Finally into the fray [Hollow Bastion - Closed]

[southpaw_boxer]

Disembarking the ship at Hollow Bastion, Aya couldn't help but feel for the first time in his life, unnecessarily shaken. It had been his first ride in one of the gummi ships and it was a bumpy one. Even so, the entire experience thus far had been something worthy of the glimpses he had had of his sister’s affinity for mecha related television all

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[into_ruin]

Usually, when larger portals appeared, it signaled the coming of a Heartless more powerful than the rest. Usually. This time, just beyond the point where the first heartless had appeared, the outline of a cloaked figure emerged. The hood cast a shadow over his eyes, the darkness receding around him making him look, for a second, like one of the creatures that surrounded him. They were completely oblivious or uninterested in his presence.

It was simply easier for Zexion to emerge where many Heartless usually did and, more often than not, he was lucky enough to avoid anyone who would try to play hero. Today being his day, this wasn't the case. His eyes settled on the redhead first, his mouth a smooth, unreadable line. Already tendrils of darkness rose behind him, another gateway beginning to take shape should he need it.

He wouldn't be terribly surprised if this one tried to stab first and ask questions later.

[into_ruin]

"That would depend on your perspective, wouldn't it? - Coffee, please." He spared the waitress a brief glance, and, sighing, lifted his hood off when it obscured his vision enough to be a nuisance. The shop was comfortably warm but a little stifling under layers of dark material. Four years since he'd worn his cloak and he'd already grown too accustomed to life without it.

Strange to think he was more comfortable now. The idea seemed to take root, resting at the back of his mind with nothing like the agitation he would have expected.

"I imagine you didn't live a privileged life." He prompted, this time allowing the other man to take the seed of conversation and lead it where he would. He brushed his hair back away from his eyes only to have it fall into place again. His fingers itched for a pen and a clip board again.

[southpaw_boxer]

"I did. At one point," Aya began absently as the hood was removed.

His eyes trailed up and down the fine, blue-white hair that slipped gently from the black material. He found it distinctly odd that the colour usually only found on an old age pensioner looked so striking on someone so young.

Finally able to meet his eyes also, Aya found himself studying Zexion's bright blue stare. Almost as much as he had been studying the hood. Maybe he really was expecting to see someone... but if his years here had taught him anything, it was that he couldn't rule it out.

"I don't dwell on the past now." He knew he was lying through his teeth and could easily win some sort of medal for holding grudges but was anxious to press for information. "I'm more concerned about the current state of things. I'm looking to... work somewhere that would let me find that out."

[into_ruin]

Zexion's eyes were no less than a void, transfixing because of the darkness in their depths. When he gazed back at Fujimiya he saw more of an object than a person.

It really was easy to disregard things until you lost them. Memories were that kind of thing. Still, he wasn't entirely convinced that this man had put the past behind him. Most people found it hard to when the heartless were still all around them.

"Oh?" Zexion's voice belayed polite interest and just a little more. "What kind of work were you looking for?" He asked, idly mimicking the redhead's tone.

He doubted if the man was a scientist.

[southpaw_boxer]

Aya's expression hardened at the mimicking. Such a cocksure little thing.

"Anything," he answered in as monotonous a monotone he had ever uttered. "Mercenary work inevitably varies." He almost felt the need to sell himself. Idle as it was, there were slight hints of a question in that last question and Aya wouldn't and couldn't let the opportunity for employment slip.

How typical that it was though, he realised upon replying that most of his work so far had involved assassination... "Although not much recently."

[into_ruin]

That was interesting, though not entirely unexpected. Zexion laced his fingers, a faint line forming between his brows. Did he have a use for a hired soldier?

His coffee was delivered to the table and he waited until the waitress was gone again before he responded. He needed to know a few things before he took the bait.

"Mercenaries aren't famous for their moral code. How far have you gone for the right price?" Though the words seemed personal, to Zexion they really weren't.

If he'd asked any other way, he would get words and promises that meant nothing. He wanted an accurate record of Fujimiya's actions, without the usual boasting and embellishment. If they happened to offend, that was just a nasty side effect that the man should be accustomed to by now.

"Consider it a resume." He added, implying, he hoped, that he had a job in mind and monosyllabic answers wouldn't cut it.

[southpaw_boxer]

At first the question had jarred Aya slightly, and it probably showed. But upon the instruction of considering it a job interview, considering how far he had gone suddenly took on a completely different light.

Now that his sister was no longer immediately affected by his work- he cast his eyes down and reasoned that that was the wrong path to be taking his thoughts down. Nevertheless, his search for his loved ones and some glimpse of the inner workings of this world now being the only movtivation he held, truth was that he had gone very farindeed.

Very far. Much further than he would have in Kritiker, further even than his time before that... "It has sometimes startled me what I have been asked to carry out. To my credit, it gets done. For a price."

Aya swallowed heavily, even after two years he wasn't used to having to do the talking up himself. "Equally I have to warn you that you were right. Morality to me means that you must keep your interests in the forefront of my mind, so as not to let me be taken over by better jobs that

[into_ruin]

Zexion watched the man as he spoke, searching for any sign of boasting or hesitance. There were none. Just a heavy sort of resignation

[southpaw_boxer]

"Light..." Aya echoed the word quietly, pensively.

As long as he had spent here and as much as he had come to know, it was plain to him that he was know in very new territory. Zexion was speaking in cryptic language that Aya wasn't about to weaken his position by querying. As long as he had been here, he'd spent the most of the time working in a tearoom and it afforded less time than he had wanted to investigate offered jobs.

"I take it you refer to the council," his voice was flat and thoughtful. If that was the case, it would be hard to get close. Pricing was going to be almost impossible...

"For this sort of scale I'll ask for twenty thousand up front. Honestly I don't know how to estimate..." he sank into thought again and added "if I find that what you ask is even more impossible than I've budgeted for, it may amount to less than half of what I'm asking."

Living, Aya envisaged, might become quite expensive on this little mission.

[into_ruin]

Zexion dipped his head slightly. Normally his infiltration skills would be more than enough to cover the task. He could easily follow a low-ranking individual and dispose of them once he'd acquired the right mannerisms - but walking into the Light's stronghold was different. He couldn't smell the Princesses at all, and beside that something about them made him gravely uneasy. Zexion frowned at the thought.

The money, however, was no real object.

"Understand," He said, meeting the man's eyes. "That I don't care how you go about it as long as the job is done properly and discreetly. If you're unable to do it, find someone who can."

Zexion turned his attention to his coffee, tilting a creamer into it. "I don't gamble. Do what scouting you need to and come back to me with an accurate price tag."

[southpaw_boxer]

Aya rose smoothly to his feet, looking down at the table thoughtfully for a moment before letting his gaze resolve and go to Zexion.

"I will scout first, as you ask. But I will not require anyone else," he added firmly. "I work alone and I will get the job done."

He stepped aside from the table and politely left money for coffee. Let it not be said that Ran Fujimiya didn't settle his finances. "Tell me where and I'll see you inside a week," he said, ready to make some very bizarre mental notes as he left.

[into_ruin]

Zexion thought for a moment. By now he knew the man's scent well enough that he could track him anywhere within range if need be. But he would benefit more from a familiar rhythm, as it was easier to pick up with.

"Here." Zexion said finally, tilting in a second miniature cup of creme, more like a child playing with food than someone who intended to drink said coffee.

He looked up at Fujiama again, his eyes no longer scrutinizing but calm and reflective like an unbroken surface of water. "One week exactly. Don't come empty handed and I'll see that I do the same."