[MillietheWarrior]

((Continuation of thisRP))



Yoshi smiled benignly and shrugged. “Our men are either generally lazy, apathetic, or like to ‘blow shit up’ as they say. So they’re nto around much unless Halibel-sama calls a meeting. The ones you’ve met so far are Halibel-sama’s personal attendants; her Fracción. Besides them, and myself, and Halibel-sama, of course, there’s only one other female in Hueco Mundo, named Neliel.” Yoshi clapped her mouth shut, her smile sharpening as she looked between Morwena and Tia, as if waiting for someone to say something. The blonde woman inclined her head, looking faintly impressed with the other woman’s boldness. “Not many would’ve dared to ask such a thing,” she reached up and rested her finger tips against the bridge of her nose.

“And not many would get away with it. But you are guests, and as such, I see no problem with the question.” Her fingers clasped the small zipper of her jacket, and slowly pulled it down, revealing a shark-like bone mask that extended down to cover the tops of her breasts and keep her somewhat decent. A large number three was emblazoned on her right breast, the dark ink standing out starkly against her tanned skin. Yoshi smiled happily, clapping her hands together and twirling. “I have a hollow mask too!” she declared. “Want to see?”


((Ref one and ref two to show what she looks like.))

[Shieba]

All thought of talking about males fled from Morwena's mind when Tia actually started unzipping her whole jacket - so she did want to flirt with Morwena's handsome Dear, after all! - and Morwena opened her mouth to protest, but shut it when she actually saw what was underneath. She paused for a second. "My! That must be so unfortunate, especially during sex!"

Bentner rubbed his temples. "You are so rude sometimes, woman. You should be very glad that Her Majesty wasn't offended by you." He turned to Tia. "The remains of your mask are quite a bit larger than what your subordinate had. Does that have a significance, if I may ask?"

Morwena - not really willing to look away since her Dear was now looking at the half-naked Tia - glanced at Yoshi. "You, deary? I wouldn't have guessed you would have one, too!" Yoshi wasn't all that much covered up around the face and neck part, after all.

[MillietheWarrior]

Tia cocked her head to the side, looking faintly perplexed by Morwena’s outburst. She didn’t comment on it, but silently wondered what her mask would have to do with procreation. Her gaze slipped to Bentner instead, and she drew her arms back across her abdomen. “I never wanted the power I have now. I only wanted to be able to protect my subordinates.”

She closed her eyes. “Many of us Arrancar are affiliated with some sort of emotion, or purpose. Mine was and always has been sacrifice. I would do anything to keep the ones I call comrades alive, and for those I served, I would have died. Many things have changed since then, but my purpose remains the same. I keep so much of my mask because when I became an Arrancar, and destroyed my mask to gain power, it was because I did not want anymore power than I needed. These are the remnants of what and who I was before; it was not something I wanted to forget.”

She nodded her head, eyes still closed as Yoshi piped up. “Oh yes! Look, look!” She turned around, and bent her arm at a rather awkward angle, pulling the top of her dress a bit down her back. Laying beneath it was a row of what appeared to be scale-like bones disappearing down her spine, mimicking the vertebrae beneath and equipped with tiny, reptilian like spikes on the edge of each. The scales disappeared up into her mop of unruly green hair, and she reached up to part it and show that the scales went all the way to the tops of her hairline. “Mine is one of the prettiest, I think,” she said proudly. “Aside from Halibel-sama, of course.”

[Shieba]

"I see..." Bentner stroked his beard. "Such a purpose could be bothersome for a king, meant to rule over others and command them, for a king should not stand in front of his subordinates, but behind them. But at the same time, something like this would surely inspire the same kind of loyalty in those who serve you. I do wonder, though - how did you know how much power you would need? Would it not be better to take all you could get to fulfill what you call your purpose better? Then again, you said 'sacrifice', not 'protection'..." He sighed. "I apologize. Your world is very new to Morwena and me, so to you, we must ask strange and sometimes rude questions. I apologize for that."

"So what's the tattoo about?" Morwena asked brightly. "Did you get that on your own or is that something you had to get?"

"...That's exactly what I meant with 'rude questions', Morwena", Bentner stated.

"Eeee, so sorry, Dear!" Morwena bowed and quickly turned back to Yoshi. "Deary, that is by far the most convenient placement I've seen yet! How does that work when you change into a dragon, though? Does the mask grow with you?" Was it even a 'mask' when it was on someone's back, really?

[MillietheWarrior]

“In our world,” Tia replied quietly. “If you do not stand in front of your comrades, then you do not stand at all. There is no place for the weak, of the selfish here. Not in my kingdom, at least. Not anymore.” She opened her eyes, and gazed at him curiously. “When I take my other form, called my Resurrección form, then I gain more power than I could ever hope to need. It is what makes me stronger, and able to keep my title as king of Hueco Mundo.” She dipped her head. “But if the time came, and I met my end, I would do so with pride, and to keep my comrades alive.” Behind her mask, she smiled, though it was almost unnoticeable. “There are many more facets to the idea of sacrifice than you could ever imagine.” Her fingers lifted and traced the number 3.

“This number was my ranking within the Arrancar’s highest level of soldiers; the Espada. There were only eight of them. I was number 3, and numbe3r 2 was killed. Number 1 still resides here, but he decided he didn’t want to be king, and has left it up to me. Now he and his subordinate are my enforcers, if need be. I am the most powerful here now, but long ago, that was not the case.” Yoshi waved her hand, twirling around and looking pleased with herself. “The term ‘Hollow Mask’ is just a general term. When we break out mask, we sometimes retain remnants of our Hollow form all over our bodies. Not everyone has a bit of mask left, but most do. Mine is usually visible, but I didn’t feel like brushing my hair this morning.”

As if to emphasize her point, a brush materialized in her hand, and she swept it through her short, curly locks. Once they were tamed, the bits of her mask were quite evident in the green of her hair. “It does, actually. It just kinda…stays there, and grows. It can be difficult to explain, but it’s part of our anatomy, like a limb, or an eye or something.”

[Shieba]

"I see...so what Yoshi showed us is that other form you have?" Bentner nodded. "Indeed, I don't think I can really understand what you mean with 'sacrifice'. After all, you are not a human and have gone through death once already, if I understand your system correctly. What would happen, though, if you were to die again? Would the cycle repeat and you would become a Hollow once more before again becoming Arrancar so that your reign here would never truly end?" That sounded like a fortunate system for a kingdom with a good king.

"And you still want to keep the tattoo?" Morwena was honestly surprised.

"Indeed. I understand keeping the mask, no matter how inconveniently it might be placed, but if your old king betrayed you like you said, would you not want to erase something like that?" Bentner wondered. "The new king of my kingdom had any traces of the old one erased, sadly."

"My!" Morwena watched how Yoshi made her mask more visible in her hair. "Do you guys have any control where you break these things and what remains? If they grow with you and all, they look like they could be good protection."

[MillietheWarrior]

“Yoshi’s form is different. She reverts to a Hollow-like form. I do not. I become…more human, as it were, without the mask.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, before responding. “If I were to die, my body would dissolve into spirit particles. Unlike when a Hollow is destroyed by another Hollow, these spirit particles would not be absorbed, but would be reborn into another life. That is the cycle; we die, only to live again. I would most likely return as a human, but I would retain none of my former memories. That is how it is for all souls; when we die, our slates are wiped clean and we begin again. That is how it will be for you, for Yoshi, for myself…for anyone.”

She chuckled and rubbed the tattoo absently, gloved fingers tracing the number. “It is a reminder of what I have been through; I see no reason to remove it, considering most do not ever get to see it anyway.” She cocked her head, hair falling over her shoulders. “Sometimes we must keep the reminders with us so that we do not forget and repeat our mistakes,” she told him quietly.  “And we have made many of them…All of us that live here fell victim to his spell, and we paid the price. If we rid ourselves of that reminder, we might fall victim to our own mistakes a second time. I will not allow that to happen.”

Yoshi, meanwhile, had turned solemn quite suddenly upon listening to Tia’s words. For once, her smile was not evident, and her eyes were downcast as she absently rubbed at the hollow mask fragments on her head. “We have no control over it. When we break our masks, we are nothing more than mindless beasts, bent on eating and destroying. When we gain more power, we gain the ability to take on a human form, to gain intelligence and a semblance of a soul that we had once been. Sometimes we are forced into it, even if we don’t want to change.” Her smile returned just as quickly as it had disappeared, and she beamed up at them. “But what’s done is done. Tell me, have you decided on what you’d like to take with you from my room of treasures?”

[Shieba]

Morwena stared. "That is a horrible system! Why go through life just to forget it all?! Who invented that? That's downright cruel!"

"Indeed it is." Bentner glanced at Tia. "In my world, our souls get judged after death by the Master of Death, who has recorded all our sins - not sins according to human laws, but according to the laws of our white god, since he is the one who grants souls who followed his teachings in life entrance to Prahna, where the souls regain a body. Those who sinned too much go to a place we call Rarohenga, where their punishment is not having a body anymore and being forced to live an existance without being able to do anything, though honest changes might grant them entrance to Prahna at a later point. But we only lose our bodies, never our memories." He sighed. "Given your system, I understand you wanting to keep the tattoo. Memories seem to be an important part of your culture, maybe relating to the way death works for you."

"Well, most beings are scared of change, you know?" Morwena honestly smiled at Yoshi. "When my grandmother told me that I might one day see a man I will find so wonderful that all my ambitions of becoming a mage would mean nothing compared to him, I was scared and didn't want it. And look, it turned out to be the greatest thing ever!" Her smile turned dreamily. "My Dear is the most amazing thing that ever happened in my life! He is--"

"Indeed", Bentner interrupted Morwena to answer Yoshi's question before the woman started with one of her endless speeches. "I would like to take the monocle and this book." He looked at the vial that Yoshi was holding. "What is this, lady? Something else that might be interesting?"

[MillietheWarrior]

“It was not invented,” Tia replied calmly. “It is merely the nature of things. If one were to be consistently burdened with the memories of their past lives, it would make it difficult to impossible to live a new one. And that is not natural.” She glanced at Yoshi, who’s smile had turned somewhat pensive. The girl was staring at Morwena quizzically, as if not comprehending what she was saying. “Our lives seem so long compared to the lives of humans. You experience change everyday that you live. Yet for us, change is slow, and never forthcoming. It takes many decades for a small amount of change. That is why we find it frightening, disorienting. That is why we go to great lengths to protect ourselves from it. We have had two kings; and Tia will be our last.” She quickly looked up, and indicated the vial in Morwena’s hand. “Oh, this! It’s a very special potion. It will allow a human to reclaim the years they’ve already lived. It won’t change their physical age, but the user will live two lifetimes, instead of one. Or you could split it, and live an extra half life, of course.”

[Shieba]

"Oh, that's not what I meant! I mean just keeping your one life, even after death! Never becoming someone new and getting reborn." Morwena paused. "Wait, 'nature of things'? But surely you must have a god who created your world, right? A world just doesn't happen to exist suddenly!" She looked at Yoshi, not really understanding. "What do you mean, she will be your last king? She just said that her life will end one day, no matter how long it'll take. What will happen to you then? If change is so hard for you, wouldn't getting a new king be easier than abolishing the system and forming a new one?"

Bentner took the potion. "That is...quite amazing. I admit that death is not something I'm looking forward to, given how much there still is to do for me in my kingdom."

"I knew you would like it, Dear!" Morwena beamed. "And Yoshi said that these hairclips can be used to cure your back pains, so you would feel much better, too, even without regaining your youth!" She hesitated. "Uhm...I- I am of course picking the potion for you if you want it. B-but maybe w-we should share? So that I would remain younger for longer as well? If I age normally, there'll be a time when I might have the same problems you have now, with slower reaction times, and then I couldn't get...items donated to us that well anymore. Or fight for the resistance and all that!"

Bentner looked at Morwena. He knew fully well that the woman was just scared of wrinkles and of maybe being dismissed by him - as if he'd dismiss a brilliant mage like her as long as she behaved! - but despite that, she did have a point as well. "Since I would die earlier than you still in that case, making it half-half would be wasting quite a bit of it, but I agree that you are correct and giving some to you might be helpful as well." He looked at Yoshi. "Or does drinking less than half of it decrease the amount more than it should, to the point of having no effect at all?"

[MillietheWarrior]

“You are always yourself. But you lack the memories from your life before. You, as a whole, as a spirit, do not change. But you are not burdened with what you knew or did before. Our world always has, and always will be. We have no Gods here. Our former king once fancied himself a God, but like all those who try to ascend to power, it ruined him in the end,” Tia said quietly, closing her eyes.

Yoshi, on the other hand, waved her hands around. “She will be our last. We can have no other who would take the title of our king, and so, it will fall unto ourselves to establish order…without a king. But that is many, many decades from now, and too far in the future to worry over.”  Tia nodded at Yoshi’s words, and turned her attention to the vial. “It works the way you think it does,” Yoshi agreed. “The more you drink, the longer your life. The less you drink, the less years you receive from it. It’s really up to you.”

[Shieba]

"Would that even work for me?" Morwena wondered. "My soul is bound to my Dear and without him with me, I would die. If my soul remains the same, would I die after rebirth right away because he would not be with me anymore?"

"There is no need to worry about that, woman", Bentner sighed. Morwena was simply too emotional. "Our world doesn't work like this, after all, and probably because of this, the system binding you to me can even exist in the first place. Though I do find it to be a strange thought indeed that a world always just was there since the beginning of time without having been created." He looked at Tia. "A god, for us, is not just someone with power. It's a being who is bound as well by keeping the balance between good and evil - not better or worse than a human, for humans can choose their path freely, but lack the power. A god cannot choose, for he is bound to light or dark, but has power. Free will and power are the two parts of perfection and only the creator of our world has them both and distributed them equally between mortals and immortals, for we all have the same worth to Her. As such, it is strange to hear that someone not a god would want to become one."

Bentner looked at the vial. "This is clearly something I would like, then." He paused. "While no back pains would surely be nice, I am not so fragile yet that I need to depend on others for everyday life. So maybe more than one potion would be a better, second pick than the hairpins. Do you happen to have two of these, lady?"

[MillietheWarrior]

“I cannot say,” Tia admitted. “The rules of your world are different than ours. But if two souls are bound to one another, meant for one another, then no matter what, they will always find one another again. It has happened before and it will happen again, many times over.” She glanced at Bentner. “Power is alluring, and corrupting. Someone who was not meant to be a God could never handle the power of one. There was never any way for him to become a God; he just thought there was. And perhaps he believed in it so deeply, that in some ways, his belief was true. But he was never a God. Not a real one, at least. Some are born on pedestals, and some create their own, but not all can hope to stand in the light.”

The words were cryptic and a shadow flitted across her face as she said them. Yoshi was silent as well, but upon Bentner’s agreement that he wanted the vial, she perked up. “I’m afraid I only have one. Items that deal with life, death and age are difficult to come by, as they are sought by more than just myself. I cannot always get them before they are used by impulsive humans.”

[Shieba]

"It's just my soul bound to his, not also the other way round!" Morwena quickly said. "I wouldn't deserve such honor!"

Bentner sighed. "Then he was not only not a god, but also not someone who should have called himself a king, but instead a madman. A king does what is best for the people, not for himself. But there will always be people like him in probably all worlds. It is in the nature of everything to want 'more', for true and endless stagnation would mean decay, and for some people, that 'more' is power over others."

He nodded at Yoshi. "That is very true. Very well then, I think the hairpins and the vial will be good choices then. Is there anything special to be done with the potion? Should it be diluted in water before drinking or will it have any side effects?" Bentner glanced at Morwena, who was really happy that he approved of her pick and he really did - there was no question that Morwena had asked for such an item specifically while he himself hadn't even thought of something like this possible, so he probably should maybe lessen the amount of punishments Morwena had accumulated by now over the course of the day a bit as reward. Maybe.

[MillietheWarrior]

Tia looked slightly perplexed, but didn’t comment on Morwena’s quick outburst. Instead, her gaze slid over to Bentner, and she chuckled, though the sound was without humor. “A madman indeed. That would be the best way to describe him. He did not do what was best for us, but what was most convenient for him. His ‘more’ cost him dearly; though he is not dead, and cannot be killed, he will never see the light of day for as long as he lives.” Yoshi, meanwhile, waved her hand and twirled, looking exorbitantly pleased with herself. “Nope, it should work almost instantaneously. There are some side-effects, but nothing to worry about. You’ll feel younger, and less…well, old. I don’t know what it feels like, so I can’t tell you exactly, but that’s the general gist of it. It’s pretty simple, actually. You can take it now, if you want. Then maybe we can go explore the rest of the castle and I can give you a tour.”