Assemble The Party - Ready Up

Emi continued to eye Seran suspiciously, though at this point there was no reason to doubt him. "A pawn shop..." Emi thought for a moment. There was a particular pawn shop that everyone swore up and down was haunted. "I get it, you own that pawn shop." That only made Emi more suspicious of him, that pawn shop was in fact creepy, and with him seeing spirits maybe it was in fact haunted.

"A ghost could order tea, maybe not drink it, but certainly try and feel more human." Emi grinned, she knew it was a stretch but it wasn't hurting anyone. "Though, Mr. Seran, how much about ghosts do you know?" Both she and her sister were new to this world and Emi wanted answers to almost everything.

Kyoko took her seat next to Emi, who closed her book and smiled up to her big sister. "Not mean per-say though... I certainly hope theres nothing you broke that mom and dad have to pay for." Emi kicked her feet as she was just slightly too short to reach the floor while sitting. "But no, I was just asking your... acquaintance about ghosts and spirits, that he seemingly knows that you, and now we, can see." Emi didn't mean to sound so motherly, but it just came naturally whenever she spoke to her sister.

Seran eyed them both for a moment, frowning wondering how exactly he had gotten roped into teaching them about the spiritual world. It had been a long time since he had actually thought about the basic workings within the cycle of reincarnation, since most non-humans regarded it as common knowledge. But he submitted that he did have slightly more to say on the matter then some run-of-the-mill shinigami would. He cleared his throat slightly, considering the best place to start.

“From the beginning eh? Well this is quite a large scale topic so you’ll have to guide me a bit on what exactly you want to know. To start with then, human souls are separate from the physical body, since your soul is composed of spiritual matter or ‘reishi’ and you body is composed of normal matter or “kishi”. These two forms that make up an individual are bound together by a chain called the ‘chain of fate’ which connects directly to your soul here.”

He pointed at the center of Emi’s chest.

“Under certain circumstances, like a near death experience, your soul can be temporarily pushed out of your body and you would see the chain that connects them. You’ve probably heard of people having ‘out of body experiences’ yes? This is usually what they are describing. And if or when the chain breaks, or wears away with time….”

Seran made a motion with his hands like he was pulling something apart.

“...that is what you call death. I’m sure in the ghosts you’ve seen you’ve probably noticed the broken chain connected to their chest. Here is where we get into what you wanted to know. Normally at this point, a soul is free to move around as it pleases, and would be called a ‘plus’; these are the little wispy fellows you see flying around, still basically human just no body to return to. Under normal circumstances the… ugh….”

The mod soul’s eye narrowed with annoyance and he did finger quotes in the air.

“‘Shinigami’ tap these guys on the head and send them off to the next life, that's how it's supposed to work anyway.”

Seran paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts as he prepared to delve into an area of his own research. He tried to come up with the least complicated way to explain it.

“What's important to understand here, is that the greatest effect on a souls development is emotion. I don’t know how is was with you two, but generally if you aren’t born with the ability to see ghosts and do…. other things…. it awakens in response to an emotional event. But this effect can have a negative effect on the soul as well, especially after you die.”

He waved his hand somewhat dismissively.

“There are a bunch of names for the souls with issues like this, but the important point is that they don’t want to leave the human the human world. They have some unfinished business that causes them to actively avoid and resist attempts to send them to the next life, usually coming from love, anger, or fear. Love for someone or something that they don’t want to leave behind, anger over their death or some grudge from their life that couldn’t let go of, or fear of what comes next, or in some cases of what their punishment will be because of actions during their life. These are what you would typically call ‘ghosts’ because they’re much less friendly and often antagonistic towards humans.”

His tone shifted slightly as he continued, becoming grimmer than before.

“It wouldn’t even be an issue, if it weren’t for the fact the every soul that remains in the human world is a ticking timebomb. The chain of fate doesn’t just stay connected forever, it decays very slowly over time, a process that is sped up by the the obsession to pursue their unfinished business . And when it finally wears down all the way to the soul…. to put it plainly what you get is a monster.”

Emi's eyes widened at Kyoko's expression of power, and then utter horror as she realized they were in public. Looking around feverishly to see if anyone had witnessed such a phenomenon she realized that nobody was paying attention, or even acknowledging what Kyoko had done. Before Emi had a chance to say something, most likely to reprimand her sister's carelessness, Seran had already warned her not to use her powers so flamboyantly.

While Emi was alarmed by his next statement, she felt it was a given. This, however, left her with a problem. Either she trains somehow to protect herself, while also inviting more of the monsters, or try to blend in more, leaving herself defenseless to any future attacks. Kyoko won't be there forever.

Emi reached up toward the center of the table, her palms maybe three or four inches a part. In the center a small ball of water was forming, growing larger until it was the size of a golf ball before Emi dropped it in a nearby cup. "That's pretty much what I can do..." There was more, but it wasn't exactly appropriate to do so here."Being able to do this... makes me a target, right?" There was a bit of worry in her tone.

"

Water and lightning huh…

A frown invaded Seran’s features as he became momentarily lost in thought, drowning out most of Kyoko’s exclamation at Emi’s display of powers. Their base powers were quite compatible, and he couldn’t help pondering the reason. Souls of related individuals tended to have a similar structure, meaning they should both have lightning or water or at least variations rather than completely different elements entirely. He wondered it their parents had powers of any notability, it was a missing piece. But in the moment his hypothesis was Emi’s powers had been born in response to her sister’s, and he doubted that under comparison the two girl’s souls would look like the souls of siblings given his theory on Kyoko’s origin.

We’ll have to save such a comparison for later…

He returned his attention to the conversation in time to hear Kyoko’s excitement about the two of them being “magical girls”. It was a new term to Seran, but given the statements that followed he interpreted it to be something similar to a hero character in human literature.

“This isn’t some kind of game you know. Without proper training you’re more likely to hurt yourselves then a hollow. And just randomly releasing your abilities will only serve to draw them in before you’re ready to deal with them.”

Emi contemplated rolling her eyes at her sister but she wasn't rude, there was nothing wrong with being suspicious of this man. His grin didn't help ease the suspension either, nor did his little lesson he gave. Emi wasn't sure what to think, however, if this man was a shinigami why was his relation wasn't positive.

Emi sighed and sat back in her chair, running her hand through her hair she felt she needed to make a decision here. As the older sister Kyoko would usually make a decision like this but she would never force Emi into something that made her uncomfortable or something she wouldn't be able to handle. That is why Emi knew Kyoko wouldn't ask what was needed to be asked.

"Ok, Mr. Shinigami, I realize this isn't a game." She bit her lip and thought for a moment. "And because this isn't a game and I've already.... been attacked, we need to protect ourselves before protecting the town." At that point Emi was stricken with regret, she was showing such desperation and vulnerability, it wasn't a comfortable feeling. Taking in a heavy breath and exhale. "Could you... I don't know.. train us?"