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Shinji himself is given over to you on the other side of the white walls of Vanaheim. He looks quite bad: weak in reiatsu, physically malnourished and mentally out of it. Once you’re left alone, you speak.

“You look even worse than when I found you.”

“Oh do I?” he coughs. “That’d be because they strapped me to an even worse contraption.”

“Even worse?”

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” he sighs and pokes his nose, and then gives his limbs a good stretch.

You lead him out even further into the forest, to make even more sure that nobody’s eavesdropping.

“What did you even do to earn his wrath like that?” you ask. “Must’ve been something pretty bad.”

“I uh…”

“Did you steal some kind of important device? Or maybe an arrancar zanpakutō?”

“Food. I stole food.”

You stop and blink, then let out a muffled laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

“Do you have ANY idea what’s it like to survive here once your travel rations run out?!” he bawls. “And he had food! FOOD! I was REALLY hungry, Koharu! Do you know what it’s like to be hungry in a place like this?!”

“Jeez, calm down. In any case, I’d like to know more about your mission here.”

“Sure, you’re on Urahara’s side too so it should be alright. Can I uh, have my zanpakutō back first?”

You look at the sword in your hand.

>2/2

>Give it back
>Keep it (why?)

Also:
>Stay here in the jungle to talk
>Go to Lazuta Yami
>Other?

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Welcome to a new thread of Advent Soul Quest, Spooky Halloween Edition!

>What is this?
A quest based on the setting of Bleach. Deviation from canon depends on the MC’s influence, and some other additions are to be expected as well.
>Who are we?
Nakashiri Koharu, a former high school trap, now a 3rd seat officer in the 5th Division, a pawn of the two masterminds Aizen and Urahara, host of two ancient spirits, new queen of one’s realm in Hueco Mundo.
>When are we?
Currently it is Spring 1985, ~16 years prior to the events of canon.
>Dice? Challenge?
Prompted after deciding on an action. Usually 3d10, best of 3 (Bo3), against a set DC and sometimes a crit-DC. Write-ins may affect the DC as well. If a character stat (in the char sheet) is directly related to the action, it will substitute the lowest die in rolls if it is higher (will be always explained when prompted to roll).
>Updates?
Daily updates, with long voting period times. I will strive to update in my evening, leave voting on for overnight, and prompt rolls in the morning. Sometimes if I have the proper time, I may do an extra update in the morning. My timezone is UTC+2 (winter time).
>I have questions!
Ask away and I’ll do my best to answer! You can also address questions to characters, which I’ll answer in-character!
>What do?
Have fun, vote on what feels the best, roll some dice and chill.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/QmTrippy
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=advent+soul+quest
Char Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DQUOuJbOgzrjIKQLjMFxdmsQh3WIKMMFJQ8fO5-biYM/edit?usp=sharing
Social Links: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HXWo1bA7rplcTIJSkE850qzEE55b-W36tuL_qtT0b00/edit?usp=sharing
Character Questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S1RrQ6icjeWSV2MIb6EUwuZjzGx0QvuFjoxB1bN_tlU/edit?usp=sharing

>>5044183
>>Keep it (why?)
Tease him for answers first
>Go to Lazuta Yami

>>5044183
>Give it back
>Go to Yazuta Lami

>>5044183
>Give it back
>Go to Lazuta Yami

>>5044183
>Go to Lazuta Yami
See if we can get some food set up for him!
>Ask him if he can promise not to use his zanpakutō on any spiders while with us unless we give the say-so. Even if they’re scary.
>Give it back if he accepts.
He’s probably not a major flight risk. Besides, he’ll be seeing shit he’ll want to report back to Urahara as well.

>>5044183
>Give it back
>Go to Lazuta Yami
Ah good ol bowl cut he’ll be useful if we want to pursue dealing with Zilya

>>5044183
>Give it back
Just ask him not to do anything stupid.
>Go to Lazuta Yami
Might as well

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>>5044231
>>5044264
>>5044265
>>5044299
>>5044315
>>5044393
>Writing

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“Aww, you’re not going to give me even any breadcrumbs?”

“Ugh,” Shinji rolls his eyes. “Sheesh, fine. It’s something that may change everything. Can I have it now? Petty please?”

You raise your eyebrow, and then offer him his zanpakutō. He goes to take it, but then you move it out of reach again.

“Don’t use it where we’ll be going,” you ask. He desperately nods and reaches again for his zanpakutō, only for you to again pull it out of his reach.

“Even if the spiders are scary?”

“YES, FINE,” he grits his teeth and you finally give him his sword. “Wait, spiders?”

“I’m glad we’re in agreement!” you say in a cheerful tone. “Let’s go?”

“Spiders?!”

You make sure to get him some Idun fruit to fill his empty, rumbling stomach, and pack some for yourself in a makeshift basket. The jungle is truly a blessing in that most of it bears the same fruit. You’d think that the lack of variance in plant species would be bad, but it seems to work. You also can’t help but wonder: If Pesci brings extra ingredients from the living realm, could you get other plantlife to grow here by bringing seeds? Or is this jungle the only plantlife that can survive in the desert?

Food for thought, and food for later.

>1/4

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The journey through the caverns and into Lazuta Yami proves to be stressful as Shinji is REALLY not okay for some reason with going underground, and especially darkness.

“Come on, Shinji-san. It’s absolutely safe here with me.”

“How… how are you so sure?! This place is crawling with hollows!”

“They’re not even strong,” you sigh. “And they all obey my will.”

“...Nani?”

“So, uh, turns out I’m their new queen. Fancy that, haha…”

“...NANI?”

“But it has its perks, despite the gloominess!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Shinji pinches the bridge of his nose as he stops in place. “How the hell does a shinigami become a queen of hollows? That doesn’t even make sense!”

“Believe me, it makes loads of sense. Wait until we get to the citadel.”

You find the fortified underground palace to be renovated. The spiders you assigned to the job have been hard at work, and there’s no broken off stone or cracks to be seen. Shinji’s face contracts a few inches, but he holds his sanity in check as you lead him into one of the meeting rooms, just after getting greeted by Mirana and Nevera.

Of course, they were ready to defend you from a shinigami, and Shinji in turn was ready to nope out, but a quick order to stand down was all that was needed to disarm the situation.

“You surprise me, er…”

“Nakashiri.”

“You surprise me, Nakashiri-san. Then again, if you’re one of Urahara’s, I can only blame myself for underestimating you.”

You take a pair of chairs that had been prepared for ‘human’ sized beings by the spiders, carved out of stone. Not the most comfortable, but better than the floor.

“Please, have a seat.”

>2/4

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After answering some of Shinji’s questions about this place, you urge him to answer yours in return.

“So, Shinji-san, please, what did you find out with your mission here? And leave some for me, damn it.”

“Whell,” he scratches his hair, his cheeks stuffed with two whole Idun fruits. “I whas whookin wor kwues ow Aizen’s pwans.” He swallows loudly and frankly, it looks quite painful. “But that wasn’t the main thing. Urahara already suspected that Aizen’s making some kind of army with hollows. What he wanted me to investigate were the ruins of Negal.”

“Negal?” you ask, resting your head on your interlocked hands.

“Very ancient ruins in the middle of nowhere, seemingly the only built place that has survived to this day. Urahara had found mentions of it from murals in the Beast Realm.”

“What’s so special about those ruins?”

“That’s what Urahara’s mission was,” Shinji sighs and pokes his nose, but then his expression turns scarily serious. “I spent ages just running around the place, trying to learn anything, but it all came up empty. Didn’t help that the whole place felt extremely cursed, like something was watching me. But then, two people arrive. A tall man with an equally tall mask, and the fine german hollow of the jungle city. I don’t know what they did, but the stone plaza’s brick floor crumbled and opened into a deep, deep pit. That crazy nazi fell into it, and actually climbed out of it.”

You lean in to listen even more closely. “And? What’s so special about a pit? What did you find?”

“For one, that if I would go in, I would not be able to return. That place… the word darkness does not give justice to it. But there was something else too.”

Shinji tilts his head backwards, to stare at the bland stone ceiling. “Something that made me kneel against my will, a dark voice that mocked my very being. It felt like this entire realm was speaking, all at once. Whatever it was, there’s clearly something important down there. And Urahara needs to know. It might give us the edge we need against Aizen.”

>3/4

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“Right… spooky ruins. Not sure why I am surprised that they exist in Hueco Mundo.”

You wait for a response, but there’s nothing. In fact, Shinji isn’t moving. At all.

“Hello?”

You start to panic as you try to move, but your own body doesn’t budge. Everything is frozen still. A frame of the stream of time.

“Yohhoooo! Did you miss me, Mister Missy?”

You can barely see him in your peripheral vision, as the ridiculous clown appears. Jester, you recall he called himself, the one whom you made a deal with.

“What are you doing here?! In fact, what the hell did you do?!”

“Oh I did nothing… particular,” Jester sings and twirls his staff, while he jumps onto the table and dances. “The better question is, what are YOU going to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“This… INFORMATION that this young blonde lad acquired, is quiiiiiiiiite valuable!” he says, and knocks on Shinji’s forehead with his staff once. “YOU SEE??”

“How come? Why is a pit so important that you’d appear out of nowhere? In fact, how did you do this?!”

With a twirl, he appears a few inches from your own face. “Nonono, you doofus! Ponder, Koharu, ponder! A voice of Hueco Mundo, hidden deep and away, away from simple souls such as you and him, yet without this realm would not exist! Who may it be in the rabbit hole?”

>4/4

>Write-in (the more you explain your answer the better)
AND/OR
>Roll 3d10, Bo3, DC 28, Mental (8) may replace your lowest die

Rolled 10, 6, 8 = 24 (3d10)

>>5045273
>"Are you saying this realm's creator is stuck in a hole?"

Rolled 4, 3, 2 = 9 (3d10)

>>5045273
>How am I supposed to know that? It could be anything. Like some great dragon shaped primordial being named "The End" who birthed this realm, and to whom the masks of all hollows who die here make their way by sinking through the sands of Hueco Mundo.

Rolled 6, 7, 3 = 16 (3d10)

>>5045273
>I mean, if I want to go with the dumb answer, it’d be the Soul King as none of this could exist without him and no one gets to see them. But they shouldn’t be a “dark voice” to Shinji. Unless they were sealed here and kinda pissed about everything but how would that even be done?
Literally no idea with this.

>>5045273
>It's either the creator or Hueco Mundo or something so large it keeps everything afloat
Honestly first thing that came to mind was that old myth of a giant catfish that Japan rests upon or the one with the turtle.

>>5045273
crackpot theory but...
>Izanami

>>5045273
An ancient hollow, possible the first death?
A primordial god?
Or is ghost mexico just one big hollow

>>5045409
A good sleep and some remembering bleach lore later and I had a new thought. If there’s a Soul King that holds the Soul Society together, there has to be some kind of counterpart to him right? A Soul Devil if you will.

>>5046021
>there’s a Soul King
The Soul King was stated/implied to be Izanagi, right? So my crackpot Izanami theory might make some sense.

>>5045829
>>5046033
>>5045383
Changing to support crackpot Izanami theory since it’d actually make sense.

>Soul society reflects Japan, other places on Earth have other realms.
>Mythology on Earth bears a resemblance to the afterlife of their area.
>Izanagi is a creator god for Japan, so the Soul King being Izanagi tracks.
>Izanami was the wife of Izanagi ate the food of the underworld, and could no longer leave
>Izanagi, repulsed by her new form, rejects Izanami and seals her away.
>Izanami is pissed, vows to kill people if he abandons her. Izanagi vows to give birth to more than she kills.
So in SS terms, there was likely a Soul King and Soul Queen. She went to whatever Hueco Mundo was before, encountered something and ate it. My guess would be the “food” she ate is souls and it warped her outlook/body. As a creator god herself, she may have even created the first hollows at that time. Zilya has created them herself, so there’s precedence for it. Who knows, she may even reflect the attitude/power of Izanami, who could likely command all creatures (but especially hollows) to kneel as she did with bowl-cut.

I digress. She tried going back to the Soul King, he flipped out, then sealed her away in what is now Hueco Mundo. This also sets up the struggle between shinigami and hollows, as the Soul Queen sets her sights on destroying the Soul King’s people.

This would also indirectly explain how shinigami can gain hollow abilities, and vice-versa. Their creators were capable of both, and it reflects in their creations even if unintended.

So, long story short, hollows are possibly a sister species to shinigami.

>>5046106
I’ll support this. Either we’re dead on or wrong as humanly (soully?) possible

trippy malding rn bc we hit bullseye

>>5046106
I believe a plot twist almost identical to this was used in a previous Bleach qst so it’s probably correct.
How Koharu would think to guess it on the spot, in character, is a bit tricky though. Maybe we can hand wave that he’d been thinking about how to relate the pseudo-religion Soul Society had people believe to the religion he grew up learning about. He’s probably be reasonably knowledgeable on Shinto mythology and such.

Sorry lads for lack of update, my health decided to stab me in the back real bad this time. I'll read through the responses tomorrow once my head is in a better shape, really nice to see this much discussion/pondering!

>>5046389
holy shit he really IS malding
kidding, hope you feel better soon, trippy

>>5046382
koharu just read shinigami savant quest, simple

>>5046382
I mean, I had to look up the full mythology for Izanagi and Izanami, but beyond that I spouted off everything else without meta knowledge. I haven’t read the other Bleach quests and stopped the actual series before the Hueco Mundo arc. Filler did me in. So it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch for Koharu to come up with it if the word “Izanami” pings in his head.

In-character, I don’t think he’d really believe it. But as a mental exercise, there’s nothing huge to blow a hole in it and it raises interesting conclusions.

I wonder if this means the Jester is related to this? He could very well have spawned from Izanami recently in response to people entering the ruins just to stir shit up. Could have taken an interest in Koharu since he’s someone with the potential to set things on fire while being weak enough to influence in the grand scheme.

How many people here read German Hollow Quest? Because this quest draws from it heavily for the setting, and if that pattern holds true, the being in the hole is pretty much guaranteed to be what I described above. >>5045303
Koharu has no way to know this and neither does anyone who has not read that quest, but I figured I would at least mention this.

>>5046464
I was wondering what your reference was! I haven’t read it yet, though I know Trippy has said that was one of the quests that helped lead into this one.

>>5046464
That’s the only I didn’t vote on this, can’t think of a write-in that’s not influenced by meta knowledge or just wrong on purpose

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Hokay, so I've read up everything and I'm veeeery impressed. I'll work with the consensus (Izanami theory) since it has both the most support and logical reasoning, plus flavors from the others (in the form of pondering, since he did tell you to ponder)
The important thing here really is the exchange between you and Jester. He's testing you
>Writing

>>5045303
>>5046464
I won't address this directly, other than that you can expect a lot of the established stuff from GHQ to appear here too, but the form and method will vary. To a lesser degree there's influences from SSQ as well as one anon pointed out, but I want to do my best to make it all fit within the big picture instead of just a mash-up/crossover.

>>5046293
>>5046392
As a QM that wants you to succeed, you hitting the bullseye will only strengthen my resolve and erect the penis in my heart and going back to the big board and figuring out what the fuck do I do now

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You think, ponder, muster all the knowledge and wisdom you have, trying to figure out what the hell this mad being wants of you. It doesn’t help that the world is frozen in time, and it seems until you give him an answer, he won’t be satisfied.

Think. Think back. Back to the days you were locked in that damned Shintō shrine, Kasuga-taisha. All the mythology and history they tried to cram into your head, not just Shintō but Buddhist, Taoist and even Hindu mythology.

But you just can’t really make sense of all that, you always brushed it off as nonsense and exaggerated stories, much like the fictional stories in manga. But after becoming a shinigami and learning that deities actually exist, and were truly present before the great pact, you are forced to rethink that conclusion.

“W-Well,” you begin, “you make it sound like the ‘creator’ of this realm is stuck in a hole. If I want to go with the dumb answer, it’d be the Soul King as none of this could exist without him and no one gets to see him, but what would he even be doing in Hueco Mundo? And why would he appear as a dark voice to Shinji? That doesn’t make sense.”

Jester just childishly lies on his stomach on the table, wagging his legs back and forth.

“...There’s something else that comes to mind though. The myth of Izanagi and Izanami, the sibling-spouse creator deities in the Shintō myth. If this place is indeed the realm of Yomi where Izanami went and ate food here, then it would be a reasonable guess to say it is her. But that would mean… Izanagi is the Soul King, and she’d be a Soul Queen? There can’t be anything as corny as a Soul Devil… can there? I’m starting to sound like a crackpot conspiracy theorist.”

Jester blinks a few times, and bursts out laughing.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

>1/3

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“W-What’s so funny?!”

He jumps up and dances, twirling his scepter around. “Why YOU are! Such an amusing human. Heheheheee! What is true? What is false? Does it even matter? Of course it does!”

Jester appears beside your ear in an instant.

“I won’t spoil the fun for you, lad-lass... but I’ll give you a leading question: How are realms born? THAT is the answer one may find down there.”

“...I don’t understand. What is even your intention here? Why stop time, just so you can play philosophy with me?”

He reappears once again on the table.

“Oh, that is because this is a CRUCIAL moment, Koharu! A point in time that may change history, a crossroads with a devil! EHEHEHEHEHE! THINK! With such an answer, what power comes with it?!”

“Power? You’re not making any sense!”

“Awwww, and here I thought you actually had a head. The two madlads out there, they are quiiiiiiiiiite smart! Just imagine what they could do if they went to take a teeny weeny peek.”

“...They could learn to control… no, create realms.”

“And?” Jester leans in close, with a very malicious grin now. You try to swallow, but your throat doesn’t move.

“..A-And to destroy them.”

“BINGO! A mad scientist with such power! It will be as glorious as the one in good ol’ 500’s! Now have fun, Missy Mister! And remember to choose unwisely! EHEHEHEHE!”

“W-WAIT!”

>2/3

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“Wait? For what?” Shinji blinks. “Hello?”

You look around and feel out your limbs, which you can move again.

“You look like you just saw a ghost.”

“You are a ghost, Shinji-san,” you sigh.

“Okay, bad choice of words. But as I said, this could be huge. Urahara needs to know as soon as possible. Do you have a way out of here?”

“Yeah, there’s a few ways…”

Your thoughts however dwell elsewhere during your conversation. Fortunately Aizen has no knowledge about this, otherwise the situation would be really different. If Jester is to be believed. On the other hand, at this rate it’ll be Urahara who’s going to find it, and if you’re really honest to yourself, you don’t wholly trust him either. He’s proven to have ulterior motives in whatever he does, feigning ignorance and aloofness.

What did Jester exactly aim to achieve with his meddling?

Does he want you to stop this information from spreading? If so, should you even listen to him?

But do you really want to risk it? The rivalry between Aizen and Urahara… you don’t wholly understand it, but there is a status quo right now. Should you let it play out as it is, or keep the status quo to give yourself more time?

“So, when are we leavin’? Frankly, I’ve had enough of this crazy realm,” Shinji yawns and picks his nose. “And these spiders..”

>3/3

>Find Lahela and take him back.
>Alter his memory first, change what he found at Negal.
>Other?

>>5047056
>I won't address this directly,
Good. I was too blunt and should have kept my mouth shut anyway.
The high DC got me thinking that we would get something shiny for getting it right, and couldn't help but give a rather meta answer, then got confused by the direction the discussion took, since to me the answer seemed obvious. In retrospect that was rather silly.

>I want to do my best to make it all fit within the big picture instead of just a mash-up/crossover.
You've been doing a great job so far Trippy.

>>5047099
>Find Lahela and take him back.
Altering his memories would be too overt, Urahara could easily catch on later if he sends someone else to check on the ruins, and notices the discrepancy in the two accounts he gets.
And that Shinji was brought back by a Shinigami with a sword that can enter people's minds.

>>5047099
>Find Lahela and take him back.

>>5047099
>Find Lahela and take him back.
For a split second I considered trying to make a Garganta ourselves, only to remember the part of us who knows how is probably too salty to teach us for a while.

>>5047056
>there's influences from SSQ

>final arc begins
>we are immediately ambushed and assassinated by yoru and riku
>captcha: KYSNW

>>5047099
>Find Lahela and take him back.
>Ask him to lie to Urahara about what he found.
We can try and convince him the old-fashioned way with decent in-character reasons.

Shinji mentioned whatever spoke from the darkness made him want to kneel, and that it seemed to be the realm itself speaking. Poking that bear is incredibly dangerous, and even if handled properly can easily be misused.

For an example of what that power can do, we can ask a moment to demonstrate. Release Jorogumo, then use Hanran to tell him to kneel. Then tell him to consider the territory we control here, with literal thousands of spiders we can command at all once, and to envision what all of Hueco Mundo would look like under a similar setup from a far more powerful version of us. And the Soul Society. Maybe even Earth.

It’s a power you use to put your enemies under your heel and remake the world under your vision, something we’re trying to do ourselves by carving out a realm in Hueco Mundo. You treat that power with the respect it deserves, stay the fuck away, or destroy it. If all they can see of this is a tool to gain an edge, they’ve clearly failed on the first count.

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Fuck. I cut a bit off my finger so I'm fucked in regards to writing for a while. Fortunately it's just a small bit but I have to keep my hand constantly above my head. Doesn't help that I have writing deadlines for uni too.
FML

>>5047951
Well shit, the QM curse strikes in the most unexpected ways. Get well soon and good luck with Uni

>>5047951
That... does not sound fun.
Take care of yourself, I hope it heals quickly.

>>5047951
>>5047953
Agreed. This is more extreme than the usual curse. Not the best time to be looking into talk-to-text things either. Hope it heals past the “hand over head” thing quickly for your papers.

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>>5047951
God damn, get well soon Trippy

>>5047951
Oof, hope you've got your finger patched up. Does not sound like fun.

>>5048045
Sounds like Zillya is trying to get revenge on you, stay away from any spiders now on

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Thanks y'all, you're sweet anons. Hopefully I can switch to a lighter bandage tonight, pic related is what I've been stuck with.
>it looks like a flaccid penis

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>>5049131
Wrong pic

AH YES QM THIGH vPICS MMMMMMMMM

>>5047951
Fucking hate when that happens. Rest up Trippy!

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>>5049131
>>5049133
>qm hand and a little bit of leg reveal

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>These reactions
mfw

In other news, my finger is now healed AND I finally got my shit together and finished an assignment, returning it.... 1 year and 338 days late. Well, at least it is done and I'll finally get the credits. One more paper to go.

This means there'll be an update tomorrow!

>>5051741
You're fucking lucky you didn't accidentally post your feet.

>>5051741
All's well that ends well.
Glad to hear you finger is better.

>>5051741
>returning it.... 1 year and 338 days late.
I’m legitimately curious how that worked out.

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>>5052127
>I’m legitimately curious how that worked out.
By staying in contact with the course organizer. Fortunately on top of that we know each other and are kinda friends, I've helped out in her courses as a TA, and she knows I didn't return it for being lazy

>>5047110
>>5047120
>>5047137
>>5047143
>>5047239
Taking Shinji back and without problem wins
>Writing

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“As soon as we get Lahela,” you sigh, deciding that it isn’t worth it messing with his memory. Candyman Urahara would figure out a way around it anyway.. “I can’t access the Garganta just yet, so we’ll need her.”

“Wait, you mean we gotta cross the desert AGAIN?” he groans.

“Would you prefer we travel with one of the big scary spider ladies?” you smirk and lean your head against your hand.

“Errr… on a second thought, let’s go,” he grumbles. “This place is even gloomier than the surface.”

You resist bonking him on the head, but instead drag his ass out, where you find none other than Lubina. The two of you exchange kind of awkward stares, while Shinji’s trying to recover from your forceful methods.

“Can I help you?”

“W-What?” Lubina says and looks like somebody just attempted to trip her.

“Well you’re staring. Do you need something?”

“No, I’m just… watching,” she sighs. Her expression betrays her curiosity, but also her contempt. Yet she isn’t acting on it. “Afterall, if you’re the new queen, I want to see it for myself how you try to fill her seat.”

“...Hey just because my ass isn’t as fat as Zilya’s doe-” you begin to ramble, but stop as you notice the sheer confusion emanating from Lubina. “N-Nevermind.”

You think for a moment. Sure you could go back with Lahela, but perhaps you could use this opportunity to learn about Lubina as well, and give her a chance. It could be a bit risky though.

>”Have fun playing with your sisters while ‘mother’ is away.”
>”You know, why don’t you come with us? See the world I come from.”
>Other?

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>>5051783
*Cough cough* I just realized I actually have pictures of my feet that I took some time ago... with and without black programming socks.
>do you dare?

>>5052682
>”Have fun playing with your sisters while ‘mother’ is away.”
No need to push her, I say. She will approach us at her own pace later, probably.
And bringing her to the living world might be a bad idea regardless.

>>5052687
You can't just post something scandalous like that man, what will people think?
kek

>>5052682
>”You know, why don’t you come with us? See the world I come from.”

>>5052682
>”You know, why don’t you come with us? See the world I come from.”
>>5052687
They aren't programming socks if they aren't striped

>>5052687
Joke's on you, I greatly prefer it when the socks stay on

>>5052682
>>”You know, why don’t you come with us? See the world I come from.”
Though we should probably think of an excuse for why we have Lubina traveling with us. Something something why wouldn't she be following me something something creepy smile want to join in the fun? Depends on how terrifying we want to seem, I guess.

>>5052682
>>”Have fun playing with your sisters while ‘mother’ is away.”
Oh shit didn’t think your finger would heal that fast, almost missed the vote for the umpteenth time

>>5052687
Post the fucking sock feet.

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>>5052691
>>5052715
>>5052788
>>5052908
>>5052910
>>5053011
No spider-daughteru
>Writing

>>5052908
>Joke's on you, I greatly prefer it when the socks stay on
You sir are a man of culture.

>>5053011
>Oh shit didn’t think your finger would heal that fast
I'm surprised myself. Looks like it was a fortunate case, only a small bit got cut off and from a spot without too many blood veins.

>>5053101
>Post the fucking sock feet.
No
maybe once the quest ends

>>5053284
Uh I count 3 for bringing her along vs the 2 for not? Unless that's what you meant by "No spider-daughteru"

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>>5053320
Fuck me, you're right. Eyes playing tricks on me again. Welp, time to rewrite stuff. Good thing I didn't get that far as I was cleaning the house. Update will most likely arrive tomorrow though

Shit. Sorry anons

>>5053356
stupid bimbo QM. too busy being a slutty tease to count five paltry votes

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“You know, we’re gonna go to the living world. Why don’t you come with us?”

If she wasn’t shocked before, now she definitely is. “What?”

“Get some fresh air, see the world mommy comes from.”

“Ugh, you’re NOT MY MOM!” she growls.

“Oh how hard it is to raise a teen step-daughter…”

“OKAY I’LL JOIN! Just shut up!”

Shinji meanwhile is still on the ground from you dragging him, trying his best to pick his jaw up from the floor.

“Good! Let’s get going then!”

Before you go, you inform Abathos about the current situation with the alliance, and about developing the realm. He assures you he’ll facilitate things here as he has before, and even better now that the spider residents have become compliant again.

The journey back to Azulwald is uneventful, other than a few hollows trying to attack you. In fact, it seems quite odd that there’s not that many hollows out here. Perhaps they’ve all gone underground or joined up one of the realms here, especially Azulwald.

Not a hard choice between a barren desert and a fertile jungle.

Once you get close to the borders, you stop.

“Why did we stop?”

“You probably don’t want to show your face in Vanaheim,” you shrug, and start moving your hands through your clothing. Soon enough, Lizzy comes scuttling out along your skin. “Hey there, buddy!”

“...A lesser hollow?” Lubina raises an eyebrow. “What point is in keeping such a useless thing?”

Lizzy hisses at her. “That wasn’t nice, you know. Lizzy’s my precious friend, you’ll do well to respect her. She can be quite feisty when she’s upset.”

“Soo what’s the plan?” Shinji asks and pokes his nose. How was this goofy character a captain of the Gotei 13 once? You ignore him, and speak to Lizzy.

“Hey girl! I need you to do something for me, okay? I need you to find Lahela and have her bring my shinigami clothes. Can you do that?”

“KEKEKEKEKE!”

“Awesome! Off you go!”

And with that, Lizzy disappears in a flash.

“Wait, was th-” Shinji begins, only to be cut off my Lubina.

“-at just sonido?”

“Told you not to underestimate my girl!”

>1/3

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You don’t have to wait long before Lahela arrives with Lizzy in her hair and your clothes in her arms. “Koharuu!”

“Lahela!” you hug her and take your clothes from her.

“Seriously? How can a lesser hollow even communicate?” Lubina asks, completely dumbfounded.

“By clearly articulating,” you joke, throwing her off even more. “Now you stay here, while we go change behind the tree real quick. No peeking, Shinji.”

Once you get back from behind the tree, now in black shihakusho rather than the white uniform that the arrancars wear, Shinji and Lubina are still there. Only difference is that Shinji has a big red hand mark on his face. You muffle a laugh.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Lahela and Lubina both work with opening the Garganta, making it much more stable than before. Lahela even learns how to do it more properly from her. It’s weird, despite how Lubina doesn’t like you or her predicament, she seems more than just content with being around.

“You know, I would’ve expected you to have tried to run by now.”

“I won’t deny I’m not tempted to.”

“Oh? What’s stopping you then?”

“Nothing,” she smirks. “I just want to see what you are up to, before I leave.”

“Right.”

“H-How are you all so damn calm in here?!” Shinji shouts into the void, wobbling on his reishi pads.

>2/3

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A garganta opens, splitting the dark blue evening sky of Osaka, with only a few clouds reflecting the fiery red light of the setting sun. The sunset meets your eyes, reminding you of the flow of time, something that is easily forgettable in Hueco Mundo. It brings you great comfort that you can visit your old home like this, ironically more freely than when you were stuck in Soul Society.

“HAAAA! Fresh air! Oh holy cow, how I MISSED this world, YESSSSS!”

“Someone’s excited,” you comment, sighing as the beautiful moment is ruined.

“Well excuse ME, I was stuck in that shitty hellhole for Reiō knows how long.”

“Right. Let’s-”

You however feel a presence darting towards your location, and it is neither Akane’s nor the old Quincy grandpa’s reiatsu. No, this is…

Takenaka Hisashi, vice-captain of the 13th Division, and your friend, arrives against the backdrop of the constantly descending sun, standing in the air with his blade drawn.

“Koharu….san? What is the meaning of this?”

>3/3

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And that's where we end this part, I need to figure out a few things and get ready for father's day this weekend. In the meantime, you can figure out how you're gonna tackle Hisashi.

Hope you enjoyed it despite my finger problems and unreliable reading comprehension at times. Comments questions I'll do my best to address as well

>Caught with two arrancar and a presumed dead traitor
Well shit. BTL?
>>5053802
>father's day
I know it's on different days in some countries but that's really late

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>>5053863
>BTL?
Got up to a 6 by the end of that part
>that's really late
Dunno, that's how it is in finland. Gonna be a... fun experience

>>5054638
>finland
I am so sorry

Ah. We’re finally caught by one of our “regular” shinigami friends. Go figure it had to happen with Lahela present, who is absurdly overprotective.

I guess the best thing to do would be to mediate Hisashi by clashing with NnD. Means no way anyone else can make it worse by talking, and we can speak as freely as we want in his mindscape. Plenty of problems to figure out while we’re there, namely how to keep him or his zanpakuto from attacking us, but those seem like better problems than, say, him hurting us in front of Lahela.

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You are Nakashiri Koharu, and you’ve just stumbled on a potential mess. You are seldom caught off guard, but now after coming back from Hueco Mundo to bring Shinji back, you’ve come face to face with Takenaka Hisashi, a friend who’s looked out for you. Now he’s in Osaka for some reason, where you’ve been officially stationed. You are not only with a ‘traitor’ of Soul Society, but with hollows as well.

And he’s gripping his zanpakutō quite tightly right now.

“Koharu….san? What is the meaning of this?”

You furrow your brows and whisper to the others. “Stay put and wait here.”

You take some steps forward towards Hisashi.

“H-Heyy, fancy seeing you here. How have you been?”

“I’ve been okay. Junichi’s been a pain in th- HEY, don’t change the subject!”

“Sigh… can you at least put your zanpakutō away?”

“Not as long as there are… hollows here,” he responds. You do see him being quite conflicted. This must be his first time seeing arrancars. Perhaps they finally look human enough to make him reconsider going full murder on them. Just a little.

>”Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?”
>Explain yourself to him here. (what story? can be truth and/or lies)
>Get into his mindscape, talk there.
>Other?

>>5056212
>”Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?

>>5056212
>”Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?”

>>5056212
>>”Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?”
Well, if he’s willing to be distracted he should be willing to change the locale. Delay the inevitable (from his perspective) and all. We can consider the mindscape thing there.

Besides, Urahara’s got a nice underground setup. Better to fight there to reduce collateral damage, and Hisashi will have backup if things get out of hand.

>>5056212
>>”Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?”
Clogs McGee will explain everything.(Make Urahara explain everything)

>>5056212
>Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?”

>>5056212
>”Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright?”
Urahara will explain the "traitor" business, and with any luck we can bullshit our way out of the hollows afterwards.

Just had a thought, we’ll need to explain Lubina to Urahara. He’s probably not going to leave that question hanging for too long, even if he avoids bringing it up in front of Hisashi.

I don’t see any reason to be evasive, but what is our explanation anyway? We wanted to flip a piece of Aizen’s? Killing isn’t our style, but breaking people is? We didn’t want to pass judgement on something Zilya created too quickly since we owe our hollow power to her?

I know my reason is that Zilya wanted her dead and that reflexively makes me want to spare her, but that’s breaking the lie we tell everyone about our zanpakuto. Dunno what I want my backup reason to be.

>>5056223
>>5056274
>>5056290
>>5056331
>>5056528
>>5056534
Hooookay
>Roll 3d10, Bo3, DC 21, crit 24, Social (7) may replace lowest die
This is to see how okay Hisashi is with this. You are, afterall with hollows

Rolled 2, 3, 6 = 11 (3d10)

>>5057163

Rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13 (3d10)

>>5057163

Rolled 9, 5, 9 = 23 (3d10)

>>5057163
I have a bad feeling about this

>>5057182
oh Thank God

>>5057182
CLUTCH CRIT

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>>5057176
>11(16)
>>5057178
>13(17)
>>5057182
>23(25)
Damn, that WAS a clutch.
>Writing

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So I have half an update ready but my body decided that I want fever now with a side of strong headache, so fuck. What the fuck is wrong with this month

If I do get around I'll write it to end and post today else it's gonna have to be tomorrow

I’m surprised rebellious daughteru hasn’t trolled us or tried starting a fight to get back into things after Grimmjaw ryona’d her.

>>5057682
While she might suspect us putting a hit on her, releasing her from Zilya’s influence should have her questioning some things. Maybe she’s waiting for the right moment to backstab us, maybe she’s just a massive tsundere who just wants praise that was denied for years.

On a related note, seeing as removing Zilya’s back door changed her Zanpakto and most likely her Resurrection as well makes me question if “imprinting” part of our powers onto a arrancar in the making can influence the final product.

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You sigh deeply. “Look, let’s just get to Urahara’s shop first, alright? He can explain things better than me, and if you’re still intent on duking it out, you can do so in his underground training area. Would this satisfy you, Hisashi-kun?”

You can feel the tension in the air, enough that you feel your hair stand up. Finally however, he relents, but his hand stays neatly wrapped around the hilt of his zanpakutō.

“Fine. If that blonde idiot’s involved in this, then that means you’re clear. Phew, you REALLY had me worried here, Koharu.”

“Eheheh, w-well, you know me…”

“Really?” Lubina rolls her eyes, but her mouth is quickly covered by both Shinji and Lahela.

“I don’t understand this, but I’ll assume those two are prisoners for something, and the blonde with the goofy bowl cut-”

“Hey, it ain’t goofy!”

“-is probably one of Urahara’s. Regardless, until we get to him I’ll keep my guard… just in case. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I appreciate the concern,” you nod, and turn to your small but colorful bunch. “Come.”

The journey is tedious. Lubina, with subtle changes in her flash step technique, moves away from the group, which in turn means you, Shinji, and especially Hisashi join in the dance, making sure that any true attempt to flee will be met with quick action or a full-blown confrontation.

By the time you arrive at Urahara’s little corner in that familiar alley that only drug-dealers would use, there’s a lot of staring going on, shifting from one to another.

“My, my, what a joyous surprise!”

>1/3

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Urahara comes out along with his jacked assistant. “I had a feeling guests would be coming, but so many at once?”

“Quite a coincidence,” you sigh and scratch your hair.

“Maybe you’d like to explain… all of this, Kisuke-san,” Hisashi says, almost growling as he looks murderously at your arrancar companions.

“Oh, them? Fine specimens, they are! You see, Hisashi, they aren’t exactly hollows... “

“W-What?”

“They’re like shinigami! But different!”

“So… they’re.. not…” Hisashi speaks, trying to comprehend Kisuke’s rather amusing misdirection.

“Yes! But nevermind that: Tessai-san, tea please!”

“Yes, owner.”

“Good to have you back in one piece, Hirako-san.”

“Yeah,” he nods, taking a few steps closer to Kisuke, before taking him in a headlock. “WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE IDEA YOU IDIOT?! SENDING ME THERE WITHOUT FOOD OR A MEANS TO GET BACK??? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR DAMN MIND? AM I THAT EXPENDABLE?!”

“Pffft,” Lubina giggles, holding her hand in front of her mouth. “THIS is the kind of people you surround yourself with, ‘Mother’?”

Everybody stops what they’re doing, and you hear a ceramic cup break against the wooden floor.

“M-M-MOTHER?!?!”
“M-M-MOTHER?!?!”
“M-M-MOTHER?!?!”

>2/3

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After everyone calms down and actually sits down around the table with steaming cups of tea in their hands, you all collectively sip tea and exhale deeply.

“So, uh, I guess some introductions are in order. The one with the stupid hat is Urahara Kisuke-san and the tall glasses-man is Tessai-san. The boy in the back is Jun-kun.”

“Hi!” Kisuke smiles as he waves his fan, while Tessai just raises his hand.

“My senpai Takenaka Hisashi-san you’ve already met.”

“U-uh… hi?”

You then turn to introduce your arrancar companions. “This is Lahela, though everyone else but Hisashi already knows her. And this… well, is Lubina.”

“Hi,” she greets, smirking.

“Koharu-san… what was this thing about ‘mother?’ I mean, h-how, it hasn’t even been two mon-”

“Stop. No, I did not give birth to anybody, nor can I even, remember?” you shake your head. “As for her…”

>3/3

>Explain things how they are.
>Explain that you’ve taken over a realm and become its ‘mother queen,’ thus also hers.
>Say you adopted her from an abusive family.
>Other?

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>>5057682
>>5057871
You definitely changed a part of her at a very deep level. But that doesn't mean she will stay complacent or won't test your limits. Getting back at Grimmjow's gonna be a big thing for her too.

>>5057871
Well, you know what that means. Science time.

>>5057898
>>Say you adopted her from an abusive family.

>Jalter
Now I must waifu
Sorry Trippy but your pretty bois stand no chance. Even if this is nbr mom/dadXdaughter.

>>5057898
>Say you adopted her from an abusive family.
It's more accurate to say that we took over her abusive family, but you know... details.

>>5057898
>Say you adopted her from an abusive family.
Just remember to give some loving jabs to the ribs if she tries to contradict our story too hard

>>5057898
>>Say you adopted her from an abusive family.

>>5057898
>Say you adopted her from an abusive family.
How could we not vote this?

Just because I’m low-key evil, can we mention we adopted her and her sisters? The idea of more of them ought to have Hisashi spasming.

>>5057898
>>5058181
Oh, I’ll also add a rider
>If Lubina throws any more shade our way, stick our tongue out at her and call her names
because I am also a kid at heart and I suspect Lahela and Kisuke will find an excuse to join in.

It’s important to train Lubina to be silly, it’s the only way we’ll get her to not terrify some of our friends.

Do koharu's soul hollows constantly feel hungry, or has that abated?

>>5057898
>Explain things how they are.

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>>5057901
>>5057902
>>5057920
>>5057968
>>5058181
>>5058186
>>5058432
Well that's a clear winner. On the other hand, I don't know why I expected anything else
>Writing

>>5057901
Kek. I didn't actually realize it was jalter, I had searched for white haired anime women for Lubina, but I guess now I gotta use her as her reference.

>>5058215
>Do koharu's soul hollows constantly feel hungry, or has that abated?
Hollows always feel hunger, including arrancar. It's just the latter can stomach other food as well

>>5058855
So Celaris and Zilya have been starving for centuries then?

>>5058876
Ohhhhh you mean those two. Only Zilya was a hollow. They are essentially part of Koharu, so they are sustained through him. And all the souls of the previous hosts.

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“You see,” you begin, turning to her, and then start crying, “t-the poor girl… she was in such an abusive family, I.. I just couldn’t ignore it!”

“W-Wha-” Lubina tries to protest, but you elbow her side.

“Her mother is so ruthless, you wouldn’t believe it!” you say dramatically. “I couldn’t bear to just watch from the sides, so… so.. I adopted her!”

One by one, the boys tilt their heads.

“Adopted?” Hisashi asks absolutely confused. “Hollow family? How.. does.. even…”

“S-Shut up!” Lubina finally catches her breath, her face all red, but you just stick out your tongue at her.

“And not just her… all four of her sisters too!”

“THERE’S MORE?!” Hisashi shouts, falling backwards, mumbling barely anything sensible. “It’s.. not.. even.. been half a year…”

“I hate you,” Lubina whispers through grit teeth.

“I know.”

“Well it sure sounds like you’ve had your hands full!” Urahara takes the lead, hiding his mouth behind his fan. “Still, I’m glad you did what I asked for and brought poor Shinji-kun back!”

“Shinji...kun? Listen HERE you-”

>”Where’s Akane-san by the way? I thought she was supposed to be here, with the Quincy.”
>”I did what you asked, Urahara. You promised me spells. Pay up.”
>”So Hisashi-san, why are you here anyway? I doubt a vice-captain has the leisure to just make a visit.”
>Other?

>>5058898
>”Where’s Akane-san by the way? I thought she was supposed to be here, with the Quincy.”
We've got Hollow, Shinigami, and Fullbring allies, might as well add a Quincy besides the old man we met way back. inb4 Bounts are introduced

>>5058898
>all of these

>>5058898
>>”Where’s Akane-san by the way? I thought she was supposed to be here, with the Quincy.”
What >>5058945 said. Hisashi’s going to have an aneurysm before he finishes his tea at this rate.

>>5058898
Supporting >>5058958

>>5058898
My recommendation:
First ask
>”So Hisashi-san, why are you here anyway? I doubt a vice-captain has the leisure to just make a visit.”
then
>”Where’s Akane-san by the way? I thought she was supposed to be here, with the Quincy.”
then try to get some people to leave before saying
>”I did what you asked, Urahara. You promised me spells. Pay up.”

>>5058898

>>5059082 +1

>>5058945
>>5058958
>>5058967
>>5059045
>>5059082
>>5059415
Alrighty
>Writing
>Will either arrive late or tomorrow due to gov bureaucracy

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“So Hisashi-san, what brings you here anyway?” you ask while Shinji’s busy trying to hit Kisuke. “I doubt a vice-captain has the leisure to just make a visit.”

“I come all the way here, to make sure you’re alright, and this is the thanks I get?” Hisashi folds his arms, though after a few seconds his face betrays his true feelings. “W-Well… actually, my task was to check up on you. The monitoring team reported abnormalities in your signal, and this area is under the 13th jurisdiction.”

His eyes turn in the direction of Urahara. “But it seems I have my answers. I don’t know why I expected anything else, especially since you and Hat’n’Clogs already know each other.”

“Heh, well… he needed my help, and I thought it’s my shinigami duty to do so! Heh-heh..”

“Still, it’s a violation of your assignment. You know that you’re not supposed to leave your designated area without orders, much less the living realm,” Hisashi says as he turns to face you again, with a quite stern expression. “All of that I could MAYBE overlook, Koharu, but now there’s this mess with hollows. I can’t ignore that.”

“Why?”

He blinks, and then points at Lahela and Lubina. “BECAUSE! Jeez, Koharu, they’re hollows! It is our duty as shinigami to purify them! Have you forgotten what they are?”

Both of whom are just sipping their tea.

“Well exCUUUUSE me, Mr. Shinigami, for not wanting to die.”

“It is not death. It is salvation.”

“Go ahead and try to save me then, punk.”

Hisashi and Lubina feel like they’re about to draw their blades, glaring angrily at each other..

“ENOUGH!” Tessai slams his hand on the table, stopping them in their tracks, but also Shinji. “This is no place for battle. Behave.”

>1/3

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“Where’s Akane-san by the way?” you switch up the topic for now, to let them cool their heads. “She was supposed to be here to cover for my absence, with the Quincy old man.”

Hisashi spills his tea, fortunately back into the cup. “Q-Quincy too?”

“Ah, she has gone to train!” Urahara explains, closing his fan.

“Train? W-What?”

“Her teacher, Yama-san came by,” he elaborates, “just a day or so after I came back to Osaka. I told her we’d take care of things here.”

“H-He came here?! Where did they go?” you press on.

“Dunno!” Kisuke shrugs nonchalantly, and you’d love to give him a good punch to the face, but restrain yourself for now.

“He better not hurt her,” you grumble.

“Sigh… I told her not to meddle in shinigami affairs.”

“And the Quincy?”

“Went back to Naruki. He did leave some chocolate for you!”

That’s… quite sweet of him. Your thoughts dwell on him for a moment, before you snap back to reality and just feel the tension between people here.

“Hey, how about we all go downstairs? If you want to fight off your frustration, that can be done there, just don’t kill anyone, okay? There’s also healing hot springs. Then, with a clearer head we can figure out what exactly to do, Hisashi, okay?”

He thinks for a moment. “Yeah, alright. I’m not due to report just yet.”

“And no accidents!”

>2/3

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Downstairs there’s enough room to spread out. Hisashi and Lubina of course end up agitating each other to the point of a fight, and Shinji promises to make sure neither of them dies. Lahela ends up chatting and having fun with Jun-kun in an impromptu game of tag, shunpo and sonido included of course. That perfectly leaves you, Kisuke and Tessai all alone.

“I did what you asked, Urahara-san. You promised me spells. Pay up.”

“Righto, that I did! And what a splendid job you did! I can’t wait to hear the details!”

“Hirako-san can tell you the whole story later. Now-”

“Impatient, aren’t we? I’d say you picked up an attitude in that dreary place!”

“You slipped away last time!” you grumble. “And even with my abilities I can’t track you.”

“Flattering,” Urahara says and pulls his fan closer to his mouth. “But I guess you're right. What spell in particular was it that you wanted to learn, hmm?”

>3/3

>High level hadō
>Kūkanten'i (Teleportation)
>Jikanteishi (Time Slow)
>Jikansaisoku (Time Haste)
>Jigokutsuihō (Hell Banishment)
>Tamaseisaku (Soul Fabrication)
>Other?

>>5060324
>Kūkanten'i (Teleportation)
All of these are tempting...
Could we make high level hadō homing? That sounds like it would be pretty dangerous.

Regardless, teleportation is always a useful, lots of applications.
*Teleports behind you*

Had to dig through the archive to find the full explanation for these from over half a year ago.
>Hadō 90-99
The hadō spells beyond 89 of the numbered kidō system developed by Guru Sabhya Kailashnath Tahir are deemed too risky to use without near-certain death of the user. The risk is possible to minimize to near-fatal injury or loss of body parts.

>Kūkanten'i
Spatial manipulation spell. Used to transport a chunk of space and everything within to another place within the realm. Spell fails if used in the living realm without an enormous amount of reiryoku or divinity. Historically significant in the separation of the Royal Realm into a pocket realm attached to Soul Society. Usage strictly forbidden outside of the Royal Guard, punishable by soul annihilation.

>Jikanteishi & Jikansaisoku
Temporal manipulation spells. Former used to slow time in a chunk of space, while the latter makes time pass faster. Spell fails if used in the living realm without an enormous amount of reiryoku or divinity. Successfully using it there may result in catastrophic consequences. Usage strictly forbidden outside of the Royal Guard, punishable by soul annihilation.

>Jigokutsuihō
Banishment spell. Summons a Hell Gate and marks the target for banishment into the Hell Realm. Without true concentration, the spell may mark others in the area for banishment, as well as the user. Spell failure may create a temporary two-way passage between the connected realms, causing Kushanāda to breach outside of Hell to prevent the escape of damned souls, dragging any nearby souls with them. Usage strictly forbidden outside of the Royal Guard, punishable by soul annihilation.

>Tamaseisaku
Soul fabrication spell. Creates a reishi nexus that may gather reiryoku more directly and at high capacity. Requires immense amounts of reishi. Possible to substitute through sacrifice of other souls, which is strictly forbidden and punishable by soul annihilation. Spell is known to be complex and consisting of multiple parts, requiring multiple casters. Has not been seen since the creation of Soul Society. No practitioners nor instructional records exist.

>>5060324
>>Tamaseisaku (Soul Fabrication)
I’ll vote the spicy option, but I admit to being partial to teleportation and haste.

I wonder if we could sacrifice the spider Cruciforma to power the ceremony?

>>5060324
>>Kūkanten'i (Teleportation)
This looks like the best panic button spell and considering the punishments we really will have to save these for big emergencies or only use them in ghost mexico

>>5060324
>Kūkanten'i (Teleportation)

>>5060324
>>Tamaseisaku (Soul Fabrication)
Teleporting sound really great but this one’s just to tempting to pass up

>>5060324
>Tamaseisaku
TP sounds tempting but this is the obvious plot hook. Being able to gather reiryoku via a Nexus (we already have a huge nexus via LY) is busted.

>>5060324
>>5060564
Switching
>Tamaseisaku (Soul Fabrication)

>>5060364
>Tamaseisaku

>>5060324
I missread

It only gets us in trouble if we sacrifice someone.
I'll switch my vote>>5060546
to>Tamaseisaku

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>>5060338
>>5060469
>>5060567
>>5060727
>>5061000
>>5061025
>>5061175
Ohhhhhhh boy. Let's see how Urahara takes it.
>Roll 3d10, Bo3, DC 25, crit 28, Social (7) may replace lowest die
This is the only option Urahara will hesitate on, but it'll give you some nice conversation regardless

Update will be slow, since me and my roomiee are having our anniversary today, and yesterday we had a lot of guests

Rolled 2, 7, 8 = 17 (3d10)

>>5061936
If we fail, do we get to choose something else?

>>5061937
>If we fail, do we get to choose something else?
Yes

Rolled 17, 10, 18 = 45 (3d20)

>>5061936
Come on Urahara, pretty please

Rolled 3, 10, 3 = 16 (3d10)

>>5061949
Fucked up the dice

Rolled 9, 10, 7 = 26 (3d10)

>>5061936
Rollin'.

>>5061964
Most excellent save

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>>5061937
>17(22)
>>5061951
>16(20)
>>5061964
>26
Now that is a nice save. You'll get Urahara to give some breadcrumbs but not enough to actually learn the thing.

I'll assume (based on the votes) that you'll want Kūkanten'i since Urahara will cuck you with Tamaseisaku. If not, correct me

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Rolled 13 (1d20)

Fuck. This day has gone down the drain in turn. Apologies again for the delay, the update will have to wait till tomorrow.

O dice, o dice, how will I fare tomorrow?

>>5063066
>13
Is this good because it’s above average or bad because 13 is unlucky?

>>5063131
Maybe it'll be an above-average bad day?

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“Well, there’s one in particular that I’d like to know more about,” you begin.

“Tamaseisaku.”

You catch a faint twitch in Kisuke’s left eye. For any other person you wouldn’t give it much thought, but for a person as composed and goofy as Urahara, it’s very surprising. It’s only a passing moment though, and he quickly returns to his usual self.

“Oh, that one?” he says, closing his fan, “I’m afraid its secrets are lost to time! Nobody knows how to use it anymore, and those who do wouldn’t want anyone else to know.”

“Really?” you raise an eyebrow. “And here I would’ve thought that the former President of the S.R.D.I and the former Grand Kidō Chief of the Kidō Corps would have had the skill, means and time to figure it out. Unless… you also go into the latter category.”

You catch a glimpse of Tessai, who’s trying his best to stay still and keep his glasses just at a corner that you don’t see through them. A few sweat drops roll down his cheek as well.

“We had quite a few other things on our plate, you know,” Kisuke continues this game, now taking a less goofy tone. “Running things here isn’t as easy as it looks.”

“Yet we both know you wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation.”

Urahara gives you a tiny smirk.

“Assuming I do know it, purely hypothetically, why learn that spell in particular? A lot of things can go wrong, you need a lot of help, and… it can lead to extremely bad outcomes.”

You think for a moment, while the background noises of Hisashi’s and Lubina’s fight fill the silence.

“I think it’d be good to know and understand. Something tells me that it was an important spell, still is, and/or will be.”

“My, what a wonderful reason,” Kisuke sarcastically applauds you. “I’m afraid the outcome is still the same. I cannot teach you that.”

You continue to stare at him, looking for something more that would betray his true thoughts. Then you sigh.

“Then, Kūkanten'i please.”

>1/3

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He gives you a brief overview, instructions and the incantation for the teleportation spell. While not complex in itself, the challenge arises when wanting to be precise, especially with increasing distance and space teleported.

“So let me get this straight… this exists, and yet Soul Society is forced to use Sentan Hakuja? A slow and stupidly reiryoku-consuming spell?”

“Funny, isn’t it?” Kisuke says, opening up his fan again. “Almost like someone doesn’t want shinigami to move around that much.”

“I’m starting to think that shinigami aren’t supposed to think for themselves either.”

You try the spell out, teleporting yourself just a bit forward to feel it out. Again, it doesn’t feel hard to grasp it, but just that small distance took a chunk of your energy. Looking back, you also find that there’s just a small piece of black cloth, which you realize is a part of your shihakusho, cleaved off.

“And that’s the danger of it,” Kisuke explains. “Get the area wrong, and you might dismember yourself. The spell has no fail-safety.”

You wonder for a moment whether you could weaponize that, but the spell centers on you. It would need modification, which you have no idea how to go about even.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Celaris whispers in your mind. “Learn that first. Many people have died from miscasting that spell.”

“You’ve encountered it before?”

“A variation of it, but yes. It was quite popular, but quite annoying with how much damage it caused to places.”

“What do you mean?”

“To be safe, they displaced an area around them, and at the destination, you have to make room for it all to fit. It pushes everything out of its way quite violently.”

>2/3

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Eventually the fight between the shinigami and arrancar is stopped, otherwise they’d have killed each other. Apparently they also exchanged a lot of foul conversation, and are absolutely not on talking terms anymore.

You hope they’ll calm their heads at the healing hot springs. At the very least they’re on opposite sides, out of sight.

“Shit…” he grumbles.

“Did she make you that mad?” you ask, leaning onto the stone edge of the spring.

“YES! I mean, no! It’s just… how the hell does something like her exist?”

“There’s a lot we don’t know about the world. The more you understand that, the less you’ll be surprised.”

“But still… she’s unnatural. A hollow, yet not exactly.”

“Did you know she doesn’t need to eat other souls anymore?”

“You’ve got to be joking.”

“I’m serious,” you nod, omitting the fact that she probably still does. “It’s almost like a miracle.”

“How does a hollow even attain such a form?”

“Beats me,” you lie.

“Koharu-chan, this is… a serious threat. If there’s more like her out there, with such strength, Soul Society and this realm is in dange- what are you doing?”

You blink as you’ve taken off your obi and slid off your kosode a bit. “What does it look like? I need a bath too.”

“W-WAIT, T-THIS..”

“What’s wrong? We’re both boys, right?” you say and smile mischievously, dropping your shihakusho on the ground. At this point Hisashi is hiding his eyes, though you can see him peeking.

“Here~ I~ come~” you say and enter the water.

“I’M NOT READYYYYY!”

>3/3

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This concludes this part, tomorrow we start a new one right away. Also a small announcement that I’ll be taking December (or part of it) off. I’m at a pivotal moment with my studies right now and I want to make sure I get that properly done before Spring. This includes sending out a shit ton of job applications. Hopefully in January I’ll be able to live free of the stress that’s been haunting this Autumn

>>5063564
Thanks for running, Trippy.
Best of luck with everything, I'm sure it'll all go well.

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>>5063562
>“What’s wrong? We’re both boys, right?” you say and smile mischievously, dropping your shihakusho on the ground. At this point Hisashi is hiding his eyes, though you can see him peeking.
>“Here~ I~ come~” you say and enter the water.

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>>5063559
I wonder if Aizen would teach us, didn’t he offer to teach us some of those spells before we went on this mission? Actually, it’s been so long since that thread, what the hell was Koharu’s mission?

>>5063564
Thanks for the run Trippy! Job apps were the most stressful part of college, honestly. It’s good to get past that so you have a major unknown out of the way.

>>5063984
We’re supposed to make arrancars for Aizen since it speeds up his plans considerably. Dordoni and the others are supposed to identify the candidates then we work our magic.

He might be willing to point us in the direction of Tamaseisaku, if we want to let him know we’re thinking about it. He could keikaku all over that though. Others are probably safer.

We may be able to get more info from the library too.

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You are Nakashiri Koharu, supposedly a shinigami, but sometimes you have troubles really understanding what you even are, or what your allegiances are. But you do your best to move forward in this complicated set of worlds into which you’ve been pushed.

Having arrived yesterday, you were surprised by Hisashi, visiting from Soul Society to check up on you. So far it’s gone without much bloodshed, but he still wants to confront you about things, something you were able to delay by taking advantage of Hisashi’s… vulnerabilities.

Still, you’ll have to face him eventually and decide what to do. While he has a kind heart, he is incredibly loyal to the shinigami cause, is quite dogmatic, and has a burning hatred for hollows. Were it not for your friendship and his deeper feelings, you think he’d have reported back with news unfavorable to you.

You sigh as you sit on the roof of your old apartment, one that still has your old belongings along with a thick layer of dust. You’d think somebody would’ve cleaned it up and moved in by now, but that’s not the case. Not that you mind.

You sigh deeply, watching the night sky. Only one hollow tried to enter this realm, but it didn’t survive for long. To think that a hollow similar to that posed such a danger to you back then when Hisashi saved you. As did the hollowfied soul of the principal who’d go on to cause a lot of problems.

“Why haven’t you made him your slave?”

“Oh wow, you’re finally in a talking mood.”

“Zip it pipsqueak. You’re wasting my skills here. You know very well how vulnerable he is to your influence, yet you do nothing. It’s infuriating.”

“It’s not something I want to use carelessly. If such a thing is revealed, it can be catastrophic.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Zilya mocks you. “You do realize he’s going to betray you eventually? Unless you break that loyalty, or make him more loyal to you. Words alone won’t save you this time, nor she-stag’s charms.”

You feel conflicted. Nothing she says is news to you, but you’ve abstained from her drastic measures so far, at least with non-hollows.

“I’m surprised you care this much to give me a lecture.”

“I really don’t care much,” Zilya retorts, “hell, if you get ratted out that means more fun for me. But I hate seeing all this potential be constantly wasted. So many threads slipping through your fingers, while you could hold them all by their throats. All very unbefitting of a mother queen.”

“I-” you begin, but you feel that she’s gone. Retreated to the back of your head. “Tsch.”

>1/3

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Once the sun rises up, you return to Urahara’s shop where both Hisashi and Lubina slept, healing their wounds and sores from their heated battle.

“Welcome!” Urahara greets you.

“Hey,” you yawn. “Huh, Shinji’s gone? I don’t sense him.”

“Perceptive you are! Yes, he returned home.”

“Then I assume you’re up to date.”

“Quite so.” Urahara nods, leaning on his cane. “I must say, you’ve become quite an interesting figure.”

“Don’t act so surprised. You knew exactly what you were doing when you sent me off to Soul Society.”

“And?” He narrows his eyes, keeping a smile.

“Nothing. What do you make of his finding?”

“Well, it’s rather… interesting. I need to take a closer look to fully understand it. Sadly I have so much on my hands right now, and I doubt I’d stay alive if I asked Shinji-san…”

“Fine, fine,” you say, shaking your head. Urahara then takes something out of his pocket, and throws you a funny-looking device. “What’s this?”

“Oh, right, you never really encountered much technology while alive, did you?” Kisuke giggles. “That is a camera… but not just any camera! On top of imprinting what you see onto a film, it also imprints reiryoku! Truly, a marvel of my ingenuity!”

You fiddle around with it, eventually looking through the eyehole and managing to take a goofy picture of Kisuke. It shortly pushes out a thick white film, and a picture begins to form from the black square. “Huh, neat. So you want me to document things with this?”

“Bingo!”

>2/3

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What follows is a noisy morning routine as breakfast is served for everyone and the two new best friends have to eat at the same table. It’s almost ridiculous, as they end up fighting over food too. Fortunately Tessai keeps them intimidated enough, combined with your own visible annoyance.

Lahela in contrast seems to be just enjoying it all, simply being included in larger groups.

It’s quite cute actually.

Eventually though things settle down, enough for you to catch a breath. You could go talk to Hisashi now to resolve the looming matter. Or you could for once talk with Lubina, hear what’s going on inside her head.

Or you could nope out and ignore both.

>3/3

>Go talk to Hisashi
>Go talk to Lubina
>Other

>>5064863
>Go talk to Hisashi
We will have to talk to Hisashi at some point, might as well be now.

>>5064863
>>Go talk to Hisashi
Let’s address this before it becomes too big of a problem

>>5064863
>Go talk to Hisashi

>>5064863
>>Go talk to Hisashi
>Mediate for privacy
We can use our power as part of the excuse for why we can trust the arrancars, having seen inside them.

Hisashi, grab my sword and I’ll show you something you’ll never expect

>>5064863
>Go talk to Hisashi

>>5064863
>>Go talk to Hisashi
Play nice with our daughter-wives or we'll suck your dick!

>>5065169
+1 for the mediating

>>5064865
>>5064895
>>5065129
>>5065169
>>5065207
>>5065320
>>5065337
>Writing
>Let's hope I get it done before my D&D game in 45 minutes

>>5065453
>D&D
Are you DM or player?

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>>5065455
>Are you DM or player?
Player thankfully. I burnt out on DMing at one point, but I still do a lot of homebrew and system tweaking/building. Maybe one day I'll dm again. Questing has really helped me out of that hole

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You decide that it’s time to talk the talk with Hisashi. Knocking on the door to his room, you find him sitting restlessly, his back towards you.

“Yeah? Oh, Koharu-chan,” he says and turns around. “Good timing actually.”

You take a pillow from behind the sliding wall closet, and sit near Hisashi, opposite of him.

“I suppose I do owe you an explanation, though I’m not sure where to begin.”

“Just tell me one thing first,” Hisashi says and leans just a bit more forward, looking right into your eyes with a fierce, piercing gaze. “Are you going behind our back?”

You frown, but then relax and put your hand on top of his head. “Hisashi-kun, I am a shinigami of the Gotei 13. I do what’s best for Soul Society.”

His stern look slowly fades, until he sighs and closes his eyes, sitting straight again. “Thank you. But still… be careful with Hat'n'Clogs. While he is useful for us shinigami, I can’t help but feel on edge with him. This is the first I hear of you doing anything for him too, of going to bloody Hueco Mundo of all places. Not to mention this whole hollow business. This all is very much going over the line.”

“Hisashi-kun, can we talk privately?”

“Are we not private?” he says, tilting his head.

“I mean even more… private,” you say and put the sheathed Naimen no Daiza on your lap.

>1/2

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Hisashi finally realizes what you mean, and gives you a nod. You whisper out your shikai, and Naimen no Daiza transforms in a faint breeze. In an unnoticeable transition, you find yourselves in his mindscape.

This place looks like a slum, with a lot of metal cages, crude kennels. Torches dot the otherwise dark environment, just faintly illuminating the shapes of dogs within those kennels.

Sleeping.

Some watching.

“Pay them no mind,” Hisashi says, snapping your focus back on him. “They’re all contained. Just don’t touch the cages.”

“This… is quite a solemn place.”

“I know. But not that I can do anything about it. Regardless, I’m all ears. We should be very much private here, thanks to your nifty ability.”

>2/2

>Give him an explanation (write-in for details, truth and/or lies)
>Mediate him (change what?)
>Other?

>>5065473
We tell him the following:
-We were experimenting with our shikai ability on hollows back in Soul Society, and it lead us to learn that hollows are more then mindless beasts to be culled for being dangerous.
-During our research we made friends with Lahela in Soul Society.
-We figured out that we could help hollows get over their hunger, which is obviously a pretty big deal.
-Hat'n'Clogs asks us to go to Hueco Mundo for errands, read:Shinji and since we were already curious about hollows in general, we agreed.
-We met Lubina, and even though she is kind of a bitch, she was much worse before our help and in even worse company, and we couldn't just leave her there.
-If we have kept quiet it's because "fraternising" with hollows would get us in deep shit, but we continued our research because a better understanding of hollows has the potential to help a great deal of people, both humans and Shinigami.

As far as I am aware, nothing above is a lie, so its all good.

>>5065473
I suggest we tell him... Everything. Everything except the doubts we have regarding our allegiance - officially we are on the Soul Society's side, through thick and thin.

>>5065473
Ugh, this is going to be a difficult vote. The last time we went through this was when we decided to dump everything on Drianni and Lahela, and worst we could do there is get killed. We have more people to look out for now.

I have to diverge from >>5065507, as I hate the idea of continuing to pretend we don’t have a guillotine hanging over our head just because we exist. I think we should spill some beans on our control powers, as if he can promise not to turn us in after learning that then we have everything we need.

>We remember our life before the SS as Tamaki Koharu, and know we were a miko that sealed a god and a demon as part of a very, very long lineage.
>From what we researched in the SS, the nature of our zanpakuto (going off the lie we’ve stuck with one zanpakuto that is two beings fused) and our dual release we know that some of our powers are inherited from them.
>The god is good at sensing and tracking things.
>The demon was a hollow. A powerful one. It could mind-control other hollows by roiling their emotions, primarily fear.
>We can, in fact, command hollows without doing this mindscape thing. And people. We found out that latter bit while we were in Nakashiri and someone threatened our adopted family.
>It is very obviously a hollow ability. We would absolutely be executed if it were used in the SS openly.
>There’s a good argument for executing us in principle for the combination of powers we have.
>Yes it is incredibly stressful to be marked for death for the sin of existing, why do you ask?
>Hat’n’clogs is aware of our situation, and took advantage of our skillset for the Hueco Mundo mission.

The focus should be on the fact that we didn’t get to choose whether we could be one of the most terrifying creatures across the realms, it’s part of our legacy no matter how much we tried leaving it behind us. We do get to choose how we use it though, and our focus is to do good, not get killed, protect our friends, and think of ways to keep our friends from killing each other out of principle. Y’know, small things.

I will say that I am willing to accept Hisashi saying he will kill us if he thinks we’re out of line in the future or if he’s ordered to. I’m also unwilling to use hanran on him as anything more than a short demonstration. If he says he’s going to report us, we say we’ll try and make things work in Hueco Mundo since that’s the only place we could go. I have lines I’m not willing to cross.

I will back the following details
>We made friends with Lahela in the SS
>Lubina was much worse before our help

If we actually go down this route, we could add the following details as asides.
>Lubina served under the hollow sealed in our line. It’s where the “mother” joke comes from and why we helped her to begin with.
>Lahela and Lubina have mindscapes too, but they don’t remember what happens in them. It’s how we know Lahela is an absolute puppy.

>>5065680
If he wants a demonstration of our controlling powers I’d just go for
>Open one of the cages
>Make whatever comes out sit.

>>5065760
Better than what I’d been thinking. I was thinking of telling him to sit, but maybe now’s not the time for innuendo.

>>5065784
>now’s not the time for innuendo.
Or is it? Why not demand he KNEEL!

So I was gonna write the update now on the train but my laptop decided that batteries don't exist in -5 weather. This pretty much means update will be tomorrow once I return home. Maybe I'll give you some nice pictures as apology

I did read through what you guys wrote, good stuff! QM happy!

>>5066218
I hope laptop-kun survived the trip.

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Okay, sorry about that. I came back terribly late. But now that I'm here, it's time to write. I'll go with what's been written and suggested (the general consensus) as best as I can. But it does seem like it's an attempt at persuasion with a small show of power, which means
>Roll 3d10, Bo3, DC 21, crit 26, Social (7) may replace lowest die

Rolled 2, 10, 4 = 16 (3d10)

>>5068029

Rolled 5, 9, 6 = 20 (3d10)

>>5068029

Rolled 10, 9, 6 = 25 (3d10)

>>5068029

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>>5068030
>16(21)
>>5068034
>20(22)
>>5068051
>25(26)
Holy- that is an actual crit. Color me surprised.
>Writing

>>5068055
I'd say we're getting too strong, but that's just tempting RNGsus to smite us next time.
Maybe we're overdue. I can't help but notice a bit of foreshadowing where some of Koharu's frens could likely get fucked up/killed because he was too much of a moralfag to train Zilya's power.

>>5068103
We could do something like leave a little imprint on Hisashi especially since him needing to keep his Zanpakto spirit (spirits?) locked away gives me the impression his Shikai/Bankai are one of those that are dangerous to use around allies. Not full on control, just a contingency plan.

>>5068153
I think the crit should actually result in Hisashi's unwavering loyalty without a way to control him.

>>5068103
>>5068153
We could instead get our mad science on. Zilya used her power to make spiders (somehow), we have Zilya, we can make horrifying, terrifying spider babies with Zilya and learn about the real joys of motherhood!

>>5068199
Someone did suggest trying to see how our powers could influence an Arrancar a few threads ago. Time to see if Celaris can be a dad too

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“Hisashi-kun, how much do you know about me?”

“Huh?” Hisashi responds. His confusion fades into careful contemplation and some worrisome glances.

“Hmm. I’m not sure where you’re going with this, but… I know you from the human realm. I remember the night I found you quite vividly. Even then you were quite exceptional.”

Your expression softens for a moment, and you close your eyes, reminiscing.

“For a plus, you had surprising talents that I’ve only seen shinigami have. Though Urahara-san had… broadened my views before as well. Still, we made a pretty nice combo. It’s unfortunate what happened, but I still feel it was for the best that you moved on to Soul Society. You’ve become quite a fine shinigami since then.”

You see him half-smiling, perhaps even feel proud as you open your eyes. His expression returns to a stern one though; he takes a step forward and places his hand on your shoulder. “That’s why I’m worried, Koharu. All of this.. I feel like something’s not right.”

You sigh, putting your own hand on his. “There’s much more to it, you know. Tamaki Koharu… I am the last of that long line of humans whose fate was sealed from their birth.”

“What do you mean?”

“My first ancestor was a miko who had a kami and an oni sealed within her. From there on, each ancestor would transfer this weight onto their daughter, and die not long after. Even worse, their souls would never reach Soul Society, instead destined to fuel this pact. All the way to me… the first boy ever born to this line.”

You brush his hand off and draw your blade.

“That’s where my powers come from, Hisashi. The same powers that my zanpakutō now embodies as an amalgamation. The kami side is good at sensing and tracking, as you no doubt know through Kaishigome.”

Hisashi nods, crossing his arms. “And the… other one?”

“The demon… was a hollow. A powerful one with the power to control others.”

>1/4

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The cages begin to rattle, and the hounds begin to bark throughout the dark mindscape. Hisashi’s expression doesn’t budge, but you can feel the emotional tornado. This place reflects what he doesn’t physically show.

“This… this is not some sick joke, is it?”

“I’m afraid not. But I see you realize the gravity of this situation. Even if we disregard the source, the clearly-hollow ability to control other hollows, even without entering one’s mindscape, is more than enough to mark me for execution if found out about. On top of the other powers. Oh, it also works on plusses and shinigami.”

“This sounds-”

“Yes it is incredibly stressful to be marked for death for the sin of existing, why do you ask?” you interrupt him and turn your back to him, walking a few steps away. “I know how you feel about hollows. I didn’t know how to even really approach the whole subject.”

The barking settles somewhat down, but you can feel the hounds. Restless, bloodthirsty.

“Suppose I believe that. What of these hollows you brought? These… arrancars?”

“It is something I found out I could do with Naimen no Daiza. The academy teaches us to see them as abominations of the soul, repentable only through the purification of a zanpakutō. Yet I found that their pain and despair could be shaped into something not unlike our own zanpakutō. Their humanity restored, their hunger quelled.,” you explain and turn to look at him again. “That’s how Lahela and Lubina came to be.”

“I see where you’re going with that… however,” Hisashi interjects, “they are still damaged souls. I saw their hollow holes. On top of that, I’m sure you know that any souls they have devoured cannot move on as long as they remain unpurified. Is it truly worth it?”

You bite your lower lip. “Honestly, I don’t know. But I feel like it is still worth a shot. Understanding hollows will help both shinigami and humans in the long run. Please trust me on this,” you plead. “If I were to go astray, I’m sure Urahara-san would do something about it. Instead, he’s been helping me figure things out. In turn, I helped him return his friend from the depths of Hueco Mundo.”

>2/4

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“I think… I think I get it, even if I don’t like it,” Hisashi sighs. “At the very least, this isn’t something you’ve chosen. I know, or at least I want to believe I do, that you are truly a shinigami in your allegiance.”

You nod.

“However… I hope you also understand what it would mean if at any point you were to go against Soul Society, against the Gotei 13. What I’d have to do if you become the enemy. Even if it means I’d hate myself for the rest of my existence.”

“I do, Hisashi-san.”

He averts his eyes just a bit to the side. “My duty compels me to report this all to my Captain. Unless… I was to be commanded otherwise.”

You smirk as you turn to properly face him, and begin drawing on Zilya’s power. You can feel her anticipation and excitement.

“Gently, okay?” you mentally tell Zilya.

“I don’t do ‘gently,’ Koharu, and neither should you.”

You exert her power onto this place, onto Hisashi’s mind. The hounds growl, howl and bark in a cacophony of rage; metal rattles and squeaks. Your eyes move from cage to cage, and the gates unlock one by one.

“W-What are you doing?! STOP!” Hisashi panics. But you continue. Rabid, blood-red hounds fly out of them and aim for you, their mouths salivating, their eyes red.

“KOHARU!”

“Sit,” you speak in a dual voice. A moment of auditory void takes over, and these dogs fall onto the ground, whimpering.

Even Hisashi ends up kneeling.

“...Terrifying.”

>3/4

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To an outside observer, it might seem like you and Hisashi are just sitting there, staring at each other. Both of your eyes twitch after a few minutes pass, your consciousness returning to the present. Sweat rolls down Hisashi’s temple, and he coughs a few times.

“I wonder, when did you become so powerful? Heh, to think you’d grow so fast..”

“Circumstances forced me to. In fact, you pushed me into this. So you better take responsibility.”

“Responsibility, huh? Fine, let me take ‘responsibility’ then.”

He moves his hand behind your neck, and pulls you in for a kiss. A quiet moment that catches you off guard.

“There, how’s that?” he says and rises up to stand, while you’re still processing the situation. He walks up to the door and slides it open.

“My zanpakutō, Ryōkenjin, embodies my loyalty. So you better take responsibility as well.”

Once the door slides close, your face turns red, steam flies out of your ears.

“My, so you do take after me afterall,” Celaris speaks up smugly.

“How weak, to let a dog make you heel,” Zilya scoffs.

You angrily get up yourself. “S-Shut up you two! That… idiot! He took my kiss virginity!!!”

>4/4

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At first I wanted to do a few more updates to this part, but I feel like it’s just best I pause here and resume in January so I can truly focus now on getting all my uni shit together and out. I hope you enjoyed it (even if short and with a rather unstable schedule). I’ll update the character sheets (add Lubina) and social links. Expect some omakes during December, that’s the least I’m gonna do.

I’ll answer any comments and questions (to me or any character) as well as address concerns.

To answer in advance, what you do with Hisashi’s advances is completely up to you. Whether you shoot him down, coldly take advantage of him or embrace it is up to you and voting

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Oh and I believe I owe you this for the schedule messups
Enjoy

>>5068379
Thanks for running as always and good luck with your studies! Seeing as we're approaching the end of the year, I think it's appropriate to ask both you and Koharu how they feel looking back (over a year for you and a few years for Koharu if memory serves.)? Also Lahela and Lubina learn the meaning of Christmas omake when?

>>5068379
Thanks for the run Trippy, and good luck! Question for you I suppose, did you have any ideas for if we ended up taking a Zilya route instead of a Celaris one? Embracing our mind-control powers to start a small fiefdom out in Nakashiri for example, mind-controlling our rivals in the academy, turning hollows to serve us before we went to the SS etc. You did give us a potential monster to pilot with an actual monster in his head.

I have a question concerning Zilya, Celaris, and our zanpakuto to know if they'd be up to a sort of time-waster together - could they relive the memories/experiences of the older Tamaki line by combining their powers? It'd mostly be something for them to do while they sit around in our head, but there's a non-zero chance it could mellow Zilya out. I also suspect our Bankai will need additional support from both of them, not just one or the other.

>>5068381
QM PICS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

>>5068381
UUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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>>5068381
>actually fashionable
As expected from /qst/‘s trap qm
>>5068379
Thanks for running Trippy, as always it’s been great
>Questions
Only 2 come to mind right now
Trippy
How’s the weather?
BTL?
And before I inevitably forget to check for the omakes, I might as well say it now, Merry Christmas and a happy New Year’s to you Trippy and other anons

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>>5068401
>>5068422

Trippy:
>How do you feel looking back this year?
In regards to the quest, I'm pretty happy. For one I'm really glad I've stuck to running it even when sometimes I felt out of it, but I had decided years before starting that I'd stick to whatever I'd run as long as there's players to enjoy it. IRL it's been a wild year, such a wild year.
>Did you have any ideas for if we ended up taking a Zilya route instead of a Celaris one? You did give us a potential monster to pilot with an actual monster in his head.
As with everything, nothing definite, but I did do some planning around that route. You could've easily gone full villain with her powers at your disposal and made noble families your puppets to use.

Koharu:
>How do you feel looking back these years?
"Everything between excited and terrified. I wanted a normal life, not... this. But here I am. All I can do is make do. But... despite that, I have met a lot of now important people to me. People I care about."


>>5068422
>I have a question concerning Zilya, Celaris, and our zanpakuto to know if they'd be up to a sort of time-waster together
Hmm, that's an interesting idea. Both of them already go through their own memories when they're bored of watching what Koharu's up to, but doing something together might be interesting.
Nothing's stopping you in tweaking your inner world, you know. Golf?

>>5068775
>BTL
A middle ground 5. You're not out of control, but you did just push Hisashi's puppies around Aniki surely approves
>How’s the weather?
COLD. It's cold, but it's nice. -7 in the South. There's actual snow for once finally in November and hopefully will last December. No slush (yet). It's funny because I did kind of "hex" in September that I want my subzero weather to come.

And yes, Merry Christmas you all cute anons, and a Happy New Year. I want to make an omake for that, but also for Halloween, so stay tuned for that. Since this thread is on page 5 only, I'm pretty sure it'll last quite long.

>>5068679
>>5068768
>simping

>>5069287
>post quality girlmode thirst trap pics in presumably public transit
>expect people in a quest where you control a trap miko shinigami to not coom
you only have yourself to blame

>>5069287
Wait, we can tweak our own inner world? I thought that was something everyone else had more control over. Now I’m getting evil thoughts. Outsource the thinking of creative games for our world to Hat’n’Clogs, with a focus on cooperative and competitive games for people who hate each other. We can say it’s for our own training with Lubina and/or others and we’ll figure out the details of how to make it work with multiple people but it’ll secretly be for Zilya and Celaris.

Board games would be a level playing field for both of them in some cases. Anything that is purely skill-based with no random element that can be rigged. Cards are something either could cheat on and Celaris could have an advantage on thanks to enhanced senses to track card shuffling so that’s not a great option. Most sports are out of the question since they need teams, unless Naimen no Daiza can summon ghost players. Basketball/baseball could work, and there’s enough physical interaction that sensing alone can’t give Celaris an edge. Would Celaris pitch, catch, or both?

>>5069287
>Nothing's stopping you in tweaking your inner world, you know.
Haaaaah? Koharu can alter his conceptual mindscape at will? Sugooooooi
>BTL
Pah, if I had my way Koharu wouldn't be the one who needs to worry about these silly threat-levels. Elaborating further may send me to horny-jail though...
Hisashi-kun batting his eyes and saying "I have to tell on you... u-unless you punish me" is an obvious cry for help. Clearly he wants to give Koharu total, intimate control and I would be more than happy to acquiesce ufufufu.
t. NOT Zilya

>>5069479
We could teach them Go, we already know how due to Aizen

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>>5069479
>>5069621
>Wait, we can tweak our own inner world?
>Haaaaah? Koharu can alter his conceptual mindscape at will? Sugooooooi
I mean, lightweight stuff I've always imagined shinigami in canon could do, but nothing major. But unlike them, you literally have the perfect tool at your disposal whatever could go wrong? :^)

>>5070555
>Seal breaks
>Zilya and Celaris released
>We get overtaken by our family so they can put down the others
>Lahela ded
>Lizzy ded
>Sensei disappointed

Bad things all around.

I’d say if we want to get creative, keep it within the temple as it’s neutral ground by design. A small setup for Go would suffice for now. Maybe stylized stones with a stag/spider motif on each? Maybe cycle through multiple motifs per NnD’s whims. If they want to get creative with my suggestion of reliving old Temaki line memories not dangerous at all no sir and/or ma’am then maybe NnD can have a small alcove for them to sit and attempt that.

No putting baseballs through the temple windows or bouncing balls over the mass graveyard in our mind please and thank you!

I've been away from the quest for so long, now I gotta catch up...

a kissaroo for koharu!

captcha: MWA 0T

>>5070654
No bouncing balls in Koharu's mind you say?

I just remembered that in the earlier threads there used to be music linked during some of the updates. Whatever happed to that Trippy, I’m not crazy and making shit up right?

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Hokay. What a ride. Time to get to delivering what I promised, I'll work on the character sheets and social links today.

>>5073007
Now's the best time to do just that, welcome back

>>5081628
You're not crazy, there used to be, and I still have the audius account up, it's just I keep constantly forgetting about its existence and I always think a lot whether the music fits the scene or not. I'll try to start using it more again!

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Hokay! Both character sheets and social links are updated. Next will be the omake(s), there's a few in my mind that I just need to put into actual words. I think this thread should still be up for a while!

>>5087627
I know they're rarely asked, but I just noticed the Character questions sheet is missing the ones from this thread