Make my way back home

[palehornedprince]

Their foray into the Vile Peaks had been fruitful and frustrating at the same time. Yylfordt had got the time the day after their encounter with the stupidly overpowered-for-what-it-was Hollow to go and mooch among the old ruins left there. He'd wanted to bring back a lot more than he'd been able to, in the end, partly because of the bulk of things. He'd got some very flat looks when he'd suggested just leaving some people behind so there was more room on the Ragnarok; fortunately, they'd known he was joking.

Or had thought he was, anyway.

They'd brought back what they could, and Even and his scary Aeon level ice powers had gone off to his laboratory, and Nel had gone back to doing whatever she did all day, and Yylfordt, Apache, Tayuya, Kadaj, and Grimmjow had been left to their usual devices again.

They'd got bored after two days, and Yylfordt had got round to wiring up their coffee machine. He'd been tempted to just steal it and wire it up in his workshop and then lord it over Szayel that he had one, but he hadn't wanted to annoy Apache and Grimmjow any more than he usually did by existing, so he was working on connecting in to the Palace's electrics, and running a cable to the Sunhouse.

Which was about when he'd decided he could really do with some more insulated wire, and connector pins, and another socket adapter wouldn't go amiss, really. He had things, of course, he was Al Bhed, he'd never not have things. But that was why he needed more things, because if he used these things then he'd be running low, and something about machina and the associated gidgets and gadgets brought out the hoarder in him. He could never allow himself to get down to his last thing, because then what if he needed to use that, and ended up with no things?

He'd got some funny looks when he'd tried to explain his reasoning for wanting to trip into Rabanastre, just to pick up some basics, even though he already had the basics. It was only Rabanastre, and it would only be a day. They'd proven they could go out and come back without getting in trouble. Anyway Nel had apparently told Aizen she'd been impressed with Grimmjow's leadership ability while she was out with them.

They'd been allowed to go to Rabanastre. It was only a short hop of a journey, a shorter hop than Nel usually made to get groceries, which was probably some of the reason they'd been allowed to make it. The Arrancar overall were being given that little bit more freedom, one outing at a time.

The girls had come, because Tayuya and Apache jumped at any chance to get out. Yylfordt had, if he was honest, taken a bit of pride in showing Apache around the Al Bhed quarter. Then he'd burned with jealousy when he'd seen Kadaj give an absently friendly wave to a cute Al Bhed girl in folded down dungarees and a bra, working in the Rockbell repair shop, and getting it returned cheerily. He'd been even more jealous when Kadaj, after being asked, had said simply that she was Winry, which caused a minor meltdown on Yylfordt's part.

He'd not been allowed to backtrack and talk to her, though, as much as he'd wanted to. Kadaj had refused to take him back and introduce him, too, on the grounds that they weren't here for long enough for Yylfordt to fanboy the Rockbells.

"Bro, can't we just--?" He asked again, as they were leaving. The intention was to get something to eat, but Rabanastre Al Bhed food was a little too authentic for some. You had to go to the peripheries if you wanted something everyone found palatable, funny as it would be to try and get Kadaj or Apache to try Desert Oysters.

Comments

[cierva]

Apache grinned back at Tayuya's comment.

"That sounds gross," she said, looking at Yylfordt with a flat expression. "Why would you eat that unless you had to?"

Keeping the preparation method in mind should they get annoying seemed like a smart move and a good idea of Tayuya's, if only to use as a threat.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt, despite having used some of his ethnic cuisine to try and gross out his friends, felt the need to defend it now the deed was done. "They're pretty good, actually. You wouldn't know they were balls from the taste."

He paused, and reconsidered that statement. "Not that I'd know, bro," he added. Szayel might, but Yylfordt doubted they tasted alike because Szayel didn't normally eat the still attached kind of testicles smashed flat, dipped in flour, and fried. Not unless whoever he was with was into some seriously kinky shit, anyway.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj grimaced. It wasn't even that the idea of eating deep fried testicles was off-putting, it was the way Yylfordt described it. It made him squirm just to think about it.

"Yeah, let's not go somewhere that serves those," he said, his upper lip curling. "I don't want to be thinking about how they're made while I'm trying to eat."

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya shook her head. "I'm pretty sure they don't," she said, to Apache, eyeing Yylfordt as she spoke. "I think fuckers like him just do it to see what they can get non-Al Bhed to eat."

There was a lot of offal in Al Bhed cuisine, really, if you went for the genuine stuff, anyway. And that shit was exactly why they weren't going for the genuine stuff. It all sounded like macho bullshit posturing to see who'd puss out of eating the gross thing first.

[cierva]

"Probably," Apache said, giving her head a shake. "Desert food's usually pretty gross. There's some good stuff from Balterossa, but most of it's crap or weird." She looked thoughtful. "Though... I don't think they eat balls there. It's mostly curried lizard meat hot enough to burn through a tablecloth."

[jawmask]

"Least Rabanastre has more than just Al Bhed food," Grimmjow said, giving his shoulders a shrug.

Being a large market city with an entire district dedicated to a lot of different people all peddling their wares, food included, there was a wide spread of potential goodies to be had. From pots of stew, curry and stew to fried, pickled and baked street food. There were Al Bhed vendors among them selling both traditional and accessible foods of course, but it was far from the only thing available.

"I'm sure we can find something else," he said. "Though if any of you decides on Gysahl Pickles, you're walkin' home."

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya snorted at Apache's description of Balterossan food. "Shit that would just be a dick-waving contest to see who pusses out of finishing it first, you mean?" She asked.

She knew Grimmjow and Yylfordt too well to expect them to be mature and reasonable when confronted with stupidly spicy food. It became a competition, because of course it did.

Not that she didn't participate, sometimes, of course, but she didn't have a dick to be measuring while doing it.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt made a point of tutting, theatrically. "That was gonna be my next suggestion, bro," he said. Then he grinned, broadly. "Although if I'm flying, you'll be the one that has to walk," he pointed out, with impeccable logic that completely ignored both the fact that it was hard to eat Gysahl Pickles without your teeth anyway, and that Grimmjow could also fly the Ragnarok if he had to.

He kept grinning, but it fell a little when he felt something tug at the edge of his senses. There was a familiar reiatsu around, but really, really suppressed.

Nah. It couldn't be, right?

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj grimaced. Overly spicy food was another thing he struggled with, which was another thing about his preferences that drew mockery from Yylfordt. "Lizard's all right if you roast it," he said.

Not curried, though, and especially not that hot. Kadaj didn't see the point in food that spicy. You couldn't taste it. He'd been told that was the point, and if it was a survival situation he could understand why you might want to be able to swallow something otherwise unpalatable, but when civilisation was a short ride away at worst, it just seemed counterintuitive.

[hearstheplanet]

Aerith had run out of flowers twice today. It wasn't that she didn't have enough, it was that her cart wasn't big enough for the number she was selling now. Flowers in the desert were a luxury, and Aerith could charge a pretty penny for them without being too cheeky, and business still boomed.

Word was spreading. She was either going to have to get a bigger cart, or more carts. Maybe place one near the airship port, and one at the centre near the fountain? Both of them were good business spots, although on days where the caravans came through with supplies, the gates were good locations to sell, too.

Or maybe she should get a shop? She needed to sell more flowers to afford that, though, so a bigger cart first. Maybe a big wooden one, with a roof, so it was more like a mobile stall, and it could keep the sun off the flowers so the heat didn't make them wilt.

It had been a productive day of selling, and she'd roped in help wherever she could. Saix had managed to avoid it, however, on account of working in the Sandsea most of the day. Demyx was taking the evening shift at the pub. The Landlord was still missing, but the Order were keeping it running.

She'd fluttered her eyelashes at Lea to get him to help her today, not that he was hard to convince if he wasn't doing anything else. Fang, the newest addition to their group, and who still had the ability to distract Saix when he thought no one was looking, wasn't someone Aerith judged to be the flower selling type, but she'd tried to rope her in anyway.

Now the air was cooling off they were heading for something to eat. Aerith had promised to treat them, since she'd sold everything for today.

She had a smile on her face when she felt it, and her face fell. It was hard to deny those reiatsu signatures.

[innatelunacy]

Saix had been in a good mood practically since they'd got the Chocobo Eater. He'd had days, of course, where he'd been less tolerant, and there were still people he'd been less tolerant with as a matter of course, Xigbar among them. Still, it was a feat to say he hadn't been explicitly grouchy, despite working in close quarters with Demyx most days to keep the Sandsea ticking over.

Ordinarily, that would have tested his already limited patience, but he'd managed to deal with it with the minimum of threats to Demyx's continued health and wellbeing.

If he caught Xigbar attempting to help himself to drinks again, however, he'd break his hand.

Aerith had offered to treat them to dinner today, and Saix had agreed with no intention of letting the girl pay for everything. He enjoyed spending time with Lea. He even, though he'd be more reluctant to admit it, liked Aerith, and of course, Fang was always a draw.

He felt the reiatsu signatures when Aerith did. Rabanastre was always a hodge podge of mixed reiatsu anyway, picking one signature out of the crowd was hard unless you were practically on top of it.

This wasn't just one, though. He looked over at Lea, his expression severe. He had to have noticed them, too.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow raised his eyebrows at the implication that Yylfordt would fly away and leave them high and dry if he committed that particular faux pas, but his comment on the matter didn't make it past his lips.

He knew that feeling. It was faint, suppressed and hidden amongst the throng of people, but it was there, familiar and enough to set his teeth on edge. That sensation came packaged with an involuntary burst of adrenaline and the bridge of Grimmjow's nose wrinkled as his lip curled.

He gave Yylfordt a meaningful look, eyes narrowed.

[cierva]

"Pretty much," she said rolling her eyes.

She stopped, looking at Yylfordt and Grimmjow. The two of them seemed off all of a sudden, like something was wrong. She glanced around at Tayuya, confused.

[gotitmemorised]

Lea was too distracted by the crowd and the pleasant atmosphere to be aware of the familiar reiatsu that had suddenly come into sensing range. He hadn't noticed at all, but stopped, confused, when both Aerith and Saix suddenly looked rather serious.

It was only then that he felt it.

The battle in the desert came back to him, followed by the earlier one, where Aerith's timely application of her Limit Break had saved them from the blue-haired guy and some of his associates.

His eyes narrowed.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me," he groaned, his voice tight. "Here?"

[raindownhell]

Fang had proved less than useful when it came to selling flowers. Lea did better than she did and Aerith was easily the best at it, but she had still managed to sell the contents of a basket when presented with the challenge. She hadn't realised that flowers were so lucrative a market but it made sense for a desert city where survival wasn't at the top of every resident's list.

After the day was done, she was happy to go and enjoy something to eat with the lot of them. She would have preferred to have spent the day outside the city's walls, hunting them something instead of engaging with the general population, but food at the end was good no matter what came before.

She looked at Lea when he spoke, an eyebrow arched.

"What?" She asked. "Food quarter closed?"

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya stopped, catching Apache's confusion at around the same time as she noticed the unmistakable reiatsu of the berserker, and his fire elemental friend, and that little Holy elemental bitch they had with them too.

She scowled. "The berserker's here," she said. She was the first one to acknowledge it out loud. "With his friends."

For fuck's sake. They couldn't go anywhere.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt looked at Grimmjow, his expression serious. "What you thinking, bro?" He asked.

A city wasn't exactly an ideal battleground, but that went both ways. The Ryoka had vested interest in people not figuring out they were Ryoka.

Just like the Arrancar had a vested interest in people not knowing what they could do, either. But Grimmjow's feud with the berserker ran deep, and Tayuya was gunning for the fire elemental's head on a platter.

The problem was, to have noticed each other now, like this, here, they must practically be on top of each other already.

[joinmyreunion]

Kadaj frowned, but didn't comment. He could feel the berserker, he knew his reiatsu well enough. The problem was, Kadaj had grown to like and respect Even, and somehow, attacking his ex felt wrong. He wasn't sure how it would go over if he came back and had to tell Even that Grimmjow had finally killed Saix, something he'd attempted to do on numerous occasions with Even present.

He might not care. Or he might, Kadaj had never pried to deeply into what had gone on between them. That was Even's business. But fighting Saix now felt like it was also messing with Even's business.

[innatelunacy]

Saix glanced at Fang. She was a perfectly capable combatant, but she hadn't met Arrancar yet. It looked like she was about to.

"We're in the presence of some old friends," he said, his voice low. "This could get interesting."

Interesting, in this case, being a code word for violent. That was the problem; Rabanastre was not somewhere Saix particularly wanted to turn into a battleground, but the Arrancar had been very bad at avoiding confrontations in the past.

He couldn't even summon his claymore here, if it came to it. Whereas they carried swords as a rule. He'd be at a disadvantage if they decided to make this a fight.

[cierva]

"We can't start shit in a city," Apache said, mostly to Tayuya. "The boss'd lose his mind."

Not just the boss, either. If she was any judge, the people and city authorities would have a less than favourable response to such a fight breaking out within Rabanastre's walls, too.

The last thing any of the Arrancar needed was an arrest for brawling and/or murder on their record.

[jawmask]

Grimmjow looked thoughtful, if predatory. Starting a fight in a big city wasn't the best thing they could do, but it would certainly cut down on the flashy moves if they had to. On the downside, he wouldn't be able to release his mask. Still, he was confident that he could beat the berserker if it came to it.

"If we've felt them, they've felt us," he said, his voice low, on edge.

[gotitmemorised]

It was Lea who spotted them. They weren't hard to pick out.

Saix's best friend was there, together with the Al Bhed guy and the Summoner girl. He watched them for a moment before realising that a black-haired Hume girl and a Selkie were part of their party as well. That tipped the scales a bit.

"There," he said, suddenly wishing he wasn't unarmed. Summoning his Chakrams in the middle of a crowded city wasn't possible.

[soundfivebitch]

Tayuya was scouting the heads in the crowd, looking for the Ryoka. She had a personal score to settle with the fire elemental, and she had her flute to help her do it.

"There they are," she hissed." She glanced at Apache then, and smirked. "I can fuck them up without drawing blood," she said, cockily. "I've been wanting to do that to the rat bastard fire elemental ever since last time."

Other people wouldn't even have to know there was a fight going on, if she did it right. Nor would anyone be likely to notice a bunch of Ryoka going missing.

[palehornedprince]

Yylfordt sighed. "I thought you might say that," he said, resigned to the inevitable meeting, and likely fight. "Have to make it quick though," he said, "before any guards spot us."

A dark part of Yylfordt said that it wouldn't be the first city they'd destroyed.

Another part of him said that Gin would be fucking pissed with them if they trashed Rabanastre.

Aizen too. Couldn't forget him.

Yylfordt took another glance at Grimmjow when Tayuya spoke. They could see each other too. There was no getting out of this now. "Let's go?" He asked, checking before he made a move.

[hearstheplanet]

"You can't fight here," Aerith said, clasping her hands and looking at the Arrancar. "There are too many people," she said. She didn't say that it would attract too much attention, that it would call guards, and if they used any of their more unusual abilities it would attract the attention of people who might just sell them down the river to people who might be interested in that kind of thing.

Shinra's main labs were gone, but they were far from the only ones.