Bleach Hereafter RPG

A small slipped past his passive demeanor, the only sign he might not be entirely forthcoming with his next few words, though for good reason. If she had no knowledge of the Wandenreich then she was better for it, it wasn't his place to inform her of its existence, nor the kind of Quincy that lived there.



"I suppose you could say that, though some parents are stricter than others in their teachings..."



The idea of this girl learning about the Wandenreich felt dangerous, given how she's presented herself since their meeting Lazarus could imagine a curiosity that would lead to trouble. A thought popped into his head as well, if she had been here in the human realm it would be more than possible that she wasn't an Echt Quincy like himself. If that was the case then she was better off for it, the views on Gemischt and their place in the Quincy society were skewed in the negative by a wide margin, so the fact that she didn't have to deal with that was a relief in and of itself. Lazarus didn't much care for his Echt bloodline anyways, given it was the reason for his fathers actions early in his life, he could do without the perceived superiority.

"Oh mein Gott!" Vaera exclaimed a little too loudly following Lazarus' comment on strict parents. "Tell me about it! Mama was very insistent that we all learn how to be Quincy, und speak as many languages as we can, und get good grades..." She continued on like that for a few seconds more, her accent growing a little more thick for just a moment or two before she punctuated her complaints about her home life with a laugh. She appreciated her family, of course, even if she didn't much enjoy the constant studying she'd been put through.

Being multilingual in particular had been proving more useful than she'd believed, though.

"I shouldn't complain. There's worse things than parents wanting you to succeed, I guess." Another laugh, this one a little more restrained. To tell the truth, focusing on the reishi barrier to keep herself warm was already taking a lot of attention, and there was something else nagging at her now. Something was just on the edge of her senses, like a word on the tip of her tongue that just wouldn't come.

Another gust of wind blew away her train of thought, and veritably dumped a whole new bunch of snow onto the hiking group. Ahead, Vaera could hear the guide calling for everyone's attention, and for them to huddle together and stay as close as possible. The snow was falling even more rapidly than before, and the howling winds were growing downright deafening. Then a bone chilling roar echoed through the winds and the trees; one that sent a cold shiver up her back.

"Was that..?" Vaera looked up at Lazarus, her eyes finishing the question her mouth had abandoned. It was no wonder the storm had come out of nowhere like it had, if it wasn't natural.

It was almost comical how off base she was in her assumptions about his life, though he wouldn't go out of his way to correct her, better to leave things alone than dump onto her the trauma's of his past. He nodded and smiled wordlessly to her words, staring past her for a moment when he though he felt something foreign in the area around them. While he hadn't made it known to her, Lazarus had been doing a continuous sweep over the area with his spiritual awareness, having had initial suspicions of the sudden change in weather since his arrival. It was one thing for the weather to gradually change, it was another all together to have it become something of a blizzard in mere minutes without so much as a hint of such a storm brewing beforehand.


"It can be a hassle for your parents expectations to sit on your shoulders but-"


The words fell away to silence as he heard the exact same thing as Vaera, his feet stopping short of continuing forward as he felt something on the edges of his spiritual awareness, as if deliberately sitting just a foot outside his range. What was once a far away look now focused in sharply, snapping back to the present as they locked onto Vaera's own eyes, a serious demeanor washing over Lazarus' features. Those same eyes would look towards the group of hikers, now knowing that the target for this was probably an easy and clueless meal for what sat in the snow covered landscape surrounding them. Visibility would likely get lower if this didn't get addressed, and given the level of control over the weather, he had an idea of how strong this thing might be.


"Sorry for this..."


A small apology in advance to the girl was all he could offer, as in order to bring attention to himself and off the humans, Lazarus would release his previously controlled reiatsu. Much like the snowfall above, his reiatsu would begin to blanket the area around them, the sensation it gave off being one of a predators eyes staring out at its prey from an unknown location, always looking, waiting for the right time to attack. He had apologized because he knew the difference between the two of them, and the power gap might be something to weigh down on her, but if it was to save the humans he would make himself a more appetizing meal. It just took the right amount of coaxing, but if it worked in his favor, whatever was out there would find him more interesting and worth trying to kill and eat than the humans.

"What for-" Vaera had started to ask what Lazarus was apologizing for when his actions answered for her. She had never experienced this kind of thing before: someone bearing down on her with the weight of their soul so absolutely. She'd never fought a Hollow that had felt this much stronger than her as Lazarus did right now. The feeling of his reiatsu crawled up her back after the cold shock of the Hollow's roar, and before she could stop it, her breath caught in her throat. She choked on it, and forcibly cleared her throat as tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

Up ahead, the group continued on as normal, huddled together and holding on to one another so as not to get lost. She assumed none of them were particularly spiritually aware, or at least not enough to know what was going on at this moment. Whatever happened, she wanted to keep them from finding out. Their lives would be more peaceful that way.

Vaera turned her eyes outward, through the burgeoning blizzard and into the trees in search of the monster so strong it could control the weather. That thought did give her pause, but even as overbearing as the weight of his standing just beside her was becoming, having Lazarus here did help to keep her calm just as much. The problem was that searching for the Hollow now was like finding a certain drop of water in a whole ocean.

"I didn't know Hollow could do this." She muttered as reishi drew to her left hand, hastily constructing a hand crossbow and loading it with a brilliant blue bolt. Another shiver ran up her back, this time as the cold seeped in through her warmth trapping layers. As she stood dead still beside Lazarus, her right hand wrung and released repeatedly, seeking both to warm itself and to relieve the stress driving her heart to race. Her eyes turned quickly from one direction to the next, failing to find the creature behind the blanket of snow. It was definitely still out there, however.

A crashing noise came from the trees beside them, and Vaera turned in time to spot a section of trunk come flying through the air. "There!" She yelled, raising her right hand outstretched towards the incoming missile. Reishi in the air quickly coalesced, forming a vibrant barrier that stopped the trunk with a deafening crash.

This hadn't been the first time he'd seen something like this from a hollow, though the last time he was put in a situation like this it happened to be a Vasto Lorde, and he only managed to escape because it found him less appetizing than the Shinigami it had captured. He couldn't pin point it's location exactly, but from the roar and the sudden tree trunk cast towards them he had a general idea of it's location, given it hadn't already moved to keep itself hidden. His own hands raised from either side of his body to gather in the reishi around them, careful not to pull from her weapon as well, to form his own weapons of choice.


What came to be in his left hand was a blade of reishi so solid it appeared almost real, styled much like a normal straight sword, though it hummed with highly condensed reishi particles. His right hand would be consumed by reishi before reforming into a small bow that took up the majority of his hand, his thumb working to pull back the string. Lazarus peered out into the snowy abyss for a moment longer, waiting to see if it would come closer or keep to it's tricks behind the blanket of sleeted ice.


"Keep your senses open, it'll be easier to sense it than see it, though only marginally..."


Raising the small hand bow he would aim for the area where the trunk had come from, firing off a shot into the blizzard to quickly watch the arrow vanish behind it. No noise came from his shot so it could be assumed that this hollow was actively moving as it attacked, so he'd keep his senses open and focused in the area. As long as it didn't go for the humans he didn't mind keeping a protective stance near Vaera, sooner or later this hollow would have to make a decisive move, and when it did he would react in turn. His main concern still on keeping everyone else safe against what lurked in the maelstrom around them.

"I'm trying." Vaera rolled her eyes at Lazarus' advice. She really was trying, but it was difficult to see a flashlight in the dark when you're standing beside a lighthouse. Besides, as far as she could tell, the Hollow was trying to hide, too. She still didn't know how it was conjuring a blizzard, but that might have something to do with how difficult it was to track the creature beyond their direct line of sight.

Her eyes watched Lazarus' arrow fly before it disappeared, but she couldn't discern any sounds of it landing through the howling winds. She scrunched up the corner of her mouth in quiet irritation, and hesitantly raised her crossbow a few degrees.

"Agh!" Vaera shrieked as the ground shook underneath them, and lost her footing in the shifting snow. She felt herself tumble back, and landed on her back and hands in the snow with a low "Oof!" Meanwhile, the Hollow appeared at the edge of visibility within the snow, running at the two of them full gait with another tree trunk held in its hands. The creature was large, by human standards, but not necessarily huge for a Hollow. It was bipedal, and covered in white fur that blended in with the storm that raged all around it. The abominable monster bellowed, raised its heavy wooden weapon, and swung it down towards the pair huddled together in the snow.

Vaera's eyes widened as far as they would go, but in her panic, she never settled on any one way to defend herself against the tree threatening to squish her flat upon the ground. Her thoughts scattered like the winds themselves, pulling the reishi around her body every which way but somewhere helpful.

This hollow, it resembled a yeti from folk lore that he'd read about, though in his head a yeti was much larger than this beast stood. His plan had worked well enough to get it's attention, and while it seemed to quake the ground and cause Vaera to fall, his own feet would adjust with the shifting snow, taking a stance directly in front of her.


"That's it...come this way..."


The words were gone with the roaring winds around them, but it was well timed as the hollow charged them, another tree trunk raised high as a weapon to attack. His only problem was the size different between them, and with a size difference normally came a gap in strength, something he worked over in time with the swing as his body reacted without hesitation. The edge of his reishi blade would pulse with energy as Lazarus swung upwards to meet the offending forestry, but what came from his attack was not simple contact. Moment before contact his blade would emit a concentrated blast of reishi to the center of the tree trunk, and like fireworks in the summer the wood splintered and shattered in a rain of small bits and pieces.


At the same time his right hand would fall lower, his thumb pulling back as the ambient reishi coalesced in his palm before firing off a small bolt in between the hollows knee in an attempts to further immobilize the creature. The shockwave from the sword burst itself would push him back an inch or two thankfully the snow acted as resistance to him and help keep him upright, staring the hollow down as the blizzard around them roared on. Even pushed back, Lazarus had resumed a stance that put him directly between the yeti like monster and Vaera, whether it was active or some trained subconscious instinct was up to her imagination to determine.

Vaera flinched, covering her face with her arms while reishi swirled uselessly around her, and for that couldn't see what was happening just inches away from her. A sharp squeak escaped her at the sound of an explosion overhead, but when the crushing weight of the Hollow's attack never touched her, she uncovered her eyes enough to take a confused look.

The Hollow roared in pain and anger. Its weapon of choice was gone, and with it the extra reach to remain out of the range of the human's sword. A bolt stuck into its leg, just into the knee, but it remained standing. The storm raged more heavy and thick around it, and it raised its fist high like one would brandish a hammer.

Vaera rolled to the side, feeling the stinging bite of the cold as snow fell in between the gaps in her clothes but trying her best to ignore it for now. One hand quickly wiped the snow from her face, and she struck out the other towards the large Hollow now preparing to attack again.

Weißes Kriechen! Her soft facial features grew stern, and she focused all of her attention on the Hollow and the reishi surrounding it. In the heavy snow storm, it was more difficult than usual to see the reishi coalescing into a fine mist, but even from the ground, she could smell the relaxing scents of herbs filling the air.

The Hollow faltered, its eyes blinking heavily behind its mask. However, even slowed, it powered through the effect and swung its arm down on the human that had harmed it!

The hollow being so close, Lazarus could sense it more clearly, so much so that it was what he was using to determine where it was attacking from. The low visibility meant that any wrong move would cost him a great deal of pain and suffering, so to eliminate that possibility he would focus his mind on the reiatsu of the hollow itself, an image taking shake in his mind as it faltered in it's movements. Sensing that it was coming from a spell that Vaera cast, it helped ease his concerns of any potential additions to the small skirmish in the snow lands, and with that he moved, quick as the falling snow around them.



As the beastial fist would come down his feet would carry him backwards, the offending appendage narrowly missing him by an inch or two as it passed, meeting the snow underneath with a thunderous boom. Wasting not a single moment, Lazarus would dash forward, climbing the hollows arm at break neck speed to get to the head, his blade brought up to his side in anticipation of the strike. Another arrow was fired into the monsters other arm, making sure to keep it as far away from him in this moment as possible. To ensure his own safety, Lazarus would also make use of a hirenkyaku to further increase his speed, angling his blade such that it should take this hollows head clean off, granted it wasn't smart enough or fast enough to react to the blade.



Whatever the outcome, he would vanish from sight and reappear in the air behind the yeti like hollow, almost hovering in place for a moment before gravity caught up to his transgression and brought him swiftly back down to the snow below.

Between the snow and the speed of it all, it was difficult for her to keep up with the fight as it was happening. What was not difficult, however, was making sense of the aftermath. As the Hollow crashed to the ground, its head rolling a little in the quickly staining snow, Vaera pushed herself up to her knees and took a breath. She sat like that for a moment, letting her heart slow again with the dying winds.

"Well..." She exhaled and blinked a few times. "That was easy." A quiet couple of laughs escaped her while she stood to her feet again, and she spent a few moments wiping the snow from her clothes. In the middle of all her moving, a small squeak set off slightly more excitement, and she jumped in place a little while fighting to shake the snow from inside her clothes.

"Why does this keep happening?" A rhetorical question, sure, and one her continued laughter didn't suggest could be anything else. With each hop and shake, yet more snow fell off her. She tried to keep her eyes off of the remains of the monster that had attacked them, and instead focused on Lazarus. "Are you alright?"

There was a long pause as Lazarus stared at the remains of the hollow, waiting for the tell tale signs that the battle was indeed over. It was slow, but eventually the body would start to break apart into smaller pieces, fading into the snowy terrain around them as the blizzard seemed to calm. The weapons in his hands would burst into particles, vanishing just as quickly as they had been formed, his gaze rising to meet Vaera's, his demeanor softening a bit as he relaxed.


"I'm fine, no damage to me from the little skirmish, what about you, other than the snow which seems fond of attacking you in it's own way."


As he spoke his reiatsu would slowly come back to him, wrapping around his form a number of times, like a snake coiling around it's prey, whatever weight she might have felt vanishing as he suppressed himself once more. Amber eyes scanned over her for any injuries to confirm for himself incase she happened to try and lie to him, he didn't think she would but it was possible, and he would have felt bad if he left her with any injuries because he been too careless.

Vaera winced as she continued to hop and shake her leg to rid herself of the snow that had found its way into some particularly unpleasant crevices. For a few seconds, it was all she could do to squeak or gasp as the cold worked its way down and out from around her ankle, but she was ultimately unharmed. Well, so far as she could tell without checking more closely. That snow was cold!

"Guess it's a good thing you came here, then." She laughed a pleasant chuckle while giving her thighs and backside a few good slaps to get the last of the snow off. She liked the cold, really. She just didn't like when it got under her clothes -especially not in front of a cute boy!

Wait. What was she thinking about again?

"I," she trailed off for a moment. Her eyes turned away from Lazarus' gaze and towards the direction of her hiking group. She hoped her brief, absolutely momentary thought wasn't showing on her face too clearly. "I should keep up with the group! Hollow usually hunt alone, but you never know! Y'know?" She giggled uncomfortably, smiling all the while despite everything.

The disturbed snow crunched softly underfoot as she made her way across the buried trail. However, she'd barely taken a few steps when she turned towards the lack of any sound from Lazarus. "Are you coming?"

Lazarus stifled a chuckled of his own at her attempt to rid herself of snow, watching with a raised brow before turning his attention back to the fading remains of the hollow. It had mostly gone by this point, but the last bits were there, breaking apart over and over again until it was returned no more. He gave a silent apology to the soul that it used to be, knowing that he had just plucked it from the cycle of souls and destroyed it forever, something he didn't enjoy doing in the slightest.

"Some might call it lucky timing, others would call it fate, I personally don't know what I'd call my being here today."


There was something compelling about the girl, he couldn't put his finger on it, but being in her presence left him more at ease. Perhaps it was her positive attitude, maybe she was just more normal than the people he usually worked with or crossed paths with, something he'd have to consider another time. Lazarus turned his attention back to her as he heard her start to walk away, looking from her to the group of hikers who were barely visible, then back.


"Hm? Oh yeah right, should probably make sure you all get to where you're going safely, I have seen hollows hunt in packs before..."