The Ice and The Ash (INV, ND)

Her eyes flashed open, staying deadly still while she felt out for any reiatsu nearby. Nothing. There was no one attacking her, no hollow sniffing around, no beasts, scum or even vasto lords sneaking up behind her. There were non of these being she had heard of from the other world called Shinigami and Quincy. There was nothing but white sand and the translucent ice that separated. And whatever asshole had just roared, waking her up from a perfectly nice rest.

She sighed, sitting up and arching her back, then reluctantly standing. If there was something nearby roaring then either it was very very hungry or fighting. Typically, she would not go looking for something like this, but she had nothing else to do today, so why the hell not. Walking out of the igloo, the ice rushed up underneath her, forming a throne of ice that she sat on while it rushed her forwards. The location of the roar became apparent after a dune was cleared and the scene unfolded.

A single vasto, stood in the middle of a bloodbath. She watched as he dispatched a hollow with a bright red cero, she found it interesting he had kept his red. Maybe he did not know you could change the colour like she had, after all, it was only by chance she knew it was possible and therefore learnt how to do it. The vasto visibly sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. Another hollow stirred in the blood stained sand and leapt at him. Now that was not on. This was a respectable figure of obvious power and personality, she would hold no truck with him raising another hand to deal with these hollow. Her left hand flew upwards and pointed at the scum, a sharp blade of ice searing forwards and slicing it clean in half, then turning to water.

She fully expected the vasto to react one of two ways to that, which is why it turned to water and her arm lower back onto the rests on her throne. The ice under her slid forwards closer to the vasto, she adopted a polite smile and tilted her head slightly to the side. "I could not have him touching you my lord" a title she typically afforded those of vasto or higher status "You never known what disease these rodents may carry."

She was not sure why he had used his reiatsu to hold her still when she was already sitting still. That's like handcuffing a dead prisoner. However it allowed her to get an insight into his behaviour and strength. In a straight up fight, she knew he would win. But she only needed to fight him enough to get an opportunity to escape. She had no doubt she would be faster than him if she really tried. She knew how weak her hand to hand was, so if he wanted entertainment from it then this was not going to end well.

However for now, she had to play along. He was being very rude for someone in that position of power, she had treated him with respect befitting of his status, and he had responded with the manners of a drug idled courtesan. How...uncouth.

She turned her hand over, showing her acceptance of his request. Sliding off of the chair, down to the man with a thin sheet of ice underneath her. Landing softly on the sand, a soft floor of crunchy ice slithered out underneath her, he would have to deal with the fact that she hated sand. Telling him as such. Taking up a place around two meters from him, she turned sideways on and took up a fighting stance. "When you are ready." she challenged him.

She sighed heavily. Not in concentration, frustration. He talked big, challenged her, and expected her to put in more effort than him. This was becoming a rather irritating day. However she might as well appease his desire. He was obviously wanting to show off his hand to hand skill, probably overcompensating for somewhere else he was lacking. Not for the first time she wondered if a vasto had genitalia, and if they worked or if they would hurt if she kicked them.

But this was not the time for daydreaming or wondering about other stuff. The threat of being eaten aside, she could learn something here if she survived it with all her limbs. Maybe this creature could teach her how to defend herself when her abilities fail her. She advanced, the ice crunching under her foot, squeaking as her foot spun, she moved with the grace of a ballerina, her form was perfection, her body sailed through the air. And she piled strength into the kick that went all the way around her at the vasto.

To her, this was the height of what she could do, the best she had and all the strength she could summon. However this was a simple kick, the simplest of a spin kick. Easily block able. She knew it would fail as it went too slowly towards him. Slowly watching it get near to him and waiting for the pain of his block or counter to shoot through her leg. Muttering "Too slow, too obvious."

Her mind braced as she waited for the impact, lifted high over the vastos body and froze, her body locked. His skin on hers felt weird, it felt unnatural, even though he was a senior hollow, the idea of him touching her in any way sent a shiver crawling through her body. Even in this violent way. But he did not crack her on his back or anything that could hurt her. In fact the best thing that could possibly have happened, happened. He threw her into the floor. Into the ice waiting for her.

As she fell, her fingers twitched, the ice clinked together forming a clear surface for several meters around...including underneath the vasto. She went through the surface of the ice, disappearing through it and coming swiftly up behind the vasto as he jumped backwards. It was a simple technique and move in fighting. But she hoped it would at least impress him enough to not eat her at the end, or show the abilities she can couple with her hand to hand.

Using sonido to power her kick, she twisted in the air, aiming for the centre of the vastos back. With a pinch of luck, he would jump into her kick, lending velocity from him to the impact. But things rarely went her way that conveniently.

She stood perfectly still as the vasto made his theatrical movements and speeches, she already knew his type by the very fact he was playing this game. Confirmed by him actually saying he enjoyed playing this game, the loss of her ice on the sand had not been as big a blow as she thought the vasto thought it was. It was only the ice directly beneath her she cares about, the ice being there before to catch her fall was simply convenience.

Keeping her back straight and head tall. When he disappeared she felt his presence behind her, admittedly craning her head around and crouching slightly, expecting a surprise attack. When he appeared back in front of her and then further away, she saw his talking and moving was at and end, the question he posed was no longer rhetorical and he expected an answer. Although that might have just been brash thinking from all the dry sand that had gotten into her fur.

Water flowed out from the crystals, moving against her skin and outwards, expelling the sand from her body. The water formed a shell around her, sand particles floating inside it, the water splashed to the floor, forming more ice around her. "I could fight for as long as I could fight, I have never been in a situation where my fighting duration was called into question. Either leaving or besting my opponent before then." she did not add how much she doubted she could best him in this fight. However escape was a viable option if she could distract him for long enough...

She approached him again, this time attacking front on, a feint to the left followed by a sonido punch to the right which turned into a sudden palm, a stream of ice would come up, she pushes off with the sonido palm and spins back around with a roundhouse kick. "Ha!" She allowed herself a brief exclamation, more of exasperation than anything else.

She took a sharp intake of breath as the fist nearly connected with her face, she was about to snap back saying she would not do this in a proper fight anyway. This was just as a last resort, if she lives through it then she would have gained close combat skill, if not then it did not matter what she did, so she might as well do whatever. But she held her tongue, at least while he was that close, his charade did not have her fooled for a second. This was not her first day in HM, and this was not the first vasto she had met.

Expecting him to do something, and satisfied when she saw his leg moved, waiting until the last few inches and then sliding under the leg, expecting him to bring it down on her, she raised her left hand up, grabbing hold of his leg while her other hand grabbed the floor, ice forming around her hand to support her. She sonido thrust her legs out forwards, letting go only if she made contact, intending to smack him between the legs and send him at the least reeling away.

As she reached up, the vasto disappeared. But she felt him appear behind her, staying low and turning. She saw his hand outstretched to grab her shoulder, rolling down his arm and grabbing it as she went under it. If he wanted to take her by surprise he needed to use the speed he had, trying to trick her like that was not going to work. Her skillset was based around keeping people away from her, meaning she needed to know where they were. He might have advantages in speed and strength. But he was testing her on a field she seemed to know better.

Her hand, having come out of the ice but formed it around her hand, would sonido slam it into his chest around his hole, the ice would form a block, adding to the blunt force of it. Meanwhile, added ice would form under his feet and sharply tug towards her, hopefully adding to her attack and causing him to lose his footing. If the other arm came down she would push off the floor and sonido backwards. She could not win in a battle of speed but it should give her a second if anything she had done achieved anything.

His hand grazed her chest as she used sonido to retreat. That shield had thrown her off guard a little, she had expected him to at least fight fairly, but that was what to expect from a hollow. Cannot trust any of them. It seemed this was his game with his rules, reminding her of the situation she was in. He could kill her at any second, she needed to move more and hope his small attention span was entertained. Reduced to a clapping monkey.

She regained her composure and arched her back, stretching out what felt like a knot on her back. Something hard hit her head as she looked away for a millisecond. Her hand shooting up to her head as a white flash took her vision, she tried to keep her balance, stumbling slightly until she could see. A dull throb in her head that had either come from the kick or the light.

Her vision slowly came back as the bombardment started, hitting all sides of her and pushing her backwards with strong hits. She tried to raise her arms but she was still dazed from the light. Her hands smacked away in the flurry of strikes. Sending out a random smack towards him, her hands flopping towards him, her head was still fuzzy from the kick and there was no strength behind the hit. She resisted the strong temptation, no, the need to use her ice. She had trained her entire life to avoid these situations and now she had been forced into this.