The SUV looked back, holding the salute.
This was the day for exchanging salutes with family members, apparently. Nephrite sighed a bit, inwardly, doing so. Oh, it wasn't like he didn't know this particular elder brother was here at Court today, and it wasn't like he hadn't expected him to show up, sooner or later, but -
"Brother mine..." Nephrite sighed. It wasn't that his brother looked bad, but... "Hello, Xaza."
Why did some of the younger officers - and his brother did fit into that set, even if he was a bit older then Nephrite himself - have to use such flashy polish and patterns, anyway? There were so many better things available, even within the limits of military uniform patterns.
Awwk, call him a Paintmobile, truth was truth.
Not that his brother seemed overly worried about such things...
"Nephrite. I hear Mother and Father had been...relocated, here?"
"Well yes, Lady Beryl has been kind enough to find them a place in her very own Pavillion, after..." He waved a wheel vaguely, hoping he didn't have to explain that some well-connected Cars had managed to edge their parents out of the cube Nephrite had managed to find for them with great difficulty, since their parents had just absolutely had to decide to come in person at the very last moment, apparently.
...Oh, hell, he probably should have asked Lady Beryl for a place for them from the start, now that he thought about it...
"Ahh." His brother swallowed. Nephrite wondered what was wrong.
"Did you... I mean, wasn't there anyplace else?"
What, on the very day of the Big Event? Nephrite googled, wondering just what kind of influence his brother thought he had.
"Apparently not." Xaza sighed, then. "I have heard of...this Lady Beryl. A Sourceress of some reknown, they say..."
"She is." Nephrite smiled. Lady Beryl was getting a name for herself even outside the Rose Court proper, it seemed... "You've heard that she was in charge of rebuilding the Stadium too, I suppose?"
"Well... Yees, I suppose so..." His brother sighed again, then and then looked at him. "Ahh, Nephrite?"
"Yes?" Alright, what was it now... Things never boded well when his brother had that look on his face, in Nephrite's experience.
"I hear you're being entered too."
"Well, yes." That was no great secret, after all...
"And I hear - " His brother swallowed, again. Just what was it? Nephrite wished he'd just spit it out.
"I hear you might be fighting... Lord Rubeus. Assigned to...Prince Diamond."
Nephrite looked at him, them. Well, since they were the only SUVs in either of their Teams, it was natural to think that they might be the ones pitted against each other, he supposed, but - surely he didn't expect him to...
"I don't expect you to tell me your Team's plans, Nephrite. But - " His brother swallowed, again. "I hear - I hear he's a mauler, Nephrite. He's - He's killed other Cars in Duels..."
Oh, that. Nephrite groaned. "I know, Brother." It wasn't as if they hadn't gathered all the info they could about their main opponents, after all.
"You...you do?" His brother sounded almost stunned. Nephrite wondered why - it wasn't that he really thought they were heading into this blind, was it? He hoped not...
"I - " His brother swallowed, again. "I see." And then he lowered his eyes. Nephrite wondered what the hell was going on - this was very unlike the brash elder brother he remembered. "- Ahh...Father and Mother...?..."
"Oh, yes. Wait a minute, I'll take you to them..."
Nephrite sighed, yet again. His brother didn't really have to know that Lord Rubeus was really was one of the least of his worries, at the moment...
Prince Darien groaned, yet again.
Jade was still talking to Jedite, Sapphire was still standing somewhat uneasily at the base of the ramp, and in the distance, a large and imposing SUV loomed, a glittering rust-red - not that he was actually rusty, of course, heaven forbid that he should actually have such things as a speck of rust on him - and menacing.
Lord Rubeus. Darien sighed, again. Rubeus was part of the Royal family, though of a minor branch - Oh, he didn't have the Royal Roses and Thrones markings, as far as Darien knew, but he wasn't illegitimate, unlike Sapphire, and he still was in the line of succession, sort of.
Damn, damn, damn. And since he was here...
Why yes, and there was the fourth member of Prince Diamond's Four. Darien almost groaned aloud, spotting the large grey-black Luxury Minivan/MPV with dark-tinted windows silently wheeling towards them, swathed in shadows. Darien felt like rubbing his eyes. It had to be an optical illusion, no one actually moved around swathed in shadows - though since Pyrite was supposed to be a Sorcerer of some skill and power, who knew...
A child cried out, and was hushed by it's mother. Darien smiled, thinly. Sir Pyrite of Dova practically oozed menace, making Rubeus seem small and flashy in comparison. Which annoyed that particular 'Cousin' no end, from what he'd heard...
Darien stopped smiling, then. Nobody crossed Pyrite - not even Rubeus. That, too, his 'sources' had told him...
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(Posted Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:23)
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