First With Astonishment, Then Bitterness, and Finally With Indifference

Rodolfo fled as soon as he could, uncaring where the world took him. He couldn't go back to the land of Heuco Mundo. There were too many memories there, and the buzz of near-insanity kept lapping at the back of his mind, nipping at his heels, always threatening him if he ever let down his guard. And so he couldn't return to Heuco Mundo, for those feelings would only increase.

Rodolfo sought new lands, new, unseen places. He looked for a place to hide, to develop some kind of stability from the new and frightening feelings surging through his blood. Like an animal running blindly in the dark, he looked for a place to finally hide, rest, and try to recover from his harrowing experiences in hell.

His legs, and his limbs, brought him to a massive mansion, beautiful and large. Yes, he could stay here, for a little bit. Perhaps unconsciously, perhaps the mark on his back had led him here without even his knowledge of where he had dragged himself. He worked on an instinct he would eventually pass on to Rudi when he could, but he needed a quiet place to do it. This place looked like it would give him the time. Mansions, he remembered, were not always occupied. In fact, many people who owned mansions tended to own multiple, and merely cycle through them as the seasons came.

Yes, this one should be just fine, or so he hoped. Rodolfo looked as normal as he always had been, broad-shouldered, an adult, with a terribly ghastly looking mask, wearing an outfit so sharp that a lesser man threatened to cut himself. And so he stepped, nimbly and gently, into the backyard of the mansion. There was a pool there, and the wind caused the water to splash gently against the walls. He had always liked water; there was so little of it in Hueco Mundo, after all.

Rodolfo kneeled by the water, looked at his reflection in the mirror. He reminded himself that Rolf was dead- Rolf had died a long, long time ago, and he, Rodolfo, was just a corpse- a reminder of who Rolf might have had become if he was not killed like an animal. The sight soothed him, and the insanity in his blood died down, just a bit. Slowly enough that he could think... at least he could think a little better.

There were chairs by the pool that looked more like beds- how lush this place, how luxurious this space! And when Rudi came to, he would love the water, he would love to play here. With that thought, he moved to one of the bedside cushioned seats, and lay down upon it, stretching out his body so he looked as if he was lounging.

With all the silly assumption that it was some mundane rich family possibly using this space for nothing more than a vacation, he closed his eyes and began, slowly, agonizingly slowly, reconstruct Rudi's identity. Memories. Beliefs. This took all his concentration, and for a period of time, he let down his guard.

Coding By: [THEFROST]