GoldenCat/RedWrathAndBlue01
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Dance of Venus
It was a place of beauty.
An oasis up in the mountains, around an active volcano. Brimstone filled the air, and the pools bubbled, the water turning into acid in random intervals, geysers coming out every so often... and yet, that is what made all of the plants thrive. A veritable volcanic garden. Few would ever equate a volcano with such a lush garden and flowing waters... but that is what is there, and only the lack of animals might make one notice something is amiss... well, except for the fire cranes, which do not mind.
And all around the Garden, as they come down on the Manta, poles stand, for the Martial Artists to stand in....
Forming a pattern around the little shrine and gazebo att he center of the volcano. A little structure that had survived so much fire and remained whole. Carmine Tears walks slowly towards it, nodding for her entourage to follow....
- Gennadi is, as always, mildly impressied. It helps, of course, that he has a sifu to walk before him with an ever so subtle sway of her hips. As much as she tries to deny it, he knows she herself went through a test like this once, and the sheer feeling in the air is getting to her.
Aria: Aria trails behind looking rather sullen, though very pretty in her embellish miko's outfit. It's a white vest, purple pants, and ribbons are worked into the lines of the clothing, along the vest and the end of the sleeves, also purple. Her hair still has the same ribbons in them, though those are now also purple, and she still wears the cross. It helps that she doesn't look hung over and/or disheveled.
- Gennadi , for the most part, does as eveyone else has done. Mostly ignored her. Though it does help that it's for a very good reason, and she probably doesn't want that sort of attention anyway... right? Right.
Carmine Tears: And it is. Carmine is thrilled... but she lets little of it out. The southern, chocolate-skinned woman looks over her shoulders, her blood-colored eyes assessing her entourage... Gennadi, Aria, Shaliya, her Familiar, and the best of her Amiliki. There to witness the great test.... "You are ready for it?" She asks, but demands no answer." You must dance, and flow through your katas and throughout all of the garden. Every few steps, you must jump over the sticks, and give one of the forms I have shown you above them."
"And you must be beautiful, perfect, even through geysers if they rise."
Aria: Aria leans into Shaliya and whispers: "Does that sound boring and kind of pointless to you too?"
Shaliya: "Pretty wonderful dance-kata? Are you kidding? It will be great!"
Aria: She just shrugs helplessly. She could be like, having sake. Or coffee in that little place near the bureau where nobody ever remembers what 'the usual' is.
Gennadi: "Is that all? I don't have to do this while on the back of a raging flame dragon, while seducing a woman of pure heart and scorching her only with the heat of her own lust?" He runs a hand through almost metallic silver hair. "I'm almost disappointed, this one won't be a total pain in the ass."
- Carmine Tears smiles enigmatically.
"I'm so glad you think so. You will get it done in no time, then."
- Gennadi shrugs, working out a momentary tightness in his muscles. "I didn't say it'd be fast... You know I like to take things at my own pace. I just said it won't be as bad as what you've got conjured up for the next time." He hardly seems to put forth any effort at all as he springs to one of the sticks, testing the strength of it.
Carmine Tears: "Next is the Trial of Mars, so obviously I am honor-bound to break every bone of your body."
She touches her essence-chain. "It would just not be right otherwise, you see."
Aria: "Well don't expect me to bail you out again ojiisan. Arrows won't help this time unless you want me to shoot them at your feet to help you dance.", she smiles wryly.
Gennadi: "I might ask for that, you know. It's not as if you could hit me anyway, and a footstep here and there might be nice. Perhaps I'll catch one in my teeth."
Aria: "I'll be sure to fire roses, in that case."
Carmine Tears: "This is not a waltz, so no couples dancing."
Gennadi: "You can do that already? Nice. Where were you planning on getting them?" He backflips from one pole to another, an extra half rotation to land on a hand. "That's right. Carmine has the first spot on my card for waltzes."
Aria: "I'm sure your familiar can whip something up, she is one after all. Isn't she?"
Carmine Tears: "When we dance together, your bones break, my dear Gennadi."
Gennadi: "She called me my dear! This is progress." He shoves off and into the center of the room, taking a loose, almost ineffectual stance that reminds one more of a napping cat than a martial form.
Shaliya: "A Winter Rose! It is s-pe-ci-al! " She says on a chiding tone.
"I guess I can let a long one grow... can be a great crystal arrow, I guess."
"Or just sever your hand, who knows." She winks
Aria: At this point Aria mostly shuts up and folds her arms so her hands dissapear within the big floppy sleeves.
Carmine Tears: She leaves a little mattress on the ground, and sits on it in a lotus position, picking a jug of something... apparently alcoholic. "And now you wish to spend so long warming up. This is progress for me, as well."
Aria: "So do the rules for the last trial apply to the next one too?", she idly asks Carmine Tears. Obviously referring to the fact she can interfere all she wants.
- Gennadi almost teasingly executes a bit of dance, short circular motions that are strangely reminiscent of something else entirely. "It is sad, yes. My time spent far from the heady fire of your inner warmth has left me unused to such rigors. I must be slow to immerse myself this time."
Carmine Tears: "No, here, they are slightly different. You cannot interfere directly."
Gennadi: "Not that I suspect you have any knowledge of the arts of dance I do not. Though I will be borrowing again in the future... it's only fair the reason I'm testing help me pass them."
Aria: "No, the next one. Or do you both think I'm too afraid to back someone up against the red?"
Gennadi: "I thought you weren't stupid enough to annoy a woman who can fairly handily defeat someone that breaks behemoths and duels deathknights."
"If I'm wrong, well, I suppose i get out of having to train you anyway. Good enough for me."
Aria: "Just curious, really.", she shrugs a little bit, "At least one of us uses a sensible weapon, and it's not you ojiisan."
Gennadi: "You've yet to see my real one, and perhaps then you'll change your mind." He laughs. "But I'm only delaying the test, and my long and thorough demonstration of the underhanded arts of combat."
Carmine Tears: "He means all the different ways of fighting an opponent under the sheets." She says, pouring some of the jug on a shallow, small plate and drinking. "I would hope you will teach her something more useful, Gennadi."
Gennadi: Ten thousand motes of fire follow as Gennadi makes his first leap, trailing through the air and striking the first and simplest form. He holds it perfectly and for longer than it seems he should as he plummets past the first pole, a fiery comet. His foot slides down the edge before he kicks off, a quick and frentic dance as he flicks from side to side rising only partway each time. It is a dance of horizons, a dance of blades and razors.
"To pin the opponent down. To cover your actions in darkness. To find the chink in the armor and to strike, to draw blood. A meditation on virgins, or on combat? I wonder."
His essence shapes itself in angles and lines, strong trails leading the fire that follows in his wake to mirror his moves, as if a teacher leading successively smaller students. He finally lands on a pole, takin that lazy, empty stance again and slowly circling through wavy motions, the quiet essence of a silent beach.
Aria: Aria once again leans into Shaliya and mumbles, "He's one to talk about virgins, considering he's the one straddling a pole right now." and snerks to herself.
Carmine Tears: She pours more of her drink, watching Gennadi... he was magnificent, and the flowers around seemed to echo it, blooming in response to his great performance. All around him, the waters begun to boil, small gushes pushing out, and Gennadi could swear something watched him from beneath them....
Gennadi: It is only natural, of course, that such a dance would awaken deep and slumbering spirits. It is only natural that he pause for a moment to enjoy Aria's comment, shove away the thought of her straddling a very specific pole, and return to dancing. He moves onwards to a more subtle, almost hidden dance, an almost aimless weaving to begin with that grows tighter and more defined as he moves, wispy trails of essence growing stronger, spirals of fire bending in more to almost caress, but never close enough.
"To hunt and to find, to reach out trembling hands and to grasp close, to bask in the joy of success. To seek secrets, or to sex Secrets? I wonder." His last few motions pattern themselves in the shape of the constellation of the mask before he lands, facing away from them... if only to hide a grin at that flash of his sifu's face.
Shaliya: Shaliya giggles, but does not answer Aria with words... watching Gennadi, same as Carmine... who is silent as he dances, and sees the water beggining to bubble more and more... ready to erupt around Gennadi. So close, so close.
Carmine Tears: "You should seek secrets, Gennadi. Then you would see what comes for you." And as she says so, his less incredible performance from before is interrupted with the eruption all around him, filling the air with heat and steam... and Gennadi is sure he hears a roar in there somewhere!
Gennadi: "Who comes for me is more important than your trained beast." Silvery hair blows back as he pivots smoothly on a heel, taking a snap-step down to brace himself. "If I have called the flaming dragon, I expect the other part of my prophecy to show up... if not tonight, perhaps tomorrow's."
Carmine Tears: "Not flaming, really. Steaming. Like you were that time." She smiles, and brings the alcohol to her lips....
As the geyser takes the form of a dragon of steam with black volcanic-rock eyes, his body in and out of all steam around Gennadi.... and roaring!
Gennadi: He takes the moment to bow politely to the dragon before he moves, suddenly rolling out of the way as it strikes. Heis body whirls through the air on updrafts of heat, buffeted bys team that he turns into, using it to push him higher into the air. He executes kata as he falls, effortless and smooth before he snaps his body backwards, skidding along the ridged spine of the steam-dragon with sparks flying from snakeskin shoes. He lands back on the same pole he left, waving the dragon onwards for another try.
"What happened to a partnerless dance, oh Sifu?"
Carmine Tears: "Oh, that?" She giggles. "I lied."
"Remember, the important here is the performance... he is a deadly partner, but a partner."
Gennadi: "Tsk. The whole dynamic changes! The forms the katas... oh, whatever. I seem to be upsetting it with my lack of focus. So long as you keep your legs crossed I suppose I will make it."
Carmine Tears: "You have to learn to improvise. This is not the Trial of Luna, but serenity is not static, you see."
Gennadi: "You have gotten worryingly flexible. But then again, I can't complain..." He suddenly darts away, skittering across the bare tops of the poles, sparks flying as he kicks out at each. "Come on, then. Follow the leader, young dragon. If you want to glimpse beauty, at least keep up with its heels."
????: The dragon becomes as a serpent, more defined now, seeking Gennadi, making noises like exploding geysers as he follows the Sidereal, leaving hot droplets over all the plants like some scorching dew....
- Gennadi has no serpent's shape. But, depending on who you ask, he has a serpent's tongue, a serpent's eyes, and s erpent's heart. More than that, he has a serpent's essence. and thus has no fear of the dragon. His moves bear only the smallest resemblance to dancing, but it is a resemblance, martial strikes against the poles leaving them humming and spattering lava.The glowing droplets sail through the air in complicated crisscrosses, and somehow Gennadi avoids them all as they trail smoke and fire. The steam rushes after him, and he almost seems to play with it, a game of tag at breakneck speed and breakneck force should he falter. One could argue, of course... that turning one's opposite into a joybringer is the ultimate in the joybringer's art.
Gennadi: The volcanic wind whips around the pair of Exalted watchers as the dragon continues to chase and not catch, to quest and not find. The pace goes faster and faster, a maniac's tempo and a madman's touch. Steam, fire, and solid blue esence combin in a tapestry of blue and red, coiled about with shimmering curtains of grey. If the rules can be changed, then no doubt Gennadi can take that chance to, and so he blurs to the ground beyond the pool. His fingertips brush each of them as he whirls and capers, the roaring speed and power of the following dragon making it difficult to see. The cacophany of scales, claws, and feet on stone spiral around them as he leads the dragon around each, his face glimmering and grinning for mere moments before being replaced by gnashing fangs, too close for comfort.
Ribbons, decorations, and one particular flask roar away in the storm, leaving each of them disheveled as the dragon falls back into the lava behind, a titanic eruption of glowing heat framing the sidereal as he lights a cigarette on the towering inferno. "Well, babe, was it good for you?"
Shaliya: She jumps up and down, clapping, cheering... "Yaaay~ Genn wins~"
"That was pretty master~!"
Carmine Tears: "That was... outstanding, Gennadi. Of course, being a Chosen of Venus, I expected no less."
"But it was still outstanding."
Aria: When the dragon comes to muss up her outfit and the pretty state she had worked so hard to get herself into for an event she really didn't want to be part of, she decides that she might as well retroactively decide she wasn't anywhere near that at all, and in fact, somewhere left untouched by the little stunt.
"If I'm going to give you the courtesy of not sabotaging your pretty, I expect you to do the same for me.", she says rather boredly.
Gennadi: "You're pretty?" He blinks, apparently shocked by this turn of events.
Aria: "Prettier than you straddling a pole.", she retorts annoyedly.
Gennadi: He looks her up and down. "I suppose you might be, if you'd smile once in a while. The upset child look doesn't suit your face or curves."
Shaliya: "I can teach you to dance in a pole if you wish, Aria. It is not hard at all..."
Aria: She just rolls her eyes profusely at both of them.
"Am I excused now?"
- Gennadi shrugs. "Is she needed for the next test, Sifu? I think she'd enjoy watching me get hit too much to be allowed."
Carmine Tears: "No, she is not. But that will be for tomorrow. You can rest and prepare for that..."
Her smile almost seem to drip of pain. "... you will need it."
Aria: "I figured you'd need to rest your weary old bones first before getting massacred, ojiisan."
Gennadi: "Wonderful. Then I'll see you for dinner tonight? Something light on the somach, I think..."
Carmine Tears: "... I suppose you earned it. But it is up to you to prepare."
"See about cooking something very joyful for me, will you?"
Gennadi: "As madame wishes, so it shall be done." He steps back and executes a sweeping bow.
"Do me a favor and run on ahead, Shal? Get Opal into some clothes for once, and maybe see if the kitchen needs restocking. It's time for Airy to meet her new colleagues."
Aria: "Eh? I was going to go off and have some coffee..."
Shaliya: "Of course! You'll see, Aria... you'll love Opal! She is nice! And pretty~"
Gennadi: "She's also, ah, not your typical resident of Heaven. I doubt you'll get along so well, but certainly it should be interesting."
Shaliya: "Well, then.... let's go." With that, she gets up, walking towards her Manta, her students getting up together with her, walking in the paths of the garden, now covered with steam... sensing that unique perfume, that was created by brismtone and roses. Carmine stops, about to get up on her familiar...
"Just don't think you are getting higher grades due to it. That is not how I work."
Once was enough!
Aria: She sighs and glances at Shaliya, "Please fix me a cup of coffee so it's there when we get there at least. I don't like my routine being broken."
Sometime later...
Gennadi: The trip itself is quick and simple, and the manse that he leads Aria to is quiet, almost austere, hardly the sort of pleasure place Carmine would no doubt hae hinted at. It's clean, well appointed, and mirros scattered here and there betray no glimpse of servants as of yet. Still, Coffee is steaming and waiting for Aria when they make their way out to a garden, a stone table set in the center inscribed with very intricate porcelain work set with a light lunch for four. That's the most attention he's given Aria since they left, of course.
Aria: "Oooo, coffee, nice!", and within an instant she's at the table and smoothing down the rather baggy pants before sitting down to slurp at her coffee.
And she doesn't really wait for a sign of approval either. Gennadi was being mean today, so she didn't care what he said about her rushing to a table like that.
- Gennadi just chuckles. Well, at least there's something she's happy about... He's more slow to take a seat himself, looking about for Shal and Opal, ice and stone.
Aria: She glances around the garden with the mug mostly stuck to her face, apparantly draining much of it on the first go. When she's done and puts it back down, sighing happily in the process, she notes:
"Pretty garden. Nice house. Then again everything in heaven is pretty, isn't it? You'd think I'd be more impressed, but it doesn't mean much if you have to give up everything else for it. Does it?"
Gennadi: "It all depends on what you had before, young one."
Aria: "A life."
Gennadi: "I don't think you're dead... yet."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: Dispite the myrad references people made comparing Opal to cold, hard stone, the slipped footsteps of her entrance were soft and muted. The train of her robes brushes the floor, a whisper of silk on blessed marble. With the startling grace that marks all her movements, she appears through a an alcove, her slender hands hidden in the voluminous sleeves of their opposite. She seemed rather appropriate for the place, auster and simple in her ornimentation, yet remarkably beautiful for the lack of it. The corners of her lips, barely tinted a faint baige color curled upward into an amused smile as at last she beheld Gennadi and his guest.
"Master Gennadi, it is my pleasure to see you again. I trust you are well, and your affairs proceed apace?"
Aria: "Doesn't mean I have a life. I don't have any friends. I don't have any family. I live in a magical box with no woods nearby. Hell, this apprenticeship thing is the first thing that isn't depressing to happen to me in a while now."
"And that's saying something.", she mumbles.
"Ohayo~", she informally rattles off at Opal's arrival. Obviously she was originally from the east.
Gennadi: "I am at every turn beset by treachery... so doing fairly well." He smiles. "Apparently I am to teach this one something of joy, with three opinions on how to do it."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: "I'm sure your patroness will bless such an undertaking, Master Gennadi. Such was the work of your occupation in days long since forgotten." She nods to Aria, and says something in a language that sounds something a mix of Old Realm and a bunch of stones being rolled down a gently slopped hill. She quickly switched back to something more comprehencable, however, "A pleasure. I am called Exceedingly Sublime Opal. Mistress Opal will suffice, for short. I am a retainer in Master Gennadi's employ."
She looks back at Gennadi, "As for treachery, I cannot comment."
Aria: "I'll call you oneechan then.", she nods firmly in response to her own statement. She slurps some more coffee as she watches the back and forth between the other two.
Gennadi: "I doubted you could. It's just overdue payment for some actions, but distressingly they attached her to it, and I'm loathe to ruin her future." He shrugs. "Do have a seat opal. I expect you two to be working together to some extent, since I'll have a test for her when I succeed in my own."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: She pursed her lips slightly, and did as she was instructed, taking a seat. Poised and proper, she folded her hands in her lap and considered Aria. "And what manner of thing am I to assist her with?"
Gennadi: "It will be a hunt for lost artifice, trapped beyond the barrier of wilderness and Wyldness. When and if she gets that far."
Aria: "You would've failed already if it hadn't been for me.", she's quick to point out, before throwing a few kebabs onto the center table grill and ladeling a few spoonfulls of fruits onto her plate and picking at them as the meat roasts.
"At least you're better at managing your household's kitchen."
"Oooo the wyld. I don't have to go there do I? I might come back all mutated and with a strongly overpowering desire to feast on your innards."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: "Ah, something typical. I don't suppose its something I could just easily replicate, is it?" She glances over at Aria, and frowns in distaste, "Such would hardly be conductive of your future associations with the agents of Destiny, I should think."
She looks back at Gennadi, and arches an eyebrow at him.
Aria: She grins widely at Opal, "But it'd be really funny, huh?"
Gennadi: "That, darling, wasn't need. That was simply propriety. As for duplication... that's the point of having the information and possibly manse in the first place. But that's some time away." He eyes her. "My last student that looked like you didn't have such a macabre sense of humor."
Aria: "Then you're better off without her."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: She smiles softly at Gennadi, "She was probably driven away by your subtle attempts on her virtue, no doubt." She glanced at Aria briefly, before continuing on, "What is the nature of my aid to be, Master Gennadi?"
- Gennadi smiles worryingly mysteriously. "Whatever Aria decides. I don't believe in telling my students how to think. I just want results."
Aria: As she picks the meat off the kebabs she muses for a few moments.
"So assuming that tomorrow the red doesn't break both your legs, what's this task supposed to be?"
Gennadi: "You'll find out... probably in three days. She'll be here to pick up her uniform then."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: "Uniform?" She said, with an arch of a feathery eyebrow.
Aria: "This better not involve fair folk love fests or something of the kind.", she wags a fork at Gennadi.
Gennadi: "Uniform. I'm rebuilding my corps of servants, and it's been long enough since her last tour she can return."
"Besides, would I send dear Opal into a Fae love-fest?" He leaves the question open for a taste of the lunch.
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: "Only if they would pose for you as you busily scetched another of those portraits your so fond of," she stated, tirsely. "At any rate, I assume you wish for me to make it in the meantime?"
Gennadi: "You have me confused. I know that you are both knowledgeable and able to work with the wyld to some extent. I know, of course, that Aria will perhaps need to lean on tools... Thiws is simply advance warning of a request. Also, lunch. Eat! Drink! Be slightly more merry than usual. Perhaps ask the young and nervous Sidereal whether or not she wants a bed that massages her back while she sleeps." He waves a hand unconcernedly. "Not everything is work and duty, Opal. Just most of it."
Aria: "I have a bed. It's small. Like the crummy appartment it sits in.", she remarks, at least she was doing the whole 'eat, drink and be slightly merrier' thing.
Gennadi: "I'll have a room here arranged if you need or want it. An empty one, even. Unfortunately, I'm usually in Creation as of late, so it'd be you and the motley crew of godlings I keep. And perhaps sometimes one rather striking woman."
Aria: "Hmm... sure! So long as I have no obligation to actually use it if I don't want to."
She raises an eyebrow, "Carmine Tears might have a few words to say about leaving your apprentice behind like that to go off galavanting in Creation."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: She picks up a glass of the sweet wine she favors, knowing that Gennadi would have divined such a tast and procured some for her. She sipped it as she considered, "I have only my people's resistance to it. I do not possess any special magic to shield one from it." She glances at Aria, and gave a little shrug, "Do you want a bed that massages you while you sleep?" She said, another rare example of dry wit from her.
Aria: "Nope! I'm good, thank you." she smiles sweetly at Opal.
Gennadi: "Carmine Tears is likely to have a few words to say about any of my actions. Do you want to come and face the armies of a Deathlord or three, hrm?"
Aria: "They have to know who you are to be able to threaten you. Plus I intend to be standing waaaaay back and be placing several meatheads between me and said armies and deathlords if anything of the sort should happen."
She leans over and mock-whispers conspiratorially, "That's why bows are a sensible weapon."
Gennadi: "You'd think that works. You'd be unfortunately wrong. I wasn't planning on fighting at all, but..." He shrugs sadly. "Shit happens."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: She arches an eyebrow at that, "What kind of bow do you use?" She said, her voice twinged with polite, professional interest.
Aria: She reaches into the air where a rather standard looking powerbow materializes into her hand. Well, standard as far as artifacts go.
"Just this."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: She considers it for a moment, "Hrm, I might be able to modify that... but, that is up to you in a few days time." Something occurs to her and she frowns a bit, looking toward Gennadi, "And just what do these uniforms look like?"
Aria: She shrugs a little and with a slight flash it's gone again.
Gennadi: "Oh, nothing much."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: "Thats what I'm afraid of," she said, leaning forward a little, eyes intent.
Aria: "I'm with oneechan."
Gennadi: "You would be."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: "Prudence is the child of foresight, Master Gennadi. And you're avoiding the question."
Gennadi: "Yes, yes I am." He chews contentedly on a kebob."
Aria: "You realize I'm trained to figure out peoples' secrets, right?", she smiles like a chesshire cat.
Gennadi: "I am. Consider it a warmup for your first real test."
Aria: "Hmpf, pride comes before the fall."
Gennadi: "Then it is an excellent thing that I am sitting down already."
Aria: She pops some more fruit into her mouth, and some meat to go with it, before washing it down with some more coffee.
"So, just so I have this straight. Do you want me to not interfere tomorrow when the red decides to break you?"
Gennadi: "Define interfere. Really, I'd be shocked if you could hit her, and I don't think she needs any help..."
Aria: "I can always try. What's the worst that could happen?", she grins, "She hits me a few times and I have a headache the next day? Nothing worse than what I can put myself through on a good night."
Gennadi: "She kept my heart in a jar for a week once."
Aria: She frowns. "You shouldn't fib."
Exceedingly Sublime Opal: Opal seems to arch an eyebrow at that, "Really... I'd like to learn that trick. Would make you think twice about threatening me with inappropriate appearal."
Gennadi: "It's something you run into among the Elder of the Sidereal... a useful combat trick."
- Gennadi shrugs at them. "How can it be inappropriate when I've seen you smith naked?"
Aria: "Ooookay, way too much information right there."
- - Back to Eighth Movement
- - Back to A Dance of Angels
