Checking out of the heartbreak hotel

[Kaze]

Kaze comes in dressed like he's been out playing some sport or another, maybe softball; he's wearing a shirt that says, Broken Hearts like a team name or something.

"Hey, Shodan. Thank you for putting me up here with you. I found a great place practically right on campus at UC Sacramento, and snagged it, so I am moving out. I remember that I promised you I would tell you how things worked out. Basically, Phoenyx and I are back together, but not living together, and I am still unaligned." he says with a smile.

[Kaze]

Kaze grins, "I told you she was amazing, and would only come out stronger. She accepted my decision to leave the Arrows, and was able to accept me as being unaligned. Not that she agrees, but she accepts that it's my choice. She wants to be together even if we aren't in the same Order." he says, obviously a bit pleasantly surprised despite his assurance that he'd predicted it.

Then he sighs, "Yeah, okay that's me. I basically haven't ever had my own place, just mine. Like ever, in my whole life. I am just not up for moving into the Circle. So, yeah, we aren't living together. We'll be seeing each other a lot though. Up early every morning for a run and dates at night." he says. "I'm actually looking forward to it. I think it will actually be more special than if we just lived in the same space all the time."

He sighs again. "Aegis was really circling the drain as soon as Alastor left. The place was protected by his wards, even the name was his, I mean, he asked if we liked it, but it was his idea."

[Kaze]

Kaze smirks, "Sure of course, where do you think little Arrows come from?" he chuckles, "No, seriously it's...well, you ever here about what it's like at the Olympic Villiage for hookups? You get a bunch of young, healthy, world class athletes together under pressure to perform at peak, and just really short periods of time to blow off steam between events...." he muses, "I think it's a little like that, or can be, in the Adamantine Arrows. Anyway, never mind me, let's just say it's not a monastic Order."

He chuckles again, obviously not letting his good mood be disturbed, "Alastor knew about Phoenyx and my relationship before anyone. If he comes back...he won't have a problem with it. With my leaving, maybe, but not with my being Phoenyx's boyfriend."

"Yeah. And almost of us are Obrimos now." Kaze muses in agreement on how things have changed.

[Kaze]

Kaze chuckles along with Shodan's comments. Then when he asks about the Adamantine Arrows, Kaze is more sober. "To be honest, the Order isn't really a monolithic organization like that. It is really different in different regions. Rank is respected everywhere, and transferable from one place to another, but...like what I said about relationships? I am pretty sure it wasn't really like that where Phoenyx was trained. From what she's said, our training was very different."

He listens to Shodan aski about the possibility of some kind of enforcement or punishment or forced recruiting squad showing up to deal with Kaze's defection. "I don't believe it's like that. They only want mages who want to be Arrows. They seem to usually have more people wanting in than they take, so they wouldn't come after me to force me to rejoin. The training is pretty tough, and we don't actually lose that many in combat, because people are pretty well prepared and don't fight alone." he says. "That's all just my impression though. I wasn't graduated long enough to experience how things are done first hand anywhere except Okinawa and here. I guess, that's just one more reason for me to prioritize my Prime and get good at cloaking and aura transformation. I don't know if you ever met 'Weavebreaker, but she was a senior Arrow when I got here, and a Master of Prime. She said she'd lived on a university campus surrounded by Seers who never knew she wasn't a Sleeper."

"How about you, Shodan? Are you thinking of trying to get a Cabal of free thinkers together again? Maybe October is interested?" Kaze asks. "She seems pretty scientifically minded."

[Kaze]

Kaze smiles, "Well, it's not really my thing to talk about. Just that Phoenyx had a really different training environment than I did, and Alastor seemed to have a totally different experience than either of us." he says. "I wouldn't say there isn't a 'high command', just that I don't know about it. And yeah, it seems like mages at least a lot of them, want to be part of something bigger than themselves. And if you're not up for all the shades of gray that comes with being a Guardian...well, I guess the Arrows are kind of a logical choice."

He nods at Shodan's list of the limited Cabal candidates. Then he grins as Shodan practically waxes poetic about October. "Yeah, you two kind of seemed to have a lot in common." he says a little too casually. "She's really smart and seems uber competent in a field that demands brains, and scientific knowledge, applied, not just theoretic."