[Open] She blinded me with science

[makinuscream]

Who: Kisuke Urahara and whoever has the unfortunate luck to stumble into his temple.
When:May 9th
Where: The Temple of Prometheus in the Far Shore
What: Urahara has a few projects he's working on. Enter at your own risk. Action or prose is fine with me.
Warnings: None.



Prompt I: It's been a hard day's night.

The day dawns on someone who hasn't slept yet... in the last two days.

Outside the Temple looks like an respectable Greek temple with tall, white columns and sculptures both standing freely and in relief on the walls. The noises coming from inside - metallic clanks, the chug-click of gears - is less traditional. For those brave enough to venture past the cluster of noise, they'll find a mess. A very spectacular mess.

Pieces of machinery lay all around. Some held in the hands of stately statues. Three large tubes made out of metal and glass line the east wall and a bank of in-progress equipment lies nearby. Wire and tools scatter across tables and the man himself is hunched over a control board, soldering together circuits.

Kisuke looks like mess as well. The hat is gone and blonde hair that often looks unkempt now appears to be a half finished nest. And that's being kind. His haori lies forgotten over the head of statue and remains of a half eaten dinner or late night snack teeters perilously on a counter....

.... right next to some chemical with a big, fat hazardous sticker on it.

"C'mon in!" His voice rings out cheerfully, masking fatigue. "Gimme just a minute."

Putting the last piece in place, Urahara doesn't even look up until it's secured. Then he straightens, cracking his back and looks at his guest.

"What can I do for you?"



Prompt II: But it's in the name of science.

"Hey! You're just in time." Urahara flashes a broad, smile and waves his fan lazily. "I needed some help and you're just the person. Would you mind taking a seat on that stool?"

The stool in question sits near the three large tubes that stretch nearly floor to ceiling in the back. Next to it is a table that holds a device connected to a lot of wires. Some of those wires run to the tubes and others have tiny pads on them.

Do you back out now? Do you run while you can? That cheerful if somewhat tired face is looking at you expectantly.

Comments

I

[shockshot]

He told her to look for his temple, once she was ready. There was some settling in to do, checking on her god, and making sure things were all right. She felt better then when they saw each other last. She was certainly more bright eyed and energetic, from the way she was glancing around.

Though her expression might have been more in awe, or a kind of dismay at the complete mess his place was.

Having his food so close to something hazardous was kind of a dismaying thing too. But having his attention on her had her straighten up, her hands pressing against her skirt.

"Kisuke-san, hello! I'm sorry to interrupt. But you said to come over and you would explain and...I'm really sorry for not knocking."

She smiled at him, fingers kneading the fabric pressed against her thighs. She wasn't going to retreat though, even if he looked as if he hadn't slept. If worse came to worse, she'd try and see about bullying him into sleeping a bit.

Strange, she thought he'd have a shinki that would do that.

[makinuscream]

"Psshh, you're not interrupting at all! I could have locked the door if I didn't want visitors." Or rig something to jump out at the unwary as they ascended the stairs. That would be more entertaining.

Moving a pile of wires and metal plates off a nearby stool, he gestures.

"Have a seat. I'm going to guess you're hear about our last meeting." He's had some time to think it over and it should be fine to talk to her as long as he's careful. Very careful.

[shockshot]

"Ah, good point." Though if he did do a jump scare, or something that exploded, she would have to destroy it and give him a good smack. Or angrily text him, more like.

She nodded her thanks, and swept her skirt under her before perching on the stool.

"That's right. I didn't want to ask around too much, especially when I heard that warning on Add's post. I didn't want to accidentally blight anyone."

Masaki crossed her legs at the ankle, settling her hands on her lap. Though she was still cheerful, he had her complete attention.

"Or worse. So. What can you tell me?"

[makinuscream]

"Don't worry, we'll keep it simple." She doesn't want to Blight anyone and he doesn't want her to turn into an ayakashi. They're off to a great start.

"First things first. I need a promise that you won't go poking around into anything I tell you. It seems like we have a little wiggle room and I don't think you wandering around with no idea what you're feeling is a good idea, but - well - we've got obvious restrictions, yeah?"

I

[skyleopardess]

"You look like shit."

Yoruichi strolls into the lab with a basket slung in the crook of one elbow. She's not completely surprised by the state of the place--he pretty much deteriorates without her or Tessai around to make him take care of himself.

That cheery greeting might fool most, but Yoruichi's been seeing through him since they were kids.

"Get that to a point where it won't blow up, and let's go. There must be one room in here that's fit to be in." He's getting a shower, a meal, and a nap in that order.

Or she'll just skip the first two and knock him out with kidou. It's up to him.

[makinuscream]

"You know just what to say to make a guy feel special." Dry his words may be, but they come with a grin as he snaps the case over the board he'd been working on. At least now he can yawn freely. "And we're no where near the explosive stage yet. So is this my official 'you're working too much and need a shower' call?"

His gaze drifts to the basket before he looks around for his hat. The green and white stripes aren't immediately apparent. Ah well, he'll find it later. Kisuke motions towards a door at the back and starts off in that direction.

Food and a shower might be easy to get him to do. Sleeping could be the tricky one; he has that look in his eyes. The one that says he's 'sooooooo close' to finishing something he considers important. Of course the concept of so close and Urahara is relative. It could mean hours or days depending on the project.

Wheeling a cart out of the way of a door, he opens it to a room that has a table, some chairs and a rumple of blankets that's probably supposed to pass for a bed.

[skyleopardess]

"I can't seem to get rid of you, so you must feel special enough," she drawls. "You even followed me here." Something she's exceedingly grateful for, even if he'd had no say in the matter.

Picking her way through his lab, she follows him through the door into the next room, raising an eyebrow at the somewhat spartan conditions. She wouldn't be surprised if it had originally matched the opulent exterior, only for the furnishings to have been cannibalized for materials.

Either that, or he just hadn't cared enough to furnish the place.

"From what I see, the visit's overdue." She walks over, setting the basket on the table. "Hurry and go shower before I eat all the food I brought you." It's mainly an idle threat, but there's just enough precedent to hopefully keep him from dawdling.

[makinuscream]

"I couldn't let you have all this fun without me, could I?" The words come around him rummaging around for a towel. There were clean ones. Somewhere. Finding what he's looking for, Kisuke tosses it over his shoulder with a chuckle and his hands held up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. I'm going." Kisuke exits into the bathroom and then his head pokes around the doorframe. "Is it too much to ask for you to wash my back?" Flashing a quick grin, he ducks back into the bathroom just in case a pillow might be headed his way.

Hot water might be a bad idea, though. The heat sinks into his bones until he's blinking away the urge to sleep right here. He does manage though and when he walks out with a towel wrapped around his waist, there's a big yawn and someone rubbing his eyes.

II

[solar_avatar]

It certainly has been quite the interesting first week. What with what was happening at the 'Near Shore' as it's been called, draining everyone the way it had. Apparently people have been missing, as Trance met shinki that were out on the search, and the forums also seemed to be pretty lively. Inbetween and during some of those things, Trance had also been going around and 'rescuing' various neglected plants that were either at abandoned temples (or look abandoned,) or doing so to get a better idea of how the temples were laid out.

It all leads to Urahara calling over the golden woman, who was looking back with wide doe eyes. A little alarmed, or confused, but more that she wasn't sure what was the best thing to do. The blond man certainly seemed friendly enough, though she looks over at the wires and doodads over by the stool.

"Um," if that didn't have enough of the question in itself, she wasn't beyond asking first. However it seems that she's definitely caught by curiosity as well. "What is supposed to happen when I do?"

[makinuscream]

Urahara holds up one finger as if he's about to launch into an explanation only to blink. Then his eyes go wide in shocked excitement. She has no spiritual pressure. Not a trace of spirit energy that he can sense.

Oh, what is she? What is she?

Shaking his head to get his thoughts in order, Urahara begins again.

"This is a machine designed to analyze a person's, spiritual signature." He certainly won't be rude enough to shove her onto the stool but he hopes that she'll agree. This could be huge. This could be an incredible discovery. "I need to test it and calibrate it, but just using my own isn't enough to set a baseline. Would you be interested in helping a poor inventor out?"

His eyes widen in an amazing impersonation of 'begging dog' and he clasps both hands under his chin.

[solar_avatar]

Trance isn't quite sure what to make of the man's expressions. Instinct said trouble, but not the dangerous kind. More the mischief kind, and as he shook head, the blonde decided that she probably would be okay with mischief. Everything made sense, including needing to set a baseline, but she had one issue.

She had no idea what a spiritual signature was supposed to be.

Which showed, as she stared up at the man that was over half a foot taller than herself. While she might be able to think about the choices to see where they go, as she had somehow managed to do upon arrival, Trance was also curious enough to just let it happen normally. It could be fun.

"Well, I don't know how much I'd be able to help," she said carefully, almost leading to the whole 'about to say no but really saying yes' type of twist. Except the actual thing seemed like it would be far more interesting than some lead around. So as this stranger begs, the blonde craned her neck out to the side to look back at the experiment, to just point over at the stool. "Just sit in it, right? I can do that."

It certainly didn't take much to convince her. With the long hair bouncing at each step taken, Trance made a b-line to hop onto it. Of course, while she's not aware that it'll happen, it would be a surprise if this was meant to measure anything energy-wise. Especially with how it was meant to be done.

[makinuscream]

"Mhmm. Just take a seat and..." Leaning over the table he picks up a handful of wires attached to small pads. "... I put this on you. I know, I know it sounds the beginning to some horror/sci-fi novel and once they're on you'll be assimilated into the machine or something terrible but it's actually much simpler and less shriek worthy."

With care he places the first pad on her arm.

"See? No freakish happenings. Once they're on, it'll take about five minutes for the machine to run through its diagnostic functions and I'll make a few adjustments as it does. Then we'll be all finished. Sound okay?"

Since she agreed without some form of yelling, horrified anger, or other such reaction, he's inclined to go through the whole explanation before hand.

II

[kissthegoddamncook]

"...Now what."

Is Kensei on his last nerve? Kensei's on his last nerve. But life in general is doing that. His Shinki got vampire attacked, and there's already enough bullshit going on. Who the hell is letting Urahara do more science anyways?

[makinuscream]

"You are grumpy today. Did you drink enough milk this morning?" Gliding smoothly out of immediate arms reach, Kisuke picks up the wires and lays them carefully over his arm.

"Just hold still and try to not glower too much." Biting back a yawn, Urahara begins attaching the pads to Kensei's forehead and arms with a look of pure concentration. Kisuke may act careless, but it's an act.

"I need to get this machine calibrated and then see about keeping our resident sword spirit happy and healthy."

[kissthegoddamncook]

"...Dammit!" Well, he's already into the experiment, and he's certainly not going to back up and fuck everything up.

Especially because he's not exactly 100% sure what Urahara has up his sleeves his time.

"You slept at all?" He looks towards him, noticing the yawn before he can even let it out. "Or have you just been bullshittin' all night long?"

[makinuscream]

Urahara is like the Spanish Inquisition: no one expects it; no one knows what it will do. He prefers to keep it that way. This time though, he has no ulterior motives that particularly need secrecy. It's just fun to watch Kensei squirm.

"No rest for the wicked. Isn't that the cliche?" He flashes a half grin and sets the pads attached to his test subject. Turning on the machine, Urahara sits heavily on his own stool and turns the computer program on. "Pulse your spiritual pressure right about five percent."

ii

[prismbloom]

People in help are kind of Aqua's weakness. She's... kind of not sure how she stumbled upon this temple. Maybe it was the mess outside, or maybe it was some kind of curiosity she couldn't resist. Regardless, Aqua's here, and she's looking at the stool and the device with something like suspicion.

Scratch that. It's definitely suspicion.

"Excuse me?" is all she can manage to say.

[makinuscream]

Urahara meets suspicion with a bright smile and a grand gesture back towards his device.

"Help. I need it. I'm trying to calibrate my spiritual analysis system and I can't do with just myself as a baseline. You sit there," he points to the stool, "and I attach those pads and turn on the machine. The machine reads your spiritual signature, and I make adjusts to the machine. We're done in under five minutes."

See? Simple. Painless.

[prismbloom]

She's still not entirely sure. Aqua glances at the device, then back at the man. He's certainly enthusiastic, and it doesn't sound terribly dangerous... But she can't be sure.

"And it won't cause me any harm?" She's well aware that, if it did and he's got ill intentions, he won't tell her that. But still, she can't help but ask. His response will be the clincher; if he's being deceptive, maybe she can tell. And if he does have any nefarious plans, she can take care of it here and now, so others don't get hurt.

II

[disciplineking]

Hibari is bored, and that was never a good thing when it happened to other people. It usually led to violence for one or both of the parties, and a lot of damaged property.

This of course, did not stop him from entering what looked at first like an unoccupied temple that might be either a good hideout for him, or a school building for the rest of his duties.

Hibari did not find either, and instead a strange blonde man with questionable machinery that made his skin crawl. Just the sight of them made him draw out his tonfas as the man asked his question.

"How about I just bite you to death instead?"

[makinuscream]

Well, this is a prickly spiritual signature. Urahara snaps out his fan with a crooked smile and waves it lazily through the air. For all the cheerfulness still visible in his expression, he's still accessing the man in front of him.

"You could but that doesn't sound like much fun for either of us." He props one elbow up against one of the many statues and one-foot crosses over the other. "The simpler solution would be to turn around and walk back the other way."

[disciplineking]

Urahara was wrong in one aspect: it would most certainly be fun for Hibari if the guy in front of him put up a fight. Instead, the shinki curled his lips into even more of a scowl and took a couple steps forward.

"Experimenting on people is against the rules, and for that I have authority to bite you dead." The kid had a disciplinary committee armband pinned to his left sleeve, obviously where he was coming from with this. Otherwise he looked about ready to attack, depending on what Urahara said next.

II

[moonfang]

Zangetsu was one of the few who had received a personal invitation for this whole ordeal. It made sense; he strongly suspected that all of this mess was for him, for his little... problem. He has to admit that he's a little suspicious of this guy, who was just... willing to help him. Willing to go through all this effort to help him.

He doesn't really understand. Who had he been before he died? Was he someone important? His curiosity had started returning, but just thinking about what had happened to Axel was enough for him to keep his mouth shut tight about it.

He looks at the stool, then back at Urahara.

"Ain't gonna hurt, is it?"

[makinuscream]

"The short answer is nope." A grin forms. "Do you want the longer, but still a 'no' explanation?"

Kisuke leans back against the table, looking a little worse for wear, but still alert. That could also be the massive amounts of caffeine talking. As soon as he get this thing operational, he'll sleep, and shower. Probably not in that order.

[moonfang]

Zangetsu makes a face. He doesn't know this guy from Adam, but something tells him he doesn't want the long explanation. He has the distinct, sinking feeling that he would be here all day.

"No. I believe you. And if you're wrong, I'll just take your eyeballs as punishment."

Said with all the casual nonchalance of talking about the weather. He plops down on the stool and picks a booger with a talon. Classy.