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.
no subject
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."
no subject
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."
no subject
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."
no subject
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.
no subject
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."
no subject
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."
no subject
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."
no subject
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."
no subject
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.
no subject
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."
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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?"