Privetstviye [Private]

The stench of hollow was a distinctive one, Yaksha had grown accustomed to long ago, before he was even Yaksha.  It was a time he didn't like to think about, but it was entirely true; the smell of hollows was something that he had come to consider a sort of baseline even as a mortal.  And now here he was, wandering the human world, letting his tongue flicker out and appreciating the amazing melange of smells that humans had surrounding them, the very essence that seemed to define them.  They were as variable and engaging as an all-you-can-eat buffet, but Yaksha was entirely aware that this buffet was made to be appreciated like a work of art, not made to be dined upon.  It was, and he giggled at this particular thought, a hollow banquet.  The sort of thing that was only appetizing to those who lacked substance.

And yet above it all, something that caused Yaksha's stomach to gurgle even before he realized what it was he was detecting, something that his very body seemed to react to as violently as one with a phobia would, yet entirely in the opposite direction.  Yaksha disappeared, shooting through the crowds at the pace of a bullet, his movements as silent and careful as a true predator.  The stench of madness, a distinct smell that Yaksha never even realized he could've identified before he'd met a hollow, was thick in the air.  And it was thick, thicker than he'd smelled it in any place in the human world.  Either this was an exceptionally powerful hollow, or an exceptionally reckless one.

Yaksha himself knew reckless and cunning weren't mutually exclusive.

He rested atop a nearby building, watching the throngs of humans quietly, carefully...for all intents and purposes, he could've been a gargoyle, and gave off as much reaitsu as one, held close to his chest, draped over himself nearly like a blanket.  Finally, the target arrived.  It was...human.  Or humanoid, at least.  A woman, at that.  Yaksha was taken back for a single moment, but the reaitsu signatures were promising, at least.  Nothing he couldn't handle.

"Planning on making a few new fullbringers, dear?  There's better places to work on that sort of thing."

He had flitted across to the nearest building top before he'd even finished speaking, moving in the exact blind spot made when a person turned their head towards a sound.  Let the woman puzzle it over for a bit, if it was a woman.

"I always found that odd.  The claim that you're 'doing no one harm'.  Do you know that for certain?  Have you spoken to each and every one of these people?  Are you entirely sure not a single one is having an adverse response to your presence...?  That they won't for the next decade or so?  Everything is harmful to everything else.  It's a simple fact of life."

Yaksha's words, in a stark contrast to Svetlana's, were warm and excited, almost as if he had just been presented with a particularly interesting question, and was trying his very hardest to figure it out.  He once more flitted from rooftop to rooftop, staring down at this new presence, at this surprisingly talkative hollow.  The fact it was trying to keep him from getting in close was a pleasant surprise in and of itself.  Most hollows either fought or ran away, but this one seemed to be quite content to play patient and wait.  Just like him, in fact.  There was no need to turn this violent if it could be avoided.

"I have no desire to fight.  I came here because I noticed your little claxon call, which I can only assume was the intention.  Yet you're walking amongst these humans as if you're one of them, which I can only surmise means you were hoping whatever ravenous little beast answered the call would kill a few of your meat shields before it could pinpoint you, and leave itself open to a counterattack.  Am I wrong, dear?  Were you walking among these humans as if you're one of them simply because you like the notion of having two arms and two legs again?  Or was it simply another little sneaky tactic, to buy you the crucial second you needed to turn a fight into a slaughter?"

Sonido.  This little morsel knew sonido.  Yaksha had seen a few hollows using it before, understood the principle...but it seemed to elude him, somehow.  Perhaps he just wasn't physically strong enough?  Just like with his cero, he'd needed to eat plentifully before it became apparent, before it became simple enough.  He watched her disappearing slowly, steadily...and predictably, at that.  Yaksha had stayed in Karakura town for decades, nearly centuries.  He'd wandered their streets at least once a year, and they were familiar to him.  Utterly, completely familiar.  He darted along the building tops just after her, smirking and almost salivating at the notion that he'd have either a proper meal...or a proper chat.  She called him too talkative, but he'd show her that words had a power all their own.

When she finally stopped her mad attempts to dash away, Yaksha landed on the ground not too far from her, tilting his head and smiling slightly.  "I'm just trying to understand, dear.  You seem to believe that the reason I shouldn't harm you is because you're not causing anyone else harm.  But you seem quite content to see them hurt, if the reason is right.  So you tell me, dear...why should I have to keep my distance from someone that can't even explain herself properly?"

Yaksha's hands slid out slowly, folding over his chest.  As always, he wasn't entirely sure what he -did- want, or what he expected from any of this.  The woman had been like a chime in his head, resonating with his instincts and leaving him certain that letting her go was simply not an option.  He tilted his head, eyes closing ever so slightly, the universal expression of one deep in thought.  When he did speak, the words came out slowly, like he was still thinking about it and trying to make sense of what he was saying.

"A preacher by necessity must believe in something.  I'm a skeptic by nature.  And I can't help but be...dubious about your claim to be doing harm to no one.  I'm curious, plain and simple.  The number of hollows that don't run about slobbering on everything and destroying everything they run across is far too low.  Meeting one more is too interesting to pass up."

He extended a clawed, alabaster hand, covered in ever-so-slight flaking patches that could've generously been called scales.  His voice was soft and droning, the kind of meandering tone that slid against the top of his mouth like honey, the sort of thing that made it seem like he enjoyed the sound of his own voice.

"Call me Yaksha.  It's normal for two peers to share some standard conversation, no?  I'm not here to spread discontent or violence.  I don't want to see anyone hurt.  I just want...to understand."

There was a second of silence.  Two.  Three.  A promise?  Between a monster and...what?  Another, greater monster?  An old friend?  A rival, perhaps?  Whatever it was, this creature seemed quite dedicated to its goal, to the point that it...no.  No, she.  At the very least, this hollow deserved the same designation Yaksha would've given any mortal in the same circumstances.  Because she had proven the intellectual equal of any mortal, at the very least.  Metacognition, that most illusive and difficult of concepts, seemed alive and well in her.  And to be quite honest, how many humans were even willing to question themselves, in this day and age?

He stood over her, looming, his eyes seeming to lack any emotion a human could understand.  With a single smooth motion, a mere flick of his wrist, a bala shot out directly at her feet, kicking up a clod of dirt and sending it off to the side...where Yaksha blew it into even finer particulate matter, his mouth lifting up into a crude sneer.  He was hoping ever so badly that his actions had either caused her instincts to kick in, or forced her to start taking her surroundings more seriously.  In either case, he'd made his point.

"You're right, you know.  Us hollows can only do so much.  We can only do anything we strive towards.  Your hunger may be quite potent, your desires may be...invasive.  But your usefulness will never be beyond contention, so long as you are truly determined to be useful.  You say you wish to be a...vasto lorde.  And yet you fear defeat?  Why fear a literal impossibility, dear?  If you wish for it, then it's already happened!  The rest is just...formalities.  Simple acts of filling in the blanks.  And if you fear failing him so much...then I suppose there's only one option."

He slithered forward, his movements sinuous and cautious, slow yet rhythmic.  He seemed almost to be stepping to a tune in his own head, as he circled around her, his voice infused with an absolutely irresistable mellifluous quality, a soothing and calming tone, the sort of thing that was all-too-clearly affected...and yet seemed no less potent for it.

"Join me, naturally.  Just...build yourself a little pack.  Even amongst our kind, the notion of comradarie is not...unheard of.  And you've my word that I have no interest in betraying you, so long as you keep your gaze set towards that...promise of yours."