Words Up on The Wall [Ajora/Liltotto]

Ajora chuckled softly at that and let her head cant to the side. "I wouldn't blame you for that. Santa is .....wellmeaning. But perhaps a bit foolhardy in her attempts at helping others." She noted thoughtfully, closing her eyes as she drummed her fingers along her and lips, as if imagining such a scenario.

She did...LISTEN to the woman's words regarding Mazda. But she didn't respond to them. A simple nod of acknowledgment taking the woman at her word. Naturally, she would eventually deduce just what sort of woman Liltotto was in such situations, but for now there was no reason to confirm or deny any agreement to Liltotto's self-assessment.

The acceptance of hanging out was figured, since Liltotto had expressed as much of an interest before. However she brightened just a bit as she made note that the woman was up for a bit of roughing around. "Ah, excellent! And nothing in particular I suppose. I would simply be interested in a bit of exercise. It's been....quite a long time since I've been in a combat situation. And, naturally, getting to see whatever you feel compelled to use." She noted calmly enough, that soft, pleasant smile still persisting as Liltotto would feel a ripple around her. Around them both. That bizarre way that their soul seemed to be felt like a cloud around them rather than just from Ajora herself no doubt becomming a bit more......sharp a sensation.

From the ground beside her, pale bone sprouted like a needle from the ground beside Ajora, her hand gently grasping the shaft of ivory before it peeled away from the ground with roots of flesh and ligament, as if some product of a plant as the thing finished shaping itself into a long halberd. Ajora's expression remaining placid as she watched Liltotto.

"Would you like me to make the first move?" she asked politely.

Ajora raised her brows slightly as she suddenly watched the woman suddenly lunging in her direction. It was the simple surprise of the sudden vicious intent with which Liltotto suddenly closed in on her, causing her smile to soften slightly as she brought up that weapon with her own fair speed, limited by Santa's own reaction, she raised the weapon only in time for that blade to sink into her body. "Ah, you're fast." She chuckled softly as she lightly let her fingers rest on the blade itself. As muscle regenerated around the blade and gripped. Lilltotto would find a sudden BURST of flesh suddenly growing rapidly up the length of her Rapier, aggressively aiming to grow up the length of the blade and then up Lilttoto's wrist to try and cover her body from the hand all the way up to the elbow if allowed. Though she would find that if she attempted to simply pry it off with sheer strength, that the flesh would more than be able to match her own. Gripping firmly and locking the limb and digits of the hand in place. More restraining than doing any damage. After all this was a spar!

IN that very same motion, Ajora smiled and swung with the halberd horizontally. Of course, at this range, Lilttoto was more in danger of being conked on the head than actually cut but of course the force Ajora was using would be a bit dizzying at worse and she was aiming for the girl's shoulder more than her head. Hoping to strike the woman on the shoulder before drawing the rest of the blade across her clavicle, that dulled edge on her weapon designed to make simple shallow cuts even on human skin. Testing the woman's durability. Watching as she did as curiosity bloomed.

In addition to that vinelike growth of pure muscle, a head would grow out of the wound that Liltotto had made, A beast with bone forming across it's face like a hollow mask, gaping it's maw as a Cero hummed to life, aiming to charge and fire at the woman directly following the attempted strike with the Halberd. Once again, the output was enough to just scuff up the average human. After all, even if Liltotto was very durable, Ajora was hardly yet aware of that.

"Hm, not particularly talkative. You can relax you know, this is hardly a competition." She noted with that same soft, disarming voice of hers. The halberd slammed down onto the reformed weapon and Santa's grip tightened as that upward thrust was applied. There was a soft Hsssss as the bladed section was thrown up, and the shaft slid along her palm, her grip sliding considerably toward the pommel. Were she a more skilled fighter, she might have even spun and used that force to drive the pommel into Liltotto, but as it were, Santa simply smiled as the blade was knocked out of the way, and then the woman darted to the side, avoiding the Cero and choosing not to capitalize on the opening that upward thrust had provided.

She smiled. The Cero should have kept going and scoured the area behind Liltotto. But there wouldn't be that sound. There would be the sound of a garganta peeling open. Several of them, all around the woman, and the glow of Santa's Cero lighting up before blasting in. Ajora having opened a garganta in the path of her own cero, and then several smaller ones all around. Liltotto, splitting the beam and sectioned ends of the garganta around Liltotto in a circle around her as she sailed over Ajora's head. Aiming to blast the woman while she was in mid-air. Of course, they were low power Ceros, even IF she hit the girl with them, she'd just be a little roughed up, and would land easily behind Santa and thrust toward her back.

That blade would once again sink into Santa, sliding into her body and making her tense. "Ah. I almost forgot... I'm not the main body so I don't have Hierro. I haven't really fought since I woke back up." She smiled, looking over her shoulder, the tip of that rapier protruding from her chest, the smiling woman gently tapping on the tip of the weapon with a finger. Drawing blood, and then pointing that bleeding finger toward Liltotto, smiling even wider as energy suddenly swelled at her fingertip, and this time, the garganta preemptively opened up above them, gaping maws overhead showing Liltotto from behind, as the 'entrance' had been place on the other side of Liltotto, precisely in position to eat the Cero if she dodged.

"Tell me, Have you ever heard of a Gran Rey Cero?" Santa asked coyly, as that sphere of energy SWELLED much larger than before! It was, of course, just a normal cero. Santa had not recovered nearly enough of her memories to pull something like that off. But it would be interesting to see Liltotto's reaction to the threat of one regardless.

Santa thoroughly enjoyed herself. Misdirecting the woman and continuing to add more and more layers to her attacks. Initially just using ceros and her gargantas. And then adding the Garden to the equation, attacking from every angle, even as the woman chomped large chunks out of her garden and the ground itself, rather intrigued at the brief insight she got to the woman's innards each time a section of garden was eaten. But it was perhaps good that the woman called it, even if she wasn't panting, she still was beginning to exhaust herself AND Santa. Who would no doubt be confused as to where all of her Energy was going.

She flexed her fingers, gripping her hand firmly. The few times she had gotten a hold of Liltotto, had been very interesting, as she had discovered she was QUITE a bit stronger, physically, than the woman. And those sparse times that she had been able to grow her garden over a particular part of her, she had been quite able to immobilize her. Fascinating to say the least.

"Oh? I thank you for humoring me for so long. Most are a bit displeased to fight once they realize certain facets of my abilities. It was ..... nice to let loose and get some practice. Though I will have to apologize to Santa later on for using up so much of our energy." She chuckled lightly, pausing for a moment as she eyed the woman now planted on the sand. She settled herself down beside Liltotto and looked out to the ocean.

"You have some interesting abilities yourself. A few that seem a little......bizarre. Mismatched even." She noted with a raised brow and a tilt of her head. Before simply looking out to the water. "I can't imagine those were abilities you simply garnered by happenstance. Your abilities remind me of something garnered through immeasurable effort over many years. If you don't mind me asking. What is it that drives you to be stronger?" She asked softly.

Having gone out of her way to get an ice pop, fervently rubbing the frozen treat against her tongue and the walls of her mouth as if it would do much to rid herself of the taste - unsurprisingly it didn't quite get rid of that familiar tang of incredibly spicy gasoline and hot trash water out of her mouth, "Yeah no prob, fighting isn't a huge deal. Admittedly, i'm kinda still growing into my capabilities, at least I think that's how it works."

To no avail did that taste or the increasing feeling of illness vanish, and she was merely left with quite a blue tongue and a bit more annoyance than usual as the Arrancar sat at her side. Biting the remnants of the ice pop down bit by bit with her front teeth, oddly unbothered by the coldness of it as she'd perk with Ajora's questioning of her odd powers, her droopy gaze fixating on the woman as she asked what drives her to be stronger,

"Whah, me?" She'd stay with a flick of incredulity, "Driven? Eh. I mean... I wouldn't call myself that. I don't really find myself to be the passionate sort a lot of times. Shit just slides through my fingers too easily for me to feel... Grounded to anything, I guess. Least, not forever. I don't know, i'm still trying to figure out this whole longevity thing."

She'd sigh, looking at the sky with a look of lingering drear, "A lot of my power is just shit I developed situationally. I needed a weapon I can wield at any time, I needed some ability to trip up jackasses that'd chase me, I needed a big strong fuck you critter that could make up for my lack of strength, yknow? Stuff like that. Other than that, it's just what I was born with. I didn't really have much to cultivate power for, for a pretty long time. But now it's like... I do have something, the Vandenreich, but it's like... When's this going to slip out of my fingers? I dunno, I guess at some point you're just kind of like, 'When will it end?', than 'If this will end?', and i'm still trying to figure out how to feel about it."

Ajora chuckled softly and smiled sheepishly as she watched the vigorous scrubbing of the woman's mouth with a Popsicle. "Apologies if I am less than palatable. IN truth I was surprised that you would ingest parts of me. Being digested is a strange experience. I am thankful that the garden does not always have pain receptors." She hummed, and then paused as she listened to Liltotto's......explanation for her powers. Certainly an interesting way of developing them. She seemed just ....able to garner whatever abilities she needed. Certainly something that many would envy in terms of capability.

"You seem so sure. You make no mention of 'if' this will slip away, only 'when'. I understand abundantly well that sentiment. Those younger than us.... and who live such shorter lives would say that such a thing is silly to think about." She chuckled, looking off to the sunrise and sighing gently. "Over Four thousand, five hundred years. When you live for as long as you and I, notions of 'if' slip away. Such things are inevitable. Or at least, you come to understand the totality of such things. Very little can escape time." She smiled gently, and looked to Liltotto before glancing up to the sky. The sun had begun setting at the tail end of their little spar. And now, the sky began to glimmer with those first brightest stars.

"And yet. Even you and I are so incredibly young. even if I had died and been reborn over and over and over again a million times over. In all of that time, I would perhaps ..... be the age of one of those stars when the light they shone finally reached me at this time. And yet, even if I were the same age as the star I saw, that light is so old.... that the star itself will have passed me by by eons." She smiled, and closed her eyes. "It is simultaneously terrifying..... and yet....comforting. To look up at the sky. And know that even if we were to destroy all of this. even if the shinigami fail.... and the world crashes into nothing and splits to pieces. Even if some malevolent monster were to be born and sundered everything we could possibly reach. Even if the Soul King himself stepped down from that Royal palace and cast judgement: comparatively speaking, less than 10 percent of this universe will ever even know anything happened." She smiled, and looked back to Liltotto.

"I suppose many would be furious to know such a thing. Thinking themselves so important. But for me....its comforting. Even if it all goes wrong. In the grand scheme.... it doesn't really matter." She closed her eyes. Smiling..... even though she also suffered. THAT at least.... was not a lie. That notion did comfort her. There were just SO many other implications that terrified her and made her miserable. Like just what could be waiting among those stars. Things she could see, but never reach or touch. So much information going to waste.