Now you understand better, you think. Cirucci, Alphonse and Esmeralda, knowingly or not, have taught you more about friendship, alliances, and how people act with each other when bound by such fragile ties as Hollows can build. This constant feuding is one way to build a bond with each other. A vitriolic form of alliance, but one that is ready to lash out against any who would threaten the whole.
Yeah, they bicker endlessly but they're pretty tied together.
You do not flinch at the comment; you bow in curtsey #8 ("polite deference to nominal peers who are nonetheless acknowledged as senior and servants of a greater master"), and that makes Sung-Sun smile.
Style so useful.
"Don't be rude, Apacci. It is our pleasure to welcome you among the Fraccions, young one. What is your name?"
You gesture quickly, spelling it out, which makes Sung-Sun chuckle.
Evidence for my Instinctual Arrancar Sign Language continues to mount
You bow lightly. Luck and good tactics, really. You take no pride in it. But your mistress had ordered you to win, and so you had no choice.
Gods that is such a Style response. I love it.
, and with that big of a mask-
I also love this little thing. I...think it comes up in canon as well, but the idea that the larger the remains of the mask the weaker the Arrancar is absolutely the sort of thing that would be one of those little gossipy rumours that 'everyone knows'. It isn't actually
true of course, but I can 100% see it being the sort of thing people would buy into. (We know it isn't true, Ulquiorra's mask is pretty damned large, and Harribel's Estigma is actually fairly massive. Edrad's is tiny and he's one of the weaker lot overall.)
You look at the bones and wonder if there are stakes, if victory gives one of the Tres Bestias a true advantage over the others.
They probably just do it to pass the time. It's not like there's much better to do in Hueco Mundo. Place is hella boring.
Apacci frowns as she picks her ear. "I think I know the Hollow version of that one?"
Gods I love the idea of Hollows having their own (needlessly violent) version of fairytales.
The ultimate comeback.
Sung Sun the very composed, very serious woman makes a soft gesture of her hand, turning a dice upside down so it breaks Apacci's throw. No one notices, and you have to repress a giggle at this.
Sung-Sun might like to play the dignified one but she's not actually above it all.
"I will teach you… The witch ways. You will find them rewarding, if painful, but I will expect hard work and service."
We know the Tres Bestias main trick is something they developed, not natural to them, because they didn't use to know each other, they met under Harribel's service. Would be an interesting advanced skill. Maybe the very beginnings of a Arrancar version of Kido? Would be super neat, Kido (with its centuries of research and development) is one of the biggest advantages the Shinigami have over the Arrancar.
"This always struck me as strange," Sung-Sun sighs. "There seems to be no reason why there'd be so few women among our Lord's armies.
I mean, when the actual reason is ' a lot of manga authors, including Kubo, have issues including Women' it's kind of hard to come up with an in-universe justification for it.
"I'm just… Still mulling it over. I don't want to talk about it just yet."
There weren't any actual plans. We had an incredibly stilted tea ceremony, the rest of the Espada bickered and sniped at each other, and Aizen spent the whole time sitting there looking smug.
You don't feel him coming, and neither does Cirucci until the very last moment.
I know it's a disfavoured skill, but damn we need to improve Reiatsu Perception. I mean, I still like the idea of getting to a Veteran baseline though the Favoured/Disfavoured split has made that a harder prospect.
"Don't you agree?"
Your throat feels dry. You swallow harshly, and think.
[ ] You agree.
[ ] You disagree.
welp.
Kudos Omicron, that's a hell of a hard decision there.
Is there a reason that they keep mistaking us for Gillian? I could understand Esmerelda, since she could only go on how we act, but you would think that the Fraccion would be able to tell that we had simply been a lower tier w/e the word is for the next stage of hollowness.
As others have mentioned, it's Nemo's cloak. It makes her feel like a Gillian, for the purpose of ordering around mindless Gillian around, but it also makes people underestimate her.
If Cirucci were to climb the ranks, Cirucci would not gain any more de jure authority of the Espada, her de facto authority would remain the same (de facto authority stems from power and having the number would not increase her power), and she would get no additional privileges.
Incorrect actually. Higher ranked Espada can order lower ranked Espada around. (Even if practically speaking it would be awkward and cause massive problems with the egos involved)
Of course the main reason she wants it is Cirucci's pride. She feels she
deserves a higher position.
This brings up an interesting point - the surviving conciousness of a Hollow composed of a multitude of souls naturally selects for self-assurance and force of will. How is it that of all the personalities she's a composite of, Nemo was the one to take control?
Yeah, as a process it kind of self-selects for arrogance and ego, because they're more likely to hold themself together and not drown under the ocean of souls. Kind of goes a way towards explaining why Arrancars are ludicrously arrogant on the whole.
True Aizen is OP Bullshit HAX powerful but I also see him as the type of person who would do something like that as a fail safe.
Despite the whole 'all according to keikaku' reputation, Aizen actually doesn't plan all that much out, except in the broadest strokes. Plus yeah, he doesn't remotely consider them a threat, practically nothing is. Yamamoto is a threat, because he can just go 'fuck everything' and immolate everything for a hundred miles around him. Sure it would kill all the other captains as well, but it would successfully kill Aizen, which is all he'd care about. Hence Wonderweiss. Unohana is...maybe a threat as well. (When he was about to murder Hitsugaya he got the fuck out of dodge when she showed up.) I'm fairly sure Central 46 have actual forbidden her from fighting (because they're scared shitless of the worst criminal in the entire history of Soul Society), but still. Beyond that...Kyoraku's Bankai at a stretch? (Though that's another non-discriminatory one that would kill everyone nearby)
That's kind of it.
What exactly is a "vanity pick"? I'm afraid I don't quite understand the concept.
A pick just for the sake of vanity. i.e. just selecting Nemo because she was pretty, despite having no actual merits.
