Will I find something in there to give me just what I need

[joinmyreunion]

There were advantages to having a reputation for being a brat.

For one thing, no one thought that Kadaj might be useful to whatever powerplaying machinations they had on the go. He wasn't important enough to be in anyone's way, and he wasn't significant enough to court. He was just there. Being a brat. He wasn't powerful enough for anyone to worry about him, or even give him much thought.

So when people approached Kadaj they were either really far up a particular infamous creek for allies, or they were just genuinely being nice. Or perhaps curious.

Kadaj wasn't one hundred percent on where the Lucians fell on that spectrum. The stuffy nerd had been working his ass off befriending everyone and anyone that crossed his path. He lived in the kitchen more than Nel, but unlike Nel, seemed to enjoy being there. The guy had missed his calling as a restaurant cook and somehow ended up being sent to make nice with the sort of dickheads Khamja attracted.

The big brawny one had concentrated on making an impression on the girls. Well, it was either effort or the fact he dressed like some lost leather daddy and constantly had his muscles out. He was affable once you got past the rough tough guy look, though. Kadaj kind of liked him.

He was still on the fence about the nerd.

So when Gladio had asked about seeing a summoning, Kadaj hadn't seen reason to refuse. Aeons weren't really a thing on Jylland. Tayuya had been pretty sure that there weren't any Fayths there, and without the War history it sort of figured.

It also gave Kadaj a bit of a chance to show off, and he wasn't about to turn that down.

The underground training facility was nicely deserted, and despite the sand the weather had been set to the 'probably the Calm Lands' setting, so the projected skies were clear, and the wind was low.

Tayuya twirled her flute between her fingers. They'd made sure to leave their audience far enough back that they wouldn't get covered in debris. "Ready?" he asked Tayuya, unsheathing Souba. Working with Even had improved his magical ability, and, not that he was ready to admit it, his tactical acumen, but you had to work with Aeons to improve your bond, just like you did a Zanpakuto.

Comments

[soundfivebitch]

"Boost," Tayuya hissed, seeing the incoming attack. Ifrit had hit Bahamut pretty hard, but Bahamut could smack just as hard if it came to it. She wasn't about to use Ifrit's Overdrive in a sparring match, but it would be handy to help build his reserves up again if she needed to summon him out in the wild.

She swore she could feel the thump run through the floor. Ifrit didn't try to dodge, taking the damage like a champ. He probably wouldn't weather too many more blows, though. "Hang in there," she told him, moving closer.

[shieldoftheprince]

"Any idea what happens when one of them's beaten?" He asked.

Ignis, of course, had little idea about Aeons. They weren't his forte, even if information on them was available in Lucis, or even on Eos in general. Did they disappear, heading back through magical arrays like they had been summoned through, or did they simply fade to steam like Daemons did? He supposed they'd get to find out.

[thatsit]

Ignis opened his mouth to answer, and then stopped himself. He'd read a little about Aeons since finding out both that they existed and that some members in the Palace were Summoners, but it had rather been like trying to understand complex mathematics without ever having seen it before. He'd gleaned a little, but a lot more eluded him.

He closed his mouth and pushed his glasses up with his fingers spread across the frames. "Not a clue," he admitted. He did not admit ignorance easily.

[joinmyreunion]

Bahamut stood proudly by Kadaj's side, dwarfing him. If Tayuya was boosting Ifrit then she was alright with him taking some more damage yet. If she got worried she could always command Ifrit to heal himself with a fire spell.

Kadaj had never found magic spells to be worth the energy output compared to just smacking an enemy, but time with Even had changed his mind at least a little.

"Watera," he instructed.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya's eyes widened when she heard Kadaj's command. "Defend!" she shouted, not that it would stop a fucking water spell from hurting like a motherfucker against her fire elemental Aeon.

Bahamut spread his arms as he cast, his fingers curling as the spell took hold and Ifrit was drenched in a surge of water. It would have got her too had it not been for the protective barrier Ifrit's presence created.

Ifrit blocked what he could, his huge paws shielding him from at least some of it, but the spell still hurt. "Firaga," she spat back, before Ifrit had completely recovered. Her eyes were set on Kadaj. "Bastard." He was using Ifrit's elemental affinity against him, playing to his weaknesses, which was good, it showed improvement, but he was still a bastard for casting a fucking water spell on her Aeon.

[shieldoftheprince]

In spite of him being on Bahamut's side for this little match, he winced when he doused his opponent in a torrent of water. Aeons seemed very much to be their elemental affinity made flesh, or ... reishi, at any rate, and that probably meant they felt the hit from an attack of the opposing one twice as hard as anybody else did.

Ice might have been worse, Gladio wasn't sure, his elemental rock-paper-scissors was a little rusty, but Water must have sucked.

Ifrit seemed to recover well enough, but even Gladio could tell that it was flagging slightly under its sodden fur.

[thatsit]

Ignis pursed his lips. Bahamut was using mid-tier -ra spells against Ifrit's -ga attacks. Was that because Bahamut didn't know the stronger spells, or because Kadaj was holding back? That might be something he had to ask.

Ifrit was definitely flagging. Bahamut hit hard, both physically and magically. Bahamut was faring better, but perhaps that was down to his base stats more than anything else. Ignis wondered how much of a beating Ifrit would be able to take if he was being summoned by a novice summoner right now, instead of Tayuya.

[joinmyreunion]

Bahamut was engulfed in flame again, and Kadaj winced. He could take more, a lot more, but if Tayuya was walloping him as hard as Ifrit could he wouldn't last forever.

Would he last long enough for him to chip Ifrit safely down until Tayuya surrendered? He couldn't be sure.

He grit his teeth. "Heal," he instructed, and held his hand up at Tayuya.

Bahamut was scorched in places, and he hadn't dropped his stance but he wouldn't hold it through another hit like that. He drew himself up at Kadaj's instruction, and cure magic swirled around him, smoothing over the worst hit parts.

"Thank you," Kadaj told him.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya blinked when Kadaj lifted his hand, palm out towards her in their mutually understood halt sign, and then cured his Aeon. She didn't think she'd ever seen him have one use healing magic before.

They were done, then. Healing in sparring was cheating. "Your turn," she said, turning to Ifrit. Ifrit cast with one paw, engulfing himself in his own flame and recovering himself. Then she stepped up to him and stroked his muzzle. His fur was soft, and hot under her fingers. "Well done."

[shieldoftheprince]

Gladio glanced at Ignis, fairly sure that a healing session signaled the end of the match. It had been a good one, showcasing their abilities, both natural and magical, pretty well. He'd read that they had multiple personal, unique abilities, but he figured they were too powerful to be using in sparring matches, so he knew it would likely be a real battle he had to witness those in.

"Well, I'm impressed," he said, in Lucian, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

[thatsit]

"They're truly magnificent," Ignis agreed, slipping into their native tongue. "I suspect this was but a taste of their true power."

They both had much more to give, that was clear from their reiatsu. Ignis had never felt the like before; they were overwhelming, and yet lacked that crushing pressure the powerful could wield. It was expertly controlled, enough to give the sense but not enough to affect bystanders.

It was also strangely soothing. Ifrit's fire seemed welcoming, and familiar to Ignis as another fire elemental. Bahamut showed no elemental affinity, and yet there was serenity in his power.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj dismissed Bahamut with a bow. The Aeon dissipated into light, and a lone pyrefly ascended slowly to the heavens. The soft wail made Kadaj's hair stand on end, and he waited until it had stopped before he made his way to the Lucians.

"If you want a real show we'd have to go to The Island Closest To Hell," he said, "but the stakes are higher." A lot higher, but if they wanted to see Bahamut's Overdrive it would have to be against something worth it.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya dismissed Ifrit, and then followed Kadaj over to their audience. She didn't understand a word of what was being said between them, but she understood Kadaj's comment well enough.

"I'll pass," she said. She didn't want to go making any long trips to monster riddled places just to flex her Summoning muscles.

"What did you think?" she asked, looking at the two Lucians.

[shieldoftheprince]

"Impressive," Gladio said, switching back to Ivalician. "Not something I could manage, but... damn."

The closest thing to Aeons on Eos were Remnants and they weren't anywhere near as easy to come by. They were bonded to one person at once and tended to be either city-sized monsters tethered to the mayor or president of any given city state, or weapon-types more comparable to Zanpakuto than Aeons. They used Chakra directly, as a power source, making many of them dangerous unless you were one of those with vast, vast reserves of it, and they were generally handed down through families as heirlooms or ancestral weapons.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya made a thoughtful noise and grinned at Gladio. "You could if you became a Summoner," she answered, mostly joking. "You'd get on well with Titan."

Titan was also a big buff dude that didn't wear all his clothes and favoured Earth elementals, after all. He and Gladio should get along like a house on fire.

[thatsit]

Ignis, owner of one of the small, weapon-type Remnants that he was considered the Aeons significantly more impressive.

Bahamut in particular, for cultural reasons, but Ifrit called to the fire elemental in him. Tayuya's closeness with her chosen Aeon was noticeable. That bond of trust was something Ignis found himself envying. To have something so powerful entrust command of itself to you must have been a high honour.

"Would that it were so simple," he replied, with a smile. "They are awe inspiring."

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj shrugged, resting his hand on Souba's hilt. He wasn't about to deny that he liked impressing the two Lucians, and their faces made him stand a little straighter and prouder.

"It's not that hard," he answered. "Everyone gets one," he explained, "you need to take it on as a proper class to have more."

If he dropped Summoner from his own roster, he'd be restricted to Bahamut, as his first Aeon. He didn't know if the others would still be there in his headspace if he did that, but dropping the class would probably be considered a breaking of their contract.

Kadaj had never so much as considered it, no matter how limiting it could be.

[shieldoftheprince]

"Seriously?" Gladio asked, raising his eyebrows, more to Kadaj's statement than Tayuya's.

It made sense that everybody got the opportunity to have one Aeon. Of course, not everybody wanted to dedicate their time to them, or an entire class. People were restricted to three, except where magic was concerned, so it stood to reason that the vast majority of people didn't want or need an army of Aeons, but they could prove useful in a sticky situation for somebody not particularly well-versed in combat. A low-effort method of protection.

To make a Class of it took dedication. To have a good, strong single Aeon took dedication. It wasn't for him, but perhaps Ignis...

"Why don't you give it a go?" He asked, turning to him.

[thatsit]

Ignis had tilted his head, listening as Kadaj and Tayuya spoke. He had so many questions, not least about what it felt like to Summon, and how it worked. If everybody got one, did that mean that having an Aeon was actually commonplace?

His thoughts were derailed when Gladio addressed him. Give it a go, as if Aeons were on a par with Blitzball and might be a fun jaunt for an afternoon.

"I think you'll find me woefully unprepared and uninformed for such a venture," he replied.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj shook his head at Ignis's response. He hadn't been especially well prepared when he's been going for Bahamut, and Bahamut had been sure to let him know about it, but he'd still taken him on.

"So long as you've got a Guardian and know where you're going that's all you need." It was all he'd had, although in his case he'd also come equipped with a bad attitude and an inferiority complex coupled with a desperate need to get the praise of authority figures. "Most people don't know anything when they're going for their first Aeon."

Some of the Fayths were more forgiving than others because of that. Valefor, Ifrit, they were some of the popular newbie friendly ones, but in experienced hands they were devastatingly powerful. Bahamut was tougher, but would still take on newbie Summoners if he saw something in them.

"I was an idiot, but Bahamut still took me."

[soundfivebitch]

"You're still an idiot," Tayuya muttered, folding her arms. "But he's right. So long as you pick an Aeon you think you'll be good with, and a Guardian you trust to get you there and back in one piece, you should be fine." Should be. There were always outside chances that you wouldn't be.

"Some of the Fayths are harder to get to than others, and some are more discerning than others. You're usually best picking one with your elemental affinity, for your first, and preferably that isn't in the ruined asshole of somewhere, like," she cast around for awkward bastard places to find Fayths, "Baaj Temple is, for example." She threw a pointed, sidelong glance at Kadaj.

[shieldoftheprince]

Gladio grinned at Ignis in response to the comments from the two Summoners.

It made sense that they wouldn't know anything to begin with. Aeon summoning was going to be a new field for anybody just getting into it and he doubted all the reading in the world could prepare you for going to see your very first one. It would be like doing anything for the first time.

"Where's Baaj Temple?" he asked.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya scowled, still side eyeing Kadaj as she answered Gladio's question.

"Half underwater, guarded by a really big, really fucking pissy carnivorous fish, on a broken spit of land called Baaj island, in Nabradia. You know, the country that's mostly Necrohol?"

Although Baaj Island hadn't been in good shape even before Nabradia became the ruin it is today, but it still served to emphasise her point about it being a fucking terrible place to try and get to. "Kadaj is Anima's first Summoner in five hundred years," she added. "The easy to reach Fayths get petitioned more."

[thatsit]

Ignis smiled without humour. "Like Ifrit?" he asked. It would be interesting to meet a Fayth, certainly, whether he came out of it with an Aeon or not, and if he'd stand a better chance opting for one of his own elemental affinity, then Ifrit seemed obvious.

[joinmyreunion]

"Don't go for Ifrit," Kadaj said, looking at Ignis. "There's only one Aeon. If you and Tayuya were in the same fight and she summoned him, you wouldn't be able to. Ifrit's pretty popular, so you've got to be as good as Tayuya to be sure he'll actually come to you every time. Otherwise, if someone else is calling him, and they're stronger than you, or have a better bond with him than you, you're out of luck."

It was part of why Kadaj had gone for Bahamut. That, and showboating. Bahamut was much less newbie friendly, and his cloister of trials were a pain in the ass, so there were a lot less people in the world able to call on him.