And I don’t wanna say I told you so...

[shoottokill]

Gin Ichimaru's footsteps were light on the Desert Palace's ancient stone floor. They were soft enough to barely echo off the walls except for the scuff of a toe or heel.

He liked the Palace at night. It was more peaceful, like any populated place tended to be when most of the inhabitants were in bed and, for the most part, quiet. Even the air seemed to move more quietly when the hum of conversation and the distant sparks and flares of spiritual pressure were felt from the training centre, where the wards applied didn't keep it back if the door was left open.

Peaceful as it was, he rarely slept there. He had somewhere else for that, somewhere within his jurisdiction as a Gotei captain. He retained a room though, and it was from there that he was walking, heading in the direction of the quiet kitchen, while the borrowed sky outside the window was dark and the air was cool and filled with the smells of night time.

Nobody seemed to be up. He was sure that some of the denizens would still be awake, doing whatever they felt like in their rooms, but nobody was up and about. It was too late for the night owls and too early for the morning people. He smiled to himself as he reached the top of the stairs down to the main hall, but the expression fell away abruptly when the sound of an alarm split the silence.

The noise set every nerve in Gin's teeth on edge. Halfway between a scream and a siren, it was a magically amplified and erratic, half-undulating sound that had obviously been designed not to be ignored under any of the circumstances it might be set off to. It was hideous, organic and ear-splittingly loud, akin to the sound of a thousand babies crying and just as many tomcats yowling, foxes screaming and nails being drawn down a chalk board and it rose and fell in tone enough that it was impossible to get used to. For a moment, even Gin stood frozen at the top of the stairs, eyes briefly wide, the hair on the back of his neck on end.

"That's new," he said to himself, his soft voice drowned by the screechy baying of the siren.

He headed down to the hall, feet quick on the stairs. From beyond the front door, and the hall that separated the door to the Zertinan Caverns from the palace proper, he heard a low roar, angry and bellowing, even with the siren's wail doing its best to block everything else out.

"Oh," he said. "Look's like one of Kuja's little pets has slipped its leash." He smiled to himself, directing his gaze up the stairs, anticipating appearances from other members of the Clan. "This should be fun."

Comments

[extinguir]

Wonderweiss beamed.

He looked up at Nel with a smile on his face too bright for the number of hours he had stood still in front of the Wyrm. He ached, and he was tired and, now Nel mentioned it, starving, but he was happy. Both with managing to get a new friend, one who dearly needed somebody, and making Nel proud of him.

He didn't even lose his smile when he said, "I don't think that Kuja will be pleased." He couldn't bring himself to feel guilty about it. While Kuja hadn't collared him, he had rekindled the magic within the collar, shackling Thevetat for a second time.

[gracefuldahlia]

Marluxia raised an eyebrow, flashing Lumi an amused look of his own. They did play up the Lumi as loyal guard dog angle, and deliberately so. It excused Marluxia from having to flash his own ability around, and it also meant that people were warier of them both. Lumi was almost automatically excused certain actions because they were done in Marluxia's defence, and he was frightfully powerful in his own right, in the most literal possible sense.

"That really depends," he said, softly, "on how effective one's own bark is." His eyes fell to the bullet wound at Lumi's shoulder, healed over but far from fully healed, yet. He touched the skin around the wound with his fingertips, delicately, before withdrawing them again and looking at Lumi to flash him a smile. "If I had to take you back to Szayel again, I'd be forced to kill the cretin, and that wouldn't do at all."

Aizen would most certainly object.

[declaregamuza]

That smile would be Nel's undoing. Wonderweiss looked so happy, and the fear of the last few hours was draining away, leaving Nel feeling as if she could cry. He was safe. It was over.

She was going to catch hell for nearly starting a fight with Marluxia and Lumi, because inevitably someone was going to tell his nibs about it. Aizen wouldn't even be surprised, either. It had long been established that you messed with Wonderweiss at your peril, and that went even if your name was Captain Sosuke Aizen. He wouldn't do a double take at her threatening Marluxia.

He might do a double take at her having only threatened Marluxia.

She pulled Wonderweiss closer again and kissed the top of his head before she declared, "Nuts to Kuja. He can take it up with your new friend if he has a problem."

[sipthehoneylikeabutterfly]

For a while, Szayel could have been convinced that whatever lay between Lumi and Marluxia was chronically one sided. All the protectiveness, and acquiescence came from Lumi, after all. Marluxia stood firm, and protected his interests. Even in the infirmary, Marluxia's concern had been the controlled, reserved concern of someone that had a vested interest in another's recovery, rather than a largely emotional one.

Those glances, and little touches, however, told the lie. Marluxia was tactile with Lumi. Szayel hadn't seen him be tactile with anyone else, and he did it with a delicacy and a look that bordered on flirting.

Perhaps that was merely part of the partnership? Lumi, certainly, had some emotional connection to Marluxia. Marluxia, perhaps, manipulated that to maintain Lumi's loyalty.

Either way, if they weren't fucking Szayel would be very, very surprised.

He'd also refuse to accept any denials when the evidence lay before his eyes like this.

[thesilentstorm]

Lumi watched Marluxia's hand. Had anybody else touched him, without invitation, especially that close to an injury, they would have been facing the very real reality of treating a broken wrist. Marluxia, however, was his partner and he trusted him, even to do that. Once it was lowered, he looked back at him properly, shaking his head.

"Fortunately," he said, casting the barest glance in the direction of Szayel, "it didn't come to that."

He'd escaped the situation without injury thanks to Wonderweiss's uncommon strength of character. He had, however, stood for hours and, while it was something he was used to, he was still exhausted. He had never done it with an injury before.

He released a sigh, his expression giving away his fatigue, if just for a second.

"I need something to eat," he said. "Then I need to go to sleep."

[extinguir]

"I think he'd quite like to eat him," he muttered, getting the feeling that, even if Thevetat was a herbivorous dragon, something he doubted, he'd make an exception for that particular sparkly morsel.

He looked up at Nel again, still smiling.

"I might need your help to take his collar off," he said, quietly. "I don't want him to have to wear it. Not now, but as soon as it's possible."

Right now, he had more important things to think about, like the things Nel had mentioned. Food, and sleep. Thevetat needed a lot of rest too. He probably wouldn't rest easy with the collar around his neck, but he had nothing to worry about now, at the very least.