Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO]

Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Sept 14, 2015 10:16:56 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Sept 14, 2015 10:16:56 GMT -5

Is true freedom control of your world, or merely control of yourself? Is it the ability to react to your mistakes, or merely predict their outcome? As a warrior he used to say that anything his katana could reach was under his control. And there were even times as a scientist where he had thought he'd managed to extend his reach as far as he could observe. And yet there the proud shinigami stood, weaponless and blind, his zanpaktou traded in for a red silk blindfold. His eyes finally opened, any delusions he had about freedom dashed by his own hubris.

"We'll that's different..."

The dark room stayed just barely lit by the eerie glow of a shining blue sphere that towered over the man in the white kimono. The bubble floated about two feet off the ground, a wave of energy flowing through it, ripples endlessly colliding up and down its otherwise steady surface. The occasional shadow of something moving inside gave away the vaguest sign of life in the otherwise stable barrier.

"Would you be so kind as to be my eyes tonight, hollow-san?"

The room remained quiet, Kionchi's hand on the sphere. There were two worlds in that room that night, one overlapping the other like a parasite waiting to be plucked from its more dominant host. One the domain of the King of Las Noches, the other that sphere Kionchi had used to catch his would-be assailant. And just as everything in the castle belonged to the King, so to was everything in that sphere under Kionchi's jurisdiction. Freedom, as it happened, was inherently tied to control over one's world. Which, for a shinigami, meant control over one's spiritual presence. And yet Kionchi had never seen his reishi like this before, that blue glow an alien and offensive hue. Of course, his eyes closed since his awakening, he couldn't be certain that the colors shifting vaguely around in his head even corresponded to what anyone else would see. Thus he had to ask his own captive, confirm his cage's strange azure glow, and only then could he be bothered to investigate why the aura of his kido would be the hollow's color instead of his own.

"Scream all you want, I'm the only one who can hear you." His voice was getting noticeablly irritated, the hollow clearly not cooperating. "I just need to know what color this barrier is. And if your not willing to play along, I have no reason to keep you around."

A smile swept across his face as the mad dance of shadows suddenly went still, the hollow going completely silent. He had never tortured another soul like this before, all for the sake of his own morbid curiosity. Oh, sure, he had done far worse, for far less productive endeavors even, but never without Tsukuyomi and her amnesiac blessing. Never without the joy of knowing this experience was his to hold onto and treasure. Maybe that's all freedom was: the ability to take responsibility for ones actions and bear the burdens of their own decisions. The hollow had chosen to devour the shinigami and Kionchi had decided to use the hollow as a guinea pig, nothing more and nothing less. The world outside his red silk blindfold was at last one he felt he deserved. Ethics and morals and values and vows were all painful distractions he had used for years to stifle his potential, their empty promises of virtue and inner-peace long since broken. After all, we only deserve as much freedom as we are willing to take for ourselves.

And Kionchi was relishing this new found freedom.

WC: 614; GP: 12; TGP: 12

Last Edit: Jan 5, 2016 20:15:31 GMT -5 by Kionchi

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Sept 15, 2015 23:32:20 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Sept 15, 2015 23:32:20 GMT -5

A huge yawn broke through Walkren’s closed mouth.

It was very rude in its exit. It battered and beat its way up through Walkren’s chest and stretched his mouth wide. There was little hope in stopping it. Even Walkren’s muscles betrayed him in the end. A twist of a dagger in the back and he was gaping wide and letting it loose upon the world. The sound of it thrusting itself into life echoed through the hallway he was idly walking through. But Walkren wouldn’t give up that easily. Halfway through the yawn, he clenched back hold of his muscles and yanked his mouth shut, stuffing the rest of the yawn back down his throat.

It was his body after all.

Kutsu could try all she wanted, but he wasn’t giving it up to her again. As if on queue, his eyes drooped as sleep weighed down on them. He stumbled and leaned up against the cold marble wall. It felt as lifeless as this place looked. Walkren wasn’t concerned with that. He was more concerned with the fact that he was literally moments away from sleep, something that hadn’t happened in over a week. He accepted it. He tried to embrace it. He would sleep on the fucking ground if it meant he could just get a single wink of-

His heart started to race, his pupils dilated, his adrenaline started to pump and, once again, sleep eluded him. He stood and continued down the hallway, a slight stumble in his step. He tries to slow his heart with long, deep breathes. Thought it wouldn’t do any good, he placed his left and only arm on his chest. It was the thought that counted.

If it was his body, then why was he so helpless?

The thought was put aside as Walkren felt something else in the air. It was all too familiar. Almost like being home. Shinigami. The taste was almost like taint on the heavily tainted air it was so sweet. The contrast was drastic and the feeling was close. He symbolically shook himself to wake himself up and kept walking down the hallway where he felt the presence from. His own reiatsu shrunk and tightened as he approached. If this was a real intruder into Las Noches, it would be better for Walkren to be on his toes. As he rounded the corner, he was surprised by the image he came upon.

He quietly leaned on the doorframe and watched as the blindfolded Shinigami played with a Hollow. The blue glow was a token light and barely illuminated the Shinigami himself. Walkren didn’t recognize the man, but he didn’t know many Shinigami. Was this another of Erasmus’ pets? Was he a captive? Questions bounded through his head, but they would be answered in time.

Awkwardly, he pushed the sleep from his eyes. Another sentimental motion that did nothing to actually help, but...but it felt right and it made Walkren feel like he could make a difference and fight off Kutsu’s attempts at dragging him into insanity. He smiled and broke the ghostly silence of the room, “Huh. I didn’t expect to find another Shinigami here.”

Game start.

[532] [10] [10]

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Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Sept 20, 2015 19:21:19 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Sept 20, 2015 19:21:19 GMT -5

He regretted moving to face him the moment he made his presence known. Seriously, what's the point of playing the blind swordsman motif if your still going to turn to face people when you talk to them? Then again how could Kionchi call himself a blind swordsman without a sword? Well, at least his mistake was a polite one, or something like that. Like that meant anything in a place like Las Noches. Tch. Then again, at least half the people he'd met since he was dropped off here seemed to place far more importance on manners and respect than Kionchi would have expected of Hueco Mundo.

Then again, what can any shinigami expect of Las Noches?

"Oh, another guest so soon?" He didn't have to reach that far to feign surprise. It wasn't that strange another spirit would come along to investigate, but he'd be lying if he wasn't just as shocked to see what appeared to be another shinigami. Was it another trick of the King? No. Kionchi hadn't felt enough of his presence since he dumped him off with Evelynn. Not that there wasn't always a little of the tyrant's soul stinking up each and every nook and cranny of the palace.

"I guess we're both having a weird day then," he felt his aura wash over the shinigami. Only one arm; Maybe he was another torture victim. No physical or spiritual displays of aggression, not that half the Gotei couldn't hide such things. Come to think of it, the long haired shinigami hadn't felt his presence around the Gotei before. But he had yet to test his new 'eyes' on any of his former companions... Not to mention there was a good enough chance it was a recruit who had joined during his eighteen years in the Nest.

"My name is Kionchi," he still felt weird about giving his full name in a house full of twisted souls, the irony given his recent fall not entirely lost on him. "And if you wouldn't mind helping me with this little experiment of mine, would you be so kind as to tell me what color this bakudo is?"

The smallest part of the sphere nearest the strange shinigami began to glow in the same color as the stranger's aura, but most of it retained it's blue glow. A roar from within the sphere echo'd faintly in both shinigami's minds, the hollow within remaining resolutely non-compliant, even as his role was being outsourced to what Kionchi hoped would be someone far more useful. Not to mention, hopefully, more dependable.

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Sept 27, 2015 15:52:43 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Sept 27, 2015 15:52:43 GMT -5

“Walkren...”

It was all the information he was willing to give up to a strange Shinigami in the heart of Las Noches. Ironic that he felt more comfortable giving out information to Arrancar than to one of his own kind. It was almost like he had to be on guard, like this man was the enemy. There would probably be a lot more of that feeling once he made it back to the Seireitei. On edge all the time. Worrying that anyone could see through his lies and deceits. It would only take one Shinigami to find out about what was inside of him for everything to come crashing down. But that was a worry for another day. He pushed it out of his mind and looked at the sphere in the blind(?) Shinigami’s grasp.

Walkren had never seen Bakudo take on a different color. Perhaps it was actually really simple to do and he had just never tried it before. Or maybe the man was so intune with his Bakudo that it took on the color of his own reiatsu. Either way, he spoke up, finishing the thought on his lips, “...and I am pretty sure that is blue.”

“Interesting, how do you color it like that?” His curiosity got the better of him and the strange on edge guarding feeling mixed with his deep curiosity to know things. His eyes sparkled with it and they hungered to know. The curious nature of Walkren Dekharr was the biggest driving force of the games he played. Yet, it could pierce his games and become his sole focus. If he let himself, he could dissolve into a multitude of questions and curiosities about anything and everything. He wished to dance with this man, but his curiosity might just get the better of him. Putting the brakes on his questioning nature was a task, but he had always been able to do it. He could take it slow and still dance with the man. Taking a mental step back, as if he was clearing his throat for a second, he spoke to the red ribboned Shinigami, “What brings you to the fabulous Las Noches? Not just this little Hollow, I suspect?”

[369] [7] [17]

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Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Sept 28, 2015 21:35:46 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Sept 28, 2015 21:35:46 GMT -5

“Thank you. Most Bakudo take on the form of their spell, long studied and reliable structures they may be,” He watched Walkren from the corner of his eye, finger flicking the sphere in front of him as though to demonstrate it rippling at its master's touch. “But its possible to produce barriers without any particular spell. They aren't as stable as their institutionalized counter parts but, I must confess, far more fabulous.”

The word struck a chord with him, especially when used to describe Las Noches. He had been there nearly a week, and yet had never bothered to stop and think of what it might be like to live there for the rest of his life; Never comparing its wild brutality to the austere pleasures of Seireitei. It was true that there was far more to do and see in Soul Society, the petrified woods and rarely shifting dunes of the bleak Hueco Mundo broken only by that largely empty dome full of mindless beasts. And yet there was something so much more satisfying one could be in Las Noches, the freedom to evolve and grow and express oneself unhindered by the unwavering rule of the Gotei Five in its efforts to shelter the weaker souls of Rukongai. Perhaps Hueco Mundo was the kind of world destined to be used up and turned barren by its eternally hungry children, even the moon itself never completely full. That endless desire for more spurred by those few who gave into that freedom so whole-heartily that there was no room for the mundane cumulative achievements of the frail, huddled masses.

“As for me? I wish I could say I came here of my own volition,” Kionchi circled the dome, the ribbons of his blindfold trailing around the circle as he took each step as thoroughly calculated as a dance, occasionally flicking the side of the forcefield with his finger and watching the rippling energy bounce across Walkren's body. “But I'm just a stray, left here by his master.”

Was there even a reason to return to Seireitei? To return to those cowards and tyrants, bending at the knee for people no more concerned with his well-being than a hollow for its prey? Now to live in a Las Noches occupied by the cowards of Seireitei would be a special sort of hell. But to bring just a modicum of that free spirit to Seireitei...well there's a special sort of shiver that loses its punch trying to put it into words.

“Now I've answered two of your questions, Walkren-san,” Kionchi left his finger ready to flick against the barrier one last time, holding his hand up to where his eye would be, a circle formed between his index finger and thumb. “How does someone like yourself come to call this place home?”

WC: 475; GP: 9 TGP:29

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Oct 25, 2015 0:56:43 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Oct 25, 2015 0:56:43 GMT -5

“I suppose we share more than just our robes then, Kionchi,” Walkren said as he watched the ripples of blue bound across the barrier in their hypnotic waves of bent azure. He paid little mind to the circling Shinigami. The blue glow that filled the shadows of his face cast a calming darkness across his features. If this Shinigami did intend harm to Walkren, he hadn’t seen or felt any hint of it. If the Shinigami’s words were to be trusted, Las Noches had nipped both of them out of the comforts that they held so tightly. It could even be so much of a coincidence that Kionchi was afflicted in the same way that Walkren was. That would be something. Walkren had pondered how he was going to handle Kutsu for days without coming up with anything.

Walkren looked down at his one good arm and started to manipulate Bakudo around it. The spiritual energy weaved together around his forearm and up through his fingers. He could feel the energy fusing and hardening into a glowing gauntlet. Walkren, with a distant tint to his voice, continued his answer, “My own volition has little to do with why I’m here.”

“Though, I must admit, my own volition would have still gladly taken me here,” he spoke as he flexed his fingers, the Bakudo gauntlet moving reflexively with them. He focused his reiatsu and tightened it as he concentrated on the gauntlet. The orange glow flickered and wavered as he stretched his powers over the Bakudo. An immensely thin, almost invisible, flame of dark green licked into life over the gauntlet. At first, it was almost impossible to see, like the waves of heat off of an asphalt road. It flickered and danced across the light Bakudo gauntlet.

The flames grew from their base. Green and black lifted themselves off of the gauntlet and thickened the thin flames. The tongues of fire licked across the gauntlet and grew in size as they grew in thickness. A hissing lifted itself from the edges of the gauntlet and carried itself across the room the two Shinigami found themselves in. No longer thin, the flames were strong and in full force. The orange was almost all but covered. Walkren’s face was one of gritted focus and determination. His reiatsu reflected the flames that danced on the gauntlet...or rather, the flames that danced on the gauntlet now reflected his reiatsu.

The two flames danced in tandem as the one covering the gauntlet continued to grow and reach. Walkren let out a long breath he didn’t realize he had been holding and his reiatsu responded. It slowed it’s dance and pulled itself close to his body, like a wet suit. The flames on the gauntlet followed his reiatsu and they clung to the Bakudo gauntlet. With one final effortless thought, the flames cracked through the gauntlet and the orange shattered away, leaving a gauntlet the color of Walkren’s own reiatsu behind. The cool green gauntlet sat on Walkren’s one good arm. He flexed his fingers, testing the changed Bakudo.

Still looking down at the gauntlet he had created, his voice trailed its way out of his mouth and into the cool, Hollow air, “At this point, I don’t think I could call anywhere home.”

He smiled with the chuckle that bubbled out of his gut and looked over to the blindfolded Shinigami. The emerald spirals of woven spiritual energy shattered around his clenched fist and fell into oblivion. His distant hazel eyes watched the Shinigami as light green waves gave way to blue across his smiling face.

[602] [12] [29]

Last Edit: Oct 25, 2015 1:03:54 GMT -5 by Walkren Dekharr

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Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Nov 16, 2015 3:08:15 GMT -5 Walkren Dekharr likes this

Post by Kionchi on Nov 16, 2015 3:08:15 GMT -5

Kionchi's eyes dazzled as he watched Walkren's fiery display. A shiver ran up his spine, the energy flowing up and around and coming back up his body not unlike the glimmering shell that had formed around his body when Cheshire had come at him with her knife. Except where Kionchi's barrier protected him from harm, Walkren's appeared to be nothing less than an instrument of destruction the likes of which only further threw goose pimples up and down the researcher's arms. His own eyes took on a green hue, the sphere his finger was moments away from flicking now all but encased in the same jade aura as Walkren's flames. His smile only widened as he felt the warm tongues of Walkren's flame pass over his skin, the shinigami approaching him like a wildfire. Maybe he would have taken a step back had seen the display with his own eyes rather than his sixth sense. Then again, maybe he'd had taken a step forward.

“So we're both strays?” Tilting his head downward and giving a bit of a frown he couldn't help but be jealous of the man's vibrant display. Sure the sphere was impressive, but had the other two left Kionchi alone in the room it would have been as translucent at the empty wine glass sitting on the table on the other side of the room. Sure both Kionchi and Walkren could control their bakudo enough that one might say they were never without a home; Never without a shelter they could craft of their own spiritual pressure and call their domain. And yet Kionchi's was so empty: a home without a hearth. And maybe it was just feeling the warmth of Walkren's energy that made Kionchi want that power. No. It was more that he wanted to see what that power was capable of.

Shink

Flicking his finger into the bakudo, a side of the sphere instantly erupted inward forming a conical spike. The silhouette of the beast disappeared in an inky black spray, its blood making the barrier opaque as the last bit of its spiritual energy trickled into nothing. Kionchi stood dead still, his frown once again curling back up into a smile as though the hollow's soul was only worth a second or two of mourning.

“That's a really nice use of energy, Walkren-kun.” Kionchi slid closer to his confidant, the conical impression on the barrier snapping back into a perfect sphere as soon as he left its side. “Tell me though, as a fellow stray, what keeps the fires of your hearth burning, if not duty to your home?”

With a jaunty spin and a capricious smile, Kionchi got close enough to catch the last bits of the shinigami's fleeting gauntlet as he followed the shattered bits of energy up until they were completely dissipated. Gone as easily as Kionchi's motivation in life, his hunt for Evelynn based on a misconception whose airing had left him without purpose. And yet here was someone whose aura still burned brightly, and yet he claimed no clear allegiance.

“If I may be so bold, what is it that drove you to this dank corner of Las Noches, as a soul neither fraccion nor officer? Do you fight for family or love? Or maybe your on the hunt for one or the other? Or maybe you just wanted to learn more about my little trick here, or show off more of your own?”

WC: 580; GP: 11; TGP: 41

Last Edit: Nov 17, 2015 19:53:39 GMT -5 by Kionchi

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Dec 9, 2015 22:41:32 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Dec 9, 2015 22:41:32 GMT -5

The sapphire cast across Walkren’s glinting grin reflected off of his widening smile. Like a fanged beast, Walkren watched the curious searching of the blind Shinigami as he approached. The grace of Walkren’s newfound blind companion fascinated him. It was as if he could see through another means. Then again, all Shinigami could see through another means, it was just a matter of honing the skill to the point that this Shinigami seemed to have obtained. The words that danced from Walkren’s elegant companion tickled his grinning face and made his smile swing across his face.

What kept his fire alive?

The fire that burned inside Walkren was young. He had only recently found the flame as he lost his first fight against the Espada, Souta Suzuki. It had pushed him and burnt bright, even through the crashing storms of his fight with Evelynn. A sizzling singular spark was all that had survived, but it had been enough. It was the only thing that kept him awake as sleep blanketed his exhausted body and mind from Kutsu’s relentless attempts to break him down and make him weak.

Ever since he had found his true flame at the gripping claws of Souta, there had been nothing that would stop him or hold him back from what he wanted. Walkren’s eyes became unfocused and distant as he thought of the war that raged inside of himself. The fire inside of him reflected itself in his pupils and glowed over the azure haze that was still being cast across the room. His lips barely quivered as words trickled from his mouth, “Duty? Duty is something I lost long ago, Kionchi.”

“No...I found another fuel for my fire,” the almost imperceivable words that slowly dripped out trailed off as the idle fingers of his good hand danced across the smooth globe of Bakudo, teasing the strings of energy that were bound tightly together by Kionchi’s skilled craftsmanship. Pale blue strings tensed and thrummed with Walkren’s teasing. The sound playing low like a beating heart under the still air of the acidic Hueco Mundo air. His sharp hazel eyes turned and looked towards the spot where eyes would have been on the graceful Shinigami. Words slowly streamed out of Walkren like thick honey, “Necessity. Desire...Curiosity.”

The words crept across the room and echoed into infinity in the corners. Their meanings branched into millions of possibilities, but only one led back to Walkren. Still staring at the Shinigami, he let his hand fall from the soft Bakudo. His voice grew in intensity, flowing easier from his lips, “Too long I stood idle. If you allow another to fuel your fire, then you aren't being true to yourself.”

“I fought for the longest time because I had to. And then I fought because I needed to. Now I fight because I want to. There is no one as reliable as yourself...I learned that the hard way,” Once again, his fist clenched to bite back the weight that fell on his lids. Memories pushed at the corners of his brain, encroaching and attempting to throw themselves to the forefront of his mind. Memories still difficult to relive. He cleared the air with a wave of his hand and smiled at the Shinigami, “What of you, Kionchi?”

“What burning inside of you brought you to this desolate corner of Hell?”

[564] [11] [40]

Last Edit: Dec 9, 2015 22:42:20 GMT -5 by Walkren Dekharr

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Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Jan 24, 2016 1:00:32 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Jan 24, 2016 1:00:32 GMT -5

The man's words danced around the sphere before coming to rest in Kionchi's mind. It took him a minute or two to process his poetry, his language one Kionchi appreciated given the base and unrefined level most of the other souls in the castle seemed to operate on. This man was no mere hollow, looking to dominate and consume merely to satiate his own sense of self. Neither was he one of the mindless drones of Seireitei, obeying his master's orders without question. On the contrary he was driven here by two ideals he had the courage to call Necessity: Curiosity and Desire. Perhaps Walkren and Kionchi were more alike than either of them were comfortable admitting.

“They say where there's smoke there's fire,” Kionchi spun and began walking around his sphere, inspecting the edges of the barrier once again looking for signs of damage. “I have gone the last century looking to douse my fires of hatred with vengeance. But after fighting my way to the source of the fire, I found only smoke and mirrors.”

There was no sadness or anger in his tone. Rather he found the whole thing almost embarrassing. And perhaps it seemed foolish to give up on hunting down Evelynn so soon after finally finding her, but something about her seemed so much more real than the honeyed words of the Gotei. After all, she could have devoured his soul ages ago, and yet here he stood, relieved at not having to face some empty and fruitless existence having caught his white whale.

“She believes there's more to me than that,” Kionchi stopped on the other side of Walkren, facing him as he tapped against the surface of the sphere with his index finger. “More to me than dogma and duty and loyalty and lies...”

“But to give a marginally more straight answer,” Dropping his hand he gave him the once over, scanning his aura one last time to make sure he wasn't just a hallucination. “I was dropped off here without warning by those I swore to serve, broken down and left to face my demons alone, and then shown first-hand how the only person whose ever given a damned about me is the very dragon I swore to slay.”

Turning back to his bakudo he wondered if he'd said too much. If Walkren was a member of the Second looking to test Kionchi's loyalties before bringing him back, there was a good chance he just signed his own death warrant. On the other hand he wouldn't mind a throw-down with whomever Kiriko or Hi-To decided was worth risking to drag Kionchi back. Maybe if he was lucky he'd face the Vice-Captain next...

“Your fire is another custom Bakudo, is it not?” Kionchi decided to change the subject before things got too serious. “I've been more and more curious about using raw Bakudo without an incantation. And its an interesting trade-off, if I do say so myself.” The blood continued to pool beneath the sphere, a tiny drain in the floor taking in enough of the acidic blood that it wouldn't risk burning Kionchi's sandals. “Sacrificing stability for flexibility and refinement for power. You do lose the ability to separate yourself from your magic for too long, unlike the structured Bakudo they teach at the academy. But tell me, Walkren, what's more important to you: The ability to live free, or the ability to adapt?”

As though demonstrating his lecture, he stopped poking his own creation and held his palm toward it instead. The globe began to wobble, bits of meat and bone poking out the bottom of the thing. As long as he maintained some sort of bond, Kionchi was able to selectively choose what could and couldn't enter the sealed space. A risky gambit producing a barrier, if another more experienced soul tried to take control of the apparatus. Furthermore the further he pulled back his energy, the less stable the barrier became, more and more bits of the impaled hollow giving into gravity's pull and seeping out of the unstable structure.

“Tell me, Walkren-san, if we bypass the normal foci for our bakudo, incantations and a direct line of reishi, what other options are we left with?“

WC: 700; GP: 14; TGP: 55

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Jan 27, 2016 23:29:08 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Jan 27, 2016 23:29:08 GMT -5

A short chuckle escaped Walkren.

“I had a Kido teacher back in the Academy who was obsessed with incantations,” Walkren started, still staring at the azure bubble that was slowly filtering out bits and pieces of the Hollow inside. “Every class we would drill, over and over. Mask of blood and flesh. Mask of blood and flesh. Tear out your own throat.”

“Tear...out...your...own...throat.”

With each word, Walkren moved his hand slowly in a circle above the rippling barrier, the blue bouncing off of his gleaming grin. As he emphasised the words, a tangerine tendril spiralled around his arms out of thin air. It danced like a snake being charmed in front of Walkren, swaying back and forth to the motions of the man as he spoke, “He believed without a doubt that there was no other way to cast Kido. Every time I would try to go off book he would whack me and make me do it again.”

As he said whack, the snaking Bakudo snapped out of existence, exploding into countless shards of orange and yellow light. Before all of the shards had faded into nothing, Walkren waved his hand through the cloud of spirally reiryoku and it started to form into another simple barrier, the orange hue turning emerald in a burning radiance. Imitating the voice of an older man, Walkren continued, “‘Incantation. Number. Release. Do not forget!’ he would say. The man must have been ancient. I bet he’s still teaching there.”

Another chuckle.

Before it had fully congealed, the Bakudo Walkren was toying with fell away as he let his hand drop. He turned towards the blind Shinigami as he continued, “The point I’m trying to make is that there are two kinds of people, Kionchi.”

“The people that follow the rules, like my Kido teacher...” he spoke as he gestured with his one good hand to stress his point. He spoke again and gestured with his stump, “...and the people that don’t, like me...and possibly you.”

As the words filtered from his mouth, emerald gems of light cascaded from non existence down around his stump, leaving miniscule strings of faint green light behind them. The azure and emerald clashed in the dim room, creating a battlefield of teal.

“You ask what we are left with without incantations?”

The light lines of green weaved endlessly between each other, gripping the ones that they spiralled to an end with. More and more, the strings spun together until they had formed an entire bicep that was attached to Walkren’s stump with the vice grip of his Bakudo. On and on the strings continued down to create a shining emerald forearm that had veins coursing through it. Even to the palm, the strings spread, each finger forming one by one until the entire hand was able to slowly close and tense the entire arm. Walkren looked up at Kionchi from the arm, moving naturally, still holding it in a fist.

“We are left with Freedom.”

His smile was to his eyes, mimicking the vicious grin of Souta. The Bakudo arm shot to the azure barrier that Kionchi was still holding onto. He touched the palm of the arm to the azure surface and the Bakudo started to fuse. The blue fought the green at first, but, as more of the arm melted into the barrier, it was obvious that the green was overcoming any challenge that Kionchi would put up. The final strands of Walkren’s arm wiggled into the now green barrier and he turned his smile to the Shinigami, “You speak of adaptability versus freedom, yet you could have both if you just take the chance and step out of the box.”

“Bakudo is about control. You control the battlefield. You control your opponent. You control what does and what doesn’t hit you,” Walkren said as the emerald bubble started to shake and ripple violently. Without taking his eyes off of the blind Shinigami, Walkren shook the barrier to shattering, green confetti falling between the two of them. The rest of the Hollow that had yet to fall onto the ground and into the drain hit the floor with a squelch. Walkren smiled fell away as he continued speaking, “If you control your destiny, then you are free.”

“Control is Freedom.”

[719] [14] [54]

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Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Jan 30, 2016 22:49:26 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Jan 30, 2016 22:49:26 GMT -5

A chuckle escaped his smiling lips as he basked in the nostalgia of his days in the academy. It had only been a couple weeks since he last had to endure the whining of his pupils, and yet it felt as distant as the familiar imitation of Ryusei's constant badgering a hundred years ago. The satire itself was grin-worthy, but the laughter was entirely a product of the absurdity of their situation. If only they had the misfortune of meeting any other time in the last hundred years Kionchi was certain he'd have drawn his zanpakuto right then and there. But instead he found himself standing completely in awe of his impromptu lesson. Each of his words flowed like a river of gold, the rhythm of his soul manifest in that cascading spiral of fiery energy he let shatter as though the impressive display was naught more than a bow tied atop a far more precious and splendid gift he'd yet to unveil. Or perhaps just one Kionchi had yet to understand.

Destiny

He'd finally embraced Evelynn's Idea of Fate, the inescapable tether to which all souls were bound. And yet he'd only done so by rejecting the idea that his Destiny was something he had to just let happen; As though the spinners of fate would be content to let him idly pass away the countless centuries hunting hapless hollow and stalking spurned shinigami. It was not his Fate that Evelynn saw in him, but rather the Destiny that fate had prescribed for him eons before any of them were born.

He was so completely lost in his thoughts that he'd even lost track of his own soul, his spiritual energy glowing with the same vibrant green as the intruder whose soul had effortlessly taken his barrier. No. It wasn't that Walkren took the construct, so much as Kionchi adapted to his energy at the exact same time the two Bakudo came into contact with one another.

“I get it now...”

Walkren's Bakudo. Kionchi's Bakudo. In one taking on the other's spiritual signature, the sphere became one and the same. Their energy and drive became the same, Kionchi's eyes glowed green through his blindfold as Walkren's power flowed through him, drive and intention and even motivation overriding his own as he watched his precious sphere collapse before his very eyes. The dark carmine slush flushed from the collapsed barrier, the juices of the hollow having separated from the rest of the mummified husk and now gushing toward the pair as it sought to flood the entirety of the room. A pair of small green cubes grew under Kionchi's feet, raising him just a couple inches from the ground and keeping his feet safe from the shallow acidic tide. Even then he didn't flinch, his senses transfixed on Walkren's energy as he listened to his words over the sound of the blood slowly going down the drain in the center of the room.

“Tell me more about it,” Kionchi cooed as he took a step forward, another pair of barriers rising from the hollow's blood like stepping stones in a river. “The ability to control what you keep out...”

Pointing to the drain at the center of the room Kionchi's now green aura spread across the floor twice as fast as the hollow's ichor. It wove itself around like countless tiny threads, creating a carefully woven rug between the acidic blood and the floor that allowed only a select trickle of the fluid to pass through. Almost immediately the blood dissolved in the heat of the shinigami's reiatsu, freshly etched runes erupting in the floor in a cyclical pattern of hundreds of crude kanji too methodical too calculated and vast to be any mere Kido incantation.

“...The freedom to control what you let in...”

Another sphere erupted from the center of the room, this time a pale green that immediately ate through his own runes, ripping up the top inch of the floor as it shunted the bones and muscle and any remaining fluid of the hollow to the outskirts of the room, dissolving the pieces on impact the moment they hit the wall. The barrier coated the walls and ceiling and windows and doorway of the now clearly lit and cleared out room. The only things left were Kionchi and Walkren, the barrier passing over them without resistance. The rest of Las Noches left out of their space, an unwelcome distraction as he kept his focus on Walkren's soul.

“...And most of all, how you've come to learn of your destiny of yours, and accept it with such resolution.”

WC: 779; GP: 15; TGP: 70

Last Edit: Jan 30, 2016 22:49:58 GMT -5 by Kionchi

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Feb 6, 2016 19:25:08 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Feb 6, 2016 19:25:08 GMT -5

Such a simple string of words, yet filled with such a profound depth. There was no simple answer to questions of one’s destiny. Walkren’s eyes glistened with intrigue as he watched the other Shinigami work his kanji into the glowing green Bakudo. Unlike the other Shinigami, no smile played on his face. His composure was impassive and stoic. The was some joy to be had, basking in the lustrous emerald light. Tinges of his own reiatsu played off of his senses and dazzled his mind.

At first he was too busy to notice the copycat reiatsu swirling through the weaves of the Bakudo. His mind was on the man’s words. How can you talk about an ingrained instinct? How can you put into meaningless words something that was beat into a psyche over the course of a century? The need, the desire to have every detail of himself exactly how he wanted it. He could be a sloppy picture of apathy and subsistence. No one bothers that kind of man. No one expects anything from that kind of man. They leave him alone to his music and books and desolation.

Under the eyes of that man could be more, just looking for the right spark to light him up and bring his true self out. Looking for something to remind him that there is more to life than music and books and desolation. He could trim his sloppy hair and beard, becomes a presentable vision of the Shinigami standard, and exude confidence and charm. What would they think of him then? They would think much differently. They would take notice. Start to question. Start to stick their nose in his business.

With just the right tweaks, Walkren can control the information that he leaks out to the world. Anyone can do it. There’s an art to it, though. An art that isn’t so much taught, but earned by fire. An art that might never leave Walkren. He had snapped back to his true self after Ichiro. It hadn’t even taken a day before Walkren had dropped him for more power, for his own life. He had to admit that the Quincy had gotten the closest to breaking his facade. If Walkren hadn’t needed to find Evelynn and face her for his own good, he might have lost himself with the Quincy.

That thought made Walkren shiver. His lost mind found itself when the wiffs of his own reiatsu trailed from the Bakudo into his open nostrils. Eyes, long unfocused, returned to the real world and Walkren realized he was surrounded by the other Shinigami’s Bakudo. He also realized that the other Shinigami was distinctly radiating his own reiatsu. Walkren’s first instinct was curiousity, complete and utter fascination for this power. No thoughts on the fact that the Shinigami had some foreign power to copy and replicate his own reiatsu or the fact that he was surrounded by Bakudo.

Trapped essentially.

He finally spoke, after a few, long moments of silence, “There is not more to be said that can be learned. Grasp your life how you wish and your destiny can be your own. Acceptance comes with the knowledge that what you do is wholly of your own fruition.”

His words were vague and cryptic. Probably not at all what they other Shinigami wished to hear. A smile materialized for a few moments as he was reminded of Tamashioko’s own cryptic lessons. Perhaps the spirit was finally rubbing off on him. He would have to think so after all they’ve been through together in the recent weeks. Walkren still didn’t subscribe to the spirit’s ideals on true control being in isolation and Severance, but he did thing the spirit had been right about Ichiro...or any soul that tried to get close to Walkren for that matter.

The only person he could truly rely on was himself.

His one good hand rubbed the back of his neck as he chuckled at his own terrible twisted words. It was one thing to try and convey concepts of Bakudo back and forth, but an entirely different thing to try and convey the whole of your soul to someone. Of course, Walkren would never attempt to do that. The cryptic words were his own defense to keep this foreigner out. They spilled just enough to appease, but nothing that Walkren would consider to be too much. He gave the Shinigami a more genuine smile and spoke with renewed vigor, “To shed some light on my riddled words, and maybe fill in some of the gaps, I’d say that what you’re looking for is the key to any exchange, the linchpin in many strategies, the most powerful thing in the known universe: Information.”

“Learn to control that and you’ll have learned all you need to know.”

[802] [16] [70]

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Kionchi

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Feb 18, 2016 17:39:13 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Feb 18, 2016 17:39:13 GMT -5

The emerald hue left a sickening feeling in the gut of his stomach. Watching the most vibrant shades of the colour ripple indistinguishable from the rest of the room, he realized almost immediately that he had only succeeded in almost completely camouflaging Walkren's position. The vague outline became harder to track by the second, even the slightest movement making it that much more difficult to track. Fortunately Kionchi was far more concerned with the man's words than his actions, the trust Evelynn had in his fate bolstering his confidence and resolve.

Destiny

He'd long since mused the difference between Destiny and Fate, his position at the Shinigami Academy forcing him to mull over the tedious paradox of Free Will for far many more hours than he'd care to admit in mixed company. It wasn't anything he was proud of, especially since his baptism with Evelynn: Those countless hours wasting pouring over the genius of souls long departed, trying desperately to understand a world that passed him by as he let the hours slip through his fingers. And yet, just for a second as he listened to Walkren's lecture, there was a smidgen of gratitude for his time spent as a scholar.

Fate

His heart swelled as he recalled her words. The taste of her liquor still fresh on his tongue, he recalled the numbing ambrosia of her gentle touch, warm fingers erasing any worry and leaving him in an elated tranquility beyond any he'd experienced, his former life wasted in that world of thoughtless sycophants and scheming hypocrites. He'd mulled over the ideas of Fate and Destiny before, but always been too afraid to apply the theories to his own life. Too ashamed to admit he couldn't reconcile the two concepts, until now.

”Evelynn Avana.”

His senses heightened as soon as the words left his lips, the only name that mattered now. The only person he'd encountered since his rebirth. And the only relevant being in Las Noches relevant enough to his interests that her name could be used as a functioning metric upon which to gauge the inter-connectivity of the two shinigami's Fate. That was, if Walkren chose to accept his Destiny and respond, even if only meant his soul shifting a single shade. Oh, it might have been unfair to have to expose him to such a childish litmus test before getting down to business, but if he was serious about an information exchange, Kionchi needed proof that his Destiny was even remotely relevant.

WC: 420; GP: 8; TGP: 77

Last Edit: Jul 27, 2016 16:37:48 GMT -5 by Kionchi

Walkren Dekharr

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO] Feb 21, 2016 20:47:57 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Feb 21, 2016 20:47:57 GMT -5

Words are strangely powerful things. Even more so than information. Mostly because of their ability to hold vast amounts of information within themselves. This is inherent since words are the normal method of conveying information. A single word could hold countless meanings. A single word could shift a phrase from positive to negative. A single word could topple an empire. A single word could house countless memories for someone that tumble out at just a thought of it.

Names fit into this.

Maybe even more so.

A name is someone’s entire identity. When it comes up in conversation, people dissect all that they know of the person in an instant. All of their experiences and memories and interactions with that person flashs in their mind and it becomes their thought in that moment. It could be disgust, anger, happiness, love, regret. It could be so many different things that the person becomes uneasy and queasy. A name could hold bad memories for you or thoughts you want to avoid.

Evelynn Avana.

A simple machination of letters.

Totally foreign to anyone who didn’t know who she was.

The smell of seared flesh filled Walkren’s nostrils. Screams of people trying to escape the carnage filled his ears. He could taste copper on his lips. None of that could measure up to what he saw: Ichiro, covered in burns with flesh falling off his body, limping towards him. The man whispered three simple words that made Walkren fall to pieces. Then the only feeling he had was the Cero burning his own flesh away, the only sound he heard was screaming.

His own mouth the origin.

He hadn’t seen Evelynn since the day he wandered into Erasmus’ clutches. She must be back on earth causing more problems for other unlucky Shinigami. He didn’t need her anymore. The only thing he needed to do was pay her back for what she did. Walkren had yet to decide in what form that payment would come in. Regardless, Kionchi’s declaration of her name had brought back memories for him, and memories were a terrible rabbit hole to lose yourself in. Before anymore of his thoughts could wander too deep, he cast them aside and brought himself back into reality.

His eyes held on Kionchi, trying to piece through the red veil and see the intentions of the mysterious Shinigami. His genuine smile stiffened as he spoke, “What about her?”

Before Kionchi could answer, Walkren felt something.

Like a noose wrapping around his neck, he felt the pull of a winding red ribbon. The reiatsu was unmistakable. It couldn’t be anyone else, he just didn’t understand why. Why was he here? What the actual fuck could he be doing? Maybe the aforementioned bitch had found her next mark and taken him to her lair. No, the reiatsu was slight, but it was flaring. Whatever the reason for him being here, he was fighting it. He wasn’t going to last much longer from what- No wait, he was back to his previous vigor. Something more was going on. Walkren blinked and spoke over Kionchi, “It’ll have to wait.”

Walkren dashed towards the door, the glowing emerald Bakudo allowing him passage. It felt just like his own. The Shinigami had mimicked his own reiatsu...his own soul. The strange technique would have to be pondered at a later date, Walkren’s mind was focused on getting to the red ribbon that was pulling for him. He turned back to Kionchi before he rounded the corner and gave the Shinigami a nod and a huge grin.

“Come find me in the Seireitei.”

And then he was off.

Off to find Robert.

-thread exit-

[610] [12] [82]

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Too Bent To Break [Walkren/Kionchi] [AO]

Post by Kionchi on Sept 14, 2015 10:16:56 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Sept 15, 2015 23:32:20 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Sept 20, 2015 19:21:19 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Sept 27, 2015 15:52:43 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Sept 28, 2015 21:35:46 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Oct 25, 2015 0:56:43 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Nov 16, 2015 3:08:15 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Dec 9, 2015 22:41:32 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Jan 24, 2016 1:00:32 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Jan 27, 2016 23:29:08 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Jan 30, 2016 22:49:26 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Feb 6, 2016 19:25:08 GMT -5

Post by Kionchi on Feb 18, 2016 17:39:13 GMT -5

Post by Walkren Dekharr on Feb 21, 2016 20:47:57 GMT -5

Welcome!