021 [Accidental voice]
[For those using the Sirius Cybernetics Flaming Ferret Parental Filter, they will be redirected to this classic, wholesome cartoon.]
( I didn't wanna hurt you, but you're pretty when you cry... )
( I didn't wanna hurt you, but you're pretty when you cry... )
...Polly-san?!
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I remember you.
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[Oh, no, her blood...definitely isn't green, as far as he can recall - which was certainly cause for some relief]
[And yet...]
[he gives her a frowning look at that remark - she doesn't sound half in her right mind, really - and decides to press on by ignoring it for the moment instead]
Ah - there you are. ...Are you alright? What's going on over there?
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[She casts a glance off camera.]
Just some sword practice... With one of them anyway... He wasn't very good, though.
[She moves off camera, and there's the sound of things being moved around, the muffled clack of plastic against plastic.]
I think I need to find better playmates. It was barely any fun at all.
[A jounce as she carelessly picks up the Guide and makes to exit the lab.]
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Sword practice?
Polly-san, you haven't been - what are you doing?
[Scolding? Not quite. But there's definitely alarm there now...]
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Find me, Mr. Jushiro, and I'll show you.
[FEED TERMINATED.]
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Wait, Polly--
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[He frowns heavily at the blank screen for several moments, the sinking feeling now completely giving way to outright foreboding. Something was wrong here. Very, very wrong. And Polly was right in the middle of it, it seemed...]
[Find her? Find...]
[He's in his bedroom, on the fifth floor, and - he tries, for a moment. Casts out, into the veritable sea of alien energies that make up the Thor. But it's no good - though Polly had a developing reiatsu signature that Ukitake had come to know well, it still wasn't nearly outstanding enough to be picked up from such a distance as this.]
[Which only leaves one more option.]
[Ah, he really doesn't like eavesdropping, but...this definitely takes priority.]
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[In a couple of flash-steps he reaches the area, the presence of his mind flaring into being at an abrupt speed, the thoughts grim, alert, and worried. Now that he's here...Polly's presence is still vague, difficult to pin down properly, but - it's better of a lead than before.]
[He has Sogyo no Kotowari at hand, the blade settled in its usual position through the obi sash at his waist - and, as he sets off on foot through the halls, he has a hand placed firmly on the hilt.]
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[She does not bother creating another. His skill is far greater than hers, she knows, and she is determined to play out this game for as long as she can. No, the sword she intends on using on him is much smaller, lighter, and would require that she get up close and personal. But it only seemed fitting--he was, after all, like a father to her. They might not share blood. But they could share this.]
[Rounding a corner, she spots him at the end of the hallway.]
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[The memories flood into the Shinigami's mind, but it is he who is meant to be swallowed. As the girl makes her way slowly toward him, she remembers well the weight of the pack holding her down, the rip of their teeth, the jagged tearing of their claws. Their strength, as they rend her, can bend metal, crack stone.]
[She remembers their hissed and insidious taunts, the feel of claws slicing their way in, deep, teasing out intestines. Heads buried in her torso, ribs cracking as they seek out the dense meat of her heart...]
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[Naturally, in response, he'd increased his pace, though he hadn't really known what to expect once he finally reached her. She didn't seem herself...and those screams earlier, in the audio feed...he'd anticipated there might be a possibility of a conflict. A fight, even, much as the idea made him cringe a bit inside.]
[But when he stepped into a new hallway, and turned to spot a familiar head of red hair turning the corner at the far end at the exact same time--]
[Well, he certainly hadn't expected what would follow--]
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[except there's no brick wall in all the universe that could possibly hurt like this]
[Unbidden, sights and senses and feelings that were not his own - out of nowhere they come rushing in. The barrage has him taking a step backwards - two - three - and it's only the solid brace of a wall that finally has him stopping short, if only to render him pinned against it as if by an invisible force ( ... )
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[Unbidden, automatic, his foundering right hand finds its way back to the hilt of Sogyo no Kotowari - and though he manages to draw the blade about halfway, the ugly agony makes another wrack, and he doubles over again.]
[But, stirring in his subconscious, the second presences awaken - suddenly, abruptly, as if jolted awake from a pleasant sleep to a very unpleasant reality.]
[Seperate from Ukitake's own mentality but still very much a part of it, the awarenesses rear up - but the rally is confused and startled, half-hearted in unsureness. Sogyo no Kotowari knows this presence - such a benign presence, usually - but the difference now was ( ... )
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[And then the gleaming little spike is arcing down to slam into the side of his neck, depressing the plunger simultaneously to send the virulent, yellow concoction inside coursing through his circulatory system.]
[Grinning, she takes a step back, waiting to see what he becomes.]
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[Said barrage seems to stop short, for that matter - if only for the moment. It's unexpected, and the advent leaves him a bit out of sorts, trying to discern what's not a memory and what's now suddenly reality again.]
[And then, sinking in like winter...a cold feeling. Very, very cold, and hardly numbing at all - in fact, the cold is painful in its own odd way, locking him in place as it steadily but swiftly spreads its way through, to the very tips of his fingers ( ... )
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