[Private] We Don't Belong

At what point did the sands of Hueco Mundo end? Was it passed the horizon, shadowed by the glowing moon that ruled the lands? Was it passed the black obsidian monument, which had words and ideas that Thor didn’t care for? Perhaps the end was somewhere near Las Noches, whose white walls and towering castles ruled the land from afar. Wherever it ended all Thor was sure of, no matter where you were those three things were visible.

Getting up onto his legs and steadying himself as he’d been resting for a while, he would begin to scan the area. It was quiet. But not quiet as one would expect it to be. Putting his hands inside his pockets, Thor would start walking. It was a quite a boring day, and he hoped there was something interesting that he could do.

War. It was war that loomed past the horizon and saturated the air with the slight smell of gunpowder, even though most of the movers and shakers didn't even know what gunpowder was. If there was something that Thor must be looking for, it must be war. Where Thor walked, Sziercesaal followed. It wasn't every day that an arrancar appeared and gained his position without any conflict. Given how Sziercesaal himself became an Espada, he almost felt cheated. All of these were reason enough to follow the newly anointed Espada.

Sziercesaal was a tall, slender blonde. His mask fragment was tucked slightly inside his uniform and resembled a collar, and if not for the hole at the center of his torso, it would have been impossible to tell Sziercesaal apart from the average human.

"How much longer are you going to walk? Just because our lives aren't as finite as the humans' doesn't mean we have time to waste you know."

As Thor kept on walking forwards he sensed a presence tailing him from behind. Whatever direction he would turn to, the individual would do the same. Bemused by this the Arrancar would continue to maintain his pace, turning in different directions at different times, he walked. He wanted to see how long this individual would keep this up before he got bored of it. Regardless, it was amusing for Thor to say the least, considering that this was not the first time he was followed, and most likely not the last. But something told him that the individual who was closely following him from behind did not have any malicious intent but something else entirely.

The man finally spoke, bringing the Arrancar to an abrupt halt. "Heh. I see that you finally got bored of tailing me." Turning towards the individual, Thor uttered with a lopsided grin on his face. "Time to waste?" Tilting his head to the side, he continued, "I don't think so. Despite how meaningless or irrelevant the act may seem, what I do isn't a waste of time. Because I do what I do for a reason." Taking a step forward towards the man, the Arrancar narrowed his eyes. "Why were you following me, if I may ask?" He paused, "don't tell me... do I have my very own fan club? You a fan?" Of course, Thor was not been serious. Or was he?

"Really then?" Sziercesaal asked. He gave a look to Thor, as if he were taken aback or possibly even deeply offended by something the other espada said. Was this other arrancar trying to sound deep? That was Sziercesaal's thing, and he didn't like it when people took his things. He's had enough taken from him, after all. Not to mention, among the Espada, it was Sziercesaal who was the greatest thinker. It was not the primary reason he was still alive, but it was a close second.

"If you had a reason, then what is it? Because that's why I'm following you. Because I also do what I do for a reason."

The man looked offended. Was it something that Thor said? Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, the Arrancar would not waste his time inquiring about it as he had other things to do. He had no control over how other people felt, so it would be a waste of his time worrying about such insignificant matters. Be that as it may, Thor would go onto answer the man's question, "because I like walking. It's simple really." Thor responded while shrugging his shoulders. A man cannot engage himself in a harmless stroll without being questioned about it? What has the world come to?

"I'm not sure how exactly walking while minding my own damn business has led you to follow me, but I would like to walk in peace if you don't mind." Narrowing his eyes, he uttered bluntly before continuing, "unless, of course, you want something from me." Taking a step forward, Thor tilted his head a bit to the side. "You want something from me, don't you?" A smirk would find itself on his face as the Arrancar would shake his head only to sigh audibly. "Alright. What do you want? Out with it." There was no other reason to follow the Tercero Espada unless he wanted something from him. Or maybe he was a fan of Thor after all, who was too shy to admit it. Maybe...

"If you were walking because you liked walking, then that's what you would have answered with first. If you didn't have something to hide, then why hide it? Simply walking is benign, and so your answer comes off as obscurantism. Not that I expect other Hollow to be particularly good orators. I find it hard to think sometimes too." Sziercesaal said.

"It's only natural for the weak to follow the strong. As for my own reasons, however, I regard myself as a scholar and it would be foolish of me not to study one such as yourself." He explained.

The Arrancar would raise a single eyebrow in response to the man's short monologue. Was he going to entertain the fellow any further? Well, it remained to be seen. However, he figured that he should say something in regards to what the man had just said. "Walking brings me back to myself." He proclaimed, not wanting to say anything further other than that. If the man were to question him about it, Thor would simply ignore. As the old saying goes - somethings are better left unsaid.

"Fine. Study me by all means." Thor uttered in a low tone, not seeing any problem with the man's intentions...yet. "But I'm not going to stop my walk for you. If you want to study me, you can do it while following me." There was no reason to remain idle until the man was done with his thing. If he had a problem with following the Arrancar around, it was his loss.

With a simple wave of his hand, instructing the man to follow him if he so wished, Thor would begin to walk again. If the man were to follow him, the arrancar would begin his inquiry, "you haven't yet told me who you are," side-eyeing the fellow, Thor contuined, "so, tell me: who are you exactly?"

Sziercesaal stuck out his tongue to reveal the number 4 tattooed onto it. "I'm surprised your first instinct wasn't to attack me." He commented. "I'm Sziercesaal Deahlamaut. Pleasure to meet you." He introduced himself with a slight curtsy, lifting the hem of his shirt as if it were a skirt. Sziercesaal's mannerisms in general were androgynous as was his manner of speaking.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're Thor Blerster. The new third espada. Don't get so cock- these numbers don't mean much. Not with our ranks dropping like flies lately." Sziercesaal said. "From what I could gather, you're a friend of the Cero King. I didn't know he could even make friends, frankly, but here we are. I am quite curious as to how you two met. I take it that it was a long time ago."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm just about done. If you'd be so kind, I'd like to challenge you to a friendly duel. You're free to say no, but I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice." Sziercesaal offered. He didn't bother making the first attack. He wanted to give his prospective opponent the opportunity to back out first, primarily to study his psychology. There were, after all, strong implications whether Thor said yes or no.

Thor was taken aback when the man decided to lift his shirt like a skirt or something. Bringing his head down, the Arrancar would rub his forehead, "was that really necessary? Lifting your shirt like some kind of skirt?" Flicking his gaze at Sziercesaal, he uttered in a low tone, not sure if he even wanted the man to respond to his question. Sziercesaal was different. But the question is: how different was he?

Bemused as ever, the Arrancar listened to what the man had to say. "I didn't even say anything about numbers..." He said in a low tone, confused as to why the man was implying that he was arrogant just because he had a high rank than most Espadas. Regardless, the Arrancar would not continue to fret on the matter as he saw no point in it. "Friend..." He let his voice trail before responding, "well, you could say that. He recognized my strength and decided to invite me to the holy ranks of the Espada." Smiling from ear to ear, he stretched his arms wide, "and here I am!"

Sziercesaal was really full of surprises, and the Arrancar was not sure if that was a good thing or not considering the circumstances. "Sorry, I'm not interested in going head to head a fellow Arrancar. It's one of my rules if you will." Thor loathed engaging in senseless violence. He needed a legitimate reason to participate in any kind of battle, and a 'friendly duel' was not going to cut it. "You said that it's only a friendly duel, yeah? But that's how it always starts before evolving into something else." His light blue hues narrowed, "Things will escalate. That's what these things do, they escalate." He paused, wanting to emphasize the seriousness of the matter before continuing, "is that you want, lad?"

To some extent, Sziercesaal wanted to provoke the other Espada. He got up close. Very close, to where their faces were barely two fingers apart. Sziercesaal, the shorter of the two, had his lip at the same level as Thor's neck. He looked up the taller arrancar and seemed to breath more heavily, most likely on purpose to try and get a rise out of his prospective opponent. If such behavior as a simple curtsy was enough to make Thor uncomfortable, Sziercesaal wondered just how far he could take things.

"You're quite unlike the other Espada yourself, you know. The others would gladly engage whenever I asked. With such thirst for violence I wondered how such an organization could even stand. It's how I received an immediate promotion from the sixth to the fifth." Sziercesaal said. With his proximity, he said it as a whisper, almost into Thor's large shoulder.

"Don't worry about holding back. I can take it. Trust me."

What happened next just gobsmacked Thor. The man came very close towards him - a little too close one would say - only to start breathing heavily out of the blue. If the Arrancar was a lesser man with temper issues Sziercesaal would have been smacked in his gob. But Thor was a patient man who saw the man for what he exactly he was; a cunning little twat who was trying to provoke the Arrancar by doing things which he thought would make Thor uncomfortable. It was pitiful, quite frankly. What was he going to do next? Put his god damn pants down?

Considering that the man was most likely not going to get out of his face, and in the effort of not wanting things to escalate to a fight, the Arrancar would take two steps back, making some space between them. "Well, now you know that I'm not some low IQ mong who see violence as the only solution to solve problems." Thor uttered with an audible sigh. Sometimes violence was unnecessary - given good enough reason. But Thor was one of the few who would use violence as the last resort, especially against another fellow Arrancar. One could say that he valued all forms of life.

Running a hand through his white hair, he spoke again, "the answer is still going to be no, boyo." Clicking his tongue, he said bluntly. "If you want an Arrancar that is willing to battle with you, do me a favour and go find them because I'm not interested." The Arrancar made his intentions very clear on not wanting to duel the fellow. However, the question remained: was Sziercesaal still going to coax him someway to accept the fight, or was he finally going to accept the hard fact that Thor was not interested?

Sziercesaal looked at Thor. He was a strong specimen of an arrancar. Sziercesaal could tell that much. Strong and unwavering, which was a little irritating to the younger Sziercesaal.

"Oh come now. You know if you play hard to get like that, I can't help myself." Sziercesaal squirmed. Despite his frustration he still had that shit-eating grin on his face. He was asking to be hit, there was no doubt about it, but his motivation for doing so were much more blurred. Did he want to get hit because he wanted to see Thor's power? Or did he want to get hit because he was a masochist?

The younger Espada pressed himself closely to Thor and pouted. "Pretty please?"