Cast (#wattys2016)

Chapter Four

All the events of the past few hours make me want to go back to my room and take a nap, but curiosity makes me forge on. Right away I find a room with a small pool of water in front of the door, so of course I have to enter it. "Welcome mammal, to my underwater domain!" The man I see is covered in a blue fish scaled patterned jacket and matching pants, he wears a crown on his head and carries a model trident, there are detailed tattoos on his neck that look like gills. The whole room smells faintly like the sea, salty air and fish. "Bow to me, for that is the respect I deserve."
"Who, may I ask, are you?"
"I am Poseidon, King of the Sea."
"Is that right?" I ask, raising an eyebrow to the confident man (fish?). 
"I would not lie, so bow to me mammal, bow!" He commands.
"Do you go by any other names, Poseidon?" I question, not wanting to let this patient boss me around.
"Some call me Finn, those are the bottom feeders, they are not allowed in my Kingdom." I get the picture on who the bottom feeders are.
"Do they ever attack, try to get in?"
"Sometimes, but I always manage to fight them off with my immense power."
"Right. It's the nurses and doctors, isn't it?"
"Nurses? Doctors? I call them bottom feeders, because that is what they truly are."
"You have a lot of confidence, don't you Finn?"
"Don't call me Finn! I command you!" His attempts to sound vicious were met with prepubescent voice cracks. I smiled, glad to knock him down a peg.
"You're acting a little high and mighty for my liking."
"Thats what I am! You couldn't even handle this power!"
"Uh huh." I say, acting uninterested.
"You're bold, I don't like it, but I like it as well."
"So, are you going exile me or recruit me?"
"I'm not sure. Do you have a coin?"
"Ha ha, I wish. How about we do rock, paper, scissors instead?"
"Rock, paper, scissors? In my Kingdom we only play squid, ship, harpoon."
"Squid, ship, harpoon?"
"Yeah, squid beats ship, ship beats harpoon and harpoon beats squid." I nod and he shows me the hand gestures for each thing.
"Squid, ship, harpoon." We say in unison, I choose harpoon and he chooses squid, I win.
"Well, it looks like my Kingdom has a brand new member."
"What will you appoint me?" I don't know how I've gone from wanting to shutdown his cockiness to becoming a member of his 'Kingdom'.
"Hmm, you seem like a good Advisor." His answer literally makes me laugh out loud. "What? Is that not good enough to you?" He asks, his voice angry.
"No! It's perfect actually."
"All right then, Advisor, what do you advise me to do?"
"I advise you to meet more of the people in and around your... Kingdom."
"I know my own people thank you very much; about the others, I can't talk to those bottom feeders."
"You know, you really should give those bottom feeders a chance, they may surprise you."
"Is this really what you want me to do? You're not trying to trick me?"
"No, I'm trying to help you. I promise." He thinks for a moment.
"Huh, fine, I'll do it. But you will accompany me, and be my guide."
"Sure thing."

I lead him outside of his room and into the empty hallway. "Ugh, this place is ugly, now wonder the bottom feeders love this place so much."
"Ok Finn right now I advise you to shut up."
"Oh, so much of that was wrong! First off, do not call me Finn; second, do not tell me to shut up."
"Hey, if you want me to advise you, you're going to have to let me advise you my way." He pauses for a second, as if having a mental argument with himself as to what to do with me. Defeated, he continues his way down the hall as I smile victoriously.

Now I realize why I wanted to be recruited, so I can show him the real world he's living in and ground his mind a bit. To do this, I want to start with the most sane and most interesting people around the Sanctuary. So who better to start with than Beckley.

"Paige, back again so soon?" He asks, looking up from the book he's reading, 'Halflah', I assume. I wave as Finn appears in the doorway behind me. "Oh, and you've brought a friend. Who is this?"
"I am her boss, not her friend."
"Her boss? Mr. Puppet Master, you look different today, did you do something new with your hair?" He says and chuckles.
"Puppet Master? I am not the Puppet Master! He's the dirtiest bottom feeder of them all! Don't trust that sea urchin." Hm, the Puppet Master sure is called a lot of things: Puppet Master, Pierce Montgomery III, Ring Leader, lion and now sea urchin.
"Then how are you her boss?" Beckley questions.
"She is my Advisor."
"Well, yes. She's all of our Advisor's."
"Beckley, this is Finn-" I started to explain before Finn cut me off.
"Poseidon."
"Right, this is Finn and he's... King of the Sea." I give Beckley a look as if to say 'just play along'.
"Ok then, how are you Mr. Poseidon?"
"None of your business, bottom feeder."
"Finn, I advise you to be more polite around people who are showing you nothing but respect." I say in a firm tone. He grits his teeth but then relaxes.
"I'm not so great, honestly."
"Haha. Have a seat my good sir so we can talk." Gosh, I know Beckley's polite, but he's really hamming it up now.
"A seat? I should have a seat with a bottom feeder?" He looks at me with a questioning glance and I nod, staring him right in the eyes. Grudgingly, he sits down and begins to talk with Beckley, seeming to perk up instantly. I took this as my opportunity to talk to another patient.
"I'm just going to step out for a moment, I'll be right back." Neither of them even seem to notice.