You only see what your eyes want to see. [Open]

[murcielago]

Characters: Ulquiorra and absolutely anybody in the area from any ship who might get a kick out of bothering this asocial little git?
Content: Ulquiorra, after getting confirmed as a new crew member of the Fiertia, gets his bearings of the makeshift Market town that has built up around the races.
Setting: Anywhere in the market town; he'll be on

Comments

[forged_smile]

Sai, having not long been confirmed as a new member to a crew himself, was also walking around the market town. He'd excused himself to swing back and take another look at the art supplies stall he'd passed up earlier in favour of the Winding Way. He'd been assigned a room, which held a desk that he now aimed to fill full of ink, paper, scrolls and brushes.

He handed over a reasonable amount of cash in exchange for the brown bag full of supplies, and as he turned to walk from the stall back to the ship, he nearly crashed into the pale man walking close to him.

Hm. Deja vu. He really ought to start looking where he was going. This bumping into total strangers thing really wasn't like him. Maybe he was just too distracted.

He looked to meet the eyes of the man next to him and he raised his free hand in way of apology.

"Apologies. I was a little distracted for a moment."

[murcielago]

Ulquiorra closed his eyes at the moment of impact, but he managed not to look irritated at all. He was, a little. Some idiot walking into you when they're not looking where they're supposed to be going is going to annoy anybody, but the Arrancar kept that to himself and simply stepped back.

He made eye contact with the other boy, but his pupils didn't react at all to the refocusing. His facial expression didn't alter, either.

"Watch where you're going." Was all he said, his words coming out lazy.

[forged_smile]

Sai brushed himself off before he met the shorter man's eyes. His own expression was neutral for a moment, before he tilted his head and it morphed into his typical, soft, friendly smile. As usual, it didn't reach his eyes.

"Ah, I'll take that as acceptance of my apology?"

He did tell him he was distracted... And he had apologised. What else was there left to do?

[murcielago]

In stark contrast, Ulquiorra did not attempt a fake smile to sate the other. While their real expressions might have been similar, Ulquiorra did not see the need or reason to bother with false presentations for the benefit of other people.

"You may take it as you like." He replied, genuinely not caring if he took it as that or not.

As far as he was concerned, he'd already been deemed an idiot in his eyes forever, simply for being so unobservant as to walk into somebody else. Ulquiorra had made the attempt to move, but it appeared that Sai's distracted clumsiness was a little too much for his short-notice skills of avoidance. He wasn't entirely blameless, but he certainly didn't see it that way.

[inyourmidst]

Gin had recognised that flat, dismal voice across the network, but had forcefully resisted the urge to say anything. As tempting as it was to tease, it would be so much better to do it in person.

Ulquiorra had always amused him. His blind loyalty could rival Tousen's on a bad day, but at least Tousen also had his cause. Ulquiorra had nothing but that baseless, ridiculous devotion to Aizen that Gin found both laughable and annoying. The Arrancar himself was usually so focused he rarely ever rose to Gin's bait, but in this instance Gin was determined to have the advantage of surprise. True, Ulquiorra may have found out he was attending the fair, but he wouldn't be expecting someone to slip silently out of the crowd and unceremoniously wrap an overly friendly arm around his shoulder.

"Ulqui-chan," he purred, deliberately picking the most demeaning honorific. "There you are. I heard you were in town."

/uses your special icon~! <3

[murcielago]

After having that boy from the Winding Way bump into him, Ulquiorra had been hoping to avoid any more abject stupidity while out at the fair. He wouldn't have gone out there of his own accord by any means, but he was doing work and was only attending on Aizen's orders, out simply to observe. It wasn't quite as easy as he'd thought. Seeing people with unusual or interesting abilities without scuffles where such talents could be displayed --a fact mostly due to the good-natured atmosphere of the horrible, temporary little melting pot-- was not easy, but he was making a little headway. Some people were much less guarded of their abilities than others.

Though his face betrayed none of it, he was finding the day wearing. Getting from where he was to the Badlands and joining the crew of a specified ship in limited time hadn't been an easy task, but Ulquiorra was never one to complain.

Not even when he felt an arm slung across him. Not even when he heard that familiar, slimy, unpleasant drawl in his ear. His eyes widened briefly in

My badtouch icon. *_____* My day is made!

[inyourmidst]

Even a small reaction was practically a celebration-worthy achievement. It had somehow seemed that as Aizen had gotten better at constructing the Arrancar, the more they'd turned into mindlessly obedient tools than human like they'd once been. Ulquiorra was probably the worst of the lot, he reflected, which meant that he got special treatment from Gin.

"So cold. Is that the kind of greeting you give old friends?" He feigned woundedness for a moment, arm still wrapped quite companionably around the Arrancar's shoulders, before switching to an expression of thoughtfulness. "Oh, I forgot. You've never had any. Well that's okay, I'll just tell you how you should react since I know you're new at this sort of thing. First, you can buy me lunch."

He leaned a little closer, his voice dropping a dozen octaves until the two of them were the only ones who would hear. "And then you can tell me what orders he gave you."

Oh WOW. Gin is meaner to him than I thought. XD

[murcielago]

Ulquiorra still didn't show even so much as a fleeting flicker of emotion or display any sign of offense at his actions or his words. If he was a lesser man, the deliberate digs at his shortcomings would have rankled and needled him, and he'd be concealing hurt feelings beneath that pale, stony exterior. As it was, he just didn't care. Friends were a bother he didn't want to be held down by and, as Gin correctly cited, had never been something he'd dealt with. Aizen was all that really mattered.

"Hmph." He slid a hand out of his pocket and pushed Gin's hand off him, stepping forward sharply at the same time in order to dislodge the offending limb. "My orders from Aizen-sama are none of your concern, Gin." He said calmly, turning back halfway to fix him with an icy gaze.

There was no emphasis on any of his words, no inflections, no change in tone.

[swallow_wing]

Cirucci knew that bone bleached skin anywhere.

She was in the marketplace when she saw him, walking every bit as aloof and elegant as he used to. Those bright eyes of his (such a standout compared to the rest of his dull appearance) had retained their usual apathy, shifting from scene to scene almost in distaste. She frowned. No, she had never liked Schiffer, never cared for the obedient type. Always a tightass, he was, droning on about Aizen-sama. Cirucci had her own debt to Aizen, her own sense of duty, however twisted it was, yet Ulquiorra's dedication was like an exaltation minus the expected fervor.

Simply put, Ulquiorra was boring. Hearing his voice over the network had sent immediate shivers of--not dread, just...annoyance that left her skin crawling. Ulquiorra was just inherently insulting. Oh, Luppi could be a brat, was in every sense of the word, but at least he was entertaining. For someone so subservient, Ulquiorra was a condescending bastard, but it wasn't charming in the slightest

[murcielago]

The miserable looking boy had felt her presence before she reached him. Odd was it, then, that he didn't make the effort to pull his hand from his pocket to avoid her grabbing fingers. His arms were thin, as slight as the rest of him, and his expression as he turned his eyes towards her was as stony as it ever was.

He was not impressed. Really, would these dismal faces from the past never cease to pounce upon him? First Gin, then this Privaron... what was her name? Well, no matter. As far as Ulquiorra was concerned, she was almost a complete nonentity; somebody remembered only in the back of his mind as a mid-ground failure with poofy dresses and a snake's sharp tongue.

"Not long enough." He said in return, his tone low and level.

[swallow_wing]

"Such harsh words, Schiffer." She frowned, tightening her hold on his arm. "Especially towards one of your siblings! After all..." Eyes narrowing, she grudgingly let go of his arm, crossing her arms over her chest. Her voice was quieter when she asked, almost accusingly, "He called you here too, didn't he?"

Oh, did she mean 'siblings' ironically. The arrancar had the most unsettling kind of camaraderie that she had ever known. Work together for the same goal? One could suppose they did that. But if her and Luppi's scuffles showed anything, competition--and the resulting condescension--ran rampant.

Besides, she could never speak of family in a way that wasn't ironic. People placed such emphasis on such flimsy things

[murcielago]

Harsh words? Hmph. He could have been a million times harsher. Sharp tongued and not muzzled by the harness of morals, him leaving it at just that instead of pointing out her uselessness to Aizen-sama and their cause was an almost nice thing to do, considering the speaker