Doctor Know - Open

Vance was sitting in his hotel and toying with a number of small gizmos. His gun and sword were on the table, and so were a number of other odds and ends. While Vance's personality made him bad at being a Quincy, it made him pretty darn good at fiddling with things that Quincy used. Today was no different, he was working on a pair of gloves, though he didn't know for who. He didn't usually ask, he just made them. Unfortunately it took him a while to gather the materials that were required for making Quincy items because Vance couldn't just summon Reishi.

He looked down the barrel of his gun before sliding it back into place and moving the holding pin to the bottom of the handle. He was careful but not fast, as he never really liked rushing things. He could have stripped it probably in three to five seconds if he really wanted. He finished cleaning the weapon and applied a bit of frog lube before sliding the chamber out and pressing his distinct bullets into the chamber.

He went back to weaving power into the form for the gloves for the next few hours before stretching and looking at a clock on the wall. He had used a good part of his day crafting and figured it was time to go out. Vance grabbed his coat and slid his gun into it's holster before taking the large bag that had his smaller case for his sword with him. As usual, he filled out on Ginto and shots and headed out of his hotel room and wandered off towards the Interpol building.

It wasn't a long walk, but it didn't take Vance very long to realize, the air seemed a little to still for him. He looked around, not really sure what he was looking for, but still thinking it to be out there before shrugging.

Sol chewed absently on the wrapper of an ice cream sandwich. Its contents were long gone when he found it but the vagrant needed something to get rid of the cottonmouth he was experiencing. Such was the side effects of some of the drugs he took, half the time he wasn’t even paying attention to which was which. Was it the little orange pills or the red ones with the tiny letters he couldn’t quite make out?

The one, uno, with the thing. Does little to quiet, TIKHO, the sword and shield, the time de eğlence! Beware, see it? It skitters, daudana, seizes what is yours, da a los muchos.

Scratching his head furiously in response to the sudden whispers in his head, Sol sifted through his bag as he slid down the wall of an alleyway that rarely got any foot traffic. He finally pulled out a small baggy that had one blue pill left. The vagrant could vaguely recall that one made everything numb. After that, he wouldn’t even need to worry about the dry mouth anymore. Two birds, one stone.

SKITTER! SKITTER!

Whispering shifted into roaring screams, Sol clutching his head and dropping the bag. Eyes darting about, he reached out for the baggy only to stop suddenly. A rat sat upon his knee, baggy in its creepy little hands. Though it looked odd for a rat. Like something had peeled the skin from its face. Just a skull with bits of white bone and odd markings strewn about its body.

“Alright...rat, drop it and I’ll consider not spit roasting you.” Sol threatened the creature though it came out hoarse. In response it looked down at the bag and then back up at him, whipping its tail in response and tearing a small gash into his knee.  

“Ow! You little...!” Sol shouted, trying to grab hold of it but failing as it darted all around him. Smacking his body, trying to catch it as he rolled around on the ground, it crawled up his face at one point and the vagrant foolishly clocked himself upside the head trying to get it.

It scampered off with speed faster than it should have, jiggling the bag in its hand as Sol stared at it. Rage was building, a wild look entering the vagrant’s eyes. Grinding his teeth, he picked up the nearest trash can and screamed at the creature, hurling the bin at it with full force. Scrambling out of the alleyway behind the rat, cursing and screaming at it all the while a hundred voices laughed at him in his head. Just ahead he saw a man carrying some kind of case, the rat running right at him.

“Hey, you! Stop that rat!”

Vance turned at the sound of "Hey You, Stop that Rat!" Vance blinked as he looked at the small dead rat. Vance grabbed the thing by its tail and dangled it. He held it head down as he realized he had dropped his case to grab it. He looked annoyed at that as he held the rat.

"Is this your rat?" He asked the half-monster looking young vagrant. He wasn't sure why he was holding a hollow rat. The demonic visage of a Quincy Crafter looked at the thing and made a weird face of disgust. He could have shot the thing, or used his sword but that would have cost valuable Reishi he didn't have much of. Plus, this guy seemed very interested in his pet(?) rat.

Vance was an odd one, if anyone understood him it would probably confuse them. He had always cheated. "Is there a reason you have a pet rat-like hollow? Does it attack on command? That would be pretty cool." Vance stated. It kind of would.

"What? No, that little douchebag has my dru...medicine." Sol quickly recovered, right eye tweaking ever so slightly as the voices continued to whisper. Smacking the side of his head a couple times, the vagrant marched over and snatched the bag from the rat's grubby little paws.

Squatting down, he emptied the contents of the bag into his mouth as if there was more than one little blue pill waiting within. Chewing on it with his mouth open and eyeing the man up and down, he thought he looked rather...odd. Sinister, even? Sol couldn't quite put his finger on it, the dryness in his mouth taking precedence over anything else. Again he glared at the rat as he shoved the empty bag into his pocket.

“What ya call this thing? A hollow rat? That a new breed or something?” Normally he wouldn’t be so bold to ask such questions. Normally he wouldn’t even bother uttering a word aside from a thank you. Making a sucking sound with his teeth as rubbed them with his pinky, he just realized that it might have been the orange pill. That one was nothing more than a caffeine pill but it did tend to make him chatty.

Vance watched the man take the bag from the rat with his medicine. He was starting to think anything that could see inter-dimensional beings was on drugs. Save for him, which was probably a good thing. Being an investigator, language artist and crafter gave you certain skills, in this case watching the subtle movements of the young man who he was sure was driven by some kind of madness.

Vance had seen things like that before, though hollow were a little odd but he really kind of hoped someone had trained a smaller hollow to do things. That would have been pretty awesome. “What ya call this thing? A hollow rat? That a new breed or something?” Vance heard him ask and he shrugged as he reached down to his case again.

"I didn't name them, but that's an extra-dimensional masked monster people who can see called Hollow. They may or may not be neglected souls of the dead. They also can reproduce so logically who the heck knows. You should also stop taking those drugs, they're most likely inhibiting your ability to deal with them. Most humans that can see them can attack them as well." He stated looking at the rat.

He held the rat up and thought about that, he was going to use this rat as an experiment, maybe he could domesticate hollow. That would be pretty cool. "Name's Vance, and the next time you see a masked monster, I advise smashing it or something."

He listened as the well-dressed man talked. Tried to, at the very least. The empty sockets that were the rat's eyes just burrowed into him. Made Sol feel very anxious, like his body wanting to crawl out of its skin. Shaking his head, the vagrant tuned in at the mention of him stopping his wonderful intake of drugs.

Snorting in response though it sounded more like a gurgling chortle, Sol's head lolling to the side as he stood. Vance was pretty tall, the blue-eyed vagrant took note. Wiping his hand on his pants, he extended his hand when Vance introduced himself. Was it shake hands or was it bowing? Sol could barely keep track of where he was, let alone the proper mannerisms.

"I'm Sol. Sol? Yes, Sol.” He tried his best to hold his posture and stand with shoulders squared like he had been taught so long ago. In reality he was still slouching and his eyes had trouble locking onto any one thing. Something was still bothering him, a low din of voices clawing at the back of his mind to be heard. To be warned. Warned of this man or of something else, Sol tried to keep his thoughts in order and was failing miserably as the drug slowly set in.

Vance shook the mans hand, but wanted to wipe his own off after. He wasn't used to many pleasantries. Then again he usually sat at a desk writing reports from different countries and when he wasn't doing that he was making something. He then shifted to look at the rat again and wondered how he was going to put this to use. Vance had always been a bit odd and this was no exception to be sure.

"Pleasure to meet you Sol?" Vance said, his tone as questioning as the man who had introduced himself. Vance didn't hear voices, but the more people he met the more he was getting sure that sanity seemed relative around this place. He had met a human who had telepathy earlier, who knew what kind of thing this one might be dealing with.

Vance was fine with that, he didn't listen to voices, he wasn't crazy. At his core, Vance was a crafter, cheater and a gunfighter. Though in which order was questionable. He rubbed his eyes after putting his case down to get some lubricant on his contacts then rubbed at his chin. Something was nagging at him, though the MOMENT he thought about that, he heard the scream of a hollow from somewhere in the distance.

"Well, shit." He stated looking at Sol and wondering if he knew how to find it.

Skittering in the dark, one of many, many of one, not alone. Alone? Papa, the dark, it sets, the many hands, so greedy-MOMMY! I, she, him, no listen! Shut up! LISTEN! Hear them coming, many, so many...little eyes in the shadows. All in one, one in all.

"I...monsters. The masks, I've seen those. I think? Hard to remember, something keeps...you hear that too, don’t you?”  Sol asked, glazed eyes looking in the direction of the monstrous scream. A bellow from another world, something unearthly. Goosebumps broke out across his skin and the burn marks along his body began to ache. Yet that paled in comparison to the pain reverberating through his right eye, the tattered pupil shifting ever so slightly.

The rat in Vance’s hand suddenly began to thrash about violently, wanting to escape the grip of the demonic looking man.

“I don’t, no, we have to leave. I have to leave. Can’t...” The vagrant muttered, face twitching oddly with the combination of suddenly overwhelming fatigue and dizziness the drug brought on. He wanted more pills. Too much was happening. However something kept him in place as he couldn’t take his eyes away from the direction he felt the monster was.

Vance looked at the rat and wondered what to do with it as it scrambled. He needed a little more time to get it somewhere he could experiment with it. Which kind of pointed out the problem. Vance watched Sol?'s eye start twitching and that was beyond weird as he blinked and wondered what to do. He didn't like dealing with Hollow, it was technically someone else's job.

"The scream? I hear it, kind of hard to miss." Vance stated as he watched Sol stare in a random direction. Vance couldn't pinpoint hollow screams, but that was an explanation for someone else and another time. He looked up and in the same direction as the hollow materialized and he shrugged. He figured he would leave it to mister crazy or a black robed jock.

"So, go beat it up." Vance said, figuring he would come up with information based on what Sol did. Vance was evil and chaotic, but he wasn't a monster. He had very specific reasons he did anything. He had few cards to play so playing them was not something he wanted to do. Now it was mostly about figuring out what the human could do, Vance had come to the conclusion that most folklore was real because of humans and hollow. He looked at the elongated hollow fall on a building and watched it for a few seconds waiting for Sol to do something before he decided to open his case or pull his gun.

Writhing voices stirred within his mind, all chattering at once. It shook him from his lethargic state, a slew of different languages screaming in his head as the hollow appeared. Sol had seen such creatures before, from his past when they swarmed him. He had learned to avoid them and it had been longer than he cared to remember since he was so close to one. The vagrant’s skin felt like it was on fire, a manic itch spreading throughout his body. Whatever sanctuary he was hoping to find in the thralls of doping his body was soon edged out by fear and fury.

"So, go beat it up."

It was such a flippant comment, stated so pragmatic in the face of something that was outside the scope for an average human to fathom. The hulking creature moved like a giant weasel, the smoothed skull-mask snapping in their direction as if pulled to the struggles of the smaller hollow in Vance’s grip.  Moving with speed unbecoming its size, the hollow traveled quickly with its many legs as it climbed down the building it was on and made its way towards them.

Don’t, nein, not the monstruo, not the teeth, DANTURĂ, tEeeeEeTh! Fight! Repel, hakai, eateateateat! NOW!

The last shout in his mind, something that echoed deep and demonic, forced him into motion. Hand jolting upright as a tiny wisp of red smoke left his right eye, a wave of invisible force slammed into the creature barreling towards the two. Whatever the force was landed with a reverberating thud, seemingly causing little damage and forcing the hollow to charge Sol instead of towards the rat-hollow. Not losing its momentum, it reared up in front of the vagrant as a rush of wind swept behind it.

“Merde.”

It was the only word he uttered as one of the massive legs struck him. He was lifted off his feet from the impact and flung forty yards down the street, flipping head over heels before smacking head first into the top of a parked utility truck and spinning more violently in the air before landing in a sickening thud on the street.

The second the wave of force erupted Vance had tossed the case to the ground and clicked the latches off with his fingers. The large blade inside was easily grabbed by his off hand and shouldered over his right shoulder as he undid the button on his jacket. A single small canister opened up and brilliant swirls of blue erupted as Vance tossed the liquid like substance onto the blade. He let the small hollow go from his left hand a second later.

His main hand flashed to the gun at his hip and a roar of blue flame exploded from the gun's barrel, the smaller hollow evaporating from reality as Vance looked at the large hamster monster. His hand placed the revolver back in its holster and he took the blade in to hands, one on the hilt and one near the parrying hooks. Vance didn't like killing hollow. There was a reason, killing hollow brought the wrath of the universe down on Quincy.

"You are a bigun." Vance stated as two of the tiny arms shot out towards him, his blade sliding in front of him and simply colliding with the limbs as he slid backwards and shook from the overpowering abilities of the hollow. "Human with powers, come on get up, kind of need you to deal with this." Vance said, after all a human with powers was less likely to bring the wrath of the goonsquad down on his face.

That was pretty much the last time he had any free time to talk as he began a dance of blade against limb dance, blue light flaring with each strike, another small tube being emptied onto the blade as Vance took count in his mind. Being defensive was eating up his time, but being offensive would just make things worse.

A relentless bombardment of attacks, one after another, only showcased the hollow’s intense hatred for the man in front of it. Driven by rage or an insatiable hunger, it behaved with the ferocity of a rabid animal. With a well timed lunge, the hollow manuevered through Vance’s deadly strikes and went for the kill. Mouth open wide, large teeth laid bare, the hollow froze in place with a sudden jolt. Breath rancid as it shuddered, one tooth after another began to crack before the mouth was violently shut. The hollow’s head was slammed into the asphalt, the ground buckling and cracking underneath the sheer force.

Blood ran down the right side of the vagrant’s face, matted and stained his snow-colored hair. Hand outstretched, fingers in a talon grip that held nothing, the vagrant breathed heavy as a sliver of red smoke spilled from his right eye in small bursts. Sol strained against something unseen as he yanked his hand back and along with it the massive hollow that struggled against it thirty yards away.

A couple inches, a couple feet, ever slowly the hollow was being pulled away from Vance towards the haggard vagabond. The hollow finally managed to shake off the unseen force as Sol fell to one knee, no longer able to hold it with whatever invisible force he had mustered. The beast roared its haunting cry of rage, Sol responded by forcing himself back up and letting out a scream of his own.

ÖLDÜR, YE, YE, YE! DÉVOREZ-LE!

Using the damaged utility truck he had smacked into earlier as support, he felt pain in his mind as the voices clamored to be heard and force his own thoughts down. They spoke in one voice yet branched out in echo upon echo. Ripping the side mirror off the side of the truck with monstrous force, the red smoke billowing out in excess from the effort, Sol twisted his body into a roundabout spin as he slammed the mirror into the side of the hollows head.

One of its many arms shot out as it tumbled over, grabbing a hold of Sol’s arm and taking the vagrant with it as it rolled about. Darting his hands out, empowered by the unseen force, he managed to grab hold of the monster’s teeth to prevent it from chomping down on his head as they rolled about. It slammed into the nearest building as it tumbled, teeth suddenly snapping shut and barely missing the vagrant’s face.

Peeling back one of the hollow's fingers that held him, Sol bit down on it and ripped it from the hollow’s hand. Screams of pain reverberated down the street as it flung the vagrant away from it. Shoulder slamming on the sidewalk, Sol rolled onto his feet as he munched on the hollow’s finger. Eyes wide and glaring in a wild glare as the hollow pushed itself upright. If emotions could be read in the hollow’s empty eyes, one would dare say a sudden wave of panic washed over it as it saw this human devour one of its appendages.

Vance found himself on the wrong end of one of the arms just as Sol got caught by one of the hollow's hands. Sending the rather normal mortal, smashing through a nearby window and against the drywall just inside on the corner. He had dropped his sword right about the time he slammed back against it and there was now a familiar warm and wet sensation on his right hand. He figured he had cut it on the glass going through the window but he didn't have time to look and take note.

Vance shook off the shock by pulling out his revolver and literally hammering the pistol handle into his leg to get it to react again. He then pushed himself out of the drywall and back to a fully standing position. He realized he could still move his off-hand so his arm wasn't broken but it was most likely going to swell pretty good. Vance wondered how black robes, and humans could do things like go flying twenty six meters or so and live. He wanted that power. Vance was definitely going to ask Sol a lot more questions if he lived.

He got out of the broken window just to see Sol eating the hollow's finger. "That's a new one..." Vance said as he watched the hollow seem to be really angry and maybe scared of the human who had decided to start eating it. Vance had heard some weird things but this took the cake, if anyone had told him this story he probably wouldn't have believed it. He lifted up the revolver and just began dumping the five remaining shots into the hollow's body. Each time he pulled back the hammer and squeezed the trigger the gun howled as blue energy exploded from the barrel.

The hollow screamed again as it neared its defeat and Vance started to reload, it really couldn't do anything anymore. Though, the fact that Sol was eating the hollow seemed to be the more confusing thing to Vance. After he reloaded, he walked up and pointed the gun at the center of the hollow's mask and waited for Sol to finish eating. If Sol didn't immediately destroy the thing, Vance would simply shoot it, erasing it from existence and trying to come up with what question to ask Sol first.

Blood, flesh, raw sustenance. The small bruises that had only moments been black and swelling were beginning to fade all over his body. Taking a final bite, the voices chittering with glee in his head, Sol paid no mind to the fact that Vance had downed the sinister creature.

Pow, pow, bullets and fun, bang, bang, mai finita, never OvErrrrr, take what it took. Apantíste se eídos, in kind, so sweet and kind, her touch, his touch, the kruchy człowiek, the feeeeeeling, kiLL nOW! Take eEeeEeeEssence!  

Vengeance was demanded for insulting the vagrant with its vile presence. Punishment was due in kind for the damage it had wrought. Power was wielded without thought, his body moved without permission. Invisible force was flung at Vance as Sol charged the downed monster. Leaping atop its face, batting away flailing arms, the vagrant headbutted the mask over and over again. Crimson spilled across the mask from a split on his forehead yet he continued, the mask beginning to crack under the assault.

A resounding crack, the mask was split.

Screaming in pain, in fear, in fear and futility, the hollow shuddered as Sol pried his fingers into the breach and pulled the mask apart with his bare hands. Light beamed into a twisting orb and a blue swirling of energy began to replace the physical form of the once gargantuan creature. Jaw hung open, bits of energy begin drawn into his mouth, Sol held out his arms as the creature vanished from sight to a realm Sol couldn’t possibly begin to guess.

Fatigue overtook him as he fell to his knees, no longer having the strength to stand. All he could piece together in his scrambled mind, as the adrenaline and the voices died down, was that he had taken a part of it. And it had soothed the cacophony of voices into a dull and distant drone. Never had he felt so disgusted and so calm. Steam rolled off his skin and his eyes quaked ever so subtly with hints of madness threatening to overtake him before steadying once more. Slowly he lifted his head, a slight prodding in the back of his mind reminding him that there was another...the demon-looking man.

Vance actually started cackling as he watched. It was obvious that he had never seen anything like this and he found that it would be very easily abused. A human who acted like a hollow. It was more explained by the fact that the man was healing as he munched the creepy things. "Well this is quite interesting." Vance stated as he slowly stopped laughing. Humans were so much more crazy than monsters from other dimensions. He had forgotten what it was like to be scared of monsters.

"So you're like the old Mayans, able to consume others for power, that is amazing, isn't is Sol?" Vance asked as he came down of his laughing high. "Speak Sol, tell me what else you can do, oh do I have plans for you!" Vance asked as he cackled hysterically again. There was a problem with Vance Holiday, he was a failure in every sense of the word, except in being meticulous. Things like this excited him, the prospect of being able to do whatever he wanted because he couldn't do so with his limited power. It all made him so happy.

"Two people with psionic capabilities in a week, this is marvelous!"

“What? I...don’t know. Nonono-no this is all bad, very bad. I…” It was odd not hearing the voices screaming in his head, odd that the man was still talking to him, odd still that he was even bothering sticking around. That laugh Vance made was something akin to a predator licking its lips and Sol found himself not wanting anything to do with him.

“I have to go, I-I-I have to leave.” He found himself tripping over his own words, panic setting in and the questions he had of how he had dispersed a monster being edged out by the thoughts of more sinister enemies. What if they find me? It was enough to make him sweat bullets.

Yet Vance was relentless with his glee. It was unsettling.

“Need. Medicine...I, uh. Good bye.” Sol muttered, refusing to meet Vance’s eyes and started heading back towards the alleyway where he left his bag. It was a hurried, awkward pace, but the vagrant didn’t bother to turn around and see if the demon-man was following.