Pho
Member
Pho as Tabawara Udo
Shady as Yin Feng
Shady as Yin Feng
For quite some time, there was a question that sat in the back of Udo's mind, one that Kago had asked him some time ago. He had asked, "What does it mean to be a spell-blade?"
Such a simple question, but no simple answer. Udo wasn't really so sure. The division's ethos seemed to be to work together, and help others, and all that fluffy stuff, and they had techniques that united sword and spell. But really, all the divisions help others, one way or another. A shinigami in any division could find a use for the fusion of sword and spell. So really, why was Udo in the Eighth? Long ago, he had transferred there from the Ninth because he wanted to be closer to the front lines, but once there he learnt how those at the front were the victims of a lack of information. So, perhaps, if he had no significant reason to be in the Eighth, and he had learnt first-hand what a lack of information does, this reaper would be more useful in the Ninth. Udo had convinced himself, but there was someone else to convince.
The spell-blade submitted his transfer application, and was requested for an interview with the new captain of the Ninth Division, Yin Feng. On this frozen day, Udo walked the corridors he had walked once before, back to the captain's office he had visited so long ago. Three loud knocks reverberated through the solid door.
“Come in,” a voice from behind the oak said gruffly.
The hinges swung silently revealing the bandaged captain sitting in his metal chair looking at the newcomer with a small smile present in his gun metal eye. The quill in his left hand was laid aside. The pile of papers before him seemed instantly disregarded. The researcher motioned toward one of the empty seats in front of his desk. A cup of tea was placed before it still steaming.
“Please have a seat Mr. Tabawara, I do believe we have a few questions for each other. I’m rather interested."
At first Udo watched the door open, impressed by how silently it moved, despite the fact this door had hinges like any other, which should make noise. And yet they didn't. The next thing in the room that caught Udo's eye was Feng, not the bandages on him, but the fact he had prepared a cup of tea. One would expect a captain to want such a procedural meeting dealt with as quickly as possible, but this started to look like a more relaxed affair.
The spell-blade took his seat and said, "Thank-you for the warm invitation, Captain. As the higher-ranked individual here, I would say that the first question is yours."
Udo took a first, tentative sip of the drink, testing the temperature and flavour. Hot, but just below burning, right where a tea should be at the start of conversation. The balance of bitterness and other flavours sat near the middle, a good default choice for a tea.
The captain scoffed, “Already failed the first test, the tea was poisoned.”
Udo froze in shock mid-sip, wide-eyed like a possum in headlights.
A quick small laugh was followed very rapidly by, “I kid of course.” The researcher had far better things to do than sit around cleaning tea off of his furniture. He took a quick appraisal of the man before him, perhaps a bit too structured for his liking but that could change. “You’ll find, should you end up returning to this place, that I’m not nearly as much the villain as people like to make me seem.”
It was all curt nodding and small smiles, the kind that spoke to far more churning beneath the captain’s concealed face. Feng wore the masks like second nature, but the pretence of a poisoner was still difficult to wrap his mind around. Surely someone with common sense would realize that dosing people wandering into his office would bring up awkward questions if nothing else.
“We’ll start of course with the most pertinent question, why did you leave the Ninth?”
The spell-blade put down his drink and said, "At the time, I thought it was unconscionable to work in the relative safety of the lab while other shinigami get themselves killed on the forefront. It wasn't until I spent some time in their shoes that I realised I was looking at it wrong. When there is a lack of information, they're the ones who suffer. It's our job to learn what we can about our enemies and enhance our allies to strike down those enemies. The more disadvantages we can take away from them, and advantages we can give them, the better."
Udo noticed that small black splotches started to appear on Feng's bandages. This certainly wasn't the colour of blood, so he wondered what was going on, and asked, "Have you been injured recently?"
“Not any more so than usual, needle wounds from blood samples and one of the hollows stored down in Hades swiped me on its way in,” the researcher said seemingly confused. It took a minute for him to notice where the spell-sword’s eyes were looking.
The spell-blade thought to himself, Needle wounds my ass.
“Ah,” the man murmured. There wasn’t a definite emotion behind the sentiment just an expression of the realization of what was occurring. “You weren’t at my taishuu,” it wasn’t a question, just another observation.
The captain took a deep breath, trying to gather how best to answer the question, “Let it never be said I let someone not know what they were in for. I’m sorry for what you’re about to see.”
The captain took a letter opener that laid half buried beneath a stack of reports on his desk In a single deft motion the blade ran a near circle around his right thumb slicing the wrappings that hid it. Placing the opener back on his desk, Feng used his left hand to slide off the now freed bandages around his finger. What was revealed was a lump of flesh suffering from large amounts of chemical burns.
There was no longer a discernable fingernail, or for that matter no place a fingernail should have been. The area was marred with pox scars and yet unburst welts all the color of pitch. The same colored ichor ran periodically off the edge of the man’s exposed flesh onto the heavy linen wrapping that he held to catch the substance. Overlapped with the disease was a single black tribal design slightly lighter than the ichor ridden flesh. It was instantly apparent as the markings of the Void as it snaked its way back under more bandage away from sight.
“While studying to join the Gotei a good two centuries ago I had a certain accident with a biological weapon. What you see is what was left. No need to worry about it,” the man said with grim smile, “this is what my immunity to the disease brought me. A life as a carrier for the viruses that were manipulated into that weapon. I will say I lucked out, last thing I remember of that night was watching a very dear friend of mine liquify in front of me.”
A small amount of Udo's breakfast, now tinged with acid, found its way up to his mouth. The man swallowed it back down and took another sip of tea, to rinse out his mouth and calm himself. The sword-mage didn't need to draw on his own scientific knowledge to know that coming in to contact with Feng could have disastrous consequences.
The man trailed off, staring towards a spectre in the room. After a second or two he regained himself, “Ah apologies, I should probably warn you now, if you at all feel sick in the next couple of days or find any weird pocks inform either myself or Captain Frey who also has copious amounts of treatment serum.”
Despite what seemed a dire warning the captain smiled, “The desk should be more than enough distance to prevent cross contamination, Ekibyou is very picky about his host and hasn’t had a reason to infest others in quite a while. At least those who aren’t trying to kill us. We must do much for the sake of others, my blood is quite an interesting test subject in terms of weapon design.”
The interviewee listened carefully, and thought, Using his own body as a test subject for weapon design? Now I know how his papers on biological weapons had more insight than anyone else's.
Feng’s tone grew much darker as he continued, “I am not Saika, I do not believe that freedom will bring about truly great design. The freedom he and Kaede afforded this division was used to piss away a substantial amount of the budget on frivolous resources. Tell me Tabawara, are you prepared to enter into a kill or be killed situation to ensure that the fruits of your research are the ones that are known?”
Udo mirrored Feng's darkened tone and said, "If that is truly necessary, yes. The purpose of our technology is to tip the balance in our favour, so if one hazardous is act is required to set such machinations in motion, then so be it. However, I must point out that nine times out of ten, a dead shinigami is a useless shinigami. I would rather be useful."
The green-haired man needed to give the captain a worthy answer now, or he would suffer for it, like the time he accepted Kago's invitation to a "training exercise."
Udo looked Feng in the eye and said, "At first, I envisaged purely using my materials science background to these ends, but before coming here I decided it was wise to do some research, because walking in to a meeting empty-handed is foolish. I've read some of your work on biological agents, and taken note of your focus on weaponization. I would like to work on biological agents as well, but to a different end - sensory capabilities."
The hook was set, so next Udo needed to draw it in. He continued, "Have you ever been to a beach where the water glows when waves break? It's caused by microorganisms. Now if we could engineer microorganisms to respond to different stimuli, and give off different signals, we could create sensory systems more subtle than has ever been made before. We could collect even more data on everything everywhere, and nobody would even know we're watching them. What do you say, Captain?"
“How does the saying go,” the captain mused, “when you stare long into the abyss, it gazes back into you. Information is a powerful tool Tabawara. The right knowledge could cause someone of even Sayis’ reputation to be forced into retirement. The right information could lead a revolution, or squash it. I have seen many men become twisted in an effort to gain understanding. Along the way, enough understanding becomes power. They grow drunk on the very idea of becoming more and more powerful hoisting their empty knowledge as their sword.”
A small smile turned on the researcher’s lips, though his voice was even almost placid. “They become sloppy and fall victims to the very tools they exploit. When their schemes come to light they are left with even less than they began, not even a shred of wisdom as compensation. Better biometic analysis, is a noble goal. Even if it is unknown I believe it a worthy cause. However, a friendly piece of advice, be sure to remember why it is you are seeking the understanding. Forgetting the reason and corrupting yourself is liable to lead you towards running afoul of me. I don’t believe you’d wish that.”
"No, I'm pretty sure that's a bad idea."
Udo really wanted his new start to begin with a good impression, because a good impression would put him in a more productive position than a bad one. Presented with a verbal minefield, he had to tread very, very carefully.
The blade arcanist said, "I think you highlighted the pitfall of this approach well, in that an individual can become obsessed with their personal power and the expansion of it. Consequently, like presumably any other member of the Ninth, I will need to always ask myself, 'Is this for personal gain, or is it genuinely productive?' One key thing to remember, is that the value of a piece of information lies in the consequences of its possession. If I can learn something that can truly help the Gotei in some way, then it is valuable information. I there is something that can be learnt, but has no use, then it is worthless."
Udo took another sip of his tea and said, "It is my goal here to use information and technology to help our forces on the battlefield. As long as that fact stays with me, I shouldn't be a problem for you."
The green-haired man decided that wasn't the best note upon which to end his turn in conversation, so he added, "So, Feng-taichou, have you got a recommendation for a good starting point?"
“Information is a fickle thing,” the captain said lazily. “However, for you, I think working on metrics in Hypnos should provide a good starting ground. Unless you would prefer data entry, but somehow I doubt that. And please, just Feng is fine,” The captain added with a smile that almost seemed friendly.
“Hypnos is one of the more transient floors as people shift to and from it as needed. I’m sure the testing grounds would provide a nice foundation to your ideal. I’ll send in the transfer approval, you should have confirmation within the week. I expect preliminary experimental write ups two weeks following that, ith your first funding request due an additional week later. Welcome to the Ninth Tabawara, I do hope you’re prepared.”
[2385 Words]