Oblivion

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

As the initial shock of his statement wore off, his first 'precept', the one hanging just behind the sensei made her think back. Instead of anger, or a similar emotion Yue had expected to feel, she only felt an unfamiliar feeling of... confusion. Her frown deepened. She was liking this class less and less. And his latest declaration did not make sense either, not the her riddled brain, not to the girl who'd spent close to 200 years grappling with men far older than her for just a piece of bread. For a fleeting moment, Yue opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it again, choosing not to make her presence - and opposing opinion - known.

"But Sensei, how can we 'not strike at contradictions', when everyone is entitled to an opinion? Remaining silent also carries serious consequences!" Before she knew it, the sound of her own voice rang across the room, much to her own surprise. Not even a moment later, she felt the overwhelming urge to look down at the floor, but, despite her slight fear of the man, wanted to see Akimoto-sensei's reaction to her statement. It was a disorderly thing to do, to interrupt a person during their lecture, but the words had just slipped past her lips without her even thinking of it.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

'Right.' Absentmindedly, Yue pinpointed the boy that had spoken as she felt another wave of confusion and slight dismay at Akimoto-sensei's words. She had already made out several Nobles among the kneeling students, and even his own shihan were from her House! They made no emotion visible, but a man seated next to her whose wedding she'd recently attended, huffed. She recognized him as some high-ranking member of the Ichigawa House, but that detail quickly left her mind as she turned back to Akimoto-sensei. Having none of the pride Nobles had, that particular example didn't sting her but it made her wonder why her 'father' recommended him so highly.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Far out at the back, the shock that Akimoto-sensei's statement had caused barely registered within Yue, let alone the angry responses, for she herself only managed to give the man a blank stare. How could the Gotei 13, an organization she'd looked up to and revered most of her life, be 'full of power-hungry individuals'? Anybody else, and she'd have scoffed at them, dismissing that statement as an outcome of their mediocre minds but with Akimoto-sensei, Yue highly doubted that. Hell, that man himself was a Gotei 13 Captain! Her brow furrowed in a slight but barely noticeable frown, as she mulled over his statement. Yet, it did nothing to crumble her resolve to join the honorable Gotei 13.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

The first thing one noted when entering the dojo was that the inside was remarkably different from its grand exterior. What that difference was, the young noble couldn't tell as her attention quickly jumped to the hoard of students entering a room she vaguely supposed was the classroom, her classroom. A bolt of fear ran through the young girl and her head snapped towards the young man escorting her.

"Tanaka-san, didn't you say that there wouldn't be any people?" She inquired and dug her heels into the ground, in a successful attempt to prevent him from actually pulling her there, which he tried to do. It was not behaviour expected of two nobles, but as there wasn't anyone around, the man didn't see any reason not to. The 'heiress', after all, wasn't the most compliant of people and even then, he held little to no familial feelings for the girl, despite her having been adopted only a few years ago.

"I said there weren't many people, not that there aren't. Isao-sama insists you attend Akimoto-sensei's class. It is for your own good."

Minutes later, she now kneeled at the back of the class. From her vantage point, she could see the last of the students filing in, one by one, remarkably disciplined compared to the mild commotion outside the gates and in the entry hall. As her eyes strayed back to the teacher, she already felt respect for this man. The only similar kind of discipline she'd encountered was in her own family's dojo, even among the rowdiest men and fiercest fighters. The last of the students settled down, and Yue suddenly felt a deep feeling of uneasiness settle within her. Isao had assured her she wouldn't be among people but here she was, in one of the best dojo's in Seireitei, among a hoard of students, old and young.

6 AM . . . Yesterday

Her day was decidedly getting worse and worse.

Evanna came upon this glorious conclusion as she hurtled through the darkness, the slight raising of her eyebrows being the only sign that something out of the ordinary was happening to her. Truthfully, she was close to panicking and flailing her limbs in an attempt to rid herself of this engulfing darkness. She didn't like this unknown, vast space one bit, and was starting to regret unlocking her bedroom door with that blasted key. Speaking of keys, where was that strange man she'd 'bought'?

Just as she started to turn her head and scan the vast darkness for the tribal man, Evanna momentarily spaced out. Colors, sounds and sensations flew past her in an inexplicable rush, one that made her heart race with a mix of anticipation and fear. The unknown had always been something Evanna didn't appreciate but as she slowly sat up and gripped the side of her head, she decided that it was getting more and more unpleasant every time. She'd learnt at a young age that certain things tended to work in her favor when she knew what she was dealing with, and not when something entirely new was tossed at her. And this time, she was the one who had been hurled into a completely new environment.

A very faint amount of irritation rising within her but it was there, slowly building as she shakily got up off the grassy ground and shook leaves out of her hair. Her fingers absentmindedly ran themselves through her hair out of simple habit and it was only after a few long moments that she noticed it wasn't her usual hair. The bizarre scenery was the only thing that had had her attention in the beginning - was everything conveniently the same shade of a color or was it just coincidence? It seemed like an entire world's worth of green-hued rain-forest had been dumped here and now as a large amount of strange plants sprouted from every part of the architecture, Evanna could not help the astounded expression that took its place on her face.

"What is this place?" She spoke, her eyes widening by a fraction of an inch. Conquering nature had been the last thing she'd have expected from an MMO; had she known, Evanna would've reconsidered it. It was only then that her eyes went down to the stark white strands running through her hands, gradually turning a shade of hot-pink. It was the sharp contrast between the pink and the constant green of their surroundings that made Evanna aware of her hair's strange shade. "My hair... look at it! Bianco!" Why did her hair end up as such a garish shade of pink? As Evanna bent down to pick up her fallen phone, she was careful to not tilt the screen entirely towards her face. Knowing her luck, she probably had yellow snake eyes by now.

Even now, the unfamiliar surroundings unnerved her enough to look up from her phone's slightly cracked screen and back towards the endless expanse of green. "Is this the place to start the game? I don't see any anything to kill..." Evanna had already scanned the area for any live or moving structures and as much as she could make out, there was none. It was only then that she turned towards the man that had materialized before her. His red face-paint was even brighter in person, Evanna decided.

But before he could even answer, a deep voice made her whirl around towards the direction it was coming from. As her eyes fell upon a turbaned bird, Evanna was this close to declaring herself as insane. She remained quiet for several long seconds her face blank. Seeing as how she barely had any idea on how to react, Evanna slipped into her customary friendly demeanor and offered the bird a large smile. If this bird could guide her into starting this game properly, she figured her best behavior was the only option. Even as she spoke, the bare-bones of a plan of action was already forming in her mind. "You see, we're new players - I think. I don't think we're supposed to be here... it's looks slightly wrong. Do you mind helping us out of here?"

6 AM . . . Yesterday

It was strange watching the man leave the frame for the second time, as if the plane he was in extended past the boundaries of her laptop's screen. As soon as he was out of sight, Evanna's friendly expression disappeared and she listened to the commotion beyond the screen with a faint frown. Initially, she had been pleased at having someone to commandeer in her quest for victory; the man seemed like a perfect person to hide behind and order around - if only he kept his head on straight. Evanna found herself continuously exasperated at his carefree attitude and it showed on her face, the frown highlighting her entire displeasure at the situation. She was no expert on people and their personalities but how could this man be of any use if he acted like life was one big game? Granted, she had been the one to ask him to get the bear cub again but the sounds of an gun being fired weren't exactly comforting.

Though she never admitted it out loud, it was in these circumstances than Evanna worked at her best. Her mind was already working at an alarming pace, though at this moment, it wasn't doing any favors for her. Solution after solution was discounted, until she arrived to a rather extreme result that was undoubtedly necessary. There was no knowing when the man would come back and, as gunshots were still being fired, Evanna placed the laptop back onto the floor. She scrambled up and reached towards her bed, where her phone still lay with the Key shop app open. Her fingers closed around the device and she made sure she was out of sight before hastily going through the rest of the store, making sure to observe the rest of the keys as much as she could in her limited span of time. Bear was due to come back at any moment and though he couldn't see what she was doing, offending the person that was supposed to be a vital piece in securing her victory wouldn't be a good thing. Unfortunately, the outward appearance of Keys didn't really give a clue towards the actual Key itself, much to her annoyance. Nevertheless, two Keys were better than one, never mind their sanity.

Evanna eventually settled onto another Key, this time a dull black color. Maybe its color gave a hint towards its owner, though Bear's copper Key did none of that. Perhaps the manifestation of the Key was dull as well, and dull was good at this point seeing as how dull people tended to be serious. With mere seconds left, Evanna tapped the 'Buy' key, her hands shaking slightly. She never was much of a religious person, but her desire to trump the competition made her pray fervently that this would work.

It didn't.

The error message that followed nearly made Evanna fling her phone across the room, but she knew better than that, even as a string of rather colorful words followed. The only sign of her irritation was the slight tightening of her hands around her phone before she tossed it back up onto the bed. Having heard Bear's voice again, Evanna went back towards the laptop and like clockwork, she automatically fixed a friendly smile onto her face. There was no need for him to know what she'd tried to do. Her eyes went towards the tiny bear cub but her excitement at the cub had all but dissipated by now. Nevertheless, she went along with it and poked at the screen again. "Aren't you a pretty little cub~"

As slightly dispirited she was, Evanna still found herself eager to enter the game and begin playing. It sounded interesting; was this some new 3D-type game? Though the circumstances surrounding it would be rather off-putting to a normal person, Evanna didn't mind. She heeded Bear's request and stood up, picking up the key on her way to the door and talking the entire way. "If this key breaks the lock of the door, you'll come out of there and fix it, yes? What does this even do? You don't really explain very well, amico mio."

The rest of her words caught in her throat as she pushed the key into the door's keyhole. She seriously doubted it could fit in there without breaking either the lock or the key but miraculously, it did. The hallway on the other side was empty throughout its entire length, her room being the only one on this floor. Yet she still tried to be quiet as she turned the key, cautiously watching for any strange effects or any unfavorable consequences, but what followed was something she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams...

6 AM . . . Yesterday

Congrats, Phones~

Also, posted. By the way, Tigre, your signature is mesmerizing. I think I've stared at it for two minutes now.

6 AM . . . Yesterday

Skip to 1:22

The moment her dead laptop whirred to life, Evanna looked up with hope in her eyes. Had all that button-pressing finally worked? She dropped her phone back on her bed and knelt next to her laptop, pushing the screen back a little bit further in order to inspect the damage. In place of the Windows 8 logo was a download bar, but Evanna couldn’t remember downloading anything new within the past week. Perhaps it was the system rebooting itself? Evanna wasn’t the smartest when it came to the mechanical and programming bits of a laptop; her specialty lay in using a laptop.

Nevertheless, she’d never seen it randomly boot up like that and when the screen turned a bright white color, she edged away from the laptop as if it was going to blow. She was so busy with her laptop and anticipating and explosion that she didn’t hear the strange sounds, not until she was looking straight at the face of some kind of… tribal guy? She edged away from the laptop, unsure of what she was supposed to do at this point. Should she get the man’s attention and demand an explanation or simply hurl the laptop out the window?

The better choice was obvious.

Evanna slowly stood up, careful not to startle him too much as he rambled on. Only half-listening, she kept a carefree smile on her face, one that urged him to go on and keep talking. All the while, she edged back towards the laptop, careful not to make any hasty movements and, sliding her fingers underneath the laptop, she slowly lifted the laptop and began to stand up. She was barely standing when the man pulled out a baby bear, and Evanna immediately stopped in her tracks. As a girl, she had drilled herself into softening at the sight of a cute animal and ‘awww’ing when appropriate, all a ploy to irritate her brothers. And though her brothers weren’t here, Evanna instinctively melted at the sight of the pretty little bear cub.

”Aww, aren’t you the cutest little thing!” She reached out with a finger and poked the screen, uncaring about the man holding the bear cub. After all, she was probably hallucination. This was most likely some advertisement engineered to hit a soft spot and get people to buy whatever they were advertising. But the advertisement never came, and Evanna watched with slightly widened eyes as the man—should she even call him that? He was as hyperactive as a four-year-old—continued talking.

He was a key? The key that way lying on the end of her bed?

Evanna opened her mouth to speak and tell him how ridiculous he was being—great, now she was talking to an inanimate screen—when she realized that she’d probably have to switch to English. The guy had spoken in English, after all, and last time she’d checked, Native Americans didn’t speak Italian. “Unpossible!” She retorted. “You cannot be dat key, you are in a computer and—why am I talking to a screen?!”

Moments later, his final words were translated and processed by Evanna’s strangely slow brain today. “A game? What game?” Suddenly, it became slightly clearer. She’d received an email inviting her to try a game, hadn’t she? That strange email at exactly 6 am. Had buying a key confirmed her attendance? Nevertheless, Evanna shrugged, keen to try something new. The game seemed promising, with limitless opportunities to exploit. And it this strange, tattooed man was going to be her ticket to victory, then so be it. She offered him an uncharacteristic smile, figuring it was better to get onto her key’s good side right away as she walked over to the bed and set the laptop down. She picked up the copper-ish key and held it up.

“You want me to open door with this? How do I do that?” She inquired, inspecting the teeth of the key. They didn’t seem like they’d fit in her room’s door, or any door in her house for that matter. She looked back up towards the key, taking in his strange appearance. “Are you from a—a traiiibe?” The word was unfamiliar to her, leading her to drag it out as she speculated upon her next words. Her smile grew wider, something someone close to her would tell you wasn’t a good thing. “If you make the baby bear appear again, I will open door for you.”

Sanctuary

A low rumble shook the uneven ground, dislodging several small pieces of rubble. While normally that would’ve gone unnoticed by the average person, it rang clear enough to startle the girl sleeping beneath a slab of granite. What had once been pavement became her temporary shelter, one that she realized she’d have to leave again in order to guarantee her safety. It didn’t help that the being that had resided within her for the past year decided to stir, making an uncomfortable throbbing sensation build in her head.

“Cool it, will you?” Noel grumbled. She stirred underneath the slab, irritated at the jagged piece of concrete digging into her side and the nagging presence of the Kage. He had succeeded in waking her up, however, as the vibrations slowly grew stronger every second. They were rhythmic, the kind that Noel had eventually identified as footsteps a week after the opening of the Void Gate. Footsteps were never good, in her experience; she knew that far too well to ignore. Scrambling up in a hurry, she stuffed whatever food she had left the night before into a miniature backpack and ran for it, legging it in the opposite direction of the footsteps.

Ruined buildings flashed past in a dizzying blur as Noel sped through the streets, her heart thudding so loud that it startled her for a second. The sensory enhancements were lifesaving most of the time but it had taken quite a while to get used to the sound of her own breathing and the amplified beating of her heart. From the way it was racing right now, Noel was surprised she hadn’t succumbed to a heart attack yet. Though as the way things currently stood, Noel would probably sense it before any symptoms made themselves clear.

The Kage in her head snorted at her logic. <Instead of contemplating on the state of your health, why don’t you pay attention to the shape-shifter currently following us?>

Noel turned her head in alarm, her eyes falling on the dark dog-shaped figure bounding after her around thirty meters away. Coupled with the hound’s tracking abilities, Noel knew she was in a tight spot. Its senses were probably equal to hers, making them evenly matched. “Oh shit, look at those fangs –” She had every reason to stare wide-eyed at the hound’s fangs, for they resembled daggers more than teeth. Her eyes were still fixated on its fangs when the Kage’s deep voice boomed across her already strained mind. <Watch where you’re going!> Noel’s head snapped back the right way, her eyes meeting the blank expanse of a wall. For a moment, she ran at it at breakneck speed, her mind slowly taking in that there was a wall in her path. A very solid wall. Solidity usually hurt. It dawned on her very slowly that collisions with walls weren’t a good thing, and that she wasn’t intangible. At the last moment, Noel turned left, the momentum nearly making her slide on the pavement and fall. Her shoulder painfully scraped the wall’s rough surface, momentarily distracting her from her mad dash away from the shape-shifter.

By now she had gone into autopilot and wove in and out through the ruins of Sovereign, almost by memory. The past year hadn’t been uneventful – Noel had explored nearly every part of the city that had piqued her interest long enough and was safe enough to venture into. They day she’d woken up after binding with her Kage, Noel had stood on the surviving edge of a building, surveying the decimated skyline. Unlike others’ fear and desperation upon seeing it fallen apart, Noel couldn’t have been any happier. Sovereign had become her own personal playground.

<I swear to Aeritus, you have the attention span of a goldfish.> The Kage ground out, tugging at her mind to get her attention. <Do you know where you’re going?>

”Not a clue.” Noel replied. She let her speed and momentum play their part as she leapt onto a section of a ruined building, propelling herself upwards. ”But he sure as hell can’t catch me up here.” Once she’d made it on top of the collapsed skyscraper’s side, Noel ran up the side and nearly slid off, the smooth glass don’t nothing to help her ascend. Luckily, the building was almost on its side and even as she reached the edge, Noel knew that if she jumped, the danger of breaking something or dying would be minimal. With that in mind, she leapt off the edge much like a skydiver would jump off a plane. The feeling of air rushing past her at an unfathomable speed was all too exciting and she felt the familiar thrill of her stunt days. It only lasted for a second or two, unfortunately, and Noel landed on the ground feet first. The shock that went up her legs wasn’t enough to startle her; jumping off hundreds of buildings like these had its advantages.

As the first sounds of voices filtered through her rather selective hearing, Noel set off at a brisk pace, stretching out her arms as she went. Snippets of conversation made their way to her, words such as ‘Hector’ and ‘hosts’. That alerted her enough to set her thinking at an alarming pace. She was homeless with very little food to last the day. That wasn’t the best situation, but Noel would be damned if she couldn’t see an opportunity when it presented itself. While inwardly scheming, a three-way fork presented itself as the street she was on branched off in three different directions

<Go right. The center is a dead end.> Her Kage instructed. The right-handed way looked much more run-down that the other two ways and Noel could see that the path in the center was indeed a dead end. But as she turned to head right, she felt a sinking feeling in her gut.

“No, not there, it doesn’t feel right…” She muttered, backtracking.

<Unlike you, I can orient myself. I’ve heard rumors about some group or the other setting up headquarters somewhere here and while you were reminiscing or whatever, I familiarized myself with the area. Go right! Move, will you – don’t you dare go left! Listen to me –>

By the time he’d uttered ‘don’t you dare’, Noel had made up her mind. She deliberately turned left, racing down the clear street. Footsteps and faint voices became clearer and in another act of deliberate defiance, she bolted directly towards them.

The human voices were now getting closer and Noel slowed to a brisk walk, straightening out her threadbare jacket and cargo pants. The guard at the entrance was the first to spot her and pointed his weapon at her head, readying himself to shoot. Noel didn’t understand why he’d felt the need to do that; she looked as harmless as any other young girl roaming around. Nevertheless, she held up her hands to shoulder-level, showing him that she was unarmed. It didn’t make him lower his weapon, even as Noel came close enough to speak.

Ignoring the flurry of sounds from the interior of the building, Noel offered him a carefree smile. “You’re rebels of some sort, aren’t you? I heard you were recruiting – well, eavesdropped would be right word but –”

The guard held up a hand, stopping her in her tracks. While she was talking, his expression had become more and more strained as he tried keeping up with her words. Another guard had approached him from behind, and he’d only worn a stony-faced expression the entire time. As soon as Noel stopped talking, he took the lead. “You’re not asking the questions – we are. In this case, you answered most of them before we even asked. I presume you have a Kage?”

“Mhm.” Noel hummed in agreement, bouncing on her heels as she surveyed the building’s exterior above their heads.

“Pay attention ma’am.” The first guard spoke and waited for her to look at them again. “You’re going to have to follow the rules and get checked. Hand over your possessions so that they can be screened.” He quietly watched the irritation pass over her face and snatched the small backpack that was tossed at him. A torrent of small objects thrown at him were also caught without trouble, though he could see that she was getting exasperated. As the second guard went through the routine screening checks with Noel, the first guard inspected the contents of the backpack. A half-full canister of water, a tiny roll of bread and a handkerchief. The rest of the objects were random things – a large feather, two beads and a keychain. Nothing potentially dangerous there, he decided, and stuffed the odd objects into the backpack before handing it back. He pointed to the hallway behind him and motioned to the stairway leading down to one side. “Go up down two floors and ask the guard there to lead you to the hosts’ rooms.”

Noel nodded absentmindedly and bounded in, running down the stairs two at a time. She adamantly ignored her Kage’s protests at her actions, knowing that he was just about questioning her sanity at this point. He knew that she didn’t like being restricted, so why did she just offer to join a mercenary group? That last question, though not aimed at her, made her answer. ”Because I want to break out of this damn city. See the world, see what I haven’t seen. I’m not going to rot in here and the rotting will only happen faster in the streets. This is my ticket out of here. Besides, I can always get out of here if it doesn't go my way.” Her Kage didn’t bother answering and retreated to the back of her mind as she approached the guard she’d been told to.

After explaining her situation, the man went through the program and what she was supposed to do, like get up at a specific time and stuff like that. Noel tuned him out at the fifth sentence and smiled at him when he finished. “Just put down your name and your Kage abilities there, and you’re good to go.” Noel’s eyes followed his to a sheet tacked to the wall with a string attached to a pen on the side. As she picked up the pen, a mischievous smile tugged at her lips. How would she describe the Kage’s abilities? After a moment of contemplation, she put down ’Human explosive’ next to her name, fighting the urge to laugh at her choice of words. It was followed by ’Abnormally sharp senses’, though the latter was considerably more normal than the former. Still laughing to herself, Noel followed the guard down more flights of stairs to the hosts’ rooms.

Upon entering the room designated to her, Noel flopped down onto the cot and placed her hands behind her head just as her Kage exploded. She casually crossed her ankles as she listened to him rant, her eyes following the random patterns she found in the ceiling. <Have you been planning this all along or are you just stupid? Do you even know what you’re doing?> Noel smiled at that. Her Kage already knew the answer, yet he still liked demanding answers from her. Still, she knew of something that would make him even madder,

”Y’know, sometimes you just gotta fly by the seat of your pants.”

Sanctuary

Will post soon, nearly done.