Scream Eureka (Myza and Luca JT)

[Akira Hinosai]

"You heard me. Huecco Mundo, the white desert, whatever you call it, you will take me there." The hollow's malformed body convulsed beneath Luca's spiritual pressure. Luca had fought more hollows than he cared to count, and yet this one was certainly the ugliest. It had a face, but no head, a singular sinewy leg underneath. One of its mouths spit some black bile onto the ground in front of Luca. "Y-you're crazy!"  Luca smiled at that. "Am I?" Most people thought hollows were animalistic monsters. Brute savages fit only to be killed. From Luca's experience, this wasn't always the case. Most of the time, sure, but they could be...useful in theory. They were intelligent. Beneath the ravenous hunger and animal instinct, there was self-awareness. Luca would have need of that.

A wolf becomes docile when fed to satisfaction. It can be taught not to bite the hand that feeds it. "Wrong answer, fuckface." Luca turned up the pressure. Making the hollow feel like any minute it would be crushed beneath the overwhelming pressure. That was another fact of hollows and animals. Above all else they respected strength. Fortunately for Luca, he had that in ample supply. Right as the uniped hollow felt like it couldn't stand anymore it spoke up again. "OK, OK...I'LL DO IT...I-I CAN TAKE YOU." With those words, Luca relaxed his aura. "There. That wasn't so hard, now was it?" The monstrous hollow struggled to catch its breath. "I don't know why you want to go to that place...It's bad news! Better to stay here. Away from those strong hollows."

"Maybe for weaklings like you. I'm not afraid of pointy-nosed trees or mongrel upstarts." For a moment, it felt good to get lost into character like this, to make this monster suffer like Luca had...but it was quickly losing its luster. Luca's missing eye itched, and Luca resisted the urge to rub it. It had only been a few days since his meeting with Alastor. Only a few days since he almost got left in hell, and gave up an eye to escape such a fate. Only a few days since...since his inner hollow had saved him. Luca didn't know what to do with everything he felt, the shame, the anger, the emasculation... He had at least hoped this step of the plan would help him feel better. Now he just felt worse than ever.

The whole thing started after he got back, after memory of the events had returned to him. For once he actually wanted to speak to his inner hollow, even if he didn't know what to say. Yet these past few days, their silence had been deafening...Even ignoring that, Luca needed to get stronger, and fast. What happened with Alastor could never be allowed to happen again. Luca had promised Ken'ichi he would forge himself into a worthy match for him. And what had Luca done? Let himself get melancholy and bored, spending his days in a listless haze. Nothing he did could erase the scars of this, but he could make them easier to live with.

For one, he had to get stronger on his own. To do that he needed stronger opponents, harder challenges, and maybe Huecco Mundo was the place to do that. It was a place, as far as Luca could surmise, that hollow energy was strong. Since he was part hollow, moreso than any fullbringer, that might be a place to train and meditate...Maybe there he could at least talk to his inner hollow. Huecco Mundo was nothing like the vastly populated Soul Society. That didn't mean Luca wouldn't prepare just as much for this little journey, even if it wasn't going to be nearly as long. Before finding this wretched hollow, he'd bought an armored bodyglove of sorts from a certain Kitai Youru. Over it he wore a baggy cotton tunic, wide-legged britches tucked into brown sturdy hiking boots. A shemagh, and biker goggles would help him keep sand from his face and prevent windburn.

 Though perhaps the most important parts of the whole outfit were the mask fragments and little bracelet around his wrist. Luca had gone about collecting bits of hollow mask where he could, and fashioned them into a sort of arracnar-like vestige of an imagine whole. Having firmly secured them, and with his handy dandy reiatsu scrambler set to disguise his aura as that of an arrancar's, he had all he needed. Were he to cross an ascended hollow's path, he hoped this would make him more likely to avoid unwanted attention, at least.

Beyond that he knew how he could draw water from the air with soul command, and he'd found enough MRE's to last him a week at most, a bit longer if he rationed it. As soon as he needed to return, he would find another hollow, and repeat what he'd done with this one. Until then he'd fight stronger enemies, explore, survive, and try and let the unique climate draw out his latent abilities. Luca adjusted his gloves as he watched the wretched hollow open a garganta. "There. I'm not going with you. I don't have a death wish."

Luca took one last look at the hollow that had helped him. He could have killed it easily if he so wished. Yet for once, he stayed his hand. This hollow held his end of the deal, and Luca would hold up his. "For what it's worth, you have my thanks...Try not to eat too many innocents or I'll have to kill you for real." Luca said, breaking character for a moment. With that he entered the world of the hollows...

When Luca opened his eyes again, he stood in a vast desert. The sky was as black as the void, and yet the crescent moon provided enough light for him to see. Sand dunes stretched out like little hills, making it hard for Luca to tell where the nearest sign of life was. unperturbed, he began his trek through this monochrome hell...




Class 3 Reiatsu Scrambler: Requires 600

Class 3 Spiritual Silk

2 ranks in acting, pls dont immediately kill me kthnx

[Myzaraphiston Synderfell]

Myza had been quite enjoying her time off from being Espada. In many ways, being demoted had done wonders for her. She had gotten to refocus on a lot of experiments that she had let slide due to her increased responsibilities. Sure, some of them had to be scrapped due to how long they had been left sitting, but aside from that, there had been a lot of good nostalgia to be had there. Even better, she got to focus on her children and help along their development in ways she had been too busy for before. All in all, things were going well for her.

Of course, there were some people who thought they could still push the former Espada around. One does not simply fall from a high prestige position like that without some individuals thinking they could prove something using her. Or take vengeance for some lesser being that she had handled during her tenure. Honestly, the inane ways that people could come up with to bother her was about as endless as their own ineptitude at times! So she had made an example, a clear border around places she owned to let them know that treading upon it was an action to be considered at your own peril.

So when a couple of new energy signatures just appeared in her territory, it naturally drew her attention. She would stop her current project, and focused on the two audacious strangers. With a sigh, Myza would place a Sleeper Cero next to her before walking towards a nearby ladder. She would feel one signature disappear through a Garganta, while one remained. On the plus side, it seemed the individual who stayed was an Arrancar. That didn't necessarily rule out that they had some axe to grind, but that didn't mean that Myza had to be impolite against a fellow member of Gods Chosen People! Though there were some things odd about this arrancar, based on the feeling of their reiatsu. For one, they were quite non-standard in their overall spiritual strength. There was a lot of depth to be sure, but not much force at all. Furthermore they seemed to be... Leaking? There was a steady drip of reiatsu just leaving his form, being consumed by something.

Her remote observations would be finished by the time she had climbed up the ladder in her remote lab. Luca would be able to hear something move behind him, then a nearby rock would lift up. He would be able to see a woman propping up the rock on her elbow, a smile on the revealed part of her face. Detracting from that somewhat was the ugly burn scar on her cheek, a blocky shape there being the only direct marring on her otherwise perfect features.

"Hello dearie!" she said in a bubbly voice. "Welcome back to Hueco Mundo! Why are you leaking reiatsu in my territory? Please stop now before I have to remove your skin and feed it to one of my children! Oh, I have cookies too! Would you like some? I'm working on my baking!"

[Akira Hinosai]

Before he could take more than a few steps, he heard a noise behind him. Coming in hot, are we? He figured it was a hollow, one he hadn't seen when he first scanned his surroundings, a subterranean one maybe. As he turned to face the noise behind him, he saw the large rock he'd passed over lifted by...an arrancar. A girl arrancar... Why did it have to be a girl? No, not a girl, this is a woman. There was something intangible about her that caused Luca to make that distinction. She called out to him not with hostility, but with a strange sort of warmth that made Luca uneasy. The unease grew when she noticed his "leaking" reiatsu and threatened to flay him for it...There, now that's something an arrancar would say.

It was the way she said it that still got to Luca though. It was like she was softly reminding a child the consequences of tracking mud, or sand, in this case, into the house. Luca was glad his face was completely covered. It made it so much easier to appear like he was not internally freaking out. To top all this insanity off, the icing on the cake was the kindly little invitation she gave. Luca's phantom eye twitched as he remembered the last invitation he got, and the last host he had offended. Only this time there would be no inner hollow to bail him out. It was beginning to dawn on Luca that he hadn't really thought this one through...

Luca had to think how he could play a convincing arrancar while not inciting this arrancar lady to violence. He could tell this woman was immensely powerful. Not exactly the kind of person Luca wanted to tangle with if he could help it. First thing was first, though. The reiatsu scrambler wasn't getting him out of this one. She was keen enough to pick up the tiny amount of reiatsu he expended to keep the illusion of arrancarhood up. She can sense the reiatsu I'm...expending. Luca wished she hadn't called it "leaking reiatsu". but I think she's being genuine, which means she must believe I'm an arrancar... Fortunately though, Luca could mask his signature rather well.

"You'll have to forgive me. Dreadful etiquette, I know." Luca adopted a calm, airy voice for this character. Someone reserved, but not a pushover. Someone dignified. Luca closed his eyes for a moment, though not that the arrancar woman would notice, and he would begin the process of silencing his reiatsu. Luca was experienced when it came to traveling unseen. Any idiot could hide and stay out of sight, but Luca could evade even those skilled at tracking energy signatures. Luca could blend into the shadows and quiet his soul, but he would only need to do the latter to survive this. "I would quite like that, if you wouldn't mind indulging me." He couldn't refuse her offer. He'd done that with Alastor and it cost him an eye. Never again.

Luca only hoped that throwing himself in danger like this would awaken his inner hollow again. He would just have to leave it to fate. He would follow she-arrancar into her underground labratory, taking the ladder down and if necessary moving the rock that hid the entrance back into place. Whatever awaited him bellow he would try and play it cool. First things first though, he would observe her behavior as she entered, to gleam what he should do to win her over, and avoid any missteps. Despite his cool composure, deep down, Luca knew how bad this was. He remembered a poem he read as a child. One about a spider's parlor and a fly.

invoking 2 ranks in acting and stealth

[Myzaraphiston Synderfell]

Myza would climb out of the hole as Luca responded, smiling gently at Luca as he finally got to see how tall she was. Her eyes would narrow a bit as he concealed his reiatsu, prompting her to flex her own slightly. While not enough to cause any detrimental effects, the Fullbringer would be able to feel the weight of reiatsu still. She would move a hand to the chain around her waist. The movement was not hostile, but merely a precaution and a reminder. She would tilt her head some at the man, still smiling.

"Manners are a good thing to have!" she said, her tone still cheerful and bubbly. "But really dearie, you should be more careful where you Garganta in! Also, where is your friend, hmmm? There was a second person here, and they seem to have just left! Hopefully nothing untoward happened to them, hmmm? Ah, but we can discuss this further down! Please, come into my lab! It's just down there! After you!" The Arrancar would indicate to the hole she had emerged from, clearly intending for him to go down first. She would not move until he complied, simply waiting with a wide smile on her face.

It was a decently long climb down, with not much to be seen the entire time. Eventually, Luca would enter the former Septima's laboratory. At base, it was a simple cave. There were a few appliances clearly stolen from the human world scattered about, a simple bed, and the man with an open ribcage hanging on a nearby wall. Judging by the way he was dressed, he was probably a lower-rung Vandenreich soldier. The damage to him was extensive to say the least, with large patches of skin missing and his organs exposed. Making things even worse was the fact that he was without a doubt still alive.

Myza would simply walk along to an oven, opening it up and taking out the tray of cookies in it.

"There we are!" she said with a wide smile. "Nice and fresh! You're lucky, I was able to find one of the especially tasty Lesser Beings!"

[Akira Hinosai]

There was something about this woman that Luca didn't realize at first. Maybe it had been his subconscious trying to shield him from unimaginable horror. Maybe he was just stupid. Maybe now was the time she wanted to show a singular card from her winning hand. Luca wasn't even sure he had words to describe what she was making him feel. Fear? Dread? Those didn't seem to cut it. It would be too simplistic to define it with some scary sounding words. Though lingering on it was pointless. Her hand went to the chain around her waist, but Luca did not flinch. There was a key difference between showing cation and showing killing intent. She still doesn't want me dead.  Right as Luca thought he had allayed her suspicions, she asked another question with that sickly sweet voice of her's

Fortunately for Luca it seemed to be rhetorical. If she wouldn't press him for information until he was down in her place, that meant he had time to prepare his answers. He had to get a story and keep it straight. Whoever this woman was, she was incredibly powerful. How powerful exactly wasn't clear. He could only hoped this constituted enough danger to reawaken his inner hollow. If not...there had to be something he could gain from this. He would figure that out later. For now, Luca followed the incredibly tall, impossibly polite arrancar down into her lab. It was a lab, not just a house, Luca had learned. That made entering it like this an even worse idea, but he did it anyway.

Some sick part of him was interested in all this. Interested in going down. This can't be the only exit... If things so south maybe I can cave this place in and worm my way up with soul command... Luca followed his gracious hostess down the tunnel. After a long climb down, finally he reached the top secret lab of...some lady. It was a nice place, all things considered. Safe, hidden, comfy, well-decorated. Luca spied one morbid decoration in particular...Before he realized he was looking at a severely mutilated vandenreich soldier. Suddenly the woman's earlier threat to remove Luca's skin seemed ten times worse. Is that...Is that guy alive?!? How?!? But that was just fear and weakness. The kind of fear that made him freeze up when Alastor sent him to hell. The kind of weakness that made him stagnate with his training.

He had no choice but to pretend it wasn't there, that it didn't bother him. What am I doing here? Luca took off his shemagh and goggles, finally revealing his face to the woman. She would see his fragmented mask, his missing eye, with a ball of lapis lazuli in the socket where an eye might have been. Beyond this, she would see her visitor to be a young man, with long fluffy hair that didn't take kindly to being compresed by headwrappings. Luca would remain stoic, though not uninterested in the surroundings. There is no quincy there. I'm not seeing that. Making good on her promise of fresh cookies, the woman brought Luca a tray of delicious smelling cookies.

Eager to seem like a polite house guest who wouldn't slight his host by refusing accommodations, Luca grabbed a cookie and ate it in a single bite. If they were poisoned, Luca would be fine. Any snake that bites me will die. I was weened on poison. Besides, no pain no gain. He needed to get stronger after all. The cookie was, to the woman's credit, amazing. Then again it was hard to mess up cookies, especially fresh ones. "You're lucky, I was able to find one of the especially tasty Lesser Beings!" ONE OF THE WHAT? Luca put his all into looking like he had no problem eating sentient flesh. Worst case scenario, he was a cannibal. Best case scenario...he was still kind of a cannibal. Maybe, MAYBE if it was hellion or hollow he could stomach that, but eating human cookies was...hard to stomach.

But if he showed a sign of weakness of hesitation, the gig would be up, and he might end up like the poor vandenreich man on the wall. "Tell me, which of the lesser beings did you use to make this delectable treat?" That seemed like a normal thing to ask. Like asking what recipe one used to make normal cookies. "Oh, but where are my manners! I've yet to ask you your name!" Luca hoped this would shift attention away from him as he engaged in self-defense cannibalism.