Bleach Hereafter RPG

"Gomen gomen!" The shark was quick to excuse himself. "I just got a little too carried away in the whole explanation thing. I'll make up for it I promise! Didn't mean to upset you and put big bro in trouble."

Ryoga gave a nod. "I apologize, big sis. It was a slip up on my end as well. Lance is new here and slightly different from the others. Finding proper balance while hybridized takes a little bit and as I said some souls hold more sway over the others. With this I do not wish to skirt the blame, but rather acknowlege that I can do better."

Milo in the meantime was shuffling on the spot as per usual. He liked it more when they were all having fun.

"Can you give us another chance? I mean, I know we got off on the wrong foot but I don't want our reunion to linger on a bad note. Mistakes do happen, we learn from them and move on. Be better." Lance was looking incredibly mortified by the situation. He really really really didn't want to end up looking bad. He wanted to be helpful and be nice. He nodded to what Ryo said and bowed again. "I solemly swear on my life I will be not be making the same error again. You can punish me if you want to, but don't think ill of Ryo please. In the end it was my fault."

Ryoga would shake his head at his partner's attempt to immolate himself for him. "Lance, it's okay." The quincy stated, tapping the shark's shoulder. He looked towards Niji for a moment, then stepped in front of the shark so that they could see eye to eye with eachother. "As I said, it was a mistake on both of us. When I created you all and began fusing more regularly I accepted that there would be hiccups or problems from time to time and that I would share the good and the bad just like you share yourselves with me to make me stronger and help me grow. We learn and move on yes? You said so. So let's do better together yeah? Lux caused problems his first time too, so did Milo. Let's try to make up with Niji onee-san."

The redhead would make sure the shark would understand before returning his gaze toward Niji. "I know...it may come as a shock to you at this moment, but if you are going to reprimand either of us, I would like to merge with Lance again, if you would allow. I wish to become Lyn again, so that we may both atone for our misconduct." He asked, seriousness in his voice. "We will accept any punishment you deem appropriate and carry it out no matter what. However, I wish to do so together with Lance. Let us both earn your forgiveness. " lance echoed the thought with a nod.

Milo awkwardly shuffled about and observed Niji and her sensui on the ground. He hoped she had calmed down a bit and the fact that both Lance and Ryo were willing to work out their problems together would show her they were worthy of her continuous support. At the end of the day, she was always there to direct all of them, so this wouldn't be any different than her teaching lux to behave and be more humble by beating him at his own game or teaching him how to be more courageous. 

Niji sighed, clutching the bridge of her nose; ”It…” It wasn’t fine, but she might have been a bit rougher than she needed to be. The whole apology throwing themselves in front of each other was a bit much, it was not like she was going to set them on fire or something. In fact, she was very much aware that the mere fact that she was disappointed and upset because of actions his actions was going to eat at him, no matter what she did.  It was difficult to remain upset in the face of such determined regret, ”I do not appreciate my boundaries being crossed, but I may have overreacted. I have had an extremely difficult few weeks.”

She shook her head, letting out a very heavy sigh, ”I do not want to think about apologies, or atonement, or Yael. Some other time, maybe. If you could find him for me, it would be helpful, but I do not want to think about it right now. I just…”

The woman looked to the sky, ”I just want to be able to turn off my brain and relax.”  She looked back to Ryoga, a slight smirk on her face, she didn't want him to take that as a request for her to hybrid with something, ”Not literally, of course.”

Milo acrually got his hopes up, if for a moment, at Niji's words. Out of all of Ryoga's alter egos, the shy tiger was the one most close to the fullbringer. He shuffled closer, though making sure to remain thre whole steps away from Niji, given what had happened, and was about to say something before shuddering lightly and looking off into the distance, which got Lance and Ryoga to perk up. Both didnt feel anything, but knew to trust Milo's incredible heightened senses.

A figure emerged to their right from the shadows. It was taller than Ryoga but only just, from head to toe it was clad in jet black scales, a pelt so dark that almost looked like it was absorbing light. Serpentine features, large ears and an a long spiked tail. Put if the darkness, two glowing yellow eyes stared at the group.

Lance, surprisingly, actually showed to be submissive towards the new arrival. Ryoga too, to a degree. Milo being Milo straight up bowed in respect to the personification of Ryoga's sense of duty and honour.

"It has been a while, Niji-san. I apologize for...spoling the party so to speak." Runar spoke with his usual curt yet polite tone, before freezing Lance up with a glance. Much like previous encounters, the shadow dragon carried himself with a much more regal apporach to things compared to the others.

"You and I will have a nice little crash coruse on manners, young one. Especially when it comes to fusing with our host." He quickly interjected. There was no anger in his tone, but the way the line was delivered made it clear that the dragon would never accept a repeat of what had happened, apparently making it clear he had been observing the group. For a non hybridized sensui, Runar's exceptional control over his stealth abilities was impeccable. Much of the reason he commanded so much respect that not even Lux dared speak against him despite being the elder of the two.

"Admittedly, I wasn't aware you had decided to meet here. Now, before we go into the details of why I am here...there is a slightly more pressing matter that needs resolving. If you wouldn't mind, Ryoga-dono, I would like if you could share some of your reishi with me. I'm afraid my distance from you has been quite draining. Though it pains me to rain on an already we parade, I have news to share with you all but would like to do so after I've regained my strenght."

Ryoga blinked but then gave a nod. "Oh, uhm. That is fine, Runar. My reishi is your reishi, you can take as much as you need-" He looked over towards Niji for a moment. He was sure if she did not mind him hybridizing again that night but he was taken by surprise as well. If anything he knew he could trust Runar to not send him over the edge with Niji. If anything, it would make him much more aware of proper manners and etiquette. He walked over to him and offered his hand. Runar nodded but didn't move. He turned towards Niji and waited for her to allow it first.

Niji waved Runar into the group, she didn't pay him the same deference the other sensui did. Or that Ryoga did, which was uh...odd. All of the sensui were some aspect of his personality, just magnified to some degree. While she put up with Lux (and, knowing Ryoga, would have to continue to put up with Lance), she actually liked Runar and Milo. If he needed to hybrid to allow Runar to regain his energy, so be it.  She offered a small shrug as she moved to sit on the log again, the vermillion bird outfit sitting on the sand a few feet away, "Hello, Runar." She gave a slight nod to the duo, "It is fine, Ryoga. As I said, it was an overreaction."

It did not seem as though they were going to have an opportunity to relax after all.   Runar probably would have remained silently watching unless there was something significant.  There did not appear to be any imminent danger, though, so she just sat and watched the fire for a few seconds to give the two the opportunity to combine. Perhaps she would hand the envelopes to him, or to his hybrid with Ryoga if she could not get the Quincy as just himself. 

"Niji-oneesan" Milo called, looking ad the slumped up bird costume. "You're not wearing Nizaku anymore?" He inquired, shuffling on the spot as he didn't know how to formulate his sentences in a way that appeared polite. "Would you like me to take care of it for you? I...don't think its a good idea to leave it in the sand. Your feathers will get dirty..."

In the meantime, Runar had quickly adapted to Ryoga's body, growing taller and now sharing a similar silhoutette with the muscular teen. The hybrid shuddered and clutched his head for the few moments where the memories of his component beings mixed and melded.

Now sporting glowing green eyes to denote that Ryoga had become part of the hybrid, Ryunar stretched lightly and yawned. A clear dip in Ryoga's reishi signature signaled that the shadowy dragon did indeed need a refresh and had gobbled up a sizable amount of energy the moment it fused.

"Niji onee-sama...how much do you actually know about my mother?" Ryunar stated, sitting in front of the redhead out there in the sand and curling his long tail around his body. "Not about gossip, mind you. But about her peculiar position." He continued, turning back to signal Lance to begin patrolling the area. The shark agreed and quickly hopped into the water so that he could cover ground much faster.

Ryunar shuddered lightly once more as his body slowly adapted to the hybridized state. "You know she is the main reason quincy blood runs in my veins and also the reason why I learned to create sensui and artificial souls. But do you know anything else?"

Niji smiled softly at Milo, and made a slight gesture with her hand towards the costume; the wind picked up the outfit, blew all the sand off, and folded it nicely before placing it next to her. ”Please give me a few moments, Milo.”

She looked back to Ryunar, thinking on his question, ”I know more about your father than your mother. Given the history between our families, I learned about Tadashi-san fairly early; he and my father have known each other since before either of us were born, after all. I have looked into your mother briefly, but through mortal channels.”

The Fullbringer gave a slight shrug, ”Your mother was-is, I suppose-an accomplished physicist, and from what my mother says, their relationship, much like my own parents, was born of actual affection, rather than any sort of arrangement by their families.”

When Niji had revealed her powers to her parents in the time since the Battle of Broken Skies, she had not mentioned Ryoga’s nature, nor that of his parents. It was not her secret to share, after all. ”You have mentioned that, spiritually, your mother is the more powerful of the two, but other than that you tend to try and change the subject when we talk of your parents. What has happened?”

"Mother is...nnghrf..." Ryunar grumbled, leaning onto the sand as the Hybrid's reishi signature took another immense dip, practically halving. The shadowy dragon's reiatsu would also plummet all the way down to regular human level before stabilizing for the moment. Runar always had been the one with the highest drain, mostly due to his rather peculiar body composition.

"I'm okay. This is normal. It's part of the post fusion process..." He quickly explained. "It doesn't hurt it just feels, mildly narcoleptic. Body needs to adust to the lower energy output. Wouldn't be able to be untraceably stealthy otherwise."

With a sigh, Ryunar's reiatsu began degradating again, this time more slowly as only a fraction of the quincy host's reishi's reserves were left untouched, more than enough for the hybrid to be aware and healthy. Eventually, Ryunar's reiatsu signature would become too faint to even detect, meaning that the hybrid had finally acclimated to his norm. In the meantime, Milo patiently and politely waited for Niji's instructions, resting near her but making sure to keep at arm's lenght. Especially after the lance mishap.

"As I was saying...Mother is on another level. I am probably stronger than my Dad, but she's probably...I'd say twice or three times you, big sis." The black dragon would reveal, making sure not to point at Niji to be well mannered. "I don't talk about my parents much...it's because they are never really there. Dad is busy with our Hotels, that's ok. Mother though...she is busy with quincy stuff. She is a scientist, just not a physicist. That's what normal people believe."

The shadowy dragon took a little liberty to lay down on the sand for a while so that he could look at the stars. "Mother is a full blooded Quincy and a high ranking official in the Reich. Her mind is much older than what her body age would show, mostly because she spends alot of time in Shatten Beireich, a special place where most quincy are. It's a poket dimention and aging is much slower there." Ryunar raised an arm up to look at his claws. "She also has been experimenting with souls, testing their limits and such. Remember when I told you it was thanks to her I was able to create Sensui? It's because it was part of her research. She invented the process to weave reishi into soul fibers and soul fibers into a artificial bodies and souls. She agreed to teach me the basics..."

Milo looked at the hybrid then at Niji. "She created me." He tried to be brave but from the way his whiskers buzzed you could guess his trademark trait was gnawing at him. "Well, kind of. Ryoga made my body. But the me inside, the artificial soul, she did."

"The rest of us are copies from a template, that template being Milo. We are all compatible, but he's particularly resonant with quincy me." Ryunar said. "We got our small little quir-"

"I'm the perfect one." Milo chimed with a sad undertone, surprising the black dragon which sat back up. The scaredy cat shuffled, ears and tail drooping. "Ryoga needs minutes to accustom to fusion with the others. With me it takes seconds." The tiger continued, waving at Ryunar as an example. "I also don't influence Ryo's personality as much as Lance or Lux and my reishi drain is perfectly attuned to Ryo's natural regeneration...meaning he can stay with me indefinitely."

Ryunar's visage softened at the tiger as he watched him explain. "It's small nuances. I can remain fused for weeks if need be, but I will eventually need a breather, a thing that Miloga doesn't factor in his repertoire. Without deviating too much from the original discussion, the main reason behind Milo's shyness stems from this, though it is up to him if he wants to share it with you eventually."

The feline glanced at Niji and nodded. "I uuh. Sorry Niji onee-san. I got carried away."

"Right. So. Mother is a powerful Quincy pureblood and a scientist behind the realization of Sensui. Mother and Dad are in good relations, though are rarely together due to obligations. The reason why I don't like talking about my parents much is more because Mother is a Quincy and uuh...I don’t like pureblood Quincies that much. I don't like the quincy side of my family at all. Don't get me wrong, my mother is very nice with me when she bothers to show up, but she is still a Quincy through and through and while she gave me all the freedom in the world, well...there are some things she is a little stubborn on. Sometimes it feels like her research is wat matters most to her. Truth be told, I did find myself wondering if she purposely went against her family's rules and marry dad to prove a point. He is a fullbringer like you, you know?."

Niji wasn't sure what to say to this sudden outpouring of information about his family. He had made it clear in the past that he had some various issues with his parents; the request to mentor him from Tadashi-san had been on the back burner until she could sit down with the three of them and discuss intentions. So far, scheduling it had been nearly impossible, as Ryoga also was not particularly eager to help arrange that meeting.

Was Ryoga saying that he was going to pursue his mother's side of the family rather than continue his father's legacy? No, that wasn't it, he was talking about how he didn't really like the Quincy in the first place. Was his mother some mad scientist like the Shinigami of 12th division, and this was his way of saying that she should stay away? If she was a high ranking Quincy, she might have a whole team of other scientists under her experimenting with the nature of a soul. That might be helpful to remove the soul hitchhiking in Hibano's mind if Ryoga didn't have the expertiese.

Either way, this background was for whatever news Runar was bringing them, and she nodded to the hybrid, "Understood; if you are feeling better, what news did you have for us?"

Of course, us was an odd term; since theoretically Ryoga would already have known the news after merging with Runar. The melding of memory would work that way, right?

"First of all, before I share. I need to be sure on something." Ryunar stated, squinting lightly as if he was trying to see through his sister. "A while ago, there was a huge anomaly going on. The sky was cracking and all that. Naturally, it attracted alot of attention. My mom and her troops did some researching. They said there was some kind of special thing being fought over, something that created the cracks."

The shadow dragons' vibrant emerald shades narrowed.

"Naturally, when all the 'end of the world' stuff started happening I went to search for you. You know. To make sure that big sis was okay and all...but I couldn't find you anywhere." There was a hint of worry in his voice, an accent that could be attributed to the quincy hiding inside the dragon's form. "I mean, I knew you would be fine. You're super awesome. But still..."

The next question was more calm sounding. Runar. The tone was inquisitive, had a slight veil of seriousness as if the dragon wasn't happy about not knowing things.

"Where exactly did you end up during the sky crack crisis? Based on what you told us, about Yael. I did not know you knew him but the way you asked us to find him tells me something has happened. So...Niji Onee-Sama. Did you...have something to do with the event? Did Yael?"

Niji shook her head slowly, not meeting Ryunar’s eyes. ”It…it is better if you do not get involved. I would even suggest that you try to talk your mother out of digging further. There are powerful forces involved, and it would be dangerous, particularly for the Quincy.”

She didn’t know much about the Shinigami extermination attempt against the Quincy, but the textbooks that Rekka had provided to her implied that the official stance was that it was entirely successful. Having a Quincy force investigating would lead inevitably to Tendo and the Shinigami, and a mass realization that the Quincy were, in fact, just fine, could spell any number of problems.

The fullbringer sighed heavily, "But...yes.  I was there.  So was Yael.  Neither of us had anything to do with the sky cracking.  We just..." Niji's voice cracked as she continued, "...we were too late to stop it from happening."  Yael had been late by hours, maybe minutes.  She had been too late for Val by a decade.  That knowledge didn't make it hurt any less.  "All we could to was stop it from getting worse."

She shook her head again, as if trying to banish a bad memory, "I do not want anything to happen to you.  Please stay away from this."

Ryunar looked up at the sky and just....took a moment. He waited there just...enjoying the feeling of being a dragon. He needed it, considering the emotions going about at the moment. Runar's side keeping him coolheaded about thing besides, the hybrid was still somewhat affected by her words. The dragon scooted up closer. Then closer again. He sat down right under Niji, looking up at her with his glowing neon green eyes.

"Onee-san...I don't wanna sit idly by while you put yourself in harms way for me. I...I care so much for you I can't just...stay still!" There was some pep in his voice, uncommon for someone as incredibly calm and collected as the shadow dragon. "I doubt I can tell mother to stop...and I may not be as strong as you are but I can help! I want to help!"

Spreading his claw wide, he pointed at Milo and Lance which where standing a little ways from them to give them some semblance of privacy but still in earshot to rush in if needed. Milo probably could hear everything being talked about so it wasn't like the two other were completely oblivious.

"We all can help! I can scout things unseen, Milo can help people move things around while Lux can split up in six and teleport around to deliver messages and-"

It was clear that the Ryoga side of the shadow dragon was dying to hug Niji but Runar was holding him back, not wishing to invade her personal space. The hybrid sighed.

"I don't... wanna lose you big sis. I don't wanna wake up one day and find out you're gone because you went and did something and I didn't do anything about it. I don't...like my powers very much but at the very least I can use them for something I want to protect."

Runar stared at his feet, dragging his claw through the sand. "At least let me prove it to you. No help from Milo or the others. Lemme show you how much better I have become at controlling my stuff. I want you to know you can count to your little bro for things. You don't...have to do everything alone."

Niji breathed out softly after listening to Ryoga offer everything he had, she responded her voice quiet and kind, ”Ryoga…”

For a moment, she considered accepting his help. She didn't know much about Tendo and what he could do; he could have had any number of tricks.  But odds are he had to sleep. Maybe, maybe his help could provided an easy solution. Runar was almost unmatched in his capability for stealth, perhaps he could simply slip in and tear the man's throat out.  Like she would have done if he didn't have the full force of the Gotei 13 standing behind him at the end of that fight.  The moment the image of one of the sensui, or maybe even Ryoga in a sensui, committing an act of such violence entered her mind she blanched at the thought.  It made her decision easy.

"No. I know you are not weak, but that is not why I am asking you to stay out of this." Her voice became harder, still kind, but with a tone of finality in it despite the boy’s heartfelt pleas, ”You have a kind heart, and I will be walking a path that I do not wish for you.”

The fullbringer shook her head, making an attempt to change the subject, knowing it would likely be unsuccessful, ”What is the news from your mother?”

"Well we do not wish you to walk that path too!" Ryunar stated, clearly not enjoying being turned down. Not at all. On that, the two sides of the shadow dragon were on point. He reached up, grabbing her hand and squeezing it lightly in both his claws. He needed some form of connection with her, that would do.

"I cannot keep running away from everything. Resposabilities will just keep on piling up and at some point the entire castle will come crashing down on me. This is not a matter of business or else, it's a matter of family. You're my big sister, my inspiration, it is my responsibility as brother to make sure you are well. It is my duty to give as much as I take from you. I will not allow someone so dear and important to my life, possibly the only someone I can be myself around, the only person who's always here to help me to just...go up and disappear god knows where and never return. I don't want to know your secrets, but I'm scared, oneesan. I am so terribly terrified that something is going to happen and I won't be able to stay with you anymore. It's been this way ever since the sky did that thing. Its a constant bad feeling,  I can't ignore it.."

It seemed some cracks were beginning to form in Ryunar's demeanor, not even the dragon could keep the quincy side of him calm in such heated convesation. It was akin to a mild panick attack, as if Ryoga had already experienced the fear of abandonment before and was extremely adamant to not have it happen again.

"I don't want to be left alone and so shouldn't you! You don't have me to tell what is happening or what you have planned or why but I will do everything in my power to be by your side and help along the way. You need money? I have enough yen to buy three cities you can use. If I am not strong enough I will go ask mother to train my stupid quincy powers more so that I become strong to help. You need me to wash your floors or go throw out the garbage I will do that. I will do anything. Anything."

Burning determination lighted up his neon green eyes, pupils dilated and focused at her. Everything else did not matter.

"I have been sidelined once, I will not suffer it again. I will not take a no from you, Niji Onee-san. No is not an answer." He declared in possibly the first true act of defiance ever since he met her. Didn't even try to compromise as usual. For the black dragon, that no was truly not an answer Niji could give him.

"Mother wants to meet you on short notice after the events that cracked the sky happened. By short notice I mean Tomorrow. Before you ask, yes. She has already sent people to take care for your business stuff. You'll probably find your agenda completely free, knowing her, and it is very possible that she'll want us to move to her place in the reich so that no other people from outside words will hear what she'll speak to you about. She works with souls and has created Milo for me, I suspect no kind of suppression will keep her from seeing straight through your soul. She can even sense Runar and you know his signature is as low as you can make it without your soul disappearing from the fabric of reality. You being so strong in actuality will raise some questions from her, but that is the least of the problem. Now, mother means well even though she is really absent most of the time. The people I do not trust are her associates. No matter how stong mother is, she can't stop rumors from spreading. You becoming my guardian in an official or unofficial way is bound to make some waves and even if mother tries to play it on the down low some people will still take notice and I do not want you to have to deal with creepy weirdos on top of all the secret stuff you keep not telling me. So I am not gonna ask anymore. I demand you let me help you somewhat or someway."