Scary New World

[Kiera Bright]

"To the Soul Society which can be considered a sort of heaven in a sense." Keira corrected. "I must admit I haven't studied the Soul Chain directly, but what I do know about it is that it acts as a sort of timer for the spirit." Keira started to draw another diagram next to the spirit. "The soul chain will degrade and shorten the longer a spirit remains in our world. If the chain should ever complete deteriorate, the spirit under goes a transformation." Keira moved away from the new drawing showing a monstrous form. "They become hollows, an entity that seeks to slacked its never ending hunger with the reiatsu, or energy, of other spirits by devouring them."

"Sadly there isn't a way I know of for a hollow to revert back to a spirit once transformed, but I do know that they have their own evolutionary line that they wish to go through to gain strength." Al most on que, a hollow howl could be heard from the lower depths of the asylum. Keira set the chalk down taking a seat in a rolling chair and moving close to Maddie. "But enough of that for the time being. You are curios as to why you were ignored on the street earlier correct." Keira sipped her coffee. "It is my belief that you are a spirit. A recently deceased spirit, but one none the less." She said this in a matter of fact manner staring right into Maddie's eyes with her own bright pink ones.

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

Continuing to listen to Keira’s descriptions and explanations Maddie was starting to get the hang of things although she’d be lying if she said this wasn’t a lot to take in suddenly. A couple of the things she got the words but matching them up and really understanding them wasn’t something she could do. When it came to Hollows, Maddie had a difficult time picturing a spirit turning into a monster but that’s how Keira was making it sound. Sitting as calming as she could in her seat Maddie thought about everything and then heard the howl.

The same sensation that she’d felt earlier was back again and now she had to wonder if she could feel whatever that was almost like a sixth sense. Keira pulled her attention away from the thought though when she got close and told Maddie what the young girl had already been piecing together. “I think you’re right but if I’m a spirit why don’t I have a chain?” Maddie placed her right hand on her sternum. She couldn’t remember having one at all and she hadn’t met any Shinigami she didn’t think so anyway no one in black robes came to her. Wait though how’d she die?

[Kiera Bright]

Keira smiled setting her mostly finished coffee cup aside. "Now that is a mystery that we can work to solve." Keira stood back up motioning for Maddie to follow her. "I have a rather strong sense when it comes to these things, but from what I am able to pick up, you feel similar to a shinigami, who's reiatsu is stabilized and controlled by the swords that they carry. Since you are clearly no shinigami something else must be stabilizing your reiatsu." She started walking down the hall to a nearby room. "That is only a hypothesis though, another is that souls stabilize on their own once they reach the Soul Society, so you have been there and came back somehow.

They went into a room with a large cylindrical object on the far wall with another computer next to it. "With this scanner, we will be able to tell for sure about your reiatsu make up, and if there is an object stabilizing you or not." Keira walked up to the scanner and opened motioning for Maddie to lay down. "Lay down and relax, i guarantee that this own hurt a bit."

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

Maddie had a moment of sorrow hearing that Keira didn’t have an answer right away thankfully though that feeling was brushed aside when she heard that the answer could be figured out. Being told that she felt similar to a Shinigami wasn’t something that Maddie was expecting or could really believe. “Aren’t they deities of death? How can I feel similar? I’m just a normal high schooler.” Hearing that she must have been in Soul Society and then come back. That was something that didn’t make any sense either, but it brought an image to Maddie’s mind.

A street made of tile with buildings that lined both sides. She couldn’t tell why it popped into her head, but it felt like she was getting a glimpse into a dream she’d had recently. Putting her cup of coffee down on one of the tables, Maddie follows Keira knowing at this point that she was her best bet of figuring out how to get things back to normal. “I don’t feel like I have anything else on me. Just more normal clothes.” Going along with what Keira wanted to do Maddie lays down on the machine although her nerves were getting anxious like she was at the dentist. “This won’t take long will it?”

[Kiera Bright]

"This will only take a couple of minutes max, if the readings are clear." Keira said reassuringly. Keira tapped a few commands into the computer getting the scanner prepped for work. Keira popped another peice of candy into her mouth helping her focus on the task at hand. "Try not to fidget too much, the more you do, the longer this takes." Keira said as the lid to the machine slowly started to close. Once it was sealed and secured, Keira impute more commands starting the scanning sequence. The machine would hum loudly, and a green light would slowly make its way from the top of Maddie's head down her body and past her feet before making its way back up again. 

After a few passes data would start to come in on the computer. Keira stroked her chin thoughtfully gazing at the data. As she thought, her reiatsu composition was that of a shinigami. There was a few oddities, but nothing that couldn't be seen as individualistic data. It wasn't until the data on her left arm came in which made Keira lean forward in interest. Around her wrist ligaments was a bracelet like structure. Keira hummed thoughtfully looking at the photo and the numbers coming in. "Well well well, I haven't seen something like you before." She muttered bringing more focus to the object in question. The light in the pod would hover around Maddies arm focusing on that area.

After another few minutes, Keira turned the scanner portion of the machine off and released the lid on the scanner freeing Maddie. Keira walked over clearly exited about the findings. "I have found our answer." She proudly proclaimed. She put the photo  on a lit screen pointing to the left wrist and forearm. "It appears that you have an object in your left wrist acting as your stabilizer, your shinigami's sword, if you will. I have not seen anything like this though. What are its capabilities and if it allows you to use Kido is still a question that prods my mind, but for now we know why you don't have a soul chain. The questions however is who put this here, and why."

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

This really was something that made Maddie feel as if suddenly she were inside a hospital, this was exactly the type of machine that she could envision from a television show. Hearing that it was going to take a couple of minutes wasn’t the best thing. Maddie could feel her nerves already getting hyper while she laid back inside of the machine. She couldn’t really explain what she was feeling, but it wasn’t a sensation that she enjoyed, coxing herself to just inhale one after another. Maddie does her best with her eyes closed as the machine scans her body.

Over the next few minutes Maddie continued to do her best to keep her breathing steady and her body from moving, but it grew harder and harder for her. She thought she heard Keira say something, but couldn’t make it out while she was inside the container. By the time Keira opened it up for Maddie to sit up and then get out from the machine Maddie was covered in nervous sweat. That hadn’t been an experience that she liked nor one that she hoped to experience any time soon again. Thankfully though it seemed that machine had given her the answers she was looking for or rather at least the first.

Maddie moved her right hand over her left wrist doing her best to feel out what was supposed to be inside her, but she felt nothing. The only thing out of the norm was a scar on the inside of her wrist, likely where this thing had been put into her. A flash likely now a memory surfacing like the other, only for a moment. A man with grey short hair dresses like a doctor looking down on her. “I don’t have any idea why someone would do this. What’s kido? Can we take it out of me?” Maddie was starting to speak frantically as her heart beat heightened and panic set in.

[Kiera Bright]

Keira could hear the panic in Maddie's voice and could tell she was visibly distressed with the situation. Keira knew that it was important to keep Maddie calm right now. There were too many unkowns right now for Keira's liking. The object in her wrist could easily activate due to her distress and cause damage to either of them and to the lab itself. Keira put her hands on Maddie's shoulders trying to keep her focused on her in the here and now. "Maddie, take a couple deep breaths. It is going to be ok." Keira said calmly taking a few deep breaths herself for Maddie to follow. Once she started to calm down, Keira would be able to answer her other questions. 

"As for your questions," Keira would say removing her hands from Maddie's shoulders. "Kido are techniques used by shinigami using reiatsu. It can be seen as magic spells in a way." Keira said though she didn't prefer to put it that way. "As for the object in your wrist," She continued. "I would find it unwise to try to remove it at this time. I know nothing about it and trying to force it out of you could damage your arm, or your soul permanently."

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

Maddie, despite being in a panicked state, did her best to follow what Keira suggested, inhaling as much as possible in order to control her heartbeat. It took her more than a minute of constant breathing though to make any progress and when Keira began to speak she was still doing her best not to hyperventilate. Her face red from panic, Maddie was doing her best to not cry, this wasn’t something sad, but it was scary. Perhaps even more so than knowing she was dead right now.

That just opened up a completely different problem that she wanted to try and deal with, but the object that had been put into her was in the forefront of her mind. “If you can’t take it out, does that mean you can’t study it? What if they can track me with it?” Maddie wasn’t sure why but being kidnapped was something terrifying for her at the moment without realizing that she’d already had that happened. Although Keira had told her about kido, in her state Maddie couldn’t focus on anything else. Now her right hand over her left wrist trying to feel the difference along with the thing inside of her.

[Kiera Bright]

Keira sighed slightly in relief seeing that Maddie was calming down. Keira could tell she was still upset, but progress was still progress. Keira had to think about what Maddie had brought up. Since it seems that the object is connected to her arm, Keira didn't want to mess with it too much just in case. She would have to rely on less invasive, and indirect means of studying it. That didn't mean that it couldn't be done, just that it was going to be a bit more inconvenient than usual. Keira thought about it a little more. She would also need to keep Maddie close at hand. How was that going to go? Keira wasn't the best with people at the best of times. 

"Now lets not get our hopes down yet. I can find a way to study anything, it will just take time, and a little more energy to do so." Keira's smiled a bit having an idea. "IF you are worried about people tracking you, why don't you stay with me until you feel comfortable enough to be on your own. I can use that time to study that object anyway."

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

Staying with this lady wasn’t something that Maddie had really thought about given she hadn’t really had much time to ponder over anything beyond her immediate situation. Still though if no one but her could even see Maddie than where else would she go. Maddie sat thinking everything over and realizing that despite everything she now knew there were things, so many things that she was clueless about. Not only was she a spirit but she was still in Japan. Still on earth . . . Why?

Soul Society was something like Heaven. A gigai was something like a costume. Kido was magic like what a witch would use? “I’ve already asked so much of you though.” Maddie looked around for a moment as a thought popped into her head. “I’ll help however I can. You can see me though, are you a Shinigami?” Maddie realizing she didn’t yet know the identity of this lady whether it be her name or what she even happened to be other than smart.

[Kiera Bright]

Keira smiled a rather warm smile at the girl. Something very strange for her to do. "Don't worry about it." She said dismissively. "Like I said you staying will help me out as well as you so we are both getting something from this." It had occurred to Keira that she had forgotten to introduce herself to the girl, so it would be odd for her to stay without knowing her name. "If I didn't say it before, My name is Doctor Keira Bright, scientist extraordinaire 

Then there was the more sensitive topic about what she was. Well Keira wasn't trying to keep it a secret much now a days. "No dear, I am not a Shinigami." She started looking down at her glowing body. "I was once a Fullbringer, a human that could naturally sense the spiritual and use what is called a fullbring to fight with. Anyway, after a lab accident, my reiatsu was left...unstable. That left me like I am now, a walking mess of unstable reiatsu potentially going off like a bomb." She hopped that her description of herself didn't scare the poor girl. She seemed pretty worried enough as it was. 

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

Despite all the hardships and the heavy topics that had been going on for a moment there, the space was filled with just two girls smiling thankfully towards one another. Knowing now that the smart lady with pretty pink hair went by Keira Bright, Maddie made sure she wouldn’t forget this no matter what. Although the next little bit of information was something she hadn’t been ready for, learning that some humans could actually see ghosts like how the movies always made it seem although how many humans were something called a Fullbring, that was still completely unknown to Maddie.

“Is reiatsu like your soul? You said that word a little bit ago. Why do you need to fight? Are there bad spirits like in movies and stories?” Maddie asked another few questions although she stopped when she thought about how Keira explained her own situation. Thinking for a moment on how she could cheer up the person trying to do the same for her. All she could do was smile and poke her wrist. “So we both have issues that need fixing huh.”

[Kiera Bright]

Keira put a finger to her chin trying to think of the simplest way to explain what reiatsu is. "The best way I can describe it to you is that, reiatsu is the energy that make us your soul. Any spiritual attacks that you perform draws from this energy tiring the soul out as it fights." Keira nodded her head when Maddie asked if they had to fight, and that if there were monsters and bad spirits. "Yes there is, If you remember from my lecture before, beings like hollows will devour any spiritual being in hopes of getting stronger. For shinigami, it is their job to fight hollows and purify them, while for the rest of us spiritually aware community, it is more about having to fight to survive and protect ourselves."

Keira just smiled at the statement that Maddie made about them both having issues needing to be dealt with. "That is the best way to put it yes." Keira motioned for her to follow as Keira made her way back to the main area. "So any other questions that you have for me?" She asked refilling her coffee cup and taking a sip.

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

“So reiatsu is like normal energy just specifically with the soul?” Maddie asked in the manner of a question yet the way she spoke it was more like she had come to that conclusion based on how Keira described it. Although Keira said there were attacks with reiatsu, Maddie being so out of her depth had no clue what one would even look like. Her only experience on the subject of spirits and ghosts coming from movies and stories that she’d taken the time to see or read. That didn’t give her a lot to reference which meant she had a lot more to figure out.

Moving with Keira back to the other room Maddie went for the small cup of coffee that she’d been given a couple of minutes before. Her small hands moving around the curved sides, the ceramic body of the cup still warm with the heat of the beverage. Moving it up Maddie takes a much longer gulp than her first one had been. Preferring warm to hot was something that Keira would likely notice in the coming days. Placing it back down though Maddie got ready to ask another question that was getting bigger in her mind.

“If I’m similar to a Shinigami, what will happen if one of them finds me? Are some of the other monsters real too? Like mummies, werewolves or vampires?”

[Kiera Bright]

Keira nodded taking another sip of her coffee. The girl was more or less correct with her observation about reiatsu. Keira had to think about her next question however. She wasn't sure what another shinigami would do if they discovered Maddie. She thought about how to put her opinion. "To be honest I am not sure what would happen. I guess it would depend on the shinigami, but I would guess they would try to take you back to the Soul Society." Keira wished she would be able to give her a solid answer. "Shinigami are much like humans from my interactions with them. Some can be reasonable people, why some are complete dicks."

Keira laughed at her next question regarding monsters from popular fiction. The more that Keira thought about it, the more that some of the popular monsters were indeed out there in one form or another. The thought made Keira giggle a bit. "I guess for some there are, but not in the form the media portrays." Keira took another sip of coffee. "Like for vampires, there are beings called Bounts that feast on the reiatsu of spiritual beings and humans alike. The beast men of Soul Society could easily fall under the portrayal of were wolves, though they don't shift from human forms to animalistic ones, and i havn't seen a case of a mummy, but someone might have that kind of ability out there." She said with a shrug.