Wait, where the fuck am I? [inv]

espite her better efforts, Blodeuwen had been unable to find the man she was looking for. With the Gotei 13 on full recruitment drive, and preparing for the war, Blodeuwen had taken it upon herself to go and look for an old mentor, one who she owed her life to. It had been years since she'd seen Lyn, or any of his protegés. There had been a small group of them when Blod was a much weaker shinigami, many years ago. Lyn was a visored, and as such had long been in exile from soul society. Blodeuwen enjoyed her privilege as the Kido Corps soshi, the privilege that allowed her to befriend even exiles with relative impunity. Lyn though, Lyn was an old friend who'd saved her life before she'd become strong, at a time when she was most vulnerable. Even finding one of his old friends would help her on her quest to find him.

That wasn't the only reason that she was in the human world. In the Seireitei the atmosphere was tense. You didn't have three captains taken out of action and many of your lower echelon soldiers killed without serious anxiety seeping into the very fabric of your society. Here in the human world, ignorance was bliss. In her Gigai, Blod threaded her way through town, enjoying an ice cream she'd bought from a man in a van, for a confusing amount of human world money that she didn't especially understand. It was a reward for looking all morning with no results. Little did she know that her perseverance would soon pay off, however.

At first, it just seemed like arrancar reiatsu. Arrancar coming into the human world was bad news and so though she was clad in her favourite pink summer dress, Blodeuwen suppressed her reiatsu to undetectable levels, and clambered up a fire escape to the roof of a nearby building, cramming her ice cream into her face.

"OOOO, EEEE, brain freeze!" she said to herself, clutching her head as she hid behind an air conditioning unit and peered out at the individual attempting, with some difficulty, to extract himself from a garganta. She recognised his face before his spiritual pressure. That... That was Pico!? What the hell were the chances... Did Theo have anything to do with this? She'd need to go and ask him if he knew the hotheaded arrancar. If you'd bumped into him... It'd be hard not to.

"Pico-kun!?" she asked, stepping out from behind the unit, and staring at him muttering to himself. "I thought it was someone else!" he was stood, hands in his pockets, the same irate face and nonchalant attitude as ever. Blod could feel his spiritual pressure however. The years hadn't been quite as kind to him as to her. Most likely because he had trained inefficiently, blockheadedly getting into fights he can't win all the time and never learning from them. She was hiding her spiritual pressure; to Pico she would appear not much stronger than the last time they had met, as Lyn's twin accomplices, different as Yin and Yang.


"What are you doing here? It's... It's been so long."

atience was a virtue worth exercising with a person like Pico. As such, she took on the nose his obvious distaste for her; despite the fact that they had previously been allies She came out more fully, brown boots clicking on the tiled roof as he floated down to join her all cool-like, as he tried to answer her questions. She gave a short 'mmh' as he called her Princess; Blodeuwen was in fact a princess. Or had been, as a human, all those many centuries ago. She flicked one of her bangs out of her face as he clenched his fist. Ooh! The big scary arrancar was getting all hot and bothered. Blodeuwen knew it was condescending but she couldn't help but find him a little cute. It was perhaps a welcome change of pace from when they had last met, and in all likelihood he would have pummelled her, had it ever come to blows. Not that it had.

It seemed that he had only just recalled that time, as he spoke about some old man Blodeuwen had no idea about. Likely some arrancar he had tried to beat up and had lost to. He was grinning, teeth bared, the sight of which made Blodeuwen smile. What he said next, however, managed to wipe the smug smile off of her face. By Dirtbag he could only mean Adam. Images flashed across Blodeuwen's mind- images of the central 46, of the Kaminoyari destroying the hundreds of hollows, and Adam too, in the pit. She clenched her own fists now, the usually pink-tinged knuckles of her dainty hands turning white.

"Adam's dead." she told him starkly, a single tear rolling down her face. She didn't feel quite ready to tell Pico how he'd died. "And Lyn... Hasn't been seen in a long time. I'm actually here looking for him. Do you know anything about where he might be?" She asked, her pacific eyes glistering still with tears, and serious.

e was obviously upset. Despite herself, Blodeuwen wanted to reach out, to place a slender hand upon his shoulder, to hold him. But that would do little to cheer him up. In fact, she was certain that it would only anger him. She saw his plastered-on smile fade as he nonchalantly stared over the city. Jeez, some guys just had to play it cool all the time, huh. Did he think he'd spontaneously combust if he showed a little compassion? She frowned deeply. This bravado was only hurting Pico, at the end of the day.

"Pico-kun, that's..." she trailed off. What was she saying? She'd never change him. He was like a stone, destined to wear himself down to dust against the world. Next he was even disregarding their old mentor, Lyn. Fat lot of help this was, then. Blod stared at him sullenly. He was at least as strong as most of the seated officers, if not Lieutenants. Maybe they could get him on-side. Pico didn't really have allegiance to much anyone, but the Quincy were strong. He could be like a weapon that they pointed and released at the enemy... But then she imagined the sheer, wanton destruction that would take place if the arrancar ever came face to face with the stupid monkey Zaraki. She had to consciously stop herself releasing a low whistle as she pictured how much trouble she'd be in then. Mmh, yes, that would indeed be a terrible thing.

Of course... She didn't need to bring Pico into the fold to induct him as some kind of mercenary. Why go to the trouble of trying to keep him under control in the Seireitei when he could do his job just as easily here in the human world. She was about to set a wicked, and very devilish plan into motion when he grinned once more. She... wouldn't know... about that?



"I wouldn't, would I?" she asked him sardonically. Blodeuwen could see what was going to happen here. And yet despite ordinarily being non-violent... She was perfectly happy to let it. Maybe that'd teach this good-for-nothing beansprout a lesson. "Well nowadays, the big dogs... Are the Quincy. They all showed up and killed a whole bunch of hollows and arrancar, destroyed them forever. There's a bunch of them stronger than shinigami Taichou. They're probably the strongest opponents you'll find around." she told him slyly, neglecting to mention that at least some of them weren't as strong as she was.

t was hard to repress a sneer at the grossness of Pico liberating his ear of some of the scum within. On the other hand, Blodeuwen considered that maybe if he dug enough stuff out of his head, his brain might expand to fill the gaps and he'd get even a small modicum of common sense. One might hope so, at any rate. Blodeuwen walked up to join him at the lip of the roof, looking out onto the street below.

"Not a guy called Quincy, doofus." she told him, rolling her eyes in a rare display of exasperation. "You know, the 'holy archers', erase hollows from existence, were the victims of a genocide by the shinigami?" she asked, wondering if the guy had even heard of them at all. In all likelihood he hadn't, come to think of it. Regardless, Blodeuwen figured that she'd not bore him with the details. He didn't need to know what they were in order to try and kill them, that much was for certain. "Anyway, Taicho are pretty strong, the Quincy are just stronger." she told him matter-of-factly, with a little nod.

Uh-oh. Now he was returning to his baser instincts. Of course, how Pico-like, to opt to simply destroy things when he didn't get his way. Blodeuwen wasn't going to stand for that. She had authority enough that she could dismiss letting him live as a useful mercy. But not the destruction of humans and human property.

"If you do that Pico," Blodeuwen turned to him, pacific eyes glistering in the sunlight, "I'm going to have to beat you up until you go back to Hueco Mundo, licking your wounds." there was nothing in her voice to suggest that she was joking. Her tone had turned dark, full of killing intent. She was under her limiter but even then... She was still fairly confident she could beat him in a fist fight. And she could always request the removal of the limiter if need be.

"Are you going to make me do that?" she asked him.

he caught the sneer before he spoke. Pico's chauvinism was no different to the last time they had met. Last time she had been weaker, and it had scared her. Blodeuwen was no longer such a shrinking violet or wilting wallflower. She was a proud sunflower stalk, and wouldn't let herself be browbeaten by the arrancar's toxic attitude. Blodeuwen's lips curled up into a wry smile as Pico laughed away her threat, wheezing and slapping his knee in a comic exaggeration of good humour. Or perhaps he really was so simple that he found it that entertaining.

Blodeuwen knew that for maximum impact, her timing had to be impeccable. She let him have his moments of bravado, knowing that this would be so much more satisfying once she had allowed her old acquaintance to belittle her. She looked at her nails, holding the back of her hand before her. It was an obvious and rude expression, as if to say 'Are you quite finished?' designed exclusively to raise his hackles and wind him up. It was when he had told her he hadn't been aware she had had it in her, and was just beginning his next statement that Blodeuwen would seemingly disappear before his eyes. He'd have barely a fraction of a moment to respond, as she exited her step mid-way through a spin kick, aimed right at his face, from straight in front of him. Leather-clad foot would, unless by some miracle he managed to dodge it, impact with Pico's smug face with enough force to send him midway into the adjacent building, which Blodeuwen had double checked was empty before she hurt any passers by.

She dropped to the floor, heels clicking, hands clasped behind her back, a pearly white smile upon her pretty face. By her estimates, even with the limiter she was still more than twice as fast and strong as he. Feeling confident now she'd stretched her legs, she would call to him if he were far, or speak if he were near, in a sing-song voice.

"Just so that you know, Pico-chaaaaan, I was given a limiter when I left the Soul Society, reducing me to twenty-per-cent of my full strength. So maybe perhaps you have a fighting chance in this battle, hmm?" she asked, her eyes squinted shut with the sheer force of her glee.

f course, Pico wasn't such a clever guy. Blodeuwen had watched him fly through the doorway, which gave in with a painful sounding crunch. She winced slightly in sympathy. He seemed relatively unscathed a he emerged from the rooftop, but he looked angry. In fact not even Yamamoto had looked angry that one time he'd tried to throw his weight around in a meeting. Her words had gone mostly unheeded it seemed, as Pico had performed a sonido in order to close the gap between the two of them. She fluttered her eyelashes at him sweetly as he exited his step, still smiling widely. Something made him hesitate however, in the split second before he punched, Blodeuwen could see the trepidation in his eyes. Was that... Fear? No, he was too stupid to know fear. Perhaps something else then.

Regardless of what it was, it was simple enough for Blodeuwen to dodge the weak punch. She side-stepped, and grabbed at the arrancar's arm, attempting to use his own momentum to fling him over her shoulder and down on his back on the rooftop with a great deal of force, before letting go. She'd raise her leg high above her head, her modesty protected by a thick petticoat, ready to slam it down straight on his face in a brutal axe-kick.

"Silly Pico... Tricks are for kids." she told him, snarling uncharacteristically as her heel whistled through the air, ready to re-arrange his face in a brutal and uncompromising way. Despite her snarl, Blodeuwen grinned with excitement down at the potentially prone Pico, her eyes glinting with the kind of glee that she seldom got to feel. Something within her breast moved slightly. Her blood pumped quickly through her veins, the calmness she reserved for more tactical fights with more at stake all gone. It was time to let loose and have a little fun...

uckily for Pico, he was able to roll out of the way to stop his face being turned into a fine pink mist. Blodeuwen's heel slammed into the roof with the force of an oncoming train, completely splintering and shattering the tiles. She assumed a combat-ready stance and awaited his next move. Burning hot reiatsu washed over her, and she smiled once more. He was pretty angry, she could feel it. See it in his eyes. His killing intent was sharpening his will. Blodeuwen averted her gaze slightly to stop her eyeballs baking away in their sockets.

Her heart, which was already rattling away in her chest like a wrench in a tumbledryer, went cold for a brief instant when he disappeared in a sonido. She was able to follow his speed without any real difficulty however, tracing the paths of burning hot reiatsu through the air. Each time he appeared, Blodeuwen would block each rock-hard punch, stood stock still, rooted in a single spot. The punch to ribs was intercepted by an extended fore-arm; Blodeuwen either dodging or blocking each subsequent blow. After several of these blows, Blodeuwen would catch one with a single hand, and let out a high-pitched kiai.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA!" she would scream upon catching the arrancar's fist, before spinning him at high speed. "Maa..." she would spin him faster and faster, at velocities putting him at risk of a dislocation, creating a burning ring of fire in the air above her due to his fiery, burning reiatsu. "sooooooo....." he was a blur of limbs and motion now as Blodeuwen spun him at even greater speeds. "HEI!" as she flung him at incredible speed up into the air, as she felt that an impact with the ground at such velocity was likely to kill him or at least seriously maim him.

"Come on Pico, I know you can do better than that." Blodeuwen goaded him. "Or are you seriously weaker than a little girl like me?" she chided in a snide, cutting tone of voice.