Crucible: Florian vs Aimo [NDE, R]

Under normal circumstances, the rainforests of Southern India wouldn’t exactly be the first place Florian Quinn would be found. There was the threat of malaria, the danger of the local animals, and the general fact that human life couldn’t exactly thrive in such regions, at least not to the comfy point that he was used to. Of course, that was before Florian had been flown there, before he’d taken that little pill that he’d received in the mail. For some strange reason, the mysterious benefactor who’d flown him to Karakura Town in the first place had decided to fly him to the rainforest and give him a major power up. He could feel the trees around him at a range he hadn’t even thought of before, and he could see through their eyes with ease now, talk to them like people and actually hear what they felt, and thought back. He was having a conversation with a particularly vigorous strangler fig, a type of vine-like tree, a parasite that grew off of it’s host plant to get better sunlight and nutrients from the larger tree, only to strangle the life out of it; to his rear, a particularly old Banyan tree had formed a grove over an acre and a half wide where the local vines had spread from the Strangler Fig. Epiphytes thrived in the canopy, plants who rooted not in the ground but in the air; orchids and pitcher plants clustered around the branches and leaves of the fig trees and nearby Banyan, while lichens and moss grew on the dying tree the Strangler fig had entombed in it’s growth. The distinct smell of rotting meat was in the air, but it came from a set of bulbous flowers that seemed to be growing from a vine that was clinging to one of the trees. Only Florian and other people with an interest in botany would recognize the parasitic Raflessia for what it was, and he could even feel the subtle discomfort of the vine for having to support the leeching flower. The rainforest was a place where plants strangled each other to survive, and where one had to learn to adapt and grow to new situations. To Florian, it was the closest thing to paradise he’d seen.

The birds and other animals milled about him, and none seemed all that perturbed by his presence, oddly enough, though none bothered attacking him. Not even the insects seemed to bite him, considering both of his Fullbring were active. He had to use them to get this high up, after all, and the only thing that saved him from the plethora of diseases that he would have caught, or poisons that might be circulating in his bloodstream, was his Secondary Fullbring‘s passive nature as a symbiotic plant in his own bloodstream. He was in the rainforest, and while the thick canopy over the region he was in had limited the growth of the forest floor, to get to the ideal places he’d needed a little assistance from the trees; being over 90 feet off of the ground would have scared him under normal circumstances, but the trees seemed ready to help him if the need arose. As such, standing on the hollowed-out branch of the strangler fig tree he was talking to, leaning his left hand against it’s trunk while his right, whose wrist was wrapped in leaves, hung to his side, Florian tensed as he sensed his enemy approaching. The forest itself seemed to scream out at the aura of the thing that he sensed coming in his direction, and Florian narrowed his eyes. What could it be?

What is it? Florian thought to the strangler fig he was touching, his green eyes furrowing slightly as the plants within his range, which at this stage of existence was three miles in direction, began to hum with unease. Something in the forest was upsetting them greatly, and he had a fair idea it was the enemy he was supposed to deal with.

Death. Despair. Insanity. The tree responded in the usual cryptic way all plants did if Florian didn’t bother focusing his energy into the conversation.

Wonderful…. Florian thought to himself, shifting his eyes downwards to the sparse vegetation on the forest floor beneath him where he felt the greatest distress from. Plants were more sensitive than people to energy, what with the fact they absorbed it to survive. Whatever was underneath was setting them off, and as Florian heard a sickening crunch, watching a group of wild pigs running from it. Shifting his feet, the Fullbringer glanced down, through the vines and leaves of the canopy, towards the source of the unrest in the forest.








Primary Fullbring Stage 1- 1/10 posts

Secondary Fullbring 1/8 posts

Aimo’s sudden overhead appearance didn’t surprise Florian very much, and he did indeed manage to avoid the Arrancar’s claws with relative ease, given the Arrancar’s thrashing through the uppermost layer of branches on the tree he was communing with. His floral crown, his primary full bring known as May Queen, had been glowing green all the while as he slipped it into it’s Secondary form, which only caused the flowers to swell slightly. May Queen’s full connection established with the Strangler Fig just as Aimo crashed through the last branch, and Florian fell backwards into the Banyan Grove as Aimo’s claws in nearly the same moment that Aimo got just too close for his comfort. Falling backward to what appeared to be another tree, Florian touched it with his hand and looked over, connecting to the Banyan he was standing on with ease; Aimo’s movements were quick, but Florian was quicker, and he watched the monster with his emerald green eyes. His attack tempo seemed to be pretty damn high, given that the Arrancar almost immediately launched his secondary assault, during which Florian’s eyebrows furrowed. If this thing was in any way a regular opponent, he shouldn’t have been able to damage the tree at all in the first place; plants under Florian’s control, especially large ones like the Strangler Fig, gain a rather impressive ability to shield themselves from physical harm. This resistance was more like a hierro than anything else it could be compared to, and simply releasing his blade shouldn’t have allowed anyone, not even an Arrancar, to cut through the tree unless he was physically powerful enough to do so. That was the most basic nature of Florian’s Fullbring, this mere plant manipulation, and Aimo’s claws could slice through it like butter.

As Aimo neared again, Florian used his Bringer Light to fall further back into the grove, landing on the twisting branch of the same Banyan. Well, truth be told every single “tree” in the grove was part of the same tree. A single old Banyan tree like this one could grow to cover ACRES of land, shooting it’s roots out across the ground or sky to form what appeared to be entirely new trees but were merely extensions of the original tree. Few people even realized that what appeared to be a grove or forest of trees was a single Banyan growing wider with passing years. As Aimo’s clap rattled the entire forest and sent much of the vegetation flying, the Banyan remained rooted in it’s spot, three of it‘s true branches coming to cover the Fullbringer as it began to grow around him, wrapping him in it’s embrace to prevent the shockwave from harming him; it could accomplish this simply for the fact that Florian’s plants moved at a speed that combined both his spiritual abilities with his natural speed . Aimo’s strength against a normal tree would have been enough to level the Banyan, but with Florian controlling it, he’d find himself up against something truly monstrous. The shockwave rebounded against the Banyan‘s various parts, but it held firm against it and Florian found himself hearing thousands of cries from the displaced trees and plants that had been sent flying; the only thing that had spared him the same fate was the shielding Banyan and the only other tree left standing was the Strangler fig from earlier, missing a few limbs from Aimo‘s descent, but overall it seemed alive. The delicate eco system of the Rainforest had been shattered in a single movement by Aimo, and Florian was, frankly, a little pissed at that. The plant thriving in his own body was recoiling at the thoughts flooding his head of the decimated greenery, but Florian’s mind was trained on Aimo. He’d make him pay for what he’d done. Aimo was looking at the sky, and the Banyan was encasing Florian rapidly as he began to rant at the sky.

It was moments like this that could remind someone just why Arrancar and Shinigami were a nuisance to the natural order of things. Upsetting the balance of nature without a care in the world for fixing it later. How many lives had Aimo just ended to try killing one lone Fullbringer? He’d attacked the plants as surely as him, and while the pain reverberated through him, Florian’s heart seethed. His reiatsu flared, and he charged his power. His plants hadn’t been strong enough to withstand those claws of Aimo’s before, but as Florian’s Spiritual Pressure weakened, his Reiatsu Strength skyrocketed. Glancing at Aimo, who was delivering some sort of speech to the sky, the pair locked eyes as the Banyan continued growing, with one set black as death and the other a pure green that glowed with new life. Then, Florian’s eyes were covered by the Banyan, his body encased in it’s writhing branches. Aimo might tilt his head in confusion as to why his enemy was entombing himself, or how he had managed to do it so rapidly. In the meantime though, he had something else to worry about entirely. Three of the Strangler Fig’s branches shot outwards at the same monstrous speed that the Banyan’s had moved at, two of them aiming for his legs while a third went for his right hand. With his low sensory abilities, Aimo would be pressed to deal with them if he kept his eye on the spot Florian had encased himself in branches in. How had Florian launched an attack without seeing Aimo? Well, when he landed on the Banyan and connected to it with May Queen, he had also connected to it with his mind, using his Words of Wood technique. At it’s highest level, Florian could “see” through the plant, and the Banyan had more than enough area to train it’s focus on Aimo.

A creaking sound filled the battered Banyan Grove, where some straggling vines from the blast had managed to survive merely because of the tree’s improved shelter. What was Florian up to now? If Aimo paid attention to the Bayan, he might just notice the subtle shift in it’s leaves, the quaking of the ground beneath it, and the way that Florian‘s wooden barricade began to sink into the trunk…

“You’re not worthy of being in this world any longer. Please die now.” The entire Banyan tree, every last aerial root and leaf, seemed to pulse with a gentle green glow as the sound reverberated through it’s trunks. The voice coming from it wasn’t a single voice, but at least two voices, one male that was light and young, even borderline feminine, and one that was gruff, earthy, and undoubtedly ancient yet seemed to lack a proper gender.





Primary Fullbring Stage 2- 1/13 Posts
Secondary Fullbring 2/8 posts

(If a response is not posted within 5 days of now, this thread will be closed and Florian will be eliminated.)