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ST Oteki sits on the plush demon-hide couch in his boss's office, waiting for the elemental that Calendar has been talking to. For three hours past that elemental's appointment time. His shirt clashes horribly with the silk hangings on the walls and he's fairly sure that he's causing several of the rare Orchids from the Farthest East to die.
ST The secretary keeps looking at Oteki out of the corner of it's eyes, hoping the Sidereal won't talk to it. It really doesn't want to have to grovel before the higher Essence, more important, more powerful Celestial Exalted. It would ruin it's carefully arranged outfit. It returns to its work, its many tentacle-fingers wielding brushes with amethyst inks.
ST Every so often, it flicks its eyes back to the Sidereal, just in case.
Oteki leans back a little, resting his arms on the seat's back and crossing one leg over the other in a carefully-constructed image of relaxation. He makes certain that he is looking at something else whenever the secretary glances his way, so as to avoid the irritation of having to look as if he's paying attention to the inevitable groveling.
ST Eventually the flaming collection of blue and orange blobs emerges from the large doors into Calendar's office. It shuffles away, ignoring Oteki and the secretary entirely. The secretary waits a few seconds, hoping that Calendar might come out and ask Oteki in himself. But...no Calendar.
ST The secretary rises gracefully to its seven pointy little legs and clatters over to stand exactly four feet away from Oteki and bows at a precise 70 degree angle, holding for exactly 8 seconds. "My Lord, the great Calendar will see you now."
Oteki gives a half-grin. "Thanks." he replies as he rises, resisting the urge to shove his hands into the pockets of his oilcloth trousers. "Good work." he adds, before making his way into the office.
ST The secretary returns to its desk after another bow, rather unhappy. But soon it forgets its unhappiness; there is far too much work to be done.
Calendar sits on his desk, waiting for Oteki to open him. The large book with its woven amethyst bookmark and solid gold pages a 1/16th of an inch thick, artfully engraved in the borders with images of the various Celestines.
Oteki wipes his palms on the seat of his pants before opening the book.
Calendar flips himself to the proper page. It takes a second for Oteki to decipher the too-perfect writing inside the book, especially seeing as how the gold is insanely reflective. But eventually, he figures it out. "Hello, Oteki. You did a good job on your last assignment with the dead banker selling deeds to places that got burried under a lava flow."
Oteki nods. "Thank you, sir." he replied. "It's too bad, though, some of those places were pretty nice before the, you know, magma."
Calendar A page turns. "Yes, I am sure". Another few pages flip past. "You have a new assignment. Take that boat of yours and go to the North Sea. Our spies in the Underworld tell us a Shadowland will form there soon and you are to observe. There is as of yet no reason in the Loom to predict the formation of another Shadowland as large as the spies tell us this one will be."
Oteki looks serious for a moment, his back straightening and his gaze drifting off. "That's... worrisome." he notes quietly. "How big are we talking, sir?"
Calendar Several more pages turn and a diagram is revealed. A map of the blessed isle. On the map a splotch of tarnish appears and slowly grows to encompass an area nearly a hundred thousand miles. It covers most of the western penninsula of the isle.
Oteki does a few mental calculations. "That's... uh... wow. I'm on my way, boss."
Calendar There is a flurry of pages, each pausing only long enough for Oteki to see a few words. Together, they string out the god's next words. "Be careful young one....there is much danger ahead....according to our spies we are beholding the culmination of a long-standing plan.....when you arrive in the North Sea....you should not only observe....do your best to bring back information on why....this is happening."
Oteki nods, and gives a nonchalant grin that almost seems genuine. "Don't worry about me, Big Book. I'll figure it out and be back in time for Calibration. Just make sure this place doesn't fall apart without me."
Calendar flips more pages. "You should not leave for three days.....the signs are not yet auspicious."
Oteki nods again. "Sounds good. That'll give me enough time to pick up supplies and get into character. You need anything from Creation while I'm down there?"
Calendar "I would enjoy having....many things...but you could not bring them back..." a page flashes by VERY fast and Oteki almost doesn't see the word "legally" near the upper left corner
Oteki gives a smirk. "That's never stopped the good Cap'n before, now has it?"
Calendar The clatter of Calendar's pages sounds something like laughter before the book flips shut, indicating an end to the meeting.
Oteki gives a respectful, if slightly overdone, bow before making his exit, saluting the diligent secretary with two fingers to his brow on the way out.
ST On the way back to his Manse, Oteki is stopped by a wall of massive muscles covered in fur. Golden fur. Made of real gold. He looks up. And up a bit more. And finds himself looking into the dark, unhappy looking face of a Celestial Lion. Its nose wrinkles as it smells him. Unlike everyone ELSE in Heaven, Oteki does not cover himself in perfume and, thus, he is considered smelly.
Oteki raises an eyebrow, and tries to look nonchalant. "What up, there, big guy?" he asks.
ST The sixteen-foot tall cat huffs at Oteki, knocking him back a step with its breath (no one tells the Lions that THEY smell bad..) and tosses its mane. "You are late on your payments to the Bureau, Oteki. Your last wages were not sent directly to us."
Oteki scratches the back of his head, looking sheepish and confused. "Well then shouldn't you be talking to the Third Resplendent Whipoorwill of Celestial Accounting? I mean, I didn't see any more cash flow this month."
ST The scar on the Lion's flank, some say left from the days in which the Gods and Lions chased the Primordials' servants from Yu-Shan, gives his identity away. The Lion demanding money from Oteki is named Brilliant Honesty. Or just Honesty. He has a nasty reputation for chewing on criminals.
ST "She said that the salary was directed to your by mistake."
Oteki furrows his brow. "Well then something's bunged up somewhere, 'cause my account was credited for the same amount it is every month." he mutters. "But whatever, I'm going to be out of town for the next little while anyway, so just have Whip take the difference out of next month's pay until someone figures out that they screwed up and pays me back."
ST "I will. And I'm watching you, Oteki." The Lion lowers his massive head, bigger then Oteki's whole body, until he is looking the Sidereal in the eye. "No more funny business."
Oteki raises his hands, palms out, in a gesture of innocence. "Hey, it isn't gonna happen twice, big guy. I already told you, she invited me to visit her Forge of Night, and things just snowballed from there."
ST "What perversion you engage in elsewhere is not my concern, Sidereal. You just remember to keep your Infernal affairs out of Heaven."
Oteki "Considering the percentage you guys are taking off my salary? You don't have to worry about me forgetting. I'm making less now than I did when Old Man Utsuro first recruited me."
ST "Your humor is not appreciated, Oteki. You should be lucky my Request for Reassignment of Exaltation was denied."
Oteki grins again. "I'm just lucky, I guess, and I'm thankful for that. Anyway, I've got to get going, I've got a pretty critical bit of work to do for the Big Golden Book."
ST The Lion glowers after Oteki. For some reason, Oteki thinks that Brilliant Honesty doesn't like him...it may have something to do with the rumors that Brilliant Honesty is Rising Dawn's father. That would certainly explain a lot.
ST Sometimes Oteki wishes for a Charm that would give him a family tree for people on demand.
Oteki makes a note to ask whether his dates have large, angry lions for direct relations before, uh, having direct relations with them.
ST It surely would be amusing if Brilliant Honesty were Rising Dawn's father. Because that would make him the father of Rising Dawn's brother. Who still owes Oteki a favor for making that little problem with the Bright Morning smuggling ring disappear.
ST Speaking of, Oteki remembers that Verity has "friends" in the North and contacts in the Guild both living and dead. That would explain the behemoth-bone scrimshaw.
Oteki makes a second note, this one to get in touch with Verity after he's gone and had some lunch.
ST With his severely low funds, all Oteki can afford is whatever his afternoon cook has whipped up. He can't afford a decent tip and doesn't want anything "extra" in his food. So he stops at a dine-at-home-on-the-go place where his own afternoon cook prepares the food and then has it sent, through the use of a messenger sprite, to Oteki's table.
ST The tiny purple sprite brings Oteki a tray of blue lobster tails with a small dish of unicorn-butter. And some sort of merely first-class alcohol.
Oteki doesn't mind nearly as much as the next Celestial Denizen. He spends most of his time swilling rum and eating ship's biscuit down in Creation anyway. Still, blue lobster tails?
ST The next Celestial Denizen, a large muskrat dressed in eye-hurtingly green velvet, actually looks somewhat nauseated at Oteki's food.
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