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Post by Tanaka on May 25, 2009 11:29:33 GMT -4
Takeki was, unlike his opponent, far from bored, he was merely annoyed at the entire existence of the situation. There were several dozen things he would rather be doing than engaging in this trivial waste of time. Part of him wanted to simply take the hits, concede defeat and be done with it so as that he could return to things which actually mattered but he decided that would be an unnecessarily risky move. After all the orders, apparently, came from their acting leader and Takeki respected the chain of command with an obedience that bordered on the blind and though he would duck, twist and wriggle if he felt the orders to be suspect, ill conceived or contrary to his interests when push came to shove he would always obey the letter of his orders and such was the case here. Furthermore conceding defeat so easily would run the risk of damaging his long term prospects and those prospects must never be compromised or else his entire over arching plan would crumble around him so fight he would though he loathed every second of it. His short term plans however, seemed to be working, he had yet to even drawn his weapon and his opponent seemed to be frustrated and, as evidence would shortly show, he was pulling out more and more powerful manoeuvres whilst Takeki was still, essentially doing nothing and this helped his short term mitigation plan which essentially ran like this. Even if he lost the fight and was reprimanded or even punished for it he would be able to bring sufficient doubt into the equation by showing how he had been able to frustrate something with almost nothing, thus negating any future, internal political moves against him, or at least so he hoped.
Returning to the fight itself Takeki watched with a complete lack of surprise as his opponent moved to try and cut the whip. He wondered how long it would take the man to work that out, unfortunately for Shin Takeki had planned for this, both in the equipment he was carrying and in the series of moves leading up to this one precise moment in time. Takeki silently wondered if he had heard of the idea that a pen could beat a sabre and no, this is not another way of saying the pen is mightier than the sword. In this context a sabre refers to a single edged thrusting sword and though most zanpakutos, including the one before him, seemed to be of a more slashing design many of the same principles held since his opponent was wielding a single edged blade of roughly a foot’s length, which is considerably shorter than most sabres. People who really know what they are doing can defeat a sabre with a pen so, still trying to keep his weapons hidden Takeki decided to try and defeat a sabre with a staff. Shin may have been fast in that attack but Takeki was something of a swift mover himself and hanging around second division for as long as he did meant that reactions were, on the whole, going to be sharper than most and as such Takeki was able to react in time. As he saw it the attack was a simple high horizontal sweep, having to stretch above Shin’s head in order to reach the hope and moving, from Takeki’s perspective, left to right. Whilst all this was going on Takeki could also see, give the proximity of the partners, but not accurately hear lips moving and this generally meant some sort of kido was going to be thrown his way. Like before he imagined it would be some form of projectile attack especially at this close range where dodging would, normally, be close to impossible, shin seemed to be opting for the spiritual world equivalent of putting a shotgun against a man’s stomach and pulling the trigger.
Takeki’s response to all this was as follows, raising his staff up slightly and pushing it out he then span it in a counter clockwise across his body with one end pointing towards the sky. This resulted in the top end of the staff connecting with the sword bearing wrist well behind any guards created by the sword it self which had been placed in an exposed position. The effect of this would be to stop the blade ever reaching the rope and thus not cutting it. It was timed as such that the staff would have passed completely under the rope the moment before it came down in target, thus not effecting the rope’s course. This would result, barring any clever action by his opponent, in it sweeping down towards Shin’s head. However, due to Shin’s movement none of the little bulges would hit his head itself. Rather just pure rope would hit the man’s head and then the part of the whip which extended beyond that point would pivot down to snap along his opponents spine or back.
Whilst all this was going on the bottom end of the staff would rise up and connect with the wrist of the arm which was about to fire an as of yet unidentified kido. You could tell by the twist of his shoulder and the lean of his body Takeki was putting considerable effort into this with a fair amount of safety force considering the points he was hitting. This second contact would force the arm, and thus the shot, wide and to the side, after all the wrist is a vulnerable spot and the sudden sideways shock of force would be difficult to resist whilst a head on collision would have been easy to block or even power through. A split second after this Takeki surged forward with his entire body, leaning slightly to his left, Shin’s right so as to make absolutely sure that the kido would go wide. Takeki slammed bodily into his opponent, furiously half pushing half running forward with his legs in an effort to stall, stumble and force back his opponent. Also in an effort to stun, daze or distract Takeki smashed his forehead into Shin’s head in a savage head but the repercussions of which were slightly lessened for Takeki due to his mask add to this the last, but predictable addition of thrust, with an obscure command beneath that gas mask but delivered at exceedingly close range to the top of the chest and you end up with a man who’s attacks have been driven wide or stopped, who is most likely slightly dazed and being driven back into the oncoming whip, the function of which was still not completely clear but would swiftly become so provided Shin could not very quickly think of a way out of this.
((Sorry for what I have just realised was a month’s wait. I did not realise it had been that long but I, and I imagine many others have had pretty solid exams and essay hand ins as of late and I’m not done yet. But I realise I should have notified you. All I can say is sorry and tell you I just totally forgot amongst the chaos of more pressing concerns. But it seems it has not been the end of the world, this seems to have been the only thread involving me which has in any way advanced over the past month so I doubt I have been missed.))
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Post by Darkoda on May 26, 2009 3:41:23 GMT -4
If Takeki was relying on Shin’s show of additional power to help his case, he was sadly mistaken. There was a very simple safeguard to stop a minor issue like that actually; Shin was supposed to be testing Takeki’s combat capabilities. It was pretty much a given that if the examinee wasn’t showing anything conclusive, that the examiner would simply increase the pressure until he did. In the end, Takeki was the one who had to prove that he was deserving of his rank, and no matter what the circumstances, as a fourth seat, it would be utterly unacceptable to lose to a fifth seat shinigami who was using tactics barely past the level of a shinigami trainee at the academy – that was point number two actually; up to this point, Shin had yet to do anything that could be considered at a seated level. If he was to give a report on the battle as it stood, he could quite honestly state that Takeki hadn’t shown anything befitting a seated position period. As it was, his entire fighting style seemed heavily reliant on using gadgets, and his fighting capabilities suffered for it. On that note, Shin’s opinion of the potential threat Takeki posed in a serious battle was rapidly declining. Shin was wary of him due to his traps and his mind; if he lacked the foresight to predict something so simple, then he really was just a seated shinigami with gadgets, and anyone who had experience with members of Division twelve would be capable of dealing with issues like that very easily.
As far as the fight was progressing, Takeki seemed to not at all understand that his tactics wouldn’t hold against another seated officer. His response to Shin’s charge was to simply spin his staff to attempt to knock his hands out of the way. The problem with that was that it was fairly obvious what he was going to do the moment he stuck out the staff in the first place – granted, against an inexperienced or weaker foe it might have worked; there was nothing preventing them from noticing the spin and pulling their hands out of the way or even counterattacking if they had the speed. Takeki was underestimating the capabilities of his opponents if he thought that he could catch a seated shinigami with something like that short of having the speed and power to completely overwhelm them, and if Takeki though he could gather either of them even at full power, he had no idea of how slim the power gap was between lower ranks.
Since Takeki insisted on using simple tactics, Shin replied with a simple defence; no point exerting more effort than necessary. He simply shifted his body to the left; someone forgot that Shin was running. Letting his sword hand continue the now wide swing, he shifted its direction when it levelled with Takeki’s neck and swung it right at him. They may have agreed not to use lethal force, but Takeki did have options to block or dodge the swing if he actually exerted a 4th seat’s average level of capability. Of course provided that he didn’t Shin could stop himself before he beheaded the guy but his neck would still get slightly cut, and a would-be fatal blow would make it painfully clear that Takeki was incapable of beating Shin, which would look absolutely horrible on a report. Takeki really had no choice about avoiding the strike.
Even before the split second sword swing, Takeki had another threat to deal with. Shin’s left hand was now aimed directly at Takeki, and considering that he was in sword range, barring Takeki managing to show well beyond 4th seat speed, – and at this point Shin was highly doubtful that he could manage to gather a fifth seat's speed, for less get near a powerful 4th seat's – he should be incapable of dodging the Sokastui blast, and this time a thrust wouldn’t cut it since the kido was practically firing at this point, and under any event the time it would take for him to aim at Shin and mutter the incantation, he would be short one head if he didn’t pay attention to Shin’s other hand.
Shin was quite sure that he forced the hood into a corner at this point. If he focused on Shin’s left hand which came first, he would fall to Shin’s zanpakuto. If he dealt with the immediate threat to his life, he would get a stream of blue fire straight to the face. If he managed to deal with both problems without opening himself to even more attacks considering that Shin’s proximity opened the door to any number of Hakubo techniques while disabling the whip, he would be forced to actually show why he deserved his seated position. At this point getting the poison might not be worth the effort if this was all the hood was capable of when forced into a head on fight – he would just go concoct a broad spectrum antidote to poisons that invoke the symptoms that he already knew of, or annoy someone at Division twelve to go make one.
(( It’s alright, I had my exam and project period of hell already for this semester (of course that meant that it started earlier too >____>) so I understand being busy. And I’m sure that you weren’t forgotten....what was your name again? ;D ))
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Post by Tanaka on Jun 9, 2009 21:01:58 GMT -4
Shin was fortunate that Takeki could not read his mind and not just from a combat perspective. Takeki was of course aware that this entire event had been orchestrated by Shin to destroy Takeki, whether that be by gaining vital information so he could be killed latter or by defeating him here now, hoping to scupper promotion opportunities. This placed Shin in the list of dangerous and undependable people that had to be put down, one way or another, not just for his own good but the good of the entire soul society. Had Shin shown dogged loyalty to his superiors and merely directed his cunning elsewhere then Takeki would have thought much more highly of the boy but right now Shin was put down as a future traitor. But were Takeki able to read Shin’s mind he would of course see the contempt brewing in his opponents mind and the utter disregard of his abilities. Takeki prided himself on remaining mysterious about his true capabilities and methods but that was exactly how he liked to be thought of, mysterious yet capable not just downright bad. Had he been aware of Shin’s perceptions he may have become angry and agitated, thankfully this was not the case and Takeki was remaining quietly confident and pleased with himself. His opponent was, for now, being held off and Takeki had not even yet had to run. No wonder Shin had a low opinion of his opponent. The man had not given Takeki cause to display any real effort, especially since Takeki’s justified paranoia meant he was going to abnormal lengths to conceal his capabilities from this man.
But on to the fight itself. It seemed Shin’s strategy was to move slightly to the left, Takeki’s right. He had to admit this stumped him somewhat not because it was brilliant, unexpected or anything like that but because it did nothing to help Shin, at least nothing Takeki could see and although this caused a temporary concern that Shin had baited some form of trap it mattered little for two reasons. Firstly Takeki was confident he could weasel out of any trap, whether that belief be misplaced or not, and secondly he saw no conceivable way Shin could get out of what was about to happen, though of course Shin was under a similar impression about his foe. Shin’s repositioning brought his blade out wider and the kido closer to centre. This would still result in certainly the kido arm being hit by the rotating staff since he had taken no steps to actually avoid it and thus aim would still be thrown wide. This effect would be further amplified by the aforementioned usage of thrust which would fire at roughly the same time as his oponent’s kido due to the shorter activation time. This was an unnecessary measure, merely insurance, and slamming into his foe’s body, tucking in to the side of the arm, as Takeki was already in the process of doing. Meanwhile, Shin’s sword bearing arm would also have to come into contact with the staff in order to get close enough for the blade to reach Takeki’s neck, no matter how wide the swing, especially since the staff was just shy of six feet in length. Indeed a wide swing would make it easier for the staff to connect, ducking underneath the arc would have been more effective.
But none of this strictly mattered. Shin had been coming directly at Takeki for several crucial moments now and despite the course adjustments part of him had always been central to Takeki, how else could the Kido have been aimed where it was whilst the sword also posed a threat? This meant the whip would now land on target before Shin’s sword or kido would damage Takeki, barring of course some strange action Takeki would not even credit many of his superiors capable of. The rope itself would only create a stinging pain, nothing to a man like Shin, nothing to most Shinigami, but it was the small bulges that would prove to be the interesting parts. At least one of these would hit him, either at the initial point of contact or as the whip would pivot and curl along his back. If Shin was paying attention he would have noticed the whip never hit anything before not even the ground and it had been kept moving so the bulges could never be properly seen. As soon as one of these bulges hit Shin a sharp explosion would promptly ensue. This would most certainly hurt, unless Shin had an unusually high pain threshold. Clothes would be burnt, flesh torn and lightly roasted and he would feel shards rip deeper into him. These shards were mere splinters but that would be difficult to tell in the heat of the moment, what was important was Shin had been hit. The explosion alone would stagger pace, break concentration and throw aim, at least it would with most people and add to this the impact of Takeki from the front and you had a disorientating and painful combination. The whip had been comprised of the ropes Takeki had prepared earlier, in secret, in his chambers of which Shin would have had no knowledge, it had never been deployed before.
After the impact Takeki would rapidly break away taking a great leap backwards and off to his right with a turn of speed not yet displayed. Letting the whip gently fall to the ground, since the momentum had been taken out of it by the impact, he shifted his grip on his staff and indeed his whole pose became more like a man standing normally. His body language showed that the violent part of proceedings were very much over and he had no interest in fighting further. After several moments of cautious, still silence Takeki moved his left hand back and forth in such a manner as the whip gently wrapped around it before tucking the rope back into its original container. Whilst doing this Takeki spoke in his usual, slow, quiet almost broken tones with that almost sinister constant exhale subtly running every syllable and word together. “Well Mr Darkoda. It would seem this little circus has come to a close. Do not try to fight on, further resistance is quite pointless.” At this point there was another parody of a chuckle which could be most accurately described as something less than a combined amused and derisive snort which somehow came out as more of a hiss. “Were my weapons prepared for lethal combat debilitating venom would currently be coursing through your body swiftly rendering you defenceless and at my mercy, a venom not known to anyone but myself. I feel this puts an end to this performance. The entire justification here was to simulate a battlefield scenario and were such a scenario to unfold in the same manner as has occurred here my victory would be guaranteed.” It was clear no matter what Shin’s objections Takeki was leaving now, in his mind the battle was won and provably so.
But Takeki was not quite done yet. “Mr Darkoda.” He then left an unusually long pause which served more to arrest attention than anything else. “I admire minds Mr Darkoda, or at least those minds worthy of admiration. I prize them far above mere power or strength. I have yet to evaluate your mind fully but you have proven quite capable at twisting the sentiments of those above us and forcing me into conflict and combat, something I try to avoid even when confronting the enemy. I applaud the proficiency of your efforts but not your goal.” There was a pause for a few moments before he continued, now walking towards the forest rather than back the way they had came, not making a sound on the soft surface. “Save your ruthlessness and guile for the enemy. You need not share your secrets with us. After all, what if one of our number were to become traitorous? But never try to dishonestly sabotage or damage a superior, and might I remind you I am your superior. In order for this organization to function, Mr Darkoda, strict and honest adherence to your superiors is essential. The only exception to this is if your superior is working against the Gotei 13, by accident or design and there is no other way of countering the activity other than direct disobedience. If you feel the need to rise in ranks, as many of us do, do so by hard work, long service, honest endeavour Mr Darkoda. If you wish to replace a superior, believing them inadequate, do so in the open. Use official appeals process, full enquiries and proper formal petitioning. This cloak and dagger business will not do Mr Darkoda, not within our own ranks. Imagine what would happen if you were to succeed Mr Darkoda. Word of your misdeeds would get out one way or another and though nothing may ever be proved most people do not need proof. People would follow your example, pay only lip service to their superiors whilst all the while plotting against them, all scrambling up the ever more squalled and bloody ladder of success. Our once noble institution griped by intrigue and a thousand miniature civil wars. Captains and officers more worried about the knives at their back than the swords held by our enemies. We would collapse Mr Darkoda and hollow kind and all their variants and perversions would spread across every element of spiritual existence. Actions such as your own will be the death of us Mr Darkoda.” All humour, as faint as it had been, had now been long since striped from his voice. His words had taken on a cold, even chilling edge. When Takeki said his last words as he melted into the trees, vanishing yet leaving an odd, ghostly echo of his voice in the air. “There is hope for you yet Mr Darkoda, you can yet turn your talents against our enemy alone. Do so and great things will happen, I will see to that. Fail in this task, well as we all know rot must be removed before it consumes the whole plant.” With that he was gone, provided of course Shin did not stop him by words or actions.
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Post by Darkoda on Jun 11, 2009 22:39:53 GMT -4
So the bulges were bombs, interesting. We need to talk after this is over with by the way.
Shin mentally rolled his eyes at Kumori’s blunt statement. It was a given that the whip would most likely hit him considering that he never really moved out of the way, but he really didn’t expect it to blow up on him. It was, in hindsight, an efficient means of making sure that Takeki poisoned his opponent though, but that was beside the point, the rope had possibly just given him what he was after from the beginning, he would need to check the back of his haori to be sure.
Obviously, the explosion did throw off his aim a bit, well his sword aim anyway since the whip landed on his right shoulder, but his left hand was still free to move, and move it he did. There was a reason for him to bring his hand closer to the centre; the staff could hit him anyway Takeki wished, at the centre his aim would still be for a part of his body. The explosion really didn’t help matters though, since by pushing his right shoulder forward, Takeki pushed the left back, and from there it was a simple matter of pulling his wrist back to keep it out of Takeki’s range. Even if Takeki tried to adjust his staff’s swing, which would require speed and dexterity that Shin did not believe the man capable of, there was the issue of his sword hand. The staff would stop his right hand, but that would then invoke another problem for Takeki; his staff would be effectively immobilised in order to push back the force of his sword swing.
In the end though, none of this mattered because of the previously stated explosion of the whip. The blast didn’t particularly bother Shin due to a combination of his incredible pain tolerance and another item, but it did distract him long enough that when Takeki charged into him and jumped away, actually showing some real speed, Shin couldn’t readjust his aim in time, especially with having to twist his body, using his sword hand to flip over and keep himself from falling. His kido shot fired off harmlessly, and really Shin’s attention was more on the state of his haori considering that Takeki had considered the fight over. Close examination of said haori would show that it was in fairly good condition considering that it just got blown up, far too good for a standard shinigami uniform, which would bring things to the second reason that the explosion had a minimal effect on Shin.
His true intention was to get a sample of poison, but to do this required something to store the poison in, that would not attract attention. In the end, Shin came up with using a special fabric, made from a combination of materials that would act to absorb and capture any poison that was rubbed on it. Of course, this was no simple task for a multitude of reasons. The fabric needed to be meticulously tested to be capable of absorbing any type of poison, no matter the composition. It also needed to be thick and durable enough to both hold a decent quantity of poison, and to resist damage considering the means that poisons are administered, while remaining easy enough to conceal within the standard shinigami uniform that it wouldn’t draw attention, especially considering that it would be under the scrutiny of the most paranoid person in the entire division. Of course, in the end the trouble he went through payed off in spades; the material was capable of withstanding the force of the explosion – granted, said explosion wasn’t overly destructive, but it was a good sign nonetheless – and caught the shards that were hidden within the bombs, keeping them away from his skin and absorbing any possible poison that the shards contained. In the end, all Takeki’s bombs accomplished were to damage his uniform.
Running his hand gently over the area of impact, Shin grasped one of the shards and brought it to his eyes, noticing the thin layer coating part of the splinter. So he did get what he came for after all, without having to put in too much work for it. Granted, he didn’t have much idea of Takeki’s fighting skill, but then Shin hadn’t done anything worthy of any real recognition either so it was a fair trade in the end.
“Well Mr Darkoda. It would seem this little circus has come to a close. Do not try to fight on, further resistance is quite pointless.”
Now what was the hood up to? Shin lost interest in the battle the moment he got what he wanted, in that case there really was little point in continuing. And was he hissing?
“Were my weapons prepared for lethal combat debilitating venom would currently be coursing through your body swiftly rendering you defenceless and at my mercy, a venom not known to anyone but myself. I feel this puts an end to this performance. The entire justification here was to simulate a battlefield scenario and were such a scenario to unfold in the same manner as has occurred here my victory would be guaranteed.”
Shin didn’t bother to point out that if this was a real battle, Takeki would be quite dead long ago since Shin would have simply burnt the whip, and Takeki to a crisp instead of wasting time trying to get information from him. It was best that he didn’t realise that his venom laced splinters never actually pierced Shin either. He would admit that if the shards were metal, they probably would have pierced him, but then he couldn’t very well use that if he expected Shin to follow his no lethal force rule. The problem was that Takeki was neglecting to factor in that in general, training fights aren’t the best sources for information when neither side is willing to fight with any skill. You can never be sure that if one’s life was on the line, that their full power was much greater than you gave them credit for. Shin himself was a clear example of this; at full power, Takeki wouldn’t be capable of keeping up with him in any form, and in a real fight Shin would not give Takeki the luxury of his gadgets, but again, he wasn’t going to correct the hood.
Shin was a bit annoyed at this point though; the hood did just say that he wasn’t using his real poison. He was aware of the possibility, but it was still irritating. It meant that he gained far less from this battle than originally planned, and it never was a pleasant feeling for your carefully crafted plans to fall through so easily. Was the hood done? Nope, apparently he was in full lecture mode, and intended to bore Shin to death.
“Mr Darkoda.” Cue overly long pause.
“I admire minds Mr Darkoda, or at least those minds worthy of admiration. I prize them far above mere power or strength. I have yet to evaluate your mind fully but you have proven quite capable at twisting the sentiments of those above us and forcing me into conflict and combat, something I try to avoid even when confronting the enemy. I applaud the proficiency of your efforts but not your goal.”
Oh? So you think you know what my goal was? This I need to hear.
After said lecture of what was supposed to be taken as a warning, or holy advice, Shin simply watched Takeki fade into the trees, quite annoyed by his entirely inaccurate reasoning of his motives. Honestly, he had better things to do with his time than think up elaborate plots for the sole purpose of taking a position, and Takeki was in no position to accuse him of anything.
“You talk about my ruthlessness, but you should examine your own image first. You sneak about, no one fully knows what you’re up to, you liberally use poisons and ambushes to attack people, and you are fully willing to resort to quite illegal methods to get your way. I think supposed ‘sabotage’ is a bit nicer than poisoning your comrades and killing them.” Shin’s voice had run ice-cold by this point; he was definitely not in a good mood.
“The point of this was observation and information gathering, the same tactics you would have no issues with using on someone below you. The difference is that my ends aren’t so clouded in suspicion as yours. Out of every single person in this Division, if there were rumours of a traitor, who do you think would be the first suspected? Your fanatical adherence to the chain of command actually makes you even more suspicious; it’s far easier to pull a coup d’état when you are trusted. My respect requires a lot more than a simple position; if I distrust you, I am going to take steps that in the event that you truly are a threat; it would be all the easier to stop you, far more efficient than waiting until you actually do something traitorous. Actually, considering that zanpakuto you stole, you’ve already done more than enough to warrant disciplinary action, so even by your own reasoning I have just cause to consider reporting you, I simply desire more concrete evidence before actually making a serious move.”
Having had enough of this – Hannibal lectures were not Shin’s style, he put an end to his speech.
“I am not going to adhere to a superior that I cannot trust. I also currently have no desire to take your position; if I did, I would simply use the far simpler method of challenging you for it and defeating you in combat. I think that it isn’t my actions that would cause the most damage to Soul Society, Takeki.”
Well that was enough of that. Shin wasn’t going anywhere until Takeki vanished though, so he stood there, waiting for the hood to either walk off or respond.
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Post by Tanaka on Jun 12, 2009 22:27:46 GMT -4
Takeki was a calm man but he was not without his temper, he merely kept it in check most of the time. There were several types of people Takeki would like nothing more than to see ground into the dust and one of those types would be people who assumed an unjustified air of superiority and arrogance. Once again we turn to a hypothetical scenario but were Takeki able to peer into Shin’s mind he would react most violently to the idea that his underling who had just been defeated still held this air of total confidence that, were this a real fight, Takeki would be destroyed in mere moments with no chance of resistance. Did it not occur to his underling that Takeki outranked him for a good reason? Did it also not occur to this man that Takeki, as much as Shin, could be hiding a few aces up his sleeve? Despite what the truth of the matter may be Takeki would have ground the man standing before him into the dust had he known of the man’s true beliefs. He would not have killed him, nor would he have physically harmed him, he would merely destroy his career. Indeed, this little engagement would have helped him no end in that regard. Promotions denied, responsibilities slowly taken and eventually a full blown transfer. Somewhere out of the way, somewhere where the man could do no harm. Preferably to a well supplied and staffed future line division where he would cease to stand out and be lost in the crowd. True, although Takeki did not have the power to do this on his own, yet, his word was not without some influence especially when reporting on his immediate junior. Then in time, as he climbed the ladder, as he fervently believed he would, he must, he would be in a position to deal with this menace once and for all with a simple pen stroke. But not only may these events never come to pass Takeki was still unable to peer into Shin’s mind, better perhaps for all of them.
Since Shin had not gone to the length of obscuring his face and seemed to go to no effort to control himself the man’s annoyance at finding the venom he so desired to be absent would be evident on his face. Prompting Takeki to give a small, far more secretive smile of his own. He had been right in suspecting that it was one of the many possible reasons for this engagement and he was satisfied at the prudent measures he had taken. It might serve to teach Shin a lesson, then again it might aggravate the man more. Well, he would soon see. He had thought himself almost done and had migrated towards the trees when Shin got up the nerve to talk back. Takeki had sometimes lamented the lack of rigidity and order in this place and now he was being point blank argued with. Him, a superior officer was being questioned by his junior, even more annoyingly Takeki had no real way of punishing such a minor infringement of discipline. It had long since collapsed and now only the most serious offences of disobedience warranted the attention of the courts or those with similar powers and the culture which had evolved along with the collapse of discipline prevented Takeki from reprimanding the boy on the spot. So instead he was forced to do one of two things, either walk away or give a reasoned response to the man in an attempt to make him see things Takeki’s way. Reasoning that there was still hope for the boy Takeki decided to take the latter course and attempt to reason with the man. Stopping at the edge of the trees he turned to face Shin, some considerable distance still between them.
“Yes, Mr Darkoda. I am ruthless. But I am only so towards my enemies. Towards the hollow and all his twisted perversions and to those others that would do us harm. I use poison because it is often an efficient and safe means by which to dispatch your enemy. You can kill a man without ever having to look at him by poisoning hiss food or drink and so on. I do not need to lecture you on the uses of venom I am sure you are proficient. I do not believe that using underhanded means to destroy our enemies should make me less trust worthy amongst those who are supposed to be my allies. The same logic applies to the ambush. I use stealth in the field to ensure I survive and I use stealth here for three main reasons. Firstly, regrettably, old habits die hard and they are older than you think. Secondly this place is one of constant evaluation, our superiors are liable to spring impromptu tests on us at any moment. Thirdly there are people even here who wish to do me harm. Whether they be spectres from my past, enemies who have somehow broken our defences or those who are supposed to be my allies trying to drive a dagger in my back. I have seen it done and your actions today have done nothing to settle my nerves or reassure me that I am amongst friends. May I also say that since joining the service I have never broken a single one of our laws. Everything I have ever done or suggested has been legal. True sometimes the use of emergency or extraordinary powers may be involved and often what I do may be considered immoral by the weak willed. But I defy you to prove a shred of illegality in my actions since enrolment. As for the deaths of some of my colleagues no link to me exists. I have never killed a fellow shinigami.”
He then proceeded to listen to Shin continue to rattle of these wild and ill founded accusations that made Takeki a little sad on the inside, but not for his own sake but more for Shin’s. Here was a man who showed promise not just shooting himself in the foot but rather shooting himself in the head. At least from Takeki’s perspective. He almost shook his head when Shin went on to say Takeki would use the same tactics as Shin used just now on those bellow him. Even considering shaking the head was strong criticism from this man. This man seemed incapable of understanding the privileges rank gave a man and that once you joined the service you had to abandon the idea that all men were equal and entitled to the same treatment. He would have gone on to think about this more and even vocalise such thoughts but Shin was not done committing suicide. He went on to accuse his superior of being the most likely traitor in the division. Not only did this deeply personally offend Takeki who had deeply held convictions on the matter of loyalty but it also showed Shin to be mind numbingly stupid. Not only had he clearly done no research whatsoever into Takeki’s past activities as well as showing a fundamental misunderstanding of the loyalty dynamic in this nest of vipers but even more stupidly he had barebreastedly told a superior that he believed him to be a potential traitor and was compiling an arsenal of information to use against him. Even if it were true that Takeki were a traitor or were it even true that the suspicions were reasonable you should never tell anyone you suspect them until you are ready to destroy them, a position Shin was not in. He even went so far as to say he planned to use the zanpakuto in Takeki’s room as part of his case. This was becoming to much and whilst Takeki had been watching this man tear himself to shreds he felt compelled to intervene at this point, if only to defend himself.
“That blade was acquired legally. Though there are many faults with this organisation of ours the ruthless, totalitarian nature of justice in favour of the military is one element of our society I quite enjoy. Add to this the complete disregard of those who pose only a burden on our society and you have all the necessary social trends for me to legally acquire the blade. There are four main ways to legally acquire a zanpakuto for experimentation. The first is to take it from a fallen or defeated foe who is also an enemy of the Seireitei. The second is to have on synthetically created. These are rare and highly unstable, not suitable for combat use and to be frank I dislike using them in experimentation. The third is to use the blade of a prisoner. Upon entering prison possessions and power of that nature are stripped and handed to the state. All you then need to do is petition the relevant authority to get a hold of them and the fourth route is very similar to the third. Except this time it involves inmates of the maggots nest or other mental institute. I used the fourth route to get a hold of the blade I am currently using and I have the paper work to prove it. So please Mr Darkoda, think before making these wild allegations.” Takeki then fell back into silence as he watched Shin make one last effort to destroy his own career by openly stating that he would not obey a superior he could not trust and apparently Takeki fell within that category. That statement in itself was treasonous. This display was bordering on the grotesque now, it was like watching a particularly nasty car crash and being forced to look on as the mangled body was drawn out by the fire crew. But the most bizarre thing of all was not that Takeki just walked away and left this man to his fate, or even judging him a threat and traitor speed it along. Rather all this man felt at the moment was pity. Why? Who knew? Perhaps it was because he saw something of himself in this boy, perhaps it was because he admired a section of his mind or respected his potential. Indeed the reason could have been so impersonal as to believe this man may actually be a half way decent asset to the Seireitei and did not want to see the organisation deprived of this man. Whatever the reason he genuinely wanted to help this lad and tear him away from this path towards self destruction. Drawing somewhat closer to Shin now he stopped a mere six meters away. Bending forward slightly he reached up into his face with one hand and started going about some awkward twists and yanks, all designed to remove his gas mask but to still keep his face thoroughly obscured. Eventually the awkward process was complete and he tucked the device away in the relevant pouch on his belt. He then proceeded to talk in his almost painfully slow tones with the strange constant exhale of an undercurrent. But now something was different in his tone, almost undetectable beneath his semi permanent sinister manner but there was something of a level, man to man nature about him now, or perhaps more the tone of a concerned parent or friend watching their loved one make a horrible mistake and trying to stop it.
“Mr Darkoda. What you just said and the accusations you just made could not only deny you realistic opportunities of promotion and destroy your career but also bring about criminal charges of insubordination and treasonous intent and even if found innocent of all charges it would still constitute a stain on your career. Do not think the days of dueling for promotions will last forever either. I for one intend to destroy that avenue to advancement and make true and proper promotion boards the only way to promotion, like the living world armies do today. I believe it to be a sound system and I am not alone in advocating that change, but that is for now unimportant. What is important is I just saw you shoot down your own career. Do you think any commander would have you if you only obeyed them based on your whim and openly admitted to planning against them no matter what the truth of the matter? We can go over the how of all this latter if I think it will be useful. What matters is this. You are intelligent, you are gifted, you have got talent. You remind me of me.” There then followed one of those strange, humorless laughs which was more of a half snort half hiss, the point was he was trying to create some levity, trying to break the animosity which was evident between the two. He then carried on in his previous tones. “In truth though, you do remind me of myself. Plotting for everyone around you to turn traitorous, a devious mind which employs hidden or sinister methods, often marks of our trade. But you are good. There is potential in there Mr Darkoda and I would hate to see it wasted. Whether that be because you destroy yourself or you cause other people to destroy you. I’m sure we can fix this problem in time but in order to do that, and to fix more pressing problems we need, not necessarily to be friends, but at least have a decent working relationship. I’m not exactly sure what would gain your respect and trust, I would have thought a combination of my work, performance, rank and the fact I have not put you on a charge sheet would be enough but clearly not. I said I would give you a chance and I will. Give me some time. I’ll root through the paper work, scout reports and so on. I will find a job that is both within our authority and capability. You are going on mission Mr Darkoda and I’m coming with you. That is an official order. What do you say to that Mr Darkoda?”
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Post by Darkoda on Jul 21, 2009 12:55:41 GMT -4
Shin listened to the hood’s long list of defences to his actions. While Shin never accused him of actually killing anyone, the explanation of the zanpakuto was somewhat nice, although still creepy. So he just took the blade from one of those inmates at the Maggot’s Nest. Why in the world would they actually let someone walk away with a random zanpakuto? Really, sometimes he questioned the logic of the laws within Soul Society.
Anyway, Takeki had an unusual action to the rest of Shin’s statement.
Idiotic rant
What are you on about now?
He could feel the glare that Kumori was giving him, and had to resist the urge to wince. She was pissed off now, and it looked like she was going to use the century it would take for the hood to remove his mask to have that talk of hers.
Okay, let’s start from the beginning. I’ve yet to actually see any purpose in this entire expedition besides you being overly paranoid about Takeki for some reason. You said that you simply wanted a sample of his poison, and you kept repeating that to stop me from digging in your mind. I’m going to go ahead and assume that was a lie as you couldn’t be stupid enough to actually believe that. It’s not as if you need to care about getting poisoned; everything in Seireitei is made of spirit particles. Just release me and you have an instant poison purge. I’ve done it enough times for you to know that by now.
Oh dear, this was going to a long ‘talk’.
The distinct feel of claws running down his skull got him to pay attention again. He was going to have to do some research on that at some point; it couldn’t be normal for a zanpakuto spirit to be able to do that.
So, why do you care so much about one guy? As far as creepiness goes, while he is a weird guy, he’s got nothing on Division 9, so I’m not accepting that reason either. I’m leaning more toward you being concerned about what you have no information about. You worry about him because you cannot predict his actions in any way like everyone else here. That makes him far more dangerous in your eyes, and brings up some more issues you have that will take far too long to go into again.
Another rant on Shin’s mental supposed mental issues.
Then there was the fight itself. Honestly, I can understand reluctance to fight properly; both of you idiots were playing secret-keeper instead of having a real fight. I don’t want to understand just what the point of that was. But you then go and let the guy who plays with poisons and bombs hit you with some freak rope. How stupid can you get! If he chose to put something more deadly than wooden splinters and light explosives he could have blown up your arm! Then you go ranting about a bunch of nonsense like some spoiled child who can’t handle a loss.
At this point Shin’s eyebrow started twitching again. Taking note of Takeki’s progress, this was somewhere near the beginning of his rant. Something about the ramifications of his accusations. Great, he was getting a two-pronged lecture from hell. The only reason that Kumori wasn’t drowning him out was because she was implanting his words into his mind. Why she couldn’t do that for things that he actually wanted to listen to, he didn’t know.
Another rake across his mind got his attention back.
Stop daydreaming already! You would think that the two of us telling you basically the same thing would sink into your thick skull. You asked me to stop treating you like a child, then act like an adult! I know I have slight egomania – your fault, but you take it to unbelievable levels. You idiot you could have gotten yourself killed!
That last comment actually registered to Shin without Kumori’s tampering. It was faint, but she was...worried? Since when did she worry about anything?
You idiot, of course I worry, I worry about you. How do you think I would feel if you got yourself killed? Contrary to popular belief, your actions don’t only affect you.
.......Great, he actually felt guilty now. He was sure that he wouldn’t like it, but....for the sake of keeping Kumori happy, he would at least attempt to follow her advice for once.
“..........Sorry......”
It sounded painfully wrong, like it hurt his very soul to mention it, even though he made sure to say it as quietly as he could; he did not like that word but the sheer pain in saying it would convince anyone that he meant it, not that Kumori would need it; she could easily tell that he wasn’t lying. He was personally on a crusade to erase the emotion. Leave it to Kumori to remind him that he actually could regret his actions.
It’s going to take more than that to get back on my good side. I suppose apologizing to Takeki is a start.
Like hell I’m apologising to hi – wait, when I said that cursed word, did I say that out loud?
Yep, he did, about twenty seconds after Takeki finished with his rant; now it looked like he thought over his words and felt shame at his actions. Well he regretted – man he hated that word – the parts that angered Kumori, which was everything....... damn, now he had to kill Takeki. There was no way he was letting it get around that he apologized.
Hoping that the hood didn’t hear him, he muttered his assent to Takeki’s suggestion. Maybe the shock of him agreeing to his order without a struggle would make him forget.
And maybe I will become Sotaicho tomorrow too.
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Post by Tanaka on Jul 24, 2009 11:58:20 GMT -4
Takeki could tell Shin was distracted by something, though the boy managed to suppress his winces and other little signs of agitation and lack of concentration something about the man’s manner gave it away. Oh how he longed to see within people’s minds. He had flirted with that idea before now, finding a way of casually looking into other peoples innermost thoughts. But he had long ago reached the conclusion that the practice was either impossible or extraordinarily impractical and thus not worth further investigation. A shame though as he would have found Kumori’s contribution fascinating. Indeed the degree of her contribution alone was worthy of note. Takeki kept Dokueki under strict control and quiet. Especially when other people were around or the situation called for calm, unadulterated thought. Another voice just spread doubt and confusion and Dokueki only spoke when Takeki deemed it to be appropriate. But all of this was a moot point, he trusted Shin to be paying enough attention to know what was going on and so did nothing aside from continue his speech. When it was all over Shin’s apology did not go unnoticed. Takeki had spent to long hunting man and animal alike not to notice words, even said quietly, coming from so close. But he did not rub it in or obviously commented on it. All he did was make a small noise from deep within his hood, that strange half hiss half snort that seemed to be linked to some form of subdued humour, but who knew with this man. But Shin did not need to worry about word of his apology spreading. Takeki was not much of a talker and certainly not a gossip, he would only spread the information if it served him some good purpose and for the moment it did not. He was smart enough to know Shin would not take kindly to the dissemination of the information and he wanted Shin happy with him, for now.
As for the agreement to go along with Takeki’s plans that was not surprising in the least. If anything it was expected. He knew Shin had a brain and to turn down this order would have been remarkably stupid, Shin would have found himself on a charge sheet faster than he could blink. Still disagreeing would hardly have been surprising either, he knew Shin to be something of a hot head, the past few minutes had proven that much. As such idiotic defiance was in character, but Takeki was glad the boy had managed to overcome his instincts and urges this time. Reaching down now into one of his many belt pouches Takeki slowly drew out an old, severely battered and worn, note book. Flipping through the pages until he found a blank sheet. Shin would be able to see some of Takeki’s writing hanging upside down in front of him. It seemed to be a strange mix of illegible scrawl, unique abbreviations and code that would require Takeki’s own translation. Attached to this note book by a raggedy piece of string was a small stub of a pencil, blunted and dulled by excessive use. Ceasing the pencil in one hand Takeki made a brief note, hidden from Shin’s view before suddenly stopping and then tapping the pencil on the paper three times as if in thought. A few moments later he spoke.
“An idea strikes me Mr Darkoda.” He said in his slow, arrhythmic tones. “Recent developments have left us weak and most certainly vulnerable. We have assumed that our opponents are in a similar situation, but that is an assumption we cannot afford to make. The hollow is far better able to sustain casualties than us as well as replace lost troops. However, general organisation of construction, infrastructure and industry is inept. Or at least historically it has been. I have never once seen any form of quarry, mine or forestry under hollow control. I have never heard tale of skilled craftsmen. Indeed I have little idea how Las Noches was ever built. Construction on such a scale is well beyond them. I would not be surprised if we had constructed it long ago but been forced to abandon it. It is, after all in a hideous place to supply with the various essentials we need.” Realising we was starting to wander off point somewhat he took a moment or two of silence to get his mind back on track before taking a slow, almost unsettling breath and continuing. “My point is Mr Darkoda, that we have no real picture of the hollow’s current military capacity or state of readiness, especially since these new figures of authority have emerged. Furthermore we have enemies elsewhere. Enemies we know have been untouched by recent events. The living world is full of opportunistic degenerates. The spiritually sensitive human is often more concerned with family and friends than war, even when their minds do turn to martial affairs they can just as easily be arrayed against us as the hollow. Those that are not motivated by personal ties are often motivated by petty short term interests or fickle emotion, they cannot be trusted as well as all emanations of the brotherhood or other element of humanity and its kin.” Despite these words he seemed as unsettling calm and still as ever, like a sea without waves, such a sea cannot be relied on to stay that way. But what made his calm even more disturbing was just what he was saying. It was clear he did not trust the living no matter who they were affiliated with. Truth be told he would more readily trust a hollow than a human because at least most hollows were honest about what they were. Humans on the other hand lied all the time about who they were loyal to and what they were doing, worst of all they lied to themselves making them completely untrustworthy. Or at least so Takeki thought.
He went on to say. “As well as being untrustworthy they are better placed than us. They are highly decentralised, inadequately monitored, we have no real idea how many spiritually sensitive humans there are or how powerful they are. If you kill one leader three more will rear their ugly heads. Humanity is a beast that needs to be controlled.” Taking a pause slightly longer than most he seemed to be allowing Shin to absorb the information before continuing. “The taint of the vizard cannot be ignored either and though our almost monolithic power is enough to keep them suppressed most of the time the broken and sick shell we are is readily subject to their attack. Furthermore the bount, if they yet live, have more than enough cause to do us harm. And with all these enemies arrayed against us we know almost nothing. We are blind.”
Moving closer towards Shin now Takeki flipped over another page in his note book and started writing more carefully than before. It was impossible to tell just where he was looking, at Shin or the paper, his hood kept his gaze thoroughly concealed but he continued to talk to Shin just as before, his strange semi permanent exhale making his entire discourse seem like one huge run on sentence. “We are blind Mr Darkoda and, since no one seems to be taking action, I believe the responsibility falls to us to open the eyes of our organisation.” Tearing off the piece of paper and ensuring there was no writing on the flip side he then handed the item to Shin. “Here Mr Darkoda is a guide line list of non standard equipment you will need. Feel free to alter the list as you see fit, any custom inventions will be welcomed.” On the list were the following items written in simple but clear script on almost dirty yellow paper. ‘High powered binoculars, desert and woodland camouflage equipment most likely netting, seven days worth of rations, long range camera, note taking equipment, audio surveillance equipment if possible, four long life battery packs each lasting several weeks if possible, several hundred meters of insulated copper wiring suitable for use with electronics stored in coil form, four long range all whether camera recorders capable of broadcasting a live feed.’
After handing the list over and giving Shin time to digest it Takeki continued. “It is not strictly necessary that you be able to carry all the equipment at once, we can leave some of it at a designated location and collect it as necessary but we must have access to it or equivalent. I will be providing similar equipment. We will find several surveillance points around bases of our enemies or around concentrations of enemy action. Gauge the scenario with our own eyes and set up the recording devices with their battery packs stored a long way away so as that they can be replaced readily, linked to the devices by the wire. I do not intend to go inside anywhere, merely observe from a distance. We do not want to repeat recent events.” There then followed another long pause as if he were struggling with something, choosing the right word perhaps or even awaiting a response, but he then abruptly continued. “I am not going to pretend that these actions will provide a complete picture of our enemy’s actions but they should give as an idea of what is going on. Go now Mr Darkoda and obtain the equipment. I will file the official forms for permission to travel.”
He then paused and gave a slow, seemingly regretful, hissing intake of breath. There was a slight hint of a shaking head deep beneath his hood before he said. “Regretfully travelling to Hueco Mundo may be impossible in the near future. They may not want to risk us , plus travel there has become less readily available. But the living world still poses a great threat, one we must monitor. We will start there.”
His tone then seemed to shift up a notch, difficult to tell with his soft, quiet and oddly hissing tone but such a way of speech made small changes easier to notice and whilst most people would not call the shift in tone a move towards the slightly more upbeat this was as close as Takeki was likely to get.“ We will meet here again tomorrow. At Dawn” With that he seemed done, he made a few private notes once more in his note book before tidying it away neatly, grasping his staff and heading into the trees. Pausing for just a moment to say “Good day Mr Darkoda” Then vanishing from view amongst the foliage.
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Post by Darkoda on Aug 3, 2009 9:39:59 GMT -4
Shin heard Takeki’s grunt/snort thing, showing that he did hear his slip. Well that was expected really. Now the question was if Takeki would keep silent or end up in a very unpleasant situation soon. Right now he was busy scribbling down something coded on that notepad of his – how many pencils did the guy go through every day? Ten? Shin just waited until he was done with his plotting. “An idea strikes me Mr Darkoda. Recent developments have left us weak and most certainly vulnerable. We have assumed that our opponents are in a similar situation, but that is an assumption we cannot afford to make. The hollow is far better able to sustain casualties than us as well as replace lost troops. However, general organisation of construction, infrastructure and industry is inept. Or at least historically it has been. I have never once seen any form of quarry, mine or forestry under hollow control. I have never heard tale of skilled craftsmen. Indeed I have little idea how Las Noches was ever built. Construction on such a scale is well beyond them. I would not be surprised if we had constructed it long ago but been forced to abandon it. It is, after all in a hideous place to supply with the various essentials we need.” Personally, Shin didn’t find the thought of the hollow building it all that unlikely. There were some smart ones mixed in with all the idiots, and considering that there were billions of hollow, it wasn’t a far stretch for some of them to have the skill and tolerance for each other to actually manage to construct that city. After all, someone had to repair it every time it got damaged. Then Takeki went on a long rambling rant that could be basically summed up to; Takeki didn’t trust anyone in the living world, and that the shinigami knew little about what was going on there. Well he did have a point about being blind, but Shin hoped that Takeki wasn’t trying to drag him on some personal crusade against the living world; he had better things to do with his time. He was likely getting to the point since he was scribbling something again and had stepped closer to him. Takeki finally gave him the strip of paper he was writing on, and Shin glanced over it, noting the vast array of spy equipment he was expected to dig up. Well it didn’t look that bad, binoculars, camouflage equipment, food, a camera, some surveillance equipment with spare batteries, and lots of copper wiring. A shopping trip to Division 12 should get all of that stuff. “It is not strictly necessary that you be able to carry all the equipment at once, we can leave some of it at a designated location and collect it as necessary but we must have access to it or equivalent. I will be providing similar equipment. We will find several surveillance points around bases of our enemies or around concentrations of enemy action. Gauge the scenario with our own eyes and set up the recording devices with their battery packs stored a long way away so as that they can be replaced readily, linked to the devices by the wire. I do not intend to go inside anywhere, merely observe from a distance. We do not want to repeat recent events.” Indeed, they didn’t need anyone else dying on simple missions. Really, Takeki’s pauses were getting longer now. “I am not going to pretend that these actions will provide a complete picture of our enemy’s actions but they should give as an idea of what is going on. Go now Mr Darkoda and obtain the equipment. I will file the official forms for permission to travel.” So this was their co-operative mission. Ah well, could be worse and the hood did have a point about the lack of information, so it wasn’t likely to be a waste of time. Experience dictated that Shin wait at least five seconds to make sure that the hood was actually done talking before leaving. That hissing of his said that he likely had more to say. “Regretfully travelling to Hueco Mundo may be impossible in the near future. They may not want to risk us, plus travel there has become less readily available. But the living world still poses a great threat, one we must monitor. We will start there.” Did he sound less depressing there? Shin didn’t know that the guy actually had a happy mode. “ We will meet here again tomorrow. At Dawn. Good day Mr Darkoda” Then he pulled his vanishing act in the forest. Either way, it seemed that Shin got himself roped along for a stake-out in the living world. Might as well deal with this list, there is no way I’m carrying all of that stuff.With that last thought, Shin headed off, making a bee-line for Division 12. He had an archer to go annoy some more for the day. ((And that should wrap up the miniature mental war ))
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