DAY 26: Men's Showers (Second Shift)

[canieathim]

Gluttony didn't want to leave his Lust, not after he'd just found her!  But the mean tasty nurses said he had to.  "You can't join her in the women's showers" was a bad excuse.  He didn't like the mean tasty nurses.  Maybe Lust would let him eat them later.  Still, he knew he would see his Lust again, and that was good.  He liked Lust.  She was

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[stray_shinigami]

For the first time in his long life, Renji realized that he felt uncomfortable being naked around other men. It made him feel strangely sick; he was happy to channel that in to more anger. The angrier he was, the less he cared about things. And whether or not it had been true, when he'd told Sora that he was scaring himself, it was better than feeling that sickness and thinking about whyAnd more than anything, he just wanted to be clean

[bastard_sadi]

"I hadn't really tried," Daemon admitted, looking thoughtful

[stray_shinigami]

Renji found what Daemon had to say a little confusing; why would people be aware of their spiritual threads? But maybe it was a little different where the man was from. He shrugged. "Most mortals don't have the strength to even see the threads," he said. "And if they can, they don't know what to do with them. It's not very surprising. And I would think many of the people here have very strong souls, but they don't seem to know the technique. Perhaps it's different."

[bastard_sadi]

"Perhaps it is," Daemon answered, looking momentarily confused, but shaking his head with a solemn look.

"We don't refer to this as soul back where I come from," he explained, hoping he could explain this in a way that made sense. "It's called Self. And everyone is interconnected through psychic webs. We can recognize each other by the... well, feel of another's thread. Landens, who possess no magic, aren't aware of these threads because they lack magic, but those of the Blood know them for what they are. Probing the threads in this room, most are unaware of them, but there were a few I brushed over who felt as if they had an awareness of this link."

[stray_shinigami]

"Interesting," Renji said. It was a welcome distraction. A very welcome one. "It's probably different then," he said. "Maybe. I... don't know much about how spirit techniques or any of those things work." He gave Daemon a rueful smile. "I fight. That's all I'm really good at. But it's enough." He shrugged. "And maybe... well, you're alive. Maybe it's different for you." He wasn't really bothering to hide what he was any more; Daemon seemed like the sort that wouldn't seem too weirded out by it. Or so he hoped. It was nice to talk about vaguely normal things, even if it still was just comparing battle information. "I died too young to ever find out what it was like from that side."

[bastard_sadi]

Daemon blinked for a moment at this twist in the conversation. Renji was dead? There must be places with something similar to demon dead, then, since Daemon didn't get that sense from him at all. At least, having a father that had died over 50,000 years ago and several long-deceased relatives wandering about made this revelation not so weird and frightening as it might have to some.

"I'm sorry," he replied inanely. "I didn't realize. You didn't feel any differently, but my senses are more muted here than they are normally."

"You remind me of my brother," Daemon added with a slight chuckle. "He always prefers the fighting himself. He's an Eyrien warlord price with an Ebon-gray Jewel. That's a fairly high rank where I come from. He tends to attack first and apologize after, if necessary."

[stray_shinigami]

Renji shrugged. "They've bound me in to a false body and suppressed my reiatsu so much that I can barely look at the spirit threads. I'd be really surprised if you could tell anything was different." He chuckled. "We can pass for human if we have a reason to."

He had an all-out grin when Daemon mentioned his brother. "Sounds like a guy I could really get along with," he said. He also caught on to the reference to the color. He wasn't sure quite how it all worked, but he was willing to admit, with Daemon talking about something black, that it probably meant he was significant in strength too. Which made sense, considering how many extremely strong people had been brought here. "I recently achieved my bankai... the final release of my sword. It puts me level with a Captain. It doesn't really get higher than that, where I'm from." His smile took on a wry edge. "I guess the assholes here were shopping for everything high-powered they could get." He gave Daemon a curious look, wondering if the man would confirm his unspoken guess as to

[bastard_sadi]

"Well, they've certainly gathered quite the collection, then," Daemon remarked dryly. "Where I come from, you're often born to a certain rank. For males, there are those of just simple Blood status, then Warlord, then Prince, then Warlord Prince, which is the highest and most dangerous. Our jewels also play a part in our power itself. We're given a jewel when we are young that signifies our level of power - My Birthright Jewel is Red - and when we reach adolescence, we make our Offering to the Darkness, and often get a darker Jewel, which is when I descended to Black. That's the power level most stay at the rest of their lives, though there is always knowledge and physical strength one can add for additional power."

[stray_shinigami]

So, he had been right. Daemon was powerful. Probably as powerful as it got unless his world had a color darker than black. Which was a concept that Renji couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around. As for the rest, he didn't find what Daemon said all that confusing. Power just got given different names, supposed, and it wasn't a big leap to go from something like that to terms like initial release and bankai. And he also kind of liked the idea of calling people Warlords, not that he would ever admit it out loud

[bastard_sadi]

"I'm a Black-Jeweled Warlord Prince," Daemon admitted, ducking his head under the water again. "Females have ranks similar to males, although they are Witches and Priestesses as opposed to Warlords and Princes, and they have a few additional ranks, such as Healer and Black Widow - they work with dreams and Seeing, among other things - and the highest rank of all, which is Queen. All powerful males seek a strong Queen to serve under and to protect."

[stray_shinigami]

The last statement received another small, genuine smile. Renji couldn't quite imagine an entire world like that, but it sounded like a nice change. "I see," he murmured

[bastard_sadi]

"Each Queen has a Court," Daemon explained. "Some can be huge, but there's no set number, that's usually left to the Queen. The First Circle are those closest and most trusted, and then there are larger Circles that follow down a tier after them. They usually contained an equal number of males and females, but not always. Usually the defense and fighting is left to the males - although Lucivar trains most of our Coven's women right along with the men every morning - but that's not to say the witches aren't powerful in their own right. Often, we fight so they don't have to, because the results they can produce can be devastating."

[stray_shinigami]

"Heh." It seemed a bit odd at first, but when Renji gave it a moment and thought about it, he could see the reasoning. Rukia had always been far nastier than him; the worst he ever did to someone was beat the crap out of them. If she was actually angry, she was a lot more... creative. So if women where Daemon was from were even a little like her... yeah, just a little scary.

"Makes sense," he said. He shrugged, chuckling softly. "I just figured women are more important. It pisses Rukia off to no end." He grinned, thinking about some of the choice words she'd had to say about that tendency of his in the past.

There was a lot more that it made him think that he didn't say. Like the fact that no one, Rukia or Sora or any of them, seemed to realize that he needed someone to protect. Even if they could fight for themselves, it didn't mean that they had to. When all he could offer was himself as a shield, being that became the only way to express himself. And Rukia, especially, didn't get that.

Without her, I am nothing.

[bastard_sadi]

"Rukia?" Daemon echoed with a small smile, curiosity piqued from the tone of voice Renji's voice had taken on as he spoke that name in.

[stray_shinigami]

Renji shrugged; out of habit he looked away. He was a bad liar anyway, and it was only worse if he was looking someone in the eye. He concentrated on finally washing his hair. "We grew up together," he said. "Went to the academy together, too, until she got adopted by a noble family." Shrug. "She's here, unfortunately

[bastard_sadi]

There was an entire tale there that Renji wasn't telling, but the tone of his voice when he spoke of her told a story in itself. Daemon knew that tone of voice. He was sure he used it often enough himself. His lips curved into a faint shadow of a smile as he echoed Renji's movements, washing out the dark hair that fell to his shoulders.

"She sounds like a woman to be respected, and worthy of protecting," he commented mildly, glancing at Renji from the corner of his eyes.