A Girth of Ability (Azalea x Vance)

Azalea stretched her arms over her head before looking at her cellphone again. Her current target wouldn't even be in the country until tomorrow. It was unusual for somebody to hire her to kill someone who wasn't currently a threat to them, but apparently this man had made quite a name for himself in the criminal underworld. He was known to introduce powerful addictive drugs to new markets and it was rumored he even caused the complete downfall of a small town because of it.

Well, that was the chatter at least. It didn't make a difference to Azalea who he was or what crimes he did. He was a bad man, and another bad man wanted him gone and was willing to pay for it to happen. It was actually quite a big job. Apparently she was being contracted as a last resort; nobody else would touch this job. Azalea could pay her rent for the year off this alone so long as she took out this man and all his men.

Azalea was sitting by the river of Karakura, wearing her typical Gothic-Lolita dress. She was taking it easy today, thinking over her plans for tomorrow. She had a silver briefcase in one hand and she clutched it to her side as a yawn escaped her lips.

"It... is really peaceful here. I wish something would happen..."

Vance looked like he had been through a halo jump and landed in a crater.  He had put in about forty hours straight in his labratory and had just woken back up.  Sadly, due to his current slow draw of his day job he seemed to be lucky enough that nothing was happening, or nothing worth mentioning.  He was only out because he literally needed something to eat, which he had found in the burger that was in his free hand.

Vance looked like a lanky demon with little self respect, and varying amounts of self discipline, tossed into a generic sports coat, a button up and slacks.  He carried a backpack that had his laptop and an assortment of other gear, his phone and more tools than you would have found possible inside of it.  Then a large case, almost longer than he was at his side in his other hand.  Which housed his sword, for times of necessary distress.  The young man took a bite of the burger again and looked from the edge of bridge he was walking over to see an odd sight.

Vance had never seen a Gothic chick, well not since high-school and even that was pressing it.  She had on a full on dress, complete with black hair and eyes cover by the gradient strands that fell below.  She was smaller than him, but most were when it came to height and she was sitting by the river as if she didn't have a care in the world.  Vance finished his burger as he wandered over the bridge, tossing the wrapper into a trash bin.

Say what you will about Vance's evil incarnate or existential evil experiments, Vance didn't litter.   He reached into his back pocket as his phone began to buzz profusely and Vance looked up with an annoyed look.  Apparently a hollow portal was going to open nearby in a minute or two based on the readings.  Vance wasn't going to fight it as that was most likely self-assured suscide but at least he could watch something else do it.  So he made his way towards the side of the river where the Goth was and  gave the young woman a wave.

"Forgive my intrusion but I've not seen a full gothic dress in a few years, mind if I get a picture, please?"  He stated in his weirdly wrong Japanese given that he knew six languages and was from the other side of the globe.  "Oh and  you might want to get out of this area, just a word of warning."  He added politely.

Ginto (4) :: Extra Shots (3) :: Pill (2) :: Phone (1) :: Laptop (1) :: SeeleX1 (2) :: Med (5) :: Shield Bracelet (2)

Azalea tilted her head back to look up at the man who approached her. Her hair covered one side of her face, and she gentle brushed it from her mouth. She had a soft smile on her face as she brushed off her knees and slowly stood.

"I am sorry. I do not care for my picture being taken." It would be unfortunate if somebody connected her face and anything in the background to the black spear of the underworld. It was unfortunate, after all. There was quite a lot that she couldn't do in her day to day life in order to keep her identity a secret from potential rivals in the industry.

She held her briefcase in one hand as she shifted from foot to foot, getting the blood to circulate again to her legs. "Evacuate for what? There's no flood warning for this area today."

"Some people say acts of god, others say other things." Vance said as he started with his weirdly inhuman chuckle before looking at the location on his phone and made a sound of annoyance. The only bad part about being Vance as opposed to other spiritual humans was that everything was a guess, he would need to tweak his tech again to get it closer to the right time.

He thought about that as he looked up at the sky about a block over and a black hole slid open from another dimension. Well, that's how Vance described it, anyway. He shifted back to the woman, knowing that the hollow in question would most likely rampage until someone stronger than him dealt with the problem appropriately. "Not a fan of photos, superstitious?" Vance asked as he ignored the hollow scream in the background.

Azalea shrugged her shoulders, looking in the same direction as the man. She frowned at the screaming that reached her ears as a monster was birthed from the void. She stared over there, slowly blinking her eye.

"I am. But not about photographs. I just do not care for them. Much like those," she said the last as she tore her gaze away from the phenomenon. The monsters always screamed so loudly, and almost always destroyed everything around them. But, perhaps her friends would be the ones to slay this monster.

The evil spirits that preyed on humans and spirits were slow; almost as slow as the humans. It was honestly rather annoying, Azalea thought, having to move at this glacial pace. "Some people think your soul can be captured on film or in mirrors, but I do not believe so. The soul is... not such a fickle thing."

"I think it's much more fickle than that, in fact, I'd say I'm proof of it." Vance pointed out to the young woman before looking over his shoulder and shrugging to himself.  He wasn't powerful, and he never had been.  The concept of something being not superstitious but believing in souls and being aware had always interested him.  In fact, Vance liked spiritual humans more than he liked his own kind.  They proved that everything everyone had ever written might as well be true, and there was probably some devious organization that kept it out of the light.  He would have to get their number sometime, seemed like a good group of guys.

"If you think a soul isn't fickle, I'd love to hear your explanation." Vance said before adding.  "Or maybe the monsters invading the world would."  He pointed out tilting his head back towards the hollow slithering out of the gate.  Humans were so interesting, though if she wasn't going to do anything about it, it would probably target her anyway until something bigger showed up.  The perks of being a weakling, Vance never got targeted first.  The old zombie argument, just faster than the idiot next to you, or invisible.

Azalea rolled her shoulders, blinking slowly as she thought to herself. "There's the bad spirits, like that one. But there are good spirits as well. I just don't think either one particularly cares about mirrors. But maybe there are spirits that live inside mirrors?I do not know. But maybe my friends do," Azalea pondered, looking at the man and giving him a light shrug.

Azalea watched as the creature came into the world, screaming and shifting its head from side to side as if smelling for prey. Perhaps it would devour the souls of the dead, or destroy some building to eat the living within. Or maybe some Shinigami would kill it before then. Whatever happened, it wasn't her concern. She wouldn't fight the evil spirit; nobody had hired her to after all.

"Are you not afraid of monsters? Most humans would run if they saw such a thing being born into the world. After all, it could be after you."

Azalea herself was afraid of the beast. She rubbed the handle of her briefcase with her thumb, trusting she'd get the weapon out in time.

Vance started his creepy cackle as she asked if he was afraid of monsters. Of course Vance was afraid. He was standing right there and laughing it off in a very manly way. The difference was ingrained into Vance, years of old Gunfighters and converting power had made his family what it was. Though Vance, had littler power at all, but there was someone else there which meant, THEY had power. He had always chalked up his lack of abilities to whatever god you wanted to argue the fine nuances if not having abilities with and how it was unfair. Vance didn't care to think that way.

Instead, he simply came up with solutions other ways, Vance was effectively an armor clad knight who used knowledge to build WMDs daily. So if there was a pajama samurai or a human who could see the thing with possibly abilities like ESP, Telekinesis, Oracle like foresight or super-strength (ALL powers Vance had seen before) they were much more suited to the job than him. He could simply take readings, and try to make an item to emulate their abilities, though it didn't always work that way. Plus, Vance was out to make a department that could actually threaten other spiritual entities, the Quincy were too busy with their hunts and prelude to violence to understand how to be a real threat. Idealistic and sometimes stupid. "Of course I'm afraid, the difference is I don't usually fight them. I study them, and people who can deal with them! If I have to fight one, it means I ran out of useful options. That and I don't want anyone to see my options. Like you don't like your picture taken. I don't like anyone knowing I'm mostly not a wimpy little worm. Plus, it's not after me, you're in a spiritual hot zone. In the words of Jedi knights, "There's always a bigger fish"." Vance laughed as the monkey like hollow descended to the street a block away.

"No, the better question is, will you do anything to stop it, or watch it rampage until someone else does it for you and keep being scared?" Vance loved twisting logic to get what he wanted.

Aza tilted her head to one side, letting her hair fall away from her face as she looked at the man. The angry scars and distorted flesh where her missing eye should have been was in stark contrast to the dull look in her crimson eye.

"Why would I do something about it? Nobody would pay me for my troubles. There would be no benefit."

Azalea turned her head the other way, thinking over the rest of what the man said.

"So you would have someone else fight your battles for you? That's not very manly. You won't make many girls fall for you with that mentality." Azalea, of course, had no actual experience making people fall for her either. But in all the shows she watched, the male characters were tough and fought battles, and the girls would flock to them. Azalea wasn't quite sure why that was, but it held true through multiple series so it must have a reason behind it. Personally, she thought the redhead and brunette girl in her current show had much better complimenting personalities.

Vance shrugged at that comment. "Women don't show interest anyway, killing some invisible monster in the dark won't change that." The man passed out but he didn't really seem to care much. He watched the monster drop down and slam into the side of a car, sending it into the nearby building as Vance made a face at the large sound. A human who didn't care about humanity, or their own world. What a waste of talent, like the other Quincy. He always thought like that. Vance didn't attack everything that moved because he couldn't, it would just get him killed. He needed a group of individuals with the willingness to act and the moral aptitude to realize that enforcing their will was basically akin to starting a war.

That or monster would keep invading forever. Humans were pitiful sometimes. Vance shrugged and pulled out his phone to make sure there was nothing in range that could reasonably sense him and then made a note on his home screen to change the reishi wavelength of his gear again. He then put the phone away and began walking towards the monster, unlatching the large case as he did so. A sword, nestled and strapped in almost as long as Vance was tall was housed in the case. The motif of the Anchor set into it's hilt as Vance pulled it up to his shoulder to let it rest. He would most likely have to kill the human if she ever spoke, but he could use her for an experiment before that. Inject her with hollow essence or something.

What was odd was Vance was using a real weapon, he had too. His hand moved into his coat for a small canister which he moved to his off-hand and tossed up and down. Vance was left-handed, just like his sister and mother. Making his way towards the monster like a knight of old mixed with the self-assured waltz of a dueling gunfighter at dawn. What Vance was beneath all the lies, deceit, and experimental items. "Excuse me mister masked thing, good evening. As a duly designated representative of the Earth, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension." So sue the evil bastard, Vance's battlecry was straight out of Ghostbusters.

Curious, Azalea thought. So, even he could fight if the need arose. But, was he strong enough to survive on his own? He carried a sword, though she found that curious with the Sword and Firearm Law. Was he part of the military, how did he acquire a sword legally? Was it illegally obtained? So many questions.

But, more importantly, he was spiritually aware, and carried a weapon. He seemed to have some measure of confidence. Azalea was curious to see how he would fight. Observation among fellow fighters was common, correct?

Azalea knelt down to open her briefcase, pulling a hefty flashlight from it. She left her briefcase where it was and moved behind the man, standing about three meters behind him. Rotating her flashlight around her wrist, it let out a pneumatic hiss and a long series of concentric tubes emerged from the bottom, until Azalea held the flashlight in a reverse grip. The flashlight had transformed into a long black spear, its point deceptively sharp as she held it level with the man's shoulders.

"This... should be interesting... Fight well, young man."

Vance chuckled hysterically as he looked back at the woman as the hollow screamed at him.  He reached a finger into his ear as it did so and pushed his hair back with the wind and took that as a no.  Vance saw the spear and everything changed.  He backed off in the direction away from both the human and the hollow as his free hand popped the cork on his ginto and spread it over the blade of his sword.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a tic-tack mint holder and popped it open.  His head tilted back and he swallowed the pill quickly.  Vance was immediately ejected from his own body.  His soul exiting and connected by his Inga no Kusari as his soul reached into his body's jacket and grabbed the revolver. As well as a second set of shells.

"Tch, dammit of course she makes up her mind AFTER I go to work."  The soul said as the body went daring for the Hollow.  In an instant the sword slammed against the massive fist, flexing as the blade's tempered side held the attack at bay and Vance's soul pulled the hammer back on his gun and pointed it at the girl.  "Nothing personal Tootz, but I need you to not use any power if I'm going to deal with this."  Vance said politely, he was hoping he didn't have to shoot her.  He swayed slightly, giving her a bit of an opening, but such as it was for Vance's ability.

Items Used
Ginto - 1
Pilot Program Pill - 1

Azalea let a very small smile play across her lips as she watched the man try to fight the beast. The second version of the man, however, pointed a weapon at her. Did he possess a cloning technique? What a strange man.

But, Azalea did not care for having a gun pointed at her. Kicking off on one foot, Azalea moved at her full speed try to avoid the gun, putting her spear between the man and herself. Could she deflect a a bullet with her spear? Or was it simpler to dodge? Lots of questions came to mind as she shifted her weight, moving low to the ground.

As she did, "I'm not going to fight you unless I must. But I want to see you fight this beast. Though if you run, I'll fight you."

"Your logic is flawed, if I run it will attack you." The soul stated as Vance turned back to the fight at hand. The hollow threw its fist forward in a haymaker as Vance lifted his hand on his soul and his body jumped. There was no technique to this, it was a program to move his body and that was it. It gave Vance the advantage of wielding two weapons provided that he didn't use it long and it was very basic. For hollow with little personality other than rawr! eat! me like fire! It worked out pretty well. It wouldn't last in real combat until he could get the pilot program to realize what it was doing and learn from its mistakes. That's why he needed to use it.

The hollow's fist missed as Vance's body barely avoided the blow before Vance twitched his pinky and the body made an arcing slash at the hollow's arm, severing it with a resounding hacking sound. The idea was solid but it left Vance's body in a precarious position. The soul ran forward and lifted his arm, the shield bracelet springing to life and spreading the impact on the shield, Vance's soul, and his body. The both were knocked back but it was a lot less damage than it could have been. He noted the fact that his knee was bleeding in his regular body from the landing then his soul lifted the revolver, and unloaded into the hollow a few times before it retreated into a dimensional portal in anguish.

Vance ditched the shells, annoyed with the amount of gear he had expended for the hollow but thankful at least the pilot program got tested. "Lame." Vance stated as he touched his off hand's thumb and pinky together, then his thumb and ring finger, thumb and middle finger then his thumb and pointer and his soul chain reeled him back into his body, the pill on his tongue as he holstered the gun to use a hand to grab the pill and place it back in the small canister and inside his jacket. He should have brought his armor. He placed the sword to his side, leaning on him and took the revolver back out to reload it.

Used items
Shield Bracelet 60%
Set of Shells x1

Injuries ::
Head ::None
Right Arm ::None
Left Arm ::None
Left Leg ::None
Right Leg :: Minor bruising, skin tearing at the knee

Azalea frowned while watching the strange man. This... wasn't interesting. She wasn't going to learn anything from this. Before the fight even finished she was standing back up and putting her spear away.

"It couldn't catch me..." Azalea shrugged, frowning harder. Azalea'd never been caught since she left her homeland. She didn't think there was anyone in the world as quick as her. She had hoped to learn something from watching his fight but it was pointless.

The man used two bodies. A sword. A gun. And he failed to kill the monster in the end.

"This... wasn't worth my time..." Azalea murmurred, slowly retrieving her briefcase, already putting the man out of her mind.

Vance pulled out his phone as he went to put the sword back in the case as he took note of the wavelength reading and filed it away under HF~023s1. He was polite enough not to take the woman's picture as she left and decided to make her life miserable the next time he saw her. She would make for a perfect subject to stuff full of hollow or shinigami particles. Vance nodded at that and clicked the case closed before grabbing his bag from where he had dropped it and beginning to leave.

He did have an odd question, what kind of human used weapons like him? That one didn't make sense at all. Vance thought to himself as he chuckled and wandered away, he had to replenish his supplies and change the wavelength signatures on them, again. Which, while annoying was something that Vance HAD to do, less someone get the idea he was turning a lot of the spiritual world into his own personal playground. Plus, he had to find a few good people to take Earth back, for Earth. Useless beings like Quincy who didn't care aside from wanting to hunt things instead of nuke their dimension out of existence. Plus, he needed to disinfect his wounds. Say what you wanted to about the Artificer and overall weirdo that was Vance, he went above and beyond when it came to interdimensional bio chemistry, can't have that hollow infecting you. Might end up like some crazy masked thing...

Azalea cast a look over her shoulder as she left, heading away from the river where she'd met the man. Such a strange man. Oh well, it wasn't like she'd ever see him again, right?

Azalea darted off at superhuman speed, dashing across rooftops in the direction of her latest job. Just because he wasn't in the country yet didn't mean she couldn't prepare. And if it all worked out, it might just be her last job for a while.

Azalea came to a halt some blocks away, pulling out her phone. She made a note to get in touch with her friends, and ask them if it was possible for her to visit them.