Primero

“All I wanted was to not be alone anymore. I’m not alone... I’m not alone...

I’m... alone.”

Coyote Starrk || Bleach RP Account

Hello all,

This blog is going to be inactive currently unless there are people specifically wanting to RP with my Starrk. I've been out of the game for a long time and while I am trying to come back, I think I'm going to save my energy for the main two, Kenpachi and Akon.

He stands once their uneasy agreement is met. He’s taller than Nanao expects, and absolutely haggered. To say he’s seen better days is an understatement. For the amount of power he wields in his reiastu alone, she’d been expecting something more intimidating.  Instead, she’s confronted with a tired, worn down creature, who seems to be going through the motions. She falls into a pattern of looking but not looking, wanting to get the measure of him but at the same time very aware what she’s looking at is the shadow of what this man could be. 

“What can you tell me about where we are?” 

She looks up and away again, trying hard not to look at the rags and rob him of what little dignity he clings on to. A multitude of questions rise and die on her lips, scared to ask them. It’s not that she pities him exactly, but there’s something about this that makes her heart ache. She’s read his file from the winter war, she knows who he’s fought, and for once, she wonders what part her captain played in reducing this man into what she sees before her. 

“We are in Los Noches.”

Starrk said it with a bit of humor as he moved to stand near Nanao. He stopped ten feet away, untrusting of both her intentions and his own oppressive spirit. The perpetual nighttime stars twinkled above them, giving plenty of light to see.

“If you travel in that direction,” he said, pointing at an angle, “you will find the old throne of Barragan. I doubt anyone inhabits it now; Harribel took over the thrown of Aizen.”

He pointed to their left.

“That direction holds the pillars, and beyond them the wastes. If a desert could contain a desert within, that was the wastes. Hollows tend not to inhabit that.”

He stopped, looking back towards her.

Hello all! I suppose everyone who follows me deserves an update:

A lot has been going on for me in the past few months. I got a new job, moved to a new city, and then have been swamped between work and depression. I’m hoping to get back and kicking here in the next month, though!

Tumblr’s notifications have been an absolute mess, but if you’d like to interact (I’ll repost this on all my blogs) like this! Also, if we have a thread that I have dropped, please message me and let me know so I can find it!

Thank everyone for their patience, and here’s to hoping an upward swing!

The weight lifts and Nanao straightens up, taking the first proper breath she’s had in minutes. She gulps in air for a couple of seconds, then focusses right back on the Espada and the answers he has to give. She maintains her distance, although by now she’s pretty sure he’s harmless enough. Powerful and dangerous yes, but not about to lunge for her without warning. There’s something about him though that makes her cautious though. He might not be dangerous, but the answers he gives makes it obvious all is not quite well here. If she didn’t know better, she might have put it down to fear. 

That becomes even more clear once she makes her offer. 

“because if you meant me harm, I think you’d have attacked by now”

She holds his gaze, the corners of her mouth curling into a discreet smirk as she absorbs everything his answer implies. This man, this beast of an espada  who’s reiatsu had crushed her only minutes before, assuming she somehow has the strength to bring him down. She almost laughs at the absurdity of it but holds it back, instead shaking her head. 

“We’re hardly equal here, are we? How exactly do you expect me to destroy you?”  

She adjusts her glasses, waits for a response. He’s not wrong. With any other hollow, she wouldn’t have hesitated to strike them down. Combat might not be her speciality, but she knows more than enough Kido to handle herself. This one though, even if he hadn’t been interesting, would be too much for even the average captain to handle. Plus, a guide would be good. She’s not about to turn someone with his knowledge away just because his brethren normally need to be put down for their own good. 

“Plus, last time I checked, we weren’t at war any more. You’ve posed no threat and, need I remind you, I’ve no interest in fighting. Either take my offer or leave it. I intend to continue my mission either way” 

If you meant me harm, I think you’d have attacked by now.

Starrk paused, thinking on the comment. Had he ever attacked someone unprovoked before? Perhaps, long ago before he’d split. He must have eaten, after all. But life before Lilynette was always a blank darkness, and now was no different.

Lilynette

“Again, I do not know what you are capable of,” he said, his voice tired. “But it is of no consequence.”

Finally he stood, his lanky frame taking its time standing. At his full height he stretched, raising arms above his head before looking down at his visitor. His uniform was tattered, leaving him covered in strips of dirty rags.

His eyes bore into her, Nanao staring him down. Despite his strength, it doesn’t feel like there’s any danger here. If he was going to attack, then he could have done ages ago. The mention of her captain raises an eyebrow, more or less confirming what she suspected.  So this is him. He’s a footnote in a book to her. Significant because of her captain. In her head, she’d pictured with far more muscle, far less slender. 

“I’m the lieutenant of the 8th division, yes.” 

She adjusts her glasses, examining him more closely now. He’s a curious one, if his reiatsu wasn’t so strong she’d attempt to come closer. Her gut says he wants something out of this, although what it is, Nanao can’t possibly guess. Information on her captain perhaps?  Although even that doesn’t make much sense. 

“and you are Coyote Starrk, correct?”

It strikes her as odd to see him alone. She’s read the reports from the battles and knows he has a companion. Or at least had a companion. She’d ask but it’s the least of her concerns right now. Especially once he asks the question, genuinely surprising her.

“We don’t have to do anything” she says, caution returning a little  “I am here on a survey mission and you’ve simply crossed my path. You’re right, I have no intention of fighting” her hand drifts subconsciously to where a sword should be, wondering if he really knows just how much of an imbalance there is here “you could just stay here and, I’ll be on my way” 

She suspects that’s not why he’s asking. There’s something here she’s missing and can’t put her finger on. She could just leave him here. It’s the easiest option. It’ll bug her though, if she doesn’t find out. He’s an odd link to her captain. He’s a former opponent who’s lived to tell the tale. That makes him interesting. 

“Although, I might be in need of a guide, if you’d be amenable.” she tries to take a deep breath, the weight on her chest reminding her of one very obvious problem “If you can dampen your reiatsu, that is. ” 

Right, his reiatsu.

Starrk closed his eyes momentarily, and willed the flow of energy from his body to lessen. It was something he had learned to do after becoming an Espada.

“Yes, I am Coyote Starrk,” he answered simply. “At least... a part of him. Or perhaps he was a part of me.”

He didn’t elaborate. It wasn’t something he thought he could even voice if he wanted to.

Her offer to have him as a guide made him pause, and he stared at her with even more suspicion. Despite her lack of aggression, she was still a shinigami. As far as he had been made aware his entire existence should be abhorrent to her.

And as the man who’d almost killed him was her superior, Starrk was even less inclined.

“Why would you trust me as a guide?” he asked quietly, his voice soft but cold. “Is it not your duty to destroy me? Or are arrancar now trusted among the shinigami?”

The last bit was asked with a hint of sarcasm, although he put no bite into it. The beastial, survival part of his brain flinched back at the idea.

              The lack of certainty is what spurred the Hōgyoku to come here and investigate at all. He did not wish to wonder what had happened to the Arrancar that survived. He demanded to KNOW. And so soon after arriving, he had already found the ex-Primera.               Ex, because the war was over–was it not? The Hōgyoku canted his head to better regard Starrk when he stood.

“He has no interest in punishing anyone that survived,” the sentient daemon stated matter-of-factly.               The way he spoke, too, indicated that he was still in obvious allegiance with the man–or engaged in some sort of exchange that maintained somehow. That aside, the point was that Aizen held no interest for anyone at all aside from himself, and his own ambitions. Anyone pulling away from death was responsible for their own success.

              “Harribel, Grimmjow, Nelliel–so far… they are all alive. Somewhere.” The orb knew, because he had touched their souls once upon a time… He knew, because that resonance ran deep, transcending even the aspect of time.                “As for the rest–well, that is why I am here; I am uncertain of their status, or even if anyone else survived. I was surprised to see you, actually, Starrk. From my perception at the time, I thought you were killed by those shinigami. I am relieved, though, to see that is not the case.”               The orb might have held a significant grudge against those two heinous reapers whom had struck him down, had that been the case.

“Ah.”

Starrk processed the information slowly. Aizen not holding his failures against him was a good thing, really. Even as his power returned, he knew he would be no match for the shinigami were he to face Aizen’s wrath.

No, instead Aizen apparently did not care one way or the other. And somehow that felt worse.

“Not killed. Not quite, anyways,” he added, his voice rough and dry. By habit, he mentally reached out to his other half. There was no response.

“Do you know where to look? For the others?” he asked, his eyes raising to meet the unfamiliar body with the familiar energy. He knew he should not betray his desire so strongly, but Starrk was past caring. He needed to be near and hear other voices. The silence was killing him.

A fun challenge that I saw regarding OC’s, but works easily well with your canon characters! I added all mine in here, just to make it interesting.

Kenpachi: That he can find fulfillment through battle, and that he doesn’t need others to do so.

Akon: That his own life has no worth outside of contributions he brings to Soul Society.

Starrk: That Aizen truly wanted him as a friend, and in his defeat at the hands of Shunsui he failed Aizen and would be punished for it.

Hachi: That his life can someday go back to how it was, serving under Tessai, a respected member of Soul Society.

“...”

The loneliness grows colder still

Tagged by: @behindthestrings​

              Wolves. 

              Or in this case, a wolf. Vaguely familiar. Barely the ghost of a memory, since the ex-Primera’s center-of-self was not one touched by the orb.               The vessel’s shoulders lowered a fraction; did he appear murderous by default?

              “No, I have no desire to kill you. I only came here to see who remained, if anyone at all…”

“I see.”

So this... entity didn’t know the fates of most of the arrancar. Then again, Starrk mused, there were a few he himself was unsure of. Perhaps there was merit to the idea of looking, rather than sitting alone.

“Then you are no longer tied directly to Aizen? His punishment for my failures would be death, I assume.” He slowly stood, stretching his back and turning fully to face his visitor.

“I remain, though by mere chance. I do not know where any others may be.”

“I am”

Nanao keeps her distance, observing the hollow from the safety of a nearby dune. She can sense him from here. His spiritual pressure almost overwhelms her. Her breathing shallows, as she raises a hand. A kido or two springs to mind, Nanao running through the incantations just in case. He offers enough for her to put two and two together. This one has history, even if it isn’t strictly with her. 

“and, are you so really so foolish to think I could finish you off?” 

Starrk stares at her for a long moment, then shrugs.

“Shinigami are full of surprises. The last time I fought one, they taught me that painfully. I do not know what you are capable of.”

“Your insignia on your uniform. It matches the one of the man who almost killed me. I assume, then, that you are his subordinate?”

His spiritual power had returned. Having survived, he knew it would. But it returned alone, without Lilynette. Lilynette.

❝ Is it your wound that is bothering you? ❞ She inquired after a moment, turning around to fully face him. ❝ We can stop for now, but we shouldn’t stay in this an area for too long. I am sure that that at least is something we can agree on. ❞

“Yes, we can.”

He sat, chest heaving. He placed a hand on it, as though by some force of will he could stop the slow seeping of reishi from his body.

“I remember you, faintly.”

“Perhaps not your face, but... you, or something about you. With Aizen.”

He turned his head slowly, eyes not leaving the being in front of him. Whatever they were, they were powerful. Perhaps even moreso than he.