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| Cetatsenia-Demoness Meeting | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 18 2013, 07:41 PM (8,258 Views) | |
| Cetatsenia | Nov 18 2013, 07:41 PM Post #1 |
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If one was to take a place from the nation of Demoness to Cetatsenia, one would most likely see the dichotomy that the nation was rather known for. In the southern parts of the nation one would notice the highlands, heavily forested and almost untouched by man aside from the winding roads and the occasional town. But further north, the terrain would give away to the lowlands of the Centric Basin. This land was flat, and lacked the expansive forests, though there were smaller isolated forests. But the main difference one would notice would be the level of development, it was dominated by a large amount of farmland as the lowland soil was incredibly fertile, but there was also the occasional city, bustling with people. Albraustana-zid was one such city, and it was the primate city of Cetatsenia, the richest and most populous and most important of them all. It was built along both sides of the great Albastru River that ran through much of Cetatsenia, though most of it was on the southern bank of the river. This was because of the simple fact that Albraustana-zid had begun life as three separate forts and settlements built along the river. Albrau and Stana had been built on the Southern bank, and over time had grown together until they were finally united into Albraustana. And while Zid would eventually become part of the greater whole, for a long time it was simply considered a city separated from the capital only by the river. Since it had grown organically over the numerous years, and had once been three separate cities, the streets and roads had a habit of being winding and could be complicated to navigate for those unfamiliar with them who had no map. Though the roads had over time been widened and revamped in order to accommodate cars, and the newest sections of the city on the outskirts actually had a gridded street plan. As it was the middle of the day, the streets were currently filled with cars and buses, and the sidewalks filled with pedestrians, while the newest addition to the city's transportation network, the subway system, ran below the streets. While there was a number of attractions in the city, such as the museums and baths, one of the most prominent is the Palatul Regal, the Royal Palace. The site of the original settlement of Albrau and lying atop a hill, it has been torn down or otherwise destroyed and then subsequently rebuilt several times throughout history. The most recent being the ascension of Ioan I to the throne of Cetatsenia, though it has been renovated and updated since then. The Palace itself is surrounded by a wall that rings the entirety of the hill, with only a single gate leading up to it. The wall is patrolled by a special corps of Cetatsenian soldiers, easily identified by their bright blue ceremonial uniforms and ornate, pointed helmets. After that, a road lead up to the palace proper, an expansive building with a stone exterior that shared more in common with a medieval castle than what one thinks of when they hear the word 'palace'. It was home to a fair number of servants, as well as the guardsmen, and a small number of government officials. Most of those lived out in the city, and worked in their own buildings. It was absolutely huge, and in front of it was an expansive pool of water. Overall, it was an impressive sight that could be seen from a good portion of the city. At the moment, however, Voivode Gavril IV Suveraneshti was not at his home in the palace. Rather he was at the airport, which had been cleared of any citizens besides him, the guards arrayed with him, and those who worked there; all flights to this airport had either been delayed or rerouted to other nearby airports. Today was an important day, as this was the decided upon day of Jia Li's visit to Cetatsenia. As two nations whose relationship could be accurately described as "mutually neutral", this was a rather important meeting, and Gavril did not want to mess anything up. So he stood alongside his older sister Andreea, the Steward of Cetatsenia, in the airport, ready to head out onto the tarmac to greet the Empress as soon as her plane set down. Edited by Cetatsenia, Apr 22 2014, 09:58 PM.
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| Cetatsenia | Feb 9 2014, 01:39 AM Post #781 |
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Gavrila raised one of her eyebrows at Xel's aversion of his eyes, smirking as she found it moderately humorous. She also agreed with Jia Li, she was enjoying herself and didn't want to go to bed. "Yeah, surely zere is no harm in staying up a little longer," she said, "Come on in, ze water is great. Ai prea Andreea." "Sorry, but I agree wiz Xel," Andreea responded, shaking her head, "It is late and you cannot sleep in as late as you usually do. Oh, and make sure you come to breakfast fully-dressed." Gavrila replied by sticking her tongue out at her cousin. |
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| Demoness | Feb 9 2014, 01:49 AM Post #782 |
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Jia Li laughed. "So you're another night owl?" she asked and Xel sighed. Many times in her youth and even into her rule, she stayed up late enough to see the sun rise. Xel often made the poor choice to stay up with her and then would go on shift promptly at sunrise. Makoto saved him a few times, but it was not a pleasant experience. Thankfully, she didn't need much sleep, but her altered sleep schedule did interfere with her duties. Thankfully, he'd managed to get her into a normal sleep cycle for the most part, even if their children disrupted it. |
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| Cetatsenia | Feb 9 2014, 03:04 AM Post #783 |
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Gavrila just laughed and nodded her head. "Yeah, I suppose you can say zat," she said, "Where is ze fun in going to bed when zere is so much ozer stuff you could be doing?" "You miss out on quite a bit when you sleep until noon you know," Andreea said matter-of-factly, "And as I said, you cannot sleep zat late tomorrow. We have zings to do." Gavrila just laid back and groaned in frustration. "I suppose if Jia Li agrees to go to bed I will too," she said, "After all, zere would not be any fun in just sitting here all alone." |
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| Demoness | Feb 9 2014, 03:27 AM Post #784 |
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Jia Li smiled, tempted to stay up later, but she saw the disapproving look on her husband's face. He had learned to stop waiting for her to go to bed after nagging her a few times, but here it was different. She knew he would stubbornly stay with her until she decided to sleep, even though she had a guard, and she didn't really want to deal with his crankiness the following morning. Plus, she had a feeling Ariana would wake her early in the morning, regardless of when she turned in, because they were on tour. She sighed and turned to Gavrila. "I think I'll head to bed. We'll have to continue this sometime," she said. Xel sighed in relief and fetched a towel for her as she got out of the bath. He also gave an admonishing look to Marcus, who just shrugged. Jia Li had been enjoying herself and Marcus' choice was to either listen to their conversation or watch her sleep; the choice was easy. Generally, he didn't mind having the night shift and it allowed him to read, but he was a people person and enjoyed meeting new people, a habit that was difficult to fulfill when he was awake while everyone was asleep. Jia Li disappeared into the changing room, followed by Marcus, and quickly changed; she would change again in a few minutes, so there was little point in looking perfect. Her hair had gotten slightly wet due to the humidity and she wondered if it would be frizzy the following day. |
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| Cetatsenia | Feb 9 2014, 02:42 PM Post #785 |
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Gavrila was visibly disappointed, but she just shrugged. "Oh well, maybe tomorrow," she said, "I guess it is time to go get Aurel and turn in for ze night zen." And with that Gavrila hopped out of the bath and stretched her arms out above her head, obviously not caring about whether either of the men in the room saw her. She made her way into the changing room after Jia Li, not even bothering to get dressed all the way. When she came out, she was only wearing her pants and undershirt and carrying the rest of her clothing in a crumpled ball. After all, she was just going to head to her room and change into a t-shirt to sleep, it didn't matter what she was wearing now. "Gavrila, why are you not fully dressed?" she said, sighing. "Oh, please," Gavrila replied with a shrug, "Ze servants here have seen me in less." Andreea just sighed, she was going to mention how that wasn't really the point but decided it wouldn't make a difference. So instead she turned to Xel and Jia Li, and said, "Good night." Gavrila grinned and turned to the Demonessians too, "Noapte buna! See you all in ze morning." |
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| Demoness | Feb 9 2014, 03:38 PM Post #786 |
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"Good night," the two of them answered, and Xel took Jia Li's arm. "You should have joined us earlier," Jia Li whispered as they walked, Marcus following them silently. He gave her a chastising look, but she just smiled. "Maybe not in the bath, but I'm sure there would have been a way for you to join us. We had an interesting conversation." "And she's got a nice body too," Marcus quipped, causing Jia Li to giggle. Xel turned to him. "I'm used to Makoto being the pervert. I wasn't expecting it from you," he said. Marcus shrugged. "I'm not the married one and there's no harm in appreciating." Jia Li laughed. "So Makoto finally corrupted you, ne?" She turned to Xel. "It only took, what, ten years?" She smiled and her husband's only response was to shake his head. The trio continued up to their room, where Ariana was waiting. Her demeanor was odd, like she always knew precisely where the empress was as she was prepared to help Jia Li into bed. Jia Li was of course capable of dressing and undressing herself, but she allowed Ariana to do it; this treatment was followed by Ariana brushing her hair and removing the little makeup she wore. Xel and Marcus alternated between conversation and silence as this occurred; both had seen Jia Li naked numerous times and as her guard, it was difficult to avoid. Finally, Ariana left to head toward the quarters assigned to the servants and Jia Li and Xel climbed into bed. Marcus quietly took a position by the door, sat in a chair, and settled in for the night. For an outsider, the job appeared odd, but there were limits and there were normalities. It wasn't strange to watch them sleep, bathe, or eat, and Jia Li was allowed her moments of privacy in small increments. They were mutually used to the arrangement and years of being close had allowed them to also become friends; it was only here, in Cetatsenia, that he remained silent and stoic. Once Marcus heard her soft breathing, he opened his book and began to read. |
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| Cetatsenia | Feb 9 2014, 04:31 PM Post #787 |
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Gavrila made her way over to Andreea after the Demonessians had left and grinned. "I like the Empress, and her husband," she said in Romanian, grinning while she did so, "They're awesome people. And they're not boring and stuffy." Andreea just sighed and shook her head, "I still can't believe you came here. What if they weren't like this? What if they had gotten offended?" "Well they didn't, so that's not important, now is it?" Gavrila replied with a laugh, "No need to dwell on what could've been." Once more Andreea sighed; she knew that there was no point in debating the topic with Gavrila. "It's good having you here Gavrila," she said, smiling a little, "I did miss you." Gavrila just grinned and surprised her cousin by wrapping her arms around here in a hug, "It's good to be here. Now goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." "Goodnight," Andreea replied back as Gavrila turned and left,making her way out of the bath. Then Andreea turned and looked back at the still hot bath and shook her head. "You couldn't have remembered to turn it off?" she said to herself, though she didn't actually care. --------- The night went by uneventfully, with nothing in particular to disturb those sleeping. And it was around 7:00 when Marina arrived at the quarters where Ariana was sleeping and knocked on the door. Gavril had decided to have her wake up the Empress, and to fetch Ariana if she wasn't already awake. Apparently he'd found out from one of the other servants that Marina had been speaking to Ariana last night during dinner and decided it'd be best for her to go fetch the handmaid, since they'd spoken to each other already. Marina would only wait a minute or so before going in regardless, since she figured that if Ariana was here she'd answer the door immediately. But it would still be better to be certain. |
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| Demoness | Feb 10 2014, 12:03 AM Post #788 |
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While the night shift ended at dawn, the two High Guards always met early and discussed business; a lot of the time they were both present, so it wasn't really necessary. However, Xel had managed to take an opportunity to talk to Makoto alone and asked him to come early so they could have a private meeting, which is why Makoto arrived at 0430. Xel quietly slipped from the bed and the three of them - Makoto, Marcus, and him - went into the bathroom and shut the door. Xel scowled. "Did you notice anything strange with Nedia-shiro yesterday?" he asked and Makoto reluctantly nodded before recounting the encounter Xel had had with his mother. Most of it had been body language, but it was evident to all three of them what it meant. When Hikari had been executed, Ariana had quietly gone mad, challenging every opponent she could find. She had nearly killed Chihiro Masaki, her second, and had severely injured several of the handmaids before Adiwyn Tsukihana had stepped in. Xel still didn't know what she had done, but the episode had ended. Marcus shook his head. "This is not good," he said. "She should retire." "She won't as long as Jia Li accepts her and Jia Li has never seen anything to think she isn't reliable," Xel stated. "This situation is not good here, so we need to control it, at least until we get back to Demoness. The last thing we need is for her to think she needs to prove herself here." Makoto frowned. "Do you really think she'd go that far?" Ariana may be aggressive, but she was not reckless, not when it came to Jia Li. However, he'd noticed over the years that Xel had come to trust his own flesh and blood less and less and had even begun to think she'd turn against him. It'd been stressful, yet the relationship had been eased by Adiwyn's intervention. Xel frowned. "Have the other handmaid keep her away from that servant - Aurel, I think his name was and any mention of him," he told Marcus. "See if she can come up with a reason to keep Ariana with her." Marcus nodded. "Nedia won't like that - not here, not in unfamiliar territory. It doesn't matter that it's 'safe'." Makoto shrugged. "Tell her to be creative." Marcus sighed and nodded. Without much else to say, Marcus took his leave and headed to the servants quarter while Makoto took his place watching over Jia Li and Xel slipped back into bed. --- Ariana arrived at Jia Li's room promptly at 0600 and started laying out her clothes and other items in order to get her ready. By 0645, she'd gone down to the kitchen to order breakfast and was back in the room by 0700, so she was the one to open when Marina knocked on Jia Li's door. "Is the Voivode preparing to leave?" she asked. |
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| Cetatsenia | Feb 10 2014, 12:11 AM Post #789 |
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When Ariana opened the door a pleasant smile spread across Marina's face. "Oh no, not quite yet. But it is time for ze Empress and company to come and eat breakfast, and ze Voivode wishes to leave right after zat," Marina replied, "And I zought you would be up here; I went down to get you in case you were not awake yet and you were gone. Anyway, if you are up, does zat mean ze Empress and her husband are ready?" |
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| Demoness | Feb 10 2014, 12:22 AM Post #790 |
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Ariana shook her head. "I doubt Her Divinity is awake yet, but her husband is probably simply laying next to her. It will be several minutes before we are able to join the Voivode. Could you please tell him?" |
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