Bleach Hereafter RPG

Medical tape called out loud as Itsuki bound his cuts and bruises from the prior day. The week had been bustling with a cavalcade of occurances and instances determined to reassure him that, yes, in his rapidly diminsihing lifespan there was no turning back from the spirit world once the eyes had been opened to it. Wincing against the patting down of the tape from his perch upon the couch, utterances of further perpetuated discomfort followed as he righted his sleeve over the almost-neatly applied therapeutics beneath the binding. Damn that baldheaded bastard, acting so mysterious and sly about it. Perhaps he was more than what he seemed in that he was exactly what his office advertised. Lousy with pain, the fullbringer itched the edges of the square, beige plaster slapped across the cut made over his left brow.

A black breeze brushed against his awareness, as if suddenly becoming aware of a wild animal crossing your path in the open countryside and realising you're all alone. Thankfully, as best as his muddied reikaku could tell the beast had no gaze fixed upon him. All at the same time, even with his bleary-eyed perception it didn't seem to correct to merely label it a beast and be done. As best as he could muster to describe it, the shape of this particular candlelight was different. It was more like a blazing pillar.

Pushing up from his bed with a strained exhalation, the scripture-scraper took his pills early, shoved on his shoes, pocketed the medium for his fullbring and set off on his way down the city streets. He might just get to see a Shinigami fighting a hollow for once.

It was getting late and he needed to leave the library to get food before going back to his room, they had a cafeteria at the office but he always enjoyed the snacks and such that the convenience stores had to offer. Walking from one building to another, Lazarus found himself inside the local store, nodding and giving a small wave to the older man behind the counter. He had been coming here a lot recently and the store owner seemed to enjoy the small company he provided when he was in, always chatting for a couple of minutes if there was no line to hold up. From the refrigerator he plucked a cherry flavored soda, walking over to the hot rack to grab a couple pork buns, his new favorite snack item since coming to the human realm. Setting it down at the counter, he paused as he felt a familiar reiatsu enter from above before quickly disappearing to some place else.


"I'd love to talk but I've just been called in to work, I'll catch up with you next time yeah?"


He gave a slight bow of apology to the older man as he paid for his things and stepped out onto the street, looking around for any sign of his arrancar friend. Last they'd seen each other Nez had told him to leave him in that alleyway, hollows not far off his trail. Lazarus ducked into an alleyway away from prying eyes before jumping up and creating a small platform under his feet, raising into the night sky to get a better view of things. In the meantime as he searched he'd open one of the packings for the pork buns and take a bite, small clouds of steam forming in the cool night air from the warmth of the food. He'd spike his reiatsu a bit to see if he could get the others attention, popping the top off the soda and taking a drink of it while he scanned the rooftops.

Gradually, tenderly, Itsuki drew closer to the beacon he'd glimpsed through his ghost's vision.
    He felt as if he were walking out along a pier towards a tsunami. Like an ant chasing a lion. No, perhaps a moth to a flame was more appropriate.
    Another brilliant firework of burning brilliance drew his mal-practiced and poorly trained third eye, halting him in his tracks.
    "Well, what the fuck was that, now?" Lamented the monk.
    Pinching the bridge of his nose with a bandaged hand, a perfunctory groan rose up from him. A few onlookers eyed him with a varying range of concern to which he wore only a beleaguered expression somewhere between concern and disbelief. It made only too much sense that people were regarding him as something of an oddity, right out of some teenager's comic or stage drama.
    Slipping his hands into his pockets in an effort to detract some attentions from his present condition the bartender turn to gaze up at the sky in the direction of that last emission. The best way he could describe the feeling of it was unyielding, rigid and distinguishedly third eye-searingly blue.
    Painkillers dampened the cutting edge of his thoughts and dulled his recollection of the discussion held with Professor Alexander. It was a something-or-another and a thingie. And they were both making giant, screaming beacons of spiritual leakage all the way across the city.
    Cold, caressing touch of the wind brushed against his, reaching down to his insides and romancing a shiver from his spine. Curiosity persevered, one foot falling in front of the other as the bartender walked on through a chance alleyway.
    He hadn't expected to turn a corner and arrive so soon.
    That was how things were when travelling with eyes fixed on the horizon, nobody expects their destination to suddenly come over the edge of it.
    Happenstance timed his arrival with the dimming of that luminous pillar back into the body. A thin mist of it remained, permeating the air like incense. The street itself sat unremarkable, a quiet residential corner with walled-off houses creating a net off criss-crossed alleyways ill-often stamped with the steel stems of street lights. Who or whatever the small shrine may have been too would usually have caught his attention if not for the solemn looking figure ardently etching their feelings into the pavement at their feet.
    Itsuki thumbed the omamori nestled in his pocked in anxious habit.
    Glancing around it didn't seem like anyone was around, no houses seemed to have anyone awake anyway. It wasn't like he lived around here anyway, it wouldn't be so bad if some strangers took him for mentally unwell.
    "So, uh," He said, "You're a shinigami or something, right...?"
    Lax tones and casual posture seemed about right. They weren't a bone-faced shadow or a dragon raging through the block so the description seemed about right. Maybe?

He had been focusing enough to sense that the arrancar had moved, and with practiced precision started gliding through the sky towards him, still snacking on his pork bun all the while. He had zero'd in on the location by a few blocks or so when Nez's presence suddenly vanished, if the hollows were after him it would stand to reason why he would do such a thing, but it made it just that much harder to pin point the boys location. Landing softly on the rooftop of one of the taller buildings, Lazarus would begin combing the alleyways from the rooftop's above, looking for any sign of the hollow and what he might be doing.



It would take a handful of minutes before he came across what he thought might be Nezuel, however he wasn't alone in the alley, and it looked like he had been in some sort of skirmish. It was hard to tell from this distance if they were fresh wounds or old, but he was going to find out very soon. Walking out into the open air, Lazarus would slowly descend into the alleyway behind the other individual, the light from the street causing shadows to shroud him and make it difficult to see his face. The only distinctive feature that would be seen in this moment would be a pair of bright amber eyes staring at the person in question, trying to discern if they had been the one to harm his friend, or if this was an innocent bystander who just happened to stumble across Nezuel after the fact. His reiatsu would be kept low enough that it wouldn't attract anyone far away, but to those in the alleyway it would wash over them slowly. Unlike his other Quincy kin, his reiatsu held an almost Tv static appearance to it, and would resemble the feeling of being stared at from somewhere you cant quite see, unsettling in nature, like a prey who just realized they were being hunted. He said nothing and brandished no weapons, but there was an air about him that suggested otherwise.

Cool, cool.
    Someone he had assumed was human or a kami-for-hire referred to him as his species, definitely an extra comfortable situation to be in. Still his recollection of discussion in the library drew up only stray thoughts, pointless details about how the librarian's glasses were a gold chain but blue framed.
Relinquishing his efforts, Itsuki breathed deep as the pincer-movement of two predatory and fully distinct types and textures of spiritual exhaust bled across him. Ways out didn't really seem to be a feasible option at present and while a fight wasn't preferable, this couldn't be worse than a rain god if they forced it, right?
    Their less than discreet and downright unpleasant greeting across his soul drew a shiver from his spine and a half-whispered,
    "Right, fine..." From the monk.
    Squeezing harder on the silk and rope bound wooden fetish in his pocket, the thing burst into his own reiatsu. A searing, molten mass at the core, bleeding out his own burning sunset-shaded spiritual essence. Drips and drabs of black escaped into it here and there, dancing about the whims of the flame as the fullbringer nails materialised planted into his clavicle.
    It hadn't taken him long to realise with all these fancy light show expressions that he was the weakest piece on this particular board, yet the priest still felt the urge to try.
    "I have to admit I wasn't really expecting to be trapped in today? I hope not everyone involved in this spiritual business is so friendly." Itsuki said.
    If there anything to be divined from the meagre mass of shining light that had already calmed come his fullbring manifestation it was the sensation of an armour-clad faith stained with some unclear impurity of feeling. More than that, it was apparent from the rough outline and that molten consistency this was some bizarre proto form of what people were wielding.
    Mysticism, scripture and folklore moulded by strength of spirit instead of some informed or instinctual evolution such as a shinigami, hollow or kido practitioner might display.

His eyes took a moment to adjust to the dark alleyway, the unending gaze slowly falling away from the spiritually aware human to Nezuel, scanning him for injuries outside of bruises and cuts. He didn't see anything life threatening, but the hollow had seen better days from the looks of things, and given how the last interaction went Lazarus would keep his guard up. A part of him wanted to see if his friend was okay, but another more prominent part wanted to make sure that this human wasn't going to be caught in any cross fire if Nez was in another manic state of mind. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, the would be human seemed to change, not so human after all, as the sense of impurity radiated off the young man in a feeling reminiscent of hollow kind. His research as well as his time spent near Gaia had given him an idea of what this was, though it was the first time for him seeing the transformation. It increased the mans power, though it wasn't such a change that it would warrant the need for weaponry, plus it wasn't this Fullbringer he was worried about. Taking another drink from his soda, Lazarus would pull his reiatsu close to him, wearing it like a second skin, walking forward in a measured pace. A number of steps would bring him to the mans side, and a half step would put him in front of the human, standing as an obstacle in case Nezuel made any undesirable moves.



"Pork bun?"



In his right hand he held up the other pork bun, offering it to the person now behind him, shaking the bag a bit to emphasize it's existence. His eyes never left his hollow friend, wanting to be absolutely sure that this wouldn't turn into the same shoot out that it did the last time they had crossed paths. It was clear that he had been in a fight recently, though from the looks of it not so recent that he might be out of stamina. the damage looked well aimed, not like if a group of hollows had come after him, something to take note of in the passing moments. Though he wouldn't look back to greet the human, he'd shake the pork bun again as a peace offering, more to show that he wasn't the reason that Lazarus had come here, more so a bystander to the situation.

Sudden praise creased the fullbringer's expression. Mouth agape in confusion, he waved a hand in some wild gesticulation of confusion. Itsuki had no idea how this whole afterlife etiquette worked, did people usually blast out with beaming pillars of sacred essense to say hello?
    "Thank you?" He said, befuddled.
    The whole occasion had thrown his mind for a loop, ironically stumbling over itself and free of these expectations and misconceptions. Sometimes it was best to be flexible to adapt to new situations, not cling to the rigorous scripture and limited experiences, he reminded himself.
    One scraping set of serrated-for-their-delight level of threatening spiritual sensation at least eased back, Itsuki watching the stranger's own expression display naked apprehension too soon after his request for the monk to answer.
    "Pork bun?" Drifted the offering past his ear.
    What?
    Itsuki pinched the bridge of his nose with a sound of exasperation. Expect the unexpected seemed to be rapidly becoming his new golden rule with life in general, never mind the spirit world.
    Rustling down into the bag he eased free the offering with a delicate pinch and a polite incline of his head, eyes lifting back to the miasmatic reign over his extrasensory senses. Squish, went the pleasing texture between his fingers.
    Still warm, nice.
    Chaos erupted, conversation faded.
    The element of surprise afforded the enemy a shocking blow.
    Cascading violence hammered aginast a barrier conjured by kind hand while his spirits quivered and quaked with discord, realisation dawning as a baleful sun within his mind. Sleek bone and a voice rendered in bizarre fashion, bare instincts expressed in bodily form grating against traumatised memory like so many nerve endings exposed.
    Fear revelled as fight or flight bloomed, hands clasped in panicked prayer to steady a troubled heart. His reiatsu spasmed to life yet no spells came, focused intently on calming his fitful courage.
    That abhorrant thing had come from a sacred holding, his mind reeling and expression wide-eyed, breathing hurried against his religious mutterings seeking solace.

Lazarus had been a second too late in coming to the same realization as Nezuel, the swiftness of the attack and the barrier happening much too fast for him, the beating on the kido walls around them deafening. His mind raced to catch up to what was happening, and as his eyes switched from his arrancar friend to the hollow above, they widened in surprise as to what had attacked. Not entirely sure of it's current form, Lazarus had read about the stages that hollows had gone through, this one likely being either the adjuches or vasto lorde stage, both of which were incredibly dangerous. Not to mention the fact that the Fullbringer was muttering some prayer behind him, the fear of the situation probably getting the better of him. For a normally stoic and well tempered individual, Lazarus had been caught off guard, the sight of his friend being attacked sending a number of emotions through his system. Past the fear and concern, the uncertainty of if they could even fight such a creature, a more prominent emotion boiled to the surface, an anger he hadn't felt in some time.


"I can't vouch for your safety if you stay, this barrier wont last long, I'll distract it to give you an opening to get out of here. Know that by staying you risk your life and everything that comes with it..."


Lazarus would vanish from in front of the young man, reappearing next to Nezuel as small sparks of reishi danced around his heels. With a wave of his hand he'd cast a spell to try and lessen the severity of the wound, taking a moment to assess it and what could be done for it. Amber eyes reached for the stars to find their mark, pupils the size of pins as he held his arms out to either side, his reiatsu spiking much higher than before. In his left palm would appear a straight sword of pure reishi, so densely packed and masterfully crafted that it would appear real. the right palm would form a small hand bow, taking up the majority of his palm, with his thumb drawing back the string to form the arrow. Said bow would be held up and fired at the bone covered creature, his body moving on auto pilot as he entered that soldier like mentality for the fight to come.

Words fell on deaf ears.
    Myriad scars, silvery slithers of the past raised and agitated, burned across his withered heart and burning soul. His practiced and disciplined mind held flightly discipline over trembling legs, still trying to settle on the correct side of primal instincts.
    Light flared before his eyes, sparks flying and blood splattering as the clash pressed on.
    As it bound limbs around this sanctuary it began to feel more of an accursed prison. Vision near-darkened with hysteria as the main body of that wild entity pressed close. The blue veil seemed all too thin.
    Scattered playback littered his brain with discord until at last his body made a decision. Whispered prayers drew to a close as that gooey molten core of his spiritual energy flared up again. Fumbling fingers slid a glowing nail free from his clavicle, mind wheeling through incantations as he squinted up at that bone-faced thing.
    It's not that bear, it's okay, things are going to be fine. It can't hurt you in here, things will be...
    Spun his mind on and on.
    Jaw clenched, Itsuki's free hand wove into the sign of the sword of enlightenment, the other casting his fullbring up towards the hideous ossified face. The nail shattered, dissolving into purifying salts. Each grain of the small cloud would sear and smoulder like acid, if managing to be absorbed even trap the thing in a brief illusion of a crushing waterfall, hopefully staggering it enough to provide an opening.
    Whispers of black fire burned about his fingers, the next incantation already in mind as his flinching mind waited to see if the barrier would even permit his own spells to cross it.