A King's Summons (Private)

In a large room in the central area Las Noches, a white-haired Arrancar lounged on a throne, his usual white kimono, marked with red accents, was loose across his form as his golden eyes flicked across the room. Graven had summoned one of his Espada for a chat, partially to stave off boredom and partially because his beloved Uanna had put him in the "dog house" for the rest of the day, as he had made one too many smartass remarks that morning. He didn't regret it since it was funny, but the Babylonian Arrancar had barely given him time to grab his clothes before chasing him out.

Apparently asking a lioness if she wants belly-rubs or butt scratches was taking it a step too far.

"Man I really didn't want to leave Selica alone with my babies...She better not do anything or I swear I will end her"She muttered to herself walking through the halls of Las Noches heading towards her decided destination. an apparent request from their said king needed to speak to her of something important enough to actually call her to las noches instead of coming to her territory.

Nakita pushed open the throne room doors with the tips of her left hand as the doors swung open with ease before she walked in allowing her heels to click on the floor under her feet. She allowed her hands to wrap around the opposite elbow as she moved towards him "If I might ask, you seem a bit too unraveled or underdressed...Not like you but still an amazing sight so thank you for this....Now what is it you called me here for?" she asked allowing her bored red eyes to watch him

A lazy smirk spread across Graven's face, as his wolf-like eyes stared directly into Nakita's own red ones. The spider Arrancar was, as usual, a bit of a flirt, and the elder Hollow had no reason not to feed into that a bit, as his mate knew that ultimately he was loyal to her beyond anything a human could imagine. "My my, Nakita, I'm not allowed to ask one of my Espada for a casual chat? As for my state of undress, let's say that I was in the middle of something, and I said something that my tongue wasn't given the chance to rectify."

Winking at his Sexta, the King of Hueco Mundo stood and stretched, inadvertently letting his kimono fall open, showing his chest before he closed it and tied it loosely, not bothering to tuck it in at the moment. Jumping down to the floor and landing gracefully, the Arrancar proceeded to sit on the floor, gesturing for the woman to join him. "Tell me, how is your palace under the dome? Is it acceptable?"

"The fact you wish for a casual chat with me is an odd one especially when you have someone who enjoys your attention more than I would."She teased "Though it is funny to see you on such a tight leash," she said with a light laugh before watching him get up and stretch before coming down to the ground, beckoning her to sit with him. She tilted her head to the left in thought before deciding to go along as she walked towards him sitting down next to graven resting her hands in her lap .


"My palace is great, I still prefer the good old forest, nothing can beat its nostalgia...Some of my best fights and memories are in that forest. Though I did gain an interesting Fraccion for our forces that seemed to have refused two Espada's force but has accepted mine right off the bat apparently."She said scratching the back of her head in thought.

Graven lifted an eyebrow, cocking his head in a manner that would have been cute had it not come from one of the most dangerous beings in any realm. A playful grin spread across his lips before he replied. "I am curious as to what two Espada approached this individual. I have not heard of this, and am a bit shocked that they were not killed for denying an Espada."

Leaning back and looking at the ceiling, the King seemed to be in thought for a moment before turning back to his conversation partner. "I must ask, Nakita...How are your 'children'?"

He knew that the spider was partial to the younger Hollows she looked after, and if he indulged her in this, it was purely out of his desire to see her happy. He certainly didn't feel the same about his Espada at times.

Definitely not.

"that is what i am wondering. I do not know of the two Espada the approached him before that allowed him to defy their invitation but when I extended mine, he accepted without a single issue," She said thinking about it as she scratched her chin before raising on eyebrow at his next question " My children? Never thought you would be curious of the little arrancar and hollows that find their way into my sanctuary, or as Alondra and Colbolt puts it, my nursery."She spoke "or would it be like a daycare? or maybe orphanage? hm."She said shrugging "but they seem to be really good with their growths. many show promise towards becoming proper fraction and future espada."she said

Graven's amused smirk turned into full-blown laughter at that. "Now, now, Nakita. Haven't you realized that I am far too old to NOT enjoy the little things in life? Listening to others rant about their issues, watching the little ones run around, telling stories...Even a midday nap is entertaining in it's own way. So, you say that some of them show promise?"

A curious thing, that. Many Hollows never advanced past their initial stage, and even those who were strong enough to be forced into eating each other were few and far between, and doomed to become Gillians. Such a stage was a hell in and of itself, as even the handful that kept their minds and had the potential to become Adjuchas had to fight tooth and nail just to advance that far and keep ahead. After all...

If you reverted, you could never come back.

The only ones who were safe were Vasto Lordes, and those that became Arrancar. Of course, in order to ensure a proper transformation, one had to be an Adjuchas before removing their masks, and Vasto Lordes tended to have an advantage no matter what.

"Are you sure you are the cero king or is it time to put you in a retirement home? I am sure the nurses there would find your war stories adorable but not recall one thing so they will let you recite them every hour." teased Nakita laughing at his remark. "but yes, there are plenty that will be joining the ranks of Arrancar within the next century. I still have rebellious ones that haven't fully grasped the power that they hold so they try fighting me, which I enjoy causing its adorable to put them in time out in cocoons." She said with a smirk "my Newest fraction is interesting but a tiny bit on the odd side with the way he fights, really gives me odd witch doctor, bad juju kind of things if I had to put words to him. He is good at listening and seems to want to grow"She said

Nodding, the King would laugh at her insinuations even as he pictured a bunch of random Adjuchas and Gillians stuck in webs, dangling from the random trees in the Forest of Menos. The new Fraccion came up again, a curiosity for sure, and one that Graven would indulge, if only to chase away the loneliness a moment longer. "This new Fraccion of yours, tell me more about him. What is his name, and what can he do? Do you even know yourself?"

Knowledge was power, and while he may only be a Fraccion, the Cero Espada did not wish to take chances. While he was more than willing to accept his Sexta's decision, he'd also like to know who was on his territory, even if it was mere curiosity and not paranoia.

"I can see you have a very active imagination of my creative timeouts for the Younger Arrancar that don't wish to fully listen. His name is Keith RaVarro. He is interesting and what I have seen of his abilities, has not been much of anything to really note, but he seems willing to accept my teaching and willingness to lay his life down if it means to protect my own, though I doubt he will feel that way once he finds out about the battle with that blasted captain that decided to interrupt mine and selica's daily strolls through the forest."She said scratching her left cheek in the thought of how Keith would react. Would he rebel seeing her injured? would he seek vengeance? Would he be sad? Happy? So many possibilities of how her fraction could react.

Graven's face flashed with annoyance, his eyes sparking with blood-red reiatsu as he was reminded of that particular issue. "Yes...Selica informed me of that particular occurrence. The former Primera was punished for that particular blunder, as it nearly cost us several of our Espada, let alone the number of Numeros killed. I am not positive if there were any injuries or casualties among the Fraccion, but it doesn't matter so much. I left Atou bleeding to death in his own territory, so I doubt there's much else one can do to punish the cause."

Shifting in his seat, the King's eyes softened as he looked back at his Sexta. "While Selica shared her experiences in that fight, I'd like it if you could tell me what happened in your own words. Any little detail could help, should things come to war between us and the Shinigami. It is always better to be prepared."

"Why that happened I will never understand, I met the girl and I only saw a child with way too much power but no prior battle experience...It was so strange to see. As for that Captain. It was so odd. Selica and I tend to our nightly stroll through the forest, you know checking this and that." She said leaning back on her hands in thought "That odd scythe-wielding shinigami just strolled into the forest, He spoke of needing to make a clearing for a getaway or something. This confused me, cause there is plenty of open space around our world but he was strong and I guess creepy with those tentacles of his...I will say I didn't seem to do much other than distract him from selica who got more of the blows on him. Hell! I can confirm he was LITERALLY DEAD, Neck snapped, shoulder torn. No living thing could survive that but he-He snapped his neck back in place and stitched himself together as if he just got a deep bone-cracking massage."She said "I don't mind horror and the thoughts of what the human-like of it but THAT. THAT! No shinigami should be bringing themselves up like the undead. But sadly, We couldn't take that captain down, We had to escape. I took to nearly getting sliced in half, I believe Selica took a bit more damage."She added in thought, trying to remember anything else.

Graven nodded thoughtfully, his eyes staring off into space as he listened to the other Espada's story. It essentially confirmed what he'd learned from Selica, but he had a point to make. He was more gentle with teaching Selica this lesson, as that's what she had needed at the time. Nakita, on the other hand, was in a more stable place, and could probably handle a more practical approach. Reaching up, Graven grabbed himself by the jaw and the back of the head, casually twisting with a practiced motion and a sickening pop. Dropping to the floor of the throne room, the Cero Espada laid still for a moment before dragging himself back into a seated position. Twisting his neck back around, the bone resealed itself in place and the torn muscles stitched themselves together.

The white-haired Arrancar groaned as the bruising began to fade, rubbing at the back of his neck while the molten gold of his eyes met the red of Nakita's, spitting a bit of blood off to the side casually so as to clear it from his throat before speaking. "It's been a while since I've done that, but I hope it proved a point. The neck is nothing but bones and flesh. Breaking it in such a manner is not necessarily enough to kill an opponent with sufficient regenerative ability. Admittedly most do not have such a thing, but you never know. What you must do is tear it off, in order to ensure that the spinal cord has been severed. Burn the stump if you feel the need, but never assume that someone is dead simply because the damage appears to be more than you believe they can handle. Understood, my dear?"

Abilities Used:

Nakita waited for some sort of response or remark of the story of the wonderful fight Selica and her had to flee from. She was expecting something, yelling, maybe laughing. Anything. She watched him grab ahold of his jaw and back of the head twisting it. At first she thought he just needed to pop his neck, but no graven literally broke his own neck, falling back like a sack of potatoes causing her eyes to widen in shock. Only for her to jump when his body sat back up before moving his head back in place. "Stop that! it is unnatural and creepy! And I know creepy! Reguardless, you know what I mean, you have a abnormally high regeneration. He nearly sliced me in two even with my regeneration. Luckly, I am for the most part healed, a tad bit sore around my mid-section, going to probably have a nice scar if anything from it."She said before nodding "I will make sure to remember that but its more then just his head. If i take in account everything I and Selica did to him, He get repaired it and continued as if we throw confetti in his face."She said

Graven chuckled at Nakita's reaction even as the last of the fractures and bruising repaired itself, before giving her a pointed look as she continued speaking. "My dear, would you care for me to begin tearing myself apart more to continue proving my point? For a spiritual being, reiryoku is their life force, and reiatsu is the outward manifestation of such, yes? That means that, so long as Captain Nashi had the energy to fuel his regeneration to a sufficient level, any damage wouldn't necessarily last. Believe me when I say that it is taxing to do so for an extended period of time. Tear him apart, and he will heal, but do so enough and he will begin to grow tired. The healing will slow down, and he won't be as capable of fighting as he once was. If I myself were to battle him, it would likely grow into a battle of attrition, where we would simply wait for the other to run out of energy while dealing as much damage as possible. If you were to fight me, how would you go about it?"

The King was determined to make this a learning experience, one that his Espada would enjoy and learn something from. Thus, he would take a different approach, one that catered to her specifically.

"No I wouldn't it is still creepy. prey should remain dead not rebuild themselves together. I get regen as I have a minor form of it, not as quick as most but it's there. She blinked before looking up in thought "hm? If i was to fight you for the pure reason of dealing with your regen. I would have to focus on posion and alot more balas and ceros bumbarding you since alot of my abilities use alot of energy as I am not really one who was blessed with infiinite amounts to use in one time. If i kept form spawning my childern i might have a bit more then they arn't really costly on my pools."she spoke in thought

Lifting an elegant eyebrow, the wolf would wait for the spider to get done before reaching over and flicking her gently on the forehead. "No, no. Cero and Bala are all well and good, but against someone with higher reserves and a regenerative ability, it's better to use smaller attacks and chip away. If you begin a Cero battle with me, I will outlast you 100% of the time, so long as we are both using Ceros and nothing else. Even Bala begins to add up. Your best bet is to use smaller spiders to overwhelm and cause minor amounts of damage that have to constantly be repaired, saving your larger attacks for any openings once your opponent has grown tired."

Graven would lean back, giving Nakita another pointed look. "Taking that into account, can you see where you went wrong in your battle against the Shinigami? If so, then please, spare no detail."

Nakita snapped out of her train of thought from the forehead flick caught her off guard causing her to fall back a bit before sitting back up "Hey! Who gave you permission to touch me!" she exclaimed rubbing her forehead while her left eye twitched out of annoyance. She quickly calmed herself down listening to the hollow "I mean, as it stands I can mass generate smaller spiders but they don't do much. I got some bigger spiders but they don't tend to do much other than bringing forth my webs and poison."She said "I could go do some different training, maybe produce different children or evolve the ones I have," she said in thought taking in his words, formulating her own possible plans.

"Taking all that into account. I know my spiders didn't do anything other than distract him, I was more a distraction to him while trying to get selica to focus. the destruction of the forest was really messing with her, making her sloppy."She Said, "I should have focused on just small quick attacks from all angles."She said

Graven chuckled at Nakita's reaction, standing up as she mused about what she should have done and what she could work on. Patting off his hakama, the King of Hueco Mundo looked down at his subordinate, offering her a hand up. "It seems you've learned your lesson well, then. Work on what you have learned, ensure that you are more flexible in your thinking, and next time you such an opponent, you will fare much better."

Once Nakita was back on her feet, Graven would make as if to leave, only to turn back and ruffle her hair briefly. Walking away from his throne room with a backwards wave, he would laugh at whatever she yelled at him before disappearing in Sonido.

He had work to do, after all!

[Thread Exit]

Nakiya nodded accepting his help up before she gave him a blank expression, trying to process the fact that he just patted her head and ruffled her hair. What the living hell? No one touches her hair and he just did. "How dare you graven! it takes ages to get my calic in alignment!" she yelled after him before smiling at the thought of the possible new techniques she could make as she turned before also disappearing in Sondio to tend to her own duties.

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