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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 15, 2009 10:06:54 GMT -5
6:55 AM, who would be up at such an ungodly hour? The sun had only just risen and Vahn had already managed to conclude all of his business at the Kaiba Corporation. Even the renowned Red Dragon was out of his element here among Domino's corporate district. Coming so early did help to alleviate this somewhat though, as the streets were almost empty. The city was only just starting to awaken for the day and by the time it did Vahn would be long gone. In fact, he was already headed for the docks to catch a ferry back to Academy Island. The Kaiba Corp Executives probably hated to have a meeting so early, but Vahn didn't much open in his availability. In any case the current Headmistress of the Academy was leaving on a trip soon and when that happened Vahn was to take over as acting Headmaster.
The cape, the blazer, even the old duel disk Vahn carried around stood out immensely when compared to the suit and tie workers which were now beginning to fill the streets. Vahn didn't exactly want to attract any unwanted attention, but that was probably easier thought then done, as he still had to make his way past downtown to get to the docks. On the bright side it was unlikely that anyone would recognize him. As Assistant Headmaster he barely showed himself so most of the students didn't know him, as a duelist he hadn't dueled in any league for years so no one would know him from there either. Vahn's 11 counterparts in the Twelve Dragons were spread across the world and running into any of that wouldn't exactly be favorable either.
Vahn stopped at the corner of the street he was currently on to read the sign there. Back, Kaiba Corp. Left, Industrial Illusions. Right, Residential District. Forward, Recreational District. |
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Post by Ilythyia Venetianer on Oct 15, 2009 10:27:56 GMT -5
She shook her head groggily, as she climbed out of her limousine on the way to her workplace. After a long day at the office, the last thing Ilythyia needed was a trip back to the office, but she found that she had trouble sleeping and an unusual itch to get back to the headquarters for more card designs. Ilythyia was never the most studious or hard-working person on the planet, but when she had something that clawed at her, she would inevitably have to finish it before her brain could get any reprieve. Her mind whizzed a mile a minute, with such a dizzying flood of ideas passed her that she had managed to give herself a headache. Sometimes her brain was her biggest enemy—that talented mind of hers got her in more trouble than she cared to admit.
Carrying a leather briefcase that matched the color of dark suit, Ilythyia crossed the distance from her limousine towards the front office of Industrial Illusions. She took a scenic walk, taking in the smell of the dew on the grass while she could still do it—before the bustle of activity and rise of the sun robbed her of that chance. There were still a few others on the usually frenetic streets of the industrial district, but those few were either far enough from view or nondescript enough that she ignored them. One of the passersby wore a cape and a duel disk, and she could only assume that he had just conducted business at Kaiba Corporation, the business just down the street from her own. Instead of blending in, however, he seemed to stand out. Choosing not to dwell too long on the scenery, Ilythyia made her way towards the door of her company. She had other pressing issues to worry about, and there were far too many freaks wandering about for her to care about each one in turn.
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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 15, 2009 11:24:20 GMT -5
It didn't happen very often and perhaps it was just a lack of sleep on Vahn's part, but ever since he began reading the signs his mind had wandered off a bit. Quite unusual for someone who was usually so serious and focused but it couldn't be helped at the moment. After about a minute of looking up Vahn finally decided the direction in which he wanted to go and started moving immediately without even taking the time to look ahead. Of course as fate would have it a women was headed right past Vahn in the opposite direction, towards the Industrial Illusions building. Vahn's attention resurfaced rather quickly as he carelessly bumped right into the woman. Vahn certainly wasn't walking fast enough to cause either of them to fall, but it certainly did trigger an awkward moment, especially on Vahn's part. The cracking noise of Vahn's old circular model one duel disk on the pavement only made the situation worse.
"My apologies....I must not have been to keen on my surroundings."
Even when apologizing Vahn managed to sound incredibly...unapologetic. His low voice was never really good at conveying anything but anger or aggression, or so he'd been told. |
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Post by Ilythyia Venetianer on Oct 15, 2009 11:45:28 GMT -5
Ilythyia didn’t make it to the door. Before she could reach her hand out to swipe at the security pad, she felt the pressure of another body brush up against him. Not too seconds after the collision, her body guards sprang into action, practically jumping on top of the man and pushing him away from the Industrial Illusions president. One of them blocked the man’s line of sight with his wide body, and two others muscled him towards the ground. Ilythyia herself jumped and took a quick step back, patting herself to make sure that the caped crusader did not manage to filch any stuff off her person. Industrial Illusions took their security seriously, and she wanted to make sure that she had everything in order.
“Let him go,” she said, after confirming that she had not been pickpocketed, “I’m sure it was simply an honest mistake.”
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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 15, 2009 12:22:23 GMT -5
It figured. Out of all of the people Vahn could have possibly run into, it had to be someone important, or at least important enough to have her own contingent of body guards. This trip to the city was getting worse every second, and Vahn was starting to remember why he kept himself secluded in the mountains of Duel Academy. Needless to say Vahn wasn't in the best of moods, especially after being jumped by security guards. He slowly picked himself up and brushed himself off. His cape was covering his body before but was now thrown behind his shoulders revealing his custom Obelisk Blue blazer. He was, after all, the head of the dorm. Vahn's glared at the woman with his usual cold stare. It was his fault but he couldn't help but think that these people had overreacted. Not that someone like Vahn would understand the occasional dangers of working in a big city.
The woman and her bodyguards were now between Vahn and his dropped duel disk. He would attempt to go get it but coming any closer was likely to provoke another onslaught. Therefore Vahn held his ground and waited. Perhaps they'd just leave. |
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Post by Ilythyia Venetianer on Oct 16, 2009 5:05:03 GMT -5
The man dusted himself off as her bodyguards let up off of her. She eyed him briefly, noticing his strange garb and the ungracious way he spat out his words, and deemed him a person of interest. Ilythyia had an inherent distrust towards shady figures—like most people did—but she still wanted to give them the opportunity to show their qualities. Someone with as much worldly experience and as sophisticated an outlook on life as Ilythyia wanted to see the merits of each individual person before she wrote them off, and she figured that the other man, despite how unkempt and unruly he appeared, may have a few worthy surprises up his sleeve. She returned his intense glare with a curious, almost bemused, glance of her own.
With a gesture of her hand, one of the bodyguards turned to pick up the fallen duel disk and he turned on his heel and treaded the distance between him and the caped man with a scowled look of contempt. Thrusting the duel disk in front of him, the bodyguard looked like he didn’t want to look or touch him as he returned the cursed object to him. Ilythyia knew that her bodyguards often had a tough job, but the incredible security was necessary. She had a million dollar position in a billion dollar multinational corporation, and she couldn’t let just anyone walk past and frisk or pickpocket her or her company secrets.
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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 16, 2009 21:18:06 GMT -5
Vahn snatched his duel disk back within a moments notice of it being back in his proximity. This particular model was one of only 2 prototypes developed by Kaiba when the duel disks were in their oldest stage of development. Vahn sighed after quickly examining it. It would be quite the feat to find somewhere to get it fixed. His attention shifted from his possession back to the woman. After everything that happened already it would be pointless not to at least find out who she was. Pro duelists normally didn't have their own bodyguards, but the fact that she did have them meant she wasn't a small fish either. Vahn wasn't vindictive or anything but he still had to know.
"Are you a Kaiba Corp Executive? Industrial Illusions perhaps? Call it idle curiosity, but I feel the need to ask. I apologize once again, hopefully your watchdogs won't see that as a reason to attack me again."
Vahn certainly had a way with people. He always seemed angry even when he wasn't, which was the case here. Perhaps he has spent a little too much time in seclusion. Being social certainly wasn't his strong point.
"I am the Headmaster of Duel Academy, Vahn Gale."
Technically he was still the Assistant Headmaster, but that would change in a short few weeks. There was no point splitting hairs, and perhaps things would go a little smoother now what he revealed who he was. |
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Post by Ilythyia Venetianer on Oct 17, 2009 6:02:17 GMT -5
A question. The question seemed innocent enough, but the gesture of the bodyguard closest to him intimated that she shouldn’t give out her position too quickly. Ultimately, there was a danger in being a high level executive with a major Duel Monsters company, and Industrial Illusions was about as major as it got. Employees in the past had run into a number of problems because of the ‘game’ they played, and Ilythyia knew when she took the job that there were certain risks involved. Cards often had a mind of their own, and there were always plenty of people willing to use them for their own insidious ends.
Figuring that lying altogether wouldn’t have been a good idea, since they were, after all, standing right in front of the Industrial Illusions door, Ilythyia tossed a half truth, “I work for Industrial Illusions.” The calm response was vague enough for her to get by, especially considering that it was entirely the truth. Of course, she certainly seemed the type that was high on the food chain for Industrial Illusions, but the fact that she was the top dog of the corporation may not be the first thing to come to mind, especially for someone who looked so young.
“Nice to meet you, Mister Gale,” Ilythyia nodded. She was a little puzzled though, as last she heard, it was Miss Force that was the headmaster of the academy. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened with Miss Force?” |
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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 17, 2009 18:02:58 GMT -5
"I guess I should clarify. Amelia Force is in her final two weeks of the job. When she leaves I'll be replacing her and until then I am still technically only Assistant Headmaster. I only came to this blasted city to run the paperwork by Kaiba Corp, next thing I know I run into you."
It was typical. Everyone knew about Amelia, but Vahn was pretty much unknown. Of course he had only himself to blame for that, though if anything he enjoyed his anonymity. Keeping out of other people troubles was how Vahn got by. A somewhat backwards philosophy for a soon to be Headmaster.
"Do you know her? I wasn't aware Duel Academy had any dealings with Industrial Illusions, just Kaiba Corp."
It just hit Vahn that when he actually took over as Headmaster he would have to travel to the city a lot more often for meetings and reports. Perhaps he should have thought the job through a little for before accepting it. Well, there was no going back now.
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Post by Ilythyia Venetianer on Oct 18, 2009 6:25:15 GMT -5
Ilythyia blinked back her annoyance. She had already derived that Miss Force either left or got replaced from the fact that this man was now the academy headmaster. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the kind of question that she asked. She had little desire to rehash what she already knew or hear it again just in case that she didn’t understand the first time. Last she checked, Ilythyia asked what happened with Headmistress Force—in other words, the Industrial Illusions president was much more interested in why she was replaced. Hopefully, the man would be a better headmaster than an answerer of questions, because he sorely disappointed.
“Fair enough,” she replied coolly, ignoring his claim that Domino City was a ‘blasted city’ and that he needed to get some kind of approval from Kaiba Corporation. Evidently, Kaiba Corporation still kept some kind of tight leash on the academy, which didn’t surprise her at all. In her limited interaction with Seto Kaiba and his associates, she knew of him as a remarkably uptight man who had a Texas-sized ego. That he wanted to keep tabs on his creation did not surprise her in the least. What surprised her was that Kaiba Corporation hadn’t intervened and issued the decree to replace the headmaster on their own accord.
“And no,” Ilythyia replied, “I have never interacted with Miss Force in the past.” She had little reason to interact with the students and staff at Duel Academy.
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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 18, 2009 22:58:11 GMT -5
Not being one to pry in other people's affairs, Vahn never actually bothered to ask Amelia where she was going exactly. All he knew was that she was in her last two weeks of the job. When she finally did leave, Vahn would have to go through the process of finding a new Assistant Headmaster. He'd cross that bridge when he came to it. With the exchange of words that just occurred, Vahn really didn't think there was anything more he could ask from this woman except her name.
"Well...I think I've wasted enough of your time, but before I go, you wouldn't happen to have a name would you?"
Vahn didn't have any specific reason for asking. He did, however, remember everyone he happened to meet and having a name would make that infinitely easier.
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Post by Ilythyia Venetianer on Oct 19, 2009 3:13:26 GMT -5
"You can call me Ilythyia," she replied. If he bothered to do his research, he would have noticed that the only 'Ilythyia' in the entire company was the president herself, but she doubted that he would have recognized her name from the start. She took it that he did not come to the city that often, and as much as Industrial Illusions had substantial success under her watch, she was not one that liked the notoriety of celebrity. In fact, she preferred the relative anonymity behind her bodyguards, her corner office, and her mahogany desk. She left other employees of the company serve receive petty recognition. That both kept them satisfied and kept her name in the limelight. When Industrial Illusions succeeded, Ilythyia would naturally succeed with it.
"I apologize for the roughness of my guards," she answered tersely, figuring that they had overreacted to what was a simple mistake. However, the man had been dressed suspiciously and had rather unceremoniously crashed into one of the most important figures in the entire Duel Monsters world, much less the city of Domino. Still, knowing the headmaster of Duel Academy, not to mention a link to the executives of Kaiba Corporation, may be a valuable asset. Moving past the door, she approached and extended a hand for a handshake, "Not at all. Thanks for your time, Mr. Gale." |
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Post by Vahn Gale on Oct 20, 2009 11:41:19 GMT -5
"It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Ilythyia, and don't worry to much about it. They were only doing their job. Now I think it's about time we both got back to our respective jobs."
Vahn never really trusted these executive types much, but perhaps they weren't all underhanded and arrogant. This would still have yet to be confirmed but as far as first impressions went, Ilythyia didn't seem too bad. Perhaps the time Vahn spent with Kaiba Corp representatives was starting to influence his thoughts on all of these companies. Then again Industrial Illusions was something else entirely. Having been founded by Pegaus and not Kaiba, it wouldn't be surprising if the employees were at least somewhat more sociable.
"Until be meet again, perhaps."
After accepting her handshake and speaking his final words, Vahn was off in the opposite direction to catch a ferry back to the island. |
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