40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Rose
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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:31 pm

Saera leisurely stretched her arms over her head as she walked towards the Senkaimon Gate, warming her muscles up for what was likely to be a long day out doing a basic patrol, maybe kill a few spiritual predators if she was lucky, but other than that she expected today to be pretty dull. Normally she would have at least taken some solace in the fact that the day seemed comfortably overcast at least, enough sun to keep everything comfortable, but with enough cloud cover to keep said sun out of her eyes, but unfortunately the weather in Soul Society and the weather in the Living Realm were distinctly separate from each other.

Rather quickly Saera noticed the woman who she was supposed to be partnering with for this run, a rather tall, well built woman standing in front of the Senkaimon Gate who bowed and greeted her. Saera nodded her head in response,

"Saera Kirin, fourth Division. I assume as much, seein' as we're the only ones here and this is when I was told ta meet up with someone."

Saera turned to look at the gate for a moment before turning back to Hanako. "Good ta meetcha, though we've got the whole trip ahead of us to get ta know each other, so what do ya say we get this mess started huh?"

Ame no ko
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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Wed Dec 16, 2020 3:19 am

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

“No argument from me.” Hanako said and the right side of her mouth curled up to a crooked smile when she realised that her partner found this occasion about as fascinating as Hanako.
Thunder rolled through the sky, much closer now than just a few moments ago. Hana looked up. The clouds grew thicker and a strong wind began tugging at her hakama, but it wasn’t raining yet.

She looked down again at Saera. So, a Fighting Fourth would be her partner. She really had the air of a fighter, of someone who had seen and done much. She had to revise her first impression, of that of a marathon runner, now that she could examine Saera up close. Although she was all lean, she didn’t have that fragility. No, nothing on her was fragile. It was hard, like steel cable, knitted to form a woman. It showed that there were many different types of people, many different body types. Hanako was something of a contrast: 6 inches taller, a lot heavier and bulkier, although nothing out of proportion.
Hanako made a mental note to maybe ask Saera for a sparring session when they were back.

She walked towards the gate and nodded towards the Shinigami that was operating the Senkaimon. He nodded back. The gateway opened and the blindingly white light flooded outwards. She stepped forward and it encompassed her, took her in. Just a moment before she finally disappeared from the Seireitei, she heard something rather disquieting. It was the gate operator outside.

“Uh oh.”

Then the Seireitei disappeared and immediately Hanako felt swept away, like being caught in a giant waterfall. What was that? This wasn’t normal? She never felt…
As if someone had kicked her in the chest, the air was driven from her lungs and she couldn’t suck in any more. Something pressed on her, like all worlds combined sitting on her back. Something tugged on her eyeballs. She tried to scream but couldn’t. Then everything changed and she felt like being ground to a fine powder, about to be blown away into eternity and….

...and then it stopped. Hanako fell hard to the floor, a hard and cold floor. She realised instantly, that the whole ordeal hadn’t lasted more than a second, although it had felt like an eternity. With a moan she sucked in air. It was cold, smelled of moisture and salt. And metal. And something else she didn’t recognize.
Her eyes hurt and she rubbed them with her palms.

“That. Was. Unpleasant.” she said, emphasising every word. When she sat up and opened her eyes she could barely see anything. It was almost completely dark, only a few weak specs of light somewhere produced a gray twilight where she could at least see shapes. Right next to her was a body.

“Saera, are you okay?” she said, softly touching the body. It was Saera, alright, but her face was covered in shadow and Hanako couldn’t see if she was awake.

Coding Altered From: [The Frost]

Rose
Starter Member: Joined : 2020-09-13
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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Thu Jan 14, 2021 10:24 pm

Light.

Darkness.

Impact.

Pain.

Cold.

Saera groaned, more out of frustration than anything else, as her body catogorized the sensations she'd just been blasted with. Two things were for sure, Senkaimon travel was not supposed to function like that, and whenever Saera got back to the Seiretei she was going to hunt down the bastard who had been operating the gate and show him that just because joints weren't supposed to bend in particular directions didn't mean that they wouldn't bend that way with the right... encouragement. It only took a moment for Saera to realize one other, very important fact, wherever she, and presumably Hanako, had wound up, it wasn't where they were meant to be, considering she was currently face down on some kind of metal surface, with the creaking and groaning of some kind of structure surrounding her along with a steady dripping sound she couldn't identify.

Saera pushed herself up with a groan when she heard Hanako trying to talk to her, opening her eyes to take in the somewhat distressingly dark, dank, and very close confines of whatever they were in before turning to face her partner for this mission.

"Ah'm fine. Pissed as all hell, but fine. What about yerself?" Almost as an afterthought she added, "Also, any idea where the hell we are, or what the hell we're in?"

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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Fri Jan 15, 2021 8:17 am

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

Hanako let out a silent sigh of relief.

“Same.” she said in answer to Saera’s first question and meant both pissed and fine.

“No, no idea.” she said, answering the second question. “Doesn’t look like any location I’ve ever been to. Collapsed mine shafts included.”

She thought about the time when she was trapped in a mine that somehow suppressed her spiritual powers. That had been a very unpleasant experience as well. But back then she at least knew where she was and how she got there. This time.

She raised her hand, concentrated for a second and created a small energy ball to create some illumination. In the pale, icy blue light Hanako’s little sphere gave off, the two women could see that they were in some sort of tube. A metal tube. Specifically they were at a t-junction of two tubes. To the right and left they went on for about six meters, then they ended in what looked like pressurised doors. In front of them the tube was about eight meters long and the door on that end was slightly ajar. Also, some of the sparse light that had illuminated the corridor before Hanako had created her own light was falling through the crack in the door.

With a quick gesture she extinguished the energy orb and stood up. While doing that she supported herself on the curved wall. It was more of an unconscious movement, but Hanako stopped and looked at the wall.

“Cold and damp.” she muttered. Aloud she said: “That door there is open. Let’s see if we can find out where we are.”

She walked towards that door, slowly, silently, one hand on her sword. But she couldn’t hear or feel anything moving beyond that door, so she peeked in.

“No one here.” she said and opened the door wide enough for her to slip through.

The room beyond was dimly lit, but compared to the darkness of the tube outside it was bright. It was round, about ten meters in diameter and three meters high, and on the walls curved some workbenches, loaded with equipment, computers and lots of stuff Hanako couldn’t identify. Vis-a-vis to the door they had come through was another one, slightly ajar as well. In the ceiling and floor, smack in the middle of the room, was a hatch each and a ladder that ran through the whole height of the room.
On the walls were several round windows, but Hanako didn’t notice them or much of the other contents of the room, since something had caught her eye. She went to one of the workbenches. Some tools lay scattered on the plastic surface, roughly framing in a piece of fabric. It was some kind of overall, made from a strong rubbery material. A large tear went through the fabric, over the chest of the overall. It’s edges were soaked in dried blood.

“Oh great.” muttered Hanako. She wanted to say something to Saera but then she heard voices from the second door.

Coding Altered From: [The Frost]

Rose
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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Wed Jan 27, 2021 11:13 pm

Saera grumbled under her breath as she pushed herself off, not caring about the fact that her simmering anger at the gate messing up so badly was bleeding over into her zanpakutou, causing frost to begin creeping across the metal floor, spreading out slowly from any place Saera either touched the metal or got a bit to close. Looking around at the hall they found themselves in, Saera's frown deepened, wherever they were, it wasn't likely that just busting out of the place would be a good option here. Humans just didn't build structures like this if there wasn't a reason to be conserving space and to keep themselves closed off. Best case scenario, they were underground somewhere, hopefully just in the basement of a normally above ground facility, worst case wherever they were was actively hostile to human life, and likely not to friendly to spiritual life either.

Shaking off her concerns Saera nodded towards Hanako when she suggested they try and find out where they were by exploring the place, and made to follow her through the open door. They found themselves in a cramped workroom of some sort with a ladder leading up to a hatch in the ceiling right in the middle of the room, but Saera didn't pay much attention to what was on the tables themselves, her attention immediately grabbed by the windows.

Not underground then, no reason to have windows that just look into rock, unless this is some kind of observation chamber, but the windows are too small...

Something distressing began to wriggle in the back of Saera's mind, a memory of having heard of some kind of... vehicle? Regardless, whatever she was remembering, it made her gut turn. Saera purposefully made her way to the windows, using the dim light to get something of a view out of them, and froze.

Floodlight's illuminated the outside area, lighting up a scene of strange, almost otherworldly creatures crawling slowly across a sandy floor, strange rock formations rising up almost randomly around them, but far more disturbing were the small flecks of flotsam floating by in the light, flotsam that was soon joined by slowly growing chunks of ice and slush.

Saera jerked back in shock and pulled the rein's in on her power hard She'd frozen whisky in it's glass before when she wasn't bothering to keep a leash on her anger, and she knew that ocean water froze well above that temperature, and she did not want to test the integrity of a submarine that suddenly found sheets of ice growing on it.

"Oh shit." Saera spoke up at almost the exact same time as Hanako did, and like Hanako, she cut herself off as she whirled to face the door where she suddenly heard voices coming from, instinctively reaching for her zanpakutou before snatching her hand away and assuming a hand-to-hand combat stance. She absolutely could not afford to release her zanpakutou while in this sub, so she'd be stuck with hand to hand, and maybe some kido if she could avoid breaking the walls with it, so with those thoughts in mind she tensed, waiting for conflict, or whatever else would come through those doors.

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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Fri Jan 29, 2021 4:53 am

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

Hanako saw that Saera refrained from drawing her sword. She could understand her reasoning, or what she thought was Saera’s reasoning. The space was very limited, but still, not too much. With it’s diameter of a little bit over 30 feet it was manageable. Still...better safe than sorry.

Hanako loosened Bakumusha in it’s sheath, but didn’t draw, then she pressed herself against the wall next to the door. The voices became louder.

“...still don’t know what that was. And as long as we don’t know, the boss says nobody goes outside.”

“But…”

“Stop pestering me! It is not my decision!”

The voice sounded angry and shortly after the door swung open. A dark figure appeared, turned immediately towards Hanako and reached for her. His hand went lower and for a moment Habako thought 'That pervert wants to grab my b…'
And then he flipped a switch that was directly next to her on the walk. Lights went on and bathed the whole room in bright, uncomfortable light. Now Hanako could see that it was a man, probably human, of generally very unimpressive features. He was middle aged and everything as common as could be. He wore a blue overall and had a folder in his hands.

Also he looked right at Hanako. She stared back, prepared to say something, when he turned away and went into the room. She was so astonished, that she didn’t move for a moment. Meanwhile a second person, a younger man, entered the room. He ignored both of the Shinigami as well.

Hanako searched Saera’s gaze and when she found it she shrugged and mouthed silently a question. What is going on here?

With an audible click Bakumusha was properly sheathed again. But still, there was no reaction. A suspicion began to grow in Hanako and she stepped forward.

“Excuse me?”

Nothing.

“Hallo? Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

She turned towards her colleague, honest surprise on her face.

“Huh, who would have thought…” she said and there was as much surprise in her voice as was on her face.
“Spiritually unaware humans. I thought most of them could see us. What is this place?”

A faint vibration went through walls, floor and ceiling. It manifested as an almost inaudible sound, like a very low hum. Hanako didn’t notice anything, but the humans suddenly went pale and silent and exchanged a meaningful gaze. Then they turned and hastily made for the door they just had come through. Hanako had to do a little jump to the side to not collide with one of them. She had no idea if unaware humans could pass through souls, she had actually never met one.

The looks on the faces of the two humans concerned her and she nodded towards Saera. They should probably follow them.

“This is getting stranger by the minute. There was something like a torn and bloody overall on that workbench, those two humans can’t see us and we’re in some cold, dark structure. Have you seen anything that could help?” she asked Saera.

Coding Altered From: [The Frost]

Rose
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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:41 pm

Saera watched with as much fascination as she could muster between her still rising anger at the idiot that had put them in this situation, panic about what the consequences of her letting loose might be in this situation, and her desperate attempts to clamp down on her spiritual pressure so as not to break the fucking tin can they were trapped in while the humans bustled about. Saera could definitely admit that Hanako had a point, spiritually unaware humans were a major oddity now, and something about the idea of spiritually unaware humans and a strange structure on the bottom of the sea set some warning bells off in the back of her mind, though she didn't know why.

Eventually though the group left, though the obvious panic that gripped the men when the structure shook did absolutely nothing to help Saera's swiftly fraying nerves.

Saera nodded back to Hanako when she motioned that they should follow behind them, then fell in next to the taller woman. As they followed the group she responded to her partner's question.

"Useful? No. Problematic? Hell yes. Ah took a look out that window, and ya know what I saw?" Saera didn't give Hanako a chance to respond as she pushed forward, "The floor of the Soul King Damned ocean! With shit floatin' on by the lights through the water. We're in either a sub or some kind of underwater structure, and it's probably the worst place possible someone could've sent me. I'm actively havin' to suppress my spiritual power since I have a habit of freezin' shit when I'm worked up, which could be disastrous if I let it get out of control, and forget about releasing my zanpakutou. I'd pop this damn thing like a metal bubble. We're in some shit Hanako."

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Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Sat Feb 06, 2021 3:58 am

The Big Woman

Hanako Yamada

Hanako looked at Saera, bewildered and increasingly concerned.

"The ocean? How...why?"

She knew that these questions were purely rhetorical. Even if any one of the two would understand enough of senkaimon to figure out what went wrong, it wouldn't be of much use if they couldn't get back.

Hanako suddenly stopped dead.

"Wait a moment. We haven't tried to open a gate back home. Could it really ve so easy?"

She quickly drew her sword. For a second she stared at it, wondering why she hadn't thought of it sooner. With a shrug she concentrated, thrust it forward into the air and with an "Open!"-command from her turned it a quarter turn clockwise.

Nothing happened. No light, no paper doors, nothing. Just cold and damp into which Hanako held a sword.

"Nice…just nice."

Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. It reminded her vividly of the episode when she was caught underground in an abandoned mineshaft that somehow suppressed spiritual powers. Back then she befriended Yuukinan and Ikari. Both Saera and Hanako could probably use a cheerful companion like Ikari right now.
The thought lightened Hanako's mood a bit.

"Well, maybe it is not all bad." She said slowly and thoughts began to form in her mind while she spoke.

"This freezing ability...how precise can it be directed? Could it freeze the water just outside solid to form a shell, if need be? I am no expert in such things, but frozen water is solid and you can't drown in solids, can you?"

She shrugged. The mechanics of a deep sea and the structural integrity of underwater structures hadn't really been part of the academy curriculum.

"I think your ability might actually be able to save us, if things should go south. But maybe it's better to be careful. Can I do something to help you?"

She thought about her own abilities. She was a little bit more comfortable with her Zanpakuto, now, but still had much to learn.

"I am afraid my abilities aren't worth much down here. If I release my Zanpakuto it becomes a really large sword that can be swung around on a chain. Not really optimal for cramped confines. But maybe we don't need to worry too much. These humans here are in far more danger from practically everything than we are. They must have some means of escape. Let us see if we can find it."

Mentioning the humans made another problem aware to Hanako: the humans themselves. Saera and her would maybe able to survive damage to this structure, were maybe able to escape by other means. But those fragile mortal beings were basically dead if anything happened to the metal that separated them from the icy water outside.

The ocean, bottom of it, no less. What were the humans doing here anyway?

The next room they came in was as big as the previous, about 10 meters in diameter. On the left and right were doors, and on the wall opposite to them an impressive array of screens and controls. It showed the ocean floor, further structures and several pieces of equipment, meant for drilling and other applications. Most of it meant nothing to Hanako.

"Can you make anything of this?" She muttered to Saera.

In front of the screen were a man and a woman sitting in chairs and the two men they were following were standing next to them and talking to them. They were almost screaming and both simultaneously so that it was impossible to understand a single word.

Coding Altered From: [The Frost]

Rose
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Posts : 55

Re: 40 Fathoms (Saera, Hanako)

Tue Feb 23, 2021 9:15 pm

Saera's eye began to twitch, because of fucking course they couldn't leave using normal methods. No, that would be to easy, that would mean that the soon to be deader-than-normal gate operator had managed to avoid screwing at least one element of this mother fucking situation to hell and back. Why would anyone expect that?

Saera shook of her rising anger, bringing a tight grip back to her power as she noticed frost creeping away from her again, and looked at Hanako, who was asking her a question about...oh, how much control she had of the ice.

"Well, ah have complete control when I release my Shikai, at least within a certain range, so Ah could probably use it to push us and whatever the hell we're in, assumin' o'course that this thing ain't attached to the ground somehow, which we'd probably be able to deal with, but it'd be a helluva lot harder. And ta be totally honest, Ah'm not sure how useful my weapon itself'd be in these cramped halls, a polearm's not exactly designed for small halls ya ken?"

Sometime during their conversation the topic of the humans came up again, and something Saera had previously missed suddenly jumped out at her, so as they moved to the next room where the humans were she voiced a very different concern than Hanako's.

"Ya know, you said somethin' about spiritually unaware humans bein' extremely rare an' whatnot, so Ah have a question. If They're so rare, why are a bunch of them all together, down here? Ah don't think it's a coincidence that everyone down here, that we've run into at least, is unaware. Either they came down here knowing that about themselves, or someone sent a bunch of unaware humans down here, by themselves, where they can't get any help if somethin' that they just happen ta be totally unable to detect were to come at 'em. Ah don't like this."

Saera looked over the shoulder of the humans, then looked around the room, "As for all o' this? Ah can't make heads or tails of what they're talkin' about or what's on those screens, but this looks like a drillin' operation of some sort, which also don't sit right. Ah may not be in touch with the human world, but Ah'm pretty sure drillin' platforms have their crew stationed above water, not below."

Saera turned and looked Hanako right in the eyes, "Somethin's rotten here, and Ah don't like it."