I'm just Joe Black, baby, I write my symphony in the dark

[alapimp]

Who: Aizen alapimp  and Urahara so_heretohelp 
When: Mid-afternoon, close to the end of term.
Where: Hawthorne University, Ancillary Arts Department.
What: Urahara decides to visit his favourite person.
Warnings: IDEK. PG13 just to be safe.

Comments

[so_heretohelp]

Urahara moved quickly through the halls of the University, not giving himself the time to over-think the meeting he was about to instigate. It'd have to happen eventually. Better if he found Aizen first.

The school was nearly completely empty for Christmas holidays - a touch unusual for the time off to start before New Years - and this close, Aizen was easy to find. Of course this close, he himself would be easier to sense as well. The fact that he was carrying Benihime - albeit hidden in the cane - as well as using a tiny amount of reiryoku to quieten his geta didn't help. So he carefully approached the door to the correct classroom and glanced inside.

Visually it was a surprise to see Aizen, back turned at a sink washing brushes, dressed like an ordinary human rather than a Shinigami. He was overwhelmed with an urge to sneak up behind him and cover his eyes, playing a little game of 'who is it?', but he knew it wouldn't work as soon as Aizen glanced up and shifted slightly.
He'd been noticed.

So instead he casually walked into the room, geta clacking, gawking at the large scrolls and giving Aizen a cheeky grin as the man turned around.

"Ohh, splendid work~♪! Strong, confident lettering indeed. I particularly like this one-" he pointed to Patience, sweeping his finger to indicate the two characters. "Bitter embrace," he read it aloud literally, smiling benignly.

[alapimp]

He was accustomed to working alongside loud characters, to put it nicely, and let Urahara burst his way inside just short of a frolic without disturbing Sosuke's serene expression. A quick flicker of reiatsu found Benihime secreted in the harmless-looking cane, prompting Sousuke one step closer to believing Urahara would attempt an attack in public. Things like dimensions and fake identities didn't matter between them. Sousuke disliked Kisuke not only on principle, but as a man who might have once acted his jailer, had Central 46 realised just how powerful Aizen-fukutaichou in fact was, and who now attempted the very same capture. In different circumstances, but even so.

He would not allow this man to revel in the capture of someone so far beyond his reach. It was an impossibility in thought, let alone act.

And he hadn't brought Kyouka Suigetsu with him.

"Aa," he agreed. Raising a hand, he gestured to the kanji for Glory, the closest to hand as he stepped away from the sink. "Nutrition. Everything has a learning curve here. To be fit in mind and body will bring its rewards, for example."

[so_heretohelp]

Not missing a beat, as if they'd already been having this conversation, he answered calmly. "Yes, the glory is so much harder to achieve when the mind or body is weak. But, funny thing about Japanese. It's all in how you read it in context~." What context are you in, Aizen? And how are you bending it to your will?

"This one, for example," he continued, pointing out White Soldier. Given what Ishida had told him, he very well knew what it could mean. He consciously didn't shift his relaxed stance, yet became very aware of Benihime in his hand. Aizen didn't have Kyouka Suigetsu with him. Or could there be an illusion to make him think that? A large part of him wanted to bring this man down now, for all he had done and would do. But every instinct called for him to be cautious... so cautious he would be.

"What context did this one come out of?"

[alapimp]

Perhaps the context was trying to wash a few brushes, but Urahara wouldn't be satisfied with anything so menial. God forbid Sousuke spent less than his entire life plotting ways to make the shinigami miserable, despite loathing them and wishing to have nothing to do with a single inhabitant of Seireitei ever again. That had been the point of leaving, after all, to escape their prejudices and implement his plans to move in higher echelons. The highest, in all honesty, because the people of Soul Society were so far beneath his mode of thinking as to not exist.

He gestured to the scroll.

"A bright military, one with no need to cower as it marches forward." He smiles mildly. "Open to interpretation, of course."

[so_heretohelp]

"Naturally♪~"

The smile then fell from his face and he looked at Aizen sharply from the beneath the rim of his hat. He voice was smooth and neutral as he asked the vital question,

"And where are the soldiers marching to? Where is your war now, Aizen?"

He did not want their battle to carry over to this foreign shore. But if the man had not left it behind...

And could he believe him if he said he had?

[alapimp]

"Where should I want to march them, you mean to say."

Casually strolling toward his desk, he folded his arms and perched on the edge, watching Urahara sedately. Taking off his glasses, he gestured with the same hand to the classroom.

"I've been here a few months, long enough to establish a fond relationship with the students. Ishida-kun is doing a perfectly decent job of keeping an eye on me, his diligent surveillance is a thing to be praised. If anything should slip under the radar of my teachings here, he'll have you know post-haste."

Really, did they expect him to be nefarious using his position as a professor? The look he gave his nemesis was flat, at best. You'll find nothing of import in this room.

"Contrarily, the Espada are in Nueva Las Noches, the home I have created for them. Plain to see." Running a hand through his hair, he slid his glasses back into place, nudging them up the bridge of his nose. "My war is not with this ... pocket reality, a nexus withheld from the truth. Do you believe, for a single moment, that it is my sincerest wish to rule this mire?"

It was, for God's sake, little more than a shadow of a dream, even if he achieved dominion.

[so_heretohelp]

He smiled faintly. Of course. Always in control, Aizen. Order the army, be at the teacher's desk.

His smile did not change, although the next part was more amusing. The thought that Ishida-kun would come to Kisuke 'post-haste' was pretty optimistic, in his opinion. The Quincy would ever be suspicious of Shinigami, and he was probably on some sort of top-ten list given how the boy had held back the other night.

The smile remained to answer the other man's flat stare. The man had been a well-respected teacher for many years before betraying Soul Society. Nothing could be taken for granted.

And just because his favoured arrancar were plain to see it didn't make them less dangerous. Indeed, it was quite likely they were meant to attract attention away from something else. Clamour in the East, Attack in the West.

"No," he answered lightly. A ruler who knew only the island might be satisfied, but one who knew that there was more would certainly stretch out. "You may not desire to rule it, but it might well be crushed in the wake of other plans." A statement with just a hint of question. Would it be his plans?

[alapimp]

An enigmatic smile surveyed him levelly.

"What do you think I'm planning?"

[so_heretohelp]

With a flourish Kisuke pulled out his fan and unfurled in in front of his face.

"Oh, now~! That's not fair! What if I told you something you hadn't thought of yet and thought it was such a brilliant idea that you just had to use it? Where would we be then?"

[alapimp]

"Another step outside of reality?" he drawled, laughing pleasantly as he leaned back.

"Would you say the Core is a tool or a weapon?"

[so_heretohelp]

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. This was quite surreal, wasn't it. He could hardly have imagined ever holding a conversation with Aizen like this.

At the question he folded his fan back up and lightly tapped it against his chin, thoughtful.

"Anything has the potential to be both."

[alapimp]

"Quite so. I think you're familiar with another creation that only consults what's best for itself."

Naming no names.

"The Core is, I suspect, entirely sentient. I tell you this because it's no great secret, just as the Darkness has a will all of its own."

[so_heretohelp]

Yes, naming no names.

Even if that was no secret, he was being refreshingly forthcoming.

"So, does the Core see itself as a tool or a weapon?"

[alapimp]

"Did you know, the Darkness views itself as an unending certainty?" Judging by his confidence on the matter, Sousuke didn't care what Urahara thought. Sliding off the desk, he opened his arms as though welcoming home a revelation. "I've walked in it, spoken with the one they call Big Mother, she who controls the beasts - and she's so very rudimentary about her whims, it's almost like talking to the basest of hollows.

"I can command the Darkness, yet her thrall over it never wavers. This entire dimension is able to be conditioned to do anything - even concede to Garganta."

A small smile hitched.

"With the right know-how."

[so_heretohelp]

Kisuke stared unblinkingly at the man across from him, once again acutely aware of Benihime in his hand.

Did he just hear all that right?

"You do have a way with the ones others fear," Kisuke conceded with a light tone and wide smile. "First the Arrancar, and now this? I must admit I'm impressed."

He would have to investigate this on his own. Sentient Core, sentient Darkness...

"So, escape by Garganta." His smile deepens. "With the right know-how."

Had he been able to gather the means to do it himself? Or perhaps brought Mayuri into it? ...Or was Kisuke sitting before him as the final piece to his puzzle?

[alapimp]

"They fear them because their enemies have nothing greater to hold in reverence. A mouse would never fight a lion."

Urahara was free to guess which category Sousuke fell into. Straightening a few papers on his desk, he gave the impression of letting his focus on the other man slip.

"You aren't enjoying your sentence here, I imagine. Trapped like a fly in a net and seeking answers from your enemy, is it because you've fallen so far from grace again? You should know the feeling, by now."