Killers everywhere, it ain't no place to run.

[intangibleman]

The Desert Palace, all in all, wasn't such a bad place.

Tyki rather liked it. It was almost lively under the near funereal, subdued air. There might have been a fog hanging over everything, the heavy weight of a member missing, but underneath that was a subtle layer of anticipation, a mountain-stream burble of excitement at what the meeting might hold. For those normally resident, the reaction to strangers was mixed. Some approached the situation with their heads held high, giving no indication one way or another how they felt about the sudden intrusion. Others seemed nervous, the unknown quantities enough to frighten them, not that they broadcasted it. For the minions, there seemed to be a novelty to it. It almost seemed to take the edge off the fear the Arrancar were harbouring.

Almost.

Neliel, however, apparently Sosuke Aizen's biggest fan, seemed positively mired in it. There were moments when she came out of herself a little, but it was obvious that he was on her mind. Him, or her precarious position.

The young girl Road had taken to seemed less concerned, but it was possible she didn't understand the gravity of her situation. The short man with the pet Malboro covered whatever worries he had with a bright veneer of smirking sarcasm, but Tyki could practically smell the fear on him. The lanky Tag with the attitude problem didn't give anything away, instead choosing to sneer one-eyed at everybody, teeth grit and bared like an animal caged, as though he didn't care whether he lived or died so long as he got to sink his teeth into somebody. It was possible this was the case, but Tyki had rarely seen somebody who didn't care when it came down to it. Perhaps he'd get to see his real feelings on the matter after the meeting's conclusion. That might be fun.

The others hadn't presented themselves for inspection.

Tyki found himself enjoying it all. Road was keeping an eye on things, doing her best impression of a precocious young girl there under Tyki's watchful eye, but the reverse was probably more true. She knew more than he did, about everything. It was her who told him what would become of the Arrancar if things went south, her who told him about the members he had never heard of, who he'd never bothered to read the backgrounds of. He simply watched and enjoyed.

What had surprised him was that the majority of the members present and, indeed, those expected, were natives of their own floating continent, and not Ivalice. Some of the residents were certainly lowerworlders, but all of the visitors seemed to come from Niflheim, Lucis or the Jyllandi Union. Was it merely a trip for them, a chance for the to size each other up on neutral ground, with Aizen's imprisonment serving as little more than window dressing? That was possible. None of the had any real personal investment in the man, nor his continued safety, or that of his underlings. He suspected Kreeth was simply there for the holiday.

There hadn't been any newcomers for a few days. The last had been the two from the Union and before those, the Lucian envoys, apparent nobodies there in the stead of somebody important. It was probably fortunate the absent lowerworlders didn't send the same in their places, or the palace would run the risk of being standing room only, with underlings turfed out of their rooms to house the temporarily higher-ranked dogs of members. Road said they were still waiting on a woman from Reseune, a town that bordered the two major halves of the Niflheim Empire, and some mid-tier noble from Nagapur who Road, all full of childlike delight, was expecting to kick off at some point during her stay.

There had been some arrivals last night, but they'd come in without fanfare, or announcement. They felt familiar, so Tyki assumed they were residential minions, gone and returned. He'd soon find out, anyway. He'd left his hat and cane in his room, but still made sure to dress nicely. His white side wasn't welcome in such a place, and the black was far, far classier. He found himself gravitating to the kitchen without effort and he was almost surprised how quick such a thing had happened. Perhaps that was how the palace got you.

He pushed open the door.

"Good morning," he said.

Comments

[intangibleman]

Tyki's license lacked the part filled in that said he'd been accepted as the holder of a pilot's license, or one for ground-based vehicles in any country that required them. His Classes were, similarly, blank. That didn't say much, it simply didn't give a clue as to what weapons he might be proficient with. It wasn't hard to carry and use weapons you weren't cleared to use, and simply having the Commando class on your license meant that you were automatically permitted to use anything. His had nothing.

"Quite useful," he said. "Weapons aren't restricted in Niflheim and pilot and driving licenses are a separate thing."

He didn't need the anyway. He couldn't fly anything.

[thatsit]

Ignis dried his hands and shot Szayel a withering look. "If you're made uncomfortable by my conversing with an engaging and attractive young lady, there are plenty of other rooms in this Palace in which you can take your breakfast." He turned then, away from Szayel, and all but lit up as Apache asked about the car.

It wasn't his car, it was on loan from the Crown, but he did wish it was his car. Lucis had been behind the curve in terms of airship technology, but what they lacked in genuine technological advancement they made up for in style. "Don't be taken in by its appearance," he said, masking his glee about the Regalia poorly, "it is, in fact, an airship as well as a roadworthy vehicle."

[declaregamuza]

The idea of having to carry multiple forms of ID in order to have all your licenses sounded inconvenient, to Nel. But then, having to wear something that declared you to be a mist mutant sounded even worse again.

She would have to ask Apache about that later. "A bit different down here, then," she said. Better, too, she hoped, or at least for Apache. Tyki obviously didn't have to deal with the tag business, so maybe he found a license restricting.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

If Szayel was forced to roll his eyes any harder he was going to roll them right out of his head. What was the point in talking to someone, especially someone like Apache, unless it was business, or an attempt to get them into bed? It wasn't as if Apache was interesting.

[cierva]

Apache looked surprised, but interested. She, still leaning on one hand on the table, straightened up a little.

"How?" She asked, thinking back to the sleek, four-wheeled vehicle in the hangar.

Parts of the Jyllandi Union maintained a traditionalist outlook, with magic being far more common than technology. Nagapur wasn't one of these cities. Close to the border of the notoriously modern and technologically hungry Niflheim Empire, Nagapur was an industrial city, no matter how much it tried to put aside that part of its history. The position it held on the river had always been useful. She'd seen what contraptions used the roads these days, and they were a far cry from both the chocobo-pulled carts once common and the Al Bhed technology of the Lowerworld.

The car was different from all of it. Lucian technology apparently differed from that of Ivalice, Niflheim and the Union. It was flashier, for one.

[intangibleman]

"A little bit. Not any people have the licenses though," he said, thinking about it. "There's a new train... they have been linking up all the towns and cities."

Even those in the Misty expanse of darkest Überwald. They used to be impossible to reach, except by days and days of travel on a Chocobo, or as part of a caravan, and even then the monsters who called the wilderness home made it a crapshoot as to whether you'd ever arrive at your destination with all your limbs intact.

[thatsit]

Ignis moved to take a seat near Apache. "The original design is a car," he explained. A luxury car, of course, the Regalia represented the finest in Lucian vehicle manufacturing. "It's been modified to transform into an airship when required."

He gave a small shrug. "It did mean sacrificing storage capacity, but that's not a huge concern in the grand scheme of things." Certainly not when you were of the royal household. It was an inconvenience at worst, and it wasn't as if the Regalia was something you'd take on months long trips in the wilderness.

"Perhaps I can show you, later?"

[declaregamuza]

Nel recalled the train journey in Nabradia that they'd taken to Luxerion. It wasn't her preferred mode of transport, she had to be honest. Being stuck in a metal can on rails made her antsy. The fact there was nowhere to go if things went wrong had tickled at the back of her mind.

On the other hand, it was fast, direct, and a lot more comfortable than riding a chocobo for hours.

"We only really have trains in a few places here," she said. "I suppose they're a lot safer for lone travelers," she conceded. "Depending on the traveler."

[intangibleman]

"They're good for places you can't use airships," Tyki said, giving a bit of a smile. He'd only been on a train once or twice, and had spent the bulk of the journey staring out of the window at the landscape whizzing by. "They're still a bit of a novelty out in Überwald."

Places like Gralea and Cartanica had been linked by rail for years. Including the more backwoods towns and cities in lands the Empire had quietly claimed as their own was necessary, or the people there simply wouldn't accept their rule. They barely did anyway, with some not acknowledging their inclusion at all, and others deciding that it made no difference whether they were left alone with a distant ruler, or left alone without one. So long as nobody tried to micromanage the villages, towns and outposts, there'd be no uprisings.

[cierva]

"Yeah," Apache said, looking interested. "That sounds good. I've never seen anything like it."

The thought cheered her up. Ignis wasn't her type, and she absolutely was not flirting, and she was pretty sure Nel was right about him batting for Szayel's team, but the car sounded fun. Yylfordt would probably like it, too. It'd be extra fun if she got to see it before that gearhead got his fingerprints all over the sleek and shiny bonnet.

[declaregamuza]

Nel smiled at Tyki. "I've only been on one once," she admitted. "It's definitely the easiest way to get past Jagd, but I still prefer airships."

Or chocobos. Hell, these days she could release and go for a casual trot instead. It was a lot less limiting.

[thatsit]

"You'd be more than welcome to look," Ignis said. It wasn't as if the Regalia was brimming with top secret Lucian technology either. The rest of the world made faster, bigger airships, so there was nothing to try and steal. "It's certainly a unique model, especially outside of Lucis."

The Regalia was unique inside Lucis, too, but Ignis wasn't about to go telling everyone that.