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Post by GoldenKitten on Oct 16, 2009 1:33:11 GMT -4
The academy of the shinigami was exactly as its name suggested an academy. One expecting something special might in fact be disappointed; the facility was run by and large just as a school in the real world would be. True the grounds and structures were done up in the fashion of the Edo era but the classes and events taking part within were nigh indistinguishable from their real world counterparts. Assuming of course the real world versions involved learning to purify demonic souls with spirit swords and magical spells that was. The campus was busier than ever, it was the first day for a new years class to begin and as always during this event the grounds were in near chaos. It was easy to miss out on what a nice day it was really, the sun was shining brightly and the fall colors were coming into the trees, such a shame fate played those sorts of tricks and wouldn’t let you enjoy it.
Though new members were expected to be mature enough to guide themselves they were still falling into bunches or being guided around by elder students. Every one of them seemed out of place, as if they had no idea what to expect and acting as if anyone remotely their superior was capable of biting their head off. More over with none of them really knowing where to go they found themselves rushing every which way. This was complicated by the fact that they were all of different ages and a first year could look older than a sixth year when they were a spirit. Thus some first years wound up following the wrong people, others didn’t realize the urgency with which they needed to proceed to be on time and in general everything was quickly becoming a mess. Regardless with every passing moment more were being coaxed in the correct direction and becoming more familiar with their surroundings.
Where they eventually found themselves gathering was a large central hall in the middle of the primary classing facility. Though most of the structure was sub-divided into dozens or even a hundred or more hallways and small rooms this particular enclosure took up more than enough room for five hundred people (assuming they packed in close) and its roof was equally over high and extravagant. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what it was built for with a large wooden area for the larger portion of the present body to occupy with a smaller raised portion and podium for speaking. Clearly the group was about to undergo a very long and very boring lecture, or at least they no doubt thought so.
At first they were simply allowed to file in at their leisure, a few shinigami in traditional black robes stood at the entrances but took no actions. Rather they were the center of a significant amount of attention, many of these students had only met recruiters, and never a full-fledged shinigami and it was something exciting to see. However after a few minutes several more began showing up along with speakerphones so they could be heard over the noise of the cumulated students. They began shouting orders lining the students up into groups by class numbers that they had been given some time earlier. It took nearly ten minutes to do so but by the time the feat had been completed the noise had been cut in half since the students no longer found themselves in their comfortable social circles.
A group of shinigami began filtering onto the stage and with the speech obviously coming silence began to fall upon the students until you could hear a pin drop. Several of them were wearing rank badges or variations in their uniform marking them as relatively high ranking shinigami…or at least getting away with things they normally wouldn’t when at their divisional headquarters. There were two-dozen of them or so and they seemed to be from every walk of life and ethnicity you could possibly imagine, clearly the aim was to have as varied a teaching base as possible for the students. One of the men who was every part the traditional model of supreme attraction, though certainly not a bishounen took the center of the stage and instantly the speech became ten times more interesting for the majority of females in the room. A woman in her young thirties with long black hair, glasses and an overall bookish look took a place slightly behind him. Tapping the microphone set up at the podium once to ensure it was on the man began to speak.
“Welcome class number one-eighty-seven to your first year of the Spirit Academy. My name is Kuatura Katayama the Vice-captain of 1st division and for this year at least I will be the Principle of this program as well as a teacher.” Many students were whispering excitedly amongst one another. Most shinigami were wondering what bet the vice-captain had lost since it was almost unheard of for someone of his level to involve themselves in the goings on of the academy. What the vice-captain said next was surprisingly blunt.
“For the next six years you will be learning all the skills you will need to know to become a shinigami. Regardless only a small portion of you will actually go on to join the Gotei 13, it is up to you and how willing you are to learn whether you join that esteemed lot or go on to become just another worker.” He raised his arms as if encompassing the room, “Every one of these individuals you see on stage and many you do not will be teaching you important lessons over your time here, if you listen well and practice hard any one of you could be as successful as any famed shinigami you have heard of. It is your own willpower that separates the successful from the rest. Strong words, but true and the kind you should not forget at any point during your time here or beyond.”
He paused and rolled his neck in its socket, one could almost swear he seemed to be eying a few of the girls in the front row. The woman next to him seemed to take note of this and though it was subtle a few might have caught her practically bludgeoning his gut with the hilt of her zanpaktou. Kuatura paused for several seconds, blinking his eyes in an obvious attempt to keep whatever pain-filled explicative had been forming in his mind. He finally succeeded and then with unexpected brevity looked out across the room with a demeanor much more friendly and less serious, “Well that aside I hope you all enjoy your time here and study prodigiously. Now, perhaps its time to begin ya?”
He pointed to one of the shinigami standing guard near a door, “Those assigned to class ‘A’ will follow Yasagiru.” He began to point across the room to the next shinigami at a different door and over the next three minutes each group was dismissed with a shinigami leader.
The group following the man dubbed Yasagiru made their way through an outside garden and into a separate building from the one they had begun. In total there were perhaps fifty students in this class alone with a great majority male but a still respectable dozen females. The new building was not all that different from the first and after taking several turns they entered one of the rooms off to the side that was surely a classroom. By the time they had all moved in this was confirmed, it was a traditional stadium class with several columns of multiple rows on a slanted grade upward so those sitting behind were progressively higher than those below. Yasagiru informed the students that they could move into whatever seat they desired but once doing so that would be their assigned position so to choose carefully. Not that it mattered for most of them since they had already been split up from whatever friends they might have already developed here.
About halfway through this process a wave of murmurs passed through the class and the door once more opened and this time three individuals proceeded through. The vice-captain, the woman who had been standing behind him and another man who had been amongst the crowd of teachers though he had been hiding in the back. Now though despite the vice-captains prominence this man was no doubt the center of much attention. His outfit was torn and tattered and more along the lines of a duster than a true shinigami outfit. More over his shaved skull was lined with countless burn and cut scars, some even looked as if they were purposefully carved in due to their unnatural swirl like shapes. His skin was dark and looked like tanned leather, as if he had stood over a flame for much of his life or spent too much time in the sun. One of his eyes was hazel and rather unassuming but the other was nothing but an oversized black orb with no distinction.
As the trio was taking their place in front of the group the man reached up to this black eye and grasped it firmly in his right hand. He suddenly pulled it from its socket showing that it had been a glass eye and leaving a gaping hole in his head that looked as if it had been roughly sutured closed after some injury or another. The man looked out across the class who were already looking at him with a mix of horror and disgust and he shot them an evil smile exposing yellow teeth that looked as if they had been sharpened with a file into fangs. He opened his mouth completely and a giant snake-like tongue came wriggling out in a moment that would have made Gene Simmons proud, the tongue slid up his face and directly into his eyes socket before performing three circular motions as if cleaning it before he retracted it, licked the glass eye like a grape and then popped both back into their prior positions. He then turned away from the students, half who looked ready to throw up then and there.
They assembled in front of the students and once more the group fell silent, Kuatura was the first to address them, “You already know me. You may call me Kuatura-sama, no last names please, and beyond managing the academy as a whole this year I will be the class leader of this particular group. I will be teaching you a variety of skills that we will go into greater detail over at a later point.”
The girl stepped forward, it now became obvious that she was actually of Chinese ancestry at this distance, “I am Lai-Fan, seventh seat of seventh division. I will be teaching you and other classes introductory to expert level kido over the next six years.”
Finally the one that the class no doubt had no desire to hear from stepped forward. When he spoke it was with a rough and near indecipherable voice that sounded as if it had smoked one to many billion cigarettes in its time, almost as if through a robotic voice synthesizer, “Romulus, fifth seat of ninth division. And…” he smiled eerily, “I will be teaching you how to inflict great pain upon your opponents.”
Lai-Fan looked at him with disapproval and Kuatura could be spotted simply rolling his eyes. The life of Class ‘A’ of the Spirit Academy had begun, so far it was looking to be an amusing affair…and quite alarming.
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((OOC: Nobody has a Zanpaktou yet.))
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Post by kensei on Oct 17, 2009 2:15:47 GMT -4
It was as beautiful a day as any that Heton had ever seen. The tall, young looking man sat in a tree drinking a glass of iced tea as he watched the academy come to life. As he sipped the glass of tea, a brown leaf fell onto his forehead. Slowly he picked it up by the stim, only to notice it was dead. That’s when it hit him like a brick, he needed to get to orientation or he was going to be like this leaf. “Oh crap!” He said as he lost his grip on the glass and the cold iced tea and ice cubes poured out onto his shirt. “Shit shit shit!” he said pushing the ice cubes off and jumping out of the tree. “Ah that’s cold ah that’s cold. Oh god I gotta pee now!” He said taking off his white kosode. “Ah man. The first day too!” He said panicking. That was before he saw someone who was readjusting his Kosode.
“Perfect..” He said walking up behind the man. “Excuse me sir!” He said in a high pitched voice making the man jump. “Hey punk you got a death wish!” The man returned in response. He was about the same size as Heton, but it was obvious he had been in far more fights, and most likely had more experience. “No sir. In fact far from it, you see today is my orientation and I need a fresh Kosode. In return I will be your lacky for the rest of the year and do just about anything you tell me. Its obvious I will not fault on this agreement as you look like you could easily kill me!” Amazingly, he said this with a straight face. Only adding a goofy smile at the end. “Please?” What? He couldn’t help it, it was his style. “Fine.. But you even think about backing out and I swear me and my buddies will kill you! Remember you cant hide forever!” Heton grabbed the Kosode off the mans shoulders and threw him his. “Thank you! Bye bye sweety!” He said running off while putting the Kosode on. “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME YOU LITTLE-!” That’s all he heard, and hopefully, that’s all he would ever hear from that man.
It wasn’t long before he made his way to the orientation room. And while everyone else seemed to have some trouble with the new adjustments, Heton found it quite nice, as he was standing next to two beautiful girls. If he didn’t have to shut up right now you could bet your ass he would be all over them, and with a little time and a little luck they would be over him to. Needless to say he was quite distracted during the whole speech thing. When it had ended he smiled and said. “Alrighty then, ladies, shall we make are way?” They both sighed as one said. “Sorry im with group B.” “And I have a boy friend.” Heton couldn’t help himself. “Well dosent mean you have to keep him.” This earned him a slap as the two girls walked off. “Damn! That usually works!” He said making his way to go with group A.
Though his spirits where indeed down, they couldn’t be held down. No siry. Because when he was told to find a spot, he picked the one right in the middle of three good looking ladies. “Howdy.” He said with a smile as he sat down. When Romulus spoke he couldn’t help but go. “Wow.” In truth he was kind of impressed, while obviously disgusted. “How? With the tounge??” He said leaning on his desk completely puzzled by how long and pointed his tongue was.
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Post by jeckal on Oct 18, 2009 0:41:22 GMT -4
The warm blood splashed on Casper’s sickly face as he slowly twisted the sword. The person he was standing on top of screamed loudly, and ear piercing, shrill scream that caused Casper’s head to turn back and his murky grey eyes to close in ecstasy of the whole affair. Removing the sword from the man’s gut, Casper stepped on top of the wound, causing the man to groan and his face to contort. Smiling at this, Casper raised the sword and stabbed it through the man’s ear. The man did his best not to respond to the new pain, which wiped the smile off Casper’s face.
With an angry grunt Casper dragged the sword through the ear, tearing it open and this time the man screamed anew. Tossing the sword to his side, Casper leaned back and spread out his arms, shivering as he basked in the man’s agony. Hoping off the man, he quickly spun around and kicked the man in the side of the head where the torn ear was, causing the man to scream in pain again. Walking away Casper reached down to pick up his sword, but as he did he felt the world going black.
It was then he woke up…
Panting in the dark, Casper sat up and wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead. Rubbing his eyes, he stood with some difficultly as he tried to keep as little pressure on his right leg as possible; he then slid the door of his closet open and stepped out. Shutting the door behind him he stood in his room for a moment, judging from the light outside he knew he was not late for the orientation, but he would probably have to avoid breakfast in order to not be late.
Slipping on his kosode and hakama first, he then slipped his glasses onto his face and quickly braided his hair. As satisfied as he was going to be with the result, he finished getting dressed and then slipped on his chaperon, draping the cornette in front of his neck, and then letting it drop a bit behind him before loosely pulling it back around so it was overlapping itself on the left side. He then stood in front of his door for a few minutes, convincing himself that he needed to actually go outside.
He limped quietly and quickly along the crowded halls and out into the courtyard. He kept his head down, as though he was looking at his feet, though really he had his eyes turned to watch where he was going, this was just the most effective way to avoid catching anybodies eye. As he shuffled along, wringing his hands together like a man whose wife was in labor, he listened to the bustling of the people around him. He heard someone yelling out to someone else about calling them something or another, which warranted a smile on the inside as he thought how fast someone had already pissed off someone else, although his face showed no such amusement, it only showed the worry he felt about the next person being yelled at being him.
He knew exactly where he was going, the day he had received his room he had studied the campus intensely to make sure he would never get lost and have to embarrass himself with asking for directions. Casper made his way into the meeting hall silently finding himself without any such way to cut himself off from the rest of the people in the room. He jumped slightly as he heard someone from beside him say “I like your hat!”
“Th-th-thanks…” Casper mumbled as he turned to face the source of the voice, looking at the area about 3 feet from her face. She was a fairly pretty girl, he thought, jet black hair, amber eyes, a splash of freckles. Before any sort of conversation could get struck up though, they began calling out class numbers for were people should be. The girl moved on with a wave and a “See you around!” Casper lifted his hand in a slight wave, shaking slightly as he turned and hobbled off to where he should be.
Like many, Casper was rather surprised that the vice captain of first division was there, it made him very nervous, lowering his head he took a few deep breaths to keep himself from throwing up. Casper was very surprised by how short the speech was, it seemed within 5 minutes he was being lead with the rest of the class A students by the man named Yasagiru. Casper kept to the front of the group, preferring to have as many behind him as possible so the crowd felt smaller; and despite the heavy limp, he was able to keep speed well enough that no one was stepping on the back of his feet or anything.
Casper took a seat in the middle of the lowest row of the classroom, again so he did not have to see to many of the others in the classroom if he did not want too. He watched as the trio of teachers walked in, and he immediately latched onto the dark man with scars and burns. He felt his eyes following the lines and shape of each one, his arm gauging the resistance it would feel if it had carved some of the wounds into his head. When the man removed his fake eye, Casper’s murky grey eyes lit up as he perked his head up to get a clearer look. He felt his mind racing with questions as his mouth opened slightly. How did he lose it? How much did it hurt? What kind of pain was it? Did he scream? Did he flinch? Was it enough to think he was going to die? Did he pass out? He felt his mouth salivating and he immediately lowered his head to stare at his desk around the time the man had popped his eye back in.
He listened quietly as the three introduced themselves. The man Romulus’s lessons he became extremely excited about. “Inflict great pain…”he whispered to himself, repeating what the man had said. The man certainly looked like he would know all about that, which gave Casper hope for the future as the first day of his Shinigami training officially began.
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Post by wanzer on Oct 18, 2009 2:07:07 GMT -4
Raijin stood carefully along the backwall watching for a moment in the haze as students strolled by; he had arrived an hour early to make sure that he wasn't too late for the ceremony after all this could be no was the most important thing in his life. He stepped forward as the crowd shuffled in and stood in the middle of them all and waited. The usual ruckus set in and the murmurs which sounded like a bunch of people just repeatedly saying rhubarb over and over again. Ha, he thought with a smile "That would be an interesting nickname for them all rhubarb sayers...yea thats a good one." His sly grin never faded and slowly he closed his eyes and rest came to him slowly. He would sleep for ten minutes on his feet before a young man would nudge him awake as the room grew more crowded.
"Hey, shuffle in tighter!" The kid said to him as the room soon grew over crowded. Raijin sighed, feeling the tension rise in his head as the blonde bishonen kid next to him started to shove more. It was like he was in a sea of nagging fish and this blonde kid was their leader. He looked around for a moment as they kid shoved him again, this time with his fist. No teachers and no shinigami yet....Raijin swung and knocked him over glad that the kid hadn't seen his face; he then shuffled forward a little so the kid couldn't see him anymore and looked forward as the announcements began.
“For the next six years you will be learning all the skills you will need to know to become a shinigami. Regardless only a small portion of you will actually go on to join the Gotei 13, it is up to you and how willing you are to learn whether you join that esteemed lot or go on to become just another worker.” He raised his arms as if encompassing the room, “Every one of these individuals you see on stage and many you do not will be teaching you important lessons over your time here, if you listen well and practice hard any one of you could be as successful as any famed shinigami you have heard of. It is your own willpower that separates the successful from the rest. Strong words, but true and the kind you should not forget at any point during your time here or beyond.”
Raijin wanted to gag at the Shinigami's words, really they were giving them this speech? He wanted knock the guy flat on his butt, but he noticed that the female standing next to him had already beaten him to the punch line...damn she was fast. He chuckled a little and felt the exuberence of the moment flow through him and looked around at the room and its plain colors none of them were bright at all. A bit saddened by this but not illustrating it for those around him, he thought 'This sucks! I can't even get a decent high out of this place."
"Hey, you gonna move or what? We're heading into another room" Several other students had gathered around him and were pushing forward into the river of other students. He turned on his heel and found an opening and walked along; he managed to enter the room without a hitch and sat down looking forward at the three instructors just as they began speaking and a late arrival came in. Raijin grabbed his head and sighed. He looked up just as the idiot sat right in front of him between three girls, he couldn't believe his luck. However; the teachers got his attention especially Lai Fin, though Romulus he regarded and 'tipped' his eye patch at him or rather just pulled up so he could she what was behind the patch as a sort of cripples salute to the man.
“I am Lai-Fan, seventh seat of seventh division. I will be teaching you and other classes introductory to expert level kido over the next six years.”
"Kido....what is that?" Raijin thought to himself as he had never heard of it before. He was intrigued now and wanted to know more, he loved to learn new things and Kido...well that word just sounded fun. He grinned to himself in glee and was ready to submit to his teacher.
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Post by Darkoda on Oct 18, 2009 2:22:49 GMT -4
As all the new students scurried about, rushing to get to their various destinations on time, a figure was noticeable as still lazing about. That wasn't the odd thing though, what really would have drawn attention if anyone could see her, was the fact that the person - a girl most likely, as could be guessed by the long hair although their face was hidden as the figure was lying on their stomach - was sound asleep on the rooftop of one of the dormitories.
The bright glare of light at the edge of her eyes caused a small grumble to come from the girl, as she rolled to escape the light. The action however, caused the opposite effect, as the light hit her eyes nearly full force, only diluted by the strands of hair hanging down her face, but it was still enough to force her to get up. Slowly sitting up on the roof, the girl glanced around her, her eyes still clouded with sleep, although there was a hidden tenseness to her movements, as if she was ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Suddenly, her eyes grew wide, and one could imagine her mouth gaping open, even though everything beneath her eyes was hidden behind a large scarf, as she realised what time it was.
Ai dived off the rooftop, and with an impressive show of flexibility, grabbed onto the edge of the roof and swung herself into an open window. Her landing wasn't anywhere as graceful though, as she slid on a sock, landing heavily on her back. Muttering about random objects, completely ignoring the fact that she was the one who forgot to put it away in the first place, she raced around her room, organising herself to get ready for her first day. At this rate, she would need to eat breakfast on the go. Ah well, it wasn't that bad.
Jumping out from her window, dressed in a fresh uniform with her trademark scarf/cloak combo, she landed far more gracefully than her last attempt, using another student as a cushion.
"Hi there, sorry about that, are you okay, didn't mean to land on you so hard, thought you could take my weight better, are you still conscious? Did you pass out from that? You're kinda weak, how did you get in here? Is that a muffin? Well you don't need it anymore....."
After rattling off her train of questions, Ai simply swiped the chocolate muffin from the unconscious student, and ran off to the auditorium, munching on it along the way. At least she made sure to memorise the layout of the academy, so she didn't need directions to find her way around. The hall was packed with students, and Ai was finding it a pain to see what was going on on the stage - being only five feet tall was a pain. Eventually though, the shinigami present organised them by class, and she found herself close to the front, standing behind a girl who looked about her height at least, so she could see what was going on.
She was surprised to see an actual vice captain at the stage, even more so that he didn't bore everyone to death with some long, drawn out speech. She wondered if it had to do with the old glasses woman hitting him in the stomach. Mentally shrugging it off, she simply went along with the crowd, as they were directed to their class, and Ai hopped into a random seat near the front of the room, not bothering to observe the ones around her yet. However, the three shinigami that entered the room definitely got her attention, especially the one with the scars. He looked like someone with fighting experience, and with injuries that that, combined with him still being alive, he had killing experience too. The tattered clothes also reminded her a bit of her old haunts back in Rukongai.
As the three explained what they would be doing for the next six years, Ai took in the info, noting that she needed to find out more about kido later. She was really looking forward to being taught by the Romulus though; while she didn't see much point in just inflicting pain, he would likely be dealing with the more combat oriented parts, and besides, inflicting pain was a good distraction to make one all the easier to kill in the event that they couldn't simply be snuck up on and killed in one thrust.
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Post by Zhiel on Oct 18, 2009 18:46:11 GMT -4
Life in the academy was already looking like paradise, at least in comparison to the district where Keiori had landed. The place was more or less ruled by thugs, and given how the men there liked subservient women, they had been on her a lot as she refused to submit to their "rules". In fact, she had rarely gone a day without being ambushed or challenged to a fight, luckily though her martial skill and surprisingly large reiatsu had helped her through the hazards and hardships, and become a sort of a legend in those parts. That was how she had been found by a Shinigami recruiter, though the first impression she gave him wasn't exactly what he had expected. Either way, someone with her reiatsu and fighting skill couldn't just be let running amok, and so she was brought to the academy in hope of her gaining control over her large reserves.
For once in a very long time, Keiori had been able to sleep in a clean bedroll, with clean clothing and without having to worry about being ambushed. Although that life-style had left it's mark in her in the form of sleeping lightly and being easily awoken, from which she tended to bolt straight up and grab for what had previously been a staff, but now was just the floor beside her. There was so many noises in the background, which made it hard for Keiori to fall asleep at first, but she finally managed it after some time, at which she slept into the morning the day after, waking up just as they announced it was time for the new students to gather.
Out of habit Keiori was almost about to walk out the door still dressed in her bed kimono which she had received upon entering the academy. Her life in one of Rukongai's worst districts had made her not care much in what kind of clothing she wore and as such tended to wear the same even as she slept. Walking back to her bedroll she took the kimono off as she began to dress up in her white and red Kosoda. Being the rash and impulsive person Keiori was, she knew barely nothing of the shinigami or Soul Society as a whole, only knowing what she had heard briefly from listening in on other conversations. But one thing she had heard intrigued her greatly, the so called Zanpakutou of the shinigami, and it was one of her reasons for coming to the academy at all as it was her hope of acquiring one of her own, though she knew very little about them as well.
Once fully dressed and ready Keiori exited her small room and headed for the courtyard, where most of the students were now gathering. Though as she saw how bustling it was, she instead decided to wait for most of them to find their way, rather than being stuck in a big crowd heading the wrong way. Sure, she didn't know exactly where she was meant to go, but it was not like if it would be impossible to find or anything! Sitting on a low hanging branch in one of the courtyard trees Keiori waited patiently while the students, both old and new began to filter out of the large open area and go to their assigned destinations. It took a while, but according to her internal clock, there were still plenty of time until they were required to be at the spot, not that her "internal clock" was very accurate, or that she knew the actual time, but she trusted her intuition on the matter.
Once there was only a few groups left, who were all standing in front of the various building entrances in the vicinity Keiori decided it was time to get a move on, as she jumped down from the branch and began to jog up toward the building she had been told would be where she was meant to go for her orientation. As she came to the tile floor laid out in front of the building, just catching up to the last group that was about to enter Keiori heard someone shout angrily from somewhere behind her, this made her turn her head to look what it was about, as a young man, probably older than her in appearance at least, ran by and intermingled with the crowd. Keiori just shrugged it off mentally as she continued along, whatever that was about it was no concern of hers.
Once inside the large hall Keiori went with the flow and ended up at the back of the room, and though she didn't like being pushed around she had no intentions of starting a fight in such a public place, on her first day of being in the academy. She knew that in these kinds of situations people rarely thought about others and usually only wanted to get a good view themselves, it was nothing personal so she didn't consider it worth the trouble of getting upset at, and instead made the best of it by using a small protrusion in the wall near her and lifting herself up with her arms, getting a much clearer view of the stage. When some shinigami entered the hall and began to order up the students into set rows or formations, dependant on a letter they had all been assigned earlier on. Keiori didn't feel like bothering with this though, and remained at her spot by the wall, no one really taking notice of the fairly short girl, and as people began to filter onto the actual stage Keiori lifted herself up again so she could see what was going on. If it turned out to be a long winded lecture though, it was likely she'd fall asleep... She tended to do that when exposed to something really boring for a while.
Luckily though the speech wasn't very long and it wasn't that boring either, she liked how the man was pretty straight forward about it all rather than sugar-coating it, just for people to realize their best just wasn't enough later on. She had had enough of that in her human life. On the other hand, it did worry her a little, since while Keiori had plenty in the form of willpower, she was lacking when it came to theoretics, never quite capable of keeping up with her more intelligent sister, and often having to ask her for help to solve the harder problems. Being reminded by her sister, Keiori's mood immediately sank from mediocre to bad as she was reminded of how she had lost her... However even as she was lost in her dark thoughts, she was snapped out of it when she heard them announce it was time to move out, with group "A" being ordered to follow the shinigami called Yasagiru. And hearing this Keiori immediately let herself fall the half-meter or so to the floor as she began to plow through the crowds of students as she made her way to group A, which were all leaving through a door at the other end of the room by now, though she was just able to make it as the last entered, as the door closed behind her.
With nearly all seats being filled Keiori went to the row with most empty seats and sat down near the middle, just in time for the man who had held the speech outside, along with two others to come inside and take positions at the bottom end of the room. From this distance Keiori could tell the guy was quite a looker, but she was not that interested in appearances. Of course the other man who had entered with him outright disgusted her. And as the scarred man was playing with his tongue, she heard a guy a row in front of her say something for himself, sounding almost entranced. Rolling her eyes at the guy in front of her Keiori leaned forward in her seat as the trio introduced themselves, starting with the vice-captain again. "Kuatura 'sama', huh..?" Keiori commented sarcastically to herself as she leaned her face in her left arms open palm, looking bored. As the woman introduced herself Keiori lifted her head up again as she got a puzzled look on her face. 'The hell is "kido"? I've heard that shinigami can use some kind of magic but... I thought it was just a rumor. Oh well, could be interesting.' She thought, almost completely ignoring the scarred mans introduction. "inflicting great pain on your opponents" was probably his way of saying "how to use a weapon without cutting your own arm off", though since he looked like someone who enjoyed to see the reactions of others, probably more than just disgust, he could very well try to slip in his own lessons into it all... Either way, this would certainly be more interesting than her previous 'life' in Rukongai.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Oct 22, 2009 1:18:13 GMT -4
The class reacted, Romulus seemed to be getting a kick out of it and the other two teachers simply seemed annoyed. Once things had calmed down and the student body had, had their say albeit in whispers Kuatura moved back to the fore. He walked past the one desk in the room; it was nothing special, like you would find in any class. There was little on it but he pulled the one stack of papers there up and hit his other hand with it several times while turning to the class. His eyes rolled over them all once more, clearly stopping on a few of the more attractive girls before they came to a stop on the center of the front row. He raised his free hand and pointed toward a young girl with snow-white hair on one side of the central stairwell and an older looking man with unkempt brown hair that practically seemed to be falling asleep already.
“You two, if you would please pass these out.”
He separated the papers cleanly in half and held one out in each hand. The young girl bounded to her feet with almost too much eagerness though one look at her face said this definitely came from a serious nature and not an energetic one. From her picture perfectly creased and ironed clothing to her immaculate care for her hair and skin on top of her virtually neutral facial features and near militaristic snappy body movements one didn’t even have to hear her talk to know that she was a perfectionist and probably to serious for her own good.
That was Amanohara, and while the stereotyping might have been a bit unfair given that there was far more depth to her than that, it was also true. In her old life in Rukongai she had been the leader of over a hundred followers, now all she could do was show how much willpower she had and efficiency she could work with in hopes of catching someone’s eye. She knew how the world really worked, sheer skill didn’t get you places though it certainly helped, but it was being desirable in a number of ways as well as who you knew that truly determined your ascension through the ranks. She was moving forward to grab the papers when the boy, who had barely even moved his head from its resting position on the row-desk in front of him barely uttered.
“Do I hafta?” He let out a big yawn with this as he eyed the papers unscrupulously.
Most people would have simply left the boy to his fate, after all it was pretty clear that in the first five minutes they had found one of those destined failures the Vice Captain had been talking about shortly before. The two lesser teachers simply shrugged the boy’s actions off and Kuatura who seemed unimpressed seemed ready to reiterate the order. But years of leadership had changed Amanohara, she despised laziness, especially when it impeded an order given by anyone, in less than half a second she had whirled around on the boy like the drill sergeant from hell.
”What did you say?” She said, her voice elevating with every syllable, she pointed behind her back at Kuatura, “Do you even understand why you’re here? Does this place seem like a bloody hotel to you? What sort of first impression was that? Did you even come here to try?”
She was getting closer and closer to the boy who was now eyeing her like she was an alien. It was plainly obvious that Amanohara had fallen back on an almost innate response and was completely oblivious to everything around her. Kuatura raised his hand and began speaking about halfway through her rant only letting out “Uhhhh…” before he just fell silent as if he decided to see what was going to happen.
“Do you think anybody wants you on their team at this point? The guy who can’t even hand out papers, what the hell is he going to do in a fight, go eat a sandwich? Are YOU that guy? Are you going to hold us all back? APPARANTELY SO! USELESS! PERFECTELY USELESS! Ignoring a superior’s direct order, damnable insubordination as your very first action, VERY FIRST. They should beat you within an inch of your life. NOW STAND UP AND HAND OUT THE DAMN PAPERS!!!”
As Amanohara finished there was nothing but complete silence and the entire class staring at her including the boy who just sort of sat there, dumbfounded that anyone, especially a student had accosted him in such a manner. One could hear and clearly see Kuatura snickering under his breath for a full five seconds while Lai-Fan buried her face in one of her hands shaking it back and forth. Realization seemed to spread across Amanoharas face as her eyes wandered from side to side staring back at all the eyes looking at her. Before she died from embarrassment she spun on her heel and let out a “hmph!” and walked up to Kuatura, retrieving the papers from both his hands.
“Fine. I’ll do it all.” She said in a far more subdued, collected voice.
As she began handing out the papers Kuatura spoke once more, clearly ignoring everything that had just happened.
“These papers will introduce you to everything you need to know. From what lessons you will be learning, to generic terms you will become familiar with such as the ‘Kido’ that seems to be causing so much confusion amongst you and of course to the basic rules you are expected to follow during your time here. Boring as it may be I am going to go over the important parts now, better you get the lecture now than find yourself in trouble later. You have six years to go around beating on things anyhow, a little boredom will do you some good.”
Amanohara passed the papers out with the speed and accuracy one would clearly have begun expecting from her. Kuatura then spent the better part of the next two hours going through the complexities of the academy, what was expected of them and what they could expect; he also briefly touched on kido and zanpaktou to clear up any misunderstandings. Meanwhile in that time Amanohara had already developed a study group in the front of the class whether those around her wanted to or not, quickly bringing in those left behind up to speed with scary efficiency given that Kuatura never stopped talking in the meantime. It might be important to note that one of these people happened to be Casper, even if he might trying to be ignored. During this time Amanohara proved that while extremely capable she was also strangely understanding and nice compared to what her initial outburst might have suggested and soon even those that were against her advances at first seemed to realize there wasn’t much to be afraid of. It seemed the first row of class ‘A’…minus the useless moron who was trying to ignore her teaching, was in for VICTORIOUS success…maybe.
After what likely seemed an eternity to some Kuatura came to the end of the paper and began wrapping up, “Lastly as mentioned each of you will be issued a nameless zanpaktou, until you either graduate or meet your inner spirit, which has been known to happen for some adepts while still in the academy, you will be required to return the zanpaktou at the end of each class. You will then pick it up each morning before class begins even if that particular course does not involve the use of a blade as the longer you are in contact with your zanpaktou the more comfortable you will grow with it and likely you are to form a bond.”
He crumpled the piece of paper in his hands and tossed it over his shoulder upon which it landed in the nearest garbage can, “Annnnnd that about clears it all up, fun right?” He seemed as ready to leave as any of the students and was practically on his way to the door when Lai-Fan ninja’d up behind him and struck him subtly in the gut once more.
Kuatura cringed and then let out an “Ahhhhh, oh yes, that.” He began walking to the corner of the room where a long object had a tarp thrown over that, “Speaking of zanpaktous, before we let out a bit early for lunch given the riveting lesson we just went through there’s one last thing to cover.”
He ripped the tarp off, bunched it up and tossed it into a corner. Left behind was a rack loaded with over a hundred swords. All of them were average katana with a length of around three and a half feet but few of them had the same colored hilt and some of their scabbards were unique as well. It was hard to tell with all of them in there scabbards but the blades themselves were all at different states of wear, many having been utilized by students whom failed the academy in the past. Kuatura grabbed the edge of the rack and began dragging it to the middle of the room with an annoying screech the entire way.
Many might not have noticed one thing about this either due to ignorance or simply not paying attention, though Kuatura looked like a normal man he had just pulled a rack full of a hundred swords each weighing at least twenty pounds with a single arm, he was not normal. This of course did not go over Amanohara and she eyed Kuatura with a strange sort of awe, she was pretty skilled even before entering the academy but THAT was superhuman. On top of that she had a strange feeling he had done it completely subconsciously with no effort. THAT was what it was to be a shinigami, a true shinigami that was.
“I will call your names out in alphabetical order, you will then be issued a zanpaktou by Lai-Fan.” He gestured to the woman who moved to stand in front of the rack while he grabbed a sheet of paper, presumably with the names of the students on it.
Lai-Fan cut in, “By the way, you MAY NOT request a different blade. A true shinigami can work with whatever he is given. And all these blades have the innate potential to be something great; it is thus dependent on YOU and not the blades condition whether YOU become something great with IT. You have been warned, don’t ask.”
Kuatura who was back to staring at the group nodded and then began, “With that said, Abukara Niori…Akaike Reiji…” he continued on through all the students, each moving forward and claiming their blade, some clearly pleased while others were less so and a few even began talking back before being shoed off by one of the teachers.
Amanohara waited patiently for her turn and stood up, retrieving a relatively pristine blade with a unique knot like tassel hanging off its hilt. She like most of the others was so caught up in admiring her new possession that she almost missed when someone with the name of her sister and their family surname was called directly after her. Almost, but not quite, for the first time she eyed the girl strangely as they passed each other in the very middle of the room. It had been so long since she had been alive, she had seen so many faces she had been so young when she died it was almost hard to remember what her family had looked like. Did that girl look like her sister? She honestly couldn’t say, she thought so, maybe, but she decided to go sit down instead of creating a scene.
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Post by wanzer on Oct 23, 2009 20:21:04 GMT -4
Raijin watched the scenes before him with arbitrary disbelief; his mind unable to wrap itself around the current cornucopia of insanity that surrounds him. First the late guy and then the pervert and the guy with the glass eyeball and now this crazy chick that believes herself to be the perfectly over eager psychopath bent on turning us all into mindlessly obedient soldiers of death. He felt his mouth drop at her sudden outburst, then closed with a quick 'snap' and shock his head at his current indulgance of insanity and turned back to the paper before him to analyze the parchment before him, like most of the stuff here it was old and nearly crumbling. Raijin's fingers gently thumbed through it to assertain everything the Shinigami had said.
“These papers will introduce you to everything you need to know. From what lessons you will be learning, to generic terms you will become familiar with such as the ‘Kido’ that seems to be causing so much confusion amongst you and of course to the basic rules you are expected to follow during your time here. Boring as it may be I am going to go over the important parts now, better you get the lecture now than find yourself in trouble later. You have six years to go around beating on things anyhow, a little boredom will do you some good.”
Raijin had barely heard this when he had filtered down his sheet to the area about Kido, it was fascinating. It was full of complex incantations and powerful almost magical powers, each spell different from the one before and yet somehow similar. Raijin had to know the secrets of Kido...he had to know it or he'd surely go mad. He tried to shove his hand into the air to ask a question, but was give an intense stare down by the three teachers and he lowered it without so much as being asked. He guessed that all questions were reserved till the end...or never. He coughed at his apparent appearance of a greenhorn and blushed as several of the other students stared at him. He felt like an idiot and lowered his head down to read his paper once again; trying to hide his embarrassment.
"I can't believe I was such an idiot...what is wrong with me?" Raijin's emotions turned against him; he kept his head down for the reminder of the speech and felt his skin crawl as almost an eternity passed before the teachers finally stopped speaking. He looked up when the noise stopped echoing out of his mouth, then stood up to stretch and leave with the other students before they were called back again. Raijin wanted all of this down with so he could end his embarrassment and chagrin. He sighed exsperated and walked back down the stairs and noticed one of them had hefted a massive table with one hand and had set it down before them.
"What in the world.....," Raijin thought as he looked forward at the spectical, in awe he watched the sheet pulled back. "How can someone be that strong...its inhuman...." Raijin put two and two together then, they were using some sort of powers gain from being shinigami...powers that he too would one day possess. He coughed again and looked down at them and wondered how long it took them to become that strong. Another thought came shortly after that though, these were just seat officers or even below....what were the captains like? He shivered at the thought, but found a cold comfort in the knowledge that the Captains were on their side. He stepped forward listening to the names being called out when he realized what it was all about.
"Zanpakuto...." He whispered to himself as he looked around at the others in the room and heard them excited about the prospect while he himself was timid. Did he really want to see the extension of his soul? It's personifaction in the form of a spirit which would then become his ally? What if his soul was dark and evil or cursed by some foul spot that would show? Raijin bit his thumb a little as he walked forward and picked a blade that suited him, though one of the instructors had to rush him through grabbing it as he was so timid about it. As he walked away he felt a twinge...the beginning of a connection? No, it was just his stomuch growling, he hadn't eatten breakfast this morning and he had no idea how late it was. Still it was a prospect that he feared and others embraced.
He soon exited the classroom wishing to be alone, when he bumped into the kid that was late again and sighed as he stared at him with his single eye. He could feel some loathing for the kid, though he had no right to do so. Feeling like he should extend his best foot forward, he reached forward to shake his hand and introduced himself. "Hey, sorry about that...my mind just is somewhere else, my name is Raijin Pansaa whats yours?"
Raijin felt sick as he introduced himself to this tardy student. Had he really sunk so low? Then again, he was judging without knowing and that wasn't fair either. The sickness vanished and he kept himself straight promising not to judge so quickly anymore though he knew he'd fail on that promise to him.
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Post by Darkoda on Oct 23, 2009 23:07:46 GMT -4
Ai had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud at the girl after her outburst. Even then, she was still chuckling under her breath, which considering that she was in the row directly behind the girl, wasn't exactly a good thing. But she couldn't help it, that was hilarious. That girl was definitely one to keep an eye on, if nothing else, for sheer entertainment value. Even the vice captain was laughing at her, which probably was what tipped off the girl to the scene she just made in front of everyone.
After the papers were passed out, Ai received a double education; first from listening to the vice-captain, then when she eventually started tuning him out, from eavesdropping on the mini lecture going on in the front row. That girl was definitely an interesting one...
Eventually, things got to the fun point, when the vice captain handed out the swords. She was a bit stunned that the man had effortlessly pulled a case that must have weighed a few tons out like that, but from the looks of things, actions like that were common to full fledged shinigami. As Kuatura started to call off names, she waited her turn, observing the general condition of the zanpakuto and hoping that she at least got a decent blade. Just before her name, she heard a name that sounded a bit familiar to her, but she brushed it off when she heard her own name called.
The student before her reacted to the name too. Freezing in mid step, his entire face grew pale, as his zanpakuto fell from his hands, clattering on the floor. With a silent curse, Ai moved out of her seat, quickly heading towards the student, picking up his blade while examining him. He was fairly tall, nearly six feet, and looked like a wannabe teenage gangster. He had pale skin naturally, despite it being worse due to fear, and his wide, beady black eyes along with that crew cut brown hair reminded her of who he was.
Placing his sword back into his hands, bending his fingers around the scabbard so that it wouldn't fall again, she spoke softly to him, for his ears only. "Tell anyone about me, and I'll carve your voice box out of your throat." The cheerful, nonchalant way she mentioned it, like she was talking about the weather, made the student's skin go even paler, as he looked almost ready to faint right there. Ignoring the guy, she walked forward, and recieved her zanpakuto.
She was intrigued by the sandy colour of the hilt wrap, but her face fell when she saw the state of the blade. It was so badly chipped, that the edge of the blade looked like a saw, and the cracks running through it made her doubt that it would last a week of training, let alone six years. Sulking, she returned to her seat, nudging the boy who was still hyperventilating, and getting some joy out of watching him scamper to his seat like a hollow was chasing him.
Leaning on the desk, she thought over her options. There had to be a way of fixing the blade; there was no way any spirit would want to stay in such a sad blade. Maybe that girl would know. Getting some hope back, she leaned forward as the girl in question returned to her seat, tapping her on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey Tensu, do you know anything about zanpakuto that the paper missed?"
If her answer was no, then the next step was to check the library for it. She was likely headed there anyway, but having less information to research would be nice.
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Post by Zhiel on Oct 24, 2009 21:24:59 GMT -4
Keiori just groaned when she saw how Romulus reacted to the class disgust. From the looks of it her initial observations of the man was correct, which to be honest was really surprising since she sucked at that kind of thing. Of course Romulus had been very obvious with his ploy, so anyone with a bit of a mind could probably figure him out. That did not mean he was weak or stupid of course, since he was a shinigami, and even a seated officer at that. While the rest of the class was whispering amongst themselves Keiori was deep in thought about their teachers. One was a vice-captain, of the first squad no less... Though exactly what he was going to teach was hard to tell. Second was a seated officer who would teach them kido, and the third was another seated officer who would most likely teach them how to use a weapon. Did they always have such high-power individuals in charge of classes here?
Before she could consider this further however her train of thought was interrupted by multiple thumps from below her, and as she looked down to where the teachers were standing she noticed how Kuatura was holding a stack of papers as he hit the top of the desk to get their attention. Great, info time... If they did things similarly here as in the real world, he would probably ask a few students to disperse the papers so it was worth the trouble to be ready in case she was pointed out, even if she hated doing that kind of thing. Though it appeared she was lucky today as Kuatura pointed at two others closer to the front, with one of them jumping straight up and heading for the vice-captain. Keiori on the other hand was too busy staring a hole through the desk in front of her, as she started thinking again. Sure she was not very good at it, but if she shut out everything else she was quite capable with coming up with good ideas and the like. This was something she had come up with in her years in Rukongai, having to survive on her own for so long.
However just as she was about to get real into it, she heard a low murmur from one of the rows in front, though she had shut it out enough not to hear what was being said and didn't consider it further, for she recognized right away it was not one of the teachers speaking. On the other hand, when Amanohara began to yell at the lazy guy Keiori bolted up straight in her seat like if someone had pushed a hot iron to her back as her eyes filled with near panic for a second, though she was completely frozen in this state for at least five seconds before she realized the yelling was not aimed at her and relaxed, as she looked down at the source of it all. That white hair, that behavior... It reminded her greatly of her sister... Yet there were quite a few key differences, or was there? She could not remember clearly... Her sister had often reprimanded her, mostly for her hotheadedness, but it had never been this intense. In the end though, it was difficult for her to tell from this distance to begin with... But the chance of it being her sister, well what were the chances of that? She decided not to think on this further though, math made her head hurt.
Once things settled down and all the papers had been distributed, Keiori started to skim the contents of the papers she had been given, but when Kuatura began to go through it himself she decided it was better to concentrate fully on one thing, and the papers wouldn't exactly go away. As Kuatura began to drone on about the academy rules, and then the complexities of certain subjects etc etc, Keiori found herself more or less tripping around in her mind as she tried to make sense of it all. This guy had no consideration for those who weren't quite up to par in the mental department, that much was clear, and it caused Keiori quite a bit of stress which became obvious with how her reiatsu output began to grow steadily after the first ten minutes. After the first hour had passed most would even be able to see a small 'fire' enveloping her as she sat holding her head with her hands while leaning her elbows to the desk, trying to concentrate as well as she could. Most ignored it with a variation of success, but those right next to her was clearly bothered and the one directly to her left looked burdened by it. Toward the later half though she just gave up and decided to listen but not think too deeply, which resulted in her output significantly decreasing, much to the relief of the other students.
Once finished Kuatura began to explain about the so called 'nameless' zanpakutou they would receive, and the rules pertaining to them, before noting how it was time for lunch as he threw his papers away and began to stride toward the exit, though from her point of view it looked more like if he was trying to cut this short. Lai-Fan on the other hand didn't like this and caught him before he got to the door and though was just a blur for Keiori she had seen the woman stab him with her elbow, which seemingly reminded him of something as he walked back over to a large long object covered by a tarp. Though she guessed it already, her excitement immediately grew when she saw the many swords loaded into the rack, as her imagination suddenly started to race about what kind of sword she'd like, what kind she would chose. Sure she wasn't too picky when it came to clothing, but as a former kendo champ she liked it if her weapon showed her expertise, true kendo did not use real katana but they still had place for some improvements. On the other hand... A lot of people adorned their weapons even if they didn't know how to properly use them... So maybe it would be better to have a functional sword?
In the end though, Keiori was too caught up in her thoughts to even notice when a second person in the class called Tensu was called forward, she had more or less discarded her surname after coming to Rukongai and had not used it for nearly twenty years, until she had registered in the academy now, and so she only truly responded to "Keiori" these days, and that was what she was keeping her ears open for. Then a few seconds later her name was called and she jumped up from her seat as she nearly skipped straight to the central 'staircase' leading through the room down to the bottom. However as she was heading down the stairs she caught sight of the white haired girl from earlier, as they were just about to pass by each others. From this distance Keiori could clearly see the girls facial features, which truly reminded Keiori of her sister, yet at the same time they were different in some way and her fuzzy memory did not help. Yet she felt compelled to call out to her, for it had been so long since she had last seen her sister, and the feeling of devastation she had felt when Amanohara had died... Was just horrible. However the moment passed quickly as the white haired girl passed by her silently, to Keiori it had seemed like if she had not even spared her a glance, and without really thinking Keiori turned around half-way as she looked after the girl, her mouth slightly open like if she was about to say something. However a thump from behind her, most likely Kuatura or one of the other teachers, signaled that she had best hurry up with taking her blade.
Giving out a deep sight Keiori turned back around again as she closed her mouth and gritted her teeth, as she fought to hold back tears. It felt like if her long lost sister had just been an arms length away from her just now, and it had awakened all the good memories, and all the bad ones as well. No longer caring much for the particular sword she got Keiori walked up to the rack and just grabbed one before she began to walk back to her seat, barely spending it a glance as she kept her eyes glued to the floor in front of her. With another deep sigh Keiori sat down in her seat once more as she put down the katana in front of her and really looked at the scabbard for the first time. The scabbard itself was in pretty good condition, from what she could tell. Though the look of the hilt or guard did not entice her... And with near dread hanging in the air around her she pulled the sword out of it's hilt by a few inches as she inspected the blade, as she gave off a annoyed groan and shoved it right back in. From the looks of it, she'd have to be very careful with her zanpakutou for the time being.
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New Member
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Post by end on Oct 26, 2009 22:36:36 GMT -4
Elizabeth ran to the room. She was late, she knew, but at least she had a good excuse.
She had died about two hours ago.
Due to a few geo-theological issues and an errant truck, Elizabeth had ended up in Sereitei. Not her first choice for an after life, but hey, what are you gonna do?
Still, if she were dead, it wasn't the worst option either. She had some familiarity with Soul Society, and even spoken to a few Shinigami in the past.
It was this great story involving the Shinigami, a Lakota shaman and the star gods.
In retrospect, a lot of her best stories involved star gods.
Goddamn star gods.
At any rate, upon arriving she had dropped names, and had gotten shit sorted out pretty damn fast. Dead was dead, but if she wanted to get back to earth, she'd need to become a Shinigami. This wasn't exactly the noble reasons that academy recruiters wanted to hear, but she had her ways...
They got her a uniform and rushed her over to the Academy, where she had missed the orientation speech and dashed over to the class room, laughing all the way.
She was breathing hard by the time she reached the door, and stopped to catch her breath for a moment. Then a thought occurred.
She's dead. Theoretically... she doesn't need to breath.
In practice, it didn't go so smoothly. Ingrained instincts died hard it seemed, though it did seem to help her regain her composure, such that it was.
She slid open the door (goddamn sliding doors) and poked her head in.
Everyone in the room turned to see the interloper.
How awkward! She laughed.
'Sorry about that. Couldn't be helped.'
Now everyone froze. She hadn't spoken Japanese. Or any language they could recognize. But they had UNDERSTOOD it.
Babel. Another good story. With Star Gods.
Of course.
She walked up to the instructor, who had been in the middle of handing one of those magic katana things (zanpakutou, she knew, was the proper lexicon, but she rarely cared about that beyond historical concerns) to a student.
Elizabeth handed her a little strip of paper with some tape on it. On it was her name in Katakana.
The instructor looked at the tape and then at Elizabeth with a questioning look.
Elizabeth adhered her name to the end of the list of students.
The instructor wasn't sure to make of this development. Elizabeth laughed.
Elizabeth turned to the class, and waved.
'Again, sorry. Just died, all that.' she said in her strange tongue.
The instructor handed her a Zanpakutou with little ceremony, and indicated a vacant seat near the back.
The newcomer smiled, and gave an amused hum as she made her way back, noting the other students.
She noted a serious looking girl who seemed to be, like her, an albino.
Elizabeth acknowledge the girl by broadening her smile. Pony tails... she had never thought of that.
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Post by kensei on Oct 27, 2009 14:36:58 GMT -4
Heton sighed as the teacher said that they needed a little boredom. I have been living with boredom for the last ten years. GIVE ME EXCITEMENT! He thought to himself as he clenched his fist and, not noticing his body doing so, his face made a expression of great anger. His riatsu even flared a little bit, though only to a a point of recognizing to the other student which earned him a looks from many of the other students. He met all of there eyes and shrugged his shoulders. Using his body to say, ‘What?’
Though, it seemed that the teacher hadn’t intended on having a little demon drill sergeant from hell as one of his students, and one lazy idiot who became her first victim. And while the whole display was rather comical, to him at least. It seemed to bother sever of the other students who didn’t find joy in such things. Well, at least she snapped out of it before killing him. I would of hated to get in her way…. But wouldn’t the teachers take care of that though? Oh well, at least something interesting happened today.
The next two candle marks or so past rather uneventfully, say for the girl who let her riatsu flare uncontrollably, which made Heton believe that she might not have much control over her spiritual abilities, or just didn’t control herself well. Both where bad news for her teammates, and if it kept up he figured she might make it to the, ”instant failure list.”
He smiled as he watched the man get elbowed for attempting to leave. Though he figured that he had more to say, which meant even MORE of this boring lecture. But to Heaton’s enjoyment he was sorely mistaken. He wiggled in his seat as he watched the man drag the table of Zanpakuto’s over to the middle of the desk. He watched as a girl said something to another person. Whatever she said seemed to scare the man to death. And it appeared someone else noticed her, the little riatsu bunny hop girl. As he walked down to get his zanpakuto he said to her. “Quite the popular one aren’t ya? You shouldn't make scare people like that, hes on you team now.” His words where ended with a goofy smile, one that would make gen quite happy, though he was trying to be nice. He kept on walking to desk with the Zanpakuto’s on it and glanced at several until one caught his eye.
It was one of the, if not the most, unique of the Zanpakuto’s. Its scabbard had a quarter of a inch of steal, reinforced by riatsu just like a the blade of a Zanpakuto, on the front half of it. He grabbed it quickly and examined it more closely. It was exactly what he needed, another way to protect. It seemed like fate had put this Zanpakuto there just for him. Before he could idolize it more the young lady teacher nudged him and pointed to his seat. He grinned and said. “Sorry.” Before returning to his seat and unsheathing his new sword. Its blade was in nearly perfect condition, with just a few chips here and there. Its handguard had been well persevered and straight black. Though the few tears in its cloth told another story of much use. He let his pinky finger slip into the cut and noticed that part of his handle was damaged. But whoever had this last spent much time taking care of it, as Heton would as well. After he finished inspecting ever inch of the Zanpakuto he sheathed it and laid it in between his legs, so that the sheath rested on his shoulder.
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Post by GoldenKitten on Nov 15, 2009 22:07:39 GMT -4
It took the class the better part of twenty minutes to all collect their blades since they approached one at a time, and some of them dilly-dallied far to much. Kuatura seemed to take this is collected stride but one couldn't help but notice his eyes darting toward the door with increasing frequency. If they listened carefully they might even hear a million of his minds voices suddenly crying out in terror...and they suddenly kept on going.
Amanohara felt the same way though for a different reason, unlike most of the others she was well educated in the nuances of the zanpaktou, or at least as much information as one could gather outside of the Gotei 13. Additionally she had found the one presented to her to be adequate and as such it hardly required further observation, there was more to learn though it seemed the others were intent on piddling about. It was at this time that a girl behind her asked a question, she was glad to answer as it gave her something else to think about instead of idling away. Admittedly she might have been a little less willing had she known this girl had been laughing at her not to long ago but having been caught up in that moment she had not noticed. Additionally the girl named Meroni Ai seemed polite enough in her asking and had even remembered her name (something Amanohara did with everyone but had rarely met another who did the same), and that was enough to give her an initially favorable impression.
She turned to the girl and smiled, beginning rather factually with no real introduction, “Well they didn’t go into the complexities of the soul fragment, part of your soul that will break off into the zanpaktou and take up individual dominance of its inner world. They also didn’t go into how your blade can metamorphosis even before the well known shikai and bankai states. Of course with six years to come talking about that now would have been rath-”
Her eyes fell on to Ai’s blade that was still out of its scabbard, chipped, aged length and all; she let out an understanding, “Ooooh…hm.”
“Well” she began clearly seeing where Ai was coming from now, “Despite their spiritual nature the blades can be repaired just like a normal sword. After reaching a certain connection level with your inner-soul the blades can actually do this themselves utilizing excess spiritual energy. At this point in time though your best bet is to utilize basic sharpening and sanding procedures, if you don’t know how I could show you at some point. However it may also be prudent to remember that as long as you have a manageable level of spiritual skill this zanpaktou is not the same as a real blade, just because it looks like a damaged blade does not in fact mean it will cut like one, especially once you have begun learning to channel your energies through it.”
She had mostly whispered all this since they were still calling people up in the background. However the longer she spoke the more evident it became that she was getting lost in her library class text-book brain of knowledge and was quickly turning into a fact monster. Thankfully as her voice rose she started getting stares again and evidently not wanting to get into another situation on her first day ceased her explanation and instead placed her finger on her temple.
“In short you shouldn’t worry to much, even without service this blade is probably capable of more than it appears. And you can service it as long as you have the proper knowledge, if that will alleviate some of your worries.”
It was at that time that the strange girl came bursting into the classroom. Amanohara gave her little thought, she appeared to have the proper paperwork explaining her tardiness and so it was of little concern to her. Lai-Fan gave her a curious look and then handed her a zanpaktou, Romulus couldn’t have cared less and Kuatura…well Kuatura’s head was exploding in anticipation of getting out of there since they were at the end of the list so he wasn’t really paying attention anymore. As the girl made her way to a vacant seat she seemed to look straight at Amanohara and give her a smile, unsure of whether or not it was really aimed at her she just waved her hand half-heartedly back in the girls direction.
Then all of them were shocked out of whatever they were doing by a loud voice, “Alright cool, that’s everything, see you all in forty-five minutes.” The sliding door was shut before any of them could even turn in time to see Kuatura leave the room.
Lai-Fan once more grasped her face with her right hand, shaking it and sighing as if she was tired of the lack of professionalism surrounding her. She reached for a set of books sitting on the desk and held them in one hand before speaking out, “Well, you heard him. You now have a forty-five minute break for lunch. You may find the cafeteria out the door, to the left, through the garden and into the building labeled ‘K’, the big double doors directly inside that building lead into the cafeteria. You can’t get lost, there are signs directing you the whole way. You’re dismissed now, and you better be back in time.”, you couldn’t help but note the fiery passion in the last sentence, apparently Lai-Fan was the only natural teacher in this class so far.
The class immediately began shuffling out; some flew with great speed and were almost gone as quickly as Kuatura had been. Others tried to meet up with the few people they had managed to befriend so far and the rest just moved out at their leisure. Amanohara was one such individual, after she had finished her conversation with Ai she grabbed her things and moved with decisive control through the crowd but not as if she were in a hurry. As she got outside she already found several people had become lost asking passerby how to get to the cafeteria, she let out an annoyed “Gaaah!” sound and immediately began her best theatre attendant impersonation shuttling people in the right direction before their incompetence gave her a brain aneurism.
Eventually the group found their way out of the building and into the extremely large garden that sat in the middle of all the classes. There were already a good few students here despite how early it was and it became evident why as many of them turned to the new students and gave big smiles. These were upper-classmen even if they wore the same outfits the comfort they showed with their surroundings and their amused demeanor seemed to instantly confirm this. There were also straps on their shoulders that told what class they were from though at this point in time the new students wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference. One of them, a good looking young blond man who could very well have been a model walked up toward them flanked by two giant troll-like boys with messy long hair whose identical ogre-ish features marked them as twins. One might have noticed that while the larger boys wielded simple zanpaktou like their own the blond boys was far larger and ornamental with a golden sheath.
He raised his hands outward and despite his attractiveness Amanohara already saw through his facade to the seller of lies that sat behind it, “Hello there new students, we’ve been waiting for you!”
Seeing the trepidation in some of their faces he laughed while shaking his hands and backing off, “Oh don’t worry, don’t worry. We’re nice here…well…at least if you’re amicable.” His eyes grew slightly dark and he held one hand out as if expecting something though not in a begging way, rather in a demanding way, “So…who’s going to be first to be amicable?”
Amanohara in her naturalist tendency toward leadership wasted no time stepping forward, those around her were quick to abandon the crazy girl, “What, the big bully is out to steal the little kids lunch money even up here?”
The boy grinned and stuck his tongue out at her, “Oh no, lunch money isn’t nearly enough.” He chuckled and made a disgusting slurping sound to which Amanohara merely gave him an incredulous look.
Immediately some of the less courageous individuals began backing off, these obviously became the two bigger thug’s targets as squealers made better examples. However just as one of them was about to catch one of the many unremarkable students in his hand it was batted away in a flash and a moment later he went flying backward past the blond man who side-stepped out of the way with a look of annoyance. The other large boy was similarly countered and thrown back and in their place two figures appeared, far faster than any of the new students eyes could have hoped to follow. A boy and a girl, both also wearing the school uniform and both of whose blades were similarly different to most others present. The boy had messy deep blue hair and piercing yellow eyes, despite sporting a rough five-o-clock shadow and a neutral expression his “heroes presence” was immediately evident and you could almost feel the overwhelming desire of the group of students to flock behind him.
“What are you doing Akihiko?” He asked in a voice tinged with anger, it seemed obvious this was not the first clash between these two.
Akihiko shrugged with indifference, “Do you normally go around attacking fellow students at random Nero? We were simply becoming acquainted with our new friends.”
“Just back off and walk away.” Nero said holding his finger up toward Akihiko.
They gave each other a long aggressive stare; you’d have to be dead not to have noted the hatred there. Then without another word Akihiko turned around and walked off, the recovering followers gave brief looks toward Nero clearly having no desire to face him and then ran off with their tails between their legs after Akihiko. Nero relaxed and turned around he gave Amanohara a momentary glance then a similar look toward the group as a whole before he brushed his hand through his hair and began to walk off. Several of those around seemed unsure if they should say something or not when the girl who had remained silent until now moved toward them. She had fire-red waist length hair and hazel eyes and though she was no beauty queen she was certainly cute and notable, if nothing else because she had strange cat-ear like protrusions made out of her hair and the boys might note a rather large bust. However right now she was noticed because she was smacking Amanohara on the back of the head.
“You MORON! Do you have any idea who you just made an enemy out of? Only the biggest friggin delinquent in the school, you think those two are all the help he has? IDIOT! THINK before you go making enemies you cant deal with, GAH!!!” Before Amanohara could even respond she had been gripped by the back of the neck and the girl was leading her away toward the cafeteria and after Nero.
She looked back over her shoulder and yelled out, “The rest of you get to the cafeteria unless you want to chance MORE problems. You got that? That’s from the disciplinary committee.” she pointed to a patch on her shoulder, “You better listen!”
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Post by Darkoda on Nov 16, 2009 16:13:01 GMT -4
Ai's only response to the odd guy telling her not to scare people was a soft giggle, as she headed back to her seat. It was either scare him, or kill him, and it would be a bit difficult to get away with killing someone in the Academy, so scaring was the way to go.
Moving on to things she actually cared about, Tensu's explanations were just what she needed. Unlike most other people, Ai actually wanted the detailed factual explanations; they left far less room for error, and it meant that Ai wasn't missing out on any details.
"So the blade is as sharp as my reiatsu, that makes sense, thanks Tensu."
That was certainly a relief; she could actually cut things with her zanpakuto without worrying about the blade breaking into many pieces. She still had to see about actually cleaning it though, she had enough sword maintenance experience to at least get it looking a bit less chipped. Maybe since the zanpakuto spirit was born from a fragment of her soul it wouldn't care about the state of its home once it was solid? She hoped so at least.
Then they had a new student, from the sounds of it, recently deceased. She must have arrived right on the doorsteps of the Soul Society to get in here so fast then. She seemed to have some sort of interest in Tensu though, what an odd woman.
“Alright cool, that’s everything, see you all in forty-five minutes.”
Only when the door shut did Ai notice the disappearance of their vice-captain teacher. She just stared wide eyed at his stunt, wondering how he became a vice captain with that attitude. Ah well, if he could do it, then I shouldn't have any problems besides getting the power.
Ai listened to Lai-Fan's directions to the cafeteria, and wondered just how many people would manage to get lost anyway. She was running a personal bet on at least half the class, and she decided to take her time leaving to count the absent minded ones. From the looks of things, Ai's guess was a bit low seeing that Tensu looked ready to explode again, and was directing the crowd in the right path. Ai just followed her, not wanting to miss another explosion.
Eventually, they actually made it to the garden without Tensu flying down someone's throat; this is, the trip was boring. The student scattered about the place looked a bit different though, like they actually knew what they were doing. Must be the upper-classmen, which would also explain all those weird straps they were wearing. A glint of something shiny drew her attention to one of them in particular, a blond pretty boy with a golden sheath and two bodyguards. Ai's eyes kept going back to the golden sheath though, that was something worth acquiring to sell. That kid couldn't have been from lower Rukongai to actually be willing to waste money on something like that. He certainly had the attitude of one though apparantly, when he walked up to them and promptly demanded their money in what he likely thought was a clever roundabout way.
Tensu promptly confronted the trio, and while the others pulled a vanishing act, Ai stayed put; She had dealt with far worse than schoolyard bullies and she had never run away from them. If the three of them wanted to try to steal anything from her, she would simply test out just how sharp her zanpakuto was on them, she didn't become one of the most feared people in ten districts by backing down from challenges.
The boy grinned and stuck his tongue out at Tensu when she called him out. “Oh no, lunch money isn’t nearly enough.” He chuckled and made a disgusting slurping sound. Ai simply reached for her zanpakuto, her patience with this at an end.
"How about if I show you your heart?" She asked him, her voice never losing it's childish tone, but her previously unreadable reiatsu was starting to show itself, tightly coiled around her in what more capable people would read as anticipation, as her eyes started to darken into a look one could only describe as one of pure lust.
The sight of one of the ogre flying right at blondie, forcing him to step out of the way snapped her out of it, just as the second went sailing past, and two people appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The following conversation showed that this was a common occurance, as the boy guardian - Nero, faced off with Akihiko, before rich boy decided to cut his losses and retreat. Nero glanced over at all of them, before walking away, just as the cat girl with the huge rack walked towards Tensu and pulled off the suicidal.
Ai's eyes widened as she actually hit Tensu and lectured her to submission, before dragging her off towards the cafeteria. Ai just stared at them for awhile, her half drawn zanpakuto sliding back into its sheath. Disciplinary committee huh? Anyway, this certainly isn't over if that guy really is the biggest threat in this school.
An entire gang aiming for revenge, it made Ai's blood race as she thought about the bloodbath that could be made out of that many people. Her main interest was in Akihiro though, him and that golden sheath.
It would certainly make a nice trophy... Ai thought, as she ran off after cat-girl and Tensu before they got too far ahead. Rich guy would likely target her for revenge, so sticking with her would let Ai get a chance of carving into the guy exactly how she felt about people like him who preyed on the weak.
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Post by Zhiel on Nov 17, 2009 13:48:38 GMT -4
Just as she shoved her sword back into its sheath, the classrooms door slid open and a foreign-looking girl entered. Most of the class had turned to look at this new arrival, which she apparently found amusing as she gave a short laugh before she 'explained herself'. Keiori shrugged as she turned back to stare at her zanpakutou, maybe hoping it would change to another if she concentrated hard enough... Wait, that girl hadn't been speaking Japanese! Keiori raised her head again, looking completely confused. How odd... The girl spoke a language she did not know, yet she understood what had been said... No use trying to figure that out though, she'd just get a headache, it seemed like something which couldn't be solved logically anyways.
As they were nearing the end of the list it seemed to become more than apparent that Kuatura wanted out, though what he was in such a rush over she had no idea. Maybe he just didn't feel comfortable in a crowd? No, that couldn't be it... But before she got that much farther in her thoughts the guy suddenly disappeared from view as he shouted from the door that class would resume in 45 minutes, a moment later the sliding door closing with a thud. Keiori stared wide-eyed at where the man had just been, and the door through which he had left. That was impossible...
Still in a form of shock from what she had just 'witnessed' Keiori didn't notice Lai-Fan's facepalm, but she did snap out of it when the woman spoke, as she repeated the time and gave them instructions for how to get to the academies cafeteria, not very complex, but vital either way. She did shudder a bit at the stern look she gave them when she told them to better be back in time, it reminded her of her teachers back home... As half the class began to rush out the door Keiori remained in her place as her gaze shifted back down to the scabbard of her zanpakutou. Though she knew that reiatsu made things more 'solid', among other things, she was not very good at controlling her own and thus she was unsure whether it would be safe to use the blade in it's current condition... And should she form a connection with her 'spirit', she didn't think it would like living in a broken sword. No, it would be better to wait until she could get it properly repaired, until then she would just have to make do with her martial arts and whatever else she could get her hands on.
With most of the class already outside the classroom, Keiori decided it was time she moved as well. And as she stood up from her seat she tied the zanpakutou to her waist belt, before she also began to move toward the door, reaching it as the last few students filed out, by which time Keiori noticed how the girl who reminded her of her sister was directing people to the right way. Amanohara had been a natural leader even back when she had been... Alive... If she had lived in Rukongai for almost as long as, if not longer, than Keiori had she would no doubt have changed as well, but there were so many similarities that her heart kept telling her it had to be her sister... But at the same time, she was too scared to simply ask. She wasn't sure she could handle it if it turned out to be someone else...
Having been caught up in her thoughts, Keiori had completely missed how the rest of the group were halfway toward the garden already. With a 'yelp' she began to sprint after them, reaching the group just as they were stopped by the upper classmen which caused her to almost run into the people at the back when they seemed to back away. Trying to see what was going on Keiori was stretching herself as high up as possible, yet she could only see glimpses of what seemed to be two big, ugly guys. Though the voice she heard through the crowd definitely did not fit either of them, probably their boss. Typical, even in this place you couldn't escape thugs and their henchmen. Deciding she wanted a clearer view of what was going on Keiori tried to push herself through the crowd. "Excuse me, let me through please." She started saying as she slowly separated two people and started walking through. Though just at that moment almost the entire crowd stepped back, in particular a group in the back who seemed scared out of their wits, who collided with Keiori making her stagger backwards several steps.
And just as she was about to yell at them for being so careless she saw something moving in the corner of her eye, and as she turned to look she saw it was one of the ogre-boys who was reaching out for her with a stupid grin on his face. Being reminded of the many times the men in Eastern Rukongai, District 78, had tried to make her 'submit' to them, her face contorted into one of pure rage as her eyes began to glow from the reiatsu surging underneath, her body being covered by a thin layer of strangely controlled force. And she was just a moment away from punching a hole through the idiot, when he was suddenly thrown out of her sight. This caused her to luckily enough regain her senses, as the reiatsu surrounding her dissipated. Before her stood a girl who looked to be slightly older than Keiori, but quite a bit taller, and with a MUCH bigger rack... Show offs...
She was about to say how she didn't need any help when a new arrival, a guy with blue hair and fierce yellow eyes spoke to who Keiori assumed was the leader of those thugs, Akihiko. Nero had quite the presence, and it became apparent that most of the new students, in particular those who had been scared just a few moments ago wanted to just form up behind him. Keiori was naturally skeptical however though she had to admit he seemed to be a decent guy, never the less she was not the kind of person to be swept off her feet by a showy entrance. There was a quick trade of words, and then a stare contest between the two (she had moved out of the way so she could actually see what was going on by this point), before Akihiko decided it was better to retreat for now. With the problem seemingly solved Nero decided to move on, shortly followed by the girl with a huge rack who had "saved" her, though rather than passing them all by she walked straight up to who Keiori now recognized as the girl who looked like her sister and... Smacked her on the head... Though she hadn't actually recognized the girl as her sister yet, some things was just so ingrained in her psyche that it became an instinctual reaction. And NO ONE hit her sister!
Thinking that she began to shove her way through the few people blocking her path, most moving as they saw the look of simple-minded anger on her face. Luckily (for Keiori at least) she regained her senses as she came up beside Ai, realizing that even IF she was her sister, it would not be very appropriate to attack a upperclassman who had just helped fend off a bunch of bullies, she probably had her reason to lecture the white haired girl now, because if she was indeed Keiori's sister she had a feeling she knew why she had been at the front, along with why she was being lectured and... Dragged off? Well it seemed they were heading for the Cafeteria as well, so she might as well follow. With mixed feelings Keiori walked after them, along with the crowd of students.
OOC: Not exactly my best post ever... But what can ya do?
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