Bleach Hereafter RPG

An alarm clock on a bedside table went off. After fumbling precisely twice, Leonina di Angelo smashed it with a metallic fist, promptly got up from bed, and swept the clock's pieces into the trash. She opened a drawer filled with neatly aligned, identical alarm clocks, grabbed the next one in the row, and placed it on the exact spot its predecessor had been.

---

… Except that had happened the other day.

Yep. That's right. Leonina was pulling an all-nighter again. The young engineer had been stuck on her current project for quite some time, a full-body set of support items for their soldiers to use. Part of it included a wingsuit that helped focus and redirect Reishi, as well as goggles that helped with night operations. However, despite her best efforts and increasing frustration, the pieces just wouldn't come together the way she wanted them to, if there was a grand plan for them at all.

… Maybe it was time to touch grass.

Or in this case, sand. So Leonina had stolen away to a beach in the Living World, where it was night and there were no other humans at the moment. Clad in a white sundress over her swimsuit despite the lack of sun, the Quincy girl passed the time dipping her toes in the surf and hoping for some kind of idea to cross her mind. No ideas came, so she resorted to munching on a slice of pizza she'd bought from the only food stall still open at this hour and wishing she could toss the bits she didn't like into the ocean. Hope the fish liked pineapple. She didn't dislike the fruit by any means, but her perfectionism and pride as an Italian mandated that pineapple didn't go on pizza no matter how good it tasted.

...

Leonina's ruminations were disrupted by her realization that she was not alone. There was an Arrancar here, too, and his(?) emo vibes contrasted with the American cowboy aesthetic of the last one she'd met. Still, she'd learned that Arrancar were capable of being reasoned with, bar the arrival of insane Shinigami claiming to be from other dimensions, and this one looked like they would rather have her listen to them being sad than have her for dinner.

"Hey there," she called. "You're feeling kinda down too, huh? Wanna talk about it? Also would you mind stroking my hair while you're at it?"

"Ahh, that hits the spot. You clearly have technique..." Leonina sighed in contentment as the mysterious emo Arrancar stroked her hair. Aside from that, her head did feel slightly tingly, but since neither of them seemed inclined for combat the oft-repeated Hollow poison had negligible effect on her.

"Do you have a brush for such lovely locks?" The Arrancar asked, apparently genuinely.

"Not at the moment, no, but my hair remains perfect regardless of how much sleep I have lost!" The young engineer replied smugly, although her customary smile looked rather out of place with the growing dark circles under her eyes.

"And I can talk about it, if you're willing to listen to a Hollow."

"Believe me, I'd rather talk to a Hollow than fight one," Leonina answered. "Though you don't seem so sad as before. Am I really that charming even while sleep-deprived, or were you simply that lonely? Anyway, I'm glad we could help each other out."

"Do you want braids, or just someone giving you comfort with a touch, an ear to listen to, and a shoulder to cry?"

"Oh, so even an Arrancar knows how to braid? I'm curious now. I want to see your best shot," It seemed as though Leonina's lack of sleep was making her significantly bolder and less inhibited. "I'll talk, but I'm not about to cry on your shoulder. I'll have you know, I haven't cried since I got this."

She raised her prosthetic left arm and flexed it, causing its components to make a variety of mechanical sounds.

"You are lovely to look at and touch my dear. And any woman who holds beauty even half as great as yours would steal the thoughts and troubles from a man's mind."

"So, yes...you do help."

Not only was this Arrancar much more of a smooth talker than expected, he also seemed capable of behavior unusual for his race, bar the rumors of one of the Espada being a major pervert. Still, Leonina was more vain than usual, and so decided to throw caution to the wind and respond brazenly.

"Well of course," she replied. "As I strive for perfection, so must my beauty attain that standard. However, if you're the type of person to be tossed about by naught but a pretty face, I prefer the company of those who value the other aspects of perfection beyond the mere physical."

She grinned despite the fact that Nezuel probably couldn't see it. "Not that I have any complaints about your company at the moment."

He then revealed that he had spent time with a harem when he was alive, which would set his age at several centuries at the youngest. Maybe he was a eunuch or something back then. That would explain why he was so eager to flirt with her, now that he was free from repression. The girl suppressed a giggle at the thought.

"Hey now, you must be careful with who you flirt with," the Quincy teased. "Had I been but a year younger I'd have been an illegal loli, and this American organization called the FBI would have imprisoned you without trial. Oh, but America didn't exist in your time, did it?"

"Only a number of basic Hollows, the bestial kind that are almost nothing like you. And yes, I am quite versed in Hollow evolution, enough to know that you probably have nothing to fear from that voice. As you are an Arrancar, the final stage of Hollow, your dominant personality is already the shameless flirt I am currently conversing with. Whoever or whatever that voice is, it's likely just part of your psyche and not a separate being. Who knows, it could be part of your Resureccion."

"Impressive...that flesh should be replaced with metal....yet losing the arm made you cry...or is it something else that makes an angel such as you having trouble sleeping?"

"It was nothing but my own carelessness that led to that," Leonina said wryly. "Nevertheless, that was in the past, and I have since remedied that and replaced it with gleaming perfection. What bothers me now exists in the present - a project of mine I can't seem to finish no matter how hard I try."

"Impressive work," she noted her new braid. "By the way, please be careful with my arm, lest it electrocute you while you remain in contact with the seawater, which is an excellent conductor."

"It is a shame. That we are toxic to one another. Were there a way to give you the regenerative features of my race...to see your beautiful body replaced by metal, no matter how pure. I wonder what I might have felt, to hold your arm and hand."

Interesting. Finding a way to grant High Speed Regeneration to humans, even Quincy, would certainly be a worthwhile project, all that was needed was an expert on Hollows as well as the necessary facilities.

Still, Leonina gave Nezuel a blank stare. "Holding my left arm back when it was organic would be mostly the same as holding my right arm. Or the arm of any other human. Go touch some grass."

"I admit... That I find myself attracted, like so many of my race, to the dangerous, the strong, that which I can't have. The confidence you display, for instance, the perfection you instill and inspire...yet with some flaws that are all but unavoidable. I fear you beyond my reach, my lips burning should they touch you...and yes, certainly, a lovely face and body helps ease any pain of the mind or body in such matters. You hardly seem young to me, this body of my own one not of my choosing...and back when I was alive we married far younger, though that might be a mistake seeing the state of the world now. Are you saying that it wouldn't be illegal, now, to ask for a kiss from the angel I see before me?"

…Wow, grape. And as for Leonina! She rubbed her chin with her organic hand with her head tilted slightly, and from lips half-parted in a mockery of a smile!

"How cute."

Whether by a trick of the midnight ocean air, her voice rippled through the atmosphere!

"This won't do. No, this won't do at all. Not only are you a blatant lolicon... no, I was mistaken. You're definitely shameless enough to flirt with anything with a pretty face. I can tell you know what it's like to kiss a Quincy, even before meeting me, and I'm certain you've been going around kissing even Shinigami. While it's certainly commendable how you got that far without your guts being skewered..."

"I'm not your first, and I won't be your last either."

"That's no way to treat a lady, Arrancar. And we don't even know each other's names. Do you think a woman of my caliber would willingly have a tryst with someone she just met, much less a being whose existence is poison to her entire race?"

She paused to take a breath, and stood up from the sand to face her would-be suitor.

"But there's one and only one way you can have me, and that is when I am the only one remaining in that twisted heart of yours. Your compliments may be above-average, but they are just that - words. And if you happen to love another more than me, please do her a favor and prove it to her instead."

---

(A few dozen meters away.)

"O kawaii koto."

"Yamete kudastop, Ran. it's henweird."

"I think it's pretty good drama myself."

"..."

Shameless as he may be, the Arrancar had more reason than Leonina had pegged him for. As such, her expression softened somewhat as she replied.

"Starting off as acquaintances would be more than acceptable. I apologize for being too hard on you earlier."

She held her right hand forward, inviting Nezuel to shake it. "My name is Leonina di Angelo. May I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"

Remembering that he'd asked her about her unfinished project before asking her for a kiss, the young engineer decided to answer that question.

"I've been working on a set of support equipment for both mobility and combat. Part of it includes some kind of flight suit that also focuses Reishi, which may seem unnecessary since most spiritually aware beings can already walk on air, but that's different from actually flying. Then there's a device for enhancing Reiatsu detection, though I haven't figured out a good design for it. And what's more, I haven't been able to sleep for a while thinking how to combine all of those. But maybe, if I can get in contact with that Quincy I've heard of who specializes in making suits like this..."

"You think me a monster for wishing to live my life now that I no longer look the monster but even I, as shameless as I am, seek something special such as genuine love."


"Oh?" She was genuinely surprised by that, but let out a small laugh. "Not at all. Wanting to be loved is one of the hallmarks of being human; what makes one a monster is the incapability to love or be loved. That I gave such an answer to you before simply means I see you as a person. Funny, isn't it? That even though the material and spiritual planes are known to a great, if incomplete, extent, we will likely never fully understand truly immaterial things like love."

"That is if you can believe anything one of my race says..."

"Nonsense. One's capability to be honest isn't defined by their race but rather by their character. And besides, I am well-versed in the cycle of souls. No matter how you cut it, we're all humans in one form or another."

"I admit I have my eyes on someone in particular, but I fear she doesn't feel the same."

Setting aside everything else about Leonina, she was still a teenage girl. And as such, she wasn't immune to discussing someone else's love life!"

"I can't believe it! So you do have someone special after all! Who is it? Who? I'll be cheering for you and I promise not to tell anyone else!"

"Pleased to meet you, Nezuel," answered Leonina. Strangely enough, the bravado caused by her sleep deprivation seemed to be wearing off as she got even more sleep deprived. She yawned. "Why, thank you. I hope you do eventually come to appreciate technology more, though it must be interesting in its own way to have no need of it whatsoever."

"You say its a part of being human...but while I might look like this I can assure you that no part of me is...so why do I feel such a thing if it isn't a part of the deep want and despair in all my kind?"

"Because no person is limited to their own nature, silly. We choose our own fate, to stay the night or leave with zero, to just accept the grand order of things or to chase after heaven's feel. The stories we leave are apocrypha, a strange fake upon proper human history. I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Just remember that we have the ability to decide on our own, what dialogue or routes to take in life."

Leonina yawned again.

"She's a Shinigami... the first that kissed this form as I stand here now. Perhaps because she's dangerous, as I said, or perhaps because she is smarter than me by far. We met at a library and after some talking she taught me how to make a physical body around myself, to manifest... but of course she only taught me a particular way that locks my abilities. I'm just wholly unsure if she's using me to get at something, some mission, or if she might actually care for me as a person. Maybe after her mission, she'll toss me aside or purify me... or perhaps we'll remain in contact with one another."

"A Shinigami? Seriously? Trust me as an Italian, I know star-crossed forbidden love when I see it. This isn't gonna end well, but I'd like to see how far you get. Anyway, I'm sleepy now, so nice meeting you and all that." Leonina waved, and opened the portal back home.