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Revision as of 01:30, 7 March 2007

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Winds of Knowledge Forbidden

Gennadi's manse has always been a strange combination of chaos layered over a perfectly precise plan, endlessly detailed down as far as the eye can see in fractals and arabesques. For this, his almost final act in heaven, he's pulled out all the stops.

Fine wine and ambrosia-laden food rests on serving plates dating back from the first age, a spectrum of homeless gods and goddesses cleaned up, told to handle the needs of the party, and given neatly pressed midnight blue uniforms. A long table's set in the dining hall, composed of mirrors and black jade, and a set of books is neatly placed every so often, according to precise geomantic and astrologic formula.

Of course, it's not like this will last, as even now the figure of a tigress sleeps underneath the table, flickering in and out of view with only a large starmetal bell and a smill remaining constant. As for Gennadi, he himself waits for the arrival of his assistants, smoking a brightly colored cigarette and chewing aimlessly on a cookie, crumbs caught by wisps of smoke and deposited carefully out of sight on a tray wher,e fed by essence, they're already regrowing back into more cookies.

Alexsei Krauser: His knuckles meet the ornate door with an even, rythmic thump. He had never been to Gennadi's abode before - and neither was he quite certain why he had been summonned today, but the Chosen of Serenity had told him it was important business, so it warranted time away from the heavy training schedule in order to see what was in store for him this time.

Straightening the folds of his funeral robes, he glances sideways at Anupu, then turns back towards the beautifully crafter door, awaiting an answer.

Gennadi: It's a familiar face at least that greets him, the Winter Rose having dispensensed with the usual midnight blue part of a uniform and kept only the lace. Maybe she's waiting to see how long before someone notices in all the rush. She just grins and ushers him inside, going through the formalities quickly before pointing out to follow the drifting blue lights to the dining hall.

Anupu Al Hadei: Anupu stands close to Alexsei, a step back. Hier face lowered slightly, but her eyes are not - she sees it all, aware of every leave, every ambrosia-bug, every stray hair of orichalcum. The sapphires in her jewelry-clothing, in her piercings, shine almost hypnotically, and yet, as light touches them just right, almost seem like eyes. She watches all, around Alexsei... with a simple nod to Shaliyia.

Endings, she understood. Endings, she trusted.

Serenity, on the other hand...

Alexsei Krauser: WIth a graceful smile for the Winter Rose, Alexsei bows his head politely and follows the instructions - or the blue lights, in this very case - towards the meeting area Gennadi had apparently chosen for them to talk.

Purposeful steps carry him to Gennadi's resting point, and he grants his fellow Exalt a smile as he witnesses the cookie-eating ritual. He inclines his head deeply, and slides his hand within the ample folds of his sleeves.

"A good day to you, Gennadi - and thank you for receiving us in your home." He turns towards the Jackal-headed woman, and nods once, before returning his gaze to the Chosen of Serenity. "Anupu, this is Gennadi Ilkov of the Cerulean Lute. And Gennadi, this is Anupu Al Hadei, servant of Endings who has chosen to accompany me on our mission."

He nods once, and his eyes take on a more serious tone as he peers back at their host. "Now... I believe there was something important for you talk about... Enough for us to be allowed here into your Yu-Shan home?"

Aria: From the direction of Aria's room at Gennadi's manse comes a faint sound, that grows ever larger into a thundering crescendo as the pink haired girl with the ribbons in her hair comes running into the room, flailing her arms around cheerfully.

"SSSSAAAAAAAAAAKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" XD

She comes to a skidding halt as she peers at Alexsei with curious eyes. "Ohayo, ojii-sans~", she says suddenly then, waving a bit too enthusiastically.

The chosen of secrets had arrived.

Anupu Al Hadei: The Soul-Sheperd bows gravely to Gennadi, with the utmost humilty, and yet, her stance letting her great sapphire-and-silver daggers in evidence as she did so. She spoke not a word, but her devotion and her place assured. Aria's arrival, however, brought from her little more than a surprised, and then annoyed, glance.

Gennadi: "You'll forgive the exuberance of the young. I'm sure you remember what it was like, once upon a time." He stands and bows deeply. "I was not aware you'd be bringing a guest, but I'll have another chair brought. Or I suppose I could have a godling bend over for you if you'd appreciate it." He motions for Aria to sit. "I'll cut to the chase after a bit of refreshment. Have some sake, have some blood oranges, whatever you'd like."

Anupu Al Hadei: "The chair would be enough, Joybringer."

There is a moment, and she adds, more proper, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Chosen of Venus."

Gennadi: "The pleasure is all mine. Not proper Serenities protocol, but truth." A chair arrives for her shortly, plush and highbacked.

Aria: "Wooh!", Aria sits down, fills up a plate of food, pours herself some sake, takes a looooong drink, and sighs with relief.

"I'm Aria, by the way!"

Gennadi: "What I've called you here for is fairly simple, and also not to leave this manse. I've got the diaries of my former self, or at least the ones I've found here... and I want them crosschecked, looking for ciphers, hints, important clues. It's been rumored, andwith some truth, that I have very few memories. They're not in my head, but in here." He thumps the closest book. "They're all in here, and I think I'm going to need them."

Alexsei Krauser: Staring a bit bewilderingly at the arrival of the Chosen of Jupiter... But greets her nonetheless, with all the courtesy she is due, inclining his head at her.

"And a pleasure to meet you, Lady Aria. I am Alexsei Krauser."

He then takes a seat, as encouraged to by their host, and peers back at Gennadi himself. "So... you need to have your past form's memories analyzed, hmm? When you mention important clues, you most undoubtedly mean with the current happenings in the North, yes?"

Gennadi: "Something like that. Sidereal plans seem to take forever, and anything could be hidden..."

Aria: "Ooooo, this is the good stuff isn't it.", she reaches out with her hands to the diaries, hooking her fingers in a sort of 'oooo gimme gimme gimme' motion.

"Aren't you glad you have a chosen of secrets on your good side now!"

Gennadi: "You could say that."

Alexsei Krauser: "Hmm." He takes a moment to ponder, then peers at the book supposedly containing memories from another time, and another when. "I suppose you have already perused them, yes? There is some sort of Cypher in place, I would presume?"

Gennadi: "I... I honestly don't know."

"That's the problem. It could be a cipher so cunning that I, as a rather young sidereal, can't crack it. I could have just found diaries with unuseful things. That's why you're here, to help me puzzle it out."

Aria: "Pfft, what would a chosen of serenity know about cracking cyphers anyhow? No offense ojii-san but you should leave this to the trained professionals.", she grins widely.

Gennadi: "I was thinking because it was my own book, I'd be the one to notice any coded meanings. Since you don't have context." He shrugs. "But then again... I'm just trying to be sure."

Alexsei Krauser: He nods, and a faint smile crosses his lips. "And I gather that means you - Ending is not often associated with Cyphers either, yes?" He fods his hands in his laps, then peers again at tha book. "Then there is a careful analyzis to be made, I suspect. We will have to be doubly methodical if we don't even know if a cypher is in place - so we will have to observe for the signs."

"Depending on the importance of this information, this might be quite the daunting task."

Gennadi: "That's why I called. I'd have handled it myself, but..."

Aria: "Gimme!", she says, reaching for the books.

• Gennadi just slides one over to her. "I'm going to suggest that we split our time among the books. You can get blocked by spending too long on any one thing, so after an hour or so each, perhaps we'll rotate them around." He slides a book over to Aria. "Knock yourself out. And if you damage it, I'll do more than that to you."

Alexsei Krauser: "Well then." He says, leaning back in his seat. If you would have me have a look at them? Any particular pattern you have discerned as to where we should start - any journal or book that looks like it holds the beginning of the riddle?"

Aria: Aria is already rifling through and scanning it over, trying to look for patterns and then trying to discern an angle of approach to best work with them.

Really, not that much different from how she'd approached combat in Gennadi's trial against the blood apes, all in all.

She reads, book in one hand, sake in the other.

Gennadi: "Best to start from the beginning." He slides Alexsei the oldest, his guest the next oldest, and randomly selects one for himself. He's been over them all so many times it hardly matters which he gets now.

"The trouble, you could say, is I'm missing pieces. There are thirteen diaries, and I have six."

Aria: "That just means you have to extrapolate the events in between in the most likely fashion to fit the patterns and your approach to them.", she comments idly.

Gennadi: "You don't know me very well, aria, or at least you don't know my old self like I do... let me say that deciding just what the most likely fashion is is half the trouble. I was a madman. Sort of..."

Alexsei Krauser: Hrm. Well then... Might as well start now, then. And yes, we have to get a framework, an outline of the picture, and then we can speculate on the missing parts."

"Perhaps, even, if we find something valuable within these pages, the location of your missing books will become clearer, even."

And with that, he takes on a first diary, opening at at the first page, and leaning back in his chair as he prepares to peruse the words within.

Narrator: The words are there. Common Old Realm, written in a perfect freehand way.

Letters that could be sold in Realm Galleries as art pieces.

But there are strange... numbers. Directions. Annotations.
It all fits... somehow. But how?

The writing is sideways, upside-down, backwards.
It goes around the lines and on the corners.

And always the numbers, pointing somewhere... but where?

Gennadi: "I sometimes think that I was under the influence when I wrote these.... not myself."

Aria: "You'd have to drink more than just sake to make a mess of it quite like this.", she frowns as she tilts the book back and forth, trying to look for the patterns there.

After craning her head round and round trying to make sense of the book, and peering over shoulders of the others in the most obtrusive ways she could possibly think of, in one instance even crossing her arms over Alexsei's head to read along with it, Aria suddenly has an epiphany! Or maybe she has too much sake, either way.

"Well, I know how I'm going to approach the problem! If the scribblings look like those done by a madmen under the influence, then the only way to do so is to think like one myself!"

And putting the book away she starts simply guzzling away at sake like there's no tomorrow and she's sufficiently plastered to have trouble keeping herself sitting upright without clutching the table. And then, she grabs a book, loses her balance, falls off her chair, and just lies there giggling like an idiot while ooooing and aaaaing meaninglessly at the pages.

She was nothing -- at least -- if not thorough!

Alexsei Krauser: And the outside sounds are already fading for him, as he delves into the depth or someone else's mind, someone else's memory. But this time, it is not merely to try to immerse himself in the thoughts and life of an Exalt who lived in the glorious first age. It is not to merely find a quick response to a simple question, embedded by ink onto the page, like one would do with a simple tome aimed for research.

No. This is infinitely more complicated. Both the answer and the question. Layers and layers of meaning could be hidden within these pages, thousands upon thousands of possible interpretations, which would in the end, prove to be false.

At this very moment, it is like being caught in a locked room, while being buried up to the waist in keys.

Normally, one could potentially take each key one by one, trying them and setting them aside as one goes... But it would take an eternity. Not to mention mind numbing and incredibly impratical.

No, i this case, the keys are not important. What one has to look for... is the lock itself.

And so that is what Alexsei strives to study. When possible, he cross references the events noted in the book with his own knowledge. He watches the sentences carefully, the prose, the choice of words. As he reads, the diagram of the lock becomes clearer and clearer in his mind - first a basic concept sketch, then a shape study, up until it becomes a complete technical drawing, with the precise inner workings of the lock clear and precise in his brain.

And thus, with this blueprint of Gennadi's former self's mind, he can finally start to inspect the book with the key in mind. And so he looks for inconsistencies. Details that veer slightly away from the norm. Mistakes possibly made on purpose to cover something else. Aliterations which might hide another meaning. Peculiar word successions that might spell different words. And thus Alexsei continues to read, until he builds the key's image, from the fragments of inconsistencies that arise from the flowing prose.

After all, once one has intimate knowledge of the lock, one finds there can be only one possible key.

Narrator: At first, there is nothing.

Alexsei tries again and again, and sees nothing.
Aria complains loudly about the gibberish.
At some point, she swears she's seeing Nara-O's face there.
Alexsei understands it!
And a moment later discovers it was a failed theory.
Aria kicks a book over a perceived insult.

The night goes on.

Waking up drowsy from a nap and still just as drunk, yelling, Aria sees something.

Well, actually, she is making a castle - or pehaps a pizza - out of the books not with Alexsei when she does so.

When she notices that the books kind of... fit together. Indeed they seem to... shift, when trying to fit together, and their covers show the night sky, focused on the constellations. She touches it, and it whirls like the surface of water. Alexsei sees it. When arranged on the table, forming a Night Sky. The notations - astrological! Each a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. 'Sorcerer, Page, Place, Word, Style, Foward, Backward'. Such a long code. Paragraphs and Pages going back and forth between volumes. The diaries were all written at once... or were they shufffled like this by the use of First Age Sorcery?

Regardless, when you understand the numbers - and knows which book countains which stars - the code becomes readable. The diaries become readable. It is there. Missing many, missing many, but it is there!

Aria: ... and when it's all cracked, Aria jumps up from her seat, fist victoriously into the air!

"Yat-" WHUD!

She's fallen over. Her fist appears just over the edge of the table, as she continues unperturbed "Yatta! VICTOLY~!", and then she just kind of... degenerates into gigglefits and snorting.

Alexsei Krauser: Leaning back into his chair, Alexsei starts to take in the world around him once more, and cannot repress a grin at the Chosen of Jupiter's cry of victory.

"It seems she is right... At least we have part of it. Astrological notations were your culprit, it seems." He shakes his head, then ponders some more. "Of course that is probably another puzzle in and of itself, but at the very least we are stepping forward."

... I hope.

Aria: Aria meanwhile has passed out again.

And she's snoring.

Gennadi: "Forward is good... it's better than I've done so far." He taps one of them in wonder. "Even a little less than half of the books uncoded is better than none at all."

Alexsei Krauser: "Yes. And as I said, there seems to be certain locations mentioned in the cypered parts - perhaps we run a chance of finding the rest of the books."

"Although, we cannot forget the possibility that they were confiscated by someone for a specific reason - they might contain information someone does not want you to have access to."

Gennadi: "I will be blunt. Fuck the mysterious overlords, okay? They're my memories, and it's what I want that matters in this specific case, not what they want. If they've got a problem with it they can show their damned faces so I can spit in their eye." There's a worrying growl to his tone, quite unusual for him.

????: Gennadi feels something is just plain wrong. It allows him to feel... and sidestep it, when it comes.

"Since you asked so nicely..." comes the voice, from nowhere.

The hand comes from behind Alexsei. Through the wall. Gennadi's hearthstone breaks.

The thing holds his face and lifts Alexsei up, as its face come out of the wall.
Green. Strange limbs, too long. Crimson and Green and strong.

"There are mysteries that cannot be pierced. There are veils that should be left alone."

"The door shall remain locked. And you shall meet Samsara."

Gennadi: "When in the hell was it decided that your kind awas allowed in heaven? Better yet, when did you knock? Terribly rude." He begins executing a seamless kata, power rushing out from him in great barely controlled gouts of turquoise, spiraling into endless intricate threads as if to attach to the manse he's in. "Hold it! Just a moment... Just a few seconds more!"

Anupu Al Hadei: A low growl.

Eyes narrowed, Anupu is on her feet before anyone can even see.

Growling, her teeth flashing silver against her ebony jackal-face, she looks more feral than ever before. Ever. She is more beast than man. More beast than god. Ready to bring an end. The knives flash out of their sheaths, blades made of impossibly sharp, impossibly hard sapphires. They burn with the same outrage her eyes do.

"You."
"Let"
"Go."
"Of."
"HIM!"

The strike comes at the creature's chest...
... and then, impossibly fast, at each and every tendon of his arm...
Fast. Furious. She howls.
He would let go of Alexsei.
Or he would lose his arm.
Or she would die.
There are no other options.

????: The creature stopped the knife with viridian wings. It came fully out of the wall, things crumbling behind him. She tried to cut his arm... but he simply swung the powerful warrior away, keeping his hold to Alexsei. Such a great beast he could hold the Endings almost defenseless with only one arm of impossibly long, razored fingers. The Viridian light shone on its eyes, hungry. "Emerald Sanction. I will bring Emerald Sanction."

Alexsei Krauser: There is no moment of hesitation on his part.

As soon as Anupu charges the creature holding him, the combat reflexes immediately rush over him, and he witsts within the enemy's grip - turning the linb against its usual folding pattern, moving against the natural angle of its hold.

And he suddenly twists his body in opposite direction, using the momentum of the sudden weigth shift to overcome the creature's muscle reflex, and slither his way to freedom...

????: Outside, the Goddess of Shining Cats was rushing in, her claws out...

Before the creature pointed its open hand to them. An eye was there. It looked at Gennadi. His hand as a door. And the eye closed. Closed with everything within it. And he was within it. And Alexsei was within it. And Anupu was within it. All the furniture on the room flung wildly, covering the door... and melting together. Becoming a single thing, on every door, on every window. Locking the room utterly, in a way only someone as strong as the creature could punch its way open.

"The doors are closed. The doors should all remain closed."

"You will pay for those you tried to open."

Anupu Al Hadei: There was despair in her eyes. She saw the claws begin to close on Alexsei... cutting... crushing... and she felt so... utterly... impotent. Her mouth gaping open, looking at him... at the savior of heaven, at the man who exemplified everything she wished to be, at the man she... she...

He cannot kill you...
You cannot die!

She jumped back, a backwards flip to the far end of the room, kicking a chair towards the creature's face... and diving behind it, as it exploded in wood, the creature received her foot on its face... as she held her knives to its fingers, digging deep, pressing them apart... so it would let go of Alexsei!

He tries to keep her, and she feels something... something like... lime. Lime in the wind, keeping her, razoring her... but his fingers do let go, allowing her to pick the Gardener and throw him away at a sofa... away from the monster. "If you wish to destroy someone, monster, face ME! "

He is too great to die.

Gennadi: His eyes open. One, two, three. The shard that bears power, the shard that bears up the world, the seed of greatness within him opens its eye and casts its gaze upon a brother. All is revealed, the shape of things to come, the shape of one hand, mangled beyond recognition by a blurred chain. The shape of a battered Alexsei, the shape of a great beast howling in pain, the shape of and form of Gennadi action in ways he did not know he could, and more.

• Gennadi looks into its soul, into its fate... understanding it. Understanding its place in the tapestry... and that it had none. Outside of it. Beyond it. Surpassing it. A creature of Celestial standing and under Sapphire mandate. A Demon, powerful servant of motion and silence.
  
  Aleirai.
  
  The Warden on the Tower.
  
  Second Circle Demon.
  
  Warden Soul of the Spiral Heaven, Third Circle Soul of Adjordan, the Silent Wind.

Gennadi: Chains spring forth from nowhere, the manse he calls home extending forth weak tendrils of strmetal as if to lend aid. His essence whirls like a hurricane, howls like a tornado, spews forth perfect blasphemy against demonic form as the chain flashes, a flicker of lightning in the storm. It slices through air like it ws nothing, flesh like it was air, and even rakes alexsei's flesh in gouts of crimson blood to mix with emerald, a sacrifice of flesh to match the howling cry of the offending demon.

And then it happens all over again. Lightning strikes twice, the stars align, and tendons rip forth from bone, the grip weakening just enough to let the blood-slick endings slide free from primordial talons. "You should know better, Alerai. You know that locks rust, shields break, and hidden channels are always pierced, left torn and violated. Tell your whore of a mother hello for me when I cast you back to hell."

Aleirai: Aleirai looks upon his burning esence... and sees something almost familiar

So familiar to the creature, as it moves to intercept Gennadi's anima, burning breaking... with emerald light and wings, forming a vortex in front of the demon, pulling splinters of wood and pieces of the wall and fabric, pulling anything to this vortex to stop anything and everything...

Alexsei Krauser: And so the past would ensnare us once more.

The crushing embrace almost pushes him past the brink of consciousness. For a moment, his mind almost shuts down, the sweet embrace of oblivion caressing his cheek... But purpose holds him awake.

No... Secrets...

Violet eyes snap awake, as the demon's embrace continues to surround him, and he realizes he is free... He relizes she broke him free. His head spins, and his ribs hurt, be he allows himself no respite. Epilogue is in his hand, as if it had been there all along, and his eyes turn gratefully towards Anupu, but no words cross his lips yet. Thanks would have to come after the battle had been won.

He stares at the demon, and in the space between breaths the very Essence of Endings is summoned to him, filling his stance, his movements, and more than anything, his eyes.

"You have no right to be in this place." He utters, and every word is as icy as the mist surrounding the Bier's Grove.

"There is a time for passings. But neither us nor those Secrets have reached this point."

"We will not be buried."

Aleirai: "There is nothing you can do. It is written. There are Secrets not to be revealed."

"You stand on Spiral Heaven. I am its Warden. Its Gatekeeper. I command its wings, I close its doors. None may come to the Spiral Heaven." The Demon moves fast then. Its claws shining with emerald light... they come upon Anupu. It through her, ripping all they can of the Goddess. "You will never leave Heaven today."

"The winds said so."

And then, the eye opens, shining sickly green.

In front of Gennadi.

And the Vortex.... explodes outward, all green wind and splinters and fabric coming to the Sidereal...

Anupu Al Hadei: Anupu falls to the ground... but the cuts are shallow. She is strong, and the jewels protect her.

The ghostly material around her sapphires was now shining crimson. It made her seem darker than ever.

And yet, it shone white again, and she hopped to Alexsei's side, her eyes full of concern...

"Master Alexsei... Wheelsavior... are you well?"

She did something, then. She took strands of Fate, and tied his ends to her own.

"He will not touch will, master Alexsei. Do not worry about that, now."

Alexsei Krauser: Anupu... You do not have to do this.

"I am well, defender of the Wheel... But do not push yourself too hard."

We will merely have to repel this guest before more harm comes to her.

Gennadi: Pain. The opposite and duplicate of pleasure. The feeling of our body telling you to stop, the cringe-inducing sensation of something being wrong. Gennadi hase never been prone to listen to that sort of complaint, and the only way to fix something that's wrong is, sometimes, to break it farther and build anew.

It would be heartless to keep this enlightenment from his opponent.

the chain rains down like meteors, saage blows backed by all the power Gennadi can muster, aimed at the flaws in primordial design, a grand formula that adds up to defeat. Whichever way the demon turns, it loses, strength draining as the chain rips and tears, its attempts to defend itself only guiding the weapon deeper to slice, to cut, to hurt, maim, kill.

The Persimmon Ocean is a peaceful art. The Weave of Destiny is placid. there is very little malice now in the cacophony. Faint disappointment, detached pleasure at the well executed movements, and one ragged breath after the explosion and symphony of agony, the Sidereal standing tall in the face of a being that should not be... and won't, when he's done with it.

Aleirai: It hurts!

Aleirai falls back... and roars.

And everything on the room begins to come towards him...

Forming a greater vortex of green... even greater...

Something to swallow the room whole!

Alexsei Krauser: "The Gates you guard are of no relevance here."

Mist forms from his mouth as he utters the words, and the cycle is complete - Endings fill his every movements, tinging the air they displace with a faint violet hue. His stanced his relaxed, and yet filled with purpose. Epilogue coils around his body like a drake along a mountain spire... And he watches.

This is it. We have to bring it down, and fast.

There is a sound, akin to wind among the branches of a bare tree. And then...

He shuffles forward, relentless, uncompromising. The demon is not a creature of Fate, but in this case it matters little. The Chosen waves Ending all round it, like withered tree branches reaching out for it, encasing it in a web of Conclusions until its swarmed by the very taste of End...

And this is when the strikes come, fueled by purpose and the unavoidable tinge of certainty. It fills his hands, his weapon, his eyes, until he is nothing by the instrument of the unbreakable tide of Fate.

He is the end of the thread, even for those who do not possess one.

Once.
Twice.
Thrice.

Epilogue strikes like a Black Strand, shadowed tendril biting at the intruder like a razorwire lashing wildly as it is being pulled back. It lashes at the demons' head and chest, its form almost blurred as it executes its sacred duty, and brings the calm of conclusion upon the aberration...

Aleirai: Aleirai screams... as he is Sent, endings breaking him, as the last falls on his chest... and breaks it.

There is a sick noise, as a egg breaking on your hand...

And then it screams, and the vortex explodes out of it!

Gennadi and Alexsei sent to the walls, the makeshift doors on the room exploding outward...

As the Demon's body falls in green winds, breaking in front of them.

And then... all is silence.

Aria: Aria sits up and rubs her eyes, how she was completely unaffected by all this was anyone's guess, let alone how she slept through it.

"W-wha... Did I miss anything? I kind of fell asleep just now.", she yawns and stretches, looking around bleerily. Or is that drunkenly?

Alexsei Krauser: Rising with somewhat of a pained, raspy breath, Alexwei gets back to his feet, straigthening his robes, and readjusting his spectacles on the bridge of his nose.

"... I am sorry, Gennadi. It seems your living room turned into a mess."

Gennadi: "Demon broke down my wall, tried to kill us. The usual, I suppose, for this sort of thing. Didn't miss much, Airy." He sighs. "It seemed very unhappy about my success, which can only be a good omen. If it makes the Yozis unhappy, it's probably good news." He brushes himself off. "Quick! Check the books, make sure they weren't damaged!"

Anupu Al Hadei: Anupu was quickly on it as he spoke, even as the Goddess of Shining Cats came in to help Gennadi up... but the diaries, scattered about as they were, seemed to be fine. Not harmed at all by the Emerald Sanction....

Aria: She gets up and staggers over to Gennadi, slapping him on the back a few times.

"Hai hai hai, good going ojii-san! Faito!"

Then she suddenly pales, bends over and... throws up on his shoes.

• Gennadi winces. Admittedly, they were pretty much invulnerable. They'd been in the gullet of a behemoth and shattered the bones of gods... but this is the first time they've been puked on by a drunken sidereal. Not an illustrious moment in their history. He pats her on the back, and very cafreully slips out of them, waving for some help to recover them and clean up. "I apologize for the damage to yourself even more. A proper host I am not."

Aria: Aria just groans a little afterwards, stumbling over to the nearest chair and resting her head, forehead first, on the table.

"I don't feel so good...", she mumbles.

Gennadi: "An warm bath is just the thing, and some juice with a raw egg. I apologize, but I think you're better off relishing your triumph in a more private location. Airy."

Alexsei Krauser: Trying not to make a troubling situation further embarassing, Alexsei tries to pay little heed to the... tribute Aria left to Gennadi, choosing instead to watch over the books.

"Everything seems to be fine, Gennadi. As sudden as the attack was, things seem to have been untouched." He shakes his head, then pushes his spectacles up the bridge of his nose.

"Do not concern yourself with beaing a bad host, I do not think it has anything to do with you - I am more concerned about the security measures that were put into place for safeguarding this knowledge. It really does look like we have stumbled into something of utmost importance here - and it looks like your hunch was right."

Gennadi: "No, it wasn't."

Alexsei Krauser: A pause.

"Then, my interpretation of your hunch was, I suppose."

Gennadi: "It didn't go after me at all, not the way it attacked you and Anupu. It didn't damage the books at all, the surest way to keep knowledge from us... no, Alexsei. That was MY safeguard."

Alexsei Krauser: "Yes, it was. And that is why I say... We have stumbled upon something that was incredibly forbidden. Enough that your previous self, the very author of these secrets, went to such measures to safeguard it."

Gennadi: "That was a demon. Of the second circle, even... in Heaven itself." He scowls, and once he manages to call some of those godlings back in the room, has them very carefully lift Aria up. "Try not to let her sick up again, get some fluids in her. And be sure to give her all the comforts her station affords her."

Aria: Aria waves at Gennadi and Alexsei as she's carried off.

"Oyasumi nasai ojii-san! FAITO!", fistpumps, and is out of view.

Alexsei Krauser: "...The thought, in and of itself, it worrying, nevermind the acual reasons behind it. The history with Adjoran, Gennadi." He pauses for a moment, turning to the Chosen besides him.

"Do you have much knowledge of what your previous self had to do with her? Or how deep their connection ran?" He looks at the scattered books on the table, for a moment.

The key might be in there, somewhere... But it is not accessible. Not yet.

"Iselsis told me of the happenings when she got close to you. There is a lot to be deciphered for that, I would believe."

Gennadi: "I have good reason to believe my previous self had intimate knowledge of Adjoran. And you are aware of what I mean by intimate."

Alexsei Krauser: "...Yes, that is what I suspected. Having one of her second circle demons as a security failsafe is hm.. Well, it shows a certain bond between the two, yes?"

He shakes his head. "What I am more worried about is - what is it they tried to accomplish together. Or what their alliance was meant for. And also, closer to us... How Iselsi fits into this design."

"As much as I would like to believe it is as simple as her being a vessel for Adjoran, I have a hunch the choice of host is not influenced by chance."

Gennadi: "It is rather an astrological irony that the vessel is related to the exalt that Adjoran despises, yes."

Alexsei Krauser: He sighs, shaking his head as he peers again at the documents, and places a hand on his chin. "And so she hates Iselsis, hmm? I wish this was a better lead, but I suppose the facts we have now are a start, at the very least. We should look into Adorjan's role into the events that occured there in the Past Age. Any connection she might have to the rise of Moranine and the war with Fintan, the Malfeans, or the Forgotten One... There has to be a connection somewhere."

Gennadi: "No doubt there is... I'm just not sure I'll be happy to know it."

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