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Post by Cathak Ieyda on Oct 15, 2015 6:18:21 GMT
Calibration was at once a time of renewal and a time of ill-repute. It marked the end of one year and the beginning of another. Yet it was well-known that demons could more easily cross over during Calibration, and their beloved Scarlet Empress had disappeared during Calibration some five years previous. For some, it was a time to reflect upon their lives, to find the glories and safety that the Realm had graced them with. For men like Cathak Ieyda it was a time to give thanks and to renew their vows to protect and serve their Houses and the Realm.
For others, it was just another day to revel in.
Ieyda did not care for the attitudes of certain Dynastic Houses. He had seen first had the wasteful decadence of House Cynis and V'Neef, how they wasted jade on excessive food, drink, and pleasure. In his travels around Threshold, he also saw the suffering and famine amongst the common populace. Those who had inherited their wealth and spent it without thought were, in his eyes, a blight upon the otherwise unblemished glory of the Realm.
For a mortal, living on the Blessed Isle might be considered akin to living in a paradise or Heaven itself. Yet such naivete was lost on Ieyda. He had been born into a military House. From the moment he could hold a sword, he was expected to serve. It was his birthright to keep the Realm safe. His was entitled only to the battles he fought and the glories or losses he suffered.
Ever since he first drew his Second Breathe, Ieyda had felt like an outcaste. Born into an exemplary line of Fire Aspected Terrestrial Exalts, he had the inauspicious act of Exalting as a Child of Daana'd; a Water Aspect. Nothing in his life came easily after that day. Many Dynasts fought and served in the Legion, but even they knew well-enough to take a proper break or indulge a little. Ieyda had none of it. He did not know how to relax, such was the endless struggle he found himself in.
So while the sounds of partying and revelries drifted through the streets, Ieyda instead made his way aimlessly through the streets. He felt no urge to join in such wasteful indulgances, yet had no desire to return to his House. They would of course dote on him for his successes in the Legion, fawn upon him for the glory he had brought their House. Yet it would just feel empty.
What was a Dragon-Blood to do when all of his life had been spent fighting?
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Post by Tepet Nischa on Oct 15, 2015 16:14:59 GMT
A cloud was walking over the tops of the city houses. It took a bow as it passed, bidding Tepet Nischa and her Vermillion fang a good day. Her men were a bit confused, but Nischa simply bowed back and waved. Weirder things had happened during Calibration. That was sort of the reason why one of the most well-fielded talons in the Empire was currently walking down their streets in full combat gear, rather than in parade dress like normal. She'd sent Muzao and Lir out with two more fangs, and entrusted it to the sergeants to keep the remainder of her men carefully guarding House Tepet's ancestral manse. This was not a time to be careless. This was a time to be vigilant. As wondrous and bizarre and fantastic as Calibration tended to be, it was terrifying to normal people, who did not hold spears or channel the primary building blocks of their being into superhuman feats. It did the people good to see armed soldiers patrolling their streets, just in case something went wrong. Most of the other Exalted were off attending grand galas, not unlike the one Nischa had been at the previous night (and still had a mild hangover from). This left the streets mostly filled with alternatively horrified or awestruck citizens. It also made it extremely simple to spot someone who was not, half because he carried and dressed himself as a noble... ...And half because she routinely kicked his ass at Gateway for a decade. "Cathak!" The woman called out loudly as she and her men approached. "Don't look so dour. It's Calibration! Where's your sense of childlike fantasy and wide-eyed wonder?" She doubted he even had one of those when he was a child. Cathak Ieyda
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Post by Cathak Ieyda on Oct 16, 2015 8:12:23 GMT
Ieyda sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew that voice immediately. Tepet Nischa was younger than him by close to a decade, but he could not deny the promise and talent of the young Exalt. While he edged her out in outright martial prowess, she routinely routed his troops in battle plans while at the House of Bells. He stopped playing Gateway explicitly because of how decisively she continuously beat him. It was shameful in and of itself to have a younger Dynast so soundly beat him at the game, but the fact that a Cathak invented the game in the first place made it all the more embarrassing... He turned briefly and spotted Nischa walking down the streets with a few of her Fang-members. They had both been out and about with their Legions for close to four years now. The last time he had seen her, she had been a few inches shorter. And perhaps a bit less... "My sense of wonder remains intact, Tepet Nischa, much in how I wonder how it is you can so casual about this ill time." He rumbled neutrally while scratching the middle of his forehead with the back of one thumb. He had respect for the Tepet, enough so to not insult her in any true way. Not that she'd done anything to deserve any insults. She was a good model of a proper Fire Aspect. "I hear tell that you're time spent in the South has been time well spent. I've heard tales of the Vermillion Legion's clashes with the Lintha pirates, almost all favorable." Despite the reputation concerning the Legion's origins and past, Ieyda could not help but give the Roseblack's Legion proper respect. In a short time she had turned one of the most useless and haggard bunch of misfits into a military fighting force disciplined enough to rival even Cathak's best legions. They had somehow taken missions that should have spelled the doom of Tepet's Last Legion, and yet every time Ejava came away with victory. "I trust you found it at least as educational as our time spent in the academy?" However much he might have hated useless festivities and excess, it was not fair to say that Ieyda preferred solitude. He just found it difficult to socialize in any particular manner that did not immediately relate to the military. At least with Nischa, and many from the House of Bells, he could talk normally... If talk of death and conquest could be considered normal. Tepet Nischa
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Post by Tepet Nischa on Oct 17, 2015 4:58:46 GMT
Oh, Ieyda. As single-minded as ever. Crossing her arms over her breastplate, Nischa shrugged a bit as she came to a stop. The fang behind her spread out and diffused like sand on water. No real direction, every man both alert and relaxed...not unlike their commander. "I learned plenty. For example, maiden tea is ironically rather scarce in the South, despite the climate being perfect for growing it. Too little water for frivolous stuff like that." Fortunately, with careful measurement to the female soldiers under her command, she'd made it last plenty longer. It was better for morale when a unit could keep its own morale up, rather than having to stop for whores every few days. One of her soldiers knocked on a door nearby, probably intent on asking about strange occurrences or possibly whether or not they had a spare bottle of liquor. Nischa didn't even take note. At least they were asking instead of threatening and strong-arming. "But I hardly went to meet General Ejava to 'learn.' I was there to work." Just as she was here to work. The Blessed Isle might have been her home, but there was almost no real reason she should have been there without something more important than fighting alongside her aunt driving her. In this case...well, that wasn't for the ears of someone who wasn't at least allied with her family. The man from earlier tapped her shoulder and mumbled a report, at which point Tepet Nischa raised her eyebrow inquisitively and turned around to face her soldiers. " Vermillion! We've got reports of 'strange activity' near the north-eastern district. Form up." Without real hesitation, the troops trickled into a loose facsimile of a formation behind their captain, and the redhead turned back to her old...friend? No, not really. Classmate was probably more accurate. "You're welcome to join us, Cathak. Might be nothing, but the chance that it might be something is good enough reason to protect our people." Plus he was likely really super bored. Cathak Ieyda
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Post by Cathak Ieyda on Oct 18, 2015 10:41:47 GMT
Ieyda nodded as she spoke, noting her responses for their angle. Ever the pragmatic one, he was considering steps and political schemes. House Cathak was the greatest military House of the Realm, and it had stayed that way for centuries. However, the Vermilion Legion had a growing reputation and anything he might could learn of it would benefit his House. It was interesting to him then that she separated the ideas of work and learning. Perhaps that meant something, perhaps not. Her sudden shout snapped his attention back to the real world as Tepet Nischa barked out orders. Apparently something was happening within the city and she was going to investigate. Before she marched off though, he was both surprised and mildly agitated to have her invite along. On the one hand, he hadn't expected such an offer and welcomed the chance to find something to do (perhaps even stab some things). On the other, he almost wanted to balk at her temerity in making the invite in the first place. However, he kept his face neutral until he was ready to give and short nod. "By your leave, fanglord. Lead on." After all, whatever his personal beliefs on their combat skills, she did have a command and he did not. And perhaps if he followed her like this, he might learn a thing or two about the Vermilion Legion, House Tepet, or Nischa herself.
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