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[Exalted, ?] Most High

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Ulyssian headed to the quarters of Ivory. In the haze of memories he had received, he noted that some especially strong ones concerned a woman. Besides those memories he felt something else. He could feel something in his anima. Something powerful that was locked away by his memories. He could also tell that many of the memories dealing with it also included Pearl in a significant way. If he truly wasn't mistaking Ivory for Pearl. if that gut feeling he had about her was right...

"That was some stunt you pulled there. Exalting as a Solar in front of all those dragonblooded. What were you thinking Uly?" Ivory's voice said from behind Ulyssian. It seems she had found him first.

"I was merely trying to protect Moon. I didn't know I would Exalt in doing so. Ulyssian defended himself.

Then he paused as the last word registered completely in his mind.

"Did you just call me Uly?" He asked in an slightly incredulous voice

"Yes yes I did mr. Solar. What are you going to do about it? She said with a grin on her voice.

Ulyssian turned around and looked at Ivory. Yep she had a mischievous grin on her face. One he could remember quite clearly seeing on another woman. On another Siderael. There was no longer any doubt.

"Nothing except continue to wonder why you keep shortening my names to three letters Pearl. " He said nonchalantly as if he hadn't purposefully called Ivory the "wrong" name.

Ivory's face froze at those words and her eyes widened. Th-that name....she trailed off as a sort of glazed look came over her eyes.

"I see. So that's why you always seemed strangely familiar." She muttered in her trance.

Her eyes snapped back into focus. "Wow despite the fact death should be final even for the most powerful of the Exalted, you still found a way. Like you always do." Ivory/Pearl said in a tone filled with awe.

" I had far too much left. I couldn't let something like my violet death stop me from completing my work and achieving my dream, that golden forever I envisioned. So I took measures to ensure that not even death stop me. Besides I told you once didn't I.There is not always an end. " He said as she chuckled at his words.

"No I guess there isn't. At least when your involved it doesn't Ulyssian. Or do you prefer Oydissial now." She asked

"He shrugged. "I really don't mind what you refer to me by. Both are correct as Ulyssian is Odyissial and Odyissial is Ulyssian."

Ivory had him a knowing look. "Let me guess it would have been suboptimal if both personas had to fight over the body right?" She smirked at him.

"Of course.I am Odyissial and I am Ulyssian. Why should I fight
over who I am when I am both? That would've been a waste of time and energy. So I took precautions to ensure it wouldn't happen."

Snort. "Not just planning reincarnation but planning for a fusion on the personas to save yourself trouble. That's just like you." She looked at him ruefully

Ulyssian smirked before asking a question of his own.

How about you? Which name do you prefer? He inquired

"Well as not everyone has the luxury of planning reincarnation, I haven't fully integrated my past at this moment so i'm not quite sure yet. I guess you should call me Ivory for now, Ulyssial. It wouldn't do for you to call me Pearl in public and raise even more suspicion.

The Solar noises but arched an eyebrow at the Siderael.

"Ulyssial?"

" Well your Ulyssian and Odyissial fused together by your own admission. Ulyssian + Odyissial = Ulyssial." What not good enough? Would you perhaps prefer Odyissian" Amusement was in her eyes.

Ulyssian rolled his eyes. "I see you haven't changed one bit despite reincarnation."

Hmph. "You haven"t changed either!" she pouted. Then another gleam came into her eyes. A familiar mischievous one.

Suddenly Ivory leaped and landed on his shoulders. Laughing merrily as she did so.

"Ahh I missed feeling so tall."

Really? He deadpanned.

Hey I haven't done this in millienia! This was something special between us back them."

"1. You litterally just remembered you used to do this. 2. Only you considered it special. I found it mildly annoying but let you do it to appease you." He said dryly.

"Technicalities. The point is that I simply wanted to do something I haven't in awhile with you. Is that so bad? Can't you indulge your teacher who also happens to be the reincarnation of someone dear to you? It's not like you owe me because I just helped save your ass or anything. Ivory was grinning. He could just tell.

"Your taller now this look even more more ridiculous and impractical then it was before, made only possible by my physique. Also if this were a normal room you would've bumped you head on the ceiling."

"What have I told you about being a buzzkill Odyissian.

He sighed but smiled. Somethings never do change.

Then his face turned serious. "So tell me what had happened since I was gone? Zao told me some but as a Siderael you should know more." The air shifted with his voice and the happy reunion made way for business.

Ivory felt the change and jumped off his shoulders.Then she turned around with her own business look. Playfulness replaced by seriousness

"There's a lot you need to know. She began. For starters there is another Siderael here named Anys Sand...

932 words

I doubt it would be anything like this but at least we'll get Xp from this interpretation.

Rihaku how Viable is Me Time at Night as an option
 
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More Dynastic shenanigans is good, so the option with Ulyssian's family tempts me, but I did like Ivory's character from the last quest quite a bit, so I think that I'll stick with that.
 
"Technicalities. The point is that I simply wanted to do something I haven't in awhile with you. Is that so bad? Can't you indulge your teacher who also happens to be the reincarnation of someone dear to you? It's not like you owe me because I just helped save your ass or anything. Ivory was grinning. He could just tell.
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Ivory is only slightly shorter than a normal woman (she's taller than Moon), whereas Pearl was extremely small due to malnourishment as a child. This would look a lot weirder and possibly impractical, were Ulyssian not Strength 4 Athletics 5. She'd probably bump her head on the ceiling, though, unless it's a high-vaulted room.
 
Rihaku said:
That is to say, Odyssial's presence is scary enough, acting in a way that seems like you're trying to be scary should either

a) Inflict a level of additional terror at least somewhat commensurate to Odyssial's reputation, or

b) Seem completely meh compared to his mere presence, causing people to doubt their reason for being scared
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Hmm. Well, maybe there is a point about actions speaking louder than words. Also, I liked Accursed who was essentially Batman in Exalted, so Investigation is quite important to me. Switching back.

[X] Me Time
[X] Investigation
 
Rihaku said:
Ivory is only slightly shorter than a normal woman (she's taller than Moon), whereas Pearl was extremely small due to malnourishment as a child. This would look a lot weirder and possibly impractical, were Ulyssian not Strength 4 Athletics 5. She'd probably bump her head on the ceiling, though, unless it's a high-vaulted room.
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Right forgot about that. Must've been influence by her riding Infernal Ulyssian.
 
Diller said:
Plus our friendship just transcended time and death. I repeat our bond was so strong that not even death, millienia, the indoctrination Ivory went through, and reincarnation could break it. Like holy shit we were just that close to each other. I really want to see that conversation as soon as possible.
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It sure sounded like she was in Zao's camp all along, the way Rihaku wrote it.

Not so much that she remembers her last incarnation, although she might remember something. Or just be inordinately fond of Uly.
Serous said:
Rethinking it, our choices should be what would help further ensure that our disguise holds up against what Ayns is going to throw at us. Better charms might make our disguise more full proof, like say allowing us to actually burn things, while family might make it easier for us to block situations which might require us to force us our anima without preparations.
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And having a Great Family in our corner would go a long, long way to quelling whatever unrest Anys unleashed.
 
Guile said:
It sure sounded like she was in Zao's camp all along, the way Rihaku wrote it.

Not so much that she remembers her last incarnation, although she might remember something. Or just be inordinately fond of Uly.

And having a Great Family in our corner would go a long, long way to quelling whatever unrest Anys unleashed.
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It does seem that way, doesn't it? But Sidereals are so good at making you think they are your ally...
 
I'm not familiar with the 3E charmsets so I can't really judge whether taking the dips will be worth it.

What does free excellencies mean in this context. We have an excellency for everything by default, We have ones for skills we have other charms in, We have ones for anything we have dots in? If it is the middle one we might want to dip in all three to get the excellencies.

A lie detector would be great from investigation if there still is one we can get.

I can't really make a decision for Bureaucracy or presence without knowing what the dip charms would be.

Something to keep in mind is that using charms that are noticeable for those trained to look for solar charms could out us so it is probably best to stick to charms that are similar enough to existing dragonblood charms they can just be us being particularly good. Excellencies are good for this as would a lie detector as I believe dragonbloods have an inferior version.
 
Well, the entry Investigation charm is one that gives the character a hunch that there is something to investigate whenever there is something to investigate, iirc.
 
Alectai said:
The original Xbox was enormous compared to it's competitor systems, so the joke is that when you're referring to something grossly oversized, it's Xbox Huge.
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Related to this, some people had opinions about the size of the original Xbox controller


Basically, some people felt it may have been marginally larger than ideal.

As for the vote

[X] Family Time
[X] Investigation

I think politics and knowing answers are the critical aspects of the current situation. Family can help deflect more distant problems before we have to deal with them personally, and knowing who is getting suspicious, and when, is the first step on making sure we don't get caught. Larceny, Socialize, and stealth charms are also important, but they're not up for discussion at the moment.

In other words, I think knowing ahead of time when you need to lie is going to be a bigger problem than being good at being convincing, currently.
 
Omake

Sometimes he felt sad. It rarely happened because sadness was something heavy and despite his colossal girth Mountain Hero was a spirit more inclined to levity than gravity. In fact, when his fluttering mind lingered overly long on the matter, as was not his habit, he came to the conclusion that those times when colors dimmed and delicious foods turned sour in his mouth, it was not himself that was at the forefront of his thoughts but rather others.

Like the day he saw a kitten launch himself upon a three, trying to reach an cat perched upon its branches. The poor thing had struggled so hard that Hero couldn't stop himself and had lifted it. The look it had given him, remained in his mind still, mostly it came back to him when he trained with Ully. That's what stopped him from ever slowing down. Contrary to people's opinion of him he wasn't so simple-minded as to be unaware of his talent, he knew that everyone couldn't do what he did. But he also knew that putting less efforts for Ully's sake would hurt him far more than any kind of harm the training could inflict.

In fact, Hero mused, he knew much more than people assumed, after all they were all so surprised when Ully revealed himself while he was barely phased. He expected it all along, at least that he would Exalt, if not that he was already Exalted. After all, the Immaculate Texts said : a spirit that deserves Exaltation or as Headmaster Zao put it, Spiritual enlightenment first, Exaltation to follow.
Ully's drive, his effort were evident proof that he was deserving, and nothing had changed : accepting to humble oneself to the point of living and struggling like a mortal was simply a perfect display of spiritual exaltation required by the Dragons.

Hero knew what he was talking about, his demented hours of training were nothing but professions of faith, that Headmaster Zao had found an even better way to embody the teaching of the Faith was only fitting for one such as he.

Sometimes he felt sad. But sometimes, his simple joy deepened in something more, that thing people said was happiness.

- - - -
369 words, and sorry for not counting before, it completely slipped my mind.
The stunt for Me Time at Night is 796 words.
 
Hm... there is one other possibility. It may be that Odyssial stored his crown, ring, or armor inside his anima instead of the blade, trusting in the fact that his sword was simply too potent not to be used by one of the only other Exalts capable of wielding it - Pearl, Lea, or the Fairest. Since you guys paid 150,000 XP, it could be in Pearl's / Ivory's possession instead.
 
Rihaku said:
Hm... there is one other possibility. It may be that Odyssial stored his crown, ring, or armor inside his anima instead of the blade, trusting in the fact that his sword was simply too potent not to be used by one of the only other Exalts capable of wielding it - Pearl, Lea, orthe Fairest. Since you guys paid 150,000 XP, it could be in Pearl's / Ivory's possession instead.
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Well that would be the best of both worlds.

Introspect + character interaction. Can we do this?
 
Well, the problem is, it can't be too flashy, or it would have come up in the past. Also, I'm not sure if she'd give it to you yet. You're not that great at fighting at this point, you might not even be able to beat Ivory, so maybe it would do more good in her hands. Granted, Ivory is E4, nearing E5, and is 450 years old.
 
I dunno, I kind of like the idea of having a sword locked away in our anima. It's the bit of Odyssial's legend most central to him and I don't know that a "rightly paranoid" First Age Solar would trust anyone else with that kind of power.
 
Wow, so we spent at least 3 choices that may have bumped heartlessness in addition to the obvious opportunity cost of options to get a sword that may not even be in Ulyssian's possession

Dick move,bro. Dick move.
 
arsdraconis said:
Wow, so we spent at least 3 choices that may have bumped heartlessness in addition to the obvious opportunity cost of options to get a sword that may not even be in Ulyssian's possession

Dick move,bro. Dick move.
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Uh, it's your choice whether or not it's in your possession. Besides, I thought you guys liked Pearl, why wouldn't you want her to make the maximum effective use of her resources? It's what Odyssial himself would do!
 
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