poison_puppet | RL: Tutoring post [backdated]

Himiko sat in the Honky Tonk, sipping coffee and waiting for any one of her numerous tutors to appear. The skinny woman lounged in one of the booths, watching the door, surrounded by various last minute study guides.

The man behind the counter would smile at anyone who would walk through that door. After all, Himiko generally brought in paying customers and kept up on her tab, unlike his most loyal - and broke - patrons, Ginji and Ban.

((RL open to anyone on Himiko's world, and any one who wants to show up at the Honky Tonk to help her study.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

poison_puppet

"That's probably a good idea. I've worked with some of this stuff while making my perfumes, but the chemical names just make my head spin." She smiled sheepishly, and pulled out a notebook and a chemistry text.

Himiko herself knew little about it, beyond that it linked her to an ancient clan of "Witches" that had been persecuted throughout the centuries. She herself had rid herself of the "curse" in an attempt to avoid similar persecution, with mixed success.

From:

screwloose

"You make perfume?" Stein asked interestedly.

He flipped open the book and began explaining how chemical names worked, how you broke them down into pieces to understand the chemical nature of the compound in question.

From:

poison_puppet

She nods. "That's the talent I gained from my Curse. When I got rid of the Curse, the knowledge on how to make normal perfumes remained, even though I couldn't make my poison perfumes anymore."

Himiko listened intently, scribbling notes in the notebook and asking questions from time to time. It was far easier to learn from Stein than the dry texts.

From:

screwloose

He finished up the chapter of the textbook, then flipped it closed, thinking it was time to take a break.

Especially since he was still thinking about what she'd said before they got down to work.

"So...you said something about a Curse?" he asked. "What's that all about?"

From:

poison_puppet

Himiko was about to say something foolish, but she didn't know it yet. The community was so accepting, sometimes it was hard to remember that other community members came from different backgrounds and might not always understand

"I'm the last of a line of Witches. Which means I've been persecuted as one of the "Last Children" since I was born." She pauses. "As in I was set to be sacrificed until my brother stole me when I was a baby." A shrug, and then she continues. "My blood is Cursed, which gave me my powers over perfume, but I don't really have the connection to my heritage that my cousin does since I was raised on the run with my brother. I probably should feel more guilty about giving it all up but...my powers only gave me trouble and meant that a lot of people were trying to kill me.

"That's what this is all about, you know?" She gestured at the table. "I'm trying to not be what I used to be, and maybe find myself a future in normality. Its not working all that well, though."

She smiled wanly, and the tole 'giving up her heritage' would be obvious to any doctor. Her body was rejecting the new blood and slowly self destructing...even if she would not admit it to herself.

From:

screwloose

Stein's eyebrows shot up at the mention of witches, and he stared at her with obvious fascination as she explained her story. A witch who was set to be sacrificed, and who'd rejected her heritage.

He pushed his glasses up his nose with a finger and they flashed in the light as he extended his senses towards her. For a moment it felt literally like he was literally undressing her with his gaze, a physical, uncomfortable, invasive feeling as he looked right into her soul and took measure of it.

It wasn't quite the same as a witch soul from his own world, but he could see the differences from a human soul, nevertheless. "That's fascinating," he said, his voice more of a low, eager purr. "How did you manage to give up your powers?"

From:

poison_puppet

She shivered, visibly uncomfortable at his look. He reminded her of Kagame, and that similarity was hardly a pleasant one. Had she been in full control of her powers she might have been able to guess what he had done, but instead she interpreted his stare as his way of reinterpreting her, fixing the transporter into a new category.

"I'm not quite sure, actually. There's a guy on the community, Kuronue, who offered to wish away my Curse. He did it by making a thousand paper cranes."

Himiko pauses, and pulls an origami crane from her satchel. Inscribed on one of the wings is "378" in her handwriting.

"It seemed silly at the time, but it somehow worked. Except now I've go all of these weird side effects. But its better to be sick and have a future, than be healthy with everyone and his brother trying to kill you, right?"

From:

screwloose

The feeling faded as he let his eyes drop to the crane and stopped using the Soul Gaze. He nodded thoughtfully. He'd never seen magic like that, but little surprised him.

"What about healthy and having a future?" he asked, returning his gaze to her. "Maybe I can help with more than just tutoring."

From:

poison_puppet

She relaxed when he averted his gaze, trying not to mention how uncomfortable it had made her feel. A stare couldn't hurt, right?

"Really?" Her face brightened back up at the thought of no longer being ill. "None of the doctors around here have been any help."

At least, none of the doctors that she had been able to afford, but Himiko refrained from mentioning that bit of information. Stein was treating her far better than any of the doctors in the various hospitals she had been brought to - and she already respected him for it.

From:

screwloose

"Sure, of course," Stein said, his face relaxing into a bright smile. "I'd be happy to help. Why don't you come to my laboratory one of these days and I'll give you a proper examination, see if I can figure out how to help you."

Of course, once he had her on his table, he intended to do a little exploring. But nothing that wouldn't heal, eventually.

He glanced around thoughtfully. "In the meantime, you mentioned something about this Forbidden City. Do you think we might be able to check it out today?"

From:

poison_puppet

"Uh...sure!" She agreed, despite the memory of his last 'examination' she had seen. Surely he wouldn't put one of his students under the knife quite so readily...right?

"The Limitless Fortress is pretty close to here. And we've still got time to check it out before it gets dark, if we hurry." She chattered as she packed up her books and notebooks. "Makubex hes cleaned the place up quite a bit since the last time I was there, but if we're going, we still should be careful." She pulled her perfume satchel out, half full of some of her last 'catalyst' perfumes, and strapped it around her waist.

From:

screwloose

He beamed at her ready agreement. She might be regretting it once she looked at his laboratory - most people seemed to, for some reason.

As she got up, he also stood and turned the bolt in his head a couple of times. "Well, by all means let's not hang around here, then," he said eagerly. "I've been looking forward to checking it out ever since you mentioned it."

From:

poison_puppet

Himiko smiled back rather innocently. Admittedly, her illness was getting worse, and she was eager for any hope of recovery - even if an operation required a strange lab and a sizable portion of pain.

She hefted the bag and lead the way out the door, tipping Paul and nodding to Natsumi as she left. Her motorcycle was parked out front.

"Would you prefer the side car, or the back seat?" She asked with a smile.

From:

screwloose

Stein glanced at the motorcycle and considered the question. "Well, I'm flexible," he said with a laugh. "But I think the back seat would look a lot less ridiculous."

Though she wasn't as young compared to him as he had been during the virus, the thought of wrapping his arms around her seemed a little inappropriate. But Stein had never really let inappropriateness stop him, anyway. And the side car would make him look silly.

From:

poison_puppet

Himiko grinned back, nodding her head in agreement. "Most of my partners say that. Climb on." She handed him a helmet and ran an eye over the cycle before climbing up herself. The bookbag was dumped into the sidecar, then Himiko smiled. There was little she enjoyed more than riding her motorcycle. Especially when she had someone to share the feeling with (she didn't mind Steins hands. He was hardly the first man to sit behind her on her favorite toy.)

She hoped his patched lab coat wouldn't get torn in the wind they struck up.

From:

screwloose

Stein frowned at the helmet, then tossed it back into the sidecar. "Safety's important," he said. "But I'll be okay. It won't fit over this." He tapped two fingers against the bolt in his head.

He slid on behind Himiko and wrapped his arms around her. He'd driven motorcycles before at times, but not very often, and he anticipated this almost as much as the destination. His labcoat whipped behind him like a white cloak as they drove.

From:

poison_puppet

"Suit yourself" her shrug seemed to say, then she flipped the key and they were off speeding down the road. The Transporter ignored the various speed limits and threaded through the Tokyo traffic with ease. Which is not to say she wasn't careful - there was an obvious expertise to her driving and she avoided 'showing off' her skill.

The Limitless Fortress grew before them, a giant half-completed building obscuring the sky. It could be seen from the Honky Tonk, and it grew even larger as they approached. Himiko stopped a fair distance from the outskirts of the slums surrounding it, knowing that any nearer and her motorcycle would be gone by the time they returned.

"We can walk from here."

From:

screwloose

Despite the lack of a helmet, Stein was comfortable and mostly relaxed as they threaded through the traffic. He could tell immediately that Himiko was good at this, and his fingers only tightened a couple of times against her skin when she made particularly hair raising turns.

As he got off the motorcycle, he looked up at the Limitless Fortress. He lit up a cigarette as he gazed upwards.

"Let's go, then," he said, a little more serious than before. He was mentally preparing himself for a fight already. "So what is it? Some kind of slum?"

From:

poison_puppet

"Not quite. Himiko explained. "The area around it certainly is. But once you get inside...odd things start happening. The whole place is wired for Virtual Reality - to the extent that there are people there who can't go out into the 'real world' or they'd disappear. And when people with a power like mine go into the Fortress our powers get upped."

She lead the way through twisting streets filled with garbage - both literal trash and human-shaped, aiming for an entrance that she remembered.

"The whole place started off as an Experiment for this shady organization called "Brain Trust" for who knows what reason. They all live up there" She pointed to the highest part of the Limitless Fortress "And mess with all of the unfortunates who end up within these walls. They say that The Limitless Fortress is the place to go when you need to disappear from the 'real' world a bit. I've been there a few times for that reason. Most of the people like me have ended up there at one time or another. Not very many of us stay. Its a hard place to live."

Kazuki, Ban, Ginji...even Akabane had ties to the Limitless Fortress. And the Brain Trust was intimately involved with the Last Children, meaning that Himiko herself was involved with the story of the monstrous building. But she couldn't deny the flush of excitement she felt at returning to it. She had friends who lived within its walls, and it was always an interesting challenge to survive its streets.

From:

screwloose

Stein followed her, smoking his cigarette and keeping an eye out. He seemed utterly relaxed now, but there was a wariness around his grey eyes that belied the casual way he slouched along, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his cigarette.

He was ready if they got mugged, and didn't know exactly how capable Himiko was, given she'd already told him she was trying to get rid of her Witch powers.

"Virtual reality," he echoed thoughtfully. "And it amplifies Witch powers. And other kinds of powers?" he asked. He wondered if it would work on his own, too.

From:

poison_puppet

"Oh, I should have mentioned. Only Ban and I have powers stemming from Witch Blood. But almost everyone in the Underground businesses has some kind of inherited talent. I've got a friend who can talk to animals, Ginji can use electricity and a bunch of people have inherited weapons. Just about any 'power' you can think of is increased here. Oh, just a second - "

A man appeared from an ally. "Hey little girl~ Wanna -" Himiko moved without thinking, slamming a fist into a pressure point, leaving him slumped on the ground. She turned, glaring around at the apparently vacant windows and doors around them.

"I am the Lady Poison, friend to Makubex of the Limitless Fortress." Her words were a challenge and a warning - one well heard as there was a silent shift of observers away from them.

"Sorry about that. Generally people don't mess with anyone of power until inside the Fortress. We must be close enough that the street punks are cocky enough to try their own powers. But no one wants to mess with the King of Lower Town - we should be safe until we get inside."

From:

screwloose

Stein raised his eyes to look. He'd sensed the approach of people, but he was impressed by how quickly and decisively Himiko had reacted. The souls he sensed were properly cowed and moved away.

"No problem," he said, his eyes moving curiously from side to side was they continued. "You know, if you really want to continue your education, there is a school that I'm sure would be happy to have you."

From:

poison_puppet

"Really?" Himiko beamed. "I'd love to go back to school. Before that weird virus, I never though school could be so much fun! But..." She sighed slightly. "Even if I wasn't too old, I don't make enough to take off eight hours a day to go to school."

She stopped in front of a door in a chipped concrete wall. Her fingers instinctively fell onto one of her poison vials as she cautiously opened the door. One could not be too careful when entering into the Limitless Fortress.

"Here we are." She whispered under her breath, taking a moment to prepare herself before walking through the door. She had yet to return to the Fortress since she had lost her powers.

Still, to a man like Stein who could sense souls, there might be a discernible difference in Himiko once she walked through the door. Her poisons became more potent, and stride a little steadier - and if this could be possible - her soul larger. She had not lied when she said power levels inexplicably increased inside the Brain Trust's experiment.

From:

screwloose

"Shibusen is a special school," Stein said quietly, following along. "If you're accepted, you work for them, and you don't need another job. They can provide room and board. All Shinigami-sama wants in return is the souls you collect." He shrugged. "I think you'd make an excellent meister."

He stopped in front of the door, looked up at it, then stepped through. He paused as he felt his soul - already more than six feet in diameter compared to the few inches of most people's - expanded. It was a rush and an eager light ignited in his eyes again. "Well, well, you weren't kidding."

From:

poison_puppet

"Shibusen - that's where you work, right? Don't you have to have special powers to go there?" Himiko looked curious as she spoke to him, even as she scanned the cavernous room they had entered. There did not appear to be any 'welcoming committees' - something that only could be attributed to the fact that this was an unannounced and unplanned 'mission' into the Fortress.

"Yeah. From here on out things might get a little...weird." Himiko almost apologized but she recognized the light in his eyes. She had seen it many times in Doctor Jackal's face.

From:

screwloose

Stein nodded, then shook his head at her question. "If you want to be a weapon, you have to have that gift," he said. "But meisters are generally just regular kids. Some of them do have special powers, like me, but all you really have to have is the strength of heart to train, and the ability to trust one's weapon completely." He cocked his head. "The weapon's chosen to be someone you're compatible with, too, so that helps."

He smiled. "I like weird."

From:

poison_puppet

"Would it be possible for someone like me - someone from another world - to develop powers like yours?" She asks while walking cautiously through the columns of the under-fortress.

"Then you'll be right at home here." She says as she leads the way through a maze of corridors.

From:

screwloose

"I have no idea," Stein said honestly, taking a drag from his cigarette and letting out a cloud of smoke. "We've never accepted a student from another world before. Soul Perception is genetic - you either have it, or you don't. But as you train and your soul gets more powerful, you might discover you have abilities no one else does. Wielding a weapon amplifies the innate abilities you have, so you never know."

From:

poison_puppet

The transporter thought about this. "What kind of people are these 'weapons'? Do they just become scythes, or can they become other kinds of weapons as well? And -" She paused, scanning the room a final time. "would it be possible that my powers might come back if I worked with a weapon?"

She opens another door, and emerges into a sunlit street.

From:

screwloose

"Each Weapon becomes their own kind of weapon," Stein assured her. "Anything from a gun to a knife to a flame thrower. And as for your powers, anything's possible at this point. It depends on exactly what happened to rob you of them in the first place."

He paused as they stepped into the street, a hand shooting out as he lifted his head to scan their surroundings. "I think someone's coming."

((Standard ambush? XD))

From:

poison_puppet

"So I won't really know what kind of weapon I'd get until I'd meet them. That's cool." A pause, and then she explained. "I don't really understand how I lost my powers, beyond the fact that someone wished them away and the loss has made me sick."

Yet her illness was far from apparent as her body tensed in preparation for the attack. She trusted Steins warning instinctively, treating him as any other job partner. He allowed her the time to mentally prepare herself before the thugs appeared from around the corner, and for that she was grateful.

Himiko's eyes narrowed, and she tugged a bottle of flame-perfume from her sash. "Didn't think news would travel that fast. Better be careful, Dr. Stein. People here have strange powers." She uncorked the bottle, then warned him again. "The wind is with us, but still be careful not to breath any of this stuff." With that she blew the perfume towards their attackers. Any who inhaled it collapsed, coughing small flames as the perfume seared their throats.

From:

screwloose

Stein nodded. "That's right," then frowned. "Well, hopefully we can shed some light on that, eventually."

He watched as she used the perfume, impressed. Then, sensing more foes coming up behind them, he turned and put his back to her. He cracked his neck to one side, his eyes eager, and darted forward, taking down their foes with accurate and devastating jabs of his hands and feet.

Martial arts wasn't his first choice, but he was definitely good at it.

From:

poison_puppet

Just like Stein, Himiko's area of expertise was not pure street fighting. Yet she darted through their attackers quickly, attempting to conserve her magically-driven perfumes as much as possible. Part of her was glad the thugs were just the low level bruits of the Fortress, easy enough to defeat, even though they were tougher than the punks outside.

She allowed herself occasional glances at Stein, impressed at his skill. For some one who taught biology the man was amazing at fighting. If the school he spoke of taught that level of mastery along with the more mundane subjects, she was very interested.

From:

screwloose

There was a reason people referred to Stein as the best meister in the history of the school. Though he didn't have a Weapon at the moment, he was still in excellent physical form and a vicious fighter.

Though these thugs weren't good enough to inspire him to the heights of his abilities, his residual curiosity about the Infinite Fortress itself carried him through the short battle.

Finally he let the last thug fall with a thud to the ground, gave him a passing kick to the kidneys to make sure he stayed there, and then walked back to Himiko, puffing on his cigarette.

"That was fun," he said, cracking his bruised knuckles before sticking his hands in his pockets.