The Guide for Both Worlds [Mazda, Giselle]

"OH, hey there Helle. I didn't see you there. Was there something you needed?"
"Oh, you know I was just shining my tiddies when I noticed that new hairdo of yours. I must say, it IS rather cute."
"Why thank you, it's something I just wanted to try out. Was there something else you wanted?"
"Well you know, I was doing exercises to help support my bosom, when I was thinking that you have been doing a lot for the Vandenreich as of late. And I wanted to say that I apprHWHOAH!"
Giselle had been in the mirror, just doing a uh.... a thing. While fixing up her hair, she was trying out different styles of ponytails, ignoring the murmurs of discontent in the depths of her soul before THE Mazda decided to phase walk straight through her front fucking door, jolting and bumping into her record player, which promptly scratched and stopped playing 'Sunny Side of the Street' by Billie Holiday. The Ritter's hand snapping out to stop the mirror from simply falling over as she peered at the tall dark-skinned man.

Oh this was beyond a tense situation now. She had a reaction to someone barging in. But THE Mazda, arguably one of the few people in the Vandenreich who was probably a bigger threat to the rest of the rank and file of the organization aside from her. She blinked, staring owlishly for a moment. "Uhh.........alright? What do you want to talk about?" She asked, her voice entirely devoid of it's usual singsongy accent. Unable to even think about what he'd want to talk to her about. No that wasn't fair, more like on the spot and having hi show up in her fucking house she wound up being a little off balance.

Clearing her throat, she straightened up and gestured toward her kitchen. "So uhhh, can I interest you into some tea? Would you like to have a seat?" She asked, gesturing to the kettle, and then some beanbag chairs she had off to the side next to the couch.

A pause.
She watched the man make his way right to the couch, sitting right where. Oh.
She blinked owlishly, briefly raising her brows as Mazda sat where she had attempted to direct him away from: Namely the love nest of herself and Candice most of the time. Well, alright, that works she supposes. Cmon Giselle refocus!

She snaps her attention back to the man himself as he promptly noted he would accept any offerings. She nodded and started the kettle, prepping the tea itself before she almost fucking knocked it over, her brows raising. And she could FEEL a second set of eyebrows raise inside of her.
This man's on crack.

She winced a bit as the voice murmured in her head. She did ....pause. Admittedly she wasn't actually fully aware of Yhwach's full ambitions. Upending the soul cycle? She looked to the side, as if expecting another, more elaborative comment fro within, but no such one came. Her attention snapped back to Mazda. "I certainly was. And ....I suppose even if it did fail, he probably managed more than most would have." Except for the Demons, but she didn't really know TOO much about that shit. She'd been in the world of the living when that went down. But she'd certainly heard a few things about it, and was slightly salty about their apparent success.....ish... in that area. It really did seem that Shinigai plus Time was a recipe for them coming out on top.

She noticed him scanning her as she walked back to the living area and stood nearby. There wasn't really a way to join hi on the couch without being....next to him. She felt like that wasn't a great idea. So she stood as he inspected her. And then, finally, asked about Yhwach's methodology. And she couldn't help but pause..... thinking.....back .Back to those days. When she was ....young.... when she'd joined the cause. When she'd .....considered him a god. It was......stupid....painful to even think back on. But in some ways, she thought of him like an Uncle or a godfather. A .....protective or.....uplifting force.

"He was...... interesting. He was driven about what he was doing. But he could have hunted around for those who were strong. But he didn't. He traveled all over the place. I admit I never really understood why. But he was .....always focused on people who were suffering. People close to death, people who were afraid or desperate." She ...furrowed her brows. Thinking back. 'Death was never meant to be Feared.' And it suddenly echoed ....differently in her head. "He brought those people out of that fear and suffering, and made them the backbone of his organization. If you were a pure quincy...sure you could make it pretty high up in his organization. But his Star Knights were us. It was....different. It's probably why he had so many followers. myself included." She murmured. Something she ....didn't really LIKE dwelling on.

But hey, nothing like a metaphorical gun in the room to get you thinking.

"He always seemed to know what was going to happen. It was a little spooky. It seemed like just about anything was possible. If we faltered, he could bring us back stronger than ever. So long as we had him, we were fine. But then we just ....started getting wiped out. And no matter how many times he beat who he was fighting.... the less of us there were....it seemed like he became less and less amazing. And then he was dead. Mostly." She murmured..... staring a little before she realized the tea was about done. She made her way back into the kitchen and started pouring some for the both of them, setting them down on the coffee table before straightening herself back up. "Dunno if you meant like something else specifically I guess. That answer your question?" She asked, coming out of it a little, having gotten into a ....weird old reminiscing swing from what he'd made her delve into.

She relaxed slightly when she heard that introduction from the man in her home, eyes briefly glancing at the shelves just behind Mazda's shoulder which held a small collection of Beanie babies, as her mind idly parsed the man's words. Why WAS this man here? Even beyond what the man seemed to be saying, and focusing on. What was the reasoning behind it? This couldn't be the only time he had asked about this subject. What was he getting at? Was he jerking off to perceived self superiority? Was he trying to garner favor?

Which was to say, she had no lost yarns for the big Emperor man himself. Though the assessment from Mazda certainly was a bit ....strange. Building upon their backs? It certainly had FELT ore like along side them than that.... but then again she hadn't exactly been in Yhwach's inner circle. She couldn't quite say for sure...... it was possible he knew more than she did.... All the same, he seemed to be oddly..... comforting her.
While Helle had definitely been of the belief that Giselle was a primary suspect for the downfall of quincy kind as well as their extermination and whatever atrocities that had followed, even seeming to hold Giselle responsible for what she assumed was an untimely death of the woman's family. This seemed more..... like azda was even consoling her. However indirectly by shitting on Yhwach. "I suppose I'm certainly in less of a position of fear and suffering than I used to be." She noted with an amused tint to her voice. Either by neglect, or by intention, Mazda had ignored the part about his focus on those suffering or afraid, and interpreted that as those without power. Admittedly, often the case, but not always. But then again....she had also sortof had the same mindset as Mazda. She found herself wrinkling her nose, realizing that she was, in some vague form, feeling defensive of that old piece of shit.

"You're welcome....." She allowed her voice to trail off, taking a sip of her own.
"So you mentioned that he wouldn't have the thought to place me upon his ....favor and inner circle. But I don't think that's necessarily specific just to him. I've had my talks with a number of the Vandenreich upper ranks, and they certainly seem to be on the same side of Yhwach in that regard." She briefly recalled Reida's informing her that she was, for all the woman was concerned, a special tool. And for unsavory work at that.

"Though I do admit that you have me a little curious now. If you had the man standing before you at this very moment. What questions would you ask him?" She ventured, after all he DID seem interested in the man. And for some reason, by extension: her. Which.....alright not 'for some reason', she was admittedly probably the only living person who had a semblance of having known the man. But even so. It was a little bizarre that people came to her for things.

Well, people who knew about that side of her.

She raised a brow at that. Certainly made sense with what she knew. A lot of the vandenreich certainly seemed to have a strained view of MAzda. Wether it was fear, distrust, mystery, or any number of things she'd heard from those she had come to work with. She couldn't help but smile a bit wryly at the mental image of Mazda initiating such chats with Helle or Reida or Sophie. She could only imagine what such interactions turned out like. But.....when that last bit left his mouth. She felt..... a shudder course through her, brows knitting together for just a faint little instant as a memory ran through her head.
You have no idea how special you are Giselle. To be one of my children. My Daughter left behind.

She reached up and touched the center of her sternum, as if expecting to feel that blade there again, but there wasn't anything. Not even the faintest scar left behind to remember it. She looked back up to Mazda and gave him a rueful smile. "You sound a little like Yhwach, saying stuff like that." She noted, but didn't dwell on the subject. Especially when he went on to discuss her own trustworthiness. She shrugged lightly at that and smiled. "And yea, I guess you do have a point. I certainly was pretty untrustworthy a good Fourteen Hundred years ago. But humans gave me pretty good reasons to distrust them, but humans gave me plenty of reasons of their own. Still do." She murmured, thinking briefly of Reida's distasteful assignments. She probably should have felt some sort of comfort in his comment that she was not considered a liability, but the way that he carried out such a comment really just made her .....wonder what went on in that head of his.

The Subject of Yhwach certainly didn't make it any clearer as he gave nebulous answers, only that he would have a lot of questions for him. An amusing mental note. "You'd probably have to be pretty strategic with your questions. He was always a hard guy to get straight answers out of." Still was, but she had a feeling that telling him that might not be in her best interest.
She sighed, standing across from him on that hill of corpses, watching the man as he stared off into the distance. "Well... gotta admit. That sure is a question I'd be interested in as well." She murmured, watching him as he slowly turned to look at her.
"It wasn't a matter of thinking. I knew. But you have to understand, Giselle."He replied, slowly turning toward her, as bright white eyes bled from his shadow.
She shuddered, expression turning....uneasy as his eyes became....bizarre.....something she had only seen him do on very rare occasions. Eyes that seemed to pierce through everything.
"I didn't think that I could. I know that we will."

Her eyes opened back up, having only closed them for an instant, but that instant had been enough for ....her to grow just a faint bit paler than she had a moment before. She gave Mazda an uneven smile. "Having known the guy, I can safely say you'd probably prefer that he didn't. He had a real way of always having one. Ominous ones at that. He was a lot of things, He could even look back and say that he made a mistake. But the one thing he never did, was seem unsure about the future.

After he died.... those of us left stuck together for a bit. There was a lot of talk about his death. One of the guys, a real shaky recruit, said that he was there when Yhwach finally went down. He was real shaken up about it. But the one thing he kept tellin us was this: That just before Yhwach ate the big one, he looked to the one that killed him and grinned. That kid would always say 'It didn't look like the grin of someone who'd lost'. " She murmured, rubbing her temple a bit, ugh....this was such a long time ago.

That shift was certainly picked up by Giselle, making note of the note of tension in the man's voice in admitting to some semblance of similarity to that ancient individual. Even more, she considered his further points as to her continued existence being some sort of advantage she had over the man. She was pretty sure a lot of people didn't consider being the last one standing an accomplishment. BOTH of the women in charge of handling her, in fact, would likely not share the sentiment.

However, she gave a bit of a wry look at him assessing some level of FAITH in the man. No, that definitely was not how she would have assessed the particular emotion she felt toward the man. "I'm not sure if I would call it 'faith'. Maybe begrudging respect for his tenacity. And ....yea....I do in fact owe my actual existence to the man. But that's about as far as that goes." She murmured. A brow simply perking.

Yep. Definitely not telling him, or anyone for that matter, that she had a fragment of the man inside her that SOMEHOW was still kicking. That absolutely sealed the deal with THAT tidbit of information. Though she was also a little amused at the notion of the man thinking that killing the man a second time would somehow stick more. The man had GIVEN her her own level of fuck-ass immortality, she very much HOPED he didn't have any type of self-revival abilities, but if he did, she doubted anything would ever fully erase that man. Which was why she hoped that Mazda would never have to litmus test that particular scenario. "Well, unless you decide to go grave digging, I doubt you'll have to worry about that. Which: If that's what you're hoping to ask me. I have no idea where he would have plausibly been buried, given that he died in Soul Society. If there WERE any remains, I'm fairly sure the Gotei would have them." She noted. She didn't know if Mazda was the type to go hunting for old bones, but she wanted to get that shit out of the way.

She shifted and took another sip of her tea, making note that the man hadn't touched his own. Did the man even drink? She wasn't planning on asking.

"I admit I have a few questions of my own floating around my head now that you have me thinking of all of this. You've been somewhat leaning into this subject of Yhwach. You've even made a point to say that you'd want to obliterate him on the spot. So with that in mind: Why is it that you wound up in the service of an organization that he founded? Not that it's really the same anymore. But even so, I'm surprised you didn't just decide to do your own thing. Is there something tethering you here? Aside from my fabulous company that is."