It's hard to find true equilibrium.

[thesilentstorm]

Lindblum was, in Lumi's opinion, a singularly awful city.

Built atop a mountain, or possibly a cliff, it bore the sort of architecture that made it amply clear that it had been added to over time, that it had started off much smaller and had grown, almost organically, outwards and then upwards, like a particularly unpleasant fungus of mismatched brick and tile all contained within the immense castle's fortified walls.

Lumi's nose had wrinkled as they made the approach to the Falcon's Gate via airship. Even from a distance he could see that, without more space for the city to crawl beyond the walls, as most seemed to when they outgrew a castle's ramparts, it had just gotten ... taller. Idly, he had wondered how it would fare in the event of an earthquake.

Once the airship had docked and he and Marluxia had disembarked, he decided that the city was even worse than it had looked from their approach. The winding streets and irregular buildings did little but compound the fact that the city was not purpose-built. Some of the houses leaned like drunkards and some of them had larger, over-hanging upper floors, as though they had been added to at a later date by a less skilled builder. It looked disorganised, ramshackle and untidy.

With any luck, they wouldn't be there long.

They were in the city on a mission, or, at least, a favour. In deference to the alliance he had made with the most recently recruited of his old ... "colleagues", Marluxia had agreed to make a trip to Even's old home to pick up some items that he hadn't thought to bring with him on his would-be temporary relocation to Daguerreo. It wasn't safe for him to go himself, on any front, and Marluxia had the freedom of movement accorded to an established and voluntarily joined member of Clan Khamja.

Lumi stood in the street outside the Air Cab station, a frown on his face at the feel of the uneven cobbled floor under the soles of his shoes. It was a warm day, but it was growing clear that Summer was on its way out in this part of the world. The breeze that blew down the street carried upon it the scent of woodsmoke, hanging baskets and the promise of rain. It was, despite the pleasant day, cool enough to make Lumi stiffen where he stood. He scowled, looking up. The sky was, at least, still blue, though grey clouds were visible in the distance.

He looked to Marluxia for direction. It was he who had the address of Even's old residence.

Comments

[notjustanyolddude]

Someone was upstairs. In the study from the sound of it. Xigbar listened for a moment longer, trying to pick up on who or what exactly he was dealing with.

Whoever it was, they were trying to hide. Their reiatsu was heavily suppressed, and suppressed even further now they knew Xigbar was here.

Then there had been that little telltale metallic click. Some chucklehead was lurking about with a gun, and they weren't himself.

He readied his own guns before he stepped out into the hall, aware that he could be shot at or worse any time now, and might have to beat a hasty retreat into one of the rooms. He slipped carefully towards the dining room first, not wanting to walk right past it and leave himself open to being shot in the back.

What was that reiatsu he could feel? It was familiar, and yet not one he ran into a lot. Certainly not someone from the Order.

Realisation was like a lightbulb being turned on. Now what the hell was he doing here?

"I wouldn't think this was your kinda digs," he called, "not enough garden, right? Marluxia?"