Day 20: Breakfast

[right_handed]

Scar felt as if he'd passed out as soon as he'd gotten to his bed due to the admittedly strong fatigue and pain that having a badly injured arm tended to cause a person to feel, even one as conditioned and battle-worn as the stern-faced Ishbalan. He woke up feeling rested but regretful, and his fear that he'd wasted a Nightshift ripe with the

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[barium_bullet]

Sometime during the course of Kadaj’s quite long explanation, Yazoo had stopped eating his breakfast so that he could pay full attention to his brother, at first not believing a word of it, but he knew that Kadaj would never lie to him. He nodded his head at the question to show that he had been following along, but didn’t ask any questions right away; instead going back to his plate silently to let everything he had just heard fully sink in.

So they were mental patients. Yazoo didn’t think he would ever be able to accept that, especially if it meant that he was going to be escorted everywhere by one of those annoying nurses, and if Kadaj was telling the truth then there was nothing he could do to stop it. He didn’t like the sound of solitary confinement, shuddering a little at the thought of being separated from Kadaj once again.

He also had trouble believing what his brother had told him about their powers, and his eyes narrowed dangerously at the thought of Mother being kept in a place like this. That answers my question of where Mother is. She’s being kept somewhere in this place, and Kadaj and I are apparently powerless to do anything about it. Scowling at his thoughts, Yazoo shoveled the last forkful of his pancakes into his mouth before setting the fork down and pushing away his now empty tray.

‘At least nightshift, whatever that is, sounds a little better,’ Yazoo mused to himself, smirking at Kadaj when his brother told him about wanting to take down the Head Doctor, but he had to raise an eyebrow at the description of the nurses. ‘Those are definitely not like the monsters back home… wait a minute…’

“I take it we’re not on Gaia anymore,” he finally stated aloud, looking over at his brother for confirmation. If that’s the case, then where exactly are we? “Do you know how we got here, why we didn’t return to the Lifestream like we were supposed to?”

[barium_bullet]

The more and more he heard about this place called Landel’s, the less and less he liked it. Not knowing where they were and how they got there caused Yazoo to make a small noise in the back of his throat out of frustration. He couldn’t help but feel completely helpless, and that was a feeling that he absolutely despised with a passion.

Looking over toward Cloud when Kadaj indicated, he was surprised to see that the spiky haired male did indeed still have Geostigma, and nodded his head in agreement at Kadaj’s words, a small smirk forming on his lips. “If he hasn’t met you yet, then he hasn’t met me, which will make it all the more enjoyable to taunt him at every given opportunity.”

His spirits lifted somewhat at his own words, but they plummeted once more as his brother explained more about nightshift. Yazoo stared in disbelief at what he was being told, and made a mental note about the ‘Special Counseling,’ silently hoping that he would never have to go through it when a thought entered unbidden into his mind, causing him to suddenly sit up straight in his chair and look at Kadaj with slightly wide eyes. “You haven’t gone through the counseling, have you?”

He hoped beyond all hope that Kadaj hadn’t, because if his brother’s answer was yes, then there was going to be hell to pay. Absolutely no one messed his brothers and got away with it. ‘At least Kadaj has a sword for protection, especially since it seems like I’m not only weaponless, but without my powers as well,’ Yazoo thought silently, wondering for a brief moment if these alchemists that Kadaj had mentioned would be able to create another Velvet Nightmare for him.

At the mentioning of the female Turk, Yazoo snapped out of his thoughts, his gaze following Kadaj’s, and he couldn’t stop from smirking as he took in her appearance. From the looks of it, his brother had done quite a number on her, especially if she needed the aid of crutches in order to get around. Perfect. Now she won’t be able to get away so easily. Yazoo’s smirk only grew as his eyes went back to Kadaj. “Excellent work, brother, I couldn’t be more proud of you,” he complimented in an impressed tone. “I wish I could have been there to see it.”

[barium_bullet]

M5? Yazoo hoped that his brother’s room wasn’t too far away his own. Now that they had found each other, the older male was going to everything in his power to make sure that Kadaj and he never strayed too far apart from each other, no matter how much Yazoo sticking to his brother’s side might possibly annoy the younger male.

“I’m in M64,” he answered, leaning forward and resting one arm on the table while bending up the other one so that he could rest his chin in the palm of his hand, a bored gesture. He hoped that they would be moved cafeteria soon, even though he was enjoying the ‘alone’ time with his brother. “As for the name they’ve given me, it’s ‘Drake Hornback.’” Yazoo’s eyebrows knitted together slightly in confusion just then. “Strange, we’ve each been given a different last name. You think there might be a reason for that?” He contemplated it himself for a moment before shrugging. He’d think on it later.

He nodded once at Kadaj’s warning about River, showing that he had heard and understood, and was curious when he caught his brother rubbing at a spot on his chest. Reaching over, Yazoo gently grasped Kadaj’s wrist to pull the hand away, using his free hand to reach for the collar of Kadaj’s shirt and pull it out slightly so that he could see. Worry and anger flashed in Yazoo’s eyes as he took in the bandage. “Did this River woman do that to you?” he asked, indicating the bandage with a small nod of his head.

Yazoo released his holds on his brother’s wrist and shirt and was just about to lean back in his chair again when he noticed another injury that had evaded his gaze until now. He reached out with his left hand to take hold on Kadaj’s chin and turn his face toward him. He indicated the scars on Kadaj’s uncovered cheek with his free hand. “Battle wounds?” Yazoo was seething by now with the thought that River had caused both injuries. He mumbled under his breath. “Hn, just wait until I get my hands around her neck.”

Finally leaning back in his chair, he crossed his arms loosely over his chest and glared over at Elena and those who were with her. “Is River with Elena now?”

((OOC; I wasn't sure if Kadaj still had the scars on his cheek, so if he doesn't just let me know and I'll rewrite this. ^^ And I hate typos. >:[))

[barium_bullet]

Yazoo couldn’t help but look slightly put upon when Kadaj snapped at him, raising an eyebrow at his brother’s scrutiny. “Hey, I’m allowed to worry. And besides, with Loz not here, who else am supposed to baby?” he asked pointedly, almost instantly regretting his use of the word “baby,” not wanting to upset Kadaj any further. Yazoo knew perfectly good and well that Kadaj was more than capable of taking care of himself, and he certainly hadn’t meant for Kadaj to think that he felt otherwise.

He was use to having a brother almost constantly around him, namely Loz, whom he always teased and treated like a little kid. Sure, there had been times when Loz and he had been sent to do separate tasks, but those times apart had never lasted as long as the times when Kadaj would take off on his own to follow a lead or gather information, and since Loz was nowhere to be found at the moment, Yazoo had unconsciously put Kadaj in Loz’s place. As much as he hated to admit it, not having their older brother there with them had taken Yazoo a bit out of his comfort zone, and it was making him slightly edgy.

Looking over to where Kadaj had indicated, Yazoo wasn’t sure which female was River, but he assumed, because Kadaj had corrected him in calling her a girl instead of a woman, that it was probably the one with the brown hair. He eyed her and the rest of the small group with little to no interest, thinking of her as nothing more than simply another person that he had to keep an eye on along with Cloud and the rest of their brother’s little fan club.

Yazoo made a small noise in the back of his throat. “Hn, she doesn’t look very dangerous,” he commented in a nonchalant manner, leaning forward in his chair again to rest his chin the palm of one hand while he idly traced invisible designs on the table with the other. “But I guess looks can be deceiving.”

[barium_bullet]

While he continued to idly run his finger along the table, Yazoo had noticed that Kadaj had yet to finish his pancakes, but had bitten his tongue to keep himself from saying anything about it. He breathed a silent sigh of relief when he saw a smile on Kadaj’s lips, thankful, he assumed, that his brother wasn’t mad at him, and smirked slightly at the other’s words. “I’ll try and restrain myself,” he said with a small laugh.

He glanced back over at River when Kadaj mentioned her again, and frowned a little at the mention of Mother, but he decided to keep quiet about that for now. He didn’t want to risk upsetting Kadaj any more than he already had. Yazoo looked thoughtful for a moment. “True. You said she used a pen, didn’t you?” He grimaced slightly when he imagined what it must have felt like to get stabbed by a pen, and started to wish that he had woken in this place a lot sooner so that he could have possibly prevented that from happening.

Yazoo went quiet for a moment as he watched Kadaj finish his breakfast, getting lost in his thoughts as he normally did when he was bored, when he remembered something that Kadaj had said earlier. “Didn’t you mention earlier something about finding an alchemist to make me a weapon?” There was a hint of confusion in his voice. “First, what’s an alchemist, and second, will they be able to create a Velvet Nightmare?” The last part had been asked with slight hopefulness, as Yazoo was starting to miss his precious gunblade.

[soul_defender]

Ichigo was coming at Kadaj. There was no other way to put it. The bull had seen red.

At first, he seemed perfectly docile, merely keeping balance with every footstep, as he always did, while he strolled boldly onward. With each rise of his legs, his feet intensely stuck the ground like a giant, bounding effortlessly across an open plain only to come crashing back down again with symphonic fury. Every step tensed and vibrated across solid, unyielding bone and firm, time-tempered muscle; normally, it was only a soft, humming lull when the body walked, but after a moment, it was running. Stomping, storming, charging, a murderous stare leading the way as the sounds leapt and stuck the floor again and again, slowly growing closer to what would unavoidably be a marked target.

Ichigo was still coming at Kadaj. He wouldn't waste words this time, no snappy dialogue or cutting retorts.

He wasn't running any longer, though, once firing range had been reached. The piston thrusts of his legs had stopped, and one was being raised slowly into the air; the endless connecting web of powered muscle were then shaped and pulled to bring the entire leg into a pouncing position, like a prowling lion in wait. The miniscule intricacies of an honed warrior's body were astounding, a fluid shape and flow all brought together between countless tiny features, like an finely-tuned orchestra held together by sweeping lines of harmony, to raise the body into striking position, perfectly poised and balanced. With absolutely explosive beginnings, the leg was tensed, bent at the knee while the fuse of this blustering cannon prepared to fire, then let loose all the power and anger it had store with a furious flash of speed and force.

There would be no holding it back. The dam had been raised, and the surge of water permitted to unleash its restrained energies. There was no style or form behind this violent outburst, either; its owner knew exactly when to damn the consequences and use his strength to its fullest. Naturally, Kadaj would be able to avoid it, if he had seen it coming, but the excessive force would be unleashed upon his chair instead, if that were the case.

Ichigo had struck. There would only be a few moments to do what he needed before the orderlies arrived, so he'd need to make those precious moments count.

[barium_bullet]

“No need to get huffy about it, Kadaj,” Yazoo said with a calm voice. “I was only getting my facts straight,” he reached over and plucked his fork from his tray, holding it so that the rounded end was pointed up, “so that I could start figuring out something more painful to use on her in return.” He studied the rounded end of the fork for a moment before moving his hand so that it was between his and Kadaj’s faces. “How about this?” he asked with a smirk.

He set the fork back on his tray with a clatter and looked over with a bit of interest at the alchemist Kadaj had pointed out to him. The man didn’t look very special to Yazoo at first glance, but all Yazoo was really interested in was seeing this little power that the alchemist was supposed to have, and wondered what kind of weapon they would make for him, if he could get them to, that was.

Looking back at Kadaj when he heard his brother start to laugh, Yazoo raised an eyebrow in confusion and tried to figure out what was so funny, scowling slightly at the thought of being left oblivious to a very good joke. Figuring it had to do with that Ichigo person; Yazoo looked over to where his brother had indicated, but instead of talking to Elena like he had been, the orange-haired male was now charging straight toward them.

Doing the only thing he could think of, Yazoo reached out to grab Kadaj around the arm so that he could pull him out of his chair and out of arms way, and made sure to keep his grip on Kadaj secure, bound and determined not to let go no matter how many times Kadaj ordered him to. Right now, he could care less how angry his gesture made Kadaj if it meant keeping his brother out of possible trouble for fighting back.

[clone_boy]

Darman got up from his seat near his sullen fellow inmate, finished with his meal and turning to the next task at hand. He'd definitely seen a Jedi Padawan last night, but he needed to make sure now that he had better light and wasn't in danger of getting his throat ripped out by those cats. Getting up and limping, the clone commando wound his way around the tables, glancing at each face and deeming them unfamiliar.

He'd made it halfway across the cafeteria when he heard the pounding of feet and snapped to attention. One of the other prisoners was heading straight for two seated ones, murder in his eyes, and looking ready to start causing trouble.

Normally he'd turn the other way - the insanity of non-clones wasn't his business - but as it was, they were all prisoners. What could happen to one could happen to all as punishment. It was bad enough he was limping; he wasn't ready to be made an "example" just yet because of someone else being unable to control themselves. Limping toward the group, Darman sped up the pace.

"Knock it off!" he said as he approached.

[soul_defender]

Without a body to keep it rooted, the poor chair was literally launched across the room by the propulsion of the massive kick against its spine, clattering noisily with every bounce as it skipped like a stone against the surface of a pond. Ichigo regretted missing, if not only for sake of the furniture itself, but also for the undue commotion it would cause.

If looks could kill, the absolutely blood-curdling stare Ichigo fired at Yazoo for his interference would have been likened to a Vesuvian eruption, explosive and leaving everyone involved in tragedy. It wasn't his beating, though, but Kadaj's. The guilty party's new compatriot would have to take a number.

Naturally, Ichigo didn't take warmly to Kadaj's cool and collected tone; for all he'd done, it was an insult to act so casual about it. He acted as Kadaj's opposite, lending his adamant nature to his voice. "You worthless little bastard..." he spat, lending plenty of emphasis to the insult; it definitely wasn't the casual Japanese expression anymore. "You must be pretty tough, picking on a girl like that."

Darman had just approached from the side, clearly hoping to end the conflict before it escalated. Ichigo normally would've listened; the trouble this sort of fight would get him in often wouldn't be worth it, but the shinigami had already set his mind on it. He was already moving forward towards Kadaj and Yazoo again.

"Go ahead and keep holding him, stranger." he called out, tensing his right arm as he prepared to throw a punch. "He's gonna need someone to pick up his pieces once we're done."

Thanks to the delay Yazoo had caused, Ichigo was already on top of them before he'd have a chance to change his mind and let go. Like swinging a crushing weight, Ichigo's fist came darting forward swiftly and heavily, those white-flexed knuckles hurtling towards Kadaj's face with bloody intent.

[stray_shinigami]

(jumping in from here)

Renji still had faith in Ichigo's ability to take down the two beauty queens that seemed to be the problem. But it seemed better to intercept the third guy before he could interfere. He quickly intercepted Darman, reaching out to grab his shoulder in a 'friendly,' bone-grinding squeeze. "Hold up there," he said. "Not your fight. Or if you're looking for one, I'm right here."