The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed)

Crowe Starazo

56 Posts

Reiatsu70 Defense12 Strength20 Speed25 Spirit13 ApplicationBird of the Desert

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Dec 27, 2017 1:30:48 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Dec 27, 2017 1:30:48 GMT -5

After the madhouse that was Los Noches, perhaps this wasn't so hard after all.

Of all the things that he remembered, Crowe remembered his skills as a tracker. It was the only thing he'd been proud of being alive, and it was the only thing remotely of pride that he still held on to. And in the possibility of any possible role he my hold, Crowe needed to use his skills to the greatest use. And thus, today (tonight? The maddening moon that hung above his head never changed) he strode forth from Los Noches to survey what he now knew as La Colonia. Much like Los Noches, during his time as a vagabond, he stayed away from any sources of life in the desert, resigning himself to a life of exile. La Colonia was no different.

But it still felt so wrong. Crowe kept his eyes on the ground as he made the approach to the colony, smoothing his rat's nest of a haircut over his missing, bone ringed eyesocket. It was just going to be a scouting mission for future intel, nothing more.
"Just slip in, take a look around, and slip out again, just like you did a hundred times." But, to be fair, that was four hundred years ago. And he didn't exactly have the capacity to practice tracking when he was a Hollow. A chill ran through the air, causing Crowe to pull his overcoat closer over his torso. For comfort, he gripped the blade that always hung from his waist. In a pinch, it always gave him willpower.

Before he knew it, he stood before the gates of La Colonia. Thus was the results of being in your head too much.

A quick glance told him that no one was actively guarding the gates - the smatterings of info he knew about that it was a mishmash of personalities, people from all walks of life and death. "At least... I won't stand out, I suppose." Crowe murmured, pushing the gate open. "There are probably dozens of Arrancar that call this town home." Those he had met at Los Noches had simply served to confuse him as to what he truly was, a monster or something more (or less)? Perhaps in the town, he could learn more. As he glanced around the entrance just inside the colony, Crowe swore under his breath as his hands automatically went to his overcoat's pockets. Old habits die hard.

Even after all these years, his first instinct is to sketch out the world around him.

--
WC: 425
TWC: 425

Last Edit: Dec 27, 2017 1:31:37 GMT -5 by Crowe Starazo

Zero Cian

Fears and voices consume us all... are you sure its your own voice talking inside your head?

83 Posts

Reiatsu100 Defense20 Strength40 Speed20 Spirit20 ApplicationTrue Darkness

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Dec 28, 2017 0:18:17 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Dec 28, 2017 0:18:17 GMT -5

Flopped down in the middle of the town in front of the sub shop that had been made for the mortals to eat at. He sighed deeply before looking up at the sky. "Another... another one left us... at least she was a guest." Lowering his head back down and sulking as his brain tried to encompass why all of the guests he talked to, all the people he ever got to know dissipated into the sands. "Maybe we are just meant to be alone brover."

Beside him a woman materialized from the gas that hung around the colony and placed her hand on his head and rubbed it softly as to console him. She smiled and said "Its going to be okay, we will never be truly alone". Her eyes darted tot he side though at the gate opening at one of the entrances of the town. "Little one it seems we have another guest, though they are like us. Maybe they will stay? Do you want go and take a nap while i meet them?"

The boy slowly nodding and stretching out as he closed his eyes right where he sat down. The woman fading back into air as the boy's body began to visibly twitch and shake. He coughed on the ground as hollow material flowed out of his mouth and started to make the shape of their mask as his body writhed in what would seem like agony as bone and sinew snapped and moved around inside him. Flesh tearing and regrowing across his body as what was once a child nearly tripled in size.His clothes stayed on him but receded into the hollow form's core as it started to stand up. Grasping onto its own mask by the two horizontal parts of the cross that made it and cracked its own neck very audibly before doing the same to its arms.Putting its foot down on the sand it made it shake some but it lessened with each step as his form settled again.Slowly making its way towards the town's center.

His bone like complexion seemed to fit in with most of the hollows but the fact that most of his form was covered in this bone like carapace kept him apart. Though it did not actively watch this new presence, he could already smell it was different, it was fresher. From his miasma two other large base hollow breeds formed and walked with him as though they were a passing troupe of sorts that had stopped there to rest while the countless human puppets it had made here continue to run up and down the streets with furniture and housing supplies, wood and metal, fixing up what damage was left yet unattended.

"Let the new guest come... and lets see if he is one of an olive branch or an arrow" Lowering its head as it continued to move.

WC: 484
TWC: 484

Crowe Starazo

56 Posts

Reiatsu70 Defense12 Strength20 Speed25 Spirit13 ApplicationBird of the Desert

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Dec 28, 2017 1:00:05 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Dec 28, 2017 1:00:05 GMT -5

The very first thing he felt as he stepped into the colony was a sense of overwhelming, clawing dread. Sure, he had only met a couple of Arrancar in recent days (or, heck, the entire seven years he'd been one), but nothing had given him such a feeling as what was happening right now. His hand flew to the sheath at his hip, hidden beneath his overcoat. He strode further into the colony, mapping out it's interior within his mind. In the end, he'd always used the maps he drew was a tool to direct others; they never understood that he could remember everything he scouted in his mind.

That is, when he could actually focus.

The overpowering feeling that was emanating from the centre of the colony; it felt a times much like the presence of the Arrancar that he'd spent some time with... But at others, it's scent was that of a Hollow, but far more monstrous and overpowering the any Hollow he'd ever encountered, even at a distance. His panic only grew more, as doll-like figures roamed the street, their precence tied to the being at the centre. Crowe had to stop for a moment; everything was getting out of hand far too quickly. "Perhaps, I suppose, I should retreat-"
"If your legs freeze, just imagine the fire of your heart to get you moving again!"

Crowe stopped, the words of a woman hanging in his mind. Where had he heard that voice before? He'd heard it briefly, back at Los Noches, but he couldn't think of who it belonged to. He grasped the blade at his hip slightly more tightly, as if it was soothe him from his stress. "...I should take a look at it, I suppose. Wouldn't do much to come here without scouting the most important parts." Crowe grunted to himself, turning a corner that would bring him to the centre of the colony's allocated area, ignoring the other beings entirely. If there was one thing that would stop him from turning back, it would be his pride as a tracker. And in all honesty, he was interested in seeing what lay before him.
And what lay before him was a great being, Hollow in almost all form but with the reiatsu that was without a doubt that of an Arrancar. It eyes; and that of it's Hollow companions (another thing Crowe had ot ask at some point - could Arrancar control Hollows? Could -he- control Hollows?) lay upon him, watching his every move.

Crowe stopped dead in his tracks before the other beings, his hand gripped on his sheath. However, his presence told all who could sense no harm would come from him - it was clear he was too anxious and frightened to do anything of the sort.

"..."

-
WC: 465
TWC: 949

Zero Cian

Fears and voices consume us all... are you sure its your own voice talking inside your head?

83 Posts

Reiatsu100 Defense20 Strength40 Speed20 Spirit20 ApplicationTrue Darkness

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Dec 28, 2017 19:46:14 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Dec 28, 2017 19:46:14 GMT -5

Lifting up its massive claw and pointing toward an open space before the man had arrived and one of his pair walked off behind the the houses only to dissipate into gas once it was out of view. Having the one guest before this one come so suddenly only to disappear as fast as they came. It made them leery as to how long this one would. Turning its head to look at the man as he walked towards the center and him. Turning its head slowly to the hollow beside him he held out his hand and it passed him a large leather bound book that had pages stretched out past the book where notes and parts had been added. Pulling the book in front of him and opening its cover before sliding a finger down the first page of its contents. And then its maw opened.

"Welcome to our little oasis in this abyss... Enjoy your stay here for as long as you like. I can tell your not from here at least from your smell."

Its maw slowly sliding shut as its hand continued to run along the page before peeling something down carefully on that page. Its attention mostly on the book before turning its head to the side as it closed it momentarily. Lowering itself down some as what looked like human children were running through the center in a mob of sorts. In his free hand just out of sight he formed a small rubber ball for them and handed it to the one in front as they were running through only to stand back up and look at the man. Its massive claw like hand stroking the kids head for just a moment as they finished passing through. "But we must ask... what is your name young one? Maybe your lost somewhere and could use some.... advice to ease your troubled soul" Snickering for just a moment at the quip.

In its mind information ran rampant, movements for each puppet and their thoughts. At its helm he sat in there orchestrating everything as though he wasn't part of the show or even in the spotlight. Though this macabre dance in their mind was a quiet one as to not disturb their sleeping better half. Every little detail was building up and breaking down as the puppets finished their duties in some places and repairs in others only to vanish into the sands as their souls returned back into the mass. The ones present in his mind debating and deliberating everything from just the weather patterns of the desert down to what should be fixed next. His mind a vault of information feeding out like a river to each and every soul that was apart of him spread across the town and each river flowed both ways.

WC: 473
TWC: 957

Crowe Starazo

56 Posts

Reiatsu70 Defense12 Strength20 Speed25 Spirit13 ApplicationBird of the Desert

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Jan 8, 2018 2:46:46 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Jan 8, 2018 2:46:46 GMT -5

Crowe couldn't really understand what was taking place in front of him, the great monstrous Arrancar/Hollow creature looked something out of a nightmare. Crowe kept his hand on his blade beneath his overcoat, ready for anything that could happen. But the thing that confused him most were the doll-like beings that moved through the colony, even before the great creature that Crowe realised were the source of their life. As he finally inched forward, messing his hair anxiously to cover his missing eye, the great creature spoke to him. Where he expected a threat, he received a rather gentle welcome.

Despite it's intimidating facade, the Arrancar exuded no kind of threat - but that was something that bothered him even more. What were the doll-like creatures? Why was this Arrancar (it...was an Arrancar, right?) controlling them all like a puppet master. Why would an Arrancar go to such lengths? After a few moments, the creature spoke out again, and Crowe gritted his teeth, realising he should probably answer it's question. He tried to focus, the mess of reiatsu connecting the dolls to the Arrancar were giving him a headache.

"My...My name is Crowe Starazo. I suppose." Should he speak his true purpose? It held no malicious intent, but it could be confused for something much more sinister. Crowe bit his lip and scratched at the back of neck in stress. "...Uh, I suppose I came from Los Noches. Just... trying to get my bearings of the populated sections of Hueco Mundo. I suppose... I never came by any of these places as a vagabond." A few more moments of silence, the anxious Crowe and nightmarish Arrancar simply staring at one another. Finally, Crowe clenched his feet.

"I don't think asking it a few questions would be harmful at all. I'll leave the others at Los Noches out of it, just in case."

Crowe looked up at the Arrancar and tried to appear friendly (badly).
"I suppose... What is the purpose of this colony? Are you it's... leader? Are these dolls..." He hesitantly gestured to a nearby one. "...part of you? Or are they spiritual energy?"

What... are Arrancar? Crowe only knew what he was... but what everything else was was a mystery.

-

WC: 372
TWC:1392

Last Edit: Jan 12, 2018 0:07:48 GMT -5 by Crowe Starazo

Zero Cian

Fears and voices consume us all... are you sure its your own voice talking inside your head?

83 Posts

Reiatsu100 Defense20 Strength40 Speed20 Spirit20 ApplicationTrue Darkness

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Jan 11, 2018 23:39:39 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Jan 11, 2018 23:39:39 GMT -5

This world was passing him by little by little. It was rare but on an occasion he had a chance to meet a soul remotely close to his age. His mind a flurry of voices and whispers only to clot up somewhere inside as he looked at the man standing before him. Holding its claw like talons open around the spine of the book. Raising its free hand up and over slowly to his side as one of the human puppets of the colony walked over to him with a smile. He did not shake nor shutter but slide a talon into her face deeply. Pulling out slowly, his finger dripped with ichorous blood as he moved it over towards the book. The woman stood there unflinching with a hole in the middle of her face where the claw had slid into her only to walk away and join the others in their rounds.

"C.. Crowe Staranzo..." The blood covered finger touched the corner of the book and it started to turn pages on its own. "What a unique name... Since your so kind as to share your name with me, I may as well show you my own." The finger that had blood on it flicked down and stained a bit of the sand with it before he held his palm open towards the man. The bone like texture of his hand writhed and twitched as a small metal tag came to its surface. "I just hope my name doesn't scare you... since you are from the castle."

His hand holding out towards the man as the metal tag caught the light, or at least what you could call the light of Hueco Mundo. The glimmer of a single number carved into it. A solid Zero and only that before it started to resend back into his hand from whence it came. "My name... is that number and just that" Taking his hand and putting it on the front cover of its tome it held. "This place though... it is a refuge... an encampment... Those who do not belong to the castle, the forsaken SS... erm.. I mean Soul Society... though they are not much different, even outcasts among the quincy orders.. They all find refuge in these walls. though alas I am not the leader of this place, just a keeper if you will in their absence. "

Though he held it in one hand the book kept shuffling through its pages before stopping somewhere near what looked to be the end of it. His hand holding it readjusted slowly as he put a talon through the middle of the book to hold it open as he turned it towards their new guest. "Although Mister Staranzo, it may be better to ask yourself if they are but spirits or part of me... After all you will learn not all monsters are born... equal." His book was blank but within a moment that same liquid that came out of the doll danced on the page, slowly writing and drawing. "But my question for you young one... Is this you... one of us seems to recognize at least part of you." The page decorating itself with a image of a hooded man but it had both the birth date, and day he died, but the scariest part of it was the fact the eyes seemed to match exactly to his guest. "After all... if this is you... then there would be some idle chatter to be had..."

WC:585
TWC: 1542

Crowe Starazo

56 Posts

Reiatsu70 Defense12 Strength20 Speed25 Spirit13 ApplicationBird of the Desert

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Jan 21, 2018 22:38:48 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Jan 21, 2018 22:38:48 GMT -5

Crowe tilted his head slightly as he stared at the number '0' now imprinted upon the creature's book. Was it meant to mean something? Most likely, the number meant something during the times Los Noches wasn't little more then a gigantic ark for the scattered Arrancar of Hueco Mundo. Now, at least from what he had gleaned from his two companions within Los Noches, such titles as the number zero meant nothing. But... Crowe WAS curious. He'd known of the royalty, of the leaders of Los Noches, but even mentioning their existence set his companion into a frenzy. So perhaps...

"I-I apologise... Zero?" Crowe prayed to any deity that deigned to watch over Hueco Mundo that was how the creature's name as pronounced. "What does the number, uh, that is also your name, have to do with Los Noches? I've only been living in the castle for a brief while." If he was going to live in that palace of monsters, he was going to have to learn about it - even if it was just to not set off it's other inhabitants from his ignorance. But regardless, Crowe listened to the Arrancar's explanation of the colony, a 'paradise' for all those seeking refuge from the factions of the world. His eyebrows grew confuse with the terminology the Arrancar used, but Crowe at least had a vague idea of what Soul Society was, from what the others had briefly mentioned.

"W-Well, I have to say, the colony seems to be well constructed considering how far it is from, well, anything." That was stupid, Crowe thought, smoothing his dull hair over his hollow hole. Literally everything in Hueco Mundo was far away from anything. Even Los Noches was far away from literally everything - even if you could see it from a hundred kilometres away. Crowe started scratching at the back of his neck again, begin to feel uneasy with the situation. Something, just something, was off about all this, and he couldn't put his finger on it, even as the Arrancar flicked through his book whilst muttering about the dolls that continued to work around them.

"I've seen little of the power Arrancar have, b-but... I don't understand your power remotely." And then the page opened, the page that was clear to all what lay upon it. Crowe felt that uneasy feeling work it's way through his chest and further up his neck - something was very wrong, and every instinct of his told him to turn tail and run right now. But he had to know the meaning behind the creatures cryptic words.
"...H-H-How do you k-k-know even p-part of me?" Crowe stammered, feeling what little colour in his face drain away, his hand gripping at the blade hidden beneath his overcoat. "W-What... is all this?" He murmured, almost too afraid to know.

-
WC: 471
TWC: 1863

Zero Cian

Fears and voices consume us all... are you sure its your own voice talking inside your head?

83 Posts

Reiatsu100 Defense20 Strength40 Speed20 Spirit20 ApplicationTrue Darkness

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Jan 22, 2018 14:22:39 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Jan 22, 2018 14:22:39 GMT -5

Nodded his head slowly as he listened to the man before him. "Our name is just that little one... Though me and the castle have never really seen eye to eye..." Its fingers closing the book and handing it back over to the hollow that stood beside him for it to just walk off silently, not even a breath or growl escaped its lips. Turning its body back to look at their guest. "If you do not know.... the numbers used to mean power... or loyalty to a king or queen of this place... I was born with this number in life... and unlife. I never met another espada so I have kept this number all of my days as my name." Slowly he stood up and stretched out, the sounds of his bone like exterior popping and cracking. In some places the bone looking like is about to fall to dust and others it is deeply engraved like had been hit by blades and swings of a fist.

Settling back down some as he took a few steps away from the tower in the middle of the colony to stretch out some more as his face looked up to the ever twilight sky. The crescent side its head reflecting what little light there was from the sun onto the desert ground. "An old friend.... built this paradise of his... so that we could live free of the castle... After all not everyone inside of it were friends... So he made this and we filled it with the exiles, the monsters, the run aways..." Lifting a claw up and pointing down the street to the only bar in that town as a shinigami was thrown out for a moment to just go back in. "All of the spirits, all of the mortals can find this place, even quincy come here from time to time. One of them is a regular and much more well behaved..."

Turning its head to the side as it looked into its open hand as some of its miasma from beneath the colony rose up and clung to its leg. Slithering up his side and coiling around his arm. Chuckling a little inside as he looked at the man. "All monsters are different in this desert, we all fight, we all live, and we all survive. Those powers separate how we go about in our natures... If you want to know mine you will just have to trust me... and follow me down a rabbit hole of sorts... As for how i know you somewhat just ask this woman." From the miasma in his hand a vortex started as a human head formed and he held it out for Crowe to pick up if he pleased. "This was just someone who took note of your face in life, and saught to find out more about you... she pieced together little threads here and there, I just filled in some of the blanks with what others knew." Snickering for just a moment. "After all how old do you think I am to call you a child as I do and know some things in that same light?" Its flat face seeming to crack at the edges as it grinned for just a moment as the madness inside showed for that brief moment.

Even if Crowe could tell or not. He was bored and alone in this place. Nothing happened to it and all the souls that once flowed through it seemed to disappear one after another. Even if this place faded into the sands his memories would preserve this place. In his isolation he had grown weary but this place had also become where his power was most potent. The miasma he makes saturated everything from the smallest grain of sand to the structures themselves. This place had in almost every sense became an extension of his body by soaking up his raw power and acting as a vessel to store it.

WC:665
TWC: 2207

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Crowe Starazo

56 Posts

Reiatsu70 Defense12 Strength20 Speed25 Spirit13 ApplicationBird of the Desert

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Jan 27, 2018 2:55:44 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Jan 27, 2018 2:55:44 GMT -5

With all this Arrancar - Zero - was saying, something dawned on Crowe that should have been clear as day the moment he sensed it's aura. He was ancient, beyond anything you can even describe as ancient. He didn't consider himself young, knowing he was somewhere in the range of five hundred years old, but this thing before him...? He couldn't even make a guess as to what age Zero orignated from. Or even how long he'd been an Arrancar - the way he spoke of the castle and what happened, it gave the impression that it had happened a long time ago, likely long before Crowe even emerged as an Arrancar.

Shuffling his feet on the ground slightly, the dull-haired Arrancar stretched his fingers slightly, poised to ask about the timeframe of what Zero was telling him. But he became more fascinated with the ideas Zero was outputting. From what little he had gathered in seven years, Shinigami and Arrancar were sworn enemies, humans laying somewhere in the middle. But even now he felt the reiatsu of many races filling the town.
"...Why do these people come? For all those people know, this colony could be a trap by us Arrancar to trap unsuspecting other races. Had I not known about the colony, and was of a different species..." Crowe scratched the back of his neck, glancing up at the sky as his unease grew. The moon shone down, as always. "But..." He said slowly, trying to relax despite the fear in his heart. "...This doesn't seem to be a place of danger."

Of course, that was before the head appeared before him.

Crowe took a large step back out of surprise and base fear; he didn't recognise the woman before him, a dagger of self-loathing through his heart as his fractured memories failed to emerge.
"...How would one even talk to this... thing? What could it know..." Crowe balled his right hand into a fist out of anger and self-directed hatred, his other hand going to his blade beneath his overcoat. "What could YOU know about who I am, if even if I can't recall what my former life was like!?" The outburst of emotion faded and Crowe remembered his situation, the ever-present cloak of reluctance falling upon him once more. Whatever this thing Zero was, for his new allies in the castle, he had to know what he was. Going back empty-handed, unknowing, and this creature became a enemy...

It would be all his fault if Los Noches fell due to his fear.

"Imagine living your whole life, not knowing if it would've changed anything?"

"...A leap of faith? Tell me... tell me more. What are you, Zero?"

WC: 448
TWC: 2311

Zero Cian

Fears and voices consume us all... are you sure its your own voice talking inside your head?

83 Posts

Reiatsu100 Defense20 Strength40 Speed20 Spirit20 ApplicationTrue Darkness

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Jan 27, 2018 14:34:00 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Jan 27, 2018 14:34:00 GMT -5

Turning its own head slowly as it took a few steps away. Underneath the sands of the colony things were shifting and moving around deep below its surface. Turning his body to fully face the man again who had come here in search of truths and answers. "They come because we have nothing else. The people of this place are hunted like animals by one side or another. It does not help the castle wishes for this place to burn simply because we are whats left of a defiant few... Though think about this little one. Imagine the castle and all of its glory, you know everything your brother next to you is capable of so you become complacent and focus on yourself. Then what happens when and if that brother was to be replaced by an outsider... and old monster like me or one of the outcasts of this place." Raising an empty hand up to hold it over its own chest for a moment.

"You would spend your time learning each and every weakness as well as strength they had simply because they were alien to you. You would force yourself to evolve past your own limits to become superior not just to your own ilk... but each of the creatures that cling to life." From behind it as it said those last words the sands moved. Slowly a large stone like doorway and iron reinforced doors would unearth themselves only to creek open slowly behind him. The doors swinging their full lengths open only to have their edges bury into the sands around this entrance that just surfaced from the depths unknown.

"That thing.... was once a person like you and I, she was but a noble who was asking about to hire your services in life. She wanted a tracker to find her son who had run off but she was leary of you because of your birth, you were no noble, no high born. You were of a lower class just like me. Its funny how often they looked down on us but we were the creatures who lived on after death... well for the most part... This one couldn't pass on since she is part of me" Snickering some as he rolled his own head side to side, popping some of the joints in his neck as it moved only for that head to disappear that he held back into nothing but gas and mist.

Turning slowly to take a step into the entrance as it raised its claw up to wiggle its finger as to beckon his guest down. "For what i know of you... I know your name is Crowe Starazo, you were born in Italy, and you would die there all the same, You hunted people and things for a living. You were an honest and trustworthy man who looked upon the world with those eyes he cherishes. Even if one is missing you still see reality as it truly is..." His talon like nails clicking onto the stone laid stairwell at the mouth of this tunnel. His voice dieing down low but just so you would barely hear his words. "With a person who truly cherished you clung to your corpse and cried why it had to be you." His voice fading out more and more with each word, by the end his voice was so quiet that a gust of wind was louder leaving that last bit lost to the air. Reaching out with its hand to hold it up as it pressed against the wall only to lift another hand up and hold its face for a moment firmly as it seemed to grow weary and shake in place like it was about to lose its balance before regaining it and taking another step down.

Turning its head to look back at the man. "Me... Us.... were the ones who died without ever committing a sin. We are the innocent damned to live eternally"

WC: 666
TWC: 2873

Crowe Starazo

56 Posts

Reiatsu70 Defense12 Strength20 Speed25 Spirit13 ApplicationBird of the Desert

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed) Feb 11, 2018 23:37:18 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Feb 11, 2018 23:37:18 GMT -5

He felt them, on the edge of his awareness - the different races that populated the colony felt so alien to him, even the Hollows and Arrancar that called this place home. There was truth in what Zero said, but when it came down to it, his advice did not apply to the timid bird of a man that Crowe was. As if he could call those he lived among... family.
"Los... Los Noches is not such a home to me - the people that live there, the creatures I live among... If I let them know, even for a moment the weaknesses I hold... So I must 'cling to life', like I always have, for the place I have found to be home." Crowe murmured quietly, more to himself then to Zero proper. As the huge Arrancar continued to talk, a new entrance, deep into the sands of the desert, began to open. Zero began to step inside, and yearning to know exactly how he knew of his past, Crowe began to follow before he even realised.

Finally, Zero elaborated on the head that he had created before him, the head itself vanishing as if it was never there. Crowe balled his right hand into a fist as the monstrous Arrancar described the woman to him, a woman who so long ago now had requested his services. Of course, he had no memory of ever attempting to work with such a woman, but his exact memories of his work were scattered at the very best. The pieces were there, they simply did not fit together properly in his mind.
"F-From what I recall..." Crowe stammered, looking again at the great beast before him. "T-There were m-many like that. P-People who spat on me for my origin..." He ran his hand over his Hollow Hole, feeling that familiar twinge of self-loathing strum through his core. "...For what I looked like."

It was the next words that Zero said that was akin to a stake through Crowe's core, rooting him to the spot, even as Zero slowly stepped further into the new passageway.

"With a person who truly cherished you clung to your corpse and cried why it had to be you."

Crowe's remaining eye opened wide, a mix of rapidly conflicting emotions running through his mind. Someone... who cherished him? No matter how far he looked back into his mind, the only person who gave him anything even remotely akin to love was the owner of the orphanage... past that, he was alone for over ten long years, surviving like a rat, fighting against the despair that clung to him like a stink. But... was there someone else? Someone hidden behind his broken memories?
"What...What do you...?" Crowe spluttered, beginning to walk faster towards Zero's new passage. "What do you mean? Someone who..." He began to jog lightly, trying to keep up, his pale-red hair blowing in the light wind of the desert.

"Someone who cherished me. The voice in my mind? Could it be?" He almost didn't dare to hope. The voice that was almost tortuous, dealing out hope and despair depending on his moods it seemed. But to know it's source, what it meant to him... He couldn't resist that bait.

At least Zero was wrong about one thing, Crowe thought to himself as he followed the creature. Crowe had committed a sin, his own Original Sin.

The Sin of Birth.

WC: 571
TWC:2882

Bleach Gotei

The Desert's Recluse (Zero, Closed)

Post by Crowe Starazo on Dec 27, 2017 1:30:48 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Dec 28, 2017 0:18:17 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Dec 28, 2017 1:00:05 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Dec 28, 2017 19:46:14 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Jan 8, 2018 2:46:46 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Jan 11, 2018 23:39:39 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Jan 21, 2018 22:38:48 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Jan 22, 2018 14:22:39 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Jan 27, 2018 2:55:44 GMT -5

Post by Zero Cian on Jan 27, 2018 14:34:00 GMT -5

Post by Crowe Starazo on Feb 11, 2018 23:37:18 GMT -5

Welcome!