Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sora just melts when Tsubaki calls him Uncle. And can not stop smiling. "You are welcome." He says to each in turn as they thanked him. He then sits to eat his own snack. Once finished he recleans his work area so that it would be ready for the next person. He then looks at the Vice captain and bows as she goes to leave. "Take care Vice Captain Sawako." He says then looks over at the girl as he thinks of something. Sora slips away to his office. A few minutes later he returns and walks over to Tsubaki. "Tsubaki-chan here." He takes a chain out of his pocket and puts it on the child. Dangling on the chain is a small piece of sapphire in the shape of a snowflake. He then looks over a Ikasu. Several of these were custom made by my a friend of mine but the person who ordered them never showed up so she gave me a few to give away. He hopes he is not overstepping any boundaries by giving the girl a necklace. He then pulls out his phone to see a message from Hikage and frowns. "I must go." He says and hurries out.

word count 204 X 2.6 + 3,986 = 4,517

[exiting to yet undecided place]

Hax practically runs, skips, and hops into the Twefth Division. "I get to do a science~!" He happily bounds down to his lab with a long suffering Ikasu trailing behind him. "All the science~!"

"Please be more dignified. You're supposed to be an old noble ..." Ikasu mutters to him as he follows after him.

"Nope!" Hax cheerfully denies as he hops into his rolling desk chair and allows it to spin and wheel him across the room to where he wants to go. He taps a few buttons, causing hidden panels to swing out and a hidden work table to rise up out of a hidden trap door in the floor. "Let's have some fun, Ika-chan~!"

"We are supposed to be saving Ran, not watch you display how much of your mind has gone over the past ... how long?" Ikasu asks, a mild smirk appearing on his face as he slides on his lab coat. His smirk spreads into a grin. "Ah, who am I kidding. I'm excited, too. Are you ready, Ran-chan?"

Tsubaki walks in, eating a fudge pop she had bought herself at a ice cream shop near the division and wearing the necklace that Sora gave her earlier. "Can I help?" she asks as she climbs up onto a stool in her own lab coat. She playfully swats at her dad's hand as it ruffles her hair. "Papa~!"

Hax smiles down at Ran and simply replies cryptically, "Doing you the justice that you have deserved all along. I just read your mother's notes." With that he places his palm print on the palm scanner and types in his key code, then signals for Ikasu to put in his security override. "If you please," he says.

Ikasu glances over at the notes and nods, then places his palm on the scanner while entering his override code. "We will do this the way we did with Tsubaki, only not from scratch this time." The table top splits and slides open, revealing an incubation bay similar to the one that Tsubaki had just emerged from. Retrieving the soul capsule, he finds the hidden seal and pops it. "Do not fret. This is probably going to feel good after a moment," he soothes as he removes the capsule, revealing a gelatinous core. Sakura had been known for her bio engineering projects that would often blur the line between shinigami and mod soul more so than the previous vice captain Nemu. The fact of the matter is that this is what her original purpose was going to be, had she not been forced into a female reigai. No, this will be more appropriately referred to as an artificial shinigami rather than simply as an artificial soul. As he gently removes the amorphous form, he investigates. "I sense the spark, Uncle. Do you?"

"Yes, this one will be strong. A word of warning, do not assume that anything is truly known about this one, because even the gender is up in the air." He gently takes the formless flesh and lays it gently in the heart area of the mold. There is no artificial brain in there. This one already has a mind and a strong one. "You will sleep for a while, Ran-chan, but when you awaken, you will have the form that is truly you." With that, he slides the bay shut and sets the timer and the chemicals to start their job. Ikasu monitors the entire process, adjusting the chemical flow and materials as necessary. While they await, Hax finds some clothing that should fit the new body of Ran.

Tsubaki watches patiently from the sidelines as she finishes up her fudge pop and plays with her necklace's pendant. "Science is very interesting!" she cheers as she flings the stick into the garbage nearby. Closing her eyes as Ikasu gently wipes the stickiness from her face, she giggles. "Papa~ I could have done that myself!"

After the first few hours of watching the adults mess about with the incubator Tsubaki hops down off of the stool and approaches the table to examine it up close. "This is like the thing I was born in, isn't it, Papa?" She looks up at him with big innocent eyes and watches him for his reply. Closing her eyes as he gently rubs the top of her head she sighs, starting to get the idea that neither man likes explaining things to anybody.

Ikasu is busily monitoring and recording the process while running dozens if not hundreds of calculations in his head as he precisely employs each ingredient as needed. This process is the older way, Sakura's method, but still quite useful. It is only slightly modified in more modern materials according to the composition of the being known as Ran. He is nearly caught off guard as Tsubaki suddenly appears next to him and inquires about the incubator. Absent mindedly, he pets the top of her head in a comforting gesture that he used to give Toraneko when she was much younger and he would have to baby sit her in his early days here. His mind is set to the task at hand. It is only when she huffs in frustration of being ignored and having no task of her own he looks down at her in surprise and then smiles at her. "Tsubaki-chan, I hardly expected you to stick around when we are in the middle of this. Are you really curious about this? Where you came from?" Seeing her nod he picks her up and gives her a big hug, then sits her on the top of an empty work table. "Well, my dear, you are much like your cousin in that table. Let's see how to put this in terms that you can process at this stage of your development. Your data banks are devoid of the actual details and your young mind is so fresh. However, there was much science involved. Genetic materials were contributed, more so than for your cousin. You have much more hardware than your cousin does." He pauses in his explanation, realizing this much she had figured out from earlier conversations and plows ahead, "Well, once we mixed our genes together by splicing them into a cohesive build we incubated you until you were mature enough to leave." He hopes that this is as detailed as she wants since he is not quite yet ready for her to know all of the details, lest she attempt to request a sibling any time soon or worse, try to make one. Besides, that is something that he would like to talk with Sawako about should that be decided again. Her keen skills and superb implementation is top tier. Not to mention the genetics between them has merged quite nicely.

Hax continues to maintain the observation of the incubator and every strange liquid and nutrient pumped into the nascent soul. Ran as she was, is not Ran as he will be. The notes for the original intent of the program was for Sakura to overcome her infertility - the cause of which was not stated in the file. As such, he can see why Ikasu has opted to have children by this route. That attack had rendered him incapable, even once the reconstructive surgery had taken place. That said, he is certain that there is more to it than that. Still, he never presses Ikasu for his side of the story. When Ikasu gets distracted by an inquisitive Tsubaki, he smirks slightly understanding the outcome of giving too many technical details to a novice, particularly if said novice is just a child. He chuckles to himself, thinking back to the twelve children he has raised over the many years of his life. Most of which he has out lived or lost touch with. Grace is the only one he is certain of where she is. Soon she may find herself back in the Soul Society, this time as a full shinigami. Then again, humans are living much longer lives these days. It is hard to say, really. After hours have passed, he orders a large vegetarian pizza. "No sense in going hungry. This could take a while. I think this is going to incubate just fine." Seeing no objection from Ikasu or Tsubaki he goes ahead and orders it. He knows full well that Ikasu is not going to press him to order him any meat products.

Hours pass on and day becomes night. The next morning Kirukoto is up and brightly investigating the incubation process, changing out the nutrient feeds as necessary. He hums cheerfully as he goes about his work. Watching the process on the monitors, he grins cheerfully. "Oh~!" And sends a message to Ikasu to come join him. "Ah~! The progress is going quite well, Ika-chan~! Are you and Tsubaki going to come down and check out the progress today?"

Ikasu replies from the doorway, "Behind the trend there, Uncle. By the time you sent that message we were already at your door." Without looking he gently but swiftly restrains Tsubaki from charging in like a wild animal. He is deeply regretting letting her get that sugary breakfast at the tea house. "Settle down, please. You need to learn some manners." He then pats her on the head and smiles down at her to let her know that he is not angry with her, despite his stern tone of voice. "That's better. Now walk to go see them."

"Hi, Ojisan~! Papa got me chocolate chip pancakes and whipped cream with strawberries and hot chocolate for breakfast!!!"

"Mind your volume, please, Tsubaki. Papa has a bad hang over," Ikasu says as he opens a sports drink from Kirukoto's fridge. "It could kill a vasto lord ..." he mutters as he sinks into a desk chair.

Kirukoto makes a "TCH!" noise and waggles a finger at him. "Now, now, you brought that on yourself. You have a kid now. You can't just go on drinking like a frat boy as a father, much less at your age. Don't go blaming her for your self inflicted penance for over indulging on last night." He gives Tsubaki a hug and behind her back sticks his tongue out at him with a wicked smirk. "Now don't go following your Papa's baka example. He is smart in every way but that."

"Don't you have some science to do or are you going to lecture me all morning? This child wouldn't go to sleep until midnight. She's a little doll here, but she was so wound up by time we got home that she-"

"And who decided to share whose genes with her? You had to know that it was a possibility that she would wind up. Just. Like. YOU!" Hax giggles as he pulls a breakfast bowl out of the fridge. Rice, egg, tofu, natto. He begins to eat it nice and slowly in front of Ikasu and with delight watches him dash to the restroom to void his stomach contents.

Tsubaki watches the exchange between the two men and then looks concerned with Ikasu starts horking up his breakfast. "Why did Papa get sick, Ojisan?"

"Your papa has always thought that natto is disgusting. I have extra in my bowl this morning." He offers her a bite and starts laughing as she gags it out of her mouth into the trash can. "An acquired taste, admittedly. My mother made me eat bowl after bowl of it until I decided that it was not so bad. Now I cannot imagine my breakfast without it on my rice. Granted, I do wish the delivery place had provided the picked vegetables that I had ordered." He looks down in surprise as Tsubaki hands him a small paper bag. "Huh? Where did this come from?"

"It was on the ground outside of the Division."

"My veggies! Oh! You are such a good girl, Tsubaki!" He cheers and hands her another bite of his breakfast. "You need your protein. This is fried tofu. Go ahead. It tastes nothing like natto."

She takes allows him to feed her the bite and blinks up at him. After a moment she smiles. "Salty."

Ikasu rinses his mouth out and walks back in. "That was awful. Old man, are you trying to kill me? Please tell me you finished eating that disgusting sh- ahem, stuff." He looks down at Tsubaki and watches her crunching on the bite of something that Hax has just shoved into her mouth. "Isn't that a little spicy for a little kid?"

Tsubaki crunches on the pickled pepper; at first appreciatively and then suddenly her eyes widen. "AH! TOO HOT~!" The poor little one fans her tongue, tears streaming. "TOO HOT!" She sniffles as Ikasu pulls a bottle of milk out of his travel bag. He figured that she'd wind up needing it since little kids need calcium and protein. She drinks it greedily until Ikasu pulls it away, admonishing her that she would get an upset stomach if she drank it too fast.

"Better?" he asks with a reassuring tone and a gentle expression.

"Better." She sniffles for a moment and says, "That was the second mean trick Ojisan pulled on me. Before that he made me eat his barf beans."

Hax has a look of protest on his face. Ikasu on the other hand glances over at him and then begins to laugh heartily. "Yup, I can see there never being a dull moment with us."

Ikasu walks back in around noon with something for Kirukoto to eat, seeing as his usual solution to realizing that he is hungry is to down a hastily made smoothie. "Ojisan, we thought you might like a bite to eat. Fried squid." He watches for Kirukoto's visceral reaction.

The look of disgust is just barely hidden, but if you know him you can see how disgusted he really feels. "Ah, um, hmmm, eh .... I think that I will just have my usual-" he begins to politely refuse. He is quickly interrupted.

"Just kidding! I know how you find meat of any kind nauseating," Ikasu cheerfully sets a take out bag in front of him. "I brought you some Buddhist ozen and about half a dozen assorted onigiri, because I know how fond you are of them. There should be a double serving of the ozen, because the portion size looks so darn small. How you don't starve to death on your meager diet I will never understand."

"You should try it, Ika-chan," Kirukoto remarks as he suspiciously examines each take out container. "You didn't sneak any meat in here, did you? Not even dashi?"

Ikasu gives him a flat laugh, "Heh heh heh, no. I have eaten your appetizers before. I do not find it filling enough nor I have your commitment or hang ups. I did not take a monk's vow, after all. Muramasa and you can eat all of the vegetarian dishes to your heart's delight." He smirks as he pulls out his fried chicken strips and starts to eat them with a great deal of pleasure.

Kirukoto cringes at the thought of eating meat and turns his back to him. "You know why, Ika-chan. Too much blood in my youth. Took too many lives as part of my duty in my younger years. Saw too many projects that could turn your stomach in the labs. Never mind watching you peeling your meat apart little bit by little bit and eating it one string at a time when you were little. If that doesn't turn somebody's stomach nothing will. Such terrible manners picking at your food with your fingers and eating like a barbarian."

Ikasu chuckles as he eats his chicken like a civilized person. His dish is a rice bowl with fried chicken and steamed cabbage. "Oh, you. There's plenty of your dishes and ingredients that are completely disgusting to me. That natto is like something that-" He stops himself looking down at Tsubaki who has her face half buried in a bowl of ramen because she barely has the handle on her chopsticks yet. Thankfully he had been able to put together a pair of beginners chopsticks which are connected together with a rubber band to help her learn. "You got this, sweet heart." He says cheerfully patting her on the head, opting to stop his insult trading with Hax. After all, he is uncertain if she will pick up bad habits from their usual banter. He wonders where the vice-captain is and then shrugs it off. She is probably training or doing whatever vice-captains do. "I went over your latest budget proposal. I need to ask you some questions about it before I green light it and pass it on to the Vice-Captain for review."

"!" Tsubaki squawks as her boiled egg slides right out of her chopsticks' grip. "Dang it. I'll get you, egg," she says as she chases it around the bowl.

"Oh?" Hax asks after slurping down the second bowl of miso soup and grabs an onigiri from the tray. "Like what kind of questions?"

"Why do you need double your normal budget for developing the next upgrade to this division's security network? Is there a particular reason last month's router is already being replaced?" He asks as he moves on from the chicken to the cabbage. "I'm done eating meat now."

Kirukoto turns around and is about to answer when he sees Tsubaki eating a slice of pork out of her ramen. He looks positively green around the gills and turns back to his desk with his tray. "That was a dirty trick, Yougan Ikasu," he grumbles. "But in answer to your question. The better question is, why did the network crash three nights ago? Quite simply put, it was down because some of the newbies decided to dismantle it to make heavens know what. Next idiot noob who screws with my network is going to get volunteered for my next non computer experiment whether they want it or not. Just because I moved on to computers and forensics does not mean that I still lack the ability. I was on the original mod soul projects. I was involved with the reigai. I know how to hide. The. BODIES." He stops his tirade and glances over at innocent Tsubaki who is busy slurping up noodles and soup in a fairly messy manner. "Slow down, Tsu-chan. You're going to drown in broth. Ick, well, I think I can make her a replacement uniform at least." They had been putting her in a shinigami uniform to get her in this far without being questioned about why a kid was in their division. "Any rate, the network as it stands is currently up right now on the previous generation of hardware. Oh, don't look so worried. I didn't do any permanent harm to those two boneheads. Seeing as they were assigned to work directly under me in my department, I chose a fitting punishment for them - they are to handle the security updates for Division Eleven."

"That doesn't sound too bad so far," Ikasu says between bites of rice.

Hax gives him a wicked grin, "I told the one who called me a fairy that he has to scrub the barracks with his toothbrush afterwards." A smug look crosses his face as he eats the last of the simmered vegetables. "I told him that if he doesn't do as ordered, I'll arrange for his trip to Division Eleven to be permanent. I was just about to check up on them when you showed up." He scrapes the last of his beans into his mouth and calls up the security feed for Division Eleven. "Bob, I do hope that you are following my instructions to the letter~" he messages him. The message back, "That's Ban, sir. I'm on it right now." Hax shakes his head and crams a large bite of onigiri in his mouth as he pans the video to where Ban is working and moves out of the way for Ikasu.

"Genji Ban, this is Third Seat Yougan Ikasu. I am with Hi Kirikoto. We are watching you on the monitor and all you are doing is screwing around and messing with the training equipment. Get to work or I will personally make it a suggestion to the Vice-Captain and Captain that you get to stay there as a member. There is no room for anybody who will not pull their weight. Do as you have been ordered and report directly to me when you are finished. Do not dawdle, either," texts Ikasu who is much more serious of a threat to this man's career than Hax, even though Hax is no slouch given that he is fifth seat. They watch with great amusement as the man scrambles to join the other man in doing the upgrades. "He had better not screw up the job just to hurry it up and get it over with."

Tsubaki by this point is curious and sets the partially eaten bowl of ramen on the incubator table and walks over. "That man is being bad, huh? And he's a grown up, too. Tsk." She squawks as Ikasu begins to wipe her down. "Ack!"

"You are covered in food, Tsu-chan. Such a sloppy eater," her dad teases her. "Any more food spilled on you and I will think that you want to be eaten up!" He jokes as he uses his hands to pretend that they are a pair of giant jaws chomping on her as she giggles. "Alright, kiddo, if you are done eating just go wash up in Ojisan's bathroom and we will try to find you something cleaner."

After Tsubaki trots off to wash up, Ikasu grabs her half eaten ramen bowl and downs it himself. "Waste not, want not. So, what kind of clothing do you have available in your collection. I already know most of your experimental designs will adjust to size and frame of the wearer."

Hax gulps down the last of his lunch and thumbs through the closet that had been previously hidden until he walked up to it. "This should work. It adapts to any environment and body plan. She will not need any new clothes for a while with this. Though that is a matter of opinion. This will still need to be cleaned on occassion, though it will be resistant to stains." He walks over to the bathroom door and hands it over to her. "You really need to close this door for your privacy, kid. Here, wear this and put the dirty clothes in my hamper right there. I actually live in this office."

Almost as if they sensed it, the two men turned toward the incubator. "Tsu-chan, please do Papa a favor and go get the tablet from my desk," Ikasu requests as he shoos her out of the room without giving her a chance to reply. "Here's the key pass. Don't worry, baby. Papa will let you see Ran-chan's true form once you return~" He speaks to her in a sweet sing song voice and has a pleasant smile, but his eyes speak of parental expectation when she gives him a look of protest.

She is certain after that scolding she got last night about running wild in the penthouse that the expression in his eyes mean that he expects her to do as he asks. "Alright, Papa!" she says and she darts down the hall and up the elevator. "Man, get too wound up and break a vase and he suddenly thinks that I won't listen to him," she mutters. "Of course, now that I think about it, I wasn't listening too well then, either. Hm, I guess he never installed an obedience chip in the robot half of my brain." She shrugs and ponders about this. 'So, I am really his daughter then. I am not just some machine he planned on using as a tool. I guess that makes sense. After all, my body is a kid body and I act like a kid and not like a robot here. Then they said something about mod souls. I need to ask about that, but would that make them mad?' She ruminates on that as she makes her way into the hall where his office is. As she walks down the hall, she carries the key pass, holding it close to her chest as she counts the doors to figure out where it is. Right side, third from the end. The captain's door is at the very end of the hall. She has never looked inside, but mostly because she has never been invited. Timidly she peers inside of the slightly cracked door, but sees nobody inside. She jumps nearly a foot when one of her parents' subordinates asks what she is doing spying on the captain's office. She sweat drops and replies, "Oh, I was just curious." The man in a lab coat crosses his arms and looks down at her. "What business do you have here, kid?" he asks. "Oh! My parents work here! I am Sawako and Ikasu's daughter!" she says cheerfully. The man looks down at her incredulously. "What?" he says flatly and then begins to laugh, "You have got to be kidding me! Since when are those two an item? Yougan-sama is afraid of women and I have never once seen Hagiwara-sama even look at him for anything more than the usual reasons here." She shrugs and tries to pass him to Ikasu's office to retrieve his tablet as requested. He blocks her and asks, "Where do you think you're going? Why are you going in Yougan-sama's office?" She sighs exasperatedly, "Papa wants me to get something for him ..."

Meanwhile Kirukoto cheerfully selects an outfit that will suit the mold. "I purposefully picked one of Sakura's old molds for them. I have no idea what to expect, but this outfit should suit any gender - being that it is my experimental shinigami uniform." He pulls it out of the closet and whips out a fundoshi from a drawer and a pair of tabi and sandals for their new companion. "It's not as fashionable as most of my garments, but honestly, uniforms are more subtle and subtly is what is needed here." As the table slides open, both men wait to see the results.

Ikasu grins broadly and awaits to see if sending Tsubaki out was necessary. After all, he is not ready to explain to her why he is anatomically different than her quite yet. He wants to talk with Sawako first about how they should raise her. After all, she is the superior officer on the project and technically her mother. "Time to wake up, Ran!"

"I don't have time for this. Papa wants his tablet, so Papa is getting his tablet," Tsubaki continues and reaches forward and pinches the first part of him that is within reach. He drops to his knees and curls around his nether region. She simply uses the key card and pads inside and looks for the tablet. On her way back out she sees him still writhing on the floor. "Big baby. I don't think I pinched you that hard." She shrugs it off and heads back down to the basement and finds herself waiting at the door to Hax's office. It is locked. She knocks on the door. "Papa, I have your tablet!"

"Just a minute, Tsu-chan! Ran needs to get dressed first! Wait right there!"

After Ran gets dressed Ikasu allows Tsubaki in. "Alright, cousin is dressed now. Come on in, Tsu-chan," he says with a smile. "Ah, thank you for the tablet. You were quicker than I expected. You have a good memory." He ruffles her hair and does a few quick taps on the tablet. "Some things you should not use the hard light device on. I prefer to use it for other purposes. Besides, this has my credentials encrypted in it. If I use anything else other than division equipment, then they'd expect paper work. Real paper and real work. Forget it." He rapidly taps and swipes a few things as he sit back on one of the chairs in the office. "Well, let's see. Stand still for a moment, Ran-kun." He aims the camera at him and performs a scan. He yanks a hair off of Ran's head and places it in a tiny panel on the tablet and then smiles. "There you go. Bio-metrics, height, weight, and apparent age all entered in. You are now registered as Hi Ranmaru, son of Hi Daisuke and Hyakka Sakura and as a shinigami. Your dna and spiritual profile have been registered and all we need to do is get you assigned to a division and ensure you get some kind of education at the Academy. If nothing else so that you have been seen there training at least once. Just up and joining without training at the Academy is pretty rare, after all."

Hax cheers delightedly upon seeing Ran in his new uniform and declares, "Ah! Kawaii~! My little nephew is so adorable! Look how grown he is! We need to go celebrate your coming out properly! So, naturally that does mean food and fun and whatever else! We'll make sure that your return will be properly celebrated once we get back to Hotarubi. I am afraid that Yamagamisha in second district is just ruins now, but Hotarubi in fifth district is the better house anyway! That was where I spent a fair amount of my youth." He happily hugs Ran tightly and gets a thoughtful expression. "I just thought of something. You need something to accessorize and look cool. Well, that and it should be fairly useful. Besides, that uniform is pretty drab all its own. Maybe an ascot? No, too western and would clash. Maybe a scarf? Nah, too done." He picks through his various accessories and then cheers. "I've got it! These!" He runs over with a small case in his hands then plops the contents on Ran's face: a pair of glasses. "These are my old scanner glasses. There's nothing wrong with them, by the way. This will give you a live feed of everything you look at for gathering information discretely. As long as there is no interference, that is. It is mostly for basic stuff, and it cannot currently detect anything like poisons, but you can assess the power of an enemy or rival and find out basic details ahead of time for strategic purposes. It is also great for helping you keep track of what line you are reading by reading your eye movements. It would be good to practice with that."

Tsubaki smiles up at Ikasu and walks in and looks up at Ran. "Hi! I'm Tsubaki!" She looks up at her dad and her uncle as they ramble on excitedly. Had timing been better, this would have happened all at once for her, she realizes. She shrugs it off and climbs back up on the stool. "I would have been back quicker if that one guy didn't give me such a hard time getting into your office. He tried to tell me mean things about you and Mama and then he blocked my way. I told him I didn't have time for that, because I am a good girl who does what her papa wants. So, I pinched him at the spot below his belly like Papa taught me."

Ikasu and Hax both cringe at the idea. "You" "Pinched" "Him" "There?" Ikasu has a look of both pride and horror on his face. "Papa did not mean for you to pinch him ... You shouldn't do that unless it is for self defense ..."

"His poor manhood .." Hax cries with a sound that is a cross between shock and despair. "That's so cruel~!" He sinks back into his desk chair and instinctively protects his nether region with his own tablet. "Tsu-chan, that's ... how to best explain it ... not very noble of you."

Tsubaki looks up at the men innocently. "You said to punch a man there if he tried to hurt me. He didn't try to hurt me. You didn't say not to pinch him. That was just a warning." She looks over at Hax. "What? I don't understand. I just wanted to do what I was told to do. He wasn't going to leave me alone. Why is Ojisan Kirukoto acting like that?"