Lumi watched him move and let his lips cover his teeth again. The bridge of his nose remained creased for a moment longer.
He wasn't used to being challenged. Other people in the palace had accepted that he was dangerous just by general exposure and avoided squaring up to him simply because he was an unknown quantity and attacking him was likely to be detrimental to their health. Instead of doing the same, Alucard hard decided to come at him like a dog in defense of its master.
Backing down himself in that instant would have shattered the effortlessly cultivated image he'd managed to grow in his time at the palace. Would he still command the same sort of careful deference if he'd been observed doing such? He doubted it.
It was funny, in a way. The generally accepted dynamic of his own relationship with Marluxia was one of master-and-bodyguard. It was incorrect, they both knew it, but the underestimations that assumption caused was useful for them both, so they didn't bother to correct people. It would become obvious one day, but there was no point bursting the bubble before it needed to be.
Alucard and Integra, conversely, openly had that sort of relationship. Broadcasted it. It was effective, quite likely. A reiatsu like Alucard's would be enough to make most people give him a wide berth. Integra's control was in question, though. It had taken more than once to get him to back off, but that could have been for effect. Would he be more immediate in a more serious circumstance?
It was something to go back to Marluxia with, at any rate.
"What I'm approaching," Lumi said, voice level, "is the kettle."
no subject
He wasn't used to being challenged. Other people in the palace had accepted that he was dangerous just by general exposure and avoided squaring up to him simply because he was an unknown quantity and attacking him was likely to be detrimental to their health. Instead of doing the same, Alucard hard decided to come at him like a dog in defense of its master.
Backing down himself in that instant would have shattered the effortlessly cultivated image he'd managed to grow in his time at the palace. Would he still command the same sort of careful deference if he'd been observed doing such? He doubted it.
It was funny, in a way. The generally accepted dynamic of his own relationship with Marluxia was one of master-and-bodyguard. It was incorrect, they both knew it, but the underestimations that assumption caused was useful for them both, so they didn't bother to correct people. It would become obvious one day, but there was no point bursting the bubble before it needed to be.
Alucard and Integra, conversely, openly had that sort of relationship. Broadcasted it. It was effective, quite likely. A reiatsu like Alucard's would be enough to make most people give him a wide berth. Integra's control was in question, though. It had taken more than once to get him to back off, but that could have been for effect. Would he be more immediate in a more serious circumstance?
It was something to go back to Marluxia with, at any rate.
"What I'm approaching," Lumi said, voice level, "is the kettle."