Things That Go Bump in the Night [PG-13, NDE, Easy-Medium]

[Jin Yamada]

Name: [Part 1: Things That Go Bump in the Night] - The Adventure Name

Participants: [Vesta Zweig, Luke Clyburn, and one other RPC of any race. I can be persuaded to allow a fourth.] - Who can participate?

Location: [Karakura Town] - Where does this take place?

Difficulty Level: [Easy-Medium] - Easy, Medium, Hard, Extreme. How difficult is this adventure?

Setting: [NDE] Is this DE or NDE? Death Enabled or Non Death Enabled?

Plotline: [There is a new danger lurking the streets of Karakura Town. It first began with reports of various animals found in the forest outside of the town, their bodies strewn all over the forest floors. Of course, the death of an animal is always shocking, but with the number of animals found dead, there is cause for concern. Those who found the bodies reported them to be as dry as a husk. With closer inspection, two puncture holes only a few inches apart were found on the necks of each of these animals. Some time later, the body of a human was found discarded in an alleyway and then a few days later a Shinigami was found in the same manner, sparking more confusion and fear. As a result, all spiritual beings living within Karakura are on high alert. No one knows when they’ll be next. No one knows when they’ll be picked off in the darkness…

As such, Luke and Vesta have each found their own ways into the middle of this string of murders. One, recently new to Karakura will find himself unable to comprehend and truly prepare himself for what lurks after him. Meanwhile, the other may know just what or who is causing the string of murders and may choose to begin her own investigation. Other spiritual factions are also keeping their members on high alert for any activity and conducting their own searches. Can anyone find out what is causing these deaths and stop them from occurring?] - Explain the plot of your adventure.

Estimated Enemy Strength: [7-3, but there will be a few NPCs Class 1-0 that may be present who can be engaged at your discretion.] Estimate the strength of the NPC's people will fight in this adventure. Class 7-1, what is their strength on average?

Estimated Time Until Completion: [3-4 pages] - How many pages do you think this adventure will run for until it is over?

Starts: [After introductions are up] - When does the adventure begin?

Special Conditions: [Priority for the last spot goes to anyone not in multiple threads currently, i.e. anyone who has not yet done an adventure and wants to but hasn’t been able to because spots were taken quickly. For whoever joins, any placeholders have to be replaced with an intro within 48 hours or the spot is forfeited. There will also be a waitlist system in place for anyone who finds interest but does not post an intro quickly enough. Those on the waitlist can move up to take the place of anyone who is unable to post within a week's time frame after three strikes.] - Any special conditions, limitations, or other things.

[Deleted]

A yawn escaped from his opened mouth right before his risen hand tried to cover the sound and fleeing breath. That same hand rose further still, rubbing the young man's left eye to try and wipe away the sleepiness. Just like last night, and the night before, and the one before that as well, Luke was in for a long night. While his shift had actually ended about four hours ago Luke had taken on the ending portion of ones of his coworkers shifts. While technically being part time and having a limited amount of hours being given to him, Luke had shown that he gave no fucks when it came to his shit bosses rules on hours. There wasn't actually, technically, a rule against taking other peoples hours by absorbing their shifts into his, but it still made the fat cunt red in the face.

Regardless, Luke was well over the designated thirty five hours. In fact he was getting more hours than some of the assistance managers. It had gotten him some attention, as the more lazy associates were happy to dump their hours onto him. If he was able to, Luke would have even been willing to take up cashier shifts again, but after his three episodes dealing with customers he wasn't allowed to work up front anymore. Regardless, Luke was working an absolute shit ton of shifts. A shit ton of shifts that dragged on into the night which would only begin again the next day. Look at it like this, Luke was working from seven in the morning to twelve at night.

The young man sighed, looking over and the various boxes of back stock along the shelves in the back of his store. The back was quiet, there being nothing more than a skeleton crew this late at night. One cashier, the up front office associate, the assistance back manager, Luke, and one another employee to help the stocking crew out. All that's left is stocking the toiletry... Luke thought to himself, sighing as he stepped away from the boxes of toilet paper and other cleaning supplies. He needed a break. With slumped shoulders, bad back posture, and darkened eye lids, the miserable looking young man wandered into the break room.

"I need a break..."

The satisfying sound of that microwaves beepings filled his ears, prompting him to lift his head and pull out the bowl of instant ramen. Tearing the lid off, snapping the chopsticks, Luke got to work eating his late dinner. The delicious taste of noodle and broth filled his mouth, allowing him to forget his troubles for a few moments. He was at peace when he was alone and eating. That peace was shattered though when there was a knock on the window. The young man, begrudingly, opened one of his eyes up to see the assistance manager, Takashi, looking at him from the other side. Making his way in, he gave Luke a warm smile.

"Hey, you alright?"

Normally Luke was the sort of person to give you either the cold shoulder or a biting tongue, but considering that this guy was his boss, technically, and also treated Luke rather well...he got a slightly nicer response. Luke shrugged his shoulders, lowering his food to talk. "Yeah I guess. I've just got aisle nine left to do tonight then I'm done. Then it's right back fucking here in the morning." Luke commented, playing around with the noodles in the bowl with his chopsticks. His ASM adopted a rathered concerned face when Luke said that, the man sitting down across from Luke at the table.

"Wait, I thought you had a day off tomorrow."

"I did. Gave it to Hiro. Took on his eight to six."

"Jeez Luke, you've worked straight for the past two weeks! Why don't you take a break?"

Luke shrugged, closing his eyes to slurp down some more noodles. "Can't. Bills to pay. "

All Luke ever did was work. All Luke ever did since coming to Karakura was work. All he did was work in jobs that did nothing but stress him out. Part of the problem was Lukes obvious issues with his self control and anger, the young man easily being able to fly off the handles over the smallest things. But Luke didn't come to Karakura to learn how to be a slanty eyed weeabo, nor did he come to suffer his way through minimum wage, Luke had come with a purpose. The two individuals exchanged a few more words, the ASM showing concern over Luke but seeing that, for now, nothing could be done to persuade the young man to take better care of himself.

After being left alone, Luke finally sighed and continued with his meal. Why did he come to Karakura? Why did he come to such a shit city? All his life Luke had been able to see things that other people were unable to see. Ghosts. Hollows. Dumb looking samurai wannabes. But ever since coming to this city the things he was able to see magnified by about 300x. There were more ghosts here than anywhere he lived in the States. Mysterious deaths and disappearances. Unexplained property damage. Karakura had a rather low rent requirements, at least, but it was still tough to survive here. The bills and ghosts were out to get you.

But Luke didn't come here for that. He came here on the request of a note from his mother. A note from the mother that had abandoned him all those years ago. Said Luke would find answers in this city and yet all he had gotten in return was stress. Fuck Karakura. Fuck this job and fuck Japan. Luke sighed, banging his head against the table to rest his eyes for a moment. He heard the click of the automatic light shutting off, the sensors turning the lights off if there was no movement in their area for more than three minutes. Luke was tired. So extremely, very, unimaginably tired. He was tired of working this shit job. Tired of the bills. Tired of the stress. Tired of the anger.

No answers. No point. Nothing but stress. He raised his head, resting his hand on his cheek as he looked at the empty bowl. He hadn't been sleeping well lately either, and not from a lack of trying or his fucked schedule. Lately Luke had been getting a weird feeling. He'd begun to feel as if someone was watching him. But that was dumb, why would anybody be watching him. He had chopped it up to nothing more than his paranoia about a city festering with ghosts, but it had given him enough anxiety that it had begun to affect his sleep. Sitting back in his chair Luke looked out into the darkened room on the other side of the window.

Just another two hours. Another two hours of work. Another two hours of pay. Luke pushing himself to his feet and tossed his trash into the bin, walking back out into the back. As he stepped out, however, he instantly realized something wasn't right. The motion sensitive lights didn't turn on. He blinked, looking up at them and frowning. "Oh for fuck's fucking sake.." Luke growled, not accepting the idea of working in the dark. Walking over to the light switch he began to flick it and yet was seeing no results, "Come on!" How was he supposed to work in the dark? He'd have to go get the ASM. The door out was on the otherside, so Luke began to head that way, grumbling beneath his breath. What else could go wrong?

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Skills}
Strength - 50 Points

Speed - 50 Points

Spiritual Pressure - 50 - 62.5 Points

Reiatsu Strength - 50 - 62.5 Points

Light Aura - 50 Points

Dark Aura - 50 Points

Instinct - 100 - 75 Points

Senses - 100 - 75 Points

Energy sensory - 0 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points

Total SP: 400 Points

• [Street Fighting] {1}
• [Battle Analysis] {1}
• [Pain Tolerance] {1}
• [Strength of Will] {1}
• [Battle Focus] {1}
• [Other: Acrobatics] {1}

[Vesta Zweig]

Vesta had been called into the UE headquarters again. She had talked to her father earlier today, hearing something about a murderer killing humans and a shinigami. He warned her to stay close to home, unless she got called into work and going to school. Besides that, she was to go straight home and do nothing else. She was more curious about what was going on and she knew that she would hopefully learn more at work.

Once she got there, she was directed to an office that she had only seen once before. Kazura's office. There, she walked in quickly. After about ten minutes, she left, a little surprised by what she heard but ready to start looking for the murderer. It was one detail that really bothered her. The two puncture holes in the necks of all the victims, animal and human, as well as the Shinigami.

The first thing that popped into her mind was that it could be another Bount. She had no idea of what other race or people could do it, so based off what she knew it was another Bount. It then made her think if Jin was involved in this as well, trying to hunt down this rogue Bount before their entire race got into some deep trouble. She quickly walked back home to tell her father the news.

He came to the same conclusion as she did. She only told him because it was fairly well known about these. He told her to be careful and to check in when she could. She agreed, hugged him tight, and then left for the downtown Karakura. It was there that she released her doll. When she did, Zorn appeared by her side, looking around and trying to see if he could sniff anything out.

He couldn't find anything too useful, so they continued walking around downtown, on alert. It was getting rather dark out and she was about to stop when she heard something. It sounded like a man, and she was fairly curious to see what he was up to. It could be the murderer she was looking for after all. She watched as he started to walk their way. Once he got so close, she walked in front of his path, Zorn behind her. "What are you doing?"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Abilities}
Strength - 200 Points
Speed - 200 Points
Spiritual Pressure - 200 (225) Points
Reiatsu Strength - 200 (225) Points
Instinct - 80 (60) Points
Senses - 115 (86) Points
Energy sensory - 0 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points

Abilities
[Hand to Hand Combat] [1]
[Battle Analysis] [1]
[Battle Focus] [1]
[Illusion Resist] [1]
[Pain Tolerance] [1]

[Arantima Kawada]

Arantima Steps out of the Senakimon gate, Giving his traditional Kiss to the Balck Butterfly as it flutters back into the gate. Arantima, The weakest Shinigami has been sent To investigate these Murders and husk like corpses. The Reasoning behind this particular choice on the part of the Seireitei is that his Spiritual pressure is almost nonexistent, so in the hopes that he could investigate while remaining undetected, they sent him. He keeps a Hand on his Zanpakuto Handle as he looks about, His senses having been sharpened just slightly By the Fight with Shokan Kawada, or at the very least his instincts.

He is slightly nervous, being sent out into the world of the living against an actual threat. His nerves while shaken are not frayed by any means, just a bit of extra sharpness to his new instincts, or at least so he is telling himself. He Looks down at the ground, in an area where one of the attacks had been reported and takes a Simple breath as he runs a hand through his hair, putting his hands in his pockets before turning and heading towards another of the Attack locations.

He Had Left his Robe Back at his Room in the Squad 10 Barracks, Content to just let his chest and head fly free in the air. Though it was Dusk When he arrived, as he walked it was nearing midnight rather quickly. He Looked up and down the streets, finding some illicit behavior but nothing Spiritual in nature. He Doesn't have any finely hones Spiritual senses or even finely Honed physical senses, often Mistaking a corners true depth and bumping his shoulder into a building or catching his foot on a curb as he walks the streets.

He looks For a Few good hours before seeing a Woman.. and a White tiger? He Tilts his head a moment as he stands and stares at them, not noticing what exactly it is they are headed for, it could be himself or something in the distance, he isn't quite certain. He Starts Walking towards the pair, knowing that that Tiger is not exactly normal and more than likely Something spiritual, though it could just be a girl with a White tiger as a .. that was a spark, No That Tiger is not a normal tiger. What that tiger is however who can say?

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats} Strength - [100] Points - 25 Sealed - 300 Unsealed
Speed - [75] Points - 25 sealed - 75 Unsealed
Spiritual Pressure - [75] Points - 25 Sealed - 225 Unsealed
Reiatsu Strength - [75] Points - 25 Sealed - 75 Unsealed
Light Aura - [50] Points
Instinct - [65] Points - 21 Sealed - 65 Unsealed
Senses - [80] Points - 26 Sealed - 80 Unsealed
Energy sensory - [0] Points
Healing Expertise - [0] Points

SPOILER: Click to show

{Skills} [Calm Mind] [1]
[Strength of Will] [1]
[Martial Arts (Hakuda)] [1]
[Pain Tolerance] [1]
[Bleeding Tolerance] [1]
[Anti-Stealth] [1]
[Memory] [1]
[Weapons - Way of the Winding Dragon (Dual Sword Style)] [1]
[Crafting] [1]

[Jin Yamada]

10:30 pm. Karakura Town.


Karakura Town. At one point, it was quite the place to live. Nice people, nice food, lots of nice memories. It was even home to a certain protagonist and the primary setting of many of his wild adventures. It was here that many origins began and many events took place. It was a central hub of activity. One could go as far as to say that Karakura Town was actually quite safe. But, that depended on who was being asked. While the majority of the population saw Karakura Town as a pretty quiet place, those few who were spiritually aware would say different. The latter were more privy to the inconspicuous events that occurred here in this town called Karakura.

Those who weren’t spiritually aware had no idea what actually went on behind the scenes. They were unaware of the types of events going on right under their noses, usually attributing the strange things they were made aware of as something supernatural. Only those who were spiritually aware could see the battles between the Death Gods in black robes and the monsters called hollows. Only they knew of this secret world of monsters and Death Gods, spiritual vampires, crusaders of the light, and escaped sinners from Hell. So, when bodies started turning up, drained of blood, the spiritually unaware could find no other explanation. The matter was hidden from the public, to prevent mass hysteria from breaking out.

Those who were more familiar with the spiritual world had more understanding of what was going on. They understand what it was that was plaguing the town. One of those individuals, Kazura Uzaki, self-proclaimed protector of Karakura Town, had begun his own investigation into the matter. As such, he began rallying his forces—his spiritually aware employees—and sent them out to search for clues. Vesta Zweig was currently one of those employees tasked with this mission. Though Kazura wouldn’t know it, she would have more of an idea of what was causing the deaths than any of his other employees. Anything that she could find in her patrol was to be reported to him. On the other hand, those with less influence than Kazura took a different approach. They chose to hide and seek shelter, before they became the next body that turned up.

The news of the deaths had even reached as far as the Soul Society, which had more resources than Kazura Uzaki. Wanting to prevent any further deaths, immediate action was taken, and a squad of Shinigami were sent out to investigate. The squad was given the same task as Kazura’s employees: Find any information it could and act if need be. So that was why Arantima Aoire was sent with two other Shinigami to investigate. When the Senkaimon opened, his Shinigami comrades stepped out with him. One was short and of a slim build that signified that this one may be a woman. She wore the standard Shinigami robes, with a shihakusho that was skin-tight as opposed to the looser one most Shinigami wore. A hood extended from the back of it to cover the individual’s head, shrouding the face in darkness.

The third Shinigami that stepped out was taller, of a more muscular build, and pale. This one was male, with a pointed nose, gray eyes, and short black hair in a buzz cut. He wore the standard Shinigami uniform, one that was more traditional than the one the woman wore. ”We split up and search the area. If you spot anything, find a way to alert us to your position without giving yourself away.” said the woman from underneath the hood she wore. Her voice, despite being soft had been quite commanding, signifying that she may have infact been the leader amongst the three of them. This was made more evident when the other Shinigami simply nodded, rather than questioning her orders. With that, the two of them dispersed, leaving Arantima to venture out on his own.

As for Luke, who was new to Karakura and to this spiritual world, he would be unaware of the dangers lurking around him. News of the dead bodies were hush hush. It appeared that someone with great influence had been able to pay off the media not to report any of it. With his lack of connections to the spiritual world, he would have no knowledge of what was going on. From work to home, and back to work he went for the past two weeks with no knowledge whatsoever that there was more going on around him than he knew. Even the hollow activity had decreased slightly since he had first come to Karakura Town. Whatever it was that was causing the deaths, was also scaring off the hollow and keeping them hidden. They would not venture out with such a creature lurking around that could kill them. To Luke, this decrease in spiritual sightings might actually be welcomed, given that the last few times he had seen hollow, it had led to destruction and deaths at his job. For now, things would seem quiet, and he would probably feel safer knowing that he wouldn’t be seeing anymore of those huge freaky monsters with masks.

As he walked towards the door to leave that room, he would hear some strange noises outside of the room. Well, not exactly strange. He would probably attribute it to his co-workers being screwups again. He would hear the sound of a large box falling.Then, he would hear its contents spilling across the floor. He would hear the sound of breaking glass and things rolling across the hardened floor. If he followed the noise, he would notice that it was coming from the back room, where the store held all of the items that still needed to be stocked. What was going on back there? Had someone caused a mess? Luke could choose to go check it out or he could just go back to stocking, since he only had one more aisle to do. He didn’t have to check it out. He could just ignore it, honestly. But, it was up to him.


Vesta and Arantima can interact for now and then I’ll post a reaction for both of them together. Also, there is no posting order. Post whenever you would like as long as there is a post from me between each of your posts.

[Deleted]

Luke yawned, the sleepiness hitting him yet again as he pushed his way through the doors to head back out into the main section of the store. Considering the fact he needed to go find whatever manager he found first to see if they could get the key to turn that light back on, or have him change a fucking lightbulb, Luke wasn't in the back for a moment. As he stepped past the restrooms, a sound reached his ears from the very room he had just left. He blinked, turning on his heels and looking through the darkened windows of the sliding doors leading back into the backroom. Luke blinked with a look of confusion that, instantly, transformed into one of frustration.

Did someone fuck up again? Considering the sounds he was hearing, it really did sound like someone had dropped a box of something fragile. Probably pickle jars...again. Luke slapped his forehead with his hand, groaning in detest. God damn he hated this fucking job. Any therapist with half a brain would have been able to tell where most of Luke's frustration and anger issues came from. This job put some much unneeded stress on the young man that he was afraid of visiting a doctor for fear of finding he had high blood pressure. Worst case scenario was a monster crawling out of Luke's asshole to kill whatever was stressing him out.

But what could have happened? Maybe it was one of the other stockers not realizing that the light had been busted, and as a result had tripped and fallen on something. Luke, for a second, felt some concern over the idea of a coworker getting hurt. Sure, the guy had anger problems but he wasn't some sort of sadist wishing for the worst on everyone. Besides, if the guy got hurt due to management not making sure that fucking light worked than he could probably get away with some workers compensation if he was in a bad shape. So now Luke had a choice. He could finish his task at hand of finding a manager to get the light back on to finish his own work and go home, or Luke could be a good fellow and show someone that he wasn't the worse person in the world.

I hate being such a nice guy..

Luke walked forward and pushed both of the swinging doors open, frowning and glaring out into the dark stockroom before shouting, "Alright, who fucked up and how?" Luke blinked when he didn't get an immediate response, and even began to feel a little...uncertain. He was getting that feeling again. The anxious feeling that something just wasn't...right. It wasn't that he was scared, it was just that he was feeling a bit unnerved. He sighed, realizing that he couldn't back out now. Looking to the right of the doorway he set his eyes on the stores cleaning supplies, reaching over and grabbing the deadliest weapon of all, the very thing that could kill all manners of evil! A broom. Luke began to head in deeper, looking for the source of the disturbance. God he hoped it wasn't actually his fault something fell over.

[Kiera Bright]

Keira Bright had caught wind of the string of killings both literally and figuritivly. She had heard of the animal killings a few days prior to her involvment. She at first considered it a hollow attack, but it didn't seem to be the case. She had not known hollows to attack animals. They mostly seemed interested in human souls or other things with far more power. So she pushed the topic out of her mind while she tried to focus on her hollow experiments. With the body counts increasing, the stench of the carcasses kept creeping into her Asylum. She would find dead animals anywhere from within a couple yards, to a mile out of her asylum. 

She decided to look into some of the carcasses it seemed that there were always two puncture holes in the animal's flesh and they were dry like beef jerky. She tried to scan the bodies for any residual reiatsu, but all her scans were inconclusive. She began thinking of possible solutions to what could be doing this at such a rate. The first thought that came to mind was a hollow was much weaker than its bretheren, and needed to consume animals in order to get stronger, maybe it uses blood to fuel its abilities, or maybe blood is it's ability. All were valid ideas, but still there were other conclusions that could be made that needed to be considered. 

Another possible culprit was a bount. She had not met one face to face, but she had known about them for some time. She knew that they were a vampiric race that relied on the reiatsu of others in order to stay alive. She was also aware of their powers overall, being able to manipulate dolls to fight for them. If this was the case, than most of the theroys that she thought up for the hollow could be true for a bount as well. Maybe it is too weak to feed of humans effectively and needs to take the blood and reiatsu of animals. Maybe it was because of his doll. Or something she got from a sappy romace series, maybe he is just trying to make do without devouring humans. She scoffed at the idea. If that was true he or she was an idiot. 

Keira decided to head out into the forest around her Asylum to try and track down the culprit. She was fairly good at sensing others. She had been practicing since people tend to try to sneak into her Asylum. These intruders usually ranged from teenagers dared to enter with the rumors the ghost of a witch residing in there. Small children trying to prove their bravery to each other. Those she managed to scare away easily though they were still annoying. On the other end of the scale, she had to deal with shinigami attacking her for whatever reason, quincys seeking to "purify" her, and once a Fullbringer who was sent to fight her for some reason.

Keira summoned one of her Flood Arms. A large arm made out of her own reiatsu. The ten foot long arm was large enough for her to ride in the palm of the hand comfortably. The blackish, purpleish colored apendige cupped its fingers like a living throne. It would move her though the forest at a fairly quick pace. Keira didn't want whatever was around her asylum to remain there. She didn't care if it moved on to stalk someone else, but it was not welcomed here. She narrowed her pink bright pink eyes which glowed in the shade. Her dark pink hair was pushed back as her arm moved forward. Her dirty, simple, white dress and tattered lab coat rustled as she moved and turned to avoid trees. She reached into her pocket and popped a jolly rancher in her mouth ready to find whatever was out there.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - Stats and Skills}
Strength - 50 - 25% = 38 Points

Speed - 50 - 25% = 38 Points

Spiritual Pressure - 120 Points

Reiatsu Strength - 450 Points

Light Aura - 20 Points

Dark Aura - 80 Points

Instinct - 100 + 50% = 150 Points

Senses - 50 + 50% = 75 Points

Energy sensory - 100 + 50% = 150 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points


Battle Analysis 1

Mental Incantation 1

Learning 1

Illusion Resistance 1

Analysis 1

Strength of Will 1

[Vesta Zweig]

Vesta was walking around with Zorn active. She looked through the streets while Zorn used his nose to sniff around to see if he could find anything. They had hunted around and when she called out to what she thought was someone, on closer examination, there actually wasn't anyone there. She stood there, looking and trying to figure out what was there and Zorn walked up next to her, looking as well.

Once he stood next to her and actually looked down the alley, he glance back towards her. "Vesta, there's no one there. Are you sure that you saw something?" Vesta squinted harder, realizing that there was nothing there. She looked towards Zorn and just shrugged her shoulders. He sighed loudly, rolled his eyes and started to walk off slowly.

She lightly ran to catch him and poked him playfully in the side. Her vision wasn't the best and she had done that a few times before. Zorn was used to having to point out if something really was there or not. But, this time, she heard a chuckling inside her head from her demonic side. She mentally told her to hush while she kept walking next to Zorn. She was glad that they were getting along, but sometimes she came in at the worst moments.

It was then that she thought she heard something. Zorn's ear didn't flinch at all, so she just assumed that it was her horrible hearing. She continued to walk off, not realizing that the gate was opening up behind her. She continued walking and that's when she thought she had hear voices, but continued to walk. It was her stupid senses again. But, she felt her demonic side try to present itself.

She heard Death inside her, trying to tell her to turn around because she felt something off. She shrugged it off, basing it more off Zorn. It wasn't until Zorn stopped and his ears flicked around that she even stopped. When they both stopped, Vesta started looking around. Zorn sniffed the air and immediately turned around, jumping in front of Vesta protectively. When Vesta heard him growl, she turned around and saw the man looking at her. "Who are you and what do you want?" She had a hand on Zorn, just in case.

[Arantima Kawada]

Arantima pulls down his hood before holding his hands out flat and abbove his head as he appraches, Stopping a good Six to eight feet away from Vesta and Zorn. He Keeps his gaze down and away after seeing that Vesta is a Woman and the size of that wolf means that he should be as submissive as possible in this situation. He Looks Towards the direction that Vesta had been walking and Speaks Clearly so she can hear him easily enough "I Am Arantima Aoire, Shinigami. You can see me, and I can see your wolf there, So I imagine you are spiritually powerful."

Arantima has never seen nor has he heard of a Bount, nor does he know what a Doll is so he just imagines there is some variant of spiritually aware being that commands spirit creatures, seems the most likely explanation. "I imagine you are aware of the recent Attacks.. Leaving people as Dried husks and other assorted states of dead." He gestures very slowly towards her wolf with his right hand "I Don't imagine that your companion is capable of doing such things. Or at the very least isn't of the disposition to do so at the very least"

Arantima takes a steady breath and lowers his hands very slowly gesturing over to area she had been walking towards "You saw it too I imagine?" he Looks at Vesta straight on now and his voice grows more serious "My Eyesight may not be the best, but I saw a stalking shadow travel this way.. And then I spotted you, it seems however that whatever it was has vanished." he drops his pointing arm and slips it in his pocket as his gaze sinks back down to to the floor at his right. A Soft Clicking sound comes from him as he thinks a moment, his tongue clicking off the roof of his mouth in thought.

He looks behind himself for a moment, as if thinking about something in that direction I wonder if this Denotes finding something? I doubt it, A spiritually Aware human is nothing to be worried about, especially here in Karakura. He Looks back towards Vesta and gives a soft nod, not to her more to himself as his slips his other hand into his pockets, sliding his bare foot along the concrete path gently in no particular pattern Just waiting for a reply from the woman, and hopefully she wouldn't sick the big bad Wolf on him.. He'd hate to have a fight break out this early, especially becuase he was alone and that wolf looked like it could chew him in half without thinking.

[Jin Yamada]

Silence. That was the response which the young man received. Nothing but a quiet stillness in response to his shout. It appeared that whoever had caused the mess had run away, possibly so that they would not be blamed. And indeed, Luke would see the mess before him. There was a puddle of what looked like a purple gelatin-like substance pooling on the floor infront of him. Pieces of shattered jars lay around the puddle and others were still rolling around till something finally stopped them. The large box containing the jars could be seen lying on its side over by a shelf. If Luke looked more closely, he’d see the word, “Jam” written somewhere on the side of the box.

At first, that quiet stillness would remain as Luke went to grab something to defend himself. There was a sixth sense which the song man had telling him that something was off. It was almost like one of those monster movies. The protagonist hears a sound and goes to check it out, and while checking it out, they’re attacked by the monster. The situation Luke found himself in seemed eerily similar. If the young man watched monster movies or scary movies in general, he would begin to draw a striking similarity between his situation now and the plots of those movies.

For a while, as Luke ventured further into the back room, he’d find nothing. All of the other boxes were stacked properly and there didn’t appear to be anything else out of place. Aside from the pool of jam sitting in the middle of the floor, everything else was in its regular place. All would appear fine. That is, until the sound of something scurrying across the floor could be heard behind Luke. It sounded like it was coming from the puddle of jam Luke had just passed. If he turned around quickly enough, he’d catch a small glimpse of what it was.

Scurrying quickly across the floor, was something that could only be described as all black and about the size of a small dog or a house cat. Not just that, but he’d also catch a glimpse of red as well. Before he knew it, whatever it was moved behind some boxes stacked on the floor infront of another shelf. It was cornered! Luke now had the chance to find out what exactly had caused the mess. But the question was, did he really want to go see what that was? Whatever that thing was, it had been bigger than a rat. With all of the food within this room, it was very possible that a rat could have easily grown fat enough to be that big. And if it wasn’t a rat, it meant that one of his co-workers may have let a stray animal into the store. That or they had brought their pet to work. The former was probably more plausible than the latter, actually.

---

For Vesta and Arantima, the coincidental meeting between the two was quite an interesting one. One a Bount and the other a Shinigami. One hunted and the other the hunter. One with kill-on-sight orders for any engagements with the other. It was what led to the near extinction of the former race. Bount suffered horribly at the hands of the Shinigami, and as a result went into hiding to escape the same fate as their ancestors. It was possible that Arantima had no knowledge of his orders regarding Bount, given that it appeared he didn’t have very much knowledge of them to begin with. If this was the case, Vesta would be safe for now, at least until Arantima’s squamates rejoined him. It was possible that one of them were more privy to the orders for engaging any members of the Bount race.

Vesta would not fully understand how dangerous the Shinigami before her was, given that her father had hidden much about her heritage from the young girl. Actually, if Arantima knew what exactly Vesta was, he would probably have even more reason to kill her on sight. Vesta was not only in danger because of her Bount heritage. The fact that she possessed powers from Hell was also reason for her to be captured or even killed by the Shinigami. But, she was in luck to have run into a Shinigami who may have been more lax on these orders or rather was not privy to them at all.

Vesta was also in luck that the man she had questioned had been Arantima, a Shinigami. Had it been the one who was killing the animals and Shinigami, she would have been in danger. Some would say that on a night like this, with a killer on the loose it was foolish for the young girl to randomly question anyone who passed by, especially if it had turned out to be the killer. But then again, Vesta had a doll that could protect her. Any killer that tried to attack would have been met with resistance from her doll.

Either way, as the two became acquainted, Bount and Shinigami, they would suddenly hear a loud commotion some blocks down from where they were. There was a sudden explosion and if they looked up, the two would see red smoke beginning to fill the sky above that area. It appeared that someone was in trouble! It could quite possibly be one of Arantima’s team mates, given that the red smoke they saw filling the air was similar to that created by the bakudo, Sekienton. It was possible that one of them had found something, which meant that Arantima would need to hurry to help out his squadmate. Vesta had the option of heading in that direction as well, in order to find out more clues. Whether it was the killer or not, she now had somewhere to start looking.

---

Keira Bright, on the other hand, chose to venture into the forests outside of her lab to search for clues. It was a good place to search, actually, given that this was where the first bodies had shown up. By searching the first crime scene, there may be something that Keira could find that the others wouldn’t. It was quite possible that the killer might actually be living within the forest, rather than within the town. It was also possible that the killer may have just decided to start with animals, which meant that the forest was not home to the killer, but rather a hunting ground.

Either way, Keira would have to be cautious. As a Failure, she would have to be more careful than most would normally have to. Of course, in any situation where a killer could strike at any moment, one had to be careful, but Keira’s situation required more caution than usual. One hit, and it would be over for the young girl. But, with the power of her flood, she would have some protection before the killer got too close to attack her.

Speaking of closeness, as Keira flew through the air, she would suddenly see something black moving quickly towards her. Whatever it was that was heading her way had red glowing eyes and was shrieking frantically as it made its way towards her. Upon closer inspection as it came near, she would begin to make out what exactly it was. From the thin, fleshy wings which it used to keep itself afloat, Keira might be able to instantly recognize her attacker, and upon recognizing it, her next thought may be to wonder why a bat was flying out here within the forest, especially without any other bats around.

As that lone bat flew towards her, she would hear another sound as well. From her right she would hear what sounded like wings flapping, but this one didn’t sound the same as the bat’s flapping. This one was different as if it belonged to something with feathered wings. If she looked after getting safely away from the bat, she would find an owl landing on a branch to her right. For the most part, it appeared normal, except for the glowing red eyes it shared with the bat.

[Deleted]

In all honesty, Luke didn't grab the broom in preparation to become "Captain Clyburn, Slayer of Evil and Fucker of Bitches" in fact, part of the reason he had actually grabbed it in the first place was because he was expected to find a mess that he needed to clean up. Sure, the added comfort of having a stick he could hit something with was certainly welcomed and enjoyed but he wasn't holding it expecting he was needing to hit someone. Looking down at the floor, however, Luke found his frown deeping. On one hand, the silence that answered his shouting was already unsettling. So much so that Luke found himself feeling rather uncomfortable standing here in the dark. He really wasn't one to be afraid, but even now he was beginning to feel the pricks of anxiety.

Looking at the floor was were the second part of his worry began from. A fallen box of glass containers, labeled as jam, were strewn across the floor. Some still rolled, while others remained stationary, all around a puddle created from one having been broken. Luke blinked, looking around and failing to notice anybody else in the backroom with him. The silence was definitely not a welcome guest right now. Despite his better judgement, Luke began to move deeper through the stockroom, searching for the culprit. When Luke found them they had better hope they had a wide butthole, because Luke was going to shove the end of this broom handle so far up their---wait, there was a noise.

Luke quickly turned, just in time to spot something running past the puddle of jam and back behind one of the stock shelves. Luke blinked, that right eye of his twitching "You've got to be fucking with me...". A pest...in HIS store?! Luke couldn't believe his eyes. From what he had seen that fucking thing had to have at least been the size of some small dog which was way to big to be a rat. A raccoon? Did Japan even have raccoons? What was the flash of red? Luke took a step forward, curious as to what it was, when all of a sudden something occurred to him. What the hell was something like this doing here? There wasn't a pest problem in this store!

Luke groaned out with a sort of crying like sound of discontent, cursing his bad luck as he pondered over the next best course of action. "Sure Luke, stay an extra couple of hours to make some more money. Stock the shelves, smile at the customers, deal with incompetence, and now handle a fucking rodent running around in the back! What a great fucking night!" Luke swore, shaking his head as he paced a few steps back and forth trying to figure out the best way to deal with this situation. He looked over at the boxes that the creature had hid behind, groaning out once again. He couldn't believe he had to deal with this.

"I hate this fucking job.." Luke groaned, looking around over at the loading bay and back at the boxes. "Please don't bite me..." He pleaded, crouching a bit and extending the end of the broomstick he held in his hand, pushing against the boxes a little to see if he could push out whatever it was hiding. In his head he felt that if he could see what it was then he'd have a better idea on how to deal with it. So he pushed the boxes a few times with the broom, waiting to see what would happen.

[Vesta Zweig]

Vesta stood staring at the man before her with Zorn in a snarl, ready to defend her if need be. The man was a shinigami, but the hands up was a good sign. She kept her hand on Zorn's back, hand ready to move or restrain if need be, depending on what this shinigami would say. Would he be like Tsukiyomi and do nothing towards her and want to get to know her? Or would he be what she considered normal shinigami and want to attack her on sight. 

It was then that he began talking about being able to see him and that she must be spiritually powerful. Though, when he said wolf and was meaning Zorn, Zorn growled really loudly, taking offense to being called a wolf. The man was looking down, so maybe he just didn't notice that Zorn was like a saber tooth tiger instead of a wolf? Zorn did like the fact that he wasn't making direct eye contact.

Zorn, stay calm. This Arantima Aoire person is looking down, maybe he just got a glance at you. We'll see what happens and you can say something if he keeps doing it okay? He nodded his head, relaxing just slightly as we continued to listen to this man. He then started talking about knowing of the recent attacks and she nodded her head in agreement, but then assumed he couldn't see, since he was still talking towards the ground.

"Yes, we know about the recent attacks. It is why we are here." When Arantima made the statement that her companion wouldn't do them or have the disposition to do it, Zorn growled even louder. Vesta grabbed onto his fur and had to take a deep breath. He didn't know them and if he was investigating like they were, which was a good assumption, he had to check everything. "No, Zorn wouldn't do that." She made sure that Zorn was in check before she looked over at the man again.

He said that he saw a shadow move this way and disappear, but his eyesight wasn't very good. It was then that he ran into them. He was pretty curious as to where it went. Before Vesta could say anything, Zorn couldn't hold back anymore. He growled and wrestled his way out of Vesta's grip. She started to run after him, but being on four legs made him a tad quicker than her.

He ran and stopped about three feet away from the shinigami. "I AM A SABER TOOTH TIGER, NOT A WOLF AND I WOULD NEVER HURT INNOCENT PEOPLE! MY TASK IS TO PROTECT VESTA FROM ALL WHO WOULD HURT HER! I AM ZORN AND IF YOU DARE TRY TO TOUCH HER, I WILL END YOU!" He ended his yelling with the loudest roar he could manage, right at Aran's face. Vesta then got to him and grabbed as tight as she could. "That's enough Zorn!" She grabbed hard.

Zorn looked back on her and saw how mad she was at him. He slunk back slightly, rubbing on her arms and torso. She still glared at him, but that would soon pass too. She knew that she could never stay too mad at him. He was protective and she knew he only did that to warn the shinigami. But, the shinigami didn't know that and they had just assumed that he wasn't going to say anything about meeting a Bount. He still could and that's the main reason she was annoyed with Zorn.

It was then that she heard a loud noise. Zorn immediately flipped around and faced the noise with a snarl. Vesta reflexively put a hand on Zorn's back, to give her an option of getting on Zorn to get away. But, she realized, the noise was much farther away than she thought. She then looked up and saw the red smoke in the air and knew something was going down. It was the only lead she had and since it was her mission to find the killer, this would be the best place to look.

"Well, I'm heading towards the red smoke. Come or not, it doesn't matter to me. By the way, in case you didn't figure it out by now, my name is Vesta and the tiger with me is Zorn, sorry for not introducing ourselves earlier. I think Zorn just couldn't hold back his comments." With that, she jumped on top of Zorn and they started running towards the red smoke. She hoped that whatever was there, she would be able to deal with it and she wasn't walking into some kind of trap that could be set up.

[Arantima Kawada]

Arantima Takes a Step back at the.. Apparently it's a Lion, roaring at him.  Arantima Doesn't lift his gaze from the ground However He Drops his hands down to his Zanpakuto and Takes a Defensive Stance, holding a hand out to catch the Tiger's advance should it come too close. "if You lunge at me Again Creature i will have to cause a Scene. If you dare so much as raise your voice to me again i will cut your tongue from your mmouth and set it Symbol, Do you understand me?" He Looks up at The Beast, His eyes Glaring heavily.

He Had been looking down out of respect for the beast, and had just said that He beleived the beast was not Violent enough to kill those people. Arantima has just been insulted on a very deep level by this, Zorn and he wasn't about to forget that. However just as he is about to rize, he looks up and towards the Red smoke, his eyes goind wide. He Looks over to See Vesta and her Tiger Rushing off towards the Smoke Billowing and He Reaches out for them, shouting out "You Will Wait for me! if it is my Team You will need my Company so they do not Assault you just for being a Spiritual being! The others are not as relaxed as I!"

Arantima Runs off After Vesta and Zorn, Not able to Truly keep up with them but he does his best. He Refuses to utilize Shunpo and waste any of what little energy he has to get to The Red smoke faster than he normally would. He plods Along After Vesta, Towards the Plumes of Red smoke as best he can. He Shakes his hand out Gently, the one that had been pointed at the Tiger, He had been prepared To Unleash a Seki Sheild to protect himself and the tenseing of all his muscles caused a bit of pain in his arm when he didn't need to finish the kido.

[Kiera Bright]

Keira would tense up seeing something flutter to her. Keira squinted her eyes tying to identify what it was before it could attack her. She swerved the arm that she was using as a ride to avoid the bat. Bats were not an uncommon sight here. There were some small colonies of bates throughout of the forest, but she never seen one out this early, or alone before. She made sure to note the distinct color of the eyes. She watched it go past her when another sound met her ears. The flapping was different. They sounded like birds wings. To her right an owl landed on a branch. Again this owl seemed normal, but the color of the eyes were the same color as bats. 

Keira knew that there was something going on with them. That was not a natural phenomena. Using two more reiatsu arms that she summoned, Keira would quickly, and gently, grab both of the flying creatures. The arms would travel much faster than the things could hope to avoid, but when they were grabbed, they made sure to keep from harming the no doubt struggling animals in their grasp. Keira needed to try and scan them, and see if she could determine what was going on. She pulled out a square energy detector from her lab coat pocket. She held it close to the bat first making sure to keep far enough way to not get bitten, but close enough to get a good reading. Then she would move to the owl with the same caution to make sure they match.  

[Jin Yamada]

Scary, quite scary indeed was the situation which Luke Clyburn found himself in. Despite not knowing what it was that had toppled the jars and run behind the box, he was taking his chances anyway. Some would call it brave while others would call it foolishness. Others from PETA might even say to leave it alone if it was some kind of animal, especially given that Luke appeared ready to assault whatever came out from behind the box with his broom. Oh how much PETA would hate Luke for what he was about to do to the possible animal behind the box.

The young Bount approached slowly, cautiously, so as not to draw attention to himself. He was like a hunter, stalking his prey. Slowly and quietly, he crept up to that box with that broom of his. The broom that would slay any creature that came out from behind that box. In that moment, it meant life or death. And so, he began his investigation by prodding the box.

The box moved, as he had hoped by prodding it, and it did indeed push against whatever was hiding behind it. Luke would realize this because of the hissing sound which came from behind that box. He would recognize the hiss right away. For the creature that hid behind the box suddenly ran out! It was none other than...a black cat! And it was fast too! The fearsome creature launched at Luke, hissing once more as it leapt towards his face, hoping to plant its claws there and push back the attacker that had disturbed it with a broom.

---

On the other side, Vesta immediately recognized the significance of the red smoke spilling into the air. She didn't know that it was a signal, but the young girl was bright enough to take it as a clue to something going on. It may be the attacker, and it may not be. The only way to find out would be to head towards the source of the red smoke. Quickly, Vesta was on her way towards the smoke, with Arantima following behind. With Vesta moving on Zorn, it would take some time for the slower Shinigami to reach the site of that red smoke.

Upon arriving at the site where the red smoke was billowing into the sky, Vesta would find quite the scene. Before her, was the red smoke, of course. It spread upwards from the center of the street, indicating that whatever had released the smoke had done so in that spot. All of a sudden, her attention would be grabbed by the ball of red fire which flew past her, aimed at something to her left. If she followed the general direction from which the attack had come, she would find a large man standing there, breathing heavily. Fresh cuts were upon his chest, two of them infact in an X-shape, and they were all dripping blood and some other silver-like substance. Pretty soon, he would bleed out if he didn't receive help in time.

"What?! Don't tell me your this thing's reinforcements..." the large man cried out upon seeing Vesta. "You gotta be kidding me! I'm already handling this one myself and another one shows up!" he shouted in complaint. Another one? Surely, that would draw Vesta's attention. The man must have been assuming that Vesta and whatever he was fighting were together. Actually, what exactly was the man fighting? If Vesta turned, she would be able to see it clearly for herself.

The creature standing to her left about 10 feet from her position was quite slender, with a body resembling that of a human. But, Vesta would recognize that the thing before her was not human at all. Its entire body was shiny, and composed of a slick, silver-like substance. It bore no facial features on the head and blades replaced its hands. The creature's feet were rounded where there should have been toes, as if it was wearing some kind of footwear. Vesta would feel some kind of connection with the creature almost. Despite her lack of energy sensory, she would sense something about the creature that was off. Well, not off but moreso unexpected. She would feel some kind of familiarity from the creature's presence, as if the creature was another Zorn standing there. Just what did this mean?!

Meanwhile, as Arantima arrived on the scene, much later than Vesta, he would also see everything that Vesta had. He would see the tall, muscular man, leaning against a light pole to catch his breath, and he would instantly recognize him. It was the man whom he had arrived with, one member of his three-man...well, three-person squad. And it appeared that his squadmate had actually found something...or maybe something had found him. "Hey, get away from them! She's with that thing!" the large man, whose name was Yuma Ogura of Squad 11 called out in an attempt to warn his squadmate. It looked like he had been cut up pretty badly, which meant that whatever they had found was more dangerous than they had thought initially. But, was this the killer they were searching for?

---

Meanwhile, Keira found herself in the way of the oncoming bat with gleaming red eyes. She acted quickly and had the arm swerve around the bat. A wise move. So in this way, she was able to avoid an explosive fate by preventing a collision with that bat. A Failure could never be sure just what level of impact would trigger the unstable reiatsu within their bodies. Thus, it was always a good precaution to prevent impacts altogether. This was what the failure, Keira, had chosen to do.

She had also noticed the rustling of feathers near her and saw the owl landing on the branch to her right. Acting quickly, the Failure tried to grab the owl and the bat with two new arms formed from her flood. However, she would find that she wasn't so lucky on this night. One hand had indeed caught the owl, but the other clasped around nothing. The bat that Keira had avoided was no longer there. It was gone, just like that. Poof. It had vanished into thin air, at least, that was what it would seem like. There would be confusion at first, but it would not last.

"What is a little girl like you doing out here so late?" a sneering voice called out. It wasn't very deep, nor was it too high pitched. It was the right tone for the average man, which the voice was revealed to belong to. On the ground below her, Keira would see the man standing there, hungry eyes staring up at her. He had a crazed look upon his pale face. He also had messy black hair which stuck out in spikes at the back. He was average height for a man, and he appeared to be wearing a black leather jacket over a black T-shirt with black pants and black boots to match. This man loved the color black. "You gonna answer me?" the man said, raising his voice a little louder this time. All the while, his beady black eyes never left the Failure. It was also noticeable that the man had bags under his eyes as if he hadn't been sleeping for some time.

"What are you doing out here all by your lonesome?" he asked again, this time lowering his voice. After that, a Cheshire-like grin spread across his face and he snapped his finger. The owl which Keira had caught suddenly melted away into what appeared to be shadows and dispersed into the air. It too, disappeared into thin air. And when it did, if Keira paid close enough attention, she would notice that a shadow suddenly appeared beneath the tree the owl had landed on before she grabbed it.



OOC: I will post stats for all enemies if you choose to engage. This is what I will do for any NPCs encountered in this thread.