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

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi nodded once at Marluxia's comment.

He knew for a fact that he wouldn't be compatible with any of the residents of Spira, nor any of the Ryoka. He was fairly sure that he was compatible only his associates back in his own world, let alone a strange one.

He wanted to go to bed, though. His own bed. He wasn't particularly tired, not enough to sleep instantly after all he'd got, but he was sure he'd change his mind when he lay down somewhere comfortable and where he felt relatively safe.

Szayel's snippiness concerned him more than a little. When it came to getting a dressing change, assuming it would be needed after a few days, he strongly considered seeking the assistance of Neliel instead of Szayel. He knew her to be a White Mage, if not a doctor and she, at least, didn't seem to have any ulterior motives when it came to them. Instead, she simply possessed undisguised dislike, which he trusted far more than whatever it was Szayel had.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel scowled. Their unified front only confirmed what Szayel thought of the pair of them, namely that they were almost certainly screwing, if the fact that both of them were dreadfully attractive wasn't enough to confirm that then the wordless communication, whole sentences and conversations happening through snatched glances and the tilt of someone's head, certainly was. Unfortunately, right now it was infuriating.

"Fine," he answered, as if that was the end of the argument as far as he was concerned. "Let's hope this rustic," he'd caught that, and between Lumi saying that and Even's attitude to scientific advancement on Spira, Szayel got the impression they considered this world backwards, "world doesn't contain more hazards to your current health than you're used to."

He'd been treated for a gunshot before, fine. But refusing treatment now if he considered this world so damned rustic was insanity.

He grabbed a swab and carefully removed the cannula from Lumi's arm, telling him, "Hold that while I get some tape."

And hide the cannula with the drop of blood still lingering in it.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia watched Szayel's every movement, his expression stony. He didn't trust Szayel one jot, and he trusted him even less when he was holding onto something that was sticking into Lumi.

Marluxia still had the bullet he'd extracted. He'd also burned, cleaned, or confiscated whatever he could find in the infirmary that had traces of Lumi's blood on it, such as the forceps used to remove the bullet, and the swabs from cleaning him up.

"We'll take that, too," he said, pointing to the cannula in Szayel's hand.

[thesilentstorm]

"I shouldn't imagine it will," Lumi said, flatly.

He held the swab to the place where the needle had been and looked at Marluxia. He managed not to smirk at the fact that he was, as ever, on the same wavelength as him when it came to depriving Szayel of things he really, really wanted, especially where their future safety was concerned.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel stared at Marluxia, the cannula still in his hand. He debated, seriously debated, refusing to hand it over. Maybe he could pretend he had no idea of the value of what precious little it contained, as if his medical professional side had eclipsed his scientific acumen.

It wouldn't wash, he realised. They weren't quite stupid enough to fall for it, and probably had too high an opinion of his intelligence for him to successfully play dumb.

Still, it was worth a shot.

"This belongs in the sharps disposal," he said, endeavouring to give Marluxia a puzzled look.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia murmured, wordlessly. He knew exactly where it belonged, and that was out of Szayel's possession.

He held his hand out across the bed, silently demanding that Szayel hand it over.

He glanced very briefly at Lumi as he did. They both understood why they couldn't let Szayel walk away with the used needle, and if it came to violence to stop him from doing so then Marluxia was prepared for it to end with violence.

"I've had a very long day," he said, when Szayel still hadn't relinquished the needle. The 'Don't continue to try me' didn't need to be given voice.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi returned the look, turning his eyes to Szayel as Marluxia did.

He had to hand it to him, Szayel was certainly trying his best to get hold of something of that nature. He doubted there would be much there for him to study, but in his opinion, it was still too much. Contaminating his 'sample' with ammonia or bleach would probably have allowed Szayel to dispose of the needle properly, but he didn't trust him to do it, even if told.

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

Szayel glowered at Marluxia, but the warning was clear in his tone and body language, and Szayel would rather not have a fight break out in the middle of the infirmary. Yesterday had been bad enough.

It was a pity he couldn't release here, and obtain them both as samples, but Aizen, and the rest of Khamja, would have questions.

He placed the used cannula in Marluxia's palm with a scowl, watching him gently close his fingers around it and withdraw it from Szayel's grasp. Then turned to grab some tape and fixed the swab in place over Lumi's arm.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia looked down at the cannula in his hand, and the tiny but very much present drop of blood lingering in it. He'd dispose of it later.

"Thank you for your services," he said, when Szayel had finished. His smile was darkly amused, but he was glad to be able to get out of there, at last.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi pushed himself up the rest of the way with one hand. Moving hurt. Moving hurt rather a lot, actually. Szayel was right about that much. He felt awful. Truly terrible. Everything ached, all of his muscles seemed to protest against him sitting straight, moving his legs to the side of the bed, and attempting to get up.

He couldn't work out why. The gunshot was enough to have caused a problem in the arm and shoulder, that was for certain, but the rest of it? He felt as though he'd over-exercised enough for his muscles to stiffen as a result of that, which was absurd. He knew that he hadn't.

Lumi made a soft noise of discomfort as he made to stand, a frown on his face.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia, after a moment, offered his arm to help stabilise Lumi. Lumi had taken chakra damage, too, and Marluxia knew how it felt to try and move about with genuinely drained chakra resources. Lumi hadn't experienced the like before, and Marluxia could tell her was suffering.

Still, he wasn't about to pick Lumi up and carry him again. For one, he was heavy. Not heavier than he looked, considering his height, but he was still heavy, and Marluxia had carried him some distance yesterday.

"A hot bath and a good meal will help," he said, quietly. He'd learned that one for himself, too.

In the meantime, Marluxia himself needed some sleep, a hot shower, a cup of coffee, and then, unfortunately, to speak to Vexen. Today just got better.