damned_institute | Dayshift 22; First Shift; Sun Room

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Dayshift 22; First Shift; Sun Room

As always, Tamaki woke up in his bed. He didn't know how he got there, but he woke up still in the clutches of fear he last remembered from the night. The fight in the hallway, Ed and Adel, the thing...

He was out of bed immediately, determined to make sure his friends were alright. He listened to the man on the intercom, not liking the idea of some big surprise. He didn't imagine any surprises could be good. And he hoped his friends felt the same way...

When his nurse came to get him, he chose the Sun Room instead of the chapel. He wanted no part of whatever was going to happen. He only hoped that Ed and Adel had the same idea....

They probably didn't. Agitated and worried, Tamaki paced along the window, hands behind his back, and waited.

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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."

"Hey, you're the one who'd sound like a relic if you did. No skin off my nose... and dude, don't knock the surfing unless you've done it. Waves and sky, dude; so much better than whatever it is you do."

He raised an eyebrow, and finally shrugged to show his disdain as he shoved the note back to Luxord. "It was a joke, but since you've mangled it, you can put it up if you wanna. Since it's all pretty now."

Ugh, that note was so not what II had in mind when he thought of a 'Gentleman's Club'. It sounded more like that stupid Host Club thingie that he was mocking. "Nobody's even going to show up with how stupid you have it now. You might as well advertise teatime and croquet."

"Oh? Perhaps I will," the blond replied back, thoughtfully tacking the slip of paper onto the wall. Well, he thought it was amusing. Some people truly hadn't the class to find the humor of clashing subjects, such as, well, gentlemen and hookers.

Luxord sat back against the couch once he was finished, twirling the pen between his fingers. "If it were simply a joke, then no one would show anyhow."

"Up to you, dude. Oh, and..." He snatched the pen back, as that was his pen. "...you'd be surprised how many people fall for a good gag. 'member the buckets I put over IX's door, but filled it with sand instead of water so he couldn't tell it was there? Same thing. If you make it silly enough, then someone'll fall for it just because it's there. Me? I was thinking of peeking in at some time or another, but not now, 'cause it looks terrible."

Xigbar was still a little sulky over his brilliant plan being all ruined by X. Friendship was one thing, but laughing at other people was quite another! Still... a little grin appeared on Xigbar's face. "I bet tomorrow's dinner that no more than three people show up because of how you changed it."

Ugh, Luxord remembered those times. Specifically the time IX had forced him into walking into his room first and how that sand was stuck in his hair for hours, no matter how hard he scrubbed it away! Impertinent…

"And an upstanding English voice offering hookers is not silly?" He crossed his legs, almost huffing at the loss of the pen, and brought out a card of his own to twirl thoughtlessly. He shot Xigbar a sideways glace, twirling the heart in his hand this way and that. "We'll just have to see, won't we, dear II?"

It's not like he ate much dinner anyhow.

Normally, Xigbar would have sealed the deal with a hand-shake, as that was the only way to make sure that things were sealed. ~~Homie-style!~~

But instead, his single eye had suddenly lit up like a firework, a calculating grin on his face as he whispered, "Yeah, an English voice...!"

It was brilliant. So brilliant that Xigbar had no idea how he could contain so much of it without illuminating the entire Institute and the rest of the countryside while he was at it.

…Xigbar was making one of those faces again. Luxord didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Since he hadn't the heart to do the latter, the first response out of his mouth was an amused cackle.

"Oh, yes. You go right ahead and have your fun with this," he leaned back, all smiles and chuckles. What II wanted to do, II would eventually get to. Why try to stop something so obviously amusing?

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Dayshift 22; First Shift; Sun Room

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