The Wanderer Wanders [Wonderweiss, or Invite]

The sky would have been pitch black had it not been for the millions upon millions of stars that twinkled across it. The moon hung low and nearly full and pregnant in the sky: in the next few days all manner of creature affected by the moon would fully hear her call. Thankfully, a particular little were-bunny didn't have to worry about such a thing. In fact, the only worry on this weary little bunnys mind at the moment were the humans who were shooting her curious looks as she headed through yet another nameless village in search of a place to stay for the evening. They were off work for the evening, and likely headed in the same direction as her.

In truth Starelette could have made herself quite comfortable somewhere out in the wilderness, but the more closer to the full moon it got the more she liked to stay in town – preferably in a inn somewhere. She was a were-bunny after all – prey to the larger predators that roamed, and the last thing she wanted to do was get caught down wind while one of them were hunting. Oh, with her magic she could have defended herself easily enough, but she preferred not to bother.

As Starlette walked she tugged her dark blue cloak's hood up a little more on her head, hiding for now the two lightly tanned rabbit ears that stuck out the top of her head. With her hood fixed she pulled her cloak tighter around herself against the cold that swept down the road on the fresh breeze that came from the south: behind her.

Even with her ears hidden she could hear snatches of conversation: the majority of which centered around her – she was new in town, a curiosity, and the fact that she was hiding herself so well wasn't helping matters any. Still, it was better she hide then they find out she was anything but human. Keeping her cloak closed with her left hand she patted her sashel that contained her spell book, ingredients, and various other items with her right, ensuring that it still safely hung there, hidden.

She walked another dozen or so feet before she spotted what was looking for: a wooden sign well weathered with age was marked 'Inn'. She turned, preparing to head towards it when she heard a sharp whistle from behind her: was that for her, or someone else? Either way, the sound made her flinch: sensitive hearing was sensitive after all.

Town...? It looked like a town... Was it a town? Town was what those places with buildings where, right? He remembered... a big town, a big place; in the human world. It wasn't like this. The buildings where bigger, made of stone and glass and there where those big metal things that made nasty smells and scary noises. This place looked.., old. Like the slums outside of the Seireitei. He barely remembered that place; he'd only been once, after the big fight when the nice lady was helping him. He remembered chasing a little animal into the woods and then he was home; back in the desert near the ruins of Las Noches. Shark Lady found him then, told him he was supposed to stay with her...

Was that a town?

People... was he hungry? When was the last time he ate anything? He hadn't seen another hollow in... how long had it been now? He might be able to find a few tasty spirits here...

Why wasn't he hungry?

Hollow where always hungry. Hungry was the curse of being a hollow. Hunger to fill the void. Fill the hole where the heart was. He was a hollow. He was arrancar. He should be hungry.

Town...?

Big town...

Or was it small?

Hadn't he seen a town like this before?

No, wait... that was different. Before he went through the Garganta the last time. His Garganta that appeared of it's own will and took him places that he'd never seen before; many that no hollow had seen before. Realms and worlds unknown; he'd always been sent back to Hueco Mundo before.

Not this time; not yet.

How long had he been there?

What was that?

A whistle?

People. Humans...

Food?

Was he hungry?

He didn't feel hungry. Why wasn't he hungry?

Maybe he should eat something to see if he was hungry... Maybe one of those humans...

He stared down from the top of a building, he had no idea what kind of building it was; but it was tall, and the roof was flat and made for a good spot to perch and watch. The shadows hid him, but he could still see, still hear.

Where was he?

Was this a town...?

Starlette was about to ignore the whistle and continue on about her business as if she hadn't heard it – she just wanted to get inside and have a nice hot meal and be given a warm bed to sleep in for the night – when she suddenly heard a male voice call out, ”Hey, girly. You there in the blue cloak. Turn around. You ain't from around here, are ya?”

Starlette's shoulders slumped in a mixture between annoyance and disappointment: if this situation went down how she thought it was going to then more then likely she would end up having to take the risk of sleeping with the predators out in the outskirts of the town because the humans weren't going to want her here. She turned around slowly as the wind blew, easily bringing with it the smell of sweat and booze that wafted off of the man who had spoken to her. She kept her hood up, sizing him up from the depths of the shadows with her ice blue colored gaze. He was bigger then her by far: she was dainty and small and he was massive and looked a bit like an ogre. In a physical fight she would stand no chance against him; and yet he didn't smell of a hint of magic. 'Purely human, then., she found herself thinking.

”You gonna answer me, girl?”, the drunken human asked.

”No.”

”No?! Who do you think you're talking to like th--”

”No, I'm not from around here.” God, did she really have to spell it out like that? And they called her race ignorant: but it was truly the humans who seemed the dumbest of them all.

”Why don't you take that hood off, girly. Let me get a proper look at ya.”

”It's too cold for that, sorry.”, she quickly lied. It was a bit chilly, but nothing that would require her keeping her hood up for long periods of time. Still, she hoped he was too drunk to notice the white lie.

”Uh huh... then how about my boys and I remove it for ya?”

The sound of movement to her sensitive ears alerted her to three others who was suddenly moving to surround her: one on each side and one behind her. Her instincts screamed for her to bolt: she was a trapped bunny and a trapped bunny was a very unhappy bunny. Yet, she forced herself to hold her ground. ”Now, why would you want to do something like that? A lady deserves to be warm, right?” She was going for persuasive, but she would settle for just tricking them into leaving her alone if it would work.

”Don't worry, darlin'. Me and my boys will keep you warm... We just want to get a look at you is all.”

Words... lots of words. Too many words. They made his head hurt. The males where stinky; they smelled like that nasty water that the snake man drank. What was it called? Sockee? Sake? No, not exactly; but close. This smelled like animal piss, with the undercurrent of that same nasty water. Strange. Humans where strange creatures.

The hooded one smelled different. She; he was sure it was a she; wasn't human, that much was plain to him. She didn't stand right, didn't smell right; her reiatsu was entirely different. It was... animal? Sort of animal, sort of not. Huh.

Strange smells. Humans, so loud. Why so many words?

Those humans where messing with that non-human. Stupid humans, always causing problems for other races. She didn't seem to enjoy the attention, much. Stranger; didn't male and female humans get along? Hadn't the nice lady and the strong man been friends? Most of the shinigami where friends; although they fought each other almost as much as they fought the arrancar and hollows. Humans where weird. Shinigami where weird.

What was that smell? Nasty water, snake man's water. Bitter. It burned. He didn't like it.

Oh... he was hungry? His stomach felt strange. Was that hunger? Why didn't he ever feel hungry anymore? The nice lady had healed him, but he was never hungry anymore.. Or was he?

He could eat the humans and see...

But the nasty water would make them taste bad. He didn't want to eat the non-human. She didn't smell like food. The humans would taste bad, but he should be so hungry. When had he eaten last?

Where was he?

Grrooowlrrrgh

So hungry... so very hungry...

Those humans would be tasty...

He dropped from the roof top and landed clean on the shoulders of the man that had been speaking; his hand cutting cleaning through his skull and into his brain; killing him instantly and allowing the child to feast on his escaping soul. Bitter. Like the nasty water. But it took the edge off, just a little bit. More... he needed more.

"Aaaarroooguha!" He launched himself from the falling corpse toward the other two, a single bala flying from the palm of his hand and into the heart of the one on the right. His soul was devoured without pause; it was still too bitter; but it filled the hole where the hunger raged. The last was grabbed with both hands; neck snapped in an instant and his entire head pulled clean off; freeing one more soul for Wonderweiss's first meal in who knew how long. So bitter, so... wrong, now; but it sated the hunger. It sated the impossible to end hunger. How was that possible?

He shifted and moved so that he wasn't standing on the bloody corpses anymore, instead on the paved alley proper. His white robes hung off his thin frame; peppered with drops and splatters of blood. His overly wide sleeves billows around his arms, and he lifted one of the said appendages up until it was level with his chest and face, allowing him to chew on the fabric as he often did. A series of soft burbles escaped him; he didn't have true words to use, merely sounds and gestures, at best. Purple eyes seemed to stare blankly into the dark night for long moments, before sharpening as his focus returned for a moment. His attention locked onto the young female, head tilting to the right in curiosity as he continued to chew on his sleeve. "Hnnnmr?"

Starlette was mentally planning out her escape route – she hadn't liked the way the lead male had said that they would keep her warm – when suddenly something came jumping out from the shadows of a nearby roof. The lead male was instantly down a brain and dead thanks to the attack from the newest arrival on the scene. Then the other two were easily dispatched of as well: neither surviving what was done to them. That left her, alone, with this new arrival who had quite easily killed the three humans that had been bothering her.

Oh, she should have been afraid.

She should have been absolutely terrified.

She should have been backing away slowly and trying to get as far away from the situation as possible before she ended up just like the other three.

But, that wasn't the case. She had seen too many predators in action, had come across so many things in her short life, that fear wasn't an instant emotion in her.

So instead, Starlette remained where she was standing as she watched him move off of the corpses he had been standing on and then begin to chew on his sleeve. Very slowly she lifted her hands up after freeing them from the confines of her cloak, grasped her hood, and pulled it down. Her long lightly tan colored bunny ears twitched a bit in reaction to the temperature difference.

”Hello, there.”, she spoke softly, her voice similar to wind chimes in a soft breeze: definitely different then the harsh tones that the humans spoke in.

Where was he? What was all the blood? Oh, dead humans... did he do that? He didn't think so, but... was he covered in blood? Oh... he must have done that. There was the smell of bala in the air, and his stomach was full...

How was he full? Hollow didn't get full. Hollows were supposed to be hungry all the time; the loss of the heart that made them hollows left them with an infinite hunger that could never be sated. But he was happily full. Strange.

Was that a human? Wait... she smelled wrong, and her ears... like the bunny toy in his room in Las Noches...

Was he in a town? Where was he? He'd gone through a Garganta recently, that much he knew; this place smell... wrong, and the energy in the air was different. It wasn't quiet the reishi of his world, nor was it the same as the Soul Society or the Human World. It was definitely human, but not the same human.

Who was she?

His head tilted as he burbled softly, saliva soaking into his sleeve and darkening the well warn stain that marked the spot that he constantly chewed on. "Murrroghn?" He was making no movements, there was no reason for him to leave, nor approach her. He was... curious; but no more so than about anything he saw. She wasn't a dragonfly, nor was she a toy, not one he knew about, so she was a curiosity at best. Purple eyes blinked slowly, seeming to shift in and out of focus as his mind drifted between half formed thoughts and generally being mentally a million miles away.

Oh... he was adorable. Okay, maybe adorable wasn't quite the word for it considering she just watched him flawlessly kill three humans with what looked like little to no effort on his part. But still, adorable covered it just about as well as any other word she could think of at the moment. The verbal response she got after her hello wasn't a language she recognized, and she figured it likely wasn't a language at all: in fact, it reminded her much of a very, very young child who could make sounds but generally couldn't use words. Strange, really.

Her head tilted a bit to the left, ears twitching, as she thought of what to do. Should she approach him? Or simply walk away? He was dangerous, there was no doubt about that, and yet she felt a certain curiosity as she did with most things that made her want to interact more with him – even if it likely was bad for her health to do so.

She opened her mouth, preparing to speak, when suddenly a feminine shriek cut off the words before they left her throat. She turned in time to see a female having just come out of the nearby inn, drop to her knees in terror. Her petrified shriek caused many others within the inn to notice as well: even though Starlette couldn't yet see them she could hear their heavy footsteps across the wooden floor – humans never did anything quietly.

Starlette turned her emerald green gaze onto the male chewing on his sleeve. ”You might want to leave. Quickly, too. Or you'll have the whole town after you.”, she said, her voice still sounding like musical wind chimes.

Starlette glanced back towards the inn door as it opened, hastily pulling up her hood and covering her rabbit ears before they could be spotted. What was this sleeve chewing male going to do? Would he flee? Or would he stay?... Starlette remained: she wasn't going to stand by and let the town attack him en-mass if that was what happened. She didn't know him, true enough, but her soft heart simply wouldn't allow her to leave someone while they might be in need of help.

Leave? Why would he leave? Humans where food, not a threat. Well, not most humans. Those humans with the strong man could be a threat, but outside of the Quincy, the rest had been... nice. They treated him kindly, after the nice lady healed him, and they realized he wasn't a thread anymore. Even some of the shinigami had taken a liking to him; they thought he was 'cute' and 'adorable', so they gave him toys and played with him during the few weeks he'd stayed there.

Blood... he smelled blood. He was covered in blood? Oh... death. Stinky death. Dead humans that smelled of the nasty water. Had he done that? He much have, the one had a bala burn mark. He didn't remember killing them; why would he kill them? He wasn't hungry...

Why wasn't he hungry?

Wait... humans coming. Angry humans. They must not like that he killed those other humans.

Who was that in the cloak? Not human... female, but not human. She seemed... nice. Not a threat, anyway. She smelled like... rabbit? Was that the word for the animal his toy had been? That seemed right... He missed his toy. Maybe she could be his new toy? Maybe she could show him where to find a new one?

"Uuuough? Nuh! Uunie?" The closest thing to words he could manage, half formed syllables that resembled words. It was only for a moment that he was coherent enough to do that, even in the instant after he'd spoken his mind was off a million miles away again.

Humans... angry humans. Leave... someone had said to leave...?

He didn't have to worry, no normal human could harm him; his hierro was far too strong for that. This female though... they might hurt her. He didn't like that idea.

Who was she?

Where was he? A town? A town full of angry people. Hnnn, stupid human, always angry about something. Why where they angry?

Dead people... oh. That. Huh.

His sonido speed was insane, there where reasons why he was classified as Espada level, even if his number had been 77. He was by her side and grabbing her hand in an instant; in the next, they where clean outside of the town and by the forest line, hidden in shadows and safe from watching eyes. "Aaaougha..." There was no malice in his actions, and while his words held little meaning at the moment, the he was verbalizing at all meant that he liked the female, in his own vacant minded way. He liked basically anything that didn't try to hurt him, and while he didn't actively remember much of anything from moment to moment, there was still a spark of logic and mental functionality deep in his mind, and it was telling him that she was like his toys, sort of, and that was enough to make him want to stay be here, at least until something more interesting appeared. Or she told him to go. He was pretty good about leaving when told, now; shark lady had made him learn that when he stayed with her.

One moment Starlette had been attempting to plan a way to get both her, and the male, out of harms way as the humans came running, and the next she was in another location entirely. She had been so worried about protecting the male that she hadn't thought about the fact that perhaps he was even stronger and faster then her. Of course, that had been proven in that exact moment: he got them both out of that village and... to wherever it was they were now.

She glanced around to get her bearings and realized that she would see the town in the distance from the shadows they were in. There was little to no way the humans, with their frail eyesight, would be able to see either of them here and therefore they were safe. ”Oh my...”, she simply said, unable to think of anything else at the moment.

She slowly sat herself down on the ground and lowered her hood once more. Her ears twitched at every little sound: crickets chirping, a mouse scurrying in the tall grass, and a pack of wolves a good bit away that were hunting something that walked rather heavy – she assumed it was likely an elk. None of these sounds represented danger to her and so she allowed herself to relax a bit.

Her gaze would focus back onto the male, her head tilting again to the side. “I'm Starlette... what's your name?” She hadn't heard him verbalize a single word she could understand, but she figured it was worth a shot. Her mother had always told her to be polite after all, and so she would do so.

By the time she was speaking, he was squatting near a little group of moon flowers; they where a special type that only bloomed at night, due to the delicate nature of the inner petals. Even a weak winter sun would burn them to death within minutes, so they stayed tightly closed until the dead of night, to bask in the gentle moonlight. They where just interesting enough to hold his attention, the coating of pollen on the petals caused them to glitter and twinkle, which was fascinating to him.

Name? Name... he had a name. What was his name... Right, right. He could remember his name; it was one of the few things that wasn't taken from him; if anything his name was reinforced in his mind, as it was one of the ways to control him that Aizen preferred. However, his name was only a control mechanism for Aizen; so he could safely tell it to anyone he wanted to.

"Wundaweiss... Wundaweiss Margera" The way he spoke the name, it was clear that he was partially slurring the word; he had trouble with certain hard consonants, So while he could almost clearly say his entire name, it wouldn't always sound right unless you knew how his speech was affected. So what sounded like 'Wondaweiss' was actually 'Wonderweiss'.

A sound of a small animal nearby grabbed his attention and he shot to his feet, darting off for a moment to chase after the shadow and sound. He'd never be able to catch it in the dark, it was too easy for the little animal to dart into a hole and hide, but that'd never stop him. The moment he lost the animal he was walking back, the only consistently interesting thing at the moment was the bunny girl, so that was where he went back to.

"Swearrweatte?" He was trying to say her name, a rare effort from the blonde child; he rarely bothered to try words; but why the hell not. He'd never heard a name like it, and it was different, in a good way; so he tried it. Giggling to himself, he started pawing at the air randomly; anyone with decent night vision might be able to notice the little bugs swarming around, but otherwise it would just look like he was playing with the air.

In truth Starlette really hadn't been expecting an answer, however she was glad to have one – it gave her hope that at least on some level he was able to understand her, despite his pretty clear inability to form words himself. His words sounded partially slurred and she played with the name he gave in her head: it was an uncommon one, and one she had not heard before – that much she was sure of.

However, she was distracted from her thoughts as he was suddenly on his feet and giving chase to a small creature that had apparently caught his eye. Her head tilted a bit to the left as she watched him, ears twitching as she paid attention to the sounds around them. As she listened she found herself quickly categorizing what she heard: small animals, insects, the wind moving objects, and predators. So far, nothing outside of Wonderweiss even came close to the predator category which meant this area was safe. Wonderweiss wasn't triggering that sense of danger, yet – despite what she had seen him do – and therefore she kept relaxed even as he wandered back over.

She kept quiet as she listened to him speak again: she wasn't sure exactly what he was trying to say but she had a feeling that he was attempting to pronounce her name. It made her smile: he was adorable, there was no question about it. ”You can just call me Star if you want.. it's my nickname after all.”

And then she was distracted by him pawing at the air. She could pick up the sound of the bugs, and even see them, but it was adorable nonetheless. Starlette giggled softly as she watched him. It was hard to imagine, and she never would have believed it had she not seen it with her own eyes, that this was the same male who less then five minutes ago had flawlessly killed three people. It made her wonder exactly where he had come from... and how he had that kind of skill.

"Aaaouwa? Stwar? Ahhaaha! Stwar Stwar!" Simple syllables and simple concepts where easier for him to work with, her shortened name was a word he knew well, so he could actually use it properly. Mostly. The boy was like a hyper child in a way, now; he was clapping excitedly over his effort and his own amusement. He was really taking to her as he rarely did anyone, he was never this animated, nor did he expend the effort to understand this much for just anyone. "Aaouh... Nuh nuh! Pway?"

When he was happy and such he was extremely playful; although he could get a bit... rough. He had no actual  concept of rough housing, and his natural strength meant that he could be... dangerous, without meaning to be. He wasn't aggressive like he used to be; the nice lady's healing had given him back enough of himself to remove that forced aggression that had been programmed into him, as well as the natural hollow aggression. He was pretty much dancing around the female now, bouncing on his heels and twirling around in circles even as he moved around her. "Hahaahahaha!~ Swaar pway!~"

Well, that certainly did the trick – he could repeat her nickname, mostly. It was enough for her to be able to know when he was talking to her, so it worked. He was... a ball of adorableness. Star had half a mind to just hug him – but she didn't. She had no idea how he would react having his personal space invaded like that: so, despite Star being a big hugger, she kept her hands to herself.

It was clear by what he was now trying to get across that he wanted to play with her, and she didn't mind. However, with the full moon it made her weary: predators roamed the trees this evening. As it was she watched him bounce and twirl around her, and she giggled and smiled, while her ears shifted and twitched – focusing on both Wonderweiss as well as listening for anything that sounded dangerous close by. So far she was hearing nothing, which was good.

”What do you want to play?”, she asked curiously once she was sure that there was no danger in the immediate area. She had no idea if he had a specific game he wanted to play, but she was willing to give it a shot.

Wonderwiess moved in circles around the female for several moments and even more revolutions before suddenly stopping and staring wide eyed at the full moon. He had literally forgotten that it was night, and the full moon of the human realms was so very different from the moon of Hueco Mundo; it was warm and bright and beautiful in a way that the frozen moon of the hollow lands could never be. It was mesmerizing to him, and his head tilted slightly to the left the longer he stared.

Suddenly, he was giggling and tugging on his own hair; a gentle breeze had knocked a few stands of the golden hair into his field of vision and drew his infinitesimally small attention span to it. "Hehehehahehehaha.~ Aaaaauah.~"

Wait, was someone next to him?

Oh, a bunny person? New friend!

"Aaougha!~" He bounced on the balls of his feet a bit, making the odd burbling sounds and vocalizations that passed for language for him. "Bunneh!~ Bunneh!~"