Things That Go Die in the Night [i]

Having sensed his prey, Nadežda kept his distance to observe. Waiting for it to be plenty distracted by its own meal before snuffing out all its hope for ever enjoying the flesh of man again. Or any other hollow for that matter. By comparisons the creature paled in stature when considering combative prowess. An easy picking for an old Hollow such as himself. But something had told him to hang back just a little longer and wait. He observed from cover some distance away as the target slowly consumed it's meal, a plus soul who'd likely passed away recently. Despite it's obviously being a human, Nadežda felt nothing. The only human he'd ever cared for had died more than a millennia ago, and aside from learning of the modern culture and happenings, he'd never considered himself close with any of the living world's population. Most of the lesser humans couldn't even see him to begin with after all. He watched with distaste, the Hollow who preyed upon his meal without consideration. Nadežda's hunter instincts secretly loathing the beast and its methods. Joy of the hunt was one thing, but making the prey suffer once it's death had been assured merely for one's own enthrallment? Even to this day his instincts as a wolf wouldn't allow him to do such a thing. He was no cat. Playing with food when it was hard enough to come by at times just didn't seem right.

It came as no surprise to the old Hollow when a redheaded Quincy boy appeared with resolution and intent. Killing the hollow without mercy to put an end to its preying. Yet straining as much as he could, Nadežda could sense no other Quincy nearby. Strange considering their renewed conflict with the Shinigami. They recently began resorting to hunting in packs of three or more to safeguard themselves, not just against Hollows, but also against the Shinigami who continued to threaten their very existence with renewed fervor now that open war had been declared between the two races.

The girl was not Quincy, being only a normal plus who'd once been human. If anything she'd been enjoying her time in the living world avoiding the reapers who constantly patrolled the area, performing Konso on any souls they found they might have missed and hadn't been sent off to Soul Society. He'd actually seen what happened to this girl. Regretfully she'd been one to commit suicide. Perhaps it was due to the nature of her death that Shinigami hadn't readily found her and sent the girl passing on. Her discovery of what awaited after death beyond the hopelessness of life itself had spurred a renewed curiosity in the girl which Nadežda quickly noticed and took interest in. Through the weeks he'd observed her. At first her antics had been to mischievously play ghostly pranks on those who'd made her suffer in life, but she'd soon mellowed out and lost interest. It was a good indication and it seemed to Nadežda that she'd chosen to move on, if only with the people who'd haunted her past.

"Comfort and joy in the next world... That seems a might ironic coming from someone such as yourself." Nadežda stepped out into the open, a lighted street lamp illuminating his feminine features as he approached the Quincy. In his Illusion of a human form, Nadežda appeared no older than his late teens. An ample chest, hair which extended halfway down his back and sported symmetrical streaks of white among the more common deep blues. Ears, not regular human ears, but ones far more animal and far more akin to a wolve's. Nadežda's tail swished slowly from side to side as he approached. Equally blue but fading to a silvery white near the ends. His right eye a brilliant gold, left a glowing blue.

Though his presence felt Hollow to the core, The Quincy would see none of the telltale signs otherwise. No mask, no black body accompanying said mask. Even Arrancar had some semblance of a mask to tell them apart from other spiritual beings. But these were all features which Nadežda could hide with his illusory form. "Hunting alone is dangerous." Nadežda spoke, his feminine voice trailing as he looked the Quincy up and down, taking him in. Yet there was no mockery in Nadežda's tone of voice when he spoke, and unlike others of his kind, his eyes reflected neither hunger nor desire for the Quincy standing before him.

"No... No, I suppose you wouldn't be a true Quincy otherwise would you..." Nadežda let out a long disappointed sigh. It was always like this. With only but a handful of exceptions, whenever he chose to reveal himself to either Shinigami or Quincy whom he figured he could reason with. They'd all acted the same with their unrelenting dedication to a kill or be killed attitude. "But then you also exude qualities that have proven quite fatal to many others..." Nadežda took a step closer to the Quincy, then another. "Taunts are useless, but if it's to be a show then I suppose I've no choice but to entertain." Nadežda paused his advance, opening his palms at his sides to show that he was unarmed, at least in his illusory state. Still, the hollow didn't seem to flaunt any sense of overconfidence, nor did he mock or sneer at the Quincy. It was a thing so many hollows and Arrancar seemed to do when they were about (or thought they were about to) to crush inferior opponents.

Current Appearance:

Simultaneous to the moment Nadežda vanished from the Quincy's view the boy would hear a strange, static sound. Performing Sonido, as it were, was still enough to render Nadežda's illusion void as the old hollow re-positioned himself right behind the Quincy's field of view. The Hollow's shape took on that of an undeniably large wolf in form, not less than eight feet tall at full standing. The sinews of his fur flowed in ghastly shades upon the cool night air. His eyes were a mixed glow of swirling blue and violet hues. Strange wisps of similar fashion drifted up from his slightly agape and threatening jaw. His hollow mask, on full display now that he'd dropped the illusion, extended up the length of his forehead. Its appearance, ancient and worn with lost time, etched with strange symbols that not even the hollow himself could point a meaning to.

"Threaten me all you want human, It does little in the end but prove just how foolishly suicidal you truly are. If, by chance, I'd held the desire to snuff out your life, you'd have been dead long before your Quincy arrows could ever leave that bow." Nadežda spoke in a hushed whisper, yet his normally booming, echoed voice, could still pierce one's mind and soul to chilling effect. Still Nadežda was no fool, even as close as he now was he continued to maintain a watchful eye in case the child chose to react in some way against his advance. "Unless perhaps... Death is what you truly desire?" This last statement of Nadežda's, an inquiry drawn up from his own curiosity about the boy's intents.

There it was. The old Hollow expected an attack of some sort from the boy. To think the first strike would be in the form of such a low blow though... Were all Quincy this prone to underhanded tactics that they couldn't face their opponents head on in a proper fashion? Having anticipated actions from the Quincy beforehand, Nadežda's stance had been fully prepared to avoid. Despite the key difference in strength of the boy, a charged attack from him could still potentially hurt, and the hollow desired to avoid injury whenever possible... In a single swift motion, Nadežda launched himself back, avoiding the attack. As for the second attack. Quincy never did stop at just one attack... Nadežda knew, and prepared his counter. Underestimating opponents was not in his book of practices no matter how weak they might feel to him. Though the distance was mere meters... Nadežda's bala launched the very moment the Quincy boy's own shot fired. Though the boy's shot managed to break passed, it's diminished strength did nothing but glance off the old Hollow's mask thanks to the position he'd moved to in order to launch his counter. Interesting... The boy had strength, if only in his mastery of his Quincy powers... Bala, Cero... they were still somewhat foreign to Nadežda and while he could use them both and had before in the past, using such ranged attacks seemed somehow unsettling to him. Though the strength of his bala seemed to be the limit to what the boy's shots could pierce, Nadežda didn't dare unleash his Cero. Especially not now, within the proximity of such a densly populated human city.

"Demon? Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you are the real demon here?." Nadežda's eyes flashed with an anger he hadn't felt within himself since a time long since forgotten. Given the boy's proximity after his maneuver, the Quincy would be nowhere near far enough to avoid Nadežda's Force Gaze. "Many creatures kill to feed themselves. Birds, fish, bears, even wolves and countless other creatures in this mortal world of yours. Yet you turn a blind eye to such carnage, such elimination of life. Hollows kill. Some kill more out of sport than others, I won't deny this fact. But no matter what we kill, be it human or fellow Hollow, it still continues a cycle. Quincys kill these Hollow and to what end? Those whom you purge don't return to any cycle, can never return to being human ever again. They and everything that exists within them becomes systematically destroyed because of you and your Quincy powers. Instead of maintaining this existence of souls you blindly erase what exists as if you wish the world itself to end. Is that what you want boy? To put an end to this world and the next?" Why... why had he chosen to speak reason to a Quincy? Those that listened to reason were far and few between.

"You still think you can beat me in your present state... And yet your arrogance knows no bounds... Do you really think we chose our paths willingly? Do you really believe all Hollows to be without conscience, without the right to be saved? Is your view so narrow that you've become blinded by your own misguided beliefs?" Nadežda sighed. Why was he trying. He was so much better at avoiding these kinds of confrontations than to try and pursue a reasonable conversation. Perhaps his recent encounter with a far more reasonable than expected Shinigami had gotten his hopes up that perhaps he too could shed some neutral light on an otherwise hostile encounter...

"This form..." Nadežda spoke as he returned to his illusory humanoid appearance. "Is my memory. It is the sole reason that I, One out of countless hollow, cling to sanity. To call me a demon for assuming this appearance..." Nadežda frowned. He was still trying to reason with the boy... but why? "Tell me boy... what drives you to act this way?"