One Monster to Another [El Rey/closed]

Ever since the day that he’d gotten his magic awakened by that bastard of a Shinigami, Raphael felt like a completely new person, or at least a different person. He wasn’t entirely sure why, exactly, the man had done so, nor was he quite sure as to why Vance kept wanting to know if he’d met someone or another. What had the point of those questions been? Raphael took a drink of his water and double checked his pockets as he walked through the industrial district to the abandoned building. He’d been using it as a practice location as of late. There were more than enough steel beams, breakable parts and empty space for him to practice effectively.

Shinigami were getting ever more prevalent on Earth, he was pretty sure the quincy were starting to gear up, and more and more humans were gathering power too. What were the hollows doing, though? He hadn’t run into any hollows since that one Shinigami had saved him… Maybe they were avoiding him? Or maybe, and probably, they were doing something similar to the humans…in their own way. Eating human souls, or perhaps, even eating their own kind. It was difficult to determine quite how they did it, either. They didn’t have any digestive system so did they just absorb the power that each soul had within it?

Shrugging, Raphael continued on, heading up the stairs and onto the third story of the building. The building had supposedly been condemned, though he never heard anyone trying to demolish the building or doing any kind of investigation so he pretty much ignored that. He fired a blast of kinetic force completely crushing a rock and then a steel beam. He had a lot of steam to let off and this was just the place to do so. He tossed some rocks into the air and held a hand out at them, causing them to suddenly stop midair and simply float there for a bit before he released his concentration and they fell down.

He stopped for a second. “What in the world am I even doing?” He pulled out an energy bar and started to chew on it. “Sherioushly… I can use whatever this thing that’s magic is, though I wouldn’t really call it magic…” Looking out a nearby window, he could swear he felt something, but whether it was far off or close by, was really hard. He hated that about this stupid “sensing” crap. He opened his water bottle and took a few sips. “Well… Whatever. I’ll have to deal with it when something happens…”

Another pillar was destroyed and Raphael smiled as he realized that he was getting more and more control. The abilities themselves were still a little crazy, creating barriers and slowing down the flow of time around something, kinetic energy? He chuckled a little bit as he flexed his own hand, but jumped when suddenly the wall behind him exploded inwardly, and he could feel dark energy of two hollows behind him. He leapt back, thinking that he was about to get more talk about Cicero, but instead watched as a hollow that closely resembled a Smilodon, began to eat from another hollow.

It was fascinating, he’d never seen them hunt one another and he watched in awe, until the Smilodon did something he hadn’t expected. When it turned its head to regard Raphael, it did something else that Raphael had never encountered before: it spoke. The ape that it was eating was long since dead, but as it ate, the thing displayed an intelligence that Raph hadn’t encountered before. Sure he’d encountered some that spoke but never as lucid as this. The others seemed like they were in a dream of some kind.

“Not really. I live in the town.” He was still trying to control himself and keep from freaking out on this creature. It was a completely new kind of evolution, this lucidity. The smarter ones, well, he’d always assumed they were there but he’d never fully thought about how smart they must’ve been. “Though, you’re correct, I tend to keep myself well bathed and groomed. I hope that you’re not offended by my surprise. I’ve never encountered a creature as lucid as yourself, beyond other humans, of course.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a protein bar, before taking a bite. He hated trying to potentially bide for time, especially to be saved like some kind of child, but sometimes there was no other choice.

“If I gather correctly, you’re pretty far from home yourself. Did you chase that thing all the way here, just to eat it? I’ve honestly never seen you all eat each other, so I hope you’ll pardon my confusion.” There were a million questions, but he’d have to settle for only a few. Creatures such as hollows, long lived as they were, usually were bored by such questions, he knew that Shinigami especially didn’t like them, but they also didn’t understand humans. Unless you were one, it wasn’t a thing that could be easily understood. After all, how would one that could never live a short life, possibly understand the desire to live longer?

“Of course I’m afraid,” Raphael stated, responding to the last part first. “It’s not everyday that you come across a creature resembling a Smilodon that crashed through a building in order to eat an ape.” He shrugged. “You’re not mortal anymore, so it might be harder to understand.” Raphael watched the hollow, even as it watched him, planning out moves upon moves upon jumps upon leaps. If something happened he wanted to get out of there, or at the very least, have thought of a way out. The creature was impressive, but something told him that it was a powerhouse, relying on its physical strength. Despite this, he didn’t exactly want to test the theory.

The beast, while talkative, seemed only slightly perturbed by conversation, though whether this was caused by its rapidly encroaching hunger or what, Raph didn’t know. They were enigmas to him, these hollows, almost like some kind of messed up byproduct of life and death. He couldn’t help but wish he had a specimen, a live one, to study and look at. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any kind of facility that could either safely house the creature or with the tools to allow him to conduct such research as he would.

He nodded as the creature spoke again, realizing the truth behind its words. If they were truly driven by such an insatiable, consuming, hunger then filling oneself as much as one could was the best way to stave it off and to think. “Hm. Makes me wonder if the two that I ran into were half full then. Their words didn’t make sense, though they’d spoken a little bit.” Keep it talking, though not too much. Just enough to pique its curiosity.

“Power?” he muttered, finally coming around to the last of its words while shaking his head. “Nah. I don’t have power. At least not real power. I can do some neat little tricks, but I know that somewhere out there are humans that have real power. Hell there are some that could probably tear half of this city apart.” He eyed the beast. “Which is more fun to hunt for you, Shinigami or fellow hollows?”

The thing was quite intelligent, though it seemed to be arguing on the points of its mortality; yet it brought up some fascinating points of its own. Perhaps those that were already dead, due to the fact that they had a second mortality, were afraid of this second death and what this second death meant. Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t help but imagine the theories and hypotheses that would arise from such a thing, the ontological trumping the supernatural. This held some semblance of water as even the spirit world must have its own natural laws working to protect it and, or hold it in place.

Yet, as the beast continued talking, Raphael couldn’t help but ponder why it cared so much about what Raphael defined as mortal. Mortal was mortal. “Ya know, human. Having to work a nine to five, whether that’s in the fields or the office, getting off work, going home, or having a drink with friends. Worrying about bills, where your next meal is coming from. The whole nine yards. I wasn’t being overly philosophical about the phrase “mortal”. I mean, if you came at most people with those sharp claws? They’d be mincemeat, and you know it. That’s what I mean by “mortal”.” Raph shrugged a bit. It wasn’t necessarily an insult and, realistically, the creature was taking it a bit too far by going so philosophical, but Raph wasn’t about to judge him. More had been philosophical over less.

Raphael couldn’t deny that he had some modicum of respect for the Smilodon; it wasn’t a glutton but, rather, a connoisseur. It hunted and ate not because it wanted to eat but because it wanted to learn, and that was something that even Raphael could respect.

“I understand, kind of. I mean, I don’t get the whole cannibalizing your own kind and eating others thing, but learning? Yeah, that’s definitely my kinda game. I’m always reading, trying to learn something new. Well, until this whole thing. Now I’m having to apply the scientific method: try something until you figure out how it works and formulate a hypothesis about it.” He watched the cat for a second before following up with another question. “Are you into philosophy? Cuz the way you talk, you sound like you’d be a decent professor of it. Not perfect, of course, but pretty decent.”

Raphael watched thoughtfully for a moment, scratching at his chin, and finally he nodded with a bit of a grin. “I suppose that it does indeed make me a student, though one that hopes to be more of an active, than passive one. Also, I’ve got a name. I’m Raph, not Not Bait. Why is it that you all settle on such odd names for us humans?” He stretched and took a drink of some water as the hollow spoke. Ironically, despite the fact that he could now unleash ranged destruction of force at his leisure, he was still strangely focused on bills, food and drink. He was focused on the things that assisted in his survival in the human world.

“Yes, those are the things that I tend to be quite concerned about, given that I still have to live in this world. I wouldn’t be able to last long without food and water and my job allows me to have both and a place to live.” Yet as the hollow pointed out the destruction in the area, and how he had no weapon with which to cause such destruction, Raphael didn’t have a retort. “I…” He fumbled around for an answer, trying to find in the area about him that he’d destroyed. “I needed to practice. I’d rather not get upset and turn someone into paste against a wall. Not exactly good for your resume…” He looked around, taking another drink of water. Not like a resume would help him right now regardless.

Raphael couldn’t quite speak, couldn’t retort as the creature used his own logic against him. But…it was wrong! He was human! He had to be! He didn’t know what he was if he wasn’t human… Yet he also couldn’t deny the smilodon’s words as a simple lie.

“Yes,” he replied at length, “I’m definitely still mortal, and…I’m…” He trailed off a bit. He wanted to say that he was still human, wanted so desperately to. “And I’m definitely still human. A weird one, sure. I can do...tricks, but I still have to eat and sleep, go to work… I’m not some super powered freak that runs around fighting monsters and whatever else that exists within the world! You won’t trick me into thinking that I’m something else!!” Raphael’s shouting was now sounding more hysterical and he took a few steps back as the faintest of whispers, from voices far away, began drifting to him. “You’re just like the other ones, calling me Cicero and trying to convince me of shit that isn’t true!”

Raphael winced a bit. The hollows responses were calculated, cold and very matter-of-factual, as if he couldn’t be bothered to think of a better reason for what he said, or perhaps, he didn’t need one. Its tail also lashed about and, from what little he knew of cats, this could be anything from annoyed to contemplative, though which one was hard to tell. The one thing that Raphael disliked most about cats was that their very nature was one of deceit and hiding, toying with both prey and predator alike and they killed for sport. They were perhaps the closest creature to man, when it came to killing.

Allowing itself to unwind itself, to prepare whatever mental hurdles it needed to speak with him at length and leisure, Raphael began to weigh how wise it was to allow such a thing. A creature like this, well normally it would devour him without a thought; yet here there was also an oddly perceptive mind, one that continued to not only surprise, but to startle. It planned, it prepared, it readied itself for the next step. This was something that very few people could truly claim to do. Raphael would have to consider what he said, or did, next.

Raphael had to give the Smilodon credit, it most certainly knew how to have an effectively civil conversation. Immediately explaining that it had named Raphael, as he not named himself, Raph could find little flaw in such a logic, excepting that such a thing was rude. Yet the name that it gave Raphael, for its own, made him think.

“The king,” he replied, less question than statement of fact. “A fitting name, I suppose. Certainly regal enough.” He was trying to control his emotions through continued babble and simple thought. If this thing could get the advantage in their little war of words, there was a problem. He couldn’t let it faze him. Yet it seemed intent on treading old ground, explaining that no matter what he thought of himself, that he was no longer a simple human. A wolf cannot count itself in the flock of sheep.

He studied the creature as it once more seemed to darken in presence and suddenly began firing bursts of energy at areas where Raph had, making similar scores in the concrete. Then, looking back at Raphael, he noticed that the darkness and imposing presence it had been emitting had faded. Still, he was hesitant to let down his guard. His next words, however, shook Raphael to his very core. The fact that an outsider wouldn’t see a human and hollow, only what had made these: two monsters.

These words cut deeper than Raphael wanted to admit, hitting something that he wasn’t fully comfortable with. He’d been struggling with the thought that he was something other than human, other than the casual being that he thought he was. The hollow was challenging his very thoughts on himself.

“…I’m a NORMAL human. I-I have to be!” He could feel something slipping. “If…I’m not a normal human…” He couldn’t finish it. “I’m not a monster! So if I’m not a normal human then what am I?!” Things were coming to a head. “You’re a hollow, you know what you’re supposed to be and HOW you’re supposed to be, but I’m a human with these powers, I’m not a quincy! I don’t know what the fuck I am!!” Loose stones in the area, freed by Raphael’s practice and the hollow’s demonstration, began to float. Raph couldn’t see straight, but he was trying his hardest to keep from losing his cool.