Post by Shinku Kodoku on Aug 22, 2017 3:01:43 GMT -5
Shinku’s legs worked like pistons, digging into the floor of the cave she called home as she retreated, winding through the maze she had created with expert precision. If you wandered through the first layer of her tunnels, there were endless dead ends, pitfalls, and forks that looped around and all looked the same, keeping unwanted visitors at bay. Even spiritually attuned souls would have a difficult time finding the beginnings of the actual Lair that was buried beneath the dirt and rock of the surface, and it helped at least muffle her spiritual presence along with her own ability to suppress it. Shinku was never one to take chances, but she did allow her haste to slow as she reached the beginnings of her Lair, which was easy to spot as the walls, ground and even the ceiling of the cave had been covered in a thick Hiru.
The Hiru itself was a living organism, a carpet that clung to anything around it and served to draw in ambient spiritual energy from the air, feeding it and allowing it to grow. Through Shinku’s will, the Hiru did not grow past this one certain point, keeping itself from spreading and growing to the outside world where it would easily pass to identify her lair. This living thing served as the ultimate means of detecting someone who managed to make it in this far, as it was connected with the Legion Queen’s will much like her pets. It also served as the means in which Shinku nourished her Legion; she would consume what they had eaten and spread that nourishment evenly with her creatures through the Hiru, ensuring no one went hungry, and supplying them with the bare essentials to survive through it’s passive absorption of Reishi in the air in the event of a drought of prey. Not a single soul had ever made it this far, and it was with good reason; she had never let something get this close. The Queen always confronted the intruder on the first level of the caves, keeping the truth of her actual home a secret from everyone she could.
Her senses picked up Akui’s spiritual signature as he left, letting loose his own suppression and moving towards what felt like a Base Hollow. It was unfortunate; if that other Shinigami hadn’t been present, she could have sent a pack after the beast for a meal, but it was far more important to play it safe than sorry. It was also a bit of a shock, although a light one, when his voice cut through to her mind, responding to the question she had asked. As a being who controlled the Legion, this style of communication was not foreign to her, although the fact that she was actually receiving words as the communication, however, was something new. She listened to his thoughts as she moved at a brisk pace towards the Nest, the most inner parts of her Lair where she was the most secure. That is quite advantageous in battle. Unless they learn the way you do, no one would know what you are casting until it has already happened. How does it correlate to the branding your skin received? Forgive me if I ask too many questions… there was a gentle bit of laughter that was all too human, I simply do not know much about you and the Shinigami as a whole. Feel free to stop me if I dip into something you aren’t comfortable with.
But she had noticed something odd during his speech… she had been able to ‘feel’ the emotions that were tied to the words, and that was something unintended, but deeply interesting. Of course, this only happened when one of the people speaking willed their thoughts into the communication, but an interesting side effect, none-the-less. Shinku was deep within her Lair before he spoke again, but this time there was no surprise. They were, after all, in the midst of conversation, just with different things happening in between their bits of talk, so the timing and spacing between words were sometimes variable.
He posed his own question, and she could feel the confusion, even wariness behind the words, and because she was able to feel the emotion behind the words, she didn’t take offense to the terminology used to describe them. Yes, they are born of my own flesh and blood, and are as much a part of me as my arm or leg. As for the level of my command… a lot of practice. I’ve remained hidden here for nearly a decade, moving from time to time as the threat requires, and I’ve developed some systems to take the strain off myself. The larger creatures you saw are my Hanta, and they can command the smaller ones, the Okami, in small groups. Thus, I only need to command the larger ones while they delegate their own authority below, making things much more simple for me at the top. It is very similar to how the ranks work within any military organization. There was no excessive pride, simply stating fact and working her way through the details one piece at a time.
While she was revealing critical information to him that could very easily be used against her, but that was where she was taking the leap of faith. She couldn’t hope to get detailed information out of him with a level of honesty if she withheld information herself, and there was the added fact that he would know she was withholding the information because her emotions tied to it would expose the lie. It made it to where they both had to be honest, whether their words were or not, because even if they didn’t say everything, it would be like a giant neon sign saying exactly that. But it was her turn to ask a question, and she was not going to let this opportunity go to waste.
Through my time, I’ve learned that Shinigami don’t actually ‘kill’ Hollow when they destroy them. I’ve heard the term ‘recycle’ and ‘purify’ in that regards from listening in to conversations with the Quincy. But that leads me to wonder, have you ever heard of a soul in your realm that had previously been a Hollow? Or are they stripped of their abilities, memories, and simply wander? There are so many unknowns that go along with ‘purification’ that to me it sounds like it does destroy the person behind the mask. One of the reasons that, when I learned of it, that I didn’t consider allowing a Death God to commit to the deed… along with the fact that my Legion would likely cause a lot of trouble without a leader.” The first part of what she had said had been all factual as well, but the last sentence, or more specifically, the last half of a sentence, the emotion of humor could be felt. Yes, Shinku the Hollow, had just told a Death God a bit of a joke, even if the information that was said in that joke was completely possible. She hadn’t ever dared to test it, but it only made sense to her that they would become feral should she relinquish control.
Post Word Count: 1210
Thread Word Count: 7138
The Hiru itself was a living organism, a carpet that clung to anything around it and served to draw in ambient spiritual energy from the air, feeding it and allowing it to grow. Through Shinku’s will, the Hiru did not grow past this one certain point, keeping itself from spreading and growing to the outside world where it would easily pass to identify her lair. This living thing served as the ultimate means of detecting someone who managed to make it in this far, as it was connected with the Legion Queen’s will much like her pets. It also served as the means in which Shinku nourished her Legion; she would consume what they had eaten and spread that nourishment evenly with her creatures through the Hiru, ensuring no one went hungry, and supplying them with the bare essentials to survive through it’s passive absorption of Reishi in the air in the event of a drought of prey. Not a single soul had ever made it this far, and it was with good reason; she had never let something get this close. The Queen always confronted the intruder on the first level of the caves, keeping the truth of her actual home a secret from everyone she could.
Her senses picked up Akui’s spiritual signature as he left, letting loose his own suppression and moving towards what felt like a Base Hollow. It was unfortunate; if that other Shinigami hadn’t been present, she could have sent a pack after the beast for a meal, but it was far more important to play it safe than sorry. It was also a bit of a shock, although a light one, when his voice cut through to her mind, responding to the question she had asked. As a being who controlled the Legion, this style of communication was not foreign to her, although the fact that she was actually receiving words as the communication, however, was something new. She listened to his thoughts as she moved at a brisk pace towards the Nest, the most inner parts of her Lair where she was the most secure. That is quite advantageous in battle. Unless they learn the way you do, no one would know what you are casting until it has already happened. How does it correlate to the branding your skin received? Forgive me if I ask too many questions… there was a gentle bit of laughter that was all too human, I simply do not know much about you and the Shinigami as a whole. Feel free to stop me if I dip into something you aren’t comfortable with.
But she had noticed something odd during his speech… she had been able to ‘feel’ the emotions that were tied to the words, and that was something unintended, but deeply interesting. Of course, this only happened when one of the people speaking willed their thoughts into the communication, but an interesting side effect, none-the-less. Shinku was deep within her Lair before he spoke again, but this time there was no surprise. They were, after all, in the midst of conversation, just with different things happening in between their bits of talk, so the timing and spacing between words were sometimes variable.
He posed his own question, and she could feel the confusion, even wariness behind the words, and because she was able to feel the emotion behind the words, she didn’t take offense to the terminology used to describe them. Yes, they are born of my own flesh and blood, and are as much a part of me as my arm or leg. As for the level of my command… a lot of practice. I’ve remained hidden here for nearly a decade, moving from time to time as the threat requires, and I’ve developed some systems to take the strain off myself. The larger creatures you saw are my Hanta, and they can command the smaller ones, the Okami, in small groups. Thus, I only need to command the larger ones while they delegate their own authority below, making things much more simple for me at the top. It is very similar to how the ranks work within any military organization. There was no excessive pride, simply stating fact and working her way through the details one piece at a time.
While she was revealing critical information to him that could very easily be used against her, but that was where she was taking the leap of faith. She couldn’t hope to get detailed information out of him with a level of honesty if she withheld information herself, and there was the added fact that he would know she was withholding the information because her emotions tied to it would expose the lie. It made it to where they both had to be honest, whether their words were or not, because even if they didn’t say everything, it would be like a giant neon sign saying exactly that. But it was her turn to ask a question, and she was not going to let this opportunity go to waste.
Through my time, I’ve learned that Shinigami don’t actually ‘kill’ Hollow when they destroy them. I’ve heard the term ‘recycle’ and ‘purify’ in that regards from listening in to conversations with the Quincy. But that leads me to wonder, have you ever heard of a soul in your realm that had previously been a Hollow? Or are they stripped of their abilities, memories, and simply wander? There are so many unknowns that go along with ‘purification’ that to me it sounds like it does destroy the person behind the mask. One of the reasons that, when I learned of it, that I didn’t consider allowing a Death God to commit to the deed… along with the fact that my Legion would likely cause a lot of trouble without a leader.” The first part of what she had said had been all factual as well, but the last sentence, or more specifically, the last half of a sentence, the emotion of humor could be felt. Yes, Shinku the Hollow, had just told a Death God a bit of a joke, even if the information that was said in that joke was completely possible. She hadn’t ever dared to test it, but it only made sense to her that they would become feral should she relinquish control.
Post Word Count: 1210
Thread Word Count: 7138