Bleach: Turn Back the Pendulum [IC]

[Frozen_Feet]

[Rome; Ezekiel's forge]

Ezekiel slowly sets his bundle of firewood on the ground, doing his best not to run away screaming. "Ummm... hello?"

"Fear not, Son of Man", the shorter, armored figure speaks. It is not Latin. It sounds like language of Ezekiel's aging adoptive father.

"We are messengers from Heaven. We are here to reveal you your nature and to take you with us so you can speak with your Father, our Lord."

[igordragonian]

Qiu break his stoic expression.
He staring shocked, trying to look and find anything majestic about Ezkiel.

[Toxic Mind]

[Two Shibas and a Saki]
"True. But no matter how great the sword, its still a sword. We send men to keep out of range with bows using arrows laced with sedatives, blowdarts, chakrams, whatever we can throw at them, traps and so on to knock them out, and they will will have to face the same problem every swordsman does. That and whoever said they get to know they are being attacked if it comes to that? Ambush them as fast as possible, Keep a distance, keep hidden, don't bother bringing close combat weapons if they are really so strong, be prepared with as many tools as you can to turn the situation to our favor."
Saki suggests, not knowing how much these tactics might catch on someday with certain other people as she takes another sip of wine.
"I mean its just sense right? You don't send swordsmen to beat swordsmen, you send archers to beat swordsmen."

"Indeed. Lets get this done." Kane Shiba rises, and his wife follows him. Of all the things he had done recently, this left the most foul taste in his mouth. It was necessary, there was no way to beat Kuchiki now, any fair fight would just end up with him dead.That did not mean he had to like it.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Yan Wao Shen: The Afterlife Wilderness - Necromancy and Demonology

The Necromancer, having left the Lady Ana in the byways of darkness, took its leave to the outskirts of the Afterlife where no Lord held sway. It was not a random choice, the Shionin weren't the only ones with spies and methods of keeping track of others after all. The one known as Tasnim Abdulrashid or "the Demon" was near. The location of other powerful sorcerers was always a boon and so it was the Necromancer came to her camp.

"Demon" it called from the shadows, settling just outside the sorcerer's camp, its baleful eyes gleaming in the murk. "Pray chance I may join you at your fire."

Tasnim Abdulrashid: The Afterlife Wilderness - Necromancy and Demonology

A small fire blew fitfully with the Necromancer's approach, casting dancing shadows on the trees and the simple hut that stood in front of it, a cloth drawn across the door obscuring the interior from sight. The 'Demon' in question sat beside the fire and used a stick to stir the embers before fishing out a bit of charcoal that she lifts with one hand as eyes focused on the flames.

"Such a polite monster, how could I deny such a guest?" comes the amicable response as the charcoal is applied to the piece of tanned hide beside her, sprawling something in flowing script. "Tell me, do you believe in fate?"

Finally the veiled woman's eyes lift to find the morbid figure lurking just out of the range of the warm glow of her fire, twinkling with mischief.

"Ah..not a monster at all, but something far worse...a man," Tasnim murmurs cryptically to herself before gesturing to the spot across from her with a jangle from the keys on her wrist. "Sit, I offer you the same hospitality that I receive in return. I imagine that will be sufficient for this little meeting."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I'm working off of the assumption that these two don't know one another, not personally anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong!

[Razade]

Yan Wao Shen: The Afterlife Wilderness - Necromancy and Demonology

The Necromancer steps into the light, tattered robes and animal skull seeming almost to absorb the fitful light as it haunches down and remaining eye level with the Demon. "Not a man but not a monster. Something different, something...old." The creatures fingers dip down to the dirt, slowly drawing in absentminded movements as it regarded the Demon. "I'm afraid I do not come with hospitality. You know my deeds, Tasnim Abdulrashid for I am Yan Wao Shen. I know of yours, for you are Tasnim Abdulrashid the Demon. I come, Demon, as I have come to the Noble Houses to tell you what you already know. War is coming. The Soul King demands our world and all in it. To reap."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Fine with me! I imagine they've heard each other. Hard to be a well known magic user that...doesn't know your peers. Even if not having met face to face.

[Lord Raziere]

Two Shibas and A Shihoin
Saki shrugs and doesn't press. She knew that she was probably the one here who had no problems being dishonorable. Its not as if a new Great House ennobled by the soul King only twenty years ago left room for such luxuries like respected Houses. She would have to be careful how she would act with Shiba and make allowances for their values. Alliances always had such things to work out.

She walks outside the fortress for a moment and whistles a bird call that was a certain highly specific code among her forces and one of her men crept out of the forest, wearing a green cloth mask over his face, a conical hat, green clothing, with a bow and short swords at his belt, as well as a few other things slung over shoulders in small packs. He was probably unlike most of the Great Houses forces, wearing only light if any armor.
"Lady Saki, what are your orders?"
"Send for our best team of archers to come hear my orders. I have a task that is needed of them and it requires the utmost care, secrecy and stealth."
"As you wish, Lady Saki."
He melts back into the forest, and Lady Saki walks back to the Shibas
"My men will be here soon."

[Toxic Mind]

Two Shibas and A Shihoin
Saki shrugs and doesn't press. She knew that she was probably the one here who had no problems being dishonorable. Its not as if a new Great House ennobled by the soul King only twenty years ago left room for such luxuries like respected Houses. She would have to be careful how she would act with Shiba and make allowances for their values. Alliances always had such things to work out.

She walks outside the fortress for a moment and whistles a bird call that was a certain highly specific code among her forces and one of her men crept out of the forest, wearing a green cloth mask over his face, a conical hat, green clothing, with a bow and short swords at his belt, as well as a few other things slung over shoulders in small packs. He was probably unlike most of the Great Houses forces, wearing only light if any armor.
"Lady Saki, what are your orders?"
"Send for our best team of archers to come hear my orders. I have a task that is needed of them and it requires the utmost care, secrecy and stealth."
"As you wish, Lady Saki."
He melts back into the forest, and Lady Saki walks back to the Shibas
"My men will be here soon."

"I shall inform the guards so they do not believe we are under attack. If needed, your men can be quartered in a separate barracks. We have a great many buildings to occupy in our fortress and more left unused. No sense in allowing more cobwebs than necessary." Kane Shiba says with a wry smile.

"Will you or your companion be accompanying the strike force?" The Lady Shiba asks, to the point as always.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Tasnim Abdulrashid: The Afterlife Wilderness - Necromancy and Demonology

The mischief slowly disappears from her gaze as the Necromancer speak and she sets aside her hide rubbing and rubs the charcoal off on her tattered poncho. "Truly? Then my night is proving to be more auspicious than I had originally expected it to be, I've never met an old neither-man-or-monster before. At least not in the flesh."

"...You humble me with your words Yan Wao Shen..I hadn't expected my vigilante escapades to garner such a notorious figure's interest," the woman murmurs as one hand drops to stroke along the curved, comforting weight of her staff as she considered her most unlikely guest with a careful gaze. "...And what proof do you have Yan Wao Shen? After all, such a claim carries enormous portents if it is true..and even if its not, people acting on it can cause great change..and even greater harm.

The fire pops and crackles as the dusky skinned woman lowers her gaze into the flames and falls silent for a long minute, contemplative of what this being had brought before her. It was true that she had heard about the Necromancer and some of its deeds before and while she did not believe it to be malevolent...it was self-serving, like many in the afterlife.

"...If you have already informed the Great Houses of this...royal ambition, why bring it to my attention?" she questions aloud. "They have resources I couldn't even imagine. Influence, money, soldiers, and respect. It would seem you've already assembled a potent alliance to deal with this matter so of what help could I offer that the Shihoin, Kuchiki, Shiba, and the others could not?"

"Forgive the suspicions but after one such as yourself denies my hospitality and refuses to give it in turn, I find myself paranoid about you intentions," Tasnim says simply as she prods the fire once more and lifts her gaze to Yan Wao Shen. "...Especially when such intent includes committing regicide on the Soul King.

[Razade]

Yan Wao Shen: The Afterlife Wilderness - Necromancy and Demonology

Yan Wao Shen chuckles, remaining perched like some great bird on the liminal, between the fire and the darkness of the wilds. "It is wise to know all who might find you as you walk the world. I know as you know. The stars above speak of this cycle. I know because you do not know. That this is not the first of such reapings. I can say no more, under a sky which it can see and the winds it can hear. I know because I know."

It continues to etch in the dust, its only movement, and the etchings radiate around the fire as if drawn by some unseen hand. Another chuckle from deep within the lion's skull, the Necromancer's head shifting just enough to shake the bells woven into its mane. "There are no allies in the Afterlife. As soon as the deed is done they will turn. They are being offered the Mantle of Control...they would not suffer one not of their kind to sit at their table. Besides, what good are armies and money when you seek to lay low the pillars of Heaven and Earth. What good is respect? No, Demon, they have only vague promises seen in the entrails of goats and blackened bones. Of weapons that can cleave stars. Of promises yet to come. You have what they need."

The etching done, a vast and complex array, a spell of magnitudes beyond any simple sorcerer within the Afterlife is lain bare as the campfire courses through the groves and channels in the dust with colors as varied as the flowers in Spring. The Necromancer lifts its hand, the finger used to etch covered in the dirt. "Not kill. Place in slumber. To kill it would start the Cycle anew. I cannot take your hospitality Demon for I have come to bring you to war. There is no hospitality I could offer you in sight of this. The Noble Houses will not rally behind me, too long have the fattened calves feared the shadow they presume me to cast. But you can see the works laid before you. You can bring it to them. Teach them. We here this night can make a pact that will forever alter Fate. We here under these stars can save your world. Their world. The Mortal Realm and the White Sands of Hueco Mundo. Come with me to the lands of Shiba, and when our task is complete you will stand apart from your fellows for you did the right thing for the right reason. Agree to this and in return I will show you the truth of this world."

[Lord Raziere]

Two Shibas and A Shihoin
"I'd hardly call the eight most eccentric archers in our entire forces for an attack, especially for a fortress for this size, but whatever works."
"Lady Saki, all our forces can be argued to be eccentric by Soul Society standards."
"Well yeah, I get where they are coming from, if I recall one of their words: "we already died once with honor, we not too keen on doing it again considering what it got us." That and all the people who come to us because none of this matches what they believed the afterlife would be like, not that they remember much else...

Anyways, No, I do not plan on doing so, Lady Shiba. I am a noble, and therefore I protect by leading with my mind and coming up with the right plan. That is not to say I can't do other things and act and defend things myself, but to go charging off to face Lord Kuchiki himself without any back up plan or power in case the usual underhanded methods fail against his new swords would be to neglect the bigger picture. After all if my team fails, I'll have to prepare the rest of my forces to try and use even more forces to defeat him without more powerful traps.

I have to stay behind, to keep my eye on the big picture. The smaller details of it are for the people I command knowing that they might die. My job is to oversee and make sure the whole is lead, their job is to tend to the parts I assign, knowing the risks they take. The only circumstances I desire to meet Lord Kuchiki in are either across a table in hospitality or him in shackles in a dungeon while I hold the key and his sword. Anything else would be foolishness. My bodyguard will be staying with me. She is after all, my bodyguard."
She says, relaxing back as the eight archers, known as the Crazy Eight, soon quickly came walking in and giving awkward bows to her. You've heard stories about these eight, how one of them still praises the Roman Gods, another is still waiting for their heart to be weighed against a feather, a third is trying to find Seraphim, and yet another thinks he has become Ah Puch, Mayan God of Death. The other four are probably even stranger. But they are the best archers Lady Saki has.

[Toxic Mind]

Kane Shiba stands and begin to gives his assent when he is stopped by his wife, her hand on his arm.

"We are sanctioning actions against another noble house. Whatever the reason, one of us should be there. I will go - I have seen their weapons first hand, and am more than adept enough to serve as observer or asset, as needed."

Kane Shiba looks down at his wife and the two lock eyes for a moment. It is clear that the Lord Shiba wants to order his wife to stay, but knows the futility of such an act. He looks at Saki with a raised eyebrow, asking her feelings on the matter.

[King539]

[Rome; Ezekiel's forge]

"Fear not, Son of Man", the shorter, armored figure speaks. It is not Latin. It sounds like language of Ezekiel's aging adoptive father.

"We are messengers from Heaven. We are here to reveal you your nature and to take you with us so you can speak with your Father, our Lord."

Ezekiel stares dully at the armoured figure, not even noticing Qiu's reaction. Crickets chirp somewhere, breaking the silence. All at once, Ezekiel falls to his knees, muttering prayers under his breath.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Please, stand up. If there is someone who ought to kneel here, it is us", Lord Kuchiki, the armored figure, speaks to Ezekiel, taking off his helmet and kneeling himself so their eyes are on the level. "I understand this must be an awful surprise. Ask us anything. We are your servants, as much as we are your Father's."

[igordragonian]

Qiu blinked. That was... beyond understanding.
"We are his..what?" he wishpered to Lord Kuchiki, unable to understand why would he swear his loyalty to such... lowly mortal. He didn't even seemed a warrior.

[Lord Raziere]

Two Shibas, a Shihoin and a Fon
Saki speaks
"My Lady Shiba, an admirable sentiment to be sure, but why would that be? I feel as if being there would be a bit of declaration, a give away so to speak, you don't tag along with your assassin to declare that you are killing the person you want, that is why we have the assassin go alone, so that the job is done and not
messed up by the presence of nobles such as us who have far greater things to worry about. Technically this isn't an assassination just kidnapping, but you get my meaning. That and do you really want to leave poor Kane in the presence of corrupting, decadent me all alone?"
She says with a catty, incorrigible smile.
"You are just as in danger of being cut down as I am. And it would really pain Kane if you were to die to Lord Kuchiki, especially before you could ever sire an heir, how negligent and irresponsible of you! Kane would be stuck in the same unenviable position that Kuchiki is in, except with the death of loved one and having to find somebody who can even a hold candle to Ana's sun, but certainly more charismatic than Kuchiki so I doubt there would be a lack of options for Kane. I mean sure you can hide behind duty and lie that you'd be fine with him finding happiness with someone else have a good heir with them, but they wouldn't be YOURS now wouldn't it?

I mean, you two are so lucky to have such a loving relationship for nobility! You actually love each other rather than tolerating each other for the sake of an arranged deal your parents made a decade ago, or hastily marrying yourself off for the sake of having a potential heir at all like I did with Akio, poor, weak-willed, can't-lead-anyone Akio. And I tell you: Kane will not want to do that, I did it because it was necessary, knowing I'll never a love a man to do it for love, but for the life of me I can't just can't see poor sweet Kane being able to handle that!"
She giggles as she points this out.
"Speaking of unenviable positions: I pity whatever woman who has to bear Lord Kuchiki's child. A desert dry of all emotion probably isn't good for a relationship I wager."
Suddenly Nanami Fon speaks up
"If one of us truly needs to go, let it be me, for I am nothing but a noble of a lesser house of Fon and bodyguard of Saki. It is my duty to give my life in her place."
"NO! I order you not to! You don't even have any experience with these weapons!"
"Better than you dying, I am more expendable than Lady Shiba."
Judging from Lady Saki expression, she didn't seem to agree.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Tasnim: The Afterlife Wilderness - Necromancy and Demonology

"Is that it then? You think that I will fulfill these promises of theirs for mighty weapons? I wonder what has made you think that I am either capable or willing of giving such killing tools to those that do not deserve them," the woman says with a harsh inflection on her tone as as her gaze flicks up towards the Necromancer once more and does not move away this time. "Mhm...so that is how you see things, I wonder if perhaps you are too far removed from humanity to properly understand it but that would be throwing a rock in a glass home."

Seeing the etching on the ground, Tasnim rises from her spot beside the fire and circles around it, holding her staff loosely in one hand as she takes in the diagram etched into the dirt before smiling behind her veil. With a single twirl, the mystic places the tip of her staff between two symbols before connecting the two by a curving line. Not that this was the only modification that she makes to the diagram as she speaks.

"In my experience, a vision of the future can lead to two possible outcomes. The first is that it provides a warning of things to come, a way to see a threat or incident before it occurs but proving the entire time that the future is mutable. Once one knows to act on it, they can alter the situation so that the future they glimpsed does not come to pass, leaving the erstwhile savior in the dark about what their new future might possibly hold," Tasnim murmurs as she steps delicately around the diagram as she makes the small changes, though there is no apparent pattern to any of it just yet aside from tampering with the spell laid out in the dirt. "The second is a matter of inevitability..once one has glimpsed what is to come, it becomes an event that MUST come to be. One can rail against the future laid before them, quietly accept it, or frantically try to change the course of events laid out in front of them but at the end of the day...what they've seen can and will occur because of their glimpse into the future. Sometimes they even bring it about themselves. Which do you believe is the truth?"

"Tell me Necromancer, what value is there in being told 'a' truth by another? Is it not the same as giving a hungry man a fish? Surely you sate his hunger, but unless you remain by his side and continue to fish for him, he will just as surely starve on another day because he has learned nothing aside from depending on the charity of strangers. Is it not better to teach him how to catch a fish? How to find the truth on his own?" Stepping back away from the spell laid out on the ground, Tasnim breathes a contented sigh at her handiwork. The original intent of the spell could still be divined by the attentive but for most..it had become an elegant, if somewhat bizarre, etching of a flower in the dirt of the clearing. "I reject your pact. The very nature of it would mean I have not done the right thing for the right reason but for selfish gain of a 'secret' that is utterly meaningless to me because I did not discover it on my own. I will still speak to the Great Houses however, there are still matters that need to be addressed and I would be remiss if I ignored them."

[Razade]

Yan Wao Shen: The Afterlife Wilderness (Necromancy and Demonology)

"No. I do not think that. I think they will rationalize what you do as the help they require. They merely need a figure to place this burden on." The Necromancer remains sitting even as the Demon reworks the vast spell it laid out in the dust, watching her instead of her work. "Neither." it finally answers, standing slowly with creaks and groans as it pulls to its full height. "Fate is neither a tapestry where an unraveled string predicates a new tapestry needing woven nor is it a mirror. Gazing at the future no more corrects the path to that eventuality as tugging a string from a tapestry make the entire work barren."

"Fate is a series of rivers that collects in pools and falls down waterfalls. We are but leaves on its current. It is neither set in stone or fully mutable for each ripple along its surface pushes us down other rivers. Other streams. All the options are laid out before you, one of many but not infinite. Someone who has the map may see a part of this and steer all they can to an outcome they desire, knowing full well that the flow of time is unending." With a motion a wind blew through the clearing, brushing the flower aside and obscuring it with cinders and ash from the fire. "Teaching a starving man to fish only helps if you feed him to be strong enough to reel in his own meal. Only once a man is nourished may he learn. A starving man has no need for a fishing rod when his fingers are frozen in hunger and fear. I regret to hear that you see no merit in what I offer. It remains upon the table all the same. Consider it when you discover your truth." The Necromancer then turns and fades into the shadows cast by the flames.

[Toxic Mind]

Kane Shiba's face is stone, but inside he wars with himself. There is nothing in the universe that he wants more than to protect his wife, but knows attempting such a feat will lose her as surely as if she dies. After a long moment, he shakes his head. "I appreciate the sentiment, but the Shiba are warriors first. None among us would shirk duty merely because of danger, from the lowest recruit to its Lord. And Lady.

However.

The Lady Shiba will go as an observer only, and will not interfere with the efforts save under the most dire circumstance."

Ana Shiba nods her agreedment, then speaks. "Perhaps your warden could come as observer as well? Then both houses would have an unbiased observer."

[Lord Raziere]

Two Shibas, a Shihoin and a Fon
Lady Saki pauses then says.
"Fine. You can go Nanami. Be remember: you are an observer like Lady Shiba."
"As you command, Lady Saki."
She says with a bow, then turns to Ana.
"It will be an honor to serve alongside you, Lady Shiba. I am Nanami Fon of House Fon. Shall we go now, or do you have your own forces to martial?"

[Toxic Mind]

Two Shibas, a Shihoin and a Fon
Lady Saki pauses then says.
"Fine. You can go Nanami. Be remember: you are an observer like Lady Shiba."
"As you command, Lady Saki."
She says with a bow, then turns to Ana.
"It will be an honor to serve alongside you, Lady Shiba. I am Nanami Fon of House Fon. Shall we go now, or do you have your own forces to martial?"

"Please. Call me Ana. We can depart as soon as you and yours are ready." She walks over to her husband, kisses him deeply, then leaves without another word to the agreed upon meeting place, therefore to travel to where the barrier between the spirit world and ours weakens.

[Lord Raziere]

Ana and Nanami
"Very well, Ana."
She turns to the Crazy Eight.
"Well, are you ready?"
"....When am I going to get my heart measured against a feather?"
"We've been over this Ahkenaten, thats not how things work."
"Liar! I know you are hiding Osiris from me somewhere!"
"Well if you perform well on this mission, maybe we will take you to see him."
"....I'll take it!"
"Am I going to turn into a Hollow?"
"No your not going to turn into a Hollow, your already a Plus Aelia, stop worrying."
"Hey do you think we can get bow versions of their weapons if we steal them?"
"I don't care Aquilina, now if we're done being weird, lets go. Our mission is to observe Lord Kuchiki to make sure his loyalties lie with us and not the Soul King. if we are to find that he still remains loyal after meeting with him, you are to ambush him and bring him and his lapdog back alive. This mission will be risky and might test your abilities to your utmost, but your the best we have! You WILL complete the mission! Are we clear?"
"Yes milady!"
They then march off after Ana.

Saki and Kane
Meanwhile Lady Saki says to Kane as she take a sip of wine:
"No seriously, can you imagine the pillow talk of Takehiko Kuchiki to a hypothetical wife:”
She imitates his bored uptight way of speaking
“My sword shall pierce through your gates. Through which I shall reach Heaven through thrusting. There is nothing but cause and effect and I shall be the cause of an heir to embody the Law to effect all. There is no prophecy for our love for such things are old wives gossip, but there is deception and misdirection and if I find out you have been disloyal I will command you to die for such shame upon me.”
She chuckles at her joke.
"Just....poor hypothetical wife who has to figure out a way to bear an heir with him. It'd be like marrying an animate statue."

[Razade]

Yan Wao Shen: Shiba Encampment

One moment the Necromancer isn't there, standing behind Lord Shiba, the next it is. Looming and silent as always, pulling up from the shadow. "You've been busy?" it asks, cocking its head in a birdlike manner towards the Balancer Noble. "I presume no luck with the Kuichiki though I think it matters little now. Other wheels are in motion, in time as predicted he too will join your banner."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Tasnim

When the Necromancer fades away into the shadows left beyond the edges of her camp fire, the mystic clucks her tongue softly and gives a little shake of the head.

"So dramatic, but I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less," she murmurs to herself before grabbing hold of her staff and rising to her feet. With a jangle of iron against iron, the dusky skinned woman begins to carefully sort through the curious keys dangling from the end of the hardwood shaft. "Now which of these lead to Kuchiki lands..? No, this one leads to that one bread shop...no, this is to the Shiba wine cellar...Was it this one?"

Lifting an angular key, Tasnim slowly pressed it forwards as if inserting it into a lock and gave the key a turn that was accompanied by the sound of a metal locking mechanism opening up. As the noise rang out, a white line outlining a door appeared in front of her and the sight of her fire froze and became un-moving as she opened the 'door' and stepped through to close it behind her. As the white outline faded, the fire began to pop and dance once more for several moments before abruptly snuffing itself out...

-----------------

Kuchiki Household

It wasn't long afterwards before Tasnim approached the gates of the Kuchiki home, having chosen correctly and arrived quite close to her intended destination, nothing more than a short walk before she could approach the gate and observe it contemplatively for a moment. Lord Kuchiki was unlikely to be home at the moment, he was a surprisingly busy man, so there was little need for an ostentatious approach to ensure that he took her seriously...since he very well might not be there in the first place.

So instead she rapped the curved end of her staff against the doorway, a much louder rapping noise than should have been created filling the air as she waits to see who's attention she's garnered.

[Toxic Mind]

Ana and Nanami
Ana leads the group away from the encampment, almost a day's ride into Shiba territory. They pass through a few villages along the way, where they are greeted warmly, and their horses exchanged for fresh mounts. Eventually, they reach the location - a bridge, or portal of sorts, a place where the spirit world and the mortal world is thin. Ana Shiba's face is a stone mask. "Are you ready? Push through the barrier, focusing your will like a knife. Once on the other side, we will be all but invisible to the humans. Kuchiki should be easy to track, as his will be the largest candle of spiritual energy."

Saki and Kane
"You misjudge him, I think, Lady Saki. Kuchiki is a man of deep passion and conviction. True, no average waif would do, but there are women enough with strong will and passions to rival his own. I managed to find one." He says, taciturnly ignoring the lewd imagery. "I think he might take it a compliment to hear you refer to him as statuesque, however." he says after a moment with a large grin.

Saki and Kane and Yan Wao Shen
"You really need to learn to knock." Kane Shiba says dourly.

[Lord Raziere]

Ana and Nanami
Nanami nods then wordlessly focuses her will and pushes through, with the Crazy Eight following behind her.
"So I be thinking" says one of the archers "We all died right? And our souls end up in the Afterlife right? So then how does noble families form, if we all died to get here, and all our souls from the mortal world eh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well its like, y'know, normally noble families are formed through the Usual Means right? You get yourself a wife and a husband and you go at it. But we're dead, see? So how does that work? Can new people be born dead first, then reincarnate into a living person? Was there a version of Lady Saki who was alive, but then died and got reborn here as a noble, and her noble family just has this strange ability to find each other in both afterlife and living world?"
"So what you talking about is, if whether birth in the afterlife creates a new soul or just reincarnates an old one at strangely fortunate times for the lords?"
"Well I guess thats why they're lords, they're blessed by the reincarnation to always form like that of course."
"But it doesn't make any sense!"
"Its the divine order of all the world, you idiot it doesn't need to make sense! Its beyond us lowly archers."
"Worry not! I Ah Puch, Mayan God of Death will answer all your questions!" one of them says
"SHUT UP AH PUCH!" The rest say in response, quite annoyed at his particular insanity.
"All of you be quiet, we need to be stealthy if we want to catch Kuchiki by surprise."
"Yes milady." they all say automatically as they focus on finding his spiritual energy.

Saki, Kane and Yao
"Really, not even a chuckle at my jest? Your a tough room, Shiba. I would've thought you'd find jokes at his expense hilarious."
Saki says in disappointment, then turns to Yao as he comes.
"There you are! I have something to address with you! What did I ever do to you, Yan? I was never particularly against you. I never made any moves against a being known as the Necromancer, famed for his wild stories of power and so on. so I wonder, why are you spreading rumors about me and my House to Kuchiki and Shiba about how I'll be the most problematic to their plans and cause the downfall of Soul Society by Soul King? What did I ever do to earn such ire, that you would go around manipulating people like that? You made me out to be a problem Yan with your rumor-mongering, and I do not appreciate that."

[Razade]

Yan Wao Shen: Shiba Encampment

"What is there to knock on in a world where all doors are open, Lord Shiba?" The Necromancer steps out of the shadows and into, well a headache really. "As spirited and blithely unaware as ever Lord Shionin. I took your information networks to be much better than they appear to be. Your late father would be most displeased with the state of your House. Some corrections, if I may." The Necromancer holds up a fist, raising a finger with a "one". "I claimed no such moves from you against me, your blades are as wind to the Swamp. Two, I made no such indication that you alone would be the largest problem to their "plans". I merely pointed out that should the two of their houses go to war, the other noble families would swoop in once they were weak and they would place you at the head of their coalition. After all, is your House not the strongest of the three remaining? It is natural for the weak to rally behind the strong and push them forward. Do you think the Kuichiki would stop at Shiba lands? No. You would be next, of course. You especially, would be next."

The Necromancer takes another step to loom at its full height, a third finger raising. "Thirdly I made no indication that it would be you or your House that would cause the end of the Afterlife...Soul Society does have a certain ring to it I suppose. The Soul King will descend no matter what any of you do. I have done my best to rally what forces can stand against it and end the cycle of destruction that has plagued our realm for too long. Perhaps before you make accusations, Lord Shionin, you make certain you are well informed. What you appreciate is of no concern to me. It is better, Lord Shionin, to be presumed a fool and be silent than open one's mouth and make the matter clear."

[Lord Raziere]

Saki, Shiba and Yan
"I am well informed. You and Shiba are making the claim that Soul King will destroy us all. Kuchiki doesn't believe either of you and has went to the Soul King to confirm, we have sent a squad of archers after him and his strange swords to make sure get advance warning and potentially knock him out get the secret of the blades if he keeps loyal to the Soul King.

I am just not fool enough to think that there isn't something else going on here. Everyone has an agenda, Yan. Do not think I am fooled that you don't. I mean let us take into account the claim of a ruler who supposedly periodically destroys the society he rules. The ruler would have to be quite simply insane, is it not unbelievable,that I do not buy this story at face value? That you, who have quite clearly shown to be the most powerful of us all, somehow needs OUR help?

If the Soul King is so powerful, what can we do that you cannot, I ask? The answer is nothing really. Therefore you are either mistaken about what we can do to help-unlikely. Or there is some power that we can access that you cannot that you know of but we don't, that your trying to give to us only with strings attached, or your just plain manipulating us into a trap so that YOU can do something to the Soul King yourself for your benefit over ours.

But lets humor you and say that the Soul King really is coming to kill us all and your really trying to help. Lets just make that the default assumption for now since you and Shiba seem so insistent. How do you propose we get enough power for this to actually work? Big fortresses does not a powerful fighting force make. Kuchiki and his strange swords could be serving the Soul Kings divine commandment to kill us all at any moment. And for some reason, I don't think my normal tactics is going work on a person powerful enough to wipe out all the Houses by himself."

she kicks up her feet on a table and relaxes back.
"So.....there has to be some way of evening the field....or your leading us all to our deaths so that you live while we die to his assault holding him off while you do something to solve this for yourself. What a convenient scenario for a magically powerful bandit lord who has only to gain from eliminating all legitimate afterlife authority in one move."

[Razade]

Yan Wao Shen: Shiba Encampment

The Necromancer remains as silent and motionless as ever, simply folding its arms behind its back once the Lord finishes her theories. "I must say you've figured it out. I plan on using every last soul within the Afterlife to power one final spell that will place me as the new Soul King. Once the Soul King is dead."

[Toxic Mind]

Saki, Shiba and Yan

"While I appreciate your... candor, surely you must know that we can't allow such a thing. We will not trade one boot upon our necks for another." Kane Shiba is all business now.

[Lord Raziere]

Saki, Shiba and Yan
"I think he is being sarcastic, Kane. He wouldn't be stupid enough to actually say a plan like that out loud, and if your right, well, we now know not to accept any deal from him ever. I mean, if we don't accept a deal with him and that plan is truthful, it doesn't really matter we're screwed either way, might as well be screwed the way we want to be."
Saki says as she drinks a bigger sip of wine than usual, just in the case that she doesn't have very long to live.