The City & The City [MISATO]

"Wha--what's going on here!?!?! What was that thing!!? Why are you acting all quiet and cool like something crazy didn't just happen!??! What kind of sword is that?! How did you cut down that big monster all by yourself!?! And who goes around jumping on lamp-posts and stuff?!? What the--I don't even---WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING?!?!?!?!"

As the girl was walking towards him now, and he'd already been headed towards her, the distance between them was cut down rather quickly (5m), and Seikatai pointed at her, at where the hollow had been, at the lamp-post. He spoke rapidly and excitedly, frantic, all with his eyes closed as he rustled uncomfortably beneath the weight of what he'd just seen. He was sure to still act partially frightened of her, to shift the direction of his sightless observation to her sword as if it might grow limbs and attack him suddenly, to be as outwardly wary of her approach as possible without actually running away. He held both hands up as if to placate her, analyzing her without seeming to.

She's wearing normal human clothes, but is also carrying what must be some sort of Zanpakutou. Usually, actual Shinigami aren't cognizant enough of human culture to wear modern fashion styles and never while 'on duty'; she also smells and tastes human, not like a gigai or some other artificial construction, and she's not physically reacting to my presence like someone whose spent a hundred plus years fighting monsters. She seems to be purposely ignoring me; the humming is key enough to that, though I don't recognize that particular tune. Shinigami would hum something they'd recently overheard, especially if they were simply dressed like a human - there's no music in the Soul Society that isn't the function of someone's Zanpakutou, and whatever she's humming doesn't exactly sound like a recent radio hit. She's also got her hands in her pockets, something a born-warrior would never do, unless they were so powerful that killing a hollow in so obvious a manner would be unnecessary. Conclusion - she's a human, with some sort of Shinigami abilities, who kills hollows. There are tons of illegal Substitute Soul Reapers, but she's not running or hiding or killing me...yet, so she's obviously not very concerned about being seen by others... 

He thought over the span of half a second, awaiting her reply as he positioned himself to be directly in her path. In order to pass by him, she'd have to physically move him, or move herself around him.

"If you're going to be an actor, make your spiritual pressure follow the emotions your trying to give off."

Hmm. He thought to himself. So her spiritual senses are high enough that she could normally detect emotional fluctuations in the spiritual pressure of a human without any spiritual power (and realized that she didn't detect these things, near instantly), but not high enough to sense...IT sleeping within me? 

An interesting puzzle to consider; her control over her spiritual pressure was at the very least above average, and she had given him something to consider. Though it seemed highly irrational, to assume instantly that his reaction was not based off of perfectly explicable shock, or prior experience (he could have been a normal human who'd simply seen a hollow or a shinigami before, as that wasn't exactly rare), or relief, or fear in the presence of a stranger with a sword, or any one of a thousand glandular misfirings in humans that caused a dampening of emotional affect - but was instead proof of 'acting', and not just acting, of specific acting...it was...a weird way of thinking, at least from Seikatai's perspective. What she'd meant by using the word acting was essentially acting like you don't know what's happening, meaning that she assumed that he did know what was going on, and she didn't care. He could have been anyone, anything; a hollow in disguise as a human, the very human that brought the hollow she killed out into the open, an enemy using the hollow as bait to catch her - the possibilities were endless, yet. The girl left such possibilities unexplored. It meant that she was most likely simply a dismissive person; she didn't think about these variables because she never did, or hadn't had to.

Almost as proof of his conclusion, the girl not only took out a spiritual communication device - a type of badge he also carried; but she also said her own name! Ketsugo, he fumbled with the pronunciation in his mind as he listened. In only a few seconds, she revealed her reasons for being in this location and that she had direct interaction with...the Captain Commander? Seikatai pierced together the information as she spoke. 

She must be a Substitute Shinigami...and if she 'eats dinner' with - or is at least familiar enough to joke with - the Captain Commander, she's most likely from the first division.

So; the Squad 1 Substitute Shinigami, Ketsugo. 

"Had to take care of some business." 

She added, chuckling, as Seikatai considered her advice. He thought he'd already fluctuated his spiritual pressure enough to fool anyone; she was perceptive, this Ketsugo, but intuitively, as a function of some deeper emotional callousness or oversight, he was almost certain. He needed more analysis. He figured now was a good time to test some theories. His look of practiced panic faded as she scratched her nose and regarded him, and he let the mask of false fright relax itself away. He spoke, and for the first time, opened his eyes. 

The whites were black, the pupils golden.

"Oops. Got me."

He said, staring at the girl for the first time, and allowing his spiritual pressure to push past the Kingseal, just a bit.

Contacts? His expression was unchanged, save for the slight raising of his right eyebrow. Isn't she in a peculiar sort of hurry. Seikatai tracked her arm raise, the finger point, the clicking sound of her teeth. He tensed for the briefest of instants, prepared for the release of some technique, but - no.


”Anywho, I gotta get going. Catch you on the flip side maybe. I’ve gotta practice some railgunning and sip on some tea. Toddles lover boy.”

"Rail-gunning?"

He added, and as he watched her feet prepare their pivot, his thoughts flashed to a single word.

Unacceptable.

As her body began its rotation, so too would Seikatai's own form move - the instant her head shifted sufficiently to prevent his body from being in her direct view, he leaned low, forward, a semi-crouch that projected the top of his body towards the ground with a sudden rocking; the in-place-dance swing of the ginta. As his right palm touched the ground, he pushed with it, fingers and knuckles a brief concert of touches that carried him around the girl's blind side, opposite of the direction she'd turned at the speed of the infamous flash-step. By the time she'd fully about-faced; Seikatai would be directly in front of her, though seemingly upside down.

The Nullo would allow him to clear the short (5m+) distance between them quickly enough, and from the most inconspicuous vantage, that the sudden movement of his left hand, revolving him into a full handstand, would come almost instantaneously after. The shifted upswing would allow him to bear-down with the brunt of his weight, left heel no-doubt descending successfully to crash into the center of her forehead if the strike connected. His right foot remained 'cocked', knee bent, his senses washed over her in a blending of stimulation that relayed her every reaction as it happened. Had he timed it correctly, the heel-crashing down would coincide with her mouth moving to say "Maybe we'll--".

But this was not a deadly blow; it would barely even be a painful blow, merely a comparatively (to her movements thus far) quick and unexpected one. To punctuate his motions, he spoke again, this time almost to himself, as he prepared his own unique test of the Squad One Substitute, his off-color eyes taking in the twisted view of his movement connect from the bottom up. Gangusuta at his waist seemed to flip, carried only by gravity, the top of its hilt now facing the ground and the girl's feet, Seikatai's eyes facing his 'opponents' body.

"Kingseal: Gamble Break."

Active Techniques Used: Nullo (Null), Capoeira; Girar (Revolve), Shadowless Blood Violet King Seal/Gamble Break Attempt @ End of Post.
Click for Technique Descriptions.

Contact! Her feet had stopped the moment he appeared; a slight movement of her head and body allowed his heel to crash into her shoulder instead of her forehead, (which, due to an augmentation, would hit her with the strength of three such hits, and not one) and in timing with his heels first instant of connection with her, Seikatai's left hand left the ground a few inches, moving to the flipped Gangusuta.

As the strange "Star Toy" was aimed, hilt down, at the girl's feet - her knees bent to brace for the impact, her body essentially forced into the ground by the difference in their natural weight and height - a flick.  The flip of a tiny switch activated the blade on Gangusuta, which would shoot out, and given their relative position, push its blade directly through her right foot with no warning, splitting the space just below and in between the second and third toe, further rooting her in place. He pushed himself up, using the blade as an anchor for his weight and forcing it deeper into the ground, raising his full body up higher into the air, right hand now leaving the ground as he balanced bodily on the hilt itself with his left hand, moving his left ankle easily out of the range of her turning head (though his left knee would now be in her biting range). As his right knee had been bent - primed, waiting for reaction - and he was directly facing her the entire time, it was relatively easy to use that same right leg (and its now slightly raised vantage point), to kick up and out in the moment he'd pushed himself upwards, his right foot crashing into the side of her exposed cheek while her mouth opened. The momentum of carrying out the second kick would push his entire body away from her (as he'd kicked straight into her turned jaw by simply unbending his knee), allowing him to avoid what felt to his senses like the performance of some sort of technique, centered around her face. 

Even this second kick would not be that intense; it didn't need to be, yet.  His trained senses picked apart her reactions as he would allow his change in momentum to let his body fall "back", away from the girl, right-side up, his back now turned to the Squad One Substitute given his previous direction.  His left hand would not leave the hilt of Gangusuta, leaving his left arm turned and torqued awkwardly to still hold it in his clutch without facing her. 

A tinge in his heart told him; the Kingseal.  It had successfully been broken.

Augmentation Active: Choppy Waves
Techniques Used: [Kingseal Broken (From Previous); Access to "Harmony Gambler" and related abilities gained.]

Excellent. As the blade connected through her right foot, sunk in deeper by the addition of his weight torqued into a handstand, it would serve its only real purpose; limiting the maximum range her left foot could travel for the duration that the blade remained planted. The flicker of spiritual pressure and a familiar burning sensation warped her body suddenly, exploded outward with great force, made her body erupt into flame from head to toe, but only after this had occurred did she begun her roundhouse. The blood on her face - only capable of being caused by his second kick, and thus acknowledgment that it too had occurred successfully - coupled with the enhanced swiftness her body now displayed meant that the half-way point of her twisting counter-attack, and the moment she decided to use her strange poking technique aimed for his gut, would have to reasonably catch him before he could completely return to the ground, but immediately after his second kick had landed.

This meant that when her thumb pointed towards him, and he sensed her reiatsu build to release it, his left hand would still be gripping the hilt of Gangusuta, protruding into her foot. Since for some reason she'd decided to slide that same right foot back to perform the roundhouse, he'd be mid-fall, still pushed by the momentum of his kick, still facing her, still upside-down, when her enhanced strength pulled him bodily with her turning. Her foot sliding back would cause his left-arm to follow it - dragged, almost like a ragdoll - moving his frame swiftly to follow its path. Her own strength would yank him out of the way of the 'headpoke', and while his left-hand would let go of Gangusuta the instant his gut - and the rest of him - was out of harms way, his perfectly free-right hand would touch the ground to slow his momentum, using it to prop himself up quickly into a standing position barely a meter behind her. 

Gangusuta, without his grip, would become once more just a strange object as its blade retracted into itself, and Seikatai would watch the girl with the entirety of his senses as around her hands, feet, arms...all was engulfed in wildly colored flame.

"That...looks like it'll be hot."

He said, curious, eyes squinting to indicate her new shroud of power. He was wary of the sudden increase in speed it seemed to bring her, had felt firsthand her savage strength as she'd kicked through the pain of her own pierced limb.

I will be stronger, faster...He thought, making it knowledge, making that knowledge reality, Harmony Gambler's bizarre sub-power radiating out to encompass his very existence. He remained wary, and moving, despite the sudden increase to his own strength and speed, slowly inscribing a circle around her with his steps while maintaining his short distance, keeping her body in front of him.  Now armed only with his innocent looking Zanpakutou, his black and gold eyes regarded a sensory fecundity representing the Squad One Substitute in ways it would be impossible to explain to anyone else.

Techniques Used: Oblicua (Tier III for x2 Strength, x2 Speed)

"Hey! You're not sticking it up my backdoor! So yea, can we NOT do this here?" 

I am more than faster, I am...the fastest...he thought, Oblicua making it tangible, considering carefully how strange her sudden shifts in cognitive behavior seemed to his understanding of people. It was almost like flirting, but off somehow, psychologically dampened, as if the words weren't meant to entice, or even to distract, but were some kind of unregulated insult. She hadn't immediately struck him as someone so preoccupied with indecent thoughts that they'd be incapable of holding them back in between being kicked in the face by a stranger. Perhaps she took it as a game? Seikatai will leave, willingly. He projected into the Squad One Substitute, listening to her talk and ignoring her possession of Gangusuta.

He looked to his right and left, scanned the near empty streets and houses, searching for a viable location to continue his little test. Found one a few blocks away; a junkyard of some kind, long abandoned, near empty, away from civilians. 

"I doubt you'd care for finding out if I'm on my period or not...not really, but if we can like, move this away, I'll maybe shake my tail feathers for you."

Was it a black joke? He wasn't sure; it certainly felt like a black joke - he could remember a song, maybe, somewhere, some other time -  or at least a joking statement made in awareness of his blackness, but that seemed so uncharacteristic here, so...American...he would have chuckled if he could express sincere emotions outwardly. It was actually funny.

As she finished speaking, Seikatai raised a hand and pointed in the direction of the deserted junkyard. He began to spea---

He was upon her.

Eradicating the distance between themselves with a raw speed she would not instantly be able to match, from so short a distance, and at the most opportune of moments, for the sole purpose of increasing the chances of his success, he lunged at her, barely a blur of steps, moving as fast as he possibly could. He held nothing back, would hug the girl to his body tightly (the burning, the pain that sweltered his skin, her power as the agony that he ignored without so much as an extra heartbeat, that he smiled through) with his right hand clamped down around her to grip into her ribs, full strength, his right knee not altogether uncomfortably lodged in between her legs, his left hand..

..touched the hilt of Gangusuta..

-snikt-

Its blade would spring forth - _{held between skin and panties and skirt} - and with the carefullest of maneuvering possible only through a complex wash of sensory input allowing him to feel each movement, to hear it, to taste the colors of it reflect darkness as it dragged, his grip would guide the sword's subtle motion through the girls underwear, and then slash it apart, upwards, wildly, inexpert...through her skirt...to completely remove all the garments covering her lower body before letting her body go.


"Nice moves, Commander."

Techniques Used: Oblicua Tier III for x3 Speed boost, Demon Charm School Tier IV