Bleach Hereafter RPG

Her eyes were veritably sparkling at the revelation that the very cross worn around her wrist could do so much more than she'd ever known about. Why, the possibilities seemed endless to her at the moment. She could go anywhere she'd want, do anything she'd want, then be back home in time for dinner like nothing had happened! Her mind was absolutely racing with ideas, both simple and conniving, that could be fulfilled with such a power.

Of course, she also wondered just what more Mama would've taught her had she paid more attention during training. That thought was quickly dismissed, however.

"Show me!" Vaera blurted out her request -well, more of a demand in the way she had said it. She blurted out what she'd wanted, leaning a little closer to Lazarus and eyeing his cross before prying her eyes further up to meet his own. The excitement in hers was clear, even if he didn't think anything of the wide, anxious grin spreading across her cheeks. "Um... I mean, can you show me how?

"Please?" Thoughts of her parents admonishing her for being so rude to a stranger had run through her mind, until she'd corrected her mistake. She as still visibly excited by the idea, but manners went a long way in these kinds of situations, she was told.

He gave her an apprehensive look for a moment or two, pondering whether it was worth it to do or not, ultimately deciding it was harmless for the time being. Gradually Lazarus would slow his pace, pulling away from the group a few feet at a time until they rounded a group of trees and he might be alone. Assuming the girl caught on and was by his side, he'd hold up the small cross and spoke as he focused on the space between two trees.


"So taking the basic concept of the cross and how it's used, you start by pulling reishi into it, careful to maintain and not create anything with it just yet. Next comes the hard part, you have to think about your destination, I use coordinates because it's what I'm familiar with, but you can use anything you like, as long as you have a clear imagine in mind for where you want to go."


As he spoke the reishi would gather slowly, and as it did the girl might notice that shadows were being pulled towards him, bits of them breaking away and becoming part of the reishi he was gathering. The normally blueish while particles would darken until it looked like ink across his palm, viscous enough to look wet but not dripping off his palm.


"Once you've gotten your destination locked in in your mind, pull from the shadows around you, shadows can be used to connect from one place to another. After you've gotten enough, conjure the gateway wherever you want it to be, and then you simply walk through and you're there."


The inky darkness on his palm would now drip to the ground and launch itself rapidly to the tree's, spreading out like a blanket to cover the distance between the two trees. The swirling inky abyss showed no location, but he nodded to it briefly, more or less suggestion she test it out.



"I'll keep it open so you can come back through."

No sooner than Lazarus had lagged further behind the group and relented to her request, Vaera had hopped gleefully in place and breathed a small, "Yay!" Why was she so excited about this now? She usually hated needing to train. She had, however, fallen in love with the idea that she could visit home whenever she liked, and that was currently motivation enough to forget how boring the practice itself was probably going to be.

"Whoa." As Lazarus continued to demonstrate the spell, Vaera's excitement slowly gave way to wide-eyed investment. It didn't look like any spell that her Mama had tried to teach her before. It certainly didn't involve arrows in any way, though the idea of conjuring a giant bow and riding the arrow to her destination did make her laugh for a second, and she wondered for a moment if her Mama had even known about this ability.

"You sure?" Vaera was visibly apprehensive about the idea of stepping through the strange portal. It was a little scary, you know? This wasn't some spell she was controlling, after all. It was Lazarus' portal, and he hadn't mentioned where it was going. Nonetheless, after a tentative step forward, she steeled herself and took a deep breath before stepping further into the inky wall of reishi. For a few seconds, all that she could see around her was that viscous black, then...

The world opened up before her eyes, and her jaw went slack for a moment. Then she smiled, and giggled, and spun around so that her glistening eyes could take in all that they could of the city square she'd found herself in. She didn't recognize Tokyo for what it was at the time, but she knew enough Japanese to read some of the signs before her attention returned to the shadow still standing at attention against the wall behind her. Before she could draw any attention to herself, she retreated and felt the cold chill of the mountain air wrap around her again.

"OH MEIN GOTT!" She had lost all ability to control herself, her voice, and her excitement, as seen by her wildly waving arms and unwavering smile. "That was... I... Japan? How did..." Vaera stopped herself when she'd realized she had grabbed ahold of Lazarus' wrists, and cleared her throat. A few very deep breaths helped her to calm down, and she let go with embarrassment tinging her cheeks more pink than the cold had already. "That was... cool." Maybe it wasn't the best choice of words, but her brain was scrambling to find something that wasn't an excited giggle -not to mention resist the urge to hug the admitted stranger.

this was an entirely new experience for him, having someone less knowledgeable than himself, showing them new tricks that he had cultivated over a longer period of time. A stark contrast to how he was brought up and the trials and tribulations of his training, a wider smile spread across his face. Though it was sudden, Lazarus had seen her reaching for his wrists and kept himself from flinching at the touch, offering a nod in response before she retracted her hands and collected herself.


"It takes some time to get used to, but the stronger your imagery on the location the easier it is to get there accurately, so I'd suggest some place you know well. It makes travel much easier and less stamina consuming, what would normally take you hours of hirenkyaku and running now takes but a moment, but it isn't something you can use instantly so don't count on it if you're in danger."


His palm was still up and holding the portal open, having kept it up for her to study or examine at her leisure, the inky darkness swirling and swaying at it's own pace, a small ripple subsiding from her coming back through. With everything that had happened in his life recently it felt nice to do something as simple as teach another of his kind something they did not know, the thought of potentially mentoring this girl crossing his mind briefly before being cast away with chuckle, knowing that might be a bigger responsibility than it seemed on paper.

While Lazarus further explained the nuances of the portal, that gave Vaera time to slow down, to calm down, and to get her head back on straight. Admittedly, suddenly finding herself on the other side of the planet in as little as two steps had been a lot to comprehend, but she was getting there as she continued to breathe deeply and slowly.

She forgot the hiking group that was growing further and further away from them at this time, and had already turned a corner so she couldn't see them any longer if she looked up the trail. They wouldn't be difficult to find, per say; probably, the relatively empty wilderness would make sensing the group all the easier. The portal that remained open between two trees, however, had grasped her attention again, and she wandered around it with an analytical eye.

"I've seen Mama conjure things before, but never anything like this." Vaera wondered out loud, testing the edges of the portal with her hand. Sure enough, she passed right through it again, and attempting to cup her palm like it were water did nothing in particular. After a moment of thinking, she used her other hand, bearing her cross around its wrist, to poke into the shadows again. She tried to pull at just a little bit of the reishi that had built the construct, and withdrew her hand with small amounts of shadow still clinging to her fingers. However, it quickly shrank and vanished in only seconds.

She frowned at her empty palm before twisting her displeased face into one more quizzical. Still, she kept trying, even if she never quite managed to keep the shadows alive outside of the portal. "It's so weird..." By now, the corners of her mouth were beginning to lift again, suggesting her words were in no way a criticism.

Lazarus watched her fiddle with the shadowy substance for a handful of moments, simply allowing her to better understand it while he kept the portal open. He knew more or less why she couldn't keep the ink like reishi alive longer than a moment, but he'd keep the information to himself for the time being, amused at her way of studying the method of transportation.


"There are many things you'll have to learn on your own, even more that you'll have to forge yourself from mere concepts and ideas, what limits most people is their own ambition and creativity."


To give her another showing of what he meant Lazarus summoned a small reishi weapon in the form of a dagger, looking like something you might find on a soldier in the military, he flipped it about in his hand. After a moment of concentration its edge would change, becoming something of a smoldering edge, small threads of steam rising from it as it met the cold air around him.


"With just a simple spell I can give my weapons a burning edge to do lasting damage, I could coat it in a toxin based reishi technique, even make it serrated for more damage as I attack. I could coat the blade in electricity to try and stun my opponents, or I could simply throw it as a diversion and get a sneaky shot or too off. Then there's healing spells, defensive spells, utility spells such as what I did to the blade itself, many a things you could do."

Okay, now he was starting to sound like her Mama, Vaera thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. She'd gotten that exact speech before at least a dozen times, and it was kind of difficult to take him seriously when there was something actually interesting right here in front of her. Still, she didn't say a word of this to Lazarus, lest she hurt his feelings.

"So, if I..." Her voice trailed off as she stepped back from the portal. Like he had done before, she raised her hand and focused on gathering reishi without constructing anything with it quite yet. It did take her a fair bit longer to start seeing any result, particularly in the shadows beginning to creep closer to her from underneath the brush, and for much of that time, she was too busy focusing on her mental image of... She decided to use the motel room for now.

A few seconds later, the first shadow stuff had climbed onto her hand, and was veritably dripping from her open palm by the time she opened her eyes. A wide, prideful smile spread across her face, but just as she was about to cast the spell and open the portal, it fizzled and her gathered reishi was expelled in that same direction instead.

"Wow," Vaera muttered, a dejected tone taking over her normally cheery voice. "You really need to focus, don't you?" A brief, half-hearted giggle sought to relieve some of her stress, which worked for a few seconds. Without quite realizing she was doing it at first, she reached up and played with a curl of hair with her fingers as she looked around -and realized she had been left behind.

"Oh, crap!" She blurted out, quickly looking between Lazarus and where the group had gone. She'd been so focused on learning that he could open portals that she hadn't noticed the group had gone on without her. "We need to go." Another laugh punctuated her words, and Vaera started with a light jog in the direction of the group. She didn't intend to leave Lazarus, but she did want to finish the hike, too.

He watched with mild amusement as she attempted, and subsequently failed, at making the portal on her own. For the first try it wasn't bad, though Lazarus was getting the impression that this girl didn't like to practice on such things, however he did give a one handed clap at her attempt.



"It is something you have to keep constant attention on or you'll find yourself losing it just as you're about to walk through."



His eyes left her and wondered back in the direction of the hikers, hearing her words as his portal stood between the trees, unwavering as he diverted a fraction of his attention to what she had pointed out. With a nod his hand would detach from the ink like substance, the portal breaking apart into nothingness in the air where it used to be, no signs of it ever having existed in the first place. Lazarus would lag behind a bit, opting to use hirenkyaku to get a couple of pace behind her, continuing in a brisk walk as his shoes sunk into the snow below.

"Just use your sensing abilities to track them, shouldn't be too hard to catch up to them if you know which direction they're in."

It didn't take long at all to catch up to the group, even with the loosely packed snow slowing them down. Vaera slowed her pace again, wanting to keep the group within sight -and the guide within ear shot- while she and Lazarus continued to converse. For good measure, she waved her hand high until the guide gave her a wave back, signalling that he was aware she had fallen behind a little bit.

"So," she resumed at her casual pace once more. "If you need to picture some place in particular, why did you come here?" She asked while tilting her head a little bit, strands of hair falling from her face before being swept back. "I mean, you said you were practicing, right? I assume you meant the portal..." Now that she thought of it, maybe she should've asked how Lazarus had come here. It didn't quite add up with how he had explained the portal worked, after all.

Right about then, it had begun to snow a little more. The weather forecast had predicted a clear day, and had even gone so far as to say there were no major systems heading for the area until the next, but up ahead, she could see the guide beginning to call for everyone's attention. Vaera hoped he was just reminding people to be safe and not to wander off, frowning all the while.

with the new snowfall Lazarus would increase the amount of reishi used to keep him from the cold, stifling a shiver as he felt another breeze from the air around him. Looking at Vaera with a raised brow, he tapped his temple twice before responding.


"I've studied various regions of this realm in order to have several places to go in case of emergencies, never know when you're going to need to slip away into a foreign land. I use a combination of imagery and coordinates to get an idea of where I want to go, as long as I'm within a five mile radius of the target location I can make due with hoofing it the rest of the way. It's not an exact science, having the place in mind makes it easier to concentrate on, but if you've been training to identify things by different means, like coordinates, it works about the same."


He paused to pay more attention to the guide, curious if the hiking trip would be cut short due to the change in weather. It would make sense, if any of these people got stuck in the snow they'd likely panic and do something stupid, he didn't even know how trained this guide was for the route the group was on.

They were too far back to hear the nuances of what the guide was saying, but Vaera could get the gist of it from here. They were going to speed up their hike, and begin to make their way back to town. Well, that was disappointing. They had only been out for a few hours! They hadn't even stopped for lunch yet!

"Stupid snow." She pouted, kicking at the powder underneath her boot and crossing her arms in impotent defiance. At the very least, she supposed, they were going to follow a different trail back down. That was... something. Kind of. Maybe. Not really.

"Makes sense." Vaera turned her attention back to Lazarus, and to his explanation of why he was training to use his portal to travel to the Rocky Mountains of all places. It did make sense to have a button to press in an emergency, so to speak. "It's harder to follow a portal than your Hirenkyaku; cheaper than a plane ticket, too." She laughed briefly, and slipped her hands into her pockets to stave off the creeping cold.

"Well, on the bright side," she mused aloud. "If the storm comes through tonight, then tomorrow should be clear." Ever the optimist, Vaera was already thinking about what she was going to do for fun once the weather had cleared.

A quiet moment spread long between the two of them as Lazarus thought about the snow and it's potential to stop up future plans for the hikers if it continued through the night. While she might be right about the clear weather, it could snow heavy enough to keep them inside, or simply be told they couldn't go out for their own safety. If nothing else had become clear about the sun touched toned man it was that he thought quite a bit about his words before letting them out into the world, scanning the horizon with a shrug as he posited his own opinion.


"Perhaps, or this could be the beginning of a sudden snow storm that might keep you cooped up in a cabin for the next few days. Weather doesn't much care for plans, I'm not even sure how the Weathermen on TV still have jobs given how frequently they get it wrong. You'd think with the tools and time they'd be able to accurately predict the weather, but I've spent plenty a days walking through rain because they said it's be sunny out."


Whether it was pessimism or just a realist view on life, it was an opinion that differed from the positive attitude Vaera gave off, though it was not said in any way to imply he thought she might be wrong. More so a 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst' kind of mentality to it all, as life rarely ever goes without curve balls.

While Lazarus was talking, Vaera's mind was busy concocting a play of images to animate his words of being cooped up inside a cabin while a winter storm raged outside. She didn't particularly dislike the idea, come to think of it. Sure, it'd mean she couldn't go back outside or see the mountains' natural beauty until the weather cleared, but it also meant cozying up by the fireplace with some hot cocoa, and perhaps a cute boy...

Oh, who was she kidding? She was staying in a hotel. There most certainly was no fireplace, but cuddling up in a warm robe with hot chocolate still sounded nice. It took her several seconds to realize she'd been too focused on her inner imaginings, complete with a goofy grin on her face.

"You sound like Mama again." Vaera laughed while mentally pushing her daydreaming to the back of her mind. "She loves to complain about the forecasts never being accurate." Another giggling laugh, and she breathed a quiet sigh while her thoughts momentarily returned to home once more.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gust of wind, which blew the freshly falling powder into her face. Vaera shrieked, then immediately followed it with another fit of laughter as she angled her head down to keep her face out of the wind. The weather really was taking a turn now, and the group sped up their pace just a little.

"Guess the weatherman really did get it wrong." She half-muttered in a voice that was nearly drowned out by the winds picking up through the trees.