"Alright," I said, my voice cutting through the tense silence that had settled over our little gathering. I deliberately locked eyes with each of them in turn, letting the weight of my gaze linger just long enough to be noticed but not so long as to seem aggressive. The silence stretched for a few more seconds before I continued.
"Since it looks like we're stuck together for the foreseeable future, we might as well know who's who."
A king doesn't need to announce his reign with fanfare and trumpets; he just sits on his throne and watches the courtiers scramble for position, jockeying for favor and proximity to power.
The spiky-haired kid with the permanent scowl and the aura of barely-restrained violence stepped forward first, his combat boots thudding against the reinforced floor.
