Post by Akira Hinosai on Sept 21, 2019 21:35:23 GMT -5
-Opening-
Discord/Chatango Username (include nicknames): Amphisbaena
Password 1: Black Hole
Password 2: Moon Pray
Type: Soldier
Affiliation: Mercenary
Rank: 1
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-Basic Information-
Name: Luca Castabella
Real Age/Age of Appearance: 17, early 20's
Birthday (Month/Day): 2/29
Blood Type: B-
RP Sample (Optional): [Insert Here]
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-Appearance-
Height/Weight: 6’2, 155
Physical Description: Luca is a tall and fair-skinned young man whose form is knotted with lean muscle. He is broad-chested and his abdomen is well toned. He has shaggy, wavy brown hair that is chin length and is sometimes tied back in a messy ponytail. It has been described as a mop of tangles and half curls and for good reason. His face is gaunt and angular, possessing prominent cheekbones, and an aquiline nose. He has sharp blue-green eyes. His teeth are chipped, discolored and somewhat maligned. When he smiles, he has a wolfish grin. His hygiene leaves much to be desired. While he makes attempts to not reek of body odor, he is frequently accompanied by the smell of dirt, smoke, and lighter fluid. Luca frequently slouches. It is when he seeks to intimidate or is in battle his posture improves. His movements are fluid and catlike, almost elegant. Barring some chin scruff, he lacks body hair. Luca's face is also largely free of marks or blemishes with the exception of a small scar that begins above his right eyebrow and ends above his right eye. It is not particularly deep and is primarily notable as the scar tissue creates a line in the eyebrow where hair does not grow. There is a scar on his left thumb from flicking his lighter so often with it.
Luca's choice of fashion is bohemian in nature. Consisting of some of the finest vaguely Victorian and Edwardian suits liberated from consignment stores, Luca is certainly one to stick out of a crowd. Luca's favorite outfit consists of a dark overcoat with pockets full on miscellaneous junk over a well-worn white dress shirt and vest, grey slacks, and tall black riding boots, and of course, a near comically over sized scarf. During the summer months he ditches both the overcoat and scarf, and dons a pair of wayfarer sunglasses. Luca's school uniform is more conventional, consisting of a black jacket, white dress shirt, black ribbon tie, black slacks and brown shoes. While Luca possesses more outfits, they typically follow the formula with different, but similar items of clothing.
Image
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-Personality-
Dislikes:
Spiritually Unaware Humans: To Luca, they are an annoyance at best and an active hindrance at worst. Somewhat understandable given his experiences with them. While he certainly won’t go around killing them and might even try to prevent their deaths if he is able, he is dismissive and clearly does not enjoy them or their company.
Being ignored: Luca is primarily motivated by the desire for fame and recognition, so he desperately craves the attention of others and will go to great lengths to achieve it.
The Sun: “IT’S TOO DAMN BRIGHT AND IT GETS IN MY EYES!”
In more serious terms, Luca is, by all means, a night person. This is primarily because the sun is always too hot or always gets in his eyes when he does not have sunglasses on his person.
Sad people: Seeing people genuinely distraught makes Luca extremely uncomfortable. He becomes anxious in his desire to cheer them up, but if he is unable to do so, he feels awkward, helpless and will sometimes lash out or leave the situation altogether.
Bad endings: Whether it’s in a story or in Luca’s life, Luca cannot stand endings where the good are punished, those who are wrong are not given an opportunity to “redeem themselves”, and those who are evil are not vanquished. To a certain extent, Luca tries to extend these beliefs to his day to day life. He does not hurt those he views as good, and will almost always try and forgive and forget in hopes the enemy may redeem themselves.
Likes:
Pluses: For the majority of his life, Luca has turned to pluses for companionship, and continues to do so. He makes it a point to try and cheer them up if they’re sad as best he’s able.
Soul Reapers: See above. They help pluses not get eaten by hollows and not become hollows themselves. Even if, in Luca’s not so humble opinion, too many have sticks implanted firmly up their asses, if they help pluses, they’re good people.
Learning: Luca is surprisingly curious about the world around him, and loves to learn more about it. This extends to the nature of his powers and the spiritual world as a whole, something that interests him greatly. He's very inquisitive and can frequently be found doing his own "investigations" of things that interest him immediately.
Reading: Why? Escapism, curiosity, a love for storytelling, at least when someone else does it anyway. Luca doesn’t particularly care about the why, more so the undeniable enjoyment he gets from reading. The Thrawn Trilogy and Elric of Melniboné strike out as some of his particular favorites.
Cooking: While it may be more accurate to say he likes eating and cooking is necessary to attain that goal, cooking is something Luca does possess some skill at. During his training in the year before his transfer, he learned to cook as a means of bettering his nutrition. Even so, Luca possesses genuine technique and talent preparing meals for himself and others in a real kitchen. He gets to eat, and he gets compliments. It really is a win-win.
Talking: Luca loves talking to people, though talking at people is a more accurate way to describe it. Regardless, Luca does genuinely enjoy sharing his time and thoughts with those around him.
Habbits
Teeth Grinding: Whether he’s awake or asleep, it’s safe to say he’ll be accompanied by the sound of bruxism. If he’s thinking, if he’s stressed, if he’s angry, it’s his go to coping mechanism, not that he’d ever be caught dead referring to it as such himself.
Lighter Flicking: Sometimes to calm his nerves and others to intimidate his enemies, he keeps his lighter close and makes a show of almost flicking it. This is partially because of the nature of his power. For one, its personal significance comforts him greatly, and the mere act of flipping it can most definitely cause some serious damage, since most of his opponents have some inkling of an idea that he is spiritually aware.
Laughing: When Luca is riding the adrenaline high of combat, more specifically whenever he seems to have the upper hand, he can’t help but laugh. Even he acknowledges it’s not exactly funny, but he laughs his head off all the same.
Flaws:
Hypocritical: There are many, MANY things Luca can and will consider annoying or signs of poor character in others, even if he himself is guilty of them. For example, he can’t stand being talked down to, even if he’ll taunt others and dismiss spiritually unaware humans on a whim. For what small list of personal rules he has everyone has the caveat of “It’s ok when I do it.”.
Arrogant: He’s special, and he knows it. Everyone within 2 city blocks is going to know it, too. The genuineness of this attitude is unclear at times, even to Luca himself, but what is known is that he’s certainly not going to humble himself any time soon.
Guarded: Getting Luca to open up is extremely difficult. He’ll talk and he’ll be friendly, but he has strict control over the amount of his personal information escaping his lips, probably the only subject he possesses any tact over. If Luca has told you something about himself, odds are it’s because he wanted you to know or it was a lie. He has the capacity to make friends, but deeply trusting someone well enough to take all his walls down is another matter entirely.
Impulsive: Luca isn’t the type to get too caught up thinking of consequences, typically acting on ideas that seem smart at the time. Risk is something trivial to him, or at least far less important than acting on his ideas as quickly as humanly possible. He’s more than capable of seeing when an idea of his is bad, only that typically happens after it blows up in his face. Hindsight is 20/20, after all.
Fears:
Obscurity: A lack of attention is worse than even bad attention. What is obscurity, but a fate worse than death? In Luca’s mind, being remembered is the only way he can verify he even really exists. Those who are forgotten don’t matter, so he can’t be one of them.
Loss of power: Luca’s powers are something intrinsically tied to him. The idea of losing what defines him, and becoming a normal human is a thought more terrifying than any other, even if he has yet to find any evidence of it being possible.
Abandonment: When Luca makes friends he fears being left behind by them. Luca needs to be needed and wanted as much as he needs to be acknowledged. Because of this, with his friends, he tends to assume the worst and becomes jealous when he perceives signs of disloyalty.
Goals:
Recognition: Luca has dredged around in the world of the ordinary long enough. There are plenty of others like him, there is a world full of them in fact. Luca's going to make sure every one of them knows his name.
Knowledge: By going to Karakura town, Luca hopes to learn more about the spiritual world, his abilities, and how to use them. While he has theories, he years to learn the undeniable truth about it.
Power: By meeting others like him, learning from them, and savoring greater battles, Luca hopes he can grow stronger. He knows he hasn't reached the peak of his strength yet, and there are likely many creatures stronger than him. If he wants to achieve all his other goals, he'll have to narrow that gap.
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Overall Personality:
On the surface, Luca comes off as a self-centered and self-aggrandizing loudmouth. He is often abrasive, hypocritical, and seemingly unintelligent. While these are all fair criticisms, there is more to Luca than meets the eye. More than anything, Luca wants to be remembered and acknowledged. There are times he repeats his mantra of self-promotion entirely to convince himself rather than those around him. Luca’s entire sense of identity was one that developed through being caught between the world of the ordinary and extraordinary. While a part of the former, he developed pride in his ability to access the ladder. As he grew older, it resulted in social isolation, but he was able to develop confidence by telling himself he was better than the average human. Even if for no part of his life he was friendless thanks to the ability to see ghosts, his experiences growing up shook him to his core and made him into the less than stellar person he is today. It became easier to deal with the mocking and laughter when he told himself he was better than them, and even after leaving that environment, he has not lost the defense mechanisms he needed in that part of his life. Almost as if to prove everyone who laughed at him wrong, he seeks fame and recognition. To Luca, these things are means to the end that is ensuring the rest of the world knows what he tries his very hardest to believe himself: that he is special and that he is worthy of love.
Luca does possess the capacity for empathy and acts of kindness. Luca is made uncomfortable by genuinely hurting others for reasons he has trouble understanding or articulating. Should his sharp-tongued blather go too far, or the recipient be more sensitive than he's used to, he won't hesitate to apologize and try and cheer them up as best he's able. Luca is made uncomfortable by genuine displays of emotion or sentimentality and is often unsure how to respond. This is doubly true when he is faced with consoling someone. Should all his attempts fail, he is likely to leave, just to not have to deal with it. As a direct result of this discomfort, Luca is not the type to open up completely, if at all.
This is not to say Luca is incapable of creating and maintaining friendships. To those he calls friends, he is deeply loyal and wouldn't dream of abandoning them. While, as previously stated, he is not the type to open up, he remains a very honest friend outside that, never bothering to flatter or otherwise deceive those he cares about. The worst he will do is withhold information he is uncomfortable disclosing. That being said, he is himself fearful of being abandoned and replaced by his friends and is prone to jealousy and paranoia that they may seek to replace him. As such, he is at times needy when it comes to attention and assurance from his friends. To put it simply, it is summed up by the idea of give and take.
Luca tends to have a more complicated stance on his enemies. He often hurls taunts and threats their way, but a more specific response depends on several factors. If he feels he can beat them in a fight, he will seek to challenge them to show his superiority. When Luca is fighting an enemy, he shows an almost uncharacteristic bloodlust, but this is not related to sadism, but rather, he views the spilled blood of his enemies as the physical representation of his strength, thus proving him worthy. Should Luca know he cannot beat the enemy, he will typically play off their attempts to provoke him, and simply stick to his guns, refusing to let any insult make him lose his pride in himself. It is also worth noting that Luca is quick to forgive his enemies, and while capable of holding a grudge, he often decides against it. For Luca to deem someone not worth his forgiveness they must do a great deal to hurt those around him or must do much to hurt his pride. Luca won't allow himself to be "tamed" and won't treat anyone differently if they defeat him. Even if they possess the ability to kill him, he will not change himself for them.
Even if Luca is prone to poor decisionmaking, he is surprisingly very intelligent and genuinely inquisitive about the world around him. While it began in high school for the express purpose of learning better ways to use his powers, it quickly became a passion in and of itself. Luca is very knowledgable about history, biology, and chemistry. This thirst for knowledge extends to the spiritual world as well. Since his knowledge of it is quite lacking, he doubtless would love to learn more about it, and every race that inhabits it. Regardless, it's perhaps one of Luca's traits that surprises those around him the most. If Luca is in the mood, he can provide insightful statements and observations with poetic candor.
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-Powers-
Fighting Style:
There is one goal Luca strives for in combat: to win and barring that to survive. Luca will do anything to ensure either is the case. Dirty fighting, manipulation, hiding, and running away are all fair game. Luca’s doctrine is based on the principle of misdirection and one-sided attrition. Luca is relatively inexperienced with using his powers and less than skilled in overcoming enemies with force alone. So, instead, Luca relies on his skills as a fullbringer, and tricks he has come up with along the way to come out ahead. This is not to say, however, that Luca is utterly lacking in technique. He is proficient with his weapon and knows its strengths and weaknesses and will use them as best he is able. While much of his technique comes from what has seemed to work in his experience, he has researched the poleaxe whenever he has received the chance, adding what he learns of its use to his fighting style.
Luca is often outmatched in contests of strength or endurance, so instead he levels the playing field as best he can. His fullbring allows the laying of traps and grants him the ability to inflict his opponents with sickness to wear them down until suddenly, their superior strength or endurance no longer matters. It isn’t always pretty, but in Luca’s mind, an ugly victory is better than a pretty defeat. For Luca to win, he has to keep his opponents under his control, guessing what he’s doing while simultaneously doing what he wants them to do. He also must keep his distance, one of the benefits of his poleaxe’s intrinsic qualities. Furthermore, Luca’s win condition involves keeping his opponents in his “fallout zone”, or the 5x5x5 area that can be affected at one time by his fullbring as often as possible.
As previously stated, Luca relies on a myriad of skills to turn the tide in his favor. Often times, he will feign retreat, in hopes the enemy will follow him. In addition to gaining distance, this is also useful for leading his opponents into traps. Also, by the time Luca realizes he has no way of winning, he may attempt a retreat with the hopes he won't be followed for fear of another trick, thus escaping with his life. Should Luca get sufficient distance, he may use stealth to score a hit against the unaware opponent when they get close. Likewise, he will often lie about the specific abilities of his fullbring to goad enemies into behaving a certain way and taking advantage of their ignorance. He is also not above attacking an opponent when their guard is down, believing honor in combat to be a fancy way to get oneself killed. Above all, Luca fights smarter, not harder. He is adept at creating new strategies on the fly and adjusting for his opponent's abilities and skills, making him a very dangerous opponent.
Main Fullbring Appearances:
Sealed
Luca’s sealed fullbring is an antique cylindrical brass lighter. It is darkened by age and bares spots of corrosion as numerous superficial scratches. It possesses a large, almost gear-like flint wheel to which the cover is attached and is removed when the lighter is lit. The lighter has no serial number or manufacturer name engraved anywhere on it. The only hint to the lighter's origin is the phrase "Made in France" and the word "Paris" engraved in the bottom of the lighter.
Release Stage 1
Chernobyl's Axe takes the form of a large brass poleaxe.The head of the weapon appears as tarnished and corroded brass. Its axehead is flat and serrated like the wheel of a lighter and is 8 inches in length. Opposite to the axe blade is a small and flat hammerhead, The top blade similar to a pike in that it only ends in a sharp point. It is 11 inches in length. The head is socketed to the haft, and its position is further secured by langets. The haft itself is long and wooden. It is black in color and very solid. In total, the weapon is 6 feet in length.
Release Stage 2
The overall length of the weapon increases to 7 feet, but the proportions remain largely the same. The head of the weapon loses its corrosion but becomes covered in deep cracks through which light green energy shines. It appears the brass portions are barely being held in place, but the structural integrity of the head is not diminished. The haft of the axe is largely unchanged, but it does gain a secondary spike at its bottom made of the same green energy that pulsates through the cracks of the head. It is much smaller than the top spike on the head and resembles a leaf-shaped blade that may be found on a spear’s head. It is 5 inches in length.
Main Fullbring Name: Chernobyl's Axe
Main Fullbring Level 1 Property:
By focusing his spiritual pressure through the tip of his poleaxe, Luca is capable of delivering complex instructions to objects, specifically requesting the imitate radioactivity. It is capable of affecting only a single object at a time besides the ax itself, which always remains infected. Should the object in question be larger than 5 feet by 5 feet by 5 feet, only a portion of Luca’s choice no greater than the aforementioned measurement will be infected. Likewise, for the instructions to remain active, Luca must remain within 80 feet on the infected object This radiation is potentially very dangerous causing an illness similar to radiation sickness.
The sickness begins when contact with an infected object is made. Infection of a living thing begins with second-degree burns localized around the area of contact. From there, the sickness causes symptoms of nausea and bleeding from the eyes and mouth. The imitation radiation poisoning strikes hard and fast, beginning the post contact is made and the burns are dealt, but burns out two posts after contact with an infected object has ceased.
Radiation created by this ability is markedly different than true radiation in several ways, It cannot spread to other objects like normal radiation can. Also, damage caused by it cannot in and of itself be lethal, or capable of delivering otherwise permanent damage to the people it affects. No nerves or DNA are damaged and as previously stated, the sickness burns out quickly. This process can be further expedited by healing abilities such as healing kido. No permanent damage is done by this ability.
Main Fullbring Level 2 Properties:
With greater power and understanding of his abilities, Luca's radiation-like abilities gain new applications. Among these is the ability to better manipulate the radiation that is intrinsic to his release. Through either end of his weapon, or through an object irradiated by it, he may focus through his weapon's own radiation, creating a potentially deadly beam of pure radiation. The beam is highly focused and coherent. The beam fires in a straight line, and its diameter equivalent to the tip of the poleaxe. It has a range of 80 feet. While it possesses the potential to pierce through targets, this is only the case if the opponent's reiatsu strength is less than Luca's spiritual pressure. If this is not the case, they will simply be burned where the laser hit them. This ability costs 75 Reiatsu per use.
Luca can create a large and bright orb of radiation so beautiful those who look upon it are compelled to go towards it. The orb is set in place and may not be moved after the ability is activated. Those with 3 points in the skills Strength of Will, Illusion Resist or with spiritual pressure higher than Luca are able to negate this ability. With the ability being based on sight, those who do not look at it are also immune. Those who fall victim to the orb's beauty are snapped out of their trance by damage and when they reach the orb itself. Those who are affected by the orb are then better able to resist it for a time. For two posts they may treat their Illusion Resist as if it were 3 for the purposes of counteracting this ability. Likewise, the compulsory effects of the orb only take effect should the target be within 80 feet of it. It costs 200 Reiatsu per use.
Luca's final ability relating to his primary fullbring lies in a different application of radiation. Rather than inflict radiation sickness, Luca can deliver instructions to all the objects within 80 feet around the intended target to hinder spiritually aided movement. Simply put, this field hinders the use of spiritual means to increase speed such as hoho, sonido, and all equivalent abilities. The field achieves this by decreasing the efficiency of reiatsu flow for the express purpose of movement by attacking and destroying the bonds of the reiatsu needed to create momentum. However, it is still possible for these abilities to be used, but there are far more taxing than they would otherwise be. The cost of step techniques is multiplied by 4. The field lasts for 5 posts and costs 225 Reiatsu per use.
Secondary Fullbring Appearances:
Luca's secondary fullbring stems from the note left by Tom explaining his departure. It takes the form of an arming sword with the rolled-up note forming the hilt of the weapon. Its pommel is somewhat unusual in that rather than simply being circular and metal, it appears to be a cubic formation of uraninite that simply formed beneath the hilt. The cross guard is styled to resemble a black fountain pen The blade glows a sickly green and is 29 inches in length.
Secondary Fullbring Properties:
Luca's sword is capable of transferring imitation radiation like the primary release. However, this radiation is different in application and use. Rather than being used offensively, this radiation coats its user. When this happens, any target within 8 feet is infected as though they were cut by the Chernobyl's Axe, with all the stipulations and rules that apply. It lasts 2 turns after the opponent(s) exit the 8-foot range. It is always clear when this ability is activated as Luca's eyes glow a bright green, as do his veins and any open wounds. However, it should be noted this does not close them or otherwise stop bleeding. This is a close range ability, and its use significantly dwindles if it is activated at any other time.
Luca's final fullbring ability is potentially his most deadly to others and himself. It is only practical to use as an absolute last resort when even Luca can't run or hide. Through his arming sword, Luca can break the limits on how much radiation he can create. Imitation radiation floods 80 feet around him killing spiritually unaware creatures almost instantly. Objects in the radius begin to disintegrate as the bonds that hold them together are destroyed. Spiritually aware targets are more resilient to the effects of the field of fallout. While they begin to be damaged by it immediately they have 5 posts to exit the radius. This ability is not without cost to Luca. So great is the reiatsu expunged, it is damaging to his person. As the field is created, beginning with the hand holding the sword, Luca's body becomes covered in deep, glowing green cracks. These cracks are deep lacerations that sheer to the bone. The cracks expand up his entire arm, causing immense pain and rendering the arm unusable. If his arm had taken damage prior to use of the ability, parts of the arm may break off and disintegrate. If the entire arm is damaged it may fall off altogether. The wounds do not bleed, as they are cauterized by the release as soon as they are cut. This ability costs 500 reiatsu per use.
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-History-
Birthplace: Oakland, CaliforniaCurrent Residence: Karakura Town, Japan
Memorable Figures:
Tom Giles: Without a doubt the most influential person in Luca’s life, Tom served as a father figure and best friend. While of questionable moral stock, he undeniably cared for Luca and did his best to guide him and comfort him when he needed it. In his life, Tom was a stock swindler who conned investors out of millions and was able to avoid prosecution. However, he died in a car accident at the age of 31. While he had a girlfriend, he never got around to settling down and starting a family, never expecting his life to be cut short. It was his lack of fulfillment and regret over never becoming a father that kept him tethered to the world on the living, where he would meet and befriend Luca. Their relationship helped him find closure and healing, but eventually, he would have to be brought to the Soul Society to avoid hollowfication. He pleaded with the soul reaper to allow him to give Luca a memento to remember him, and his offer was accepted. By way of gigai, the soul reaper delivered the goods and wrote the letter as Tom dictated. Tom currently resides in the Soul Society.
Takumi Higa: One of the soul reapers assigned to Oakland, Higa taught Luca the basics of how the spiritual world works and about Karakura Town. The two shared a mutual respect, and while eventually learning the names of the soul reapers asigned to his town, Takumi was the first to earn this honor. While it may be a stretch to call them good friends, Luca owes a lot to Takumi, and is very grateful towards him for all the help he has provided.
History:
It's a cold, late winter afternoon. A woman is made to undergo induced labor for the chance her child may survive her. It was not long before she was brought in she collapsed with a high-grade fever, and it was one the doctors found to be particularly resilient, resisting every one of their attempts to bring it down. Strange lesions covered her skin, and the scrapes from falling she had received earlier that day had festered as though they were untreated for days. It appeared to be something so simple, yet also that there was nothing they could do as if she was destined to die that day. The delivery went as well as could be expected, leaving the doctors with little to do but wait and see who would live and who would die. But by some miracle, none of them did. Not long after the delivery, the mother’s condition finally seemed to improve. It was under these conditions Luca Castabella was born.
Eventually, his mother would recover, and eventually, he would be brought home when the doctors deemed it safe to do so. Luca, his mother, and father lived a happy life together in the suburbs of Oakland, California. When one looked at the family, one would never know two of its members sat at death’s door not so long before. As Luca grew older, he was quite unlike the other children his age. For one, he never seemed to have much inclination to talk to them, preferring instead to stay closed off, in his own world, talking to “imaginary friends” or not talking at all. It seemed none quite understood exactly how he tried to explain it. The other children, and certainly not the adults in his life.
There was never an exact moment Luca realized what exactly he could do, but eventually, he was able to articulate it. He could talk to ghosts. Some of the children believed him, and the adults tried to set him straight or waited for him to grow out of it. Fortunately, his parents fell into the latter camp. Some felt bad for Luca, a child with no friends, but he was by no means sad. He loved talking to the ghosts. There were all kinds of them, some old, some young, but most were glad to have company. Sometimes the ghosts would move away, or at least they must have because he would stop seeing some. It was always the worst when that happened. Neither of his parents seemed willing to console him over the loss of what they called imaginary. They surely weren’t, though. He talked to them all the time. Mrs. Davenport, Lorenzo, Rowan, just to name a few. Some he talked to at school, some hung out around his home. Every boy his age dreamed of being special, but he really was. He would talk to them for hours, learning their stories, relieving their fears as best he could as a 5-year-old, sometimes they’d even play with him as best they were able as ghosts. They were the best of friends he could have asked for. He didn’t need any human friends.
Years and ghosts came and went. Not all of the latter that passed through were nice, though. Some cried all the time, yelled, or even tried to get Luca to do things for them. He tried to ignore the mean ones, but sometimes it was hard to tell which was which. Sometimes they’d suggest he do things, things that got him in trouble. After the first office referral with “Chris the ghost told me to.” as the justification, to his parents, it seemed it was past time he dropped his stories of talking to the dead. More doctors and counselors than he bothered to count he had to speak to each telling him variations of the same thing. What he was seeing wasn’t real. Tom was the ghost who told him he could have the best of both worlds by lying to his parents about no longer seeing ghosts. Tom always had good ideas. He said he was a stock swindler, but Luca didn’t quite know what that meant. But lie Luca did, and the visits stopped. Tom became his favorite of the ghosts, his best friend, even. He would follow him to school and sometimes get him in trouble by making him laugh so much in class, but Luca was always able to play it off as him remembering a really funny joke.
Luca didn’t totally pretend he no longer saw ghosts. Truth be told, he loved the awed looks of the few kids he told at a time, always sure to make sure the teachers never got wise to what he was saying. The legend of Luca was alive and well in elementary school, with perhaps a small nudge in the right direction from Tom, when he needed to display his powers. Some would ask if he could talk to their dead grandmothers and became disheartened when he told them he didn’t think it worked like that. He liked that significantly less so. Yet as kids grew older, so to did they grow skeptical of his claims, no matter how many times he talked to his friends in front of them. Luca seeing ghosts became a mark of shame, something the other kids laughed at him for. One day Luca cried beneath a tree on the playground after it seemed his entire class poked fun at him for his ghost speaking. Tom appeared and comforted him. He told him it didn’t matter what they thought, and he shouldn’t allow himself to be dragged down by what they thought. After all, he did have friends, even if only he could see them, no especially because only he could see them. That made him special, that made him better, and he should keep turning to those that care about him.
And for better or for worse, that was advice Luca would heed as time passed. He really was special because of his gift. Why should he care what others thought? That’s what he told himself when he passed their laughter or insults. Sometimes it made it easy, especially if Tom was there, he wasn’t always. Sometimes he would leave for days on end, never saying where. Every time he’d return to see Luca with a new myriad of bruises. Sometimes, even when he was there he would get to see with his own eyes Luca get them, just as he’d dish them out. He’d win as often as he lost, always having to come up with explanations for his parents the wounds he’d suffered. Fortunately, no one told on him, even when he won. Tom suggested it was because they were too scared of getting in trouble themselves for even having partaken in the fight. Even if Tom’s advice was made to keep him from caring about his schoolmate’s jeers, he certainly didn’t seem to mind the fights he got in. That was one of the things Luca liked about Tom. He didn’t get angry. He was glad Luca stood up for himself and tried to remind them who was boss, but wished he wouldn’t get caught doing it. Tom and the ghosts he befriended could be like that. They were the ones who really understood him.
There was one bad thing about talking to ghosts over people, though. They always left eventually. Of course, he worried about Tom leaving too, but Tom always told him he was going to stay as long as he could. He said he could stay longer because of their bond. Luca thought maybe since they were best friends, he could stay forever, but it wasn’t to be. Tom woke Luca up late one autumn night. He told him that he was the son he never had and that he was glad to have met him. Luca didn’t understand. Why was he telling him this now? He wanted to ask so many questions, but for some reason, he fell asleep. The whole night had seemed blurry save for what Tom said. The next morning, by his bed he noticed something. A letter, and a lighter.
“Luca:
I’m sorry it had to be like this, kid, but there was no other way. I have to go, and I can’t say I’ll be back. Trust me, I’m not going somewhere bad or anything. I’ll be just fine and so will you. Lotta people are gonna wanna bring you down a few pegs. That’s just fine. Don’t let em. You’re better than all of them and don’t forget that. I know it’s easy for me to say, which is why I’m telling you this again, and leaving you something to remember. That lighter was mine, now it’s yours. Take it, remember me and what we talked about. It’s been great knowing you. Who knew a dead guy could feel so alive?
-Tom”
The other ghosts tried to comfort him, but it was no good. It seemed like his world had ended, but he was the only one who knew. His parents didn’t notice. It was easy enough to fool them. All he had to do was not make too much noise or not get in trouble at school, and they would be none the wiser. Normally, this would have been a source of comfort. He didn’t have to worry about them trying to stop him from talking to his friends, but now it only made him angry. He wanted nothing more than to scream at the top of his lungs, but he knew he couldn’t. No one would understand. That day was the hardest. It seemed highschoolers only grew more adept at expressing their disdain for him. Gripping the lighter hidden in his backpack was all he could do from punching them in view of the teacher.
It may well have been the hardest day of his life. He had little chance to do anything about it. Come lunchtime, he hid away in a janitor’s closet with only the light illuminating the cramped and dark room. The only proof he had Tom was ever with him, and still, no one would believe it. He stared into the flame, gripped it tightly as if doing so would bring Tom back. He would say it was all a practical joke or a test of his character, and he passed. But he didn’t. He thought maybe he should just burn the whole school down. It was no sooner that the flame from the lighter sprung up, licking the ceiling. Luca panicked. His mind raced. No, no he didn’t want this. Why? How? As if to answer the flame died, all that remained to evidence it was a black mark where it had touched the ceiling. The room was dark save the light that seeped under the door. But what surprised Luca was he had never taken his finger off the lever, but the flame died anyway.
Even for Luca, the one who had talked to ghosts almost exclusively, it was something that defied any form of understanding. Could this be something Tom intended? Was the lighter magic? The ring of the bell interrupted his contemplation. The second half of his day was significantly better. Overwhelming confusion was better than overwhelming despair. Some of it was still there, but now there was something to focus on. The rest of the day Luca was so taken aback he didn’t even care about the countless students who joked he looked like he’d seen a ghost. When class let out, he had to test it again. If there was a chance Tom left this to him for a reason, because it was magic, he had to use it. He just had to. What if he could become a superhero? Then everyone who mistreated him would be sorry. Even as his mind raced, his chest still felt heavy. But he couldn’t think about that. He wouldn’t.
It was as he was walking home one of his classmates saw fit to shove him and run on past. As he fell to the ground he braced for the pain, but there was none when he felt the impact. It was as though he hadn’t fallen on the hard, abrasive concrete. It was closer to what it would feel like if he plopped down on his bed. He examined himself, and there was not a scrape in sight. Concrete isn’t yielding. It’s abrasive. That’s why you get cut on it. But Luca didn’t. Just like the lighter, it was something that defied earthly understanding. What if the lighter wasn’t magical? What if he was? But what exactly was his power? That was something he’d have to find out. He’d have to test it more, and so he did. Yet there was nothing. He couldn’t seem to replicate any of it . It wasn’t until the sun went down Luca thought to stop for the day. Could it have been all in his head? Was that really all it was?
When he got home, it seemed his parents were nowhere to be found. He had missed dinner, that much was clear, but as he looked for any leftovers in the fridge, he heard something: sobbing. It was a horrible sound, something that felt as if it had pierced his heart. It had to be his mother, that much he knew. What could she be crying about? Curiosity got the better of him, even if her sobbing was so painful to listen to. He listened at the door. He heard her being comforted by his father. A few strained sentences were all he had to go off of. They were talking about someone. Someone who had no friends to speak of despite their best efforts, someone who lived in his own world with so little regard for the real one regardless of how hard they tried, and someone who had rebuked all their efforts to be good parents to him. They only had one child. They had to be talking about him.
His heart sank again. It wasn’t something he had much considered. Why did they have to do this now? He didn’t want to feel this way, nor did he want them to be sad. But they couldn’t understand. He wasn’t a normal human, he was so much more, just like Tom had told him. But they wouldn’t believe him. He wished he could just snap his fingers and make them stop being sad but he couldn’t. It seemed the only way that would happen is if he tried to be like they wanted. He thought maybe that would be a good idea. He could have human friends who wouldn’t leave like Tom did. Then he remembered Tom’s letter. He was special. It was even more true with the phenomena he witnessed. Even if he couldn’t yet control it, it was something as real as his ability to see ghosts, something he could feel in his core.
A decision was made that day, and Luca chose the extraordinary over the ordinary. It’s what he’d been doing his whole life. It was who he was. Tom knew that and understood it. Something in Luca changed that day. He became louder, more bombastic. No longer content to be ignored, he was great, and everyone would know it. Over the coming months Luca dedicated himself to understanding the nature of his powers and the world of the extraordinary. He even was able to experience the phenomenon he had the day after Tom left again, but instances were few and far between. He was far from being able to use it with any semblance of reliability. Though not all of his efforts were fruitless. There were some ghosts unlike those he usually spoke to. They wore back robes and carried swords. Usually they were taken aback when they realized he could see them. But what really interested Luca was that they seemed to know a great deal more than the ghosts he usually spoke to. Some even deemed to indulge his questions. He learned of plusses, hollows, and the soul society. After 16 years of operating under his own observations, to finally begin to learn about the extraordinary world he could access made everything worth it. Even if his powers were something he could hardly draw on, this progress was unprecedented. At times the soul reapers would consult him on hollow activity. He had never seen one, but even strange feelings of something being off was apparently helpful to them. Luca wished more than anything he could fight a hollow himself. To be some auxiliary force was something beneath him.
It was on the way back from picking up groceries one dark October night that Luca felt off. Like some vague sense of unease. Luca didn’t remember being grabbed, but the next thing he knew he was dangling from his leg above something, unlike anything he’d seen. The abomination that grabbed him screeched, and all Luca could think to do was pull out his lighter. It didn’t matter how inconsistent his powers were, he had to try. His lighter became the mouth of a dragon as flames poured from it. The creature hissed and dropped Luca. It was then Luca got a good look at the creature. It was something like a spider crab, but almost humanoid with some kind of white mask. The split-second realization made Luca’s blood turn to ice. This was a hollow. Luca’s mind raced with ideas and plans. He had to get his distance somehow. The first thing he could think to do was grab a can of tomatoes that had fallen out of the bag when he was grabbed and chuck it. It dinged off the hollow’s head, but Luca didn’t stay to see how it reacted.
He ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He didn’t know where he was going, but he had to think of the next step of his masterplan. Unlike the soul reapers, he was at a significant disadvantage. He didn’t have any consistent weapon. The lighter trick working was a stroke of luck, but he couldn’t count on it again. The can of tomatoes didn’t pass through it. He could, in theory, hurt it with something else that was corporeal. He could hear it running after him. It would be on him soon. He had to think of something. There was a construction site a few blocks away. It was possible there could be something there. But it wouldn’t do him much good. The hollow was gaining on him.
Luca ducked into an alley hoping it had something, anything. Luca saw a ladder and climbed as fast as he could. His body was on autopilot. He didn’t know why he had climbed until he was at the top. What if he could hide? That could buy him some time to plan something. Luca ducked down next to a few cinder blocks as he heard it approach the alleyway. It sniffed around but didn’t seem to notice him. It occurred to Luca he could wait until it left. His life may not be in danger anymore. He could wait until it decided to go after someone else before the soul reapers finally dispatched it. Was he really going to let some plus get eaten and have someone else play the hero?
The first cinder block hit its mark with a sickening crack and inhuman scream from the hollow, as did the second. Luca didn’t have time to drop the third before the hollow was on the roof with him. He was defenseless again. The cinder blocks were too heavy to be thrown reliably. All he had was his lighter. If he could just get it to fire again, he might have a chance. But as he flicked the wheel, something was different, that much he could tell immediately. The hollow shrieked so loud, Luca thought it might break every window within 3 blocks, and for a half-second, in place of his lighter, his hand was holding some kind of pike. It was hard to make out as if it was there, and at the same time, it wasn’t. This was it! His powers were increasing! Even as the pike vanished, and the lighter returned, he just knew he’d be able to shoot flames from it again. This was it.
“EAT THIS, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
The lighter’s flame was small and ordinary. That wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to kill the hollow! Luca’s cocky smile faded as he realized nothing was going to happen. The hollow grabbed him again, this time not satisfied to just eat him. It slammed Luca against the roof. Pain shot through every fiber of Luca’s being. He could hardly breathe, let alone stand up. Was this how it ended? Did he go through everything just to die like this? He couldn’t believe it. This couldn’t be happening. That was all he could think, the conclusion to all his thoughts as the hollow slowly crawled to him. Its pain slowed it down as if every step took a great deal of effort. Luca was so close to killing it, yet there was nothing he could do to finish the job. Luca closed his eyes, hoping the hollow would just leave, that he wouldn’t have to die.
The sound of steel and the hollow’s scream woke him out of his stupor. It was one of the soul reapers he occasionally spoke to, the only one whose name he had bothered to remember, Takumi Higa. He purified the hollow as quickly as he’d arrived on the scene. Takumi helped Luca up as he apologized for taking so long to arrive. Apparently, Higa was tracking the hollow, but it had proved rather elusive. Yet the fighting alerted him to his position. A mere human nearly taking out a hollow was no small feat. The soul reaper left when he learned Luca wasn’t injured, but before he did, he warned Luca to always be on the lookout for hollow activity, and to run and hide should one attack him.
As Luca walked home, the soreness in his back was the least of his troubles. He had almost taken out a hollow. Almost. Instead of killing it, he had to be rescued by a soul reaper, like he was some helpless child. In the world of the extraordinary, he was at the bottom of the food chain. He had witnessed more phenomena, for all the good it did him. He still hadn’t the slightest idea of how to manifest his powers. Compared to the soul reapers, he might as well have been an ordinary human. He wanted to be mad at Takumi Higa and the rest of them whose names he couldn’t quite remember, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t their fault, and Takumi did save his life. As knowledgeable as the shinigami were, there was no one here who understood his powers. He was working from nothing to try and understand them, let alone develop them.
His parents yelled at him for not picking up groceries, but he claimed he was jumped on the way back. Not entirely untrue, but they wouldn’t believe the whole story anyway. The pained walk added legitimacy to the half-truth, perhaps a little too much. The next day, Luca was made to file a police report. Keeping the lie together was easy enough, as was disposing of his wallet. With no other witnesses and the assailant gone without a trace, there was little the police could do. During the headache-inducing ordeal, Luca thought of a million possible plans but could settle on none of them. He had to do something to grow stronger, but not even a thousand lighter flicks had granted him anything more than a skinned thumb. His lighter had become something like a pike during the fight with the hollow, but he had no luck replicating that either. It was a new development, though, and Luca was not about to pass it up. His powers were unlike that of the soul reapers, but they couldn’t be unique to him. Even if they were, there had to be someone who could understand them. If he met someone who could at least do that, he could begin developing them. If such a person existed, they were far from Oakland. Then where in the world would they be?
Higa typically visited Luca at school every few days to discuss hollow activity but had taken to do so every day since Luca’s near-death experience. After school, Luca asked Higa if there were any spiritual hotspots in the world. Places that attracted spiritually-aware creatures. Higa was reluctant in his answer but did divulge that Karakura Town, Japan was one such hotspot, and in fact the most potent one. Luca’s plan was set in motion. Higa was shocked when Luca told him he intended to go to this Karakura Town. Higa tried to talk Luca out of it but to no avail. That night Luca looked into transfer opportunities and was in luck. As a part of Tokyo, transferring to Karakura High School would be a relatively simple endeavor. Come the next school year, he’d fly over to Karakura, and he’d finally be something more than a glorified informant. In truth, he could shed more of his connection to the world of the ordinary, and finally, begin to grow stronger. He could spend the months before then learning the language and training. Even if he was spinning his wheels in the mud with his powers, he could still grow stronger physically and do his best to pick up skills that may come in handy in a world where he was one of the weakest. But before he could do any of it, his parents would have to sign on.
He was sure he could spin some yarn about experiencing other cultures, and more rigorous studies. Yet to his surprise, they needed no convincing. Luca found that odd. He had almost hoped they would put up some kind of a fight. That they would say something, anything. Had they given up on him? This wasn’t supposed to hurt. He had made his choice to abandon their world, to do what Tom said. So why did he feel this way? He wanted to tell them everything: about plusses, soul reapers, and hollows. He wanted to tell them that he was going to Tokyo to learn about his powers, that he was special, and that he never hated them. Then he realized: there was a wall that separated them. The wall between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Nothing he said could get through. Luca told himself ordinary humans were beneath him, but if that were so, why did this chest feel so heavy?
By next year, he was as fluent in Japanese as he was like to get from study alone. With frequent exercise, he was in far better shape than he’d been, and with frequent practice far more skillful as well. He could feel in his bones he would fare better against a hollow now, but never got the chance to test himself. When his parents took him to the airport, their goodbye was dutiful rather than genuinely sad. The soul reapers gave him a more heartfelt goodbye than his parents did. Luca had come to accept it. He was leaving his parent’s world. What worth did their opinions hold? With this flight to Japan, he was being reborn. He’d learn his powers, and get the recognition he deserved for them. The world was his to grasp, all he had to do was reach.
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