The moonlit sands looked back at Arekussu as he held his damaged body against the railing of the healing quarters. It was a quiet night, the screams of hollows living and dieing in the wastes muffled by the soft hum of the wind blowing through the small tower room where Arekussu stood. The numerous cuts and scars across his skin were on the mend and he knew that soon he would be able to take on the responsibilities of Segunda, the title that Cross had placed on him after he had been rescued from the Soul Society.

That had been an interesting day to be sure. Arekussu wished he could not remember it so clearly in fact. All that wanton destruction, the shinigami he killed… it could have all been avoided had he better control over the Beast. He admitted to himself that he could not have survived the fight without the help of his other persona, however, and at least he could console himself with the fact that it was the shinigami who trapped him there. Not that he had deserved it, but they must have known that he would escape some day.

Arekussu sighed and turned away from the balcony, going to sit on the bed in the center of the round, pure white room. Besides the bed there was a bedside table, a bookshelf filled with numerous novels, and a small communications screen on the wall across from the bed. Right now the screen showed a blank white canvas, but he knew that if he so wished he could use it to see numerous human television shows, or read through the vast archives of Los Noches. Not that he had not read everything there a long time ago.

He lied back on the bed and closed his eyes, a light tune playing from his headphones. He should rest, he was not even close to his full strength and wouldn’t be for at least a couple weeks from now. It was a trial to even get out of the bed some mornings, and he was too tired to do anything other than stare at the roof and listen to music for hours on end. Still, he had contented himself in the small cave for hundreds of years, he could wait a few weeks before going out into the world.

And so Arekussu rested, half asleep on the bed, waiting for something to happen.

The night was long, Rebecca was bored until a few moments ago when she decided that she needed to go out and converse with the 2nd Espada. A need brought on by the fact that she heard rumor he was recovering from a battle of some sort. The conversation they would have would likely be interesting and she needed to get acquainted with the other Espada. She lifted herself up and searched for her Fraccion. He was likely doing something in a different area of his palace; after all she was living in his quarters until her Palace was repaired. She wore her Espada uniform which happened to be a one piece bathing suit that exposed most of her chest, her hair hung on her left so that the number 8 could be seen on the side of her right breast.

She looked over to the window and then back at the double doors leading to the outside of the resting chambers. She tapped her left foot against the ground and within an instant servants walked through the door. When they entered the room they knelt down and awaited instructions. "Tell Anamist I'll be at the 2nd Espada's palace, and tell him I hope he'll be able to join." she demanded before using a Sonido to exit the room through the window.

Within minutes of flying through the sky's of Las Noches she finally flew threw the 2nd Espada's tower. She landed gracefully in his room which to her seemed eerily like a lab of some sort. It was white and seemed orderly. Rebecca looked towards the Bed where the Espada lay back and hoped that despite the fact that he was wearing a the device humans use to tune out the world, that he would notice her arrival. Until then she remained silent.

The new servants bowed before Anamist in his meeting room as he contemplated the future of Hueco Mundo, they interrupted his thoughts when they explained that Rebecca had gone to visit the 2nd Espada- It seemed she knew where he was, but Anamist did not; though he could track Rebecca's all-too-familiar rietsu. It had become an integrated part of his life, almost like a perfume or such of the human world.

Anamist thanked, dismissed them and stood up; he reached over by his coatrack and put on his suit jacket and the white gloves, the clenched his fists slighty- the gloves fit snuggly and his the multiple wounds on his knucles and palms. There was no need for the sight of his wounds to ffend his mistress, so he simply hid them.

He tracked Rebecca until she had stopped moving and had gone to a palace, unlike Rebecca, he stood outside and waited for her to command him to enter- It would have been ipolite of him to mettle in the affairs of his mistress without her sole permission.

Arekussu tapped his foot against the end of the bed frame, his tall stature making the action an easy task. His arms where crossed over his chest and he was tapping his right right finger against his left arm to the beat of the music. He was in tune with the world around him then, more so than he was with his headphones off. Music allowed him to focus, to sense his surroundings more clearly, and more importantly, to escape from his physical form, even if just temporarily. He often found himself lost in his music so much that he barely knew what was happening around him.

This was not one of those times however, and when he felt the spiritual pressure of a powerful being approaching his shackles immediately rose. He studied the reitsu though, and found it to be that of a powerful arrancar. He let himself lie back again, although he kept himself more alert than normal. Even though Cross had been friendly, it certainly did not mean that all the Espada would enjoy his company. After all, he had just shown up out of nowhere and taken a high position. If the Espada now were anything like the ones from his time, they were all vying for power and would kill someone just to move up a rank.

When the woman that the reitsu had been seeping from arrived in his room, He was mildly surprised by her appearance, her spiritual power being higher than a woman of her startling beauty lead on, but it did not effect him more than the casual glance he gave her features. She was pretty, but as with all things pretty in Hueco mundo, she harbored madness and danger within her. That, and Arekussu had stopped finding women attractive a long time ago. None of them were Bestia, after all. The fact that she was revealing a large amount of skin did nothing to affect Arekussu’s temperament.

She stood there as if waiting for him to say something. Without even looking her way, he said, “A bit rude to come in through a window, don’t you think? The nice man outside my door has the right idea, but I can’t understand why he won’t knock.” He said, indicating that he had felt the reitsu of the man for a while, since he had begun the climb up the stairs in fact. He did not deign it necessary to remove his headphones however, as he could here quite perfectly though them as long as he wanted to.

After Rebecca entered the Espada's she noticed slight movement, as if she had been found. But she dismissed it and watched him in his bed. He seemed peaceful, and ignorant of his surroundings, which were eerily similar to a lab as it was white, bright and semi-organized. It didn't seem occupied with too much stuff, most of which Rebecca was unfamiliar with.

The Espada spoke before she did, as she had hoped; she was not willing to engage the Espada. She almost surprised her with his display of awareness, not only because he knew she entered the room; but because he noticed before she did that her Fraccion; Anamist waited outside his door like a gentleman waiting to be invited in by either party. She remained silent for a few moments before shouting to Anamist. "By all means Anamist, don't keep our Host waiting." she said inviting Anamist into the room.

She looked over to the door and then back to the 2nd Espada. "You look. . . Peaceful. Are you really an Arrancar?" she asked with a serious expression on her face. She had been a hollow herself for less than a hundred years, she believed herself knowledgeable when it came to Hollow's, but her curiosity was an aspect of her's that wouldn't change no matter how much she knew about her own race.

Anamist nodded even though they could not see him from the other side of the door- A habit he often did when acknowledging his mistress' words. He opened the door and walked up to the window where his mistress was sitting, he stood there and inspected Arek- seemingly totally oblivious to his surroundings and forgetting proper respects to women. he clenched his feet at Arek's apparent intentional disinterest in his mistress; a blotch of red seeped from his pure white glove on his right hand- he hid it behind his back as he spoke.

Arekussu... i've heard your name before, but not within the past couple hundred years. If you would be so kind as to properly show respect to M'lady- I would overlook your improper conduct.

Arekussu looked passed the Espada as she spoke, noticing that throughout the night the beams of light from the moon had yet to shift. In the cave he had forgotten about the never-ending night of hueco mundo, the darkness that only he could see from this tower. He had chosen it as his resting place because it was just past the artificial sunlight of the rest of Los Noches, allowing him to see all of the wastes when he wished too. He had also thought it would keep the other Espada away from him thanks to the difficult climb up the stairs, but he had obviously forgotten that any being of spiritual power can walk on air.

It took him a second to register what the Espada had said, his eyes losing their far away look for a moment as he contemplated her words. Peaceful was an interesting word to describe him, but he supposed to an onlooker it would seem that way. In all honesty his finely crafted emotional state was a form of the purest despair, grief so strong that the only way to bear it was to ignore the fact. It meant he often did not pay attention to the world around him, and purposefully avoided contact with other intelligent beings. He supposed that it kind of resembled the actions of a peaceful man, as this meant he avoided conflict and sought to constantly better himself with knowledge.

It would be good to be known as peaceful here, though, so he went along with the statement, giving the woman a kind smile as he said, “I do try my best. And yes, I have been an arrancar for well over 600 years now. However, your statement seems an odd conversation starter, how about we take a step back.” He then sat up in his bed and rolled his legs over the side, moving to a sitting up position. “I am Arekussu, the twilight musician as some people used to call me. That was a long time ago however.” He paused for a moment, lost in thought about his long history, then spoke again as if realizing the woman was still there, “Oh! And what is your name?”

When the other man entered the room however, and Arekussu took a moment to look at him, he almost fell over. The man was in full butler garb, and when he called the woman mi’lady Arekussu realized he must be the woman’s butler, most likely his fraccion. His voice sounded so ancient, it was absolutely wonderful! It was just like the books Arekussu had read, this man personified the modern butler, his straight coat trimmed perfectly, his pleated pants ironed to silk-like smoothness, his back as straight as a board when he stood still. It was positively brilliant!

Arekussu immediately shifted his attention to the man and stood, appearing behind him and tugging on his coat tails. "What exquisite posture!” said Arekussu, ironically bringing light to the fact that eh always walked with his hands in his pockets and slouched. “You are brilliant! It’s not often You can see a fully blown butler now a days is it?” He then appeared in front of the butler, his hand outstretched, and said, “Wonderful to meet you, name’s Arekussu.”

While she spoke, Rebecca felt as if the Espada wasn't even attempting to pay her any mind. He looked pass her as if he was staring out the window behind her and to her surprise didn't give her an answer immediately. He seemed nonchalant and acted as if he was lost in thought. Rebecca's blank expression shifted to one that made her seem slightly aggravated. Before she could give voice to her opinion as she usually did without regard, her question was answered. She was insulted by his deduction of her question, deciding it was an odd conversation starter. She lifted an eyebrow watching him sit up and introduce himself in an attempt to change the course of the conversation. After doing so he asked Rebecca for her name.

"Why do you need to address me by anything other than Octava? " she asked out of curiosity simply because she wanted to hear the man's response. She was hoping that this time he would answer her with a more interesting response.

She looked over to her Fraccion who had entered the room and smiled at the sight of him. It was always nice to have Anamist around, he was a true gentleman despite him being a hollow and he treated Rebecca like a queen of some sort. She enjoyed when he scolded people for showing a lack of mannerisms in her presence because usually it makes the person he's talking to; uncomfortable. Sadly that wasn't the case this time, the 2nd Espada, Arekussu, seemed infatuated by Anamists' attire. She watched as he moved up to Anamist and introduced himself with an outstretched hand. Rebecca felt like laughing a little but held back in case it would offend Anamist.

Anamist eyed Arekussu's out-stretched hand and stood motionless without acknowledging a will to shake hands with him.

As M'lady's fraccion; it would be improper and impolite to be greeted warmly before M'lady has- It was not I who decided to grace you with this visit, but M'lady.

He knew his refusal to greet the espada properly would probably offend him, but even though Arekussu didn't know it himself- it was any espada's right to refuse another espada's greeting and as #5, Anamist deigned not to respond until his mistress was greeted properly.

Anamist was rather glad his number tattoo was on his navel- covered by his butler clothes; there were few things in life he actually cared for; one being Rui, two the whole of humanity, and his mistress was starting to grow on him. Comradre was an unusual emotion for him to feel, even though he ws serving Rebecca- He felt a sense of closeness to her.

Anamist turned to Rebecca and bowed slightly.

M'lady, I have come at your request; do you require a chair or refreshments after your journey?

As he spoke, crimson balls of rietsu appeared and formed a table and three chairs in the center of Arekussu's bare room- the lack of comfortability in Arekussu's room was rather distasteful to Anamist, for it showed no proper respect to guests. Anamist pulled a chair back from the table, formed three sets of china-ware with his rietso and set them on the table.

The biggest issue with him always being prepared as a butler was that refreshments would not be fresh if they were not trully fresh; producing objects for him was no problem. In theory he could create food out of his rietsu, but he had never attempted it before- maybe in the future he would work on it, but for now he would have to make due with servants delivering refreshments at intervals. Anamist pulled a silver pocket watch out of his suit pocket and looked at the time, it was just the time for the delivery he had prepared before his departure.

Since the door was already open, Genrou appeared- Genrou was Anamist's fastest servant and had a good sense of rietsu detection; he handed the large silver tray to Anamist, bowed to the three and disappeared in silence. Anamist opened the large tray and produced a strawberry cheesecake, some tea and crackers.

Arekussu was a bit taken aback by the Octava’s aggressiveness with the conversation. Sure, he was not the most polite of people, but he didn’t think he was offensive either. He thought back over the past few minutes and decided that he was not in the fault here. He had said hello when they entered and introduced himself after all, what more could they want from him? Still, a small grin played across his face as the butler asked him to show the proper graces to mi’lady.

Arekussu took a step back and went into a deep bow, manipulating the reitsu around himself to change his attire as he did so. “My deepest apologies ser, I always forget me manners around you lord an’ lady folk.” When he stood straight again, he was wearing medieval peasant clothes, a beige short with dark brown overalls, leather shoes and as a final touch he waved his hand over his head and produced a workers cap.

Arekussu then turned to the Octava and bowed low again, saying in his best imitation of a medieval peasent, “Mi’lady is quite kindly to grace me with ‘er presence, she is! I only pray that she finds my ‘umble home to her standards.” He then backed away, still bowing and stood up, just in time to notice that Anamist was using his reitsu to create them furnishings. An interesting ability, not all that different from Arekussu’s ability to create instruments by his reckoning, but he kept his thoughts to himself. After all, he was in the presence of a Lady, and should not speak unless spoken to.

He then watched as another servant entered the room and brought with him a group of snacks and pastries for them. Arekussu blanched a little bit, as the thought of eating anything had sickened him since he got back from purgatory. He was not sure why, but now the only time he felt any true hunger was when he was in Beast form, and when he was in that form the Hunger was overwhelming, was the only thing that drove him onwards. It was a frightening feeling, and Arekussu did not want to feel it again.

He did not let the inner turmoil show on his face, however, and said to the Butler, “Lovely trick their ser, a wonder you are not a lord eh guvna?” He was not sure why he said governor, as he was sure that the Butler was in no way a governor, but it felt right in the accent he was using. Arekussu was really enjoying himself now, and that was evidently shown by the smile across his face. He knew of course that he was playing a dangerous game, as he honestly had no idea on the temperament of the two arrancar, but if it came to blows Arekussu could always just retreat. He was significantly faster than most Arrancar and knew he could escape the two with relative ease.

Arekussu stood away from the table and politely waited for the lady to take the seat that the Butler had pulled from the table. Tonight would be fun, at least.