Portal - Human Interlude

[GoldenKitten]

And they say irony is dead.

On the eastern fringes of the Karakura town lies a old abandoned school house. It sits amongst the once prosperous steel industry housing developments where families of workers of the steel mills lived out their lives. Nowadays in the age of computer electronics and gadgetry the old mills, the houses, the stores that supported them and the school that saw many through their early years of learning are left silent and forgotten. A land a hundred years before its time where humans touch and humans folly have since become unknown.

Most of these buildings are beyond anyones capability to repair or at least far beyond the cost effectiveness of doing so and as such they simply crumble ever more, every year rushing to their appointed demise upon which they will be structures no longer. At first glance the school is much the same, beaten and battered by ages of rain, wind and disrepair but upon closer inspection it seems this may be a facade for the structure of the building itself appears to be quite strong and might even be receiving regular maintenance. Regardless few would notice and even fewer would care, nor would many wish to know why there is often a steady stream of individuals coming and going on certain days of the week. Better, like the buildings around it that whatever happens here be forgotten.

---

When you had two individuals whose brains were like the strongest spirit radars ever devised and a few toys from one of the greatest geniuses the world had ever seen it didn't take long to find what you were searching for. The group making its way through the old decrepit side of Karakura town was certainly an odd bunch or to the average passerby they might certainly appear that way. A child, three teenagers or young adults attempting to cheer the child up the whole way, another standing off from them, a woman and what seemed to be a very loyal cat following them with near dog like canny. Victoria and the others had arrived back in Japan the day before and after finding food and seeing Umbra reawaken, though he was far from healed, they had set out toward what Victoria had come here for. Now they found themselves in front of this old but no doubt inhabited school.

There was no turning back now, of course there had been no turning back as soon as they had taken arms against the inhabitants of Las Noches, but now was the time when her plan either succeeded or failed outright and they found themselves with no other options. With that thought fresh in her mind Victoria approached the only unbraced door into the building and knocked several times, waiting with bated breath. However after a long wait and several more knocks it became apparent nobody was coming and so Victoria pushed the door open and stepped through into a new realm.

It was immediately obvious that despite not answering people lived here, the inside was almost perfectly clean with none of the dirt and debris an abandoned building would have held. More so as the group filtered in it became clear there were voices coming from deeper in the building. As they maneuvered through several empty but clearly inhabited halls and rooms they heard that the voices were raised and angry, as if they were arguing amongst themselves. The group entered a large central room that was set up something like a congregating place and indeed there were no less than three dozen people gathered around two individuals in the middle of the room, a young man and woman who were yelling at each other. As luck might have it Victoria walked in at the most opportune of moments.

“How can you possibly know what the hollows are up to?” The girl yelled.

“Look at their activity something is up and we need to do something about it.”

“You may be our 'leader'” She performed the traditional sarcastic quotes with her fingers while saying this, “But that doesn't mean you can tell people to go on some suicidal quest! Going looking for the hollows on their home front just because they've been acting strangely here ”

“AND THEN what happens when we get caught with our pants down if something is happ -”

The young blond man stopped and looked over at the group who had just entered, he looked a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. The others followed his gaze and it was apparent that for a moment they were not sure how to respond. Victoria decided that they probably had a rule about not talking about the spiritual world in front of those with no knowledge of such things. She decided not to let it linger and before anyone could speak she walked into the group and spoke aloud as much to the two as the rest of the room.

“Its true, going to Hueco Mundo or any other realm ruled by the hollows would be suicidal for you. But its also true that things are changing in that realm and are soon to cause you a great deal of trouble if you do not prepare to face them.”

She looked toward the one who seemed to be the leader.

“Hello, my name is Victoria. I have come to help you array yourself for just such a time.” She cocked her head to the side innocently and smiled.

[Knightmayre]

Kuroi was bored, as usual. She sat in the shadows in the corner of a room, watching as two humans bickered about what was going to be done. The humans were bickering about what to do, who to do it to, and so on and so forth, as they always were. The blonde man she has been told was the latest human to declare themselves leader of this motley group she had been hanging with spoke first, ”We have to move soon, the hollows are moving and we need to get in there and stop them now before it is too late.” The girl was obviously not impressed, though Kuroi stopped paying attention at this point. Something was approaching, something that piqued her hunger, something with considerable more power than any human in this pathetic excuse for a force. She smiled to herself and walked out from the shadows, drawing her sword and donning her shield as a group of young people lead by an older woman and her cat. Kuroi stood closer to the humans than their guests, as the lead woman spoke out in reply to the conversation the humans were holding. ”Its true, going to Hueco Mundo or any other realm ruled by the hollows would be suicidal for you. But its also true that things are changing in that realm and are soon to cause you a great deal of trouble if you do not prepare to face them.”

Kuroi ran her hands through her hair and sighed, something about them was disappointing. She had hoped for something beyond modified souls and powerful humans, something worth her time, but she didn’t seem to be likely to find that here. As Victoria introduced herself however, Kuroi felt something strange, a power behind her words, a charisma that drew her in, and gave her the feeling that maybe this woman could make something decent out of these humans and their pathetic attempts to battle the hollows. Kuroi didn’t particularly care much at all for the humans, and ignored them completely in response to Victoria introducing herself, for all she knew she was talking over them, and for all she cared they were already dead. ”Victoria, a pleasure to meet you, I am Kuroi Hime of the Bount. You, all of you, interest me, you’re strong, why?”[/b] Kuroi was never one for subtlety, and she always longed for power, if humans could get this powerful, she would likely be able to use the same method to exceeded that a hundredfold, and a hungry glint lit up her eyes as she stared across at Victoria unflinchingly, completely ignoring the situation she was jumping into to. Besides, what the humans did was of little concern to her, the blonde man would be overthrown soon by another, and she would likely devour his soul, it was a cycle she never grew tired of, and with the appearance of this new woman, she could feel history repeating itself once more.

[Zhiel]

Edrivian Adalwolf, known to most simply as "Edrian" was currently at the school serving as the Brotherhoods headquarters. He had come there today to discuss certain agreements between them and "The Enclave", a group of Bount who had taken residence in the area some forty years ago.

Both of these groups liked to see themselves as major players in the spiritually aware world, however even Edrian saw the members of the Enclave as conceited. From what he had gathered they were barely ten in number and only one was stronger than Edrian himself, however he liked to play nice and thus was doing his best on preventing the two groups from battling each others by submitting certain 'demands' from the Enclave and propositions from the Brotherhood. It was one tangled mess with one group seeing itself as superior and the other being firm in their beliefs. It was because of this that he knew only he could act as their emissary, being an open-minded Bount.

However the supposed "leaders" of the group had been busy yelling their lungs out at each others, one being convinced they had to mobilize people to go to Hueco Mundo, while the other was certain said act would be suicidal and he agreed. However he had already tried to chip in and work his diplomacy and was ignored, could be due to not being very excited about it and not really standing up from his place in the back but... Eh, not his problem anymore, he was just a contact for them not a true member so it was unlikely they would listen to him anyhow.

That was when things took a turn for intriguing however, as a group of odd individuals entered the large congregation hall, and it seemingly took several seconds before anyone else noticed them, of course he couldn't see the whole room from where he laid but he didn't care all too much either, he just found it funny how the 'leader' reacted to their presence. How he couldn't tell there were power in these new arrivals was beyond Edrian, but it hardly mattered as the woman who was clearly their leader stepped forward and began to speak, having her voice raised so it reached through the entire room and though it may or may not have been her intention Edrian could tell she was someone who was used to giving orders and expected to be obeyed, while she also carried herself with a dignity that might be described as inspiring. She was a natural leader, of that he had no doubt.

Nearly immediately after the woman had introduced herself as Victoria, Edrian felt the very distinct reiatsu of Kuroi move from her spot in the shadows of the room. Though she was a member of the brotherhood, there was something more than a little odd about this 'woman', and as much as he had tried to he couldn't figure her out. She was dangerous, he knew that much and as such had taken to watching her whenever he was at the Brotherhood however so far he had no reason to suspect her of being up to something that would negatively affect either the Brotherhood or Karakura in general so he merely remained watchful.

The 'womans' straight-forwardness when introducing herself to Victoria made Edrian sigh as he stood up from his position on one of the benches. Naturally her only real interest in the group was their strength, which only confirmed Edrian's suspicions that Kuroi was one of those Bount who couldn't control their lust for power even more. It was for this reason he had decided to keep watch even now and the reason he now approached the group himself. "Now now fraulein, Miss Victoria surely has something very important to tell the Brotherhood. Personal desires should come afterwards, yes?" Edrian spoke with a clear German accent, even using 'fraulein' to refer to Kuroi. Either he was not a very good Japanese speaker or he was very old-fashioned, though being a Bount that was not unusual. Coming to a stop before the group Edrian ran a hand through his raven-blue ear-length hair while his purple eyes scanned the group more thoroughly before he spoke again. "Greetings Miss Victoria, and friends." He said as he gave the group an elegant old-fashioned bow before eh continued "My name is Edrian, though not a member of this wonderful group of individuals I spend a great deal of time here and I look forward to what you might bring to their aid." He spoke as he finished, using formal words and being generally pleasant.

[GoldenKitten]

Victoria was no fool; she knew the situation she was walking into was set against her. Humans weren’t like Arrancar, power wasn’t all it took to gain respect amongst the vast majority of them, a calculated mind and calm leader-like demeanor didn’t guarantee it either. Humans could be irrational that way but then that was what she liked about them, their unpredictability was what set them apart from the other species of the soul realms. True the Brotherhood was not made solely of humans but most of them were and moreover those that were not had probably spent so much time in close proximity to humans that they had adapted some of their emotional tendencies. Thus was it mildly surprising when the first two people who approached her were not only not human but bore so obviously inhuman personalities, she however showed no signs of this on her face.

Shortly before the more cultured one showed up she turned to the girl with the unique hollow-like reiatsu, she could see the look in her eyes. It seemed this one had adopted more than the hollow like reiatsu, but also their hunger. Regardless she didn’t give any outward suggestion as to what she thought of her; instead she just smiled at the girl and answered her question, “Practice.”

By then the more polite one calling himself Edrian had stepped in and attempted to temper the other girls rash introduction, of course how she reacted that was up to her but Victoria figured it was as good a chance as any to keep from being bogged down with the girls curiosity. However just as she was about to respond a voice called out over them and she turned toward the sound, spotting the blond man and the girl approaching, he was pointing and speaking in an aggravated tone.

“Wait a moment!” He griped, “What is this?! You just walk in here and make a statement like that and don’t even bother to follow up with the leader you’re speaking to? And what about you Edrian? We don’t even know if we can really trust you, won’t even make a commitment to our cause and you have the ego to address someone on our behalf?!” For arguing so strongly at first the girl was now nodding her head in strong agreement to the mans words now, pointing to their lack of real control here.

For the briefest moment Victoria glared at the man, it was a leftover of her time in Las Noches. She was nice as far as Arrancar went but nobody had said she hadn’t been affected by her time there or didn’t know when force was the appropriate reaction, the mild purple energy building behind her eyes was a testament to this. But she was a good person and she was in control, only those with close observational ability would have noticed as she quickly pulled the reigns of control in and gave a polite professional smile.

Akabane on the other hand wasn’t, “SHOW RESPECT YOU W-”

“AKABANE!” Victoria bellowed and turned her eyes on him a moment before turning back to the temperamental man “I apologize.” She said as she reached under her outer-coat and retrieved three scrolls before she held one out to each side and kept one herself, “Jessica, Akabane.”

Jessica took one and let it drop while Akabane jumped into the air, grabbing the scroll in his mouth before perching on a nearby poll that was part of the old school construction, the scroll then fell open. Despite being old timey scrolls the pictures on them were as crisp as current day technology could print somehow. Upon them were images of Las Noches in its destroyed state, the new scaffolding being erected around it and several pictures of unique looking individuals whom this group knew as the Horror Vacui (Death and Fury in this case) but the Brotherhood would obviously not.

Victoria placed her hands behind her back and stepped forward now with a serious demeanor, “This is the change you have noticed in the hollow populace, if any of you are unfamiliar with some of the terms I am about to use then please step up afterward and we will explain. Two weeks ago a coup occurred in the realm known as Hueco Mundo where the hollow and more importantly, those creatures known as Arrancar, hollow that have removed their mask and undergone shiningamification live. The group that caused this call themselves the Horror Vacui and have taken complete control of the Arrancar populace. In addition they struck several great blows to the Shinigami, thus rendering their ability to do their usual job inefficient at the moment.”

She broke for a moment and the blond boy chimed in, “How do you know that? What are you even talking about?”

She seemed to ignore him, “Unlike the previous leaders of the Arrancar stronghold Las Noches these individuals have a purpose. They are incredibly focused and demand loyalty, but at the same time unlike the previous leaders they also know how to lead in other ways than pure force and fear alone. In other words they know how to lead properly and you have seen the effects here on Earth. Because the Arrancar are now organized they have begun organizing their own sub-groups, recruiting hollows into groups which they send here on small tasks…and those that survive will no doubt also be converted into arrancar to supplement their ranks.”

Taking a deep sigh she finished, “At their current rate of rebuilding they will be prepared in four days. At that point they could attack at any time. Of course we can’t be certain of their motives just yet but from a strategically sound view they will go for the Shinigami first, you might think that doesn’t concern you but when the shinigami are defeated there will be no force large enough to stand against them. Then if they are operating by common hollow logic the Earth will be akin to a private reserve for them, human souls en masse, free to be consumed at their leisure with nobody to stop them. And trust me when I say each of the leaders of the Horror Vacui, known as the Dominus, is more than capable of this task.”

She looked the man straight in the eye though she was really only doing this out of courtesy and was in fact addressing everyone, after all if there was a more capable leader here then this would no doubt spur them to step forward. “If, as we suspect, the Arrancar intend to strike…no matter what their first target may be. It will be within the month. So, would you like to continue complaining about your status as leader, or do we have your attention now?”

After several moments the man now wide-eyed could only respond in the same way dumbly, “…What?”

[Knightmayre]

Victoria made a simple and discreet answer, which infuriated Kuroi beyond measure. "Practice?" Kuroi tightened her grip on her sword and cursed under her breath, but before she could say anything more Edrian stepped from the shadows. He dared to 'correct' her, and used some of the diplomatic flair Kuroi knew and loathed him for. Turning her focus from Victoria and the humans, Kuroi stormed over to Edrian and pointed her sword at him, "Ed you bastard, don't you talk over me like that. I was doing perfectly fine withour your nazi ass jumping in and screwing everything over! You better watch where you sleep tonight if you keep it up!"[/color] Turning her nose and exhaling deeply, she walked back over across to where she had been before, ignoring any response from Edrian.

As Victoria explained the situation, one word struck home with her, Arrancar, armies of them, it was like a dream come true, or a nightmare, either way, it worked for her. The hunger in her eyes grew greater as Victoria told of the troubles of the world. "Arrancar you say? Well, now that is interesting...[/color] Smiling now, Kuroi sheated her sword [though she kept her shield in hand] and stood attentively until the blonde human spoke up again, interrupting Victoria momentarily. "Learn some manners and shut the hell up human, she's trying to speak!"[/b]

Kuroi then waved her arm towards Victoria as she continued speaking, signalling for her to do so uninterrupted. Horror Vacui, Dominus, an imminent attack, all these were news to her. Victoria finished on a rather strong note, pointing out the short period of time in which they had to move against the Arrancar, and pointing out the blonde man's inefficiencies so far this day. Kuroi was intrigiued, any chance she had to devour hollows was one she welcomed, and she bowed towards Victoria and lifted her shield to head height towards Victoria. "You know a lot, you're strong, and there's something else about you which just makes you...better...than these humans."[/b]

Kuroi turned to face the blonde man, she was not in the mood for negotiations, and reiatsu welled up inside her as she pointed a single finger at him. "You do as your told human, or I guarantee you will never sleep again."[/b]

[Zhiel]

Edrian bore a mild smile on his face, it was the form of expression most would remember him by as it was what one could say his "social" look. It wasn't merely a farce like many might believe however, Edrian was a genuinely friendly person and he always actively tried to stay on a persons good side unless he had a reason otherwise. Now he rarely outright disliked someone, but Kuroi was really bordering on that for him which put him in quite the delicate situation considering the 'womans' other half...

More or less right after he had finished speaking however Kuroi turned heel and more or less forced her way through the small group standing before her, pushing a small blonde girl who looked to be in her early teens to the side. Though she quickly caught her balance and stared at the other girls back with anger in her eyes, however one would not know the girl if they thought it was all for that push. No Jessica was pissed at Kuroi for her rather disrespectful way of addressing and speaking to Victoria, a woman she greatly admired and looked up to. But it had only been that careless assault through their group that had pushed that anger up to the surface.

Of course Edrian was not blind and so saw the woman's approach, though she was very quick on her feet and in merely a seconds time had shortened the distance between the two and was now pointing a sword at Edrians chest, to which he responded with a quick step-back and raising his arms up above his head while exclaiming in what was nothing less than a comical outburst "Hilfe!" However anyone with average perception that was actually observing those arms would have been able to tell he did *something*. This something was to retrieve a golden tassel-like bookmark from a book that laid in an open pouch, attached to the belt at his waist. The other object was a combat knife that while he did not grasp it, he had altered it's position within his robe and would easily be able to 'eject' it from the sleeve in his right arm.

"Woah now fraulein, surely there is no need for violence and..." Edrian began, sounding somewhat scared though anyone who knew him would know it was an act. Sure, he wasn't a very strong individual but he was confident in his agility and knew that while Kuroi was certainly dangerous she knew little to nothing about his powers, while the presence of the sword and shield of hers suggested a close-combat oriented power or ability. However he was cut short by the Brotherhood's 'leader' who was now directing his anger at him for "speaking for them".

While still standing with his arms above his head in a rather comical fashion Edrian changed his attention from Kuroi to the blonde man, though to say he let his guard down would be folly. "Meian, please. I've been around the Brotherhood since before you were even born, I may not be committed to your 'cause' but that is because as you should be aware the relations between your faction and the Bount are tense as it is. Thus someone not directly tied with you is important to keep the situation from escalating beyond control." As he said this his voice took on another quality, he was completely serious and the calm voice he delivered it in somehow made his words seem more powerful than any shouting on his part could have done.

Edrian turned his attention from Meian when a loud yelling voice could be heard, angrily focused on Meian. But before the voice could finish Victoria reprimanded it by what was most likely it's name... Akabane... Both Meian's and Kuroi's attentions were then turned to Victoria, with Kuroi letting the sword drop and walking over to stand closer to the gathering before them all the while Victoria brought something out from her clothing and held out what looked like scrolls at her side as she said two named. Jessica and Akabane.

Jessica, apparently the smaller girl with flowing golden blond hair took one of the scrolls while the cat that had been following Victoria in jumped up and caught the other in it's mouth, before placing itself on a piece of the school as it let the scroll unfold itself... 'No way... That voice, is that cat? Is she a Bount too..? No, she's not. That much is obvious...' Edrian thought confused as he tried to make sense of the talking cat. As Victoria began to explain the current state of Las Noches, the fortress of the Arrancar Edrian listened intently. This was decidedly important information and though he was unable to see what was on the scrolls from his perspective he had never not been able to see through a complete lie, it came with being a learned man who engaged in a lot of social activity, like teaching.

Meian tried to chip in again however, apparently wanting an even clearer description of what was going on, to which Kuroi naturally told him in a rather rude way to shut up, and Victoria merely ignored him. Continuing her explanation Edrian began to understand the full scope of how large a threat the Arrancar truly were, to both this motley gathering, and to the world as a whole. Edrian had long known of the Arrancar, he had even encountered a few over the years though most had not even been 'Numeros', and he knew that it was their highly inefficient leadership that had made sure they were never such a massive threat. Until now. Control through fear could only take one so far, eventually it would crumble under ones feet and it was not something that inspired those under you into great feats, this was something these Horror Vacui knew more than enough...

Though he wished to make his support of Victoria clear, he knew that doing so would render his words deaf on Meian's and many others of the Brotherhood's ears. And when Kuroi went so far as to THREATEN the guy to obey Victoria... If he joined up with her now it could very well seem like a coup from the Bount... That idiot girl...

With speed one would not expect of a guy as weak-looking as Edrian he moved effortlessly in-between Kuroi and Meian with both speed and grace as he focused his purple eyes on Kuroi, both his facial expression and his eyes said he was not in the mood for games. "Kuroi, I am aware of your reluctance to solve matters through any other method than violence, but this is not the time for such selfish actions. If what Miss Victoria says is true then we, all of us, need to work together in order to overcome this crisis. Now I do admit some verification of her claims may be in order, but for the moment I believe giving her the benefit of the doubt is more beneficial to all of us rather than in-fighting." He spoke, first addressing solely Kuroi with fierce determination, before his 'spark' lit and he began to address the whole room in what could be said to be his customary diplomatic fashion, but in particular Meian and the girl who had been arguing with the 'leader' earlier.

[GoldenKitten]

The situation was worse than she had expected and devolving quickly. She had known the Brotherhood wasn't a particularly organized group of individuals and that they weren't just going to jump into action because she showed up but this was on a whole other level. The girl in particular was an unexpected and detrimental unknown, she wasn't just fiery or brash, she was borderline psychotic and she was going to take this entire attempt down in flames if Victoria let her be. She was glad to see this Edrian character seemed to have the diplomacy down-pat, he knew where to position himself and this would likely come in handy. Thinking her options over Victoria opted for the quickest and most efficient method, humans might not acquiesce to power in the same manner that Arrancar did but it would make them pay attention.

A fierce purple light rose in her eyes and her reiatsu spiked clearly, anyone in the room who had thought they might have a chance against her before quickly realized they were very wrong. Though she did not fire it high enough to do any damage to the weaker individuals it might still be borderline overbearing. She was glad to see the gigai were holding, Mang-Gwiha was ancient even by Arrancar standards and he had spent that time wisely, it was doubtful there was a single individual as skilled in the production of gigai in this world. There was no leakage whatsoever, as long as they remained in the gigais he produced no matter what kind of spirit one was, they appeared as humans. True she was limited to roughly fifty to sixty percent of her true strength but for the time being that would suffice. She walked forward as to stand closer to those causing the commotion.

“Sir Edrian is correct. Bickering like children, even in peaceful times how could you ever expect to get anything done? I know this is sudden but...” and she looked to Meian when she said this and introduced a mild levity for a moment as to not anger anyone, “What was I going to do, make an appointment?” but she quickly reverted to the seriousness of the situation.

“I have lived a long while.” Victoria had decided some time prior that she would drop several hints from the very start that she was not in fact human, this would allow for easier transference when they inevitably had to leave their gigais to fight the powerful opponents arrayed against them. She would also try to recruit spiritual entities along the way getting the others here used to them before she exposed herself, or so the plan went. She noted that her spiritual power had caused nearly another three dozen humans to come pouring in from the other areas of the building.

“As such when I learned of these happenings I had to weigh what I knew and make a plan. I've no desire to see the Arrancar succeed, the Shinigami while hurt are not broken and will continue their fight, the Vizard as always will do as they wish but I do not expect them to side with the Arrancar at any rate and while I know less about this growing human power due to their secrecy and do not agree with the means by which I have discovered they operate I do know they are collected and will stand against them when the time comes. That leaves you, this Brotherhood is the weak link in the chain but it doesn't need to be. I know a great many powerful individuals have gathered here and unlike most of the others, focused on their own squabbles between each other you have the noble goal of protecting those humans which are ignorant to the subtle background machinations of their world. If you could but hone that driving factor into a skilled action not only would you be able to adequately stand against those that will wish to see you and all humanity, including the various other races of this Brotherhood, destroyed but you would be capable of admirably fulfilling your individual goals, whatever they might be.”

The purple fire died down in her eyes and with it the reishi she had been emitting, she turned to Meian. “Can you honestly look at me now and say that you have made the most of what you have here? Or are you just playing leader while a perfectly workable group festers and their willpower to succeed in their initial task slowly drowns out? Can you tell me the truth?”

Meian looked furious but he also looked confused, as if on one hand the “leader” in him wanted to argue more but the reasonable individual in him knew what she was saying was true. He finally settled for changing the subject, “Even so...even so how do we know what you have to say is true? You could well just be using fatalistic made-up evidence and the shock of arriving out of nowhere to manipulate us to your own designs.”

From somewhere behind him a small timid looking girl with brown hair spoke up, she had been rather unremarkable until now just being another amongst the congregation but her words were not as foolish or unwarranted as the leader groups had been. “I...I agree. If what you say is true then we should look into what can be done, but...theres no real proof other than your words and some very basic evidence at best...I mean...you know...”

Victoria ignored her for a minute and turned her head to Kuroi, she had said what needed to be said but knew first that this situation needed to be defused, “First, Kuroi, why don't you back down and focus your fighting-spirit elsewhere. Stick around long enough and I promise that more than a few Arrancar and Hollow were Nazi's back in life.” She gave the girl a bemused smile before turning back to the group.

Victoria approached and at first the girl and Meian backed off but she then stopped and said with a wry grin, “You're right, well then, why don't I show you?”

[Knightmayre]

Kuroi sighed and retreated from the conversation for a moment once he turned to speak to her, she was speaking quietly, but anyone trying to listen in would hear what she was saying easily enough. "Stupid Edrian...messing with thing...he doesn't know anything...gah, they're all weak..."[/b] She paced around for a moment, temporarily being withdrawn from the rest of the room as they continued talking without her, until suddenly she snapped back to attention and look over to Edrian. "You still talk funny Edrian..."

The conversation carried on, and Kuroi grew increasingly irritated with Meian's existance. Then as she layed into Meian for his obvious lack of leadership skills or intelligence, Edrian was there, inbetween the two of them, as usual interfering in her affairs. "Kuroi, I am aware of your reluctance to solve matters through any other method than violence, but this is not the time for such selfish actions. If what Miss Victoria says is true then we, all of us, need to work together in order to overcome this crisis. Now I do admit some verification of her claims may be in order, but for the moment I believe giving her the benefit of the doubt is more beneficial to all of us rather than in-fighting."

Kuroi was irritated, again, by Edrian, his existance far too often inconvienienced hers, and eventually she would do something about it, but for now he did raise a good point, and even she could see that. "Tch, fine, use your precious 'diplomatic means' and 'empathy', but when shit gets fucked, don't say I didn't warn you..." Kuroi went to walk away and sulk, but Victoria did something that intrigued her immensely. A flare of power caught her attention, and she turned on the spot to face Victoria, a bright purple light emitted from her eyes.

This silenced Kuroi, who simply stood watching the fire, desperatly trying to gauge Victoria's power, and failing at it. Eventually after much talking [which Kuroi payed no attention to whatsoever, the shiney purple was much more captivating than anything else at the time anyway] the fire died down, and Victoria turned to Kuroi, telling her that she'd get to kill plenty of Arrancar and Hollows who probably were Nazi's. This was a bit much for her, and a single 'ha' escaped her mouth. Her arm shot up to cover her mouth, but within an instant and a flash of light Kuroi was gone.

Standing in her place was a young girl in a flowing and bejeweled dress, covered in sparkling glitter and with long white hair tied in a pony tail behind her haid. Edrian would know what had happened, Meian might know, but to Victoria and her companions, this would likely be an interesting experience. "Mister Ed! Shiroi ran towards Edrian, standing behind him and pointing to Victoria and her group. "Mister Ed...who's that?"

[Zhiel]

OOC: Tried to emulate a german accent with Edrian, gonna need some more trial and error I think. Sorry about awkwardly sudden ending but I've had a hard time to concentrate long enough to really write more than a few sentences...


Edrian wasn't sure if he should be relieved or alarmed when Victoria raised her reiatsu, this could situation had three outcomes and only one of them were good. First she could scare them into submission, this would never bring forth a well-organized long lasting organization, second would be that it made them pay more attention and third was that it simply triggered a fight despite how much stronger she was... Many humans didn't understand how much a vast difference in reiatsu affected the outcome of a battle and as he had suspected she was quite strong, quite strong indeed. Though he couldn't quite gauge her power he knew she wasn't using her full strength right now, and that she was a LOT stronger than he was.

Being weary of both Victoria and those around her, including Meian and the other girl, Edrian was still deeply intrigued by the explanation that followed and how it seemed to point at her not being quite what she appeared. This would go well in hand with the small but subtle aggressions she had shown earlier, along with her way of grabbing peoples attentions through "force". She seemed used to being obeyed, and though it had been hard to see all of their reactions he knew that the... Cat... had been angry over Meian's way of treating her but so had the blond girl. What exactly was she? He had heard about the Shinigami's Gigai, but even her reiatsu suggested she was a human and he had serious doubts the Shinigami could create such effective faux bodies... No whatever she was he would need more clues to figure that out, and so had to be patient and wait.

Once the woman had finished speaking however Meian tried to argue some more, trying but failing to convey what Edrian had already established: That they needed to confirm her claims. Though as a young girl in the crowd piped in and formulated the question properly, even if she was clearly having some problems with her self-esteem. He didn't quite criticize her as much as Meian either for the fact that she had probably not been in the large congregation hall from the beginning but came in when Victoria turned herself into a beacon of reiatsu. And as Victoria turned to Kuroi, Edrian spoke up once more. "I'm glad ve could reach a peaceful solution to zis predicament. Both ze Brotherhood's und ze safety of humanity as a vole relies on our ability to cooperate und..." Edrian spoke, however before he could finish he saw Kuroi make a sudden motion and quickly shifted his attention to her however it had merely been a futile reaction on her part to prevent the upcoming transformation. Oh dear, like this situation wasn't confusing enough.

Where Kuroi had previously stood was now a little girl, not even looking like if she were in her teens and wearing a dress that looked like something a child would dress up in to play princess. Shiroi had appeared, and though Edrian could never get along with Kuroi and her antics this was certainly not the right time for this. Almost immediately the girl turned her attention to Edrian and called out to him, before running up and hiding behind his legs, pointing at Victoria and her group and Edrian couldn't help but scratch the back of his head in a form of nervous gesture. "I.. I suppose zis vill require a form of explanation, but let ahs focus on ze task at hand first." Edrian spoke nervously, clearly not having expected this to happen but knowing what was going on, before he got confirmation on this however he turned around and sat down on one knee before putting a hand on Shiroi's head in a calming 'there's nothing to worry about' fashion. "They are travellers, ze leader Miss Victoria has brought invaluable information und ve are trying to decide on what to do next."

Standing up once more Edrian turned to Meian. "Now vill you reason viz Miss Victoria so zat we may carry on, ze passage of time is meaningless to me but you surely have better things to do with your lives than argue."

[GoldenKitten]

Victoria withdrew a bundled package from one of her pockets and began unwrapping it. Some of those surrounding her seemed apprehensive but those with any kind of sense would realize there was nothing to worry about. For one it wasn't emanating any strange energies and more importantly if her goal had been to harm them in any way she could obviously have done that long ago, the first chance of course being the moment she walked in the door and it took them so long to notice her. As she unwrapped it carefully she watched the scene unfold between Edrian and the new little girl that had taken the others place, she also noted that many of the other Brotherhood members considered the girl with wariness, no matter her form they did not trust her. She smiled at Edrian as he fumbled, for the first time being legitimately concerned and not putting on and act but she simply continued smiling while unwrapping the item which had been wrapped in dozens of layers of cloth.

“Do not worry. An explanation would be good but I've run into plenty of strange individuals in my time, many of whom I will never know their own origins or existences now. It's the way of things when the world around you is always moving and you are still, it's also inevitable when one mires themselves in the realm of the spiritual.” She gave him a knowing glance and nod but said no more.

At this point she retrieved the item from the wrap and produced it so that anyone close could see. It was a large translucent red bubble set into an ornate silver locket but quadruple sized as to be as large as the palm of her hand. She returned her gaze to the mostly human populace and held it up for the “leaders” to see.

“It's as he says. We could sit here speaking the rest of the day or I could show you. However I'll first tell you what I am proposing and then you can make your decision. If the popular opinion is to go ahead then I will begin and when it is over there will be no denying what I have said. If the consensus is that you want none of it then I will leave you to your squabbling, if however there are any interested you would be free to follow me. The reason I offer this choice is of course because what I propose is not failsafe or perhaps safe at all.” She seemed deadly serious upon stating this.

“What this will do, is open a portal to Hueco Mundo, the land of the hollows.” She said it as if she were talking about going out to hang ones laundry. Responses were immediate most simply issued statements of surprise but a few instantly went on the offensive stating it was a bad idea and she needed to get out and stop wasting their time. She did not however let them gain the floor just yet.

“It is not of course the same as the portals through which the hollow travel, even other spirits such as shinigami require a great deal of power to create portals through to that realm. It will be more akin to a one way mirror, looking in but impossible to look out and also impossible to pass through. It will, with a bit of control, allow us to see exactly how the hollows and arrancar are progressing at this time. However as I stated it is not a guaranteed thing, it was created for spying on the average denizens of that realm. The Horror Vacui, the ones who have taken control, are far from average and I honestly cannot guarantee using this method would be safe should one of them detect it looking in.”

She turned around, “And that is why I leave the choice up to you. Take as long as you need to come to a conclusion. But consider this, if I am telling the truth, and I am, can you really afford to be sitting about arguing with one another and acting like a group of children on the day that they arrive?”

She stepped back and leaned against a nearby counter-top all the while just watching them. Of course those claiming to be the leaders immediately began telling her no but she simply turned away from them and looked to the much larger mass of Brotherhood members that had gathered, “This is your choice. Not theirs. Are you going to leave your future in the hands of someone who just claims to be the leader because they were the first to develop the ego or the gumption to do so? I won't leave because they say so, I'll leave...or stay, at the bequest of the majority opinion.”

It was obvious she knew she had gained some ground here and didn't need to be polite to the two lead humans or treating them as if they really had any say in this. Of course Edrian was probably the only one old and experienced enough to note the shift, everyone else was likely focused on the proposal she was making.

[Knightmayre]

Shiroi looked out from behind Edrian, still not willing to stop hiding, despite Victoria's acceptance of her arrival. As Victoria went on, and revealed the reason for her being here, and what she wished to do, she turned on the members of the brotherhood and questioned if she had their approval. The humans she had been told to listen to were against this, but behind her she could tell that the feeling was not exactly agreed upon unanimously. Sighing and sitting on the floor, sticking her tounge through her lips and furrowing her brow, Shiroi began to think seriously, her face showing she was obviously focusing very hard on this, even though she had little idea what was going on.

Hmm, so Miss Victoria wants to show us where the hollows live, but why? That place is scary, why would anyone want to look there? Suddenly, a spark lit up her face as she reached to her side and pulled Yume from her resting place. Opening the book, Shiroi looked through the pages, which depicted different outcomes of what could happen (though none were likely to take place, they were dream versions of events, and everyone lived happily ever after no matter what choice was made). As she flipped through the pages, a faint voice spoke to her, loud enough for Edrian, but unlikely anyone else to hear.

"Shiroi? What are you searching for?"[/b] Shiroi suddenly stopped and flicked to a random page, upon which a small pixie-like woman flittered about. "Oh oh, hi Yume! I'm looking for what's best to do, Miss Victoria over there wants us to look at the hollows, but they don't want to, so I am looking for which is best!"[/b] Within the background of the page, an ominous black shade appeared and slowly floated towards Yume. After a brief conversation between the two, the shade dissapeared, and Yume looked once more to Shiroi. "Sorry Shiroi, but you know I can't tell the future, I just show dreams. This is a choice you are going to have to make on your own."[/b]

Shiroi sighed and pouted, flipping carelessly through Yume's pages and reading over the dream-scape possibilities of her actions. After a while she stood to her feet and tugged on Edrian's top until she got his attention. "What do you think is best Mister Ed? Yume is being mean and won't tell me, and now I don't know what to do..."[/b] Shiroi then looked up into Edrian's eyes with all the charm and purified cuteness that only a child could call to bear as her eyes begged him to decide for her.

[Zhiel]

OOC: Edrian: The king of over-thinking everything.

While Edrian had been preoccupied with Shiroi he had not noticed the package that Victoria had produced and so only truly took note of it after having addressed the so called leaders of the Brotherhood. Though not wary of it like many other present in the room and having noticed that the people who accompanied Victoria had presented no real reaction toward the object other than the young girl with blonde hair who kept on glaring at the two leaders, it was not that hard to hypothesise that it was not a threat to the Brotherhood. Edrian was still curious what it might be however. As Victoria unwrapped the object which seemed to have been very carefully prepared given the many layers surrounding it, she turned her attention to him and while smiling gave a response which in certain ways seemed to affirm his suspicions about her not being your average human.

However while her words said a lot, they also said little all at the same time for many might jump to the most obvious conclusion while hearing this but Edrian was not that kind of person, no he analysed a problem from all angles he could think of, then did it again until he was satisfied with the results. Before he could make a conclusion regarding Victoria he would need more information, and time to ponder what had already been mentioned and displayed. This form of thinking had led many to believe that Edrian was cowardly and always tried to stay outside any squabbles that occurred, but the truth could be far from such which was always clearly displayed when he did take quick action to prevent direct conflicts between the Brotherhood and some other spirit group, for one of the many important lessons Edrian had learned during his long life was to know when action was preferable to consideration. This was not one such time.

After finally producing the object she had been unwrapping for a while now Victoria held it up within clear view of Meian and the girl, but being as close as he was Edrian had no trouble seeing it clearly but no matter how he observed it from his moderate distance he could not discern anything remarkable about it. The 'bubble' in the centre was definitely important if it was an artifact or device, though there was many ways such an object could interact with either the user or the world around it given the shape itself. Of course there was also the possibility the bubble was merely the focus, where one channelled their reiatsu to activate it, and the locket itself was the 'device'. Though once again he had too little data to make a proper guess of what it might be, but he assumed Victoria would tell them shortly and so decided to put these thoughts on hold for the time being, he had a way to really over-think things at times.

She began immediately by explaining that the use of the object would be left to the Brotherhood to decide, and with the way she said it, suggested that it would be a majority vote rather than letting the two nay-sayer leaders decide. After all anyone with half a mind would know that they were far too stubborn to see reason when their position was challenged. Regardless, it did surprise Edrian with how sincere she was about the object, stating that while it should not pose a risk there was still that slim chance, something that showed she was willing to jeopardize her mission here for the sake of not putting them in danger they were unaware of. True it could merely be Edrian over-thinking it again but that was how he viewed it, she seemed far too intelligent to have blurted that out by mistake or without knowing how it could negatively affect the outcome.

But then she came to the main course, stating the device would open a portal to Hueco Mundo itself! Edrian was visibly taken aback by this, if there was ever a place he'd NEVER want to open a dimensional rift to, it was Hueco Mundo for there was no telling just what might appear. Of course his better judgement told him this was not all there was to this, and that Victoria was not finished but that did not stop other people from raising their voices without really thinking this through for a second... As she continued his interest was raised once more as she revealed that even powerful shinigami could not easily open a doorway to the Hollows realm, this knowledge combined with her somehow having acquired this object seemed to imply she had connections with either very powerful Shinigami or perhaps even within Hueco Mundo itself... She certainly knew a lot he had never heard of at least.

After having given her warning about the device, rather than wait for the leaders to make an official statement she instead turned to the gathered crowd as she affirmed his earlier suspicions that she was seeking approval from the majority and not the more or less self-imposed leaders and this was the only way this would work out peacefully for Victoria. After all, one could not reason with a person who closed their ears and refused to listen the moment something went against their own views or "reasoning". Though he might have used less offensive wording himself, he knew stronger words were sometimes necessary to make the point of the message all the more clear.

Though saying he was surprised would not be entirely correct, Edrian was relieved to see how the situation developed. Rather than blindly following their supposed leaders overly quick decision they were talking amongst each others, thinking for themselves. It was a good change and he could not help but notice that things seemed to lean in Victoria's favour, something he thought to be a good thing. He did not know her enough to make a proper judge of her character, but she did not set off any alarms for him other than not knowing just what she was, but her intentions seemed sincere. Having been too focused on observing the crowd before him Edrian had not paid attention to what went on by his feet and had so missed the conversation between Shiroi and Yume however when she tugged on his clothes he looked down to see Shiroi looking up at him, before he kneeled down to get on equal height with the girl. One might consider this action of his a bit unnecessary as he was only speaking to a "child", but it was just for this reason Edrian considered it important to be on the "same level" as the child though this was more opinion than fact.

Asking what she wanted, Shiroi essentially said she did not know what she wanted to do and that her own Doll did not wish to help her out. Being in the guise of a young child and personality to match this was perhaps not to strange, after all children often had increasingly vibrant imaginations than adults and were also very prone to believing in these imaginations. Having been shown the "story book" that was Shiroi's seal, it did not take a lot of thinking on Edrian's part to realize she may have believed it capable of telling the future or something along those lines. This was merely conjecture on Edrian's part however, his theories usually proved accurate to some degree. Though whatever was the reason behind the girls actions now, she still wanted an answer and so he decided to file this line of thinking away until a later time.

Though he had already went through all of this in his mind it had in actuality only passed a few seconds which might be seen as the time he needed to formulate a response to the actual question, though what he said was made up on the spot. "I am sorry Shiroi, but as I am not an official member of zis Brotherhood it would be wrong of me to impose my own opinion on you. However at ze same time I believe there are no wrong choice in this und you should simply go with zat which your heart desires." Though perhaps not the best way to deal with this situation he had found himself in Edrian chose to begin with a more realistic and political correct response, but end it with reinforcing Shiroi's confidence that whatever she chose, it wouldn't be the "wrong" option, for it was true that in this situation there were none. They could either refuse Victoria's proposal and if she had told the truth, most likely be wiped out before they had the chance to fight back. Or they could accept it and risk discovery by these more powerful entities, but gaining a potential advantage over them should it work as well as convincing everyone that what she had said was true. He could only hope she would take his response the way he had meant it, children were mysterious in how they reasoned and his own limited experience in this subject did not help his confidence. Edrian waited patiently for the girl's response however, thinking that if he turned away from her right away it might seem he did not care much for her, which was not true at all. Though admittedly the fact she was also Kuroi did make things slightly more complicated, but he had learned to deal with that (mostly) by now.

[GoldenKitten]

There was hardly a unanimous agreement amongst the group but eventually something of a consensus was made. The only ones voicing doubt were the supposed leaders or those that were clearly feeding off their position. So it was decided that the portal would be opened and what was inside viewed.

It was quite as Victoria had promised it, a look into the secretive world of Hueco Mundo. Even someone who had never seen it, which accounted for most of the humans, would know it was the place at but a glance. For even though it was supposed to be safe you could easily feel the energies on the other side including the massing Arrancar. Most fearsome of all was when she turned the looking glass upon the eight powerful beings known as the Horror Vacui who energy spilt out like a torrent. Of course this whole time she was adding commentary on them to reinforce the point

It was however only when she looked to Death that things went wrong, Death the apparent leader of the group and the one who had so throughly trounced Victoria back in Las Noches. At first it had seemed benign enough, certainly he was the strongest of them but aside from that it was like looking at any of the others. Then he had looked at them, at first she had assumed it was just chance but then it became increasingly obvious he was REALLY looking at them. She had brought the connection down as quickly as possible and stuffed the device back into spirit shadowing cloth hoping they had avoided disaster.

But that was when a portal had opened in front of them all and quite to her horror Death had stepped through, not even needing the connection to come right to them. He had chided her with taunts and yet offered praise at the same time. At one point one of the foolish human leaders had struck at him after being directly insulted, Victoria had stepped in the way and stopped Deaths return blow which was little more than a flick of his hand. She took it well enough but even so his extreme power was evident as even this was like taking a sucker punch, the human would have been ground to a fine paste. Yet despite what should have been a bad situation Death in fact seemed to be convincing the humans of Victorias point, even strengthening her bargaining position and yet he did so in a way that wasn't evident. Why he wanted her in power was as much a mystery to her as anyone else.

He had made a declaration, that they would fight in the coming days and he would be waiting for them. He didn't want to fight them there as they were unprepared and weak, he would give them a bit to get ready. Then he had left, left with more questions than answers but a very real threat on their doorstep.

Victoria was not immediately accepted but the potential threat she had shown was real. For this reason she quickly developed a following amongst the more long sighted humans but most were still keen to go on as they had before. Yet over the next few weeks her following continued to grow. It had started out with the leaders she had first met still in charge with her as an outsider, then one day the leadership realized they had to capitulate and accepted her as something of a leader herself, then two weeks later they themselves were acting like followers even if they didn't realize it. With so many falling under her those with a greater propensity for caving to peer pressure began to work with her as well.

It was perhaps more terrifying than any conquerer. For there was no great use of force, there were only calm words and smiles. In less time than could possibly be imagined Victoria was in control. They could only count themselves lucky that her purpose was exactly what she had claimed it was.

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Portal - END