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

[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?

[catlinandflorian]

Florian blinked. He was caught on just how somebody could pull a weapon from nowhere. One moment it hadn't been there and the next... the Selkie was holding a scythe, fully formed. It should have taken a serious amount of Chakra to do and maintain that, if it was a spell, but he hadn't wavered. Not even as the visible manifestations of that force fluttered to the ground and disappeared into nothing.

He looked at Ari.

Catlin, though shocked at the display, was less concerned about it than Florian. She'd watched the white-haired Selkie draw. His reaction time was incredibly fast. She'd heard the gun click as he cocked it and watched him reach for it and pull it even before Bellatrix had spoken. If the other man hadn't pulled that scythe from nowhere, she decided there was a very good chance that the woman would have a bullet between her eyes before she'd managed to get the spell off.

Was she that good? Probably, but she wouldn't want to enter a quick-draw contest with this man.

[shoottokill]

Well, now. Wasn't that just a turn out for the books?

Even Gin couldn't hide his surprise. The Ryoka were an interesting pair, and they were a pair, but they'd always given the impression the impression that one was the master and one was the dog. It was common knowledge, or perhaps common assumption, that Lumi acted on Marluxia's orders.

How true was that now?

It was always possible that the master would stand in defense of his most indispensable of assets in a difficult situation, but was that what this was? Something had altered.

Gin hadn't expected it.

A glance around the room suggested that nobody else had either, though that could easily have been because of the weapon coming out of nowhere. The Berserker could do that, and now apparently so could Marluxia.

Could all of the Ryoka?

[thesilentstorm]

"Yes," he answered.

He lowered his gun, his finger lying on the trigger guard, quickly adjusted when it turned out that he didn't need to fire it after all.

His reiatsu hadn't wavered. Not as he'd reached for his gun, not as Marluxia had flared his own. He looked at Bellatrix, sizing her up. Should she be stupid enough to move, she wasn't going to see the meeting.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia waited until he was sure there was no addendum coming from Lumi before he let the scythe disappear. It broke into another flurry of petals that swirled and disappeared like blossoms in a breeze.

"Let's have no more disturbances," he said, his eyes still on the woman. It was as clear a warning that she should hold her tongue lest someone have a mind to cut it out as he was going to give. She really shouldn't need further warning.

He turned his back to her, trusting Lumi to watch for any rash actions on anyone's part while he returned to Lumi's side. A brief glance at Lumi's face told him he was being internally called a flashy bastard, and he allowed himself a faint smile in response.

[breaksthecuties]

Ari watched the Selkie man return to his partner's side. Catlin and Florian would need to be debriefed later; she trusted them to have picked up on more of the details of what exactly had just transpired than she'd caught herself.

The display of power was unmistakable however. This man, whoever he was, had just silenced another member with the pinpoint precision application of his abilities. The warning was clear, and it hadn't just gone to her.

He wasn't to be trifled with, or underestimated. Nor was his companion. She'd overseen the development of enough azi to spot that one was as sharply trained as any that came out of Reseune.

[declaregamuza]

Nel found her eyes flicking across the room to Even.

Had he known Marluxia could do that? She'd seen that trick before, performed by Saix, the berserker, in a fight against Grimmjow. The weapon he'd produced had been as effective against Arrancar hide as a Zanpakuto.

Right now, Even looked as shocked as any of them, but was that because he hadn't known of the ability, or because of the circumstances it was used in? Lumi was supposed to be the mindlessly loyal bodyguard. Marluxia was just a mage, or so they'd thought. A devastatingly powerful mage, certainly, but still a mage.

But if he had the same ability to pull a weapon from nowhere that the berserker did, what else could he do? What else could they all do?

[doesthissmellofchloroform]

Hojo pushed his glasses up his face and eyed the pink haired Selkie critically. That was certainly an interesting ability, and one he'd like to study. Drawing weapons from nowhere wasn't really possible, so where had that scythe originated from?

And the style of it was certainly unique. Was it unique to him? It didn't look like a purchased weapon that had been stored somewhere it could be reached later.

The burst of reiatsu, too. That had been higher than anticipated, and yet the whipcrack control the man seemed to have over it, to allow a flash of it and than draw it back down so quickly and steadily, suggested it may have been but a glimpse of his true strength.

Meanwhile his companion displayed no reiatsu at all, which was more interesting still.

Yes, he definitely needed to get his hands on one of these samples.

[cruciohappy]

Bellatrix took a step back as the weapon disappeared and the man turned away. Her hand went to her throat, unconsciously checking for a scratch. It had come so close she swore she could feel it grazing her skin.

She'd been made a fool of, in front of all assembled. She set her shoulders and took a deep breath. The man wouldn't dare kill her, he hadn't the first time after all.

And yet she couldn't bring herself to raise her wand at his retreating back, not with the other one still watching her. She couldn't react faster than them, she couldn't cast faster than he moved.

He'd come out of nowhere, she hadn't even finished the spell before he was there.