While tyrants close the doors.

[theedgeofreason]

The past few weeks had, for Aizen at least, been somewhat trying.

The publicity he had been expected to deal with following the fall of Midgar had been an inevitable chore. Due to his position in the Gotei 13, pledges had to be made to help Bancour during its time of crisis. Wholesale destruction could quite easily breed scores of Hollows and it was Aizen's sworn duty, and that of his men, to eradicate them whenever they reared their bone-masked heads. Bancour was far, far out of his jurisdiction that was true, but there was no harm in proving that the Gotei 13 recognised no borders when it came to its collective dedication to its work. At the same time, he had been obligated to sit in on meetings with Archadian political giants concerning the delicate state of peace in the aftermath. To nobody's great surprise, and certainly not to Aizen's, The Archadian Empire had been the first to come under suspicion. Accusations, both the plausible and the far-fetched, had come thick and fast in the wake of the collapse. Even weeks after the incident some tempers were still running high, but nothing could be proved until Midgar was safe to examine.

Aizen's privileged position gave him access to Midgar's status reports and, while Bancouri officials had lobbied to keep them out of Archadian hands, Aizen's insistence that he have them when he was to be sending in his own men in to a potential Necrohol to aid Captain Komamura's already thinly stretched forces eventually resulted in the necessary papers crossing his desk. That all lands in the vicinity of the inner-city were considered too heavily poisoned by high concentrations of leaked Mako was certainly encouraging.

All in all, it had been an interesting change from the curious state of limbo that had reigned ever since Nabudis had accidentally been reduced to a blasted ruin and the Greenlands around it, now known as the Deadlands, to a smoking wasteland. Even so, dealing with manpower allocation and sitting on a council made of members trying by turns to and not to affix the word 'war' to the fore of it had taken their toll. After many packed days and what felt like even more sleepless nights, Aizen had been obvious about growing weary of it all and openly yielded to exhaustion. At the first opportunity, he had taken a few days leave and bid his Lieutenant deal with his duties in his stead. With no rest for the wicked, a phrase that had turned out to be truer than he had thought possible, Aizen clandestinely returned to the Desert Palace of Clan Khamja to deal with unfinished matters there.

The atmosphere in the Palace was much as it had been when he had left. Some things remained unchanged others ... well, they were quite different. Zexion, the Ryoka Alchemist, had made a full recovery where his exhaustion was concerned, but Aizen had been informed that the boy had not said a single word since waking and had spent most of his time holed up in his quarters. He had dealt with very few matters across phonelines, but he had sent word to ensure that Zexion was not to be informed of the new faces on the side of their enemies ahead of his return. He had made it clear that any Arrancar found breaking this order would find themselves dealing with the consequences. Nnoitra had, from what he had been told, kept himself well out of the way. Aizen was glad of this -- it minimised the chances of one of his more unruly Arrancar coming face to face with the subordinates of the man he had helped murder. Grimmjow and Neliel were doing as well as could be expected, her more than him. Luppi, to nobody's great surprise, was slow to recover from the injuries he had sustained at the hands of the Ryoka Berserker. He was considered to be out of danger, but he was still currently immobile and his moments of conscious lucidity were few and brief.

What had really nettled Aizen upon his return were whispers, whispers all too soon confirmed, that another of his Arrancar had struck out at a full-member of the Clan. He would have expected such of the rash, hot-headed members of his mismatched band of underlings, people like Nnoitra, who had already proved he could, Grimmjow who had as well, the Fracción Apache who was, as far as he was concerned, only biding her time. Even Szayel, albeit in a fashion less ... traditional than those, was not above suspicion. The name he had been given was a surprise to him. It shouldn't have been, especially not given past behaviour or the current state of affairs, but it had nonetheless given him pause.

Ulquiorra had attacked L and, from what he had been told, the preceding argument had taken place entirely in Old Rozarrian -- a language none of the witnesses could profess to speak. L had recovered, for a given value of recovery, and was up and about contrary to recommendation. He maintained that the altercation was one that concerned only blood, not the Clan, and Aizen had not been brought before Illua to answer for the crimes of his subordinate. In the end, Aizen only found himself disappointed that Ulquiorra had shown mercy. He, like Nnoitra, had been unsurprisingly absent following the incident.

Aizen resolved to speak to him on the matter, but it would have to wait until more pressing affairs had been attended to. The meeting, the debriefing put off following the mission itself, was still to be conducted. All of his Arrancar were expected to attend, even those in disgrace, though Luppi was to be the notable exception. L would undoubtedly be there regardless of the inevitable friction between him and his nephew, the presence of Zexion was assured and Gin Ichimaru had said, with his characteristic smile, that he wouldn't miss it for the world. He had even gone so far as to suggest that Marluxia, one of Khamja's older Ryoka recruits, also be present. The unknowns allied with the Berserker could easily be Ryoka, Gin had pointed out. Some of the files L had recovered from Midgar had certainly suggested such. With Zexion having been deliberately kept in the dark and Marluxia not yet up to date with the situation, they were unlikely to both be able to stifle reactions as to conceal a truth, should they attempt to do so. There was wisdom in the suggestion, and so Aizen had consented to it.

With the attendees decided, orders in the guise of invites had been sent out.

Comments

[shoottokill]

Gin had opted to arrive ... not early, but before the main bulk of attendees. He had no great love of meetings, but he did so enjoy watching people, and the information that was sure to be told during the course of this one promised plenty to see on that front. He had been busy in the days following Ulquiorra's unfortunate outburst, busy shooting down little birds and dealing with the Midgar situation, so he was rather happy for the break.

Aizen had deliberately withheld the news of the red-haired Fire Elemental from the Alchemist boy and his subordinates had been forbidden to speak of it on pain of ... oh, Gin shuddered to think. He, of course, knew already that the man was a Ryoka, Shinra's files had told him that much, but only L and Aizen, besides himself, were privy to such information. He could hardly wait to see what Zexion and Marluxia, him invited by Gin's own suggestion, would make of the news.

He grinned as he pushed open the door and quickly marked who had already turned up. "Afternoon," he said brightly and to nobody in particular. "Nice to see some of you here all nice an' early."

[declaregamuza]

Nel looked up from her magazine when Gin walked in and flashed him a smile. "Someone has to stop troublemakers getting themselves murdered," she told him, conversationally, and explained, "Kuja'd be really annoyed if someone got their gore all over the furniture."

She liked Gin, he was fun. Trouble with a capital T, but fun, and while he might be one of the full fledged members and trickier than a street conjurer, Nel trusted him not to hurt anyone unless he had reason, and that went a long way with Nel. She didn't trust Gin, exactly, she just trusted him to have a reason for everything he did, and Nel was in the fortunate position of not having to worry much about Gin's reasons for things.

Of course, Aizen had reasons for everything he did, too, which Nel also trusted, but Aizen's reasons and actions tended to have more of an effect on her.

Zexion still wasn't talking, it seemed. Although no one could blame him, in current company. She flashed the boy a gentle smile, trying to gauge how he was feeling today. Probably not on top of his game, and here he was going to be penned in a room with Szayel, and Aizen, and Gin, and tested.

A part of her wanted to go over and hug the poor mite.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"So hostile," Szayel said, with distinct amusement, and chose to completely ignore every word that came out of Neliel's mouth since it was most certainly directed at him, in its roundabout way.

"Tell me," he said, pushing his glasses up with one finger and rounding a chair to plant himself in it, "was it worth it, killing a person you hated and had built your life around getting revenge upon, or did you wake up the next day to realise your existence has no purpose any more?"

Szayel knew that Nnoitra had put up with everything since arriving here, had gone through the Arrancar project to begin with to get stronger, for a shot at being able to beat Orochimaru once and for all. And now that he had, what did he have left? Some fool notion of fighting the world until he finds someone strong enough to kill him?

If he really wanted that, he should take up his weapon against Aizen, or Gin. Szayel would be interested to see the result.

[lilinette]

Lilinette, from her perch on the edge of a chair, had turned her attention to Szayel like a lantern in the darkness. She stole off the chair like a cat and moved over towards Nel, pinching a corner of Nel's magazine while she spoke to Gin, and putting it in her mouth.

She chewed it while she lined up a shot, making sure she was near enough, and when the little wad of paper was nicely balled up and soggy, she spat it, with surprising accuracy and speed, at Szayel.

And then grinned brightly.

[lawlietschiffer]

L had a headache, and he only expected this to get worse as the meeting progressed. It had been aggravating in the extreme to find that his injuries were affecting his ability to think. He slept more, got headaches while he was reading, could only type with one hand, even sitting on a chair the way he usually did made things worse. He couldn't hold his balance as effectively, had to keep one arm up in a sling, and he ached, even now, all over.

He'd deserved every hit. He knew that. He'd deserved it long ago, and no one had the right to issue it more than Ulquiorra. It was the failure that had plagued him, and usually he moved on so easily to do things another way, but with that one, he couldn't.

He'd never ever meant Ulquiorra to know the pain he had.

His time since that altercation had been spent doing what little work he could manage while he could, and then wondering what reasons Gin had for setting things up like that. Gin did not do idle conversation, regardless of what he claimed; he'd gone to L for a purpose that day, and had directed the conversation towards Midgar, and with it Gongaga, for a purpose that day, and it was no coincidence that Ulquiorra had overheard. L knew coincidences happened, but coincidences like that didn't happen around people like Gin.

Was it to drive a wedge between the two of them? There hadn't been a close bond, but there had been a bond, and Ulquiorra was the only person still alive who knew L's real name, so was it to split that, to separate Ulquiorra from influences outside of those of Aizen, or was it to stop L from learning too much about Aizen's activities because while Ulquiorra would never deliberately divulge them, L knew Ulquiorra better than Aizen did.

Or had, once.

Thinking about all of that only made L's headaches worse, and Szayel's scolding and complaining about L ignoring his medical advice didn't help.

L had to attend the meeting. Gin would be there, but L hadn't told anyone about Gin's instrumental part in causing the altercation, and L, in any case, only remembered bits and pieces of their conversation anyway.

He walked into the room slowly, barefoot and still bruised, and looked immediately over at Ulquiorra. He was standing, near a wall, out of the way, as if to separate himself from everyone else in the room.

L had the grace to look away before he picked an empty chair near the door and perched on it, having to lean against the back of it to hold his balance.

[tozasemurcielago]

Ulquiorra felt the reiatsu as L entered the room, but he didn't look up, and he didn't look over. There was a wobble in his own reiatsu for a second, a split second, before he forced total control of himself. He couldn't show outward signs of anything; Szayel would pick up on it in a heartbeat, Nel would notice and then be her motherly self, Gin, Aizen-sama.... He could not bare a moment of weakness to them. His argument with L could not happen again, he would not become a liability that way.

He pushed the emotion away, and kept a strict control of his reiatsu, and his expressions, and after a moment of being acutely aware of L's reiatsu in the room, frayed and weakened as it was, he pushed that away, and ignored that, too.

[shoottokill]

Gin smiled broadly at Nel's comment and bobbed his head to the side, amused beyond the scope of his usual fixed expression. Well, somebody did have to save them from themselves and it may as well be Nel. She would, at least, be nice about it, not that any of them deserved it.

He half listened to what Szayel was saying and slid his narrow eyes to focus on Nnoitra, to gauge his reaction to Szayel's deliberate needling, but one never came. Not after Lilinette's little missile hit him in the face, anyway.

"Good shot," he said, for he could appreciate such accuracy.

L's entrance caught his attention, but he didn't spare him more than a brief glance before moving to take a more comfortable position away from the centre of the room. He certainly looked pitiful but he was alive at least. What more could he want?

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra's single eye narrowed to a slit at Szayel's words and his lips, thin already, went tight as he gritted his teeth behind them. Nnoitra had a not-unfounded reputation for being virtually incapable of self control when it came to picking fights and his foul temper was almost legendary. Szayel seemed to enjoy testing him, trying to get a rise out of him, like a child poking a snake with a stick to see how long it took it to strike out in retaliation. His hand tightened on the arm of his chair as his anger rose, but the grip slackened as Lilinette's unexpected little projectile hit its target and his expression changed to one of surprise.

He looked from her to Szayel and held off on both spitting back a response and getting up and rearranging Szayel's face for him.

[theschemer]

Zexion ignored all of the nonsense going on around him and sat, utterly wordlessly, in the chair. Immature behaviour from the girl wasn't unexpected and Szayel deserved everything he got anyway. He lived to infuriate, from what Zexion knew of him, and people tended to react accordingly to his behaviour.

He didn't, however, miss the split-second shake in a reiatsu that was, in his limited experience, usually very solid. Usually, anyway. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have picked up on the tremor -- he didn't know the owner personally -- but a flare of the same a week or so earlier had brought it into prominence in his mind's eye. He had noticed it around prior to that, dark and heavy, more the scent than the pressure, but that had been ... something else.

He looked up when it happened and fixed his eyes on L. He was clearly the victim of the incident, and his presence was obviously the cause of the waver, but Zexion didn't pass judgement without knowing the cause.

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss, determined not to be late, arrived next. Like Nnoitra, he had been passed over for the mission itself but had, like him, been instructed to attend the meeting anyway. Aizen had cited Nnoitra's unpredictable nature as the reason for not allowing him to be part of it, but Wonderweiss had been left behind because of his gentle one. He was sensitive to reiatsu, moreso than most, and to more species than most. There weren't just going to be people within Midgar, Aizen knew, so he had done the boy a kindness and left him at the Palace.

Nonetheless, Wonderweiss knew it was important that he arrive for the debriefing. He had hardly been told anything about the mission, but he knew, at least, what it was for and that they had, to the surprise of some, achieved the goal. That wasn't what the meeting was about, though. Not the entire story. What had happened with Nel and her party in the hours following promised to come up as well, but Wonderweiss, given the same instruction as the rest when it came to telling non-Arrancar about it, had not asked lest he be overheard. He had filled the time between their return and now with time in the garden, either by spending time with his little herd of Dreamhares or making the effort to get in some battle practice.

The room was tense when he entered and he looked around, unsure of what to make of it.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel was halted in the tracks of his thoughts as something wet and sticky hit the side of his face. He brushed it off with one hand, and then made a quietly disgusted noise as he realised it was a spitwad. No one had spat one of those at him for years.

He turned his attention towards the source, and then glowered at Lilinette.

"The next time I have to dismember something for experimental purposes, child, I will find you."

For the moment, Nnoitra was no longer the centre of his attention, and Lilinette's interruption meant he only just caught the tiny flicker of Ulquiorra's reiatsu when L entered the room.

[lilinette]

Lilinette had grinned broadly at Gin's comment on her aim, and, maturely, responded to Szayel by pulling her lower eyelid down with one finer, and sticking her tongue out at him before she answered, "You won't because I'll hide in a strip club and everyone knows you're too afraid of boobs to go in one."

[declaregamuza]

Nel almost made to scold Lilinette, but stopped herself when she remembered it was only Szayel, and in some weird, twisted sort of way, Lilinette had probably just stopped him getting horribly murdered by Nnoitra, at least for the next five minutes.

Sometimes she wondered if there was deliberate intelligence going into Lilinette's childishness, or if it was just coincidence.

But that didn't stop her turning to Gin and telling him, "Don't encourage her."

She shook her head and settled into her seat more comfortably, and then smiled at Wonderweiss as he came in. She'd been more than glad that he hadn't been required to attend Midgar. There were some things Wonderweiss should never have to witness, let alone participate in.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia had not expected an invite to a meeting that concerned the Arrancar. He hadn't been informed of why he'd been invited, simply that he had been. He knew a little about what their mission had been; Zexion's newfound skill with an art that wasn't practiced on any other world Marluxia was familiar with had been of significance, and the majority of the Arrancar had gone along.

He knew a little, but not as much as those who had been involved in the mission, so he'd accepted the invitation warily.

Aizen was a man who put him in mind of Xemnas, except these days he wasn't sure who the more dangerous one would be. Xemnas had been single minded to the point of insanity, and Marluxia, and a significant number of the rest of them, trusted the madman about as far as they trusted Xigbar these days.

Aizen, however, seemed relatively sane. Marluxia wasn't sure which one was the more dangerous to associate with, but Marluxia never had been one to dissociate himself from dangerous people just because they were risky.

The Arrancar were interesting, too. There were perhaps three of them he didn't mind, and five whose company he didn't object to, but the rest were the sort of gung-ho troublecausers that were more effort than they were worth.

He wasn't overly surprised to enter the room and find two of them arguing.

L was there too. Marluxia hadn't seen L in a while, but he'd heard there'd been some sort of altercation and L had definitely come off the worse for it. He looked it, too; he looked like Larxene had played with him, and enjoyed herself.

He spotted Zexion, seated quietly. He hadn't crossed paths with him overmuch either, in the last few weeks.

This meeting would prove to be interesting, if for no other reason than finding out why Marluxia himself had been invited along, despite having played no part in the Arrancar's mission.

He chose a seat, and occupied it in silence.

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra watched the exchange between Lilinette and Szayel with only mild interest. They would only bicker until Aizen turned up, then a single look from him would be enough to silence at least Lilinette. Szayel would probably need more encouragement, but seeing him get threatened was always good for a laugh.

It was almost time for the meeting to start and they were still a fair few people short. No surprise who the majority of them were. Those too important and high-ranked to turn up and wait with the rest and those who didn't give half a toss about keeping people waiting for them.

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss smiled at Nel and chose a seat near her to settle into. He didn't feel entirely comfortable in a room full of Arrancar, or with Marluxia and Gin, but he didn't look nervous. Nel helped, of course.

"Am I that early?" He asked, keeping his voice low, but not quite whisper-quiet.

[guntoaknifefight]

Stark was tired. The past few weeks had been eventful in bursts. Between the mission itself, wearing even without the other things, and the two separate attacks by Arrancar on members of Clan Khamja, he had found himself short of sleep and all the grouchier for it.

The meeting, at least, would serve as an ending to all the unpleasantness or at least a marker to move beyond. It would also shed some light on whatever it was that had happened to Nel's party between Midgar and home. He glanced around the room and nodded to all of those it was appropriate to nod to, and then found a seat and took his place near the front. Tired or not, he had no need or real desire to hole up near the back like certain other people.

[declaregamuza]

"No," Nel told Wonderweiss, in reply, keeping a cheerful smile on her face. "You're not early; the others just like to live dangerously."

Grimmjow, she thought, would probably stroll in at the last minute, thinking he looked cool with his little entourage, and if he'd made Aizen wait for his entrance, would probably think it all the better.

She hoped Grimmjow's band of reprobates - Yylfordt was a follower, no matter how much he might be an Espada - showed up before Aizen did if only so that no one showed Aizen up in front of the likes of Marluxia.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"I am not--" Szayel began, clearly indignant, and then sneered at Lilinette. "Why am I arguing with a child?" He asked himself, rolling his eyes and adjusting his glasses again before affecting a look of smug superiority. "There's a difference between sexual preference and phobia," he told her.

[lilinette]

Lilinette was enjoying herself. Szayel was easy to wind up, and even though he talked like he didn't consider her worth responding to, the important thing was that he still responded.

She nodded her head just the once, grinning at Szayel. "And you're scared," she replied, matter of factly.

[destroytiburon]

Halibel scanned the room as she entered. Most of them had already arrived, and that included their guests. Szayel was still, temporarily, alive, so someone had stopped him winding people up too much. Nnoitra looked grumpy, Ulquiorra was off to one side, head bowed, and Stark had found and occupied a seat.

Gin was present already. Halibel didn't care for him overmuch, but he didn't tend to bother her, and she afforded him the same courtesy. Marluxia was a snake in the grass, but whose presence today was necessary, and Zexion was not, as yet, to be trusted, but had at least done as required of him for their mission.

Halibel was more interested to see what had happened between Nel's group and the Ryoka. Luppi had come off badly, but even Ulquiorra had been injured, and Nel struck with something powerful and dark elemental. It had also bothered Nel, and Halibel knew of Nel's suspicions as to what had been performed by one of them, and Halibel wanted to see it for herself.

She crossed the room to take a seat, crossing between Szayel and Lilinette on her way, and catching the tail end of Lilinette winding Szayel up, but she didn't bother to intervene. Lilinette, at least, would probably shut up once Aizen arrived.

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss knew which 'others' Nel meant. They were, if nothing else, conspicuous by their absence.

He settled in and looked around the group, hoping that they didn't take too long to arrive. He didn't dislike many of the Arrancar, but he knew that a good number of them disliked each other and the longer they were forced into a room together made the chance of an argument more serious than the snippy spat between Szayel and Lilinette all the more likely.

Still, at least Stark, Nel, Halibel and Gin were there should Nnoitra try to kill Szayel or Szayel try to murder Lilinette or something.

[shoottokill]

Gin waited until Marluxia had settled into his seat before he slid a glance his way. His expression was nigh unreadable, but Gin still got the distinct impression that Marluxia was entirely out of his element when caged in with a group of another member's subordinates, even more so than Zexion was, especially when the reason for his inclusion was, thus far, a mystery to him.

He knew that he had to be suspicious about his inclusion in the meeting for he hadn't been privy to the information surrounding the mission that the meeting was supposedly about. He was right to be worried, Gin thought, and all the better, because being faced with the unexpected did two things to most people: it put them on their guard and made it rather difficult for them to hide a surprised reaction when they weren't sure what they were going to be surprised by.

It all promised to be so very fun, Gin thought. Enlightening too, of course, but still fairly entertaining. Whether Marluxia knew about this mystery Ryoka didn't make a difference either way. Until now, they had not known, so if he had allowed that information to remain hidden from them, he was bound to be surprised about their ... footage. Had he not known... well, that was going to be all the better.

[theschemer]

Zexion sat quietly, not bothering to cast his eyes around at the group. He was beginning to feel slightly on edge, unhappy with being cooped up with this group, and the wait wasn't exactly helping. He wanted for this meeting to be over, to be free of them now his job was over with.

He took a deeper breath and released it with a sigh.