Nel had recovered from the fight with the Ryoka. She'd fared better than anyone that wasn't Ulquiorra in it and had recovered about as well. Still, she might have recovered, but things weren't the same. Midgar had left its imprint on the mood of everyone, and some of them had been worse affected than others.
Had Aizen made a mistake taking Ulquiorra with them? Would he have been able to keep his temper in the face of whatever the argument with L had been if he hadn't witnessed that so soon before?
She could guess what the argument had been about, but she hadn't asked. She'd only understood Ulquiorra's parting comment, his answer to L's final question, and L's question itself. But that was all she'd needed to hear to be able to guess at the subject matter of the rest of the argument.
L was lucky to be alive. According to Szayel, who had delighted in telling everyone exactly how badly beaten L had been, he was lucky to be alive. Szayel had wanted L to stay in the infirmary after he'd come to, and L had been forced to for the first day since he couldn't stand up without keeling right back over, but after one night he'd left, against advice, and gone and holed up in his own quarters. It had been another week before anyone had seen him, although Nel had delivered the potions and painkillers Szayel had prescribed every night for that first week.
Even now, L wasn't fit, his arm in a sling to stop him aggravating the broken collarbone while it healed, and the bruises, so many bruises, were fading but still present. He was still under very strict instructions not to work, and still flouted those instructions, as far as Nel could make out, but he wasn't permanently fixed to his computer like he had been.
Then there was Zexion, the young Ryoka boy who'd been held to commit Midgar with the rest of them. He hadn't spoken; not one word, although Nel had tried talking to him a couple of times, and she knew Szayel had pressed him in his own inimitable way. Zexion hadn't relented; he'd maintained his silence, and Nel had quietly told him that they hadn't all agreed with what they'd been told to do, and that, when he was ready to talk to someone again, there'd always be someone there. Then she'd backed off, and let him get on with it, and had smacked Szayel around the ear and told him to stop pestering the boy the next time she'd caught him wittering incessantly at the poor lad.
The mood in the Palace had changed; sadness permeated it. Even Grimmjow and Yylfordt, and their little group, were feeling the absence of Kadaj, and the aftermath of his altercation with Orochimaru.
Gods she hoped this mood passed soon.
"Lilinette," she said, from her chair, and without looking up from the magazine, "leave him alone. And get off the furniture."
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Date: 2013-04-24 07:45 pm (UTC)Had Aizen made a mistake taking Ulquiorra with them? Would he have been able to keep his temper in the face of whatever the argument with L had been if he hadn't witnessed that so soon before?
She could guess what the argument had been about, but she hadn't asked. She'd only understood Ulquiorra's parting comment, his answer to L's final question, and L's question itself. But that was all she'd needed to hear to be able to guess at the subject matter of the rest of the argument.
L was lucky to be alive. According to Szayel, who had delighted in telling everyone exactly how badly beaten L had been, he was lucky to be alive. Szayel had wanted L to stay in the infirmary after he'd come to, and L had been forced to for the first day since he couldn't stand up without keeling right back over, but after one night he'd left, against advice, and gone and holed up in his own quarters. It had been another week before anyone had seen him, although Nel had delivered the potions and painkillers Szayel had prescribed every night for that first week.
Even now, L wasn't fit, his arm in a sling to stop him aggravating the broken collarbone while it healed, and the bruises, so many bruises, were fading but still present. He was still under very strict instructions not to work, and still flouted those instructions, as far as Nel could make out, but he wasn't permanently fixed to his computer like he had been.
Then there was Zexion, the young Ryoka boy who'd been held to commit Midgar with the rest of them. He hadn't spoken; not one word, although Nel had tried talking to him a couple of times, and she knew Szayel had pressed him in his own inimitable way. Zexion hadn't relented; he'd maintained his silence, and Nel had quietly told him that they hadn't all agreed with what they'd been told to do, and that, when he was ready to talk to someone again, there'd always be someone there. Then she'd backed off, and let him get on with it, and had smacked Szayel around the ear and told him to stop pestering the boy the next time she'd caught him wittering incessantly at the poor lad.
The mood in the Palace had changed; sadness permeated it. Even Grimmjow and Yylfordt, and their little group, were feeling the absence of Kadaj, and the aftermath of his altercation with Orochimaru.
Gods she hoped this mood passed soon.
"Lilinette," she said, from her chair, and without looking up from the magazine, "leave him alone. And get off the furniture."