Ruto's Past

[The Anon Assassin]

The caverns of the gillian are a dismal place that most avoid. It is not a place for the living or the dead. It's endless and depressing caverns are despised even by the hollows of Hueco Mundo. So it would have surprised any to see a lone boy no older than fourteen standing in a shaft of light with a backpack slung over his shoulder as if he had merely been waiting for the bus to take him to school. In truth this boy...this bount to be more precise...was releasing small bursts of his spirit energy...like a lure.

And as he stood there the boy played with an intricate silver yo-yo...constantly. Up, down, up, down...without looking, without care. And then at last the boy smiled for his prey was coming in droves. Five...ten...fifteen....eighteen...twenty...twenty gillian all howling for his soul were slowly making to surround him their eerie calls enough to make most break out in goose-flesh...but not this solitary boy who merely watched as if he were luring in a fish on a lure.

And when at last it looked as if he were doomed the boy caught the yo-yo he'd been playing with and smiled and pulled back his hand so that the yo-yo was clear for all to see. Only then did he grin and mutter "Jackal Zeige Dich." and in that moment the yo-yo took on a life of it's own and flew off from the boy's hand. It twisted and spun until it revealed itself to be a thing of hanging blades with bright glowing eyes. "More fish on the line Ruto?" the thing asked in a voice that was laughing and mocking.

Ruto's grin twisted, "Of course. Reel them in Jackal."

The doll laughed high-pitched and maniacal. "Yes sir my master." it laughed out. In the blink of an eye each gilian was thrown to the ground and pinned with a blade attached to a chain...each giant hollow cried out and wriggled like fish out of water. The bount devoured them one by one, taking his time to drain each completely until there was nothing left. However even after this as Ruto wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand he was no longer smiling but scowling as if in disgust.

The doll hovered near it's master, it's chains clattering musically like a wind chime floating in the wind. "Not to your taste Ruto? Such a shame." The doll's tone was mocking but the bount merely let out a frustrated growl and kicked the earth where one of the gillian's had lain not moments before. "Like drinking from a sewer." Ruto ground out in disappointment. "Is this all Hueco Mundo has to offer? It's not much better than Soul Society."

The golem turned it's head to an angle and looked as if it were contemplating a dilemma. " Perhaps we can find one of those arrancar that adjuhas mentioned a while back. Didn't he say they were quite powerful?" But Ruto merely let out a sigh and held out his hand, his palm upward as the golem once more took on the form of a child's toy. "Perhaps. Though who knows what they look like...still....I wonder what one tastes like..." And at this thought the bount licked his lips and turned to head back out into the darkness in search of more powerful souls to devour.

 

[Kain M ShZual]

"And you think you'd be any sort of a match for an Arrancar? Quite the leap from a Gillian. The last thing you'd need is for your precious crest to be annihilated in a blast of simple Cero." He'd chuckle a bit, his hands sheathed in black leather rising to cover his mouth. He'd then relax and place both of his hands in the pockets of his black tuxedo, straightening his indigo poet shirt out from within. He already hated his black slacks; dear God were they an enemy to mobility. Though he was rather fond of the dried mortal skin died black dress shoes. He'd take in a deep breath and sigh, his Zanpakuto remaining still at his left hip, held to it with a black leather belt.

"I never thought I'd see a Bount here. Honestly I thought there was only one of you left alive, though I wouln't lie, I'm happy to see a second...and one that has come to this dark void of a paradise even. Though...I believe you're feeding on the dead, correct? That might just be where the rancid taste comes from. Personally I love them, but to each their own." He'd look about for a moment, his indigo hues slowly moving over the tops of his thing black shades. "You mentioned an Adjuchas, thus I can only assume you've at least consumed one if not more, though given you're hunting Gillians, I can draw two conclusions. The first would be that you figure there's more to consume from the larger ones. The second would be that the Adjuchas forced you to realize just what level you were on...tell me, which is it?"  

[The Anon Assassin]

Ruto stopped in his tracks and turned slowly turned around to face this newcomer. In the light that streamed down from above Ruto could make out every detail but to the bount it was like making out nothing at all. He studied him for quite a while, pulling out his yo-yo and playing with it a bit, even going so far as to perform a trick or two here and there. Nothing complicated or that required much movement on his part but enough to put a casual person to shame. Then, at last, the bount caught the yo-yo and stared Kain head-on with a grim sort of smirk.

"Neither actually." he explained suddenly. "I just started at the top and worked my way down. After all it gets so tiring eating the same disgusting swill day after day that one even starts to yearn for the trash that the swill feeds off of. But these arrancar...they are new to me. I wonder if they can appease me better than the vasto lordes did. Although..." and at this Ruto gave Kain the look of a starved dog having spied a steak being held just out of reach and licked his lips in hunger. "I doubt even they would taste as wonderful as you do. That ...power...that spiritual energy you give off....it is like catching the taste of Fillet Mignon on the air after a lifetime of eating nothing but week-old fast food hamburgers out of a trash can. Really...delectable. What...ARE you?" Ruto asked wiping the drool from his eager face as he let fly his yo-yo once more and whispered.

"Jackal...Zeige Dich."

The doll twirled itself into being and hung in mid-air it's blades tinkling like a wind-chime. For a moment it did nothing but stare down at this new person who had intruded upon the bount's solitude before at last turning it's head and chuckling in it's mocking tone. "Eh! Ruto? This one sure looks tasty. Should I put out a lure....he might make it fun for me. He looks like a wriggler." And at this the doll giggled and lowered on it's hanging blades.

However, the doll quickly recalled it's blade as the boy called out to it. "No! ...Not for this one Jackal...somehow I get the feeling that taking a bite of him would be biting off more than I can chew. No...but he really does smell appetizing doesn't he. Wonder of wonders...I finally find a meal that won't bring bile to the back of my throat and I find that I can't bring myself to devour him...how ironic." And at this Ruto laughed... a bit madly and then stared in anger at the man standing across from him and growled out. "What are you? WHO are you if you won't tell me that? What do you want from me other than to torture me with the delectable smell of you?"

 

[Kain M ShZual]

"Hm...you've reacted the most to my spiritual pressure thus far. But, then again, I have no need to contain it here; I really couldn't care less what sort of hollow husks I might attract with it." He'd look at the yo-yo for a little while, seeming lost in it. Not quite amused, entertained...just lost in it. He'd then look to the doll and arch a brow. "Why summon you're doll if you're not going to use it? Is it for defense perhaps? Quite frankly you leave me with a great deal to ponder with the fact you're even here, so I believe all windows and doors are currently open."

He'd tighten the gloves on his hands before shaking his head. "If you've managed to devour a Vasto Lorde you'd have little problem with a low-rank Arrancar. I'm intrigued to hear you've managed even as much as the top of the Hollow chain, though...but I wonder if you could handle an Arrancar, and at what rank could you handle them...my personal belief would be that you could at least give a Fraccion a run for its money so long as it doesn't belong to the fourth Espada or below. And, of course, I intend to figure it out!" He'd let off a bit of a laugh and release a large Cero from his right palm at the doll. "What do I want from you? Well, that all depends on the results..."  

[The Anon Assassin]

Neither Ruto nor the doll moved as the cero raced forward. Until at length Ruto smirked and Jackal flipped backward. The doll caught the cero with it's bladed 'tail' and then took hold of it with the rest of it's blades. And in mere seconds Jackal had rolled itself up into a ball much like an armadillo would, the light of cero just visible though it quickly diminished into nothing while a droplet of green energy formed at the tip of the doll's tail.

And when at last the doll uncurled it appeared untouched, or in fact, better than before as it shined even brighter in the dark...as if it's metal body had been polished. Ruto held out his hand and Jackal proffered up his tail and the green liquid that dripped from it. The Bount boy suckled the doll's tail, drinking the liquid eagerly before at last he pulled away.

"So Ruto...how is it eh? Good enough to change your mind about this fish?"
the doll asked in it's laughing, mocking tone.

But Ruto did not answer instead the boy let a tear fall from his eye as he stared at the intruder as if he had seen an angel. And then at last Ruto spoke, his voice close to breaking as he did. "This taste...god..if I had known..." and then Ruto laughed, though the sound was a bit hollow as if torn between ecstasy and a soul-bound sorrow. And then Ruto licked his lips and stared at his aggressor like a starved dog his appearance hungry and eager ...and utterly feral. "I could feed off you for an eternity and not grow tired of this taste. And to think...that was only a lick. Yet still...I've never felt so full and so utterly starved. What a wonder you are."

The Bount boy took a step forward his grin forming a hungry leer. "Jackal...screw what I said. I don't care if I die in the attempt. That taste...that alone...is worth dying for." The doll chuckled in it's mocking way and lowered it's blades once more like a half-dozen fishing lures floating in the wind, the metal creating an oddly musical tone as it mixed in with the doll's laughter.

"As you wish Ruto. He'll be such a fun flopping fish to catch."

 

[Neko_Shinobi]

"Apparently it's not just your words that attract others." Mau sounded amused, but the look on her face seemed very much tentative and impatient, and her fingers twitched at the handle of her sword. She stood behind Kain, as she normally did, though her eyes followed the doll.