Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 15, 2022 0:31:23 GMT -5
Perhaps...perhaps this woman was never mortal. Takano had said something like that. That some individuals (including Takano himself) were born into Soul Society without ever having led a mortal life. Perhaps that was the case here, how could this woman understand mortality, perhaps she never lived. ”Why would I not have human concerns? According to the Academy textbooks, as well as my own research, mortals with significant spiritual power that pass into soul society retain their memories. I care about the people on this planet, and my death would not change that.”Niji offered a slight smirk in response to the woman’s wink and pose; she waved her hand in the air as she dismissed the comment, ”Yes, yes, you are 'totes adorbs.' You also look like you are younger than twenty. We both know in the spiritual world that looks mean almost nothing.”A few chipmunks played around her bare feet, she glanced at them for a moment, giving a soft smile, the warmth on her face was gone by the time she looked back at Irisa, her voice relaxed, but firm, ”But...Vice Captain Muimina said much the same about his goals. I have read your textbooks, and I know how the Gotei 13 has 'made peace' in the past. So I ask you the same question I posed to him.” Niji locked eyes with the Shinigami, ”Peace means different things to different people, Miss Ishiwara. What, exactly, is your vision of a ‘more peaceful, safer world?’”
Hequita |
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GAME MASTER
Wandenreich - Soldat
Memories broken, the truth goes unspoken...
Hibano
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Post by Hibano on Oct 15, 2022 6:11:33 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive " Don't worry, that isn't what I meant, we Shinigami care about humanity as well," Irisa spoke up to answer Niji's confusion regarding the eventual loss of her humanity in Soul Society. " But it isn't your memories that shape who you are, it is the conditions around you. Think about it. You hold memories of yourself as a child, as a schoolgirl, a teenager... but the concerns, worries and interests you held during that time probably aren't relevant to you anymore. You are different, the world around you is different, your perspective has changed. And it will change, drastically, when you enter Soul Society and cease being human. People around you cease aging, cease worrying over food or money, and live together with strangers for hundreds of years, as if they were their own kin. You may clutch onto your memories of Earth as you pass, but no longer held back by mortality, how long will you see yourself as the same as Earthlings, and not something different?" Irisa closed her eyes, smiling. " Feel free to prove me wrong, but... remember that "centuries" is a very long time." There was something else that concerned Niji. Her mention of peace - perhaps out of suspicion, it made the Fullbringer question what does she believe peace to be in the first place. Of course. Many men and women with differing ideals use the same language to describe their objectives, so to pierce through the veil of obscurity, they need to explain themselves. Irisa let out a sigh and slightly pulled onto the edge of her hat. " Alright." She folded her arms and, glancing away, began: " To understand peace, you have to understand that our world is a bit more than just the arithmetic sum of humans, souls and matter. In a way, it is almost a living thing - it holds rules, it has wants, and it wishes for its inhabitants to move towards to and preserve its fragile balance. We all are cells in this organism, each with our own functions, and our functions are to keep this world alive, to preserve it for future generations.
That function is most present in my kind, the Shinigami. We actively participate in the balancing of the functioning of the world. That... is peace. When this duty is followed through, when the organism of the world exists in balance and is healthy, the whole world becomes more peaceful. Mortals live happier lives, safe from the intervention by the world of the spiritual - any time the spiritual and mortal collide, such as in Hollow attacks, someone suffers. And when someone disrupts this balance, peace vanishes across the planet. Much like when a body is overtaken by cancer - cells that refuse to follow their duties in the organism - the world turns more impoverished, more dangerous, more frail, whenever it gets closer to the collapse of the balance." Irisa lowered her hands. " That is the peace I want to protect. And if you want to protect humanity, you have to protect that peace, too." |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 15, 2022 6:59:40 GMT -5
Outwardly, Niji showed no reaction; she had mastered keeping her emotions hidden years ago. It was critical to her livelihood, and just a helpful trait to have in general. Even if Niji was inwardly furious, she was able to keep a calm demeanor and render herself unreasonable. Unfortunately, the years of experience were kept mostly to the realm of mortals. Thankfully, people had no reason to connect a freak rainstorm with the serene mediator. The weather events had stopped as she learned to control how much raw power she exuded, but she had never learned much beyond turning the dial on the output. That is to say, to a spiritually unaware mortal, there would be no change in the environment. Irisa, however, would feel a distinct change in the aura of the place. While the sense of being watched by thousands of eyes had never mitigated in her time here, there was more a sense of benign curiosity. It pulsed out from the Fullbringer in front of her, a miniscule wavering in her reiatsu, and those thousands of invisible eyes no longer felt benign. They felt angry. Niji nodded faintly, seemingly unaware of this change. She remained polite and cordial, and her face still wore the same calm smile, ”I see. And is that your view, or the party line of the Gotei 13?”
Hequita |
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Player
You fool! You fell right for my trap!
Hequita
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Post by Hequita on Oct 15, 2022 12:26:11 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive Well, this wasn't good. Niji's expression did not change, either out of hiding her true intentions or genuine lack of awareness, but the Reishi surrounding them both did not lie - it did not take Irisa's reasoning of peace well. Briefly, her eyes glanced to the artificial sky and the greenery behind Niji. If this keeps up, if this reflects how the woman feels about Irisa's mission, then her welcome may end up overstayed. At worst case, they might end up in a fight. Irisa did not want to dwell on whether she could subdue the Fullbringer - she was not here to fight in the first place. She's gotten Takano's contact information, that is all she came here for, the rest is just a polite conversation about one another's stance on spiritual matters. If she can't have that, there is no reason for her to stay. " Each Shinigami accepts and internalizes the mission of our organization differently, so you are not going to get the same exact wording from another. That is how I view the state of the world," Irisa explained. " But, all of us stand by the necessity to protect balance across the realms." She briefly narrowed her eyes. " Is there something on your mind?" |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 15, 2022 14:03:39 GMT -5
The fullbringer shook her head, the calm smile betrayed by the change in the aura of her domain. Even most of the living animals appeared to make themselves scarce, and where there had been sounds of insects and birds, the forest was eerily silent. Niji spoke over this silence, waving her hand dismissively, ”Oh, nothing of import, Miss Ishiwara. I suppose I never heard the official stance of the Shinigami phrased in such a way. It simply explains quite a bit.”And it really did, the fact that Shinigami saw mortals as foolish children that needed to be protected and controlled. No, not even children. They didn’t even view themselves as the same type of creature anymore. They saw themselves as benevolent alien overlords, this Shinigami, this teacher of the new recruits, had even called humans ‘earthlings.’ While she suspected as much from the textbooks, some of those had been centuries old when Rekka was a student a hundred years ago. Confirmation that this doctrine of superiority was still being taught only reduced her view of the Gotei 13 even further. Of course those teachings also explained the war in her other life; by giving humanity control over their own destinies, by clueing them in on the spiritual world, the Shinigami would lose their power and purpose. Her expression and the aura of vague menace never changed as she continued, ”You mentioned that you rarely go on missions, so I ask you this. You have centuries of existence, how much of it was spent among the people of this realm?”
Hequita |
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Player
You fool! You fell right for my trap!
Hequita
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Post by Hequita on Oct 16, 2022 12:26:33 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive The good thing was that Irisa was not yet blasted by a furious Fullbringer, although she couldn't tell whether she was still in danger of that or not. The gingerhead was good at hiding her true intentions - or never realizing them in the first place. " I apologize if something about what I said didn't strike you the right way. We Shinigami may have our differences from humans, but we too are fallible and we too strive for a better world for all," Irisa explained in response to Niji. " You'll find that we are on the same side when push comes to shove." Then Niji put forth another question, about how much time she has spent in the World of the Living. Irisa paused her speech and stared at the woman intently. The way it was phrased, the preceding comment about rarely going on missions, and the menacing aura surrounding her, made it very clear that this was a leading question. Likely, she had set her mind on Irisa being wrong about the place of humanity in the world, and was waiting for Irisa to give her the proof. How stereotypically mortal. After a pause, Irisa closed her eyes and sighed. " I do not participate in many missions, no, and I have not lived among mortals. One of my hobbies in my spare time is to visit and traverse libraries of the World of the Living, collecting the knowledge held in your books to help one day develop a compendium of all mortal and spiritual knowledge. Since the time I began, I have completed the entirety of the works held in most libraries of the world - that hold more works than just the most readily accessible, that is." |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 16, 2022 17:13:04 GMT -5
Niji gave a small smile, allowing a hint of confusion into her expression, clearly unaware of the feeling of menace her carefully concealed feelings were creating, ”You have nothing to apologize for, Miss Ishiwara; I appreciate that you are willing to speak so openly.”Despite the ominous feel of the forest, it did not appear that Niji was lying. She stood and calmly listened to Irisa’s statement about collecting knowledge, and the simmering anger in her aura shifted once again. Deeper, more heartfelt. Righteous indignation and restrained fury. Though, that was only because Niji was taking the woman at her word. She had seen some strange powers in her time, and the ability to instantly comprehend written words didn’t even seem particularly outlandish. Maybe the woman could simply touch a book and gain the knowledge written within. A useful power. And she came to results that were simply unforgivable. Before, she could have accepted that perhaps the Shinigami were too aloof to truly realize the woes of the world. The problems that only a minimal amount of effort using spiritual powers could solve. But no. Those were petty mortal concerns, according to this thing in her Haven. She smiled softly, a picture of serenity, ”That sounds like quite a collection. You mentioned being a kidō teacher, but how much of the rest of your amassed knowledge do you share with the Shinigami?”
Hequita |
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Player
You fool! You fell right for my trap!
Hequita
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Post by Hequita on Oct 17, 2022 2:26:46 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive The questions did not end. Niji still had more gotchas to follow up on after her question about her knowledge of the World of the Living. She still assured Irisa that this was nothing to be concerned with and she has no ill intent, but it was getting difficult to believe. The menacing atmosphere never went anywhere. Now the question was about how much she shared this knowledge with the rest of Soul Society. Irisa watched Niji with a brief pause, then closed her eyes and answered: " Once I collect all of the information about all of the dimensions that compose our world, I will turn it into a grand encyclopedia of all knowledge, accessible for all Shinigami - and mortals - to visit and enlighten themselves. That, I hope, will finally explain to the inhabitants of this dimension why our mission is so critical, and teach a few things to the more ignorant of my kind." After a brief sigh, Irisa reopened her eyes, this time making a judgmental stare towards Niji. " Be honest with me, Gaia - where are you trying to lead with these questions? I am not ignorant to the hostility, the vitriol that surrounds me from your ambient Reiatsu. It makes your efforts to hide it all the more futile. If you despise the Shinigami, make it clear, so I can answer your concerns before you commit a dreadful mistake." |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 17, 2022 18:16:19 GMT -5
The fullbringer gave a relaxed smile, having read the textbooks, she had absolutely zero faith in the Shinigami to present an unbiased encyclopedia. Particularly from this woman, who had such disdain for beings that were not Shinigami; surely it would be chock full of propaganda proclaiming the superiority and superior judgment of the Gotei 13. She made no comment before Irisa addressed the question of her reiatsu. Her face remained calm despite the bit of surprise she felt, it had been a while since a spiritual being had stirred such emotion in her; particularly when she was trying to conceal her true feelings. She would need to look out for that in the future, practice controlling that as much as she controlled her tone and body language. Nonetheless, Niji offered a small shrug, the ambiance not changing, and she did not raise her voice at the accusation, ”Simply gathering information, you have reconciled some facts for me that I was having some difficulty with.”She met Irisa’s judgment without flinching, returning the look with an icy gaze that contained just a hint of disappointment, ”Just because I do not like your answer, Miss Ishiwara, does not mean I hold you in particular any ill will. Nor do I expect to change your mind, someone who has been so confident in their beliefs for so long will not be swayed by a mere mortal like myself.”Niji waved the accusation away, ”There are enough issues that threaten this realm beneath the notice of the Shinigami. I am already busy with them, and I have no intention of complicating my life by picking a fight with the Gotei 13.”
Hequita |
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Player
You fool! You fell right for my trap!
Hequita
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Post by Hequita on Oct 18, 2022 2:42:25 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive The conversation did not move very far. Once again, Niji asserted much of the same that she had mentioned to Irisa before. That she is merely interested in her point of view, that this tells something about the Shinigami to her that she did not understand before, so on and so forth. The fury in her Reishi never faded away, but in spite of it all the woman was still very careful with her words. " I don't try to dismiss people like you as "mere" mortals. You too are cells in the organism, and important to its perpetuation just like us," Irisa said, beginning to pace throughout the clearing - she was making a slow, long circle around Niji. " After all, you wouldn't say your immune cells look down on the other cells in your body, would you?" Perhaps she needs a different approach when talking to Niji. And besides, this was a conversation where both of them shared bits and pieces of information about one another, rather than just her. " So... if we disagree, what is your approach, then, Gaia? What do you see as peace?" Irisa asked. " What do you find incorrect in what I said? What has driven such frustration to you?" |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 18, 2022 6:37:39 GMT -5
Niji’s eyes flashed briefly as Irisa started to pace around her, and her voice changed for a brief moment, becoming cold, hard, and commanding, ”Stay. Where. You. Are.”She shook her head, disappointed in her brief lapse in decorum, but she did not trust this woman trying to get behind her. As quickly as the change had come, it had left, ”I will get you a chair, but I will not have you circling like a buzzard.”
The fullbringer waved a hand, and a stone chair formed near instantaneously in Irisa’s circular path, complete with a cushion of lush grass growing straight from the stone. She continued their conversation, her tone back to being calm and collected, ”I suppose in this metaphor, the Shinigami are the immune cells, and any beings that oppose them are a disease or a cancer? That certainly would match with the view you have expressed.”Niji laughed, but there was no joy in it, ”For being ageless beings, you have such a narrow point of view. We are coming at this from entirely different directions, Miss Ishiwara; the Gotei 13 want peace born of superiority throughout the spiritual world. The only reason I give a damn about the spiritual world is because it prevents me from doing good for the people who still live.”The woman gestured to the forest around them, ”Mortals like myself, who have the power to actually affect change on a global scale, to address the root causes of conflict, would be seen as one of the cancers that should be cut out if we tried to use our powers for the betterment of humanity. Billions of people that could be helped, but those that would cannot because of a few thousand Shinigami.”She managed to keep the venom out of her voice as she continued, ”People like you do not give a damn about peace, you just want control.”
Hequita |
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Player
You fool! You fell right for my trap!
Hequita
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Post by Hequita on Oct 18, 2022 10:44:44 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive Niji's sudden, threatening command immediately got Irisa to come to a stop and raise her hands. She had begun pacing around almost involuntarily, not unlike walking through the seats of the students while dictating concepts and principles of controlling Kido. " Sorry. I didn't mean to make you concerned - I'm the one who should be concerned by your power here." After all, she was a mere weak teacher, surrounded by a powerful aura emitted by what was likely among the twenty most powerful Fullbringers on Earth today. Niji used those powers to summon a stone seat from the ground - Irisa stopped next to it, however, did not take the seat. She was not planning to stay in the Haven for much longer, anyway - so, she loitered around the chair instead, resting her folded arms on the back of the chair and slightly leaning forward. Finally, the truth came. Having restrained her true view of the Shinigami for the entire conversation, the Fullbringer expressed her disgust at them when prompted - beginning with the comparison Irisa had made at the very beginning, comparing the world to a living body. " Beings who attack the balance of souls, to be more accurate," she briefly butted in, addressing what Niji referred to as the "cancer cells", silently enough that her voice could easily be drowned out. Niji followed this comparison with contempt about how the Shinigami do not care about the people in the World of the Living, that her vision of peace was being able to use her powers to save her fellow humans and improve their lives, a selfless goal that the Shinigami refuse to allow her to do. Of course. Irisa remained silent during Niji's explanation, then let out a long sigh in the aftermath. " Did you catch what I mentioned earlier?" This was going to be a difficult concept to explain, she figured, but she decided to try the best of it. " There is a reason why we do not allow the worlds of the living and the spiritual to interconnect - doing so only makes the living world worse off. I am sorry, but that is just how it works - when a body's cells do not follow their tasks, the body turns sickly, and the same applies both to bodies and to our world. Sometimes it is very direct - the attraction that Hollows have towards any spiritual energy, that, if said energy impacts mortals, will leave them hurt, dead, or worse. Releases of spiritual power can leave mortals sick, weak, wound them or kill them by mere exposure. In other times, the effect that this blend leaves is a lot more subtle - but it is always the same result." The rules against Shinigami spending too much time in the world of the living, against lending their power to mortals, all followed the same principle. Imagine if a Shinigami lended their power to a mortal substitute they found one day - their family, friends, would inevitably get hurt, and that's not something you can just overcome with enough gumption and drive. " The more these two worlds interconnect, and the more that the balance of souls is altered, the more the people of the World of the Living suffer. Over six hundred years ago, when Remus, the Quincy Emperor, and his Reich arose from nowhere, they led to the greatest blow to the balance of souls across the world until recent history. He was a monster, and his subjects were monsters, too - and if you were to open a history book, you will see mortals constantly write of plights and terrors never seen before ravaging the entire planet. Those are the scars of a spiritual war, of battles against Hollows and of changes on the planet never seen before. The Quincy now accuse us of being the villains in the story, yes, but they can't hide the fact that it was their reckless drive towards imbalance, and of wielding their spiritual powers in the mortal world, that caused so much suffering - and would have led to the collapse of the world, if left unchecked." Another deep sigh. " Look, Gaia, I understand. It is human to want to step up and sweep away everything that holds us back from a better tomorrow. To make a change quickly, see it in your lifetimes. To gamble a millennia of construction for a once in a lifetime chance to make something perfect. But if you truly, sincerely want betterment for humanity... it is by maintaining the balance of souls that you can accomplish this. It is by maintaining the order of the world that you can accomplish this. Not by throwing it away." It's been established well for both that their frames of reference, their fundamental mode of thinking were different - but, Irisa watched intently, hoping that at least something got through to Niji. |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 18, 2022 13:47:27 GMT -5
Niji allowed Irisa to finish her lecture without interruption, then simply shook her head, the fury had abated somewhat, but the aura was still far from welcoming. Whether this was because the fullbringer was expressing some control over her aura or because she was not as angry would not be clear, as her tone remained the same, ”I am not talking about war and genocide, that is not my goal. And while it would be within my power to disperse a hurricane, or stop a tsunami, I am also not referring to such extreme expenditures of spiritual energy. I am well aware of the draw spiritual energy has for beings of the spiritual world. Of the hollows it may attract, or the ire it would draw from your people.”She gestured towards the artificial sunlight on the ceiling of the cavern, which, if Irisa hadn’t noticed it before, she might notice that it appeared to be some sort of moss, creating the illusion of daylight so deep underground. ”I am well aware of the instability I could create. Even the dampening effects of the sunmoss do not prevent things like you from investigating.”She muttered something in a language that Irisa would not recognize, and the chimeric creature suddenly appeared next to the fullbringer with a small collection of vials. Niji picked one, nodded, and held it up as the creature disappeared again, in it were a few acorns, ”Things like this. Centuries of crossbreeding and cultivation, accomplished in a few days, merely sped up through my abilities. There are numerous problems things like this could solve. And my gifts are somewhat limited, others could do so much more if they did not live in fear of the Shinigami. I could even find ways to make it appear entirely natural, keeping humanity in the dark while helping behind the scenes. This is not about me, Miss Ishiwara, I do not need to sit in the shade of these oaks."The fullbringer lightly tossed the vial to Irisa, and it was carried to her on currents of wind, ”Take it with you, present it to 12th squad without the bias of a mortal providing them to you. There should not even be any residual spiritual energy in the seeds. See if you can find a reasonable justification for doing nothing."
Hequita |
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Player
You fool! You fell right for my trap!
Hequita
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Post by Hequita on Oct 19, 2022 3:06:51 GMT -5
Irisa Ishiwara Location: Antarctica
Status: Alive Of course, Niji simply could not help herself taking a bite out of the Shinigami whenever she could, even when answering Irisa's arguments on how the usage of spiritual powers where they are not appropriate would eventually harm humanity, rather than aid it. As much as she may have tried to hide it, and present herself as polite and responsible, she stewed in hatred towards the Shinigami - and that was not a good sign. For her own sake. Irisa did not bother commenting on it or even taking much notice, however - she was, quite literally, the older person in the room. After explaining that her powers work in more subtle ways, the Fullbringer presented Irisa a vial with engineered seeds, a century of cultivation accomplished in a few days to help bring real solutions to human agriculture. " Wait-" Irisa raised her hand and caught the tossed vial, briefly offering a glance towards the seeds kept inside, then returning her focus back towards Niji. This... was something else. " This is what you thought would incur the wrath of the Shinigami towards you?" she asked. " Your demeanor, your contempt towards us... all that made me expect something a lot more radical. Fullbringers at your level of power are generally far less composed in their judgment of what they can achieve, so you can excuse my judgment." She wasn't going to bother bringing the seeds back to the Twelfth, she already knew the answer. " We have no issue with mortals improving their material conditions, and if you demand permission from us to subtly use your spiritual powers to help mankind, I am certain the Gotei 13 would not even notice. Of course, you are never going to believe what I say, but we do wish for the betterment of humanity. And, thanks to us keeping your world as safe as we can, we have witnessed you rise from squalor in peasant huts to vast cities of glass and cement." Irisa tossed the vial back towards Niji. " Of course... as I mentioned before, any blend of mortal and spiritual is unnatural, and it can manifest horrific consequences even in very subtle ways. Even your careful, subtle approach may reveal that in the end." |
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Player
Fullbringer
I have nothing to say.
Niji
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Post by Niji on Oct 19, 2022 21:11:22 GMT -5
The wind appeared to catch the vial, and it gently drifted into Niji's hand. She shook her head and shrugged at the Shinigami, ”Miss Ishiwara, the fact you assumed that I would lack composure and reasonable judgment is exactly the reason that the Shinigami are so poorly regarded among the spiritual world. Despite your long lives, you are just as fallible as us mayflies, and are far more stubborn about changing your views when provided contradictory evidence.”She held up the vial, giving the acorns a small shake, ”As you said, you are ‘merely an unranked Shinigami,’ and while I find that hard to believe, it is true that you are not one of the Captains or Vice Captains. Seeking your permission avails me nothing; not that you actually provided any, you merely claimed the Gotei 13 would not notice. Hardly the same thing.”The vial disappeared into her makeshift purse, and she considered the woman. Of everything Irisa had said, claiming that the Gotei 13 would not notice subtle actions certainly rung true. There would be no point in going off about the irresponsible actions of the Shinigami and their part in the Battle of Broken Skies. She had been at ground zero, and this woman who was almost certainly hiding her own capabilities had not. There was another brief tremor of anger through Niji’s reiatsu; but she willed it silent almost immediately. This one would not change her mind, and it would be a waste of time and leverage to reveal more. ”Not that it matters. I will not trouble you to blend with mortals any longer.” The tone remained polite, but the fullbringer spoke in a way that implied the conversation was ending, ”Next time you see Vice Captain Muimina, ask him to give me a call. He actually has some authority; and does not shirk the responsibilities that come with ability.”Hequita |
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