kalikat | Waking the Dead 2.0 || August 9, 2063 || Tuesday

[Dinner is served late in the mess hall because it's a grand banquet in honor of the Magistrate of Kibo. It's a pretty modest celebration, all things considered: the people at Kibo are invited, along with her family, any Searing Wind members who feel like dropping in from wherever they've been as of late, and a few friends among the other Keepers of the Vigil. That's about it.

Still, Kalika looks like she's having fun. Her husband and her children are, of course, all in attendance, together with her husband's familiars and the entire division of the Strays from Seigi. The food, mind you, is excellent, and there is more than enough booze.

You're welcome to come and go as you please. Kalika's easy like that.]

OOC Notes:
+ Will have some threads for NPCs of note, but just to give you a general idea: many members of the three blades are in attendance, along with pretty much anyone whom Kalika views as family. If you want to request for somebody, lemme know!
+ Debby and Noey: feel free to put your NPCs in here. =w=
+ Feel free to start your own threads too. Just specify if it's open to all, or if you're going to thread something out with a particular PC.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hmm.

Hmm.

Hmmmm.

Then he's nodding, looking satisfied. Mostly.]

You SEEM fine. Something on your mind?

[Have your ne're-do-well nephew breathing a sigh of relief, Gideon.]

It's just... Been forever since I heard you play, uncle. The recordings are great, but live is always something else.

[Is he a fan? Of course he is.]

Ah, well. You can thank Kalika for that.

[If he didn't happen to love his best friend very much...]

Mmh, I think I just might. Still, I just... I wanted you to see that I'm okay.

[He knows the stories, Gideon and all he wants is to reassure you.]

That, and maybe I could top your drink off, uncle? What're you having anyway?

[His smile is light. Clearly, he just wants to stay close for a bit.]

[He's okay with that. Leaning back, and patting the space beside him.]

I'll have whatever you're having. Not feeling too picky today.

[Kaz sits and produces a bottle of wine and glasses that he snagged from the table on his way here. It's Chilean Red, go figure. He pours you both a generous amount. And because he wants to know, he takes a sip of the wine before leaning back.]

Uncle? Would it be... impertinent of me to ask how my song looks?

[There's always been this worry, from the day that Gideon told him that there was darkness interwoven in his song, that it would overtake him. So much had changed... He'd changed.]

[Mmm, wine --

-- then blinking.]

Not at all. [Glancing both at you and beyond you now, just like earlier.]

Do you want to know about anything in particular?

It was a while ago, but you told me that there was darkness in my song... I'd put it on the backburner for a while, but considering what happened... I was just curious if anything had changed.

[Can't fault him for being curious though, Gideon.]

Much has changed, but if the darkness is your primary concern... not of trace of that remains.

[And it doesn't seem to have affected any part of the symphony that Kaz's life constitutes. Things could have been far worse.]

There's that, and then there's the fact that I stopped coming to class after a while. I do miss your lessons.

[And getting to spend hours listening to you drill Hunter 101 into him. Other than Aria's, yours was his favorite class, Gideon.]

Do you? I would have thought that doing the "real" work of the conspiracy is always more fun than sitting around, discussing theories.

[Saying that dryly.]

Okay. There's that. But still... For all my being late and missing class... I wouldn't be as good a Hunter without a teacher like you, or tita Aria.

[He sounds genuinely grateful, and while he's having a hard time being direct, it still matters to him that you were his teacher before everything changed.]

That's nice to hear. Have you told Aria that, though? She probably needs to hear it.

[Gideon thinks she does, anyway. She's been through quite a lot, and has the tendency to put everyone else's needs above her own.]

I will. After all, there're things I want to talk to her about as well.

[Because she happened to be The Living Land, with a connection to Spirits, and Kaz had one in particular he wanted to get a message to.]

I talked to Kaiser Lia about maybe going to college.

Did you now? Let me guess: she generally approves, but it's really all up to you?

[Liandrin was from a time when their conspiracy - or rather, the people who would become their conspiracy - hid within the universities of the Philippines to keep their cover. People like her were strong believers in the benefits of a university education.]

I... Well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. Which university did you attend back then, uncle?

Ateneo. It was the Methuselah's best shadow campus, and it was run by Father Aidan.

[Because Aidan Clayce will always be Father Aidan Clayce to him.]

O-oh. Josh and Taning are attending Ateneo... I think Taning has class with Father, Magience...

[Curiouser and Curiouser, Gideon. Looks like your nephew's going to make up his mind about going to university and getting a degree in something or other.]

I figured as much. Many of the old guard who are with Anino or with us now in Liyab like to teach in their spare time.

[Nostalgia? Paying it forward? Who knows?]

Pick a university that can offer you something. While Ateneo was great, we were there mostly because it was the only good option that we had.

Oh. Okay. [He pauses, there's a lot to consider.]

What about if you're undecided on a Major?

Stick to auditing classes that look interesting, then, instead of committing to a course. You might just end up wasting your time otherwise.

[All of the top universities in the Philippines have some pretty interesting course offerings, as it was.]

I think I just might, uncle...

[The kid throws a grateful smile your way now, Gideon, and he'll be staying with you for a little while -- drinking and talking about what classes he'll want to take, before he spots a Sin-Eater and asks to be excused.

If there's a dissonance you can read in his song as he walks off, it's worry over his brothers.]

Waking the Dead 2.0 || August 9, 2063 || Tuesday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I think we can end this one here?