[PM][All Q/10th] Week 171: Parade of the Dead

[Several Zombies]

OOC

So, this thread will be Q gathering/Andrew being chased by lil and hare.

Perched stoically atop an office building, Andrew Weiss watched the chaos unfold around Tokyo vicariously. Things had gone far from according to plan. Vincent was dead, Adena was off galavanting around the town with some filthy Shinigami, and the younger members of their fold had gone off to assist the other children at the local high school. Had this been his operation, he would be livid, but as it stood, he couldn't say this outcome was unexpected. The five Quincies -- and only five; Weiss wouldn't dare include the young Ayers boy in his tally -- were going up against a force infinitely more powerful than themselves. Even with the support of the humans, it was an insurmountable task. As much as he despised the Shinigami, and as much as he wanted to find his family, or any clues as to their fate, he knew this was a losing battle from the start. Still, with the passing of Vincent, the mantle of leadership fell to Andrew. Maybe he could salvage this two-bit operation and make something of it.

"One step at a time..." the archer reminded himself out loud. He was getting ahead of himself. Before anything could commence, however, their remaining forces would have to assemble. Letting out a flare of reiatsu, the blue-haired businessman waited. He knew his comrades would answer his call.

225

 

[Abbey Rose]

Beatty was the first to arrive, appearing next to Weiss in a burst of hirenkyaku. The Irishman’s face, normally so full of joy and mischief, was instead one of grim remorse. Even his trademark smirk was gone, replaced by an angry, thin-lipped frown. He looked less like Beatty without those happy traits, and in a way, he was less like Beatty, somehow. He was more like a ghost or angry spirit that had decided to use Beatty as its vessel.

“Is it true, Weiss,” the gintou specialist inquired, his tone matching the somber look on his face, “is Vincent dead?”

[100/100]

 

[Seamus]

Nathaniel was next to arrive, landing next to Andrew in a blaze of surprisingly quick Hirenkayku. The young man didn't want to be here, he wanted to be elsewhere helping the kids from TNK. In all truth, Nathaniel wasn't even sure if he was welcome here; after all, the young scientist was far from a true Quincy and he knew it. He also knew, just as well, that he was better prepared for battle in Tokyo than any of these ones.

"Well, what is it. Who died?" asked Nathaniel bluntly. "Was it this absentee leader of yours or something? Adena's out there still, I can feel her...and she's having a rather lot of fun. That doesn't bode well for insurance companies. You think a claim reading 'DESTROYED BY ANGRY QUINCY MADWOMAN' would be written off as an 'Act of God?'"

[138/--]

 

[Several Zombies]

"Hmph. You're not needed here, boy." Andrew said dryly. "And a word to the wise, it might be best to keep one's tongue in check on matters such as these..."

He could already feel Beatty's reiatsu rising in anger. Surely the magician wouldn't let Nate's comment that belittled their fallen leader slip by unnoticed. Turning on his heel, the blue-haired archer faced Joseph, his expression somber. Though he himself didn't grieve for Vincent, the loss of any Quincy was a blow to their already dwindling kind.

"It is true." The businessman said, his tone devoid of any kind of emotion. "He was felled by a Shinigami. It seems that scum hasn't forgotten their grudge against our kind. More troubling, however, is Adena..."

With that, Weiss swung around to face Nathaniel, staring daggers at the young Quincy. "It seems your dear sister has gotten friendly with a Shinigami. I don't suppose you've got any insight into this, Nathaniel."

Tapping his foot impatiently, the archer waited for Ayers' retort.

397

 

[Seamus]

"She must have found someone she gets along with. That or she was confronted with an enemy powerful enough to necessitate joining forces," Nathaniel said it all, straight faced and determined. This was not the time for Quincy segregation. They needed to join up with anyone they could. Staying together as a group would only insure their eventual demise to the fullest.

"If you ask me though," he continued, "I don't really see any problem with it. If we're to survive, we're going to have to make friends with the Shinigami. There's no. Other. Way."

 

[Abbey Rose]

“Boy,” Beatty said, whirling to face the “quincy”, “do you realize what you just said? You want to ally with the people who slaughtered our entire race? What kind of crazy do they breed up in your family, anyway?” This Ayers kid was seriously pissing him off, and if what Weiss said was true, his sister was not helping his foul mood at all. “Both of you are fucking mental! Why in the world would we ally with people who want nothing more than the genocide of our people?!”

Turning around, Beatty walked past the only other real quincy, “What plans did Vince make, Weiss? I remember him saying something about working with a group called Orpheus. We should meet up with them if possible.”

[125/225]

 

[Seamus]

A sharp click echoed through the room as Nathaniel snapped his fingers.

"Shitotsu Sansen."

Instantly, three triangles of glowing light lanced from his hand toward Beatty, pinning him against the wall and holding him tight. Though not one to normally turn to violence to solve problems, the young scientist had had enough of this particular man's rage. It was getting them nowhere, doing nothing except to see through the ideals of a deadman. A man, Nathaniel presumed, had been acting on those ideals when he died.

"If you're going to ask such a question," Nathaniel said slowly, addressing the man pinned to the wall by his spell, "then you better pay attention long enough to hear the answer. I am saying that we should at least make contact with the shinigami in a friendly manner simply because if we don't at least try to cut a deal with them, then all we are doing is simply putting off the day when we all do die. Additionally, wasn't Adena Vincent's counterpart? Should we not be following her example?"

Though he didn't necessarily thing following his sister in anything was a good idea, the stocky man figured that if he could remind them of who was still around to take command when they could, the might be more willing to follow suit.

"Either way, I refuse to follow the orders of a man I've never met and who's ideals and treaties got him killed. If you want to survive, then think of some other course of action, head elsewhere and don't follow Orpheus or we'll all end up dead. Just like your precious Vincent."

Nathaniel had never really liked blind obedience and blatant disregard of information.

 

[Several Zombies]

"Gerade Heizen..." Andrew sighed, pointing the tip of a gintou at Nathaniel. On cue, a large rectangle of spiritually-imbued silver shot fourth from the tube, thrusting the young Quincy from the rooftop. A flick of his wrist loosed three arrows, striking each of the bindings that held Joseph. As the bakudou crumbled, Weiss looked down on the young Ayers boy as he fell.

"Disgusting...Truly a waste of time."

The air around his forearm crackled and sparked as the dual bangles of his Sanrei glove separated, orbiting around his wrist as his bow manifested in all its magnificence. Pulling back on the ethereal string, the blue-haired archer charged one massive bolt and took aim.

"Get out of my sight..."

515


Now's the time for either Beatty to have a change of heart, or the Shinigami to jump in and redirect Andrew's rage 8D Or you can let Nate get shot >.>;;

 

[Inle]

Or you guys could forget Hansi...again D:

"Weiss! I don't like the bastard either, but we aren't mindless killers like some are." Rhythm's voice was just about the only thing that signaled her arrival to the small group. If Andrew hadn't been so quick to throw the idiot from the roof so quickly she could have dealt with him her own way.

"This isn't like you! Both of you! For fucksake return to your senses or-or we will die! Nothing will matter then, not the plans, or the trouble that Vince went to, his death! God damn it! Who the fuck becomes the fucking leader will be the least of your worries!"

[113]

I'll do better next turn >>

 

[Apeiron]

Least of their worries indeed. As if to punctuate the female quincy’s words, powerful reiatsu surged and stifled the air. There was no control to this reiatsu, for it was simply the ambient aura of a single shinigami. Unmistakable to the soulcrushers as their enemy, and unmistakable to the likes of any arcanist within the area.

It was a twisted force that rolled over Tokyo. Not the twist of a hollow tainting a shinigami’s soul, but it was a diseased feeling of corruption and mutation. It was unique to be sure and the owner doubted a single soul would ever forget the cursed aura he carried.

Swath in black cloth, both the uniform of a shinigami and his own title, he moved through the city. The steady stream of wind he created as he ran pushed back his long black bangs, and left his ponytail to whip about with his cloak. There was a troubling look to the serene appearance of his face. It contradicted the normally hardened visage his sleek face held, and after the meeting with Ciro, one would expect him to be furious.

It wasn’t far from truth, but Haresuno Uchiharu didn’t have time to let his encounter with the human bother him. The experience left him pushing away the whole ordeal for later examination. Even so, it left a simmering rage in the back of his mind that he hadn’t been able to have his voice heard with the man.

Most disturbing of it all, was how Ciro had treated the whole encounter. Had Haresuno, too, once been like that?

The thought was left hanging as he focused on his new objective. Central Forty-Six had given direct orders to the vice-captain of the Tenth division. Find the remaining quincies. To a man who was slowly beginning to understand the complex make-up of the worlds on a spiritual and material level, it came with surprising ease that he was able to locate them.

He hadn’t even reached for spirit ribbons.

But when there was a gathering of reiatsu Haresuno could only match to a single other quincy he remembered, it wasn’t all that difficult in the first place.

[361]

Lil~

I left the wording on the orders ambiguous so Hare can learn that Lil got a VC spot. I don't remember him ever hearing about Lilith's promo. If he has, send me a PM or sumtin'

 

[Abbey Rose]

Beatty’s face, already one of rage and hatred, darkened further as the corrupted reiatsu, unmistakably a shinigami’s, sprang up around them. In a way, it was almost worse than a hollow’s fell energy. That, at least, was clean and pure. This....rot, however, was a dark taint on someone’s soul. It disgusted the magician. He wanted to be rid of it as soon as possible.

Caution, however, kept him from immediately attacking the shinigami. The creature, as Beatty would so lovingly call anything with this kind of reiatsu, was powerful. Beatty did not even know if he could fight it one-on-one. The quincy would probably have to work together to bring the thing down without much injury.

Still, though, only certain quincy were neccesary.

“Boy,” the gintou specialist said, not even looking back at the man who had momentarily trapped him to a wall, “You’d best leave. Run along back to your high-schoolers. The real quincy have justice to enact.”

[160/385]

 

[Apeiron]

Hello Operator

Without warning Haresuno stopped in his tracks. The voice of his captain rung through his head like a dull bell, but he heard it nonetheless. His eyes were cast in the quincies’ direction, but they would have to wait.

Reaching into his shihakusho, the arcanist threw back his black dyed wool cloak and withdrew a vial of ink. Unstopping the vial he pushed up his sleeves and dabbed his fingers as much as he needed to perform the bakudou known as Tentei Kuura.

The pattern was unique to his being, a mixture of spidery swirls and jagged edges that rand down the length of his forearms. All that was left to the requirement was the words of power, and Haresuno knew those well from his first trek into Hueco Mundo. “Black and white net. Twenty-two bridges, sixty-six crowns and belts. Footprints, distant thunder, sharp peak, engulfing land, hidden in the night, sea of clouds, blue line. Form a circle and fly through the heavens. Bakudou number seventy-seven, Tentei Kuura.”

The words caused his reiatsu to fluctuate, but with each syllable he could feel the enchantment work. It snapped straight to Sayis, establishing the magical link, and Haresuno replied simply, “Haresuno here Captain. I’ve just broken away from the Sougi tower and currently on my way to meet some quincies alone - per Central’s orders.”

The nature of his captain contacting him didn’t seem too unusual, however the urgency of his tone did sent a murmur of worry through the vice-captain. Just before he was cut off from his spell, Haresuno added, “What’s happening?”

[624]

WTH?

Sayis used Tentei Kuura here. So know you know, and knowledge is powa!

 

[Several Zombies]

Unfortunately for the black-robed swordsman, Andrew had no intention of waiting patiently for him to arrive. Having picked up the Shinigami's foul presence at the same time as his comrade, Weiss began to gather masses of spirit particles beneath his feet. The bolt of energy still in the Quincy's grasp seethed and crackled with power as the blue-haired archer swung it around to face the direction new arrival. He would deal with Ayers later -- ending this meddling Shinigami took precedence.

"Hmph," the businessman scoffed, his arrow roaring hungrily as he took aim. "It seems our prey has come to us, Joseph."

In the blink of an eye, the Quincy leapt into hirenkyakyu -- quickly closing the distance between him and the swordsman's reiatsu signature before sending his glowing spear of reishi speeding towards the Shinigami's head.

653

 

[Abbey Rose]

Beatty was right behind him, the powers of hirenkyakyu sending him next to his partner. While he lacked some Weiss’s strength, he was not about to back down from a fight, especially not against the bastards that had murdered one of their own.

“Hemmen Zurückhalten.” the magician said, a silver gintou tube appearing like magic in his hand, its liquid reiatsu spraying through the air to give his words power. The cords of the spell were created a moment later, reaching to ensare the shinigami and bind him tin place.

[90/475]

 

[Seamus]

Hidden away in the confusion that was brought on by the sudden arrival of a powerful shinigami, Nathaniel used the opportunity to quietly sneak away into a silent hirenkayku. In his mind, helping the kids of the local high school was much better than electing to die here, by the hand of a shinigami. The young man had no doubt that, before things settled down once and for all, he'd have his opportunity to do such a thing. Right then, though, he was simply consumed by the will to live.

To go on to fight in other battles.

Final: WC later.

 

[Apeiron]

The sudden flare of reiatsu, the close proximity, Haresuno was just about to spring away when the foreign magic settled in on him. His reiatsu protected him from the brunt of the spell, tearing it down so Haresuno didn’t have to do much more than flex a muscle to break away. By then he had just enough time to let the quincy’s arrow slice through some of his cloak as he jumped out of the way.

Concrete spraying upwards as the arrow shattered the ground. Dust and debris hanging in the air while Haresuno used it to veil himself as he began planning.

Against Ciro he had chosen not to take action. Opting for a higher road. With quincies, however, it was going to be a far different road. These were humans with the power to completely destroy a soul. Rip it from its place in the cycle of life.

They were a balefire and they burned everything they touched. They could even be more plagued then the hollows. At least hollows didn’t deny what they did as wrong. From the classes he remembered, quincies believed they were right in their destruction of souls. They didn’t care.

A shunpo cleared away the dust where Haresuno had once been, moving him safely behind a building corner where the quincies couldn’t see, and channeling the arcane powers of his division, the vice-captain called down lightning from the burning sky. “Double Gorogoro.”

Lightning hissed and crackled as the swarm of cats formed. Haresuno’s trailing words giving them power. “The skies break open and thunder pours down. Tremble and see the sparks lunge. Bakudou number forty-eight, Gorogoro.”

With his spell out, Haresuno raised his voice so that the quincies could hear him, “My oh my, aren’t I just lucky. Here I am strolling through Tokyo when I find two hungry birds looking for prey. Glad I’m more of a cat person.”

[941]

Math

100 to break from gintou + 1800 for double cast Gorogoro + 200 for shunpo - 15% for feat = 1785 rei used.

 

[Several Zombies]

"Hmph. Weakling." the archer scoffed, drawing his bowstring. Standing calmly mid-air, suspended on a platform of reishi, the Quincy turned to face the advancing horde of thunder-cats and fired. A flurry of innumerable arrows spat from his bow, each vying to spear an individual ball of lightning. Explosions dotted the skyline as a majority of the static felines were snuffed out before ever reaching their intended targets. A few, however, managed to survive the onslaught, and continued to prance gleefully towards the pair of Quincies.

"How irritating..." Andrew said dryly, turning to Joseph. "Beatty, do something about these, would you?"

Slipping into another burst of high-speed movement, Weiss sped towards the location of the Shinigami, particles of errant reishi collecting along his bowstring as he moved. Appearing near to the black-robed swordsman, the blue-haired archer eyed him with a look of disgust.

"Running and hiding? I thought even filth like you had at least some pride. It seems I was mistaken."

814

Using Suzumegun; Fired 36 arrows @ 2.7% Shuuhaku each to take out some Gorogoro, four got through. That's on you, Grif 8D

 

[Apeiron]

"Pride, yes, stupidity, no. I have a very strict rule on which everything else is based. Survive. Which brings me to the next lesson I’d like to share with the class: quincies are predictable.” Haresuno covered his eyes with his mantle and hit the ground just as his Kansei went off. Spectrum flooded the alleyway in black light that would linger in the enemies vision, and good thing too. Sayis’ orders to halt his attacks just came in.

Haresuno released a breath of relief. It meant he’d have to shake the quincies but that wasn’t hard. In that same breath Haresuno released Break of Dusk from the signature on his neck. The dome of shadows settled over the two opposing forces, but Haresuno was already on his feet and getting clear of the archer at that point.

"Sorry birdies, but I really must be going now. You understand, I’m sure. But I won’t forget your faces! I’ll see you again!” The line was to give the quincies ghosts to hunt for. Ghosts that could hunt back. Maybe it would save them from chasing him down. That or the fact that he was heading for the amassed spiritual pressures of an entire army.

Let’s see just how predictable you are, quincy. Will you walk into the maw of your enemy?

?__?

Okay, so with the order to stop attacking Q's, Hare's heading back to the Tenth until further notice. If ye' want to chase, by all means, but I'd recommend against it. We can still use this thread for a chase fight, and maybe Lil shows up to scare you guys off or something. I have to go so PM me for ideas/w.e..

[1160]

 

[Abbey Rose]

“Schranke Heiliges Licht,” Beatty said, his mouth moving in the familiar language of the original Quincy. A gintou dropped from his hand, a sphere of light rapidly expanding from it to dissolve the quartet of lightning cats that had turned to start to follow his partner. He did the same, bursting into another hirenkyaku to catch up to Weiss.

What he met as he rounded the corner, however, was an large sphere of darkness. Dimly, he could only just make the silhouette of his companion inside the sphere. Any image, particularly that of the (most likely still feeling) shinigami, beyond that was gone. That, however, was not even close to enough to stop the gintou expert from tracking down his prey.

Focusing his thoughts, he felt out for the unique, corrupted reiatsu that belonged to the god of death. It was easy. No one he had ever met had ever had a signature twisted in such a direction that this one had. With it, Beatty could probably follow him through Times Square blindfolded.

But why is just running away?Is it another trap, like Weiss is in? Beatty did not really care, though. He’d get justice either way. Even if I have to kill an entire army to do it. So, with a shout at Wiess to, “Stop staring blindly into space and go after him, damn it.” the magician set off, following his prey as quickly as he could.

[240/715]

 

[Apeiron]

So they planned to follow? "A shame,” Haresuno mused as he hurried down the desolated streets of Tokyo. This avenue hadn’t seen as much disturbance as the others, but that wouldn’t last long. The fires in the near distance painted the sky in an orange hue, and unless something was done to get these quincies off his back there would be blood in that light. He was rather disappointed that the soulcrushers were as predictable as had been told. However smart you were didn’t matter if someone knew what you were going to do next.

There’s still time, the vice-captain told himself as his eyes quickly searched the streets, the buildings, and the overall scene. He had to work quick if he wanted to be effective. It would mean shoddy work on his part but he was pressed for time.

After a few minutes of working his wires into place where he needed them, Haresuno settled into his position on the top floor of one of the many second story buildings. Perfectly concealed so an archer would have a hard time spotting him, but with a good view of the street below. Now for the final piece.

"Bakudo number twenty-six, bakudou number forty-eight,” Haresuno called out, "Kyokko Gorogoro.” Lightning crackled once more, but only for a split second. Then it blinked out as if it never existed, and was gone from sight. Maybe with this he could take out at least one of those quincies. It’d be too much to ask if both were knocked out by this.

[1418]

More $$

Grif's turn makes it three if I'm not mistaken, so I get back a lil' something something. Other than that here's the costs for this turn (start of new 3 so I don't get anything back from this round):

Kyokko (500) + Gorogoro (800) = 1300 * 25% (Mahoubai) = 1625