Ariane Emory (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
breaksthecuties) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
spira_rp2019-02-11 01:14 pm
breaksthecuties) wrote in spira_rp2019-02-11 01:14 pm
Entry tags:
You wanna get ahead?
Ariane Emory, Ari to those that knew her well, was a busy woman. When the call had come that Khamja were holding a meeting she nearly ignored it. She didn't attend Khamja's concerns often; they were a sideline, a way to keep an ear to the ground for rumblings in the distance. When you ran such a high profile laboratory complex as Reseune, it helped to know what was going on in the outside world. The shifts in politics might not impact science, but they could impact things like funding, or where those holding the purse strings wanted you to direct your attention.
The actual day of the meeting, however, had fallen into a gap in her schedule. It was a convenient gap, all the more convenient because of what she expected the meeting would be about. Khamja liked to keep its fingers in multiple pies, and the ongoing tension between Niflheim and Lucis was the bigger concern within Niflheim, but whisperings of the outbreak of war on the lowerworld of Spira had reached even there.
Galbadia had taken a Gotei Captain hostage on false charges, and said Gotei Captain happened to be one of the two resident Captains in Archades. One was the lead scientist at Draklor, the other was supposedly a kindly, benevolent figure that had influence in Archadian upper echelons. Ari had her doubts about the kindly and benevolent part; no one rose to that sort of position by being nice, but it was the common rhetoric.
She'd taken the journey time to educate herself on the political situation, and the individuals involved. Galbadia and the Archadian Empire had tense relations. Politically speaking, they'd been eyeballing each other for some time. Galbadia's military were highly effective. If they weren't they'd be an Archadian territory by now. Their remit thus far seemed to have been defensive, but now they'd taken an action that was distinctly offensive.
And curious. Arresting someone whose role lent them diplomatic immunity and a pass to cross borders in the pursuit of their duty was treacherous ground to walk. There had to be some reason other than mere trespass. Possibly, they believed he'd been spying, but that seemed like very dangerous accusations to make right now.
There were people in Khamja whose entire reason for existing was the sourcing of information that couldn't be obtained by other means. That was why Ari had gone to the effort of attending. It was likely Khamja knew more about what was taking place than any single given side of the affair right now.
Her two personal azi accompanied her. She rarely went anywhere without them. They were bodyguards, but they were also companions; people she could trust to listen and retain information without spilling it to undesirable ears. There had been no reason not to bring them.
Ari had been to Khamja's Desert Palace only once before, some years ago. It had been a brief visit for the purposes of her induction into Khamja's ranks. Still, some memories sparked along the way as they moved from the airship port to the main entrance. She remembered the main entrance, and it, it seemed, remembered her, opening to a touch of a glyph. It was a magical defence system. Ari couldn't say she approved. She much preferred more high tech methods of protecting information. Passwords and retina scans were less prone to failure over the course of time.
Though this would have been put in place by Kuja, who she remembered was rather proud of his ability as a mage. Perhaps he was confident the wards would last, or perhaps he carefully reapplied them on a regular basis. It was a complicated bit of magic, she had to grant him that.
The first entrance took them into a corridor, and beyond that lay another entrance. Catlin and Florian were probably working the Room in their heads already; a bottleneck like this would have them on guard. The next entrance opened out into a much larger hall, expensively decorated and, Ari had to admit, a little grander than she remembered.
The place also thronged with the reiatsu of people. It certainly hadn't been this well occupied the last time she'd been here.
The actual day of the meeting, however, had fallen into a gap in her schedule. It was a convenient gap, all the more convenient because of what she expected the meeting would be about. Khamja liked to keep its fingers in multiple pies, and the ongoing tension between Niflheim and Lucis was the bigger concern within Niflheim, but whisperings of the outbreak of war on the lowerworld of Spira had reached even there.
Galbadia had taken a Gotei Captain hostage on false charges, and said Gotei Captain happened to be one of the two resident Captains in Archades. One was the lead scientist at Draklor, the other was supposedly a kindly, benevolent figure that had influence in Archadian upper echelons. Ari had her doubts about the kindly and benevolent part; no one rose to that sort of position by being nice, but it was the common rhetoric.
She'd taken the journey time to educate herself on the political situation, and the individuals involved. Galbadia and the Archadian Empire had tense relations. Politically speaking, they'd been eyeballing each other for some time. Galbadia's military were highly effective. If they weren't they'd be an Archadian territory by now. Their remit thus far seemed to have been defensive, but now they'd taken an action that was distinctly offensive.
And curious. Arresting someone whose role lent them diplomatic immunity and a pass to cross borders in the pursuit of their duty was treacherous ground to walk. There had to be some reason other than mere trespass. Possibly, they believed he'd been spying, but that seemed like very dangerous accusations to make right now.
There were people in Khamja whose entire reason for existing was the sourcing of information that couldn't be obtained by other means. That was why Ari had gone to the effort of attending. It was likely Khamja knew more about what was taking place than any single given side of the affair right now.
Her two personal azi accompanied her. She rarely went anywhere without them. They were bodyguards, but they were also companions; people she could trust to listen and retain information without spilling it to undesirable ears. There had been no reason not to bring them.
Ari had been to Khamja's Desert Palace only once before, some years ago. It had been a brief visit for the purposes of her induction into Khamja's ranks. Still, some memories sparked along the way as they moved from the airship port to the main entrance. She remembered the main entrance, and it, it seemed, remembered her, opening to a touch of a glyph. It was a magical defence system. Ari couldn't say she approved. She much preferred more high tech methods of protecting information. Passwords and retina scans were less prone to failure over the course of time.
Though this would have been put in place by Kuja, who she remembered was rather proud of his ability as a mage. Perhaps he was confident the wards would last, or perhaps he carefully reapplied them on a regular basis. It was a complicated bit of magic, she had to grant him that.
The first entrance took them into a corridor, and beyond that lay another entrance. Catlin and Florian were probably working the Room in their heads already; a bottleneck like this would have them on guard. The next entrance opened out into a much larger hall, expensively decorated and, Ari had to admit, a little grander than she remembered.
The place also thronged with the reiatsu of people. It certainly hadn't been this well occupied the last time she'd been here.
no subject
Such a thing was myth. The means of production lost to the annals of history. No one had managed to recreate one, though many had tried. Some had even come close. The Shinra electric company had wanted to rediscover the secrets. It would have rendered their reliance on mako null.
The military applications appealed to them too, of course, but the scientific applications.... Hojo had been sold down the proverbial river for crafting chimaera. They were costly to produce but the research was invaluable.
A philosopher's stone would make the production so much easier, and the end results so much more effective. No more failures, no more trial and error....
Aizen had one, did he?
Hojo sneered at the boy's outburst. There were a lot of questions to be asked, and 'what' was only the beginning. "What use is something like that to Aizen? The man's not even an alchemist!" He looked directly at Kuja. "You said he came into ownership of it. How?"