|JT| playing in the sandbox

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 20

✉ notes: sorry i suck at opening post's
Training for CTP & TTP (only need 190 of TTP)

I spy with my little eye

(1) The pale moonlight of Las Noches would shine across the eternal sands of Las Noches, the dunes reflected the light of the eternal moon with an otherworldly glow. A gentle breeze would sweep across Hueco Mundo carrying with it a rare chilling breeze that danced upon the small quartz tree's dotting the land.

(2) Marik would ruffle his feathers as the breeze blew past scattering a few grains of sand at the base of his tree, as he looked up at the moon of Hueco Mundo his dark beady eyes once filled with a sense of longing now were simply dull. The ambitions that drove him to seek peak laziness.

(3) had led him down a spiraling chaotic hell of fighting for his existence, day in and day out an ever-shifting tide of non-stop war where the only relief was the darkness once his dreams took him to a land of delights. Sadly due to unforeseen events encountering the flamingo of lord stink eye.

(4) Marik could no longer sleep more than two to three hours; the sound of Riser's laugh echoing through his mind has cemented itself within his mental state. He would let out a sigh as he lowered his beak as he was perched on his branch, his gaze cast to the sand below.

(5) 'i haven't slept well in days....or has it been months' he would think to himself as he continued looking downward, he would let a light yawn escape his beak as he fluttered his wings. He knew he was on the verge of something much greater a higher form of being, yet it felt so far.

(6) from his reach like a moth dancing before an unholy flame the hunger within his stomach only seemed to grow with each sol that rested within his gullet. 'what even matters anymore?' he would think to himself reflecting on the many souls he had eaten.

(7) the only thing keeping him going was the thought that one day he would be strong enough that no one would wish to challenge him. He didn't remember much about his life before being a hollow, but he missed his hands and legs he longed to have some semblance of his old form back.

(8) if he kept eating he would eventually find attain a form that would be better suited to his own needs. He would slowly turn around from the moon and face the looming giant that stayed within this world never moving or changing, the grand structure known as los naches he never understood it's purpose.

(9) Nor if it was even real many had told him of this place a dwelling where only the most savage and brutal hollows dwelt. Rizers exact words flouring in his mind as he thought back on his words , the mand face blistered into his memory. ' Here currently the entirely of this place as a realm is called Hueco Mundo.

(10) Currently, we are at a place known as Menos Forest which is not too far from the White Desert. There are other minor places here in Hueco Mundo but above all, there is a place called Las Noches where the rulers of this realm stay. From the top it is the King of Las Noches, Right, and Left Hand of the King.

(11) Now below them is the Espada numbering from 1 to 10 one is said to be the strongest while ten is the weakest. Each Espada is considered an officer of the King's army each one on the level of me or weaker.' these were risers exact words the same words laced with such pompous arrogance.

(12) Marik would sigh as he hopped off the branch and began flying about once more turning his back on las noches the thought of riser sending chills down his spine. The thought that a man could ever be that arrogant astounded and boggled him , he viewed himself that highly was revolting.

(13) what makes things worse is the man was in a position of power. Marik longed for simpler times, times when he wasn't driven by the endless hunger within his soul , times when he could sleep for years to evade shinigami now he was a slave to his hunger and an unwilling victim of his own nightmares.

(14) Mariks wings would carry him far he would travel for days, eating his fair share of hollows along the way, those he did find often gave him a great deal of trouble but as long as he played to his strengths he found he could avoid the jaws of death relatively easy.

(15) He would eventually find a gaping hole in the desert that led down to the menos forest below , the rumble in his stomach was no longer ignorable. Most would here silence when gazing down into the abyss , but the shrill sound of menos crying echoes upon marik's ears drool slowly starting to pool along the point of his beak.

(16) His brain seemed to be pulling a blank the whispering of the souls already within his gullet , screaming clawing for dominance. The noise was deafening within his mind , a choir of a billion throats crying out his name in rage and hate from within he just wanted quite to reclaim the silence...

(17) He would spread his wings diving into the hole , his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness as he watched what appeared to be a large scale feeding frenzy. He would do his best to avoid diving in. The reason for this was a simple one really , these feeding circles where the breeding ground of gillian being caught within was not a favorable outcome.

(18) When the mass of hollows come together due to frezies like this a gillian is formed , it would be a truly sad display for an adhuja to swallowed up in a tempets of souls due to a gillian being born. Marik was unsure what would become of him if he was subsumed but one thing he did know was quite clear.

(19) if he sought to eat his fill he would he need a plan of approach to pick off the weaker hollows on the fringes , the mightiest of the hollows sat at the center of this cluster of death. 'maybe i can drop a tree or two then attempt to aim for few Achilles tendons?' he would ponder to himself.

(20) He would let out a sigh as he spread his wings and began to fly around the area getting a good look at the hollows below , pushing his hunger back so he could take the most effective route to approach the enemy. He would take a scathing glance at the crowd once more as he developed an idea.

by Mizo.❉ of ww.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid was finally free of the Soul Society, admittedly though she rather enjoyed the greenery and all its foliage. It was certainly something worth walking through and enjoying the smells. However the immediate and honestly aggravating downside was that all the hollows were killed off En masse by the shinigami. Who seemed to pop out of everywhere. And if you weren't careful you'd find yourself at the end of a blade. Astrid had no intentions of returning to Hell just yet. She'd just finished helping Akando with his feeding and was convinced that others were out there. Namely Sonadora. She hadn't seen her in a long while given the tower incident. She could only hope the hollow had managed to grow significantly stronger, she was after all, someone she looked up to. And Astrid genuinely wanted to see what she could do once she'd gained her maximum strength.



Still with that said and done Astrid finished walking through the garganta and into the Menos Forest. Although calling it a forest seemed like something of a gross lie. If anything it was just giant stone pillars with a vague tree shape that was present. That and the cold stone ground. While Astrid was certain she was in Hueco Mundo she did have to wonder why Akando had sent her here. With a shake of her head Astrid decided it wasn't worth her time to worry over the notion of "where" or "why" she was here. But more specifically that she still had her companions with her. Which at this point was 4 small draconic baby hollows, chicks as she'd think of them and one large serpentine hollow that she was currently riding.



With her entire group here it seemed that she could continue on with her goal. Searching for the hollows she recognized, namely to check up on them. Possibly have them accept her as a pack mate. Maybe she'd even find that frail humanoid looking one from her first instance of being in Hueco Mundo. Her mind almost trailed to her time getting into a fight with Teresa and her draconic kin but was dragged away to notice the screams of wild hollows. Her eyes narrowed as she realized that wasn't bestial consumption screams, it was a frenzy. A cacophony even given there were a great many hollows involved. And it seemed to be relatively close by. Given she'd just arrived she could give it a look into before moving on her way, it wasn't like she was here to kill her kin after all.



Unless of course they came after her. In which case, her spirits were always hungry for the flesh of others. Thus she growled out her order to her spiritual companions to fly towards the screams and to do so from above. She got nods from all of them before the pack departed and it wouldn't be long before they saw the source of the sounds. A veritable swarm of hollows all worked to a frenzy and killing or consuming one another. The centermost looked near amalgamous as individual bodies were so packed and covered in blood, viscera, and everything else that it was impossible to determine what hollow was what. The outskirts however were the opposite with enough space to sneak in and fight others at a whim and with some bodies simply being eaten while others were mid fighting.



Astrid tilted her head in confusion. She couldn't understand what was going on. From what little she understood of hollows they consumed to evolve. Normally individually. So why a group? And why so fanatically? She shrugged, determined to not waste her minimal thinking capabilities on the idea. However. . . one of the hollows from the outskirts had noticed her group and decided she was an easy kill. Thus it'd fired a cero and blasted 2 of her chicks out of existence. They immediately turned into petals and returned to Astrid's tree, returning to an unbloomed flower. Astrid's left three eyes narrowed considerably at this hollow, some arachnid thing. And before anything else happened she snapped mentally and growled out loudly while flaring her energy, collecting a group of no less than 8 hollows to look at her. Three hollows, the spider one included, would be wiped from existence immediately.



The spider would be the victim of the serpentine hollow's odd cero. Where most basic were red and clearly energy based, her serpents was a deep but dull red and sounded like a cannon being fired. Hell it didn't even burn it just detonated the hollow upon coming in contact with it's body. Meanwhile the chicks lit themselves on fire and immediately kamikazed some armadillo hollow's head and monkey hollow's chest cavity. Needless to say while the chicks were gone and their petals were returning to Astrid, the hollows had lost their respective body parts. The monkey no longer having a chest cavity and the armadillo was now without a skull. Both fell to the ground dead with Astrid's serpent quickly swooping up both to consume.



Astrid in the meantime spawned out a small attack force from the tree in her back. Four humanoid wisp looking creatures spawned from lavender flower blossoms on her backside and fell to the ground 20 feet beneath her. Meanwhile she simply resummoned the chicks that had previously been blasted out of existence. Astrid had been tested and pissed off. She was now going to play for keeps. If these hollows thought she was weak because a few of her chicks were taken out, then they had another thing coming. And worse was only to come if they really pushed her anger. Because Samson was only all the more willing to make an appearance and was currently calling out to Astrid from within though quietly.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and skills}
Current Stats:

Strength: 50 (35)

Speed: 300 (220)

RS: 50 (35)

SPPR: 340 (1020)

Instinct: 180 (126)

Senses: 180 (126)

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

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats of Summons}
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

SPOILER: Click to show

{Summons information}
All class 5

Current total is 9 spirits:

-1 serpentine hollow
-4 draconic chicks
-4 humanoid wisps

SPOILER: Click to show

{Images of the summons}
Serpentine Hollow:



Humanoid wisps:



Draconic hollow chicks:

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 21

✉ notes: knocked down a tree , used the dust as cover , 
went in and cut alot of hollows achilies tendons then flew back up in the tree line befire the sand settled

I spy with my little eye

(1) The smell of musky iron filled marik's nostril's his stomach would rumble as his holow hole begam to ache , he truly loathed this feeling.Nothing in the world was right anymore since he evolved all he knew before it was bliss , the bliss of silence and slumber to escape this harsh reality to a realm of dreams.

(2) The only thing this stupid evolution brought him was slumberless months and fatigue the sheer act of hunting was exhausting , but one thing pushed him to keep consuming that small fear that if he where to stop he would be consumed by the souls within him once more and become a gillian.

(3) To rejoin that restless cocoughany of souls once more in eternal agony never to know true rest again , was a nightmare all hollows feared and he clung to his seat of power within his body. His own memories seemed to meld with others his mind re-organizing events to make sense of it all trying to make some divine sense of it all.



(4) His small black beady eyes locking upon the great feeding frenzy his brain still working on a way to approach without getting into the thick of it , currently in his Ahuja's form the universe had decided to have him remain 3 inches tall. Which eh wasn't complaining about as he found his time as a big clunky Gillian terrible.

(5) an experience he wouldn't wish to relive. Marik's eyes would drift to the outskirts of this massive feeding frenzy where the fights where the thinnest and some taking time to actually eat thier enemies , while those in the center mass where so entrentrentched in battle that the amount of blood and entrails coating them made them appear like an amorphous crimson blob.

(6) 'if i want to have a hope of getting a good meal i'll have disperse the fighting a bit , but that would call for disrupting several fights.....i could drop a tree or maybe..' he would think to himself pondering the best way to avoid getting into the thick of it while still securing his lunch.



(7) His train of thought would soon be interrupted by a brilliant flash of deep dull red light as a pillar of fire and smoke erupted from the opposite side of the frenzy , the explosion alone was enough to draw his attention. marik would squints as he examined the new comer from his high up perch.

(8) It was some sort of plant creature the curves of it's form gave a heavy suggestiveness to it being female , but what caught both mariks attention and envy was the fact she was riding a hollow which to him was ingenious. Why walk or fly when you could have someone else do it for you.

(9) but then there was the fact he would actually have to go an train a lesser hollow to obey him...which in itself already sounded like one hell of a chore. For now he would simply stay upon his perch and examine the plant creature , she intrigued him to a great degree never had he seen a creature like her.



(10) Marik would take notice of the hollows around her turning into petals that would reform upon thier host , 'thats seems like a rather dangerious ability i wonder of they have a refactory period...id hate to have to fight someone like that' he would think to himself ruffling his feathers.

(11) After a few moments of watching he would see the her take an offensive stance seemingly joing in the all out chaos , he had no stance on the matter but he would say he was dually impressed. He would take a moment to spread his wings and begin flying agin this time flying along the trunk of the tree.

(12) gliding all the way to the bottom. He would then raise his wing channeling his riatsu along it as he formed a blade , he would then dwing it through the trunk of the tree. Not a single sound would be heard as marik sliced down the tree from his standing point.

(13) although the observant would see that a tree was indeed falling threating to smash right through the middle of the frenzy. Marik would watch gripped by silence as he watched the quartz formation fall , upon the tree finally falling thier would be a resounding boom as it would attempt to crush the gathering along the center of the circle of hollows.

(14) Upon it impacting with the ground a small smokescreen of sand would be kicked up into the air , marik himeself abusing his small size compared to other hollows would beging flying through the crowd at ankle levels slicing multiple hollows ankles and achilies tendons sowing minor chaos as he dashes about.

(15) Useing the cover of the sand he would begin spining becoming a speeding ball of blades , he himself would begin to be pelted in blood as he glided through the hollows around him. His goal was rather simple 'so as much damage as he could before the sand began to settle.

(16) 'im going to be cleaning my feathers for weaks after this' he would think to himself , as he tcked his wings to his sides and dashed between another hollows legs. Quickly turning on his side and raising one wing bringing his blade to slice the hollows groin in half as he darted by.

(17) Rolling he would unfurl his other wing and begin darting about the battle field once more , the sand almost settling back down he would make a mad dash for the tree line once more. Feeling he had done sufficet work in tipping the scales of the many battles happening down below

(18) As the sand finally settled the sight left behind would be a great bevvy of crippled hollows laying on the ground , some still fighting others being devoured. Marik  saw this less as defying hueco mondo's "the strong will thrive" rule and more of a "eliminating competition" so i can eat them easier.

(19) He would give his wings a light flutter attempting to clean his neon green feathers of the foul crimson that had stained them. Sadly no matter how hard he fluttered his feathers he couldnt clean himself of the foul crimson ichor the hollows had left behind 'may need to go to the human world for a bird bath' he would think to himself.

(20) With a light sigh he would examine the battle field once more , wishing to see what his attempt at culling the heard had done. With the tree falling there wasn't a concentrated center of mass gore but more dispersed isolated battles happening inches apart from each other.

(21) "so enraptured with thier hunger that they dont see the claw digging in thier own back" he would yawn out as he raised a wing to his beak as he slowly lowered himself upon anew perch. His tomach shooting off dull pain as he ignored his inate desire to eat , waiting for the moment he could indulge.

by Mizo.❉ of ww.

Stats:

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength: 40

Speed: 160



Spiritual Pressure: 90 type boost-> 112

Riatsu Strength: 90 type boost -> 112



Light Aura: 50

Dark Aura: 50



Instinct: 140 type Gimp -> 105

Sense: 40 type Gimp -> 30



Energy Sensory: 40

Healing Expertise: 0 [perma locked 0]

Riatsu Pool: 1120/1120-75 = 1045/1120

Things used: 

SPOILER: Click to show

Burēdo (ブレードハンド , Blade Hand)

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid was ready to throw down with her multitude of spirits summoned forth. The previously mentioned hollows numbering in five now had garnered more attention. The group had now managed to become 16 separate entities that all looked like they want Astrid's hide. Likely because Astrid had a great volume of spiritual energy to her, and it didn't take a genius to realize Astrid herself was something of a glass cannon. Strong namely because of her spirits, not so much because of herself. But that was fine by Astrid, at this point and time. It meant that she could attract many and possibly consume them. Or have her spirits consume them. Truly it didn't matter at all, the souls of the consumed all came to her anyway. And considering the spoils before her, she might actually be able to eat her fill. The thought alone made her begin to drool an amber sap that smelled far more sweetly than it should have.



Taking a moment to gather a deep breath, Astrid before doing anything else made sure to let out as loud a roar as possible. Which for her size was actually quite impressive, easily able to be heard until halfway towards the central blob. Her spirits immediately followed up with a roar of their own before barring their fangs at those before them. The wisps having dropped to the floor immediately ripped open their previously smooth faces, revealing their fleshy mouths lined entirely with teeth. Though they did not have cero or bala to shoot they were fast enough to keep up with those before them. And unlike the chicks, when fighting the wisps it was never a 1v1. At a minimum it was always a two vs one. Normally with one wisp coming to an enemy's side while the other wisp did the same. The wisps would then literally beat the life out of whoever they were fighting, occasionally ripping through flesh with abandon.



The chicks in the meantime flew around Astrid. Namely raining hell upon those on the ground with bala. And similarly, to the cero the serpent used the bala were dull red and exploded with the size of a hand grenade. So even with the chicks being inaccurate they still managed to injure or otherwise singe those presently around their target. Between the wisps and the chicks alone those 16 hollows that had previously found themselves gunning for Astrid and her pack, was reduced by half. Astrid and her serpent in the meantime made sure the remaining hollows didn't get forgotten about by making sure they died in the worst way possible. Her serpent had more methods of killing things than simply using its body or bala/cero, it had stomach acid. And a potent stomach acid at that. Enough that when it projectile vomited over a collection of three insectoid hollows, their bodies near immediately began to melt. By the time the fly by was over the bodies were half eaten and made of sludge effectively.



Astrid was immensely pleased with her summons. She hadn't seen them go wild in a long while. Namely because she hadn't allowed it. And why would she? She'd been in the Soul Society up til now, she couldn't afford to have the many shinigami there come after her. Especially not in droves like she recalled them being able to. She'd needed to temper herself just a bit. But in Hueco Mundo? It wasn't like she'd attract the attention of anyone important. It was a veritable wasteland for hollows. Nothing here but those who had real power or the lessers who got eaten. Astrid was intent on making sure she was not in the latter category. However. . . she'd have her doubts as the unthinkable occurred. Astrid herself wouldn't have taken notice of the unspeakable had her chicks not made mention of it themselves. Or really had they not near constantly screeched at her.



Astrid's cruel smile fell and the color around her face paled to a light olive green. A tree. . . was falling down. . . A monstrously sized tree. Was falling down. And it was going to hit spot on the center but likely break apart and hit many a hollow in the process. There was only one thing she could do and that was bid her chicks and serpent to fly the opposite direction as well as skyward. The wisps below there was naught she could do for them. They'd get killed, likely, and she would just have to manage without them. Astrid had to wonder though, who nearby was capable of this? The tree's were massive. To cut clean through one was unthinkable to her given it wasn't a normal tree. It was hard as the stony ground beneath them! None of the hollows present should be able to manage this. Unless. . . it was hiding.



There had to be powerful hollow around. She couldn't have been the only one to have heard the frenzied screams. Nor was she the only one capable of fighting hordes. The adult hollow dragon she'd consumed spoke to that. This meant she'd have to keep her guard up. And that she'd likely need to more of her spirits to keep up with the hollow in question. That meant there was only one thing she could do to keep up. She'd have to summon Samson via her Infernus. But for now she needed to ensure she was safe and that meant she needed to stick to her serpent. Thankfully whoever decided the tree needed to fall down was intentionally aiming towards the center mass of this frenzy. Which meant even her slower speed spirits were capable of avoiding the tree or it's broken off segments. Well. . . her flying spirits anyway.



The wisps below were not so fortunate. All of them, bless their souls, had just finished beating up a beaver hollow of all things and a rat hollow. They were currently gorging themselves on the flesh before them until resounding tremor, followed by shockwave, followed by debris from the tree hitting the earth wiped them off the face of existence. Boulder sized chunks hit two of them square in the body. Another was actually straight up forced under several large cracks that formed on the ground and smashed between them. The last was thrown and impaled on the horn of a bull hollow that was currently partially under a boulder. All four subsequently broke apart into petals and returned to Astrid's tree form moments later. Astrid caught a glimpse of the last one's death. It was eerily reminiscent of several deaths she'd endured in Hell.



With the tree having fallen on it's side and broken apart, the only thing that remained was the cloud of sand, dust, and debris that had been flung into the air. This meant the biggest threat to her was dealt with and now she could safely release. Given Astrid had shit for sensory capabilities and had no former knowledge of Marik, there was no way she'd find him prior to him entering the cloud. Astrid in the meantime while she sat upon her flying stead exploded out with energy, enough that whatever hollows remained likely sensed her. . . And knew she wasn't one of them. Her hellish reiatsu was expansive and if anyone was even half decent in the means of sensing energy, they'd hear the screams of those condemned to reside within Astrid. Her form itself change as she grew from just barely over 3 feet to nearly 4 1/2 feet tall with her arms easily stretching out and extending to reach beyond her legs for another foot. These of course would be hanging off of er stead. However, that was far from the end of things. Its who came after that would likely shock the remainder of the hollows.



Astrid while Samson was beginning to manifest simply walked off of her serpentine stead. Allowing gravity to bring her to ground ever more quickly. Meanwhile behind her, from the tree on her back came a dark shadow. Initially a head that started to grow in size and extend past the branches. To then a long neck, followed quickly by a pair of limbs, long thick and oddly branchlike in appearance. This pair was then followed by another and another before finally the lower torso and the legs finally crawled out from her backside. And just in time as well given that Samson hit the ground prior to her, slamming deep into the earth, about 5 feet in and causing deep cracks to branch out. This however didn't look to faze him, and it certainly didn't hinder him when he caught Astrid with the first pair of limbs. Astrid chuckled darkly before petting Samson who then placed her on his backside and began to crawl out of the hole that was half his size.



Once he and Astrid were out of the hole, they'd notice they could actually see as the dust and debris was blown away thanks to the flying serpent and the small chicks accompanying it. Astrid smiled as she could already tell her spirits had grown in strength but then frowned as she looked around. She'd need more to keep up with the thing that dropped the tree. And thus, without moments delay she summoned it. The actual being that spawned the draconic chicks, she spawned forth the adult dragon from her backside. And like Samson it crawled it way out of her tree. However, unlike Samson as soon as it spawned it immediately produced more chicks from its mouth adding to the total spirit count until it was 15 strong. Once it's brood was brought forth it took its large wings and flapped them vigorously to disperse the cloud giving the group about 60 feet of vision to work with. Though this only showed what Astrid should have expected.



Hollows strewn around. Some in body parts. Others whole but crippled. A rare few who'd been spared most of the harm were consuming or otherwise fighting the "able-bodied" remainder. Astrid started to growl loudly to herself. None of these hollows were capable of that feat. She knew this. So where was the one in question who did? With another growl, though far louder she ordered her brood to search the area while remaining within 10 feet of her and Samson. With a nod to Samson afterward the two started moving towards the tree and the remains around it in search of the hollow who felled it. The adult dragon following around them and the chicks circling the three keeping their eyes and ears peaked for anything that looked capable. The serpentine hollow in the meantime simply hovered above Astrid about 20 feet up doing much the same as the chicks. With the occasional cero towards anything that tried to get close to them.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-600 reiatsu for 8 spirits summoned in the previous post
-500 reiatsu for summoning 10 spirits this post
-125 reiatsu for releasing her infernus at class 4

1,225 reiatsu used

10,200 - 1,225 = 8,975 reiatsu remaining

SPOILER: Click to show

{Horde information}
All spirits in the horde are class 4

Total number of spirits in horde: 15

Spirits in horde are as follows:

-1 Adult Hollow Dragon
-13 Baby hollow chicks
-1 flying serpent hollow

SPOILER: Click to show

{Horde Stats}
Strength: 500

Speed: 350

Reiatsu Strength: 0

Spiritual Pressure: 0 (immune to cutback)

Instinct: 200

Senses: 200

Energy Sensory: 150

Healing Expertise: 0

Durability: 1,800 (120 per spirit)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Images for horde}
Adult Hollow Dragon



Samson

SPOILER: Click to show

{Astrids new form}

SPOILER: Click to show

{Samson Stats}
Strength: 600

Speed: 300

Reiatsu Strength: 0

Spiritual Pressure: 0 (Immune to cutback)

Instinct: 200

Senses: 150

Energy Sensory: 50

Healing Expertise: 0

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 15

✉ notes: knocked down three more trees , will kill the remaining hollows if given cover within a certain radius , if not will hang back and nom on a hollow thats dead on the outskirts

I spy with my little eye

(1) Marik would watch from his perch upon one of the many quartz tree branches near the roof of the menos forest, this creature only seemed to further amaze him with her ability. Sadly she had taken his ability to use the debris as cover away from him, she had summoned two rather large gnarly beast.

(2) he didn't have the stamina for a long-drawn-out fight not yet at least. He was very much pleased with the falling tree's results in widespread destruction, the remaining hollows didn't pose him much of a threat but the ones that had emerged from that plant woman's body were another story altogether.

(3) he would examine the group as they walked toward the center of the area. 'a curious move...' he would think to himself as he took particular interest in the fact the creature seemed to command the other via grunts and growls, spreading his wings once more.

(4) he would hop off the tree gliding down the backside of the trunk once more. Being up as high as he was placed him well above their line of sight allowing him time to glide down the back of the tree once he reached the base of the tree once more he would slice through it.

(5) not waiting for the tree to fall he would dash move in a burst of speed (160) slicing through two more tree's staying low to the sands to remain out of sight of her chicks and that hollow that was giving her air reconnaissance. Naturally the trees themselves wouldn't reach clear across the battlefield.

(6) as the first tree smashed down toward the center and the debris traveled a fair distance. This time the tree's that had been fell would be respectivly to her right each slash that marik made was a slightly angeled one , as marik was hoping to elimate the surrounding hollows that remained.

(7) The falling tree's where clearly not aimed with her in mind , but the debris would still be in the area all the same. As the tree's where following marik would stay low to the ground as he circled the area once more settling behind another tree making himself comfortable in the sand.

(8) He would let out a small sigh as he would wait for the resulting large boom that would normally follow a tree falling down , he would wait till the dust and debris would once again rise.  If things went as foreseen he would spring into action once more , useing the dust and debris for cover he would remember the sixty foot radius of sight her winged servants gave her.

(9) Making sure ton give her double that he would spring into action this time aiming to kill the remaining hollows , staying close to the sands below he himself would rapidly begin dodging rubble. Extending his blade techniqe's range by a meter he would fly at his top speed bisecting any hollow that stood taller than his wings.

(10) blood would spatter across the sand and quartz boulders that now dotted the area. As the dust began to settle once more he would once again dart for the tree line , this time not taking to the branches as he darted for the tree line but aiming to nestle behind a tree.



(11) As the dust settled this time she should be relatively alone this time aside from her own hollows and the few that remained within one hundred and twenty feet of her current location. He was looking foward to having a lovely meal but the longer this seemed to drag on.

(12) the more it looked like he would need to confront her the much stronger monster lady...in the event that his tree's where intercepted and he was not afforded the safety of cover, he would stay behind the tree line.

(13) Given the fact he was 3 inches tall and wouldn't be experiencing any growth possibly until his next evolution , had he just remained behind the base of the falllen tree preening his feather he wouldve been out of site. The best thing he could do for now was preen his feathers while he waited and watched doing his best to look inconspicuous.

(14) For now he would sit in wait watching to see what would happen , he wasn't sure the extent of her abilities , as it stood she and her servants tsood between him and his food. And untill the hollows he had slain rested in his gullet he would need to asail her or run her off.

(15) as of right now she hadnt an idea of where he was , he would take this time to hide amongst the rubble and waddle his way along the rocks. He would stab his beak into the muscular arm of a hollow and begin to gingerly slurp out thier insides very quietly.

by Mizo.❉ of ww.

Stats:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Strength: 40

Speed: 160



Spiritual Pressure: 90 type boost-> 112

Riatsu Strength: 90 type boost -> 112



Light Aura: 50

Dark Aura: 50



Instinct: 140 type Gimp -> 105

Sense: 40 type Gimp -> 30



Energy Sensory: 40

Healing Expertise: 0 [perma locked 0]

Riatsu Pool: 1045/1120-75 = 970/1120

Things used: 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}Burēdo (ブレードハンド , Blade Hand)

[Astrid Vess]

Things were "quiet" for a few moments. Quiet in a way that Astrid didn't like. Yes, the remaining hollows that could fight or eat were doing so. Or even the rare few that actually managed to get away doing such. However, there was an eerie feeling of being watched. Part of that being that Astrid had in fact made herself a target by releasing at this point, and the fact that two more trees would fall down around her. Mind you Astrid didn't notice the first one, again, due to mainly constantly keeping her eyes peeled for anything around them. However, some of her chicks quickly realized another tree was tipping over, followed shortly thereafter by yet another tree. With a couple screeches, Astrid directed her attention to said tree's before growling out a return order. All the chicks and even the serpentine hollow quickly moved within 10 feet of Astrid and Samson.

Astrid did have to admit however that these trees were beginning to look a bit. . . organized. The first one hit dead center. The second set were not directly aimed at her but were around her. With these two trees about to smash into the ground there was little time to do much of anything. So, Astrid had quickly thought about what it was that needed to happen. Her spirits were around her, so she was safe. And they were all watching what was going on, so she didn't need to worry about a stealth attack yet. . . Or did she? Having once been inclined to the basics of stealth it wasn't actually that far-fetched to think that these were a distraction effort. One that she'd have to take note of given the rubble that'd fly at her. Astrid growled to herself as her hand was forced in this case. However, she wasn't without the means hinder any attempts. But that would come after this first tree was dealt with.

However unlike Astrid's actions up to this point it was Samson who'd actually start the defense. This was by letting out a terribly distorted roar, one that inhuman by even hollow standards as it sounded like at least 4 souls screaming out. From there the chicks, all thirteen charged up and fired out ceros towards the tree that was falling ahead of them. The body of the tree itself would remain mostly intact however the debris that were going to head their way? They were gone. Blown away to bits. The tremors and major cracks in the ground that came their way was easy enough for everyone in the horde to dodge. Namely given that most were already above the ground and were unconcerned. The only three currently not were Astrid, Samson, and the Adult dragon. The dragon simply rose into the air and waited out the tremors while, inadvertently blowing away most of the dust that came their way back to the tree. Samson and Astrid however? Well Samson simply decided to jump in the air, a solid 15 feet, which did make him almost hit the serpent and a few chicks. However they realized quickly enough what was happening and moved out the way.

By the time the tremors and such were done Astrid and Samson landed back on the now, newly cracked and torn up ground. The second tree was actually a good deal easier to deal with, namely because with the two other trees' having fallen down, they were the ones who soaked up most of the impact, tremors, and debris. Leaving only a few solid stones to come Astrid's way. Spoiler alert: They didn't make it. Falling just like the former set of debris, simply being blown away. With the resounding sound slowly fading away and the newly made dust and debris cloud in full swing Astrid decided now was the pinnacle time to bring forth the wisps again. This time however she only spawned out five of them and unlike the time prior she'd have spawned them from the inside of Samson. Like the birth of a horrifying monster, several thin and dull gray arms clawed out from his chest cavity. One by one each slowly dropping out and falling to the ground, typically on their feet, though one fell face first.

From there Astrid knew that she had more than enough spirits available for anything. Including, searching the area out. Given the horde could work together they were more than capable of finding anything Astrid or Samson, simply didn't have the means to find. And this was most notable at this point as Samson couldn't do well finding things that weren't in front of him or detected by the five senses. And smell, let alone eyesight, wasn't going to do much here. Blood, dirt, and even the sounds of things dying or the reverberations in the forest made it more than a little difficult to find anything. The horde on the other hand? Effectively combined all their means of scouring the land with their energy sensing and quickly were able to point out which hollows were doing what as far as the original area the frenzied swarm had initially taken place in.

Much of what the horde got was simply the dying energy signs of hollows. A few on the farthest outskirts denoted those running. And the last few were simply those lucky enough to be able to consume the veritable mound of flesh that remained. However, one hollow of note was detected in this energy scouring. A hollow so laughably small that the first couple chicks that realized it was present continued to re-scour the energy just to make sure they weren't mistaken. From there they quickly let out shrill cries and quickly pointed in the direction of Marik. Astrid tilted her head and gave a confused sound, akin to a bark if nothing else. With the number of chicks who were catching onto Marik's signature growing Astrid decided if nothing else to give them the time of day.

In truth Astrid still wasn't certain that a bird of all things could cause this much harm. Hell, she couldn't even see the bird. It didn't mean that this thing couldn't have knocked down the trees. . . But Astrid would have needed to see this bird do it themselves to truly believe what had happened. And right now all she saw were the fallen trees. With nothing else to go off of she decided to spread out her brood to encompass 40 feet around the tree Marik was hiding near. They did not however attack as Samson walked forward halfway between the brood of spirits and the tree. From there Astrid actually attempted speech, though it was definitely not a normal thing for her. Her voice was rough, like sandpaper wearing down stones in the worst way possible.

"You. . . What are? . . Chicks. . . tell you. . . are . . broke trees. . Did?" There was only one reason Astrid even attempted this given the frenzied festival that had previously existed. Astrid had come to meet too many hollows that had the means of speech. A surprising amount considering her mind said most were not capable. She did have to consider that she'd not been in Hueco Mundo long and that speech may be more prevalent here. Regardless the fallen trees were too thought through. Directed. It was like seeing a plan from Sonadora, specific and with thought. Astrid may not have been that sort of individual but after hanging around Sonadora? She could tell when events were orchestrated. . . well the more basic events. And the second set of tree's were just that. There was also another reason however and that was because Astrid was genuinely curious. How did a bird, that she understood to be the size of her hand. . . well smaller than her previous forms hands, cut a tree the size of a skyscraper down?

It boggled her mind. Made her wonder if she was seriously lacking in power again. Because in Hell, let alone in general, she'd only managed to take out lower-level enemies. Nothing of actual merit had been dealt with and when she'd seen beings of actual power? They'd crushed her in an instant. Orobas in particular came to mind. She'd never forget that . . . "incident". But now was not the time to devolve into anger, at least not without reason. She could only assume there was a reason the second set of tree's didn't target her. Or perhaps it was simply luck. But Astrid hadn't been one to be "lucky", if anything she was the opposite. Anything she got had to be earned tooth and claw, and normally with the assistance of others. Which brought her back to the question in her mind. "How." For once, she actually hoped this thing spoke if only to learn how it did this. Became strong enough to bring down these trees when it was otherwise so. . . fragile looking.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-250 for 5 wisps.

8,975 - 250 = 8,725 reiatsu remaining

SPOILER: Click to show

{Infernus}
Class: 4

Duration: 2/10 posts used

Summons out: 20

SPOILER: Click to show

{Current horde stats}
Strength: 550

Speed: 400

Reiatsu Strength: 0

Spiritual Pressure: 0 (immune to cutback)

Instinct: 250

Senses: 250

Energy Sensory: 200

Healing Expertise: 0

Durability: 1,800 (120 per spirit)

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 10


※ Total Paragraphs: 65

✉ notes:

I spy with my little eye

(1) Marik would let out a light sigh as he nestled down in the sand his eyes closed, he would let out a light yawn as he was surrounded followed by the sound of her stomach growling extremely loud.

(2) He would hang his head with a sigh as his hollow hole began to ache once more, He was starving and now being surrounded didn't help him in the slightest. He didn't have an issue with it as he could retaliate as needed to create an opening for himself to escape , should the event call for it.

(3) He would look up from his spot upon the sand at the woman made of vines , her voice sounded pained as if she struggled to even use it. "You. . . What are.. Chicks. . . tell you. . . are . . broke trees. . Did?" was her question marik would tilt his head at her like a confused puppy for a moment.

(4) both amazed she could speak and astounded that she shared a connection of sorts with these creatures which he had deduced seeing as he heard no words pass between them.He would look into what he assumed were the plant woman's eyes and give her a verbal answer.

(5) "yes i did cut those tree's down , i did my best to avoid hitting you i was hoping to eat in peace today" he would take a moment to raise his wing to yawn. He had a pretty good idea of what this creature was thinking , how it disbelived his ability due to his small stature but he wouldnt let it bother him he had long ago come to terms with his size.

(6) He would look to astrid then look back twoard the clearing where the body's of many hollows lay about , the survivers crawling away with thier senses restored by the fear of the situation at hand not aware when the next tree would fall.


(7) Marik would flutter his feathers shaking the blood and viscera from his feathers once more , raising a wing and pecking some bone off his inner wing. 'ugh im going to need a bath' he would think internally disapointed he'd actually be needing a bath this was one of the many reason's he hated hunting.

(8) He would look back up to astrid and samson , a bored look dancing in his eyes as began to speak once more. "if you dont mind id actually like to start eating , unless you have wishes to clash anyway" he would sate fluutering his wings once more shedding more of the excess blood slathered upon his wings.

(9) Marik was not in the mood to go and hunt down another hoard of hollows in a feeding frenzy , it was hard work enough to down this many hollows. Atop of that the bodies where disolving the more time he wasted talking the more of his food would vanish

(10) In a bid to hurridly get back to the corpses he had just layed down he would point his wing to the clearing , "i'll share but we need to hurry and eat the body's are disintergrating!" he would say with urgency in his voice despite his bored look it was clear he was hungry

by Mizo.❉ of ww.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid stood still for a bit as she tried to think. Unhelpfully her stomach made certain to let everyone know it's choice if asked. She rubbed her "stomach" or where she felt the hunger come from. It was far more spiritual than physical but that didn't stop her from having physical reactions admittedly. Thus, when the other made mention of eating she immediately understood. This bird, against all odds and despite its fragile appearance, was just doing what all hollows do. Hunt. What she'd do in his position. Really what she does already despite her own fragility. It just did so with more mental capabilities than she could muster up. Something that reminded her of Sonadora admittedly. She continued to look over Marik and take note of anything worth noticing on his form. Though in truth the only thing that she really took note of was the blood, viscera, and other body parts.

There was no way she could deny that Marik indeed was here to hunt. And he was one of a very few hollows present that were unharmed and even openly admitted he dealt with the trees. How still wasn't answered but did it matter? Astrid quickly came to a resounding no. He was strong, in some form or manner. Maybe stronger than herself even. Not that it was a very hard bar to achieve. If he was willing to share a meal, then Astrid could let him be. Especially considering he'd done most of the leg work anyway. If anything, she did respect the fact he was capable despite the odds, somewhat like herself, though he did it all on his own, which only made him something to learn from. Perhaps after he got his time to hunt, he would be more willing speak. With this in mind she simply nodded her head at Marik.

Afterwards she quite literally barked out an order to the chicks surrounding them to let him pass. From there she'd simply watch to see what he'd do. She didn't exactly expect him to try attacking her, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. She'd try to respect his capabilities and him by proxy until she was shown to need to do otherwise. Once Marik either flew away to consume his prey or did something else that made it clear he wasn't going to attack her brood Astrid gave out another order. Though this time it was spoke out in about as cruelly and hungrily as possible. "Consume. . . stay . . . from. . . small one." The horde acknowledged the order and immediately spread into groups of 5, making 4 total groups. The wisps were one solitary group, the adult dragon lead some of its chicks, the serpentine hollow lead another section of chicks, and the remaining five chicks hung around Astrid and Samson.

Assuming Marik didn't attack the brood, he'd seen them leave him be. Keeping a surprisingly wide berth from him. At a minimum of 10 feet, typically 15. However, it would also be apparent that the bodies themselves were going to be consumed far more rapidly given Astrid's horde was all eating their fill. Thankfully with such a large host of bodies, even if they were evaporating, there was a lot to share around. And that wasn't including what was currently beneath the tree's body. Though that could be dealt with later if any of the group truly desired what may have remained underneath. As for Astrid herself despite being on Samson she still partook of the feast before her. Arguably far more ravenously than the spirits she summoned.

This would quite literally look like she'd not eaten in ages. As if she'd been starving up until this point. The first body she'd get was the remains of the armadillo hollow her brood had killed. And while she couldn't claw her way through its body like she'd be inclined to that didn't make what she did any less animalistic. For one thing she let her "fingers" the foot long roots on the end of her arms worm and wiggle their way into the body of the hollow. From there she tore it apart into sizeable chunks by targeting joints and other soft tissue. This quickly resulted in her making a mess on Samson's back, though he hardly cared as he was busy feeding off of at least three different bodies. And for him it was a far simpler experience. He just tore off what he wanted, smooshed it, and then consumed it outright. Though if Marik watched him eat at all, he'd notice that despite having an open chest cavity he'd not see the flesh again once it passed through Samson's skull.

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 31

※ Total Paragraphs: 96

✉ notes:

I spy with my little eye

(1) The smell of iron would fill marik’s nostrils as he looked onward at the plant lady she seemed perplexed at his wish to partake in his meal , he would simply let out a sigh as he turned on his thin little legs and began to waddle toward the downed bodies.

(2) Drool begining to pool around his beak as he drew closer to the downed hollows , he would perform the closest thing to a from his bird face could produce in this form as he began to climb rubble by hopping and flapping his wings. He would make himself to what appeared to be a butterfly hollow first it’s wings pinned under rubble.

(3) weak crys and twitching antenna caught marik’s attention. He would waddle his way over flitting every once in awhile till he was walking along the creatures spined back , which was coated in a viscous green blood. he was truly making himself at home amongst his food

(4) The small neon green humming bird would follow the flow of the blood to the back of the butterfly hollow’s skull , with a deep breath he would dive in plunging his beak through it’s exoskeleton and through its skull to its glorious soft insides. The taste was simply amazing!


(5) Marik would begin applying suction the inside of his mouth flooded with blood , viscera and other chunky internals , as the moments went by the hollows body would slowly begin to lose collor and mass. The sight was what most would consider horrifying.

(6) as the hollows pinned wings began to twitch and it’s antena’s began to flail wildly in the moment till it simply went limp nothing more than an empty pale shell. Marik would pull his beak from the empty carapase with a happy sigh , but he would not be content like this for long he had ignored his inner compulsion to devour for some time now.

(7) He would begin darting from body to body with a great hunger in his eyes , yet no matter how much he ate , how many he devoured it just didn’t feel like enough his hollow hole would ache with gluttonious ichor as he fed simply wishing to be sated.

(8) ‘More1 i need more!’ he would think to himself as he plunged his beak into the eye of a wolf hollows sucking out it’s insides leaving it no more than a pelt for thode who would wish for it. In time marik would seemingly devolve to his baser hollow instincts .

(9) his beak finding a home in many skulls as he farted about the deserted battle field leaving naught but drained husk’s in his wake. His body had begun moving on auto pilot his beady black eyes becoming half lided as he darted about as is possessed by an otherworld force.

(10) the will to consume had swallowed him whole as for what this meant for him… We would need to dive within his mind to figure that part out. As he was once again swallowed by the maelstrom of souls within himself , although things where going slightly different than the first time.

-Soul Scape-

(11) Marik’s eyes would flutter open a throbbing pain gripped at his mind as he gazed ahead , he was not greeted with the darknes of las noches canopy or the starless sky of hueco mundo. Marik’s eyes where met with a sight of colorful clear nighty sky all the stars and heavens where open before him.

(12) the shape of far off galaxies danced in the distance. Shooting stars streeked through the sky , a cold feeling ran up his usually feathered spine as he attempted to sit up he would be met with an unusual surprise , his body felt larger yet not out of place he would look down.

(13) he was  met with two human legs and his own reflection. A face he had long since forgotten gazed back at him with uncaring bored eyes , he would let out a light sigh as whispers began to assault his ears as he slowly picked himself up examining the world around him.



(14) The world around him was very similar to Hueco Mundo except instead of infinite sands their appeared to be an infinite expanse of ice and crystalline structures , the lone man would stand in stunned silence at the structure that rested at the horizon. Ten massive crystal structures that shined with a dazzling light glittered in the far distance.

(15) directly above them in the distance was a sun that was eclipsed by the moon a bright ring of white light shined down from the two lunar bodied locked in eternal eclipse in the sky. He couldn't explain why but he would simply begin walking twoard it without rime or reason.

(16) The cold beneathe his feet numbe to his mind , that was crowded with voices that where not his own each one growing louder with each step, Memories that where not his own began to flash before his eyes. The visions would grow more and more vivid with each step taken.

(17) Images of a sickly woman kept popping into view her hands outstretched as if to embrace him , a smile so kind and warm. He wanted to feel her touch to know the feeling of protection that this memorie seemed to offer. His feet would begin hitting the ground faster.

(18) Marik would break out into a full sprint the giant structure in the distance growing now closer than it was before , although the images of this woman would persist he was so close he could practically feel it. The mystery's of these visions would finally be unlocked.

(19) Or so he would think himself , as his mind was soon then flooded with images of a grotesque weathered man. An instinctual fear would grip his souls that was soon replaced with hate , a searing pain would erupt in his chest where he would know his hollow hole to be.

(20) 'who was this man ? what did he want? and how does this deal with me?!' he would scream internally as he ran faster more images flooding his mind. More memories this time a boy who was studying , the scene would then shift to a girl running down a dark alley.

(21) He soon was replaying the lives of entire people , his concept of time had slowly begun to wain with each step. Pain racked his body as he began to slow he couldnt be bothered to endure this pain any longer , not to give the souls within a chance at reliving thier last moments.

(22) He would look up at the night sky falling to his knees , as new revelations seemed to dawn upon him. The ice around him would slowly take the shape of hands and begin clasping for his arms and legs attempting to pull him down below, deep into the sea of endless crystal. He would let out a sigh as the whisper's grew louder as the crystal hands creeped further and further up his body.

(23) He had gorged himself to fast and to quickly with no time to shatter assimilate the souls in-between meals , In a way he had lost his ballance of attempting to relax and work. and as a result he found himself being overwhelmed by the tide once more.

(24) "what a pain in the ass" he would mumble with a sigh , as he slowly began to raise his arms the crystal one's cracking as he did so, Marik normally would happily let himself succumb to these souls but he knew thier shrieks all to well. The only way to secure the silence in his souls was to elimnate all others that dwelled within once more.

-Back with the real world-

(25) Marik was devouring hollows with reckless abandon his riatsu was fluctuating in a very unstable manner . one moment it would be inconsequential the next it would spike dramatically , his behavior becoming more and more like that of a ravenoious beast as time continues

(26) HIs beak would find its mark over and over , while in a frenzy he would eat his food far moer sloppily pulling his beak from the corpses of hollows as he was mid-slurp dragging thier innards across the white sand as he ran to the next corpse to claim his prize.

(27) Just as marik's ate the last hollow in the area he would begin to shudder his body trembling , he would let out a tiny pained cry as his riatsu spiked once more his tiny beady eyes opening once more. he would blink a few times and look around as if lost before resting his eyes on astrid once more.

(28) He would let out a light yawn ruffling his feathers raising his wing , and pecking at a few feathers attempting to preen himself. He would pluck a few frayed feathers that seemed to have been steeped in dryed blood as he didn;t want them hindering his ability to fly.

(29) Once he had plucked about three feathers he would shke himself , freeing his body of a bit more excess blood. "sorry i blacked out for a minute there' he would say with a light yawn and a burb his little stomach onlt slightly distend3d despite the vast quantity of hollows he just devoured.

(30) Looking up at the tree's he would decide that they where to far of a walk and waddle over to the base of a tree near astrid , to tired to flea the scene or go get truly clean he would settle for small talk. Nestling down in the sand he use his wings to create a small divvet in the sand so he could rest comfortably.

(31) With a light yawn he would seemingly close his eyes , no longer wishing to exert a tremendous amount of effort or energy. "so tell me whats your name? seeing as we just shared a meal my name is marik" he would say with another light yawn this time his head drooping slightly an indication he was tired and comfortable.

BY MIZO.❉ OF WW.

[Astrid Vess]

Time passed by without really any of Astrid or her brood caring. In truth by the time Astrid had come back to her senses as well her brood, same as the bodies they'd consumed, were already gone. Samson having been the last one to leave given he was effectively waiting for her to allow him to. Astrid looked down at him as he cooed quietly, it seemed he was pleased as well. And if the numerous souls in utter agony within her were any show her brood had consumed a large quantity and they were currently getting used as fodder for her own growth. Still, what was interesting was seeing Marik in his final throes of consumption. Samson had gotten her attention by pointing directly at him. From the way he was tilting his head, it was clear he was confused. Though by what Astrid couldn't understand.

Samson knew full well that hollows were beasts, same as the two of them were. That when the hunger finally took over, they were both just that. Hunger made manifest. Nothing else mattered, nor would ever matter. So, it must have been something else. A quick tilt of her own head had Samson describing, namely "willing" his understanding of Marik's sporadic energy to her. Astrid being energy deaf had no means of sensing that Marik was going through something. To her he simply looked like someone lost in the hunt. Which happened to all those who were hollow or beast. But if his energy was acting up then what was going on? Was it similar to her where the souls needed time to acclimate? Or I guess in her case, get broken down and used as nutrients for the soul?

She couldn't truly be certain if she were honest. Much as she was raised by hollows, she'd not seen anything strange when they hunted. And Marik didn't look all that strange with his glazed over eyes and rabid need to feed. Truthfully the only thing that Astrid was even mildly concerned about was the fact that he might try to attack her and Samson. Still, it seems like that wasn't an issue as he eventually came back to his senses once he'd finished his last corpse. Astrid and Samson in the meantime had simply been watching and sharing their own last corpse. Astrid mid chew on an arm and Samson horking down the ripped apart torso of. . . something. Like Marik they were both covered in blood and viscera, though unlike him they showed no signs of having eaten physically. Their chest cavities empty and the same as prior.

Still the two watched him look around and eventually decided to come rest near them. He seemed. . . content. Likely tired more than anything. The hunt did that to someone, and a good meal only furthered that. Though Astrid admittedly wasn't certain how safe it was to have this sort of mindset in Hueco Mundo. In Hell Marik would have been killed in a matter of minutes for attempting to rest. Because that's when one was at their weakest. Which really only made hunting that much more agonizing to deal with. Because then you became the prey for whatever had watched you consume. . . and something was always watching. Hueco Mundo however seemed. . . more sporadic atm. There were packs and there were individuals. Sometimes you had frenzies like they'd seen, but most of it seemed quiet and isolated, barring the trees.

Which that reminded Astrid, she needed a portion of the trees. Thus, she bade Samson to get up and break off a smaller chunk of a tree for her. Thankfully by the time she'd bade him she also heard Marik speak. He asked for a name and gave his. "Marik". Such a strange thing to be "named". Another word that Astrid had never heard of. Her vocabulary was minimal at best but even as far as hearing others speak, she'd never heard that said until now. The only reason she even understood that "Marik" was his name was because of his body language. There was a small gesture towards himself that gave away that it was less a word of meaning and more specific to him. Astrid, of course, did have a name as well, one she'd not heard another use. Though she still wasn't certain how she felt about it.

She wasn't even certain if she should give a name to him. Still, she couldn't give a fake name, for she knew none that weren't another's. And even then, there was ties to each name that she didn't want brought to herself. Alastor and Orobas for obvious reasons. Sonadora and Akando because they were currently those she considered pack mates. Thus she didn't want to take what was theirs. So all she had left was her own name. She stayed quiet for a bit longer as she considered it, namely due to having her hunger appeased for the time being. Thankfully though with the beast inside her quieted she could focus on direct Samson to give her a sizeable chunk for her to use in a sigil. One she'd learned recently.

Samson, having arrived at the closest tree did what he did best. Punched the shit out of it and caused it break in half. The spot that he punched, had caved in, cracked, and broken apart however and thus Astrid was inspecting the pieces of what fell. Sadly they were all too big and though she could just make a decently sized sigil for it, she wasn't quite feeling up to doing that. So she simply pointed Samson to another chunk, had him "gently" break it into fourths and then had him give her one. By the time she'd gotten the decently sized chunk she wanted it almost looked like Marik was asleep, though something told her he wasn't quite there yet. But he did seem close. Astrid didn't quite like the idea of having to use the name she'd found out because of Orobas but she'd have to use it anyway.

With Samson's help she got off of his back and started using her reiatsu to draw out a peculiar sigil. The color pure white to start before devolving into a deep reddish hue until she introduced the chunk of tree into it's center. In which case it started to shift to a grey-black. In the meantime the stone itself began to break apart slowly but surely. This is when Astrid finally decided to answer Marik. "Name. . . As. . . trid. . ." She'd then point over towards Samson. "It's. . . name. . . Sam. . .son. . Why? She turned her head towards Marik as she asked her question. She assumed that like Sonadora, he'd simply wanted to have something to specify her over others around them. But still. . . this "naming" bit wasn't something she was used to. Thus her curiosity at Marik wanting one. Hell if she could articulate it she'd ask why one was even needed. Hollows seemed like they only took one on if they really wanted it. As most of the members from her original pack didn't have one, aside from the alpha.

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 14

※ Total Paragraphs: 110 (PERSONAL GOAL REACHED)

✉ notes:

I spy with my little eye

(1)Marik’s left eyes would open slightly as the sound of samson smashing a tree was heard , he would let out yet another yawn as he continued to get comfortable in his resting spot. In truth he knew the dangers of sleeping after such a hunt but with this plant monster lady in the area he had very little to worry about , and in terms of why she hadn’t attacked him he view it as the veiled gun concept.

(2) Marik had seen a small glimpse off the chaos she could unleash upon the battlefield and was content to not to see what hell she could unleash , should she start commanding these beast’s around him with great efficiency. In turn she herself knew marik somehow cleanly sliced through those tree’s and sent them falling in her general direction.

(3) the theoretical fight that would ensue if either decided to engage the other in combat was several leagues of hassle neither trul wished to deal with…well atleast a degree of hassle marik didn’t wish to deal with.

(4) Hell slicing down those tree’s was like two thousand point eighty six calaroies lost already , anymore strenyious acts and he might actually become two tired for his two hour after noon nap and would have to fit in a ten hour nap next to his already short eight hours of sleep before his next hunt.



(5) Marik’s ear holes would vibrate lightly as he hung upon the plant womans name , "Name. . . As. . . trid. . ." She'd then point over towards Samson. "It's. . . name. . . Sam. . .son. . Why? ; She would inquire why he had asked this question of her after she had given her name.

(6) Marik would slowly open his eyes his small black beady eyes locking with hers. He would simply shrug as he didn’t truly have an answer for why he wished to know her name , “no reason really , i dont have many aquantances who dont try to eat or bully me so im rather enjoying your presensence , speaking of which there is a jackass roaming about with a cape of pink feathers avoid him if you see him his name was Riser or something”

(7) He would sould say with another lighty yawn as he would raise his wing once more to his beak covering it as if it where a mouth. “Im so sorry before i evolved i used to sleep for years at a time , being at my current level i need to eat constantly and my sleep schedule has been ruined”

(8) he would say this in an almost nonchalant way , although venom was laced in his tone as it was clear he hated the fact that he needed to constantly consumed hollows. He saw this as the ultimate curse , before he could justs imply sleep the decades away and not worry about his circumstances but now he was constantly teetering on the edge of a proverbial blade,

(9) striving and yearning for a time when he would no longer be burden by the fear of regression. He would flutter his feathers once more spattering the sand with the remaining blood as he did so his neon green feathers shining through , he would look to astrid curiously then to her pack mates.

(10) He seem to look at all her pack mates in a curious manner as if trying to figure out if they where a part of her , or thier own seperate individuals. Samson seemed to be able to function well enough on his own ; based of what marik could actually percieve.

(11) "you probably dont want to be pestered with my questions , but why didnt you attack me when you first saw me?" he would ask her genuinly as her actions seemed to perplex him. The few hollows that did notice him almost immediatly attacked as an auto response.

(12) He wanted to know what made her chose to talk in those few split seconds , not that he wasnt greatful as it meant he could relax as he is now. The thought behind why she would humor his feeding frenzy let alone conversation boggled and confused him.

(13) "Trust me i appreciate it..." he would pause taking a moment to stretch his wings and yawn once more , hanging his head lightly only for it to snap back up like a whip. "...its just most hollows cant speak , let alone give others a chance to talk...your a unique case" he would say as he stood slowly waddling to a tiny chunk of stray flesh on teh emnos forest floor.

(14) He would begin pecking at it stripping flesh from the chunk with a small happy humm before looking back up at astrid , "so then astrid and sampson what brings you to the menos forest anyway?" he would ask chunks of meat hanging from his beak as he looked up at her.

BY MIZO.❉ OF WW.

[Astrid Vess]

This day only got more confusing for Astrid as it went on. The bir- Marik had decided to strike up a full-on conversation with Astrid. Even as she was doing something next to him. Had she been in his shoes she'd be highly concerned with someone using their spiritual energy in such a close proximity to them. Still, she didn't exactly desire to fight given he'd shared a meal with her and her spirits. Not to mention she saw some of herself in Marik. The fragility and small size of his current form felt similar to Astrid in her base form. Though luckily for him he was actually not nearly as abhorrent and clearly unnatural as Astrid was. She had to learn a means for how to effectively cover that up because she couldn't get a form that allowed her to not be a monster in appearance.

She shook her head and focused back on her sigil. Watching it break apart the tree chunk she'd gotten. Once it was done breaking apart and the entire sigil was a solid grey-white color it produced a new sigil, the one she'd actually use now to traverse worlds. In the bottom left corner was what represented Hueco Mundo. A quarter circle that had a grey tree in the middle of it. And the energy surrounding its section was grey-white. With a small nod and a smile she could finally say she was more free than ever now. Able to go to a realm of her own volition or even, escape to a new one if she'd been thrown into some place by Alastor. He may have had prowess and power in Hell but his influence in the other worlds was nowhere near as capable, thus she could easily do what she wanted, where she wanted now. And that thought alone did wonders on the usually constant underlying anger she held.

Still with her smaller goal now dealt with she glanced back at Marik. He'd spoken. . . a lot. Something that usually rubbed her the wrong way. . . However, like Sonadora she'd not been looked down or condescended. Well truthfully Sonadora did at first, but she'd quickly changed that, so it was alright as far as Astrid was concerned. Marik on the other hand seemed less concerned about what she was and more concerned on the whys of what she did. Some of which were easy enough to explain. . . if she could articulate it. Meanwhile others. . . not so much. She figured she'd just have to tackle it one step at a time and do what she could. She if nothing else, had the patience for attempting a conversation at the moment. A glance at Samson showed even he was willing to relax for a moment, clearly unconcerned about Marik, though that didn't mean his gaze completely left Marik's form. It just wasn't as intense as it could be.

She took a breath before she started responding, going from the first thing he'd said to her. "Ri. . . ser? What. . . is?" She tilted her head at Marik at the mention of this "Rizer" individual. She figured he was talking about a pink feathered hollow given she knew next to nothing about anything in Hueco Mundo. Still, she got the jist that despite being aggressive he had power. Something that Astrid also wanted. And that alone made her narrow her eyes at the prospect. A powerful individual that shit on others because they could. Before she realized it, she was started to growl deeply and her energy flaring just a bit. It reminded her immensely of Orobas and to a lesser extent Alastor. She didn't need another person forcibly shoving her into the dirt without a fight. And knowing Astrid? She'd be just dumb enough to try and fight anyway. It wasn't like death was the end for her after all.

Still, she eventually caught onto what she was doing and took a moment to push the thoughts of the shitstains from her mind. Though it did take more willpower than she would be willing to admit. Still another side glance as Marik and she simply nodded to him. She could understand the notion of enjoying one who wasn't parading themselves over you. She had enjoyed that very sentiment with Sonadora and to a lesser degree Akando. The next portion of Marik's speech was. . . mostly missed by her. She understood the jist. . . or she thought she did. He slept a lot. If "years" were something of a long period of time. In truth Astrid's sense of time was horribly warped as for her in Hell she couldn't tell what "time" it was at any point. Why would she? It didn't really change in any way that mattered. Add on how much she died there and it was almost impossible to keep track.

Still while "time" didn't get much traction with her, she could understand the hunger the spoke of. She too felt that constantly. Barring moments like this and while she was in the process of eating. But when she was without and especially when she was weaker? She was something of a mindless beast because of it. Only ever really knowing and thinking about eating. The fact that food was the only motivator if only because whatever semblance of self was present was so horribly overridden that it almost didn't matter. . . . Almost. That small portion of her knew she was so close to losing herself completely that "she" would cease to be. A thought that truly scared her. Even now she still did her best to try and never revert to that level of hunger if she could help it. While she wasn't happy with herself on the whole, at least she was more "her" than "beast". And that meant something to her and apparently to others. As Marik had already pointed out.

It was a long enough period of time between Astrid's last comment that Marik could have mistaken Astrid for ignoring him. However, she did eventually speak up. "Hunger. . . never goes. . . Always. . . now. . . small now. . . waiting always. . . more self. . . more eating. . more. . "me". Another glance and Astrid as well as Samson noticed where Marik was looking at. And it was over every spirit in her brood. That did make her tense slightly but Marik made no attempt to attack them, thus Astrid let him be. The brood was keeping enough of an eye on him as it was. She needed to let them manage their own fights when it happened. Besides Samson was already looking out for her by keeping an eye on Marik as it was. Though that didn't stop Samson from moving a couple arms around Astrid and making something of a "wall" just in case.

His next question however was something Astrid herself had to think on for a bit more. For once she actually got most of his sentence. Not that it was hard to understand "Why not attack me?" In truth. . . Astrid had been exceptionally wary of him or anything else that had been throwing trees around them to the ground. And from her experiences in Hell, you didn't just ignore displays of power. Though usually that meant you would immediately find them to fight. Same as a hollow would she guessed. So why didn't she attack? She guessed it boiled down to Sonadora and Akando. Both of which she found could speak and both sufficiently capable. Moreso than the standard hollow. It didn't help that she too was perplexed at why hollows spoke when her own memories went against it.

To give Marik an answer he could understand meant Astrid had to think for this one. And it was obvious she was thinking as she actually closed her eyes for this and was noticeably still until she started to speak again. "Met others. . . they spoke. . . strong. . .more them. . . less hunger. . . You . . . like them? . . Maybe. . Did. . . Sonadora. . . did. . Think. . . speak. . Watch." She grabbed her throat for a moment. The sensation of speaking frequently in a short duration was strange. She wasn't certain if she enjoyed it or preferred silence or bestial sounds. That was a lie, she definitely enjoyed the bestial sounds. Far simpler and more direct. Less wordy and more focused on the body. A lot could be said in how one moved let alone held themselves. A lot of which was important.

Still Marik and Sonadora both seemed to be more on the intellectual side. Thinkers and speakers as opposed to the more bestial kind, like Akando. She could admit to herself that there were benefits to both sides. Though that didn't mean she had to like it. But she could say she found the idea of not fighting absolutely every hollow before a good thing. Especially considering she was trying to collect a pack of individuals. Ones that were distinctly not permanently bound to her like the spirits she summoned were. They were a pack as well. Important even. But they weren't the same as having someone like Sonadora around. In some ways other living members were more capable than her spirits. So, there was a lot of merit to having more than just her spirits around if she could manage it. Hence why she even bothered taking a page from Sonadora and possibly Marik here in the first place.

Last came the toughest question though. Or arguably the easiest. Why was she here? She caught on that this place had a name. Though she didn't understand what part of this place was a "forest". Sure, the trees were somewhat similar to a tree. . . but there was no vegetation here. No life that wasn't hollows. No scents that were blood or another's. Just dirt, ground, and occasionally some sand. If this was a forest, it was fucking pathetic. And then there was the first word "Menos". She shook her head at the concept of a new word she didn't understand. A "menos". The fuck was that anyway? Maybe something important? It didn't matter to Astrid at least. But whatever she now knew the name of this place. Though she would scoff at the idea of this place as a "forest" regardless.

"Forest? . . This? . . . No. . This. . . cave? . . Place. . . no forest. . . Why? Mmm. . . moving. . . looking. . . seeing. . Hueco. . . Mun. . . Do. . . Hear. . . no see. . . Is this? . . Sand. . . not. . . enough. . much ground. . Sigil. . . says. . so." Astrid gave another look around the place obvious confusion and uncertainty about the idea of this place being in Hueco Mundo. But her sigil from before had made it clear to her that she was in it . . . but somewhere else. Either way she'd answered his questions and she had eaten. Perhaps it was time to leave. Marik was. . . curious but Astrid did have hopes of seeing another. Two hollows in particular came to mind but the other she wasn't certain if she'd see or not. Still she was here. World of hollows. And she'd just seen a veritable horde of em. Perhaps the individuals she wanted to find were here if she continued to search for a time.

[Maria Ashwin]

Thread Type: Joint Training

✎ tag: n/a

※ Paragraphs: 25

※ Total Paragraphs: 145

✉ notes:

I spy with my little eye

(1) Marik would feel what could only be described as a lingering sadness when Astrid spoke to him , his own hollow hole beginning to ache slightly as she spoke the dreaded words. "Hunger. . . never goes. . . Always. . . now. . . small now. . . waiting always. . . more self. . . more eating. . more. . "me".

(2) She utter those words to him her voice still like sandpaper although she seemed to be coming into her voice in marik’s opinion , the statement of her never ending hunger was thought marik dreaded but knew all to well was a possibility for himself.

(3) there was no guarantee that him reach vasto lorde would end his hunger. For all intents and purposes becoming a vasto lorde may only make his hunger grow exponentially , sadly he had hit an evolutionary wall he would either crawl forward or be subsumed by another hollow eventually.

(4) Which ever came first he could only pray that he would finally be free of the noise from the souls within ; the hunger they brought and the animalist fury that followed no longer bound to their whim enraptured in frenzy at the drop of a dime.

(5) Marik himself would be lost in a day dream for a moment as astrid fell silent once more , it seemed she was really giving his question some thought. Although he would take this time to answer a question she seemed to have had trouble with , upon the mention of the one named riser j tile.

(6) “Yeah some arrogant jerk who throws his tittle around like im supposed to know what a lord stink eye is!” he would say ruffling his feathers ignoring the building pain in his hollow hole. He would grow quite as Astrid begam to speak once more to him , he didnt wish to interrupt her.

(7) Marik had taken note speaking seemed hard for her and therefore he would afford her more respect than those who could easily do it. That along with the fact he was technically her captive audience on the account he was simply to tired to currently be bothered to move at all.

(8)Now the answer he was most curious about why hadn't she attacked? by all accounts she was well within her own rights to do so , her and her pack appeared to be extremly hungry. Although her answer seemed to suprise marik as he cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy.

(9) "Met others. . . they spoke. . . strong. . .more them. . . less hunger. . . You . . . like them? . . Maybe. . Did. . . Sonadora. . . did. . Think. . . speak. . Watch." she would say as she seemed to be working on somthing with her spirit energy , marik would fully open one eye peeking at what she was doing.

(10) He himself couldnt seem to understand the implications of whta she was doing and he honestly could care less at the moment. He would let out a long heavy yawn as a sharp pain racked his body momentarily , which he would take a moment to be completly still and silent as he pushed back the pain.

(11) he would do his best to force a nervous laugh as she spoke to him about the menos forest , yes in truth it was just one infinite cave system and not a forest.  "Forest? . . This? . . . No. . This. . . cave? . . Place. . . no forest. . . Why? Mmm. . . moving. . . looking. . . seeing. . Hueco. . . Mun. . . Do. . . Hear. . . no see. . . Is this? . . Sand. . . not. . . enough. . much ground. . Sigil. . . says. . so." she would say further speaking up on the matter.

(12) The small neon green adhuja hummingbird was about to give a retort to the statement of the menos forest not being a true forest , but he was over come with darkness and an intense pain rippling through his whole body. He wouldnt fight the darkness but rather embrace it as it washed over him.

(13) astrid disappearing from his view , he felt…cold…and alone…his body was stiff he couldnt will himself to move. Was this it? Was this how he died his body simply failing on him? A pitiful death that would drive most great creatires and men mad but he was ok with this there was no sound.

(14) only silence the silence he had oh so desperately craved. Back with astrid and her brood marik’s body would simply go limp as if he had fallen asleep finally , although there was no sign of him breathing , snoring or even signs of rem-sleep that would normally occur in sentient creatures.

(15) For all intents and purposes for a mere moment it would appear as if the small hummingbird hollow had truly passed on to the great beyond , but something was…wrong in a sense the body it wasn’t dissolving. The body would begin giving off a dim green glow.

(16) riatsu seemed to be building within his small body , and at an alarming rate the dim light would soon envelop the small hummingbird like that of a protective cocoon. The output would go from inconsequential to monumental compared to it’s original state of being. 

(17) spirit energy poured forth from mariks body loke blood from a gaping wound washing over the menos forest floor and slowly reaching upward toward the menos forest canopy. The sand beneath him would begin to become super heated glowing a bright red.

(18) as the ambient heat in the area was cranked to one hundred , his body would then appear to melting in a bright amorphiuos blob of blinding neo green light. The ball that was once marik would grow and grow ill it was roughly the size of a young adult.

(19) this is when the output would skyrocket creating an upward jet of force of pure spiritual force that would shake this portion of the menos forest. In a brilliant flash of neon green light his spirit energy would rocket upward like that of an over clocked cero punching a sizable hole in the menos forest canopy.

(20) The sand that was displaced as a result of the explosion would slowly begin to shower down within the area acting as an almost smoke screen , the silhouette of a winged humanoid would be present within the sand cloud as it faded the silhouette became defined.

(21) The light from huco mondo’s moon would shine down illuminating the neon green feather of what appeared to be a humanoid hollow standing at five nine , his figure was extremely lithe with very little muscle definition. Slender and thin his build obviously made for speed his hands and feet resembling that of a humans but with wicked talons upon each digit.

(22) upon his back would a set of rather large hummingbird wings. Upon closer inspection the figure appeared to be….snoring which would last for long as a grain of sand would find it’s way into his nasal passage causing him to sneeze making his current stance unbalanced for a moment.

(23) “What the hell” Marik would groan as he reached up to his face with what he thought would be a wing only to feel a hand , “wait…what the hell i have hands again” he would ask in mild surprise taking a moment to close his eyes , feeling his inner world fpr any souls besides his own.

(24) Upon finding nothing he would give a sigh of relief having finally achieved his goal of taming the souls within and reclaiing the silence he had fought so hard to attain. Suddenly it dawned on him that he wasnt alone when he went unconscious “Astrid! You ok?!” he would call out unsure if they had fled during the proccess..

(25) Normally Marik wouldn't care for those he had just met , on the account they normally try to eat his ass first. But seeing as Astrid had done him the kindness of treating him with a level of respect he was not accustomed to he was a tad concerned for her well being.

(26) Marik would take a moment to look down and examine his form , looking down at his clawed humanoid feet. He would give his toes a few playful flexes a small smile spreading on his face. He simply reveled in the feeling of having humaniod limbs again he would give a small chuckle as he began examing the rest of his body.

(27) His legs themselves where smooth and slender the tips of his toes starting a deep dark green that would slowly become teil , then flow into becoming pale at his knees. This paleness would then slowly fade back to green upon his arms , but leave his face alone simply giving him markings upon his eyelids making him appear to have a tiel eyeshadow on.

(28) He would roll his shoulders the new weight of his wings upon his back was a welcome feeling , if he was truthful he had grown attached to them. These wings had given him the power to survive in the menos forest , to fight on par with those stronger than him and give him a speedy escape. He owed a lot of his success to simply being a bit faster than most around him.

(29) Looking down at his hand he would open and close it flexing his arm as he did so , 'its been so long since i had real limb , to hold things , to eat...to fight' he would think to himself. He wasnt sure why he brimming with energy at the moment this was very much unlike him.

(30) Years of wandering the menos forest , years of being stuck in that damn food chain. "finally....im free...no more voices...no more being hunted" he would say aloud to no one as he gave a light chuckle , should astrid still be there he would look to her solomly with a single question. "what should i do now? i could sleep but.....i feel like thatd be a waste" he would say with a sigh as he choke back a yawn.

(31) Things felt much more vibrant to his new senses , his ears would twitch light as the crys of menos grande's echoed through the forest. The smell of iron that filled his nostrils from the freshly slain hollows he and astrid had just devoured oh how he had missed these heightened humanoid senses.

(32) "im sorry this must be alot to processes , it's kind of mind boggling on this end..." he woud say trailing off , as he felt a sudden brushing against his back. he would perform a three hundred and sixtey degree spin as he attempted to follow the feeling on to realize it was his tail feathers bouncing atop the sand.

(33) Shifting his wings to look over his backside , he would look back at his tail feathers giving them a little wiggle. "well thats gonna take some getting used to." he would mummble to himself clearly lost in exploring the new features his body lay before him to discover.

(34) 'i wonder if rose will recognize me?' he would think to himself fondly remembering the half quincy , he would be egar to show off his new form to the pretty boy ; just as soon as he confirmed astrid was well of body seeing as no one in hueco mundo was ever truly well of mind himself included.

CONSUMED HOLLOWS THREAD TOTAL: 141 Class 8 hollows

BY MIZO.❉ OF WW.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid had finished speaking and was waiting for Marik to say something again. After all, he was the type to speak so he'd likely have more to say. However, she quickly found that there was a silence again. An unnatural silence. The foreboding kind of silence and Astrid's eyes narrowed as she immediately tensed up and looked around. Samson actually pointed at Marik and his form which looked almost akin to sleeping. . . had it not been for the lack of breathing. Her eyes narrowed as she looked him over. That was impossible. He had suffered no harm given he wasn't in the fighting prior. Or had he? Astrid hadn't exactly given it much thought that perhaps he could have been harmed. Powerful beings tended to not suffer much harm unless something equally powerful was around.

And Astrid herself had not fought with him. So why was he. . . doing whatever this was? While Astrid was attempting to think on this further the chicks started screeching again and immediately flew back some, at least 20 feet away along with all the other spirits. Samson being the ever more careful of the two immediately grabbed Astrid with the two arms around her. From there he simply jumped backwards, landing once on more broken ground and then doing so yet again to land on top of the remains of the nearest tree. What Astrid saw next was enough to make her understand why the spirits and Samson were acting the way they had been. Marik was glowing steadily more and more brightly. And surprisingly after about a minute she could even feel the energy building up from him. More specifically what was starting to get released from his body. What she'd released earlier, was nothing compared to this and that concerned her greatly.

Still being within Samson's grasp, Astrid wasn't exactly able to move much so she just allowed him to continue being on the defensive. In the meantime, she'd simply watch, determined to figure out what in the fuck was going on now. This only got more concerning once his energy had blasted through the blackened ceiling that was the canopy and managed to break through it. Yet another feat that Astrid was curious how he'd managed that. What could push Marik to do such? Especially under their strange but surprisingly peaceful circumstances? Moments before the energy display vanished is when it finally dawned on her just what it could be. Evolution. Eridrox had never mentioned another form beyond Adjuchas. Then again. . . Astrid had also never asked either. . . But even still she thought that Adjuchas were the pinnacle hollows.

A few tense minutes later and the energy display was gone. Sand was slowly falling in and there was a glow from the moon shining. At this point Astrid growled at Samson to place her on his back. He did so almost immediately and then slowly walk forward with 5 chicks hovering around them. She couldn't chance something else happening and being sent back to Hell. . . Not that it really mattered much anymore but still. She was highly concerned for her wellbeing and at least mildly curious about Marik's. Not out of good will mind you, more bestial curiosity. Then out of nowhere she heard a sneeze before Marik started grumbling. He sounded different to be sure. And the closer she got, the more he looked different. More. . . Human. Sort of. The shape of a typical human was there but the wings, tails, feathers, and his green and teal coloration made him drastically different. Had it not been for his hollow hole and mask Astrid might have genuinely questioned if he'd still remained a hollow.

Before she could do much of anything however, she was called out for. In a way that Astrid admittedly. . . Hadn't heard in a long time. Astrid had to dig deep to pull out a nearly shattered memory just to understand what emotion was being used. Given it wasn't anger, it wasn't joy, it wasn't sorrow. Definitely wasn't hate. It was concern though. . . concern for her wellbeing. Astrid almost immediately growled and had Samson step back a few spaces on gut reaction. Her mind immediately reeled at the idea of someone being "concerned" for her. The spirits were one thing, they were almost . . . obligated to be. Marik however was not. And he should not have been. Which meant. . . did he know what he'd just done? Was the blast intentional? If so, could she be set up in a trap? Perhaps he did in fact want to consume her.

She chuckled some at the thought. While prior she would have pondered if it were possible, now she was certain he had the means. Though in truth, she wasn't certain that Hell would give him anything for it. Like her spirits did with Akando, she suspected that she'd give him no sustenance. It wasn't like she'd remain in his gullet. . . or even reach there possibly. She'd be dragged back to Hell and forced to spawn in some abhorrent manner again. Whatever concern was present however became curiosity of his own. He took in his new form while Astrid watched him, uncertain of what he'd do or be like now that he'd managed this transformation. After a while however she'd start to hear him speak, namely that the voices were gone. Something she frankly didn't believe.

She couldn't know if it was a possibility that it COULD end. She knew that hollows WANTED the voices and souls screaming to end. The hunger to abate. But she didn't think it possible for that to happen. Eridrox had even had his concerns, though they were rarely shown. She'd have to tread carefully on this idea. For the time being though Marik continued to talk to her, though she still lost some of what he was saying. It seems like he was still concerned for her and confused himself. This made Astrid. . . extremely uncomfortable. She wasn't certain what to do except run off. Still in that form could she muster the time to get away? Not likely. She'd have to use the sigil to go somewhere else. Which meant she'd need a moment before she could travel elsewhere.

It took a few more moments before Astrid found it within herself to speak. Though from body language alone she was still clearly tense over something. "I. . . Go. . . You. . ." Astrid wasn't certain what to recommend. He was already strong. He didn't have any hunger left. She couldn't say sleep in any respect was a good idea. But did it matter now what happened to him? He was . . . something. And Astrid needed to be away from him if only to have his "concern" leave her. Thus, before she finished up saying something she threw out the sigil underneath herself and Samson. It quickly turned a deep blood red and the temperature rose for a moment before mellowing out. However, what would come to Marik's newly heightened senses were the smell of flora, a large quantity of different scents.

This quickly faded though as Astrid and her spirits faded away. Though by different means. Astrid and Samson herself disappeared into thin air. No trace of them behind aside from the sigil which rapidly cracked before shattering away to ambient reiatsu. Meanwhile the chicks exploded into petals of sakura and wisteria blossoms. They immediately flew into the sigil before it shattered though for a moment before disappearing there would be a haze of just petals in front of Marik. But as soon as it started everything was gone. Astrid, Samson, and spirits. Leaving Marik to himself and his thoughts along with his new form.

[Deleted]

I counted 198 total paragraphs, meaning Astrid and Marik earn 990 TP from this thread; for Marik, any of that 990 that's used for CTP is halved.

That said, given we've a total of 141 Class 8 hollow consumptions, that leaves Marik with an additional 7,050 TP. Good Gods.