Mommy's got a scarecrow, gotta let the corn grow

[joinmyreunion]

When the others had said they were going back, Kadaj had said he'd join them.

He wasn't sure if he was ready to go home. He knew that when he did things would have changed, things would need to have changed. Orochimaru was gone, and Kadaj wasn't going to be viewed as just the impulsive idiot riding Kuja's coattails any more. His relationship with Gin was going to have changed as well. Kadaj had always trusted Gin in that he'd trusted Gin to be Gin; whose actions and motives were utterly beyond Kadaj's comprehension, but in the very least he got the impression that Gin wouldn't hurt him for the fun of doing so, which was more than Kadaj could say for any of the rest of Khamja. Where Gin was concerned, Kadaj tried not to be a hindrance, even if he didn't know how to be a help.

Now Gin knew secrets about Kadaj that no one else did. No one barring Nnoitra, and now Grimmjow, Tayuya, and Yylfordt. It would have put Kadaj on Gin's radar, he knew, he just had to hope now that whatever game Gin played didn't have need of a playing piece with Kadaj's moveset.

Then there was Kuja. Since he couldn't occupy the safe spot hiding behind Kuja's skirts any more, Kadaj might be surplus to Kuja's requirements. He could play him; play at being the loyal little ex-minion, but Kadaj knew he probably wouldn't be able to keep that up for too long. Better, then, to play at ingenue ally, in need of guidance, who may be inclined to owe Kuja some favours. It hurt to think it, but Kadaj trusted Kuja marginally less than he trusted Gin when it came to his own safety if he wasn't immediately useful to him.

And then, then there was Aizen. Kadaj doubted very much that his defeat of Orochimaru had put him on Aizen's radar, but he doubted Aizen disregarded the whole affair, either. It might, at worst, or at best, have put Kadaj down as an upstart to keep an eye on. Kadaj wasn't wholly sure how to ingratiate himself with that one yet, or whether doing so was even wise.

So returning to the Palace was frought with nerves and second guessing himself. Kadaj took the time to chase down one last Hollow before he headed back; a mean thing that a Gotei Lieutenant might break a sweat over, but which Kadaj could take down almost leisurely, now. Then and only then did he head back, driving the bike through the caverns and parking her with the airships.

Yylfordt could keep the Ragnarok. Kadaj was quite fond of his bike, now.

He approached the Palace doors with a sigh, steeling himself before he let himself in. The Palace felt very, very different to what he was used to. The usual suspects were all here, of course, their reiatsu interwoven with the general feel of the place, but there were dischords in the usual symphony. Reiatsu signatures missing, faded, no longer detectable, and intruders that were too new to have found their place in the piece, yet.

One of them felt familiar, though Kadaj couldn't really pinpoint why.

He was full of sand and dust from the desert, so the first thing he did was head off to have a shower and change. On his way, he left something outside Kuja's door, and once he'd showered, he headed straight to the kitchen, where the others tended to lurk.

Comments

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra gave Szayel a sideways look, his thin eyebrow raised.

Szayel had not expected him to know who Professor Hojo was, and yet he had, so Nnoitra's look was mostly one of mild, irritated amusement at him thinking that he would be the only person in the palace to have heard of the guy, even after being proven wrong. Hojo was famous, famous enough to be known outside of the typical circle of scientists.

"The Ryoka's the better of the two," Nnoitra said, gruffly. "Hojo's a self-important prick. Looks at everybody like they're his own personal 'specimens'."

He wrinkled his nose. Many members of Clan Khamja were certainly interesting from a scientific point of view, especially given the absurd power levels of some of them and the origins of others, but Hojo took his interest to a creepy new level. He was like a dodgy curb crawler, except rather than sticking to red light districts for his quarry, he hit main streets and acted like he was still entitled to ogle the goods.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj sneered slightly at Nnoitra's description of the other one. At least the ryoka was keeping to himself, for the most part, even if Kadaj didn't like him on sight. The other one sounded like someone Kadaj might have an incident with if Kadaj didn't work hard to keep his temper.

He was definitely better at that, but he knew it wasn't perfect, and he'd rather not kill another member of the clan any time soon. He'd start to get a reputation.

"Great," he muttered, "just what we need." He picked out some bread to shove in the toaster and make himself what would pass for breakfast. Proper toast was something he definitely hadn't had in a while. Funny how the little things became luxuries when you traveled without an airship. "More scientists that treat everyone like an experiment."

That comment was half directed at Szayel.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel looked up from his magazine to throw Nel a look of open contempt. He always hated it when she used that tone on him; she sounded like she thought she was his mother. Not even his mother used that tone on him.

"You'll find Hojo worse than me," he said, lightly, looking back at Kadaj. Then he glanced sidelong at Even, but continued to address Kadaj. "Of course, some of us have already seen you in battle to have your data," he said, with a faint smirk.

[prayingmantis]

"Even Hojo would have to put the effort in to be worse than you," Nnoitra spat.

Szayel, Nnoitra knew, was deliberately trying to piss Kadaj off. Kadaj wasn't a friend of Nnoitra's, but they had a tentative sort of alliance and they'd already murdered one scientist. Szayel was being especially stupid trying to needle him.

"Hojo worked on the SOLDIER experiment," Nnoitra pointed out. "Unless people are of that calibre, rare as fuck or already somebody else's experiment, I doubt he's going to give a shit."

He knew that was how it was. Midgar's laboratories worked on their sapient enhanced soldiers, mostly Hyur, and Palumpolum's Gapra Laboratories worked on their animal-based troops, the so-called Militarized Units. There was a little crossover, but Hojo was known for being the head of the Shinra Laboratories in Midgar, not Gapra, though he had consulted.

[thechillyacademic]

Even looked up from his newspaper, interested.

He had met Professor Hojo and had found him wholly unpleasant, but hearing about his area of expertise was interesting, especially since it came not from the other scientist present, but one of the Arrancar that Even had been warned was a violent lunatic.

He didn't doubt that he was, but thus far, he had been collected enough, if bored, on every single occasion that he'd met him. Now, with him showing knowledge of one of Spira's famous scientists, if one that wasn't quite a household name, he didn't take him as a foolish brawler like he had imagined he'd be.

Hojo was, in Even's opinion, playing a dangerous game.

Perhaps he hadn't annoyed the wrong Arrancar, or maybe he had yet to meet Marluxia and his very dangerous pet, but if Hojo was as openly critical and analytical of every person of unusual origin and uncommon power as he had seemed when he met him, it would be a minor miracle if he didn't find himself being quietly offed at some point in the near future.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"Oh stop," Szayel said, very inauthentically flattered, "you'll make me blush." He threw a nasty smirk at Nnoitra. "You seem to forget that nearly everyone in this Palace fits those criteria."

At least one of them, anyway. Ryoka, captain level Shinigami, a magic wielding Genome, the enhanced ninja minions of another scientist, the Hollow enhanced minions of a Shinigami Captain, and, well, then there was Kadaj, who was a layman zanpakuto wielder who had been exposed to mako at some point in the past. "Admittedly," he said, "Kadaj is the least interesting one here from a scientific perspective, but he still has his merits."

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj rolled his eyes. Was he supposed to be offended that he was 'the least interesting'?

"If it means another crazy scientist leaves me alone, I can be as boring as they want," he said, directing this at Szayel. Szayel was trying to annoy him, he knew that. If Szayel got his temper up he'd get a sense of Kadaj's reiatsu and chakra, how much of it had changed, how his control had changed and so on. Kadaj didn't want him to have that information, however, and he kept himself calm by paying attention to making his own breakfast.

Szayel wasn't worth snapping over.

[declaregamuza]

Nel shook her head, listening in to the conversation.

She'd heard of Hojo before. He'd been famous a few years ago but was supposed to have died. Obviously, his death had been a ruse by someone in Khamja to hide him, but she remembered the controversy around him at the time.

The laboratory accident that was supposed to have killed him had happened just as the news was breaking that illegal alchemy and other activities were taking place under his guidance. It had been generally assumed in Archades that his accident wasn't an accident, which had turned out to be true, and that he had in fact been killed off by Shinra itself to divert attention and dispose of a rogue element, or at least, one that it now suited them to claim was a rogue element. Others had believed he'd been killed by terrorist groups or a former experiment, and that was being covered.

It had turned out, Hojo was escaping exactly that sort of fate.

Escaping it too well, in Nel's opinion, but with any luck he'd upset Marluxia and Lumi and stop being everyone's problem again shortly.

[thechillyacademic]

Even wrinkled his nose.

"He's vile," he said, unhappily. "He referred to me as a 'specimen', expressed his interest in using me in experiments that involved battle prowess despite me pointing out that I am largely non-combatant and suggested, quite cheerfully, that I might even survive them."

He shook his head, haughtily. He had plenty of experience with scientists lacking in common morals and ethics. He was one of them, or used to be, and he had no interest in putting himself up for experimentation, especially considering it would just be to test ability and endurance. It wasn't as though Professor Hojo could create more Ryoka, regardless of the results.

He was more concerned about Ienzo. He'd already been taken in by one of Khamja's psychopaths, he didn't need to fall victim to another.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj turned his head slightly to eye the blond when he mentioned he was 'largely non-combatant'. That hadn't been Kadaj's experience of him. He'd definitely been less battle crazed than the berserker, but when you were comparing to the berserker, so was Kadaj, and Yylfordt, and Tayuya.

Even if he considered himself non-combatant, he was definitely adept in battle. He had that typical Ryoka affinity for a single element that was more like running into a pissed off entite than a person. He'd brought Kadaj and Tayuya down in one spell, Kadaj remembered.

Of course, Kadaj had learned some new tricks since then, but this guys ice spells were still something Kadaj didn't want to run face first into again in a hurry.

[declaregamuza]

"I haven't run into him myself yet," Nel said, leaning back against the counter, "but I've been told he's the one who keeps smoking in my kitchen." Late at night or early in the morning, usually, from the way it smelled. He didn't venture up from his laboratory often during the day, unless he was scoping out residents or visiting the library.

Her kitchen. It wasn't technically hers, of course; it was open for use by anyone, but since Nel did the majority of the cooking and cleaning, and stocking, of the kitchen, it was nominally her domain. Others were allowed in, but there were rules.

No Malboros on the table, no trousers no service, and no smoking. Also no discussion of sex acts, body fluids, injuries, or associated nastiness at the table when food is present, a set of rules which expanded every time Szayel found something she hadn't explicitly told him not to do any more.

"With any luck," she said, "he'll try smoking in the library, and then he'll stop being a problem for everyone."

It wasn't like Nel to wish death on someone, but she'd heard nothing redeemable about Hojo, and between that and his reputation, she felt justified in judging him before she'd really met him.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"Well," Szayel said, "unfortunate nicotine addiction aside, he does have a point." He looked at Even out of the side of his glasses and smirked at him, "The battle data for a Ryoka such as yourself would be fascinating. Your reiatsu and use of chakra is quite unusual, and there hasn't been an opportunity to study one of you before now."

He shrugged his shoulders and put his chin on his hand. "I'd have hoped a scientist would understand the potential value of such information. The things we natives could learn," he sighed, "the flaws in your own hastily learned usage that you might uncover that would allow you to make your methods more chakra-economical." He sighed, "Pity you're so stubborn."

[thechillyacademic]

"In this instance," Even said, arching an eyebrow at Szayel, "the risks and downsides rather outweigh the positives."

On the upside, Szayel had a point. It may allow them, possibly, to learn how to be more efficient with their Chakra, but on the downside... it would show their weaknesses not only to them, but to Hojo and, by extension, Khamja. It would allow Hojo and again, by extension, Khamja, see the limits of their Chakra and it would also, as Hojo pointed out, be something he may not survive.

He didn't care enough about the plight of the poor natives to put his life on the line for such research, not after all he'd endured up until this point. They could study an Elemental or Entite, even a Flan for all he cared, if they were so interested in unusual Chakra manipulation.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel sighed, dramatically. "All science worth doing comes with risks," he said, and shook his head. "I'd been given the impression that you were all more devoted to discovery than this," he added, before concluding, "what a disappointment."

Of course he knew why Even might not be so keen on the idea of letting himself be studied by the likes of Hojo. No one in Khamja wanted to give information about their weaknesses away if they could help it. Still, it was a terrible waste of good data.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj listened to Szayel nag the ryoka with half an ear. He'd missed some things, he knew; there was a new ryoka for them to worry about, and the berserker wasn't hanging around this guy any more, which meant that as far as Kadaj was concerned, getting information off this guy about himself wasn't much use to them unless they wanted to off him.

He felt a distant moment of solidarity with the new guy when it came to wanting to keep the full extent of your own abilities under wraps, thanks.

He made his toast and picked a spot at the table nearer Nnoitra than anyone else to sit and eat. Nnoitra was probably the closest thing to an ally Kadaj had in this room, Nel aside, and it hadn't been Nel that had helped him get rid of Orochimaru.

[thechillyacademic]

"I don't know where you got that impression," Even said, somewhat irritably, before turning his attention back to his newspaper.

Even was quite finished with self experimentation, thank you. Ending up a Nobody through his own experiments had closed off that avenue for him and he didn't intend to take the boards down and go there again any time soon.

"But you're free to ask any of the other three to see if they want to participate in potentially lethal research for the sake of the natives," he said, looking up again, a bit more cheerfully. "I suggest asking Lumi first."

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra half watched Kadaj as he listened to the scientists bicker. Szayel was being an insufferable asshole as usual, but the Ryoka seemed to be holding him off well enough without either rising to his comments too much, or outright smacking him, something that he considered quite a feat of self control in comparison to how others usually treated him.

He wasn't sure he'd have been so collected about it.

He glanced at Kadaj properly as he sat down, but turned his attention to the Ryoka when he spoke to Szayel again. He couldn't resist a snort at that suggestion of creative suicide.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj snorted too, a smirk on his face as he picked up a slice of his toast. "Just make sure we get to watch," he added, looking at Szayel.

Lumi, by Kadaj's reckoning, probably wouldn't actually hurt him for the suggestion. He'd probably ignore Szayel like he was some errant dirt on the bottom of one of Lumi's shoes. He'd hurt Szayel when Marluxia told him to, or if Szayel insisted on pressing the point.

It'd still be entertaining to watch, however.

[declaregamuza]

Nel, unlike the others, gave a soft groan. "Don't even think about it, Szayel," she said. "And you stop encouraging him," she scolded Even, playfully. The smile that crept across her face after speaking gave away her amusement.

The kettle clicked and she made her cup of tea before she walked around Szayel and leaned over him to pinch the magazine he'd been reading from in front of him. She used the imminent threat of giving Szayel a face full of her boobs to keep him from trying to stop her, and smiled happily. "Since you're not reading this," she told him, brightly.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

"I don't take orders from you, Neliel," Szayel said, sharply, and with a sneer.

"And it hardly has to be lethal," he began, to Even, "just a measurement of your limits. An opponent can help to push them, of course--"

He got no further because Nel leaned over him and he was forced to lean back and to the side to avoid her bosom, a look of thorough disgust on his face that remained even when she stood back up, having stolen his reading material.

"Don't do that again."

[prayingmantis]

"Well," Nnoitra said, a smirk on his face. "She obviously found your weakness."

Construct a monster entirely out of boobs and Szayel would dissolve into a jibbering wreck in no time.

"Knock off trying to encourage people to give themselves up for experimentation, you creep." He said, rolling his eye. "We already know you're a scientist, you don't have to keep goin' on about it."

Nnoitra thought, probably not inaccurately, that Szayel was as big an attention whore as he liked people to think he was the other kind.

[thechillyacademic]

Even snorted a little, looking surprisingly comfortable, even in the present company. Neliel had a way of both lightening a situation and making it so that fights didn't break out, even when Szayel was there.

It was something of a talent, really.

He turned his attention back to his newspaper and turned the page. He wasn't particularly interested in celebrity gossip.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel threw Nnoitra a poisonous look. It morphed to become merely snotty when he mentioned Szayel being a scientist.

"I don't encourage such things to flaunt my scientific prowess," he said, haughtily. "I'm proof enough of that myself, but as a scientist, of course I'm curious about the ryoka in our midst." He shrugged, and eyed Nel with more than a hint of irritation, both for thrusting her bosom in his face, and for stealing his magazine, which had left him with nothing to pointedly begin to read to indicate his point had been made.

[declaregamuza]

Nel, with a bright smile, claimed a seat near Even with her pilfered magazine and cup of tea, and settled in to browse the article titles on the second page.

She considered telling Szayel that the only thing that rivaled his ego was Aizen's, but she decided against it given present company. That, and she wasn't actually entirely sure that Aizen's was bigger.

"You can stop giving me that look, Szayel," she said, without looking at him. She didn't need to look at him to feel him glaring daggers at her through the magazine. "You were too busy pestering Even to read it."

[prayingmantis]

Nnoitra laughed. It was a harsh sound, and scathing.

"So what if you're curious about the Ryoka?" He laughed. "He is a Ryoka, so the chances are he's more curious about where we come from than what he is. He knows what he is."

He rolled his eye. Nnoitra didn't have a great deal of time for crazy scientists. He'd dealt with far too many of them in his lifetime already.

"He's a scientist too," he went on, "so for all you know he's already done experiments away from the native nutcases."