Joining the Living (Open)

It was a rare moment of socializing for the Sexta Espada. Well, if you could call it that anyway.

He had left his Black Castle and was currently sitting on a bench in a park. He wasn't exactly sure where he was, but it didn't matter. It was the setting he desired, not the information. His form was relaxed as he was leaned against the back of the wooden furniture, his legs crossed in a somewhat dignified manner. He was dressed in his Espada outfit even in his Gigai, because well, that was the only thing he owned. Clothes weren't important to the man in that regard.

The most important thing about Xavos in this situation though, was that in one of his hands he had an older style hardcover book, opened about halfway. Reading was the Espada's more secret past-time, and while he was away from all the others, he felt it was the perfect time to do so.

He blended in with the social setting quite nicely, and so many others passed by the Arrancar without a second glance. How long this would keep up, though, would be the question to ask. Xavos was not thinking about it as he was immersed in his novel; Undoubtedly someone would come along and break his concentration.

Fay was on patrol, scouring the city for villainy, leaping from rooftop to rooftop to challenge crime wherever it was... Or at least she would be later. For now, she was sort of just getting a good lay of the land for this town. She was returning from an earlier trip with that shinigami fellow. Odd duck that one. She took a running leap at the building ahead, her foot catching the edge and sending her spilling forward onto the rooftop. Yeah. She'd have to be careful about these roofs. They lent themselves to scrambling around less then her usual fair.

She lifted her head quickly, looking around. She sensed... something... though she couldn't say what. She scurried over to the edge of the building and looked down at the park. She pursed her lips and leaped, sailing down to a tree and landing in a branch before quietly maneuvering her way through the branches. What was going on? There was something... OFF... about... about that man?

She silently came up to a few dozen yards from the man on the bench. She knelt down into a crouch on the branch, glaring at him from a distance... what was his deal? She glanced around, trying to see if there was an inconspicuous way to approach him...

(Just a footnote, she's in her gigai. She'd still have an aura he would sense, but it wouldn't be like, startlingly noticeable, nor like she was hiding it)

As he turned another page in the book, the hair on the back of the Espada's neck began to stand up. He could sense an energy signature around him, and he knew it was close. However, this was the Human World. He couldn't exactly causes a ruckus to go and find it. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him...

"You're not here to kill me, or else you would have done so by now." Xavos remarked, his eyes never leaving the pages of his book. He spoke loudly enough that whoever it was would certainly hear him. "Come out if you wish to be civil and talk, otherwise I may get annoyed enough to find you myself."

Fay made a small shocked noise, almost falling from the branch, rustling the leaves some. How had he sensed her?! Well, she'd made so much noise now there was no point in even hiding anymore. She looked around to make sure nobody was watching and rolled forward from the branch, landing on the ground. She cautiously approached the man, body tense, ready to move or strike if need be.

"What..." She was about to ask what he was doing here, but he was... y'know... reading a book in the park... She frowned. Why did she get such a stomach churning vibe from him though.... "What ARE you..." She finally asked rather simply.

What was he? Strange question to ask somebody when you didn't even know their name, but Xavos could tell this one wasn't out of the ordinary. Her energy was masked, but what was there, he could tell was not of human origin. Well, he thought, this was the risk in coming to the Human World; potentially attracting unwanted attention from other spiritual powers. He was an Espada, after all.

Closing the book shut with a dull clap, his ice blue eyes turned towards the younger looking woman and scanned her over quickly. She did not seem like a threat, moreso just honestly curious, so he decided to entertain Fay's question with one of his own.

"What am I? What are you?" He replied, a small grin appearing on his face as he looked the blue-haired woman in the eyes. "You are not human yourself, you know."

She opened her mouth to protest before sighing. She stood up a little, lowering her arms but by no means dropping her guard. She glanced around. Nobody in ear shot who would be able to hear her. Should she just tell him everything? Well... there wasn't a lot of a point NOT to... he could tell she wasn't human...

"I'm..." She frowned. It would help if she KNEW what she was. "Well... I'm LIKE a human... maybe... This body is... but I think... I've figured out it's not my real one... my other body is... different.. it's.. It's like.." She crossed her arms, trying to figure out how to describe this to a stranger. She had asked her question first, but she was too curious to argue with him. "Do you know what a Hollow is, by chance?"

"Well, yes." The Espada responded to her question with a slight chuckle. It seems as though this young woman was not so learned on the Spiritual World seeing as she couldn't outright tell what he was, but that was not surprising. The Human Realm housed spiritual beings of its own, but they all seemed like normal humans to the untrained senses. One would have to be looking for a Bount, a Fullbringer, or a Quincy to find them.

With that in mind, Xavos thought, perhaps all she needed was someone to fill in the gaps. She seemed perceptive enough to understand the basics of things already.

"But what do you know of them yourself? If you know that body of yours is not your own, then do you believe you are a Hollow?" He asked her, almost like a teacher quizzing a student. Well, it wasn't that far off. The Espada himself was curious as to the extent of what someone like her knew.

He wanted to know what she knew about hollows? She tilted her head. Something about him seemed reminiscent of hollows himself... why would he.. wait.. she'd heard that tone before... he was trying to test her knowledge... did that mean he actually knew things? Did he know what she was? Her eyes slowly widened.

"I...I know they're creatures that come from another world and usually try to eat people here... usually, anyway... and.." She gave him an uneasy look. "I don't know? I know I'm.. LIKE a hollow but there's differences. I'm not a monster... and I don't have a mask... But I can do some of the things they can... I've opened one of those holes they travel through.... once or twice... they're sort of freaky though so I try not to use them..."

"Those 'holes' are called Garganta. They allow passage through the spiritual realms." The Espada remarked, shifting his position slightly to get more comfortable in his seat. With one of his hands, he opened a small garganta for a moment to show Fay exactly what he was talking about, closing the portal afterwards.

"You know more than I previously thought" Xavos paused. "But you seem like a special sort. No mask or zanpakuto...Tell me, do you know anything about Arrancar, or heard the term at all before?" He asked her. She was one, her description more or less confirming it to the man, but she was obviously a unique case.

"Garganta..." She rolled the word around in her mouth... that sounded familiar. Wait, of course it sounded familiar. "Throat?" She said with a look of surprise. "Hollows are spanish?" That seemed... odd... Why would otherworldly creatures be spanish? Whatever. He was clearly more knowledgeable then she was. "Wow.. You're good at those..." He could do the same thing she could... and he looked human enough.. was he...

"Arrancar... I know it means to cut or rip in spanish, buut... I'm assuming that's not the way you mean it in this case... So what is Arrancar then?" Was it some sort of ability or something? She was... wholly flummoxed here.

"Arrancar is what I am...and what I surmise you are as well." Xavos chuckled as he uncrossed his legs and sat forward a little bit, his eyes locked onto the young woman in a focused gaze. "To be Arrancar is to become something more than Hollow. Our masks are torn and ripped, and in the process, we gain powers much like the Shinigami." He said, before clearing his throat. He just realized neither of them knew who the other one was yet.

"Xavos." He stated, expecting a name in return. No doubt she would have more questions about what he had just told her.

"Arrancar..." She said it again, slowly. So it was a noun, not a verb... specifically the name of a... race of hollows it sounded like... Powers like a ... shinigami? HUH. Well that was interesting... She supposed that it was a little weird that her sword seemed like part of her...

"...Phaedra..." She said, before looking around. "I don't know... if I'm one of these Arrancar.. I don't.. HAVE a mask or anything..." She took another final look to make sure there weren't any people watching before she changed. To Xavos' senses, it would seem like the human shell just evaporated on the spot. She stood there, now thankfully invisible to the people around her. She looked mostly the same, her blue poncho-like coat still covering most of her frame, her blue hair still hanging loosely. The answer of the missing mask fragments would be immediately obvious to Xavos when he saw her 'horns' however.

"Ah, but you do." Xavos smirked a little bit as he stood up, also leaving his gigai, and walked over towards Fay. He pointed towards her small horns on the top of her head. "This is what remains of the Mask you once had...or don't remember having, in your case." He chuckled a bit, stepping back a bit and fixing any potential wrinkles in his overcoat as he smoothed it out. He casually opened another small garganta and reached in, pulling out his Zanpakuto from the portal to show the young woman.

"So you have one of these, then? This is called a Zanpakuto. In the case of Arrancar, it is where our powers are sealed into." He remarked, gripping the sheathe in the middle and presenting it towards Phaedra.

Her eyes narrowed, confused as her gaze tried to follow where he was pointing, looking up as if he could see them. The... Wait.. "The remains of my.." She reached up, feeling the horns on the top of her head. "These are... fragments of a mask? But... that makes no sense... I was BORN with these... Can you just be BORN an Arrancar or something?" She pondered, looking at him, desperate for information. For the first time in 200 years, she had some clue, no. Not even a clue. This person knew what she was. She NEEDED to know.

She nodded at the sword. Yes. Yes she had one of those exactly. She reached her hands above her and with a crack and a flash of light, a sword appeared in them. She held it sideways in her hands in front of her. "A Zanpakuto? How... How do... So I'm really one of these arrancar but... what does that mean? You left your human body over there, why does mine just change? And why was I BORN this way?"

"Well, yes. It would be somewhat odd if two Arrancar gave birth to a large monstrosity would it not? You must be the offspring of two of our kind, no other explanation would suffice." Xavos chuckled a bit in response to her question. She couldn't know, so he wasn't laughing at her, rather the image of a 500 pound "baby" hollow in the arms of its Arrancar mother. He put his sword on his belt for the time being.

"You grew up in the Human World, that much is obvious...you may have been abandoned, or your parents might have been killed by Shinigami or some spiritual beings. Perhaps the Quincy. They do not tolerate our kind." The Espada mused, thinking over Phaedra's situation as he crossed his arms and placed one hand to his chin in a thoughtful posture. "As for your body, I am not sure. Perhaps it is a unique power of yours? Normally spiritual beings from other realms need these bodies known as Gigai to be seen by non-spiritual beings...it seems as though you can switch at will." He posed the theory, again pausing to think to himself for a moment as she mulled over his new information.

"Two Arrancar... gave.." She felt.. almost dizzy for a second, reaching up to hold her head. She shook it once or twice. "Wait so... I'm not some sort of ghost monster... I'm just the children of two.. of like your kind... of these... Arrancar.." She took a deep breath, feeling... too many feelings running over to deal with now. There would be time to process this later. Right now she still needed to know as much as she could get out of this man.

She mulled over the options. "Could they.. " She started to ask if they could be alive, but it sounded like it worked like normal people... there was no reason he would know any more then someone else. "I don't know how I do it... But to be fair... I didn't know I was something... NORMAL... to begin with.." She crossed her arms, her sword dangling from one hand by her side. "You have to understand I've spent 200 years.... almost... without any knowledge of the spiritual world... Only vague feelings that I was similar to hollows. This is all quite a shock..." She looked back up at him. "Are there many Arrancar?"

"Of course." Xavos replied. "Arrancar make their home in Hueco Mundo, the realm of our kind. Granted there are less of us than normal Hollows, but it isn't surprising. It takes a certain level of strength to become one, most hollows don't have the capability, and the ones that do perhaps do not wish to." The man explained to the younger woman.

He understood her plight. To thirst for knowledge but not have the means to obtain it, it was annoying to say the least.

"The most powerful of Arrancar make their home in the area known as Las Noches. They are called the Espada."

"Jesus, we have a REALM?" She did a little faux-spin. "What next, we have a constitutional monarchy?" She asked, incredulous. It was almost too much for her to believe... But she had no reason to doubt him.. But what did all of this mean... For her anyway..

"Is that... something I'm supposed to JOIN or something? I mean.. not that I'm assuming I'd be powerful enough to make it regardless but... I sort of... enjoy my life here in... what, I guess the Human World? It's not... MANDATORY.. to join the Espada... er.. is it?"

"Of course. Where did you think Hollows came from? Hueco Mundo is our spawning grounds, as it were." Xavos laughed a bit at how shocked she was at that revelation. "Survival of the strongest. Power rules in our realm, and the Espada are the ten most powerful Arrancar who govern over all others. It is very...Darwinian, as the humans might say" The Espada chuckled again.

"As I said, the Espada are the ten strongest Arrancar. To join, you have to prove your strength by usurping a position. Granted, Las Noches is where our influence is the strongest, but if you are comfortable in this realm, you should stay here. Perhaps something could even be worked out..." The Sexta mused, keeping a hand to his chin as he thought. "You could be our contact in this realm."

"Where did I... Well.. I hadn't... really given it much thought." She turned her head with a slightly grumpy expression, before one eye lazily slid back to him. "Hrm.." Darwinian societies didn't exactly sound like her forte... If anything, her lifestyle was as anti-darwinian as possible. She was someone strong who basically protected weaker beings. That seemed as much the antithesis to the Espada's philosophy as you could get... Was this really what her species was all about?

She frowned uncrossing her arms. Her sword was still held loosely in a clearly non-combat position however. "Hrm... And what exactly do you INTEND for this realm? I hope you don't plan on bringing survival of the fittest down on this world as strongly as it sounds like you do your own... Around here I think we call those bullies." She wasn't... trying to call them bullies but it's what they SOUNDED like...

"I don't believe the Corona has any intentions of attacking this place. Granted, some Hollows may slip through the cracks and find their way here through garganta, but those are the renegades. They risk their lives just to satiate their own hunger." He replied, still in a thinking pose as he explained a bit more on how the Espada operated.

"My original thought was you to remain here as an agent of sorts, doing what you are doing right now. Not work for us directly, but as sort of someone to keep us updated on the goings on here. If you wished, you could report to me directly. My occupation in the Espada is that of pursuing invaders in Hueco Mundo and traitors within our ranks. Having information on what is going on here would help my efforts." Xavos remarked, being honest with his intentions. He didn't lie in the first place anyways, there was no point.

Phaedra listened quietly as Xavos continued speaking. She shifted, crossing her arms again, her brow slowly lowering into a scowl. "Everything about what you're saying tells me you're a supervillain." She said rather bluntly. He just LOOKED evil, plus he was part of this race of monsters she was apparently part of and he was talking about trying to get intelligence on this world and trying to make her an offer to join them..

"So let's say I was even interested in being ANYONE'S spy, why would I be yours?" She asked. Though she was somewhat on edge, her tone was genuine.

"Spy? Such an ugly word. Lookout or Contact is a better term for a position like this. Would you say a guard on his guard-post is 'spying'?" Xavos responded, slightly amused at her indignant reply. Well, he probably did seem like a villain to anybody normal.

"As for your question, because I have been nothing but honest with you thus far. Do you not believe in anything I have said? If you are misinformed, you cannot be a reliable contact to one such as myself. Here, I shall show you proof of my position. Then, perhaps you will believe my words." The Espada paused, sliding his overcoat off of his shoulders and unzipping his vest, pulling the right side away to reveal the number 6 on his pectoral.

"I am Xavos Sterngott. Sexta Espada." He remarked, now waiting for a response from Phaedra.

She reared back a little when he started taking clothes off. What the hell was he stripping for?! She looked ready to.. run or attack or SOMETHING when he showed her the tattoo. He had a 6 tattooed on him? That was supposed to be proof of something? Of course she believed him about the Arrancar stuff.. It was just all this... being a spy for a secret organization of arrancar she was concerned about...

"Okay, let's say I believe you." It just wasn't worth the effort to argue that point after all. "And let's say I was interested but undecided. What would you say to that?"

Closing his vest back up and putting his overcoat back on, Xavos merely stared at Fay. It was such a focused gaze that it might unnerve the young woman, but this was how he operated.

"Then I would say it is simply your choice. You are not being forced you into anything, Phaedra." He remarked, again being honest with his thoughts. "If I was a supervillain as you seem to think, wouldn't I have captured you by force?"