Come Dreamwalk With Me 6 (Open Log. WIDE OPEN)
Who: Polly (curious_copycat )
What: Nocturnal Telepathic Shenanigans, Random CR, Drama, Exposition, Crack, Surreal Shite, Whatever You Want.
Where: In Your Head
When: Tonight. (But latecomers and backtagging are always welcome.)
Warnings: They're dreams. Anything--absolutely anything--can happen. Not even the laws of physics apply.
Notes: Dreamers start the threads ( Read more... )
What: Nocturnal Telepathic Shenanigans, Random CR, Drama, Exposition, Crack, Surreal Shite, Whatever You Want.
Where: In Your Head
When: Tonight. (But latecomers and backtagging are always welcome.)
Warnings: They're dreams. Anything--absolutely anything--can happen. Not even the laws of physics apply.
Notes: Dreamers start the threads ( Read more... )
Ukitake, seemingly deeply lost in his own thoughts, only starts to pay Polly heed when she takes his hand...though really, it's rather hard to ignore a gesture like that. She earns a startled look from him, at any rate - so accustomed to being unseen in a place like this, it was more than a little surprising to be addressed so suddenly and abruptly.
His steps slow to a complete halt. The stream of populace around them continues undeterred, most stepping around Polly with passing glances, wondering at the girl stopping dead in the middle of the sidewalk for no apparent reason. Ukitake himself, on the other hand, frowns at Polly for a bit. Once again, her face is familiar but...
...Ah, wait a minute...
"Polly-san." The name is intoned in a bemused sort of way, but the recognition is present enough. "...Hm. Alright? ...Yes, I suppose..."
He glances up and away, down the street, as if looking for something. Hm, his men...he can hardly pick up their presences now. They were probably far ahead at this point. But that was fine - Ukitake had ordered them to go on further and not wait for him, before they'd seperated.
"I'd...just like to be getting home, is all." There's a tired wistfulness there, as he returns his attention to Polly. "Been on patrol all day today. And - well - it hasn't been a very pleasant business..."
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"I can tell," she replied, brushing her fingers across the blood on his shoulder. "What happened? Shouldn't we bandage it?"
Her question drew quite a few strange looks from the passers by. Who was she talking to? Was she crazy? The girl paid them no mind, any more than she worried that there might be other parts of his subconscious that might not want her there.
Her friend was hurt. That was all that mattered.
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He blinks at her blankly, but follows her hand as it makes its way to his shoulder - and the surprise on his features when he sees the stain himself is genuine.
"Oh! ...My goodness, I didn’t notice..." Gently, he moves her hand away and then pats the area, absently. "...No. No need to worry about that...just a scratch, I’m pretty sure. Nothing the Fourth won’t be able to patch up when I get back, really. It’s alright, Polly-san."
He settles back on his heels a bit, ignoring the odd stares of passerby just as easily as Polly…and he considers her first question for a long moment, before sighing and shaking his head slowly.
"What happened? Well...rather nasty incident today. There was some sort of mass murder near a - ah, what do they call those - ‘plazas’? It was in one of those large shopping facilities they have around here, at any rate.
He gestures a bit, but his hand falls limp again as he gets further into the recollection, pausing and counting off the statistics in his head. He’s got a good memory for these sorts of things, by now; the reports required to be filled out after these kinds of missions tended to be quite thorough like that. "Five...no, six Plus spirits; I believe they died on the spot. 'Shot' - that’s what they call it here. Four men, two women..."
Ukitake stops once more, at that point, and the melancholy mood seems to return at the memory of it. He shakes his head again.
"Ah, it’s a sad business - though it’s never really a happy one either. Wouldn’t have been so bad, normally, but apparently the concentrated number of Pluses in the area managed to attract a couple of Hollow. We got into a bit of a scuffle and - well." With a somewhat chagrined expression, he gestures to his shoulder. "There you have it."
With another sigh his gaze roams back to the far end of the street, and he starts forward again, at a slightly slower pace.
"I can’t say it’s one of our better days. --But it could have been a lot worse.
"Always good to remember that."
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"If you're sure... We should probably get you there soon, though... Just to be safe."
She cast a glance at him, frowning.
"Shot... That's awful! Do things like this happen a lot?"
She shook her head, Gently taking his hand, and proceeding to lead him along, even though she really didn't know exactly where he was going, beyond that way. The crowd parted, though they continued to look at her strangely.
"It could be worse... I'm glad you came out of it alright."
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Absently, Ukitake allowed Polly to guide him along as they walked - even if it would only be for a bit, and he was pretty sure she wasn't any more certain of where they were going than he was. The crowd of populace around them began to thin as they finally approached the leading end of the sidewalk (such an unusually long sidewalk...). And finally, at length, they were standing at a four-way intersection and road crossing, the pale pavement of their path dividing on all four points of the compass beneath a lonely pole bearing the names of the streets in kanji, and a pair of dimly-glowing traffic lights.
Abruptly, the entire area is empty. No more people roaming about, no more cars moving past. Silence and stillness reigns in the air, save for the soft patter of the drizzle, which is beginning to strengthen into a genuine rain. Ukitake pauses, peering forward, and then left and right.
"...Hm. I think...the senkaimon are this way. Follow along if you like, Polly-san."
Releasing her hand, he turns right, around the corner of the roadway--
And suddenly, the world turns black.
It's as if someone snapped off a light; indeed, what little lighting the rainy city in the Living World had to offer is gone in its entirety, and even Ukitake's distinctly pale form fades away completely, seconds after the darkness falls.
The air is very warm, heavy...and, pervading the apparent emptiness, there is suddenly presence once more - a pair of presences, probably very familiar to Polly indeed. It's felt strongly throughout the area, like the muted grumble of a storm on the verge of breaking...and somehow, emotion can be gleamed from the aura permeating all around.
It's...not happy, by all accounts.
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She had no thought of defending herself; whatever they had in store, she had it coming. However, she couldn't completely suppress a small tendril of fear. She would deserve it... but she also wasn't going to enjoy this, she knew.
She took a breath, then another, then called out their name to acknowledge them. Whatever they wanted to do to her, however ready she was or wasn't, she knew nothing would be accomplished by her remaining silent.
"Sogyo no Kotowari."
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For several moments that stretch on like eternities, the silence reigns...but, finally, it breaks. The voices are soft, as if from very far away - but the sound of them still resonates all around, and the words are quite audible enough.
...You're here, again.
Even though you know better.
Even though you know we're angry...
Despite the words, it's rather difficult to tell if they sound necessarily angry or not. The tones seem to borderline on glum, instead - baleful, like a pair of children disappointed in the density of an older sibling.
But you're here - just as easy, like nothing happened!
Even though we don't want you to be...
Why? Why did you come back?
You hurt him!
Ah, there you go - now the anger's a bit more audible, now, if the accusatory nature of that last line is anything to go by. However, they make no move to appear...and they do nothing else, for the moment, neither to Polly nor to their surroundings. Despite everything, Ukitake had indeed told them - or at least tried to explain - the circumstances behind the injection, all that time back...and with that in mind, harming Polly was rather preemptive, assuming they could even do so at all.
But they still want an explanation - a proper one, right from the source. And as far as they're concerned, Sogyo no Kotowari will wait as long as they need to until they get one...
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"I-I'm sorry, I never know when I'm going to visit Mr. Jushiro. I just... I was there, and I saw he was hurt... I had to see if he was alright."
She shook her head, hugging her arms to her.
"I didn't want to hurt him-- I mean..."
Drawing in a long breath, she closed her eyes, searching for the right words to explain to them.
"I was attacked, that day. There were scientists and they kidnapped me to try a new drug on me. It brought a different part of me out... Kind of like you, maybe, a little bit, only bad. It was a part of me I didn't know, and it was so angry and it wanted to hurt everybody!"
Her voice had steadily been growing louder, the pain and horror with which she'd watched her friends and loved ones suffering flooding out. She took in a breath that was more like a sob.
"I couldn't make it stop!"
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The edge of anger is still faintly apparent in at least one of the pair of voices, but now the overall mood seems to have shifted over to something rather watchful; almost cautious, wary.
A 'drug'?
Jushiro said that too...
He takes those, sometimes - from Fourth - but we don't know what sort this one was...
It was bad! Very very bad.
It brought out...
There's another stretch of breathless silence, punctuated once more by very soft voices, speaking in an indistinct whisper. But the oppressiveness in the air seems to...lessen. Though it's only a tiny, fractional bit, it's still vaguely noticeable.
Like us?
But only bad?
Why do you say that? We're not bad, but we're got good either...those are Jushiro's titles, not ours.
Zanpakuto don't concern themselves with things like that, you know.
But the drug...
It doesn't set free something like us! It lets out something else...
A pause.
You couldn't make it stop?
...We couldn't either.
He stopped listening to us!
And then he wanted us to come out and fight, but--
We wouldn't--
We won't! Not ever! Not when he speaks to us like that...
And he was so angry...
There's another pause, this one silent as a grave. There's something in the air - a different feeling, not quite the anger from before, but reproachful. Hurt. But at length...
So, it came out...in you too?
Because of the drug?
But if the thing took over...
What happened to you and yourself, then? Were you still there?
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"It did! It made me watch while it hurt people! It knew how much I like Mr. Jushiro, so he was one of the people it wanted to hurt most!"
She sits down, pulling her knees up to her chest, miserable.
"I'm sorry I couldn't stop it! If you want to hurt me back, I deserve it."
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It's so sudden - and unexpected - that it might very well borderline on startling...but as soon as it happens, it's as if an oppressive fog has been lifted. The pitch blackness all around begins to lighten; a bluish hue of midnight replacing the void. Then, finally, like the first tentative rays of a sun piercing through a veil, columns of light begin to filter up from the floor, curtaining and waning, shifting with the flow of an unseen tide.
Though it's not yet in its full bright glory, the sea has returned. And, just as suddenly, there are two children standing in front of Polly, where she sits on the floor. Blue-robed identical twins, hand in hand; the distance between them and Polly is a mere foot, so that their facial features are quite visible to see.
...But Sogyo no Kotowari seems utterly expressionless, at the moment; an odd, almost jarring solemnity, for children so apparently small and young.
They're staring intently at her, silent, both frowning...but at length one of them abruptly sits down in front of her, legs folded in a tiny seiza reminiscent of Ukitake's underneath the folds of his robes. The other twin remains standing, and folds his arms - but both of them speak after a moment, remaining well in tandem.
...You didn't answer the question again.
You do that a lot, Polly-san.
But it's alright. We think...we know the answer already.
You were still there and still watching while it was outside.
Like we were...
They both sigh, simultaneously - and then suddenly both twins are fixing their eyes with hers, holding her gaze steadily.
Can we hurt you back?
We would be able to...?
We don't know. We've never tried that before. We've never had to!
Before coming here, Jushiro has never had anyone else in his head before.
Anyone but us!
But now...it's like - it's like anyone can come in here. Whenever they want, however they feel like it!
Come in and try to hurt him...
We don't like this. We don't like it. ...We don't like it at all!
We want to stop it when it matters. We want to be able to defend him, like we're supposed to! But--
But we don't know how.
The last sentence, murmured is unison, is very quiet - almost another whisper lost in the echoing depths of the surroundings, but audible enough, now that they're so close to Polly. Upon professing this fact, however, the twin sitting down dips his head low, and the one standing turns his eyes down and away, unfolding his arms and restlessly plucking at one of his sleeves.
The anger is gone - whether pent up, or simply worn out. Now there's just the hurt, hanging like a tangible taste on the air. Hurt, and remorse, and...something very faintly borderlining on...shame...?
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Their question caught her off guard, and she had to think a long moment. She certainly didn't like that she or any other possible telepath could waltz into Mr. Jushiro's mind, either. If she could teach them--and maybe she could teach other people, too!--then so many of the awful things that had happened when she'd been injected might never need to happen again!
"I don't know..." she answered honestly. "But we could try!"
She shifted, so that her position mirrored the one sitting before her, reaching to settle hands gently on the "child's" shoulder. Her eyes shown with the idea.
"We could figure it out, I bet!" She looked up at the standing twin.
"I'm not good at figuring things out, but I bet if we all three try...!"
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In the meantime, the standing twin returns her earnest look with an intent questioning one of his own, at her words - he stops plucking at his sleeves abruptly, even as his other half raises his head.
Try? Try what?
Figure what out?
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"Figure out how to keep me out! Try to keep me away, if you ever need to again!"
She grinned as if she were suggesting they play a particularly fun game, rather than proposing that they devise a way to attack her mind--possibly hurt her--enough to break the psychic connection.
"Making sure I never ever hurt Mr. Jushiro again!"
She turned her smile from one to the other, the hope in her eyes effervescent.
"No one's ever tried before, but I'm sure there must be away!"
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But there is no laughter now - indeed, for a brief moment, there's almost something of an impressed look, in the way they peer at her.
It passes quickly; the sitting one breaks his seiza, drawing up his knees, resting his chin on them, and wrapping his arms around his legs, while the standing one slips his arms into his tiny sleeves this time, head tilting slightly.
...You would teach us, how to do this?
We've never been taught something before...
We're the ones that are always teaching! And even then, it's just Jushiro, about himself...
But...but you could do this?
The twins exchange a single look between each other, and it's clear that there's some sway in opinion, for both of them.
Then, simultaneously, a decision seems to have been reached - and they both snap their bright green gazes back on Polly.
If you're telling the truth, then--
Then we would like to accept!
To learn this...
To make up for what you did to him! Or to begin to.
We aren't going to forgive you yet!
A pause, as a thought seems to occur to both of them at the same time.
...But Polly-san--
Don't tell him!
Not yet, not yet...
He might not want us to learn. He likes you very much.
Don't tell him! We will. We'll talk to him about it, when he's ready.
Just not now. He's still very sad, right now...
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"I won't tell! And I'll help any way I can!"
She stood up, dusting herself off as a matter of habit, then holding out her hand to shake on it.
"I promise, we'll find a way to keep me out!"
She gave a small frown, trying to think of how best to begin. The first notion was the simplest, but it seemed like the most likely thing to work.
"I s'pose... What we oughta do is fight!"
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