spira_rp | Well it's my very little wonder and it's one that I will keep

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Well it's my very little wonder and it's one that I will keep

Something was going on.

Something was always going on. The world was a big and bustling place full of the small evils people committed against each other. Road enjoyed that about life. Anywhere you went you'd find people being people everywhere, and it never mattered if those people were tall or short or old or young or lizards or dogs or boring old humes. People transcended the species barrier, and people were awful. Terrible.

Fun.

Sometimes there were the larger evils people committed against each other too, and Road was part of more than one of those. They were Noah. Clandestine, dangerous, remorseless. They had their spoons in more than one pot of evil and gave them a stir occasionally to make sure the nastiness didn't just sink to the bottom and stay there.

They didn't concern themselves with the lowerworld much. Road, and Tyki, and the others, had been busily stirring another pot on Jylland, their usual playground, when the summons had come from Khamja on the lowerworld. They'd had some work from them, in the past, but their relationship with Khamja was normally distant. The Earl had maintained the connection, because connections were good, and maybe once they were done playing on Jylland it'd be fun to find a new place to play, but when the summons had come, he hadn't been able to attend himself.

He'd sent Road in his stead, and Tyki to go with her. It was easier to be underestimated when you dressed cute and sounded cute and looked cute, and had someone that definitely looked like an adult with you.

Something was going on. Khamja were playing their cards close to their chest, but they'd requested the presence of every single member, both shadow and open, for an important meeting.

Road didn't try to surmise what exactly it was that was going on. It wouldn't involve them, at any rate, at least not yet, but there was always the opportunity for new opoortunities. New people, new places, new things to learn and use.

Their directions to the Desert Palace hadn't been the best. The place was hidden, and marking it on maps would be a good way of making it no longer hidden. Not that maps were any help when you were approaching from the other side.

Road gave their transport an affectionate stroke along its bony mask. The journey from Niflheim, where they'd been, to Rabanastre, would have been a boringly long walk if they hadn't hitched a ride. Fortunately, there wasn't a Hollow in existence that would deny a Noah asking a favour.

"Do you think The Earl will be upset if we set off their alarms?" she asked, tilting back from her perch on the Hollow's head to look at Tyki upside down. Her legs dangled down, her feet brushing dangerously close to its teeth, but it wouldn't bite. It wouldn't dare.

The route had been surprisingly well trodden for something in the depths like this. Hollows came this way regularly, but if you were used to Hollows you could tell where they veered away from a spot. They gave population centres a wide berth, or the smart ones did, so you found the paths they took might open out within sight of one, but almost never in one. Not unless they were told to.

The same thing happened here. There were probably wards, or some kind of defense mechanism to keep even the Hollows out of an area that would, normally, be one of their gathering places. Some old, forgotten, sunken ruin beneath the sands, deep in the heart of the Zertinan Caverns would be teeming with Hollows if it wasn't for the fact it wasn't forgotten, or abandoned.

The Hollows stayed away. Whatever was there was too powerful for them to think it worth taking on.

They'd come out of the Garganta into the Caverns, and then pressed on, but now might be a good time to let the Hollow leave. Not that Road was against making an entrance, but it would spoil the fun if everyone knew what they were before they knew what everyone else was.

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"Kreeth," she said, raising her eyebrows at the girl.

My, my. Wasn't today just the day for assertive young girls? Between the Arrancar and the Noah, she suspected the day was going to be interesting.

"And you are?"

Nel gave a nod, even though Tyki wasn't looking at her. "Birds," she said, "insects," worms in the ground, she thought. If it was necessary for a garden ecosystem, Marluxia had shipped it in. "There are fish in the lake, too, and one of us keeps Dreamhares." She smiled, thinking about Wonderweiss, and his Dreamhares. Animals of all kinds loved him, and he'd come such a long way in such a short time.

"The only dangerous things are the Malboros, and they're pretty good about staying near the greenhouse." She paused, and considered something for a moment. "Although the Dreamhares will give you a vicious headbutting if you try and kick one." They did not like Szayel one bit, after all, and he might deny having tried to kick one, but this was Szayel.

Road looked the minion girl over. She wasn't scared of them, like Nel was, but she also wasn't Holy elemental like Nel was. In fact, she felt barely stronger than someone you might find on the street.

And she was Aizen's? What did an Akuma hunter Captain need with a minion like this?

"I'm Road," she said, sitting up a bit on her chair and letting one leg drop down.

"Lilinette," she answered, giving the bird-woman, Kreeth, a flash of a toothy grin. "Are you mist mutants?" she asked, not bothering to dodge around the issue like others would.

Either she'd be called rude, in which case the answer was yes, or she'd get an actual answer. Either way was fine by Lilinette.

"I am," she said, not answering for the Noah.

She would consider it a stupid question if she didn't know that her kind rarely touched down on the Lowerworld. The Aegyl were uncommon, if not rare, and tended to keep to certain parts of Jylland. It was quite possible that they also populated their ancestral homeland now the Mist had retreated, but Kreeth wasn't sure. She didn't much care.

They were winged, and small in stature, so it wasn't as if a strange-coloured one would necessarily automatically be considered out of the range of normal possibility for somebody unused to seeing them. Different species came in different colours. Who was to say that Kreeth herself wasn't a normal example of her species?

Still, there was no use in hiding it. Stories of ancient Mistant Aegyls had obviously travelled downwards if Professor Hojo knew what she was, and by name no less.

"I'm a Hagsfiend," she said, and then elaborated, "a Mistant Aegyl."

She left out the fact that a Mistant Aegyl of her kind hadn't been seen for centuries, and that she also ticked another 'unusual' box in addition to her exposure to Mist. There was no need for them to know if they didn't have to.

Tyki blinked at the mention of kicking Dreamhares. He'd not seen one in person, never in real life. He'd seen plush toys of them, but had only heard of them in the wild, a little like how most people had never seen a bear with their own eyes, but were very familiar with the stuffed kind. He knew that rich children kept docile, domesticated Dreamhares as pets, but he was neither rich, nor from a place close enough to rolling meadows to see them in their natural habitat.

It still baffled him why anybody would bother to kick one. They were famous for being one of the types of wildlife that didn't attack unprovoked, but had a tendency to retaliate with magic if you struck first.

Something else Nel had said made him rather more interested than the Dreamhares, though. It gave him a thoughtful look.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said, thinking of the lake.

Road pursed her lips and pressed her finger against her bottom one. Was she a mist mutant? It wasn't as simple a question as it sounded, these days.

"I suppose so," she said, finally. The clan all shared the exact same ability, and it went hand in hand with the dark grey skin, but it was controllable so it tended to get called a kekkei genkai. Lucian Royalty summoned weapons, Noah turned grey and controlled Akuma, and the Uchiha had Sharingan. You had to be a blood relative to have the ability.

But it started as a mutation in just one person, and it got passed down, and refined through the generations.

She looked at Kreeth out of the corner of one eye. A Mistant Aegyl, she said. Aegyl were rare enough, mutated ones more so. That probably had a lot to do with her being inducted into Khamja. They liked to collect the freaks and weirdos, the people with strange abilities, and stranger ideas.

Like herself and the Earl.

Nel heard the line of questioning from Lilinette, and internally cringed. The last thing they needed was for Lilinette to inadvertently offend their guests.

"Lilinette," she said, in her best mom tone, "you're being rude."

She looked at Road, and Kreeth, before she said, "Sorry about her."

"I'm just asking," Lilinette retorted. "Lala's grey too and his is a mutation," she pointed out. It wasn't like you could avoid the fact that two of the five people in the room were grey, and the other one had wings.

Although she was an Aegyl. She didn't look like the pictures Lilinette had seen of Aegyls. She was the wrong colour, for one, but if she was a mistant, that probably explained it.

"I've heard of Aegyls," she said, approaching the table next to Road. "I haven't met one before, though."

Kreeth shrugged her shoulders at Nel's apology. It was an obvious question to ask and asking about it wasn't as rude now as it might have been. Long gone were the days when Mistant children were given up for fear of judgment or segregated from the normal folk. Still, Nel obviously felt responsible for the girl, but that wasn't much of a surprise. She was young, and already the underling of a Khamja member. She probably didn't have any real parents, so Nel likely served as a substitute.

"As far as I'm aware, most of them stick to Jylland," Kreeth said. "This is my first time coming here, so I can't say I'm much different in that regard."

Kreeth felt a little amusement at being in the room with a couple of Noah, though. In a room of Normal people, Kreeth's unusual pallor was taken as evidence of her mutation. It was greyish if not grey. Compared to Road and Tyki, she probably looked a lot more normal. It was almost funny.

Tyki closed the back door and helped himself to a chair. He felt too tall in a room full of, for the most part, short women, so sitting down felt like a good idea. It wasn't that he was shy, or didn't like being the center of attention, it was just that it made him feel like a spare dinner.

It did make him wonder as to the status of Mistants in the lowerworld, though. Asking about somebody's mutation was apparently still considered rude here, even if it was obvious enough as to turn you grey, or blacken your wings. Aegyls tended to have wings like birds of prey, but Kreeth looked more like a raven or crow. He knew that in the past they'd faced problems, legal and social, but so had Selkies down here. He should probably have asked the Earl.

"Did you fly here?" Lilinette asked. Aegyl wings worked, she knew that. There was even a job class just for them because of it, that was basically a Dragoon but with wings. Lala had taken it up ever since he'd come back furry and carrying Ienzo.

It would have been a long flight, though, if she had.

She looked at the man when he sat down and wrinkled her nose. He smelled like the creepy old grumpy scientist; she could smell him from here.

Nel gave a sigh as Lilinette pressed on with her questions. Sometimes she envied Lilinette, because the girl had next to no social graces, and it wasn't that she was unaware, she just knew that she was young, and hadn't been brought up to care. Nel didn't know much about Lilinette's past, but anyone that had been inducted into the Arrancar before they hit eighteen inevitably had some tragedy there.

"Would you like a drink?" she offered, giving Tyki a soft smile. They'd probably benefit from having someone show them around, too. It would be a good idea for someone to show them where the rooms were so they could pick one, or two, she wasn't sure, andgive them the rundown of where things were, and where to avoid.

Road settled back in her chair, letting her other leg dangle onto the floor as she watched Lilinette. She wouldn't be hard to get information out of about the rest of Aizen's underlings. Eager to talk, eager to ask questions, which usually went hand in hand with eager to answer questions, too.

Maybe Road would get some time alone with her later.

Tyki, meanwhile, seemed to be having an effect on Nel, and Road couldn't keep the grin off her face. Was he going to play with his food? She hoped so.

Tyki returned Lilinette's look without comment. He knew why she was looking at him like that, but he didn't care. He'd smoked it outside, what more did the brat want? Nel was far more deserving of his attention. She was obviously terrified of both of them, but she was still going out of her way to be pleasant.

"Please," he said, giving her a charming smile. His grey skin, lips a shade darker, made his white teeth stand out. "Tea, coffee, I'm not fussy what it is."

He wondered if she spent a lot of time in the kitchen, or if that was her job while waiting for new members to arrive. It didn't sound likely that somebody else's minion would be put on greeting duty, but it wasn't impossible either.

"I did," Kreeth answered. "I figured I'd stand out a lot on an airship."

That, and her own wings, ragged-looking though they might be, were perfectly functional. She looked after them well enough and getting to stretch them wasn't something to sniff at. She'd even done a small lap of the grounds to see what the gardens looked like. It was refreshing to not have to stick to the ground all the time.

She looked up as the door swung open again and blinked. That was odd. She hadn't felt anybody approach.

Lumi could feel people in the kitchen. There were five of them, three strangers, two he knew. One of them was Neliel, one of the kitchen regulars, and the other was the Arrancar girl that occasionally made a nuisance of herself. The others... he didn't know. He suspected they'd come to the Palace early in preparation for the meeting about Aizen's arrest.

All three of them, if he was any judge, were Dark Elemental. It wasn't a particularly common element, not compared to the more often seen Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Thunder options, so that was a little unusual.

He was tired, but not as much as he had been. He'd spent a few days away from the palace, in Marluxia's company, and hadn't got back until late last night. He'd gone to bed immediately and slept in, for all he probably should have been more sensible with his sleep pattern. He'd woken up thirsty, so the kitchen was his first port of call.

He pushed the door open and glanced around at the faces inside. Two of them were a dark grey, as if somebody had willed graphite sketches to life. The other had wings. She wasn't an entirely normal colour either, that much was obvious, but she didn't stand out as much as the other two. Marluxia was going to find them very interesting, that was for certain.

He gave Nel a silent nod of greeting and crossed the kitchen to the kettle. Strangers in the kitchen did not mean he couldn't have a cup of coffee.

Road's eyes went wide and she looked around as the door opened. There was no one there, there couldn't be anyone there, she hadn't felt anyone.

And yet there someone was, tall and silent, with long white hair.

How was it possible for him to slip completely under Road's perception? No one could do that, not even the Earl, and he was pretty good at hiding when he wanted to stay undetected.

She watched the man nod to Nel and ignore the rest of them as he made his way across the kitchen and towards the kettle. He had to be a member of the clan, a full one, like her, but she'd never met him before, and she knew nothing at all about him. None of the information the Earl had mentioned a Selkie able to completely suppress his reiatsu.

For the first time, Road found herself looking at someone she didn't want to mess with, even a little.

Nel tried very hard not to smile back at Tyki too obviously. He was rather handsome, and he was just as charming.

He also made her stomach flip with fear, to say nothing of how Gamuza was desperate to escape his presence unnoticed. It wasn't a bad combination; handsome, charming, and frightening, but that was a line of thought Nel needed to stop herself from pursuing.

She was distracted by the dull surprise that was Lumi's entrance to the kitchen. If you stayed in the Palace long enough you got used to that little jolt that went down your spine at a door opening unexpectedly, and eventually every time it happened your brain went 'Lumi' and you got on with things. It wasn't unexpected when Marluxia was with him, of course, but they weren't attached to each other's hips.

"Afternoon," she said, smiling at Lumi and rising from her seat. "Do you want me to get that?" she offered, "I'm making one anyway."

Lilinette gave a visible jump when the door opened and Lumi walked in. You never knew when he was around a corner, and Lilinette took it as personal insult that he didn't make more noise.

She directed a stern pouting at and a glare at the back of Lumi's head.

"I suppose you would," she agreed, turning back to Kreeth the mistant Aegyl. "So are you all here for the meeting?" she asked. She had a whole host of questions along that avenue to pursue.

Lumi gave a nod and turned to lean on the counter, out of the way of Nel's preparations.

"Thank you," he said, addressing Nel.

He folded his arms and looked over those in the room, both the strangers and the other Arrancar. They all seemed to be quite uncomfortable and he didn't miss Lilinette's glare.

"Have you all come in for the meeting?" He asked, his voice soft, like that of a teacher who knew they didn't have to raise it to command the attention of the class.

Road's discomfort at the man walking in undetected did not pass Tyki by unnoticed. He looked over at her, saw her wide eyes and didn't see a trace of the impertinent girl she usually was on her face. The man frightened her. Now that was unusual.

He didn't look all that scary, besides. He was of a height with him, as pale as he was dark, and quite expressionless, the lack almost bordering on disdain.

"Yeah," he said.

"The first few pebbles before the veritable landslide," Kreeth added, grinning.

He was certainly an interesting fellow. With the ability to move around ghost-like and undetected, it was quite likely he wasn't a minion sworn to somebody else, but a member in his own right.

Nel took over the coffee making with a smile. Since Tyki didn't seem to have a preference, she opted to make that for him, too.

You could feel the change in atmosphere at Lumi's entrance. The place had fallen quiet, in the same way a wood did when there was a predator nearby. Lumi seemed to used to having that effect on people that he commanded the room without thinking about it.

Was he stronger than them, she wondered? It was impossible to know for sure, but the thing was, the important thing, was that every single one of them was asking themselves the same question, and coming to the same conclusion.

"I imagine we're going to be very busy over the next few days," she said. She should probably stock up the kitchens. Maybe she should ask Kuja who they were expecting in case there were any particular preferences, or requirements.

Road tucked her surprise at this man's entrance away, and filed it away for future reference. He was one she'd be reporting on to the Earl, that much was certain.

She leaned forward, resting her elbow on the table and regarding the newcomer from his feet up to his hair. He had very long hair, which was normally a mark of someone that cared more about aesthetics than ability, but when you combined it with his total reiatsu suppression, suddenly you had to ask if he could keep his hair that long because no one got close enough to cause him a problem with it.

"So who are you?" she asked, sticking her chin on her hand.

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