[C] Sifting Through the Detritus [Closed, Eurynomos]

Have you ever had one of those days where the horse dung just keeps happening? You get up, and you've overslept because your alarm clock failed to go off. There's no time for a shower, or to run out and get milk, because it turns out you're unexpectedly out so you'll have to have something other than cereal for breakfast. You try and get a bagel and a coffee or something on your way to work, but there's traffic and a line at the cafe. A stubborn refusal to not go without the morning meal has you late for work, only to have the boss rope you in for a double shift. Of course, perhaps you wouldn't have been so late if you hadn't dropped your keys down the drain, after having spent most of what little morning you had looking for them. The day gives you nothing but the worst, skimmed slag of humanity for customers, and the final nail, that one thing that just has you saying 'that's it, I'm done with today', that one thing that has you no longer giving a rat's behind, for anything, is when you bend a knee to clear up a mess, and your trousers rip. This was essentially Eurynomos's whole week, and what is happening now, is that final deadening moment.

Escaping from the Castle of White in the Desert of Hueco Mundo had been tough. Eurynomos was tired and worse, he was hungry. He'd managed to grab a couple of little morsels to eat on his way back, but chewing his way through a couple of lower level Hollows had barely taken the edge off. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd escaped, but one thing was certain, if he ever set eyes on Consumption again, he wouldn't be letting that Arrancar off easy. It must of been at least a day or two later, but his throat still hurt when he swallowed. His many limbs were pretty battered as well. They'd only just finished recovering after a violent encounter with a certain Quincy who'd broken into his lair, only to be subject to some rather rough, and in one or two cases, piercing binding. He was beaten and battered. All he wanted to do was go home, eat until he was full, then curl up in bed. There was plenty of food in his lair. Admittedly he'd have to sacrifice some of the progress he'd been making in his research, eating those test subjects of his that were still edible, but they were always replaceable. He'd also made up his mind, that Shinigami woman he had chained up and was using as a renewable food source would be going down his gullet today as well. She'd become kind of 'stale', and given how badly things had gone for him thus far this week, he was feeling a desire to start fresh. Tomorrow, it'd be all okay tomorrow. He'd have a good meal, get a lot of rest and start anew. Out with the old, in with the new.

Unfortunately, upon returning home, Eurynomos would find his home in less than a desirable condition. He would sense the countless spiritual signatures from a distance and would feel a new dread sink deep into him. Doing his best to conceal his presence, he would sneak in close enough to see with his own eyes what was happening, and would have to stifle the urge to scream in rage and rush right in there. At least when one comes home and finds Debtors clearing out all your property, you can try in vain to negotiate with the bastards. In this situation, making himself known would be suicide. There was an army of ants emptying out his lair. All that Eurynomos could do was sit there and watch. Clenching his fists, and then his more flexible appendages, he'd almost give himself away as he crushed boulders to dust.

He couldn't sit there all day though. Eurynomos was adept at concealment, lurking in the undergrowth and sparse forest surroundings, but the longer he stayed the more he ran the risk of being discovered. There was no way he could take all these Quincy. The logical thing to do was to walk away. However, despite how much the endless tirade was numbing him on the inside, a single stubborn spark had dug its heels in deep. He didn't know what these Pests... no, they were more than that now... He didn't know what these Disease Ridden Vermin intended to do with his home once they'd cleaned it out, but if they intended to burn it to the ground and salt the earth (either figuratively or literally), then now would be the only chance he'd have to rescue some of his more vital pieces of research. A lot had been taken from him recently. No. More.

One of the reasons that this place had been such a perfect hideaway for Eurynomos was its underwater entrance. Leading from the ocean all the way to the innermost part of his lair, this particular access route was perfect for someone with Eurynomos's semi-aquatic physiology. If ever that dreaded day came that he had to make an escape, he could make his path of egress one that few could pursue through. It also meant that, if any of his captives ever escaped their cells, unless they could fly, they'd likely find escaping the facility just as challenging. (Admittedly some of them could, but they'd normally be held under tighter security). He even kept a waterproof container by the fresh hold, assuming he'd have time to even grab a book or two during his frightful retreat.

Today, this submerged cave system would serve as both Eurynomos's way in and out. He knew that he would have to be cautious, with a lot of these foul interlopers still hanging around, but if he could just get to his inner sanctum without anyone detecting his presence, he could still grab what was left of his most important research and get away. Of course, the fact that this was all happening, the fact that his home had been invaded and torn apart, was enough to plunge Eurynomos into despair, enough to fill him with such anguish and rage. He was powerless as everything he'd built was being torn apart. However, he would have to get his revenge later, he would have to mourn later. For now, he would enter the burning building that was his home, and save whatever he could from the blaze.

Word Count: 1089
Total GP: 21 

There wasn't any smell of accelerants in the air, at the very least. Of course, whether or not the Quincy even intended to come down here to douse the place, Eurynomos had no way of telling. Explosive charges weren't completely out of the question either though, and this many limbed Hollow would keep an eye out for any sign of those. Either way, as long as he could still sense those scarce few Quincy still milling about in the levels above them, he'd figure that he still have time to try and scavenge. He had to assume, whatever horrible plan these vermin had for his home, they wouldn't start with their own people still inside.

A desire for any sort of vengeance in response to this travesty, coupled with gnawing hunger, and Eurynomos would start to dream of picking off one or two of these pests off. Despite his size, he was remarkably good at sneaking up on people and catching them unawares. There weren't any Quincy down here, on the lowest level. After clearing out the prisoners, not to mention royally trashing the place, it didn't seem as if any of them had much desire to be down here.

[Well...]

Eurynomos thought, catching a whiff in the air that told him the door to the room where he'd thrown away his waste, that is to say, his corpses, had been left open. He didn't really mind the smell, exactly, though it did have him reconsidering the inefficiency of that particular system. Afterall, given long enough he'd have needed to empty that room, and it wasn't as if he had the whole thing lined with one massive, ultra durable plastic bag. 

[... can't say I exactly blame them.]

Thinking about it, the Quincy had probably already made a rather thorough sweep of the area down here. Chances were, they wouldn't have suspected another entrance down here. He could definately catch them by surprise, coming up behind them from a place they'd never have expected him to be, drag a few of them into the black.

[Ohh, yeah.]

His thoughts salivated now, a simple little dream of picking off a couple of people growing exponentially. The twisting winding corridors of his facility turning dark. What few people they'd left down here disappearing one by one, taken by mysterious forces unknown. The Quincy's top brass outside, afraid to come inside, shouting down radios that would never respond again, save for indiscernible panic and cut off screams. 'What is happening in there?' Yeah, he could really go Rambo on their asses, which would have been Eurynomos's exact thought, had he actually known who that was. He couldn't do anything about losing his home, but he could make it a regular house of horrors one last time.

The idea was too inviting to this starving and stressed out Hollow now. He'd still have his head on straight enough though, even in his current state, to know that he'd have to moderate how far exactly he took such a plan, his own safety and him getting out of here alive being the top priority. Actually, getting out of here alive with whatever salvage from his research he could find was top priority. To that effect, Eurynomos would start to make his way towards whatever remained of his inner sanctum. Though his rather sizeable form prevented him from exactly concealing himself visually, as he walked down the corridors, taking up nearly the entire space wall to wall, ceiling to floor, the Hollow was still pretty good at hiding his spiritual pressure. 

Such was Eurynomos's attention on the spiritual pressures above, that the Hollow barely caught himself in time before walking in on another presence, concealed like himself. It caught him by surprise, but the creature was quick to recover. At this range, he could not only tell that there was someone there, but he could get a sense of what it was he was dealing with. Even though he'd found himself with no particular grudge against the species, unlike the Quincy, in the current circumstances Eurynomos found himself quietly purring out a twisted, threatening growl, easily giving away his presence if he wasn't already known to the intruder. At first, he found himself wondering why a Shinigami would be working with Quincy, then the more rational parts of his mind pointed out that, if this one was working with the Quincy, they'd have no need to hide their spiritual pressure. Well, chances were the Shinigami already knew he was there, just outside, in the corridor.

"If it wasn't bad enough that these whore mongers had come in here and destroyed my laboratory, now I have to deal with some vulturous crow."

Of course, he wondered how anyone other than him had managed to sneak down here, past the Quincy, but unless knowing gave him some sort of advantage, he didn't really care enough to ask. The room he'd been coming up to had been his 'larder', if one thought it appropriate to call it that, a place where he kept his food and extracted what reiatsu he wanted from them. Even from here, with what little he could see of the inside of the room, he could see that his machines had been smashed to pieces, beyond recognition.

"Given that I think neither of us want to be found down here, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to start a fight, but I have to say, given the day, no, the week I've been having lately, I wouldn't mind silently choking the life out of you, Shinigami."

Word Count (Total): 931 (2020)
Total GP: 40

When beams of light seemed to pierce the wall in front of Eurynomos, the slippery Hollow would quickly withdraw back from the new opening, only granting his opponent a glimpse of something slithering. Concerned about the returning Quincy, his focus would slip for a moment, scanning the nearby spiritual signatures for any sign of approach. Fortunately it didn't appear as if there were any coming and it was quite possible that he was overestimating their ability to sense disturbances such as this one. Afterall, they weren't all as keenly aware of the energies produced by other people as he was.

Now trying to avoid a line of sight through the new opening that'd been made, in the room, Eurynomos could hear the sound of debris being tossed aside, pushed out of the way. This Shinigami hadn't said a word, as of yet. For some reason this, along with their willingness to jeopardise both of their concealed presences here, annoyed the Hollow slightly, though amidst the already bountiful pantheon of other inconveniences, this would hardly register. Still...

"Not a very talkative one, are we? No matter, as long as we remain out of each other's way, there's no reason for us to fight, as satisfying as I would find that. I'm just here to retrieve what remains of my research. I was looking forward to a meal, draining the energy out of the Shinigami woman I had chained up in here, but I guess I'll have to settle with having a few bite-sized Quincy instead."

Letting his words completely mis-match his actions, a number of Eurynomos's tendrils would burst forth from the ground near to Alain, the appendages striking rather than attempting to bind, swinging their hard masses at the Shinigami's torso, the largest and likely easiest target to hit. Assuming Eurynomos hadn't been somehow impeached during his subtle little tunnelling, the gargantuan Hollow would tear up all the floor between where he was and where his tentacles had emerged, his main body crashing through and easily tearing aside the wall behind which he'd concealed himself. The creature didn't say a word, but the strike would not be followed up by any further, unless his opponent provoked such things as necessity, instead allowing his attack and now his sudden, bold presence to stand as a clear display of his power and presence. In many ways, he meant what he'd said about not fighting, but he had no intention of being some cowardly creature that'd had to hide itself. He was there. This was him. And if the Shinigami wished to make this a fight, then they would know what it was they were choosing to bother.

Word Count (Total): 445 (2465)
Total GP: 49

Eurynomos too would now finally have himself a good look at the target. Male, early twenties, relatively tall for a humanoid, the Shinigami appeared to be a calm, rational individual, though naturally, given the disparity between their respective races, confrontational. He'd briefly forgotten that he needed to keep his own emotional state in check, not suppressed, necessarily, but rather it needed to be what he needed it to be. Remembering how his own powers worked, the important thing for Eurynomos was to have a thorough analysis of both his own and his opponent's states. So then... despite the situation, it would appear that this mimicking/mirroring being was in need of some cold, rational. His opponent not making any further attacks, asking questions instead, Eurynomos would be given the chance he needed to cool his head, trying to ignore the destruction around him, or the torn piece of garment on the floor, all that remained of one of his favourite 'toys'. He could always get another one.

"Research? Why my research. This whole facility was mine. Chemical alterations, mechanical augmentation, Reiatsu manipulation and extraction... I did it all. At least, until those pests on the level above ours started to infest the place."

Ahh... that wasn't so good. Pride and irritation was leaking back into the mix. Eurynomos had to keep that reigned in. He could feel his own Reiatsu trying to sync up with that of the man before him, but little slips like that was causing the respective pieces of the puzzle to warp and twist just a little bit of out shape and the exact alignment that was required. Trying to get back to that mode of calm, clear headedness, the Hollow would take a look at where the Shinigami stood. It was a small outcropping of ground, right up against the wall, skirting the edge of a deeper hole in the ground. There wasn't strictly speaking a 'floor', in the construction sense, beneath this one. However there was plenty of caves and caverns, a subterranean network, a labyrinth maze of stone, rock, and water. How much better would Eurynomos do if he could get the Shinigami in the water, or even down there in the dark?

"Takioma Souta..."

Where had Eurynomos heard that name before? It took him a moment or two to remember.

"...ah yes... that annoyance. We had an encounter a while ago. Actually gave me, of all people, a commision. Oddly enough, I've actually had a few of those over the centuries..."

He always liked to overplay how old he actually was.

"... but this was one of the first I actually felt like doing. He paid upfront, provided me with quite the enjoyable plaything. Usually I double cross them, once they've paid me, but the thing he asked me to work on actually seemed interesting... at least, at first. Well, I'm sure he would have sent someone to check on my progress... eventually."

Eurynomos had already played the 'thing rising up from the depths' card. Another attack from below, tunneling through the ground was doubtlessly not going to see any results. That said, if he went for the Shinigami right now in a straightforward assault, something told him it wouldn't go so well. Now that they were in close, he could sense a certain difference in their respective levels, and at best, this Hollow was an ambush predator... so what then? One thought did occur to him and, the collection of tendrils he'd extended out from the one 'arm', two or three more would now lightly unravel themselves from their place around his 'back', and begin to creep upwards towards the ceiling. The slithering appendages slipping and sliding over a network of steel bars and poles that hung from the ceiling, holding all of this rooms respective lights, the Hollow would begin to slowly pop the bulbs, one by one, darkness falling upon it and creeping ever onward towards Alain as more of the lighting was extinguished.

Word Count (Total): 664 (3129)
Total GP: 62

The creature's eyes would narrow slightly as he analysed the Shinigami's words.

{What? He's trying to claim...}

He grinned in the dark, halting his advance for now.

{Interesting...}

The Hollow wasn't fooled for a second. He'd only brought up the fact, that he might have someone checking up on him, as a casual throw away. He hadn't considered that this Shinigami was such a person, before or after their attempts to convince Eurynomos otherwise. 'I lost interest in the work, but I suppose someone might be coming to check up on me, so I decided to finish it anyway' had been the intent behind his words, but it seemed as if this intruder had taken it differently and had decided to try and use it against the Hollow. Well, this was something Eurynomos could certainly take advantage of and, if he played things right, he might even have himself a new plaything. Too many questions prior had made the Shinigami's supposed identity too implausible and, even if he was sent by Satou (the little correction had secretly irked him, not that he'd show it), the recent destruction of his lab, the loss of that research, and frankly, a desire not to give someone else something he didn't need to give and, to be honest, Eurynomos would probably be fine with doing away with any envoy, regardless. So then, a friendly, disarming chuckle...

"Ah, my apologies..."

Eurynomos seemingly relaxing. The voice was silky and smooth, dripping with charm that could easily be interpreted as malice, were one to know the actual intent behind it.

"I hadn't expected such a refined, handsome individual, usually I have to deal with such... 'impolite', vulgar types. Prejudices and all that..."

He laid down the ground works for the trap. Not only did his current company now have to pretend to be friend not foe, but he would have to be 'polite' too, which would hopefully make objections and the like harder to come by. Of course, it kind of implied that it'd had prior dealings with Satou's people, something that it'd previously spelled out as something that hadn't happened thus far, but it was possible he was speaking of other people and other dealings.

"It'd took me a moment or two to try and decide who you were, but given the circumstances, the destruction of my facility, I'm sure you can understand any apprehension on my part, and I'm sure any other Shinigami would have just killed me on the spot. Frankly I'm eager to see my precious works taken away to somewhere safe."

Though, it would occur to Eurynomos that an instant believing of this person's 'story' could be just as suspicious, he'd quickly, hastily formulate a plan for that. Whilst he would play the 'afraid something might happen to my research' card, using the current situation as a possible explanation for any lack of caution, the Hollow would work to make himself appear all the more fooled. Stepping closer now, coming out of the shadows, the countless tendrils across this creature's body seemed to slip away, revealing at least a little more of the smaller, pinkish, humanoid shape beneath, head, arms and a bit of the upper chest becoming visible. A three fingered limb would reach out, palm up.

"I trust you have the item I requested."

It would pause briefly, long enough to allow the latest development to stir in the mind of his opponent. Of course, they might just bluff, saying that they have the item on them, but will only hand it over once Eurynomos provides his end of the deal. Alternatively, they could panic and decide the jig was up and they needed to fight. Either way, the Hollow would decide to move quickly, acting before they had time to properly think what their response should be, keeping control of things whilst all the while appearing rushed, if not a little panicked, 'giving the game away now' by saying;

"Come on, I can't put together the final piece of my research without it, and I'm eager to see what the latest communication devices the Seireitei is using."

He wasn't sure if his target had a... he believed they were called 'Denreishinki'... on them, but Eurynomos would patiently wait on their reply. If he found himself being given such a device, the outcome would be two fold. Not only would he have solidified himself as someone who apparently had the Shinigami's trust now, but he'd be preventing them from calling for any backup. Either way, he'd have to see...

Word Count (Total): 759 (3888)
Total GP: 77