[BITPR²] Kyuukyoku Gaiden: The Beachdown Apocalypse

[Rater202]

"I suppose I have been," Svetlana admits. "My day..." She shrugs. "I suppose about as well as anyone else's. Yours?"

[Kuroimaken]

"You tell me, since it looks like you're dying to do it." Koutarou replies. "For one thing, the man you look like was hardly an island. The last time I saw him he was literally accompanied by hundreds of others like him. So to say the least I would expect him to not be alone."

He was also a capable Shinigami, though Koutarou is loathe to admit it, so the complete and utter lack of Reiryoku is another dead giveaway.

"I'll say this for you though, you imitate his annoying demeanor perfectly."

[Frozen_Feet]

The man by the riverside picks up another stone and feels it in his hand. "Hard to say, it's not over yet." He turns his face to Svetlana. She can catch her own reflection from the surface of his shades. "That girl sleeping at the back of your van. Who is she to you?"

Elsewhere, on the bridge, Shen Yi's doppelganger melodramatically grasps his chest. "Imitate? Ouch. Straight throught the heart. Seems like I can't act convincingly even as myself!" Then he crosses his arms and regards Koutarou with skepticism. "Come on. You gotta have realized what's wrong with your statement when it was coming out of your mouth. Yeah, I'm here alone. But so are you. Don't even bother claiming it's by choice."

The doppelganger turns around and leans his elbows on the railing, looking down at the water. "That right there is what I mean. You look, and look, and look, but you don't really have an idea what you're looking for. The solution could be spread out before you like a cheap whore, but your brain's not doing anything with it, you're not rising to the occasion, man. It's like someone cut off your balls when you were sleeping."

[Rater202]

Svetlana's posture doesn't change---she's certain that, even with her power limited and her being trapped in this body of false flesh, that she coul destroy this man in an instant if need be, but she does become, barely noticiably, more defensive. She takes a brief, perhaps too quick for a normal man to see, glance back to the van to make sure no one is aproching it, and if the coast is clear

"If your concerned that I'm some kidnapper, don't be. I'm her legal guardian."

There's not even a trace of deception. It's the truth, at least under Las Noches law, and therefore the truth as far as Svetlana's concerned.

[Frozen_Feet]

"If I was concerned about that, I would've just called the police and given them your license plate and description", the man says plainly. "Though if I was concerned, your reaction wouldn't help your case." He flings the stone across the water. Splosh, splosh, splosh.

"A normal reaction would've been, 'she's my daughter', or maybe, 'she's my sister'. Some such thing. Relaxed. Matter-of-fact. Instinctive, even. But you're not really related, are you? And 'legal guardian'... such an awkward term. Sounds like you don't know the real answer yourself."

[Rater202]

"Someone who lacked context would see a young girl climbing into the van of someone who she doesn't appear related to and might have assumed the worst," Svetlana said, "and if you absolutely must know the details, my charge was an orphan runaway who was in need of some legal help due to ignorance of a handful of obscure laws in the local she was in. I by sheer luck happened to be in a position to argue for leniency, she developed the slightest most trust in me, and well, she didn't exactly have a living guardian available for her care. My options at that point were to leave her to her fate, allow her to face a system that she... not-in-correctly presumed didn't necessarily have her best interests at heart, or to pursue my own options for her guardianship myself. I made what I considered the best choice."

A few bits of "exact words" going on there, with some of that not happening in the order Svetlana said it did and of course, the presumed mortal not needing to know the details concerning the spirit world, but the Arrancar is experianced enough that it shold flow just fine without an obvious hint of deception. Svetlana tosses a stone of her own.

"Legal guardian is what she chooses to refer to me as, calling myself her mother or sister before she does would be presumptuous. I'm afraid that more details beyond that would violate what little hard-earned trust she's placed in me." She cocked her head just slightly to the side. "Though, if pressed, I'll admit that there is something about her that reminds me of someone I used to know."

[Frozen_Feet]

The man turns his head to follow the arc of Svetlana's stone. "Who was that person she reminds you of?"

[Rater202]

The man turns his head to follow the arc of Svetlana's stone. "Who was that person she reminds you of?"

"An old, long dead companion from before I entered my current line of work. She had a presence about her that was similar to that that my charge carries."

In fact, there might actually be a chance that Sarah is one of that hollow's souls reincarnated. The timeline's about right and It'd explain why her reiatsu feels so similar at the very least.

"Though my child is far more civilized and much better behaved than my departed friend."

[Kuroimaken]

Koutarou paused to consider for a moment. Whomever this guy was, he was convinced he was the real Shen Yi. There was a relatively simple way to test that claim, of course... but he couldn't hold back his punches by much, or the answer would be subdued.

"Hadou 1: Sho."

Shen Yi is probably familiar with the Kidou in question, but not necessarily with what it means when Koutarou is the one casting it. Instead of the shove he expects, a wall of telekinetic energy comes speeding at him like a truck. Which might delay his response for a moment, but still, if he is actually seriously injured by that, then there is no way he's the genuine article.

[Frozen_Feet]

On the riverbank, the man with the shades lifts up a finger. "Did you hear yourself? 'My child'." He presses his palms against his knees and pushes himself up. "I believe that here is my answer. But now, if you excuse me, I have to go." He waves as a goodbye to Svetlana. "Have a good day."

Meanwhile, on the bridge, the telekinetic force hits the doppelganger squarely at his back and crashes him through the railing. Pieces of stone rain down and splash against the water... but no splash big enough to account for a human body hitting it.

Before Koutarou has much time to dwell on this fact, he hears a now all-too-familiar voice from behind. "You know, that wasn't very nice." The girl in black is there again, sitting on the opposite railing. She looks like last time Koutarou saw her... before she burst into flames, that is.

[Rater202]

On the riverbank, the man with the shades lifts up a finger. "Did you hear yourself? 'My child'." He presses his palms against his knees and pushes himself up. "I believe that here is my answer. But now, if you excuse me, I have to go." He waves as a goodbye to Svetlana. "Have a good day."

"And you too."

Weird. Svetlana knows what she said--Sarah is a child in her care, that makes her Svetlana's child. That's how words work.

As the man departs, Svetlana returns to her van.

[Kuroimaken]

On the riverbank, the man with the shades lifts up a finger. "Did you hear yourself? 'My child'." He presses his palms against his knees and pushes himself up. "I believe that here is my answer. But now, if you excuse me, I have to go." He waves as a goodbye to Svetlana. "Have a good day."

Meanwhile, on the bridge, the telekinetic force hits the doppelganger squarely at his back and crashes him through the railing. Pieces of stone rain down and splash against the water... but no splash big enough to account for a human body hitting it.

Before Koutarou has much time to dwell on this fact, he hears a now all-too-familiar voice from behind. "You know, that wasn't very nice." The girl in black is there again, sitting on the opposite railing. She looks like last time Koutarou saw her... before she burst into flames, that is.

Koutarou turns around and starts walking towards the police station. How much time does he have left?

"Neither was the guy in question. If that were really him, I actually owed him a couple dozen punches for a while."

[Frozen_Feet]

As the man leaves, Svetlana feels a sharp jolt of spiritual energy reach her. It's... the Shinigami she felt earlier. For a brief moment, it felt like he was attacking someone. There's no follow-up, no sense of a continued battle, though. It does appear to come from downstream, where the man with the shades is walking.

On the bridge, the girl jumps down from the railing and takes a few running steps to catch up with Koutarou. "You know, I have a hard time deciding which is more pathological", she says, matching his pace when she gets in line with him. "That you jumped to using spiritual powers, or that you jumped to using violence."

The police station is already in sight. Koutarou is late by five minutes, tops. Nothing to raise undue suspicion. But where did all the people go? There are a few parked cars on the side, but other than that the street is empty in both directions.

[Rater202]

Svetlana debates among herself whether she should awaken Sarah and inform her that the Shinigami she'd encountered earlier had apparently had a violent encounter or save it for when she awakens.

...She thinks, how long has it been? She'd convinced her charge to rest for an hour. She's certain that her ward wouldn't fault her for letting her sleep over, but if an hour had past she wouldn't be faulted for wakening her and being wrong about it's importance.

Meanwhile, in the back of the van, Sarah stirs, retrieves her pilfered blanket, and goes back to sleep mindless of the events going on around her.

[Kuroimaken]

As the man leaves, Svetlana feels a sharp jolt of spiritual energy reach her. It's... the Shinigami she felt earlier. For a brief moment, it felt like he was attacking someone. There's no follow-up, no sense of a continued battle, though. It does appear to come from downstream, where the man with the shades is walking.

On the bridge, the girl jumps down from the railing and takes a few running steps to catch up with Koutarou. "You know, I have a hard time deciding which is more pathological", she says, matching his pace when she gets in line with him. "That you jumped to using spiritual powers, or that you jumped to using violence."

The police station is already in sight. Koutarou is late by five minutes, tops. Nothing to raise undue suspicion. But where did all the people go? There are a few parked cars on the side, but other than that the street is empty in both directions.

And yet he behaves as though nothing is wrong, by going to the police station as originally planned.

"Perhaps I've simply grown tired of being jerked around." Is his response to that. "This is, after all, just a game to you."

[Frozen_Feet]

As Svetlana ponders what to do, she feels a change in weather. A gust of cold air blows past, rustling her hair and the branches of the trees. If she turns to look, she sees bleak grey clouds amass in the eastern horizon. The wind is picking up and pushing them in the city's direction. There's going to be rain. Lots of rain.

Elsewhere, Koutarou rapidly reaches police station. "They say all's fun and games before someone loses an eye", the black-clad girl says without a hint of mirth in her voice. She stops at the middle of the street when Koutarou reaches the station's door, apparently not planning to follow him further. "But you're wrong. This may be a game, but I'm not a player in it." She points a finger at him just as he steps inside.

"You are."

And then a car rushes from behind a corner, driving right over her, or, probably, right through her, as her incorporeal self appears to interact with the environment only on her whim. In any case, in split second, all trace of her vanishes again in wake of the zooming vehicle. At the same instant, people enter Koutarou's sight, and their chatter fills his ears, as if they'd all been waiting for a cue just outside his vision.

A few seconds later, a male police officer in blue overalls steps into the lobby. He looks around, then fixes his eyes on Koutarou. "Greetings. Would you happen to be Ishinomori, Koutarou?"

[Kuroimaken]

"That's correct, sir, I am." He replies. The previous encounter didn't seem to even faze him.

After all, it merely confirmed what he already knew.

Now he just needs to figure out what the point of this game is.

[Rater202]

As Svetlana ponders what to do, she feels a change in weather. A gust of cold air blows past, rustling her hair and the branches of the trees. If she turns to look, she sees bleak grey clouds amass in the eastern horizon. The wind is picking up and pushing them in the city's direction. There's going to be rain. Lots of rain.

Svetlana wakes Sarah.

"Huh, wha?"

"Rain and wind. It's looking like it'll be heavy, I'll need to move the vehicle away from the river bed just in case. We may have to find more fortified shelter."

"...Kay"

"Also," Svetlana continues, "it seems that the Shinigami you encountered early entered a brief violent altercation."

Sarah doesn't respond to that. "Can, can you try opening a Garganta?"

Svetlana isn't sure that it would help--even if it worked it would take them to the LAs Noches of five years ago, but she tries regardless.

[Frozen_Feet]

Svetlana tries, only to find she doesn't really know how to. It's like facing a logic puzzle she knows she's solved before, but can't recall how.

The reason is simple, though it might be obscure to her - after all, Hollow powers are instinctive, she knows how to use them, not necessarily how they work: living, physical bodies cannot move into spiritual realms. They have to be converted wholesale into spiritual matter first. Powerfull Hollow spirits, such as herself, can do that, even by accident. But she's not a spirit right now. She's inside a human body and leaving it at will isn't any easier to do than when she was really alive. There's only one obvious way she could vacate her mortal shell.

At the station, Koutarou is escorted into small office and asked to take a seat before the officer's desk. After formal introductions and checking the info from his earlier visit, they get to the meat of the interview. "Mister Ishinomori, what is the last thing you remember from before finding yourself here?"

[Rater202]

Svetlana tries, only to find she doesn't really know how to. It's like facing a logic puzzle she knows she's solved before, but can't recall how.

The reason is simple, though it might be obscure to her - after all, Hollow powers are instinctive, she knows how to use them, not necessarily how they work: living, physical bodies cannot move into spiritual realms. They have to be converted wholesale into spiritual matter first. Powerfull Hollow spirits, such as herself, can do that, even by accident. But she's not a spirit right now. She's inside a human body and leaving it at will isn't any easier to do than when she was really alive. There's only one obvious way she could vacate her mortal shell.

"...My child, it wouldn't be possible for you to use your gift with manipulating and communicating with souls upon the tose of this false shell to make them reject my true spirit form? It would seem that this vessel of false flesh is preventing me from opening the doorway."

Sarah tries and probably fails because that would be too easy.

[Frozen_Feet]

She's right that it isn't easy, because to even begin, she will have to cross an interesting philosophical treshold:

She will have to make herself consider the body a different entity from the person in it. To not just make a difference between body and spirit, but to acknowledge that the body has a spirit that is not Svetlana.

Can she do that?

[Rater202]

She's right that it isn't easy, because to even begin, she will have to cross an interesting philosophical treshold:

She will have to make herself consider the body a different entity from the person in it. To not just make a difference between body and spirit, but to acknowledge that the body has a spirit that is not Svetlana.

Can she do that?

If she could, she wouldn't be having trouble summoning her Fullbring now that her mother's bracelet is part of her body.

"I'm sorry," Sarah says, "I can't."

"It's alright."

By now, Sarah has taken a seat in the passenger chair of the van. "Do we have any way of proving this is ours?"

Do they? They check visors and glove compartments and anything else just in case.

[Frozen_Feet]

They find a lot of proof that the car is NOT theirs. In addition to an user manual, a maintenance checkbook, a road map and other miscellannelous paper work, there's a registeration certificate showing that the car had it's yearly inspection just a month ago, the next one is due in eleven months, and that the owner is some dude called Mikael Rautiainen. There's also an address given.

[Rater202]

"Okay, so our options are to either try to rough it in the van without assistance or ditch the van and try to pass ourselves off as people who were forcibly brought into this country without documentation?"

"It seems so. I know that you don't trust easily, but..."

Sarah doesn't answer.

"My child, I swear that I will not let someone take you from me." She holds up her hand and forms a small Cero before dismissing the energy without discharging it. "In the worst case scenario, we can easily obliterate anyone who tries to harm us or separate us by force."

"Okay," Sarah agreed.

Svetlana began relocating the vehicle somewhere less likely to flood while the two of them discussed their cover story.

[Kuroimaken]

Svetlana tries, only to find she doesn't really know how to. It's like facing a logic puzzle she knows she's solved before, but can't recall how.

The reason is simple, though it might be obscure to her - after all, Hollow powers are instinctive, she knows how to use them, not necessarily how they work: living, physical bodies cannot move into spiritual realms. They have to be converted wholesale into spiritual matter first. Powerfull Hollow spirits, such as herself, can do that, even by accident. But she's not a spirit right now. She's inside a human body and leaving it at will isn't any easier to do than when she was really alive. There's only one obvious way she could vacate her mortal shell.

At the station, Koutarou is escorted into small office and asked to take a seat before the officer's desk. After formal introductions and checking the info from his earlier visit, they get to the meat of the interview. "Mister Ishinomori, what is the last thing you remember from before finding yourself here?"

"It's pretty hazy. I think I was at work? Maybe? Something to do with the military, maybe the UN. But that doesn't make much sense, if I was a part of any military corp, I'm sure they'd be looking for me."

[Frozen_Feet]

The officer raises an eyebrow while he writes this down. "Hmmm. And where did you wake up? Were there any other people present?" A light patter fills the room as first drops of a spring rain hit the office window.

Outside, the dark clouds are roiling over the city. Droplets strike the van's windshield as Svetlana drives it further from the river, small ones at first, then bigger and in greater frequency. Soon, visibility is cut to just a dozen meters, as the world is shrouded in a grey haze of mist and falling rain. The feeling of spiritual isolation grows almost oppressive. It's like Sarah and Svetlana are the only people who exist in their own little bubble amidst the greyness. Svetlana gets a feeling she might be driving around in circles, as it's hard to keep tracks of which street goes where in an unfamiliar city in these conditions.

[Rater202]

As soon as she sees somewhere she can, Svetlana pulls over and parks the car, preferably somewhere out of the way. She knows better than to keep moving like this.

"...When did you learn how to drive a car?"

"That, my child, is a rather long story..."

Svetlana proceeds to tell a story that is either really fascinating or incredibly boring and will not be repeated here as it isn't exactly relevant to this story.

[Kuroimaken]

The officer raises an eyebrow while he writes this down. "Hmmm. And where did you wake up? Were there any other people present?" A light patter fills the room as first drops of a spring rain hit the office window.

Outside, the dark clouds are roiling over the city. Droplets strike the van's windshield as Svetlana drives it further from the river, small ones at first, then bigger and in greater frequency. Soon, visibility is cut to just a dozen meters, as the world is shrouded in a grey haze of mist and falling rain. The feeling of spiritual isolation grows almost oppressive. It's like Sarah and Svetlana are the only people who exist in their own little bubble amidst the greyness. Svetlana gets a feeling she might be driving around in circles, as it's hard to keep tracks of which street goes where in an unfamiliar city in these conditions.

"A beach I'd never been to a few miles from here. I hitched a ride back to the city." Because he can't say "I airwalked".

[Frozen_Feet]

Of course he could, he just won't, for better or for worse. "Did you ask a name from the person you got a ride from? Or do you remember their car's registry plate?"

Meanwhile, Svetlana found a parking spot at the corner of a city block, between a few other cars. Sarah can see from the passenger side's window that there's a cafeteria in the building right next to them. It's too bad they don't have any money.

On the driver's side and ahead, there's just an empty street and grey haze, with just distant traffic lights and headlights of other cars managing to break through on occasion.

[Rater202]

Saah and Svetlana at this point just have to wait until either the rain clears or someone approaches them.