darkbishop | NOCTIUM INBOX

[ just fire emblem things. ]

Well...

[ Rukia pauses for a moment. It's very bizarre to her that everyone here can see her, as she's so used to ordinary humans being unaware of her presence. She's tempted to lie and say she's an ordinary high school student, but seeing as though she's been walking around in her shinigami uniform and her zanpakuto on hand, there's no point in lying. ]

I come from a place known as the Soul Society. I'm a shinigami; that entails helping souls from the human world pass over safely, and purifying corrupted souls. Normally, humans are unaware of the presence of shinigami. ... I'm finding that this isn't the case here. It's...strange.

Fascinating...

[The adjustment here must be even more difficult for Rukia; being surrounded by gempeople and humans all of whom can see her when that shouldn't be the case must be quite the experience indeed.]

I imagine it goes without saying, but I've never heard of anything like that before. If I may ask, how exactly is a soul corrupted, and how do you purify it?

Souls turn corrupt by lingering in the human world too long after their death. They turn into beasts known as Hollows, and the purification process, simply put, involves defeating the Hollow and cleansing it of the sins it committed while it was a Hollow.

[ Bleach Lore 101. Enjoy, Hubert. ]

Of course, if the soul committed too many sins as a mortal, it ends up being sent to Hell instead.

Is such a thing fairly common? Have you had to fight many of these Hollows?

[This is so wild, which is exactly why it's so fascinating. Other words are crazy...]

It is, and yes, I have. Many souls linger because they have regrets, or things they hold onto that they're not ready to let go of just yet.

[ It's tragic, sometimes, hearing their stories, but such is the life of a shinigami. Rukia's got a lot more going on than just this, though, thanks to a certain human having discovered her presence back at home...but she'll save that for another time. ]

I can't say for sure if such a thing exists in your world, but it's entirely possible. Unless you have a certain amount of spiritual energy, you most likely wouldn't be able to see any of this happening.

[He nods at the first part; that makes sense. Dying before you can complete your goals certainly does seem like a good way for your soul to stick around, hanging onto regrets. Of course that isn't the only reason - she's likely seen all sorts of reasons for souls lingering behind and a large variety of their regrets that kept them there. It sounds like a difficult job.]

If such a thing exists, I haven't met anyone with enough spiritual energy to see it.

[That doesn't mean it isn't possible, but it seems likely he would have at least heard of a few fringe cases before. Still... what a thing to consider.]

It sounds like a very important job.

It is, truthfully. Shinigami are essential to maintaining balance.

[ Because, like, having a bunch of Hollow everywhere would be bad... But there's something relieving about being able to share this with a stranger, someone who shouldn't be privy to this information -- but it isn't like he'd really be able to do much with it. Maybe. ]

I'll admit, I'm surprised you're as calm about this as you are. I'd imagine that most humans back where I'm from would be shocked if they ever had an encounter with a spirit.

[ bc like. hella deda ]

I imagine it would be difficult for most people under normal circumstances, but these are hardly normal circumstances. I've seen and heard things that would normally be entirely unbelievable back home. At this point, I find it all far more fascinating than terrifying.

[...though tbh hubert doesn't usually find much terrifying to begin with.]

[ For someone who finds everything so fascinating, Hubert himself is pretty interesting. A small smile forms on Rukia's lips and she takes a quick sip of her tea, then: ]

Oh? Now I'm curious. Are you referring to things that are present in this world, or are you talking about things back where you're from?

The things is this world, certainly, though I rarely deal with anything truly terrifying back home.

[...Well, more terrifying than usual, given the inherent horror in working with such a vile group as those who slither in the dark.]

The technology alone is far beyond anything I could have imagined; it's taken some getting used to.

[ He gets a nod, at that. She can understand this to some extent. ]

I understand. We have phones where I'm from, but I'd only ever used them in the human world for shinigami purposes. The technology here is far more advanced and extremely complex; I've never seen anything like it before.

[ It's so much to take in, isn't it. ]

However, I've learned a couple of things, such as how to send photos and messages to other people. If you need assistance with that, I can show you how to do that.

There's a way to send photos?

[He's at least worked out the network and many of the other functions, but it is absolutely a slow-going process. While he can't see an immediate use for sending photos, it could be helpful to know?? He's gotta learn everything.]

I would appreciate the assistance, yes. It is good to know I'm not the only one finding all of this vastly different.

Why yes, there is!

[ Somehow, this seems to get her to perk up a little. It may be the fact that she gets to teach someone how the phones (sort of) work and feel smart... She pulls open her phone and does some tapping. She pulls up a blank text message and points to an icon that resembles a camera. ]

All you need to do is tap this icon, [ She does so, and a variety of blurry photos pop up onto the screen. ] and then tap the photo you'd like to send. It's very simple!

Ah, I see. That isn't particularly difficult.

[Huh! There are so many things you can click on... One of these days, he's just going to have to try clicking Everything.]

I appreciate the assistance; most of this is straightforward once it is explained, but it doesn't always seem obvious initially.

[Thank god people in the tdm helped him set his phone to silent because he would hate it by now otherwise.]

It is, isn't it? Taking to this device has been a lot easier than I anticipated.

[ Look at them, making technological progress. Proud of u two. ]

It seems as though learning the phone's one of the easier things about this world. There's a lot going on here that I don't quite understand, even when someone lays it out for me.

Agreed. I feel as though I've spent the majority of my time here studying to simply catch up, much less learn anything of value.

[Though catching up is valuable itself, he's aware of that. It's said in a wry tone more than anything else; he's not genuinely upset about it, at least.]

What have you learned so far? Perhaps we can compare notes...

[ If anything, that is. Might be good to help one another out here. ]

I've learned quite a bit about these devices, though obviously I still have more to learn.

[Here, let him pull his phone out and flip through a few settings; he's actually worked out how to text pretty well and has learned how to mute his damn phone so it doesn't make noise at him all the time, but we're still pretty much looking at the basics here. He's a quick study, but it's kind of hard to catch up when you're a Ye Olde...]

You've learned how to mute your phone?!

[ That's the best part about all of this, oh my god. Rukia is immediately going to pick that up from Hubert, because goodness this thing can be real noisy sometimes?? ]

I see. That should be very useful then, though I do worry I'll forget to check it if someone tries to contact me...

It seems as though you're able to change the sound if you dislike the one it's currently set to.

[Give him a sec to go through the options... Here's how you can do that if you want to look through them!]

Unfortunately, it seems that you'll have to remember to check it on your own without the sound. I haven't found another way for it to notify you.

Oh! These are ringtones. I'm familiar with this concept; the phone I used back at home had these as well.

[ But they didn't sound nearly this...clear? Crisp? She's so impressed. ... Don't mind her Hubert, she's going to try out every single one. Please stop her. ]

[.............you know, this might as well happen.

So no, he won't stop her. He will sit here and listen to every single ringtone and try very hard not to make a face. This is his lot in life now. Hubert von Vestra suffers so much.]

[ You're a good man, Hubert.

She at least doesn't listen to each one all the way through, but he'll be treated to an assortment of sounds. Rukia eventually settles on one that's at least nicer on the ears and puts her phone down, looking at Hubert with a grin on her face. ]

Well, that was fun!

[ FOR SOME PEOPLE, SURE... ]

[FOR ONE OF US...]

They certainly do have a lot of options.

They do. Far more than my old phone did, at least.

[ Now that Hell is officially over, Rukia goes back to just casually looking at her screen. She flips through some of the screens before finally forming a question: ]

"gemBANKING"...? What is that?

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