Morgannis

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sagamiyama

Saturday - Evening

Interactions: @Sho Minazuki

---

He was screwed. He was so, so screwed.

As the beast bound between the two holes that gave way to his exit, Mitsuaki put his hands over his face. “Fuck. Fuck, fuck,” this plan hadn’t been thought through nearly enough, the tunnel giving him no space to make an advantageous play. The only thing he had going for him would be the sand that shifted under his weight, but even that wasn’t a fool proof strategy. Getting close enough to throw said sand into the Hollow’s eyes would almost certainly get him injured in the process, so it would have to be worth it.

Raising his face, the hands remained on his cheeks, fingers pressing into the skin. Each time the Hollow bound, Mitsuaki watched it until it disappeared to the other side.

There was barely enough room to sit in the tube, so he laid there, Zanpakuto beside him. “Okay Mitsuaki, think,” his hands slid upwards, into his hair. Dwelling on the idea of him being royally screwed wasn’t going to help him in any capacity. “There’s no getting out of here without taking a blow. That’s fine. That’ll be fine. It won’t kill me. It won’t,” he mumbled to himself, looking at both entrances to the tube again, watching as that beast bound between them. [color=6B91BA] “I won’t let it,” his own voice was filling the silence between the beast's bounds. “I have to live. For mom, for dad. For Juno…”

Moving his hand on the hilt of his blade, Mitsuaki sighed, before a mighty groan came out of him from his frustration. As he raised his hand, it struck the top of the ceramic that surrounded him, a hiss coming from his lips before he paused, staring at it. Would he have enough time and strength to go up? Maybe it would confuse the Hollow, maybe it wouldn’t realize what he was doing.

It was the only move he really had, other than waiting for his death. As he raised his Zanpakuto, though, trying to see if he could fit it vertically to stab the top of the tube with the hilt, he grunted. It was too big. Of course. Of course.

“Who even enjoys playing in these things?!”

Umbra Rose Condos

@BunniesOfDoom - So sorry, just saw this! You can go ahead and make a post!

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sagamiyama

Saturday - Evening

Interactions: @Sho Minazuki

---

Of course he wasn’t going to be fast enough to hit this thing. It had been able to avoid his eyes until it wanted to be seen. Still, an attempt had to be made, and Mitsuaki wasn’t going to just sit around and wait for this Hollow to launch the offensive. Would it wear down, eventually? Hollows weren’t bound by the same standards as the physical human body, sure, but it had to have limitations of some kind! Right?

Adjusting his grip on his Zanpakuto, as Aquafang began to press forwards again, Mitsuaki took a step back. A gasp left him when the Hollow disappeared from sight, panicked eyes scanning the environment quickly, trying to locate the beast. It appeared, then, bursting upwards from behind some of the playground equipment, spinning with its sharp fins directly towards him. The speed the thing had on it made dodging the full attack hard, Mitsuaki jumping backwards to get out of the way.

Grimacing, eyes narrowed, Mitsuaki barely let his eyes leave the beast as he glanced back towards the park. Barely avoiding that first attack, he doubted he would be able to avoid another, at least not completely unscathed. Running wasn’t going to be an option, not with how fast this Hollow was. Crippling it in some way was going to be his best bet for an even fight; blinding or slashing its leg, or something. If he kept his head cool, and calm, if he didn’t let the panic swell and overwhelm him…He could do this.

Swallowing hard, Mitsuaki began to step carefully, watching Aquafang with baited anticipation. Each step was slow and careful, Zanpakuto clasped desperately with both hands as the boy tried to circle around the Hollow, inching closer to the park. To blind, he needed sand, or something small enough to cause pain to the things eyes. To cripple, he’d need speed, something of which he already found himself lacking compared to the Hollow.

He had to try, though.

If he could make it to the park, maybe he could use the playthings that littered the grounds as a means of escape. Putting distance between himself and the Hollow seemed like the safest bet, and using the structure to his benefit was going to be a necessity at this point. Gritting his teeth, Mitsuaki didn’t want to show his back to Aquafang, but he had no choice. With a quick pivot, the young man launched himself towards the park with his flight step, hoping to dive into the ceramic pipe tunnel that lay in the sand. If the Hollow was small enough to follow after him, hopefully it would have a harder time attacking him.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sagamiyama

Saturday - Evening

Interactions: @Sho Minazuki

---

The park was empty when Mitsuaki bound into it. Sliding to a stop in the gravel, he was quick to turn around when he felt those ever watchful eyes on his back. The hollow that stood before him was like nothing he had seen before; the ones he had already slain were both bigger and bulkier than the beast in front of him. They were slower, and were weak against his blade, but this one…

Hair standing on end, he swallowed hard, his zanpakuto at the ready. Never once did those grey eyes leave the hollow in front of him, taking in every detail, trying to anticipate any movement. It was fast, this he already knew, with how it seemed to try to herd him into a corner. It was smart, too. Smart and fast was a danger level he hadn’t yet dealt with, at least, not on his own.

Hopefully the other power he had felt moments before those eyes found him didn’t show up.

Trying to keep the fear and anxiety from his hand, to keep the trembling steady, Mitsuaki took a deep inhale. Slowly, he exhaled, grounding himself with his breathing. Confidence, he thought. Conviction. This was just another hollow. Just another hollow.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Focusing on his breathing, the young man was slow to inch forwards, not wanting to wait for the hollow itself to attack first. If it wanted a fight, he’d give it his fight. A fight he’d win.

The distance between Mitsuaki and the tigerfish-hollow was quickly closed, the substitute shinigami utilizing Jiho when he was close enough. Aiming to move behind the hollow, he kept lunged towards it with his zanpakuto, aiming a strike at its left hind leg. The fight had begun, and Mitsuaki silently hoped that this would not be his last.

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Sagamiyama

Saturday - Afternoon

Interactions:

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Mitsuaki stood from his seat, eyes remaining on the table as his comrades in arms slowly left the building. Swallowing, he thought that maybe he should ask Shouko the question that began nagging at him, but bit it back. He didn’t really want to know the answer. Content to live with a possible lie, that spirits killed by Hollows still moved on, he left the mechanic shop and headed home.

The house was silent when Mitsuaki finally entered, slipping his shoes off in the doorway. Taking the stairs two at a time, he tried to ignore the nagging feeling that he began to push into his gut as he went to move past a door on his left. Most days, he could ignore the hand painted black streaks that were still sitting on the wood; curved letters spelling Juno, and the random doodles that dotted here and there. They had decorated it together, one day when boredom had taken a heavy toll on them.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, hand reaching out, resting on the doorknob. One push, and the darkness of the room would reveal everything Juno had left behind. Records and posters of bands that Mitsuaki couldn’t listen to anymore. A sketchbook sitting atop a desk, opened to the last page that was being worked on. Clothes littering the floor, shoes sitting beside the door, a messenger bag slung on the bed. The door remained closed, though, and all he could do was try to remember what Juno had left behind.

A hand on his shoulder brought him back with a strangled gasp. “Aki,” Chiaki stood behind him, her gaze so soft as Mitsuaki turned, a hard swallow passing through his throat. “I miss him too.”

Mother and son embraced, her hand pressing into his hair, holding him. Pulling back when he was ready, Chiaki smiled as she pressed a kiss to his forehead. Wrinkling his nose, Mitsuaki had to look away, but he gave her a light smile to show his thanks. For her being there. For adopting him. “Thank you, Chi–” pausing, he swallowed. “Mom.”

“Of course, Aki,” her hand met his cheek with a warm comfort.

“I think I’m going to go lay down.”

“I’ll bring food up for you when I make dinner,” all he could do was nod, and the two parted.

---

Sagamiyama

Saturday - Evening

Swallowing the mod soul, Mitsuaki stumbled back as his soul was ejected from his body. The instructions given were simple; stay in the room, and don’t break anything. Once the window was opened, the substitute shinigami jumped from it and onto the ground below.

A heavy sigh left him as anxiety began to well in his gut, his heart beating faster in his chest as he took in the feeling of the night. Taking his time, Mitsuaki’s hand found the pink koi that sat attached to his zanpakuto, finger tracing the outlines of the delicate wooden carving to try to ground himself. The feelings hanging over the night sat horribly in his chest, his mind working overtime, head snapping to every whisper of sound that echoed his way.

“Calm down,” there was a light groan from the young man as he pushed his free hand into his hair, tugging lightly on the strands. “You’re jumping at shadows.”

He still had a ways to go to make it to the park, his pace beginning to quicken, thinking it better to be in the company of others rather than his own thoughts.

Umbra Rose Condos

---

Location: Building 1 Cafeteria|| Interactions: Iris @BunniesOfDoom, Khalid @Lugubrious
Time: Late Afternoon

---

“You’ve no need to apologize, Iris,” Alphonse gave her a soft, kind smile. He could only imagine how difficult it must have been to keep the wolf contained, to keep her emotions even and level. A hard task, truly, for so many of his monster comrades.

Once the rest of their makeshift team were ready, Alphonse turned towards the double doors that led into the cafeteria. Antennae twitched atop his head as he moved, all four hands still clasped firmly behind his back until he made his way to the door, holding it open for both Iris and Khalid. Now, where would Gremlins hide? His first thought went to the air vents, wondering if the little beasts used those to get around. He hadn’t seen hide or hair of them before, so unless they were just extremely good at being sneaky, he figured it was a good assumption to make.

Not a hunter like Iris, Alphonse was a little wary that he wouldn’t be able to be of much help. He could shrink down, of course, take a look in the vents; or perhaps he could unfurl his wings and get some use out of them, check the stairwells quickly while the other two put their efforts elsewhere. Would their efforts still be considered to be that of a team if they split up? Not that it mattered much; Alphonse would give his prize to Iris if it did come down to that. A phone, in this day and age, was a much more important commodity than more books in his library.

“How do you two think we should handle this?” Voice soft as they stepped out into the hall of building one, his gaze shifted between Iris over to Khalid. “I can check the air vents and the stairwells. Although I will be unable to capture them if I do check the vents,” musing more to himself than the other two, his eyes went up to the nearby vent. “I also imagine that they are not just confined to building one,” gaze sauntering over towards the door that lead outside, Alphonse absently tapped one of his index fingers to the back of his hand. They had options.

Umbra Rose Condos

---

Location: Building 1 Cafeteria|| Interactions: Iris @BunniesOfDoom, Khalid @Lugubrious
Time: Late Afternoon

---

Alphonse was not expecting the bump to his hip. Eyes widening, the bug man stumbled before he righted himself, looking a tad more flustered when his black eyes once more found Iris. Her words were endearing, though, and as he composed himself, his eyes softened. “Thank you, Iris. I truly appreciate your companionship,” that was, after all, what he was here for. It was very refreshing to know that he had - dare he say - a friend in Iris.

“There will be lamb another day, I’m certain,” that was a problem, though, wasn’t it? Alphonse briefly wondered what the condo was going to do about the fact that there were hungry monsters in need of sustenance. A thought for later, or perhaps, not for him at all. His own primary objective, after all, wasn’t even food to begin with. It took him a moment to follow Iris towards the table, the woman already sitting down and having a conversation with the Shoggoth man by the time he sauntered over. He kept a fair bit of distance between himself and the table, though, both to give at least a small amount of privacy, but also for…the smell. His antennae began to droop as he stepped closer, and the mothman fought to hide any looks of displeasure from his face.

How could anyone stand it? Alphonse clasped all four hands behind his back, in front of his wings.

Listening intently to their conversation of therapy, Alphonse’s gaze went distant for a moment. It would do a lot of good, for a lot of different monsters here. Some were ancient, or like him, had lived long enough to see more horrors than they could count. Just the fact that a place like the Umbra Rose Condos exists, a haven for their kind against the hunters outside, would probably lead to at least some monsters benefiting from therapy.

“Does it matter where the therapy takes place?” Alphonse shifted a tad bit closer to the table. “Or the time?” Perhaps being outside would detract from the smell, and of course, being a man of the night, Alphonse would excel more at a later time. Gods knew he had a lot to talk about, even if it didn’t necessarily help. It would be nice to just talk.

Opening his mouth, perhaps to express possible interest in the therapy the Shoggoth was offering, the intercom crackled to life. Alphonse paused, turning his head up to look at the nearest speaker, his eyes widening. Gremlins? Oh. Joy. As Theria’s message died down, Alphonse turned his gaze back to the two at the table in front of him. “It seems we have a game to play tonight,” if they wanted to, that is. The mothman would be content to meander the halls at a more leisurely pace, and if he had found any gremlins, great! If not, it was no skin off of his back; although a new book would be a nice addition to his collection.

Umbra Rose Condos

For that sweet sweet post from our residential insect man

@BunniesOfDoom

So sorry, should be able to get my post up today! @ _ @ I work in a mall, so we're crazy right now..I come home and all I want to do is sleep

Bleach - Resonant Souls

Part Two of a Collab between @Letter Bee and [@Mogrannis].

Ouga’s Mechanics Shop

Suddenly, the young man was springing into action. Sword held low, he ran at Mikazuki with all of the speed he had. Closing the gap between them, his sword moved to thrust towards the chest of the other. Directly after the thrust, Mitsuaki put all of his strength into his attack, swinging upwards, and finishing up the Hirazuki skill that he had been taught in training. If he were lucky enough, one blow would be all that he needed to knock Mikazuki off of his feet and onto his back, winning him his makeshift game.

Mikazuki almost fell before the force of Mitsuaki’s blow; for a second, his feet lifted off the ground before the boy regained his footing. He smiled; his Miraculous Parry just barely held, but his exhalations showed that with his inferior amount of Reiyoku, Mitsuaki would eventually get the advantage.

But Miakzuki wasn’t in this to win, he was in this to give Mitsuaki a good time.

Tch, of course that didn’t work. Mitsuaki jumped back, his feet guiding him around Mikazuki, looking for any sort of opening that the other might give him. Lunging forward, the older male took swipe after swipe at the younger, just trying to break his defenses down for now. If he could wear Mikazuki out, maybe he could knock him down.

That idea may actually work; Mikazuki was using fancy footwork to try and evade Mitsuaki’s swipes, but he was worried that the latter may not be enjoying the fight, and that wore him down more than just the physical efforts of continuing to avoid his opponent’s blows - No, don’t get distracted, Mikazuki, just don’t!

A blow connected and was barely parried by the boy’s training blade. Mikazuki, to conceal his distraction, counterattacked with a flurry of cuts and slashes, still not knowing if Mitsuaki was enjoying this…

When the other counterattacked, Mitsuaki raised his blade to deflect, before he hopped backwards twice to avoid the rest of the attack. His face was full of nothing but concentration, giving no insight into his true feelings or thoughts. If anything, there may have been a flicker of frustration in his eyes, but it was gone in a second as attack was launched with his body lunging back towards Mikazuki.

Blade positioned to the left, Mitsuaki made it look like that was where he was going to attack from the left, before quickly darting right in an attempt to confuse the other boy.

Mikazuki would not normally have fallen for such a cheap trick, but his head was no longer in the game, and so this time, he was knocked back, flat on his back. His tactic of using a constant flow of Healing Arts on himself worked to clear up any bruises and pain, but right now, it was obvious to anyone that he was confused, lost, and just did not know what to do and how to continue.

He believed that he failed - Mitsukai seemed to be more annoyed than ever.

“Hell yeah!” Mitsuaki threw his arms up, sword held high in the air, as Mikazuki landed on the ground. “I won!” Even if he hadn’t proclaimed the rules aloud, he had, indeed, won. A wide smirk was worn on his face, gray eyes full of triumph.

Slowly, his arms lowered down to his sides, and he sauntered over towards the kid. “Good fight, Mikazuki,” a hand was held out, offered towards the other to pick him up from the ground.

Mikazuki’s look of confusion changed to a smile as he let Mitsuaki lift him up, his frustration changing into happiness when he saw that for now, Mitsuaki was happier.

He gave a short bow to the older youth, just… happy - Happy he had helped.

“You don’t…Need to be so formal,” Mitsuaki rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from Mikazuki, before he waved it off. Really, they were comrades now, right? “Anyways, I’m going back in,” without waiting for the other, he moved back towards the shop, very much done with their spar.

It was a nice distraction, for sure, and he was a firm believer that practice was the key to success. They wouldn’t be able to grow strong and protect anyone they cared for if they just sat on their asses all day.

Plus, it did help release at least a little bit of steam.

Umbra Rose Condos

I had to get a new keyboard, mine turned into absolute garbage. Hoping that I can get a reply in within the next few days.