[centre][h2]In the Shade of Your Betters[/h2][/centre]

[hr]

It had always seemed as though the Vo forever had declared Juraantoxagrul to the be tyrant of Truulnax, the reef of the southern current. Whenever the thunderous rumbles of the Deepspeak would send tremors through his little reef, all vrool who heard him would hear of his triumphs in a thousand battles, of the authority his reign had garnered him, and of his splendid, unmatched cave - its walls polished to the point of pearl-like sheen, its floor stacked high with tributes of flesh and stone. Every sunrise and sundown, his many lackeys would announce the cosmic scope of Juraantoxagrul’s feats for all the vrool of Truulnax to hear, and for anyone beyond the southern currents to grit their beaks at. Every vrool in Truulnax could only dream of a fortress like the one Juraan possessed - the home of his great clutch. Not even his lackeys were given proper caves, but naught was more hungered for than a cave like Juraan’s.

Truulnax was, however, not particularly large, and physical space became an issue when wanting to dig out a hall like the one belonging to Juraan - for if one were to accidentally bore holes into his cave as a result, one would most certainly become his afternoon snack, and as more and more vrool subjugated themselves under Juraan’s uncontested rule, the reef began to grow too populous. 

Yoraxinatruul was a lesser vrool, barely even considered a rookie among Juraan’s lackeys. Hers was a position below sandgrains, tasked with tending to the filter-feeding mammoth mussels whose only purpose for existence was to provide soft, gooey meat for the titan crabs - she was tending to the food of the food.  A lower rank in their society was downright unachievable. What did she even do? Flick parasites off the mussels? Scrape off barnacles and kelp growth? What proud, mighty vrool would settle for a position as base and unfulfilling as that of a musselsitter? 

No. She couldn’t just accept a life like this - not anymore. She had already toiled and worked these mussel fields for more full moons and tidal floods than she could even recall. She hadn’t even been deemed worthy enough to fight in Juraantoxagrul’s skirmishes. She was far from hardened by battle, and her slimy hide was unscarred and weak as a result.  Today, that would all change.

Yora smelled her surroundings and laid her gum-like body flat inside a crevice in the reef. Any minute now, one of her superiors, a slim, but cunning one known as Ulaaxinagrul, would be making his rounds to ensure everything went along with Juraan’s wishes. Ulaax was only marginally larger than her - perhaps this was the time for her promotion. As predicted, Ulaax came floating by a minute or so later, his three eyes scanning thoroughly for any trace of the mussel-watcher. 

“Where did that subpiscine, little water nymph swim off to?” Ulaax bubbled sourly to himself. He stopped for a moment, eyes following what seemed to be a trail. Yora remained as still as she could, appearing almost one with the stone. However, Ulaax would not be so easily tricked. He rolled up his tentacles into a great mantle of arms ready to defend himself and spoke, “You utter cretin, subplankton parasite! What manner of loitering is this supposed to be?” Keeping a distance, he began to circle around her hiding spot. Yora looked desperately for a way out. While she was preoccupied with that, though, Ulaax managed to come close enough to reach out and grab one of her limbs. Yora struggled, but Ulaax was stronger in the end. “If you refuse to work, your useless cadaver will be fed to the titan crabs - would not that be a step up for the likes of you?” With a mighty tug, she was ripped out of the crevice. She couldn’t even regain her bearings before another set of tentacles grabbed hers tightly and began to pull and tear. Yora wriggled and twisted as she felt her tentacles give out. Desperately, she tried to peck and bite at the parts of Ulaax she could reach; however, the measly spots she could nibble at were, at best, the surface of some small limb - in contrast, Ulaax could chew directly into her torso, and he did. Black blood clouded the water. Yora ripped and twisted, but couldn’t seem to break loose from Ulaax’ grasp. 

They bumped against the reef floor, and Yora felt something sharp brush against the back of her head. It left a cut, but it was clear what it was. In a lightning motion, she flicked one of her arms behind her back and pulled it out of the sand, bringing it up to saw straight through one of Ulaax’ arms - her weapon was a blade-like fragment of a mammoth mussel. Ulaax’ growled, black blood spilling out into the water. That cloud was just the distraction she needed - she burst forth with aching tentacles, arriving in Ulaax’ face before he could react. She swung, the sharp blade cutting the water as well as skin, right across two of Ulaax’ three eyes. He staggered again, and Yora went for the killing blow, biting out his last eye and just continuing to eat, gnaw and stab at the larger vrool’s body until resistance grew dull and weak. As they sank to the surface of the reef again, Yora rolled off of the carcass of her former superior, inspecting her rended, ravaged tentacles and skin. She would be scarred from this… Scarred for life.

She snickered to herself and started swimming towards the Tyrant’s cave.

Finally.

[hider=This post was late as heck]
Juraantoxagrul is the coolest vrool on the reef Truulnax (a tiny reef off the south coast of Korero), and Yoraxinatruul, a mussel keeper, is jelly af. She wants to get stronger, so she kills her superior, Ulaaxinagrul. She then drags his carcass towards the Tyrant’s cave.
[/hider]