We Are Hollow [Open, PG13, Social, NDE]

[Zou ۞]

This social will cover an encounter between Dread of Las Arenas and Kuroi of Las Noches. One is the Head Admiral for their organization, and the other is a feared Envainar who outranks even the mighty Espada.

Yet their meeting is only a coincidence. Cloaked in a black hood and wearing a mask, Kuroi was traveling alone through the white desert of Hueco Mundo. He has come a long way from Las Noches while searching for powerful new Arrancar to assimilate into Las Noches. Along the way, he has encountered Dread, also wandering for reasons unknown to Kuroi.

Neither will recognize one another at first, but they are standing, alone in the White Desert, face to face.

[Tsajara Dread]

"I'm not saying that we NEED the ship, all I'm saying is that reasonably speaking its a lot more convenient than fuckin walkin around like we're a couple of hobos!" Niraja huffed, the black-haired young woman flustering a little as she walked along-side her much taller companion. A companion who simply smiled from under that plain brown hood of hers,m only the barest bit of that immaculately pale skin shown, just her chin and those pale lips of hers whereas Niraja was out with full exposure from the neck up.

"There's no reason to neglect the necessity for exercise. Just because you enjoy bullying our crew does not mean we should be just roaring around in our ship around Heuco Mundo. Especially not when we're outside of The Seven." She chided softly, earning an irritated look from Niraja herself as they walked, immediately turning to the man they had begun subconsciously walking beside and folding her arms.

"You agree with me, right mysterious man? It's important to knock your crew down a peg now and then! To keep them on their toes!" She urged, gesturing as she spoke, miming out the action of smacking some woefully unlucky crewmember upside their head. An action which caused those pretty pale lips of Dread's to curl into something of a distasted frown. Even without her eyes showing it was obvious by the subtle rotation of her head that she was rolling her eyes at the smaller woman.

Tsaj Dread briefly glanced at the man and both her and Niraja came to a stop, Nira being fairly surprised by the halt promptly tripped and fell flat on her face, rolling with the tumble and letting out a little 'OOF' as she rolled onto her back and leered at her taller self. But Tsaj was far too busy with her attention now on this stranger. She paused for only a moment before that warm little smile crossed her features and she actually chuckled lightly to herself, which would likely catch the man a little off guard at how very.... calm and casual the woman was. Niraja was far more....usual for an arrancar. Not mustache-twirling evil, but a fairly disgruntled woman. Dread however was nothing like most arrancar.

Sure she didn't have quite the... suffocating warmth that some women had, but she was incredibly docile. There was not a shred of discntent within her most of the time, and really even for Nira she only held a mild dissappointment. she seemed utterly unconcerned with her surroundings, as if she had seen all of it before and simply had time to get over it. With a slight motion of herhand, that hood fell and the utter monochromatic affliction that Dread seemed to suffer from became unbelievably apparent. Her irises, her hair, her face, everything was some shade of pale white.

"I'm sorry, we were a bit too involved in our discussion. Hello sir." Tsaj greeted the man brightly. Nira on the other hand simply rolled her eyes and folded her arms. And really this perhaps might have... disgruntled the man. He might very well have been surprised by their odd behaviors. But there was something else that would probably be FAR more alarming. If he had any sense of spiritual sensory abilities, he would probably be astounded to find that the both of them had complete identical reiatsu signatures.

"Sup Tall boy." Nira was noticeably less polite.

[Zou ۞]

He had been wandering, drawn by the allure of the infinite darkness and the scent of something unfamiliar. What he saw did not disappoint him. A massive ship had come sailing through the sands and it had caught his eye immediately. There were many on board, and they were of varying race. What was most important to take note of however was the ship's build. Even from afar, the Envainar of Hope could see that the ship was made from Gillian. The Menos Grande which were scourge to average grade Shinigami and the first step of evolution toward greatness for any Hollow. Kuroi had been a Gillian once, as had all other Arrancar in Las Noches. Sonken Kouhai did not accept less than Menos for turning. So then, what pioneer had created a ship from these wretchedly proud creatures? It was a concept which could be worth investigating. A simple use of Sonido had brought Kuroi into the vicinity of the ship, where he was greeted by... an Arrancar?

An Arrancar this far out? No, more odd, those on the ship were not all Hollow races. Some were races which should be found only in the human world. What was this? They both greeted him, one rudely and one politely, though Kuroi ignored both. He also ignored their question entirely. He was too focused on attempting to decipher. How could an Arrancar woman be this far out? She was approximately mid level, which in Kuroi's eyes was far too powerful to not be a foot soldier in Las Noches. There were powerful Arrancar outside of Las Noches, such as the Escudo, yet this was only because they were so powerful that they could defy its influence. Could it be that Arrancar settlements existed here so far from Sonken Kouhai's eye that they too could live in peace? However if that were the case, how did they attain power above the lowliest of forms? This far out, even regular Hollows rarely ventured. Competition must surely be scarce.

"You are Arrancar," Kuroi noted with his first spoken words. The mask that he wore carried voice modulation with it, and it altered his voice. Because of his outfit, they would not immediately recognize that he was an Espada, though the fact that he was an Arrancar was likely obvious. At this moment, Kuroi also employed the use of his superior class relative to them. At Kuroi's level, one could be considered a being that defied the previous concept of what it was to be spiritual. If these before him were two dimensional beings, Kuroi was a three dimensional entity. As such, he was capable of making it so that they could not sense any of his reiatsu. If he brought himself down to their level, they would sense tremendous power. Kuroi chose not to do this. As such they would not sense even a modicum of reiatsu from him. For all intents and purposes, Kuroi appeared to be an individual with no powers at all.

"What are you doing this far from Las Noches?" Curiosity. Kuroi wanted to know what and who these people were, and if they would be useful to him. With Kouhai's scorn still present after the battle with Sozen Kuchiki, Kuroi was not as well guaranteed as he once had been, beckoning for him the need of.. private resources. Allies, wealth, and influence which were not given to him by Kouhai, but were strictly his. He already had a smith because of his journey with Takashi Kuchiki, and that smith was building him an army. What if he could mimic the idea behind these ships? How incredible would that be? Kuroi hoped for a good answer from these ones.

[Tsajara Dread]

Nira lifted a brow at that bland statement. Idly she wondered if the man was some sort of simpleton, a thought that was immediately recognized by Tsaj as it passed across Nira's features and earned the smaller woman an elbo in the shoulder before Nira even had the chance to ask the masked man what on earth was wrong with him. Air sputtered from the woman's mouth as she was pushed aside and Dread placed herself between Nira and her other self. That warm smile had lessened, but had not vanished entirely. Tsaja instinctively getting a.. sense from the man. It wasn't a matter of spiritual pressure or the like. But ages ang ages ago, she had been quit the strong individual. BEfore she'd lost it all.

And she remembered what it was like. And the lack of.... anything she felt from this man was an immediate tip off. It was not... unlikely. They were outside of the area of the Seven. Enveinar, the Zarpa, the Espada. Any of them could be encountered. But more than that, human world dwellers also had that effect. Many of them able to completely hide their reiatsu. And any human world dweller that was somehow able to break their way into Heuco Mundo was not good news. So Dread made herself a barrier, and simply tilted her head a little at the... question. Well it was fair she supposed, after all because of how.... secluded the Sands were, most didn't even know about their existence. In fact, a few years ago, it would be in Dread's best interest to execute the man right then and there. But that was a very old way of thinking. One that had only recently been stamped out.

Now? Well now Dread could simply talk.

"Existing, I suppose." She glanced over her shoulder at her ship. Even without a direct order, it was immediately recognizable what she wanted. With Nira gone from the masked man's sight by virtue of being behind Dread, the ship was soon wrapped in a tear in the air itself. The air simply seemed to start swallowing up the massive ship as it spilled into the seam created around it. A seam that would soon begin closing behind it as Dread turned her attention back to the strange man. And she wondered what it was like. That old old little curiosity. She wondered what his blood tasted like. And for just an instant he would feel that violent curiosity within her. And in the very same moment she relaxed. That bit of crystal around her neck glowed dully and the thought was gone. It was... dulled, to the point that Dread was ale to just let it push aside in her mind.

"I understand your confusion. It's not everyday you see our kind out here. Usually we join up with The Night or we hide down in the forest." she noted with a thoughtful little shrug. "But well, people get lost all the time. At some point or other I DID spend some time in that... place. But a particular espada drove me to leave, and..... I was taken in by someplace else." She noted with a shrug. Not particularly concerned about talking about it. After all, Las Arenas didn't spend so much time inisolation for nothing. There was a LOT of space between Las Noches and the Seven Sands. And the place it self just seemed to automatically make people lost on the way. Perhaps it was Las Arenas protecting itself. Or maybe it was Las Noches dragging them back. either way, unless the Sands saw fit to adopt someone, they usually never found their way.

And this man did not look lost.

"You're a long way from LAs Noches as well, now that I think about it. I hope you're not tired. I have some food if you need any." She pointed out calmly, making sure not to be too pushy on the subject. Arrancar were terribly suspicious creatures. Countless years backstabbing and eating one another as hollows had a tendency to do that to you after all.

[Zou ۞]

A different faction? Here, this far out? No, this was not impossible. The very reason that Kuroi himself had ventured so far was to escape the watchful gaze of Las Noches and its mighty King. When establishing private resources, it was best to do so in secret. Were it to be more public and overplay one's hand, Kuroi would lose the advantage that he sought to build. That some Arrancar who held disdain for a Shinigami ruler or did not appreciate having to use their new found humanoid bodies to live the way they had as Hollows was only natural. There were some who would have preferred a more pathetic, peaceful existence with the rest of the meek. There were others who might seek to create rival forces and to rule. Or some for whom the chain of command in Las Noches did not suit them. Another faction this far out was not an impossibility. With that idea also came another. Could they become a source of information which was advantageous?

Kuroi's voice was modulated as ever when he spoke because of his black mask, but he suspected that they would not care if they saw his face. This far out, would they even recognize him? Curiosity on which Espada had chased this one out also tugged at his mind. However, he did not care much and did not press the subject. Instead Kuroi waited until she said more. What she said came in the form of an invitation. He did not intend to be wowed by hospitality or join this other faction. Kuroi was an Envainar. He served the power of Hollows and of Las Noches. His right to usurp Sonken Kouhai and create his world of Despair was absolute. He served only the infinite darkness. Still, an opportunity to learn more about that ship or about this mysterious other faction was one which he did not wish to pass up. This wasn't information that would go to Kouhai. This was for Kuroi, and Kuroi alone, to advantage himself.

"My journey has been long..." Kuroi said. "Rest, and also conversation would suit me." Kuroi's demeanor was that of one being used to command. This was something which he knew this female Arrancar would pick up on if she was also used to any form of leadership. It should be obvious now that he came from a place of power. Despite his apparent lack of reiatsu he was obviously not weak. But he also spoke to convey his lack of aggressive intent. Kuroi had no intention of killing her or laying siege to whatever faction she possessed. In the past he might have enslaved them for Sonken Kouhai, but that time had passed. After what had transpired with Sozen Kuchiki, Kuroi was no longer in the good graces of his King, noted when Kuroi had been "promoted" to Envainar and pushed out of the front lines of combat which the Espada were to occupy. Now he did not even answer directly to Kouhai. He answered to Grimoire Acero, the Akki.

This was why he needed private resources. To kill Grimoire, take back more resources from Kouhai, and set himself up for... a greater future objective. So he awaited what this female Arrancar had to say. Would she ultimately accept his invitation? "You need not fear..." Kuroi explained to her, nodding at the protective stance she took in regard to her ally with the identical reiatsu. "It would be meaningless to harm you." He had seen others that were fractured the way this female Arrancar was. During the time of Azeru Cho, the Primera Espada had been like that as well. Power just great enough that if one were unfortunate and did not encounter others of sufficient strength, they could be left incredibly lonely, as was customary in Hueco Mundo. It was a familiar story. To avoid the loneliness some had to split into two. Kuroi had never succumbed to that loneliness. Instead he chose to gain only power.

[Tsajara Dread]

Tsajara paused, her head tilting to the side for only a moment as she regarded the man. She had to admit she was a little surprised. Most arrancar ignored or refused any such offers. Not only that but they almost NEVER would admit to being weary. It was synonymous to weak. The man was laying. Under normal circumstances she would have thought he was simply being honest, but well. She was an arrancar as well. And it, too, was in her nature to be suspicious when the time came to such things. Slowly, running her finger along her chin for a moment, she turned away from kuroi as suddenly the sand underneath them heaved slightly, shifting before the bulge of displaced sand moved elsewhere, to their left a little sinkhole formed for a brief little moment, though neither Tsajara or Niraja seemed very concerned.

Of course they were also ultimately completely unaware of Kuroi's... assumptions as to why they were split. Though if he had been vocal about it, Dread would have simply smiled. Nira probably would have called him a fucking idiot. But he kept quiet, and thus: in the dark on the matter. And doubtlessly, as the massive dorsal spines of their ship erupted from the ground beside them, a full forty feet of long spikes emerging from the earth beside them, he likely would be much less concerned about all that in any regard. The ship has 'resurfaced' from it's hiding in the garganta, and it had done so under the sand, veiling it's re-entry into tangibility.
That massive masked face, devoid of eyes, like some sort of ancient monster, emerged from the ground and turned it's face as it curled around the three figures in a massive coil before coming to a stop. A low, reverberating hiss escaped from it until Dread reached out and lightly patted it's massive hide. Almost immediately the thing relaxed, and a lower, much more pleasant noise escaped it. The thing was docile of all things. From it's side, a sort of port opened up, and the faces of a pair of masked figures appeared on either side of the door. Kuroi might recognize them as a bount's dolls.

"I hope you don't mind simple fare. It's been a while since I've had any of my crew get supplies from the land of the dead." She noted casually, seemingly carelessly letting it slip that she got things from soul society. But of course that would be a given now wouldn't it? Given the diversity of those on her ship it would be largely unsurprising if shinigami, or even beast clansmen, were among it's number. And Kuroi would know all too well how... relaxed security was around the Sereitei. In any case, assuming he did not dawdle, Dread would calmly escort him into the ship. A number of masked faces only briefly regarding him as they went about their duties about the ship. The whole place seemed very busy and even those who were relaxing still had their wits about them.

"Yer not one of them fuckin Vegans are ya?" Would come Niraja's idle side-comment. The stealthy little lass would likely have escaped Kuroi's attention while he was talking to Dread. It was the pair's..... thing after all. They were EXCEPTIONALLY stealthy. So long as one was focusing on one of them, the other could so very easily slip entirely from a person's mind. And the world being the way it was, so few were those that hid in shadow that honestly, few, if ANY ever dedicated themselves to such arts as weeding out such individuals. In any event, speaking up, Kuroi would find Nira walking alongside him, eyeing him up and down with a light little frown. "You can take that mask off. You could be the primera for all we care. Ain't no different to us. If you're all the way out here, you're an outcast, or someone looking to get away from Las Noches. Either way you're fine by us. Besides, ain't like we got anyone to tell." She noted with a sudden roguish smirk, eliciting a flutter of chuckles from the nearby crew.

Of course there would be a draw to it. The moment Kuroi stepped on the ship, assuming he wasn't pouting outside of it, he would feel it. It wouldn't be overpowering. Offensive. It wasn't any sort of force. It was like a breeze. A slow and soothing wind that slowly ate away at negative thoughts like a river eating away at a mountain. Not only were those odd crystals worn by all of the crew, but it was infused into the walls inside of Kuroi. And he would feel oddly rejuvinated by it. If he had been a hollow he would slowly begin to feel his hunger waning away, though for a man like him, it simply gave... clarity. Suspicion. Anxiety. Apprehension. It became so very easy to focus. So very easy to feel.. unburdened.
How he felt about it, of course, was entirely up to him.

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi ignored most of what was said to him, though he took note of what was said about the Primera. He chose not to correct such a foolish thought. Had they come across Kashmir De-Mona and been so foolhardy as to invite him onto the ship, they would all be dead. Perhaps their power then was simply a matter of good luck. They had found Kuroi, not someone more vicious. It was well known that the Primera often disappeared to the outskirts of Las Noches or into the human world to seek more resources for his heinous experiments. That he had never been near these people was a blessing or them. If Kashmir De-Mona ever found their community, he would be capable of destroying it all, and probably would just for the sake of hearing screams. It was not out of duty to Las Noches or loyalty to the King that Kashmir operated. It was because all that he wanted to do was inflict misery and being the Primera Espada was the most convenient way for him to carry his objectives out.

Of course there were some mysteries to consider. The ship was able to travel to Soul Society for supplies. This was not surprising, depending on where they went. Security nearer to Seireitei had tightened in recent years but Kuroi was familiar with all of the ways that such a huge and impossibly difficult to guard place could be infiltrated even by Hollows and Arrancar. There were even some Hollows whose homes were in Soul Society because it was difficult to catch them and hunt them. What was more surprising was the aura effect which Kuroi experienced once on board. With it came a sense of clarity and focus, though for all he knew there could be other drawbacks to it. If he so wished, he could probably repel those very effects. He already knew from stepping aboard that he was far more powerful than the entirety of the crew combined. If their desire was to subdue him in some way, it would be an impossible feat for them.

The ship was not poorly made. Despite being made of Hollows, it seemed sturdy. It felt low tech compared to how Kuroi would have built it, but as he was not yet familiar with the technologies behind it he surmised that this could potentially be merely a premature judgment from lack of comprehension of a limitation of which he was not presently aware. They offered for him to remove his mask. However he did not yet wish to remove it. It was not a matter of care for his identity. It was that in leaving it on he dictated the terms of that revelation, not someone else's suggestion. "You all live in harmony." He noted of the crew, which had many different noteworthy races as a part of it. This was the most eye opening part. It was part 1 of his vision accomplished. Before the world could come to comprehend the infinite darkness and become Kuroi's world of Despair it must first taste harmony and paradise whilst living in peace.

It would only be then that he could begin part 2 of what was to come for Hueco Mundo one day. "Yet I do not sense anyone of great strength here. How do you protect yourselves from this world?" This served to show that Kuroi was aware of strength levels, and if it he was traveling alone and they could connect the dots then it affirmed that he was more powerful than he was letting on with his masked and undetectable reiatsu. It was also a genuine question. Simple Hollows were one thing, but they were not the only threats in Hueco Mundo. Kuroi knew. He knew far more than any of his fellow Arrancar in Las Noches. He had seen what dangers might lurk here. What perils. Was it really about luck, or did they have another, better way to defend themselves? "Is there someone more powerful at your home base? A leader of your community?" He saw a good technology, but a set-up of power that seemed too vulnerable. How could they still be alive here?

[Tsajara Dread]

Tsaja was keeping her eye on the man as they went, and while the mask did hide much of his face from anyone else, there was a number of other things that people often simply...overlooked. The face was simply the most convenient tool that most individuals went about using to interact with one another, but the truth of it was that the entire body was an instrument of communication. And though that mask did ...well...mask, the more obvious ones, he couldn't hide everything. That and with her own empathic capabilities, she could.. vaguely, sense him and his strange motives to some degree. By nature of her own aura, as well as her ability to analyze. Most specifically, she could tell that he wasn't listening to them, and frankly it was not surprising. She did sense his power, or at least that lack thereof, which belied a power far beyond her own.

But she could also sense his mannerisms. His language. And how he seemed to carry himself. And that gave her something much more important: His age. And he was simply... well almost like a babe. Or rather a child. And just like a child, Kuroi surveyed his surroundings with his own interests in mind. As they went, and she spoke, and he listened only partially, he missed out not only on what she fully said, but also on his surroundings. The Aura around them did not have any detrimental effects. A man of his aura would normally have been easily able to sense a lack of ill intent behind it, it was a sort of steroid to the will. Really the only negative effect was that in some cases, people felt invaded by it's....universal effectiveness. But even that feeling of being defiled fell under it's dampening effects.

Additionally, whilst Kuroi did deduce that the ship was not only alive, but hollow, he failed to notice that it was a single being. A single gillian shaped into such a form,a s opposed to being made of several hollows. Of course, there was the technicality of gillian being conglomerate beings by nature, but that did not make him intrinsically correct, only technically and accidentally correct. He might have been able to tell the difference, but if Tsaja were to guess (and admittedly if she were actually aware of his misconception) she would presume that the result may have been a simple disinterest in his own species and how the lower rungs worked. He seemed to be a man of the bigger picture and she imagined that in his ambitions he often missed out on the smaller things. As similar to how Niraja would fall behind in their walk, and would completely escape his detection as she stealthed and slipped away. Potent as his sensing abilities were, his mind was, ultimately, focused on his general surroundings, and he lacked any skill in detecting beings of their caliber when it came to hiding.

And of course. Now with only Tsaja Dread in his company, aside from the ambient crew, he came to perhaps his biggest misconception. You live in Harmony. Words that did not even cause Dread to blink, much less give any detectable reaction to a man like Kuroi. She was a woman of secrets and various other things. She could hide herself like very few others could, and while she was not intent on hiding her person, she could still hide parts of herself. Suppressing small ambient reactions, facial cues, keeping herself still aside from ONLY what she consciously wanted to project. It was a skill that allowed her to remain deathly silent and seem almost unmoving, while at the same time move with any speed she wished. She gave him a warm smile. "No." She stated, leaning against the hardened carapace wall behind her, watching Kuroi carefully.

"We are not actively at one another's throats. But this does not mean we are in Harmony. My crew specifically? Perhaps in some way. But I am of the assumption that you do not simply mean my crew. That you mean we, and those that we are a part of. And to that I must inform you that there is no Harmony. even among my crew there is argument. Discontent. We disagree. But unlike children, we simply do not kill each-other over the fact." She noted, taking a brief moment to close her eyes, as if sifting through her words. "Some, among our number, are less than harmonious, and in time, I'm sure some will come to dislike us as well. They are welcome to leave. Or be Executed. Where we are from, me and my crew belong to a section of individuals whose job it is to ensure that, to the casual glance, we are all at peace. We are no thought-police. But when someone seeks to destroy what we have made, we let them leave, or we let them dig their grave." She stated simply.

And of course. There then.... came another implied assumption. That Strength was necessary to attain this. That a strength that this man could understand at a glance, or at mere energy sensation, could tell. He did not know any of them. He did not know what they did. How they did it. He knew not what powers they had, nor the skills they had gained through their lives through which to use these powers. And in that simple view, a view that indeed was impressive, he had crippled himself into believing that this meant anything. That someone with, say, his own power, could not be dealt with. In her great age, Tsaja had met many men like him. Over time. Eventually, a few came into being.

And she DID confess. For all of his youth, for all of his presumptuousness. He DID have something... about him that led her to believe that this may simply be a weakness in experience. He had never known those of his power who were not of his skill. He had the ways of a VERY skilled warrior about him. But because of how rare his level of power was, he had come to a very dire misunderstanding. Those of powerwere not infallible. In his own meek experience, he had only ever been challenged by a being who was of his own level. And why should he? One of his skill was rare, and such individuals were the most likely to...QUICKLY gain his level of power. But so many others did. So many others who gained it not through sheer talent, but by simple tenacity.

And some, even below his own power. Would be completely capable of killing even him. to think otherwise was stupid. Idiotic even. For all of his power, there were kinds of individuals to whom sheer power was meaningless. Who preyed not on being stronger, but by consuming those who simply had the misfortune of not being directly countered. And that was how Las Arenas had operated. It had a fantastically large population. And this, combined with the fact that it was united, came with one VERY powerful strength. It was easy, through coordination, to identify those, to whom raw strength had no meaning. And because most were nonviolent, that the LEADERS of Las Arenas were not selfish, not paranoid of being usurped, that individuals of this type were collected, nurtured, and allowed to grow. It was individuals such as this, that Tsaja had found in her time, and had even brought into the Heart Sands. They had come to meet men of great strength. And in those times there had been much darkness, many lives lost. But in the end, those individuals died. Their followers came to their senses, or were simply executed.

And indeed, Dread SUPPOSED that she could express this to Kuroi. She could have indeed gone into great detail of the fact. But she had experience. And she knew that such words would be met with a sneer. And possibly even a show of force. She might very well die, simply because this child felt like 'proving her wrong'. Of course there was the chance that he might even die in the process. Perhaps even by her own hand. It was improbably. Incredibly unlikely. But it was possible.
And even then, all she would have is most of her crew gone, and a young man with so very much potential dead.

So she smiled just a bit wider, and chuckled. Not knowingly. Not in any way that would imply that she thought him wrong. It was a laugh of someone who was told something they already knew, and by simple virtue of life's irony, found humor. "How do you say....'I know,right?'. We have many leaders. Individuals who uphold the place from which we come. And frankly, we do not have the...type of leader we once had. Nor even those of significantly high authority. In our glory days, I suppose I would have been at best third in command. But as it stands, I suppose one could consider myself and my associates the leaders of the place we come from. Or at lest a couple of them. And well, as for protection." She paused, leaning to the side, resting her cheek in her palm.

"Most of us do not leave our home. And our home is simply a place that well..." She knocked on the ship's carapace. "Most cannot find, unless it calls to them. There are some, like us, who venture outside our home. But we do not usually encounter others. Even when we wish to. We typically simply.... do not enjoy mingling with others. a fact that has only recently changed. And only in very few. So let us say... by average, I meet someone new perhaps once every decade. And of the many people we meet, the chances of meeting someone who posed a threat is minimal. the chances of them tracking where we had come from is all but nonexistent. Even if they found our home, they could expire from sheer age before they even found one of the hearts of the Seven Sands alone. As I'm sure you're aware, Hueco Mundo is not a place that has made finding anything easy. And by sheer size. Even we ourselves rely heavily on the fact that our home draws us to it." She paused, and smiled. Halfway through probably what was a tasty string of important information to Kuroi.

Or, perhaps, he was again ignoring her. So she smiled at him again, very obviously aware that she was contributing a very small fraction of what he was currently taking in. And for just an instant. Her own little madness....coiled. Her ship quelled it. Instantly. But well... Kuroi was a dark man. Specializing in sensing the darkness of others. And even in that bright light of Tsaja's soul, he would feel a very brief, dark wondering. She wondered, passingly, what his blood tasted like. And then the thought was gone. "I do apologize. It does seem that, whatever you seem to have perceived of us, we very much do not meet your expectations. For someone of your age, I expect that we, and even I specifically, must seem like a very big waste of your time." She noted, pausing as she glanced to one of the portholes, a translucent sort of window, and indeed the sand would be seen. Nothing but darkness. the ship had submerged amidst their conversation. Only partially, but enough to block the windows at their level.

"Young men such as yourself, I'm aware that you have very busy lives. A bit ironic given how our race has so very much time to do as we want, but still, I figure that you have places to be. You need not be so gentle. I'm aware that evidently, you have come to take interest in my ship, and where we hail from. Feel free to be blunt, crude, whatever you wish." there was an implied 'violent' in there as well. And perhaps Kuroi might even be surprised by the fact that Dread seemed utterly unafraid of him. But of course, a woman of her age, how many times had she been threatened? Attacked? Tortured? She wasn't particularly resistant to some of those, though some she could handle quite well. She had lived long, and for one of her age, she looked fantastic. But the most important aspect was that she'd led a VERY long and interesting life. And in that time she had simply ceased to see death or pain as something to fear. She had fear. Oh so very certainly. But the idea of dying did not count as one of them.

"Or, if you like." she continued, sliding to the right and then seating herself on a barrel of particularly crappy Seaweed grog. From the world of the living in fact. For some god-forsaken reason Niraja loved the bitter stuff. And nobody liked it enough to keep it under guard, so they had a lot of it. "You're welcome to spend some time with us. We have spare cabins. You can come to know me and my crew quite well. You could learn all you like. And perhaps in time, you will feel that you don't like the idea of ceasing this discovery. And you may find yourself wearing something like this." she smiled, gently tapping the shard strung around her neck with a playful, and indeed flirtatious little smirk.

"We have a lot of time. So feel free to take some of it and decide how it is you want to figure out whatever it is you want to know about us. Or as to wether you wish to continue wasting it with us." She noted, reaching into her cloak and retrieving a small little container, gently opening it and sipping. It looked fairly pretty, as if it had been pilfered from some nobleman's person. But ironically, it simply contained clean water. "As someone who has wasted much of my life, I can tell you that it can be unexpectedly rewarding. But I understand if you find such a notion silly, or even offensive." She shrugged.

And then waited for his response.

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi gazed out over the bow of the ship as he listened to her explanation. He further analyzed her from it as well. His energy sensory was enough to find traces and whispers of what might be in her soul when she looked at him. It wasn't enough to know this part but by listening to her words he would be able to find more too. He would have found this to be in flagrant disrespect when he had been younger. The way she spoke to him described years of inexperience with Hueco Mundo. Yet she still spoke as if she was the more experienced one and he a child to be lectured. It wasn't in her tone but in her word choice. Her need to make a distinction meant that she did not believe he was capable of fully grasping the situation. Kuroi did grasp that she misunderstood harmony. Arguments, discontent, the rambunctious. They were all pervasive elements in any society. To live in harmony meant to live with a type of order that prevented true competition.

In Hueco Mundo and even moreso in Las Noches the practice was that the strong devoured or oppressed the weak. It was a war as well as a battle for survival every day. The smallest hint of weakness could lead to one being eaten. Her words drew him toward a belief that she might be old enough to have been here for long enough to have forgotten the fear and peril that Hueco Mundo was famous for. Despite these thoughts Kuroi also listened to her explanation of how they managed not to come under attack. If she was the most powerful then of course this place would have fallen a long time ago if it had been exposed to a destructive being such as the Primera or a greedy one such as Sonken Kouhai. It seemed that a combination of luck, geographical size and location, and maybe even a bit of magic made finding them very difficult. The Envainar nursed no illusions that he would find these people again once he departed. He believed that much.

He continued to listen while she made a note of his age and the impatience which must follow. He also noticed her momentary blood lust and the dignity with which she addressed him. She was wondering if she could kill him. She was thinking about if experience gained by age meant that she could fight him. A foolish thought. The strong were not strong only because of raw power. If they could be taken down by enemies for whom sheer power was irrelevant then they were not truly the strong. The strong were also cunning. Their strategies and brilliance were unparalleled, their tenacity was unsurpassed, their vivacity something of legend. Kouhai was strong because he had all of this. If he only had power he would have been killed long ago. He was also a genius and a man of great cunning. This was why Kuroi could not simply rebel. He needed to plan. He needed to be patient. Bringing down Kuroi would also have been impossible for this Arrancar. With her blood lust he sensed the difference in their abilities and in their minds. Her blood lust was insignificant.

He did also notice something peculiar. She spoke of a stronger past... It was almost as if she was trying to justify a state of being which was sub-optimal. She was trying to justify a weakness to him or to the crew. Or to herself. He tasted her desperation and pondered on it as she continued to speak and moved past it to offer him exploration of their sands. "I am going to use what I learn to create a version of your ship that can be employed in war." Kuroi told her flatly. He did not tell her his purpose and he did not threaten her with destruction or with any demands. What she might gain from this was he had no interest in a less pressured existence. He enjoyed and fed off of the strife of Las Noches. He mired for a place in the world that deserved his hunger. "And you are mistaken. The strong do not waste their time. Every moment serves a purpose. I have a deadline but this does not make me short on time."

[Tsajara Dread]

It would have been a lie to say that Dread did not enjoy the young man's.....simmering. At first she had considered the possibility that perhaps Kuroi was, in some way, irritated. However as he spoke, sparingly as it were, and he listened, she began to realize that this simply was something of a constant state for him. It was puzzling to say the least, but perhaps not all that surprising. Every time she gave him something, some shift of expression, a brief line of dialog, he seemed to be voraciously eating it up and furiously spitting out bits of perceived information. She actually felt a dull ache in her skull from her own energy sensory getting static from his own mildly inferior one, though she hardly let this seep through. She did however sense those shifts and dips in his soul, honestly a good deal faster than they should be happening.
If she had actually any way to know that he had, at some point, perceived some sort of desperation from her then it would have become much more clear what was going on. Dread was lax in almost every single sense of the word. From her lack of fear, her casualness in understanding how weak she was compared to the man, to the idle discussion of why a place that she more or less was in charge of and it's proximity to imminent destruction. Even her playful teasing at the end of her last few sentences. If Kuroi was perceiving any sort of desperation then her ability to hide what she was feeling must have been working a lot better than she surmised it would.

But alas.

"Suitable for war..." She echoed thoughtfully. Which was, in fact, a rather amusing prospect. The Gillian Ships had been used rather successfully for such things in the past to be frank. A ship that could use garganta, cero, and many ships still had their innate set of hollow powers intact. A lot of work and old research, before even her own time, had gone into making them not only safe to ride, but also to quell the conglomerate screams. Even a tame gillian was just a mix of thousands of screaming consciousnesses. It was the shard infused into it's body that kept those at bay, and even allowed the crew to function while inside of it. She didn't have any familiarity with it, but Tsaja imagined there had been a great deal of trial and error in the process. The idea that this man planned on emulating that process in any short period of time was....interesting.

She smiled at his....neutral-defensive response to her comments on his time, something that actually elicited a chuckle from the woman. Hardly in mocking or a laugh AT him. But simply... about him. She was, oddly, enjoying his company. Strange and businesslike as he was, Kuroi was a man bustling with.... bravado. Theatrics. He was so serious and honestly it was mildly adorable. If he were a bit more relaxed she might have even found him attractive.
"I'm flattered. thank you." She noted warmly, casually taking his statement to transitively deduce that he did not consider her a waste of his time. And therefore, whether he intended to or not, was complimenting her. It was something that often infuriated the more up-their-own-ass sect of arrancar, but she imagined he would largely have zero interest in what she thought he was doing. It was actually rather fun. He honestly didn't seem interested in most of who she was or what she stood for, it was almost like he wasn't even REALLY talking to her at all.

Were she a younger woman she might have been offended, but to Tsaja? It was just fun~
" Different." She casually corrected him, interjecting immediately after the word 'mistaken'. Out of a force of habit honestly. "The world honestly has no rules. It may seem like that, but I, at the very least, am of the opinion that things aren't nearly as stringent as one assumes. But..... I DO like your idea. It's rather nice to think of." She noted idly, choosing intentionally to misconstrue his words, and take it that he had meant that every moment had a purpose, regardless of what you were doing, as opposed to what she was aware he probably meant: that he was very deliberate and used his time wisely. But of course she doubted he would give a damn how she chose to take his words. Though in any case she did a little forward scoot, sliding her thighs off of the barrel she'd been sitting on.

With a neat little dip forward, she tilted the barrel back, balancing it on it's edge as she amused herself. Slipped, and then the barrel fell over, and she fell onto her back, immediately sputtering and giggling a bit to herself as she stood back up and brushed herself off. Aware that he would likely perceive her as high, maybe drunk, stupid, or whatever. A harpy like Dread could have honestly kept herself upright, but she was simply having fun. Directly infront of Kuroi. She wasn't sure why, but she'd been compelled to do it. Almost as if she knew that he would be disgusted by it. Or maybe she was just being whimsical. Even she didn't know. But in any case, she smiled, imagining what probably would be going through Kuroi's head. 'what a joke' 'A pathetic excuse for a leader' 'is she drunk?'. She fancied these little inner amusements of hers. In the very same way that she always amused herself. Imagining Kuroi speaking in a french accent. Mentally placing tiny hats on his head. And now, allowing herself to fall onto the floor. To purvey his, apparent, delusion that she was incompetent, weak, or some mixture of the two.

"That said, at least you have yourself a goal. Nira." She noted softly. And it would be at that time that Kuroi would likely notice Nira stepping in beside him. Kuroi was perceptive, yes, but the sheer magnitude of both women's skill in stealth was clear as the dark-haired other of Tsaja gave Kuroi a smile and a nod. Of course, under normal circumstances Kuroi probably would have been able to sense Nira through his pesquis. But inside of a living thing, the inside of the Gillian ship was rife with subtle motions, contractions, and shifts. Reasonably speaking, there really wasn't any feasable way for him to have noticed her approach.

"Done kissin his ass?" Nira casually asked, giving Kuroi a grin, a wink, and a light and playful elbowing, eliciting a roll of the eyes from Dread herself at Niraja's immediate insistence on being both childish and vulgar. A look that Nira immediately noticed and responded to with an idle raspberry blown in the woman's direction before her attention shifted back to Kuroi himself. Tsaja meanwhile was turning and proceeding to take her leave of the young man, assuming he did not insist on her continued presence.

"Sorry you had to suffer through her lectures. She's a bit of a know-it all. I assume because all her brains went to those lumps of fat on her chest." Nora stated casually, rummaging around before producing a flask of water as well as some salmon. The water wasn't all that cool and the salmon was hardly nice and hot, but well... this was hardly a restaurant. But at the very least both were actually teeming with spiritual energy. Nira obviously didn't know if Kuroi had been expending any energy in his wanderings, but it was feasable to say he probably had. "Here. Eat it or don't, I'm not yer Mom. Was there anything else you wanted to check out or you good?" She would ask, glancing at Tsaja's retreating form and then back at Kuroi with another vulgar wiggle of her eyebrows and a chummy look. There was literally no chance that the business-like young arrancar had been checking out the other Admiral's ass, but it was very clear that Nira had that impression, or at least was conveying as much.

A very acute difference in demeanor between the two masters of the ship.

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi immediately saw the deliberate fall that the leader of the ship had taken. Kuroi was a master warrior and tactician who was easily capable of perceiving an opponent's stance, balance, and level of precision in an instant when he perceived them. The female Arrancar had lost her balance but she gave herself away by the quarter of a second hesitation. That little fraction of time was when her body had some level of skill for keeping itself upright. Then that fraction of a moment was gone and her balance was lost. The Envainar of Hope speculated her reasoning for letting herself fall. It was possible that she wanted to fool him into thinking that she was weaker than she was, in itself irrelevant because Kuroi's level was already so much higher. If she recognized that too then it was probably vain self amusement. Or maybe hiding her power level wasn't for Kuroi but for the rest of her crew. He did not yet know the full dynamic of this crew. It was possible.

It did not matter. The masked man kept his thoughts on the subject to himself. Now the other one was approaching him with an offer of water and food. It was true that he had expended energy to get this far but he also had not gone hungry. Something which Arrancar were still capable of doing as well as if not better than when they had been less evolved was slaughtering and devouring other Hollows. Many had been consumed along the way though Arrancar did not need to eat in the same way Shinigami did. Their evolution had allowed them to transcend the hunger of the Hollows. Why Arrancar ate was not hunger but instinct. Without it they might feel empty inside or as if they had failed to live up to some crucial expectation of their lives, much as if someone failed to breathe or walk. He still took the water and food with a thankful nod at the second female Arrancar. He did not yet consume them because she asked him a question and he was poise on answering it.

"Do you possess any familiarity with the Escudo?" Kuroi asked. He was thinking back on that powerful group of Arrancar who had defected from Kouhai's reign and tried to usurp him. Their leader had been strong, though not strong enough. Their top 10, the Escudo, had each been meant to destroy an Espada of the corresponding number. The Segunda Escudo, Shiroi Dei, had been strong. In time all of the Escudo had been killed. However in his meetings with other Lanza Kuroi had learned that the Escudo group was alive and well under new leadership and with a new power rank called Zarpa. He had not found any trace of them in his travels. This meant to him that they were dead or good at hiding. He had never heard of these pirates either and so guessed that there was a possibility of a connection somewhere between these ones and the Escudo. It was also possible that no connection existed. Hueco Mundo was very large.

A majority of it was merely a moonlit desert but Kuroi had happened upon areas which were not. He knew that there was a small sea on the other side of the world from Las Noches and he was intimately familiar with the caverns past Menos Forest. Thinking of that he also activated his Pesquis so that he could scan the ship and analyze what he sensed. Indeed it was made of Menos as he had first thought. It was also powered by some sort of core of powerful yet unknown reiatsu. Would it make a difference if he looked at it or not? He might not understand it. His scientists might. Was it in his interest to kill everyone here and take their ship? If there was a way to learn without resorting to that then it would be his preference. No, his scientists had a way of looking into his memory. If he could see the core that controlled this ship then that was all he needed to see. He might not even need that.

[Tsajara Dread]

Nira's brows barely lifted, in perhaps the most bland reaction to the drop of the escudo name that had likely yet been witnessed. Most people either didn't know, or new and had a bit more of a reaction. But Niraja herself? She treated it like it was just a nother topic of conversation. "Vaguely. Not so much these days. We used to have some exes in the zero Sand supposedly, but honestly I never much paid any mind to those rumors." She noted with an idle shrug, those damn Zero sands always did strike her kinda weird. "Honestly I never thought much of them. Not to say they weren't powerful or whatever. Just never really saw em going anywhere with their goals." She noted, leaning casually against one of the walls, the vaguest of shifts in the structure in response to the stimulus, as if to remind it's passengers that the thing was very much alive.

She was utterly unaware of his musings, particularly about his asumption that there was a core. Which certainly would have tickled her if she'd heard it. But alas her OWN thoughts were elsewhere, idly scanning the man up and down, sizing him up. "Why? you one of them? If so I hope I didn't offend ya er nothin." she chuckled casually. "Yer obviously someone. You're strong, and you see fit to hide your face. You on the run or something?" She asked shallowly, not even remotely believing this to be the case. The masked man did not strike her as someone who would need to run from anyone. Unlike Dread, however, she was not so careless and free of concern. She was the older of the two, by a considerable margin. So she had a bit more....experience when it came to men like this.

"Ah well, that's none of my business anyway. Say, you want a tour around the ship? We're gonna be submerged for a while, I can show ya all the nifty bits and bobs if ya like." She offered calmly, changing the subject and steering it away from just why it was the man was here.

[Zou ۞]

"Running is not my purpose, no." The masked man placed the food down for a moment. He reached to the back of the helmet that served as his mask. There would be an audible clicking noise and then a hiss. For most people the anticipation would be building, but Nira might not care about that. Kuroi removed the mask to reveal his black hair and stony eyes. If Nira knew about Las Noches she might know who Kuroi was. Chances were she did not keep up with things there. Greater chances were that if she did know of him she knew of his younger days. His face was older now than it had been. What had been a youthful man's face in its mid twenties was now one in its early or mid forties. Kuroi had allowed himself to age yet it had not slowed him down. It had only made him stronger and more cautious. To be tactile and cunning was infinitely more important than to be merely strong and agile yet so few understood this simple notion even among the Gotei Captains or the Espada.

"There was a time when I had a great many things." the Envainar of Hope said. He recollected on the days when the armies of Las Noches had been his and so had the rank of Segunda Espada. He recalled when he had been Sonken Kouhai's most trusted soldier and advisor. He lamented the memories of a Fraccion and of comrades that were all now dead. "That time has passed." The regret did not show on his face or in his heart. His soul and his spiritual energy did not even falter or flicker. He had accepted that these things were gone... It had only given him strength. He knew the way the world worked. The order of things was as it always had been, and that was the chain of command. The one who controlled destiny was the winner. The winner did not think of how the world was but of how the world should be. Kuroi was one of these people, his only guide toward it being the Infinite Darkness.

Kuroi started to consume the food that had been given to him. His cold eyes did not waver while he did. After he had finished the meal and wiped his mouth he spoke again. He had eaten in silence. "I travel seeking knowledge and resources. Private resources. The mask is of convenience. Too many do not understand their limits and would challenge me. I do not have the time to kill all of them." The way in which Kuroi spoke asserted more than power or dominance. It asserted experience. It asserted a lifetime of changing circumstances and of never stagnating and staying in one position for too long. After he had spoken Kuroi placed the mask back over his head and it clicked shut with another hiss. Once more his voice was modulated to be less recognizable and more threatening when he spoke. Now Nira had seen that there was a man behind the mask but that he was still only a monster. He was the worst kind of monster. One that could feel. "Show me around this ship."

[Tsajara Dread]

Nira lifted a brow slightly at his response. The other one lofted when that mask came off. And of course at long last that mask slid free and she saw.... some old fart. She would have recognized a younger him, merely by old accounts, but this was someone she didn't match at all. She supposed as much was to be expected. She stood quietly and gave a slow, steady nod at his cryptic words. But she understood them fairly well. He, unlike many of their kind, was a being lost. And frankly, she was beginning to see why he'd found the ship. She smiled softly to herself and her fragment glowed softly for a brief little moment, and that soothing aura grew just a bit stronger in response to Kuroi's mournful thoughts, the ship itself shifted slightly, as if registering the emotion, and Kuroi would feel that strange metaphorical smoothing of his feathers.

"So I see. I can't say I really had much up until recently. Tsaja's more the one in that category. though to be perfectly honest I wish she'd have handled it like you are." She murmured a little sourly, shaking her head and looking off to the side. "Private huh?Can't say I'm all that aware of the life of a celebrity. Didn't even have my own body till recently. Though I can imagine people challenging you can be a pain in the ass." She mused idly to herself, folding her arms for a moment before watching him slide the mask back on. and of course ask of a tour.

She smiled at that and nodded. "Fair's fair. Right now we're in the crew's quarters. Middle deck. Honestly this deck is entirely crew's quarters and storage. Nothing all that fancy. The Heart of the Judge doesn't really carry anything unusual. Most times we're hunting troublemakers around the Sands. Thus why you notice the abnormal number of quincy amongst our crew." She explained as she moved, making her way toward the head of the beast, nodding to a few of the quincy as she and Kuroi passed by. Both of them gave a respectful salute before returning to their conversation. As they went, Kuroi would get brief glances into quarters here and there, but nothing particularly exciting.

Stopping, Nira glanced up to a little circular orifice in the ceiling, the wall having grown a number of ridges almost like the rungs of a ladder, which is exactly what she used it as. Giving a fingergun in Kuroi's direction before heading up. Though given the type of man Kuroi was, nothing that flashed in the flutter of cloak as Nira ascended above him would be of note. Ønce the pair were up, she took a moment to brush herself off and then gesture about. Immediately Kuroi would notice the difference. Rather than every few yards or so, this deck had closed portholes every foot or so, and the openings were much wider, and the plating was much thicker here. They might almost seem like the sort of place one would place cannons. But of course, with spiritual beings, usually a person was just as good as a cannon. Not only that but the deck was completely open. No hallways, no corridors. Kuroi would see somewhere between thirty to forty crewmembers maintaining the area and going about their duties. Upon seeing the woman, those that could afford to immediately saluted, standing to attention before Nira gave them a wave and they returned to their activities. Kuroi would very clearly make out the peppering of 'Admiral's which were how most of the crew addressed the arrancar. Human, Quincy. Arrancar, Hollow, Bount. There was minimal, if any, variation in the respect and calmness that each and every crewmember showed her, and seemingly one another.

Nira gestured down toward the tail end. "About fifteen yards down there you can see the deck is cut in half. Other end is the mess area and the more organ-y parts of the ship. If you can call it that. It's mostly just a bit more fleshy." She noted with a minimal shrug of her shoulders, then nodding toward the front end of the ship as she led Kuroi in that direction. "Up ahead is the Shipmaster's Quarters, where a ship's Admiral, Quartermaster, or in some rare cases, it's Keeper will reside." She explained, pulling open that bony door and showing the inside of the rather large space. Almost immediately kuroi would notice the difference.

The place looked like a war room. A big space with one massive table in the center of the room, made entirely out of the crystal material that was around every single crewmember's neck. And Kuroi would notice that this out of every other area had the highest concentration of the stuff. "This here may look like just a table, but it's actually our map." she noted, making her way to that massive thing and gently tapping her fingertips along the edge. Immediately it lit up, a prismatic display immediately streaking across the surface, and promptly, Kuroi would noticea number of landmarks scattered across the entire thing. Though one in particular stood out at the very center, with it's own bright red gem indicator over it. It did not take a genius to figure it was some sort of central area. However. Nira did not seem to pay it much mind.

Instead, she casually made her way over to one of the edges of the table, and gently swept her fingers along the surface, so that the entire map shifted, the display panning so that the area she had moved to, now occupied about 25% of the table. And on just the edge, was a little structure Kuroi would find very familiar. The dome of Las Noches. Dwarfed ridiculously by the size of the other little landmarks. Though they were hardly displayed to scale, at least not in relation to the map landscape itself. Nira smiled, well aware that this was probably the most nifty place on the ship. Of all the energy that Kuroi could sense, the absolute strongest came from this table. Of course, that would likely be confusing, as such an odd thing as a map would hardly be a logical place to put a core. And yet it was the highest concentration of energy in the ship. It wasn't a core, but it was the closest thing to one.

"We're about here." She pointed out, lightly tapping a spot about 2/3rds of the way from Las Noches to one of the points where the landscape changed color on the display. "Hm..." She paused and moved the map just a little bit. On the other side of the table, a rather large spherical object about twice the size of kuroi or Nira that had been displayed hovering above the table suddenly blipped out of view as the spot on the map left the displayed zone. "This baby will show you wherever you are. It's ingrained right into the crystal. Technically speaking we can just use our fragments to figure where we're going, but for times when a visual representation is needed, we have this. Useful when we're tracking something down." She explained casually.

[Zou ۞]

The Envainar of Hope did not speak much. He listened and looked around while they moved through the ship. His analysis was piecing the story together whenever his guide threw out terms that he was less familiar with yet she took for granted. Heart of the Judge. The need for an abnormal number of Quincy. Quartermaster, Keeper. From what Kuroi began to gather the Admirals were not by any necessary equivocation the most important of this group. That title of Keeper was spoken of as if it carried an extra weight that he was not yet able to understand. He did understand what was meant by Heart of the Judge however. The way it was spoken of distinguished a certain type of duty. This meant that if there were other duties then there were also other pieces or sects like this Heart of The Judge, which Kuroi also surmised may also associate with some power from this ship or someone on it. That was why it had tried to calm him earlier and why when he thought of his Fraccion he felt a ripple in response.

There were also the remarks of the crew to give more. There was a chain of command here as there was in all places. It was different. It was based on rank and not the power to get to that rank. In that event it had to be some sort of sensibility or personality trait that brought one to be that rank. The reason which convinced Kuroi that power was not the only criteria the way it was in Las Noches was that some of the crew members were close to their Admiral when it came to spiritual ability. This meant that more than one of them could have challenged for a higher rank if the same system as was utilized in Las Noches under Sonken Kouhai had been in play here. This was more traditional of a place like the human world where cunning overwhelmed strength. It was Las Noches that most prized battle ability for giving ranks. This was something which Kuroi understood but found frustrating. If they had better Espada, Las Noches would have been more capable.

It was in the map room that the Envainar of Hope found something interesting. The rest had had some interest but this map room was different. It was different not because of the scale of the map or the impressiveness of the details but because it reminded Kuroi of something... Something long ago. Images started to flash through his mind while his guide spoke about the map and manipulated it. In his mind Kuroi visualized a young, attractive face with a scar on the chin. The man's confident smirk was matched by a large broad sword with three holes in the flat of the blade. He was wearing a white shihakusho and a black Haori. Kuroi looked back at the map and saw Las Noches. It was huge in person but seeing it here confirmed something Kuroi had always known. How insignificant Las Noches was relative to the sheer size of Hueco Mundo. The emptiness of it all. Kuroi's vision continued to manifest too.

The man had some sort of technology on his wrist. The manner in which its interface was manipulated. That form and structure to it. Kuroi had seen this kind of design before. This was bigger and less sophisticated yet it was still the same. It was so similar to what that Shinigami had used. The Envainar of Hope started to recall things, among them a name. Shinsei Tan'O... More images surfaced in Kuroi's mind while that map was moving. This time his soul shifted more noticeably for those who possessed higher levels of energy sensory. To the less experienced there would still be nothing, especially because of his level. Because he was so powerful he could hide his presence and make it seem as if he did not even possess use of reiatsu. But to anyone at a certain level they would know he had shifted. This ship might know. These images continued to pulse in his mind.

Blood on the floor and comrades that had been brought down by the swing of a mighty King's sword. Yes this map was just like what Shinsei Tan'O had used to navigate Hueco Mundo during his excursions here. Kuroi could recall thinking way back then about how it would have been so simple for Shinsei's allies to share those things with the Gotei Thirteen and how the lack of communication made the Gotei and its Captains so much weaker. "This map." Kuroi noted. "It contains all of Hueco Mundo. Can it do the same with other worlds?" It didn't matter if it could. Kuroi knew someone that could make it do so. It had given him an idea. Kuroi continued seeing images of the past. Now he saw teal hair, a girl on the arm of that Shinigami from before. His images flashed back to the bloody floor. This thought he had been avoiding for a long time. They had not been there. They... had left before any of that.

This map told him everything he needed to know. He knew of ways to make a map that interfaced with Pesquis. He knew of ways to make a map like this one that could survey other worlds. The Infinite Darkness stirred. Kuroi was one of its most powerful proponents and the Envainar of Hope could activate it just with his sentiment of greed. He felt many things that moment. Infinite rage. Bottomless hate and yet also unending self loathing. Insatiable greed. This was what made him an Arrancar. He was still a member of the Hollow race, born with a hole in his chest. Kuroi could feel his anger mounting. His greed gave him vision, and with vision came focus. Desire made him stronger. Then the last image fully came into his mind. That teal haired girl's face. And from behind the mask he remembered what he had dared not until now. She is alive. Kuroi looked at this map which showed Hueco Mundo.

She will belong to me. All of it will.