Welcome to Gaia! ::

As she was leaving the Horsemen Sanctuary Azmodel came upon trails of red and gold on her way to her dorm room. Getting closer to the strange phenomenon, she saw that the path was made of small red and gold envelopes. Quite strange.

Curiosity aroused, the ghoul couldn't resist picking one up for closer inspection. It seemed Chinese in design and a little heavy, there must have been something inside. The student was well on her way to open the object to have a look inside when something hit the back of her head.

Turning slowly she came face to face with an old horseman … from conquest. Oh boil ! Another one. Not that Miss Lan wasn't nice but well... This one was nothing like the young lady, grey haired, and wearing musty robes of faded colors. When asked what she was doing the Valkyrie didn't get a chance to answer as she was struck again. This wasn't a good start.

“You know what they do? No? This what wrong with foals. Too eager to play with magic. Magic must defeat magic.”

Jack damn it, how did she put herself in such situations? She just wanted to go back to her bed and have some rest. Not deal with scowling brutal old horses. Scowling brutal old horses waving mysterious envelopes way too close to her face for comfort. And hitting her again. He was getting on her nerves. She just let him rant, since he didn't look like he was listening anyway, just harassing random people passing by. Namely her, unfortunately.

“Oh, sure,” she thought, “if I find one of your coins I'll come see you. And throw it at your head !”

As if hearing her thoughts the old man eyed her and readied his fingers. He was going to whack her again wasn't he ? Unable to stop herself she flinched a little. And got hit twice for it. Bloody old geezer ! But then the crazy whacker just upped and left, little envelopes falling from his robes.

Frustrated she was going to leave when she spotted another, a Conquest Scholar this time. He seemed to be keeping an eye on the rude horse with warring feelings. To Hell with those ponies ! Why was she always crossing path with Conquest people???

Anyway, this one might have answers.

“Hey, Sir, who's that ?”

“Uncle. He was ah… one of the elder scholars who specialized in lunar based FEAR for the clan. Sadly he was a bit… eccentric and so we sent him to a distant lair. A very VERY distant lair. We don’t talk about Uncle much.”

Snorting, Azmodel let the other know she didn't find that surprising.

“I sure hope for you he isn't really your uncle.”

“I don’t know. He’d been around for ages. It’s the only name we knew him by. The only one he ever gave us anyway.”

“Is he Insane?”

The ghoul was curious. It could be her first time seeing someone victim of Insanity.

”What? Er.. yes but not in that way. Just with age I think.”

Ah, too bad...

“ Have you got any idea what he's doing?”

”I’m trying to figure that out myself. We knew he was keeping record of something but it was privy only to the Emperor himself.”

And here it was again, that better-than-thou look of the Conquest ponies. Trying to make her feel inadequate. But she wouldn't abandon so easily and would get her answers. He was stuck with her since he didn't seem to want to leave the old geezer by himself.

“ And do you know what the envelopes are?”

“Oh those things? Harmless for the most part. Filled with money. A small tradition from around this time of year.”

Money ? Now that was nice ! But, wait a minute!

“ For the most part?”

“You cannot expect all things to be free of a risk.”

Bloody Mary. Of course there would be a catch.

“But they always have money?”

”No, sometimes they have fortunes, sweets. Traditionally money but well, where Uncle is getting it I’m not sure. He does seem to want any gold coins you find however.”

“Okay. But what are those?”

”I have no idea. Uncle just wants them. Maybe he’ll give you something for them?”

Well that would be almost better that throwing it at his head.... almost. But more rewarding in the long run it would seem.

Az would have asked more questions, if just to annoy the scholar, but it seemed Uncle had found another victim in a priestess. The younger horseman went to get the old one under control, and as the student took an envelope to study it a little better, a coin fell out of it. Hum... what to do? Uncle wasn't far, so maybe she should give it to him?

Nah, maybe later. She really didn't feel like dealing with any more horsemen right now. Alas, it would seem the hitting old one saw the coin and before she could leave he was right in front of her and plucking the coin from her hand.

“Yes, Uncle sees. He does see, you have magic, but is it enough?”
He eyes her up and down.
“You bring more to Uncle, I pay. Then we see if your magic can defeat magic.”

Great, just what she needed. She watched the crazy old one run away, and the scholar follow suit with some kind of disinterested indifference. Really, should she try to find some coins or should she just forget all of what she just heard?