The Creation of Diplomacy

Chapter X: IMPACT

"Thaddeus!" Hagar called out from the kitchen, having made dinner for herself and her son as she placed the pot of soup on the table along with some water, the smell of fish and cooked lobster emanating from within the cylindrical container filling the air with a delicious scent.
"Yeah?!" She heard him yell from his room, most likely playing games on his computer, or surfing on the SplatNet.
"Dinner's ready! Come on down!" She announced as she headed over to grab a pair of spoons for herself and Thaddeus, placing it into the bowls.
"Coming!" He answered as rapid footsteps were heard approaching the kitchen, followed by sniffing, then an exhale.

"Damn, that actually smells pretty good! What are we having?" Thaddeus said upon entering, wearing a rockenberg black along with regular grey pants and white socks.

"Lobster and tomato soup, mixed with cooked fish strips, along with garlic bread!" His mother answered, to which he looked at the pot, interested as he pulled out a chair, sitting in front of the table before opening the cookware's lid to check the contents inside.
"Damn, looks pretty delicious! Where's the bread?" He asked, the soup inside having a delicious-looking reddish-orange texture to it with strings of fish fillets within it as he licked his lips, just noticing his mother sitting in front of him, placing a large spoon into the pot as he began pouring some of the soup and strips into his bowl, warm steam and air emanating from both the pot and his bowl.

"Those will be done a few seconds, sweetie!" She said as she began pouring herself some of the contents within onto her bowl as well, taking a sip from it before letting out a single hum, satisfied with the taste as she went over to the oven to check on the bread with onion butter inside of it.

It looked ready.
"I really hope, this isn't too disappointing, Thaddeus..." Hagar commented while putting on her mitts, eventually taking the garlic breads out, placing them onto the counter as she could hear Thaddeus slurping from his spoon, a satisfied noise coming out of him as well as she began separating the bread.

"Nah, don' worry 'bout it, it's all good." He commented as he chewed onto the tomato-flavored fillet he had found inside, his mother smiling at his thought of her dinner while she put the bread pieces in a different bowl for them both to grab from.

"I'm glad, that you like it!" Hagar answered as they ate their meal together, enjoying it with her own son until she began feeling her phone vibrating upon being halfway done with their food. She stopped eating from the bowl to take her device out while Thaddeus watched her, raising an eyebrow in the process.

Her face became pale, much to the confusion of Thaddeus before she abruptly got up from her seat, walking towards the living room while her son stopped eating the contents from his soup upon noticing his mother's behavior.

"Mom?" Thaddeus uttered, hearing her close the door to the living room as he got up to follow her out of worry, staring at the door for a while as he could hear the vibrations of his mother's phone within. He was about to open the door and ask her what's up, before a burst of static came from within that made him jump.

"Hello...?" She said, her voice timid, and quiet as Thaddeus simply stared in confusion, wondering what was happening.

Then, he heard an indecipherable, deep, reverberating voice came out of the other end, to the point that it made him freeze in his place until he heard his mother's voice again.

"Oh, h-hello, sir!" She said, optimistic, yet, nervous in her tone as she continued.
"Yes, my evening's been fine, thanks for asking! I was just busy having some dinner with my son; Thaddeus, and..." She stopped as the voice came back, sounding as though something was played backward as the inkling boy took a peek through the lock, seeing his mother looking out the window showcasing Inkopolis City, seemingly entranced by the weird sounds and voice coming from her caller.

"Yeah? Yeah, we looked through Octo Canyon for the octoling today, but we couldn't find her anywhere." Hagar seemed to listen to every 'word' the being on the other end said, not knowing of Thaddeus looking through the lock, who was hearing nothing but indecipherable gibberish and mortified screaming as she continued listening to whatever was 'talking' to her.

"She's in Inkopolis?" Hagar asked, unsure in her voice, a barely audible hiss coming from the phone. "What makes you think that? She would of been caught the instant she set foot here! There's no way, that she's-" She stops, the gibberish on the phone's end becoming somewhat loud as Thaddeus saw her flinch at it, continuing to watch the conversation play out.

"Of course, forgive me, sir..." She mumbled, now sounding completely calm compared to her nervous attitude a few seconds ago, the incoherence on the phone returning back to its calm level as she listened to it.
"I'm just skeptical of your idea, considering the headlines that would detail a random octoling all of a sudden being in our city! They would immediately be overwhelmed in the square!" Thaddeus took out his phone after feeling it vibrate in his pocket, going under his contacts before spotting his brother having sent a message to him.

Upon opening the application, he saw the message Lazarus had sent him.
"Thad, where the heck are you? You're gonna be late for work!" It said, most likely regarding his shift at Grizzco starting soon as Thaddeus noticed the time reading 5:55 PM. "Shoot..." He thought to himself, beginning to think about just going to work to meet up with his brother and the girls and get it over with, only to look back at his mother conversing with whoever it was, most likely the creator, and owner of the Inkuisition he had been a part of before he replied to his brother's message.

"leave me alone, laz." He sent his message without a second thought, resuming on listening to the conversation between his mother and her superior.

"Right, got it. I'll have Inkopolis under surveillance tomorrow, and... oh?" Hagar perked up at whatever she heard that Thaddeus couldn't.
"What about him?" She remained quiet for a moment, the maniacal laughing on the phone causing Thaddeus to take a step backward, a wave of dread coming over him as he looked away from the peephole.

"You want Thaddeus to come tomorrow?" The inkling instantly became curious once she said that, swinging open the door, and walking over to his mother as she acknowledged his presence, turning to face him with a blank, expressionless stare.

"Alright, I'll have him be there by tomorrow noon." She said in a robotic tone, looking at him as a quiet, subtle noise reminiscent of a girl crying was heard on the phone, followed by his mother slowly smiling at him. Thaddeus took a step back, creeped out by all of the noises and his mother's behavior.

"Got it, I'll see you tomorrow, sir. Yeah, good bye." She finished before hanging up, looking at her son as Thaddeus stared at his mother, not knowing what to say.

"M... Mom...?" Was the only thing he could muster to say before Hagar walked over to him, a reassuring smile on her lips.

"Mom, the heck's going on?" He took another step back, feeling his body starting to quiver.
"Don't worry, sweetheart, it's nothing..." She cooed, monotone in her voice as she laid a hand over him, stroking his hair before beckoning him to follow her back into the kitchen.
It's as if, she hadn't heard any of the sounds he heard from her phone.

"Come, let's go finish our dinner, okay?" She left the living room before he could say anything in response, entering the kitchen, as well as resuming her meal while Thaddeus just stood there on the carpet, mystified about what just happened before deciding to follow her inside, although, reluctantly so.

He couldn't help, but feel, as though his mother was hiding something from him and his brother, especially with how she could understand that garbled mess of sounds that was her caller, as if it were just a normal conversation between two normal beings.

"Her eyes..." He thought to himself, afraid of what she had talked with as he watched his mother sip away from her soup. "...something's not right..."

Author's Note: If you were surprised by how short this chapter was, then you probably didn't read the previous chapter's author's note, which clarified this.

Now, as I promised in Chapter 8, I'm going to be taking a little break from writing, in favor of focusing on updating some of the current chapters. I want you all to take the time to read these ideas, considering I want to hear your thoughts on the changes I have planned to refine Chapters 1-10.

Here are the following updates I have planned.
1) Changing Lazarus' name to Lazar.
I believe, that Lazar is a better-sounding name overall, because the "us" just makes it sound awkward to read aloud, as well as the fact, that the name just doesn't fit, in my opinion.

2) Making the first encounter between Lazarus and Ariel more realistic.
I'll be honest here: The encounter right now just didn't feel natural. For me, it just feels rushed in terms of pacing and interactions. This is going to be changed in the updates that'll come during the weekend.

3) Refining some of the dialogue.
In my opinion, the dialogue in the earliest chapters just doesn't live up to the standards of the recent chapters. This is the part I'm going to be focusing on the most, aside from the second improvement I want to make to this story.

Once I've finished the updates, the author's note will be changed to match what has been complete, and I'll begin writing Chapter 11 once the chapters have been updated all at once. So, until then, I'll see you all on the flipside.