In the time after the Midgar mission and the unrest that had followed hot on its heels both inside and out of Clan Khamja, Gin Ichimaru had spent his time coming and going, with his time divided unequally between his Third Division work and the desert palace. Dalmasca, the country his jurisdiction encompassed, had settled somewhat in the wake of Midgar, but reports of Fiends had seen a sharp spike in frequency over the last few days and weeks.
He wasn't sure whether it was because of Midgar's fall or just coincidence fuelled by the paranoia of the general public. People were being rather more diligent than usual about reporting incidents related to that particular natural phenomenon recently, so reports were coming in faster and more often of late. Gin didn't think it would last. It hadn't in the past, when disasters both natural or otherwise had caused a similarly catastrophic disruption of the normal life and death ratio on any given continent. The paranoia surrounding Fiends usually subsided after the story ran out of steam on news broadcasts and faded into memory. People gradually lost the will to care about the lost lives of people they never knew and the associated fear of the consequences of such a thing fell away from the forefront of collective concern.
The Palace, on the other hand, had been rather quiet since Grimmjow and his cronies had left to get some air. In the wake of their departure nothing particularly noteworthy had happened which, Gin thought, was probably for the better, entertaining as Khajma's special brand of drama could be.
Aizen's remaining minions were keeping a low profile. For some, this was unintentional and just happened naturally because they weren't troublemakers. For others, however, it was deliberate. Nnoitra and Ulquiorra in particular seemed, to Ichimaru, to be keeping themselves out of the way quite on purpose. Similarly, Orochimaru's old subordinates (now Kuja's), were staying largely off the radar.
It was business as usual, all things considered. At least, it was business as usual until Gin picked up on the brief and tell-tale flicker of reduced protection around the palace that signalled the main doors being opened and then closed.
He knew there was little chance of it being an enemy invader, so he paused in the hallway he was making his way down and waited for the reiatsu to make itself clear, half to satisfy his curiosity and half to see whether it was somebody to keep an eye on. There was, of course, a big tension and risk-related difference between someone like Ariane Emory paying them a visit and, for example, Alucard. It became apparent rather quickly that not only were there two of them, but that both of them had a relatively weak reiatsu in comparison to many of the denizens of the Palace.
One of them was much weaker and was definitely not artificially enhanced. Nothing about it suggested that it was the chakra of a warrior tempered and grown and cultivated with use and training and only being reined in by skill and suppression techniques.
That was L. Gin, in truth, he hadn't really noticed that L was missing until he picked up on his return. L spent too much time in the palace for the halls to ever really be clear of his low-level chakra. It was part of the usual background noise, present even when he wasn't, as if it had leeched into the walls along with everyone else's who spent a significant time there.
He scolded himself for having missed that, but considered the oversight reasonable given how feeble he had been since Ulquiorra's... tantrum.
The other, however, was much more interesting. They seemed stronger, but not strong enough to stand out as particularly interesting in a palace full of Arrancar, Gotei 13 members and other seriously accomplished warriors with chakra reserves that could easily be described as "monstrous" by the general public at best and "literally hazardous to your health" at worst. Whoever it was felt vaguely familiar. Gin probed the recesses of his memory to find the source of his recollection and realised with a start just who it was. That... wasn't possible. He headed into the main hall at a considerably faster pace than the leisurely one he had been taking to see whether his conclusion was correct.
His eyebrows came together when he saw Professor Hojo standing in the hall looking exactly as he had the last time he had seen him which was, Gin remembered, a few months before a meeting had been called to inform members of Khamja that he had died in an accident in the Shinra Laboratories some years ago.
So, his death had been faked and there had been a cover up so elaborate that even Khamja's members had been deliberately deceived. L had been keeping this to himself, though Gin didn't doubt that Illua and Kuja also knew about it. That rankled.
"I heard you were dead," Gin said conversationally as he came into the hall, allowing a look of bemusement to settle on his face.
A smile would have looked too fake for this occasion, even on his face.
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Date: 2015-01-12 12:23 am (UTC)He wasn't sure whether it was because of Midgar's fall or just coincidence fuelled by the paranoia of the general public. People were being rather more diligent than usual about reporting incidents related to that particular natural phenomenon recently, so reports were coming in faster and more often of late. Gin didn't think it would last. It hadn't in the past, when disasters both natural or otherwise had caused a similarly catastrophic disruption of the normal life and death ratio on any given continent. The paranoia surrounding Fiends usually subsided after the story ran out of steam on news broadcasts and faded into memory. People gradually lost the will to care about the lost lives of people they never knew and the associated fear of the consequences of such a thing fell away from the forefront of collective concern.
The Palace, on the other hand, had been rather quiet since Grimmjow and his cronies had left to get some air. In the wake of their departure nothing particularly noteworthy had happened which, Gin thought, was probably for the better, entertaining as Khajma's special brand of drama could be.
Aizen's remaining minions were keeping a low profile. For some, this was unintentional and just happened naturally because they weren't troublemakers. For others, however, it was deliberate. Nnoitra and Ulquiorra in particular seemed, to Ichimaru, to be keeping themselves out of the way quite on purpose. Similarly, Orochimaru's old subordinates (now Kuja's), were staying largely off the radar.
It was business as usual, all things considered. At least, it was business as usual until Gin picked up on the brief and tell-tale flicker of reduced protection around the palace that signalled the main doors being opened and then closed.
He knew there was little chance of it being an enemy invader, so he paused in the hallway he was making his way down and waited for the reiatsu to make itself clear, half to satisfy his curiosity and half to see whether it was somebody to keep an eye on. There was, of course, a big tension and risk-related difference between someone like Ariane Emory paying them a visit and, for example, Alucard. It became apparent rather quickly that not only were there two of them, but that both of them had a relatively weak reiatsu in comparison to many of the denizens of the Palace.
One of them was much weaker and was definitely not artificially enhanced. Nothing about it suggested that it was the chakra of a warrior tempered and grown and cultivated with use and training and only being reined in by skill and suppression techniques.
That was L. Gin, in truth, he hadn't really noticed that L was missing until he picked up on his return. L spent too much time in the palace for the halls to ever really be clear of his low-level chakra. It was part of the usual background noise, present even when he wasn't, as if it had leeched into the walls along with everyone else's who spent a significant time there.
He scolded himself for having missed that, but considered the oversight reasonable given how feeble he had been since Ulquiorra's... tantrum.
The other, however, was much more interesting. They seemed stronger, but not strong enough to stand out as particularly interesting in a palace full of Arrancar, Gotei 13 members and other seriously accomplished warriors with chakra reserves that could easily be described as "monstrous" by the general public at best and "literally hazardous to your health" at worst. Whoever it was felt vaguely familiar. Gin probed the recesses of his memory to find the source of his recollection and realised with a start just who it was. That... wasn't possible. He headed into the main hall at a considerably faster pace than the leisurely one he had been taking to see whether his conclusion was correct.
His eyebrows came together when he saw Professor Hojo standing in the hall looking exactly as he had the last time he had seen him which was, Gin remembered, a few months before a meeting had been called to inform members of Khamja that he had died in an accident in the Shinra Laboratories some years ago.
So, his death had been faked and there had been a cover up so elaborate that even Khamja's members had been deliberately deceived. L had been keeping this to himself, though Gin didn't doubt that Illua and Kuja also knew about it. That rankled.
"I heard you were dead," Gin said conversationally as he came into the hall, allowing a look of bemusement to settle on his face.
A smile would have looked too fake for this occasion, even on his face.