Current Energy: 4
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
Point of View: Multiversal Emulator "Pemmy"
Picking up the equipment you'd expected from the Schnee Dust company goes about how you would expect. The representative who speaks to you when you arrive delivers some pointed questions from Jacques about Yew's absence the last few days, and then begrudgingly gives you just enough equipment to get started on the arduous task of getting the dangerous substance out from under the city.
Then you and your Master bundle it all up, and take it back to the Heap so you can pick it apart to try and understand how it works.
"What an ass," Taylor bemoans, lifting a tracking device out of the carefully disassembled husk of one of the many portable drills in the group of tools and flicking it into a corner of the room to sit with its half a dozen brothers and sisters.
Because this equipment? It is positively infested with surveillance equipment. Tracking devices. Small microphones. Little video cameras. If you were actually operating on Remnant proper, you imagine it wouldn't take much more than a few weeks for the Schnee to abuse the local bureaucracy in order to steal the dig site from you.
"I suppose he is… dogged, if nothing else," you supply neutrally.
You won't pretend to like Jacques Schnee, but you won't act like you've never done much worse than him either.
"He's got a whole planet to explore, why does he have to spend all his time screwing people over?" Taylor whines.
"Power tends to prefer to horde itself," you point out to her.
"I mean, I don't-" Taylor begins to argue, but you shake your head at her.
"Most power, for the majority of human history, is intangible. It is not direct power. You can afford to be generous, because you couldn't see your power diminished by sharing even if you wanted to, but for a man whose power comes from a resource, from wealth, there is the ever-present danger that someone else might invalidate his power," you explain.
"Talking about power, I'm surprised at how small all this stuff is. Not exactly 'giant mecha drill' like you'd expect from a guy who's clearly compensating for something," Demmy opines, holding up another scanning device.
"I thought about that actually, and I think I get it," Taylor speaks up, still frowning to show she hasn't forgotten the previous topic of conversation.
"When you think of mining, you think of basically two things right? Either a big industrial setup that churns through a bunch of dirt and sorts the valuable stuff into different piles somehow, or a bunch of guys with pickaxes hacking away at the walls of a cave, right?" She explains, twisting the casing of another device from side to side in absent minded thought.
"Not inaccurate," you concede before your sister can chime in with the vast number of more technologically advanced ways to mine you are aware of.
Mostly because even they technically fall into that first category your Master just mentioned.
"Well, Dust is pretty dangerous, and kind of random? Sometimes you can hit it and nothing will happen, sometimes it might just spark a bit, sometimes it might explode. It's what makes it so dangerous to mine. Sure you can just hack a wall up and hope what pops out doesn't wipe out everyone in the tunnel with you, but that's pretty inefficient, even if you don't care about the lives of your workers. So really, Dust mining is more like… an archeological dig, if you really want to be safe about it," she explains, holding up the device in her hands.
"All of this stuff, it's just there to help you locate Dust deposits through walls. I think it's a variation on the technology they use to measure Aura, actually," she muses aloud.
"Sooooooo we already know how to copy it?" Demmy says with a sudden shark-like smile.
"Well, of the three of these I'll probably end up breaking one trying to figure out how it works, yeah," Taylor admits.
"But the other two, I'll probably pass on to Dad with a manual on how to use them and how to safely get the Dust out. I kinda get why Jacques is so into OSHA violations though—if you want to be one hundred percent safe about extracting this stuff, it's pretty much impossible to do at anything like a reasonable speed. You can manage enough for personal use just fine, but on an industrial level? You practically have to take risks," she adds with an irked frown.
You respond with a thin smile in your Master's direction that earns you a quirked eyebrow in response. You share a look with your sister then shrug and gesture for her to say what you are both thinking.
"Jacques does what works. I'm sure we can do better—eventually," she says, twisting her neck as though it were stiff, which is a thing that doesn't really happen to either of you given you are, in fact, robots.
"In addition, Jacques is no wizard," you point out.
Your Master considered that for a moment, before smiling cruelly along with you.
"You know, I bet there's a pretty big market for safer, cheaper Dust extraction technology right now. People are expanding after all. Bound to be lots of untouched resources out there," she croons.
"I'm sure the Schnee Dust Company won't mind a little fair competition. Monopolies are terrible for innovation," Demmy jeers.
"We should apologize to Weiss in advance," you muse.
Taylor waves you off.
"Or give her stocks in whatever company ends up handling things for us. I don't exactly have the time to manage it myself and I don't think she would mind too much," Taylor replies thoughtfully.
You resist the urge to snort as your Master becomes several times more motivated to action, purely out of spite towards the elder Schnee.
Never let it be said Taylor Hebert is not vindictive after all.
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Winslow Highschool, Brockton Bay
School is one of those nebulous things you participate in by association with your Master, without actually having a personal stake in it.
Your greatest interest in Winslow and the people within it is more or less just how the people there see or interact with your Master.
Nothing less, and nothing more.
And, in the absence of the rampant bullying and gang activity that was present here when you were first 'born', you don't really have much to do here at all honestly. You mostly stick around out of solidarity with your Master more than anything else.
It has also, unfortunately, become the designated time you spend arguing with your foolish sister about who gets to stay behind—and who will have to go.
"It's obvious to me that logic isn't going to work here," you say cooly to Demmy, standing across from her on the roof of the school—which has rapidly become your preferred place to stay when waiting for the dull mundanity below to conclude.
Not that you dislike the dull or mundane. As a very wise person once said, no news is good news.
She snorts at you, loud and derisive.
"Logic seems pretty simple to me. You're better for it. I really believe that," she says dismissively.
"You cannot make me stay!" You spit hotly back at her, finally frustrated enough with this roundabout argument to just resort to base threats.
It's not like Demmy can force you to switch bodies. You'll just refuse until she has no choice!
"You can't make me do it either!" Demmy snaps back.
…Ah. True.
Drat.
"Think rationally about this, it's not as though I will be gone, I'll be like your guardian angel! Administering things from behind the scenes! You know I'll always be with you so, it's fine if you-" you pause as it occurs to you that Demmy is staring at something behind you and whirl around to find a bleak, black, hole in reality unzipping itself behind you.
And from within it, two teenage boys step out.
"Michael, this is stupid, this is so stupid—we shouldn't be using our powers to get to school on time!"
"Nah, come on, Jun; Nexus does it all the time!"
"But we're already late!"
"Yeah but I bet you feel alot better than if you ran all the way here,"
"That's not the—"
Both boys freeze as they spot you and your sister watching them quizzically as they exit the portal, and continue to watch as it quietly seals itself back up behind them as though it was never there.
"Hello, boys," Demmy drawls at them with some amusement, cocking her hips to one side and taking on the mein of a disapproving mother.
"Hhhhiiiiii…" the asian boy—Jun—greets you slowly, creeping to the side as though considering physically jumping off the building to flee the situation.
"Are we in trouble?" Michael asks in a straightforward manner.
You share a look with your Sister before looking back at them.
"No—" you begin, only for your sister to surprise you by cutting you off.
"Not if you help us out," she says smugly.
You shoot a glare at her, having a feeling you know where this is going.
"Ignore her, you're—"
"I'll definitely tell Taylor about this if you don't stay," Demmy adds.
The boys share a look that seems like it contains an entire conversation, before they turn back towards the two of you, their backs almost comically stiff.
""How can we help?!"" They ask in the same way a soldier might salute a commanding officer.
You resist the urge to pinch the bridge of your nose and sigh.
"Must you include them in this?" You demand of your sister, much to the confusion of the two boys who still have no idea what's going on.
"Why not? They've clearly got one of our kids with them," she points out.
Now the two boys look very confused.
"That's not—" you restrain a snarl that comes out as a sigh then turn your gaze on the two boys, who are now looking very concerned.
"Um," Michael lifts a hand into the air, like a child seeking attention from a teacher.
"Yes?" You allow, tiredly.
"...Are we gonna get chest-burstered?" He asks nervously.
You blink at him in surprise at that, completely thrown off by the term.
"What is—actually, no. It doesn't matter. No. You will not be… 'chest-burstered'," you say dryly.
"If you're good boys!" Demmy adds cheerfully.
"Ignore her," you repeat for the umpteenth time.
"Right… just, you mentioned the kids thing, and uh, we know you're kind of like, two halves of Emmy, so…" Jun trails off, not having bothered to raise his hand before speaking, which you approve of.
"Your power. It's an offshoot from us," Demmy explains helpfully to them.
"So… like… our powers come from Nexus?" Michale says, with an odd glint of sudden glee in his eyes.
"...Correct," you allow, curious to see where this is going.
Almost as one, the two boys turn and high-five each other, before performing a series of arcane and strange gestures you take to be a… stylized greeting, of some kind.
""Booyah!"" They cheer as one when they're done, before turning back to you and your sister like nothing happened.
You feel the corner of your mouth curl up slightly in a smile at the youthful enthusiasm. You wouldn't consider yourself a prideful Shard, but, well.
There is some pleasure to be gained from the humans prizing connections to you.
"Alright, focus up, we have a moral dilemma," Demmy says, clapping to draw their attention back to her and away from their good cheer.
"Oh, cool, yeah alright, we're in the hero game now, so—" Michael begins, only for Jun to elbow him in the side quite firmly.
"He means, we're trying hard to be good people, so maybe we can help?" Jun offers instead.
"Bro, you're making it uncool," Michale mumbles at his partner, who just elbows him in the side again while maintaining a perfectly pleasant smiling expression.
Your sister turns to you, ceding the floor to explain the problem, which is irksome, because you didn't want to involve these children in the first place.
So, you take a minute to think about things before explaining the situation to them in a way they can hopefully understand.
"If one of you had to move away from the city, but neither of you wants the other to go, how would you decide who stays?" You ask.
"I mean, why are we moving? Why do we even get to choose? This is a weird—" Michael starts to rattle off snidely, only for Jun to slap him on the back of his head hard enough for the noise it causes to be as loud as if he had just clapped.
"Hey! Geeze…" Michael growls at him.
"It's clearly a metaphor, man. Don't ask stupid questions," Jun says with a disappointed sigh.
"Well don't hit me over it!" Michael complains.
"Your mom said I could if you were being stupid," Jun points out with a dreamy expression on his face.
"I forbid you from talking to my mom!" Michael instantly snaps out instantly, disgust and horror in his tone.
"But—"
"Boys. Please," Demmy interjects, forcing them to focus back on her.
"Right, Sorry. I mean… without knowing why we have to go anywhere, uh… does it matter who stays?" Michael asks carefully, shooting a side long glare at his compatriot.
"The one who stays will be happier than the one who doesn't," you offer.
The boys frown, and both of them seem to take a moment to think about it, before Jun speaks up.
"Flip a coin, I guess?" He says with a shrug.
You and your sister stare blankly at him at that.
"...Please explain?" You demand.
…Politely.
"Well…" the asian boy starts, cringing slightly at the intense focus placed on him.
"I mean… if it was us, neither of us would ever agree to let the other suffer, but within the constraints of this question, and assuming I can't just cheat and take a secret third option..?" He trails off in question, so you shake your head at him in negation.
"Then yeah, if one of us has to stay, and the other is definitely going to be unhappy about it, and there's no other option, I'd just flip a coin? That way we can't argue about it and there's no hard feelings," he says with another shrug.
"Jun'd rig the toss though, totally," Michael adds conspiratorially.
The asian boy sniffs in disdain at the accusation.
"You'd never prove it," he says primly.
"You didn't even say you wouldn't do it!" Michael complains, loudly.
"That means nothing if—"
"Aren't you guys late for school?" Demmy chimes in with some amusement, causing both boys to freeze in place mid conversation, turning to stare at each other in horror.
"Shit!" They screech, quickly scrambling past you to the door and quickly vanishing down it. Demmy snickers at their haste, before turning back to you with her eyebrow raised.
"So…"
"We are not flipping a coin over this," you say with a groan.
"It could work, though!" Demmy insists.
You just groan again.
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Kurosaki Clinic, Karakura Town
"Ichigo Kurosaki! This one has chosen to spend her precious time on thee! Make yourself presentable that I may remove you to—" Your Master declares challengingly as she strides proudly out of the closet belonging to the boy in question, only to freeze when the sole occupant of the room turns out not to be Ichigo, but rather, one of his younger relatives. His… other sister—if you tried to place it—from her passing resemblance to Karin.
And, likewise to your Master, has frozen in the middle of the process of fixing the boy's bedsheets for him to stare back at her.
"...Um, are you… looking for my brother?" Yuzu? You think her name was Yuzu, says carefully, blinking in confusion and concern at your Master's somewhat outlandish attire.
You suppose that, given there is no Cape presence in this… world… a woman coming out of her teenage brother's closet wearing skintight clothing might present a certain image.
An image that your Master either chooses to ignore, or simply doesn't notice in her haste to do as she always does in uncomfortable situations:
Bulldoze through them.
"...'Tis true that we had pre-arranged for him to see to me," Taylor says slowly, carefully closing the closet behind her.
Yuzu's gaze flicks from her, to the closet, then back to your Master again before clearly making the conscious decision not to ask about it, before continuing.
"He's… he's not home, so…" she says, clearly unsure of how to proceed with the conversation.
Your Master blinks, then shrugs and walks boldly past the little girl to lift the stuffed animal you'd previously observed being animated on your last visit off the small desk in the room with you.
"Apologies, I shan't intrude. The toy will lead me to mine quarry," she says with a nod, easily navigating around the still visibly confused middle school girl in the room to reach the window over Ichigo's bed—which your Master promptly flicks open and jumps out of.
"I want to die! Oh my god, what kind of teenage boy just lets his sisters into his bedroom!" Taylor screeches mentally as you, having accelerated into a near-invisible blur up into the sky the minute she'd left line of sight of the Kurosaki family home.
"You… could have used the door…" Demmy points out dryly.
"But—surprising him is the fun part!" Taylor whines at you.
"You aren't five, Taylor. You can't just pull his hair because you want his attention," you sigh at your honestly baffling Master. You aren't even sure how she actually feels about most people her own age, because she seems to more or less just randomly decide she likes people and then forcibly adopts them.
"I don't—" she starts to send to you in an obviously petulant tone of voice, but the toy chooses this moment to speak up.
"Hey lady. Uh, Ichigo's not having a great time so uh, maybe now isn't a great time to be, uh, old and scary at him?" It offers, in the most bizarre mix of polite speech and rude statements you can easily imagine.
"I assure thee, I've yet to intentionally terrify. I merely wish to entertain mine self," Taylor replies.
"Okay, but that's—"
"By way of vigorous sparring," Taylor adds, interrupting the toy's complaints.
"That's worse! That's way worse!" It whines.
"Hush, 'tis my prerogative that he benefits from mine presence," Taylor says, rolling her eyes at the toy.
"Well… I'm not telling you where he is! Cus I don't know! Hah!" The toy declares proudly.
Taylor blinks at the creature for a moment, then shrugs and lifts a hand to cast a tracking spell which she quickly zooms after.
"What's that?! Hey, no fair! Wait, why did you even grab me if you didn't need—!" The toy shrieks in dismay as your Master suddenly accelerates, blitzing across the small town's skyline so quickly the air ignites around her, which has the interesting effect of obscuring her from casual view—if only because anyone looking up will assume she is a shooting star rather than a person.
Not that many people in this world would truly believe a person could fly in the first place.
It's truly a queer place, that the mundane populace simply doesn't know about the superhumans in their midst.
It takes less than a minute for your Master to appear in Ichigo's vicinity, standing at the edge of a small stream in a wooded area of the city, looking very dour, very injured, and very tired.
"Oh, I see. He is your type," Demmy muses.
"I don't have a type!" Taylor shouts at you, even as she takes on a confident pose next to the orange-haired boy, who summarily ignores her as she tosses the toy up and down in one hand like a baseball.
"Ichigo Kurosaki! I—!" Taylor begins, immediately choosing to rehash her speech from when she first exited his closet.
"Go away," he grunts at her, not bothering to even turn to look at her when addressing her. Your Master jerks back as though slapped, then frowns at him.
"Nay, I promised thee I would make thee fun to fight," She insists.
Ichigo growls at her words, rounding on her with a scowl on his face.
"Fun? You think this is supposed to be fun?!" He growls at her, pointing at the bandages wreathing his face and hands.
Taylor shrugs at the question, lifting a hand and swiftly enveloping Ichigo in the golden glow of Chi Healing.
"Be honest, Ichigo Kurosaki. When thou does battle, when thou are at the cusp of victory, when thou makest thy dominance known—dost thou not smile?" She asks him smugly.
"That's your answer?! Winning is fun?!" He screams at her, getting in her face in the manner of teenage threat displays everywhere.
Your Master lifts a hand in response to the closeness, placing a finger on his nose and gently pushing him away from herself with it.
"'Tis the truth, though, victory is only so sweet when defeat is possible also. 'Tis why you are no fun as you are," She says with a shrug.
"...Because I'm weak," Ichigo grunts back at her, all the anger draining out of him, and his expression turning stormy and depressed, rather than the outward anger he had been displaying until that point.
"Without testing thy skills, this one couldn't say, but, 'tis likely, yes. Dost thou still require help subduing thy inner demons?" She asks seemingly not bothered at all by the obvious teenage angst on display.
Ichigo, clearly distressed by something, lifts a hand to stare at it, slowly unraveling the bandages from around the limb to reveal uninjured flesh below it before squeezing it into a fist and looking up at Taylor.
"...Yeah. I don't care how crazy it is, I can't be weak. Not ever again," he declares.
Your Master stares at his expression for a solid five seconds as he says it, long enough that the boy appears to falter slightly at her disconcertingly blank stare.
"Tay—" you start to prod her, only for her to blink once and lurch back into motion, demonstrating an alarming degree of speed and dexterity for a normal human being as she surges forward to stare into Ichigo's eyes for a moment longer, before leaning back and smiling widely.
Oh? Is this it? Will your Master finally admit she—
"Yes! 'Tis this I love! The desire to train!" She cheers.
You take a deep breath before letting it out slowly, resisting the urge to palm your face.
"Uh-huh, so? What now? Wait, my friends are hurt too, could you—" Ichigo asks gruffly, clearly trying to seem disaffected by your Master's excitable bouncing and failing.
"To the basement!" She cheers, opening a gap and rapidly hurling Ichigo through it.
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
"Why does every crazy old person I meet have a secret murder basement?" Ichigo asks no one in particular as you and your Master emerge behind him into the large, empty, metal room she most often uses for 'destructive' sparring.
You know. The kind of sparring where you try to kill each other.
…Nicely.
"I've yet to murder anyone here!" Taylor says defensively.
"There are bloodstains, like, everywhere," Ichigo retorts hotly.
"'Tis mine!" Taylor argues.
"That's not—" Ichigo starts, but the toy of all things cuts him off.
"Ichigo—please don't—argue with the—the scary lady!" He yelps between throws from your Master.
"And why is he here?!" Ichigo demands.
Taylor pauses in her slow tossing of the speaking toy around, before shrugging at the question.
"Because I wished it," she says with a mild blush.
She totally just forgot to put him back before leaving.
"You don't even… gah! Whatever, Kon! Come here!" Ichigo snaps, leaning forward to snatch the toy out of the air, before slapping its back until it coughs up a white pill, and swallowing it himself.
Interestingly, this has the effect of causing Ichigo's soul to step free of his body, fully clad in his shinigami regalia, but more interestingly, his body remains active, shuffling awkwardly away from both of you with a fearful expression suddenly on its face.
"Fascinating. Ichigo. I desire thy toy, for study," Taylor says immediately.
"What?" Ichigo asks in rapidly rising irritation, turning to look at his own body which is rapidly signing every form of negative or refusal it can think of in rapid succession.
"No, I need him. So? Do we just fight?" He asks in obvious annoyance, lifting a hand towards the massive cleaver-shaped sword hanging on his back.
"Nay, first I must…" Taylor muses, lifting a hand and creating a small gap in her palm that she pokes and prods with extreme concentration for several seconds, before finally humming with pleasure as she releases it into the air…
Where it promptly lands on Ichigo's chest, and widens enough for a pasty-white hand to extend out of it.
"H-hey! What the hell!?" Ichigo grunts in surprise, immediately letting go of his sword and trying to force the hand back into its hole.
"Cease," Taylor orders him, drawing Nemesis and releasing her shikai with a flick of her wrist. "Dost thy not wish to train?"
"The hell does this have to do with training!?" Ichigo yells, refusing to simply allow the swiftly-emerging duplicate of himself to easily egress into the world even despite your Master's orders.
This, naturally, results in an extremely awkward looking grapple that only ends when the monochrome duplicate of Ichigo gets enough of his body free from the gap to kick off, launching himself away from the boy in question.
"Gyahaha! The hell is this?! This is the best you could do to deal with me, Ichigo?!" It cackles into the empty room, leveling a mocking sneer on the orange haired boy.
"This wasn't my idea! If you've got a problem with me, let's go! Now I can beat the shit out of you and I don't even—" Ichigo starts to yell with an arrogant smile on his face back at the duplicate.
"Question, for thy demon," Taylor interjects before the two mirrored men can get into a fight.
Everyone present ignores Ichigo's body as the toy—Kon—carefully pilots it into the furthest corner of the room it can manage.
"Haah? Hey, stay the hell out of—" the monochrome duplicate—the demon, by your master's reckoning—starts to bark at her.
"Hush," she says, waving her sword at him and using the telltale jabs of her spider-like aura to… literally reduce the volume of his voice to zero. Huh.
You hadn't considered using it that way before.
"As I was saying, Demon," she continues, as though the interruption never occurred, "what is thy goal? Thy purpose?" She finishes, before releasing whatever combination of things was preventing the baleful creature from speaking.
"Like I'm just gonna explain myself to some stupid old b—" it begins to sneer.
"I see," Taylor interjects, silencing it again.
"Then.. Ichigo, 'tis my wish that thee and thy demon get along. You must have common goals, and accept one another as life partners," she says with a knowing nod.
Which is funny because she's actually completely just guessing at the situation based on her exposure to a bunch of other multiversal magic nonsense.
"Get along? It wants to eat me and kill my family!" Ichigo barks.
"I presume it also wishes to live. Demon. Dost thou wish to live?" She asks, turning to the duplicate, which opens its mouth—presumably to spit more vitriol at her—only for no sound to come out of it. It sneers at her, and refuses to so much as nod in agreement with her statement.
"I shall take that as a yes. And, so, dost thy require him to be alive to live?" Taylor continues, her face stretching into her mask-like unsmile, which clearly does not at all inspire confidence in Ichigo, who slowly becomes more and more concerned the longer your Master speaks.
At this, finally, the Demon begins to look concerned, darting a glance between your Master and Ichigo, as though unsure if it should acknowledge that point or not.
"How the hell is that helpful?" Ichigo asks, nonplussed.
"'Tis very simple, dear boy," Taylor says cheerfully, waving her sword in the air again. "Bankai," she offers, in an almost conversational tone of voice, rolling her neck and bouncing from foot to foot as the massive spider form of Nemesis appears overhead, enveloping the entire room.
"Ye pair need a common goal. Ye need trust. Thus, this one shall beat you both to death," she says with the brightest, most cheerful smile you can imagine coming from someone who just threatened to kill someone else.
"Is this bitch crazy? Like hell I'll-" the Demon spits, no longer silence in the absence of your Master's shikai.
She responds by dashing towards him, brutally flipping him onto the ground, mounting him, and punching him in the mouth several times, sending flecks of blood and teeth flying in every direction.
"Thy common goal is thus! Don't! Die!" She cheers, rolling off the demon and hurling it towards Ichigo, who stumbles away from the body as it tumbles onto the ground where he was just standing with a confused look on his face.
"Wait—why can't I—" Ichigo blurts out, clearly trying to do… something… supernatural, then quickly panicking, pulling his overly-large sword off his back with visible effort, and holding it point first towards your Master.
"Ban—kai!"
Nothing happens.
He tries again.
"Ban—" he is cut off this time by your Master's foot as it collides with the side of his head.
"How is this helpful?!" Ichigo screams at her as he rolls across the ground away from her, and his Demon carefully scrambles to its feet to stare balefully at her.
Your Master—having as much fun as she currently is—chortles in amusement at the confused boy's yelling, before charging towards him and his demon again.
"You aren't… actually going to kill them, are you?" You ask curiously.
"The demon thingy, maybe. I mean, it's either going to get on board or get handled anyway, right?" She says cheerily back to you.
You roll your eyes at that, but don't bother to comment.
Ichigo did say it wanted to kill his family, after all.
You make a note to remind your Master to go heal Ichigo's friends after this though.
As an apology for the maybe murder, if nothing else.
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Karakura Hospital, Karakura Town
"I almost had you!" Ichigo growls as he and your Master march through the halls of the hospital he led you to, not too long after your Master allowed their spar to end.
She hadn't wanted to. In fact, you suspect she could have continued on in that same vein for quite some time.
But even someone so prodigious as her can only maintain her Bankai for so long.
"Thou most certainly did not. I applaud thy cooperation with the demon towards the end, however," Taylor replies with a satiated rumble in the back of her throat you would almost describe as a purr.
Because of course brutally assaulting someone she likes for a few hours would be your Master's idea of a relaxing evening in.
"I didn't cooperate with it! It just distracted you at a good time!" Ichigo snarls at her.
Where your Master gleams with a renewed vigor and shine, Ichigo is the exact opposite. He is… visibly haggard, sporting signs of exhaustion that are, quite literally, soul deep.
The pair are dressed in casual, mundane clothing, which only furthers the effect, mostly because in her buoyant mood, Taylor deigned to simply allow her dresser to spit a sundress at her and left it at that without complaint. Meanwhile, Ichigo is stuck in the somewhat sweat-soaked clothing he was in before his misadventure with your Master began.
"I was not truly distracted," Taylor says with a shrug, following after Ichigo as he shoulders the door to one of the patient rooms open with a thuggish grunt.
"No way! I had you! I definitely had you!" Ichigo insists.
"Truly, thou must love the view from the floor beneath me if that is how you see it. Had I but a moment to apply more strength my footprint would still be on thy chest," Taylor snarks.
"I-I-Ichigo!?" A shrill female voice yelps, interrupting the argument between the two, drawing all eyes to a hospital bed in the center of the room.
"Hey, Orihime," Ichigo responds, expression instantly softening, and he disregards your Master entirely to move towards the girl's bedside.
"Who—I mean—I'm—Good evening, my name is Orihime, it's nice to meet you!" The heavily injured, ginger-haired girl on the hospital bed yelps out nervously, glancing back and forth between your Master and Ichigo, making clear note of their respective appearances, and clearly drawing a very incorrect conclusion from them if the way her eyes quiver is anything to go by.
"Relax, Orihime. The old bag is just here to heal you and Chad for me," Ichigo says, clearly trying to calm the girl down.
Taylor reaches over and slaps the back of his head with significant force.
"Cease calling me old!" She snaps.
"Then stop being so old!" Ichigo glares right back.
Amusingly, seeing the argumentative interaction between the two seems to visibly calm the injured girl down far more than anything anyone could possibly say to her.
"Thou art most quarrelsome for someone within suplexing range," Taylor hisses at Ichigo.
"Why do you always go straight to threats!? Just act like a normal person! Even the other guy thinks you're crazy!" Ichigo complains, throwing his hands angrily into the air.
"Um…" Orihime interrupts with a quizzical look on her face. "Who's… the other guy?" She asks meekly.
This seems to catch Ichigo off guard, because he shoots a glare at your Master that very clearly means 'shut up' before answering.
"Don't worry about that, just… here, hold still, okay?" Ichigo says gently to the girl, before turning expectantly to your Master.
Taylor, for her part, just rolls her eyes at him, before gesturing in Orihime's direction, enveloping her in a golden glow.
"It's… warm…" the girl muses dreamily, eyes crinkling into a deep, heartfelt smile as she looks up at Ichigo in thanks.
Which is a bit rude since he's not the one healing her, but, oh well.
Eventually, the girl falls asleep, and Ichigo is forced to gently disentangle her hand from his own before standing and leading your Master to another hospital room.
This one with drastically more machinery beeping along inside of it.
It becomes clear why that is shortly after entering the room, however—because the oversized dark-skinned boy in the middle of it all is very definitively critically injured.
"This one is far worse off," Taylor says, examining the boy with a practiced eye for a moment before applying some more Chi Healing to him.
"But you can fix him, right?" Ichigo asks nervously.
Your Master shrugs.
"Almost certainly. If thou wish, I will even empower thy friends with Aura," she says, voice becoming solicitous.
"…What's Aura—no, what's the catch?" Ichigo asks shrewdly.
"Defeat me. Surely, the two of you—so much larger than myself—cannot stomach such pathetic loss for long?" Taylor says, her eyes narrowing in highly pleased slits.
Ichigo's best response is a loud groan that, for some reason, sounds as though it is coming out in stereo.
Misery for two, you suppose.