Post by ☾ Aevus | Umbra ☽ on Dec 23, 2023 21:16:16 GMT -5
The light of day had not escaped the land. No its light was thick and golden, drenching everything in its warmth. And sadly Aevus found himself awake in that light. He sheltered himself on a rooftop, overlooking a seemingly abandoned four story building. His fingers impatiently taping his Zanpakuto, and slightly unsheathing then re-sheathing the blade from its sheath every few seconds. The repetition of those clicks both soothed him, and kept him awake. He had been there since dawn, waiting, and waiting for his mark to arrive.
He’s certainly taking his time. Aevus thought to himself. Was there a chance Kuroneko had given him the wrong address? Aevus bit back that tinge of irritation at the very idea. No, but of course not, that cat was precise when it came to her job. He’d comb his left hand through the scruff of his chin, before letting out a long comical yawn. Leaning back against the warm concrete floor of the rooftop he’d scrunch his eyes, closing them away from the light of the sun. His body had yearned for sleep, and yet still he waited. He wouldn’t be able to sleep until his mark was dead.
His mark was a man by the name of Uno Seiichi. A Fullbringer, murderer, and a Cop. A dirty cop Aevus assumed. He probably made dealing with the criminal underbelly of this city. Aevus wasn't beyond murder but typically wasn’t the type to take hits when it came to his work. One of his few exceptions came to those he deemed monsters... Monsters that this world could sleep easier without. Heh, well he knew he certainly would be sleeping soundly by the end of the day.
A new spiritual signature alerted the once Shinigami, causing his cold blue eyes to flutter open instantly. Sitting back up he watched sleepily as a police cruiser pulled into the dirty lot beneath that abandoned building. Through the rubbing of eyes the Vizard saw as a second albeit beat up car pull into the same same lot, just thirty feet away from the cruiser. Both parties stayed inside their vehicles, and yet the beat up car would flash its headlights twice. The police cruiser mimicked the beater shortly after. With that both parties got out of their respectful vehicles.
Aevus noted that there was only a singular party to each car. And only the cop had a strong enough spiritual signature to potentially notice the stealthy Vizard. The other was just human, yet their was some untapped potential there. That was good, he wouldn’t be able to interfere in his hunt. From this distance Aevus had trouble seeing the fine details of the two. He could only see that his suspected quarry was in police dress and the other was dressed in a gray hoody, but the fine details of their faces were foggy. Comparable to an oil painting where the faces had been blurred.
He’d need to confirm that this was indeed his mark - meaning he’d need to get closer. For while killing monsters was easy... Mistakenly killing an innocent wasn’t. No... never again. The guilt of that memory stirred another thought. But no, I really don’t need to get closer to confirm it... do I? Clicking the guard of his Zanapkuto against its sheath Aevus would let out a cool sigh readying himself. A darkness stirred in his soul. It flickered like a flame, and would suddenly ignite into an inferno of black and gold. He felt the golden eyes of a certain Hollow vulpine on his spine. and then he felt one with her as he tore his right hand across his face.
He materialized that flame from the black ice of his soul. it coalesced like shadows across his face, before revealing a black vulpine mask. Cold blue eyes had seemingly melted away, and ignited into the golden eyes of a Hollow. He immediately felt Umbra’s invasive embrace with the doning of that black. Your quarry, Dear hunter~ It was like she was whispering into his ear. His eyes moved on their own for but a moment, focusing on the man in police uniform. She had changed the ruling of their pact, but she sometimes toyed with him for a second or two, before leaving him to his hunt.
With the donning of that mask, Aevus's senses had been keenly increased. Like wiping away the fog on a mirror - the finer details of that police officer had become clear. Umbra had been right, this was his mark. He took a stance akin to a sprinters crouch. His fingers outstretched tore at the cement leaving fingered imprints at the edge of the rooftop. He was barely even a yearling when it came to the mask, so still he wasn’t used to the strength it bestowed. Each time he bore that mask, he gradually got used to the power as time went by. But donning it was another story, for it was always overwhelming. That surge of power, the sensitivity of his senses - both spiritual and physical. It was intoxicating to say the least, and he could get lost in it. No... that wasn’t it. He wanted to get lost in it. He welcomed it.
With the doubling of his energy sensory Aevus could read the basic nuances of his marks soul. He saw a snippet of the mans life. Each memory was random but intense, like skips on a reel of film. A dying boy in a hospital, a meeting with a woman with a white lily in her hair, a dark alleyway, hands covered in blood, a white lily laying drenched in a puddle of blood, and a grave bearing a name covered by falling snow. Aevus didn’t bother attempting to decipher it. For it was impossible to fully grasp who this Uno Seiichi was from those memories alone. And well he didn’t care, the man would remain a monster in his eyes. He refused - if even for a moment - to humanize his prey.
If Uno Seiichi had been a deer, his ears would have been perked as he turned to Aevus. Yet he had been too late. For the warning of Aevus’s arrival was only the surge of Reiatsu on that rooftop - and there it remained with the afterimage he had left behind just a second before, when he doned that mask. Invisible, Aevus crashed into his mark with blade held in a reverse-grip. He struck with such force, and speed, that he sent the man crashing through the boarded doors of that abandoned building. Then... he hit the wall. A crater, a blade through flesh and stone, Aevus tore his Zanpakuto away as his marks entrails spilled on the floor below.
No words, not a gasp, or even a look of surprise. Just the dead brown eyes of man who never even saw his killer. Two seconds passed, and Aevus’s body became visible once again to the light of day. His shadow had also seemed to catch back up to him following the fade of his afterimage. With mask still materialized he heard a cars engine outside, and assumed it was the one in the hoody driving off. It didn’t matter though - for he wouldn’t have chased the man anyway. He was done here, and that meant he could could sleep soon enough.
Tearing away that darkly mask, Aevus would report to Kuroneko. She preferred being called Miss Kuro when it came between the two though. That name was far less on the nose. Walking into the tea shop the Vizard found himself face to face with emerald lined eyes. The Beast clan eyed him for a moment, as the jingle of the door alerted her to his presence. Reaching into his pocket Aevus would throw a blood stained badge onto the counter top wrapped in a napkin he swiped from a nearby restaurant. Miss Kuro sniffed the air, smelling the lingering Reiatsu that still clung to the thing.
“His fullbring then?” Miss Kuro asked glancing over the bloody metal with curious eyes.
”So it seems, though he never had the chance to release it." Aevus answered plainly leaning against a wall.
”A pity, he may have been formidable if you had given him a chance to fight back."
”Well... I was in a hurry. You gave me the wrong time by the way," Aevus eyed the large cat with tired eyes. "He arrived in the middle of the day, not dawn."
”He must have been visiting his little brother’s grave, and changed the meeting time. He does that sometimes."
”Who was he meeting anyway?"Aevus asked with a raised brow.
”I can’t disclose that information.” Miss Kuro replied.
She knew she answered Aevus with those words. The only information she had never gave out to Aevus when it came to her work, were her clients themselves. They always remained anonymous. Albeit at a extra fee that they always gladly paid. Why was he meeting the client though? Aevus brushed that prattling question aside as an black envelope suddenly landed at his feet.
”There’s your cut. You’ll have the other half later like usual, now get some sleep you look like hell little mouse." Miss Kuro teased with a low purr.
Aevus shook his head masking a sigh before taking the envelope. He didn’t bother looking inside. Kuroneko was always precise with her counting of ryo. Strangely, she always counted in nines.
When Aevus arrived home he was exhausted. Arriving at the red district he eyed that decrepit clock tower covered in graffiti, and unlit neon signs with stretched power cables. He noted that the streets were less crowded during the day. The smell of food lingered, and yet it didn’t have the same punch as it did at night. He nearly stumbled on the air ground as he scaled the tower. How clumsy of him. Staying up for nearly twenty four hours did that to a man regardless if he was made of reiatsu or not. He slumped head first into his hammock, not even bothering to undress or bury his head under the blankets.