damned_institute | Day 27: Library

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Day 27: Library

Libraries, he'd found, were rarely as dull as people made them out to be. Though he felt no magic in these tomes, they were still full of useful information. Maybe some of them could tell him a little bit more about this world he'd landed himself in.

For that matter, why hadn't he run into any of the others yet? They'd all been fairly close together when they'd left Rekord, but he hadn't seen a trace of any of them. He was able to communicate easily with the people here though, which led him to believe Mokona was within a mile or so. Unless the ones running this little game had some other way to let all these other-worldly people communicate amongst themselves. In which case, the others could be very far away indeed.

The library had that wonderful smell of old books, and Fai traced his fingers along the shelves, skimming titles and pulling books that struck his fancy. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The War of the Worlds, and with a smile, he found Bram Stoker's Dracula as well. Raven had been telling the truth then, in spite of his own lies. Ought to be a good start. He sat leisurely at one of the tables and began flipping through his selections.

[waiting for Tamaki~]

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It was fascinating indeed, who the kings meant in the other's reading. Luxord would have to remember this.

"Two men are to blame for her death," he stated, eyes on the cards. "One with dark hair and fire in his eyes, the other is a quiet man," Luxord paused, head canting in what could only be amusement, "having stolen a part of the former. Light hair, blond; you're jealous of him." His fingers went to tap on the King of Hearts. "The water does not affect him."

"This Sephiroth, however. He's your authority, is he not? His ties with your mother have broken, along with his powers; his own personal low as it were. I would suggest keeping your wits about you and avoiding what disputes you can. This outlook seems favorable, at least for you."

All of that seemed to fit, somehow, with one exception: Kadaj was not jealous of the traitor. He just wasn't. What was there to be jealous of? He glared down at the cards with an expression that could only be described as "murderous," and if he hadn't known for certain that doing so would have made Luxord decide to leave again, he would have torn them all to shreds.

"I'm not jealous of him," he snapped, as if saying it out loud would somehow change what the cards had said. Or had they? For all he knew, Luxord had made that part up just to irritate him. "Why would I be jealous of him? It's not like he's done anything to be proud of." He'd defeated Sephiroth before, but that was it, really. Cloud had no redeeming features at all.

He shook his head suddenly, trying to clear it. The important thing was Mother right now, not the traitor. Luxord had said that Sephiroth's ties with her had broken, right? So that had to mean that he had been lying. Of course. He'd been right. Ha! He could even overlook that little comment about his big brother being his "authority" or whatever the Nobody had said. Not important.

A small, satisfied looking grin soon replaced his glare, and he said softly, "Thank you, Luxord. You've been very helpful, you know. My offer from last time still stands: if you ever need anything... well, I can't make any guarantees for Sephiroth, and Yazoo's gone now, but..." He shrugged. That was two he owed Luxord now. Probably more, if he was perfectly honest, but no one needed to know that.

"Whether you are or not, I've no opinion; I merely translate their messages," he said with a shrug and gesture towards the cards. The Gambler snapped his fingers of his left hand, commanding the pieces of paper and plastic to slide back into his outstretched right. Once collected, they disappeared back into his sleeve. "But I do warn you: cards cannot lie."

It was easier than he had hoped, of course, to twist the hooks deeper into the boy's mind. Very, very useful...

"You're quite welcome, Mr. Kadaj," he said with a smile (not that the other could see it) and all charming tones. "Of course," the blond brought one arm over his chest while his other hand went stroke where his goatee was evidently behind the cloth, "there is one thing you could handle that I would appreciate very much so."

There wasn't much that he could say to that particular claim that wouldn't annoy Luxord again, so Kadaj remained silent. Maybe the cards didn't lie, but that didn't mean that the one reading them couldn't-- but if Luxord was lying, that made this entire thing useless, didn't it? Maybe the cards were just... ill-informed. He wasn't jealous, damn it.

"And what might that one thing be?" he asked, his head tilted curiously. He was almost insulted that the blond seemed to think that he wasn't capable of doing more, but maybe this thing was just really difficult. "Don't call me 'Mr.,' by the way," he added as an afterthought. "Just 'Kadaj' will do." How old did Luxord think he was?

"Kadaj it is then," Luxord replied with a nod. "'tis a force of habit, I apologize for such."

Luxord gave a smile from behind the cloth over his face and crossed his legs, hands resting on his knee. "There is a friend of mine who goes by the name of Emily Aston. Perhaps you've her of her, perhaps not. Whether you're familiar or no, I do think dearest Emily is in need of a, shall we say," he paused, hand gesturing to his side as he chucked, "make-over. Infuriating blonde-hair, really; she's the appearance of an insect what with how it sticks right up. And while I caution you of the fight in her, she'd be no problem, I'm sure." His smile widened, stinging his face. "I can trust you on that, can I not?"

"And do make sure you get one thing across to her, my dear friend." His eyes narrowed, wickedly so.

"Tell her Number II said hello."

He knew he liked Luxord for a reason. "Consider it done. I think I've seen this Emily around before, you know, and you're right. She really does look like an insect." All the more reason to crush her, but thankfully he hadn't been told to do as much. Chopping off a few pesky strands of hair was no problem at all, of course, but with the name, the blond hair, and the fact that Luxord had implied that there would be a struggle.... Kadaj wasn't particularly looking forward to facing the same backlash he had after the incident with Elena, that was all.

"Am I allowed to ask why you want this done to her, or is that something you'd prefer to keep to yourself?" he asked, his tone only faintly mocking. It wasn't in his nature to question orders, so he'd leave it at that if Luxord said no, but he had to admit he was curious. Maybe Luxord just thought it was a crime for anyone to be sporting blond antennae. How the hell should he know?

Oh, sweet, sweet Kadaj. Luxord had a feeling the boy was one card he could bet on. How absolutely delightful. And with II himself on the other side of the plan…

Had Luxord a heart, he'd be cackling with maniacal glee. As it were, he fixed the other with an amused stare.

"She's a stubborn little cockroach, I'll have you know," he said as he inspected his fingers. It still felt odd to be without his gloves. "I merely wish for that charming little smile to be gone from her face. Or a particularly nasty mark placed where it should be. Either way." Luxord shrugged. "You'd not like her either, I assure you."

He was not about to remove the cloth covering his face, if that was what the other was expecting. No one and he meant no one was going to see him in this condition. He would not let such a dreadful happenstance to occur!

Kadaj nodded, accepting the answer easily. If this Emily really was someone that he wouldn't like, he probably would have been happy doing this even without Luxord's involvement. Now at least he'd have some kind of excuse, if a very poor one. Oh well, it'd be fun anyway.

"Would you like me to do it tonight? Can't guarantee that she'll be very easy to track down once the lights go out, but I can definitely make the effort." He almost hadn't managed to find Elena after all, but then she'd been stupid enough to check the hall for any potential dangers-- silly girl. Emily would be more of a challenge than she had been, he was sure of it.

"That would be most splendid, actually; I'm quite pleased. And never fret," Luxord waved his hand dismissively, a grin spreading over his face. "She's rather hard to miss."

"Of course, I do appreciate your cooperation. Do come to me if you've anything else you wish to know."

Had Luxord actually tried to track someone down in this place before? Kadaj didn't bother correcting him, though, instead choosing to give him another smile and think about what else he might need to ask. Nothing really came to mind at the moment, but...

"The only questions I have right now are about this Emily. Does she have any weapons or abilities I need to be aware of? Or is she just a normal human?" Not that that was saying much, considering his experiences with Cloud and River, who he still needed to schedule a rematch with, but it was still better for him to know than not.

"As I said before, she's some fight in her; enough to give you a good jolt, but nothing compared what she is capable outside of these walls.

"Besides," Luxord laughed, the Ace of Spades twirling in between his fingers, "she is only going to be in one place this night. Perhaps you should check the board and see what I speak of?"

... That gave him very, very little to work with, but since Luxord seemed confident enough about the situation, that had to mean it was nothing to worry about. What would the point be in giving him a task that he couldn't complete?

"Is she? I'll have to check it later, then. Can't say I've been paying much attention to the board lately, but that's easily fixed, isn't it?" He shrugged. Apparently he didn't consider reading his brothers' messages to be "paying attention to the board," but exactly what heading it fell under instead was difficult to say.

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Day 27: Library

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