Gau Mephistoles

Noveno Espada

^{Master of Mirrors}

Appearance

Gau has the appearance of a middle-aged man with an utterly unassuming physique. He is of average height and of average build and has a receding hairline. He keeps his hair trimmed very short and usually sports a six o'clock shadow for a beard. Gau has heavy, dark and bushy eyebrows and deep-set, brown eyes. His nose is fairly large atop a broad mouth. His chin is quite chiseled and pronounced, the only remarkable feature about his face. His cheeks are gaunt, accentuating a square jawline. His Hollow Mask takes the shape of half a human skull, lying over the left half of his face. It misses the lower jaw entirely along with the teeth of the upper-jaw. Curiously, his left eye is human despite being covered by the mask's eye-socket. His Hollow-Hole goes through his heart.

His Arrancar uniform consists of a regular, white jumpers with a pair of white trousers; commonly given to the Número. He has made hardly any adjustment to his attire but frequently caries a small sling bag with him in which he stores his every-day trivialities, among other things. He can sometimes come across as aloof about his appearance and may at times seem a bit unwashed; the result of a carefree attitude towards his appearance.

Personality

Gau cultivates an approachable, amicable and open personality towards others. He is usually kind and helpful, easily likeable and wants to be liked as well. He likes his harmless façade because it keeps him out of trouble most of the time. He is a good conversation partner, knows a lot about many topics and is considered wise in his own regard. He adores irony, always seeking it out and ending his jokes on an ironic note. Behind this friendly mask lies a surprisingly cunning and manipulative spirit, one who likes to play tricks and get the better of both peers and opponents through deception. Although everyone could earnestly call Gau their friend, Gau has a peculiar interest in them in return. To him, people are curiosities to be observed and toyed with. He is genuinely interested in others, and will be jovial if only to further satiate his own curiosity, grow his social circle or gain allies.

He can be described as quite aloof in general and a slacker. Most of the time, this is because he doesn't deem a thing or situation as quite notable enough. At the same time, he always appears precisely in time and exactly where he needs too when it stands to gain Gau. 

Gau's penchant to play games (games he wins), extends to the way he fights. He uses trickery, mind-games and manipulation to delude, misdirect and ultimately snare and defeat his opponents. To him, fights are games and they can take a long time as he plots and schemes his enemy's end. Ultimate victory, to Gau, is an ironic defeat for his opponent. 

Biography

Gau is a relative new-comer to Hueco Mundo and Las Noches. When he arrived, he was already an Arrancar. He is therefore a natural Arrancar who, nevertheless, carries a Zanpakutou. Before his coming to Hueco Mundo he travelled the earth and, after his death, spent close to a millennium observing humans as a Hollow, not once attacking them or any Shinigami he happened upon. When one day he got bored with humans, he came to Hueco Mundo after spending some time in the Dangai.

From the onset, Gau flourished in the hostile environment of Hueco Mundo. No Hollow or Menos could hold a candle against Gau and he soon found his way to Las Noches. When told that he would need to break his mask and become an Arrancar, he promptly did so with his own hands. He also professed a wish to become an Espada, but would be satisfied with just the lowest number, Novena to avoid stepping on any toes. Unfortunately, that spot was taken at the time already. Despite suggestions that he became the Octo Espada instead, Gau challenged the Novena to a duel.

At first hesitant to accept, there was no requirement to take Gau up on the offer, the Novena Espada accepted. The battle lasted three hours. Most of those three hours consisted of the Novena Espada chasing after Gau, scoring hit after hit and seemingly winning. Then, in a single master stroke, Gau cut the Novena Espada down and walked away like nothing happened. No one who watched believed for one second that Gau wasn't in complete control of the fight the whole time.