The Simulacrum

~Chapter 157~ Part 2

The beach houses built by the Celestials at my behest were constructed in a hurry, but not without care. Each building was designed for the use of two to four people, with different combinations of single and double beds. In essence, each one was just a large bedroom, a small bathroom with a shower cabin, and an equally tiny kitchen, only useful for preparing simple dishes or reheating food.

All in all, they were exactly what I wanted them to be: a place where we could sleep in comfort for the nights and provide minimal utilities for whenever we weren't on the beach or exploring what the Elysium had to offer. Which, to be fair, wasn't much, but I was pretty sure we'd find ways to entertain ourselves.

As for the décor, it also followed the aesthetics of the Elysium, or at the very least those of the towers. Everything was white, sleek, and austere. There were no electronics, which made sense, considering that there was no electricity either. Even the fancy magic-powered sinks and showers were using analogue controls (read: good ol' twisty valves), and the enchanted heating element in the kitchen looked just like an old-school electric stove top for the convenience of our less magically inclined guests.

Overall, I was quite satisfied with the results, and I made a mental note to thank whoever was responsible for overseeing the construction and furnishing of these buildings. Not Tsephanyah though; as much as he was trying to get on my good side and claiming credit, I was pretty sure I would've noticed if he was the one literally building these. Not Mensah either; while he was trying to kick-start the Elysium's tourism industry, it was clear that he was a late-coming investor. And as for Savir…

"For goodness's sake, Eris. What were you thinking?"

Right, that.

At the moment, the three ex-directors, currently alleged advisors, were standing in one of said beachside bungalows. All the blinders were shut tight, with only a few stray rays of the late afternoon sun lighting the bedroom. On one side, an exhausted Mensah unceremoniously sat down onto one of the free beds, while Tsephanyah remained standing near the only entrance, arms crossed. It was hard to take him seriously, since he was still wearing his bloody angler outfit, but his glare was absolutely genuine.

"Spare me the outrage, Acacius. I'm not in the mood."

Savir's voice was a bit hoarse and came out as more of a hiss than anything. She then reached for the bottle on a nearby nightstand and filled up her crystal glass before downing it in one go. It wasn't anything special, yet Mensah raised a confounded brow at her.

"Since when are you drinking white wine?"

"Shut up, Dolion! I just said I'm not in the mood for this!" She put her glass down and exhaled a breath that was neither a sigh nor a groan. "White, red, what does it matter?"

"You're avoiding the question," the blonde ex-director raised his voice again, his brows descending even further. "Did you really pick a fight with one of Polemos's lovers?"

"I did not!" she denied indignantly, then after shaking her head, she also sat down. Considering that the bottle on the nightstand was practically empty, maybe the alcohol was getting to her. "I just wanted to… talk with her. Things just… didn't goas planned, that's all."

Strangely enough, she wasn't surprised in the slightest by the fact that these two had already heard about her encounter with Judy. Though again, stripped of most of their titles and authorities or not, these were still veteran politicians who made it to the top of the Celestial hierarchy, so maybe this much was to be expected.

"From what I've learned, your 'talk'…" Tsephanyah paused only long enough to make air quotes with his fingers and then crossed his arms again. "… was a bit more than that. Be honest with us Eris; what exactly did you think you would achieve by antagonizing her?"

"I told you, that wasn't my plan!" she burst out and then held her head in her hands.

"So, you were trying to do something entirely different, and you just angered one of the Lord Archon's fiancées by complete accident," Mensah summarized, and despite showing up here along with Tsephanyah, he sounded almost disinterested in the main topic, still eyeing the empty bottle of white wine next to Savir.

"It was supposed to be so simple!" she exclaimed, still holding her head. "Judy Sennoma should've been, by all intents and purposes, the weakest link in Polemos's retinue! It was my one opportunity to establish rapport with her and gain a new foothold. "

"That's not what I've heard," Tsephanyah interjected a touch impatiently. "Have you not personally tracked her down and provoked her?"

"No! I admit, my approach might've been… mistaken, but I just wanted to establish a fruitful alliance with her!" she griped, reaching for the bottle, only to put it back down when she realized it was . "I simply… wanted to establish that she was lacking the kind of backing that was befitting the spouse of the Second True Archon, to make sure she understood that she needed allies in high places, and then propose an offer. I wished to create a mutually beneficial partnership, to get in her good graces, and once I've firmly established myself as her friend and benefactor, it would've made it difficult for Polemos to threaten me again. It was a foolproof plan!"

"And you decided to do that personally, instead of using a proxy, and didn't even check to see if she would be receptive to such an offer first?" Mensah blurted out with just a hint of schadenfreude. "That's unlike you, Eris. It's such a rookie mistake to make."

"Oh, shut up. Both of you," she hissed, sending a venomous glare at Tsephanyah just as he was about to add his own five cents as well. "You two have been brown-nosing Polemos's retinue all afternoon, so I don't want to hear a single word about my methods from you! Not to mention, how was I supposed to know that she hijacked our CIN database!" She abruptly froze up, as if her own words just registered with her, and she continued with an alarmed, "Hold on. Since when did she do that? And how?"

"Weren't you aware of Lord Polemos's reforms?" the blonde ex-director inquired with a brow raised high, sounding just a teensy bit incredulous. "You shouldn't be surprised by this."

"What are you talking about? What does that have to do with…?" She froze up again. "Has Polemos honestly handed the reins of our intelligence network to her? When?"

"Not officially," Mensah chimed in, showing more than lukewarm interest in the whole discussion for the first time. "From what I've heard from my… ugh… 'estranged brother', the Lord Archon had infiltrated the Intelligence Repository even before his official return to Elysium, and he put people loyal to him in key positions well ahead of time. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that the CIN was secretly working for him even before we knew about him, and the girl had been at his side every step of the way."

"As expected from Lord Polemos," Tsephanyah stated solemnly, and it almost sounded like a stock phrase he had practised ahead of time.

"And you find no problem with his mundane lover just casually gaining control over our intelligence agency? Running background checks on us? We aren't talking about just some surface-level sleuthing! She knew about my nose—!" Without warning, she let out a hiccup and forcefully shook her head. "My birthmark! How did she ever get access to personal information like that!?"

"Excuse me? What was that about your nose?" Mensah interjected with his finger raised, sounding as intrigued as he had ever been since he set foot in this bungalow.

Meanwhile, Tsephanyah earnestly considered Savir's question.

"It's Lord Polemos's fiancée we're talking about. As the consort of an Archon, she's technically already part of our hierarchy. Or will be, at any rate. I see no problem with her being granted certain privileges previously only afforded to Cherubim belonging to the Celestial Intelligence Division."

"If anything, we should petition the Synderion to give her an official title, and that should solve this whole problem, nice and simple," Mensah added. "So, back to that thing about your nose…"

"No, that's not the problem!" Savir exclaimed indignantly and rubbed her face with her hand. "She used our institutions against us! We have to do something about this!"

If I was there, I would've been hard-pressed to decide on what to point out first. Was it the fact that she casually conflated the other two ex-directors into her own blunder? Or that she didn't see anything wrong with the way she tried to manipulate Judy and was only concerned with how the tables were turned on her? Or maybe most egregiously, the way she completely ignored the elephant in the room; namely that for Judy to learn all those very specific and personal details about her, they already had to exist within the recesses of the Celestial Hub's database.

Yes, I was the one who gave her access, and sure, Raz and the others probably helped her unearth the juicier bits and bobs, but it still meant that all of that incrimination information was already collected on Savir, by the Celestial Intelligence Network. That, consequently, meant that someone had to give the order to dig up all of that, and preserve it in the repository, even details she actively tried to erase once she came into power.

Were we talking about well-adjusted, sane people, they should've immediately recognized this and realized that their pathological fascination with skulduggery and trying to get one over on each other was the ultimate source of the problem. Maybe it could've even led to a quiet moment of self-reflection, planting the seeds for some character development.

"It is indeed a troubling development, and one we must establish safeguards against such breaches on our private information, but it's a discussion for another time."

Oh, who was I kidding? Of course they wouldn't do that. Because the problem clearly wasn't that the culture of Elysium, at least amongst the higher-ups, was a dystopian nightmare out of a cheap spy thriller. Neither was it how the Celestial Directorate used to obsessively gather incriminating intel on everyone nor the fact that they created such incriminating evidence due to the sheer amount of shady shit they got up to. No no. The real problem was that all of it was now being used against them. Bah!

"Right." Mensah readjusted his glasses and stared intently at Savir. "So, can we talk about that nose thing again?"

"Are you seriously going to keep harping on that, Dolion?" she growled back. "Do you have nothing better to do?"

"Believe it or not, I do," he responded flippantly. "I've made great strides with the Assembly representative, and he seemed receptive to my ideas about improving Elysium's image among the Magi. Frankly, if Acacius didn't insist that we all needed to gather to discuss your latest transgression, I would be out there even as we speak. I still need to probe the dragonbloods."

"In that case, you are welcome to join us tomorrow." Tsephanyah flashed an uncharacteristically upbeat grin. "I have already made arrangements with the Dracis family head for a fishing trip to a creek further inland."

"No, thank you. I'm not particularly interested in such activities," the younger ex-director declined with a shrug, followed by a curiously raised brow. "Now that I think about it, do you even know how to fish?"

"I'll let you know that I have investigated and gathered the finest local anglers to learn all of the best fishing spots, lures, and other minutiae they could share with me."

"… That wasn't a 'yes'," Mensah pointed out, and it made Tsephanyah's expression wither a bit.

"I admit that I have yet to have the opportunity to put any of the guidance I received into practice, due to my busy schedule, but I'm confident I will manage." He punctuated that with a shrug and a self-assured, "It can't be that hard."

"Gentlemen, could you please focus on the problem at hand?" Savir spoke through clenched teeth.

"You're right," Tsephanyah relented right away and faced her, folding his arms once more. "We can't have your conflict with the consort of Lord Polemos disrupt our carefully laid out plans. The last thing we need right now is to stoke the Second True Archon's ire, just as everything is proceeding so smoothly."

"No, that wasn't the part I was referring to," she argued back, but it was two against one, as Mensah soon joined the blonde ex-director's side.

"While the girl herself doesn't have the backing of the Assembly or this newfangled Draconic Federation, she does possess considerable influence among the representatives currently in Elysium. Even if we don't consider her access to classified records within our intelligence databases, provoking her at this stage could cause dire setbacks in the establishment of advantageous relations with these organizations."

"Quite," Tsephanyah piled on, not letting Savir get a word in. "I propose that we arrange for a… semi-official meeting between the young consort and Eris, where she can apologize and attempt to mend their relationship."

"Apologize? Me? I was the one who—!"

"I second the notion," Mensah interrupted her by raising a hand. "And while we're at it, let's ask about the subject of that 'nose' comment, shall we?"

The woman sitting on the bed dangerously narrowed her eyes at her colleague, and whispered, "I swear, Dolion, if you bring that up one more time, Deus be my witness, I'll strangle you."

"Oh, that's a good idea," Tsephanyah blurted out, sounding almost impressed. "We could ask Her Grace Deus Angeline to mediate between the two of you, and serve as a witness of your reconciliation."

"That's not what I…!" Her protests were cut short when she realized that her company enjoyed the way she was squirming. A long beat later, she inhaled deeply and started again, this time sounding considerably more collected. "Very well, I shall swallow my pride and attempt to… befriend the girl for the second time. Just… Give me a few days to collect more information on her first. I need to grasp a weakness, anything, or I'll look like a fool."

Ah, and there we go again. Zero self-reflection. I wasn't expecting anything, and yet I still got disappointed.

Oh well. At least I caught their scheming this time around, so I could warn Judy and Angie about it ahead of time. Also, I had a feeling I should really keep an eye on the anglers tomorrow, because that whole thing was shaping out to be either a catastrophe in the making or a setup for some high-grade slapstick comedy.

That was for later though. For the time being, I watched the three stooges a little longer, to see if they were up to anything truly nefarious, but since they just kept bickering, and Mensah soon lost interest and left the place, so did I. Back in my body, inside the suite in the tower, I got up and stretched a bit. What was I planning to do before I got sidetracked?

"Oh, right… Volleyball stuff."

Also, badminton. Though to be honest, I had no idea how the latter was supposed to work. I tried to sift through some memory fragments I inherited from the real Polemos, but there was nothing even remotely reminiscent of that in them. Maybe it was something I retconned into existence, and couldn't remember anything about it because I retained my unmodified memories? Or it could be that Angie was just making stuff up because she really wanted to play in the air.

In either case, I figured getting some racquets wasn't going to hurt. The only question was…

"Are any sports stores even open at this hour?"

It was about an hour later that I learned that yes, there were. Even ones that were doing business twenty-four seven, to make sure they wouldn't miss some lucrative customer in the middle of the night. Yay for capitalism, I suppose?