Spite turns to Rage

What had lead to this point? Her mind wavered a little as she lay there barely aware of what was around her. The noise was gone. That much told her she wasn't in her patrol sector. Then again she could be somewhere else yet still within her patrol sector. Berlin was a very large place after all. The smell though was off but that didn't matter right this second. What had lead to this point?

She'd been patrolling the sprawling monstrosity that had once been a small village or settlement had over centuries of build up become the hulk it was now. Being as big and as old as it was and the site of a past battle within the past seventy years it required a dedicated patrol group and the occasional broad sweep to get the recent dead and the forgotten ones of times past. That didn't include hollows. But what did that have to do with this current situation? To be honest she wasn't entirely sure. Last thing she remembered was standing atop the Reichstag building and peering off over the buildings trying to spot anything that seemed out of place. Then a sharp sudden pain then... nothing.

So what now? A quick check of everything. She could move her feet and her hands. There was no pain in any of her limbs just a slight throbbing where she'd been hit in the back of her head. Her arms were behind her which wasn't how she normally laid in her sleep. She was a side sleeper yes but she never had her arms out behind her. So she attempted to move her arms from behind her. Resistance? Something fuzzy? Definitely not ropes. Another tug and a soft clink could be heard. Cuffs of some kind. More than likely spiritually enhanced to help hold her in place. Great... now what about her legs? Another clink and resistance. Bound there too, aye? She was restrained completely. 

Her eyes remained closed as she feigned unconsciousness. No idea how long it would work as a feint for whomever or whatever had taken her. Her ears twitched slightly as she tried to gain her bearings. Even as she focussed as hard as she couldn't detect a single sound that told her of Berlin. Cars, people, the noise of construction. Just... nothing. Complete stillness. Not even the sound of wind. As if she wasn't anywhere. But she had to be. Right?

Time to check things with her nose. Her second most sensitive sense of her five or six. Should have been six but she was shit at it so she didn't count it really. So she slowly, as quietly as she could, took a deep breath. She snuffled a little as she tried to stifle a cough. The airborne spiritual energy was thick here and it wreaked of cherries. She was in one of the spiritual realms. One of them and it didn't sound like the soul society. That left one option and one explanation as to why she was there and bound like she was. 

“Get up. You’re either awake already, or getting there. I can’t very well start what I’ve got in mind for you until I’ve got a name, now can I? Well I could, but there are some niceties that have to be observed in a captor, captive scenario. Since this is a spur of the moment thing, rather than having stalked you for months, I can’t profess to know everything about you, death goddess. Much less your name. So get up and tell me.”

Well shit... a hollow had nabbed her. Not like it hadn't happened before. And while she had been ready to hear the creaking of a jaw opening and the sensation of hot breath upon her skin as it closed in to devour her she'd not been ready for it to speak to her. It wanted her to sit up? A slight smile crossed her face. Fine, she could do that much. Besides if she could get a look at it she might despite her bound limbs be able to find a way to deliver a devastating if not killing blow to it. So she sucked her legs up to her buttocks. Press her left arms elbow to the hard floor, which she'd found to be stone by its texture, and pulled herself upright with her abdominal muscles. Times like these she found herself happy she trained as rigorously as she did. As she reached a seated position she still had her back to him, it sounded male so she assumed it was, so she began shuffling about on her knees till she faced it.

A rather young faced arrancar. Physical appearance meant nothing to spiritual beings like them. They could each be nearly three thousand years old and not look a day past nine years old. He was humanoid looking, most arrancar were, and his marks were all well hidden. She swept her eyes over his body taking him in. Physical appearance wise she may of had a chance to kill him if she was loose. But again appearance was misleading. Here eyes locked onto his a light of defiance and stifled anger playing behind them.

"Victoria Aeserninus, Fifth division officer," she said curtly as she clenched her fists behind her. Perhaps she could over power the cuffs and set her hands free? No luck there. He'd definitely done something to them to prevent her from break them so easily. Perhaps the fuzzy feeling covering was preventing it. Shame she couldn't reach it to try and pick at it. How on earth was she going to get her Roman backside out of this mess?

Caden didn’t bother trying to hide a chuckle as the woman got up, facing away from him. She would have to shuffle around to get a good look at her captor. Well, if she wanted to get a good look at him. He would hope so. It was only smart. It was easier to fight an enemy when that enemy had a face. He wondered what could be happening under those alone locks of hers. What sort of strategies she might be trying to form, or rationalizations she was coming to. Given that she had immediately responded to his words, he figured she had indeed been faking her being unconscious for some time. Which meant she had probably assessed her situation and now all that was left was to come to a conclusion. And maybe seeing him would be the final puzzle piece needed for that conclusion. Who knew.

When she did finally look him in the eye though, he grinned wide. That was what he wanted. Alone, waking up in a strange place with someone she didn’t know, and already this woman was feeling defiant. Angry and defiant if he was looking at things right. So there was merit to leaving her alive after all. There was no use in breaking a toy that fell apart at a touch. He moved closer to his captive, though he kept out of biting range for the moment. He didn’t know what this woman was capable of, but her teeth were still a weapon. You didn’t have to be a hollow to know that getting bitten by something that wanted to kill you hurt. When she gave her name, he nodded, as it somewhat made sense. “A pretty name for a pretty girl.” he mused aloud. Though sayings was a fifth division officer meant nothing to him. He hadn’t had the chance to study shinigami power structure after all. They tended to try and kill him before they let any sort of information that he could use slip. Though this would be his first step to finding out a little more about them. To start, he knew they had at least five divisions. Might be more, but five divisions in a power structure meant some sort of diversification of roles. So which one did the girl belong to?

“An officer you say? Then you must be someone special to somebody. Can’t say I’m very much surprised with an appearance like yours, though I was hoping to capture someone who wouldn’t be noticed as gone for some time. An officer though, that’s an important role for whatever division you’re in, isn’t it? So why were you out on the streets rather than in your home dimension, little matriarch?”

Human history books came in handy for coming up with somewhat insulting pet names, if nothing else.

~~~

Cold, wind, and gray skies. Nothing worth noting in Germany. Just more people who’s lives he could ruin. So why was he here? What did he intend to do? Sit and observe? Wait for the inevitable shinigami patrol to try and shove their swords up his ass? Maybe he could learn about them a little in dancing around their inept sword swings. Maybe…

Maybe excitement was coming to him. A faint presence of a shinigami, but alone. Heading in his direction, but he couldn’t be sure if it was exactly looking for him. Maybe he could capture it alive.
 

~~~

 
“So, let’s play a little guessing game. Try to figure out just what your duties are. If you were in the human world, it has to be something practical. Humans aren’t a threat to shinigami as far as I can tell though. Well, they might be now, what with that little flop in the japanese suburb. They probably aren’t happy about what understand to be an overwhelmingly lackluster response from you people. I guess that rules out research and development. If you are an officer it’s probably something where the lower ranks will get sent to the human world, so no sort of central command structure. Or maybe you’re lying and not an officer at all. Just another grunt that is supposed to clean up souls, and maybe dispatch a low level hollow or two. So recon or grunt. You’d think recon would be a little tougher though.”

Caden stood up and took another drag of his cigarette. An attempt to blow a smoke ring down at Vic proved just how fruitless the attempt was, so he relegated to letting the cherry scented vapors stream from his mouth as he circled her.

“I mean no offense sweetie, but it was deliciously easy to capture you. A spirit should, by nature, be rather good at sensing other spirits. I could hardly believe it when I managed to get within striking distance. Half of me wondered if I should kill you right there. Clearly someone so oblivious to the things going on around them would not suit my needs at all.”

One cigarette was enough, so when Caden had finished it, the stub was flicked further back into the cave. The scent would remain for some time. It might even cling to her, as the scent of smoke was want to. To the point it could be considered his mark on her. Claiming a shinigami? It wasn’t out of the question, but it might not pay off in the end. Best to focus on just breaking her will into something he could shape first. His footsteps brought him back in front of the girl, and he once more looked over her. With that defiant fire in her eyes, he rather liked her appearance again. Though it still struck him as too perfect. Like he was being set up.

“I won’t dance about this with you. Here’s all you have to do, and when I get bored with you, you get to go free. Do what I say. If I say don’t scream, you have to remain silent, even if I break your arm. If I say kill, your sword has to taste the blood of whatever I point at. And so on. And so forth. Since you were so adorable as to state your apparent rank, I’ll tell you my aspect of death. My driving force of life. Hardly a fair exchange, but since I already have you at a disadvantage, this will even things out a little. Spite.”

He let the word hang in the air for a few moments before continuing.

“If you call inflicting pain an art, as I do, then you should know very well that finding the limits of one’s artistic ability, and the limits of the art medium itself. Hollows do not make good canvasses though. They’re already embroiled in their own pain. And humans are mostly boring and weak. So, I have you. What do you say?”

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Word Count: 1143
Gp Gain: 22
Gp Total: 40

She smirked a bit at his arrogance. Perhaps she had been oblivious to not notice such a being creeping up on her. The fact of the matter was that she was far to often sent after already spotted targets. Her job was simply to hit the target hard. So she'd been out of her element doing the task of a hunter when she was clearly a killer. He was wrong about a few things most of them minor but one was blazingly obvious. "You've missed one thing barbari," she began, "I carry no blade. I am my weapon."

Barbari, the latin word for barbarian, a safe subtle insult she wagered. Latin was a dead language and she assumed that this man wouldn't know it. Though if he did would he be upset by the use of that word? Being called a barbarian? She'd find out she mused as she sat there on her knees. 

He'd offered a means of her gaining her freedom from his clutches. Do as he said. Remain silent if he hurt her or kill whatever he sent her after. She didn't have much of a choice in the matter. From what her nose was telling her he was just a bit stronger than she was. Not an easy fight if she were to turn against him and seeing as she was well into hostile ground it would likely better for her to go along with whatever sick plans he had. She'd make her move when the time was right which wasn't now. She wagered he wouldn't be foolish enough to take her anywhere where shinigami would be present. As despite any deal they might agree upon would likely break as soon as she found a natural ally upon which to work with to strike him down.

"Fair enough barbari. I should shall play your game for as long as it is necessary," she said glaring back at him. Her eyes spoke of cruel intentions for when the time was right to hit back. She'd be sure when she got the opportunity she'd take his life in the slowest and most savage way she could. For now though she'd play along.

((CRAP POST! Sorry for the wait.))

Caden sighed shaking his head a little as the girl decided to remind him something that was glaringly obvious from a casual look over. He didn’t outright believe her, about having no blade. He was pretty sure that all shinigami had a weapon of some sort. It’s what made them so dangerous. But at the moment, she didn’t appear to have one. This being pointed out to him like he was an idiot rather annoyed him. A little witty banter was fine, but witty banter implied that you expected your opponent to be clever enough to figure out what you were saying. Perhaps she had used up all her wit on that nickname for him. From the sound of it, it might have been some other language, but that didn’t mean Caden couldn’t slap a couple more letters on the end of it and assume what she was calling him. It would have been clever if she had chosen something a little more obscure sounding so that he would actually have to search his memory in order to figure out what she was trying to say.

Unfortunately, her very much appreciated insolence would have to be addressed. He wasn’t some sort of masochist after all. He enjoyed the concept of being talked back to by a captive, but not the act itself. Though, given Vic’s position, it was all too easy to do so. A quick kick to the shoulder, not to send her flying, but to knock her off balance. To try and put her back on the cold white stone floor of the cave. “What a pity, and things were going so well. It is rather apparent, shinigami, that you appear to carry no blade. Notice I use the word appear. I don’t believe you completely when you say you have no weapon since that goes against everything I’ve learned about your kind through observation up to now. And while it would have been my pleasure to search you, it does me no good in the end, as I would give it back eventually. Once you were trained properly.”

He looked back at the girl, and his eyes spoke of cruel intentions whenever the fancy caught him. He was in the position of power here. And speaking of power, though it was outside of her ability to run away in any manner, he needed something to help reinforce her position. A nuclear deterrent for the girl. After all, some threats, some weapons were only effective if you knew what they could do.

Flames burst and rolled out from under Caden’s nails, and spilled down over his head like water. Soon the ghostly blue fire had spread across his body, giving him a halo effect. The arrancar cast his hand about them, pointing out the many balls of blue fire stuck to the ceiling in various places, giving them the light to see by. Message number one. The fire had come from him. Next, he pointed out a particular ball near the back of the cave, and gave his captive time to look at it before he set it off. A brilliant blue flash, accompanied by a deep rumbled, and the wall at the back of the cave was now quite a ways farther from them. Message two, the fire was dangerous.

“First test. You say you’ll play my game after all. Raise your chin and stay completely still. I’m not going to strangle you, today, but I think that pretty neck deserves a little ornamentation.”

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Word Count: 533
Gp Gain: 10
Gp Total: 50

She watched the display from her back. Concern for her life, what life she had, flickering in her eyes as she tried to maintain the facade of confidence. So this hollow, or arrancar as he was, could infact kill her outright. To this point she'd been thinking it'd been a lucky blow that had brought her down. Now she knew it wasn't quite the case. He was quite strong that much was filtering in to her head now. And seeing the rock of the cave bend so easily to his will was enough to get her to reconsider her previous plan. Right now she'd have to bide her time. Eventualy, hopefully, she'd get her chance to either escape or kill him. It would likely only be one and not the other. 

Swallowing a small lump in her throat she wordlessly lifts her chin. Subconsciously she drew her knees together and up. He was going to do something to her and going by that display he'd just given burning her head off was not completely beyond the question. Though if she was dead what good was she to him? Her green eyes never left his face as she lay there trying to breath slowly. He was handsome she'd not looked at him before in great detail. But now as he loomed over her she took in his face. It had a feeling of warm to its appearance but also harboring a capacity to smile in glee as someone squirmed before him. Was he enjoying this?

She let out a short gasp as she realized she'd been holding her breath. Her shoulders ached from the pressure the weight of her body was putting on her arms. The restraints despite their fuzzy lining dug painfully into her back. Moving her fingers a bit under her she feels then slowly growing cold. The blood flow was slow to them because of the cuffs and her weight. Licking her drying lips she continues to watch his face. Squirming more she wished he'd just inflict whatever pain he was intending to upon her and set her back upon her knees or in a position not on her hands. Her breathing shook for a second as her mind raced with the ideas of what he was about to do to her. She could handle pain but the anticipation of pain was worse than pain. This... was almost beyond what she could take.

Oh, now this, this was going to be fun. Caden smiled when his little display finally sunk in for her. She was his prisoner for the time being. And for the moment, she had no means of resisting him. She was trapped, alone, and her captor wasn’t bluffing in saying he could kill her whenever he wanted. How quickly the spirit seemed to break, or become dormant when those things were revealed. Still, he expected a little fight, a little resistance. Something from her that would show she was still resisting. Instead, he was met with silence, and squirming. He wondered just how often she’d been in a situation like this. A moment when she could die at any second. She wagered not too often, though the sensation was familiar to Caden. He’d had to live with it from the moment he realized hollows could eat other hollows, and that they weren’t just limited to human souls. Or rather, uncorrupted human souls.

He took his time with giving her the ornamentation he had promised. Yes, he was enjoying this. Watching her shift and squirm there on the ground, probably losing feeling a limb or two now from the weird position he had her in. Laying on your arm tended to do that too you. But, he had to do something at least. He had promised that much. He had also promised not to strangle the girl, but as he reached for her neck, he pondered the reasoning behind it. Maybe he could strangle her? Just a little? No. Not today at least. Maybe it would be a punishment if she failed to complete a task at a later date. No, for now she would go unmolested. Mostly unmolested. Letting his fingers slide smoothly over her neck before finally wrapping around probably counted as some sort of molestation in the eyes of the state. Oh, yet another punishment for some other time.

For once, his capricious nature refused to show itself, and the pressure he exerted on her neck was no more so than he needed to pull her back upright. Now on her knees of course since she had so dutifully pulled those up against herself. With his hand still around her neck, he crouched in front of the shinigami, staring her in the eye. He wanted to watch her expression as she figured out what it was he was going to do to her. As his flames slid over her skin in much the same way his fingers had, gathering and gathering until he had a nice little collar of it. This was Caden’s insurance policy that she would have to obey him. The cuffs could come off at any time now, but there was no way she was getting these flames off her neck.

Slowly, the flames flowing from his body were snuffed out, leaving the only blue fire in the cave to be on the ceiling, and around Victoria’s neck. Caden chose the hard way for getting her cuffs off, leaning closer to her and reaching around her body. It was a test. A challenge. Here he was, right in range, and her arms would be free. Would she take her chance? Knowing that in a second he could set off the flames around her neck and end her life?

Of course not.

“Oh, don’t be like that. I’ll be a great master, you’ll see. I’ll only beat you for every other display of disobedience. Now be a good girl and wait here. I’m getting pretty hungry. Don’t worry about me getting lost. I can track my fire right back to this cave.”

He stood, then turned away from her. His steps were even, if a little slow. Because what master doesn't worry when leaving their pet alone?

[Thread Exit]

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Word Count: 631
Gp Gain: 12
Gp Total: 62