Ulysses vs. The Fairy

One earbud hung loosely on the park bench from Souma's ear, light music doling from the other one. Souma hummed along, tapping his foot on the leafy ground of the woods trail. A light breeze fluttered past him, knocking some hair into his eyes, which he lazily batted away, before turning the page of his book. He felt a tug on his hand and moved it a little, to give Ulysses some slack. The squat little dog continued sniffing about.

The corgi perked his ears up and began performing his business. Souma continued reading his book, content to give the pup some privacy. He sighed, tipping his head back. He would have brought his Vita but he forgot to charge it. He was in the middle of an okay enough mystery novel but always felt odd reading outside. Still, it was something to do while Ulysses ambled about trying to find the perfect spot to declare as his for all time

Yulia flitted around a tree, chasing a small little bird that was attempting to flee her happy laughter and playing. It had been cute, trying to attack her and chase if off of its territory when she had been examining the other trees in the area before it realized she was a strong predator and nothing would stop her!

Its fleeing instincts kicked in and her chase instincts followed and here she was in hollow form flying around chasing this tiny bird with tons of happy laughter. However as she darted from the cover of trees, she saw a person on a bench with a weird... floof floof. She had seen them before in passing.

It was cute.

She must get closer...

The bird forgotten, Yulia slowly but surely floated her way in cara form now over to the flooffloof... It wouldn't do to set the person's suspicions off about her! She must appear as a human...

Souma was still reading his book, beginning to quietly sing under his breath, even starting to move a little back and forth to the music, happily quiet-sitting-dancing when he noticed the leash pulling on his hand a lot. Huh?

Ulysses meanwhile, having deposited his vile waste, had begun the reclamation for his supremacy. A few quick markings had secured the pass and, while invaders could come in again, he had won the day, if not the war. Now it was time to scout other things. While it was easy for him and the troops to languish in victory on this side of the trail, the flowers on the other side needed tending to. If he didn't eat them, who was going to.

Just then, impossible. Invaders from above. He moved to their position, trying to track their incoming approach, but he was afraid it would be too little too late. If only he had more vertical reach, but alas. God had cursed him with but the frame he had. He could do naught now but wail in fury at the heavens above.

"BARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARKBARK!" The high pitched yapping continued and Souma looked up.

"What is it, boy? I..." His eyes settled on the floating girl in front of him. What... What.. "Ahhhh..." He dropped his book in the dirt, completely flabbergasted.

"Nooo, no don't do that. Be quiet floof. Please be quiet. I just wish to pick you up. Yes, yes just pick you up." Yulia beseeched the angry and loud floof floof. It looked so soft...so floofy, so incredibly stubby. She felt a kinship with this tiny little angry thing, she wished to just hug it and make it all happy again.

Her arms outstretched, she hovered uncertainly before her feet settled on the ground, finally remembering the human world rules really. People didn't float here... Maybe the floof KNEW the rule. It was a canine, that was obvious, but just... It was floof...

As something hit the ground, she glanced up to see the floof's master staring and making sounds. Well! This was her lucky day. She smiled and held out her arms, now beseeching the young human. "Can you make the floof love me?"

Souma just... blinked.... she... kept calling him floof. That... Well it was appropriate. She... Okay she was on the ground now... His brain... broke a little less. He immediately froze things and blinked once or twice. A tedious mistake. He found that even at super molasses speeds, blinking had both a pretty set speed, as well as a pretty reflexive number of blinks, which meant too much time of continually obscuring vision. It didn't make it any easier to not do, and it was more exhausting to un and re freeze time every time he did it.

She... looked like a normal girl... a nice girl too, which made him less inclined to grab floof... er... Ulysses and run, which was his first reaction when someone floated towards him. Hm... She wanted Ulysses' love... Floating was a bad way to get it...

He walked up and picked up Ulysses, looking at the open arms. "You're not going to float away with him, are you?" He did not even know how to approach the surrealness of what he just said, but he pulled Ulysses closer to him when he said it. His doggy might be a little grump, but he was his precious fluff baby and he was to be protected at all costs.

Yulia watched and waited with growing impatience, twitching a bit as attempted to keep it in check. She just wanted to finally catch a much vaunted floof! Those little bunnies always ran and here was one all nicely chained up with restraining devices!

Finally the human picked up the flood and looked at her, which she tried to smile sweetly and nicely and hide all signs she had been impatient. His words caused vigorous nodding, sending her hair just in a tumbled mess around her. "Yes! I mean no. I mean yes I am not going to float away, no I will not take the floof. I just wish to love it for a moment or too. I've never held one before, they always run away. This one is all restrained! It can't possibly flee!"

"How did you catch it? Did you set traps? Entice it with food?" She knew what food was and her eyes shined, even if she'd not had any yet. Maybe he could teach her the secrets of floof catching... Obviously her arms were still out, if waving slightly with her impatience.

He looked at Ulysses. Ulysses looked at her before looking back up to him with an expression that seemed to say... 'Shrug?'. He cautiously approached her and looked down to Ulysses again. She.... seemed trustworthy... if a little spastic.... and if she acted up, he was... pretty sure he could pull the dog from her... She... didn't seem human... obviously... he wasn't sure what she was... She seemed sort of spastic.

"Hmmm..." He slowly held out Ulysses for her to take. "J-Just be careful! He's... He's..." What. Your only friend? Your fluffy baby? "He's precious to me is all..." He finally said. It sounded pathetic, but the thought of something happening to Ulysses made his blood freeze in his veins. "A-and no... I didn't catch him.. I've had him since he was a baby.. er, puppy. He was a gift from my parents." He could see why fluffy animals ran away from her... she always came running at them...

Yulia's impatience was reaching the end of her ability to stuff it away. She'd never been one to hide emotions or anything, flittering about them much like what she resembled in looks. A fairy.

The human's slow attempts to hold out the floof made her smile stay in place and she waited until he seemed okay with this. No sudden movements to scare either the floof or the human holding him would be allowed. She must be on her best behavior. "I promise I'll be careful! Small fluffy things are sacred. Small anything is!"

As she accepted the sacred floof into her arms with the appropriate reverence, she buried her face in the floof neck fur and just gave the happiest giggle. Yulia did not move an inch, entranced in the softness as she just snuggled it to her. "Aaah its so much softer than I thought! So humans capture them at a young age and raise them in captivity so they do not know any better? And then give them to their children... Aha! Makes sense."

Souma immediately tensed up, hissing in through his teeth. SHE WAS GOMNA EAT HIIIIM. She quickly proved him wrong. His hands which had travelled to his head, slowly sunk back down to his sides as she just stood there nuzzling. He felt the ball in his stomach begin to unwind. She was... definitely odd... but she held Ulysses right and seemed to just want to give him some love.

Ulysses happily yapped and leaned up to lick her face. This person was okay with him. She had proven herself in a test of valor. Also she smelled nice.

Souma started to correct what she said before looking for, furrowing his brow and putting his hand over his mouth. "Actually that sounds about.... w_wait, you don't know how pets work? Who are you anyway? "

Yulia's giggles sound through the area as the happiest and sweetest she had uttered in a while as the cute floof became even cuter and gave her affection in return. She had no idea what to do other then try to bury her face in its neck again and hide from the licking as her laughter grew.

The human agreed with her assessment and she looked up at him over his apparently puppy's fur. It must be a dog then! But there were so many different types, of course she'd be unsure. "I'm Yulia and I'm a Dios. The human world is really nice, it has lots of flowers and stuff. And lots of just cute floofs, not like big scary monster ones. I mean those ones are cute too and really like ear scratches, but they aren't tiny and I can't hold them. So this is a pet then? A dog pet?"

Souma blinked, unsure of just... what the hell he'd just heard... Ulysses knew exactly what to do in this situation, which was to wiggle his little dog legs in the air and give a happy bark.

He was not, in fact, the world's most intelligent doggy.

Souma froze time, thinking maybe if he had some time to think on what she said, he could gain some insight... Several minutes later, he gave up. She was clearly not human, as if the floating didn't give it away... She was acquainted with monsters, but she didn't SEEM like a shinigami... She couldn't be an arrancar, could she? He'd never heard of a dios... was that a rank or her species?

But... she seemed... nice... "Um, yes. He's my pet. He also uh... likes ear scritches..." He nodded, before realizing she'd introduced herself. "O-Oh! I'm Souma. Nice to meet you, Yulia." He was fairly sure it was nice to meet her anyway... "Um.. What's... What's a Dios?"

This floof was the best floof, not merely because it was the only one she'd been able to hold so far, but it seemed to adore her now! Yulia was in heaven, the best of heavens with this floofy little thing. Her hand moved up to scratch his ears softly as her other arm cradled him with apparently no weakening of her strength.

"Huh! Well that's a nice coincidence. But he's too soft and weak for super scratches so I'll be careful." Frodant really liked the scratches she could give with her rainbow claws but she was positive that would be rather bad for this soft lil guy. She missed entirely any bit of Souma doing something, the puppy catching all her attention... Not like she would have anyways.

"Nice to meet you! Would...you want your floof back now?" Yulia looked down at the snuggling doggie, back up to Souma, back down... back up... and then finally settled on the human before smiling again. "Its a... Um... huh. What IS a Dios? I don't know really. Do we have some sort of mission or something? I just do things in my sky world and take care of my friends! And I go around human world looking at things... I guess its just a really strong hollow or something? I have a crown and teleport."

Yulia was positive she had been told some sort of mission statement at some point, but... it had slipped her mind... Testament would remind her at length she was sure if she showed up to ask him. But she couldn't, she had the floof in her arms and thus could not pop off to question him and then return.

Souma did not know what super scritches were. But he did not like the sound of them. Ulysses also was unaware of what they were but they sounded AWESOME. As said, he was not a SMART dog.

Souma had more pressing concerns than scratches though... she was a hollow? A strong one no less? With some kind of mission... and a crown? Oh god... invading hollow kings? Why was everything always kings? How far did you have to run to get away from those?

Still... she seemed... pretty nice... if scatterbrained. .. could she be trusted? "You can just put him down. He'll frolic. As long as I have his leash." He raised his hand to show his end of it. "Um... you said you're a hollow... but... you don't... attack people do you?"

Yulia set the poor thing down with more than a bit of reluctance allowing the flood its freedom before looking up at Souma and smiling. He was tall! A lot taller than her! And he had the leash to keep the dog from running away from its life of eternal cuddling servitude.

She could think of worse lives.

Instead she shook her head to the question, beginning to float again now that she was distracted. SHe was not promising to not float off... The novelty of legs had worn off weeks ago really... "Nope! I don't need to. Dios have a nice home and it feeds us, now that I am a Dios anyways. I haven't really spent time outside of Hueco Mundo in...well I think my whole life. Do you attack hollows?"

Souma walked up to her, glancing down and noticing their inherent height differences. "Uh." She was... kinda short... no sooner did he have time to think that then she floated up to around eye level. "Ah!" He was surprised, having almost forgotten she could do that and quickly took a step back. Ulysses yapped and hopped after him as he stumbled back a few steps.

"D..Dios have a... It... Huh..." She... came from some sort of place that fed them? That was interesting.. She also hadn't been in the human world much... "H-huh..." She seemed... unusual, for a hollow. Not that he'd met many... but.. "Do I.. O-Oh! No no no! Not at all!" He said, waving his arms. "I've defended myself from hollows before but... but..." He glanced around as if admitting something bad. "I haven't... ever killed one, actually... Even in self defense..."

"Heeeeeey. I'm not scary I promise. I mean I caaaan be. But right now I'm on my best of behaviors." She frowned at Souma, not liking how he backed away. Her cara faded away as her lip quivered, arms crossing as her pout grew rather quickly. Brightly magenta light wings were revealed as was her hollow form while she floated even higher. They fluttered lightly behind her despite her rather firm and unmoving hovering in the air.

"Well its not like it'd bother me... The ones who stay in human world are normally mean, though sometimes they get stuck here? I can't get angry over someone protecting themself or friends." He seemed worried she'd be upset and Yulia just smiled sweetly revealing sharp fang filled mouth and shook her head. Hollows that went after humans... normally weren't the smartest or the nicest. Besides he had a floof to protect and take care of, he couldn't go dying just to make it easier on someone else.

At least she didn't have her claws on...

She was scary whether she was behaving or not, but so far, she seemed... iffy on general human behavior... he didn't expect her to fully grasp shy or awkwardness, so he just... went with it. "W-well... if you're on your best behavior... I suppose I can trust you..." He said with a smile, walking back towards her. "Woah." He said in surprise as her cara faded, reverting her to her natural form.

She... She was some kind of fairy... Holy shit... She also was clearly a hollow, as if that were up for discussion. "I...Most quincies are raised pretty strictly about how to treat what... I was just raised differently? I've always felt like hollows, shinigami, etcetera... people are just people?" He shrugged.

He noticed when she smiled, her teeth... they were.... just... all pointy and fit together. "W-woah... I believe you can be mean... Your teeth look vicious... but like... cool?"

"Yes you can! I mean you are nice and watch over this little floof, so I am definitely not gonna hurt you. I mean I could but I won't! It'd be easy, but I'm not gonna." Yulia closed her eyes with a smug smile, waving her arm around just imperiously (or attempting, it came off more as just her being smug and grandstanding).

However her eyes opened to find Souma had gotten closer and seemed... impressed? Awed? She fluttered back a few inches, her face also shocked as she leaned away. His words were mumbo jumbo to her and she was about to ask what a Quincy was since Shinigami were shinigami when he... He...


"Th-They are NOT COOL! They are vicious, and evil and strong pointy teeth that are good at tearing things apart! Th-They are not cool! Not at all!" Yulia's wings fluttered quite quickly as she turned beet red, her feetless legs kicking in her dress as she fell back onto her butt in the air. No no no! Not cool! The magenta tone was fading away into more true purple on her light wings, the woman just having a mini fluster fit.

He... He was thankful. REALLY he was.... That she did not eat him, especially if it would be easy... The more he talked to her... she was clearly a hollow through and through but she seemed just... nicer.... maybe even more pure of heart than your average hollow? Like, she clearly had fought, it sounded like, but she didn't seem to have an angry bone in her.

"W-woah." He leaned back again. Angry bone located! Ahhhhh.. "Y-y-yes, I believe you! I'm sure they are very good at that!" He instinctively scooped up Ulysses, who gave a tiny little whimper, unsure of what was going on, but NOW THERE WAS SHOUTING! Souma knew he wasn't in danger. At least after pausing to examine this. She was... Flustered? Maybe she... wasn't the type to take compliments well....

"I-I.. Th-that's why I said cool? Because of how badass they are? S-sorry, I watch a lot of anime and they are just like some of the people's in that. Th-that's all! I wasn't... " saying what Souma. DON'T EVEN SOUMA.

"They are definitely!" Yulia was glad he agreed and her pouting faded somewhat, legs stopping their kicking as she floated upright a bit more again. She had scared the little floof and the little human and put a finger to her lips in confusion as well as a bit of potential remorse. What if he and the floof fled because of her temper? He wasn't like Testament.

Feeling her teeth with her tongue, her face turned red again after its brief stint at its normal paleness. "I do not know of this ANIME THING. But they are badass. Yes. I once tore a big monster's throat out! That's how I became a Dios! I thought he killed my friend and I just got really really angry! Testament saw how awesome I was at stuff and made me a follower! I get to take care of and find all the lil lost hollows who just want to live happy and safe lives. Oh! I guess thats what a Dios does, but just me specifically."

Her smile was back, quicksilver emotions just allowing her bounce back almost immediately.

He nodded nervously, grimacing from fear. Not fear of her attacking. That seemed.. unlikely... but fear out of upsetting her anyway. He waved his hands as best as he could without dropping Ulysses, who looked equally scared, for undefinable reasons. She looked confused immediately after though, so he relaxed. Let his guard down would be a better word because IMMEDIATELY more shouting!

"Ahh!" He took another step back, Ulysses releasing a tiny "yip" jumping in Souma's arms. He froze things just to... try and calm himself. She tore out a monster's fricking throat? Holy hell! But... she did it to protect her friend.... and now she protected little innocent hollows? That was... Well.. She seemed scary but... maybe just to... well, it seemed silly to say 'bad guys', but... He unfroze.

To Yulia it would look like Souma was scared for a second before stopping, though he was still physically rattled. He took a step towards her just to show he was calming down. "S...so... you're... dangerous, but... only to people who would ty to hurt your friends?" He asked, not entirely sure, but...

Why was the human grimacing? Was she upsetting this human? But she did not want that! Yulia's eyes were wide as she worried more and more. No! No upsetting floof...

Her hand reached out, shaking as she scooted closer to the man stepping away. "Noo floof don't be scared I am okay. See? Happy again!"

Yulia smiled as her cara reformed and her feet landed on the ground, the wings still there though as she sort of forgot about them. Souma and floof looked considerably better as he stepped closer, reaching up to pet the floof's soft ears. "Mhm! Only to those who others. I was a guardian of a colony in Hueco Mundo, I kept them alllll safe and gave them a really nice place. Now they fly around in Cielo Eterno and are much happier. Do you wanna see?"

Her wings vibrated in excitement, did this young human wanna see? She'd like to see the wings he and his floof got... Floof wings... Cooing escaped her, wings, adorable wings...

Ulysses looked at the woman, unsure of her and still sort of scared. But his mind was more quickly changed, which was good seeing as how he could not stop time for himself to think on things. At first he had been afraid because papa was afraid and scooting back. Buuut now papa was stepping towards her and she was reaching out for, OOH FOR PETS. Yes, she was trustworthy, through and through. He gave an excited yelp, scrambling to get closer to her.

Souma let her pet Ulysses. "W-well.. Ulysses and I would never hurt anyone who wasn't trying to hurt us... Well... I dunno, Ulysses might but I don't think he physically COULD hurt someone unless they were a piece of bacon or something." He glanced up at her, realizing the joke.. might not translate. "Iiiit's a joke. Bacon is a kind of food." He laughed nervously. Ugh, Souma. Why do you even speak, sometiiimes.

"Um... to see... Uhhh..." He... really wasn't sure... what she was talking about? "S..Sure?"

Yulia's smile only grew and grew as the floof allowed the pets and she brought her other hand back up to continue the pets with TWO HANDS. Two hands. Soft floof...

Her wings fluttered more and more with happiness, the colors shifting into a royal blue now while she continued the super pets. Floof was happy, floof loved her!

It seemed her and Souma were two peas in a pod! Whatever that was! Yulia giggled happily and stopped petting only a brief moment to wonder what bacon was before Souma explained. "Aaah thank you! I did not know. Bacon is...food that Ulysses really really likes? Okay! We are the same Souma! I really like you, you are super nice and have a floof. You can come see my home then! I wonder what wings you'll get?"

With his permission and agreement, Yulia shifted them across realms with her sigil, the air crackling around the pair before... POOF! They were now in the endless sky of her home with the moon below them, the sun above them and floating landmasses of varying sizes floating all over. Flying hollows shrieked and laughed, playing some distances away and in groups while others just flew around. There were even a few arrancar here and there... "Home!"

Ulysses was truly in love. This person used both hands. Why didn't everyone use both hands? It was foolish. You HAD two. USE two. What could the other hand possibly be doing? Just sitting there? Idiots. All of them. BUT THIS PERSON KNEW. TWO HANDS. PERFECT.

"Th..Thank you." He said smiling, at first. He was also glad he'd headed off that bacon thing at the pass. Didn't need her thinking that Ulysses was dangerous to some poor creatures known as bacons or something. "Ah.. I'm.. I just.." He blushed a bit, looking away for a second while she informed him of his niceness. "W-wait... H-home?"

Even freezing time, he didn't have much time to react, the air around them crackling before he suddenly found himself in open sky. "W-woahhh." The shout of surprise forced its way out of him as he hung upside down in the air, his wings keeping him afloat.

Wait.. his wings? He glanced back. "A-ahhhh.." He whisper shouted in quiet terror. He.. He had wings... like a dragon fly.... Something foreign in his arms pushed at him and he loosened his arms enough to. "ULYSSES!" he shouted in horror before he realized that the dog also had a pair of wings.

Ulysses beat his mighty wings. Finally, the military had been given an air force. Now he would truly reign hell on his foes, screaming hell from above.

The tiny dog's wings flapped lazily, keeping him level and propelling him forward at roughly a few feet per minute. The dog looked around, as if confused, his little feet running along. His ears lowered, realizing perhaps his wings weren't so mighty.

"Wh.." He stopped, about to ask where they were and froze time for a second, glancing about as far as his eyes could take him. They... They were... Oh god, he was in another world, wasn't he... Cielo Eterno... Where WAS it though... She was a hollow... Maybe a place in Hueco Mundo? But... it was actually... REALLY pretty here.. so... Somewhere else.. The Dios' world maybe?

He unfroze time, floating there, trying to right himself. He wasn't sure how he knew how to fly either... he just... did.. "Yo...You're home is beautiful." He said, in genuine wonder.