Self-Assured {Kuja}

[Ad'hora ne Ono]

The air of Alexandria was crisp and refreshing, coming home after a long day out and about. Not that Ad'hora could ever say that - he belonged in Alexandria least of all - but the feeling was still the same. He owed this country a lot.

That said, it was a hell of a conspicuous move to simply walk in through the front gates, especially during wartime, a winged man with the air of a murderer; Ad'hora held himself with a cocksure poise, one that could be easily read and misconstrued.

Three, four, maybe five guards, he didn't really care for counting them at the moment, quickly surrounded him, and the genome paused almost mid-step, regarding them with steely green eyes.

No doubt his profile was unusual, and cause for concern - xenophobia happened to run rampant in war-addled nations, after all, and the likes of him had never shown his face this far into the city. Word would travel quickly, through mouths and the air almost with the speed of a virus, stirring unrest in the people of Alexandria with the unusual man's appearance... if not the deaths of a few guards, depending on how peckish he happened to be feeling in ten minutes.

Your move... Kuja.

[Kuja]

Peace had fallen over Alexandria, people walked the street without a care in the world and the guards really had no reason to raise their weapons. The silver haired genome who watched over all of them was disgusted, blue eyes racked over the city below. Watching as the people interacted with each, unaware of the man who looked down upon them. He craved the chaos and destruction that war brought, he enjoyed watching as people begged for their lives and pleaded with their god to save them. He had been made to bring war upon the land to reap the souls it provided, but in all honesty Kuja enjoyed bringing war to the land and most of all he enjoyed the bloodshed.

Pale fingers ran of the banister of the balcony, his eyes cast their glance over to the castle wall. The day had been moving along slowly, there had been no matter that required his attention. However luck would be on his side today, the sound of hurried footsteps came rushing down the hallway towards him. Turning on his heels to face the entrance way, a single hand on his hip while the other still rested on the banister. Bursting through the door came one of the Pluto knights, his breath came out ragged as he quickly regained his composer. The young armoured man snapped into attention; hand in a salute against his head while the other hand rested down his sword. "Lord Kuja sorry to disturb you, but it seems an outside has entered the kingdom" the silver haired man released a soft sigh from pale pink lips.

"Is it not something you can handle, I am sure all they want is a place to stay at the inn before they are on their way" his voice held a slight tone of irritation, He had been bored but small unimportant matters like this, were not something he wished to be bored with no matter how bad the day was. "My Lord this visitor has wings growing from his back, something about him also seems to scare the people we fear he may mean to cause trouble" the man remained in attention the whole time, it was pleasing to Kuja to see them like this. "Very well I shall go down there and handle this matter, however if it turns out I am right you shall be punished as I see fit" lips tugged into a smirk as he spoke the last part, he was already hoping the visitor really did just want to sleep in the inn.

With that he headed through the door, he wasted no time in the castle he walked the hallways he knew like the back of his hand and descended the stair case into the grand foyer. Guards opened the giant wooded doors for him before he even approached; the boat appeared to have been waiting for him as was expected of course. As he walked through the streets of the city, his own air of grace and elegance around him people stopped to stare a little. It was unusual for Kuja to be down in the city; he only came down if there was something he wanted that he trusted no one to fetch for him or if Mikoto dragged him along because that cat of hers was busy being annoying somewhere else. His eyes spotted the guards that had built up; it was clear where the stranger was.

"My my my it seems our guards have forgotten how to treat a guest, such a display of rudeness that I needed to be called down" his voice rang clear through the streets, it was slightly feminie yet it suited him all the same. The wall of armour parted slight to reveal the man, and just as he had been informed the man did have wings. Kuja walked through the guards, each one bowing slightly at the man. One pale hand on his hip while the other rested at his side, sapphire blue eyes took in the site of the man in front of him. "It seems your entrance has caused a commotion, that or my guards are rather cowardly to come running to me at the first site of a stranger" he gave a soft chuckle at his words. If the guards were insulted they showed no sign of it, with the death of countless black mages the guards had learned to remain silent around Kuja and his harsh words.

[Ad'hora ne Ono]

While waiting for word of his arrival to get all the way up there to the palace, in boredom, Ad'hora attempted to chat up one of the guards currently keeping an eye on him. Not that they would pose any obstruction in the event that he did decide to cause a little havoc, but for the time being, in all of his infinite kindness, the genome decided to let them do their job. Or pretend that they could do it.

"It must be an honor to serve Alexandria in such a distinguished manner. Tell me, was there much to be done to repair the city after the incident?"

None of them answered, and Ad'hora pursed his lips, deciding against killing them all for his own amusement.

That was, until the sound of Kuja's voice rang out between them, and the guards parted to reveal the adviser. At this point, sick of holding back, Ad'hora closed both hands. This action cut the life strings of the guards to his direct left and right, weak as they were, dirt on the sole of his boot. Eyes rolling up into their heads, they collapsed, piles of steel and human littering the street.

Then the flick of his right hand, closing two fingers together, the motion translating into a sudden force of magick pressuring the helmet of the man that had not answered him, until it collapsed in upon itself and he joined the other two.

Undoubtedly the other guards were shaking in their shoes, watching the man so effortlessly end the lives of three of their comrades for good sport, but Ad'hora ignored them and instead looked up to Kuja.

"Their cowardice is well-founded. Have you any reason to interest me, besides your lordly parading about this place, brother?" the russet-haired man asked, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, aiming to meet Kuja's eyes.

[Kuja]

Death was a beautiful thing to watch, it created a certain mood on the stage. Kuja enjoyed the site of death, even if he wasn't an angel of death he knew he would still love the sight of it. The emotions it could draw from people, the things it could make people do. Death was something that when used at the right moment could open up so many possibilities, not all of them as amusing as some but none the less. So as sapphire eyes watched the guards around him drop dead, the outsider barly even moving a muscle it was all rather amusing. The other guards quivered with fear around him, it was pitiful to see them shake like over something as trivial as a dead guard.

When the other spoke nothing really mattered until the last word, that one word that only two other people called him. Slender fingers brushed silver bangs away from his face, sapphire eyes meeting the challenge of the other man. Kuja inspected the man quickly; there was a certain air about him one that reminded him of Terra. "Guards I think you will find your friends need to be moved, lest the prying eyes of the children see them. I shall entertain our guest in the castle" the silver haired siren spun on his heel, the guards slowly began to move always avoiding getting to close the winged man. Kuja however held no interest in how or when they did it, he had indeed found something to keep him interested for the rest of the day.

Leaving the scene behind him, he began to guid the other through the streets of Alexandria not by telling him where to go or even saying follow him he simple began walking he knew the other would follow. "You call me brother as if to say we are family, but how can two soulless vessels claim to have family. Tell me when did that old fool create you, I would say you were a before project" The feathers atop his head the same silver as his hair, but still to touch them you would know they are in fact feathers. Kuja had always wondered why he had a tail and feathers; it seemed that this new guest may just be the answer if he was correct in his assumption.

[Ad'hora ne Ono]

His very upper lip curled slightly as the other spoke, disgusted by the theatrics that the other felt the need to put on. Entertaining? Guest? Why not give the insignificant Souls the dignity at least to know that the two of them were by no means friends?

Hmph. An odd man indeed, to so easily end the lives of several men and then spin on one heel to protest the indignities of keeping their comrades in the dark.

That aside, it was irritating to him that Kuja so readily inferred that Ad'hora would follow him like a ball on a string, were the younger of them to turn and walk away. But he did, falling easily into step half-behind and half-beside who could be called his younger brother, bristling with misgivings at standing so close to another creation of Garland.

"You call me brother as if to say we are family, but how can two soulless vessels claim to have family. Tell me when did that old fool create you, I would say you were a before project"

"Merely to claim your attention," the brunette said lightly, brushing a fleck of lint off of the cuff of his shirt absentmindedly as his cape rustled at his calves. "If I were to have stayed silent, would you have been so intent to take me aside?"

With the second leg of Kuja's statement, though, Ad'hora's hands lowered to his sides as his expression twisted to a shadow of what it once was, only the lingering resonance of a pleasant mood (augmented by the recent deaths of those guards from before, even if their Souls had gone only to waste and for no gain of his own) present on his countenance, overshadowed by a very precise impassiveness; almost mechanical in execution.

"You are correct to assume that my age far exceeds yours," he said at last, a slight darkening of his emerald irises the only sign of emotion, anymore. "I did not come to detail my past, Kuja."

His true purpose for venturing into Alexandria, then, was yet to be distinguished.

[Kuja]

He had always known Garland was a fool, the things he made always tended to have something horrid on them. Even Kuja had something to remind him of what he was, a silver tail curled up and hidden away from the eyes of the public was his eternal reminder. However he never thought the old fool was that stupid to give one of his creations something they could not hide, wings could not be hidden from sight..

"It is not every day that my stage is graced with the presence of one such as you, wings as brown as the earth under our feet a tell tale sign that you are the handy work of Garland he would always ruin his creations". Sapphire blue eyes glanced over at the other male; those same brown wings caught his attention yet again. They drew in attention like a flame draws in a month, the month didn't want to go near the flame however once it had been captured by the pull of the flame there was no helping it. Kuja however was more interested in knowing why Garland changed his design of them so quickly.

"It seems that Garland did not make you with the knowledge of proper manners, it is rude to walk into one’s home and not introduce yourself" as he spoke a pale hand covered his lips, a soft chuckle filled the air between them for the briefest of moments. "Well then dear brother why have you come to my city, if you search for that fool you will have to come to terms with the simple fact that he is already dead" pale pink lips tugged into a smirk, a smirk of pure bliss and pleasure. The very thought of how he had ended Garland's life filled him with a sense of pride and joy.

The crowd of the city started to disappear behind them; the mote that surrounded the castle was coming into site. Beyond that sat the castle, the once proud home of the Alexandrian royal family now belonged to Kuja.

[Ad'hora ne Ono]

The tip of Ad'hora's wing twitched self-consciously as Kuja's gaze wandered over them, and the man's lips tightened, barely allowing such deconstruction of his form. To be fair, it was by another of 'his kind', if one could so loosely group them together - the basic makeup of a genome was, indeed, a point at which their development intersected... but as the silver-haired man mentioned, it was true that he was a sort of before project.

To tell the truth, mustering the power to remove even such a small segment of Garland's memory had left him close to death. The forbidden spell that animated his very movements was a last-ditch effort at sustaining himself, knowing that a transfusion of Soul energy into his body was a far more efficient technique than simply relying on his own life processes as recovery. But then, the sacrifice was to forever need that intake. Similar to being put on an IV drip, then never being able to remove it.

Hardly relevant, but these thoughts did serve to illustrate his utter hatred for that which his own species entailed. That was not to say he hated himself; far from it. Ad'hora was satisfied with his own existence. There was much to be said for the arts of seduction and magicks, after all.

Proper manners? Ad'hora nearly scoffed. Introductions were not something he made often, and usually it was his stage name that was uttered. But he did pause, suddenly, ignoring his own thoughts as he answered Kuja's not-question.

"Ad'hora. You need not know me by any other name."

A show of good faith that would be lost upon his dear brother, but he despised himself the weakness nevertheless. Part of the act was to remain nameless... though he had never had the ability to fade back into the crowd, to be precise.

To be frank, the majority of his thoughts only illustrated a single picture; a man at war with himself. There would be no one to admit this to, even if Ad'hora found any need to explain his actions and beliefs to another.

A paradoxical existence. But then, wasn't life paradoxical? To examine the fullness of such experience can only be done by statements that conflict, as such things often do.

"I am aware." Kuja's statement was at odds with his thoughts, but the genome exerted spectacular poise in juggling both with no strain. "Must I have a reason for wishing to make peace, Kuja?" He had grown tired of his motivations being double- and triple-examined, by no other more than himself.

A master of the stage in his own right - the man that on the outside appears so icy, but within is a battlefield of his own paradoxical thoughts. Perhaps not as flamboyant as Kuja, but there was something to be said for nigh on a millennium having been spent successfully fooling himself that he was... what? That he was complete?

No. That was an illusion he had never dared to cast himself.

[Kuja]

Kuja was studying the other genome, he did not simply stare at the other he would never be as foolish as that. The silver haired siren would simply look at him when he spoke the other, the winged genome could not complain about for it was rude not to look at the person you were speaking to. Kuja found it amusing that he could even use simple things like manners to get what he wanted, however any sign of amusement was stricken from his face as something like that would lead to questions or perhaps a rather angry guest neither of those options looked good right now.

"A name befitting one such as you, it is as unusual as your appearance yet as captivating as your eyes" Kuja's words could almost be taken as a compliment, but yet he would never been that nice to anyone let alone some before project of Garlands. Kuja had of coursed noticed that the other male was beautiful, his eyes were rather striking to but yet all Genome's had been made attractive. However out of all the Genome Kuja had ever seen only he and this Ad'hora looked different then all those that came after Zidane. It seemed Garland had gotten lazy in his old age and just started to make them all the same, each one was as ugly as the other.

The small wooden boat would come down the mote, the guard currently standing in the boat using the long wooden pole to guide it on the correct path. Both of the Genome standing and waiting could have easily crossed over the mote without the use of the boat, but then were was the fun in having servants if you could not use them at every opportunity such as this. Pale pink lips pulled into a small smirk, Kuja turned to face the other it was clear that he was both amused and intrigued by what he had said. "Those who come wishing for peace tend not to kill off guards of the city in the streets, nor would they come unannounced or has old age began to take effect on that mind of yours" a soft chuckle was the last sound to fall from his lips as he turned away from the other.

The wooden boat would creak softly and rock ever so slightly as Kuja stepped into it, moving over to the other side to allow his new guest some room. Once the other was sadly in the boat Kuja would turn and nod at the guard, the journey across the mote was quick there was no need to talk even less since they had a guest who could easily take anything he heard and run around the town telling people. The boat would dock and Kuja would step out, the grand castle rose to the sky behind him as he turned to look at the brown haired genome again. "Well if you have come begging for peace, Shall we attend to matters in the castle then".

[Ad'hora ne Ono]

Disgusting. That he resorts to brown-nosing even now, when he knows full well the advantages he holds. I now know how fortunate I was to escape his companionship.

That wasn't to say he wasn't at least partially amused (and perhaps flattered) at the comment, a minuscule and well-placed twitch of his lips "betraying" said reaction. Perhaps his dear brother would expend further effort in wooing the brunette, for only Ad'hora's entertainment (or to his advantage; nary a moment was wasted without a gambit in mind).

But alas, it seemed such things were not to be as they reached the moat, and Kuja fell to criticizing and dissecting his methodology. Carefully impassive, the older Genome merely shook his head, noting the presence of the guard as the muffled words "retrorsum tacet" dropped from his lips - the charm immediately taking effect by rendering the man deaf to the two's conversation. "That they fell so simply is but a testament to their incompetence. How unlike you, Kuja, to settle for less than is your due; perhaps you are getting soft?"

A low blow, but the man continued speaking, not affording the silverette a chance to react as he crossed into the boat as well. "Mayhaps I come offering an opportunity to expand your borders - would that not also be peaceful diplomacy on my part? To hold such a grand castle," a pause to survey the castle cresting the skyline of Alexandria, as if a crown jewel, "is no small feat... however, you yourself know you are capable of owning more, commanding more. Is it not a possibility I sought only to demonstrate my talents, so as to increase my worth in your eye, perhaps to offer myself as a tool in your endless subjugation of everything that earns your eye?

"Or perhaps, simply," Ad'hora spoke, then paused for a moment to tug at the black glove covering his left hand, as if reaffirming the protection it provided, "it was boredom."

The castle was offered as a location to continue their conversation, as the silverette easily disembarked, but not without a vicious insult slipped in as if a drug among alcohol. "I would think you would be the one to beg. Unless you would prefer I sell my prowess to... the city-state of Archades, that is?"

Nevertheless, with that threat hanging in the air, the brunette acquiesced to following his brother once again.

[Kuja]

Kuja cared very little for other Genome, it was only recently that he found himself enjoying the company of Zidane and he had never questioned how easily he slipped into the older brother role with Mikoto. Yet with Ad'hora he found that he too would be another genome he may come to enjoy having around, weather it was because the other was clearly a powerful ally or because the brunet was clearly one who could hold his own in a battle of wits with the silver haired genome.

Those two simply words did not go unnoticed by Kuja; since he did not know what exactly the other had done all he could do now was stay on his toes and make sure he didn't drop his guard. The other genome began to speak, showing he too could use his words for more than just casual conversation. The composer of the silver haired siren did not break, even when he was being insulted right to his face he simply brushed at the fabric that covered his leg as if there was something far more interesting to attend to.

The other wasted no time explain the situation and what he could offer, the way he spoke so open about it was odd. Sapphire blue eyes peered over at the guard, the man didn't react to the words spoken between the two genomes in fact it was like he never heard them at all. "Now Ad'hora flattery will get you know where in this situation" yet Kuja knew he liked to hear that people thought he could command more than one kingdom, Ad'hora had unknowingly won some favour with the other genome.

"Power such as that does not come without a price, now is it I that must pay the price or do you pay the price" Kuja tilted his head slightly as slender fingers brushed silver strands of hair away from his right cheek. "If the slaughter of man is all it takes to cure your boredom then you could go to any city to attend to your desire, yet you chose my home and kingdom so I would be right in saying something did in fact bring you here" pale pink lips pulled into a smirk.

A soft chuckle would fall from his lips as Ad'hora mentioned Archades; the siren was amused by that very notion for some odd reason. "You will find their leader would be rather disgusted by your talents" Kuja turned around and began to walk towards the grand doors "Your all alone in these worlds, like a bird you fly from place to place trying to find the perfect spot to make you nest yet nothing has caught your eye has it not" slowly he turned his head to look over his shoulder at the other "Don't worry Ad'hora I always have a spare cage laying around for little lost birds". With the wooden doors were opened and Kuja stepped into the foyer of the castle, not a single person could be seen everyone was attending to matters the two genomes could talk without fear of being over heard.