![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
WEEK 1
WEEK 1
Your hosts have come and gone, and have left you with nothing but more questions and a key. Regardless of how you reacted or what you decided to do soon after that, it’s a fact that the day must end eventually.
And so it does, with the striking of the clock. As the twelve gongs reverberate and disappear into the night, the rest of the city is left silent save for a chilly wind that skims the streets. Those who have retired to their assigned rooms will find that the furnishings are decent enough to get a good night’s sleep, while those who wander the city will only continue to see empty streets and fog. But regardless of how you spend the night, eventually it will become readily apparent that dawn will not be coming any time soon as the waxing moon continues to hang in the sky even as the clock strikes six or seven or eight.
No one’s stopping you from wallowing in bed or holing up in a building during this perpetual night, but there’s a whole city out there to check out and some interesting additions to the Opera House decor; don’t forget though, a cage is a cage and every good cage needs its bars. While a portion of the streets and buildings are clear, any intrepid explorers won’t find themselves able to get very far through the fog that surrounds them; anyone who tries to venture through will end up getting turned around and end up right back where they started. Still, there’s plenty of other places to check, even if the fog-shrouded buildings are more or less off limits. Fortune favors the bold, after all.
[[Welcome to Week 1! Feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. You can also now privately contact The Lady or Rembrandt at your leisure!]]
kitchen
[And I mean, after all the confusion of the previous day and very likely at least most of the night spent wandering and banging into uncooperative fogbanks, it's a little easier to see that while his uniform is still mostly as pristine as it used to be colorwise (minus some scuffs, though all of that's already a miracle considering white is only a useful color in Hueco Mundo) the collar is held together by willpower, prayers and maybe a pin or two.
It's certainly not sturdy enough to avoid revealing the Hollow hole just at the base of his throat, so really would the food even go anywhere. Mysteries of Hollow anatomy.
So instead of judging the state of Rean's pancakes, he'll just start rifling around in the drawers himself, quiet aside from the clatter.]
no subject
[ Rean stopped what he was doing because after he asked, he saw the hole. But the guy looked fine...what. ]
And sorry to ask, but have you always had that hole there?
[ There really was no delicate way to ask rip. ]
no subject
[His tone is dismissive and he continues his rummaging. There's the lightest touch of bemusement on the latter -- he certainly hasn't gotten questions about the Hollow hole in living memory, since Arrancar don't get terribly personal with him and anything else that would ask already knows exactly what Hollows are. He's a strange sum total made up of many common parts.
It's debatable whether he would have bothered answering if it weren't novel on its own. So this is what interacting with the general population is like. Eh.]
no subject
...What exactly is a Hollow?
[ Of course, that was the question that was the result of such an unfamiliar term being brought before a stranger. But, clearly it seemed like a 'Hollow' was definitely not remotely human—except in shape, probably. ]
no subject
Also god that's a really good question. What the fuck is a Hollow, y'all. Ulquiorra is silent for a little while -- he may be thinking, or he may have stopped bothering to answer questions altogether given that this is turning into Detergent Spirits 101; but ultimately he finds what he's looking for, at least.
It's a lighter; was it here before? Probably someone brought it in from the shops. He stares at it for a moment, then, finally:]
I didn't think I could find anything more tiresome than dealing with Soul Society. To bring a Hollow into contact with the living without any useful preparation is foolish at best.
no subject
I don't know what Soul Society is or where it's located, but I doubt those two really care about "useful" preperations if it benefits is.
[ ... ]
Is there supposed to be a process before a Hollow meets with a human, though?
no subject
[Does explain a single thing. No? Good.
He'll flick the lighter on and off a few times -- ostensibly testing its function before pocketing it. One of his hands hasn't left his pocket this whole time, because yes, he is that variety of unnecessarily edgy.]
The fact that you don't know anything about Soul Society, Hollows or anything beyond the human realm is ridiculous. [he doesn't comment on their hosts, because of course that's just the way things roll around here] Though you may learn, sooner or later. Especially here.
no subject
He watched the other play with the lighter before talking more. ]
It'd be nice to learn more about Soul Society, and you, as a Hollow and the type of person you are. There's really a lot I don't know about, and I believe having more knowledge would help.
...In the meanwhile I'll ask for you to bear with me as much as you can as I'm learning these new things.
why is he so stupidly edgy smh
Do you really think you'll gain anything useful from learning about those here? Each one of us is simply a pawn to be used in this plan and then discarded. [said dispassionately, like it's a fact of life (or not-so-life, as it were)] It's a waste of time.
Besides, I wonder if you really want to learn about Soul Society from its greatest enemies.
ulqui plz
[ He's sure of it. There's value in learning more about each other, this place, and even their captors. All would help to solve the puzzle and leave this place.
And as for that other stray comment— ]
You can learn a lot from someone's enemies. Knowledge is still knowledge, no matter where it's coming from.
no subject
[Perhaps not the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake -- one learns even if one closes all eyes and ears and looks away, and Ulquiorra himself is not at all in the habit of looking away. But to prattle about teamwork in a place like this?
It's barely even worth considering.
He shifts his shoulders, a barely-there shrug.]
The Soul Society. A collective of shinigami, soul reapers who guide the dead to cultivate and swell their ranks.
no subject
[ Rean won't budge on this. But, that's fine, he should expect others to have different opinions. ]
...That sounds incredible. I've never even heard of there being a collection of 'soul reapers' before in my entire life.
[ If only because the Church of Aidios didn't really go around yelling about those things. And lol, different worlds. ]
But, why do you fight against them?
no subject
[He doesn't bother to argue; it's easy to see where this one has planted the root of himself.
All that's left is to wait until the sand of that foundation sifts away -- he might even look forward to it after the absurdity of the last time he met someone (or someones) somewhat similar. Humans, of course. The way they fought was at once so limited and so absurd.
As little as he knows about this place now, it seems the right sort of place for that.]
Hollows and shinigami are natural enemies. [his tone continues to make it clear that explaining this is a great inconvenience] And my Lord would see them destroyed.
no subject
But at the very least he'll listen to the explanation properly despite the tone here. It really was a world he was unfamiliar with. ]
Your Lord...? Can you tell me why you follow this Lord of yours?
[ He knew dragging an answer out of this guy was like pulling teeth already, but he was such an enigma that he couldn't help but pry. ]