Some Say the End Is Near [Completed]

[argentum-basium.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Kadaj, Yazoo
Content: Kadaj and Yazoo arrive at the Morem o Lisboa to find...
Setting: Morem o Lisboa
Time: Sunday2 afternoon.
Warnings: Threats of torture. Nothing too bad, but.. yeah.

Reunion was at hand.

Kadaj barely even registered the completely unfamiliar sensation of tiredness in his limbs as he crossed the relatively short distance from the entrance of the Morem o Lisboa to the front desk, a more-than-slightly manic grin on his face as he looked up at the receptionist. Mother was here. They were here. Finally… finally they could be together, as a family. They wouldn’t have to search anymore, or be lost themselves without her to guide them. Kadaj was fully aware that even his leadership was paltry in comparison for what she could provide, and now that Mother would be the one telling them what to do… he didn’t have to worry anymore about leading the others astray.

He felt buoyant, almost, carefree in a way which he had never experienced before. Everything was going to be all right…. He had to close his eyes for a moment to regain control of himself—tears were Loz’s department, not his—and he did his best to disguise the motion as merely stopping to gather his thoughts. It would probably fool the man behind the desk that was waiting for him to speak, but he didn’t doubt for an instant that his brother could see through it.

Slowly, he looked up again, forcing his expression into a much calmer, mockingly professional one. Didn’t quite work; as always, there was a slight quirk to his mouth that made his smile seem much more like a smirk than anything else, and of course that manic aspect was still clinging to it… oh well. Mother would understand. “Excuse me,” he said in a silky soft tone, “might I know if there is a woman by the name of Jenova staying here?” He glanced back to make sure Yazoo had followed him inside. Well of course he had, but he might as well be polite about it before leaping right into things, right?

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[deadly-velvet.livejournal.com]

Ah, the sweet smell of success.

...Well, if success had a scent, Yazoo figured it would be vaguely reminiscent of something floral. Of course, such matters were alarmingly unimportant, but he was attempting to go out of his way to keep this sudden bout of enthusiasm and excitement as hidden as possible. While he was excited to see Mother, and was anticipating Reunion, he felt it unnecessary to display those emotions, especially in such an unfamiliar location.

However, his goal was becoming much too difficult to accomplish as he followed his sibling to the front desk, smiling expectantly as Kadaj looked behind to check up on him, then moved to stand by his side. He spared a moment to brush his hair behind his shoulders, the slender, gloved fingers of his right hand tapping gently on the surface of the desk. He seemed disinterested in any information the employee had to share, but appearances were often misleading when it came to Yazoo; though his gaze was curiously thrown about the peculiar surroundings, he was listening intently to anything anyone within a fifteen foot radius was saying.

"I'm sorry," the employee began after sifting through his records, casting a lingering, unsure glance at both of the silver-haired youths before returning his attention to the papers. "It appears we don't have anyone by that name staying here at the moment."

Yazoo's fingers immediately ceased their drumming and he turned to look at the man behind the counter, an expression that seemed to read 'you did not just say that' apparent on his soft features. "I would advise you to look again," he insisted calmly, though the tone of his voice seemed to hint at dangerous consequences should his request not be made. Tentatively, the man nodded and immediately began sifting through his records once more, visibly uneasy.

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The second those words left the man's mouth, Kadaj's eyes narrowed and the smile slipped from his face. Aha, but of course there had to be some mistake... right? Mother was there, right? He leaned over the desk slightly to catch a glimpse of the records the man was poring over once more, not caring how rude it was. This was Mother, and quite frankly, that was more than enough reason for all common rules of courtesy to go flying out the window.

The man shifted uncomfortably, but did not comment, instead looking through the ledger again carefully before sighing and shaking his head. "No, I'm afraid there's still no one." He glanced between the two of them warily, eyes pausing for a moment on Kadaj's rapidly darkening expression before he added quickly, "Perhaps you could try the Actua Are Hotels instead?"

Ignoring his words, Kadaj simply snatched the book from out of his grasp and moved quickly away from the desk so he couldn't get it back, giving him a warning look before turning away and beginning to flip through it. Page after page after page was turned, his motions becoming more and more careless after each one. He was all but tearing them out once he finally stopped, staring hard at one of the names listed and turning back to the man, slamming the book down in front of him and pointing down accusingly.

"There. There, do you see? Jenova. She's here. She has to be. I won't accept-- where is she?! Which room?! Tell me now, and I just might spare your life. Don't count on it, though; I have no patience for liars." If he didn't answer quickly enough, Kadaj was just going to kill him then search every single room, one by one, until he found her.

[deadly-velvet.livejournal.com]

This man behind the counter was kind of a bit infuriating. His stupidity made Yazoo want to hurt someone -- preferably him -- and do so repeatedly and with no mercy. Yazoo wasn't sure what was worse, lying to them, or expecting them to believe those lies. Then again, he supposed it didn't matter which was worse; either way, chances were that the poor unfortunate soul was going to wind up bleeding to death all over his records if Kadaj wasn't feeling kind enough to end his life immediately.

"I'm sorry," the man began again, hands shaking; it was clear he was trying to keep his composure, but Yazoo doubted it wouldn't be long until he was sobbing and begging for the mercy that most likely was not going to be delivered. "Miss Jenova has never stayed here. I don't see where her name is in the records, sir."

Yazoo rolled his eyes and bit gently on his lower lip. "Please," he said, annoyed, "her name is right there. Are you blind?" The man shook his head, and Yazoo began to tap on the counter once more. "You must be, which means you're clearly unfit for this job and, therefore, useless." He paused for a moment, then leaned over the counter slightly, attempting to appear as though he was looming over the poor man. "I'd suggest you stop lying. Now, tell us where she is."

After a moment of hesitating, the man looked back at his records, then cast each of them a lingering glance. "She's not here, s-sirs."

"Kadaj," Yazoo sighed exhasperatedly, "we're getting nowhere with him."

[argentum-basium.livejournal.com]

"We really aren't, are we?" The situation seemed funny again. He was still going to kill the man for putting them through all of this, no mistake about that, and the crushing disappointment he felt about Jenova not being there was still annoyingly present. Still, the fact that the man was so steadfastly denying that their mother had ever been there when the record clearly said otherwise seemed nothing short of hilarious. Humans could be so stupid!

He sobered slightly, still looking at the poor man. "I'll give you one last chance to tell us where Mother is. That's fair enough, isn't it? I've been patient enough-- more than enough, really." His tone hardened slightly, and he leaned forward again. "I could have simply killed you the instant I discovered you had lied to us, then checked each and every room of this hotel myself." He shrugged, relaxing once more and turning almost joking as he said, "Of course, none of the people staying here would live long enough to check out again, but with you gone, they wouldn't be able to anyway, now would they?"

The man 's gaze flicked between the two of them again, almost as though he was trying to decide which one was more dangerous. Thankfully, he seemed to realize that not answering now would be a very bad idea, but, unfortunately, the answer he chose to give was more of the same. "She's n-not here. I told you--"

"Then where is she? If she's not here, then she has to be somewhere else. I refuse to believe you don't know. With her name written there and you denying it, you have to be hiding something. I told you that that was your last chance. Now? We're going to have to use other methods to get that information from you." He laughed outright at the man's expression after that little announcement. Sort of like a choking fish, in a way. "Yazoo? Shall we, then?"

[deadly-velvet.livejournal.com]

If anything, Yazoo was amused at his brother's wordiness with the poor, ill-fated man. Normally, he'd think it a bit too much, but this was, strangely, satisfying, if only because all of the chatter was prolonging the death the man knew was coming to him. It was a pity that the promise of demise wasn't enough to knock some sense into him, but this place could deal with less stupidity, anyway, and Yazoo smiled softly as he thought of it. This man did make more work for them, however; checking every room one-by-one would be tedious and waste time, but he wasn't exactly leaving them any other choice.

...And he was continuing to refuse to cooperate in a positive, fruitful manner -- not that Yazoo had come to expect otherwise. He had, though, been hoping that Kadaj would lose all patience he had and end this little game, if only because Yazoo's Annoyance Meter was breaching his limit and he was doing what he could to keep himself from releasing a few bullets from Velvet Nightmare.

When it finally seemed like Kadaj had had enough of the man's stupidity, Yazoo sighed a sigh of relief and flashed yet another soft, barely there half-smile. "I've been waiting for you to say that. What should we start with?" he asked with a tilt of his head, looking the man over as best he could. "I suppose we could start messy and begin to disembowel him or remove each of his limbs by slowly sawing away at them with blunt objects." There was an endless list of things they could do, though Yazoo was only mentioning some of them purely for shock factor. While he wasn't the most wordy of people, this man had irritated him enough to make a slightly more dry-witted, sarcastic, and sadistic nature surface.

"We could remove his tongue, as well, as it seems he has nothing of importance to say. He really has no use for it, does he? Those eyes are useless, as well. Perhaps they should be removed and replaced with something more beneficial," he mused aloud with a slight jovial tone. "Unfortunately, I can't think of what might possibly be beneficial for him, aside from a new brain."

[argentum-basium.livejournal.com]

With every word that escaped Yazoo's lips, the man grew more and more pale, his eyes widening considerably as he continued to gape at the two of them. The image of a fish out of water was only strengthened by the fact that he then began to open and close his mouth repeatedly, obviously trying to say something. Apparently that was beyond him, though, and after giving them both one last terrified look, he made a break for it.

He didn't get far. Before he could even get out from behind the desk, Souba was at his neck and a grinning Kadaj was very gently urging him back. "Now, now, now... this game won't be nearly as fun if you're not around to play with us. It really is a pity Loz isn't around right now-- I know he'd have fun." That wasn't necessarily true-- all of them would prefer a challenge much more than this... pathetic waste of flesh standing in front of them, whether he had made a nuisance of himself or not. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable when there was no real effort or thought put into it, but oh well. Their victim didn't need to know that.

Kadaj looked him over slowly now, considering Yazoo's suggestions and giving a slow nod in agreement. "That seems fitting, but I think we should hold off on sawing his limbs off, though-- if he loses too much blood, he'll pass out, and what a tragedy that would be. We wouldn't want him to miss this, now would we?" The man made a terrified, half-strangled sound, and Kadaj smiled sweetly at him and pushed him back even further. "Maybe we should break all the bones in his body first instead. What do you say to that?"

He managed to keep up the smile for only a few more seconds before it began to fade, and in a tone very much unlike his previous light, airy one, he said, "Enough talking. It's time to show this man just who he decided to trifle with."

From the look in the man's eyes, though, he seemed to already have an idea.