#The Szayel Compendium

[lewdestconcubine]

The Szayel Compendium (Part 7 - Relationships)

RELATIONSHIPS.

FAMILY: [Who, if anyone, does the character consider their family? Are these blood relatives? And do they have a good relationship with their family?]

Szayel has one fraternal twin brother, Yylfordt, who as a hollow, he has a complicated relationship with.  He very much loves him, but he resents that he spends his time with someone else, and that he’s essentially the physical manifestation of all of the ‘weaknesses’ and ‘impurities’ that he pulled out of himself.  He’s not sure what to do about it sometimes, and after Yyl’s death, sometimes things get complicated.  Verse dependent he sometimes will have a partner/boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife and/or children.  Those relationships are things that sustain him when they happen.

FRIENDSHIPS: [Do they have lots of friends, or just one or two close friends? What do they look for in a friend?] Szayel has lots of acquaintances.  There are a couple of hollows he considers his friends, and of course in RP, he has plenty of verses where he counts different muses as friends.  But canonically he suffers deeply from isolation and loneliness and does rather desperate things to change that fact, through much of it doesn’t work and isolates him further.

FRIENDS IN NEED: [How do they help a friend who is going through hard times? Do they offer advice and support, or do they feel uncomfortable, not knowing what to say?] It’s best to explain things in a way that Szayel can ‘solve’.  If he can invent something. give you a medicine or a treatment, share his knowledge, etc., he is more than willing to help a friend.  If you need to vent, its best to tell him so, and he’ll listen and support, and if it would make his friend more comfortable, or if they want a distraction, he’s more than happy to share himself physically, whether just by giving affection or by doing something sexual/sensual.  But sometimes, he just doesn’t really get what’s needed from him, so if you don’t spell things out and just expect him to be sensitive to your problems…you may end up not liking what he does.  It’s best to explain to Szayel how he can help, otherwise there may be some wild misunderstandings.

NEEDING A FRIEND: [Do they tend to go to friends when they need help and support? Or do they deal with their problems on their own? Do their friends ever worry about them?] Canonically Szayel will generally withdraw and become more paranoid or hostile.  But, in different verses, if you connect with him well enough, he’ll come by for reassurance, whether its nice words, a hug, some good food, or just being acknowledged.  If you’re the type of ‘friend’ he tends to prefer, if you can fuck him well enough that he forgets feeling terrible, it’s a bonus, and you will likely see him often.  He is not at all subtle about this, smh.

ANNOYANCES: [How do they deal with arguments and disagreements with friends or partner?] He tends to fall apart.  Finding a companion is something he stresses over.  If there’s a rift forming for any reason, he doesn’t take it well, will isolate, and just continue down an unhealthy path until he’s either asked to stop, or forced to.  Szayel is rather fragile at heart, even if he pretends that this isn’t so.

ROMANCE: [If applicable: how do they woo a potential partner? What do they look for in a potential partner?] Szayel is demiromantic, and thus really only develops romantic desires towards friends that he has, that he’s also already pursued a sexual relationship with to some degree, or at least has been able to feel physical chemistry with as far as things like..you smell good to him, your touch is comforting to him, and your presence is settling.  He looks for those who can handle his mood lability and who have a complimentary type of strength both physically and/or mentally.  As he’s essentially pan, this could be a person of any gender.

MARITAL PROBLEMS: [How do they deal with problems in their love life? Do they talk it through with their partner? Or do they bury their head in the sand?] Szayel tends to ignore problems in his relationships when he feels that everything for the most part is going well.  He’d rather swallow his own issues or secretly try and fix himself.  He’s conflict avoidant when it comes to things in his private life.  He’s terrified of being alone and will actually take very large amounts of abuse for the sake of not losing a partner.  Unless his partner can pick up on the fact that he’s unhappy and change their approaches to the problems without saying anything…you’re going to have to back Szayel into a corner to even acknowledge that there’s something wrong I the first place.  He tends to self harm and disassociate rather than tell a partner that there’s a problem, as he figures that just as anything that’s mind over matter, if he continuously works to accept a lie, eventually it will be true. 

ADVERSARIES: [What would turn them off a friendship or romance?] Being ignored.  Trying to force other ideologies on him.  Treating him as something below you, when it’s not consensual degradation.

ENEMIES: [What would make them hate someone enough to call them an enemy?] Actively working to undermine him and his accomplishments.  Otherwise, an ‘enemy’ is just the person on the other side of the fight he’s been made to fight because he’s in an army.

STRANGERS: [Do they tend to be respectful to strangers, or are they careless towards anyone who they don’t consider a friend?] Szayel tries to be courteous to those he first meets as he’d rather make a good first impression.  But he will not lie about the fact that he won’t necessarily stick his neck out for you unless you’ve shown him that you can be trusted to have his support.

FUN STUFF: [What kind of things do they like doing with a friend?] Szayel’s very much adventure and pleasure minded.  He likes experiencing fine things like art and music and good food.  He likes dressing people up and making things for them.  He enjoys traveling to unfamiliar places with a familiar person by his side.  And of course anything of a uhhh..physical nature. Szayel loves getting to know someone in the biblical sense...as merger of mind, soul, and body is deeply intertwined with the alchemical symbolism tied up in his character.

DATING: [What kind of things to they like doing with a romantic partner?] Everything listed above.  His friendships often don’t look al that different from his romances.  Sometimes there’s just as much sex.  XD  But in romance you can actually get him to more or less commit to you, and he’s unafraid to plan a future life.  Szayel has a weird purity of connection to him that makes it kind of hard to split hairs between friendship and romance, and often he’ll put a label on it to make the other person feel better.  But that’s not to say that it’s less passionate.  It just means that you have the right to tell him what makes you comfortable in his behaviors, like if you don’t approve of him being openly sexual towards good friends.  He’ll never stop dropping innuendos or flirting however, he’s not really capable of it.  Just tell him where boundaries lie.

BEST FRIEND: [If applicable - who do they consider their best friend?] This is very verse dependent.  Canonically, he’s not really shown to have very close bonds with people.

LOVE: [If applicable - who do they consider to be the love of their life?] This too is very verse dependent.  He clearly lusts over others, but that’s not the same thing. But he does form ships easily if approached the right way.

WORST ENEMY: [If applicable - who do they consider to be their worst enemy?] Canoically, he considers shinigami as the enemy, who are essentially carrying out genocide.  He also sometimes has conflicts with Aizen and with the other Espada.  He fights with Renji and Uryuu, and of course dies by Mayuri’s hand…but they’re more or less opponents, rather than enemies, if that makes sense.  After all, he’s a soldier in a war.  He doesn’t really get how certain characters were introduced to him, so depending on different AU concepts…I feel that he may be incredibly open to meeting some characters, given that they have things in common, but were forced to be on different sides because of the world they live in, rather than any conscious choice.

RESPECT: [Do they respect their enemies, even if they don’t like them? Is there anyone they disrespect? Why?] Sometimes?  I mean, for Szayel, he views it as a great honor for him to be interested in you enough to study you, experiment on you, fight you, or command his attention in any way.  To flat out ignore someone is to disrespect them, as he feels deeply disrespected when ignored.  So, take this as you will.  He’s not exactly normal, nor was his canonical ultimate opponent. 

[lewdestconcubine]

The Szayel Compendium (Part 6 - The Past)

THE PAST.

PARENTS/GUARDIANS: [Did they have a good relationship with their parents while they were growing up?] In his human life, he didn’t have a good relationship with his parents.  His mother died in childbirth, and his father was rather absent and didn’t really approve of the softness that Szayel had in his character.  Also, Szayel shares a lot of physical similarities to his mother, so he’d look at his son and see her, and it was a lot to bear, as he kind of blamed Szayel’s birth for his loss, as mortality in childbirth was much higher. Szayel and his brother were raised by a rotating staff of nannies/governesses who generally took year-long contracts and let go once his father found someone who would care for him and his brother for cheaper, or for the same price if the caretaker had wanted more.  But his father died when he was in the middle of his teenage years, leaving everything that he owned to both Szayel and Yyl.  

SCHOOL: [Did they do well at school, or did they struggle?] Szayel has always been good at making his way through his education.  He went to medical school, where he learned a great deal, and he’s always had a knack for understanding the scientific principles that underpin the world around him.  Pre-university, he was generally educated by private tutors as was common for his social class.

ADOLESCENCE: [How did puberty go? Was it a hard change? What was particularly hard (or easy) about it?] His puberty wasn’t very hard.  Even as a grown man, he was never very stereotypically masculine in body.  He’s always been thin but not overly muscular.  He’s never had large amounts of body hair.  He doesn’t have a very deep voice, but it’s also not really feminine—it’s always remained lyrical in quality.  As a hollow he just modified himself to look as he’s always wanted, but he’s never really felt much dissonance in his appearance.  He’s always been very ‘pretty’ and classically attractive rather than being very rugged and manly, like some people who produce male hormones.

Lmao for the errr ‘adolescence after death’…as a hollow, he hollowified very early as a plus (he saw his and his brother’s dead bodies, got excited and then turned right away.) He quickly progressed through the ranks of hollows, his strong and opinionated personality allowing him to quickly become the head soul of a Gillian, and he spent only a short time as his original Adjuchas form before he became a Vasto Lorde.  Szayel, just like the Privaron Espada group in general, was actually not created via the hougyoku, so he achieved his arrancar state by removing his own mask.  He knows that Aizen never liked this fact.

LEAVING HOME: [What was it like for them leaving home for the first time? What prompted them to move out of the home they grew up in?] As a human he did leave home to go to medical school, and then again when he worked for the military as a medic alongside his brother’s command of soldiers, before being discharged and setting up his alchemical laboratory.  Moving on to the next life, as a Vasto Lorde, he left his original territory to first enjoy some of the social situations in Barragn’s court, and then to live in Las Noches when he was invited to be Aizen’s Zero.  

FURTHER EDUCATION: [Did they go to college? University? What did they study, and how well did they do?] In his human life, yes he went to medical school, and his formal education that he received early in life he’s never really lost the discipline for, not even as a hollow, though he doesn’t always remember many events in his human life.  

FIRST JOB: [What was their first job? Did they enjoy it?] Well, he came from money, so he never really had a starter job--in that era it just wasn’t done.  So as a human he was a doctor and researcher, and then as a hollow, he did pretty much the same thing.

LIFE EVENTS: [Did they have any important life events that affected the route their life took? This could be something traumatic or it could be something pleasant like graduating with good grades.] Ummm…this is hard to say considering that Szayel was created a specific way.  He is a hellbound soul, which he’d have never become without all of the killing and unethical experimentation he did as a human.  He wouldn’t be the Espada he became without fighting through the long, hard, and painful process of growing from a mindless new hollow all the way to a powerful, feared Vasto Lorde who became an arrancar if he hadn’t hollowified in the first place.  Of course, meeting Aizen was something that changed his life.  Likewise, without Mayuri’s battle, he wouldn’t be the same man either, regardless of if we’re talking about his canonical plunge into Hell where he became a powerful warden, or the verses where he remains alive or reborn. He’s very much a product of his environments, and you can tell why he has so many of the quirks he does. Szayel’s personality has very deep roots created by living through a variety of experiences of varying severity. He’s seen good, bad, dangerous, beautiful, and he’s always learning.  He’s deeply curious in his core, and he always seeks new simulation which makes him very easy to write, tbh.

WORST DAY OF THEIR LIFE: [What happened?] Uhhh…I’m gonna go with his canonical death. YUP.  That’s a pretty shitty way to die.  I don’t think I have to explain this in the slightest.  He’s also unhappy that Mayuri keeps him in a refrigerator.  

BEST DAY OF THEIR LIFE: [What happened?] He deeply remembers the first time he entered Hueco Mundo.  How he resonated with the land, and how it supported his power.  The beauty of the dark sky and the moon and the shifting sands. He remembers the deep calm he felt, and knowledge that so long as he tried hard to survive, he’d make it.

LESSONS: [What are the most important things they have learned through experience?] 1)  Intelligence comes in many forms.  It may be tempting to dismiss someone or an idea because you don’t like it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.  At best you look ignorant and reactionary…at worst, you may possibly end up dead. 2)  Most flattery is insincere.  Even though it’s euphoric to receive, someone probably wants something.  And just because you find someone attractive...it doesn’t mean that the halo effect is read. 3)  Sometimes, even if you lose the battle—you still win the war.  Ideas will always outlast the people who come up with them when they hold a universal truth.

LOOKING BACK: [If they could re-play their life and do something differently, what would they do?] Tell Aizen to go fuck himself, back when he had the amount of power that could easily have fought against him, and maybe even won.

[lewdestconcubine]

The Szayel Compendium  (Part 3 - Mannerisms)

MANNERISMS DISSECTED!  Warning-- GIF HEAVY

FACE: [Do they have an expressive face? Do they show their emotions in their face? Or do they tend to have a poker face most of the time?]

Szayel is stupidly expressive.  Though as he’s very theatrical and tries to manipulate others into doing and thinking what he wants…so sometimes it’s nothing but an act.  However, his true emotions will always shine through when he’s surprised with something, good or bad.  He’s passionate, to say the least…so he can be A LOT sometimes when it comes to his expressions.

HANDS: [Do they make a lot of hand gestures? What kind of gestures do they use?]

Yes.  Szayel talks with his hands.  Grand flourishes, pointing, tracing things, touching people.  He’s dramatic.  It’s grand gestures…rather than the stereotypical ‘Italian’ hand talking.

LEGS/FEET: [Do they tap their feet or jiggle their leg?] Yes…Szayel has a lot of nervous energy. He is a leg jiggler.  The kind that shakes tables.  It really depends as to whether he appears cute or annoying, as Szayel tends to not make people feel ambivalent about him.

EMOTIONAL OUTBURSTS: [Are they prone to these? Do they tend to cry or yell when they’re upset, or laugh and jump about when they’re happy?]

Yup!  Szayel is unafraid to show joy in an unbridled fashion.  He also will have temper tantrums like a little child.   Like man…when Mayuri was trolling him and he just blew a gasket just stamping on the doll…pfffft.  He wants to come off as charming, intelligent and refined…but sometimes...if he’s not expecting something or doesn’t get his way…he kind of explodes and not in a way that is dignified.

HABITS: [Do they have any habits, like humming or singing or fidgeting or fiddling?]

Yes, he hums and sings and talks to himself. He fidgets.  He plays with his hair.  He paces.  He has no real idea that he’s doing any of this, however.  He’s just kind of an effervescent ball of energy and if he’s not directing his focus at something, all of the excess energy just kind of is discharged in whatever ways it leaks out.  In the absence of other people or emotionally charged situations, it’s just a very neutral way for him to let go of anything that’s pent up.

POSTURE: [Do they usually stand straight and to attention, or do they tend to slump? Does their posture change with their mood? How does it change?] He tends to have very good posture, but he’s not exactly super forceful about it. He tends to have a very open appearance to his body language, which speaks to his need to be approachable and rather nonconfrontational to get what he wants from people.  But when he’s in a situation where he’s showing off his power, especially his intelligence or his skills in release, he has a very confident look to him, with a wide stance and even better posture that makes him look even taller. Compare this:

To this....

WALKING POSTURE: [How do they walk? Do they skip gleefully along, do they march like a soldier, do they slump their shoulders and stomp around?] When in a neutral situation, or a calm emotional climate, Szayel tends to walk with grace, having an upright but not rigid posture and a smooth gait.  Of course, in a mood, he has no qualms about stamping his feet or kicking things.  And if he’s somewhere he’s not supposed to be, he sneaks through the shadows, wanting to be unobtrusive.  He’s actually quite good at hiding.

SITTING POSTURE: [How do they like to sit? Cross legged? Slouched? Feet apart or together?] Szayel tends to sit upright, and either crosses his legs elegantly or kind of let them dangle artistically if it’s more of a high up place, or on an edge where he can’t touch the ground.  

PERSONAL SPACE: [Do they like to maintain a personal bubble, or does it bother them when people get in their personal space? Do they tend to be respectful of others’ personal space?]

Szayel tends to be very tactile.  He enjoys being touched and touching others if he likes them.  Of course he can’t touch everyone...but he tries to get into your space if he wishes to connect or is curious about you.  But those he doesn’t gel with, he can’t stand the touch of and works hard to stay away from. Again, because of his hollow hole, he often tends to offer himself in a *sensual* manner in a hope that he can stay close to someone that he enjoys being with or feels can offer him safety. And if someone he likes reciprocates touch or willingly enters his personal space, it just makes him even more likely to not really maintain his boundaries.  This can be for the better or for worse.  After all, not everyone is altruistic when trying to get close to others. This is especially true of Szayel.

SPACIAL AWARENESS: [Are they good at noticing what’s around their physical space? Or do they tend to be clumsy and bump into things?]

Szayel is deeply graceful, and easily navigates the areas around him with ease.  Any bumping or touching that happens…is likely on purpose.  Though sometimes he can be a bit clumsy if he’s in shock, but I think that probably applies to anyone really.  Really, its just part of being a showman. Choreography isn’t impressive without polish, and so he takes great pains to move beautifully through the world.

OTHER: [Optional - anything not covered by the above.] Szayel will often move his body in ways that will appear odd to people, given that he experiences phantom limb sensations when in his sealed form.  This is true about every form he’s ever had.  Sometimes he forgets that he doesn’t have wings all the time, or that he no longer has a tail.  Its one of many reasons that while he loves the power of being an arrancar…he rather mourns being a hollow who isn’t fully human in appearance.

And HERE  Enjoy more of my fave gifs of this beautiful trash goblin.

Have some hair flips

There we are.  Szayel gif spam.  <3

[lewdestconcubine]

The Szayel Compendium (Part 1 - Physical Appearance)

FULL NAME Szayelaporro Granz

PREFERRED NAME/NICKNAME Szayel as a nickname at most times.  The Octava works too in formal situations.

APPEARANCE. Because he’s the pink gremlin who lives in my head, I constantly forget how attractive he is.

 He looks so sweet and helpful (They always use this pose for him in BBS)

FACECLAIM: [Do you have a faceclaim for your character?] We already know what he looks like. Szayel is obsessed with what he looks like.  Gods I have the most vain muses ever.

SEX: [Is their anatomy male, female, or other? Was this always the case?] (Before anyone gets upset—gender identity is talked about in a different post.  This day is just talking about his physical body rather than his identities.) He’s phenotypically ‘male’ for the most part in his unreleased form, but as a hollow soul that is by its very nature compound, he’s a mix of male and female hollows, with a great deal more female hollows within him than male.  In his released forms it gets complicated, however, and there are universes and situations where he has auxiliary organs that function as male and female reproductive organs, and some where he literally has both sets of reproductive organs and not just the ability to do certain things in spirit.  I’ll describe certain parts of this later in this post, that are based on canonical and supplementary materials.  

His plus/human self is AMAB, without any ambiguity that would suggest being intersex, and no coercive or voluntary surgeries were ever done in his human life.  Szayel’s hollow forms likewise are difficult to explain that way, but the arrancar have never been placed on a binary interpretation for phenotypes of apparent sex.  He’s just Szayel, and it’s not really relevant as he’s not human.  The one thing we do know is that he does have a penis, lol, regardless of anything else he might have but Kubo hasn’t told us.  :)

HEIGHT: [how tall/short are they?] Szayel is 6’1’’

WEIGHT: [how heavy/light are they?] He’s roughly 147 lbs…though it will fluctuate to as low as 140 when he’s researching and not paying attention to whether he’s hungry or not.  

BUILD: [Thin? Fat? Bulky? Muscular? Toned? etc] He’s very thin and light-boned, but he’s not devoid of muscle.  Instead, he has a lean look to him, more like a male catwalk model.  He tends to look a bit fragile, though this is not exactly true. He’s just like any other arrancar in that department, having superhuman strength, agility, and energy.

HAIR: [describe their hair, is it long or short? Soft or course? Do they style it a certain way? Do they dye it?] His hair is longish for a man, brushing his shoulders, but it’s pink and very soft.  Mostly he just styles it in the parts he puts in and uses a very light hold mousse to keep it in place.  As a human though, I HC that his hair was red.

SKIN: [What colour is their skin? Is it rough or smooth? Is it soft or hard?] His skin is relatively pale, with a bit of a cooler neutral cast.  In release, he has his estigma which go over his eye, and color his lips.  But, he *does* also have some extra colors below the belt in release too.  

But one of the more interesting HC’s I have about his skin deals with his hierro.  Szayel’s hierro works as a non-Newtonian fluid.  If you strike it with a hard force, it hardens in return.  But if you touch him gently, it’s very soft and pliable.  Hence the very long, slow, soft way that Mayuri impaled him…was essentially the only way to do it.  He’s a fighter who dies with a lover’s touch, which suits him well.

EYES: [What colour are their eyes? Do they have a distinctive sparkle or do they look kind of dull and tired? Long or short eyelashes? Eye bags? Wrinkles? Hooded lids?] He has golden, somewhat amber eyes, much like you see in wildtype hollows.  It seems to be rare for those evolved into Arrancar, so I’ve always HC’d that because he wasn’t formed with the hougyoku, his feralness ended up dictating his final color, rather than fully reverting back to how he looked as a plus.  His eyes are deeply expressive, and its easy to see how he feels.  They sparkle with joy, flash with anger, and dull with regret.  He wears mascara to darken his already somewhat long lashes, and wears just a barest bit of makeup to enhance rather than cover, though there are times that he enjoys putting on a full face of makeup. I HC that when he was human/a plus, his eyes were actually green.

MOUTH: [Big mouth or small? Plump lips or thin lips? Perfect white teeth or crooked, gappy ones?] His mouth is on the larger side, but his lips are rather thin compared to it.  He has perfect white teeth that are actually quite sharp.  His tongue is long and somewhat prehensile, though not quite as much as most animals formed that way.

NOSE: [Big or little? Pointy or bulbous? Huge, cavernous nostrils or teeny little ones?]                                                                                           His nose is relatively unobtrusive.  The lines are sharp, but the tip and nostril are softly rounded.  Nothing very notable, just proportionate to his face, maybe just slightly long…though that may just be the sharpness that gives it that illusion from certain angles/in certain lights.

HANDS: [Big or small? Manicured fingernails? Claws? Wrinkles? Visible veins? Bony knuckles? Or smooth skin and soft features?] His hands are very long and thin.  The fingernails are meticulously manicured, buffed, and varnished in mostly soft nude colors.  But he wears gloves the majority of the time, so you do not see them unless he removes them in your presence.

FEET: [Big or small? Bony or plump? Trimmed toenails? Claws?] They are similar in character to his hands given that they have a long, thin look to them, but they don’t come across as ‘big’.  He’s relatively tall, so he needs feet that would support that.  He’s a US men’s 10.5.  Something always sold in stores and ‘average’, but in the larger end of it.  

SCARS: [Any visible scars?] No.  Given that his body, especially in release is based on the concepts of growth, birth, and regeneration…he generally heals all wounds very fast, and scar tissues don’t tend to form.  And those that do tend to be cannibalized by his metabolism, as it’s essentially extra protein and not a lean tissue. 

CLOTHES: [What is their clothing style?] What isn’t his clothing style.  

He prefers things that are light in color.  He likes clothing pieces that have long lines that accentuate just how lanky his body is. Sometimes he prefers an ultra-modern, minimalist and sharp aesthetic, like you see in his lab coats.  But he really likes things that evoke the delicate and intricate nature of his release form/dress.  In his free time, he enjoys wearing many kinds of outfits.  He dislikes current masculine styles (finds it way too boring/difficult for self-expression, though there are some houses of design that he does love that are flamboyant)..so you’ll see him dressing androgynously most of the time.  But as a rule, he prefers the intricacies of men’s clothing found before the 1900’s and women’s clothing after it.  

OTHER PHYSICAL FEATURES: [Optional for non-human characters, or human characters with uncommon features] Well, clearly Szayel is a hollow.  So, one of the most asked questions is ‘where it his hole?’  LMAO. His hollow hole, as per official media, is through is glans.  (And honestly, I think that the last name of Granz is a pun on this given how Japanese is pronounced with a flap phoneme that makes l’s/r’s appear to switch to an native English speaker.)  It runs front to back, the same way that it would with an apadravya piercing and is just big enough to fit an average fingertip through, though it can stretch a bit.

For him, it’s incredibly sensitive to touch…but ironically not in a sexual way.  Instead, you’re more likely to put him into more of a trance/relaxed state, given the nature of how a hollow hole is formed.  It gives deep bliss in his heart, a feeling of connection and feeling self-worth outside of simple self-objectification and being competent at sexual gratification.

OTHER NOTEABLE FEATURES: [Optional - anything you need to mention that isn’t covered by the above.] Well…given that he’s an Arrancar, his body changes in release.  He has a pair of wings that can synthesize both medicines and poisons in the sacs that hang from them.  He can create tentacles that have the ability to inject his DNA into a host, and he has tentacles that can intake genetic material, making him functionally hermaphroditic essentially.  And this idea even bears out in some of the official concept art, where one of Szayel’s releases conceptualized him as a succubus.  (Yes you read that right a succubus—he actually had a tentacle that essentially doubled as a vagina, and you can see how the idea was used in how he creates his dolls from sucking the host into it, creating the doll, and spitting it back out.)

I also really liked his CFYOW form, as it tied together his manga release form with the idea of him being the ‘phoenix’.  I love his clawed bird feet and feathers and his ‘tail’ (Kubo…thank you for sneaking that past the censors--I mean LOOK).  And from what I’ve read, the glowing pattern on his lower abdomen is in the shape of a uterus so if he’s got that as well as his uhhh ‘tail’, he’s still hinted at being hermaphroditic as Kubo seems to be fond of this idea for him—and I’m 100% in agreement based on how I’ve had the intuitions of the muse myself.   I also kind of like the idea that his tongue is technically prehensile that’s hinted at in some of the concept art.  

IDK…he has so many cool features.  I could go on forever.  

[lewdestconcubine]

The Szayel Compendium (Part 5 - Personal Attributes)

PERSONAL.   (hoo...boy)

INTROVERT/EXTROVERT?: [Is your character one of these? How does that manifest in their life?] Szayel is most certainly an extrovert. In MBTI, he’s very much an ENTP. He processes his thoughts far more easily when speaking aloud.  He’s far more energized by being around others than recharging in solitude. He’s actively interested in making friends, though not on a deep level in many cases, and seeks others out.  He loves getting attention from people and will mirror their enthusiasm back at them.

OPTIMIST/PESSIMIST: [Which of these are they? Or are they in between?] He’s essentially an optimist who’s been forced to live as a realist.  Szayel loves to dream big, and experiences so much joy when it comes to learning and exploring and meeting new people.  But unfortunately, not everything in life is sunshine and roses, and Hueco Mundo isn’t exactly a forgiving place full of kind and altruistic people.  So, much of his optimism is tempered by the fact that he’s lived through a lot of pain, a lot of betrayal, and learned many harsh truths in simply trying to survive.  His mental health is fragile in the best of times, but he can easily become paranoid and delusional when things he’d hoped for are either fake or blow up in his face.

GENDER: [What is the character’s gender, if any? Do they feel that their gender matches their anatomy?] Male, but complicated.  His plus soul came from a time when it was more acceptable for upper-class men to have varied interests in things now deemed ‘girly’, though even then he was perceived as rather ‘soft’ for a man.  It’s always been true that if you have money, people care far less about your identity and desires, especially when not flaunted openly and even more so if you pay people to look the other way.

If he were born today, he’d likely identify as nonbinary, (pan)genderfluid.  And well, Szayel is unique in a variety of ways...so he kind of can flex his anatomy’s presentation in different forms to ‘match’ what he’d prefer to have augment his gender identity or simply satisfy his whims.  

Reminds me of this post on bleachvines

Szayelaporro: I think I might be genderqueer. Nnoitra: Okay, but you still have a guy’s body. Szayelaporro: You’re right, we should probably bury this dead guy instead of talking about gender. Nnoitra: I’ll get the shovels.

Honestly, as a hollow, he just doesn’t much think about his gender.  His body is what it is and his mind is what it is.  Other arrancar don’t really hassle him over it either.

SEXUALITY: [What type of person do they feel sexual attraction for, if any? Do they have a preference for one sex/gender in particular? Do they prefer their own race/species, or another? Is their any type of person they absolutely would NOT want to get into bed with? Or do they have no preference?] Szayel is pansexual, though he does skew male in preference.  But the reason why he skews toward being attracted more often to men, is because the personality types that he likes are generally more common in men, regardless of whether that’s due to nature or nurture.  He doesn’t really have a physical type, hence why I tend to give the pan label. But he prefers someone with a bit more structure to their personalities, as he often relies on a partner for his own stability.   His ideal mate is dominant but not domineering. And very, very, very open to kink.

He's shipped with literally every single kind of character really.  Shinigami, hollow, human, fullbringer, quincy, male, female, etc. Really, if Szayel can make a connection to you…he’s probably interested in a tryst, even if for just tonight and not for life.  And he honestly is a very, very enjoyable ‘friend with benefits’ and can easily stay in that space if you tell him that more isn’t going to happen, or that you’re just not in the right place to go any further than just sex.  And he’d probably have sex with anyone just for the experience of it.  The question of who he ‘would never sleep with’ isn’t really applicable because his approach to sex is just not really how most people do it.  And well...you can see how this weird ambivalence and yet tightly held convictions he has about connection and sex manifest in having his hollow hole through his glans.

Szayel tends to appreciate people for what they are.  As a scientist, observation is a skill he has that is honed to a sharp point.  He doesn’t tend to get swept away in the idea of someone...at least not anymore.

ROMANTIC: [Are they inclined towards romance? Do they enjoy lots of romance, a little, or do they prefer no romance at all? Do they see themselves married with kids one day, or would they prefer to be alone?] Szayel is demiromantic (pan).  He doesn’t tend to connect with someone on a romantic level or even think about it unless he’s already friends with them.  And he doesn’t tend to even consider attaching his heart to someone if he hasn’t had sex with them.  There have been some exceptions in the 8 years I’ve had him, where he’s waited to have sex with someone...but I can count those on 2 fingers, it was carefully navigated to keep him from defaulting to his fearful, tense basic state that fears abandonment and disappointment.  After all, you can easily grow fond of someone over time, so long as you’re compatible personalities and are willing to take time.  But physical chemistry can’t be faked.  And that’s not something he’s really willing to risk.  

He does love romance though once he gets it.  He loves children and he loves the idea of being married to someone who will love him for the rest of his life.  In fact he views children as born scientists, and loves nurturing that sentiment, and will throw down against someone who’d constrain a questioning mind.  And oh my god does he love weddings.  I never really expected him to be my muse who’s in love with love…but welp, here we are. But, I should have known.  What has more grandiose gestures and beautiful trappings than the ‘idea’ of romance?  What is more dramatic than pledging to love someone forever?  What is more primal and make you feel more alive than the concept having sex to create life? What is more transformative than becoming one with your other half?

Ugh…he drives me up the wall sometimes.  Though in some facets, even if he’s very over the top...he’s got a point.  And because his reactions and feelings can be so extreme, I kind of have to admire just how brave he is with his heart sometimes, even if he is guarded in his own way.

MEMORY: [Do they have a good memory? Or are they forgetful? Are they good at remembering certain things and not others?] Szayel has a reasonably good memory, and he has ways to store memories he doesn’t want to lose, and he can share his memories with others as well, provided he feels close enough to them to go through the process.  He’s also able to gain some memories and information from other people—if he eats their brain.  XD  There are some memories he wishes that he could remove, but he knows that without the pain, he’d simply just make the same mistakes again and again.  But as to be expected of a theoretical scientist…he has a mind for facts and figures but doesn’t always remember mundane things. So his fracciones tend to try and remind him to do self-care things, and his fracciones that are more domestically oriented in ability tend to do most chores for him.

PLANNING: [Are they good at planning? Do they spend a lot of time planning or do they tend to leap right into things?] Szayel tries his best to plan for things, but its more or less that he relies heavily on reconnaissance and if he encounters someone new, especially if they’re an opponent, he tends to watch and observe in the background before attempting to step forward and confront someone.  But once he’s in the heat of battle, he’s able to improvise, as he’s very flexible minded.  When it comes to his personal life, similarly, does a mix, not wanting to force himself towards people and be rejected…but sometimes just jumps with both feet right in.

PENSIVE: [Do they spend a lot of time thinking over their actions, their life, their problems, etc?] Sometimes.  Szayel tries to be free-spirited and as baggage free as he possibly can.  But he’s lived through a lot of trauma and he’s had a lot of experiences that are rather hard to actually make sense of, especially across the different types of souls he’s been.  His memories of being every level of hollow are very interesting to go through, tbh.

INTUITION: [Are they good at making the right decisions, or at figuring things out from minimal clues?] He is very intuitive, but sometimes, he’s not critical enough to better pull the intuitions apart if he’s being very prideful.  He has reason to be proud of his mind—he’s very smart and also very able to read his environment, otherwise he’d have died a long fucking time ago.  But yeah…he has ego problems sometimes.   Oof.  It may be cliché, but his own worst enemy is definitely himself.

PROBLEM SOLVING: [Are they good at dealing with puzzles and problems?] Yes, Szayel loves to pick apart puzzles and solve complicated problems.  He’s a scientist after all.  He employs the scientific method and doesn’t mind too much if certain parts of his worldview must change to suit the findings of his research.  But, he can get a little funny about believing someone else’s research.  He’s kinda paranoid.  Which as the Madness Espada?  Valid.

GOALS: [What is their main goal in life? Do they have any short-term goals?] His main goal in life was to become immortal…and well…its hard to say exactly how that turned out.  Short term goals tend to be verse dependent on what muses he’s working with.

INSECURITIES: [Is there anything they are insecure about? Do they hide their insecurities well? Do they affect the way they live their life?] Szayel always has insecurities surrounding his desirability.  He holds himself up as a prize, but often will pretend to be uninterested in people who would tell him no.  He’s terrified of truly losing his mind, and he’s also terrified of being alone.  Sometimes he can hide these things, sometimes he’s too much of a mess to cover anything. He will rip himself apart in ways that really hurt sometimes.  I’m not sure whether he or my Shutara muse can reach a deeper bleakness when rendering themselves unworthy.

ACHIEVEMENTS: [Anything they’re especially proud of?] His Gabriel ability.  I mean it’s what singlehandedly restored his Espada status after being Privaron.  Anything that he’s been able to create himself.  Szayel doesn’t really hide pride in his work when he feels it.

ANXIETY: [What, if anything, causes the character to feel anxiety?] Sleeping alone.  Being truly left alone in general.  Feeling like he’s losing his mind.  Watching plans fall through.  Not knowing how to move forward or protect himself.

OVERWHELMED: [Do they ever feel like things are just too much?] Szayel really has two faces.  He’s able to handle large amounts of stress and do many incredible tasks…but sometimes he will just experience a mental breakdown when he’s stressed out or knows that things will not go well.  He’s very good at hiding things…until all of the sudden he shatters and spectacularly so.

SELF-HELP: [How do they deal with their life problems?] When unhealthy?  Repression.  Vices. Rumination.  When he’s in a more healthy mindset? Seeking love, affection, and support in the people around him…even if he’s rarely sure in the beginning if these things are actually real.  Reading psychological research or whatever might help in dealing.  If there’s a physical solution he can do, then he’ll build/develop the prototype and whatnot.

COMFORTS: [What helps the character to feel comfortable and happy?] Szayel loves things like weighted blankets. He likes things that are soft that he can curl up in.  He likes to be held.  He loves to be doted on and given huge amounts of attention.  He likes rereading old books, rewatching favorite films, revisiting his subjective past, as it’s a portal to when he was ‘okay’ and ‘not in pain.’

As far as more abstract things, Szayel is comfortable in place where he has agency over himself and his environment, can allow his creativity to thrive, and isn’t forced to conform in great detail.  He enjoys group affiliation, but only when he’s given a lot of latitude to be himself. Being remembered and being asked for help mean a great deal to him.  He prefers also being in a non-judgmental space where the only pressure on him is what he puts on himself.  

BAD HABITS: [Do they have any bad habits?] Pffft.   He has many given that he’s attention seeking.  He’s fond of smoking and drinking.  He’s overly resistant to ideas from people he doesn’t know, and lenient toward those who flatter him.  He will treat himself like a tool rather than a person if it will make his life easier.  He obsesses over people.  He obsesses over ideas.  I mean I could go on, but a lot of them have shown up, or will show up in other questions.

PHILOSOPHY: [Do they have any religious or philosophical beliefs? What are they?] Szayel is an alchemist, which alchemy has always blended the supernatural and the scientific.  The mundane goal of alchemy was to make lead into gold…but as a philosophy this was metaphorical.  The soul was leaden, and through the accumulation of knowledge, mysticism, and magic you could reach true self-actualization be immortal at the level of the soul.  Hence why I very much understand why Szayel as a character was obsessed with immortality and cheating death, even though he was, for all intents and purposes, a hollow and thus already dead.  

I place a lot of my Szayel’s belief systems on the scientific and pseudoscientific practices that were popular amongst learned ‘gentleman scholars’ around the Victorian era, especially in many places in Europe.  The ideas of vitalism, animal magnetism (look the word up, it’s not what you think), astrology, sexual magic, occult figures in general, and syncretism are all bound up in the symbols associated with Szayel (phoenixes, Jesus, impregnation, cyclical existence, soul purification, unfettered growth, self-actualization to name a few).

I’ve had several people tell me I’m full of shit for these HC’s…and then we got Burn the Witch, which takes place in the UK and references some of the same schools of thought.  So no.  Kubo has studied occultism in great detail, and you can’t really dissuade me from that in the slightest.  It fits together too well, even though he’s certainly taken many liberties and there are some inconsistencies, but I mean…he wrote a serialized manga for over a decade.  The day that you can do the same, writing/drawing hundreds of chapters and living life absolutely perfectly, with zero changes to enhance characters or storylines or having narrative voice change as you yourself mature—I’ll listen to you.  Everyone else, while criticisms are valid, and critique and analysis are lifegiving within a fandom, continually complaining about things that you won’t get off your ass and do better yourself…can fucking get bent.

TRIGGERS: [Do they have any triggers?] Sleeping alone.  Certain impact play tools.  There’s probably more, but nothing that jumps out as a ‘trigger’ in the sense its usually meant.  There’s plenty of stuff he’s not fond of, though.  His dislikes are often as intense as his likes.

[lewdestconcubine]

The Szayel Compendium (Part 4 - Health)

HEALTH:

DIET: [What do they like to eat? Do they have a healthy, well-balanced diet? Do they eat a lot of junk food? Or do they sometimes forget to eat?] Well…Szayel is a hollow…so much of his diet…is other hollows.  He also receives a non-trivial amount of energy from living in Hueco Mundo and being able to absorb energy from the land.  And then, he very much likes ‘people food’.  From the days where Barragan held court, and when Aizen took over, he quite loved that more human foods were widely available.  He enjoys cooking.  But of course, he’s always hungry, even still.  

And well...we all remember this iconic scene...

SLEEP: [Do they sleep a lot? Or not a lot? Do they go to bed late, or do they sleep early and get up early? Are they prone to nightmares or strange dreams?] Szayel is kinda like a light bulb.  He’s either switched on or not.  He will literally collapse in bed and be sleeping instantaneously…and then 5-6 hours later he wakes up excited, energetic, and ready to go.  And he tends to wake with what dawn would be if he didn’t live in HM.  

Szayel however does refuse to sleep alone.  When he sleeps alone, he tends to have recurring dreams about traumatic experiences across his lifetimes human and hollow.  So…he’d rather stay awake, relying on drugs of his own concoction, rather than sleep alone.  I’m sure that many people would let him crash next to them if he told them that he needed it…but he doesn’t believe anyone cares, so he tends to offer *himself* in return for a bed with a good night’s sleep, and often will put up with a great deal of things he doesn’t much care for sexually in return for a safe place to rest that’s free of nightmares.

EXERCISE: [Do they work out a lot? Too much, not enough, or just right?] Szayel doesn’t work out ever.  I mean…perhaps he’s still somewhat toned from the physical dexterity and athleticism needed to successfully hunt? But in general, he doesn’t feel the need to and he doesn’t tend towards being overweight—quite the opposite, but more because as a scientific researcher, sometimes he just forgets to eat. After all, since he’s already hollow…he’s always hungry…so what’s the difference?

ACTIVITY: [Do they tend to work hard and exhaust themselves? Or are they pretty lazy? Or somewhere in between?] Szayel works smart and not hard.  Of course, if something does need hard work with no other option, he’ll roll up his sleeves and do what needs to be done. But in general, he feels that the mark of an agile mind is the ability to find shortcuts that shorten the journey without losing accuracy.  He’d rather not be super tired from too much work, as then he can’t think as clearly when brainstorming for new projects.

CLEANLINESS: [Do they bathe regularly? Are they meticulous about washing?] Szayel is a meticulous bather.  Given that he works in a laboratory, he doesn’t wish anything inside of it to get out, be it substance or living thing. And, he very much takes care of his looks and his feel, so skincare and haircare are things he takes very seriously for both aesthetics and sharing sensuality.

ODOUR: [Do they have any particular body odour (good or bad)?] No, Szayel has no apocrine sweat glands as a hollow.  But he does wear a few different perfumes/essential oils, so he most definitely has a scent.

MEDICINAL DRUGS: [Any medicinal drugs taken?] Not unless he needs it.   Like a painkiller for a headache or whatnot.

NARCOTICS: [Any recreational drugs taken?] Szayel will do literally any drug ever. He makes plenty of recreational ones. He enjoys drugs that enhance sensations or feelings (think party drugs like Molly).  He enjoys drugs that induce ‘journeys’ (stuff like shrooms).  He loves body highs…so indica strains of cannabis are a favorite, though he doesn’t well tolerate sativa varieties as they make him very mentally unstable/paranoid.  

ADDICTIONS: [Any physical addictions?] It really depends on what he’s around. Sometimes in verses he can veer into sex addiction.  In others, he will seek out opioids similar to the drugs available when he was human. Sometimes he drinks too much.  It all depends on context.

ILLNESS: [Any physical ailments?] Nope!  Szayel is physically rather healthy.  His afflictions are mental.  :’-)

INJURIES: [Any injuries that never completely healed, and still cause trouble?] No, not unless its an AU.

PARASITES: [Do they have fleas or any other parasites?] He does not!

OTHER: [Optional - anything not covered by the above.] Not that I know of, but I’ll certainly take questions.