Post by Empty on Oct 9, 2010 21:51:16 GMT -8
~ 1933: Weighty Decisions ~
~ The Matter at Hand ~
Training: Reishi Proficiency
Paris:
In the brisk morning air of Paris was when he first noticed it, the disbelieving glances of the humans as Loki stomped carefully in between them in the form of Genbu.
He had left Hueco Mundo in his humanoid form, yet after emerging in the Human Realm he had been attacked not once but twice by 'rival' hollows, those too foolish to know they were severely outclassed. In a bid to protect their body from attacks when they were not ready, Loki had decided that the Human form did not provide adequate protection and so he had created more gel, bonding his reiatsu with the nearby air and water to make several hundred litres of the substance. Ever since then he had become increasingly aware of the humans as they looked in his direction. Many it seemed, merely looked away, sure that they were merely tired in the early morning; yet amongst them there were those that looked twice before staring in disbelief, cringing in fearful awe or pointing to their fellows and attempting to draw attention to the strange figure.
Quickly, Loki had fled; not quite sure why he was uncomfortable with the attention, surely it should not matter to him whether or not a few humans were scared of their presence.
Menos Forest:
Back in their native realm, Loki considered the situation. No matter what form he had taken before in the human realm, none had noticed his presence; whether emerging from Hueco Mundo as a humanoid snake, an eight headed monster or a dragon out of legend – of the humans without spiritual abilities, none had batted an eyelash. It didn't matter whether or not he had changed his form in the past even, there was no notice from the humans, so why had there been this time?
Loki shed the Gel costume he wore, creating a gel seed to take control of the substance in his stead, imbuing the creation with the conciousness of Gertrude and creating a second Genbu costume around himself in short order. As the two forms looked at one another, Loki instructed her to use the Revealing Gaze and Hone to enhance their physical and reiatsu senses alike.
As Gertrude quickly used the techniques, Loki followed suit and the two looked at each-other carefully. There was something distinctly, lacking, in Gertrude's form, though Loki could not place what it was; concerned that the presence of Verlassen itself might be interfering with their attempted examination, Loki wriggled his way out of the second costume and created a second gel seed, implanting it within the new Genbu to house the conciousness of Jun. He too quickly enhanced his senses and used Revealing Gaze to examine the form of Gertrude, as she returned the appraisal.
Looking at the two forms himself, Loki could definitely see there was something different between the two. Though each of the forms were identical to his natural senses, even with their Hone enhancement; there was something, lacking, in Gertrude's form. The sensation it gave to Loki was far less appealing to his sensibilities somehow, though he could not quite place the reason for it.
Unable to themselves arrive at a conclusion, Loki determined to conduct an experiment, one with which he hoped the kind folk of Paris would assist.
Paris:
Emerging out onto the nearly deserted streets in the early Sunday morning, Loki Gertrude and Jun Looked about for a likely candidate; Only Loki alone was without a costume, both of the others wore the Genbu forms as they stood apart. At an unspoken command from Loki both began trudging in opposite directions down the street.
While Loki remained as he was, both Jun and Gertrude changed from one form to another, trying out each of Verlassen's costumes, they transformed from turtle like Genbu into the tiger legged, tanuki bodied, snake tailed, gorilla headed Nue, then into the convoluted form of Yamata no Orochi, before moving to the Humanoid and Gorilla-like Naga forms. On each occasion the results were the same, though there were few pedestrians, the few that they encountered simply seemed oblivious to Jun, or to Loki himself, yet Gertrude on the other hand was clearly a different matter.
It was only when both Gertrude and Jun took up the vast form of Nidhogg, as they produced more and more gel to shape into the costumes, they gathered the aoir around them, sucking it in as they mixed the air with their reiatsu, solidifying it. Finally twin dragons dominated each end of the street; the immense form of each was clearly visible like a crystal sculpture to the people around. It was not just Gertrude as it had been before, but also Jun who was seen, though he appeared slightly less opaque.
In that instant, Loki understood – he too quickly began to gather the air around him, mixing it with his reiatsu as he produced gel around his hood. It quickly solidified and shaped itself to resemble the humanoid form that they were so fond of. Nearby humans, already frightened by the appearance of the two strange crystal dragons, quickly ran from the crystal man who had appeared as if from nowhere.
They had used the human form so many times before, but each time they had been using the approach Jun had used, leaving Hueco Mundo with gel created in Hueco Mundo, 'It is the difference between spiritual matter and physical matter,' Loki realised, humans could easily see the gel created in their own realm, because it was made from matter they could see, it didn't matter that it had been assembled and controlled by reiatsu, it was the matter itself the spiritually unaware humans around them could see.
~ Material Witness ~
Learning: Materia Conversión (Matter Conversion)
Training: Reishi Proficiency
Returning quickly to the Menos Forest with Jun and Gertrude in tow, Loki did his best to understand what they had discovered. When Jun had been transforming between forms that were using the same or less gel than before, he was still using spiritual matter, yet when he had increased the size of their costume to the much larger dragon, more gel had needed to be created – from whatever matter was at hand, in this case the physical matter around them.
That even explained why Gertrude's costume had not been as appetising to Loki's Revealing Gaze when she and Jun's Genbu forms had been identical, even to Loki's enhanced senses. Her costume had been constructed in just the same manner; Loki had originally been in the humanoid form before he had created more gel and adopted the form of Genbu to protect Verlassen, in doing so he had used the physical matter of the human realm since it was on hand. The result was easy to see, quite literally.
Yet it posed an interesting question; why was it that the two appeared and even functioned identically when they were fundamentally different? As Loki used his Revealing Gaze on the two again he realised that both were almost identical now, except that a small proportion of Jun's Nidhogg form was more appetising than the rest.
Thoughtfully, Loki sent his reiatsu senses within Jun's gel construction, examining the innermost portion which seemed unlike the rest, it was a bit more than one tenth of the full size, about six hundred litres or so. Instantly Loki realised what it must be, the original gel with which Jun's Genbu form had been created. The surrounding gel was the excess that had been created in the human realm.
Carefully instructing Jun, Loki guided the former priest, attempting to disengage the two types of gel. Soon the outer layers of gel lay split open like an orange peel to reveal an almost egg shape within, the original Genbu form had been forced out of shape during the transformation, yet the gel it had been made from was now separate from the rest. As Jun reshaped the egg into the form of Nue, Gertrude looked on, intrigued by Loki's efforts.
Studying Jun's Nue form, Loki looked briefly towards Gertrude, who quickly adopted a similar form, discarding much of the surrounding gel that had comprised Nidhogg to lie around her newer, much smaller Nue form like discarded clothes.
As the two Nue stood side by side, Loki carefully studied the differences in the sensation of the gel, Gertrude's was made of pure Kishi or physical matter, while Jun's of pure Reishi or spiritual matter. That was why the two felt so different through Loki's Revealing Gaze, even though they appeared as mirror images, even being structurally identical; despite that, Jun's gel gaze off a more pleasing, more mouthwatering sensation – it was something that Verlassen's reishi consumption abilities instantly recognised as potential food - just like the stone trees and discarded rocks around them.
Picking up one of those small, thumb sized rock's, Loki examined it closely with their Revealing Gaze, it too was made of spiritual matter and appetising to Loki's Reishi consumption abilities that he had obtained through Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Yet what Loki had planned was not to eat the rock to replenish his reiryoku but rather to expend some his own energy to test the limits of his abilities, to determine if he was capable of affecting change in the world around him.
He had selected the rock for it would pose no great problem should they fail in their attempt, unlike if Loki had attempted to convert either of the two Gel seeds whom Gertrude and Jun inhabited. As he studied Gertrude intently with his Revealing Gaze, he could feel the disparity between her and both Jun and the rock, hers felt more muted, less vibrant, even if it were identical to any non-reiatsu sense.
Loki began to infuse the rock with energy, seeping it into the matter itself as he pictured that 'plainness', as he did so he felt the energy slowly permeate the small stone, the austere sensation slowly replacing the feeling of vibrancy.
When he was done he looked at the stone critically, it certainly seemed different than before, but to what end? Comparing the arm to Jun's form and to Gertrude's took only a moment – the difference was more marked than he had first thought. Rather than spiritual matter, Loki was certain that the rock he now help was made of physical matter, visible even in the human world.
Yet if that was possible, the more exciting possibility also existed, would it not also be possible to change spiritual matter into physical matter? Concentrating on the rock once more, Loki began infusing yet more energy, this time the sense of ascetic plainness gave way slowly to a sense of remarkable vibrancy.
Loki did not need to compare it to Jun's body to see if it had worked, there was a surer way – taking a deep breath, Loki sent his hunger towards the rock, his desire to feel as he drew on the matter, seeking to consume it. A moment later tiny golden particles began to break off the stony surface, little flakes of reishi that surrounded Loki and entered into the skin, filling Loki with a small amount of energy.
Able to transfer Reishi into Kishi and back again, Loki felt that he had achieved something incredible. As Loki considered the Gel forms of Gertrude and Jun he used his Revealing Gaze again to examine them, before infusing Jun with the more mundane sensations he associated with the physical matter. As Jun's body turned from spiritual matter into physical matter, Loki carefully considered the form with his Revealing Gaze, there seemed to be absolutely no disparity with the structure at all. At the same time, Loki probed at Jun's mind, attempting to look for any inconsistency, any discomfort or distortion as a result of the transformation; yet there was nothing.
Intrigued, Loki decided to attempt to transform just the tip of their tail, as he infused the scales with energy he could feel the vibrancy of the Reishi turn into the stale sensation of the Kishi, but otherwise felt no discomfort at all nor any lack of sensation or control from the tail.
Yet as Loki sought to stop the process, it continued, gradually seeping upwards from the tip of his tail, along his undulating length and through the hood; terrified, Loki attempted to halt the process by infusing the area with the vibrant energy he associated with Reishi, yet the transformation continued until it reached Verlassen's head and finally even that too had changed into physical matter.
With wide, slightly panicked eyes, Loki looked himself over with Revealing Gaze, yet after a few moments his panic subsided, there seemed no ill-effects at all. In fact there was not even a slight sensation of discomfort, other than the rapid beating of his own heart. He sighed in relief before grinning; so it was possible to transform their own body was it? Quickly, Loki infused their body with more energy, reversing the transformation until his body was once again formed of spiritual matter.
~ Gel's True Form ~
Learning: Gel Conversión (Gel Conversion)
Training: Reishi/Hollow Technique Proficiency
Their earlier achievement was still fresh in their mind, the true extents only hinted at as Loki continued to muse at the subject; he was unable to shake the thought that they stood at the precipice of greatness – were he only able to grasp the revelation that eluded him. By managing to transmute spiritual matter or Reishi, into physical matter or Kishi and vice versa, they had unlocked the ability to access their reishi consumption skills even within the human realm. That was something no Bount could emulate, or so the memories of Gilgamesh and Enkidu told him.
Yet Verlassen's own abilities were not merely limited to consuming the matter, unlike the Bounts and their Dolls, Loki was able to combine matter in their surroundings such as the air and water, with their own energy to produce gel, which they then used to create shapes and costumes, to give them fantastic versatility in their skills. 'When we are creating gel we use the smallest particles,' Loki mused to the other souls of Verlassen, 'air and water, nothing elaborate; things we can quickly gather and convert.' That had always been the case, since long before they had encountered the Bount and his Doll; ever since they had emerged from beneath the roots of a dying tree in the Menos Forest as an Adjuchas, they had been gathering the matter around them, combining it with their reiatsu and converting it into gel.
Yet their recent discovery in how to convert between spiritual and physical matter had given Loki an almost monstrous idea, they had always been converting innumerable tiny particles of matter into their Gel; yet when converting matter earlier, they had instead being converting fewer, much larger and more complex pieces of both spiritual and physical matter. Since they could convert matter into gel and were now able to affect large complex entities such as rocks and even entire costumes, maintaining their structure and integrity – could they not convert that matter directly into gel?
It would mean that they could convert matter into gel much more quickly, even preserving the original matter's shape and characteristics, to avoid having to expend more reiatsu to provide those very same properties to the gel they created. Yet what was perhaps even more incredible was that such a thing would allow them to take their own gel and transform not just it's properties, but it's very nature, making it impossible to discern from regular physical or spiritual matter.
With that in mind, Loki decided to test the theory in a way that would pose Verlassen as little threat as possible. As a result he quickly scanned the area, looking for small stones, in short order he had found and scooped up two thumb sized stones into his right hand. Looking at them carefully with his Revealing gaze, Loki examined them carefully before summoning his own reiatsu, allowing the energy to seep upwards from his left upturned palm, Loki gathered in a small amount of air, mixing it with the reiatsu as he carefully reproduced one of the rocks, being careful to imbue the small shape with the same properties, attempting to be as faithful to the original as he possibly could. With that completed he took the third rock and quickly changed it from spiritual matter into physical matter.
The newly created rock made from Loki's own gel seemed so very familiar, even to the point of intimacy, while in comparison, the rock made of spiritual matter, which he had left unaltered after carefully reproducing it and even the rock he had converted into physical matter, both seemed exotic, alien. With the sensations that separated the types of matter and gel discovered, Loki decided it was time to take his idea to the next stage.
Putting each of the three 'rocks' down in a neat line, Loki soon located another from the ground nearby and placed it in his left hand, while in his right hand he made a faithful copy of it with his gel. After a moment he began to slowly imbue the true rock in his left hand with energy; much as he had when attempting to convert one into physical matter as he had been earlier. Yet this time, instead of attempting to imbue the sensation of austerity as he had to obtain physical matter, or the vibrancy he had injected to receive spiritual matter; this time Loki concentrated on that sensation of familiarity, of indescribable intimacy; Gel was much like an extension of Loki's own being, and the feeling the substance gave him suited that status.
As the reiatsu seeped into the rock, it seemed unchanged to Loki's own prized Afilar enhanced senses, despite his acute eyesight he could see no differences between them; even as he examined the rock with his Revealing Gaze they seemed so similar, even a small hairline crack, invisible to the naked eye, had been reproduced faithfully. Yet even before having infused the rock with that familiar sensation, the two might have appeared identical to anyone but Verlassen themselves, only one thing had separated them, had made them so very different, that was sensation of intimacy that Loki could feel – as if it were part of his own body.
Now that difference was gone, the rock in his left hand and the one in his right felt exactly the same, indistinguishable even to Loki himself. Experimentally, Loki began to prod at the shape with his reiatsu as it rested on his left palm, slowly he began to lengthen the rock's shape and as he did so the brittle 'stone' like gel began to crack, small shards snapping off as the stiff structure of the matter it had been shaped from refused to yield properly, just as stone itself would have done. 'Even if you change it into Gel,' Jun the Shinto Priest observed softly, 'if it is matter that is difficult to shape then it retains that property even as Gel.'
Frustrated at the 'rock' like gel's unwillingness to take on the new shape, Loki instead began to alter the colour, changing the hue to a vivid blue, to a sombre brown, to a joyful yellow. 'Other properties seem easy enough to change,' Gertrude the farm wife said quietly, 'Perhaps, when the gel is as brittle as rock, rather than forcing the shape to change, we might instead seek to make the gel less brittle first.'
Loki paused, it was a sensible suggestion, Gertrude and Jun usually got along quite well and both were level headed souls, unlike many of the others within Verlassen. As Loki examined the fractured 'Gel stone' in his left had he began softening the gel slightly, this time as he attempted to lengthen the rock it gave was grudgingly, cracks still spread yet far far slower than before, it was like pulling apart fresh baked bread – it gave slightly yet cracks appeared sooner or later as the crusty outside tore. Further softening the stone Loki tried again, this time he was able to increase the length to near as long as his full outstretched hand, not one new crack appeared and Loki considered the shape carefully, examining the tightly extended gel and the numerous cracks it had gained during it's initial shaping. After a moment's indecision, Loki began to repair the damage he had dealt, joining up the sides of the tears in the 'gel stone' with relative ease – it had proved no more difficult to fix than his other gel. Reshaping the 'stone' once more he rolled up the lengthened strip into the shape of a coil, slowly spikes began to appear on it's surface as Loki slowly and carefully tested his abilities to shape the substance. As his efforts continued over several hours, he realised that the techniques he was able to use were no different from those he had been able to use on his own gel, he merely had to ensure that the properties of the Gel 'stone' were able to facilitate them.
Satisfied that they were able to convert larger portions of matter into gel, Loki now considered the inverse, could they really convert gel into the matter it was attempting to duplicate the properties of?
Leaving the 'gel stone' that they had converted on the ground next to their earlier works, Loki examined the duplicate of the stone that they had made earlier with their gel. Unlike the one that they had been attempting to manipulate earlier, this one had never been a stone, instead it was merely a copy that they had created.
As Loki sought to continue their efforts, he began infusing the gel created rock with the opposite of what he had used earlier, now instead of attempting to infuse the sense of intimate familiarity, Loki instead sought to subdue that sensation, to interpose an exotic element, of foreignness. As his reiatsu seeped into the rock shaped gel, his awareness of the stone diminished, it took on an almost alien cast to him, even as it retained its appearance to his enhanced senses and even it's structure remained unchanged to Loki's Revealing Gaze. Despite that however, there was a disparity between what it had been and what it now was.
Unsure just what had transpired, Loki reached out with his reiatsu, attempting to prod the stone, to increase it's length, just as he had done earlier. Yet the stone stood, unresponsive, refusing to heed Loki's will. For nearly an hour Loki stood motionless as he waged a silent war of will on the stone, attempting to exert his rightful control of the 'gel' stone, yet as time passed it was becoming clear who the victor of such a war would be. 'Well,' Gertrude said gently, 'I suppose that just means we were successful,' she reasoned, 'we cannot shape it or alter it's properties anymore. After all it is just a rock now.'
Still, even if she was right, even if they had been successful; Loki was less than pleased at being denied in what he judged their right, their ability to manipulate something they had created from their own gel. He felt cheated.
~ Solid (or not so solid) Snake ~
Learning: Energía Conversión (Energy Conversion)
Training: Reiatsu/Reishi Proficiency
Menos Forest:
Buoyed by their success, Loki relaxed for a time, yet a thought continued to resurface, one that would not leave him alone.
They were able to create gel seeds from spiritual or physical matter and their own energy, imbuing them with their thoughts, yet they could convert spiritual matter into reiryoku should they consume it with the abilities they had obtained from Gilgamesh and Enkidu, the Bount and his Doll. It was like a cycle, from reiryoku into reiatsu into reishi into reiryoku, combining it with reishi or kishi now and then to continue.
Could they could imbue reiryoku with their thoughts, with the conciousness of Verlassen, just as they could with reiatsu and matter created seeds? When a seed was destroyed the conciousness returned to Loki, imparting some of the mental pain as a result; yet instead of destroying the seed, if they instead sought to transform it...
Knowing that the souls of Verlassen were not in danger was certainly beneficial when developing what would otherwise be foolhardy abilities, that was for certain. Looking at Jun, Loki told the man what he intended to do. When they consumed spiritual matter it dissolved into tiny particles of reishi for consumption into reiryoku, this time however, Loki intended something very different.
As Loki sent his own thoughts towards Jun, he directed his hunger and the Bount's ability at the same time, as he did so, Jun's form began to flake away, slowly turning into golden energy. As this process began however, Loki concentrated intently on his own reiatsu, as the energy began to appear he attempted to maintain it's shape. The golden energy continued to grow in volume, yet the vague outline of Jun's Nue form persisted slightly as the top of his shoulder was replaced by golden light which had begun to take a slight reddish brown tint to it. The tint suddenly disappeared and the golden light burst apart into fine particles before flowing towards Loki who consumed them in dissatisfaction.
The top of Jun's front right hand shoulder was gone, yet the process had been markedly different than the previous consumptions of reishi, never before had the energy's colour altered a whit, never before had the energy's shape been preserved. It was a sign that it was actually possible!
With growing conviction, Loki instructed Jun to reshape the shoulder; as the priest complied, Loki began the process again. This time as Jun's legs began to turn golden, the initial flakes of energy that broke away were markedly fewer, the reddish brown tint darkened more and more, until it resembled Loki's own reiatsu more than Gilgamesh's reishi.
This time they were able to convert nearly a third of Jun's body before the process failed and Jun's gel form wavered before returning – this time their failure had not even burst into golden particles but had reverted to their previous form.
Again, Loki attempted the process and this time the reddish brown energy replaced the entire gel Nue body before reaching Jun's Gorilla shaped head, as the process continued Loki carefully monitored Jun's condition, looking for signs of pain or discomfort, disorientation or alteration. As the gel shape was completely replaced by reddish brown reiryoku Loki looked at the Jun controlled Nue in amazement. Not even for the slightest instant had Jun felt any problems, it had been as easy as breathing.
Verlassen's body shook slightly at Loki's excitement, urged on by Samatha and given the approval of other, more level headed souls such as Gertrude who already stood by watching him intently; Loki decided to take their efforts to the next stage. With a shuddering breath, Loki began the unthinkable, consuming the reishi that comprised Verlassen's own body.
Unlike the transformation of Jun from spiritual matter into spiritual energy, once Loki had begun the process it took a life of it's own. After Loki had gathered the energy required for the transformation to begin and directing the Bount's consumption ability and his hunger to devour their own body, Loki noticed something that had not occurred when attempting to convert Jun, the process he had begun was beyond his own control, just as had occurred when converting from one type of matter to the other, yet this time, instead of a gradual change, the change was incredibly rapid, over within a blink of an eye.
His Reddish brown coloured scales as well as the gel Humanoid form around him flickered into a vibrant reddish brown energy within an instant. Loki once again felt the panic of being not quite sure of the consequences of his own actions before once again feeling his fears ease as he realised they still existed and could move about, even use their reiatsu.
Yet the amount of energy he had used was taxing and it seemed to be drawing more energy from them as they used it, so quickly Loki allowed the technique to fade, returning the energy into spiritual matter once again.
~ Are we dead yet? ~
Learning: Soul-Body Separation
Training: Reishi/Hollow Technique Proficiency
Menos Forest:
After their earlier efforts they were more than a little fatigued, it was then that the ground underneath them burst upwards revealing a huge pair of jaws – attached to a gigantic clam, the result was what appeared to be like a living bear trap nearly thirty feet wide, enough to swallow Loki whole. Which, as it turned out was not in it's favour, for the foolish clam only seemed to have size on it's side, Loki began pushing open both sides of the jaws at once, barely even noticing the sharpness of the teeth as they cracked slightly at the force of Loki's gel fingers.
Still - it wasn't that the clam was weak, but rather that Loki, himself was significantly more powerful than it had given him credit for. Even as Loki violently pushed at the jaws they held fast, yet there was a spray of blood all the same; though Loki had not intended to kill their attacker with the move, the hinge between the jaws proved surprisingly weak; for instead of the teeth moving, the body was torn in half with the bite still secured.
With their assailant's live quickly failing, Loki decided to consume the foolish predator instead of the reishi around them; after-all it was better that Loki ate the soul rather than waste the food.
As soon as Loki finished eating he knew something was wrong, he was filled with an indescribable pain, as if his insides were boiling, screaming, Loki tore at Verlassen's throat just as a much larger pair of jaws burst upwards from the surface, encompassing Loki and the remains of the meal. The pressure this time was vastly greater, even as Loki struggled with the effects of his previous meal, the walls of the giant clam pushed at him with a crushing weight.
Snarling in anger, Loki concentrated reiatsu to his palms, manifesting one blade of energy in each hand as he thrust into either side of the mouth, the blades sunk deep into the reddish flesh, clear through to the outside as Loki cut a bloody doorway through the side of the hollow's face.
Dashing outside, Loki spun, the blade in one hand reshaping into a small ball of compressed reddish brown energy which he unleashed as an immense beam of energy. Loki's cero slammed into the base of the reeling clam, inflicting incredible devastating wounds; death quickly claimed their opponent, yet even as Loki looked down at their adversary he hesitated to eat it, just in case they should face a similar fate as to hat they had experienced earlier. Only now was the incredible pain diminishing.
~
As they consumed the spiritual matter comprised sand around them, Loki considered the dilemma he had uncovered; some foes, it seemed, were capable of inflicting great damage even as they were eaten. Their Revealing Gaze might assist in picking up such problems, but it certainly wouldn't find them all, and it would be a hard task to bypass potential meals simply out of fear of what might happen to them.
What they needed was a way to separate the good from the bad, to take what would help them and yet leave the rest. As he considered the difficulty, the memories from the treacherous clam they had eaten came to Loki, memories of a technique that would allow a hollow to separate a soul from it's body. Hoping that such a technique might give them insight as to the solution for the problem they faced, Loki decided to try it out.
Concentrating intently on the memory that had surfaced, Loki could picture what occurred, after touching the human's body the hollow pushed at it with reiatsu, the sensation dislodging the human from their body, leaving only a chain that joined the two together. Loki knew that by severing such a chain the body would die, yet he had no real interest in that, what he WAS interested in was the potential insight in might give him.
It seemed that it was time to once again visit the kind people of the human realm.
Chicago:
As he exited the Menos Forest, Loki emerged onto the back-streets of late night Chicago. Filled with pimps, prostitutes and dealers, organised crime in the mid nineteen thirties was rampant. 'If we are to experiment on anyone,' Loki thought resolutely, 'it might as well be on people whom contribute nothing.' There was the occasional soul amongst Verlassen who was displeased with that, Samantha and her faction were irritated that they would need to work in such a roundabout way, yet Jun was in favour of avoiding the process altogether.
Loki, however, would not simply inflict fear and pain, even possibly death on the unsuspecting masses, yet neither could he allow the threat to the myriad of souls within Verlassen; they needed to find the middle ground and for that Loki had considered the words they had said oh so long ago, ”Those that are evil are our food,” he reminded Jun, then pointedly added for Samantha, ”So we have to be SURE they are evil.” Those were the words they had agreed upon so many decades ago, soon after they had come to be known as the Verlassen.
It was a vague principle to be sure, but it was an abiding one, disagreement amongst the souls died down into only the most muted of grumbling – all would abide by their most ancient decisions, for it was the very foundations of their continued existence.
As Loki prowled the dark streets he saw much of the modern human life, yet no matter how much time had progressed some things remained constant. In a scene reminiscent of Loki's very first meal as a Hollow in an early American settler's barnyard, Verlassen found three men attempting to force themselves upon a woman in a blind alleyway.
With no question as to their evil, Loki could only conclude one thing, 'Those that are evil are our food,' stepping forth quickly, Loki knocked each of the three men down with a single swipe of his tail. For a moment the woman simply look surprised, yet without caring to understand the situation she quickly gathered her clothes and ran out of the ally screaming.
The dazed men looked in no danger of getting up any time soon, in fact Loki was quite confident from the sound of the impact, that the first man at least had enough broken bones he would not be getting up any time soon. As such they would be the perfect assistants for his efforts.
Picking up one of the more healthy of the fallen men, Loki gathered a small amount of reiatsu in his other gel hand before pressing it against the man's chest, for that was where the soul link chain was attached to a soul. Instead of separating the soul from the body, however, the man was merely sent flying by the relatively small amount of energy. Bemused, Loki walked over to the side of the alley where the man had been flung and picked him up again. This time as he placed his energy filled hand against the man's torso he looked at the man not just with his senses but also his Revealing Gaze; there was a brief, answering pulse as Loki touched the man with his hand, yet once more the man was slammed into the wall behind him, slumping down to the ground again.
Irritated, Loki grasped the man a third time, lifting him bodily off the floor he held the man there as he placed his other hand on the man's chest, concentrating reiatsu there as he focused on the sensation that appeared in response. Again and again Loki's energy flared in the alleyway and the man's body twisted and flopped about, yet did not escape Loki's firm grasp. The more rapidly Loki sent the pulses of energy, the more vibrant the response.
Even as Loki considered the possibility that had occurred to him, he had began to try it out; not really caring whether the damage he did to the man was irreparable, after all the man was trash as far as he was concerned. Placing his open palm against the man's chest Loki began manifesting a small amount of energy around his palm, vibrating the energy he had converted. As the oscillating energy touched the man's chest, the answering pulse responded in kind, beating rapidly until finally adopting the same beat. The instant the two were as one, the man's soul was projected out of the back of his body, tumbling backwards to crash into the stone wall as his soul link chain rattled on the ground before him.
The man groaned in pain, his eyes fluttering open slowly, not seeming to see what was before him as he adjusted to the disorientation. Loki dropped the man's body, callously indifferent to the sound it made when the man's head hit the ground. The soul in front of him, slowly began having a thin trail of blood drip out of his nose in response. Looking up blankly at the figure of Loki, it took time for the man to react, yet suddenly he was screaming, huddled over in fear as he grasped at the chain coming out of his chest as he pleaded for his life.
Loki had no interest in killing the man just yet, nor in sparing the man's life; yet the screaming was irritating, so he gripped the man's face with his gel hand completely covering the mouth, pulling the would be rapist from the ground and looking the man in the eye. ”Shut up.” Loki said simply, yet it seemed to be enough – for the man was no longer speaking, just whimpering slightly behind Loki's hand as urine ran down his legs to the alley beneath them.
Turning around Loki strode over to the body and attempted to force the man back within, it was easier than Loki had anticipated, for the body seemed more than willing to receive the man's soul once more. Yet Loki was not satisfied, again he ripped the man's soul from his body and again he returned the wide eyed, inconsolable man to the collapsed body on the ground.
Finally, Loki was satisfied that they were in full control of the technique.
~ Breakdown ~
Learning: Mayor Separación (Major Seperation)
Training: Reiatsu/Reishi Proficiency
Chicago:
Yet what they had set out to do was not to render a couple of rapists unconscious, nor to scare a man into incontinence; what they had attempted to obtain by learning the ability to separate a soul from its body was insight as to how they might be able to take what they wanted from a soul without needing to consume the entire thing. In that endeavour, they had most certainly seen a glimpse of something.
By oscillating the man's soul link at the right tone, Verlassen had been able to separate the soul from the body, pulling it out with ease. Leaving the fallen man babbling incoherently on the floor, Loki walked across to one of the others. If Loki had cared what his efforts might do to the men before him, he might not have attempted what he intended, yet there was not even a slight hesitation before Loki grasped the man's head.
If he could separate the man's soul, then why not the man's thoughts? Loki was able to imbue his gel seeds with the conciousness of the souls of Verlassen, so it was certain that the two could be split; so perhaps the same held true for forcing the separation in another.
Once again, Loki sent a wave of energy into one of the men, this time however he was not targeting the soul link, instead he was attempting to get at the man's mind, at his thoughts and memories. As the weak pulses of energy streamed through the man's head his body flailed soundlessly as it was held above the floor by one gel hand. A foul smell of excrement wafted through the air as Loki realised that the man had lost control of his bowels at Loki's clumsy attempts.
Every so often as Loki inserted energy, he could feel a complex wave of answering pulses; it took time, yet Loki adjusted the vibrations of the energy he was using, carefully attempting to replicate the same tones. Finally, Loki could feel memories bubbling up from the man, in much the same way that he experienced with eating a soul, the man had been born in Ohio it seemed, last week he had turned thirty two, he had lost his virginity at nineteen to his neighbours wife. The thoughts were a disordered jumble, it took time to sort through them all as Loki refined his approach, prompting for particular information by providing a concept; he thought of glass as he sent the vibrations in the man's head, the answering bubbles showed Loki the time the man had accidentally put his hand through a window, the time he had crushed a shattered a glass vase when angry at his wife, the time he had smashed through a glass display at a jewellers only to find the stock had been removed. The thoughts came in response to Loki's prompting and slowly he began to smile.
Such a technique would allow him to search an opponent's mind for any potential sign of dangerous techniques or abilities.