"For an intelligent man," Even said, looking at Szayel, "Hojo seems remarkably stupid. He may have been able to get away with that in a government controlled complex, where he had grunts to hold down his subjects and specimens, but here ... he's on his own. Anybody can tell that his reiatsu isn't up to much, not in comparison to most of the residents."

He got up to put the kettle on. His tea was long gone and the dregs were cold.

"He's interested in anything unusual," he said. "Anything out of the ordinary. Ryoka, a prior subject that his lack of attention lost years ago, other people's experiments. Nnoitra and Kadaj are clearly formidable fighters -- I was warned against antagonising both of them, among others, before I arrived here... not that I intended to."

He paused to fill the kettle and resumed speaking once the noise of the water had gone.

"I have, regrettably, faced Kadaj before and the group I left remember well what Nnoitra is capable of," he said, recalling the reports of the fight that had gone south for them, the fight that, if Even's memory served, was how Neliel had earned that scar. "If Hojo thinks that all he's going to get are idle threats he's a fool and he's not going to live very long."

He himself wouldn't put up with experimentation unless he agreed to it and he might be tempted to, depending on the parameters. Ienzo would be less likely to agree and, whether he did or didn't, he had a feeling that his new friend's boss considered him far too valuable to allow that. He didn't know what Marluxia would make of it, but he had an idea that he still didn't view scientists very favourably, so he doubted very much that his refusal would be polite. His pet, from what he had heard, could subdue problem Arrancar with little effort, so Hojo didn't stand a chance.

"Is anybody else having tea or coffee?" He opened the cupboard to get to the teabags.