Here I stand
Jan. 24th, 2016 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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spira_rpKadaj had given Hojo a wide berth.
It hadn't been that hard. Hojo had seemed to be extending him the same courtesy, but Kadaj wasn't taking chances. He'd been vigilant so far about following Even's advice and trying to leave as little trace of himself behind as he could. Nel helped, too, making sure he got his things washed and returned to his room quickly, and his crockery and utensils were quickly washed, or at least put in to soak. She'd bought him some bleach, too, and showed him how to soak his toothbrush and hairbrush in it so that, if Hojo did break into his room, he probably wouldn't get anything useful anyway.
It was weird and unpleasant to try and live while being mindful of everything you might leave behind for someone unscrupulous to collect evidence without your consent, but Kadaj felt like he was managing.
He'd also taken to training his bankai against Yylfordt. Not the full of its abilities, of course; he wasn't about to flash those around in the Palace, but improving the techniques he'd learned while he was out in the world was useful. Yylfordt wasn't as difficult as Kyuzo had been, but he had more brute force to put into a fight, and he used different tactics, even if they did mostly consist of relying on brute force.
Kadaj couldn't beat him consistently yet, but he was getting there. He'd be able to beat Yylfordt without taking a scratch if he used Reunion, of course, but he needed to keep training at dual wielding. He could practice Reunion out in the wider world, away from prying eyes, on Fiends that people wanted destroyed and the Gotei squads hadn't got around to yet.
Still, Kadaj was running up against a snag that he knew was going to be a solid wall in the way of his training. Yylfordt used brute force, yes, and Kadaj had to use his speed to circumvent that, but eventually he'd come up against someone that could use magic, or that he couldn't defeat without using magic himself, and that was when Kadaj was going to struggle.
He could ask Gin. Gin he was fairly sure would have taught him before now if he'd asked, but Kadaj would rather not end up owing Gin a lot of favours, and a part of him knew it wasn't smart to let Gin know every single ability he had in his arsenal. Plus, Gin would probably respect him more for finding another way.
Kuja had tried, but Kadaj had got frustrated easily, and tantrums had usually ensued if Kuja continued to push him, and Kuja's patience had worn thin. Kadaj had ended up learning every one of Kuja's favourite plays and poems by heart, because that was easier than learning to read them, and he'd mentioned no more about learning magic since.
He could ask Aizen, but Kadaj was wary of admitting such a weakness to Aizen. Ienzo wasn't to be considered. Nel was nice, but Kadaj wasn't sure of how she'd be as a teacher, and anyway, going to someone else's subordinates with a weakness was as bad as going to them.
Then Even had come along, and Kadaj had been set to hate him because they'd fought each other in the past, but he'd found that, really, he didn't. Even was a bit stuck up, sure, but he'd also been almost nice in the face of Hojo's interest in Kadaj. Kadaj had since afforded him respect, and Even had been respectful in return, which was new territory for Kadaj. If he was honest, he kind of liked Even, in the same way that he liked Nel.
So it was in this atmosphere of growing respect and the sown seeds of affability that Kadaj, after a training session with Yylfordt and subsequent shower, went to track Even down. It wasn't a safe conversation to have in the kitchen, or somewhere else public, so Kadaj want to find Even in his own quarters. He'd made his home, so to speak, in a distant end of the Palace, where no one else really went. They hadn't known it was here before Even came, or at least, they'd known it was here but hadn't known how to get to it, and had little reason to venture down here now. As a result, the whole area felt like Even. The rest of the Palace was a mishmash of other reiatsu signatures, but here was as definitely Even's domain as Orochimaru's labs had been his, and as Kuja's quarters were his.
Kadaj felt like an intruder in someone else's territory, and he knocked politely when he could feel Even on the other side of a door in that unmistakable sense of glaciers and icicles emanating from beyond it as if you could open it onto winter.
It hadn't been that hard. Hojo had seemed to be extending him the same courtesy, but Kadaj wasn't taking chances. He'd been vigilant so far about following Even's advice and trying to leave as little trace of himself behind as he could. Nel helped, too, making sure he got his things washed and returned to his room quickly, and his crockery and utensils were quickly washed, or at least put in to soak. She'd bought him some bleach, too, and showed him how to soak his toothbrush and hairbrush in it so that, if Hojo did break into his room, he probably wouldn't get anything useful anyway.
It was weird and unpleasant to try and live while being mindful of everything you might leave behind for someone unscrupulous to collect evidence without your consent, but Kadaj felt like he was managing.
He'd also taken to training his bankai against Yylfordt. Not the full of its abilities, of course; he wasn't about to flash those around in the Palace, but improving the techniques he'd learned while he was out in the world was useful. Yylfordt wasn't as difficult as Kyuzo had been, but he had more brute force to put into a fight, and he used different tactics, even if they did mostly consist of relying on brute force.
Kadaj couldn't beat him consistently yet, but he was getting there. He'd be able to beat Yylfordt without taking a scratch if he used Reunion, of course, but he needed to keep training at dual wielding. He could practice Reunion out in the wider world, away from prying eyes, on Fiends that people wanted destroyed and the Gotei squads hadn't got around to yet.
Still, Kadaj was running up against a snag that he knew was going to be a solid wall in the way of his training. Yylfordt used brute force, yes, and Kadaj had to use his speed to circumvent that, but eventually he'd come up against someone that could use magic, or that he couldn't defeat without using magic himself, and that was when Kadaj was going to struggle.
He could ask Gin. Gin he was fairly sure would have taught him before now if he'd asked, but Kadaj would rather not end up owing Gin a lot of favours, and a part of him knew it wasn't smart to let Gin know every single ability he had in his arsenal. Plus, Gin would probably respect him more for finding another way.
Kuja had tried, but Kadaj had got frustrated easily, and tantrums had usually ensued if Kuja continued to push him, and Kuja's patience had worn thin. Kadaj had ended up learning every one of Kuja's favourite plays and poems by heart, because that was easier than learning to read them, and he'd mentioned no more about learning magic since.
He could ask Aizen, but Kadaj was wary of admitting such a weakness to Aizen. Ienzo wasn't to be considered. Nel was nice, but Kadaj wasn't sure of how she'd be as a teacher, and anyway, going to someone else's subordinates with a weakness was as bad as going to them.
Then Even had come along, and Kadaj had been set to hate him because they'd fought each other in the past, but he'd found that, really, he didn't. Even was a bit stuck up, sure, but he'd also been almost nice in the face of Hojo's interest in Kadaj. Kadaj had since afforded him respect, and Even had been respectful in return, which was new territory for Kadaj. If he was honest, he kind of liked Even, in the same way that he liked Nel.
So it was in this atmosphere of growing respect and the sown seeds of affability that Kadaj, after a training session with Yylfordt and subsequent shower, went to track Even down. It wasn't a safe conversation to have in the kitchen, or somewhere else public, so Kadaj want to find Even in his own quarters. He'd made his home, so to speak, in a distant end of the Palace, where no one else really went. They hadn't known it was here before Even came, or at least, they'd known it was here but hadn't known how to get to it, and had little reason to venture down here now. As a result, the whole area felt like Even. The rest of the Palace was a mishmash of other reiatsu signatures, but here was as definitely Even's domain as Orochimaru's labs had been his, and as Kuja's quarters were his.
Kadaj felt like an intruder in someone else's territory, and he knocked politely when he could feel Even on the other side of a door in that unmistakable sense of glaciers and icicles emanating from beyond it as if you could open it onto winter.
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Date: 2016-01-28 08:12 pm (UTC)He put his feet up on the table and crossed them at the ankles.
"But, Kadaj is right. It ain't supposed to be about winning or losing," he said, giving a shrug. "It's training. You're both supposed to be improving. Y'don't think Captains got Bankai and suddenly became the most powerful people in their Divisions, do ya? There's a reason why the older ones are harder than the younger ones -- they've trained, dickhead. We're ranked mostly according to raw power and if you don't train that, you're just gonna be some dumbfuck with cow horns and a massive reiatsu."
Yylfordt was the least battle-ready of all the Espada, barring his brother, who probably only managed to win because he used underhanded tactics in the field. Grimmjow didn't doubt that a released Luppi would be able to smash Szayel if he didn't use any of his freaky techniques, fully released or not.
"Face it, man." He ran his fingers through his hair. "You're not so great against somebody with higher speed than you. Kadaj isn't so great against somebody with much higher strength than he has. You should both be learnin' the best way to handle opponents you struggle with, but you're there treatin' it like some sort of competition and getting all bitchy when you don't come out of it how you'd like."
He huffed a breath out and laid his head back against the back of the chair.
"Sparring is mutual," he said with a sigh. "If you're going into it to be treated like a punch bag, or treat your opponent like one, you're doing it for the wrong reasons. It ain't about dick-waving, it's about improvement and lookin' at it, you could fucking use some."
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Date: 2016-01-28 08:52 pm (UTC)He looked sour, folding his arms and staring at the wall. He'd have left the sunhouse, but it meant running the risk of walking straight into the girls.
"Ec ed duu silr du ycg dryd yvdan kaddehk so ycc gelgat po ouin vilgehk kenmvneaht E tuh'd ryja baubma kaddehk becco yd sa vun mucehk?" Sometimes a bro just needed to sulk in peace.
He was sulking, of course he was. Finding himself getting beaten by the kid whose role in their group dynamic was 'the mental one that sucks Grimmjow's cock' was an injury to his pride that it'd take him a bit of time to get over. Of course Grimmjow was right, he did need to train, but as the weakest Espada, he hadn't exactly had any sparring partners of an equal footing to go up against before, so he was used to sparring sessions ending with himself getting bounced.
It used to be different if he clashed swords with Kadaj, and now Kadaj was yet another person who was going to be able to bounce him around the training facility. The kid was spookily determined, and had set to training like his life depended on it. Yylfordt had never seen him so focused.
And it sucked. It was great for Kadaj, sure, and in a few days maybe Yylfordt would be happy for him making progress, but right now his jaw still hurt where Kadaj had clocked him with his foot, even though Nel had given him a once over, and it sucked.
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Date: 2016-01-28 09:01 pm (UTC)It was infuriating, and in their little group, there was only Kadaj and Apache that didn't understand it, which made it all the more vexing.
"Whatever you said, Grimmjow's right," he said, with a shrug of his shoulders, getting comfortable in his chair. "I've beat you three times out of the last five. I want to start stepping it up, but that doesn't mean I think I can beat you every time, yet." He shrugged again, "Just that I will, one day, and it'll be sooner than it should be if you're not trying to learn too."
It took ten years to get the hang of Bankai. That was the standard, and that didn't mean that after ten years you'd be at full strength, just that in ten years you'd be competent enough to use it effectively. They were tricky to obtain, trickier still to master. Kadaj was having to start from scratch on some aspects of swordplay, and unlearn some things he'd been doing for years because now he had two swords to handle. He was having to learn to use a sword in his offhand, it was hard.
And Yylfordt was the one getting childish?
"It comes to something when I'm being the reasonable one," he added, quietly.
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Date: 2016-01-28 09:28 pm (UTC)He rolled his eyes. It was still a sore point, but the fact of the matter was, when Grimmjow had been beaten half to death by a technique he hadn't expected and wasn't used to facing, Kadaj had come forward and done exactly the same to his attacker.
"Look at it with a bit of perspective the next time you want to snap at people because you got beaten," he said, scowling at him. "We could all do with training more anyway. Kadaj is the only one taking that shit seriously."
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Date: 2016-01-28 09:51 pm (UTC)That was the choice he faced. Train and take it seriously, or screw around and hope no one in Khamja decided he might get to be an inconvenience they could do without. Right now he was taking steps even Grimmjow didn't know about. He was taking steps Tayuya didn't know about, even, and that one was a little more unusual for him.
"I want to get out and take on some more Fiend hunts anyway," he said, softly. "They're what zanpakuto are meant to be used against." Plus, against them, he could train geostigma, and certain other abilities, that he couldn't train against sparring partners.
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Date: 2016-01-28 09:58 pm (UTC)"You're still welcome to that vilgehk pedlr," he said. "She's nuts." And mean, he thought, she was definitely mean. "It'd still have been nice to hear a 'it's okay, you'll get him next time', instead of," he trailed off, but pulled a face and flapped his fingers together to indicate a lecture.
"At least if I was telgehk her I could expect to get nagged."
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Date: 2016-01-28 10:08 pm (UTC)He sighed, though. Yylfordt had picked up the sword late in his life, unlike him, or Kadaj, so he had a lot of catching up to do and he wasn't doing it. Yylfordt had serious reserves of Chakra, but he didn't know how best to use them. That was a detriment to his fighting ability and his potential.
"Y'should train with her, though," he said, more of a suggestion than an admonishment. "I hear she's speed-based. If you had done it before, y'might have known a better way to deal with Kadaj. Y'can't really play the 'I can't hit girls' card when two of the top three Espada have tits." He paused. "Big ones."
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Date: 2016-01-28 10:32 pm (UTC)"And I don't really wanna train with her," he said, "because if she manages to beat me, I'll never hear the end of it, and if I beat her, I'll feel like a telgrayt." He grinned, "So I'll stick with saying I don't hit girls. Especially not girl Espada, because I'll never stop bouncing."
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Date: 2016-01-28 10:43 pm (UTC)He'd had a horrible crush on Tayuya, but she'd treated him like something she'd stepped in. Tayuya had been the first girl he'd really known that wasn't a streetwalker, and she'd been feisty, and cute, and Kadaj had been an idiot fourteen year old. He'd tried, awkwardly, to ask her out, and she'd responded by calling him disgusting and punching him in the face.
That was almost exactly what Kadaj thought the relationship between Apache and Yylfordt was like. Yylfordt might like her, because his grousing and complaining was of a similar pigtail pulling maturity as Kadaj's own young attempts to convince Tayuya he was cool, but Apache seemed to want none of it.
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Date: 2016-01-28 10:50 pm (UTC)He straightened up again fast though though, and looked at him again with a grin on his face. As far as he was concerned, Yylfordt wasn't fooling anyone.
"And that's bullshit anyway," he said, pointing at him and then flipping him off. "You'd have gone there ages ago if you weren't scared of her and maybe you wouldn't be scared of her if you didn't keep pissing her off so much. I swear, you do it on fucking purpose."
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Date: 2016-01-28 11:07 pm (UTC)He shook his head. "I'd have gone there if she wasn't a violent psychopath," he said, grudgingly. "Still prefer Al Bhed girls, though. Shame the only one here is a sivvtejan."
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Date: 2016-01-28 11:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 11:56 pm (UTC)He grinned, finding it quite funny. Yylfordt pretended to be all mature and adult, but he really wasn't. He picked on Apache endlessly and, when she predictably got pissed off with him being a dick to her, she lost her temper and snapped at him. She was an adult, pretty much, so she obviously didn't see Yylfordt's needling as positive interaction. Grimmjow found it half funny, because Apache seemed to look up to Yylfordt whenever he was being halfway decent to her, it was just that Yylfordt was too much of an absolute penis to notice.
"If anyone trash-talks you when you ain't there," he said, his grin still on his face, "she's the one snarling at them to fuck off."
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Date: 2016-01-29 12:05 am (UTC)He eyed Kadaj, too. "Anyway, do you think I'm made of gil? Flowers? We're in a desert." He shook his head. "I've never bought a girl flowers. I ain't starting with her."
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Date: 2016-01-29 12:13 am (UTC)"Or chocolates." He shrugged. He'd got Kuja a single, pristine rose, which had cost a handful of gil, but something about a perfect rose in the middle of the desert was meant for Kuja. Kadaj was fairly sure Kuja had approved of the thought, too. Sometimes you just had to think of what someone would like. A rose, for example, wasn't what you'd get someone like Grimmjow. He'd prefer a practical present, or going out and killing something big and ugly. Tayuya loved ice cream more than she loved chocolates, but chocolates went down well, too.
"I bet Apache goes all girly for a box of chocolates with a ribbon around them," he said, thoughtfully.
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Date: 2016-01-29 12:29 am (UTC)He turned to Kadaj and grinned a little.
"She's probably never had a box of chocolates bought for her anyway," he said, shrugging. "Apparently she had a pretty rough start. It's why she left Jylland for Ivalice and signed up with the project."
They all had different stories, some sadder than others and some not sad at all. Apache's, from what he'd heard, and he'd not heard much, consisted largely of being part of a seriously rough family back where she was brought up. He heard rumours that 'Apache' wasn't even her real surname, and that she didn't want to risk their reputation finding her where she was now.
"Or if you're too cheap to spend gil, you could just compliment her," he said. "She's pretty. Tell her she's got nice eyes or something."
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Date: 2016-01-29 12:39 am (UTC)"Why would I tell her that?" He asked, dismissively. "It's not like I've ever looked. Quit trying to hook me up with her, anyway. That cred's awkward in a place like this." If you split up you could never get away from each other. Nel and Stark had managed to stay on decent terms, at least in front of everyone else, but Yylfordt knew that if Nel had split up with him and he had to look at her every day for the rest of his life, he'd spend the rest of his life crying.
Or trying to sleep it away, like Stark already did.
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Date: 2016-01-29 12:47 am (UTC)"What do you mean you haven't looked?" He asked, obviously puzzled. "How do you miss them?"
Apache's eyes were probably the only ones he'd seen more obvious than his own when it came to grabbing your attention. Yylfordt acting like he didn't care and didn't understand why they might be called pretty was just... odd.
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Date: 2016-01-29 12:54 am (UTC)"You have a lot to learn about chicks, man," he said, shaking his head. He was clearly too much of a loser to see sense. Still, they couldn't sit around and talk about how much of a loser he was all night. "Y'wanna play cards?"