Ain't gonna stop for nobody, no one.

[cierva]

Apache was nettled.

Yylfordt, in Apache's opinion, was being a monumental jackass. Granted, she accepted that she probably shouldn't have needled him about his loss to Kadaj while he was still being a pissy little bitch about it, but he acted as though being beaten by him was something to be ashamed of, which apparently it wasn't, so she wasn't the only one who thought he shouldn't have come off worse. Yylfordt thought it himself.

Yylfordt was just petty. When things didn't go his way he took it out on other people and, to make things worse, he took them out on them in Al Bhed, which was just rude when half the room didn't speak it and less than that spoke it as fluently as he did. He just pissed her off when he acted like a baby.

She liked Tayuya's idea of getting out of the palace. It was a good idea. She hadn't gotten out since the Midgar mission. The rest of them had, but they'd elected to leave her behind, as usual, probably at Yylfordt's behest, she thought, so she was due a break. She needed a break. If Tayuya managed to convince Nel, or even Halibel, that a girl-only trip out was worth it, she'd be happy. She needed to be away from the palace's sausagefest for at least a night or she was at risk of getting testosterone poisoning.

As such, she stomped away from the Sunhouse and to the kitchen, with Tayuya. When they got there she was relieved to see that it was entirely free of the usual suspects who haunted it. Nnoitra was nowhere to be seen, Szayel was gone for once, luckily for him, and neither Even nor Luppi were around either. Apache threw herself into a chair with a scowl on her face.

If Nel said no, she was going to murder that blonde-haired Granz bastard in his sleep.

Comments

[declaregamuza]

Nel actually smirked at Even's question. He was getting familiar with personalities at play, then.

"A little from column a, a little from column b," she answered. "He will insist on upsetting a ninja and an Arrancar, he has his brother's skill at picking his enemies." Talking their way into trouble seemed to be a shared Granz trait. It did make you wonder about their parents.

She shrugged, "But I won't pretend I'm not looking forward to getting away for a night," she added, with a smile. "I've been here for two years and this is the first night out we've had."

That sounded awful, when she thought about it. They weren't prisoners, but they definitely didn't get enough away-from-the-Palace downtime, and she got out more than some of the others did.

[thechillyacademic]

"That sounds dreadful," he said, sipping his wine again. It wasn't too bad.

He was quite happy to be holed up in a building for the majority of the time, if he thought about it. He'd gone from castle to castle to castle until reaching Spira and it had only been his stint going between Rabanastre and Lindblum and staying in normal houses or apartments that had been his foray into normal life. He was fully prepared to embrace his habit of staying indoors for the majority of his time once his laboratories were up and running.

Even so, he rather hoped that his joining Khamja voluntarily would afford him some freedom. He did need to get out and collect things every now and again.

"Still," he said, brightly. "Yylfordt's apparent lack of self-preservation instinct is your gain, on this occasion."

[declaregamuza]

"It is, isn't it?" Nel replied, brightly. She took a sip of her wine and settled herself in a chair at the table. The chair felt much further down than she was used to, too. A couple of glasses of wine would make her forget about her footwear, however.

Although she had to admit that the odds of her carrying her shoes and walking barefoot by the end of the night were higher than usual.

"I'll have to start arranging nights out more often," she said, and then gave Even a cheeky look and a wink. "I'll have to get you out for the night at some point."

Now she'd seen him check out her cleavage she wanted to see what else he'd reveal of his preferences after a few drinks.

[thechillyacademic]

"Ohh," he said, frowning slightly and wrinkling his nose. "I don't know. I'm not one for nights out."

That was putting it mildly. The most time Even had ever spent in a pub of any sort was the long days spent in the Sandsea and that was only because that was where the Order made their base.

[declaregamuza]

Nel waved a hand dismissively, "I don't expect to get you hammered and hooked up with some pretty and stupid mistake," she said, much too cheerily to be believed, "but out of the Palace would be a start."

In truth, she'd quite like to see what Even was like if he was tiddly and chatted up by a person of his preference. She'd have said man of his tastes, but clearly Even was more complicated. It would be interesting to see if he leaned more towards men or women under the influence, though.

[destroytiburon]

Halibel entered the kitchen, looking serious as she always did. She was less obviously made up than Nel, although her outfit showed just as much cleavage, and rather less leg. She also wasn't wearing heels; they never had been her thing, she was tall enough, and it gave Nel the height advantage, for once.

"The other two not ready yet?" She asked, after giving Even a polite nod.

She didn't lurk in the communal areas, like some, so she wasn't one of the common presences there. She'd seen Even, but not really spoken to him. Nel was the sociable one. Between the three top Espada, they covered most of the bases of effective leadership.

Most of her time was spent in the training facility, when she could get someone to train with her, or in her own quarters. She was, as Nel had put it, never off duty, so when Nel had come to her today to try and convince her to come out for a night, she hadn't been reluctant, but she hadn't been enthused, either.

Honestly, she wasn't sure what Nel might have over Aizen to convince him to let them out, but he had, despite all the reasons not to. As such, given the opportunity for an evening out, Halibel intended to make the most of it. It had been a very long time.

[thechillyacademic]

Even nodded in response and sipped his wine.

He wasn't sure what town or city the party were going to, but he highly doubted that it was going to be the nearest and most convenient -- Rabanastre. No, that was likely too close to potential conflict with the Ryoka. Even without Grimmjow among them, that was too big of a risk.

Still, with three Arrancar and Tayuya going out, he did sort of feel a little bad for the town that was, inevitably, going to be painted red.

[declaregamuza]

"No," Nel replied, almost in a sing-song. "They'll still be applying the war paint and rolling their skirts up." She smiled, thinking back to a few of the old tricks she used to use when she was much, much younger. "Stuffing socks into their bras, and so on." Not that Apache needed that much of a boost, but Tayuya was probably familiar with the trick.

She half wondered if Tayuya might stop off to make Grimmjow jealous first, or if she'd do that just before they left when Grimmjow had less time to try and stop her. Nel also doubted that they'd get to leave without rubbing it into Yylfordt's face that they were going out.

"Help yourself to a glass," she said, happily, and taking another mouthful from her own.

[destroytiburon]

Halibel flashed a small smile and strode over to the glasses, and wine, pouring herself half a glass.

"Let us hope we do not return to find the Palace in tatters," she said, "after leaving the boys here to fend for themselves."

It was, as far as Halibel was concerned, a risky venture for that fact alone. They managed when Nel wasn't around, but that was planned management. It would be interesting to see what happened among the younger of the Arrancar when Nel was unexpectedly absent from her typical duties.

[thechillyacademic]

Even smiled to himself.

It was curious, because, in his limited experience, leaving the only girl in the group he used to belong to was more of a recipe for disaster than leaving the men.

Some in the palace seemed independent enough not to rely on Nel, at least. The biggest danger was probably somebody offing Szayel.

[cierva]

Apache hadn't been out since before she left Jylland. She had arrived on Ivalice and had almost immediately had to set out finding a job and accommodation. After a month of that, she'd joined the Arrancar project. Being able to just go out and enjoy a night with friends would be fun, she was sure of it.

It might have been a bid to exact revenge on Yylfordt, but it was going to be good, too.

She had been getting ready with Tayuya, trying to pick an outfit that wasn't outright slutty, but that showed off what she wanted to show off. A low-cut top, a push-up bra and a short skirt did the trick, together with some boots. She didn't really have the shoes for a night out, but that didn't matter. With her eye-make up techniques, she ended up using the rock chick look more often than not, anyway.

Together with Tayuya, she headed to the kitchen where they had agreed to meet up with Nel.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya, awful as it sounded, had never been on a girl's night out before. She was familiar with the concept, of course, but since she'd spent most of her life in the Palace as the only regular female resident, she'd never had the opportunity.

It also meant she'd never really dressed up for a night out before, so she'd joined forces with Apache to scour her wardrobe for something she could wear. She'd ended up with one of Apache's tiny skirts, and one of her own shirts, tucked and folded so it was that little bit of a tighter fit than she usually wore it.

She'd also dispensed with the headwear for the night. It didn't really go.

The net result was that Tayuya didn't really look like herself if you were used to seeing her around the Palace. She didn't normally put anywhere near this much effort in.

She went with Apache, once they were both ready, and entered the kitchen, glancing at the others. Nel hit about the same level on the slutty scale as Apache did. Halibel, for Tayuya, scored a point higher, because while she was only showing as much cleavage as Nel, hers was peeking underneath her top. Tayuya suddenly felt much more comfortable wearing a skirt.

Even was there too, she noticed, surrounded by boobs he didn't appreciate, and drinking a glass of wine.

"Pre-loading?" She asked, looking pointedly at Nel's glass of wine, and then at Nel.

[declaregamuza]

Nel smiled at the girls as they entered the kitchen. They'd obviously opted to make the most of the evening in the same way she had.

"Well, some of us were taking an age to get ready," she said, in reply. "You two look good," she told them.

Apache might have been out to make Yylfordt jealous, she wasn't sure, yet, but if she was, it was going to work. Even though Yylfordt would inevitably not admit it.

[destroytiburon]

"We're all ready now," Halibel pointed out, giving the two younger women a once over, and then lingering on Apache.

Maybe if the night went slowly....

[cierva]

Apache grinned a bit at Halibel's look and turned to Nel, head tilted a bit.

Thanks," she said, pleased with the compliment. Then she eyed the bottle of wine and Nel's glass of it. "Drink up, then."

She was looking forward to getting out. She had grabbed some gil from her room to cover as many drinks as she could, but she was banking on not having to buy too many herself. She was sure there'd be a few generous guys and girls in the bars or clubs they hit up.

Without waiting, she headed back out into the hallway.

[thechillyacademic]

Even smiled a little. It was lucky Nel was so responsible. Halibel seemed similar, but the idea of four girls going out to clubs and getting rather drunk struck him as a horrifying concept. He imagined they could be far, far scarier when in that sort of state and hoped, for Nel's sake, that no fights broke out.

He looked at the bottle of wine on the table and pointed at it, before Nel left. "May I?"

Well, why not.

[declaregamuza]

Nel narrowed one eye at Apache, and then downed the remainder of her wine in one go. Then she stood, throwing Even a smile, and a, "Help yourself." He might as well, it would only go to waste otherwise.

"Come on then," she said, following Apache into the corridor, and ushering Halibel along with her.

[destroytiburon]

Halibel finished her own wine in a couple of mouthfuls before letting Nel shoo her out into the corridor after the other two. She gave Even another polite nod before she went, faint smirk on her face.

Yes, she was definitely going to enjoy herself tonight.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt was on his way to the kitchen when he saw the girls.

"Where the vilg are you going?" He asked, eyebrows raised. He hadn't seen girls dressed up like regular tarts for a bit, and he'd never seen these girls dressed up like that at all.

He wasn't sure what to stare at first. Nel's cleavage? Halibel's under cleavage? Tayuya in a skirt? Apache, uh....

Apache got a look up and down before Yylfordt made himself look away. Fortunately, there were plenty of things for him to look away at.

[cierva]

"Out," she said simply, giving him a slightly defiant look.

If he dared try and put the ban on that because he was the Espada of the two, he was going to find a knee being rammed very forcefully into his groin.

Still, she didn't miss the look over she got. That was almost enough to make her smirk, but she managed to keep it suppressed.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow walked up behind Yylfordt and did much the same as he did, except his eyes lingered on Tayuya instead of Apache and he didn't have to look away. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her in a skirt before.

"You look nice," he said, giving her a grin. "You asked Kuja if you can go with them, or are you just goin' without givin' a fuck?"

I mean, it was all fine by him, but he didn't want her to get in trouble and get herself banned from Skite outings. That would, in his opinion, be shit.

[soundfivebitch]

"I asked him if I could go out with Nel," Tayuya answered, with a nasty grin. She'd asked permission, yes, but she hadn't given full details; just enough that she'd get permission granted.

Kuja probably wouldn't care so long as she didn't get into trouble, though. He had bigger things to worry about than one of the Sound Four heading out for the night. She hoped so, anyway. Tayuya hadn't wanted to risk getting told no, and even if he did ban her from Skite trips in future, Kadaj could probably talk him round. Or, well, convince him, somehow.

She approved of the look Grimmjow gave her, anyway. She wasn't sure about the skirt, but he seemed to like it, so it couldn't have been bad. Admittedly, Grimmjow would probably give her that look if she showed up in his bedroom wearing a bag, but that was beside the point.

"Wouldn't want him fretting about not being the girliest motherfucker in the building for five minutes, would we?"

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt tried to find somewhere to put his face, with little success. The problem was that he had a very strong urge to put it in a few places that would get his ass kicked. He found himself staring at Apache again, or rather, at Apache's low cut top, and he made the conscious effort to force his eyes up to her face.

"Right," he said, half distracted. Something was nagging at him and he couldn't put his finger on what. "Well," he began, awkwardly, "about earlier, I--"

It clicked.

"Rumo cred," he said, staring. "Your eyes are different colours!"

[declaregamuza]

Nel, in a good mood, aware that she was being stared at, was all set to hurry the girls on towards the exit.

Then Yylfordt spoke and she just stared at him, as if he was a complete and utter idiot.

"Tell me you're not serious," she said, looking ready to slap him upside the head herself if Apache didn't get there first.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow, briefly distracted from his girlfriend's hotness by Yylfordt's display of epic stupidity, stared at him.

Is that why he'd never said anything nice, for fucking real? When he asked earlier why he'd say that to her, he thought he was just being an ass, he didn't consider the possibility that he just hadn't noticed.