[OPEN] Week 217: Just Popping My Collar

[Kago]

Note

So with all the debate going around the collars and metaplot for the last several weeks, I got tired of debating and decided to try to do something about it. If you have a collar, you are more than welcome to enter this thread and work with us to try to get the collars off. If you don't have a collar, you can still join but please try to contribute constructively. This collab is an effort to get something done; not just to boost your wordcount for the week. Thanks!

As the vice-captain of the eighth stepped into the arena that once held the Grand Seireitei tournament, he peered up at the sun rising overhead. The clouds passed just like any ordinary day; however, something felt strange within him. A slight fear at the dangers that may arise from his actions settled into the pit of his stomach and he hoped he was doing the right thing.

Over the past several weeks, Kago discovered that the shinigami, who fought recently in the sands of Hueco Mundo, returned with collars bearing a curse. Unseated and captains alike had one of their shinigami abilities sealed by the Vastro Lorde. No one was immune to the beast's markings and it pained the nobleman to see his brothers-in-arms suffering from the effects. With the ninth division reduced to limited resources and the fourth struggling to come up with a solution to the curse, the sword-mage took it upon himself to start searching for some clue to removing the unwelcome bonds.

Initially, Kago had only planned to invite Udo, Seitaro, and Senesati to the arena to begin searching for answers; however, as the official list of those affected passed across his desk, the vice-captain made the decision to include any of those interested in looking for a cure. Once the letters were addressed, he passed them off to official Gotei messengers to ensure the notes were hand delivered to the victims of Prometheus.

Having done all he could to gather all the marked individuals, the nobleman merely waited at the center of the arena and hoped that they would come.


[265]

 

[Nutella]

In the short time that passed after their return from Hueco Mundo, Yuurei's stance about their curse had changed, if only a little bit. She was restrained from using her kidou -- yes, that was totally hurtful, but she utilized the curse to work tremendously on her hohou. By waking up earlier than usual, she took the time to cast her kidou more often that her usual morning routines -- not because she could cast, but because she took it as an opportunity for the time being.

But then again, of course she would not pass up the opportunity to work with others to find a cure. Of course they were all afraid to risk everything by actually pulling it out -- they already had the former captain as a proof of what befalls those who dare. She herself had suspicions of what might help regarding their collars, and she was more than willing to hear out the ideas other people might have. Who knows, they might have the same suspicions.

And going back to Hueco Mundo to defeat Prometheus was at the very bottom of it. They once failed, and the collar will definitely hold them down if they dare.


The young arcanist had a difficulty reaching the tournament grounds, but she was able to reach it just in time. She sauntered without a single hint of neither excitement nor disinterest, but she presented herself well. Aside from her usual affectations, she wore a violet-red scarf around her neck. Everybody in the tournament grounds definitely knew what she just tried to hide, but she wanted to avoid the feeling of intimidation from the other shinigami who were not participants of the said meeting.

[ 284 ]​

 

[Apeiron]

It should have been something of a surprise, but given his meeting with the noble vice-captain only weeks ago, the next arrival was not so surprising to Kago.

His cyan eyes were sunken, and his face appeared ghastly, but that, somehow, did not seem to affect the noble bearing to which Haresuno carried. Haori trailing in his wake, the tall captain drove forward with an intent look on his face, and eyes that locked on to Kago’s form.

The message he received tested him, in patients and temper, but he could not fault the intentions of his noble friend. That didn’t stop Haresuno from being irritated though.

For one thing, he didn’t like gathering up all the members who wore collars, and for another he didn’t like the idea of attending. But there was information to be had, and information to give in kind. If something he knew could help the others at the very least, he had to try.

The straps on his body felt like they were simmering against his skin. An steady agonizing burn to which he could not douse, not yet. The faint edges of the cursed pieces were a whisper on the fringes of his uniform. Just below his sleeves, and his chest, but only if you really looked.

His eyes befell Yuurei, whom he barely knew but remembered from Hueco Mundo. He did not acknowledge her, but instead made a point to reach Takimoto first. He had words for the man’s ears alone, and his long strides would take him there.

"Takimoto-dono,” Haresuno greeted formally as he came into ear-shot. As the gap between the two men degraded, Haresuno dropped his voice for the vice-captain alone. "I received your letter, but it still puzzles me. Did you find something?”

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[Kago]

The nobleman lowered his voice to match Haresuno’s. "No, my friend. I have not...” he said apologetically. Shaking his head from side to side, he continued. "Neither has anyone else, I’m afraid. That fact had been bothering me for some time now. Outside of the fourth division, very few of you are trying to remove the bindings.”

Kago realized that he words might not ring true with every shinigami that carried the burden of the mark, especially since he did not know them all well enough to monitor their actions. He disliked sticking his nose into their personal lives, but currently, the odds were stacked against the Gotei. Prometheus alone was a problem; if he added in the Vizard from Earth and the human that assaulted the Central Forty-Six, the next round of fighting could wipe out the entire Gotei. If making himself a pariah to the marked shinigami helped unlocked their sealed abilities, then he accepted that fate; they needed to be at full strength to prepare for the pending chaos.

Raising his voice loud enough for the other shinigami to hear, the vice-captain introduced himself. "Excuse me? I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. My name is Takimoto Kago, vice-captain of the eighth division.” He gently extended his hand towards fair skinned female.


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[Nutella]

"Nice to meet you too, Takimoto-fukutaichou," she warmly accepted the handshake and gave a slight nod towards the vice captain's direction. "I am Kamenashi Yuurei from the First." She found no reason to state anything further -- she didn't know what else to say, really. Instead, the petite shinigami faced towards the captain of the Fifth and gave a slight bow towards his direction.

"A lovely morning to you, Uchiharu-taichou."

Oh of course she remembered him, but vaguely, if ever so. The vice captain though, inasmuch as she tried to remember, she could not find any recollections of him being in the scouting mission. And as the initiator of this whole meeting, it was a wonder.
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[Tenchra]

A pair of eyes appeared in one of the nearby pillars facing away from the sun. Before anyone could react the figure of a man stepped out of the shadows and into the light. Looking at the three people already there, he grinned as waved.

"So I am curious what brings you three here alone?" He asked out loud to no one in particular. He had sensed Hare and Yuu were close by together and being part cat, he was unable to restrain his curiosity. Looking at the three of them, he felt it had something to do with something important. Two of them had collars, the bloody and annoying handicaps that were afflicting his friends.

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[Wayne]

He remained distant at first, simply observing from afar. Kyuketsu knew better than to simply follow some random letter, be it from the Eighth or otherwise. However, as he caught glimpse of a familiar face standing with a group, his doubts and hesitations were quickly put at bay. As he headed towards Haresuno, who apparently was now a captain, the Templar made quick note of the other individuals present. Seeing a lieutenant’s badge strapped around one of the men, Kyuketsu could only guess the severity behind this little gathering of theirs.

"My, the past few months have been nice to you, Mister Uchiharu. That haori suits you,” he spoke up before bowing to the taichou. "It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

Turning to the side, he placed his sights on the fellow Vice-Captain, whom, by the design of his badge, could only be the Eighth’s own. "You are...” he paused, contemplating. "Vice-Captain Takimoto, yes? We’ve never met. I’m Reijuu Kyuketsu from the Eleventh at your service.”

And to the other two, another man and a girl, he gave a light smile and bowed to them as well.​

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[Apeiron]

Stretching his hand out to either of the two, Haresuno took the honor of introducing his comrades, "This is Morrison, Lucas of the Tenth Division, and Kamenashi, Yuurei of the First.” Looking at all who had gathered, only one question really concerned him: why was Lucas among them? Had it just been by coincidence, or had he received word, somehow, of what was happening. His question was too vague, leaving too much room for an answer.

With his hand falling back to his side, Haresuno looked to his sparring companion, Kyuketsu, "The months have been kinder, but thank you none-the-less Reijuu-san. I hope that in the near future our burdens will be less so.

"As to what we are doing here, Lucas, Takimoto-dono and I are familiar with one another for a while now. We’ve been looking into the most recent events, hoping to find some nugget in the aftermath. Which is why Reijuu-san and Kamenashi-kohai are here.” Smiling, Haresuno hoped this would be a sufficient explanation for Lucas. Any other day he would welcome his friend and body guard, but this was not a matter the captain believed he should be involved.

[496]

 

[Tenchra]

"I just sensed both you, and Yuu over here and I was curious as to what was going on, so I thought I'd crash your little party." He grinned as he glanced at the others. "... and has Hare already said I am Lucas Morrison, 3rd seat of the Tenth. So... Anything I can help you with?"

 

[Time Lady Katie]

"What do we know?” Adelaide mused with one of the more credible cohorts she had in her collection. She was all for creative solutions, but admitted she did need someone with a less, shall we say, unhinged mind. "We know that the collars were placed on you when you barely survived an encounter with a Hollow. We know that removing the collar kills.”

Adelaide reflected on her brilliant idea.

She seemed far too excited for her own good, "What if that last point works backwards? What if killing you removes the collar?” Somehow, her level of pride in this statement seemed well out of place. She didn’t even need to look at Udo to know he was looking at her with sheer dumbfounded, disbelieving dissatisfaction. "I don’t mean actually kill you; I mean make it think you’re dead. Hit yourself with Lazarus and see what happens.”

Maybe it was that conversation this morning that led Adelaide to be walking into the arena with Udo now. She did notice Yuurei, but promptly decided to pretend that the woman wasn’t actually there, but a malicious figment of Adelaide’s remarkably disturbed imagination. She was far more troubled by the fact that she didn’t belong here. At all. But, Udo wanted her to pose the idea to the group.

Maybe his idea was to give credit where it was deserved, or to shame her for involving herself in matters that weren’t rightfully hers to meddle in, or perhaps even some combination of the two. It didn’t matter, she felt about as low as she could possibly feel. She expected her idea, such as it was, to meet with the scorn of people who had a problem she could never hope to understand. She felt an overwhelming need to apologize for being here.

In light of the tactless way she wore her amethyst and ruby Reminiscence on a black choker, she probably needed to apologize.

"Um,” she said hesitantly, almost hoping Udo would take care of this for her. Guilt overwhelmed her, and she wanted nothing more than to leave. But she also had a responsibility to be as helpful to those who needed it as possible, especially in light of how badly it had afflicted her division. She couldn’t not say it, though, "sorry.”

The green eyes reflected the kind of intense guilt her tone expressed for having come here. Granted it was something she had wanted to do until this very moment, but the desire to blame Udo for her presence was remarkably high now. She took a few deep, slow breaths in an attempt to calm herself down, and failed. Her next best habit kicked in, she started fiddling with the silver bracelet she was wearing on her right wrist. As strange as it was for her recently, she didn’t have anything in her shattered shoulder-length red hair to futz about with, so she needed to move to another affectation to play with as an unconscious, and actually rather calming, habit.

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[Pho]

Considering Udo's last meeting with Kago, he was guaranteed to turn up, although his timing wasn't the best. The Sixth Seat brought his superior with him, so that he wouldn't be the only one with a crazy idea. The inquisitive man had figured, since neither the medics at the Fourth nor the Scientists at the Ninth couldn't remove these bindings, and presumably the First and Tenth had tried too, there was simply no way a shinigami could remove them. Udo's reasoning led him to the conclusion that perhaps the power of a hollow was needed to remove this mark - in other words, burn it out with a Cero.

The reaper hoped his comrade's crazy idea might make his crazy idea sound a less so.

The green-haired shinigami entered the arena alongside his fire-haired compatriot, making sure she didn't bail.

Arriving, he said to the people there, "Good morning, Uchiharu-taichou, Takimoto-fukutaichou, Kyuketsu, Yuurei, and Lucas, the last of whom whose name I just picked up."

The amethyst-eyed reaper turned his gaze to Lucas and said, "I'm Tabawara Udo, Sixth Seat of the Eighth Division. Nice to meet you."

Why Lucas was there Udo didn't know, but if he did not belong, the higher ranked officers could deal with him.

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[Albinocur]

Zakeriah rather gradually drew a breath through his cigar as he strode into the meeting. He rubbed at his neck, the collar was a constant presence like a pair of hands around his throat gently strangling him. Several of the others had apparently already arrived, almost all donned matching collars of their own, each cursed in ways that he did not yet know. The thought of the curse brought his hand to the hilt of his sword but as soon as his fingers found the leather bound grip they halted, the reminder of his own curse tingling within. He took the cigar from his lips and exhaled a long trail of smoke as he closed the distance to the group. He recognized Kyuketsu immediately and the others rang familiar from other meetings the squads had held over his time with them though he didn't really know any of them.

Being a late arrival he only caught the snippets of the last couple conversations but people hadn't begun tossing around any ideas apparently. He placed his cigar back between his lips and spoke though clenched teeth. "Well then, I'm no doctor or theorist but I'll try just about anything anyone has to offer."

[202]​

 

[Wayne]

He smiled as he gave Zakeriah a welcoming nod. Listening in on the Third Seat, Kyuketsu shrugged as he pointed his thumb back to the swordsman.

"I’m with him. Even if it’s not a guarantee, I’d rather do something than stand idle this entire time. It’s already a burden facing off regular Hollows in this restrained state. The faster we figure out how to reverse this curse, the better chance we have if incase...” The Vice-Captain paused. There was a hint of annoyance present in his voice as he licked his lips. "...If in case ‘Prometheus’ decides to make another move.”

Though he had yet to make acquaintances with all of the Vasto Lorde’s victims, Kyuketsu already knew for a fact that each and every one of them harbored a static grudge towards the beast in one form or another. They all wanted their own brand of personal justice, not just the Templar. He turned towards one of the shinigami gathered who had mentioned something about using kidou. The woman had a decent point, but still flawed nonetheless. There wasn’t any surefire way to determine if her theory was right, but the lieutenant was already open to anything at that point.

He turned towards the female from the Eighth and asked, "I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with Lazarus. Are you saying it would make the target appear dead Á  la ‘Romeo and Juliet’? I... suppose it makes some sense to try i.”​

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[Time Lady Katie]

"Well, about that...” Adelaide bit her lower lip, "I might have an idea.” Okay, it wasn’t a great one. Worse still, it was a bakudou, and Lucas was here. That was about the most shaming thing she could imagine, next to the fact that Lucas was going to mock her in front of her divisionmates and Yuurei. And when he did, then the feud between them was going to be a lot less cold distance and a lot more something that involved swords and pain.

She realized she needed to introduce herself to a few of those in attendance. "I’m Adelaide Pierce, Fourth of the Eighth. And it just sort of came to me this morning when Udo got that letter from Kago. We know that if you take off the collars, you die. What if that works the other way around?” she paused again, to led the insanity of the plan really sink in.

She picked up once she had their attention rather undivided, "I don’t mean to actually kill you. That’d be a bit excessive. But we could use Lazarus?” she would have looked at any arcanist in attendance, but most of them were not on really good terms with her at the moment, so instead she looked to Captain Uchiharu for confirmation.

He turned towards the female from the Eighth and asked, "I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with Lazarus. Are you saying it would make the target appear dead Á  la ‘Romeo and Juliet’? I... suppose it makes some sense to try it.”

Adelaide nodded, "More or less, yes. Lazarus is a bakudou that imitates death. You look dead, you feel dead. No pulse, no vital signs. It might not be an option for those of you who aren’t as versed in kidou, but for those of you that are, we can test the theory and then find a way to pass the effect on to the rest.” She could feel the unease wriggling within her heart. Miyabi had been right, she did insert herself into other’s business, but she had an idea here, one she didn’t think anyone else would come up with. She had an obligation to be here, didn’t she? Even if her idea was a little insane, it was certainly worth doing.

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[Apeiron]

Lucas’ request was quickly drowned out. Several more individuals appeared, one right after another, and with them came the buzz of conversation.

This sort of collaboration; this sort of team-work, filled the new captain with a small warmth of pride. Given only a handful were gathered from specific divisions, but nonetheless they were working together to solve this problem.

So when he caught Adelaide looking to him out the corner of his eyes, he scrambled to pick out the details of her idea. Some mechanical part of his brain whirled, bouncing back and forth the idea of using a faux-death scenario to essentially trick Promtheus. It sounded like a good plan - a hell of a lot more than he was able to bring to the table, at least.

Haresuno had been trying to avoid kidou as a solution because of his own curse. He had problems with the simplest of spells, and had taken hours to cast anything higher than a shouaku. And it only served as a reminder to the frustration and failure he felt.

Raising a finger to stall Lucas, the Adept broke from his inner-workings. "Pierce-san, was it?” He searched for where he had heard that name before. "I would wager you are the same shinigami who was charged to help the Thirteenth, eh?” He waited for her nod. Hesitant though it seemed, he sensed that there was something more to her.

For a long moment, Haresuno let silence drag. It was too late to dismiss Lucas, and he could no longer try to keep a few others out of what had happened, but even so he did not want all his work and Hayato’s efforts to be for nought. Did he need to walk delicately, or was he too far into the field of glass to care where he stepped?

Cyan eyes roaming the growing crowd, Haresuno found himself looking not at each person, but rather their collars. The obvious sign that they were all forced to carry, while he himself was able to hide his straps. Were their pains as great as his, or - perhaps - were they lucky enough to skate away from such a horror?

He decided that any vile touch of the vasto lorde was painful enough. Breaking the silence, he said, "It could work.” As much as he wanted to let the woman celebrate any sort of triumphant take, he needed to make sure she wasn’t dissuaded by illusions of grandiose nature. "But,” he intoned carefully, "before we jump into that, we need to tread carefully.” His eyes turned to Lucas where he held the other man’s eyes with his own, and a mischievous grin spreading over his face. "You may be able to help. We’ll see.”

[955]

Note: I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Hare does not have a collar. I think a few of you have been saying he does. Don't worry about fixing this, but this is JSYK.

 

[Albinocur]

"I remember you." Zak took his cigar out again and gestured toward the redhead with it. "You're that arguemenitive girl from the war meeting before we went to Hueco Mundo." He couldn't help but smile, during that meeting the two of them had 'disagreed' about the scouting strategy rather publicly. She reminded him of his last wife before dying and being sent to the Soul , not only in attitude but also physically. This time however, he agreed with her in theory. "Creating the appearance of death may not be enough. This thing..." He indicated the collar, "...is smart, my curse forces me to bow every five seconds or so that I'm wielding a weapon, but this is not just my zanpakutou. I scooped up a rock the other day and was casually tossing it in the air, I had a fleeting thought about how it would make a fine projectile. As soon as I perceived it as even a potential weapon that damn curse hit me."

Zak placed his cigar back in his mouth and continued. "Now I have to not only be careful about what I pick up but what I think about when I do pick it up. If the curse is that aware it mat not be fooled by the illusion of death." He let the implication he was making hang in the air as he took a light draw from his cigar. If they had any skilled healer here this Templar was absolutely ready to actually die for a bit if it would break this curse.

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[Nutella]

"Lazarus might have a shot, but seeing as we can't even cast a proper kidou, that might be quite difficult. Also, it makes a person appear dead. Aren't we closer to death while we were unconscious back there in Hueco Mundo?" Her words might not have been carefully chosen, but she took into consideration the situation of the last man who spoke. "If it responds to thought, then the collar will probably intercept that we are, in fact, trying to deceive it.

"Although the idea that it works the other way around does seem like a good starting ground." There was a smile across her lips with an approving nod. "It might be advantageous though, if we have a healer among us."
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[Tenchra]

"Now before you get any crazy ideas here Hare... I would like a second to speak my thoughts." He gazed over everyone as he drew their attention. He had sat there and listened to them al speak, but there were things they were over looking and he was sure Hare sensed it as well.

"Now while Adelaide's idea seems fair, there are a few things we need to consider. One, this was a powerful Vastro Lord and was he was able to bind a collar on a dozen or so shinigami of varying strength. Like all spells, techniques, tricks they all must be powered from something. For us it is reiatsu, the power source within ourselves." he paused for a moment trying to see if what he was saying was getting through to people, which it seemed there were still a few vacant eyes. "How are these collars being powered? A normal binding degrades over time and grows weaker. These do not seem to share in that trait, which makes me believe they're being powered by our own reiatsu pools."

"Think about it... if they're being powered by us, Lazarus might not work at all. It would essentially be like plugging two devices into an outlet and saying one socket is broken while the other works. The collar will be able to tell that you're not dead." he paused again as his words were finally starting to reach people. This was a good sign. "Now I have an idea we can try, might be a bit dangerous, but I would like to hear more ideas from others....even Hare."

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[Pho]

Udo liked listening to everyone else's ideas, since they all sounded more reasonable than his. Adelaide's suggestion might be limited to those who could cast high-level kidou, but at least they wouldn't get hurt by it. Lucas's insightful suggestion implied that depleting one's reiatsu pool would break the curse, which could be done, and hopefully shouldn't kill anyone. Or alternatively, the lack of resistance would cause the binding to kill the subject instead.

The violet-eyed spell-blade jumped on the sharing bandwagon and said, "Personally, I like both of your ideas better than mine."

After a short pause he said, "My line of thought was since us shinigami couldn't remove it, a hollow was needed. The most defining hollow power I can think of is a Cero. Thefore, the logical, perhaps completely retarded, conclusion of this line of thought is to get hit by one and hope that it burns out the curse through the competitive nature of hollow kind."

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[Code of the Noble]

Quick post will edit later, had to get sene in here somehow and yes I has a collar... u_u

"Are you suggesting that we intercept a cero in order to remove these... mystical contraptions?"

Even though Senesati was no expert with science, he doubted and at the sametime valued young Udo's thoughts and hypothesis. Although it sounded crazy, it somehow made sense.