Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rei nonchalantly watched Kasen fiddle his hair. It had a nice colour to it while hers was just plain black, tied in twin tails with one much longer than the other.

"How long have you been in the 11th squad?" he had asked.

"Not long," Rei answered truthfully, "I only just joined a few days ago and haven't really been doing anything. Errands, but that's about it."

Rei was interested in the fact that Kasen had yet to join a squad and was more than willing to help him find one. "What about you? Any particular interests in any particular squad?"

As Kasen said those words, Rei's eyes softened. She had heard stories from her peers, warning her that there were Shinigami who easily grew bored of their duties after living for hundreds of years. Sleep, eat, train, kill Hollows then sleep and eat again. 'It becomes mundane without some kind of entertainment,' they told her, 'and Hollows aren't your greatest enemy - it's boredom. That's why there are people who stab you in the back and why people stab them back - cause they're bored of waiting for a change to happen.'

Rei couldn't make any promises so she couldn't offer Kasen any comforting words other than "There's probably other people out there thinking the same thing."

Though it was faint, Rei smiled at Kasen. "Also, it doesn't hurt to do what you want to do, um, Kasen-kun."

Rei was dying from embarrassment then and there. Trying to be assertive in establishing a friendship was... too embarrassing! Sure that her blushing face was apparent, she shyly turned away from Kasen but her blush was still notable from the redness of her ears.

Linuen Frost
Fourth Division, Seireitei, Soul Society
Training Grounds [1: 287]

Linuen, a young member of the Fourth Division, arrived at the training grounds with a bit of unenthusiasm. The day was sweltering warm and he wasn't fond of very warm places; he disliked the feeling of getting sweaty and all the package that came along with it. Yet, even though he was quite tall and relatively medium of body build, he joined the event with his back slouching, indicating his mood for the day.

He was quite a handsome young Shinigami. His face was never intimidating, friendly even, so he wasn't much good in the ranks of other physical divisions of Seireitei. Truth be speaking, he got rejected once by this one squad but that's another story to tell. In the end, he joined the Fourth Division since he felt rather fond of it, in some strange way or the other. And even though it quite hot, he retained his standard Shinigami uniform - the traditional black and all - and tried to join among the gathering crowd.

Linuen soon found himself among the company of several Shinigami. He stood behind a Shinigami who looked attentive as he listened to another person's words (although he had a strong hunch that that guy was barely listening and was thinking other things instead). And then, the Fourth Division member observed a conversation between a guy and a girl, who seemed to have pushed her limits and was looking rather red (or was she blushing?). Looking around the back, he also saw this other guy, who seem to keep to himself (he was also wearing a standard uniform just like Linuen). Of course, Linuen barely missed the girl Shinigami with a bad temper and cursed a lot.

He stood watching.

"Yeah, I was thinking about doing something along those lines. I was also... considering..... Wait, does something feel weird to you or what?" Aradove began, but something stopped her mid-thought. Something felt a little strange, something she couldn't quite put her finger on, and she couldn't tell if it was good or bad until she saw the light flash from out of the corner of her eye. Was that kido? Couldn't have been... there wasn't anything around to be attacking with such force.

Until she turned a little and became nearly blinded by what she saw. Suspended in the air by some invisible force that she couldn't sense was a sphere. And it clearly wasn't a good thing if someone was directing such energy towards.

"Are you friggen kidding me! I just wanted to sleep today!" She cried in anger and despair. She raised her hand up to try and shield some of the reflected rays to get a better look at it, but to no avail. Not like it mattered, it didn't seem like it was even doing anything. 'Maybe some dumb experiment from someone else...?' She thought. It was the only explanation she could think of... unless.

She had almost missed it, but the results had to have been heard by even the most oblivious shinigami there. "The walls," Aradove whispered, unsure what to think. "The walls!" She said again a little louder, in disbelief. The walls around the Seireitei were falling, like a tower of blocks some little boy decided to knock over in his conquest to destroy his self-built city.

She heard the captain yell orders, but her mind was taking too long to register exactly what he was saying. What was happening? An invasion? Yes, she could see them now, the small blurs against the overheated sky, racing towards the Seireitei. She felt herself being pushed by other shinigami rushing to get out of the way, some confused, some hysterical, some trying to get others to calm down and handle things in an orderly fashion.

'Should I leave?' She thought, trying to make sense in her head. She looked down at the simple practice sword in her hand, seeing her white knuckles gripped tightly around it's hilt. She loosened her hold, and turned it over, examining it. It looked so pathetic, not like anything that would be of any use in defense against an attack. Every ounce of her was screaming to run, run far away where she would be safe. But for some bizarre reason, her feet stayed planted to the ground, held there by some tiny but powerful feeling that she couldn't understand.

'But what am I supposed to do?'


((Reminds me of Daleks, lol))

Linuen Frost
Fourth Division, Seireitei, Soul Society
Training Grounds [2: 469]

Linuen was about to talk to the inattentive Shinigami before him when the event happened. It was an extremely fast happening, something that he barely realized; although, he noticed just in time to turn at the huge blast of electricity across the sky.

"What... is... that...?" Linuen uttered in amazed wonder, unable to process what happened. First, he thought of an experiment gone wrong by the Twelfth Division. Then, he turned to the thought that it was perhaps a gimmick orchestrated by the Captain-Commander's office for the day's training. And strangely, he ended up with the theory that it was, in fact, a most likely threat. From that moment on, Linuen's heart beat so rapidly that he felt his chest tighten - the adrenaline kicking to his bloodstreams. "Something's not right..." He whispered to himself, mostly, but was heard by several Shinigami around him, who gave him nervous and anxious looks.

Suddenly, something happened.

The next thing Linuen knew was that the Sekkiseki wall crumbled before all of them. The young Shinigami's eyes widened with shock as he saw this and felt his senses stop for a moment, unknown what to properly react. It was very unlike what they studied in the Academy for this time he was bound by instant terror such that he could not move. Around him, he saw other Shinigami fall on their knees, dumbstruck and terror-struck by the same situation.

Instinctively, he reached out to his wakizashi. No. What would he do? He was but a medic and as a support staff, it was dangerous to go into the front lines along those assigned to the melee or defense divisions. Yet, undeniably, he felt a fear inside him that needed killing, something the was eating him to the core. Fear.

"Everyone! Run! Now! Regroup on Earth!" The Captain-Commander commanded before going in to meet the descending foes. Linuen felt a flicker of courage burn up to him so that he felt that he could actually fight but decided not to do so.

It was then Linuen realized that several Senkaimon gates were now being opened to evacuate the entirety of Seireitei. The medic looked at it and saw his other comrades run toward the gates. There was chaos everywhere and people ran here and there. Linuen, on the other hand, stood there, waiting for something to happen, something that would give him a reason to stay. For it was his task. For it was his duty to tend to the wounded.

He felt his arms waving towards the gates, ushering those who could see him. "Evacuate! Now! Head towards the Senkaimon gates!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, shaking off several others in their fear-trance and sending them to the gates' direction.

The metallic orb in the sky (ever still, unmoving and ultimately undetectable to the sixth sense that spiritual beings held) began another form of attack. Without making a sound the surfaces of the metallic orb began to ripple like water. It became quickly obvious that the orb was coated in liquid metal making it burningly hot. This, possible fear, became quickly realised by Shinigami all across the Sereitei. Shots of the liquid metal fell from the orb but in such a way they directed themselves for the Senkaimon across the Seretei. The one nearest the training group was hit almost immediately and the burning liquid metal washed over some Shinigami killing hundreds instantly.

From the liquid metal came a figure. Donned in black robes. The robes of a Shinigami. As the liquid metal shell vanished and harden the figured stepped out onto the air where he could be easily seen by those surrounding. His reiatsu gave off the impression of a Shinigami but the slightest trace of something else existed within it. Something like hollow. But it couldn't be. His spiritual pressure was strong but far from enough to be a Vaizard. He wouldn't have been able to handle the transformation. However strangely his sword arm, his right, was bandaged and the sleeve on that side missing. There was something strange about the Shinigami but it was too early to say what. Well that would've been the case had he not begun a mad attack.

Without a word the Shinigami took off and with his bandaged arm slashed at a Shinigami in front of him with his Katana. With just a single strike the sword of the defending Shinigami had been shattered and he had been struck hard enough to bring him to the floor. Bleeding heavily already. Had this been all there may not have been any question. This however was not the case. The bandaged Shinigami immediately got on his hands and knees and plunged the bandaged hand into the bleeding Shinigami's gut. It did not seem this procedure was unpractised. He gripped at a part of the Shinigami and then tore. Out of the now corpse came a faintly blue glowing organ of some description. Though it was not often Shinigami would see them this must've been the Hakusui and one of the two sources of a Shinigami's spiritual power. The bandaged Shinigami then shoved it down his throat, eating the whole thing in one go, small bits of blood falling out the edges of his mouth as he did so. There was definitely something strange happening now. This couldn't be an ordinary rogue Shinigami.

However here lay a chance for the other Shinigami. This creature, whatever it was, could still be killed and though possessing greater strength showed no signs of having advanced defensive abilities. While preoccupied with eating it would be up to the Shinigami gathered to executed a plan by which they could kill this thing in the guise of a Shinigami in a single blow.

Rat had made considerable progress, he was almost out of the open fields exposed to the blazing sun, towards the barracks when he noticed that the metal sphere in the sky appeared to be doing something again. Its surface was shimmering and distorted. Rat didn’t know what was going on but given what it had already done, a feeling of anxiety and apprehension filled him, encouraging him to speed up his sprint. Moments later, those feelings of dread were justified as what looked like pieces of the sphere itself began to fire off in different directions. One glob had fired overhead towards a Senkaimon, washing him in a burning wind as it whizzed pass. Rat didn’t even have to turn around to figure out that it had very possibly just massacred hundreds of Shinigami trying to escape. Damn it, if only there was some sort of cover available. If he had dragged along some of his materials and sandbags to build shelter from the sun, that might’ve been avoided. Rat mentally kicked himself for being lazy. How could that reconcile with the lives lost? He would need to keep stuff like that on him at all times now.

Finally reaching his barracks Rat hefted his war hammer and, through a combination of rushed anxiety and a feeling he wouldn’t be back anytime soon if at all, used the hammer head to leverage and flip over his bed with a mighty crash. With that accomplished, he dropped the hammer and dug through a thin layer of dirt before coming across a wooden board. Throwing it aside, Rat reached down into the pit and began pulling out items, including a set of throwing knives, steel plated armor, two padded boxes of Shell Blasts, a rucksack full of bricks, cases of unused clay, a utility belt with a pouch full of hollow clay balls, and an assortment of other things. It wasn’t until he noticed an odd Shinigami reiatsu tinged with a feeling of wrongness that Rat realized he wasn’t going to be able to physically carry everything set out before him. It was a horrible, gut-wrenching time for Rat to have to decide to discard items but he ended up strapping on the utility belt, hefting up his standard heavy backpack with one of the padded boxes and the case of clay, he hefted the other one under his arm and abandoned the rest. However unlikely it would be, perhaps he would one day come back, even if just by himself, and reclaim the rest of the gear.

Heading cautiously back outside, Rat had missed the large part of the emergence of the rogue, bandaged Shinigami yet peering at it from a distance, it only took a moment for him to piece together why this strange Shinigami had a bloody, bandaged hand and blood dripping from his mouth as well as the shattered sword on the ground and the fact that the guy he was on top of appeared to have a hole in his chest. Not to mention the swath of destruction caused by the impact of the boiling metal glob from earlier. Even worse, that man was between him and the Senkaimon. While normally he should be able to sneak past, the lack of cover, blazing sun, and his gear made that a very difficult prospect. If he wanted to pass, he was going to have to get creative about it. Rat first set down his heavy backpack and then cautiously walked until he was about a hundred meters behind it. Basic training was taking over as his adrenaline began to pump. Kneeling down, he carefully pried open the lid to the padded box and revealed three dozen Shell Blasts Rat gingerly spread out in front of him.

”Cast down thine eyes and drown in flame, Hado #37: Descending Flames.” Rat intoned quietly and hurriedly as a bright flame appeared in his right hand before it settled down as an orange orb that he quickly shoved into the ground. Did he have time for another one? He didn’t know but he was cutting it pretty close. Now all he had to do was to attract that thing into his ragtag, makeshift, throw-together shadow of a minefield. Suddenly this entire thing was already looking less appealing and certainly looked like a shoddy job. He needed to somehow buy more time yet fatigue from his earlier sprint and what felt like heat exhaustion was beginning to set in. Rat hoped the other Shinigami had noticed his preparations and made a motion in the air with his left hand for “More time”. With that done, he shuffled a few paces to the right and recast Hado #37.