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Now You Feel Like Number None [Bleach Arrancar Quest]

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[ ] The Feather floats on the wind, and is no less worthy a warrior for the magic it wields. Your shadow writhes, your skin turns to porcelain, you bleed black dust. You fight to be strong enough to matter, to challenge fate and the will of God. The enemy's power allows no retort, so you will bring down the sky with each wailing bolt of power that he may never reach you.

this seems most appropriate considering our bond with Cirucci
 
Chernobyl fight?

Chernobyl fight!

Also, I'm leaning towards The Spear - as we said to Tousen, we are Arrancar, and we must accept that we are both Reaper and Hollow.. We fight not to be human, but to be whole.
 
Also I like the thought of option one Nemo going "I am literally bleeding a sea here, if you wanna bother me, past emotons and memories, you gotta try harder or give up."
 
deadcrystal said:
First off, Hiromu setting up for secret Konpaku rescue mission, all of my yes.

Secondly @Omicron oh my gods!

Setting up the duel to take place in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone? In amongst the ruins of Pripyat?

So nice.

Kubo would be ashamed! You took the story out of Japan! :p
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"But Omi aside from being an empty city Pripyat actually looks pretty normal the animals just get cancer they don't turn into-"

*puts finger on objector's lips*

"shhhhh"

"but-"

"shhhhhhhhh look at this Annihilation trailer"



"But that doesn't explain-"

"it's magic spirit stuff"

"I don't think-"

"The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter."

"You can' just keep quoting bible verses-"

"did you know chernobyl means wormwood in ukrainian"

"I give up."
 
Omicron said:
"The terms are as follow," Tousen declares in a deep, sonorous call. "This is single combat, ending in the death, incapacitation, or forfeit of either combattant. If Ayasegawa is victorious and Elcorbuzier lives, she will come to Soul Society as his prisoner, to answer any and all questions. If he is victorious and she dies, I will personally give him the information he seeks regarding the Arrancars who attacked Karakura Town."
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There is no fuckin' way he cleared that with Aizen first. Letting us fight, well, Aizen probably wouldn't give a damn about that beyond an excuse to troll/torture us. But there's no way he'd be cool with Tousen providing intelligence to Soul Society contingent on the outcome of something Aizen doesn't personally control.
 
A problem with option 1 is probably the second Yumichika stops "ripping her apart" and uses his actual Shikai, we'd be right up his face for him to use and then have to use Res.
Hopefully it happens with Nemo actually made some headway into mastering her Res.
 
Okay sooo...Hunh.
If we had brought teh Barragan's fraccions THAT would have been interesting, to say the least. Dunno how Uno would have taken it...
But uhhh...
Which one?...
Feather probably=Wings, if we win this fight. Probably plays into Nemo's Bala+Cero style.
Braid, uhh...Something...I feel like weirdness is behind here, I don't know if I want to see that. Maybe Nemo loses her mask down this route.
Spear though...Heh...Funny thing. I didn't really consider Nemo to be much of a Lancer but getting to Kenpatch Yumichika would no doubt be glorious. I uhh...I'm worried this ends in Dead Nemo because while few things answer a Regen tank on a simmilar level to you, Drain tactics would be the one thing that does it...
On the flipside? We'd be a proper Knight if we made this happen.
...I don't know which one I'd call the best, or even the one I'd want even if I saw them in their full glory...
 
Omicron said:
Before either of you can say anything, death walks out behind him. Your breath catches in you throat and your eyes stare wide at her pale coat.

It is not her reiatsu that arrests you. It is so carefully suppressed, so gently subdued, a mother's embrace; is death not the final rest? You could have mistaken her easily, if you had not told her story. Death has a kind and sorrowful face with wide grey eyes, her long black hair tied in a thick braid wrapped down her chest. If one thing betrays her nature, its the unusual length of her sword, expression of her soul - though it hangs at her waist, it is attached not to her belt but to a strap passed around the opposite shoulder.

"Unohana,"
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...Ahahah. Wow.

Of course it has to be her. It's the only choice that ever made sense.

Anyways a lot of people are going to be so jealous if they found out about this.
 
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Got a very weird idea.
There got to be a stat rating of authors. Like one for NN, or ONP.
I just wonder what is Omicron's relative statline here.

Writing Arts are, needless to say, in high ranking of SV authors.
So a Veteran level for sure.

Stuff like Metaphors, Visuals and Symbolism are at Master level. Just imagine the ying and yang of the final battle, or all the options we have now.

Worldbuilding is in appropriate quantity and genuinely vivid and imaginative, with a touch of logical consequence to it. High Skilled or Veteran.

Character interaction is solid as well, with a veteran at least, and a specialization to slice of life and dramatic moments.

Of course, there's the sheer writing output- golden pages can be outweigh by copper books. Writer's Sonido, so to speak.
Which I'll just call Veteran and call it a day.

Hierro would probably find a similar output in Thick Skin- the ability to take criticism and stress of life in general while still writing.
... I don't think this fanbase is toxic (not too much, anyway) so I'll give a lower estimate of Skilled.

Update Release, with smaller Comments (Master for Durin and some other authors) and bigger Chapters (Torroar and Omicron have it down pat. The updates are fucking huge) being main components.
Skilled/Veteran for Comments, and Veteran in Chapters here as well, with frequent and lengthy updates, as well as good contact with the fanbase.

Mechanics handling and balancing are mostly game-dev problems, and progression curve is somewhat steep here.
So probably just Adept for that one. It's a story of fluff, not crunch.

Now I wonder about the advanced skills... ah! Do you drive a car, perhaps? It'll be a nice Descorrer equivalent. :p
Now, not a concern with rating writers perhaps, but I wonder- would Visual Arts be an Advanced skill? We have many Veterans and some Masters here, after all.

Man, with all those stats, I wonder how would a WRITER FIGHT go between him and other SV authors.
I already have the idea (and vague crack ambition) of Nemo Garganting herself straight into a sealing failure from MfD and having nice tea with Kagome (who won't BOOM SQUISH her because she's probably an emissary of some greater power you don't want to mess with), while boggling in horror at implications of youthsuits. Now all we need is for her to visit Omicron himself and go on a grand 4th wall breaking adventure.

...
I don't know why I wrote any of this.
I guess I want to follow Ren and build my own bridge of enlightement, from fake stories to our reality.
Making SV writing into a quest of it's own is just my first step.

Next one is probably making an Omicron Omake, to level up his Character Progression skill before the end of the arc. :p
 
Mellithae said:
I like braid and feather fine, personally. Spear just...doesn't feel like nemo.
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We're determined enough to uphold our ideals that we're currently plotting to rebel against a being that could kill us without even trying. This as a capstone to our history of ignoring or powering through our own pain and weakness to achieve our goals.

I think sheer relentless determination suits Nemo pretty well.
 
Aleph said:
Alarmingly, this option would confront Yumichika with a parallel to Unohana Retsu; the monster who made herself a person. We endure, fighting as a human on two fronts and losing ground on both of them as Polilla's thoughts and urges seep in early. The result of this is that we will be beaten black-and-blue and thoroughly exhausted when we finally hit the breaking point of Release - but that stubborn refusal to concede will leave our sociopathic side with far less influence upon our confrontation with it.
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Now this is a interesting direction to go isn't it?
 
The Spear seems like it would be the most apt choice.

The Feather would embrace your Hollow side - to seek more power, to seek enough power to reach Aizen and end his reign. But what Nemo needs is closure, to become whole. It is becoming whole that would make Nemo stronger - it should not be "make Nemo stronger to make her whole".

The Braid is closer, but still off. In a way, it fits - Nemo's struggle to come to terms with herself and to become whole is a fight on both fronts. The Braid would force her to tear back the mask of the Arrancar, to leave the sword of the Shinigami, and to confront what she is... but it is a fight against herself. In a fight like this, Nemo would lose. She would embrace her Resurrection, but only at the cost of losing herself. It's closure, but I feel like Nemo would still have to actively struggle to control her ressurection.

Thus, the Spear is the only answer. Fighting like this would reopen old wounds. It would be painful. It would be trying - and yes, Nemo would be pushed to her limits. But this fight would be not a struggle of what Nemo was, or what Nemo wants - but what Nemo could be. From her old self, lost in time, and from Ikakku, a peerless warrior - I think that this would leave Nemo the most whole.
And, in a way, isn't this closure in the greatest sense? She's fighting someone who she lost against, a part of her past she felt she couldn't overcome before - she is, quite literally, fighting her past.
And if she wins, she would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she is stronger. That she no longer needs to hide from her memories.
The only way forward is to face your fears, head-on.
 
Oh man, now that Nemo has been to Chernobyl, the viability of Plan Nuclear Accident is actually now within the realm of possibly actually happening.
 
DoBetterLettuce said:
The Spear seems like it would be the most apt choice.

The Feather would embrace your Hollow side - to seek more power, to seek enough power to reach Aizen and end his reign. But what Nemo needs is closure, to become whole. It is becoming whole that would make Nemo stronger - it should not be "make Nemo stronger to make her whole".

The Braid is closer, but still off. In a way, it fits - Nemo's struggle to come to terms with herself and to become whole is a fight on both fronts. The Braid would force her to tear back the mask of the Arrancar, to leave the sword of the Shinigami, and to confront what she is... but it is a fight against herself. In a fight like this, Nemo would lose. She would embrace her Resurrection, but only at the cost of losing herself. It's closure, but I feel like Nemo would still have to actively struggle to control her ressurection.

Thus, the Spear is the only answer. Fighting like this would reopen old wounds. It would be painful. It would be trying - and yes, Nemo would be pushed to her limits. But this fight would be not a struggle of what Nemo was, or what Nemo wants - but what Nemo could be. From her old self, lost in time, and from Ikakku, a peerless warrior - I think that this would leave Nemo the most whole.
And, in a way, isn't this closure in the greatest sense? She's fighting someone who she lost against, a part of her past she felt she couldn't overcome before - she is, quite literally, fighting her past.
And if she wins, she would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she is stronger. That she no longer needs to hide from her memories.
The only way forward is to face your fears, head-on.
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This fight is ABSOLUTELY about "what Nemo was" because the dissonace of what she was and what she is now is in no questionable terms actually killing her. This whole chapter is all about that.

"I'm stronger than you now so I can just ignore you forever" is in fact not closure in any form or fashion. It's just what Ichigo does and what he does is not healthy. It's just more avoidance which is what brought Nemo to her current state to begin with.

Nemo's closure is not going to be about more power or more convenience. It's going to have to be something more integrative for all of herself.
 
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I'm in favor of Braid.

Not because it's the one that rejects our past, but because it's the one that most elegantly tries to reintegrate it with ourselves.

I considered a big effortpost, but I'm still in a state of blah right now, so not today.
 
DoBetterLettuce said:
The Spear seems like it would be the most apt choice.

The Feather would embrace your Hollow side - to seek more power, to seek enough power to reach Aizen and end his reign. But what Nemo needs is closure, to become whole. It is becoming whole that would make Nemo stronger - it should not be "make Nemo stronger to make her whole".

The Braid is closer, but still off. In a way, it fits - Nemo's struggle to come to terms with herself and to become whole is a fight on both fronts. The Braid would force her to tear back the mask of the Arrancar, to leave the sword of the Shinigami, and to confront what she is... but it is a fight against herself. In a fight like this, Nemo would lose. She would embrace her Resurrection, but only at the cost of losing herself. It's closure, but I feel like Nemo would still have to actively struggle to control her ressurection.

Thus, the Spear is the only answer. Fighting like this would reopen old wounds. It would be painful. It would be trying - and yes, Nemo would be pushed to her limits. But this fight would be not a struggle of what Nemo was, or what Nemo wants - but what Nemo could be. From her old self, lost in time, and from Ikakku, a peerless warrior - I think that this would leave Nemo the most whole.
And, in a way, isn't this closure in the greatest sense? She's fighting someone who she lost against, a part of her past she felt she couldn't overcome before - she is, quite literally, fighting her past.
And if she wins, she would know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she is stronger. That she no longer needs to hide from her memories.
The only way forward is to face your fears, head-on.
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I largely disagree with this analysis.

The feather seems about right. A few intricacies, but close enough. It appeals to me mostly because I like Nemo fighting as a magic-user far more. Partially in general, partially because it's her specialty, and partially because I like the parallel to Yumichika's situation. Also, it releases immediately, I think? That might be worth some thought.

The braid...
Omicron said:
[ ] The Braid ties together one who was and one who is; a battle on two fronts. Cracks spread across your mask, your sword is slipping out of your grasp. You fight so you can be human, be better, to challenge the nature of all who were once Hollow. Without the shadow's strength you can only fail until you reach your breaking point - but you will not yield until then.
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The braid is about tying together past and present, so that Nemo can have her future be how she wants it to be. It's the one about waiting until she's pushed to the end. And it is the one about closure.

I think it's my favorite, because it also seems the most like what we came here to do and we just had a conversation with Tousen, and later, a mention with Yumichika, about how Nemo is here to overcome her Hollow nature. This thing, then the comment about how hollows are horrible:
Omicron said:
You have tried to show Tousen that Arrancars are not Hollows. That they can experience love, friendship, compassion. That they can create art and set rules for themselves. That they are people. But this was an incomplete picture. If you told him that Arrancars are only people, he would never quite believe it, because it is a lie.

You are also part Hollow. And today you aim to accept and face that fact, and reforge yourself in the crucible of its truth, into someone better, someone whole.

If Tousen is to believe in the Arrancars, you cannot simply hide the dark part of your nature. You must show it to him, and show that you can overcome it.
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The spear is...
Omicron said:
[ ] The Spear attacks relentlessly, accepting wounds and dealing them in turn. Old injuries ache, your chest is on fire, there is blood on your tongue. You fight to be whole again, to challenge a forgotten self who thought she couldn't endure her own memories. The enemy is stronger and faster, but you will endure any wounds, heal yourself and come back again and again.
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Fighting on and on, to challenge her old self. The spear is about Conflict. Nemo doesn't want conflict, her story has had several notes about how she will fight, but doesn't want to. The spear feels like it's just about conflict, about challenging herself, rather than tying herself together with the moth. I feel like neither the imagery nor the fighting style are suited to Nemo.

EDIT: also, it's more of Nemo's going on and on and never taking a breather, like Cirucci wanted her not to do. That is a Nemo-esque piece of Imagery, but I think the main reason to take spear is so we can reject it.

And oh, look, it's voting time.

[x] The Braid
 
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[X] The Spear attacks relentlessly, accepting wounds and dealing them in turn. Old injuries ache, your chest is on fire, there is blood on your tongue. You fight to be whole again, to challenge a forgotten self who thought she couldn't endure her own memories. The enemy is stronger and faster, but you will endure any wounds, heal yourself and come back again and again.
 
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