You wanna get ahead?

[breaksthecuties]

Ariane Emory, Ari to those that knew her well, was a busy woman. When the call had come that Khamja were holding a meeting she nearly ignored it. She didn't attend Khamja's concerns often; they were a sideline, a way to keep an ear to the ground for rumblings in the distance. When you ran such a high profile laboratory complex as Reseune, it helped to know what was going on in the outside world. The shifts in politics might not impact science, but they could impact things like funding, or where those holding the purse strings wanted you to direct your attention.

The actual day of the meeting, however, had fallen into a gap in her schedule. It was a convenient gap, all the more convenient because of what she expected the meeting would be about. Khamja liked to keep its fingers in multiple pies, and the ongoing tension between Niflheim and Lucis was the bigger concern within Niflheim, but whisperings of the outbreak of war on the lowerworld of Spira had reached even there.

Galbadia had taken a Gotei Captain hostage on false charges, and said Gotei Captain happened to be one of the two resident Captains in Archades. One was the lead scientist at Draklor, the other was supposedly a kindly, benevolent figure that had influence in Archadian upper echelons. Ari had her doubts about the kindly and benevolent part; no one rose to that sort of position by being nice, but it was the common rhetoric.

She'd taken the journey time to educate herself on the political situation, and the individuals involved. Galbadia and the Archadian Empire had tense relations. Politically speaking, they'd been eyeballing each other for some time. Galbadia's military were highly effective. If they weren't they'd be an Archadian territory by now. Their remit thus far seemed to have been defensive, but now they'd taken an action that was distinctly offensive.

And curious. Arresting someone whose role lent them diplomatic immunity and a pass to cross borders in the pursuit of their duty was treacherous ground to walk. There had to be some reason other than mere trespass. Possibly, they believed he'd been spying, but that seemed like very dangerous accusations to make right now.

There were people in Khamja whose entire reason for existing was the sourcing of information that couldn't be obtained by other means. That was why Ari had gone to the effort of attending. It was likely Khamja knew more about what was taking place than any single given side of the affair right now.

Her two personal azi accompanied her. She rarely went anywhere without them. They were bodyguards, but they were also companions; people she could trust to listen and retain information without spilling it to undesirable ears. There had been no reason not to bring them.

Ari had been to Khamja's Desert Palace only once before, some years ago. It had been a brief visit for the purposes of her induction into Khamja's ranks. Still, some memories sparked along the way as they moved from the airship port to the main entrance. She remembered the main entrance, and it, it seemed, remembered her, opening to a touch of a glyph. It was a magical defence system. Ari couldn't say she approved. She much preferred more high tech methods of protecting information. Passwords and retina scans were less prone to failure over the course of time.

Though this would have been put in place by Kuja, who she remembered was rather proud of his ability as a mage. Perhaps he was confident the wards would last, or perhaps he carefully reapplied them on a regular basis. It was a complicated bit of magic, she had to grant him that.

The first entrance took them into a corridor, and beyond that lay another entrance. Catlin and Florian were probably working the Room in their heads already; a bottleneck like this would have them on guard. The next entrance opened out into a much larger hall, expensively decorated and, Ari had to admit, a little grander than she remembered.

The place also thronged with the reiatsu of people. It certainly hadn't been this well occupied the last time she'd been here.

Comments

[cruciohappy]

Bellatrix sneered. She understood Ivalician, of course, which was lucky. These people would insist on conversing strictly in their barbaric tongue.

"Stinking up the place," she growled, in Jyllandi, "just like some of their owners." Her eyes fell across the assembled Selkies, from the one that was lurking near the doors with her head down to the ones that had the audacity to try and command the room.

[hagsfiend]

Kreeth grinned, white teeth showing bright against her odd colouration. She wasn't only a non-Hyur, she was a Mistant non-Hyur, same as Kuja, so Bellatrix probably had it in for her two-fold. It didn't worry her. Bella Lestrange wasn't the only powerful witch in the room.

"Can't you manage the Lowerworld tongue?" She asked, speaking slowly, as if to a simple person. She cocked her head to one side, owl-like, expression fixed.

Must be all the inbreeding, she thought.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi fixed his eyes on Bellatrix, pupils narrow.

To those who hadn't spent time with him and Marluxia, it would be easy to assume he was an underling. His body language was a match for that of the newcomer's two black-clad minions and even many of those who knew him for a member thought him to be firmly under Marluxia's thumb at worst and a bodyguard at best. Marluxia was the brains, Lumi was the one you had to be careful of.

He narrowed his eyes.

She was easily the most unpleasant person there, and Khamja was generally a melting pot of thoroughly unpleasant people. She had a problem, from what he and Marluxia had been able to find out, with anybody who wasn't a dark-haired Hume. She held the sort of archaic racism that history from his world had all but forgotten, choosing instead to heap their prejudices on other species rather than other colourations of the same. To her eyes, Marluxia and himself were Selkies. The same could be said of Ienzo, and Even was likely seen as an Al Bhed, if not a typical one.

She set his teeth on edge.

When Kreeth spoke, Lumi knew that a switch had just been flipped. It was a question, one softly spoken, but the bird-woman may as well have thrown a punch. He took a half-step in front of Marluxia, far from the only bodyguard in the room to notice the subtle straining of tension.

[catlinandflorian]

Catlin observed the conversation, understanding the conversation far more easily than she would have otherwise. She spoke Ivalician, as did Florian, but their native language was more comfortable to her ears.

When the Aegyl spoke, Catlin straightened up, her posture stiffening. Florian's fingers brushed his sidearm, the action mostly hidden by his position in relation to the two women.

[shieldoftheprince]

Gladio moved.

His movement wasn't as graceful as that of the azi, or Marluxia's companion, but it didn't need to be. He simply unfolded his arms, taking a step further from Ignis, putting a foot between the two of them.

He could almost hear it, the imagined high-pitched twang of a rope worn to the last few strands. Any more weight and the whole thing would snap.

Others had obviously seen the same thing coming. The obvious bodyguards aside, the tall Al Bhed with the two younger men had put himself just slightly in front of them, his jaw set. Paradoxically, some of the others seemed deliberately unbothered by the growing tension. The male Noah hadn't moved to protect the girl, but he'd paused with his cigarette halfway to his lips. The grinning Selkie who had vouched for the boy hadn't reacted at all, except for a slight widening of his smile.

He held his breath.

[cruciohappy]

Bellatrix felt the irritation rising up her spine. That filthy little tag had dared to address her.

Dared to suggest she was stupid, no less.

Her fingers curled around her wand, but she didn't draw it. "I can speak that pathetic excuse for a language perfectly well," she spat back at the winged creature. "It's disgusting enough to have to address filth without having to sully my own tongue to do it."

[thatsit]

Ignis breathed in slowly through his nose. If he threw one of his daggers right now, it might just stick in midair, the tension was certainly thick enough.

Gladio, Lumi, the two azi, all looked ready for a tense situation to escalate further. Meanwhile, the Jyllandi woman, obviously one of the very old racist type that probably considered kekkei genkai to be a dirtying of a bloodline, was doing her best to antagonise things further.

[hellsingsforyou]

Integra eyed the dark haired woman. Her accent suggested she was from Nagapur, which might explain a bit about her views. The nobles there could be very disapproving of any blood impurity. Even blonde hair was too much for them to take.

Behind her, still hiding behind his hat, Alucard chuckled. The sound filtered into the tense room, making things worse.

"Alucard," she warned, quietly.

"I admire a woman who says what she thinks," he answered, lifting his head up. Integra didn't turn to look at him. "Want me to rip her throat out?" he growled.

"Don't make me have you stand outside," she answered.

"She called you filth," he pointed out.

Integra ignored that. She'd been called worse, much worse, but it always got Alucard's back up more than he was willing to admit. Which was why he could be a pain to control sometimes.

"I wouldn't want you to get food poisoning," she told him.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia tilted his head. He didn't speak Jyllandi, he relied on Lumi to translate things like that for him. He was working on it, but learning the local languages came lower down the list of priorities when you had someone who innately understood them all to rely on.

You didn't need to speak Jyllandi to understand the mood of the room, however, and the things that were being said. Every bodyguard, and Even, had moved at near enough the same time, taking on a protective stance. Lumi included.

Meanwhile Gin looked to find the whole situation very amusing.

Khamja ate its own. It was often touted that the leading cause of death for members of Khamja was other members of Khamja. Still, it might delay this meeting a little if someone were to die just before it. They couldn't very well have it over the body, after all, and according to Spiran tradition, someone would have to do a Sending anyway.

[hagsfiend]

Kreeth looked over at Alucard when she heard talking, interested. It was partly interest, anyway. It was also to show blatant ignorance to Bellatrix. Turning away from her to pay attention to something more interesting? That was bound to bother her. She suppressed a smirk at the words exchanged.

[theschemer]

Even had stepped ahead of him and Kadaj both, much to his surprise.

Both were capable in a fight, even if his capabilities in a situation like this would be limited to Genjutsu and a hastily erected shield brought about by Alchemy, but Even, a man who openly claimed to be non-combatant, had taken up the bodyguard position.

It made sense, he supposed. On some level. His specialty was defense. He wasn't entirely sure whether to be insulted or not. On the one hand, it was almost ... nice of him. On the other ...

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi raised an eyebrow nearly imperceptibly at Bellatrix's words. She thought it beneath her to speak a language other than her own? That really was ridiculous. Sometimes it worked not to speak them, especially if you didn't want others to know, but to refuse just out of principle?

He leaned in to Marluxia. "She's refusing to speak Ivalician," he clarified, in case the specifics of the situation were lost on him. "The Aegyl is goading her."

He rather thought she liked the attention. An argument, even in Jyllandi, a language spoken by roughly half of the people in the room, if everyone was being honest with their abilities, put her on the stage. If that allowed her to spout her unpleasant opinions, regardless of who she offended, either with them or her ignorant use of Jyllandi over Ivalician, she likely revelled in it.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia turned slightly towards Lumi and smirked as he was carefully enlightened about the situation. This woman reminded him a little of Larxene. Hot headed, and prone to speak without concern for present company. Perhaps under the mistaken belief that no one would touch her.

Easily goaded, too. They seemed to have that in common. He spied the wand in the woman's hand, grasped in her fingers like a talisman, but not yet being brandished. If she raised it at someone she was going to find herself short an arm, given present company. Everyone was watching her.

"I doubt anything she has to say is worth listening to at any rate," he replied, his voice low, but not low enough to be a whisper.

[lesstravelled]

Road's grin spread slowly across her face.

Integra's dog wanted to rip a throat out, and everybody else in the room was on high alert, all because of this woman.

It was like watching a needle spin. Round and round it went, and where it stopped no one knew. But it was probably going to be fun once it did.

Right now the needle was still spinning. Someone was going to have to make the woman shut up. Would it be Alucard? Lumi? Even was all guarded over his two little Selkie boys. And she knew how well trained Ari's azi were.

She slipped her hands around Tyki's arm and clung, hanging on to him like a small child in the middle of a fair, at risk of running off and getting lost in their excitement.

[cruciohappy]

Bellatrix turned at the sound of talking. It was two of the Selkies, the foul white haired one and his disgusting pink haired friend. There was something about them that made Bellatrix's skin crawl. They seemed close enough that they were likely more than just friends, but of course, filth such as them would be deviants in other ways, too.

"Have the manners to address me, boy," she spat in Jyllandi, aiming the words at the white haired one more than the other, because he'd been the one to explain to his stupid friend what was happening, "or else learn your place."

[thesilentstorm]

Boy, was it? He narrowed his eyes, his lip curling to reveal the tips of fanged teeth.

Marluxia hadn't given him an order, but he wasn't held to his word, no matter what the others believed. He didn't reach for the hilt of his sword, nor for his sidearm, or any number of the other little sharp things he had stowed about his person. Instead he took a step forward, his reiatsu entirely suppressed in spite of the situation being enough to make that of others flare and waver.

"I'm afraid you'll have to speak Ivalician if you wish to speak to me," he said, voice as soft and as dangerous as a knife being pulled from a boot.

[cruciohappy]

"How dare you," Bellatrix hissed, her anger tipping over to the point where it no longer burned, but became sharp, and focused. "You filthy little halfbreed," she spat.

She never did boil over into frothing rage. She never had. It had never been becoming of someone of her standing. Instead when Bellatrix got angry it became cold, and calculated. That was probably why she'd always been so adept with certain spells. They were nowhere near as effective if they were performed in anger.

Well, she'd said he had to learn his place, so perhaps he needed a very sharp, very hard forgotten lesson.

"You presume to give me orders?" She drew her wand, the spell already leaving her lips; "Cruci--"

[gracefuldahlia]

Bellatrix was cut off as a sudden burst of pink petals fluttered around the room. Marluxia held Graceful Dahlia just below the woman's chin.

He'd seen her raise the wand, and he'd familiarised himself enough with Spira's native magic to recognise the first syllable of the spell and the shape of the magic being formed. He wasn't about to let Lumi suffer the effects of something like that. It was a vile little spell, and something Marluxia dearly hoped Larxene would never learn.

Not unless she was on his side, anyway.

Whether it was the shock, or the sensation of his reiatsu flaring, or perhaps the feeling of something cold and sharp being thrust an inch from her skin, it had the desired effect of stopping the woman mid-cast.

Petals floated away towards the edge of the room before Marluxia spoke, his voice low, but serious.

"I strongly advise you reconsider that course of action."

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi's eyes went wide.

He had his gun half out of his coat, already cocked -- he'd gone for it the moment he felt a shift in her reiatsu, before she'd started the spell, but he'd stopped when Marluxia had acted.

The tip of his scythe was barely an inch from Bellatrix. Lumi followed the straight line of the handle to Marluxia's hand, then from his arm to his face. Then he remembered to breathe. He hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath.

It was agreed that Marluxia wouldn't use that ability. They weren't supposed to display it, none of them. The Clan were supposed to assume that it was an ability unique to Saix, like Even's control over ice. It was supposed to be for emergencies only, a trump card.

...so what was that spell?

"Marluxia," he said, softer than the last words he'd spoken, the threat in them replaced with a question.

[thechillyacademic]

Of all the possible outcomes of that tension snapping, Even had not expected that.

He stood, eyes wide, as petals drifted to the floor. He'd been on the receiving end of that particular move before, he knew how terrifying it could be to be talking one moment, and having to look down the lengthy handle of a particularly dangerous weapon the next.

It was a shock to see Marluxia standing there, the scythe of his former life there, on show, in a meeting full of Khamja members, but it was even more surprising to consider the reason.

Lumi was supposed to be the bodyguard.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia didn't take his eyes off the Jyllandi woman, but he could feel every pair of eyes in the room taking in the tableau. Him, standing there, with a huge pink scythe materialised from apparently nowhere, getting between a crazed woman and Lumi.

If he listened, he could hear the sharp recalculations going on as people re-evaluated his and Lumi's positions relative to each other, and their relationship.

"Are you unharmed, Lumi?" he asked, without looking around. He kept Graceful Dahlia an unwavering inch from the woman's throat, holding it steady with practiced ease. The petals that had spread across the room had dissipated. His reiatsu held as unshakeable as before he'd moved.

When they got out of here Lumi was going to accuse him of grandstanding, and Marluxia wouldn't be able to honestly deny the claim.

[thatsit]

Ignis stared. It wasn't often he was lost for words, but now, if he'd been required to speak he knew words would elude him.

The ability Marluxia had just displayed looked very much like the Lucian Royal family's kekkei genkai, the same one he and Gladio bore. Yet that wasn't possible. It was, by its nature, passed down in the blood.

And something else had been off about it. The petals, the absence of blue light. When he or Gladio drew a weapon from the armiger it was like reaching in to somewhere they were stored and pulling it out.

There shouldn't be petals that withered away and felt of the individual's reiatsu. The drawing too had been too quick. If you watched you could spot the blue outline of the weapon, or item if one had ever witnessed Noctis drawing a fishing rod from the armiger, forming in the air before it was manifest in the person's hand.

This hadn't had that pause. And it felt wrong. The application didn't seem as if it had been the same.

But unless someone had closely observed someone else using the kekkei genkai, this would be a passing facsimile.

And it shouldn't be possible. It was almost as if someone had found a different way to achieve the same thing.

Ignis pushed his glasses up with one hand and observed Marluxia's weapon. It was unconventional to say the least. Scythes weren't entirely unknown, but they certainly weren't a popular weapon, and this one was pink.

Lumi was meant to be the bodyguard, by all accounts, and Marluxia the one holding the leash. Ignis had held his doubts, but he hadn't expected something like this.

[lesstravelled]

Road felt her breath catch. That burst of reiatsu was more than she'd expected from Marluxia, who'd always seemed like a conniving mage.

Looked like that assumption needed re-evaluating.

And the weapon. It certainly went with his hair.

It had shut Bellatrix up, though. Road was almost sorry he'd stopped an inch away from her. Only almost, because the look on her face made up for the rest of it.

[cruciohappy]

Bellatrix lowered her wand, barely daring to breath. The weapon loomed, so that it was all she could see.

Shock overtook everything else at that moment, and she leaned back slightly, her foot sliding backwards to take her further away from the weapon still being held so close to her.

[shieldoftheprince]

Gladio stood, stunned.

He wanted to look at Ignis, but he couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away from the scene before him. A lowerworlder, a lowerworld Selkie, had just produced a weapon from nowhere. There shouldn't have been anybody on Ivalice who could achieve that, nobody but him and Ignis, anyway. It just ... shouldn't have been possible.

He suspected this would be the topic of conversation following the meeting, regardless of what came up in it. Who gave a toss about some member's prison sentence when this had happened?