iV. mild discordance

  "Ji." 

  A light caress on the neck, working diligently down the length of his arm before fingers intertwined, while brushing of the lips to the knuckle, ever so lightly.

  Just like butterfly wings. 

  "Jineul." The call came more insistently,  while the Queen found himself ignoring him more easily. His mouth continued down the knuckle, kissing down the slight calluses etched on his fingers. Sungjong gave a small sigh, though did not withdraw his hand. 

  "Nymph." 

  The blunt and slightly emotionless tone adopted with the use of that particular nickname made Jineul's head promptly snap up with his eyes narrowed - and on guard - at the man above him, though they softened again when his met Sungjong's. "What?"

  "I was thinking." There was a pause. "What do we actually know about the Elders?"

  Random thoughts were a normal occurence; Jineul gave that question a few moments of thought before replying, "That they are s, that they are in charge of Gemini, that it's highly likely some or most of them are authority figures in the Underworld." 

  "s?"

  "They see it their right to command us as they please. If that isn't being s, I don't know what it is." The Queen replied bluntly, and stood from his place kneeling on the study carpet. "Why?" 

 "Curiousity." At the prompt answer, Jineul raised a slight eyebrow, but nonetheless didn't comment, and merely scooped Purrfection from the floor (she had slipped through the door, in all probability), running his fingers through her fur absent-mindedly. There was a comfortable silence which had settled in the room, when suddenly a knock came at the door. 

  In a few strides, the Queen had crossed the room and settled himself on the King's lap, the edge of his plait skirt hanging just above his thigh as Sungjong, who didn't even budge, replied "Come in." 

   With that, the double oak doors opened to reveal Chess, who was leafing through a huge pile of papers held in one arm using her other hand. Her eyes then flickered up to meet the Queen's, before flitting towards the King's and gave a short bow. "Evening, Your Majesties." 

  "'Morning' might be more appropriate, Chess," Sungjong replied absent-mindedly while playing with Jineul's fingers, splayed across his own exposed thigh, while the Queen was in charge of staring daggers at the secretary. 

  "My apologies." The response came with icy curtness. "Anyways, I have compiled the profiles as you have ordered. If you would take a look...?" 

  "Of course. Just leave them on the table then. Thanks." And after the command, the faery promptly dumped the huge pile of profiles at the corner of the desk, which resounded with a loud thump, before turning on her heel, giving a short bow and walked out of the room, the doors closing behind her retreating back.

  Another short pause then elapsed, with the two eyeing the large pile of documents on the edge of the wooden surface. Sungjong was the first to give in; he let out a slight sigh, and reached a hand towards it, plucking the first pile off the larger one.

  "Shall we start?" 

  "I say no." 

  "Well, my opinion is that it's a good idea. So there." 

  Minkyung sighed, and tried to rid herself of the sore spot at the side of her head by rubbing it, trying some of her own magic. Not so astonishingly, it didn't work, and she directed her attention once more towards the small array of chemical equipment spread across the table in front of her. 

  "You're not even the tactician here, Jaebin," She could hear a third voice, Celeste, butting in as she scoffed slightly, before the heavy smell of tobacco by Minwoo floated towards her once more, which she waved at, getting more and more irritated by the moment. 

  "Well yes, but unfortunately for you I'm a vampire." An agitated pause. "I would think that I know more about my own species than a - what? mermaid - would now, yes?" 

  Another pause. Minkyung could sense the tension in the air getting thicker by the minute, but she had more important matters on hand. Measuring the pale blue liquid carefully, she made sure she had the accurate amount before pouring it drop by drop into the small cauldron placed right in front of her, and let out a satisfied sigh when the colour changed promptly to a light brown. 

  "Still, I don't think it's a good idea." The same opinion came flying out again, and the Knight found herself hearing in the conversation while packing the successful medicine in a small bottle, before gathering the rest of her instruments, and placing them into a case.

  "Um, if I may - " 

  "Seoah you keep out of this." 

  "Jaebin, it's not that we don't trust you - " Ah yes, the charmer; Minwoo. Minkyung had found the man skeptical at first glance, but quickly admitted towards his capabilities when she saw the succubus at work. "It's just that this plan of yours is dangerous. Maybe reconsider some parts of it before acting on it. And besides, the King didn't say anything about this." 

  "The King is a deciding factor now?" The healer could hear the disbelief on Celeste's part as she carefully put her apparatus away. 

  "Look, I'm just throwing this out. Doesn't mean you should agree." 

  "Excuse me - " 

  "Still, this is the time to act, Minwoo." The opinion came more insistent. "When the guard is down - " 

  "You're betraying your kind? Really?" 

  "I'm just being realistic - "

  "Well, as your second-in-command," Getting tired of the argument flitting back and forth, Minkyung snapped the clasp on her case promptly shut and stood, lunging it along with her as she strode towards the four members seated on opposite sides of the huge couch in the lounge. "I strongly suggest you all to continue your discussion tomorrow night." Giving it a moment to sink in, she gave a slight jerk of her head towards the windows, where it still showed darkness. "It's approximately three hours to sunrise. As your resident healer, I strongly recommend rest." And as the others began to open their mouths to protest, Minkyung cut them off with a prompt "Doctor's orders" before turning on her heel, and striding towards the direction of her room. 

      At that, Minwoo made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a choked off chortle, and settled for a drag of his cigarette instead, letting the smoke drift out of between his lips while the others looked on in mild disgust, drinking in Minkyung’s comments as well.

  "I'm surprised you're still alive with smoking that much," Celeste commented, rummaging through her bag for something while Seoah nodded in agreement. "Considering you inhale about three cigarettes' worth of smoke into your lungs each day." 

  "And I'm suprised you're still alive, Cely, considering your kind has been living with poison in the waters for so long." 

  "Whose fault do you think it is?" She snapped back, before pulling an inhaler out. "At any rate, I'll take Minkyung's suggestion on sleep. Before my body decide to give away at set tomorrow. See you in the morning. When the sun rises,” Celeste added just as Minwoo was about to input another sarcastic comment, then sat back in defeat. 

  The succubus then waited until the sound of Celeste's heels disappeared down the hall, before he gave a yawn, stretching slightly, turning back towards the vampire. "Think about the potential danger you're throwing yourself into, Jaebin. We'll go over this tomorrow. 'Night." 

A second Gemini chapter :3

And uh, besides saying that this is a mess, I don't have anything else to add