Indoctrination At Its Finest (Wicky)

[seraki]

As he opened his eyes, he looked at his new room. Yes, ROOM. Now that he had control over Sabyla Tigra, Szayel had gotten everything he needed from him. Now, he had been released into Hueco Mundo. The Espada Celia had taken him in under a pseudo "fraccion" status which was pretty much just the agreement that he'd do whatever she told him. Being perfectly fine with that, the young Russian was just happy that his new room was bigger than his cell had been with Szayel-sama.

Rolling out of his bed, Alexei began to do push-ups on his floor. Currently, all he had in his whole room was a meager bed and a small little dresser for his clothes. Szayel-sama had given him a white uniform like the Arrancar wore and Celia-sama had been able to get him a few more. He continued to do push-ups until he reached about one-hundred. It wasn't much, but it would do. He was expected to fight threats now; he needed to be in shape.

He walked over to his dresser and pulled on some clothes. They worked well on him. The shirt was more of a vest with a high collar that covered his mouth and the lower part of his nostrils. This collar kind of looked like a dog collar that a vet might give a dog, except shorter. If Alexei grew tired of having this high collar, the whole vest unzipped pretty quick. Along the zipper-line was a different color than the majority of the jacket, it was black trim like the edges had. The vest was a vest, so it ended at the end of his shoulders and exposed all of his arms. These went well with the pure white pants and boots he had. He only had one pair of the boots, that was all he needed. After he pulled on his pants, he grabbed his zanpakuto and slid it into a handy little loop of his pants. With a smile, he slid on his boots before exiting the colorless room in which he resided.

Exiting into the main of Celia-sama's palace, he popped his neck and rolled back his arm. He wondered where everyone was. He could talk to Celia-sama or Neva-sama or even Adela-sama. Or anything else. He was just so happy to have things to do and people with which to do them. If they didn't want to do anything, he could visit Xuan-san and Szayel-sama. That was always fun.

"Is anybody here?"

[Wicked]

It was chaos in Celia's castle. For one, the boss-lady was nowhere to be found. And neither was Darui. Adela and Neva had no idea where they were, and someone was by. Probably trying to meet Celia herself. Adela was insisting that they take the time to relax and slack off, but Neva was concerned.

"Someone's here, Adela," Neva warned.

"I know that."

Neva frowned, approaching the door. At some point, they would have to at least send the knocker away. It was possible that whoever it was could be sent away and invited back at a later time. Perhaps when everyone was around.

She took a deep breath, as though gathering her focus, and slid her hand over the wall. This triggered a switch, and the door pulled to the side.

"I'm sorry, Celia-sama is not here at the moment," Neva said, her face flat but slightly bowed to appear apologetic. Whoever it was, they were not important. It was but an undue formality. And then, horribly, Adela popped over her shoulder.

Bracing her hands on either side of Neva's head, and her foot on the small of Neva's back, Adela snorted, "And you were all worried that we'd need Celia-sama. I've never seen him before. What are you? New arrancar?"

[seraki]

"I'm sorry, Celia-sama is not here at the moment,"

Alexei frowned a bit. Where could she be? Maybe Aizen-sama had her doing something important. Maybe not. Either way worked for him. He had to meet the others who resided here eventually. Might as well be now. After all, he didn't have anything else planned for the day. So, thinking that this was another one of Celia's fraccion, he smiled at the possibility to make some new friends.

"That's okay. I can find other things to do."

After he spoke, he kind of looked up at the people now standing in a doorway in front of him. They looked almost like twins. Actually, aside from their outfits, they probably were twins. They had pinkish hair and some kind of tribal marking on their face (though these were sort of different.) Either way, the white-clad one had been the lady that talked to him. Feeling his manners kicking in, Alexei took a small little bow to them both to show his manners. He had been raised a Russian gentleman; only recently had he become a monster.

"And you were all worried that we'd need Celia-sama. I've never seen him before. What are you? New arrancar?"

Alexei kind of chuckled to himself as the other twin stepped upon the first one to get a better view. It was kind of nice to see two people who were comfortable enough with each other to be that close. He had never really been that close to anyone. And even if he had been, he wouldn't step on anyone's back to climb up over them. That was rude unless it was agreed upon earlier. So, Alexei decided that it would be rude for him to say anything about that. But he didn't want them believing he was an Arrancar when he wasn't.

"I'm not an Arrancar, lady-sama. I'm just a Vizard that Celia-sama took in. She gave me a little room and my zanpakuto back. Alexei Romanov, nice to meet you."

With his introduction, he gave a small bow before straightening up and offering a small smile.

[Wicked]

"Why would Celia take you in?" Adela barked, climbing higher onto Neva's shoulders. "She didn't tell me about it."

"Celia-sama did tell you," Neva said sternly. "You just forgot."

"No es mi culpa que ella habla aburrida."

Neva closed her eyes. Adela was, at this point, sitting on her shoulders, her arms resting between her sister's horns. It was very uncomfortable, not to mention she could barely support her. "I am Neva. This is Adela." Dully, she extended a hand, and blandly added, "Encantado."

At long last, Adela hopped off of her shoulders. Unfortunately, she kicked at the Vizard's chest.

She meant to brace herself on him before hopping back. Neva was a very precarious perch. And when she left it, she had nowhere else to go. Of course...it probably looked like an attack. And hell if she wasn't going to let him think that.

Rather than scowling as she so often did, she pursed her lips.

"Morning, Burro Dos."

[seraki]

"Why would Celia take you in? She didn't tell me about it."

Alexei kind of frowned at this. He actually didn't know why Celia-sama had bothered to take him in from Szayel-sama. It did kind of make him wonder. What did she see in his ability? Did she just keep him around to silently make fun of him when he was around? No. No she was nice and wanted him around. Celia was a kind lady. She wouldn't be so cruel, not to anyone. So, it was just because she thought he was interesting or something.

"I really don't know why. I'm not a mind reader; maybe she thinks I'm interesting."

Then, the two of them argued for a little bit. It was kind of hard to follow because the one of them spoke a language he didn't understand. He knew Japanese and Russian, but this was neither. It sounded, different. Like, it sounded like nothing he ever heard. Either way, he tried to follow along until the white-clad one told him their names. She was Neva; her twin was Adela.

"Nice to meet you Neva-sama, Adela-sama."

"Encantado."

At this, he frowned some more. Sensing he was supposed to understand this. He felt really bad because he knew that she was trying to talk to him about something. Not knowing what to say, he kind of rubbed the back of his head nervously while looking at the floor.

"I don't know what that means Neva-sama."

Then, Adela jumped off of Neva's back. That was fine but then she seemed to have to push off of him in the air to avoid falling. It didn't really hurt him. Actually, he smiled a bit as Neva kicked off of him and landed. He didn't move by her weight; she was pretty light.

"Did you land okay Adela-sama?"

[Wicked]

"Maybe she thinks I'm interesting," the vizard suggested. Neva could not disagree. That was typically the reason that Celia did anything. "I don't know what that means, Neva-sama."

"Hello," she clarified.

"You should get used to it, Burro," Adela snickered deliberately. If he couldn't understand them, it meant she could say whatever she wanted with no consequences at all. Grinning, she looked back to Neva. "Es como un saco de boxeo."

"Munoz, leave him be," called a stern woman. She emerged from the door opposite the three, and folded her arms. "I had business to attend to."

By business, she meant "explaining" to Szayel that he would not be getting Alexei back on a whim. And by "explaining" she meant threatening to use her resurreccion to destroy his laboratory. Subtly, of course. She also meant explaining that she would not be allowing him to perform any life-threatening, body-altering, painful experiments on Neva and Adela, although she would allow him to implant surveillance equipment in them.

Fair was fair, after all.

"You don't need to be so formal with them," she said, indicating Neva and Adela with a casual flick. "Though I'm sure Adela would be proud."

"Damn straight."

[seraki]

"You should get used to it, Burro,"

Alexei just kind of nodded at this, not realizing that he had just been insulted to his face. He did need to get used to this new language if he was to fit in here with his new-found companions. After all, he had just been told "hello" and was unable to understand it. Who knew what else he could miss out on in regular conversation? After all, he couldn't understand this term that Adela was currently calling him. However, he just decided it meant something along the line of "friend."

"I'll try Adela-sama."

"Munoz, leave him be. I had business to attend to."

Ah, there was Celia-sama. This was the lady who had recruited him from Szayel-sama's lab. It was nice to have a change in location every now and again but Alexei did miss Xuan-sama and Szayel-sama occasionally. However, now he had new friends in Adela-sama and Neva-sama. So, everything would work out alright; he could still visit his old friends.

"Privet Celia-sama." He said with a happy little wave at his new leader.

"You don't need to be so formal with them. Though I'm sure Adela would be proud."

The Russian frowned as he thought about this for a second. Why wouldn't he say that he admired them? He did. Alexei liked everyone and admired everyone. It was just the way he was. Wasn't everyone like that? Wait, that was a stupid question. Of course they were. Everyone was always so nice to him at least. But, Celia was in charge, so he felt that he needed to ask her.

"Celia-sama, can I still call them that? It's just polite."

[Wicked]

"By all means," Celia said passively. "I won't stop you." She looked the vizard over, wondering briefly if he was stupid. It would be like having a clone of Adela with Neva's demeanor. Whether or not this was a good thing, Celia didn't know.

"You don't have to call her 'Neva-sama.' I just call her Princessa."

"I would prefer if you did not call me that."

Celia rolled her eyes. "When you three are finished, meet me outside."

The woman assumed that they would spend several minutes bickering before Neva simply walked for the door and waited for Adela to follow. She also assumed that Szayel had kept Alexei cooped up in the lab. He needed to get acquainted with Las Noches before he wandered off on his own and got lost or cornered or eaten by a hollow.

Celia was getting very irritated by the threat that presented.

[seraki]

"By all means. I won't stop you."

At this Alexei simply nodded because he knew not to make a deal about it. Celia-sama was letting him address people as he liked; that was good. He liked being nice to people because hopefully they would return the favor. They typically did too. Everybody liked Alexei.

"Thank you, Celia-sama."

"You don't have to call her 'Neva-sama.' I just call her Princessa."

"I would prefer if you did not call me that."

Alexei cocked his head to the side curiously at this. He didn't know what "Princessa" meant. It sounded like "Princess" which was kind of like a Tsarina. Not understanding what was wrong with being called this, the young Vizard frowned as he looked back and forth between Neva-sama and Adela-sama. He should ask. Yes; that would be what was wrong with being called what should be an endearing name.

"I don't understand Neva-sama, why don't you like to be called 'Princessa'? It sounds like it should be endearing."

"When you three are finished, meet me outside."

Alexei stopped what he was doing (breathing mostly) and followed Celia-sama. He knew that she was in charge and he needed to follow her lead no matter what. He just wore a small smile and didn't saw anything to acknowledge he was following. He should be seen and not heard at this point.

[Wicked]

Adela snickered when Alexei asked about the name. A faint blush passed across Neva's face, and she turned her chin upwards. "I'm calling her a stuck up, high-haunched, lady," she laughed. "You're kind of dumb."

"Ah, Adela, does this mean you've found someone you can keep up with in a conversation?" Celia called.

Alexei turned to follow Celia almost immediately, which made Adela scratch her head. Why was he leaving? She said they had a minute or ten. But, before she could protest, Neva followed suit. With no other options, she followed as well.

"So what's up, Boss lady?"

Celia glared at Adela. She paused just before the door, and folded her arms. Without sounding the humor her smirk conveyed, she said, "Should I tell our guest about what happens between you two, or would you prefer to tell him?"

Adela flushed and dropped her arms. "I don't like him. I don't want to tell him."

"They share a connection; they are from the same hollow and cannot be further then, oh, 100 meters?" she guessed. She gestured across the walkway. "Further than this bridge, really. Their reiatsu levels drop drastically."

"Awww," Adela pouted. "Ya didn't have to tell him..."