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Post by Tepet Hayo on Oct 16, 2015 19:27:26 GMT
The timber planks crackled under the weight of his body. Hayo was hanging onto the main mast of his ship, perching slightly on the guard of the Crow’s nest and staring into the distance of the horizon - the sun was barely setting, sending deep blackness across the fields and reminding the Solar of all that had happened since his Exaltation. It was almost unbelievable: so much sadness mixed with so much happiness. First the look on his squadmates’ faces as they saw the golden aura burning from his skin, Song, Mokoto and her subsequent demise at the hands of that filth.
But it all had turned around in the end, those memories only faintly weighing down on his otherwise high spirits. The sun’s outline was still shining down upon him and reminding him of the role that he had taken upon himself.
Just by not giving up, Hayo. Just by staying the course as you always did.
The frigate had been stolen, of course. Not that the dead need any transportation anyway. It had been the prized possession of a local Pirate King - nasty jerkass by the name of Balmoso the Carrion (You can imagine what kind of business he was up to to deserve such a nickname.) It had been a challenging endeavor, but eventually Hayo managed to break his rule with the aid of a few freed slaves who weren’t particularly picky about who helped them.
Even Anathema.
They didn’t mind him taking the frigate, nor did they mind him taking a look in Balmoso’s treasury to pick out a few possessions - the Grand Daiklave, seemed to be made from molten gold, its surface practically humming a song of glory of its own, a piece of armor that was made from the same material and would protect him better than the basic skin he had been resorted to using until now, and a bunch of gold that would help him through the time up ahead.
Not liking the heat of the West Hayo set the ships’ sails back to where his journey had first begun.
The cold North, not because he missed the white snow and ass-freezing chill, but because there was a friend out there in the Mountains who deserved… deserved what? Hayo didn’t even know if she still remembered his name, but he wanted to thank her again and then.
Well.
He wasn’t exactly sure what he was supposed to do after that. The Realm didn’t seem like a very safe choice right now, but there was still a few matters that needed resolving, some matters that had to be resolved.
It would be a long trip, but he was up to it. Tepet Hayo was not the same man that had left the North in search for a purpose, that man had been broken by the expressions of his old friends, the man sailing east?
That was a different beast.
Months passed, and a big, armored man finally knocked on a set of doors of a little house in the mountains.
“Is the Big, Bad Minotaur in here?” his voice boomed across the vale. Hayo still needed to get used to the fact that everything he seemed to do… seemed to be bigger in scope than he intended them to be.
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Post by Forest-Crushing Song on Oct 16, 2015 19:39:21 GMT
Thunk.
Crash.
A spat curse in Skytongue.
A short, dour-looking woman threw the door open, glaring balefully up at the Glorious, Sun-Clad warrior standing on her doorstep like a child on Calibration looking for a treat. Song had been in the middle of reading, which was not too peculiar - who didn't like to curl up with a book from time to time and enjoy the warmth of the fire? A finer way to sleep there'd never been. And then she'd been interrupted by something large, loud, and salty. Company. She hated company. Especially when she didn't get any advance notice that company was coming, and when it showed up after dark. For a moment, she'd been convinced that she'd have to beat back some solicitor before she could get any rest... like anybody she could handily defeat would be stupid enough to be up on her mountain at this hour.
But no. It was Hayo. The Immortal Champion version of a bad penny. Not that she wasn't glad to see he was well, because she was.
"You smell like the ocean." Song complained quietly - though she tended to speak quietly unless she had to. "Come in before I freeze my toes off, then, you big ape." With a turn, the blonde stormed back into her little cabin, drawing her robe tighter around herself. "I'll put something warm on the oven and you can brag about whatever it is that woman sent you West to do."
He'd understand that she was just being grumpy, right? She hoped so. She was glad to see him, but she tended to get out of practice with the whole being nice to people. "...and leave your weapon by the door! You know the rules!" She barked from the other room, just in case he'd forgotten.
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Post by Tepet Hayo on Oct 16, 2015 20:00:37 GMT
Was it something I said?
Hayo quieted down noticeably after her first statement, his bright smile pulled into itself and replaced by a more dignified, neutral expression of rigidity and respectability. Deep, deep inside of him he was still a Dynast by blood and the lessons imparted to him from that time were still there, etched into his very soul… even if he had a third portion of a soul added to him now. He had to crouch a little bit, bowing his head as to avoid hitting his head against the frame of the door - she was really small, like… tiny.
Probably not a good thing to note though.
The Grand Daiklave was carefully pulled out of the sheath on his back, he made sure that it didn’t accidentally swipe itself through her walls, furniture or bookshelves, sometimes it seemed that the molten gold wanted to slice everything up that came close to it.
Except him.
How peculiar.
With a few gestures Hayo undid the buckles of his breastplate, letting it rest next to the sword as a final piece of… peace offering. He wasn’t really that effected by cold temperatures anymore these days, it was as if a miniature sun was burning inside of him and with every day it only burned brighter and brighter.
“I uh, lost your board. Sorry. We had some trouble on the sea.” Hayo shouted back, as he tried to find himself a place to seat - so small!
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Post by Forest-Crushing Song on Oct 16, 2015 20:10:47 GMT
"It's fine! It's just wood." Song replied from the other room, from which could be heard clattering and then a soft bang, presumably as she closed something a little hard.
She emerged with a huff, precariously holding a couple cups of something warm and steaming in one hand, with a heated kettle in the other - in a hurry, to avoid burning her fingers any more than she already was. Even if Luna had granted her an incredible degree of hardiness, it wouldn't do to make reckless use of that hardiness. Besides, even a decade or more later, the habits of mortality were hard to shake. Which was it's own kind of blessing and curse. Song set down a cup of hot tea in front of Hayo, and one for herself, the kettle in the middle of the table. "I hope you still take milk and sugar, because I put it in already." She informed the warrior primly. She, herself, preferred to simply bury the bitterness of the tea in sugar - at least the sort that tended to grow in her territory.
Song then sat herself down with a sigh, her braid bouncing merrily. Hayo was here, so she might as well get used to it. No matter how much she disliked unscheduled company.
Her cabin was more or less exactly the same as he'd left it ages ago. Compact, tidy, and modest. Song had her collection of books and a few animal furs kept as trophies, a warm fire going, (that she'd no doubt have him chop wood for the next day, as the price of providing a warm bed and meals) and a couple (rather poor) paintings from the phase she'd went through a few years ago when trying her hand at art. "So. The West. I heard you went there." She began with a strained smile, resting her chin on her fist. For the time being, Hayo had her full attention - a rare luxury. Usually her mind was in a million different directions at once. "Tell me about your adventures."
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Post by Tepet Hayo on Oct 16, 2015 20:19:02 GMT
And now that he was finally sitting there, his backside cramped in a miniature chair, a warm cup of tea in his hands and curious eyes upon him… Hayo realized what had drove him to travel from one side of Creation back to the other, back to where it had all begun - life was crazy, there were just so many things that kept asking for his attention, and not even mentioning the fact that his senses were increased in such a way that he kept noticing things he would have never noticed before.
It was a damn wonder that his senses weren’t constantly overloaded by all the input he was receiving all day long… it was a distraction. One that was even plaguing him now, as thoughts raced from one side of his brain to the other.
“I am not sure how to tell you this.” the Solar began carefully. He probably should have started with it from the beginning, but so many things were constantly pulling at his attention.
“The woman you paired me up with, Mokoto… we were attacked by pirates. She… didn’t make it.”
Hayo scratched his jaw, not allowing himself to look away.
“I am very sorry.”
Hopefully she wouldn’t turn into a Yeti and try to eat him.
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Post by Forest-Crushing Song on Oct 16, 2015 20:25:48 GMT
Song blinked, squinted, then leaned her head to the side. "...no she's not. I saw her last week in Icehome, on a supply run." She pointed out with a flat tone. "And she's not my friend - I just knew her to be someone who looks after Solar Exalted. If I'd known how much she stank of deceit, or that she planned on shipping you off to the woman-hating crack of Creation, I'd have thrown the smiling bitch down a well."
She leaned back and sipped her tea, glancing at the door. Just in case. "Unless she died in the past week or something, you're mistaken. If she DID die in the past week, I'm only a little sorry that my parting words were to tell her to get lost in a Wyldstorm." Song declared with a frown.
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Post by Tepet Hayo on Oct 16, 2015 20:56:03 GMT
Hayo was silent for a moment, a very long moment, a very, very, very long moment. Seconds stretched out as the Solar Exalted processed exactly what had occurred back then, and it was only after half a minute that the warrior realized that he had been played for a fool - that the guilt and grief experienced had been baseless. The sun inside of him burned white hot as anger started to rise inside of him.
It was only through the virtue of his training, the discipline instilled in him from his Dynast upbringing that allowed Hayo to dig deep and bury that fury for another day.
Because nothing good would come from destroying everything within a square mile of the little cabin and besides… it would have been very rude, after Song had done so much to bring him this nice cup of tea.
Instead of speaking or expressing his emotions in another way, he simply took the cup in his hand and sipped from it.
“The tea is as fine as it ever was, ma’am.” Hayo finally said, after letting it swirl in his mouth for a while.
“What kind of milk do you use?”
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Post by Forest-Crushing Song on Oct 16, 2015 21:08:06 GMT
He looked like he was going to lose his temper, but didn't. Good. A tantrum would have been very unfortunate for everyone involved. Especially her, considering that even if he was a half-capable Dawn it was well within his power to reduce her and her house to a fine powder if he lost control. And just about the only thing she could do to stop it was maybe kill him? But that didn't seem the case, so no sense worrying about how poorly equipped she was to stop him from conducting murder. Hayo wouldn't kill her, anyway.
"Don't ask questions that you don't want the answer to, Hayo." She replied simply, before gigglesnorting into her cup. A bad joke. You got used to them when your spirit form was a massive, fur-covered aurochs. Aurochs being a fancy term for 'bigass cow'. Got used to the jokes, and developed a catalog of responses. "It's goat milk, Hayo. Same as I've ever used." Song clarified with a smirk, sitting back and visibly relaxing a bit. The hard, displeased line had gone out of her jaw, her brow was less furrowed, her shoulders not as squared up as though expecting a fight. When Forest-Crushing Song was tense, the whole world could tell just by looking at her.
Song waited for him to start drinking again before she spoke. "Trust me, if it were mine, you'd taste the difference. It is PREMIUM." She insisted boldly, smirking as she puffed her chest in feigned pride in an attempt to get a reaction (like a spit-take) out of the lost legionnaire.
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Post by Tepet Hayo on Oct 18, 2015 10:42:34 GMT
Instead of the spit-take that she wanted, Hayo simply finished taking another sip from the tea and gave a thoughtful nod.
“Maybe I will have the pleasure of tasting it one day then.” deadpan voice, eyebrow slightly raised and with a serious expression that did not show how his cold fury was slowly being buried into the deep earth of the moment.
There would be another time to think about the complications that arose with her being still alive, part of him wanted to plot revenge, annihilate her from the face of Creation as vengeance for making him look like a fool, but there was a second (granted a softer one) that told him he was just being led by his emotions right now.
That he just needed… time.
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Post by Forest-Crushing Song on Oct 18, 2015 10:50:43 GMT
Once, Song had taken Hayo in for almost a month after destroying his invading platoon - the direct result being his exaltation. During all that time together, he'd never heard the sound he was about to. In fact, most people who knew Forest-Crushing Song never would. The straw-blonde nerd blinked, then erupted with raucous, loud laughter befitting a native tribeswoman of the North.
And keep going. Song laughed until she was red in the face and clutching her sides, nearly crying with mirth. Something about the deadpan delivery and borderline flirting had struck her right in the funnybone, hard enough to paralyze her. It WAS a new moon, though - her moods were a little wonky.
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