I'M ON A BOAT

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

Who: Jade Curtiss and Guo Jia
Where: On board the Tartarus, near the Imperial City.
When: After Winter Court
What: Guo Jia joins Jade's unit.


"S-sir. The rest of the crew has arrived. I thought you might want to greet the strategic advisor, so I brought him here. He's waiting just outside..."

The new cadet was fresh out of airship training school and the row of brass buttons on his sleeves still gleamed in the light, betraying his trembling hands. He'd probably never imagined that one day, he'd be serving on board the Tartarus. The Tartarus was one of the fastest and most advanced airships in the Imperial fleet... and it was the personal ship of Colonel Jade Curtiss, a man who had once been known throughout Dagaria as "The Necromancer."

Jade didn't look much like a necromancer - or like a colonel, for that matter. He looked like a liberal arts professor sliding gently into middle age, and his office on board the Tartarus was more like a scrupulously tidy library than a mad scientist's lair. There was a book in his lap, and he wore slightly dowdy-looking reading glasses. But behind the lenses were a pair of intense, inhumanly red eyes.

"Excellent. I've been looking forward to having more experimental subjects." The cadet gulped, his starched new uniform collar straining against his throat. Jade's lips curled into a smirk as he set his book aside. "It's been so long since I had a fresh crew, I was afraid I'd have to start re-animating some of the old ones... well then, you're dismissed. Send in this 'strategic advisor.'"

Comments

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

The poor boy looked terrified as he stepped out of the office and stammered something that may well have been "The colonel will see you now," except the words weren't exactly in the right order. Nor were they exactly words. But they were accompanied by frantic hand gestures that got the point across quite nicely, so the cadet was spared having to repeat himself and took the first chance to run down the corridor once Guo Jia had nodded briefly in acknowledgement of the message. Apparently, the colonel's effect on his underlings had not changed in the years since Guo Jia had seen him last.

The strategist let himself into the office and greeted his new superior officer with a pleasant smile and nod. "Guo Fengxiao, reporting for duty," he said lightly, "It's been a while. Still terrorizing your men, I see."

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

Jade laughed, and gave a small shrug. "At my age, a man needs to have a hobby. I tried building model ships in bottles once, but I wasn't any good at it."

Although the smile lingered, Jade's eyes narrowed slightly behind the glasses as he scrutinized his old friend. The other man's face was as pale as ever... of course, it was midwinter, but Jade couldn't recall ever seeing Fengxiao with a healthy complexion, even after he'd downed several bottles of wine. Communicable diseases could spread quickly in the confines of an airship, but Guo Jia seemed otherwise in good health. Nothing to worry about, then.

"Besides, you can hardly condemn me for my hobbies. Are you still working your way through every woman in the Empire, or are have you already started on a second round?"

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

"The wonderful thing about women is that there are always new ones if you wait long enough," Guo Jia pointed out cheerfully before finding a chair to artfully drape himself over. "However, the more men you terrorize, the fewer you'll have showing up for duty. Perhaps that's why I was assigned to the Tartarus. I happen to be quite good at raising morale."

To be quite honest, Guo Jia had been rather surprised when he'd received his orders. It wasn't that he didn't like working with Jade or that they were a poor combination, quite the opposite, in fact. He foresaw them being a ruthlessly efficient combination. Too ruthless, perhaps, which is what was so interesting. He felt a little sorry for whoever they were tasked with fighting against. A little.

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

"I'd rather have them not show up, if the idea of a commanding officer with unsavory pastimes is all it takes for them to quiver in their boots. I'm hardly the worst thing they'll face." Jade paused, mentally counting the milliseconds for perfect comedic timing. "I'd like to think I'm in the top ten, though."

Guo Jia had a point, though. The Tartarus usually operated with a skeleton crew because Jade couldn't be bothered to lead, inspire, or otherwise take responsibility for other people. But with increasing reports of undead roaming the provinces closest to the Rift, even the Tartarus had been pulled from its research objectives and put to more military use. Jade wasn't exactly thrilled with the new assignment, but serving in the Imperial Guard was another of his "hobbies." It kept him out of trouble, more or less.

"So, then, what shall we do to increase morale? Start a glee club?"

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

"It certainly wouldn't hurt, if it's something the men enjoy. But of course, I was thinking more along the lines of fine wine and finer companionship. A little revelry always lifts the spirits. Not everyone gets as much satisfaction out of neatness and austerity as the great Colonel Jade Curtiss." Guo Jia covered a small cough with a gloved hand, then reached to pull a book off a nearby shelf. He glanced at the cover, flipped through it briefly, then placed it face down in front of the row of books it had come from rather than putting it back in its rightful place.

"Maybe you could join the glee club instead of spending your time holed up in your office! You might enjoy it."

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

"Well, I do have a voice that can make angels cry. Babies, too. Grown men have been known to burst into tears after hearing me sing... and Fengxiao, you know perfectly well where that book goes. Between the Necronomicon and 30 Delicious Curries In 30 Minutes Or Less. I've spent enough of my life cleaning up messes, I don't need to clean up yours too." Jade neglected to mention that he'd also created most of those messes through a combination of youthful arrogance and black magic.

"It's not as if I don't enjoy a little rest and relaxation," he continued, somewhat huffily. "Even I enjoy a good soak in a hot spring. It does wonders for my arthritic joints. Your idea of 'fine companionship' is probably the kind of companionship that would throw my back out."

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

"Of course it would be if you spend all your time sitting behind a desk reading about curry. One should go out and live life! I'm sure you could find a nice young lady who'd take it easy on you. Maybe," Guo Jia smirked, "you'd find out that you don't want her to."

He took the book and put it back in its rightful place on the shelf, but then removed the tome of black magic and gave it a new home on the far right of the shelf. He leaned back a moment to survey his work, then nodded in satisfaction. "There. I think that will cause fewer unfortunate cooking accidents. Or is that what you were trying for?"

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

At 35, Jade was hardly as old as he pretended to be, but he'd done more than enough living. Like many bored, wealthy men, he'd quickly exhausted his appetite for normal entertainment and moved on to greater thrills. But while most men simply indulged in horse racing or threesomes in the bedroom, Jade had turned to forbidden magical rituals. To each his own, he supposed.

"Perhaps you're right. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately, for my back - I can't have you bringing any of those dominatrixes on board unless they're official military personnel. But I think we can manage the wine, and perhaps a buffet table... the men tire of military rations, especially when I make curry. You really don't want to know what I put in it."

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

"Considering where you shelve the cookbook, I can only imagine." Guo Jia settled back down into his chair and turned his full attention back to Jade. He could joke all he wanted, certainly it made him much more pleasant to spend time with, but the low morale amongst his men was far less of a joke as he seemed to take it as. Presenting it lightly had gotten Guo Jia the concession he'd needed, fortunately. One couldn't manipulate Jade Curtiss, but knowing how to speak to him could move mountains.

"I suppose we'll need to stock up on supplies before we deploy. What are our orders, exactly? I haven't heard a great deal about what's to happen, aside from being assigned to this lovely vessel."

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

"We're fighting the undead this time. Apparently I'm something of an acknowledged expert in the field. Ideally, we'd just fly in and lay waste to the area until the undead were willing to behave themselves and stay dead, but the Crown Prince has ordered us to work with Zeon for this mission." Jade rolled his eyes, obviously adverse to the plan. While he'd developed slightly more appreciation for the value of human life over the years, he'd never really learned to appreciate humans in general. "So I was planning to sit back and supervise while the youngsters have their fun. No sense risking my men when they can't seem to salute without wetting themselves."

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

"Maybe we should work on that first. The laundry must be horrendous." It was becoming increasingly clear what his role on the Tartarus was to be and it wasn't going to be an easy one. Humanizing Jade Curtiss was most likely out of the question, so it was going to be on Guo Jia's shoulders to turn his subordinates into a functional fighting force. That was difficult to do when dying in battle sounded like a safer thing to do than coming back alive.

"Well, that aside, it is my suggestion that we scrape up the best food we have for dinner tonight and I'll introduce myself to the men then. We'll make sure to tell them you didn't cook any of it."

[colonel-creepy.livejournal.com]

"But I'm an excellent cook. I've been told that my curry could bring the dead back to life," Jade retorted, his petulant expression spoiled by the hint of a smirk. It was only a token protest for the sake of prolonging an enjoyable disagreement that had little to do with methods of increasing morale. Guo Jia was critiquing his command style, something that even Jade's superiors were hesitant to do.

While the Tartarus performed adequately in combat, there was little cohesion between Jade and his crew. Apart from the moments of boredom in which he playfully harassed the soldiers, Jade was a distant figure who spent much of his time locked inside his study or his lab. He demanded little respect from the crew, only competence and the good sense to leave him alone when he was busy. And Jade, so used to handling affairs on his own, rarely put his ship or his men to full use. Guo Jia had seen all that in less than an hour on board.

"I suppose I'll put in an appearance at dinner, too." he said lightly, but for Jade it was a major concession. Guo Jia had earned at least that much acknowledgment. Jade couldn't recall a time when Fengxiao had ever feared him, even though tales of "The Necromancer" were still whispered throughout the Imperial Guard. The man either had unshakable self-confidence... or nothing to lose. Figuring out which was the case would keep Jade entertained at least until they reached Zeon.

[gentlemenscall.livejournal.com]

"Wonderful," Guo Jia said with a smile, "I'm sure dinner will be quite entertaining!" Most people (and there weren't many) who would have had the courage to say such a thing would have said it with at least a hint of sarcasm. It would be "entertaining" much the same as walking a tightrope over a pit of hot lava would be entertaining. It would keep your attention, but only because losing focus could be potentially hazardous to your health. Guo Jia, however, meant every word.