Wide-eyed Stowaway (JT, Closed)

[Deleted]

Hmm.. Luke thought to himself as he heard Vesta, or rather Death, scream in frustration when her attack went through empty space. Did she have a temper problem? Luke made a mental note that they might need to do something about that. Anger, in battle, was a double edged sword. It was true that anger could motivate someone further in a fight but it was also possible to be consumed by it. Losing oneself to anger was a surefire way of being defeated. Luke was incredibly experienced with that and worked hard over the last year to learn how to keep himself from getting as angry as he used to. But maybe he was just over analyzing Vesta’s cry.

She managed to find him quickly enough, at least. The four floating spheres that she had created returned to her side, causing Luke to focus his attention on them. ”Don’t get hit by those. We don’t know what they’ll do.” Windstärke remarked as if he were watching over Luke’s shoulder. Yes, I know. They could turn me to dust or rot my skin for all I know. He replied just as Vesta fired off two of her orbs at him. After travelling a certain distance he watched as they turned into the shape of bullets!

However, in those same moments Zorn also made his move. The pipes that Jäger cut were suddenly pulled from their path and slammed into a light pole that was blasted with Zorns lightning. ”Magnets?” Jäger wondered quickly, before sinking into the shadows he was emerging from. ”How do they work?” Always had to make a joke, even to himself. Back to Luke though, as he began to move to counter the bullets speeding his way he suddenly felt a tug on his back. The sword on his back, kept in its sheath, was being pulled by Zorn’s magnetism effect towards the crane. ”What the-?” Luke began to question, his attention being pulled to the sword being pulled from his scabbard and away from the balls heading right for him.

Shit!

Luke shouted, in his head, when he realized what he was doing. His quick instincts, though, let him react just in time. He didn’t have the time to dodge, nor could he with the sudden shift in movement, but he was more than able to block. His eyes focused on the bullets, mere moments from hitting him, and from within his body and soul he called out the power of his will! Ken! He commanded, and from his very soul came the protective energy of the attack. A glowing blue aura encased the Bount, extending a quarter inch for every 100 in Reiatsu Strength he had, and causing the bullets Vesta released to clash against it. Her nether bullets weren’t destroyed, rather they were repelled. Both of them were harmlessly flung away.

Regaining his balance by stepping on air ground with one foot, Luke looked to see his sword become the next piece of metal stuck to the pole. Well that’s annoying. Luke thought to himself, before returning his gaze to Vesta as Ken vanished. ”Not a bad move. Having your Doll disarm the opponent while you attack is a good strategy.” he complimented, looking to the side of the construction site before blinking. ”Hey...where did Nadezhda go?” Luke suddenly asked, before noticing that Jager had begun to emerge from the shadows behind Vesta. ”Did you see where she went?” He asked, prompting his Doll to stop his attempted sneak attack. ”Uh…” he began to say from right behind Vesta. ”No...was I supposed to be playing babysitter? I thought I was supposed to tickle the new loli.” the Doll replied, before looking at Vesta.

That wasn’t helpful. Closing his eyes and expanding his Energy Sensory, Luke was immediately driven to worry when he couldn’t sense hide nor hair of Nadezhda’s reiatsu. ”She’s gone. Where did she..” Luke began to ask before suddenly being interrupted by the sound of music in his pocket. Saying a swear, Luke pulled his phone out and looked at the screen. Blinking he saw it was from work. ”Oy! Vesta...looks like we might need to put this on hold. It’s work.” Luke called down before letting himself fall to the ground. ”Bank robbery. Not far from here either. Silent alarm was tripped. We can get their before the cops do.” Luke explained, passing his phone to Vesta as he rushed past her.

”Wait we’re done...just like that? We hardly even got started!” Jager complained, sighing, having wanted to do a little more fighting before having to be put away. ”I didn’t even get to come!” He cried in protest, before looking at Vesta. Suddenly, his hand was on her head as he just...pat her. ”Good loli.” he randomly said before submerging into shadows once again to follow after his duty driven Master.

Like Luke said though, they did manage to reach the bank before the police did. But they didn’t have a lot of time. Luke could hear the sirens in the distance thanks to his superhuman hearing. Telling Vesta to move fast and quietly, Luke was readying to break in when he suddenly heard, ”Uh...get in here. There’s something wrong here.” Pushing through the doors Luke was surprised to find that...nobody was there. No criminals. No hostages. Nobody. But what was there was a gruesome sight. Body parts, torn apart and thrown all over the place, littered the bank alongside splatters of blood. ”What...the hell..” Luke asked out loud. He was used to sights like these. Living the life he did you were used to seeing violence. He was just...confused. Wasn’t this a bank robbery?

Crouching down, Luke found a gun just lying on the floor. No bank robber would just leave a gun behind. It was evidence, after all. As he looked at it he noticed something on the floor as well. Powder? Pressing his finger into it and lifting it to his nose he took a sniff and winced a little. ”What is this?” he asked, lifting his head and looking about the banj lobby and noticing that this stuff was in various places and not just here. ”Perhaps it was a Hollow?” Windstärke asked. No...this doesn’t feel like a Hollow. I can’t sense any Hollow reiatsu like I normally can. Luke replied. ”You see anything, Jäger?” Luke asked, his attention not really focused anywhere as he asked that. ”Rest of the bank is also empty. Not a soul, not a twinkie, not a peep.” the Doll replied, his voice coming from the shadows at Luke’s feet and getting a grunt as a reply from Luke.

”Vesta...what do you make of this?”

[Vesta Zweig]

Death stood and watched as her bullets were sent flying towards Luke while Zorn's magnetic attack worked just like she thought it would. It was smart of him to use his magnetism to attract the metal that was heading his way. He seemed proud of himself as well, laughing to himself slightly as he watched what was happening to it. She watched her attack head towards him and noticed that he was getting pulled backwards slightly. Wait....he was wearing something metal on his back? Ooooo, lucky for her! She had forgotten that he was wearing his sword, so the fact that his sword was getting pulled towards it as well was a bonus.

It was then that she noticed that the bullets that she made were now bouncing off something that it seemed like he had projected around himself. It was a blue shield of some kind that blocked her attack, bouncing harmlessly off of it. She would have to remember that he can do that. Once the attack had bounced back, the two orbs that she had sent off instantaneously reformed around her, giving her four orbs once more. While they were lazily moving around her in an orbit, she watched the sword fall and get immediately attracted to the pole. Zorn, being pleased, started to make his way towards her while Luke talked about her good move. Of course she knew it was good, he didn't have to point out everything good that she did.

Luke then asked her where the girl went. She looked to the area that she was before and she didn't seem to be there. Of course, she had no idea where she went. "I don't know where she went! I thought you were the responsible one and be the one to keep an eye on her!" When she heard the voice of what she assumed was his Doll behind her, she immediately commanded three of her orbs to hit him. Since they were in close proximity, she figured that at least one of the three orbs would hit him. She kept one near her and immediately shoved her hand in it, getting her hand covered in Nether.

She turned the face the Doll, frowning at him and Zorn was at her side immediately, since he was already on the way towards her, his fur sparking with electricity. He immediately went after the Doll, trying to get his fur to touch him while Luke spoke. She picked up a few words, bank robbery, silent alarm and work. Death knew that Vesta had to come back, but she wanted to finish up with the Doll first. With Zorn actively running around the Doll, trying to hit him with his electric fur, he would try to pat her head. If her speed and reflexes were fast enough, and the fact that she watched the Doll do this, she would try to grab his wrist with her Nether hand. "Touch me and die asshole."

When the Doll reached for her, Vesta felt something inside her get released. There was this unknown Doll trying to touch her and even though Death was handling herself well, it seemed like she was still feeling the fear of not knowing what was going on. She then heard the voice in her head, the one that told her to say its name. Once the Doll started to disappear, Death took a breath and turned back into Vesta. Once Vesta appeared, she said the phrase, "Ziege Diche, Mutig!" She didn't know if Luke would hear her or not, but after the phrase, she felt something sit on her shoulder.

Since they had work to do, she jumped on Zorn and they ran off, following after Luke towards this bank robbery. She looked over to her shoulder and saw the faint outline of something there. She noticed that her bangle was now gone. So it did live in there after all...... It slithered off her shoulder and started to glide in the air around her. It was a snake, jet black in color, with a red cross on its forehead. It almost looked like a ghost, being transparent in the air around her. Zorn looked back to see the snake for just a moment, before concentrating on the road ahead of him. She put out a finger and Mutig slide across it. It felt cold and clammy to her touch, which was interesting because snakes usually didn't feel like that.

Once they had arrived at the bank, Zorn had stopped about a block away. She had told him to keep an eye out on either a nearby rooftop or the bank rooftop and he went on his way. She felt the concern that he had for her, but she had to remind him that her new companion could help as well as he could. She walked in behind Luke and she was appalled at what she saw. There was death everywhere.... who would do something like this? She looked at the gun and knew that if it was a robber that did this, a gun wouldn't be here. She stepped in farther and tried to get a better look at what was going on.

Then, she was asked what she made of it, Mutig also took a look around, quicker than she thought he would be able to. He was telling her what he thought about it while she also looked around. All she saw was the gore and it didn't look like anything else was messed up. She would look around more, but she didn't know how much she could touch without the police here first. "From what Mutig and I can tell, it seemed like nothing in the actual bank was touched, but all the people in it were killed gruesomely. No one was left alive, so whoever or whatever did this killed the guilty and the innocent because they could. Mutig is thinking that it could be someone spiritually aware, with carnage like this. What do you think?" Mutig was by her again, lazily floating through the air next to her. Luke would see the black snake with the red cross on his forehead and Mutig would stick his snake tongue out at him like a blep.

[Nadezhda Esterházy]

Nadezhda danced on the rooftops to the melody of roaring sirens below. She twirled, flitted, and fluttered before launching herself into the air. She laughed as she gracefully landed on a nearby building. "What are these things?" Koschei asked alarmingly. "Oh, those." She laughed before continuing. "In this century they have these big boxes called vehicles that make loud noises. They clean up messes, I guess." Nadezhda said with a playful shrug. She rested her elbows against the edge of the building and stared into the distance, consuming the city. Her eyes scanned the limited skyline as splashes of red and blue colored street level. 

Nadezhda's demeanor intensified and her childlike nature dissolved. "A part of me understands this time while the other does not. It is strange. People are so preoccupied with themselves. Only catastrophes seem to warrant their attention. Remember that small village in Germany?" She asked as she glanced over at Koschei. "I do." Koschei responded warmly. "They were so easily startled. The smallest thing made them fearful and suspicious. Superstitions were widely accepted back then. It was easier to cause a panic, I guess. Hah." She wryly chuckled. 

"I miss those days." She lamented. Koschei looked over at Nadezhda before gazing into the city. "My dear, what little I have seen suggests they are easily panicked, they just," she paused for a second, "respond differently. Those loud boxes suggest that." Nadezhda looked over at Koschei and smirked. She was able to easily acknowledge Koschei's point. It seemed even centuries could not erode away at their bond. Nadezhda's confidence and trust in her dolls was unwavering. Nadezhda lifted herself up and began walking along the roof of the building, staring in each direction to recover her barrings. 

"I guess we should get back. We don't want to raise any suspicion." Nadezhda said calmly. Koschei glanced at Nadezhda. "I was able to see what you saw and experienced. What about those two creatures." Nadezhda chuckled and hopped on Koschie's shoulders. "Those two creatures are Bounts like me, or so they say. I trust them. Luke is kind, but gullible. Vesta is also nice, but distracted by her adolescence. The ironic thing about this whole situation is neither of them would guess I am centuries old. And even though I exist in perpetual youth, I am more mature than her."

Nadezhda chuckled and she hugged Koschei's neck. She stroked the back of her head and softly spoke. "Don't worry. He wouldn't hurt me, not now that I have convinced I am a mere child. He believes I'm clumsy and dimwitted with no concept of good or evil. I'm comfortable with that for now. He's going to teach me everything, in time. He's being cautious because I am sooooo young and inexperienced." She said with playful embellishment. "There is so much about this new world that I do not know, and he is the key to gaining many of those answers. Did you know those white faces are called hollows and white and black coats are Shinigami? Who knew. We surely didn't. But he does, and in time he's going to reveal all that good stuff. We just have to be patient. You understand."

"Patience has never been your strength, my dear." Nadezhda's expression soured and she puckered her lips.  "Yes, well, I've gotten better at it, okay?" She responded tersely before correcting her tone and smiling. "Like I said. Don't worry. In time we'll be reunited with Libuse and we'll have more than we ever had. We'll have power, opportunities, and best of all knowledge. That's why we ended up in this situation in the first place, right? We were big dummies and were being hunted." Nadezhda rolled her eyes and scowled. "Those Shinigami like hunting us, or so I've been told. He said I'm in danger for simply being a bount, yet the girl loves a Shinigami."  Nadezhda made dismissive noise with her lips at the thought.

"Actually, I thought that maybe we can kill that Shinigami, or any for that matter, and chop him or her into pieces and serve them to her." Nadezhda laughed as Koschei leaped from building to building. "We'll decide what to do after we get what we need. Normally I'd not hesitate to slit someone's throat, but I kind of like Luke. He's funny when he tries to act serious. The other one, well, I can do without her. She doesn't seem very interested in me being around anyhow. Maybe i'll burn her house down. Ohhh, yes, we should do that!!!" She remarked excitedly as realizing how great of an idea it was. Upon landing near where they were reunited, Nadezhda patted Koschei on the head. "Time for you to rest and for me to go back to being that silly, but lovable child." She smiled as Koschei vanished. Nadezhda walked back into the building where Vesta and Luke were battling, but it was vacant. "Oh no, where could they have possibly gone." She said with a dull sasrcastic tone before picking up a crowbar and hitting a box.

[Deleted]

Since it's been a few days I'll just grade this.

222 paragraphs means we've earned 1110 TP. Good job everyone.