Not Seeing Eye to Eye [Jim and Ilya, JT]

[jimbureka]

Name: Not Seeing Eye to Eye
Participants: Jim Bureka (Quincy) and Ilya Argentum (Shinigami)
Location: Karakura Outskirts.
Threat Level: [NDE]
Plotline: How does one kill a soul? Two races have differing views on how to go about this, as the Quincies and Shinigamis have their eternal debate on dealing with Hollows. Will this become another stalemate for what they believe is the right thing to do or will they learn to set aside their differences and reach a middle ground?
Special Conditions:

[Ilya Argentum]

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Her legs were beginning to cramp, calves and thighs burning from being stuck in an unmoving crouch for so long, yet Ilya didn't move. A grimace crept onto her face from the discomfort, but otherwise she remained as still as a statue, crouching in the shadows underneath the bridge, eyes focused on the other side of the sunken river that cut its way through Karakura Town. It was routine so far; a report of hollow activity, an assignment by her Captain to go investigate and eliminate any possible threats, as well as to take notes of anything out of the ordinary she saw. She had arrived at the location an hour prior, the reported haunt of the Hollow. All hollows had a place it gravitated towards, some significance of their pre-hollow lives. This was the spot for this hollow.

Night had already fallen, and the distant sounds of cicadas accompanied the soft susurrus of the river as it ambled past. It gave Ilya a perfect environment to hide in, awaiting her prey. Her right hand rested on the handle of her Zanpakutou, her left hand planted on the ground to support her crouch, every inch of her coiled like a viper, prepared to strike at a moment's notice. This hollow was particularly elusive, she knew. The element of surprise was her biggest ally, as it always was for any engagement. Other Shinigami could play the brave warriors and gallant knights, declaring their intent of killing face to face before charging head on. Ilya was not one of them. She was an assassin first and foremost. She was meant to go in, kill and get out before her targets could react. Other Shinigami could play at being the big grand hero of the play, she was fine with being the shadowy killer. The words of her father played in her head, 'Good Men try to be heroes. Good men don't use dirty tricks. Good men die.'

Some good it did him after he disappeared on her. A bit of resentment and a pang of sorrow made Ilya wince as she forced her thoughts elsewhere, but before she could choose another topic of thought, she sensed a disturbance in the air. Her body tensed as her fingers tightened their grip on the handle of her sword. The air distorted across the river... And a hollow appeared. It wasn't anything impressive, barely larger than a car, hunched over like a gorilla, with a mask that looked vaguely canine. Ilya wasted no time, instantly lunging forwards, all the coiled up energy inside of her releasing like a stressed spring, Ilya flying over the river at the hollow like a bullet fired from a gun. The hollow barely had enough time to turn as Ilya was on top of it, drawing her Zanpakutou in a slash outwards, but the Hollow moved faster than expected. It swiveled away from her, avoiding the brunt of her attack, but Ilya's blade still scored a good strike as the Hollow screamed in pain, its left arm spinning away into the river.

Ilya wasted no time, instantly moving into a set of basic slashes with her sword, wide and arcing, landing multiple lacerations on the Hollow as it screamed in pain again. It reared up, raising its powerful arm up, and Ilya instinctively jumped back, dodging the overhead slam as it crashed its arm into the ground, raising a cloud of dust. Ilya raised her free hand at the dust, wasting no time as she fired a Sho at the dust. Her kido powers were laughable, but the Sho was enough to push the dust away, right into the Hollow, that screeched once more as it found itself blinded.

And then it let loose a high pitched scream that instantly caused Ilya to wince in pain, the volume of the screech almost deafening. Her free hand instantly raised up to her ear, trying to block out the noise as it screeched. She couldn't tell if it had stopped screeching or not, as her ears were filled with ringing from the assault. Disoriented, she noticed the Hollow turn around and run out from under the shadow of the bridge, attempting an escape.
"Oh no you don't." She muttered angrily as she shook her head in an attempt to clear the disorientation, beginning to run after the hollow in an attempt to finish it off. It was near its death, Ilya could feel it. All it would take is one good hit to kill it...

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[Health] - Perfect

[Stamina] - Good

[Reiatsu] - 475/500



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Tags:

OOC:

[jimbureka]

Inhale.

Exhale.

Jim couldn't hear the breath escape her lips, but she felt her chest rise and fall with each breath. She could feel the air come in and go, but no sound. But she knows it's there, keeping her alive. Her hands went over her chest as it rose and fell, and there was a heartbeat, and as much as she'd like to think it was a steady one, she could feel it thumping against her, showing the tenseness she felt at that very moment. But of course, like the air, you wouldn't see this. Her face gave nothing away as she waited quietly, something she was perfectly good at, taking her time to take the perfect shot. She merely kept to the shadows, covering herself in shroud, simply bidding her time.

She was already there at the bridge when the Hollow made its presence known. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, feeling the creature's pressure. But of course, she wasn't going to go after it head on, as she knew pretty well that where there's a Hollow, there's most definitely a Shinigami.

And what do ya know, right on cue.

She didn't feel the presence of the death god at first, this one was particularly less flashy compared to most of them. And quick too, as she only saw a glimpse as she observed a sudden blur, a unique shihakusho that almost made the wearer invisible, blending into the darkness of the night. The Hollow reacted to the first attack, evading it quite well for a monster of that size. The arm was off, throwing the creature off its balance, and the Shinigami continued its assault with her blade works and effortlessly jumping out of the Hollow's fist. There was a dust cloud, and for a moment, the was limited visibility; which, wasn't a problem, as she shot the first bolt close by, helping her detect the rapid movement from the Shinigami and the hulking mass that seemed to be going erratic.

Just then, a vibration. A familiar one Jim would feel when a Hollow would attempt to screech or make sounds. Of course, she was unbothered by this. Unlike the Quincy who she sensed had stilled, standing. She then felt the Hollow began to move, faster towards her general direction. She was by the bridge, and the tremors she felt at the soles of her feet got her mind humming to high gear.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

She closes her eyes for a second, tapping her bowgun with her forefinger before stepping out from the bridge towards the incoming Hollow. She made quick work, with bowgun materialized in hand as she shot the ground. She waited as the Hollow was staggering towards her, wounded and feral, but as it got close, the ground suddenly created a chasm, a sudden cracked line on the ground that led from one point to the other. The bolts did their job and had the creature fall into the crack, its shin snapping clean as the force and speed broke its run. It let out another screech as it sunk low drastically, just enough for Jim in her small stature to not cran her neck up or point too high. Just the perfect shot.

The events didn't take too long, and was only a matter of seconds. The ground cracked, the Hollow felt in, and Jim made a clean shot into the creature's head. The bloodcurdling screech stopped abruptly, as the Hollow suddenly lost all functions from the gaping hole on its mask that you can see through. And then, the Hollow fell, to which Jim quickly dodged out of the way with a roll, another cloud of dust erupting from the fallen Hollow.

| Karakura Outskirts, near a bridge. | → | A Shinigami and a now dead Hollow. | → | On edge internally, neutral externally. | → | Bidding her time before taking down a wounded Hollow with her bowgun. |

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}

[Ilya Argentum]

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So close. She was SO close to killing it, to purifying the hollow's soul and to send it to heaven or hell, wherever it would be bound. She was almost upon the hollow when all of a sudden, the ground underneath suddenly broke across a fault-line, breaking the Hollow's legs. Ilya was surprised and she slowed down for a second so she wouldn't run into the hollow, but at that moment, a glowing arrow carved through the air and stuck right into the Hollow's head, killing it instantly.

Ilya stopped, her mouth slightly open as she watched with disbelief as the hollow that SHE was about to kill, was disintegrated, soul and all. Not even purified, but completely purged from existence. Her mouth closed as she scowled with anger, flicking the black blood off of her sword before sheathing it. Once her weapon was sheathed, she jumped up, arcing high into the air before landing in the street above, a small distance away from the Quincy who had stolen her kill, as well as completely destroyed a life. Ilya was no fan of hollows. She practically hated them and wanted them all to be killed. Quincies basically disintegrated the hollows, soul and essence and everything. Normally, Ilya wouldn't mind that. But it destabilized the balance of things, the balance of life and death. In the greater scheme of things, it did more harm than good.

She scowled at the quincy she was facing, crossing her arms. It was obvious she did not like how this Quincy had killed the hollow, but there didn't seem to be any aggressive intent behind it given how her arms were crossed and her sword was sheathed. "What the hell was that? I had that!" She said, the anger evident in her voice as her icy blue eyes narrowed at this individual. "Do you even know what you are doing? What happens everytime you kill a hollow?" She added, looking the Quincy up and down as she did so. Ilya towered over her, as she did with most women. The quincy had choppy hair the color of faded foliage, with greenish-blue eyes. The rest of her face was covered, and given her clothing, it was actually somewhat confusing for Ilya to properly tell if this Quincy was a male or female, but she leaned towards female given the structure of the upper face and the hands. She scowled more as she waited for the Quincy to answer her questions.

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[Health] - Perfect

[Stamina] - Good

[Reiatsu] - 475/500



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Tags:

OOC: (Here we have the meeting of two individuals; One who cannot listen and one who does not like listening.)

[jimbureka]

The dust settled, and as Jim slowly got to her feet, the Hollow that fell was no more. No longer existing. Just as it should be.

Of course, that wouldn't sit well with the other, who had stood over her, towering from the height of the incline that lead to the road before the bridge. Jim merely looked up, unfazed, her eyes focusing on the Shinigami. She couldn't hear the words spoken, but she watched the woman's lips move, the furrowed eyes, the tense stance, analyzing everything she could take from the scene. Jim still had her bowgun out, but was lowered, seeing as the shinigami had its weapon sheathed.

So this... this woman, was giving her a lecture of sorts? This was funny, if the woman knew she was talking to a deaf person. And for a moment, Jim wanted to spite her by letting her know this. She taps her bowgun absently, wondering how to respond to the situation.

So Jim merely shrugs, and walks up from the lower part of the bridge, going up the incline until she was leveled with the shinigami (or, as leveled as she can get, as Jim wasn't exactly on the tall side). The woman seemed to have asked questions. And Jim knew the context of it, and she herself, while she was still new to the game, she knew Hollows are as good as dead. They don't deserve to live, and from what she understood shinigamis are doing the exact same thing, killing them off. So she didn't really understand what the fuss was about. Purification, purging, it yielded the same result.

Jim looks at the Shinigami, green-blue eyes to icy ones. In any given situation she'd be nervous, but she didn't like being talked down like some punk nut.

"Yes." Was all Jim muttered in a monotonous tone, to answer whatever questions the Shinigami had for her. It was enough to throw suspicion in the wind of her not being able to hear, and she basically told a death god that she knew EXACTLY what she was doing getting rid of the corrupted filth in the world. The Hollows that did nothing but consume and kill innocent souls, like her Miss Amai...

She was about to walk past the Shinigami but stopped, the hairs on her skin rising once more. It wasn't just the back of her neck, or her back. It was all over, the goosebumps in her skin.

She felt something. Familiar. Another Hollow? But this felt particularly strong...

Was there more than 1?

| Karakura Outskirts, near a bridge. | → | A Shinigami. | → | Low-key annoyed. | → | Approaches the shinigami and answers her, and detects Hollow(s)? |

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}I just found out deaf people can talk. Damn.

[Ilya Argentum]

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Ilya's anger rose as her scowl became decidedly more defined as the quincy seemed to mock her, staring at her as if she didn't understand anything. And then, that insolent reply. Ilya didn't know if the Quincy said that just to piss her off, or if the quincy really did know what she was doing but didn't care about the consequences.
"You stupid brat." She snarled, grabbing the Quincy by her collar as the she tried to walk past Ilya, intending to hold the quincy there and maybe shake some sense into her. But as soon as she did, she stopped, sensing the same thing that the Quincy did. Ilya and the quincy both froze for a couple of seconds, their senses on overdrive as the small tell-tale signs of Hollows wafted through the air.

Ilya let go of the Quincy and instantly put her hand back on the handle of her zanpakutou, eyes darting around the periphery as she looked out towards where the signs were coming from. She forgot about the Quincy for now; whatever hollow was out there, it was strong. Right now, she didn't need to worry about the Quincy. Regardless of disagreements, they both had a common enemy. For now.
Ilya did a slow turn, watching, waiting, her body entering that zone of focus that rendered her unnaturally still, no movement aside from the small turning motion she did, analyzing the area around them. The energy signature around them strengthened... And then...
It split?

Ilya's eyes widened slightly as the energy signature seemed to divide itself into two, still retaining its powerful signature, moving around them, flanking them from both sides of the bridge. She turned with one of them, sensing the Quincy behind her doing the same with the other signal. And then, the energy seemed to spike, reaching a crescendo that culminated in a tear in the fabric of reality. Two of them. Reality itself tore open on both sides of the bridge as two Hollows exited into this plane of reality. Ilya watched, almost transfixed, as the hollow materialized on her side of the bridge, dimly aware that, at some point in time, both she and the quincy had pressed their backs to each other, unconsciously moving to ensure their backs weren't exposed.

...

Over on the other side of the bridge that faced the quincy, the threads of what made reality began to fray, before splitting apart like the wide maw of a great beast. From within the depths, emerged a large creature, hunched over and dark red in coloration. It looked like a hag from the waist up, with a thin bony body and long gangly arms, each ending in five-fingered talons. But waist down, it was connected to an exo-skeletal thorax, which inturn led to a large, bulbous abdomen, with 4 long spindly legs protruding from the thorax region. There were 4 large holes on the back of the abdominal region of this creature. It's mask looked like a helmet almost in it's spherical shape, with 5 glowing eyes and a chittering pair of mandibles. It's eyes focused on the Quincy as it screeched at the quincy, a high pitched inhuman sound, before taking a stalking stance.

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[Health] - Perfect

[Stamina] - Good

[Reiatsu] - 475/500



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Tags:

OOC:

[jimbureka]

Tkchk. Tkschk. Sktchk. Tkchk. Sktchk.

Tk.

Tk.

Tk.

Skittering sounds of what seemed like... bugs, critters, scattered, rushed, yet in unison, permeated in the area. However, what sounds were heard did not have accompanied visuals. As a grotesque Hollow appeared, the other presence... it looked more like a mass of shadow at first, blending in the already murky dark scenario, and quickly disappeared from sight. But the sounds continued.

Tkchk. Tkschk. Sktchk. Tkchk. Sktchk.

Jim could not hear this, but her body was tense, sensing the abrupt change in the air from the entrance of the powerful beings, and the heavy spiritual pressure that made it feel like her skin had sludge. Jim knew what the Shinigami knew too: there was more than one of them. She made a quick side glance to the Shinigami, who she managed to spite as the black haired woman grabbed her by the collar and snarled, but quickly let go given the bigger threats at bay. She ignored the radiating animosity and with a deadpan stare, made signals to the Shinigami with two fingers outstretched.

"Kill." Jim murmurs, gesturing at the hideous creature on her sights. It screeched at her, but of course, the sounds fell on deaf ears. Literally. Despite the Quincy and Shinigami's backs touching, they were still disconnected in how to deal with the creatures. But Jim made known her intentions and did not wait for the Shinigami to respond as she made a dash away from her, going away from the monstrosity and towards the bridge, and stopping made a quick turn, making a shot, the bolt flying through the air towards the hag, but with mere 10 feet distance vibrated violently and exploded, the blast creating sharpnels that gave a force blast radius and flash bang effect.

As the Quincy moved away, the skittering sounds were louder now, with black-veinlike appendages appearing from under the bridge, spreading on the ground where the Shinigami stood like a root infestation.


Tkchk. Tkschk. Sktchk. TKCHK. SKTCHK.

| Karakura Outskirts, near a bridge. | → | A Shinigami. | → | Focused. | → | Goes after Hag Hollow, firing a bolt with force damage/flash bang effect. |

JIM'S STAT BLOCK

Strength - 25
Speed - 100
Spiritual Pressure - 25
Reiatsu Strength - 100
Light Aura - 50
Dark Aura - 50
Instinct - 50
Senses - 400
Energy sensory - 100
Healing Expertise - 0