Giggling mad Xelloss is so cute :3
Lina awoke to the comforting feeling of a hand stroking up and down her back.
When she opened her eyes, she was immediately greeted by Zelgadis' still sleeping face lit by early morning light only inches away from her.
He looked serenely peaceful as he laid there, the worries of the day leaving him alone in his dreams for once.
Becoming more awake, Lina realized that her back was still being caressed. She looked up to see Xelloss completely lost in thought and staring off into space at the ceiling. Even with his sharp senses, he hadn't realized she was awake yet.
She could see that the demon was stroking Zelgadis' back comfortingly as well, which would contribute to the calm look on the chimera's face.
Lina was trying to figure out if the priest was acting strangely again, or if she'd caught him in the kind of moment he had when he was alone.
After a little bit, she decided to gain his attention, "Did you stay awake all night?"
Xelloss' hand stilled and he glanced down at her. She could see the melancholy in his eyes for a brief instance before he switched back to his usual cheer.
He resumed his hand's movement on her skin, "I was asleep for a little bit."
"What woke you up? I didn't punch you again did I?"
The priest chuckled, "No. You've stayed thankfully still the whole night through." His smile abated a fraction, "Actually, I woke up from a dream I did not care to continue."
The red head looked intrigued, "I didn't know Mazoku could dream."
"Until a few days ago, you didn't realize we could sleep, so not knowing we dreamt is unsurprising."
Lina rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean." Her face suddenly sported a playful grin, "I guess if humans have weird dreams, thousand year old demons ought to have some really crazy ones."
He smirked at her, "I don't make it a habit to sleep very often, but yes, there can be some very strange dreams. Though you might be more surprised at how 'normal' many of them are."
Lina's expression turned inquisitive once again, "So what did you dream about?"
The priest was silent for a moment as he debated on telling her what he dreamt of or not. Eventually he told her "That's a secret." With a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
She ignored his irritating catchphrase, instead noticing that she'd seen the same melancholic look he had on humans before and figured it was worth asking. "Did you have a nightmare?"
Xelloss' eyebrow rose marginally at her unexpected insight, "I suppose I'm no longer doing a very good job as keeper of secrets if you can read me so easily."
Lina shrugged, "It's not like that one was that hard to figure out."
"…I suppose not."
"Anyway," She moved her arm so she could prop her head up with her hand, "Talking about bad dreams makes humans feel better. You can tell me about it if you want." She smiled at him encouragingly.
Xelloss smirked at her, "Are you sure you just don't want me to tell you just to satisfy your curiosity?"
She huffed, "Fine then. Don't tell me." She had been very interested about what he could have dreamt but she honestly did want to help him feel better too. Even if that was just the byproduct of getting him to talk about it.
The priest's sight moved back up toward the ceiling again. After a few silent moments he said in an even voice, "I dreamt of what would have happened last night if I hadn't been there."
Lina's eyebrows shot up behind her bangs, "You're not… upset by that poisoning attempt are you?"
Xelloss looked back down and pinned her gaze with his own, "I was not joking last night when I told you I would have caused a massacre if either of you were killed." The steady look in his open lavender eyes told her that he really was serious. He probably would have killed every last person in the country of Taforashia if it had meant he would have killed their murderer.
The sorceress' eyes widened at his completely unexpected conviction. "Why do you care Xelloss? As humans, Zel and I will die eventually anyway."
The demon's cocky smile easily returned to him, "My reasons are my own."
Lina sighed in irritation at his secrecy, "I hope you know that you're annoying."
He just continued to smile obnoxiously, "Nightmares are irrelevant. I have faith that neither of you will succumb to death for many years yet. Which will allow me to continue to enjoy your entertaining company."
She almost burst out laughing but kept her voice down to not disturb the sleeping chimera, "Faith? Come on Xelloss, despite you being decent at making the average human think otherwise, we both know you're not that kind of priest."
Xelloss pretended to sulk, "'Decent'? Are you trying to hint that I need an appearance change?"
Lina grinned, "Well it wouldn't hurt to change up your outfit. When was the last time your every day clothing was anything different?"
The demon actually had to stop and think for a long moment before answering. In an almost dismal way he said, "I can't recall."
"Well, that has been a while. You might want to think about changing it up a bit then." She smiled at him with a small blush, "I definitely liked what you were wearing last night. Though I guess you can't wear that every day."
Xelloss grinned, "Yes, that might be a bit odd to travel in."
"At the very least, you should wear your hair tied back like that more often." She told him.
He smirked knowingly, "Do you like it that way?"
Lina nodded her head with the pinkness still tinting her cheeks, "I think your hair tied back looks really good on you."
"Do you people have to talk while I'm trying to sleep?"
Lina and Xelloss looked to Zelgadis, each a little surprised to hear his voice.
"Sorry Zel." Lina told him only slightly apologetically and patted his upper arm.
He made a grumbling sound and shoved his face into his pillow that was still on Xelloss' shoulder.
The chimera seemed to gradually remember where he'd fallen asleep as his hand moved along the priest's chest when he grabbed onto his pillow.
Zelgadis slowly raised his head and opened his eyes finally to see Xelloss and Lina's faces much closer to his than his waking brain was comfortable with. He blushed darkly and buried himself back into his pillow and muttered something about coffee.
Lina caught a brief glance of the idea forming in Xelloss' head, followed by a smirk and the demon suddenly disappearing out from under the barely awake chimera without a word.
Since she had already propped herself up on her elbow, Lina wasn't directly affected by the priest's spontaneous departure but Zelgadis fell the short distance to the mattress without the presence of his big warm pillow.
"What the hell Xelloss?" The barely awake, cranky chimera lifted his head up from the pillow again to look around the room for where the obnoxious demon had gone to.
The priest had quickly reappeared, fully dress in his usual garb, and as Lina noted, with his hair tied back. In his hands were two cups of what could only be coffee.
Zelgadis forgot to be irritated with Xelloss as he quickly sat up in bed and took one of the mugs from him and began drinking the addictive caffeinated liquid.
The Mazoku chuckled and handed the other cup to Lina, who took it and actually remembered to say 'Thank you'.
When their beverages were finished, Lina was returned to her room by Xelloss. After which the demon disappeared again, but not before being told Pakota's message.
He told her he'd be sure to stay easy to find all day and possibly see them again as soon as breakfast. He might be required to test food for poison again after all, much to his annoyance, but with any luck, the prince should have seen to those matters already.
Everyone was satisfied to find that security had been stepped up since the night before and only long trusted people were allowed in the palace until the threat was taken care of.
That being the case, breakfast was quickly eaten and Lina and Zelgadis were fast to make themselves scarce to avoid having to answer questions about their early departure from the ball.
Zelgadis would have preferred to have started working on tracking down who could have put a hit out on them and which one of them it was actually for. However, since he hadn't seen Pakota since the ball to ask what time they were supposed to meet, he thought it was best to stay in the palace for the time being.
So he spent several hours in the extensive palace library instead, looking up the effects of various kinds of poisons just in case of future attempts.
He wore the outfit Lina had given him, deciding to make it his usual clothing until the summer months were over. The sleeveless tunic was much better to wear than a long sleeved shirt in the warmth of the day and he didn't need to really worry about sunburns anyway.
The chimera had been there most of the morning with several open books piled around him on the antique table. He found some very useful information, but the book currently in hand was proving to be anything but.
Getting back up to search the shelves for a better one, he suddenly felt the displacement of air behind him and was unsurprised when he felt a body lean up close behind him and arms wrap around his front.
"You look like you could use a break."
Zelgadis' eye twitched, "You've got to stop just suddenly appearing Xelloss." He pried the demon's arms off him and continued to look through the shelves.
Xelloss let him walk away from his embrace and smirked, "Am I becoming predictable?"
The youth picked up a book and flipped through it, "I'd have to say yes."
The priest chuckled, "Maybe I should use the door next time and actually knock."
Zelgadis only paid him half a mind as he continued flipping through the new volume in his hands and started walking back to his seat, not even glancing at him, "That would definitely be different."
Xelloss didn't like being ignored. He snatched the book right out of Zelgadis' hands and flung it behind him carelessly.
"What the hell-?" Zelgadis anger was cut short when the demon quickly closed in on him and forced him back up against the table.
His heart leapt into his throat and he began to feel mild panic when the priest pushed him back to sit on the edge and moved himself between the chimera's legs. He bent over him so far that Zelgadis had to lean back and use his arms for support or else fall onto the table top on his back.
The chimera blushed furiously but before he could remember how to speak, a dark grin appeared on Xelloss' face, "I have something to discuss with you and I would appreciate it if I had your undivided attention."
Zelgadis managed to beat down his previous emotions and turn it back into anger. He gave Xelloss a nasty glare, "You could have just asked for my attention."
A mischievous twinkle sparkled behind lavender eyes, "But this is much more fun."
The chimera glowered and did his best not to punch the demon in the face. He'd like that too much. "Well, what the hell did you want?"
Xelloss smiled lecherously and grabbed the chimera's hip with one of his hands, "After our activities last night, I thought it was time to tell you of one simple rule I have for you Zelgadis."
The chimera raised an eyebrow in suspicion and tried his best to ignore Xelloss' moving hand and how close his body and face was to him. "What kind of rule?"
The priest's eyes were open with lust and his lips were painfully near the youth's when he told him, "You may pleasure Lina when I'm not around but I must insist that I be the one to claim her virginity."
Zelgadis blushed madly, whatever he thought Xelloss wanted to talk about, that wasn't it, "What?"
He smirked, but being so close to Zelgaids' face, the chimera didn't see it, "As a demon, I'm afraid that claiming innocence is just one of those vices I have."
Zelgadis scowled and tried to move away from Xelloss in the limited space he had, but only managed to back himself lower onto the table, "Who are you to decide? That sort of thing should be left up to Lina."
Xelloss smile turned a shade darker just before he used his staff that was still in hand to knock Zelgadis' arms out from under him. As soon as the chimera fell onto his back, the demon dropped his staff on the table and pinned him down by his shoulders.
Zelgadis struggled for a moment before Xelloss leaned over him and kissed him deeply and bit his lip. He moaned and quickly quit fighting back altogether. Instead, he roughly grabbed onto the front of Xelloss' cloak and tried to take control of the kiss, which was painfully obvious the demon wasn't going to allow him to do.
He'd almost forgotten what they were even talking about until Xelloss broke the kiss and reminded him, "I've wanted you both far longer than you have realized you wanted the same things. I will be the first one to claim Lina and the night I do I'll claim your virgin ass as well." He said hotly against the chimera's lips as he squeezed his backside and rubbed his clothed arousal against Zelgadis' a few times for emphasis.
Zelgadis blush was incredibly dark as he tried his best to glare at the demon, "For your information, I've had sex before."
Xelloss just grinned calculatingly, "I know you've been with a woman or two before you were transformed Zelgadis, but I also know you've never been with a male before."
The chimera scowled with a still heavy blush and did his best to ignore the fact that Xelloss was still rubbing up against him and squeezing his rear pleasurably, "Well I told you myself at the beginning of all this that I'd never even mentioned to anyone my interest in men. I'm guessing you know of my experience with women from the same way you knew of my preferences."
Xelloss smirked at him arrogantly and ignored the question the chimera already knew the answer to.
If the demon was making this rule about Lina, Zelgadis felt it was time to express something of his own.
From where he lay pinned underneath the stronger man, the chimera wasn't left with many options on how to show any sign of dominance, so he did the only thing he could and reached up with one hand to yank a lock of the priest's hair that was left out of the low ponytail he still wore as hard as he dared and defiantly told him, "While we're making a few things clear - you better not be expecting me to bottom every time Xelloss."
The demon gasped at the unexpected pain and smiled perversely. He said in a sultry voice, "Not at all. In fact, I'm looking as forward to you screwing me with that unique, rock hard cock of yours as I am to fucking that tight ass."
The chimera's face reddened further and his eyes went half lidded and Xelloss knew exactly what was happening. He chuckled, "Oh? What's this? Could it be that dirty talk turns you on Zelgadis?" The Mazoku fondled his very noticeable erection through the front of his pants.
The younger moaned but still managed to scowl at him and yank his hair again but didn't say anything to try and convince the priest otherwise.
Xelloss groaned as his hair was pulled once more but kept up the banter, "I'd wager that Lina likes filthy talk too." He smirked, "You should test that out later."
Zelgadis didn't say anything to that effect but did make a mental note about it.
Returning to the other topic, Xelloss licked his neck and told him, "Personally, I'm glad you didn't fully realize your preferences sooner. It leaves me with much more of a coveted prize."
Zelgadis forced himself to stop enjoying the demon's touch and tried again to push him away, "So what? You only want us because of our inexperience?"
The priest pinned his shoulders down again to keep him from moving, "On the contrary, I would still desire you both even if you'd had dozens of former lovers of either gender." He grinned and nibbled the chimera's elfin ear, "Your innocence simply makes you that much more impossible to resist."
The chimera shut his eyes tightly and clenched his mouth shut, trying his best not to satisfy Xelloss with the whimper he so desperately felt might slip; his ears were far too sensitive.
He felt his heart try to beat its way out of his chest with what the demon whispered in that same sensitive ear, "In fact, I'm very… very tempted to claim you right here among all your precious literature Zelgadis… Does that sound appealing to you?"
That sounded incredibly appealing to Zelgadis. Sex among piles of books was one of his secret fantasies, though it wasn't necessarily how he had envisioned a first time with someone. Aside from that, he didn't want to favor Xelloss with any kind of affirmative answer – well… verbal answer anyway. There was nothing he could do to hide his emotions from the empath.
Xelloss smirked and moved to heatedly claim the chimera's lips again before pulling completely away from him, standing up straight and making a mock frown, "My, but it's such a shame I've already made plans concerning how I'll first take you both."
When Zelgadis' hazy eyes suddenly turned outraged, Xelloss' smirk returned full force right before he got hit in the head with a book.
The demon just laughed and was rewarded by Zelgadis sitting up and grabbing him roughly by the front of his cloak and smacking him upside the face with another book, leaving an imprint of the front cover on the priest's cheek.
"You're such a fucking tease!" The chimera repeated Lina's words from the previous night as he continued to brain the irritating demon with the book in hand. After all, he'd actually enjoy being punched by the chimera.
Xelloss smiled mischievously as he caught Zelgadis' arm, completely uncaring about the book imprints on his face, "Besides that, you're about to have a guest anyway."
The chimera blinked in confusion but before he could ask what he was talking about, there was a knock on the library door and Xelloss had vanished.
Zelgadis had just enough time to get off the table, stumble, fall in a heap on the floor, pick himself up and sit in a nearby chair before the door was opened to reveal Amelia.
Thankfully, sitting at the table hid the evidence of his arousal but as soon as she saw him, the princess tilted her head to the side and stared at him strangely.
"Zelgadis-san, why is there a book stuck in your hair?"
The chimera's eyes widened and he reached up to find that there was a small, thin book impaled on his wire strands. He grumbled and pulled it free and tossed it on the table, promising himself he'd remove the needle hair sticking out of it later.
He completely ignored her question and asked one of his own in as polite a voice as he could possibly manage, "Why are you here Amelia?"
Whatever strange event had happened before she got there, she could tell he wasn't in the mood to humor her query.
"Um… I just came to tell you that Pakota-san asked me to get you and meet him and the others in the main hall."
Zelgadis inwardly cringed. He was going to need a few minutes to calm his body down before he could make an appearance in front of others. "I'll be down in a minute. Let me just put these books away."
She nodded hesitantly and turned to leave, figuring he must just be in a gruff mood because of the incident at the ball.
As soon as she'd left and gone far enough out of earshot, Xelloss reappeared.
The chimera growled and got up to grab him by the collar and shake him a little, "Couldn't you have given me more warning than that?"
Xelloss snorted and giggled, "Do you really have to ask that question? Besides being entertaining, I was still a bit hungry." He continued to laugh as Zelgadis shook him harder after the Mazoku's admittance.
"You do realize you're giving me exactly what I want." Xelloss couldn't help but goad him into becoming angrier. It worked of course and although the chimera stopped shaking him, he clenched his hands, grit his teeth and stomped away, giving off even more negative emotions than before.
Zelgadis' anger at least aided him in calming down certain parts of his body and he stormed off downstairs to meet with Pakota and the others, Xelloss floating along behind him, giggling to himself the whole way.
Lina had spent her morning holed up in her room drawing up sketches and writing notes when Amelia came to her door to tell her it was time to meet Pakota.
She told her she'd be down soon and hastily stacked her papers together and shoved them into a hiding place in the folds and pockets of her clothing.
Lina wore her new traveling attire, but without her cape. She had decided she'd try wearing a different color than the usual magenta for her new outfit.
The cotton clothing was a shade of denim blue. As far as style, her pants and shirt didn't look too terribly different from her old garments aside from the color. However, instead of wearing yellow accents over her cloths, she wore a small leather vest. Its light brown color stood out quite nicely against the blue of her clothing and gave the illusion that her breasts were slightly bigger than they really were.
When she came down to the main hall, Lina discovered the rest of her companions were already present and found out that Gourry had been interrupted in his duel with Zangulus for the meeting.
The spar had been called a draw since Gourry broke and bent an entire stack of swords until he was finally on the last one when he was called away.
That would certainly explain the crying sword smith Lina had passed in the hallway.
Pakota called for their attention, "Since everyone's here now, you can all follow me."
Without waiting to see if they would follow him, he led the way down the hall and into the basement of the palace. After several flights of stairs they found themselves in a laboratory setting.
The prince took them past two guards and an old dungeon-like door that appeared to usually be kept locked.
Inside the large stone-walled room was a long work table that several objects were set on.
As soon as they saw the items, Lina and Gourry ran up to two of them and grabbed them right off the table without waiting to see if it was all right with Pakota or the several researchers that were standing nearby.
"The Sword of Light!" Gourry beamed happily.
"Galveira!" Lina picked up the bow and coddled it as though she were a little girl and it was her favorite stuffed toy. One could practically see little hearts popping up over her head.
Xelloss quirked an eyebrow, "It would seem that you and your researchers have been keeping busy Pakota-san."
The prince smirked with unhidden self-satisfied pride, "That's right. We took the notes and sketches that Gourry gave us to make another Sword of Light duplicate and copies of the other Darkstar weapons."
Zelgadis picked up the doppelganger of Valgaav's Ragudo Mezegis lance and held the dormant handle in his hands. It felt just as he remembered; it was a perfect clone.
The chimera looked over the weapon in wonder, "Gourry's notes and sketches?"
Pakota smirked, "Yeah, they were surprisingly detailed. I guess weapons are the only thing he can remember accurately." He snorted.
The blonde stopped in his admiration of the Gorun Nova copy to pout and look cutely offended. "Hey!"
Zelgadis smirked and called the light forth from the lance in his hands and was a little disappointed to see that the blade wasn't as brilliant and large as he remembered.
"I think you've still got some kinks to work out on these Pakota."
The former plushie crossed his arms, "Yeah, we know. These are our prototypes. Unfortunately, they aren't nearly as powerful as the originals, but we think we might have finally fixed the overheating problem my other Sword of Light had, but they still need more testing. At the very least, they're still a lot more powerful than your average weapon."
He sighed, a little disappointed, "You'll probably notice the biggest difference between ours and the real ones is that the copy Galveira is no where near as strong. From what I understand, the original was devastatingly powerful. At best, ours is slightly stronger than the Sword of Light."
Lina had to see for herself what he was talking about. She quickly called forth the light from the bow and instantly noticed its lack in power. She pouted and returned Galveira to its dormant state, "Well, I guess they're pretty good for a first try at least."
Pakota nodded, "Yeah, they're not bad." He smirked again, "Anyway, we've learned all we can from these first tries just testing them out in the lab. I'm sure you guys will be happy to help us out on the next phase."
The sorceress perked up. If she were a dog, her tail would be wagging frantically. "You want us to field test them for you right?"
Pakota grinned broadly and nodded and Lina jumped for joy and bounced around happily, holding her new bow.
Gourry didn't quite understand though. "Field test?"
Zelgadis smirked happily as he sliced Ragudo Mezegis through the air with ease and stopped to answer the blonde. "He means we get to use them in real battle but we need to tell him about any problems we find with them."
The swordsman's happiness returned tenfold, "So we get to keep them?"
The prince chuckled, "Yes, these prototypes are yours now."
Gourry immediately started heading toward the stairs, "Alright! I'm gonna see if I can catch Zangulus so we can finish our fight!" He disappeared up the stairs only to come back a few seconds later and shout, "Thanks Pakota!" before running off again.
Syphiel thanked the prince on Gourry's behave once more and followed after the blonde up the stairs.
Amelia rubbed the back of her head, "Um, Pakota-san, I'm really not that good with weapons. I don't think I could be much help to you on this."
The prince smiled at her, "Don't worry. My father's already talked to yours about it. If you didn't think you'd want to use one, your weapon will be given to one of the Captains in the Defensive Army of Seyruun."
The princess felt relieved that she wouldn't be letting down Pakota, "Ah that's good to hear."
"If I may?" Xelloss asked curiously, "Why have you requested my presence?"
Pakota sighed in frustration, "Despite my say in the discussions, it was decided to let you have a prototype as well, but you will have to agree to a contract."
Xelloss, Amelia, Lina and Zelgadis all immediately stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the prince oddly.
One of Lina's eyebrows was so far up into her hair that it couldn't be seen any longer, "You're going to give Xelloss… a demon… one of your prototypes? Doesn't that count as 'falling into the wrong hands'?
The aforementioned demon smirked and said nothing in his own defense as Pakota frowned and crossed his arms, "Like I said, it wasn't my decision. But I guess that one of our weapons isn't really giving him an advantage or anything like that."
Xelloss smirked, "From the sounds of it, I would have to say that you're actually asking a favor of me and trying to make it seem like you're giving one instead." He leaned on his staff slightly, making him seem even more uncaring, "As you say, I do not require the use of a weapon. What do I get in return if I field test one of your prototypes for you?"
Pakota turned to glare at the demon, "What do you get-? How dare you! If you won't take one, we can easily find someone else who will."
Lina quickly ran up in between the two of them and stuck her hands up in a 'time out' pose with Galveira tucked under her arm, "Hold that thought Pakota!"
She quickly yanked Xelloss by the collar of his shirt into the far corner of the lab-like room and cracked him over the head with the sleeping bow once before starting private negotiations of her own.
The priest rubbed his head and playfully grinned at the girl as she hissed at him in a low voice, "Are you stupid Xelloss? Take one of them!"
He continued to smile, "Why should I?"
"If you get it then I can keep it close to me and use it when I want to too."
"So I would effectively just be the one to carry it for you most of the time?"
Lina expression suddenly turned sheepish, "Um… well if you want to put it that way…"
Xelloss smiled at her suggestively, "As I told him; what do I get in return?"
The sorceress blushed, "What else do you want Xelloss? I mean… you already get to… do stuff with me, and what would you possibly do with money?"
The demon placed a few fingers on his lips for a moment and tapped them a few times while he thought.
He suddenly stopped and a wide grin came to his face, "If I take one of the weapons and field test it for Pakota-san, then I get to pick out lingerie for you and you have to wear it."
Lina blushed dramatically and made a squeaking sound, but was able to keep her voice down from being heard by the large room's other occupants. "What?"
The demon simply grinned at her with his eyes open and twinkling with the thoughts of Lina in intimate wear. He was facing away from everyone else so only she could see him, "You heard me."
The sorceress continued to blush but nodded, "…It's a deal."
Xelloss closed his eyes once again and his usual innocent smile returned and he stood up straight, "Excellent."
He sauntered back over to the frowning prince while Lina continued to stand facing the corner until she could get control back over the color of her face.
Zelgadis had to look away from the others as well. His enhanced hearing effectively made him the only other person to hear Xelloss' deal, and the images of Lina in lingerie that were now floating around in his head was causing him to have a blush of his own.
"I will agree to your original terms Pakota-san." Xelloss smiled happily. "I will test one of the weapons for you without asking anything of you in return."
The prince looked between the priest and Lina, who was still in the corner, skeptically, "And you changed your mind because…" He trailed off, trying to get information out of the demon.
Xelloss just grinned, "That is a secret."
Pakota rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, "Of course it is." He sighed, "Whatever, as long as you get back to us on the bugs that need working on and agree to the contract."
The demon nodded, used to being required to agree to contracts. As a demon, it was well known that he couldn't break one, so humans often took advantage of it. Of course, most of them never seemed to realize that there were always loopholes to be found.
"Well, I guess you should first pick between the Nezard and Bodigar copies." He gestured toward the two weapons left on the table almost boredly.
Xelloss thought about it for a moment as he walked over to the table. He preferred to simply use his staff and his own powers. However, throughout his long centuries, the Mazoku had often kept himself entertained by learning various new things. One of which was mastering the use of most of the common weapons that humans had created.
Eventually, he figured that he would prefer the ax over the clawed trident and picked up Bodigar and turned back to Pakota with a grin.
"Right then." The prince reached into his pocket for a scrap of paper and read some notes off of it, "As a verbal contract, you, Xelloss of the Mazoku race, must agree to never use the prototype weapons, we of Taforashia have created, against those who are seen by the mass populace as being 'innocent'. Furthermore, you must agree to not use our weapons for what can be viewed as 'evil purposes'. In clarification, you may only use our weapons in what can be seen as self defense, practice purposes and against non-sentient targets."
"Additionally, you must never give the weapons to someone who has not already been approved by myself and the researchers. Meaning of course, that you cannot give or allow this weapon to come into possession of other Mazoku or anyone who would use it for 'evil purposes' or against the 'innocent'. Do you agree to the terms?"
Xelloss tilted his head to the side and thought about the wording of the verbal contract for a moment. It was fairly tight, but there were still some pretty good loopholes in there; such as using the weapon to cut down a tree that would fall on someone 'innocent'.
He smirked, "I agree."
Pakota nodded without looking up from his notes, "Do you also agree to give complete and useful feedback on the weapon's use whenever you are asked about it for the purpose of us improving the next version?"
"I do."
"Ok." The prince shoved his notes back into his pocket, "That should take care of that."
Pakota moved over to the table and picked up Nezard, "I'll go ahead and take this up to your father." He told Amelia, "Do you want to come with me?"
The princess smiled happily and began following him towards the stairs. "Sure."
He turned back to Xelloss, Lina and Zelgadis before leaving, "Oh… and please try not to break them." He grimaced.
The three gave him various nods. Lina's smile was worryingly eager while Xelloss' was darkly mischievous.
Pakota cringed slightly and walked up the stairs. He sure hoped he'd get to see those weapons again.
The sorceress and chimera followed after the prince, intent on taking their new weapons outside to try out. Xelloss teleported away saying he had 'some shopping to do' with a lecherous smile and a laugh that left Lina nervous long after he'd vanished.
As they walked outside onto the well manicured palace lawns, Zelgadis was curious, "I thought for sure you would demand that Xelloss make copies of the weapons right then and there."
A merchant's smile spread across her face, "Oh I definitely will, but I'm patient enough to wait on that until I feel ready to officially commit to his proposal." Her smiling face tinted pink. "The way things are looking, that probably won't be too much longer anyway."
Zelgadis tapped the dormant Ragudo Mezegis against his shoulder as they continued to walk across the green grass and past where they could see Gourry once again fighting with Zangulus a fair distance away from them.
"We really need to figure out a way to get the upper hand over Xelloss. I'd like to at least feel like I have a little control over things with him." He frowned, "I'm tired of him popping in randomly and doing whatever he damn well pleases."
Lina smirked at him smugly, "Did he pay you a little visit this morning Zel?"
The chimera's glower deepened and he didn't answer her.
"Well how's that for coincidence?" The sorceress pulled out a few crumpled sheets of paper from a hidden pocket in her clothes and handed them to him with an even broader smirk, "Look what I happened to be working on this morning."
Zelgadis took the papers in his free hand and looked them over curiously, "What's this?" He asked even as he read through the notes.
A broad, scheming smile appeared on his own face as he quickly scanned over the pages and Lina didn't bother to answer him, asking a question instead, "How about we hold off on testing out our new weapons to do some shopping of our own while Xelloss isn't around?"
The chimera handed the papers back to Lina with a smile that could be described as devious, "Sounds like a good plan to me."
AN
Lina's actually waiting to test out Galveira to work on whatever her new project is? Must be something special! *wicked grin*
What was that in the beginning of the chapter? Is Xelloss actually concerned for their safety? O_o lol We'll see :3
I know I probably overuse the jokes about Zel's wiry hair, but I don't care. They're my favorite :P
For some reason I'm just loving the image of Xelloss being smacked upside the head with books LOL
Zel seemed pretty uke in this chapter . Don't worry though! He will redeem himself on that *evil laugh*