground. [color=teal]“I’m not a scared girl, anymore, Sark. You can turn the difficulty up.”[/color] A gruff, annoyed voice echoed from above, the two atlantean’s eyes meeting each other at an angle. [color=white]“I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about your mother, and what she’d do to me if she knew I agreed to this nonsense.”[/color] [color=teal]“Well, obviously she’d be mad.”[/color] [color=white]“Clearly.”[/color] The girl sighed, tucking a strand of her silver hair behind her right ear. [color=teal]“But I’m just being productive. My father has been missing for too many tides, and well, I’m just, well, you know!”[/color] [color=white]“I know, Mareena. Everyone is concerned. Vulko thinks its a troubling situation, and the honor guard are rightly confused that there is no sign of the king.”[/color] Sark held out his hand, as if to tell the princess he was not done speaking and she was not done listening. [color=white]“But sending robots to break your bones when Atlantis needs you most is not a wise decision. Athena would think unwell of you.”[/color] [color=teal]“Well, maybe Athena should get off of Olympus and help for once in her life.”[/color] [color=white]“Mareena!”[/color] [color=teal]“Yeah, yeah, I know. The gods are sacred and shouldn't be mocked or whatever. You sound like Vulko.”[/color] Mareena’s mention of Vulko, the highest ranking official of Atlantis after the royal family, seemed to annoy the ginger-haired atlantean. An unsettling silence filled the arena for a moment as Mareena took another deep breath, considering what she had said and what she [i]should[/i] of said instead. Admittedly, the young princess was worried, overwhelmed, and anxious. She didn’t want to be told to watch her language or that she couldn’t handle the most dangerous of the atlantean gladiators. She wanted to [i]do something.[/i] But it seemed like everyone was either ignoring her or treating her like a child. She had heard the same things that the honor guard, Vulko, and even her mother had heard. She knew that her father’s disappearance was an anamoly and that the aristocracy saw her as a weak, bull-headed heir to the Throne of Atlan. It was hard to accept the reality of things. [color=teal]“Well, like, what am I supposed to do, Sark? Everyone either hates me or thinks I'm not ready. I just thought that if I did this, like my father used to, I could be.”[/color] [color=white]“You know that’s not how it works, Mareena. Admiration and respect is not going to happen in one tide. You need to be patient. A good queen listens to her consul. I will continue to train you, with or without the gladiators, but only when you have a clearer head.”[/color] [color=teal]“I understand. I don't like it. But I understand.”[/color] A smile followed Mareena's comment as she leaned the trident on the nearest wall. [color=teal]“I’ll talk to you another time, alright?”[/color] As Mareena moved out of the arena, she wondered how much of it she actually understood. It was a habit of hers, to feign understanding to avoid tense disagreements. She may have been stubborn, but she also felt like she danced around everyone when it came to the difficult conversations. But after an entire existence of doing her curtsies and bows, she wondered if any of it really mattered when the people of Atlantis still doubted her and treated her like some dumb upstart kid. The people on the surface, like on her father's visits to Maine, seemed to treat her so much better, but then again perhaps she was just projecting her fantasies upward. It was a thought that reminded her that before her father’s disappearance she was close to being allowed to visit the surface without, well, a babysitter. Her father’s love of the surface, however, was a little more significant than inspiring her imagination as a child. Vulko had mentioned that the aristoi has grown uneasy and without her father to quell such distrust Atlantis was a pot that was about to overflow. Mareena wasn’t her father. She didn’t command respect nor had she earned any achievements to make the aristoi reconsider their unease. Sark had told her she didn’t have a clear head, but what was clearer than knowing that without her father that Atlantis was ready to return right back to where it was before he showed up? When Atlantis was on the edge while Orm sat on Throne of Atlan? She shook her head as she dove above, pushing forward. Maybe it was finally time to visit Vulko in the observatory of science. [/color] [/INDENT] [/INDENT][/INDENT]