damned_institute | Dayshift 22; First Shift; Sun Room

It was as though Luxord had asked Xigbar to talk about his latest hunt; the Senior Member leaned forward, with the sort of half-seriousness on his face which meant that he was keeping back his laughter.

"Yeah! Think about it; the nurses we saw last night, they had syringes on their arms, right? But they were both chicks. So..." Here he raised his finger, making a very important point. "...what about the male nurses? Do they have syringes all over their bodies too? And what about down there?"

Yes, this was the result of Xigbar thinking about something that he couldn't possibly take seriously. The Gambler really should have known better.

...

The Gambler blinked, one hand raising to rub his temples again.

"I should punch you. Then again, I suppose you fantasizing about that part of the anatomy is not a surprise."

How he wanted to kick the other's face off.

"Hey, I'm not fantasizing! I'm just saying, what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

There were roughly a million things that Xigbar could have gone on about; whether it was all one big syringe or if it was studded, if they'd whip it out, how horrified Luxord would be... but no, they were friends. No point in scarring the Gambler for life ~~again.~~

"So, change of subject. How'd the card trick go? Looks like you had that brat eating out of your hand the whole time."

Oh, yes~ At the mention of that boy, all thoughts of the past or wrongly placed needles left, and that Cheshire grin from before spread across Luxord's face again. He slid himself back and crossed his legs again, resting himself against the couch arm to better look at II without straining his neck. How he adored story-time; it just made his day much better.

Let it never be said Luxord didn't like to brag.

"I believe you already know the boy, Xig. Or, at least," he paused, one hand gesturing softly to the bulletin board, "his 'mother'." A laugh at that. "You know, the wonderful thing about reading the cards of others is that not only do they learn about their circumstance," now he leaned in with some sort of glee, as though he just solved something, "but you do as well."

"Tell me. What does the schedule say will happen today? The one the nurses placed on the board?"

Oh yeah, Luxord loved to brag. Not that Xigbar minded too much, especially as sometimes it led to the most amusing of tales. Especially since Luxord had the natural flair of a storyteller; must've been his ancestry or something.

And ah, Xigbar knew who it was as soon as he heard the 'mother' part. Only one person was regularly tormented about his mother, and that led to instantly placing who it was and the context of the entire thing. To be honest, that X had managed to get the kid to dance to a new beat was really quite impressive.

"The schedule? After this is brunch, and then visitat-" He stopped. And then, slowly, his grin widened almost impossibly far. So that was how Luxord had known! "You clever little sneak!"

From Xigbar? That was high praise, and not one that was earned easily.

Of course the Gambler could pull that off. Feed a dog what they want, and they'll always come back for more.

He chuckled to himself, pulling out a random card to flip it between his thumb and ring finger. It looked like Xigbar had caught along just fine; one of the many reasons Luxord could actually tell him things and not Demyx.

"What interests me is not the promise of his mother, but it actually being his mother." He paused, glancing curiously at the back of the card he held. Ten of Spades. "You know fate does not lie, but as I've learned before from various sources…"

He paused again. This was a kicker and a ~~helf~~ half, so he leaned in to really look the other in the eye. "His mother is essentially a head in a box"

"Any idea how they've managed to bring his real mother here and still lie about it?"

That was an interesting question. Kadaj's mother was weird, and if they were going to make it work, it was going to take a miracle. It was something that Xigbar wanted to find out for himself.

"Huh..." Here he grinned, and lazily motioned for the cards. "What's the way you said it? 'The cards don't lie'? I'd prefer a magic 8-ball myself, but we should do this properly."

And yes, he was teasing the Gambler, so much. The light in Xigbar's eye betrayed that he had an idea, but his grin equally betrayed that he wasn't going to give it up too easily.

"Now, now, now," the blond replied, flicking the card to II's side of the couch (not enough to cut or fly fast, just enough to get there), "you know as well as I that cards cannot answer those sort of questions unless I've a full deck." Luxord narrowed his eyes slightly, as if daring the other to make a joke of that sentence.

As much as Luxord wished to know the answer himself, he would rather show the other up for poking at the Gambler's expense. …However, that took the right materials. "I'll need all the cards to do such a thing," he stated, beginning to lazily lounge back against the couch's arm himself. "I've this tiny problem, though, and if I am to get them, it must be in secret, none the less through an outside source."

X was fond of giving those charming smiles. "May I offer a proposition?"

Xigbar was just about to make a quip about Luxord and his lack of a full deck, but when the Gambler looked that way, it almost made the Senior Member sulk. It was no fun making a joke when the other person was expecting it. Shoot.

He picked up the card, staring at it for a second. Won't answer his question until he asked it, was that how it worked? Right. "I'm listening. Ante up and let's see what hands we've got~!"

~~And X should really have saved his smiles for those who could be fooled by them. Xiggy was more likely to compare the glittering teeth to a crocodile's.~~

Damn right Xigbar shut up. ~~lest he tried ta be steppin~~

"I speak of cards, Xigbar. I need them, you can get them," he tilted his head back a bit, eyes sparkling. "And if you're oh so desiring me to find the answers in them, I'll need someone to sneak into that lovely little Game Room, as I've no interest sedation." The blond folded his hands in his lap, looking entirely too smug.

"My cards for your answers. I find it a suitable request."

That made sense, and Xigbar had been thinking about sneaking into the Game Room and snatching a deck or two anyway, because Luxord was always more effective when he had more cards at his command. And Kingdom Hearts knew that Luxord needed as much help as he could possibly get.

Still, Xigbar did sometimes like to drive bargains, even if sometimes he just shrugged and went with it. Depended on his mood, and right at that moment, he felt snuggly and playful. Or as snuggly and playful as a Nobody could get, anyway. "Mm... I'll do it, but with my own two cents thrown in. None of the cards I nab are going to find themselves in me, like their cousins did last night. 'kay? Otherwise you can play some Klondike and pretend you know where the aces are."

If he could read minds, he would have been offended by that remark… Slightly.

"Oh, but I thought you liked it that way." His tone was much more playful now, back to that joking tone from before. He raised a hand, giving the elder member a 'tsk tsk'. "Larxene would be so disappointed in you."

He laughed, leaning back on the arm of the cough; he was feeling oddly tired. "As you wish."

At that Xigbar pressed his hand to his forehead, mocking the position of a lovestruck... er... lover. "Saving myself for the best~! Someday she's totally going to give it to me, and until then I'm not going to settle. Besides, I wouldn't want to make her jealous."

A teasing blink (wink?) at that, then Xigbar shrugged and leaned back once more, again resting his head on the armrest. "Deal. I'll get what you need. Then I'll just need to get some stuff for me."

So it was settled, then. II would supply the cards, the cards would supply the answers, and X could enjoy the prospect of a new deck. In the meantime, though, he was tired.

Luxord decided it would be better to give no response before closing his eyes.

After posting his latest query on the board, Xigbar happily plopped into the couch, nudging Luxord with his slippered feet. Normally he'd be happy to laze, but this was important.

"...dude, we've gotta talk."

"So I see."

Ugh, as though Luxord needed the wakeup call. What with his new found interest in ~~causing wank~~ manipulating through the board, he had all but been fully awake.

He brushed a hand through his short hair, his other hand resting on his stomach as he lay on the couch. "What did you have in mind now?"

"First of all, smooth move on calling attention to the board, dude. I had her eating out of my hand before you opened your big mouth. And now she's getting all chummy with Axel; downer for sure."

Still... he grinned slightly as he said that, his eye hooded and lazy. "But it's given me a great idea. See, Axel's a traitor, right? And he's even admitting that, in public. But if we go after small fry like him, then we'll be airing our dirty laundry where everyone can see it. Me? I like to catch the big ones."

He made a vague motion with his hand, his voice sinking to where no one else could hear him except Luxord. "I'm going to get Kairi to think that I'm one of the good guys. Once she trusts me, she'll defend me against Sora, and once that brat thinks we're all buddy-buddy, it'll be easy to catch him in a trap and finish him off. Then we can mop up what's there after."

Xigbar made a distinctly gun-like motion with his trigger finger, and added, "But to do that, you need to lay off of her, just a little. Let me work my mojo, and then we'll see where we go."

"If by eating out of your hand, you clearly mean 'non-trusting and suspicious'," the blond replied, kicking his legs off the couch to spare more room for the other.

Truly, who did II think he was trying to fool? Luxord was not as gullible as he may have been four years ago, if that was the idea Xigbar had in his head.

"I do believe I made it clear before hand that I was the one pulling the princess' strings, unless you've clearly had half the mind to start a fuss over this." He rose his eyebrows at the other, giving a tilt of his head. "Unless you've a proposition to give me, I do think this conversation is over."

"Dude... you can see it in her writing. She's starting to doubt Sora, since when has she ever done that? And she's starting to ask questions, especially about what happened between me and Sora. What do you think? She'd be a sucker for a sob story. 'I just wanted a heart back, and even if it was wrong, how was I supposed to feel bad about it? Then Sora and I fought, and he killed me. Now I know better and even if he doesn't trust me, I wanna put the past behind me.' Something like that."

Xigbar tapped his chin thoughtfully, considering this. "Actually, I don't think you ever said that she was yours. But dude? I thought you wanted the squirt." An eyebrow raised, and he looked at Luxord. "See, he hasn't actually killed me; it's just the principle of the thing. But you? He got you. And I thought you wanted to get him back." Xigbar made a motion with his hands for emphasis.

"That's what I'm saying. Getting Kairi's trust will make it easier to get to Sora. And we still have to get Sora to lower his guard so we can wipe him out. We'll get one shot at this; if we mess up, it's back to Nothingness with both of us. ...that's why I was hoping you'd be pulling your magic on the squirt himself. He'll be able to see through what happened with him and me, because he was there. You, though? You could beat him in that game."

Xigbar held a hand in front of his chest, and actually seemed honest, for once. Maybe? "If you can't pull through, dude, what I'm doing isn't going to be a heap of beans in the long run. Yeah, selfish, sure, but what can you do?"

Hm.

Well, if II was just playing Luxord to give up his stringing of Kairi, he had to admit, it was working marvelously. There was nothing a good ego boost couldn't do for the Gambler, and he had to smile at those last words. As for the sob-story? Luxord really couldn't pin Xigbar for not being right on the money with that one; make your story seem sympathetic enough, and they'll forget all about how you thoughtlessly murdered thousands to get back what you lost.

So, the blond sat up from his previous lazed position and looked at the other, a rather evil smile playing on his lips. He liked this idea, he really did, so if they can pull it off...

"Deal. You work on the girl, and I'll be sure to lower the Keybrat's defenses," he closed his eyes for a moment, shuffling his cards from one hand to the other. "However, if anything goes wrong with Kairi, I will have to play innocent and abandon any connection with you; at least in their eyes, stealth was never a problem with me, and you're aware how I can make anything appear what it is not."

The smile grew wider (maybe that insanity was still present after all, even if he did hide it), and he held his hand toward the gunner while the cards piled into his opposite hand. "Are we at an understanding, my dearest Freeshooter?"

The two Nobodies clasped their hands, Xigbar grinning as he shook his co-conspirator's hand. "You could bet your munny on it; you and me? We're gonna hit 'em where it hurts and knock it clear out of the park."

Then he shrugged as he leaned back, again cradling the back of his head in his hands as he closed his eye. "And if it comes to that, then feel free to back away if you need to. Whatever it takes, man; so long as the brat goes down, all bets are off."

Xigbar was rather glad that he still knew how to play the Neophytes. That made everything so much easier. Gotcha now~!

More time had passed since he had shaken hands with the Gambler, and now Xigbar was working industriously on a sheet of paper. Perhaps with a bit more enthusiasm than he normally gave such things, as Number II's reports had an infamous tendency to be sent in whenever he felt like it and in whatever order happened to suit his fancy. Dumping an entire unorganized stack onto another's desk, without even bothering to show up for the chewing-out, was more his style than this abrupt concentration.

Yet an idea had popped into his head, and he was so very happy with how it could work. Now, if only he could phrase it right...

Of course, this meant X was soon up once again, this time moving from his lazy position on the couch to hover ~~menacingly~~ curiously over the elder member's shoulders. While what was being written was of course meant as some joke, grammatical mistakes and poor writing skills were no excuse! In seconds flat, the blond pointed a finger at the paper.

"That's wrong," another point to another piece of the page, "that's worded oddly- just give me that!" Luxord snatched the paper and pen, previously held in Xigbar's hands, and got to work

Despite his natural instinct to correct it, Luxord had to admit that II truly did have a plan so cunning a tail could be placed on it and it could be mistaken for a weasel.

"...hey!" Xigbar frowned as the paper was swiped from him, and he put his hands on his hips ~~like a huffy cook~~ as he glared at the Gambler. "Dude, you're mangling it! And what makes you think that sounds any better?"

He jabbed his own finger at the furiously scribbling Nobody, wondering how on earth those things had been taken from him. Had to have been the other's time-controlling powers. Had to be.

"Just 'cause you spoke the Queen's English doesn't mean it sounds good that way." Stupid Gambler and his accent.

Insolent fool. II couldn't seduce a dog into a bitch's cage if he was wearing a suit of beef.

"Hey now," the Gambler turned back from his writing, fixing the gunner with a glare, "I'll have you know we still had a respectable King where I came from. Unless you truly wish for me to speak nothing but old English around you, I'd suggest that A) you correct your grammar and historical facts, and 2) admit that my accent is always a pleasure to hear, unlike a certain surfer's."

He paused at that, raising an eyebrow at his own sentence before giving the other man one more glare. "Yes, I used a letter and a number."

"There," he spoke after a while, thrusting the paper into the other's hands. "Done. I think it's much better, now."

Dayshift 22; First Shift; Sun Room

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)