[Bitp:R] Hueco Mundo

[AmberVael]

Edward was delighted to hear what he felt was a favourable tone. "Oh you're such a card! Teasing me like that! Come on, won't you spill the beans? My curiosity is so great I'm bursting at the seams."

Arcelia's Palace

"It's just an artistic piece, nothing more. I'd be loathe to ruin it."
Arcelia says easily.
"Or maybe I'm lying, just so you won't burst and ruin the loveliness of my garden. It had a lot of work put into it, after all."

[Shades of Gray]

The Primera's eyes remain fixated on Anita as she shakes her head and quickly tries to find information on the missing prisoner. It probably tickled Genoveva to see the normally organized and supremely confident Anita shaken and worried about reprisal.

"Dat so, huh? I'll put out a reward notice fer 'im in de Pits later. Or you can do it. Tell'em extra rations to 'hoever brings ya proof of Harland's death." Genoveva finally says as the other asks about proceeding unto to discussing the other Pits. "Yeah, what other news do ye have for me?"

Anita seemed to be in the clear, for now anyway. The Primera actually seemed to be in a rather good mood, despite having her fun interrupted.

Anita nodded, glad to be off of the discussion of the missing arrancar. "Right. The other Pits have seen similar growth. There have been a few rowdy individuals in Pit 2 causing a Ruckus, but they should be dealt with shortly. I believe that we need to increase the rations of Pit 3 by about 25%, they have taken to eating the wild hollows that happen to make their way into the Pits." Anita says disgustedly, wincing slightly. The fraccion happened to be a picky eater, and an uncooked wild animal did not appeal to her in the least.

"Other than that there is nothing of note happening currently, Genoveva-Sama."

[nothingclever]

"Well I'm not going to try to find out so I guess we've reached a dead end. Why don't we continue our conversation after viewing the grand melee? I've got something set up that might interest you. It should be starting soon." After listening to whatever parting remark(s) Arcelia had to say he went off to his palacio one last time. He arranged to have Canguro be his champion at the last minute and gave her instructions to fight as a team with Apolinar until they were the only two left before finally heading off to the arena.

(OOC: Callos asked me to so why don't we all skip ahead to the arena?)

[AmberVael]

Arcelia's Palace

Arcelia inclines her head to Edward.
"Very well. We will speak later."

With that, she will swiftly head off to find Von Geister himself, in order to obtain his approval and support for her idea.

[Draken]

Let us skip the doorway and the elevators to the lower city, and get straight to the throne room.

Throne Room

Arcelia arrives to find Von Geister finishing a conversation with a numero woman, who leaves through another door shortly after the tercera espada arrives.

"Arcelia, how good to have you here. But what is it that you wished to speak about?"

[AmberVael]

Throne Room

Arcelia drops to one knee before Von Geister, every line of her body composed to display utmost respect. As is her custom, she places her sword at his feet, leaving it there as they speak to demonstrate her fealty and vulnerability. But of course, Von Geister is surely no fool, else he would never be the King of Hollows, and as he is not a fool, he surely knows what Arcelia is. As moving as her imagery and gestures are, even if they are wholly sincere, he knows that one day that sword will be aimed at him when she finds the opportunity. For she is Betrayal, and even if he earns her respect, she will not stay her hand against him. For now, however, her gestures show that she is not ready to act.


"My king, Genoveva has arranged for a competition between the Espada, an arena match between champions of their choosing. Yet it seems to me that it will be lacking in oversight- even though there are rules, Genoveva has made them to be broken or twisted. She cannot be trusted to interpret them, as she is participating herself, and would no doubt interpret them to her own ends. The only authority that could supersede hers, however, would be yours. Indeed, that is the only authority all of us are sure to respect and follow."

The messenger raises her head to look at Von Geister, which she has avoided until now.
"I doubt that such a trivial event would hold your attention, however. I would not want to bother you to come simply to judge a game- yet, I fear it will come to greater conflict without oversight. However, I will not be putting forward a champion, or participating directly, and because of this, would be relatively impartial among them. If I were to carry your authority in this matter, I believe such disputes could be averted."

[Draken]

Throne Room

Well, that was quite the speech.

"And no one saw fit to inform me of the event in the first place, another sovereign could have been outraged, but that wouldn't help anything, would it?"

"Your request is granted, I am giving you authority to mediate this event. Also, please inform Genoveva and Sereg that I will grace the festivities with my presence, it will be some good entertainment."

[Frozen_Feet]

Canguro opened her eyes, glancing down at Lalita's hand as he offered it to her. She grinned, reaching out and taking his hand "Sure, Mister Fraccion."

"You can just call me Lalita", the androgynous man says with a charming smile. He then begins leading Canguro through the vast, decorated halls of the Palacio, showing her all various forms of art and people gathered there.

One passage is decorated with extremely lifelike crystalline statues. "These", Lalita explains, "were crafted by Madame Tsugaru during her stay here. Very talented, she was. Sadly enough she... decided she didn't enjoy my master's presence." The first statues are, indeed, very beautiful, catching the motion and bearing of their subjects with impeccable elegance. But the further they go along the passage, their perfection becomes... distressing. For even though the statues decipt fair young maidens, their expressions are those of utter terror and despair.

"I miss her a little", Lalita says off-handedly as they reach the end of the corridor. "We had many pleasent... conversations. I hope she comes back some day."

Next stop is another vast garden, though it more resembles a slice of jungle somehow transported amidst the elegant marble hall. Trunks of great trees line their path, their mighty branches supporting the ceiling. Canguro might wonder how such things can stay alive in Hueco Muendo - she will learn the answer if she pays attention to a young-looking Numeros walking before them who strays off the path to look at a large, alluring red flower, and is promptly swallowed by said flower. 'Subsist on Reishi', indeed.

Finally, the two reach Edwards glorious throne room. Lalita leads them across it to elegant, yet strangely unassuming small door at the side of the room. "Here you go, Miss", he says, letting go of Canguro's hand to open the door for her. "These are my quarters. Please, make yourself comfortable. I will fetch the tea."

((Feel free to describe the room however you want.))

[AmberVael]

Throne Room

Arcelia lowers her eyes again, taking his words as rebuke. It didn't need to be acknowledged with words- she was the messenger, she should have informed him, and he had made that clear.
"As you will, my king."

Here she pauses, because it seemed he was done speaking and with the conversation, but he hadn't dismissed her yet, and she wouldn't want to turn her back on him before he was done. Though he did not seem to insist on formality, she had no desire to anger him at all, let alone when she had already made a mistake.

[Draken]

Throne Room

Always a good choice.

"If this is all, then you are dismissed, Arcelia."

[AmberVael]

Throne Room

Arcelia stands, bows, then takes her leave.

[Terry576]

Sexta's Throne Room|Outside Hueco Mundo
A twitch.

Not a very noticeable twitch, but nevertheless, a twitch, started the entire fiasco in the Sexta's kingdom.

She wasn't even awake when it happened, in fact, she was asleep, and waiting for something to do, when she twitched.

That singular twitch should probably not have started a chain of events that ended up in a cataclysmic destruction of Cecelia's throne, and a very aggravated cleaning man having to fix afforementioned throne.

But, enough about the future. Back to that blasted twitch.

The twitch unnerved those around her, as when Cecelia twitched, some very dangerous things happened.

The last time she twitched, the entire fourth section was destroyed.

This time was different. The twitch was in response to a dream she had.

About destroying one of those blasted other Espada.

That one guy, with the annoying face. He annoyed her a lot.

She couldn't recall one small detail though... his name.

As aggravating as that was, she continued to attempt to sleep, but murmuring was penetrating her dreams. She awoke in a rage, and the poor soul right next to her was speared.

"Alright, who was murmuring? It's very aggravating to be woken up from some of the best sleep I've ever had."

She looked strangely patient for being interrupted, and the man who wasn't speared on the end of her sword paled, and stammered,

"W-w-w-we were just trying to decide who should tell you that there's a tournament over at the Séptima's Colliseum!"

Cecilia glared, and nearly spat out,

"Oh, you foolish FOOLS! Of course I want to go to the ridiculous tournament, now who is going to volunteer to be in it?"

Her wards stared nervously at the ground, shuffling back and forth, and Cecilia grinned eerily.

"Very well then. I suppose I can go and 'persuade' some Adjuchas to fight."

Her wards flinched. Cecilia's 'persuasions' were usually painful, and often times ended in medical attention and having to regrow limbs. She got up out of her Throne that she had been reclining in, and began to leave her realm, entering the land of the Adjuchas. She called out in a rather sing-song voice,

"Oh Adjuuuuuchas~ Come out, come out, wherever you aaaare~!"

[Zerkai]

"You can just call me Lalita", the androgynous man says with a charming smile. He then begins leading Canguro through the vast, decorated halls of the Palacio, showing her all various forms of art and people gathered there.

One passage is decorated with extremely lifelike crystalline statues. "These", Lalita explains, "were crafted by Madame Tsugaru during her stay here. Very talented, she was. Sadly enough she... decided she didn't enjoy my master's presence." The first statues are, indeed, very beautiful, catching the motion and bearing of their subjects with impeccable elegance. But the further they go along the passage, their perfection becomes... distressing. For even though the statues decipt fair young maidens, their expressions are those of utter terror and despair.

"I miss her a little", Lalita says off-handedly as they reach the end of the corridor. "We had many pleasent... conversations. I hope she comes back some day."

Next stop is another vast garden, though it more resembles a slice of jungle somehow transported amidst the elegant marble hall. Trunks of great trees line their path, their mighty branches supporting the ceiling. Canguro might wonder how such things can stay alive in Hueco Muendo - she will learn the answer if she pays attention to a young-looking Numeros walking before them who strays off the path to look at a large, alluring red flower, and is promptly swallowed by said flower. 'Subsist on Reishi', indeed.

Finally, the two reach Edwards glorious throne room. Lalita leads them across it to elegant, yet strangely unassuming small door at the side of the room. "Here you go, Miss", he says, letting go of Canguro's hand to open the door for her. "These are my quarters. Please, make yourself comfortable. I will fetch the tea."

((Feel free to describe the room however you want.))

"'Righty then, Lalita. The name's Canguro." The courier girl nodded, introducing herself with smile as they walked together through the Segunda Palacio's halls. She cocked her head to the side as she observed the statues "Huh... almost looks like they were petrified." she said, reaching out to touch one, but decided against it.

As they made their way through another garden, she turned her head, looking all over the room with curiosity, thinking this place would be fun to run around in. At least, until she witnessed one of the plants eat a young arrancar. She blinked, her eyes wide with surprise as she watched. While to most this would be a sign to not try and eat the plants in this garden, Canguro saw it as the universe challenging her to try and devour it. She tried to remember the way back to this garden as they left, arriving at Lalita's room.

She stepped into the room, taking a look around as the fraccion left to make tea, she left out a sigh, flopping onto the fairly large bed "Oh yeah, he's into me." Canguro grinned, rolling onto her back and putting her hands behind her head as she looked up, raising an eyebrow at what looked like a mirror above the bed.

"Hm..." The Numeros looked over her appearance for a moment, before unbuttoning the one button that kept her shirt closed, wearing a white tank top that bared her midriff.

"There, much better."

((Sorry for not going into detail much about the room. I know nothingclever said to be creative when describing things in the Palacio, but it feels a little weird saying what belongs in the room of a character that isn't mine ^^;))

[nothingclever]

(Well I guess since riccaru is gone until Friday night and Sereg is the host of the event I might as well help finish up this scene rather than skipping it)

Edward returned to his palacio and wandered the halls in search of Lalita. He naturally decided to eventually check his private quarters and stumbled upon the sprawling Numeros. For a moment he stood at the entrance to the bedroom. "Oh hey Canguro, what brings you here? I was just looking for Lalita. Am I interrupting something?" Despite how nonchalant his words were he was absolutely thrilled to see her and his face showed it. "Mind if I join you?" The Segunda abruptly dashed over and flopped onto the bed assuming the same position she was in. "I was going to invite him to watch the gladiatorial event at Sereg's arena that's taking place soon. Would you be interested in accompanying me as well?"

[Zerkai]

(Well I guess since riccaru is gone until Friday night and Sereg is the host of the event I might as well help finish up this scene rather than skipping it)

Edward returned to his palacio and wandered the halls in search of Lalita. He naturally decided to eventually check his private quarters and stumbled upon the sprawling Numeros. For a moment he stood at the entrance to the bedroom. "Oh hey Canguro, what brings you here? I was just looking for Lalita. Am I interrupting something?" Despite how nonchalant his words were he was absolutely thrilled to see her and his face showed it. "Mind if I join you?" The Segunda abruptly dashed over and flopped onto the bed assuming the same position she was in. "I was going to invite him to watch the gladiatorial event at Sereg's arena that's taking place soon. Would you be interested in accompanying me as well?"

Canguro blinked, looking a little surprised at the appearance of the Segunda, lifting her head up to watch Edward as he flopped onto the bed. "You aren't. Lalita was just showing me around the Palacio. I don't really know my way around this place yet. He went to get us some tea." She said, not bothering to sit up, acting remarkably casual for a Numeros talking to an Espada, resting her head back down on her arms and looking at Edward's reflection in the mirror instead of looking at him directly.

"Gladiators? That sounds awesome. You can count me in... and thanks for picking me for the tournament. I'm a little surprised I didn't have to demonstrate or do anything."

[Frozen_Feet]

In a moment, Lalita prances into the room, carrying an antique silver tray with pure white porcelain tea set. "Ah, Master Edward!", he chirps, putting the tray down on an elegant mahogany table. "Such a pleasure to have you grace us with your presence. I hope your negotiations were a success."

Lalita pulls out three chairs, and invites the two to join him in the table. "So, has Miss Canguro told you she volunteers to be your champion, Master?", Lalita asks off-handedly from Edward, smiling cunningly.

[nothingclever]

"Yes, they were successful. She just told me now and I've accepted." Edward fixed his gaze on Canguro's reflection. "I do have one condition and a warning for you. I want you to team up with Pico's champion, Apolinar, to beat the rest of the competition and to surrender to him assuming you end up as the last two standing. I need you to do this because I want Pico to win a bet with Genoveva that requires his champion to come out on top. Of course you can fight him as much as you want after the match has been decided. I also want to warn you that although there's no rule that says people must fight to death they might choose to do so anyway. To improve your odds the two of you will have your powers enhanced by Pan. Do you still wish to be my representative?"

[Zerkai]

Canguro decided to sit up on the bed as she listened to the terms of being the Segunda's representative, looking a little disappointed "Teaming up with someone... that means I can't just fire bala's and cero's recklessly... and instead of moving freely I'll have to stay close to this Apolinar guy." The numeros folded her arms, thinking about it.

"Then again... fighting with a handicap like in an free for all, that'd make for a great challenge. I'm in!" Canguro decided as she hopped off the bed grin, walking over to the table.

[nothingclever]

"Great!" Edward exclaimed. He likewise got up and walked over to sit down and join them. He poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip. "So Lalita, want to come along and see what happens?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Lalita falls silent for a moment to count in his mind all the people that might want him dead in Septima's sector. He stops at Septima himself. But surely, if he stays in Master Edward's proximity, he'd be safe. If not, well, he could always make a run for it.

"Of course, Master", Lalita replies, taking the pot and pouring cups for Canguro and himself. "I'm very interested to see how sweet Miss Canguro thrives in the competition." The tea has a curious, bitter aftertaste. Edward will, naturally, recognize it as the usual flavor of the tea made from the bushes in the jungle garden. Canguro might not, though.

[nothingclever]

"I bet she'll do well." Edward turned to stare straight into her eyes with a tiny blissful smile. "Say Canguro, how does becoming my fracción sound? You get a big luxurious residence custom tailored to your desires, servants to cater to your every whim, anything that catches your eye from any stores in my sector and the freedom to do pretty much whatever you want. In return all you have to do is keep looking beautiful and be loyal to me. And all being loyal means is not secretly plotting my demise. You'll barely ever be asked to do anything. If this all sounds too good to be true just ask Lalita over here for proof."

[Frozen_Feet]

"I'd like to think I do more than just 'look pretty'", Lalita remarks between sipping his tea, thought it's clear he isn't really offended. He's just teasing Edward.

[Zerkai]

Canguro took a seat at the table and picked up on of the cups. As she took a sip, she wondered what she'd tell her boss after taking so long with the deliveries. "I was drinking tea with the Segunda and his Fraccion." Just sounds like a smartass remark.

She paused in mid-sip, eyes wide as she heard the offer. The numeros quickly set her cup down "F.. Fraccion? Eheheh, That is a little too good to be true... I was expecting to have to do a lot of work to get noticed by an Espada." She rubbed the back of her neck nervously, her cheeks flushing red at the Segunda's stare.

"I definitely wouldn't mind being a Fraccion. That's kind of why I wanted to enter the tournament in the first place, show my stuff, maybe a chance to impress an Espada."

[nothingclever]

"Of course you do more than look pretty. You act it too," said Edward jovially. "Oh you don't need to show me anything. I've seen enough of you already to make a judgment call. Naturally if you wanted to show me even more of yourself at another time I'd definitely take you up on the offer." He winked. "As soon as the match is over you're free to call yourself my fracción. You can't be called one until that time though because they aren't allowed to participate in the event. It's too bad more people don't take me up on the offer."

[Zerkai]

"I'll... keep that in mind. And you don't have to worry about me plotting your demise, not until I'm the Trercera at least. gotta have my priorities straight." Canguro returned the wink as she stood up.

"Well, if I'm going to work with this guy in the tournament, I should at least meet him, know what he looks like, see what the both of us can do together."

[nothingclever]

"Well why don't we all head over to the arena then? Apolinar should be waiting near it by now." Once the other two were ready to leave he would head to Sereg's stadium with them.

[Steilos]

Apolinar was indeed at the arena, standing near the entrance. He'd more or less wandered over here in the time it took Edward to get ready. As he waited, he tapped his foot impatiently on the floor, inspected the stonework, reinspected it, critically analysed it for defensive value, and finally tried to calculate how may soldiers you could fit on a paving slab. "Right. Let's say three of my thinner soldiers can stand, but if we take Pico's lard-brained 'militia' then I can only fit one on... Seriously now, this is rather stupid. Where is Edward?"

[nothingclever]

(Guess I'll take the liberty of starting things up.)

A moment after Apolinar had finished his remark, Edward and his companions arrived to greet him. "Well here's the guy I was talking about. Apolinar, Canguro. Canguro, Apolinar. She just volunteered to be my champion, but I have no interest in winning myself so she'll help you make sure you're the last one standing. She watches your back and you watch hers. If she's still up at the end of it all she'll surrender to you." Suddenly Pan wordlessly appeared looking indifferent towards scene playing out in front of him. "And here's Pan. He'll be possessing him and stabbing you with his sword to give you a temporary boost of spiritual energy. Don't worry, it won't hurt. After whatever further introductions you wish to have are done you can scoot over to one of the waiting areas for participants, wherever they are, and he'll work his magic just before everything starts."

[Steilos]

Apolinar listened wordlessly, not responding to anything Canguro might say. After Edward is finished, he look Canguro straight in the eye. "Don't worry. I don't think you'll need to surrender." It isn't a nice tone of voice he adopts when speaking. Turning to pan, he nods his head in acknowledgement. "Good day, Novena. If you would follow me to the waiting area... Oh, and that Numeros 'champion', too. whatever your name is." Apolinar hasn't seen Pan much, so has no real opinion of him. Canguro however is a Numeros, and he holds them in the highest contempt by default until they prove themselves otherwise.

After arriving at the participants area, Apolinar stands to, paitently awaiting whatever happens next.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Genoveva

The Primera wasn't long after Edward to the Arena herself, with both of her fraccion in toy. But rather then give some last minute coaching to Tark, something that'd just go over his head, she sauntered right to the sky box with her evil grin on her face...