The train had been a welcome break from a chocobo. The seats were more comfortable for a start, and there was a refreshment trolly that served tea of dubious quality, and sandwiches of even more suspect quality, but after so long, even a bad cup of surprisingly hot tea was welcome.
Ulquiorra spent most of the journey in what Nel considered his Power Save mode, speaking when spoken to, and otherwise very still, like someone who was dog tired and didn't have the energy to hold a conversation. Not that this was unusual for Ulquiorra. She certainly knew the feeling; she had aches where she had no business having aches, and she could have easily stayed in Luxerion for another night.
They couldn't risk someone from The Order beating them to Daguerreo, unfortunately. Once they had their target in the grasp, they could take as long as they needed to get back, but the thinking was that if Khamja knew he was there, others would soon find out.
Nel wasn't sure how likely that was, but L had been a bit spooked about losing all of his informants in Rabanastre, and was playing it safe as to the risk of there being a leak, or him having been beaten to the information about Vexen's departure, due to his sudden and unexpected lack of informants.
Nel had got through two out of date women's gossip rags on the journey. Anything to avoid pretending to be social when she was too tired to put the effort in. Marluxia and Lumi appeared obnoxiously wide awake, which didn't do much for Nel's mood regarding the two of them.
They'd waltzed up to the station with coffee. Nel hadn't commented on it, but had been amused to notice Lumi carrying a cardboard cup ticked off with the markers for 'latte' and 'vanilla', meaning he had something in common with Szayel.
When she'd read every scrap of idle gossip and sad story one upmanship in the magazines, such as the woman whose husband left her for a Seeq, and the other woman whose husband left her for a Bangaa while she was pregnant, and other such tales of romantic woe, she discarded the magazines. She was tempted, briefly, to offer them to Lumi, but thought even he might catch that dig, so she refrained, and checked on the kids.
Not that Ulquiorra and Zexion were kids in anything but the technical sense, but she felt like they were her responsibility in a similar way.
"Not long now," she said, snapping Ulquiorra out of his doze to get a nod from him and a small noise that was basically a grunt of recognition.
no subject
Ulquiorra spent most of the journey in what Nel considered his Power Save mode, speaking when spoken to, and otherwise very still, like someone who was dog tired and didn't have the energy to hold a conversation. Not that this was unusual for Ulquiorra. She certainly knew the feeling; she had aches where she had no business having aches, and she could have easily stayed in Luxerion for another night.
They couldn't risk someone from The Order beating them to Daguerreo, unfortunately. Once they had their target in the grasp, they could take as long as they needed to get back, but the thinking was that if Khamja knew he was there, others would soon find out.
Nel wasn't sure how likely that was, but L had been a bit spooked about losing all of his informants in Rabanastre, and was playing it safe as to the risk of there being a leak, or him having been beaten to the information about Vexen's departure, due to his sudden and unexpected lack of informants.
Nel had got through two out of date women's gossip rags on the journey. Anything to avoid pretending to be social when she was too tired to put the effort in. Marluxia and Lumi appeared obnoxiously wide awake, which didn't do much for Nel's mood regarding the two of them.
They'd waltzed up to the station with coffee. Nel hadn't commented on it, but had been amused to notice Lumi carrying a cardboard cup ticked off with the markers for 'latte' and 'vanilla', meaning he had something in common with Szayel.
When she'd read every scrap of idle gossip and sad story one upmanship in the magazines, such as the woman whose husband left her for a Seeq, and the other woman whose husband left her for a Bangaa while she was pregnant, and other such tales of romantic woe, she discarded the magazines. She was tempted, briefly, to offer them to Lumi, but thought even he might catch that dig, so she refrained, and checked on the kids.
Not that Ulquiorra and Zexion were kids in anything but the technical sense, but she felt like they were her responsibility in a similar way.
"Not long now," she said, snapping Ulquiorra out of his doze to get a nod from him and a small noise that was basically a grunt of recognition.