03 [Action]

[flicker_flash]

[Have sword, will travel. Katie's in the forest today, travelling with ...a purpose. She's hunting for Sigmund's shoe. Though she's also looking just in the hope that she might find a Sanji under a bush somewhere, and may stop to pounce a spider or two (they may survive the experience), and eventually just make a tally of everything she can find

Comments

[ashesandpearls]

[Rangiku is under strict orders not to make her home in the bar. Therefore. She is out exploring until an 'acceptable hour.' Not that she really has any cause to follow these strict orders... except she won't really be comfortable until she knows this ground as well as any other place. So she is out wandering the forest today as well. Or she was.

Right now she's just... sitting beneath a tree, not quite asleep, staring up through its branches through lidded eyes. By now she's found Haineko, so her hand is resting casually by its hilt.

There's a beautiful blonde woman with a sword who seems to be asleep in the forest, Katie. What do you do?]

[flicker_flash]

Oh yes, that sounds like a good idea. Besides, you're much taller. [And have more padding, apparently. Curiosity: piqued.] Do the dead need protecting, then?

[ashesandpearls]

Oh yes. [She nods soberly. And notes that the girl seems genuinely unfamiliar with the term or - so. A different world? But the same accent. Interesting.] They are very troublesome. Loud - noisy. And they always interrupt my afternoon nap.

[All.. true. Rangiku slants a glance sideways at her as she stands.] What sort of things do you fight, fair knight?

[flicker_flash]

[Promptly.] Ghosts and goblins, mostly. Vampires. Sith lords. [Pause.] Serial killers. And accountants.

[ashesandpearls]

Accountants, eh? That sounds like too much work for me. Hollows would be less annoying.

[She glances around the forest and - yes - it appears that the young girl is completely unsupervised. And has some sort of spiritual presence... and in Rangiku's world, untrained spiritual power doesn't only hurt you, but everyone around you. Still, she's wise enough to know that in this world things could be different. But.] Do you have to train very hard?

[flicker_flash]

Oh, it's quite harmless work, actually. Though I suppose the accountants could make me die from boredom.

[ashesandpearls]

[She gives Katie a shrewd look, but speaks solemnly.] That is a fear with accountants.

[And then she turns to warily eye the bush.] Do you think we're safe from more attack pebbles?

[flicker_flash]

I wouldn't think so. It could attack again at any minute. Do you think we should leave before that? You'll be safer when you put some clothes on.

[What. That is a bathrobe you're wearing, isn't it?]

[ashesandpearls]

Eeeh? [Rangiku glances down at herself. And grins.] These are my official shinigami robes! They're the uniform that everyone wears in the 13 Squads - it's how you can tell if you're addressing a death god. [She pouts a little.] I did try to make it pretty with my scarf, but with so much black there's only so much you can do.

[flicker_flash]

[Blink. Blinkblink.]

You're a death god?

[ashesandpearls]

Aaa. [And she smiles and rests one hand on her hilt, suddenly not looking quite as silly as she has been - it's a change in posture, in awareness, a slight shift in stance that just exudes competence and confidence.]

Shinigami - protectors of the dead, and of the living from the dead..

[flicker_flash]

[Ooh. Have an awestruck look.]

Do the dead often attack the living where you're from?

[ashesandpearls]

[Grin. Yes, she knows being a shinigami is badass.]

Mmm, more than the living could ever suspect. You see, when people die sometimes their souls are too attached to the living world or have become too corrupt to go peacefully into the next stage of life. Sometimes, the souls try to get back in touch with the people that they didn't mean to leave behind - but since they are supposed to be in Soul Society, it does something to their soul - twists them. Makes them Hollow.

[Sober pause.] Hollows feed off of the souls of the dead. Shinigami can purify the Hollows and move them to their next stage of life... and for the dead who are simply lingering? We send them to Soul Society.

[Huh. That was... more of an explanation than she'd usually give a child in this circumstance.]

[flicker_flash]

[And she takes it all in stride, though there's a brief pause while she works through what you're saying.]

Are there Hollows here, then?

[ashesandpearls]

Not as such. [...why is her mouth still moving:] There are arrancar here, but they do not need souls to live in the same way. I've spoken with both of them already, and they both have said that they don't want to fight.

[And a small smile.] Which was a good decision for them.

[flicker_flash]

A very good decision. [Very seriously.] But doesn't that mean you're out of a job here?