go away boring prick B( (Ulquiorra)

[Lilynette Gingerback]

The night air was filthier than Lilynette was used to, all weird chemicals and stuff that smelled like it belonged in Szayel's laboratory. Or it would have belonged, if Szayel was alive, but he was dead and his quarters in Las Noches were empty of life, just like everything else.

That was wrong, and she didn't like it, though she couldn't really complain - at least they were alive, after all. Besides, it was Starrk's job to mope around, not hers. She was supposed to be the one to kick him into moving and not thinking about the past and their dead comrades and stuff like that - but it wasn't her fault that she couldn't forget either! What was the point of being alive together if everything else was all messed up?

So whenever Las Noches' screwed up emptiness became too much for her, she spent a few hours looking out at the human world. Sometimes she ran into Hollows but it's not like they could keep up with her, after all, and they were all slow and idiotic - nothing like a proper Arrancar. They just wanted to eat shit, so she left them alone to wallow in their instinctive urges, and sat herself on top of one of the tall buildings humans seemed so obsessed with making, legs dangling over the edge freely. There was a good view from here, at least, but all the lights and noises made some crazy invisible pattern to the humans which had to make sense to them, but just gave her a headache.

Alright, never mind, this place sucked. Getting back to her feet, she stepped out on empty air, and then with a quick burst of static, used sonido to get a good distance away from her most recent perch. From there, she continued on, heading away from the pulsing centre of the city - though she had to take a few minutes to just run normally when she felt her energy begin to wane. Why was her endurance always so shitty?

Well, she could always blame Starrk for that.

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

Ulquiorra normally tended to avoid the human world. Humans were, after all, very confusing. They were so emotional and rarely allowed themselves to be guided by anything but their feelings. Ulquiorra was the exact opposite, of course. For Ulquiorra, there was no point in either interacting with humans or watching them.

However, he was now forced to remain in the human world. Ever since his death {and arrival here} he had learned to adapt to life with humans. It was far from a complex process, though it was all very... strange. Humans operated on a totally different level with everything they did. Ulquiorra could see that practically everywhere he went, although he honestly didn't go to many places. There was clearly nothing for him to do, besides look for fellow Arrancar.

Ulquiorra was standing atop a building, scanning the area for Arrancar. There were several Hollows about, though they weren't worth his time. He would just leave them alone. Most of the others there were human, or human-like enough to be irrelevant to him. There were one or two Shinigami, but he wasn't looking for Shinigami. Suddenly, he sensed the reiatsu he'd been looking for: an Arrancar reiatsu. From her reiatsu, he could immediately tell that it was the Primera's Fraccion, Lilynette.

From the interaction he'd had with Lilynette before, he could tell that she was a very emotional person. It was difficult to understand people like that. Clearly, emotions led people to do terrible things, as was evidenced by human history... so why did they hang on to them so much? Ulquiorra put that thought aside and instead used sonido to get to Lilynette's location. She was running normally, possibly from exhaustion. "Hello." Was really all he could say. He hadn't spoken with her much before.

[Lilynette Gingerback]

Hollow reiatsu, humans fucking everywhere - how could this world even have so many of them?

And then Arrancar, strong and virulently familiar, which was her only warning before Ulquiorra showed up right in front of her. She skidded to a halt, eye widening.

"Ulquiorra! You're - you're alive too!" she blurted out. And of course Starrk wasn't here - well, that didn't matter. They could go back to Las Noches together, right? What mattered was that one of their comrades was alive and well and here, which made everything seem a little better. "Tch... this is great! I can't believe it!" Admittedly, his face wasn't the most welcome out of the Espada - for one thing, for all that he had greeted her politely, his face was as stiff and cold as ever. He never seemed to care about anything.

Well, she could clearly be happy enough about it for both of them, given one of them was a walking icicle. Or a boring prick. Both worked at describing him pretty well. She grinned up at him. "Starrk'll be happy - you know, you're the first Arrancar we've seen around. Las Noches is all empty and shit, and it's smaller too, but you can come back if you want!" She paused. Well, he had never been sociable, and Aizen wasn't around now...

"That is... if you want to come and stay with us."

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

Lilynette seemed not only surprised but... happy to see him there. Ulquiorra simply stared at her as she spoke, showing his total indifference towards the situation. Certainly, her presence {along with Starrk's} would be useful as allies, but he certainly didn't feel any.... emotions towards the situation. At least, nothing he could really feel. That was sort of odd, considering that he had been "given" a heart just before his death. Emotions were... less difficult to understand now. Hopefully, the heart wouldn't force emotions upon him. They were the last thing he needed, really.

"... Yes, I am alive." He replied blankly. He wasn't overly interested in this. Las Noches existing was perhaps the most interesting part. That meant he wouldn't have to spend all of his time around the trash that inhabited this version of Earth. Really, Ulquiorra found it overwhelmingly difficult to live among humans. They were all so... emotional and hard to understand. None of them seemed to be able to go by logic instead of their emotions and it was just... horribly difficult. Hopefully, living in Las Noches again would change things.

Though... he was the only one besides Starrk and Lilynette. Lilynette was emotional, and though Starrk wasn't the most active person, he certainly had emotions. Still, their emotions weren't in his way. At least there he could keep to himself... and hopefully they would keep to themselves as well. "I would like to return to Las Noches." Ulquiorra said, voice as devoid of feeling as ever.

[Lilynette Gingerback]

Okay, maybe she had gotten a bit too excited about this, because he was just staring at her woodenly as if this wasn't, in fact, the best thing ever. Was he even happy about being alive? Tch, he could be such a bastard - far less of a pain than Yammy or Barragan, let alone batshit like Nnoitra, but it felt like he could be an okay comrade, if he actually cared.

Well, he wasn't trying to kill her, at least. That was something, around Arrancar. Especially with Espada - it seemed the stronger they got, the more batshit most of them were. Running into Nnoitra would have been much less fun - he probably would have smacked her around a bit until Starrk showed up.

"You could sound like you cared, asshole," she muttered, glowering up at him. "You said it like coming back to life and not being alone isn't a big fucking deal. You always sound so boring." Come on, surely he had to give a shit about something? Lilynette supposed she could always just bother him until he showed some kind of emotion or reaction, but he was also faster and stronger than her, and could just outrun her or throw her into a wall if she annoyed him too much....

But Starrk was around, so he wouldn't hurt her. Not that she had much evidence for that - they had never really talked much, because he was boring and also busy doing shit for Aizen most of the time. Which was also boring and a terrible idea. He had betrayed all of them, after all, and watched as Barragan burned. "Hey, were you lookin' for that human you had to babysit?" she tried now, to see if he'd do anything.

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

Apparently, Lilynette was insistent on Ulquiorra feeling emotions. He wasn't quite sure how to react to that, besides confusion. By this point, Lilynette should have been well aware of his lack of emotions. Ulquiorra just stared down at her, expression unchanged. He had no idea what she was trying to get at here. She was disappointed because he had no emotions on the matter... but he'd never shown emotions to her before. What a confusing thing emotions were. They made Lilynette expect far too much out of him.

"The simple fact is, I don't care." Ulquiorra replied. Perhaps he was harsh or cruel, but he honestly had to be if Lilynette was expecting him to have emotions. He needed to get the fact that he was totally emotionless across... perhaps so she wouldn't end up actually drawing emotions out of him. His newly found heart was a dangerous thing, after all. He couldn't make it known to anyone that he had already begun to understand emotions.... or, he understood them at least better than he had before.

Ah... she had mentioned Orihime. What an interesting human she was. She had a strong spirit... and she had been the one to allow him to understand emotions. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about her, though it was certainly strong enough to make him understand emotions. How interesting. However, Ulquiorra had not been looking for her. He knew that they were in totally different dimensions... not to mention that he was unsure if he wanted her to draw out more emotions in him. "No, I wasn't looking for her."

[Lilynette Gingerback]

How could anyone be so... so cold? She rolled her eye. He was being difficult, but she was good at dealing with that kind of thing. Ulquiorra wasn't Starrk, so that meant she didn't know all his weak points - but he also didn't have Starrk's determination to not give a shit about anything.

That had to make it easier, right?

"You know, you say you don't care, but you also just said that you'd like to go back to Las Noches. Liking is caring, right? So you really do give a shit, you're just pretending you don't because you think you'll look soft!" she declared, crossing her arms and eyeing him with the air of one smugly assured of her victory. Ulquiorra couldn't debate this. She had proof.

"I guess it'd be impossible to find her here anyways, when there are humans everywhere... I never knew there were so many of them. That city was nowhere as big as this one." Karakura was unfairly small, really - she had assumed there would only be a few cities that size, but no, there seemed to be tons of them, and far bigger ones too. Humans sure knew how to build, at least, though of course, Las Noches was way better.

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

She was getting desperate. Even he could see that. For whatever incomprehensible reason, Lilynette seemed to want Ulquiorra to have emotions. If he had emotions, he was certain that he would feel something like pity for her. If anything, he would have emotions in months, if he cared to explore them. However, he didn't care to explore them, so it would take much longer... or possibly not even happen at all. Ulquiorra certainly hoped he would never have emotions.

"It was a figure of speech." He replied, glancing away from Lilynette for a moment. "Of course, I meant that I want to return - and certainly not because of... sentimental value. I want to return because Las Noches offers a home away from Earth, and a certainly familiarity of surroundings that makes it easier to live." Hopefully, that would totally do away with Lilynette's urging. It was beginning to get somewhat... annoying, having her insist that he possessed emotions when he knew he had none.

"It would be difficult, yes." Ulquiorra said, turning away from Lilynette and glancing around the city. Perhaps he did want to find her. He needed to speak with her about his current... predicament, after all. She would likely be useful in helping him learn more about what it meant to have a heart... and possibly how to keep emotions away. "However... I doubt she's here at all."

[Lilynette Gingerback]

More eye-rolling commenced, mostly because the only option that seemed left to her was grimacing at him. Idiot. Oh sure, he didn't want to go back out of sentiment - like she'd believe that. If he was as cold as he acted, how could he care about anything, or do anything at all?

Lilynette just couldn't understand him. Why had she been happy to see his fucking boring face again? He was just an asshole, and not even an interesting one. He made it clear he didn't give a shit about talking to her, or looking for that human woman he had been looking after in Las Noches... he just generally acted like nothing mattered, which was infuriating. Coming back to life had been a big deal. Everything had been! She had been fully prepared to give her life for Starrk, even if it meant leaving him alone after the fight.

And here was Ulquiorra, acting like death didn't matter, and coming back from it didn't, and just...

"You're a fucking boring prick, you know that, Ulquiorra?" She could call him names all she liked - he probably would just ignore them. Boring.

"So there's nothing you actually give a shit about? Or want to do?" she asked now, mostly to make sure that yes, he was as flat and interesting as paper.

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

Ulquiorra honestly couldn't care less about her insults. He had actually expected them, after she was obviously annoyed by his behavior. He had noticed this sort of immature behavior in her before and he totally expected it again. Ulquiorra just sort of stared at her, though he clearly wasn't particularly interested in her. This was actually a little bit boring, or it would have been if Ulquiorra really had the emotions necessary to feel something like "boredom".

Lilynette wasn't... totally right. Certainly, Ulquiorra felt a certain distaste towards doing many of the things on Earth and in Los Noches, but yet... there were certain things he knew he wanted to do. For instance, he wanted to speak with Starrk again and become more informed about the world he'd been brought to. It clearly was not his old world, which could lead to some interesting discoveries. He also perhaps wanted to find Orihime, if she was in this world at all. Speaking to her... figuring out what having a heart meant was a definite goal of is. So, no, he did actually care about certain things.

How odd it was to feel even a bit of something like "caring".

"No." He replied, his voice a touch cold. "There are certain things I'd like to do here. I'd like to speak with Starrk the moment we get to Las Noches, for instance." He left out the other part. If Lilynette knew that he had a heart now, she would only bother him further. The last thing he needed was to be bothered further, especially since it could provoke emotions.

[Lilynette Gingerback]

Hey, what happened there? She could have sworn his voice got a little chillier - not the same usual boring and impassive tone but... not foreboding, but warning her, just a little. She blinked, and then frowned at him.

Fine, maybe she'd go a little easier on him. Teasing an Espada was always a little dangerous, even if Ulquiorra acted like she could punch him in the face and not get a reaction. She probably wouldn't. All that would happen would be cracking her knuckles on his hierro, or something. "Tch, well... good luck getting him up for that. I'll have to kick him a few times to wake him up," she said, and then blinked.

Well, it was only Ulquiorra, but that was still one more person in Las Noches. One comrade returned to them. When Barragan had died and Harribel had been dying.... "Maybe... maybe he'd wake up, though. You showing up is... kind of a big deal. He'll be happy about it." There was a long pause where she studiously looked up at the stars and distant lights of planes passing overhead. "Guess I'm kind of happy about it too, even if you're a prick," she allowed, still talking to the air rather than facing Ulquiorra. "It's nice to have someone back.... Tch, guess you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, right?"

She chanced a look back at him, mostly to check if his face was still frozen in that unflinching cool stare.

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

Yes... Starrk was notorious for sleeping, wasn't he? Ulquiorra had very near forgotten all the bizarre quirks of his fellow Espada... either that or his emotions were beginning to kick in enough for him to actually acknowledge them. Ulquiorra hoped he had simply forgotten. Still, he would need Starrk awake so that he could actually speak to him, obviously. Hopefully, Starrk would allow him into Las Noches once again. He'd done nothing wrong for him to deserve otherwise and, according to Lilynette, he would apparently be happy to see him.

Ulquiorra never expected any major emotional reaction to his presence, besides fear or hatred from his enemies. From allies, however? He never gave them any reactions, so he certainly didn't expect them to give him any. Lilynette, however, had suddenly become interested in the sky. Ulquiorra had no idea what was so fascinating about it. Certainly, it was different from the sky they were both familiar with, but that didn't make it particularly... interesting, at least not from Ulquiorra's few. Earth simply had something different.

"Of course I don't." He replied, his face still locked in it's normal, neutral expression. For a moment, Ulquiorra glanced up at the sky as well. He still didn't understand why she was staring at it so intently. There was nothing special about it, really, despite all of it's differences from the sky from Las Noches.

[Lilynette Gingerback]

"And that was my last guess at getting you to be less boring," she complained, turning fully to glower up at him again. Man, she actually wasted effort admitting it'd be nice to have him around, and then he just... stared! And looked bored! And acted like he didn't care, because he genuinely didn't, and it was the most frustrating thing because she couldn't understand how he could not legitimately give a fuck.

"So I just wasted all this time telling you how nice it'd be to have someone back... well, whatever, do you wanna go back to Las Noches or not?" she spluttered, mostly to try and cover up just how stupid she felt.

It was Ulquiorra. As if showing up here would change anything about how he acted.

Well, anyways, it would make Starrk feel better. Not that he'd been stuck in that stupid mood where he didn't want to do anything because it was useless, but... still. It'd be nice if he had more reasons to be happy. And maybe it'd get her to stop thinking about that last fight.

...Or not, because as distractions went, Ulquiorra kind of sucked. "You can make the garganta, unless there really is something you want to check out here."

[Ulquiorra Cifer]

Ulquiorra had no problem with being called "boring". He barely even understood the concept of "boring", since he lacked the necessary emotions to feel anything even close to bored. Still, he wasn't stupid and he knew what it meant. He didn't cared that he made Lilynette bored, considering that she had no real effect on him anyway. If anything, she was insignificant, someone who entered his life and had no real effect on him... much like most of the Espada. He simply couldn't bring himself to even try to care about them.

"Did you expect it to go any other way, Lilynette?" Ulquiorra asked, his tone as exasperated as an emotionless person's tone could get. He had already made it clear that he had no emotions... and that he wanted nothing to do with emotions. Certainly, if he had them, he wouldn't have been able to do half the things he had done... "Yes, I'd like to return to Las Noches." Ulquiorra replied, taking one last glance out at the human world. He really had no idea why he did it. There was nothing there that interested him.

Ulquiorra pulled his hand out of his pocket and raised it. A crack in the world appeared and expanded. It was a garganta back to Las Noches. Ulquiorra stared into the garganta and then glanced at Lilynette. "Go ahead." He said. There was something in him that wanted to look at the human world once more before leaving...

[Lilynette Gingerback]

"Well yes, kinda, even if it was stupid... maybe dying would've shaken you up or something! But no you're just the same as fucking always," Lilynette huffed, crossing her arms and still keeping up a steady rate of glowering. "If you don't give a shit about any of us, why are you even coming back in the first place? Oh wait, I forgot, 'cause it's logical or some shit."

Ugh, but having him back - even if Ulquiorra was the coldest asshole one could ask for, or not ask for, in this situation, he was still... one of their comrades. Having anyone back was important, and it was better than having fucking Barragan or Nnoitra around, who were... much less easy to deal with. Ulquiorra just frustrated her. Barragan could kill her, if he felt like it - which was why out of the top four Espada, he had been the only one she was really careful around. Yammy was big and stupid, and Harribel didn't fight so needling her about anything was pointless.

This was a new life, so really she should take what she could get - and if that was Ulquiorra being as interesting as paper, then... that was still better than nothing, right?

He opened the garganta and she peered through without much interest. Las Noches towered up ahead - she just had to step through and then she could give the good news to Starrk. And then maybe smash something because fuck it Ulquiorra was so annoying! This was the last time she was going to care about anything he said. Really.

What was weird was that he was letting her go first, instead of just striding ahead like she would have expected of him. Lilynette blinked, shooting him a slightly less angry look. Well... whatever. Going first wouldn't hurt. "Yeah, yeah... you're still an asshole," she muttered, stepping through and onto the familiar white sand of Hueco Mundo.