A taste of what's to come Astrid / Sonadora JT

[Astrid Vess]

The human world was a curious place for Astrid. She'd only been there twice and during both instances she'd seen shinigami as well as been in drastically different areas. The vatican, not that she knew what a vatican was, and the countryside of New Zealand? She wasn't sure as far as the latter was concerned given it was only Arma who'd made mention that they likely were in New Zealand. Which begged the question as to what a "New Zealand" was anyway. She understood New but Zealand felt fake. Made up even. She could try to break it apart and understand what "land" was but "Zeal" was not something she was familiar with. Whatever the case two drastically different places. But neither prepared her for the city she would find herself in tonight.



Tonight she found herself atop a skyscraper, on a terrace that was the last external level before reaching up to the remaining architecture above and it's seldom few floors. How she got here was a curious thing. Astrid had given a door straight to Tokyo by Orobas. He'd even gone so far as to even give her the luxury of informing her where she was going and what she was to do. She was to find a suitable body given she'd been taught how to change her form only just a few minutes ago. Watching Orobas shift between his original form and his current iteration was. . . concerning to say the least. Astrid violently shook her head to get the image out until she started to become dizzy and then noticed she was somewhat chilled given how far up they were. Let alone from the near constant breeze. Still if nothing else Astrid had to admit, once her head was cleared, that the view of this city was something else.



It wasn't a natural beauty but it was a marvel. Nothing in hell had this. Not as many lights. Not as much "energy" both literal and metaphorical. And certainly it did not have such a variety of colors. Even her forest paled in comparison to what she saw here. And something within Astrid was almost saddened by the fact she would be here for only a short time. Which admittedly had her confused as she'd never been upset to leave somewhere. Well aside from her forest but she knew she'd always go back there so it was never goodbye. Simply a be back soon. Astrid shook her head and looked away she was here for a reason. And that reason was to gain more strength. Humans afterall were a staple source of strength to be gained and Astrid was finally starting to realize that she gained quite a bit from consuming others and it wasn't simply more energy for her to utilize.



It was at this point however that she heard a door open to the terrace. Astrid of course jumped and scurried away from the edge towards the wall that was leading do to the next floor. It even had a stairway near the building's external wall of glass and metal that would let Astrid walk up there if she desired. Yet another thing that Astrid had to admit made her immensely curious especially considering that humans had made this. Speaking of humans though there she was. A human that marvelled any other Astrid had seen of late. Or that she could remember. Bright golden hair, fair skin that looked to be blessed by the moon, and a physique that spoke of nothing but the most rigorous work out regiment imaginable. Unbenownst to Astrid she was blushing just by looking at her. However her thoughts said it all. This. . . this is. . . perfect. . . I want her. . To BE her.



Astrid watched both stunned and slowly but surely shifting into a near obsessive accuracy taking in everything about this woman. She had a pinstripe jacket and slack combo. With a pitch black undershirt, dress shoes that were more accurately dress boots, and few sparse shows of gold jewelry (A bracelet on each wrist and a simple chain necklace) she was quite the show. The only genuinely strange thing was that she had leather fingerless gloves on at the moment. But honestly? Astrid could care less she was a stunning beast. The resting bitch face aside or even because of it she radiated an energy that had to make others cower in fear. There was simply no other way to describe it. She held power in her gaze, the way she strode from one side of the building to the railing on the edge of the terrace, and the soft but distinguished click of her heel in every step. If Astrid could she would have been sweating immensely.



There was in fact a small portion of her that ALMOST didn't want to eat her and simply watch. But Astrid knew what she had to do. She was on a limited timer by Orobas and had a single night to find and consume a person of her liking. Even two of her liking if she could manage it. Astrid however had failed to understand the point of why it was so intrinsically necessary that she have a disguise. If anything it felt like she was being bound by yet another set of chains. Yet here she was watching this beautiful beast and she sort of understood more now why it was important. Or maybe she didn't. But she did understand why Orobas likely picked his current iteration. He had to have enjoyed it, immensely so given he was always wearing that until he wasn't.



The real question that Astrid had though was how would she kill her and maintain the clothes in the process? She wasn't a very "precise" hason afterall. Thankfully she did have one thing at her disposal and that was her sigils. She'd have to be very careful, more so than she usually was given her clothing which as Orobas put was "Almost as essential as the body that would be chosen."She rolled her eyes at the comment coming to mind but quickly crafted up her sigils anyway. All three available JUST in case things got fucky in the process. The first one went inside her chest while the other two went on the backside of each hand. Astrid waited for her opening from the higher ledge and found it once the woman in question pulled out a lighter and a box of cigarettes.



With her gaze distracted Astrid threw a sigil behind her and let it stay suspended in the air. From there she immediately teleported and it was at that instant she saw fear in the others eyes. Fear and shock give they were looking at one another dead in the eye. "You see. . . me? Very sad. I'll take. . . good care. . . of you. With that she immediately impaled her eyes and skull with her tendril hands. She was dead in moments with only a quiet screan that died in her throat as. For the next several minutes Astrid did her absolute best to remove the garments quickly and cleanly, even placing them nearby on a table. Afterward she immediately consumed the womans entire body and even went so far as to lick the blood clean off the ground.



Once all was said and done Astrid focused on the soul of the woman she'd just consumed. Pictured her as she'd seen her and attempted to do just as Orobas had taught her. Allow her reiatsu to flow over and throughout the body. Like a shower or in her cause being doused in acid but not excrutiatingly harmful. Before she realized it Astrid was now over 6 feet tall, VERY human and had the musculature of a god to back it up. She had become a very nude but identical flesh copy of the woman. She stared at her hands and feet. Looked over the body that was now hers and immediately realized FUCK ITS COLD! With a bit of struggle and a lot of growling at both herself and the clothing Astrid eventually got dressed. Her body started to warm up from that alone and now the time had come for her to search Tokyo for her second body. As well as get used to this one. With a quick pop of her new joints and a large smile she walked into the building intent on searching it first. Unaware that she would be meeting another predator tonight.

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{Astrid Stats / Skills}
Current Stats:

Strength: 50 (35)

Speed: 150 (105)

RS: 50 (35)

SPPR: 155 (3x) = 465

Instinct: 100 (70)

Senses: 100 (70)

ES: 0

HE: 0


LA: 0

DA: 100





Current Skills: (14/15)

Sigil - 2

Strength of Will - 2

Pain Tolerance - 2

Poison Tolerance - 2

Lack of Fear - 2

Damage Recovery - 2

Leadership - 2

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{Body reference}

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{Clothing reference}
Suit




Boots:

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{General area / building reference}
Building:




Terrace (Think of a spiraling terrace like above but with the extras of this picture):

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{Myriad of Many Faces}
Technique Name: Myriad of Many Faces [Cinematic]

Class: 3

Technique Type: General Sinner

Usable By: All Sinners.

Technique Element: Body.

Technique Description and Effects: A cult-classic ability of the Akki that created the technique, Myriad of Many Faces is a technique that allows the user to easily "hot-swap" their physical appearance as they wish. Through almost instantaneously shifting their own flesh into different shapes, the user can take on the form of any being they've since slain and consumed sometime in the past. This technique is an upgraded version of the Akki and Nakabakki Technique, Skin-Stealer, and as such, possesses the unique trait of being able to remain active through the shifts in form to their release, should they desire. Naturally this doesn't change anything mechanically, merely their shape changes. This technique lasts until toggles off. At Learned, someone can store one separate appearance at a time. At Proficient, this goes up to two. At Mastered, this goes up to three.

Those that have this technique possess the option to start a thread with this technique active. In doing so, 100 reiatsu is immediately docked from their pool upon the first post. This decreases to 50 at Proficient, and 0 at Mastered, though every time over the course of a thread they desire to switch this body, they must still dock 100 reiatsu from their pool, regardless of level of Mastery.

How to use technique: Release a wave of 100 reiatsu across the user's body.

Technique Drawbacks: No combative use. With beyond a 3 or higher in Analysis, someone will easily determine this isn't the user's real body.

[Sonadora]

Metropolises tend to typically become more alive during the evening. That much is now a known fact. As the day comes to an end, so does the archaic duties of the people, and in so doing, what is considered to be their "night life" begins anew. Naturally, this applies to all cities in the world, though if there is one of them where this fact rings truer than most, it would certainly be Tokyo. Bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other pieces of entertainment spring up to welcome their customers with open arms. In these establishments, the people are given the opportunity to briefly forget about their occupations with bright lights, giving the city an alluring coat of neon blue that almost seems mystifying in hindsight. Some believe that such intense pieces of entertainment are rather toxic to the soul, something that can lead to over-consumption and, eventually, addiction, all the while others instead classify it as essential things that allows one to become alive... and then you have those who simply take advantage of it.

The foggy beast known as Sonadora has never believed the night to be as essential as some of the ones of her kind tend to believe. Although she was not going to deny the usefulness of its darkness, she was always seen it as a simple element to exploit rather than a necessity, given that she has successfully conducted several plans in her past during the day. Nevertheless, she has used it many times in this modern day and age. The reason why that was was unfortunately very simple: it was because the form of her past was gone. Her fog - her greatest weapon - has been reduced to a basic and limited form, and her body was turned into something diminished and weak. Everything that she once was has been lowered, diminished, and the efforts that she has made to reach that position have all but been squandered. In so doing, here she was now floating in the air in front of the many office buildings of the sprawling Japanese metropolis in the dead of night.

The last few days have been rather rocky for her, to say the very least. She has met a potentially ally in Teresa, a creature of Karakura Town, but that was the only true success she saw during those awful days. They were filled with many failures, all of which pained her extensively. A lone Shinigami has found her conducting operations on her testing grounds, a rival Hollow then stole many Humans that she was keeping in stock while she was proceeding these operations later on, and then a patrol of Shinigami found what remained of the Humans thereafter. In her foolishness, she then battled that patrol, eliminating two but leaving one who was much superior to the others alive, and so she had to flee from her testing grounds altogether before she would go hungry. The plans that she had been meticulously crafting ever since she was returned to this pitiful form were almost left in ruin at every turn. If it was not for the successful distraction that she has created in Fujiyoshida with the use of her very own hunger, there would be nothing left of these plans. Worse yet, she would have eventually be found, and by then, she would have most likely been killed, something that she absolutely cannot allow to happen.

These events have caused her to reevaluate her operations entirely. She was not going to abandon Tokyo, as its potential as a testing ground was simply unlimited, but she is going to prioritize districts of this metropolis that she knows will be advantageous to her, or in other words, simply void of competition from her more foolish brethren and Shinigami reconnaissance. The residential districts are, for now, to be avoided until further notice. So long as that disgusting scavenger is around to lay waste to her operations, there is no reason for her to have them occur there any longer. This conclusion has left her with the other districts, meaning the entertainment districts, the industrial districts, and the business districts. Between the three, the latter seemed to be the most advantageous to her in the current climate, as there have recently been waves of suicides and business-related murders in the country. They called it a national tragedy on the rise. She instead prefers to deem it as an opportunity, and she was going to take it here.

They called it the Nakajima Tower. A large and brand-new building that has entered construction a few months ago, it is meant to serve the Nakajima Pharmaceutical Company. Although it is not quite completed as there are still a few floors that require finalization, business operations have begun on the top floors under the supervision of the company's CEO, Dr. Nakajima Kaito. In a few months, proper pharmaceutical activities will begin, for the better of this country or the worse. From the perspective of a Human who has recently watched the national news pamphlets or read a few articles online, this was yet another edifice being built for the purpose of economics. It will not change their lives, or at least it won't do so now. From Sonadora's perspective, however, it was the perfect place for her to resume her operations, as the sheer number of scenarios that she can use to her advantage here is endless. Suicide, mass murder, construction accident... It's like an open buffet. Really, the only thing that was odd about the place was how it was named after the surname of the Pawn. Even so, it was probably nothing more than just a coincidence of which she had nothing to worry about, so she put her mind elsewhere.

Of course, the beast would take her in time in making sure the place was not going to put her in danger yet again. Unlike many of her brethren who would have rushed in there for the taking, she instead acted patiently, analyzing the area in full before even considering going inside. She first made sure there were no Shinigami in the area so as to prevent any possible interruption, then she made sure that no Hollows were around too. Once both of these activities were completed, she then went on to analyze each floor from the outside windows to gauge the risk of detection from either Shinigami or Humans themselves. The bottom floors were full of contractors moving things inside like desks, computers and other equipment. The sheer openness of the space was rather risky. As for the top floors, they were more constricted and finalized with fewer Humans. As for the floors in construction, the only people there were construction workers. After careful consideration, it was very clear that her best targets here would be the latter floors. Doing all of this analysis was a lengthy process, one that challenged her stomach, but she could handle it. If it could assure her safety and a quicker return to her prime, then so be it.

Eventually, the creature fully completed her analysis and finally decided to move. She headed onward towards the terraces above, the ones located right underneath the floors in construction. There were a few Humans there who could perhaps see the bits of dark fog that followed behind her wake, but they were nothing more than administrative employees looking for a small break, nothing more, nothing less. Given that she had studied the building prior from the outside in about its entirety, it wasn't really difficult to reach the terrace undetected; after all, she has thus far not once had to deal with a Human who could fully see her Stray form outside of her Nightmares. After a few minutes had passed, she was capable of reaching just the right terrace she wanted. It seemed to be empty of anybody's presence, which was perfect. Like this, she would no trouble heading inside. With this line of thought, she thus headed onward towards the nearby terrace door, opened it after making sure that nobody inside was watching, and then stepped forward into the building.

The floor she was presently on seemed to be a bit empty. It was definitely the one right under the others which were still in construction, as she could hear a collection of irritating noise coming from above. Despite being "finished", so to speak, it was very empty. There was almost nobody around, and the number of Humans was almost void. Well, no, there was one Human. It was a female, and a rather luxurious one at that. The sight of her caused the Hollow to stand still in consideration for a moment. She was near those floors above... Would it be wise to kill her now and throw her off the terrace later once she is done here? It would be a convincing suicide, as there is no one around here to testify. She would continue to stare at the woman for some time before, eventually, she would huff quietly. No, her thoughts hummed then as she passed by the Human towards the nearest stairs that will lead her above, it is not worth the risk.

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{Stats & Skills}

Statistics

Physical	Spiritual		Sensory	Miscellaneous
Strength: 31 Speed: 70	Reiatsu Strength: 87 (70+17) Spiritual Pressure: 90 (72+18)		Instincts: 50 (66-16)        Senses: 50 (66-16) Energy Sensory: 0	Light Aura: 0 Dark Aura: 100 Healing Expertise: 0

Skills

Mental	Battle		Body	Utility
Analyzing: 1 Strength of Will: 1	Battle Analysis: 1 Battle Focus: 1 Pain Tolerance: 1		Acrobatics: 1      Stealth: 1	Charisma: 1

[Astrid Vess]

Inside the building Astrid was finally getting used to being in a humanoid body. To say it was strange was an understatement. She was used to being half as tall. Far thinner. Far lighter. And most importantly not as "bound together" as she'd put it. Now she was in clothing, her flesh wasn't as malleable given it was a solid construct, and she didn't even have her tree behind her. Though unbenownst to her she actually had a backwide tattoo dedicated to the very same tree she would have on her person in her original form. Turns out her primus wasn't going to be locked away nearly that easily. And thus despite it's physical presence being locked away it was still present but in alternate form. And honestly if Astrid had seen it or been capable of looking behind her, she'd have to agree the high quality and beautifully colored tree that was her primus was pretty incredible as a tattoo.

Still all that aside Astrid could sort of understand why the human woman had been aggravated? Or perhaps it was just the RBF that was strong with her face. The sounds from above were agonizing. Astrid had heard many things but that sound of metal being cut in addition to welding sounds, nails, and all sorts of other industrial equipment was quickly driving Astrid insane. She wasn't fond of all the noise and very quickly began to stumble her way back to the door outside. It hadn't been anywhere near as loud out there. Sadly Astrid was still getting used to walking upright and on two feet and thus she was stumbling. And her struggle was pretty apparent to anyone who'd be watching. Speaking of being watched Astrid quickly found that despite her struggle to get from one cubical to another she' was being watched by a . . . Wisp?

I have spirits. . . similar to this. . . Are they a . . . pack? But when? Astrid looked over the other only to quickly realize it had decided to leave and had even gone so far as to pass her by and move to the stairs. Astrid just blinked as she continued to attempt to process what had just happened. A very clearly very spiritual being saw her. Took note of her. And decided she wasn't going to do anything with her. Astrid was so confused as to what was going on that she simply let her gaze follow where this thing went, which was unironically upstairs. And then she got immensely pissed off and her RBF got that much worse as she frowned and started growling out loudly. She had been lost in thought as to how it was so similar to her select brand of spirits that she didn't consider what it was.

But it didn't matter. That thing ignored her and it was going to do something upstairs. She wasn't about to let whatever that was ignore her. Hell there was even a part of her that wanted to know just what that thing was anyway. And thus without wasting any time she drew upon the very same spirits that the hollow had reminded her of. From her backside the tattoo of her tree glowed and certain buds of flowers grew out of her skin before popping and releasing all the petals. Each was an incrdibly dark in color and quickly flew out of her into 4 little piles. From there the spirits slowly but surely coalesced into their forms of wispy ethereal humanoid spirits. Once present Astrid looked them over and despite her anger she had to admit she was starting to notice a few differences.

Sonadora actually had less on her overall form. Her spirits were also more loose reiatsu and gaseous in form. Not nearly as "put together" as the hollow had been. Not to mention their gas was a good few shades darker with grey being it's lightest color. Their faces were also solid and darker even at the "skin" where it was dark grey. Astrid still aggravated was able to start seeing the differences but they were subtle. In truth Astrid only really saw the differences due to having been familiar with them from her time in hell and using them to figth beside her. But they were uncanny nonetheless. Still just because the other was eerily close in form to her spirits doesn't mean that she was going to let her ignoring her go without some kind of retaliation. Thus Astrid sent a pair of her summons up the stairs that the other had gone. Meanwhile Astrid noticed another set that was on the other side of the level and followed her summons up that route.

She needed to show this being she was NOT someone you just ignore. But more so than that she found herself more curious now that she'd looked over her spirits. Just what was that thing? And what was it doing here? And why did it aim to go upstairs? Astrid had never seen a being quite like that and so wasn't certain if the being was a hollow, a hell race, or something completely different. But she'd be damned if she didn't find out. Granted she was already damned to hell but whatever. She was invested in figuring out just what she was. And if that meant eating her to figure it out, she'd do it. Perhaps though if it realized she wasn't just a human it'd actually take notice of her and she'd be able to talk to it. Assuming it could. Something Astrid knew well given she still couldn't form complete sentences without thinking too much to do so. With a shake of her head she slowly followed her spirits up to the next floor. Curious about what would come next.

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{Wisp spirit stat block}
Strength: 200

Speed: 150

Reiatsu Strength: 0

Spiritual Pressure: 0 (immune to cutback)

Instinct: 100

Senses: 100

Energy Sensory: 50

Healing Expertise: 0

Durability: 300

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{Total number of spirits present / location}
4 spirits total

2 entering the floor above on the same stairway as Sonadora.

2 entering the floor above on the opposite side with Astrid.

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{Reiatsu}
-100 for Myriad of Many Faces

4,650 - 100 = 4,550 remaining

[Sonadora]

Sonadora passed by the Human without any interruption to her pacing at first. She had made her decision of ignoring her for the time being, and so she was going to commit to that decision; after all, there is no reason for her to waste any more time on this empty floor. Aside from this one lone woman, that is, but she would make for a messy victim more than anything else, and as concluded before, the Hollow doesn't need that at the moment. If she stays here for too long without any action, she will eventually be compromised by the construction workforce above, and be forced to both escape the building without being spotted by the Shinigami and leave for another district, something which will definitely aggravate her if it ever comes to fruition. For once, she wants this plan to succeed, not fail in the most spectacular fashion imaginable. This streak of losses needs to end immediately, else she will remain stuck in this pathetic form forever.

However, before she could reach the stairs, she heard the Human... growl. It was loud, loud enough to be heard over the mess from above, and it was enough for her to stop and look over her shoulder. That was... odd. Even the gleaming slits of purple that emanated from her fog looked confused. Office spaces were not something that the Hollow was new to, so she was aware of the frustration some of the workers inside feel on the inside, but they usually do so when faced with important work, not just absolutely nothing. Moreover, they don't tend to growl like animals. The first theory that came to her mind at that moment was that the woman was somehow mentally deficient and had what Humankind referred to as "fits", something which was extremely rare in Japanese offices, to her knowledge. By the time she realized that the woman was not actually growling at nothing, but rather directly at her, however, that theory soon changed. 

No. This cannot be! Her mind cried in exasperation as she realized what was going on. Whatever this Human was, she could see her. Worse yet, she not only could see her, she was also downright angry at her for a reason that is yet known to her. Before her operations in this building could even begin, they already were put in jeopardy. This realization caused the Hollow to fully turn towards the Human as she prepared herself for what was to come. Stay calm. Don't become as angry as she is. This is not the time. She needs to plan what to do from there on out, to rationalize. This person is not a Shinigami, that much is a certain. If she was, she would have immediately retreated from one of those fake bodies they tend to possess at times, and would have attacked her right then and there. Maybe this means she can still escape. If anything, although this will most likely not be as successful as she believed it would be, there is still means for her to run away from this unharmed with a few Souls consumed a minimal amount of reiatsu unleashed.

This line of thinking unfortunately did not last for very long which she witnessed what followed. A strange energy glowed from the woman's back, and although she could not see it, something seemed to be coming out of it. That "something" eventually proved to be some kind of particle that would then spawn several entities. The fact that this Human was somehow capable of creating these entities was already troublesome enough, but the fact that they resembled the Hollow was... somehow even more troublesome. It wasn't just the fact that they appeared to be identical from a physical standpoint to Sonadora that caused worry to appear within her mind: it was also the fact that they too seem to expel fog. Their fog was darker and seemed different in its structure and composition, but it nevertheless remained fog... or some kind of energy resembling it. What is this...? Is this Human capable of creating identical copies of what she deems as her opponent?  She would find herself wondering openly then as she stood there attempting to decipher it all. Is she even Human?

The more she thought about this, the less she wished to fight. There was something about this that just felt wrong to her. The growling, the glowing, and now this... None of this were among the typical capabilities of a Human. Not even the strangest of them with odd little abilities showed such strange features. So, in response to it all, she did not run. Instead, she merely stood there as the slits in the fog became smaller. "It seems there has been a misunderstanding between us both," her charred voice declared quietly, keeping her calm amidst the beastly chaos that suddenly rose from this strange individual. The sight of the beings so similar to her heading towards her position troubled her, but she was not going to allow their existence to weaken her. "My presence here appears to disturb you. Know that I am not here to do battle with you. Although my nature demands that I consume Souls, I can see that consuming yours will bring me no benefit. Rather, I instead wish for the ones above."

Her speech, despite the terrible coarseness of her voice, was clear enough. She had strategically chosen her words, of course, but there were no lies in her words. This person was dangerous. If she attempts to consume her, it will take not only a serious amount of effort for her to do so, but also a notable amount of reiatsu that will alert the Shinigami. The fact that this person was too strange to be acting like a normal Human was also too odd for her to ignore, and so, in a way, this was a test. It is entirely possible that this is yet another rival Hollow that has somehow taken the form of a Human for reasons unknown; after all, there are Hollows who can use baits to hunt their prey, much like how she did before as an Adjuchas. It is also possible that she is not a Hollow and simply a very strange Human with spiritual abilities... but that is yet to be seen. If she is indeed the latter, then she will unleash her fog and flee as fast as she possibly can.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid had been so focused on figuring out just what Sonadora was that she didn't even consider how loud she was. Let alone the fact that her wisps were trying to point on that said individual was in fact watching her again and had decided to not ignore her. This noticebly calmed her if only because she wasn't being looked over like some kind of scum or waste of space. In fact though Astrid couldn't find her "eyes" given the fog the body language was enough. She was very seriously being looked over. And not in the "I'm going to eat you." sort of way that most hellions or hollows would. Her curiosity continued to rise slowly but surely over this the more she looked at Sonadora. The best part however came when she decided to speak to her.

It was rough. Like something had been burnt to a crisp and given just enough flexiblity to bend partially. But it reminded Astrid immensely of her original form and voice. Which to put it lightly was akin to boulders falling down a mountain and crushing plant life along the way. It was bad. To make matters better however was the fact she specifically mentioned wanting to consume souls, namely due to her "nature". It did take Astrid a moment to fully understand what a "nature" was given the being before he was not anything akin to nature or plants or anything related to the environment. Astrid's forehead and expression changed visibily without her realizing that she was thinking over what exactly she meant. A moment passed of silence between the two of them before the "light bulb" kicked in. She was talking about her being. Herself in simpler terms.

At that point she simply nodded and began to smile a bit at her. Surprisingly it didn't hold anger or any disgust it actually looked genuine and filled with some degree of hope. With a cough and a bit of massaging her throat Astrid motioned for the wisps to stop in place about 5 feet from her and then tried to speak as best she could. " Your "nature" . . . yourself right? Are you. . . "hollow"? Friend if . . . you are. Helpful to you." It was broken and unlike Sonadora's voice Astrid's was pretty deeper than expected of her form, gruff even but it was a pleasant gruffness. Maybe russian in accent? Astrid couldn't know, wouldn't know but she hoped the other was in fact a hollow. While she hadn't had the time to look for them since her time in the Rukongai she genuinely wanted to keep looking for them. Especially if they had any information of Eridrox.

Before Sondadora could speak though Astrid realized she hadn't been the clearest. Not that she ever was but she needed to point out that she did the same. With a quick motion of her right hand she pointed at the wisp to her immediate right side. "Spirit I eaten. . They help. . . after. . Are you. . . pack to them?" Astrid frowned some as she glanced between the wisp and the hollow. She didn't think they were but given how close they were in appearance she couldn't know for certain. If so she'd seriously have to consider how she had gotten all of these beings and where they came from. Especially considering her wisps were not hollows though they didn't seem like much of anything that she'd seen from the few interactions she had with other races.

[Sonadora]

Sonadora carefully analyzed the woman after she spoke her wishes away to her. She stood still as she did do, with the gleams of purple in the fog staring right at what she once believed to be a simple Human. It was clear that what she had said affected this woman to some level, enough so to chase away her anger and instead replace it with something more akin to confusion. This odd phenomenon then became... something else. It became brighter, more vibrant, maybe even happy. Such rapid development caused the Hollow to simply stand there frozen in thought, as though taken aback by it at all. It was a very curious process to watch unfold. If she could compare her to all of the Humans she has met before in the entirety of her wicked lifetime, it was perhaps the first time in all of it - or at leas the last hundred or so years in which her memory remains the strongest - that she actually saw something so strikingly unique emerge from them without forcing the emotion out of them through Nightmares or Ascension.

More curious, perhaps, was the reasoning behind it all that came after the silence that had risen between the both of them. Apparently, it was all because she was a Hollow, or at least that is the broken voice that came out of the Human's throat referred to in her question. This caused Sonadora to remain still for a further moment, then eventually start tensing down. She has dealt with many enemies who have tried to defeat her through lies and subterfuge, and every single time, she would break their lies in pieces and return them to sender. However, she could not discern any lies here. There did not seem to be any veiled threat to her existence, any tone that presented any kind of intimidation or danger; instead, there was simply hope. More specifically, there was hope that they would become friends. It was intrinsically so childish and pure that it took the beast off-guard. She... is not Human, she eventually concluded as she dealt with the shock of it all, and so all remnants of intimidation left her. There was no trickery here. Not now, at least.

The slits in fog returned to a calmer state, becoming soft and quiet, as Sonadora considered her situation. If she was going to be treated with pure and utter honesty, then she was going to return it in kind. Perhaps this would lead to the birth of something vital. "Indeed, I am Hollow," she confirmed then as she slowly approached the woman and her wisps. Her walk was slow, and her fog remained stuck to her, but its size had lessened to instead remain more so around her skin. She looked slightly less intimidating now, enough so to appear friendlier; nevertheless, it kept her true body hidden from view. As childish and perhaps inoffensive as this being may be to her now, she was not going to allow it to see her true appearance, even if it might be similar to her wisps'. She was not quite sure of the potency a possible alliance just yet. "Allow me to apologize for having ignored you. I previously believed you a Human devoid of the spiritual sight like the rest of the ones of this city, although now, I see that I could not have been more wrong."

Her words were once again cautious yet true, chosen strategically so as to not instill fear or intimidation within the woman. It was not necessarily out of the kindness of her black heart that she spoke them so kindly; rather, it was to make sure that this individual would not be a danger to her Cambio, whether it be now or later. Still, she appreciated this conversation so far, much more so than the emotions she would have felt from the battle that could have occurred if they would have allowed it to continue in their shared ignorance of one another. "My name is Sonadora. I am part of the ones who conduct their operations here in this part of the country," she eventually introduced herself, doing so after she stopped approaching the girl at a comfortable talking distance. She was closer to the wisps now too, which allowed her to observe them from up close. Now that she was closer, she really could tell they were similar. What a strange coincidence. It is absolutely no wonder that the woman seemed so insulted by her existence prior. "To answer your question, I am not part of their group. Though we appear to share our looks between one another, I do not believe that we also share ancestry."

After the fact, she would have the fog move around her body so as to reveal to the woman the gap which was where her heart was supposed to be. There was a clear hole, one of perfect circular diameter that Sonadora believed would be definitely enough for the girl to be convinced that she was what she really was. In a way, it somewhat also convinced her own self too. With her memories fragmented, questions sometimes arise within her mind about her past, and among them are a few which revolve around her identity. They at times question her past, ask about how she became the way she was now. Some even ask about why she is even located in Japan to begin with, or to be more precise, Asia altogether. Quite frankly, she was glad to hear that no answers came for them at the moment. Hearing that these wisps are meant to be spirits the woman has "eaten" and then converted into slaves, she wasn't quite sure that she would have been satisfied to hear that she had been a member of their pack all along that somehow became a Hollow.

With that said, this definitely confirmed that the woman was not Human at all, but rather something else altogether. She was not Arrancar, since she did not have a hole, and so she was not a Hollow. However, she also wasn't a Shinigami either, since she lacked a sword and clearly did not need said sword to use her main ability. Moreover, she definitely also was not a Quincy, else she would have already attempted to put an arrow through her mask by now.  So then, what was she? What could possibly not be a Human, a Shinigami, a Hollow, or a Quincy? Was she a Soul somehow corrupted by the world itself, condemned to be something more? Was she something new altogether that the universe has somehow decided to conjure? ... Is she a being from Hell? So many questions. Not even five minutes have passed since they have met, and yet there has never been a being as mysterious in this one within her life just yet.

The questions eventually were all pushed away by the beast once a drill was briefly heard above them. As terrible as that noise may have been, it allowed her to return to reality. Yes, it was nice to meet this individual and she did want to somewhat learn more about whatever she was, but time here is short. She said she wanted to be helpful to her, wasn't it? Well then... the aforementioned partnership was definitely still there. "My time here is short, and I believe that yours is too," she said, then looked back over her shoulder towards the stairs. "There are many Souls upstairs, many of which I was hoping to consume as part of my operations in this district. You told me you wished to be helpful to me. May I please, then, request your aid for this? The Humans above us cannot see me, but there is a great number of them, and I wish for them all to appear as though they have died by the hands of one of their own in some way or another. I cannot allow the Shinigami to detect my spiritual energy once again."

[Astrid Vess]

The words Astrid was hoping to hear came out from Sonadora. She was in fact a hollow. And a very strange one to boot but it didn't matter to Astrid. She was simply glad to finally find one that she could label as "kin". The only others she'd met that were similar were other hason that were rampaging in hell. And even they did not acknowledge Astrid as she was weaker than even saika were as far as base level beings in hell. Hollows however? Given her experiences thus far she was far more in touch with their level of capability. Both in mind and body as far as Astrid was concerned. Her spirits were another matter entirely as she'd get beaten up by them if they had the option to fight back. Still that was neither here nor there, what was in front of her was a hollow and one that seemed to be willing to move past the rough start.

And when Astrid was shown her hollow hole she smiled wide. Hell she even shook a little from how excited she was. To her this was akin to being a kid in a candy shop because someone was so similar in nature to her. They ate to grow stronger. They were partially bestial to some degree, though Sonadora must've had a great deal more self control than Astrid. Especially considering Astrid didn't get any sense of her energy thus she couldn't be so strong as to be able to overcome it. If nothing else the fact she could be as articulate and in control was actually something that Astrid respected immensely about her already. If things could progress between them perhaps the two could join on hunts together. Maybe even kill some shinigami. If nothing else Astrid would try given Sondadora was not nearly as . . . respawnable as she was.

Astrid did her utmost to listen to Sonadora as she spoke. Sometimes . . . admittedly getting a bit lost and when she started using more complex vocabulary it was fairly apparent that Astrid had to take a moment to go over what she was saying once or twice. Attempt to use context clues from the sentence itself to piecemeal her way to the actual meaning behind them. What she got though boiled down to this. 1. She was a hollow, with the hole and everything. 2. Her name was Sonadora. . . Whatever that meant. It sounded pretty to her at least. 3. She was not kin to the spirits she summoned. Which meant the spirits weren't hollows either. Strangely enough. And most importantly 4. She wanted her help. It seemed like she had a plan in mind for one reason or another but she wanted HER help. Help Astrid was more than willing to give of course. Especially if those fucking shinigami decided to show up.

Astrid's temper started to flare a bit at the thought of being interrupted by shinigami yet again. However she shook her head a few times and quickly ordered her wisps to go watch the outside via the windows. She wanted to be certain that there were no shinigami present or anywhere nearby that they could get a view on. Because if they messed it up for Sonadora, she'd make a scene so large there'd be far more than just the few humans and select shinigami that would be slaughtered. Still with a few deep breaths and a quick couple of head shakes from the wisps about the lack of shinigami's present she turned to Sonadora, with what could only be described as stars in her eyes and nodded rapidly.

"Will help. . No Shinigami . . . around. . Spirits keep . . . watch in case. . . I ate many spirits. More can help. . . How to?" The drill sound came again and Astrid glared above her but quickly refocused her attention. She was going to help Sonadora however she could. If she wanted it a specific way then she'd do what she could. Her spirits were capable and she'd grown more clever in their application since she'd originally acquired them. So hopefully she could ensure Sonadora got her food the way she wanted to ensure her safety. . . Safe. . . Keep safe. . . Huh. . . Never made others. . . safe. Must . . . do well. . Do again later. It was at this moment Astrid damn near threw herself out the window. She'd forgotten to introduce herself. Granted in her defense she'd only just learned she HAD a name. But still. The other should know it, especially after giving their own.

"Son . a. dora. . . Hmm . . . Astrid. . " Astrid made it a point to direct her hands at herself. It was kinda silly in all honesty just how the tides had turned for Sonadora. Astrid having been something akin to a raging beast but a couple minutes ago. And now she was akin to a child in wonder of the person before her. Just with. . . less than stellar communication skills. But if nothing else it was evident that she was trying her best both to impress and show she could help the other. Something finally clicked inside Astrid's mind however. Hollow. . . No. Sona . . dora is only. . . other knowing . . . "name". . How will. . . it sound? Orobas and other akki. . . disgusting. . Sonado. . . ra maybe not?

[Sonadora]

As she spoke, Sonadora would keep an eye on the strange being to see what kind of reaction would come out of her. Usually, Hollows tend to dislike her courtesy and mannerisms. They think of it as something that creatures such as they should have left behind once they have become beasts of Hueco Mundo. In so doing, though she is definitely not Hollow, she believed that there was a chance this individual would have reacted in a similar fashion. She fortunately didn't show anger or frustration to her words, but that was not to say that she was fully following them very well. On the contrary, there were signs of confusion here and there as she listened to her speech, which made the foggy creature briefly wonder if she was dealing with someone who lacked the comprehension to understand her properly. Indeed, it seemed as though the being required her utmost attention in order to be able to follow her properly. It was a very childish behavior, to say the very least.

Childish. Yes. Although this conversation barely even started a few minutes ago, the more she interacted with this being, the more she understood it as something that could not be quantified as what a Human would refer to as an "adult". Hollows are incapable of reproduction. Due to their biology, they are unable to form an intimate relationship, and in so doing, Hollow "children" are thus fundamentally impossible. Nevertheless, there have been cases in which the Soul of a child found itself joining their kind. This being, in a way, reminded Sonadora of these pitiful beasts. She appeared pure and devoid of malicious intent, seemingly only wishing to either serve someone they perceive as being greater than them or simply their own physical requirements for survival. There appears to be a typical need to idolize something that is so prevalent in children, in this case presented by Hollowkind itself, and there also seems to be a typical need to hate those who wish her harm, which includes the Shinigami and potentially the rest of those who view her in a negative way. And those beings so similar to her... she treats them less so as servants, but instead more so as imaginary friends, companions.

Once this conclusion was ascertained, the Hollow immediately believed that convincing the individual to become a part of her operations would be easy. She still needed to choose her words carefully, though so long as she does, there won't be any further needs to persuade and convince this being. Though she cannot say she appreciates using a child as a pawn in her operations, she does not have any other partnerships that are currently in effect, and so it would be wise for her to recruit as many followers and allies as she can. Whether she becomes a great ally is another matter entirely, but her abilities already seem to be quite interesting, and there does not seem to be any inherent risk of potential betrayal currently residing in her. On the contrary, she wishes to help her as much as she possibly can. So long as this remains fully confirmed, that will be a good enough reason for her to nurture this being and render her a faithful follower for the glory of her Cambio.

She would wait for the being to introduce herself before proceeding. Though she was glad she wanted to help, she still wanted at least a semblance of a name for clearer communications. "Well then, Astrid, it is a pleasure to meet you," she would say with a nod throughout the fog after she received it, her coarse voice still calm and quiet. With that, the deal was sealed. Now, she just needed to find a purpose for the girl. She would think for a bit as her head slowly turned towards the rumbling and thundering ceiling, causing her terrible mask to slowly protrude from the fog and be shown to her ally. Slowly then, as though in an attempt to make sure the other would understand her to her fullest, she went on: "There are roughly about three or so dozens of Humans above us. In total, I would suppose their numbers near around thirty-five. My estimates may be faulty, but it is what I have detected thus far from the outside. If we ever require reconnaissance, my fog will allow us to benefit from a clearer insight of the area once I liberate it from my body." She then pointed towards the ceiling as her head sunk into the fog and the slits below stared back at Astrid. "Our plan... will be to conceal our operations as a mass murder committed by one of the construction workers above. We will first consume the workers, excepting one which we will simply render unconscious. Half of them will be yours to consume, while the other half will be mine. Once this is completed, we will continue onto the upper floors."

Sonadora would not be surprised if Astrid would have a bit more difficulty understanding what she had just said, but she was ready to explain it again if need be before they would proceed. The girl was childish, but now that she was her side, she was going to make sure she is kept in the know. The initial amount of Souls in this building's upper floors was very large, and so giving half of it all to Astrid was a bit of a shame in hindsight. However, it was a win-win scenario on the grand scheme of things. By offering this half, she would make sure to not only eat quite a fair bit of Souls to assure her own evolution, but also guarantee the evolution of another being, thus consequently also certifying a long-lasting ally. After the plan would be made clear to the being, the Hollow would then point towards the stairs with a sharp nail protruding from the fog. "Perfect. We will divide our forces to intercept them from both sides. This will prevent then from running away and warning the others below. I will be heading towards these stairs," she said before turning her finger towards another case on the other end of the room, "while you will be heading there. If you so wish, a number of your spirits can accompany me while the rest accompany you. Be sure to remember to not release too much spiritual energy. I am counting on you."

Again, she would then wait to see if Astrid had fully understood the extent of her plan. Then, once everything was confirmed, she would nod to the being and then proceed towards the stairs. Whether she was alone or accompanied by the spirits that were so similar to her in appearance was irrelevant: all she needed were means to keep the floor above them locked down. The last thing they need is mass panic across the entirety of the building because of one Soul that decided to warn everyone, as it would lead to severe consequences of which she absolutely does not want to deal with right at this point in time. She moved rapidly, yet quietly, using the meager weight of her frail physical form to remain silent as she did so, then pressed onward onto the stairs that she had personally assigned to herself. Hopefully, Astrid would be heading towards her own stairs roughly at the same time as she did, just to make sure they would be up there roughly at the same time. 

Once they would be on the upper floor, the two creatures would find themselves in a space that seemed mostly branched off by walls of cardboard. On the other side of these walls was nothing but the open air of the city, for the proper windows and foundations had not yet been completed. There was a lot of cables on the ground, a lot of which seemed designed to support the workers to prevent them from potentially falling as they worked, alongside various bags and assortments of construction apparel. There were also a lot of Humans here. They wandered about the "halls" between the wooden walls talking to one another as they oversaw the work being done. Some of them had clipboards in their hands while others instead worked to get everything done, but to beings like Sonadora and Astrid, they were all the same: fodder. Their protective gear will not allow them to survive against a superior individual who resembled a normal Human and foes that they cannot see.

The foggy creature remained in front of the stairs for a moment as she analyzed the area. There were a few near said stairs, but definitely not enough so as to worry about them potentially escaping. Thus, there was nothing more to wait for. "Let us begin," she hummed as she mostly told that to herself, then rushed forward towards the nearest Human.

This operation better be successful. She cannot waste any more time in this pathetic body.

[Astrid Vess]

Something about Sonadora changed mildly. Astrid couldn't tell what it was. Perhaps she'd become more at ease with her? Perhaps it was the spirits that Astrid had summoned. It was currently unknown but for whatever reason Sonadora seemed to be different or at least was more willing to be interacting with her. Astrid imagined it was simply due to the coordinated team work. It wasn't something she saw in hell nor was it something usual for hollows to work together. Eridrox only did so out of extreme power and intimidation he exuded. And that was assuming he didn't plan on killing you later after he'd "fed you up" as he'd put it. Still Astrid pushed the memory aside, it wasn't going to be useful here so she needed focus on the task at hand. The task being, aiding Sonadora consume the annoying and frankly entirely too loud humans above. Though Astrid soon found herself a bit distracted when she heard Sonadora speak her name.

It was crude. Quiet. Literally unchanged from the way she spoke earlier. But something about it was far more pleasant than anyone who'd spoken her name prior. And admittedly it made Astrid curiously happy. Or perhaps it was simply pleasing. Whatever the vague emotion was Astrid found herself more than willing to help her for that reason alone. But as she did with the memory she pushed aside the . . . feeling and refocused on the task. Sadly it did take Sonadora explaining the goal again to her to have her fully understand it. Still Astrid made sure to keep some of these new words in mind. She'd need to ensure she was more capable of understanding her next time they met. Or just for later in this mission given they'd likely chat again at some point. Once she understood the plan, as much as she could, she nodded in response to Sonadora.

From there she considered what she could do to help her. Certainly he wisps were capable and thankfully invisible to humans but she wasn't certain if she was anymore. She had afterall consumed this woman. And then changed into her. So perhaps she needed to change back? But then again with the way Orobas spoke it she needed to get used to being in a body and operating it. Thus she decided she needed to stay with it. However Sonadora didn't look terribly capable on her own. Thus Astrid motioned for her spirits to follow Sonadora. A quick growl ensured they understood her order to them before she got a nod in response from them. All 4 wisps would then move near Sonadora and would subsequently follow her up the stairs she chose. That left Astrid by herself with no one at her beck and call. Not something she preferred. Thus she made a quick search inside herself and found a few beings that would aid her in this complex endeavor.

First and foremost she found the canine hollow and alongside it she found the hollow chicks again. She'd summon all of them out from her back using the tattoo again. This time however the blossoms were pure white and when the petals slipped out from her backside they came out from her collar, cuffs, and the bottoms of her slacks. The piles totalled five being they reformed into the spirits in question. The canine being five feet tall on all fours and it looked at Astrid hungrily. She simply nodded at it affirming that they would feast soon. Meanwhile the chicks were barely 2 feet tall and were more wings than body though they looked akin to baby dragons with chicken legs and large claws at the end of their appendages. They quietly flapped their wings as they hovered around Astrid. A quick glance around and she nodded. This would do indeed. Especially considering how high up they were. The chicks were perfect for those working outside or above precipices.

With a simple motion Astrid had all the hollows follow her up the stairs. To her and everyones aggravation the sounds got much worse while in the stairway. Ultimately climaxing once she got to the floor itself. A couple workers, namely those aggravating welders noticed her as they were attempting to grab more metal to weld. And to Astrid's surprise most of them began to pale several shades. She simply tilted her head in question as she glared at all of them. The room went stock silent which made sense to Astrid given she was in the body of a woman that commanded respect. What Astrid failed to realize was the woman she'd consumed had been the construction engineer, which later on would make sense why she was in nearly as expensive a set of clothing as she was currently. Alas this was all lost on her and thus Astrid was put in an awkward spot where she had all eyes on her.

Thankfully this mean Sonadora would have an easy picking of her choice individual given no one was paying attention to their job and instead on Astrid. With a small nod of her head Astrid motioned for the chicks to fly about through the space. They specifically went after the indivduals currently attached to the building via ropes. They then hovered next to 4 of them and waited for further instructions. Namely a sign from either Sonadora to Astrid or Astrid herself saying to snip them off their attachments. The canine however merely sat next to Astrid and growled lowly at the humans while it's jaw began to drip in dangerous amounts of saliva. Astrid in the meantime simply spoke a single word towards the room. "What?" This had the entire room seemingly shaking for a moment uncertain of if she was just watching them or she was going to do something else to them. Blissfully unaware that the woman before them was anything but human by this point.

Lastly the remaining wisps were seperated. One blocking the exit entirely and the other 3 going to various workers. One of which was the pair with that godforsaken drill that had been creating all the ruckus from before. Astrid was more than willing to kill them on the spot. But Sonadora had a way. A VERY specific way she wanted this to go. So Astrid waited and watched. And in turn continued to intimidate, on accident, the workers with the sheer power of an unbelievably potent resting bitch face. One she hadn't even realized she was wearing and was only amplified by the body she'd stolen outright. Sona. . . dora. . . what now? Need. . . sign.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reference for additional spirits summoned}
Canine reference:





Dragon chick reference:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-75(x4) 4 spirits summoned

4,555 - 300 = 4,250 reiatsu remaining

[Sonadora]

The construction workers had been tending to their work for hours now. From morning to evening, they had consecrated their time to the accomplishment of this building floor in the name of both their company - the Kobayashi Corporation - and the one that had hired them to do their job, the Nakajima Pharmaceutical Company. They provided the architecture and the iron working, both of which have been completed with flying colors on the upper and lower floors, and now they were focusing on the carpentering. If all operations all successfully proceed as planned, then they should be able to move on to furnishing by the end of the day, which would on paper only require maybe a few more days to be completed. Well, at least that was what the hopeful managers had promised to their employees. Needless to say, with such a daunting task that was to build this large skyscraper about to come to an end, many were already excited for it all to end. Among them, surprisingly, was one man who was a single man who did not share this excitement.

Kaneyama Tani was a simple man. He came in everyday as he was told at the right time, did the amount of work that he was told to do without hesitation, and would leave when the time came to do so to then return home to prepare for another day. His goals in life were meager, minimal, and if anything, meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Really, all he wanted to do was accomplish the task at hand. In other words, he was the perfect worker, a drone so commendable that he had somewhat gained the respect of his superiors. However, he was always seen as an anti-social person. His strange lack of motivation had made him a distant and cold individual, both qualities which made him rather unpopular. He had never wanted to develop any kind of hobby or even friendships for that matter, never had wanted to acquire a taste for smoking or drinking, and he did not accept invitation to restaurants, bars, and other pieces of entertainment his coworkers were so fond of.

Some believed that the man was too strange for their liking, someone that they felt they could simply never reach, however hard they tried. Others said that he was abnormal, a man who was fated to be forever disconnected from the world upon being birthed, and so, they found no use in even attempting to communicate with him. In the end, it did not matter, for his work was always seen as being very commendable. His ultimate goal of accomplishing any task had made him horrifying reliable to the Kobayashi Corporation. He could weld, meld, drill and hammer with such skill that it almost seemed as though he was better than even the most experienced worker within the company, and whenever he is allowed, he could even draw architectural plans without any difficulty whatsoever. Whenever there was a problem in the plans or an odd element which would put an operation in jeopardy, he would voice his observations and demand corrections. He was truly, in every sense of the word, a master.

It was why he appeared as strong, focused and determined as ever even before the eponymous unknown deadline set before him. He had conducted every task that was demanded of him, had provided aid to some of his coworkers in need, and was ultimately ready to accept any more that would come his way before he would then have the leave the premises alongside the rest of his team. In his simple mind devoid of any thought but the accomplishment of his work, so long as the job paid him well-enough to allow him to live without worry, there was nothing else that required his attention. So it was proven once one of his coworkers, a smaller man that had been drilling a few pieces of metal here and there during much of the afternoon, came to him earlier today and asked perhaps a bit meekly if he wanted to come eat pork with them at a nearby restaurant. "Sorry, but I am not interested," he gave the man his signature reply in a monotonous voice almost instantly. "Perhaps another time." No more requests were given to him on that day following that moment.

Come the evening, the exhaustion was admittedly starting to settle upon him. He had admittedly outdone himself today, doing more than any other member of his team combined, and so, his body was starting to feel its effects. It may be strong, but like everyone around here, he was only Human, and Humans tend to tire themselves out after a while. That is the reality that they must all understand. There was no better way to make him understand this than him letting out a quiet grunt after he finished hammering the last nail in the steel that he was tasked to install. Naturally, one of the managers that was passing by him as he worked would notice this. There was no way he could hide his exhaustion now. "Alright, I think that'll be enough for today, Kaneyama," he told him in a gruff tone as he tried to get the man's attention. "You worked harder than everyone around here today. Take a break, and then you can leave early. I'll allow it today."

"... Thank you, Endo-san," the man would simply acknowledge the manager's request without any resistance, then settle the hammer down before sitting onto his finished work. It was only then that he realized how weak his body was. It felt heavy, exhausted, tired. Never before had been affected by such a physical condition. Not only was it difficult for him to move and breath, but his arms and legs also hurt. They were also solid, like they had turned into tree trunks. For once, his mind which was believed to be so disconnected from the world formed a conclusion that was unlike him. Perhaps he had indeed worked a bit too hard today. He had moved many things, including wooden bars onto his shoulder, and he had also hammered many nails. Both of these activities must have naturally demanded a lot of effort from his arms, and so here he was now, tired and almost unable to use them any longer. Considering this, he knew that he would not be able to accomplish his task as optimally anymore, and so he made sure to respect his manager's wishes to a tee. Once he would be well-enough, he'd leave this place and return home to prepare for tomorrow.

The first few minutes of rest were pleasant enough. They allowed him to slowly reacquire the strength that was once in him. However, the more it went on, the more he felt like there was... something strange occurring around him. He could not quite explain it, but he felt as though there was a presence in the vicinity that was unlike those of the workers. His eyes quietly wandered from left to right across the floor as he tried to find the culprit of his problem so as to at the very least find a solution to it, but there was nothing. Was he imagining things? He could swear that there was someone or something strange in this floor all of a sudden. For a very brief moment, he was almost reminded of the many stories he has heard from his mother, of how she had once been attacked by what she referred to as a "ghost" while she was pregnant with him. He never once believed these stories for obvious reasons, but he couldn't help but feel wary of it all.

Then, suddenly, he heard noises of exclamation from his coworkers, which prompted him to look towards them with a frown before he understood their surprise. Out there, in front of one of the stairs they had constructed to lead those who would eventually work in this building to this floor without an elevator, stood the main construction engineer. Tani could not remember her name, but even knew of how important she was to the Kobayashi Corporation. She had overseen the construction of the Nakajima Tower and was the one leading these workers to construct it. At times, she had even asked for his input regarding how the building was constructed, though most of the time, she never took them into account, prompting him to often correct her minor mistakes without anyone noticing. However, for some reason he could not quite exclaim, he felt that the woman was wrong. She did not act like herself in this moment, like she was lost, which was totally unlike her. Moreover, she was not vocally demanding everyone's attention. What...?  He asked to himself confusingly, trying to understand what was happening.

Meanwhile, as the worker tried to discern the irregularity of this situation, the managers headed towards her to see what was going on. Endo, in particular, would reach out for her, allowing his gruffer side to settle down a notch to better reflect his position. "Ah, Tanaka-san. I didn't think you would come to this floor so soon," he would say before then turning his gaze towards the rest of the floor as he presented it to the woman, which spared him the intimidation spread by her face. "As you can see, we were able to finish most of the preliminary work. Tomorrow, we'll work on finishing what remains. I believe we will be done in around one more week." As he spoke, he would notice that the woman would not actually respond to her at all, which caused him to stare at her for a moment, confused. He too believed that her silence was somewhat uncharacteristic, to put it mildly. "Have we done something wrong? I assure you, we've followed your blueprints as much as we cou-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a noise abruptly resonated from one of the workers nearing the other stairs, which caused him to frown and look over his shoulder alongside Tani. Both he, the worker, and the rest of the men on the floor would then watch as one of their own would stand there with a slowly bleeding stomach. Tani was frozen, staring intently with clear shock on his face.

The ghost. It was here.

---

Sonadora stood behind the man with a quiet bestial hiss after she had pierced through his chest with her claws, penetrating his heart in the process. Her meager frame stood there menacingly, not taller than the man, but just enough to appear like a shadow over him as he fell onto his knees from the pain. After he fell, she would take a deep breath before rapidly retreating her claws from his chest, then sink them straight into the man's skull much to the horror of every Human in the room. From there on out, the man started screaming before he was eventually instantly left brain-damaged from the claws slashing at the insides of his skull, causing him to painfully tremble as the last bits of life started leaving his body on the floor. The very moment his Soul started to emerge from his body after five seconds of agony, she would grab it by the back of the throat, then violently bite onto its neck. Before the man even had the to time to comprehend what was happening to him, he was back to lying on the floor as an apparition, gasping for air as he tried to call for help. Unfortunately, no one will come. It was far too late for both him and the rest of his comrades.

Meanwhile, as the man remained on the floor, the Hollow would stand above his body before then trying to wipe the blood away. The red fluid visibly disgusted her, enough so to cause her to growl as she tried to remove it from her mask and claws, but eventually, she would give up. looking straight around the room in search of someone to leave alive. They had much better things to do, including finding the one that would be the most fitting to spare in order to commit to her plans. So, she would start looking left and right as the workers started becoming a bit agitated, then would find another man nearest to her who was sitting on the floor. He seemed large, physically fit for any menial labor, and was exhausted. Despite the shock of seeing a fellow Human die, he also sported cold eyes that seemed unemotional. Good. He was exactly what the foggy beast was looking. "You will do," she'd say before then heading towards the man and hitting him square in his jaw. It took several tries due to her terribly-weak frame, and she would have much preferred simply condemning him to Slumber, but she was eventually able to cause him to fall unconscious from the many hits. The shock of the violence had prevented him from defending himself.

By then, the men was starting to stand back from where the fallen men were as their silence slowly became something more akin to panicked mumbling. Noticing this, Sonadora would look back to them, then head back towards the still-gasping Soul on the ground before turning her gaze right towards Astrid. Hm... She has not yet moved... They have no time to waste. They must act now. "Onward, Astrid! Eliminate the half of them that I have given you, and mind the unconscious one!" She immediately ordered in an attempt to push the skin-wearing creature to action. "We cannot let anyone escape!" After she finished speaking, she would then immediately grab onto the fallen Soul's neck, and finish him off proper by starting to tear him to shred, devouring him proper. She would do this quickly, enough so to consume his spiritual energy before then rushing towards the next Human. She hated this, hated acting so beastly, but she did not have a choice: there was no time to waste.

There was a total of about thirty-five Humans in this floor. They will have to each devour seventeen of them, all the while leaving the unconscious man alone. If all goes well, they will then be able to move onward towards the upper floors.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid simply smiled as she got the word from Sonadora. It was dark and menacing and without a doubt the workers in the room had to know that Astrid was in fact not the woman they'd thought her to be. She simply chuckled and only mildly acknowledged the small emtion inside her making itself known. The next moment the workers currently hanging inside by ropes would find themselves falling to their deaths. Inside or outside the building. The chicks did exactly as was expected and had cut the very ropes keeping them safe and sound. She gave out a low growl at them before the chicks disappeared to the places where the soon to be lifeless bodies would be. From there Astrid simply nodded at the rest of the spirits.

The welders would be killed in much the same manner as how Sonadora killed the first man. Well one of them anyway. Chest exploding outward with the wisps fist covered with viscera and blood. Bones shattered and thrown onto the machinery. The other far more simply just had it's neck snapped. Though to be far when it was turned 360 degree's it was anything but painless. The last wisp simply punched the female worker nearest to the exit on Sonadora's side. First with a sudden hit to her spine which had a sickening crunch following the impact. From there another crack came as her knee's were shattered from behind and then her head simply exploded. The wisp had stomped on her knees and then jumped onto her head with both feet. The spirits of the individuals currently killed were starting to manifest only for the spirits to tear open their faces and reveal a jaw filled with serrated teeth. Their subsequent consumption was bloody, painful, and utterly loud in their screams of agony both from their physical and their spiritual demise.

Astrid in the meantime simply grabbed onto the manager before her and threw him behind her. Her pet was hungry afterall, so why make him wait? He was such a good dog anyway. To the others in the room it was horrifying what happened next. And despite the various screams and various people trying to escape they all saw the canine hollow eat the man in question. It simply started tha the was thrown to the ground and managed to get up quickly. But once he did his sides were immediately pierced by the fangs of the canine hollow. And with the force that it was using to crush him it was very easy to see how his waist line was shrinking. From there the canine used it's man like hands and grabbed the man's face. And then it pulled. And pulled. And pulled until it was separated into two pieces. His screams of utter agony were quickly silenced as the entire endeavor was only a couple minutes long. If that. Astrid was after all in her favorite place to be, the monster in the room, and thus time to her was a bit slowed in her perception.

Still even she had to admit that she needed to get a move on. She'd killed 8 people so far and there were 30 something total. Her canine and the last wisp would be more than enough to keep others from doing anything but she was at her limit for producing spirits. So what else could she do? She'd simply have to fight them it seemed. And for that she was going to have to discard the body she was using. 1. Because while strong she wasn't capable of wielding it's musculature to it's full potential. And her style of "fighting" really revolved around her using the body she was given as a hason. Thus in a moment her form simply seemed to melt as the clothes and fell to the floor and her "body" to the humans in question disappeared. From there she waiting invisible to them until the first person came to see where the woman they'd just seen had disappeared to.

She jumped him, wrapped her plant like body around him and used her leg roots to choke him out while she tore into his face with her maw. Given it was about a third of her face she was pretty capable of easily eating into his skull rather quickly. From there she simply continued to feast on him until the spirit came out and she focused on ripping it's chest cavity open and beginning her gluttonous feast anew from there. There was a part of Astrid that had to chuckle at the whole ordeal. She'd hunted before. With and without the spirits around her.

And yet this was different. She had someone not bound to her that was willing and capable. She had someone who knew the struggles of being a beast and the hunger that came with it. . . . And they were in total control. Even now while Sonadora was covered in blood and her form diminutive Astrid had to admit it was impressive. Beautiful even, in a very very morbid sort of way that likely only Astrid would understand. Still if nothing else she seemed to exemplify the kind of being Astrid wanted to be. Strong, capable, and utterly in control of herself and the surroundings. Mind you was Sonadora in direct control? No. But she had Astrid around to help with that. And thus by proxy she was still in control of the entire situation. When all this feeding was said and done Astrid would have to figure out a way to keep in contact with Sonadora. She needed to learn from her and grow. And hopefully have a few more hunts with her, assuming she was willing or better yet needed the assistance.

[Sonadora]

It was very difficult for the people that had taken this long and arduous job to properly understand what was so suddenly happening. One moment, they were all working on this floor as hard as they possibly could, following every word their supervisor had given to them so that it would be completed in the time that he himself had given to what they believed to be the architect of the tower, and then in the next moment, they all witnessed one of their own fall onto his knees in agony screaming for his life as something punctured his skull. They could not see the force responsible for this gruesome action, could not begin to understand what could have actually unleashed such a force onto their coworker, and definitely would be unable to form a rational for what had just happened. Then again, with what was all awaiting them in the next few minutes or so, perhaps it was best for them to never realize the true horror that that they could not see.

Sonadora, much like Astrid and her expert puppets, reacted as quickly as she could. As she had explained both prior to their arrival on this floor and then shouted before they began their operation, they needed to act quickly and efficiently. If anyone on this floor is able to reach the stairs and alert the rest of the people currently either occupying this building or its surroundings, the Human authorities will then be notified of the ongoing massacre, which could then lead to serious repercussions if those authorities are then able to find the remains of these construction workers. From what she has gathered from the many years of experience she has within this world, the Shinigami of the Soul Society tend to become active in certain areas whenever Hollow reiatsu is released in enormous quantities, though they also send officers on patrol in order to investigate large-scale disasters that cannot be explained from an outsider's perspective.

So, once she had chosen which Human was going to take the blame for this operation, she did just that. With vicious speed and agility - the most she could muster out of this weak body - she attacked the rest of the Humans that occupied the floor. It was all done coldly, mercilessly, and without even so much as an ounce of care for their lives as they hopelessly attempted to run away to safety. A few were granted swift deaths, namely those whose heads were punctured by her claws, though the grand majority of them unfortunately perished more slowly with torn jugulars and faces ripped by her fangs. The sheer gruesomeness of the act could not be understated, as soon, the unfinished floor which still had holes revealing the outside city below would be drenched in blood. A few body parts had even been scattered across the floor here and there, mainly hands and arms, as though Sonadora purposefully rid her prey of means to defend themselves as they died. It was like watching the set of a horror movie.

By the time Sonadora had sunk her sharp fangs into the neck of her tenth victim, the body count had risen to a total of twenty, which was roughly more than half of the people that were on this floor. It was quite the noteworthy number, as unsurprisingly, it caused many of the construction workers to just stand there in despair as they realized that they were facing a multitude of invisible enemies. Left shocked by the violence, a few of them simply stood there frozen, unable to believe what was happening, though there was a small group that had decided to actually arm themselves in self-defense. They would grab their hammers, their saws, and other tools as makeshift weapons. It was a development that the foggy beast could ignore... but ultimately, she was unimpressed. "What folly. They do not possess the spiritual sight, and yet they believe themselves capable of eliminating us. Pathetic," she commented with a bloodied maw as she glanced towards Astrid. "Let us finish them. The operation planned for this floor is almost... complete."

The charred tone of her voice, previously so confident and resolute, became slightly more confused as her attention was granted to the childish being. In her attempts to kill the construction workers as quickly as possible, her attention of her surroundings had briefly left her, and in so doing, it would seem that she had failed to actually notice Astrid undergo some sort of transformation. The wolf in sheep's clothing had apparently decided to completely forgo the need to wear her clothes, as now, she instead stood there in her original form. It took a moment for Sonadora to even properly identify what she was looking at. She had seen many grotesque things in her life, many of which had been created following the results of her own actions, though this went beyond that, enough so that it almost made her recoil in disgust. It was a mess of muscle, flesh, bone, and roots that theoretically should not be alive, something clearly unnatural and undead. How this thing even existed was beyond her, though the answer was most likely spiritual energy. At the very least, her lack of mask or hole confirmed that she was not a Hollow, which was a question that had been lingering in her mind for a time now.

Of course, the construction workers saw none of this. They had watched a woman melt into thin air before more of their comrades were swiftly cut down. The only ones that still seemed to have a few of their wits were those of the armed group, including their leader, this aforementioned "Endo". The older man was currently standing in front of the group with a nail gun in hand, clenching his teeth. Despite his age, he seemed brave enough to create some distance between himself and the melted woman that he once referred to as "Tanaka", and somehow, he had survived the onslaught from the foes that he himself will never be able to see. "Damn it... I don't know what's going on here, but we need to get out!" He would tell the others as he held his makeshift firearm near his chest with the both of his hands. Those hands were shaking a bit, but at the very least, his words were actually heightening the morale of his group. "Don't come any closer, you ghosts!"

"Old fool," Sonadora immediately spat without any consideration for the power of his tool. In her eyes, it was completely irrelevant, something that would never rival the Zanpakuto of the Shinigami or the strange bows of the Quincy. All his worthless weapon represented was the meaningless drive for Humanity to build yet another of its countless empires, nothing more, nothing less. With such a thought in mind, the Hollow would thus rush onward towards the man on all four. Surprisingly, this prompted the man to shoot in her direction rather quickly seemingly after hearing her footsteps, almost as if he was experienced in the use of proper firearms. However, he had aimed too high, almost as though he was expecting his invisible foe to stand. This would allow Sonadora to get past him and slash at the legs of the people he was meant to protect, causing them to scream in agony before their throat would be cut as well. Endo, admittedly shocked by the sight, would react with a scream before shooting more nails out of his weapon. "You may finish him, Astrid. We have no use for a being so unworthy of our presence."

[Astrid Vess]

There it was again. Her name. That feeling flared up again inside her with a bit more force. There really was something special to the way that Sonadora was saying her name. Astrid without realizing was actually smiling with a small sense of joy showing despite the abhorrent facial structure she was birthed as a hason. This however was not to last as she glanced over to see what exactly her compatriot was doing and though she was busy dealing with a few of the humans her body language said it all. It was tense. More than simply just "fighting for food" tense. It didn't help that Sonadora didn't even bother looking at her in the few moments, which if Astrid were smarter could be pinned on the fact, they were still hunting however that never even occurred to Astrid. Instead, she quickly decided it was due to her. Likely the form she was in. Likely the fact she wasn't anything like Sonadora and it was incredibly obvious.

Astrid had actually forgotten for a moment that she wasn't a hollow. She was a beast of hell, a hason. A sinner that had been sent directly to hell instead of even getting the chance to return to the soul cycle. Why? Because of something in her past she couldn't recall. Hell didn't explain why you were sent there. It was expected you knew why or would figure it out. And the only clue she had was this grotesque form. This form that the more sentient she became the further she came to detest it. And with that detest came an anger unlike any other. Her eyes started to glow brighter and shift to a darker shade of orange as she simply stood there and let her anger over the shift in Sonadora's behavior take the mental reigns. This started taking a more dramatic show given that her energy itself was building up and even the humans within a couple feet of her were realizing something wasn't quite right.

When she finally looked up there was anger. Raw, unfocused, and it currently not terribly controllable. Without further delay she immediately speared through his throat with both of her hands. The collective tendrils had twisted together to form a sharpened point. From there Astrid tore his head off from just bringing each hand to the opposite direction. From there as the man's body fell she glared at her canine and growled out a single low toned order. "KILL."  Even the hound seemed shocked for a moment because of Astrid's unrestrained hostility. An order was an order however and thus the hound immediately ran up to the group creating loud pounds on the floor as it did given the thing was a 5 foot, couple hundred pound hollow. Once next to Astrid it did the only thing that could fulfill it's order in the immediate moment. It took a moment to force it's stomach to compress and a few agonizing seconds later the hound released an utterly abhorrent amount of stomach acid onto the remaining humans that had bundled up together. In seconds they were nothing more than partially melted skeletons.

Astrid in the meantime kept tearing into the body before her. Anger was coming off her in spades and this body, this spirit when it finally decided to manifest was going to experience the sheer unadulterated anger she was dealing with. The body very quickly became beyond mutilated and the soul followed suit with the only difference being that Astrid forced herself to eat it as opposed to just ripping it to shreds . . . entirely. It was however consumed piecemeal. By the time Astrid was done her chicks had returned with the 6 souls of the workers who'd fell to their death. She was by no means calmed down but she wasn't nearly as overtly aggressive or pissed off as she had been several minutes prior. She needed to fix the current situation. She needed to at least have Sonadora not be so disgusted she would be unwilling to continue working with her.

Thus Astrid did the only thing she could think of. She growled out a set of orders to each hollow spirit present. All were effectively the same however. "Each group gets 1 soul. The rest are Sonadora's. Hit the remainder of the souls in the head." Granted this was communicated in a far more guttural and bestial language with her body language doing a hefty sum of the work in relaying the order. The spirits nodded though none looked terribly thrilled with it. Spirit after spirit was quickly pilled up on one another into a small mound as the spirits knocked each being unconscious in some manner or another that their body allowed. After taking their 3 that left fifteen souls to consume, given Sonadora had been consuming hers in the process. Astrid took a moment to look them over and ensure they had followed her orders. Once certain they would still be useful to her she walked over to Sonadora and tried speaking to her. Her voice in her original body sounded akin to twigs being snapped and rocks falling onto other rocks. Rough, broken up, and definitely unnatural in every capacity.

"Son. . ador. . a. . Spirits. . . yours. . . Don't need. . My spirits. . . eat. " While speaking Astrid would motion to the mound of souls. True to her word the chicks were consuming a single soul, the wisps doing the same, and her canine companion was eating the his own soul. Astrid on the other hand made no attempt or move to go to them. The offer was genuine and sincere even with her eyes still glowing darkly, though it was obvious with her body language there was concern. Namely fear towards Sonadora's reaction to seeing her. And if Sonadora had watched her burst of anger earlier then it'd be easy to see that even her anger wasn't towards her either, Astrid was simply angry at herself. Namely her form given Sonadora's reaction to it. 

[Sonadora]

Sonadora had moved quickly to dispatch the live Humans that remained. Focused onto the task at hand, she was seeking to accomplish it as fast as possible so that they could then move on to the greener pastures located onto the higher floors of this tower. Considering this, it was only natural that she wasn't able to give much more attention to Astrid after she noted her rather-repulsive appearance. If she has learned anything from her recent bouts with both the Shinigami of the Soul Society keeping watch over this metropolis and the rival Hollows that are oh-so keen on reducing themselves to the acts of thieving in order to satiate their hunger, it is that time is never on their side and that every operation and every project must be accomplished as quickly as possible, no matter what form they may have taken upon their finalized conception. This was why her gaze had remained on the armed workers, and why she had told her ally to eliminate their leader.

But then, as she attempted to kill those aforementioned workers, something strange occurred. The one who summoned Hollows at her side suddenly projected some kind of emotional outburst. This outburst was so potent that it caused a brief rise of spiritual energy in the area. Sonadora did not feel that rise, of course; after all, she had no expertise in the art of detecting even magical residue. However, she did notice the shift in Astrid's behavior, enough so that it caused her to look back towards her while she was tearing yet another throat from one of the workers' neck. The sight of the root-made creature looking up towards the Humans with such incredible disdain that the color of her eyes had changed was enough to bring the fogged beast to frown in apparent confusion, something that was seemingly shared with the hound at Astrid's side. Eventually, this confusion then turned into caution, and with speed, she would push herself off the ground with her four limbs to land on her legs away from the upcoming carnage. From there, the purple slits behind the fog would simply watch the violence unfold.

It was a carnage alright. In the short span of perhaps a dozen seconds or so at worse, each and every single Human that had dared to bear arms against the foes that were invisible to their naked eyes were eliminated with horrid violence. The elder who was previously so brave and so courageous, the head of the group which inspired so much confidence in his coworkers, was swiftly decapitated by Astrid herself and then torn apart with such fury that it did not even seem as though he mentally registered everything that was happening to him, even as a Soul. Meanwhile, the rest of the workers who were simply standing there in pure shock at the sight of their leader being reduced to a mere pile of both physical and spiritual flesh and bone were then assaulted by the hound. None of them were able to react to the incoming surge of acid that came from the beast, and in agony, they all melted into disgusting goo. How could they have reacted? The fact that they were unable to see it aside, the sheer trauma had immobilized them all.

Such slaughter would have usually brought innate disgust in Sonadora. She always despised violence, and typically never quite liked having to resort to it, even if it did occur very often due to her nature as a Hollow. However, for the first time in her life... she was enamored by it. "... Wonderful..." she would mutter to herself an amazement as she watched it all unfold. What amazing power! The strength and speed of Astrid alone were impressive, but more importantly, her ability to seemingly generate creatures with very specific powers was downright remarkable. In normal circumstances, she would have found this to be quite the fearsome thing, but the bits of her ally's personality she had seen during their earlier conversations had made it clear to her that she would perhaps never see such an ability be turned towards her. Au contraire, this ability is most likely going to be something she will be able to use for her own means.      

This thought was only accentuated once the carnage was settled and Astrid settled down. In a moment's notice, the Souls that remained on the floor which were all rendered unconscious upon their retrieval were all grouped into the center of the floor, all the while the foggy Hollow simply stood there and watched, astonished. The beast was deliberately forgoing their deal... just so that Sonadora could satiate herself on all of the remaining Souls. This was unprecedented. Never before had she witnessed such loyalty, or to be more precise, willing loyalty. The satisfaction that she felt in this moment, the sheer happiness that exploded within her mind upon having found such a perfect ally left her simply mute for a time. Eventually, of course, she would force herself back to reality and consciously gaze upon her ally once more. This was great. No, more than great: this was nothing short of incredible. However, she needs something to seal this deal, to make sure this person stays at her side for a considerable amount of time. It did not take long for her to create the response she needed in this moment.

With confidence, the foggy creature would move forward towards Astrid, with the purple eyes staring right into her ally's. They were not looking away from her, not treating her any more differently that they have had so far despite her terrible appearance. Once she stood in front of her, she would raise her left arm from the fog before then letting it softly rest against Astrid's right shoulder. "Thank you, Astrid. You have accomplished a most admirable task," her charred voice spoke without repulsion for even the flesh, bone and root her hand was currently touching. If anything, it appeared friendlier than ever, devoid of any suspicion or intimidation. "You have gained my complete trust." Every word that came out of her, though part of a grander plan, was sincere and honest. This was a person that she believed she could truly count on. Her previous emotional outburst was strange, but if she can fully understand the meaning behind it later on, then she will be able to solidify a great partnership.

And with that, she would then go on to consume the unconscious Souls. Now that the battle has ended and she did need to resort to violent means any longer, Sonadora could complete this natural task with her usual finesse and dexterity. With surprising delicacy, she would swiftly kill the Soul with a jab of her claws through their spiritual skulls and brains, then eat them. There was barely any splatter of blood or cracking of bone; really, it was as if the Hollow was consuming them all as though it was a meal granted to her by a prestigious cooking establishment. It was all very uncharacteristic for a Hollow, and even more so for a creature like Astrid who had proven to be equally if not more savage than the common resident of Hueco Mundo, but Sonadora did not care. Consuming Souls was never something that she enjoyed doing mainly because it always implied getting herself dirty in the process, so this was a very welcome change from what she has been going through for the past few weeks.

Soul(s) Consumed: 34x Class 8 Humans (NPC)

After a time, every soul that previously remained on this floor had all been consumed. All that remained now on the floor were scattered construction tools, heaps of blood and bodies whose owners could barely be recognized anymore. The foggy beast would raise herself from the area in which the Souls had been deposited, then let out a quiet sigh. "For once, I must admit that the taste was satisfactory," she admitted, then turned her head towards Astrid. By now, she had moved on from the shock of her ally's appearance. She still found her unsightly, but she found no point in sticking to it or showing any emotion about it. All that would do is push her away from her, and as stated previously, she could not allow herself to let her go any longer. "As discussed, we should now move to the higher floors. Leave the survivor be. I have seen what the authorities and the people which form the systems of this country do to the people they believe to be responsible for such actions. They will blame him for our deeds, and thus, the Shinigami will not be alerted."

Briefly then, she would wander towards the holes in the walls which had been left unfinished on the floor, then walk outside in the cold air before looking up. The temperature combined with the wind was more bothersome than before, especially thanks to the filthy blood that covered her, but she was not going to stay there for long. "The floors above now remain, and none of them have been made aware of our presence," her terrible voice would call from the outside before she returned to Astrid. "This operation is going well. If we move accordingly and proceed according to the same plan we have employed here, we will be able to consume the Souls above and then leave without resistance." She would then start heading towards the stairs that were being currently made so as to lead the workers to the upper floors. "Follow me."

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid sat still, eyes focused on how Sonadora would move and react. Not only to her but to the gift she was offering. Albeit a bit desperate a gift but still something she was certain the other hollow would want regardless. Though something was a bit. . . off with her. Astrid took note that Sonadora was experiencing something though she couldn't tell fully. Her body had relaxed, considerably. Which made sense given the immediate hunt was over but still if Astrid had to guess she was thinking. Deeply. Mind you could Astrid even guess what she was thinking? Absolutely not. Astrid was just learning how to think for a semi-substantial period of time. (30 min) So with someone like Sonadora who was already completely in control of herself she could only hope to guess in the same ball park.



However despite Astrid's concerns things took a drastic turn for the better. More so than she thought possible, if she'd dedicated more mental power to thinking that far ahead. When she'd finally finished her intense thinking she'd come right up and patted her shoulder. Eye contact didn't break and she was no longer tense. If anything she seemed . . . lighter. Not immensely so and obviously she was light to begin with but her steps seemed less weighed to a minor degree. If Astrid thought she was going to be relieved however she had another thing coming. For the first time since she'd been a hason she was thanked. Sincerely. And she finally had made an ally that didn't feel anywhere near as slimy or backstabbing as Alastor or Orobas. Which frankly calling them allies was. . . a stretch at best. Sonadora on the other hand? No she felt far more like a companion. A pack mate was likely the best way to describe it. And her gift seemed to solidify just that luxury.



Astrid's posture relaxed further, any aggression she had prior melted away and even her eye color returned to bright yellow-orange. Without realizing again she smiled, except this wasn't small it was large. Noticeable. Admittedly though a bit creepy for several reasons. Namely that she didn't have much a lower jaw and her "teeth" aka sharpened bones that grew through her jaws were being displaced some. Even as she walked away Astrid was immensely happy. Namely that she finally found an ally and had managed to win her over. A task Astrid had to admit seemed like it would take far more than a simple hunt together. But at this point Astrid wasn't going to care or ask too many questions. The moment was enough and with that she simply walked over to her canine and started petting it. She might have been a bit harsh in the moment but she was fond of her canine companion as well.



Once Sonadora had completed her meal Astrid glanced over, feeling her eyes watching. Even now there wasn't any disgust that she could tell. Her body remained relaxed. Astrid listened intently and got enough of what she'd said. The only living being was going to be left alive. And Sonadora wanted to hunt the upper floors. Astrid did have to wonder if there was any further humans or beings up there to consume but would aid her regardless. She did seem very concerned for the shinigami though. Enough that it was something she continued to mention. Astrid not being fond of them decided that before they head up she should let the hollow chicks look everything over. Including if there were any shinigami present. Thus when she started her way up Astrid called out to her for a moment. "Wait! . . Chicks. . check . . . shinigami. . Good . . senses." She hoped it'd be something Sonadora wouldn't mind her doing.



Especially considering she'd immediately growl out the order for her five chicks. Given the openings already available they'd have no problem flying out and immediately scouting the nearby area and the floors. In the meantime Astrid walked over to the clothing she'd previously dropped. Thankfully there was no amount of acid on it though there were a few bloodstains here and there. Astrid frowned a bit given she actually really liked the attire. Still she'd figure out some way to get it fixed. For now she'd utilize the technique again and start morphing her body into the female once more. The transformation itself would only take a minute at the most and that was simply because Astrid wasn't the most. . . experienced with it. The real time burner would be putting everything back on again. She'd stumbled through it the first time however so now she simply needed to be a bit faster than the last time given she had dressed herself once. By the time she'd finished dressing herself the chicks would have returned to relay what they'd seen.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-100 for Myriad of Many faces

4,250 - 100 = 4,150 reiatsu remaining