CH1 Packing [Inv/Core]

Gage finishes getting dressed before he flops down on his desk chair, propping his head up on one hand and opening his email one after the other until he finds one that catches his eye. A message that comes from his direct employer has reached him, Polarity being a 'for hire' hollow extermination group. They have just received word from Iceland that some odd activity in one of its more popular tourist attractions has lead to the vanishing of several humans. Now that the numbers have reached five tourists have slowed down with their visits, fearing for their own lives now that the new has reached the papers. Gage has just received an offer for Holy shit, that is a lot of money! a lump sum of $22,000 roughly with the proof that there are no hollow on site.

Grinning like a mad man Gage stands up, the back of his knees kicking his rolling chair away to skid to a stop. By the time that the chair has come to a complete stop the whole email was printing with him throwing piles of clothing out of his dresser onto his bed. Grabbing his suit case and throwing it onto the bed Gage yanks all the cables out of his computer, sliding it into his laptop case. Shoving his clothes into the suitcase and zipping it up he starts throwing on a set of clothes that would be mildly comfortable for a plane ride, loose jeans and a soft tee. Grabbing his printed plane ticket Gage looks it over, the flight being in two hours he throws the strap to his laptop over his shoulder and slips his wallet into his pocket.

Gage stands there, pats his back pocket and feels his wallet, holds up his plane ticket confirming that he is holding it before it sets in. "Passport. Duh," walking over to his desk Gage rifles through it and finds his little blue American Passport, stamps filling it so much so that he is almost having to put in for a new one, the little book only having six blank pages left. Putting it in the front pocket of his computer bag he buckles it in with his ticket so that there would be next to no chance that he could miss place either of them. He could always take to company plane but 'Polarity' tends to charge your for the fuel to go anywhere. On a flight that far for a direct route and landing at the nearest air field the paperwork says that they will charge $600, something that most Hunters would be willing to pay but Gage had a bit of a penny pinching issue where he would travel as cheap as possible.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK The knock snaps Gage out of his little dollar counting in his head. Looking at his door he see's it closed, as it always is. Walking over and opening it up he hears a voice from behind him. Turning about he spots Tatsu, a Shinigami that he had met the day before in a skiff with some hollow hole that opened in front of the town Arcade. Walking over and opening his double windows Gage waves him in,"No of course you can come in Tatsu." Stepping aside Gage waves his companion in. Its true that they did not really know each other that well but a life or death situation will make you bond with someone in ways that years of friendship will never do.

It was kinda nice that someone in Karakura town was taking him leaving seriously. "No, its nothing too serious. I got a job out in Iceland that is needing some Spiritual Assistance. They think a Hollow infestation is taking over a big tourist attraction and the region has put down a lot of money to get the problem taken care of. My company was called and I am getting sent out. Why? Do you want to come?" Gage looks up from his bag once more as he makes sure that his things wont fall out and scatter. He wouldn't mind the company and having reliable backup is always something that you can appreciate.

Gages room was actually not too decorated, he was a bit of a minimalist but messy at the same time a scattered chaos spread out over his room. He keeps a lot of tools and gadgets on his desk with small parts nearby but there are no posters or clocks hanging on the walls. In all honesty it looks like a office where someone would go to get work done more that looks like a room, the only thing signifying that he sleeps here being the bed in the corner. "Well I would really appreciate the company, I don't like traveling alone. I have done it before and I don't care for it too much. The work itself isn't too dangerous. I have handled jobs alone before, the situation is getting a little bit sticky but nothing too serious, or at least nothing I can't handle. If you are interested in coming I can get us a more direct flight there." He was telling the truth, if his companion was really thinking about joining him that he would be more than willing to put down the extra cash so that they would not have to ride with a plane full of civilians.

"I'm not going to lie a lot of the time they send us in the dark, the most information we get being a visual explanation of what we are looking for. This time though it seems like the hollow has been causing enough of an issue that there is A general summary of the events in the area. There have been six disappearances in the last four weeks. Of those disappearances three of them have been under age girls. All of these it appeared to be happening inside a tourist location. Some kind of haunted castle out in Iceland. Someplace called Witch Wood castle."

Gage finally took a moment to look around the room, it was a chaotic order but it was a mess to anyone's eyes but his own. Walking around he holds the conversation while simulataniously he gathers a few miscolanious things off the ground and off tables that are either trash or some kind of tool, finding a different place to keep it. It hardly counted as cleaning really, more akin to reorganizing the mess really. "Well I appreciate the company," Gage keeps walking about nodding when Kyrel asks if the situation was four weeks old. "Aren't you a nosy one?" Gage's voice held a hint of sarcasm showing that he does not mind it that he was being grilled for information.

"No there is no one else. I keep this bed alone, you should know as well as me that having even an ounce of spiritual pressure makes you stick out like a sore thumb in a city where normal people walk around all the time. That makes the hollows come running every chance that they get. I mean," Gage cuts himself off before he denounces women," there was one girl, she was amazing. Fast, Smart, dangerous. Oh man was she dangerous. But she just vanished one day, I havn't been able to get a hold of her for months now. I have looked all over the place but she just seems to have vanished." She was it, Gage knew it. There would be hundreds of other women in this down but none could ever even touch her. Then Kyrel asks about the work, something he is still grasping, every mission being like a new one.

"No the work isn't becoming more dangerous. Its just that...I don't know. I have seen some good hunters get out of the game because they no longer want to put up with the hassle of worrying about some Solo hunter getting them killed. Show boating is basically a long term execution," Gage waves off Kyrels apology about not being able to share information about Soul Society investigations,"Oh don't worry. I understand what it means to have commitments to a group that requires loyalty and a moral compass.

Gladly accepting Kyrels offer to join Gage shakes on it. "You know what? I think I had already decided on how I was going to talk to you in front of every one too. I was going to pretend to be on the phone, like you were some guy back home or something. It would have been hilarious, not sure where you would have sat though." Gage listens to Kyrels comments on Polarity and their operations. "Well its not like they choose to keep us in the dark but the option of being informed does sound appealing. Honestly, if it weren't for the travel and the pay I would be doing something else, probably closer to home. I can't say that I dislike the feeling of knowing that I am helping others though. Backup does sound like a blessing though." Typing up a message he gets the private plane ready for flight, letting them know that he will be going with a plus one.

"I think your right for the most part. I can look into it for some more details on the flight but that's basically how this works. Until we get there and can look around though we are just assuming. For all we know it could be some out of his mind mad man that feels like he needs to get his hands on some blood."

"Average Joe, that's insane. Your already so much stronger than me and I have yet to find normal humans that are even close to me. If your the common person in Soul Society maybe it would do me some good to go and work for them instead. I don't think that I would be willing to die for the job though. I tend to care for living, the option of dying just for a position being a bit extreme to me." It was a little more than extreme. It was almost literally what you would imagine 'dying for your work' means. If the Soul Society was really that good then they would have to wait until he passes either of natural causes or when a Hollow finally gets the better of him.

"Nah, Not too many. I am sure that you have had more than me, I have only really started getting involved with hollows like...three years ago I think?" Gage picks up all his things and heads out the door, locking it behind Kyrel and heading down the stairs to his Cab, the airport to far away to take the bus and to close to take his own vehicles. The topic casually turns towards his female friend, the one that he cant seem to find.

"Her name was Ariu and she was...is good looking, definitely someone that I would like to bring home to the parents," more of an expression than anything, his mother having died at birth and his dad passing four years ago from smoking. "Her name was Ariu and I would look harder but its not unusual for people like us to vanish, just up and leave whenever we feel like. I did it when I moved here from the states. She may have done it to get away from something. For all I know it could have been for family."

Gage laughs at the image of Kyrel standing upright on the wing of the plane, the image quickly replaced with the image of Kyrels face trying to get peeled off by the sheer force of the air. "I don't think that would have worked, I know you guys are spirits and all but I haven't seen you guys ignore the energy from the elements. I mean, you can feel the breeze right? Why wouldn't you feel the wind on the wing? Can you let that stuff pass through you?" It was an honest question but one that he had never thought to ask before.

"Well if the pay enough to get by I might take them up on the chance of employment after I lose at being a Full Bringer. If it looks as amazing there as you say though I think I would love a chance to get around the place and give it a once over. If your clothes give me a hint to what it looks like at all I bet its going to be...historical." Traveling has really gotten into the top five favorite things that he does, the chance to go to the world of the dead being to big of an opportunity to pass on. "I wouldn't worry too much, here in the human world humans ignore energy while the hollows that tend to hang out nearby are either so weak that they hide or are so strong that we should want them to get out and leave the normal humans alone."

Sliding into the back of the cab after tossing his bags into the trunk Gage hand the cabbie a few buck and give the driver the address of the airport.

"Ha, well if you're weak I can't imagine what the rest of souls sorry looks like seeing as you're faster and stronger than me. All I can do is say that I've had a good amount of experience in the field playing cat mouse with all of these spirits. I'm not one to brag but I do know a little bit about the blade but certainly not enough to be confident enough to be wielding it during the middle of a fight." Gage himself is had some exposure to training with a blade, one of the things that polarity insists on with all of its hunters is that they are all able to at least maneuver each other's equipment without injuring themselves so that should one person fall his gear can be picked up and put back to use instantly.

" I think I would be willing to become a soul reaper if I were already dying. As long as I am already dying though. If I can survive I would very much rather stay alive, especially if I can become a soul reaper at any point during death," he meant it too, if there was really a chance that he could keep living to a ripe old age of 30 then he would do it, the afterlife can wait for him.

" Well we're about 30 minutes from the airport and we don't have to go through baggage claim so when I go straight to the plane and is going to send us off right away, I imagine the flights going to be about 5 1/2 hours. The good news though is that we get a complementary drinks service and free snacks," turning around the cabbie looks back at him, probably trying to figure out who it was he was holding a conversation with.

Grinning Gage smiles at the cabdriver who awkwardly turns back around to the road. " you never told me that that was your first Hollow. You should've let me know and I would've taken us out to get some drinks or something. Look at me, poppin' cherries left and right." Gage can remember his first hollow kill. It was a monster of a beast, he had gone with three other people out to some remote mine in the eastern part of Russia. It took a day and a half just to find the hollow since it could fly around and all of the hunters were unable to move that quickly. Eventually though they caught it inside it's den and put an end to it there. It's a short little story that gauge chai and put an end to it there. It's a short little story that Gage shares before they get to the airport.

Laughing out loud Gage slaps his leg a little bit," Well I feel like thirty is as much as I have in me so you and I might be working together sooner than you think." Checking his email he makes sure that all of his money was refunded for the flight he had just booked. "I like that, it sounds like it could be something to pass the time with on the flight. They don't have a whole lot of headroom but they definitely have enough room for the basics. I know that also reapers have a names for their swords, what is yours called?"

"Stumpman? Do you mean that you can heal amputations? I have never lost or been in danger of losing a limb but if you can fix that maybe I will be a bit more reckless and see if you are worth your salt." Yes well he may be right. The human world has so many wonders that have not been discovered. They are everywhere all around and all you have to do to find them is really just open your eyes. Truly he loves living here, there is something new to do every day and always someone to help. Being blessed with so much strength he could only feel like he would be wasting it if you did not actively use it to help everyone else.

Truly he loves living here, there is something new to do every day and always someone to help. Being blessed with so much strength he could only feel like he would be wasting it if you did not actively use it to help everyone else. Only two weeks ago he had saved a woman from A falling sign. Following the woman home he found out that she had a daughter that was two years old. If he had not helped at the mother had passed away because of the sign he would have to live with the fact that he left a two-year-old child motherless. How could anyone in the world live with that kind of knowledge?

"You know what? He is just a cabdriver. I don't even think I care." Looking back at the cabdriver Gage starts making a really weird face with one half of it super tense and the other one looking like he is trying to frown. " well it seems like a little skirmish has struck a chord with you. I'm glad you came over to check on me, company is always nice to have when traveling. It really does mean a lot to me, I spent a lot of hours flying and it can get quite lonely. I'm a little bit of a social butterfly. I don't need conversation more than most people but I don't seem to talk as much either, I guess it's really just the company that I like so much."

By this point they are pulling up to the airport, the taxi rolls up to a side gate where to arm guards open a rolling fence. Looking into the driver side rear window they spot gauge and wave the taxi driver in so that they can pull all the way up to the hangar doors. Climbing out Gage grabs his bags out of the trunk and tosses his computer bag to put over his shoulder. It was not a huge plane, it was a corporate jet that appeared to be able to fly very fast but could only hold 15 or so people along with the pilots. Standing just outside the door of the plane are two more guards dressed in black. Walking straight up to the entrance and up the stairs Gage throws his stuff into the front two seats and move to the middle of the plane and sits down. He was wrong, this plan was much too small to be doing any kind of sort play or training. The best he would be able to manage would be to talk over the theory but it's very hard to learn from just talking.

" I wonder why they gave me the small jet," comfy in his seat Gage pats the seat across from him so that they can hold a conversation. Inside the plane the seats lined the walls not facing the front but facing each other.

So, you say that you can speak with your swords to? I'm not going to lie, it sounds a lot like you guys can use soul communication like I do. I mean honestly, that is all that I do whenever I control whatever is around me. I am simply using my energy as a form of communication and pulling on the object with that energy I can get it to do what I want. It's not through force, it's more through a sense of understanding and request." Gage has never really had to explain his abilities to anyone before unless it was directly tied to his full bring. It had never occurred to him until now how difficult it really was explained his ability to draw on the souls of inanimate objects.

Still now every few minutes it would stop and laugh at the antics that they had played on the cabdriver. It was interesting to see that a spirit was able to interact with physical objects, even those of a living person be able to see or feel his soul flicking them in the ear. Good has been a part of a few hunting groups perform, a ragtag team of people with no interests in common except for their final goal of killing an evil spirit. To honestly say that he was part of a team, team that had more interest in each other than 'If he dies this will be harder on me.' It was an odd feeling, he had not felt this type of camaraderie before and it was nice to say that he liked it.

" honestly any time that we spend making plans right now could be a huge waste. We have no actual information on what this thing is, or if it even is a thing. For all we know it could be a madman so I think that our time would be better spent resting and maybe doing some research. We don't know anything about the place where we're going yet so we could look into that and if you don't mind I think I could see about at least getting you in communication with your Zanpakto." In all honesty Gage had never done this with such an advanced spiritual weapon but it may work now. On several occasions while he's been by himself he has been able to 'communicate' with items that have existed for a decent amount of time.

There was even one point where he was able to look into the past of an old rusty knife that he had found in the dirt and saw its original owner 70 years ago drop it out of his waistband. From there he was able to see tons of years worth of weather and wind pouring over the blade, rusting and away, and eventually the dirt covered it up making it entire world black. Spending About three hours on it Gage was able to clean it up, rebuild the blade, give it a new handle and wrap then polish it up for a final touch. After that he could actually feel the blade be more satisfied with its new appearance. Now the boy now the blade is in a display box in his house hung up on the wall overlooking his living room. It has been through so much, that deserves it now the blade is in a display box in his house hung up on the wall overlooking his living room. It has been through so much, that deserves a bit of a break.

"So its a little known fact that everything in existence has a soul. Even this," Gage picks up a pen and holds it up, green light sparking into it and holding it midair for a moment," As a pen this little piece of plastic and metal was molded by people to have a purpose, that purpose to write and that is all. However it does have a soul and sometimes that soul has plans of its own. They are not always 'sentient' like you or me but they do all have 'wants' and are able to conform to things that you ask it to do. I am able to use my own 'Soul' and insert it into objects, requesting that they do what I want. We call that 'Pulling' on an object so that it will behave how we want." Gage taps the pen with his finger and the plastic splits apart with small legs extending from the from, middle and back with a pair of tiny wings. Two small scythe like arms extends out the front making this small pen a little plastic preying mantis.

Gage takes the advice, willingly accepting that if this some how works and he can use his Soul Communication on the Zanpakto to communicate then he would have to keep it quiet, the Soul Society being likely to attempt to recruit him into their services or end him in case someone else tries to get a hold of him. Sitting back Gage closes his eyes, on hand on the sheath and the other on the grip of the Zanpakto. Taking a breath Gage does what he always does, using his own soul to draw on the soul of the object he is holding but this time he does it a bit different. There items have been proven to be sentient and he did not want to be too intrusive so rather than draw it out he used much more of himself in the initial push, so much so that he was able to push his consciousness into the blade.

Suddenly he is falling, a canyon wall whooshing past him as he fell, using his hands he tries to use his Soul Communication to slow his fall, regain control of himself but he cant. There is nothing there, he has no Soul to draw on, his body and spirit some where else. Panic is about to set in as he is falling, the appearance of a second canyon wall on the opposite side passing just as fast when he suddenly and with out a jerking motion is forced to a stop. Standing upright he is now stop a rope bridge, the ends suspended on the canyon walls but the distance swaying farther and closer randomly. Gage wants to say that it is from the world shifting but he knows better, it is his own grip on reality, his weak hold making the laws fade in his consciousness. Suddenly Gage feels a hard, armored hand on his shoulder, gripping his shirt. "Do not return without Tatsu." With a shove he is overboard again, falling through the air as he catches a glimpse of a woman standing much farther away watching him fall. Rotating midair Gage is able to catch a peek at his assailant before his consciousness is shoved out of the Zanpakto with force rivaling that of a tackle.

Slamming back into his seat Gage shakes the seat so hard that he strains the bolts, gasping for air and sitting upright. Apparently he was in only but for an instant but that one instant had used up all the oxygen in his body leaving him feeling like he had just run a mile as fast as he can. "I think I saw him, Your Zanpakto. He told me that I cant come back...that I shouldn't come back...without you...He asked for you by name Tatsu...They are there waiting for you." Gage didn't realize the significance of his words, one that he was able to enter the world of a Zanpakto and the other being that there were two of them.