Old Playground(StillOpen)

A young girl stood at the city limits of what once was Chicago, she planned to revisit her home for a long time, when her professor was still alive he would always say 'Chicago isn't going anywhere, keep studying.' She let out a melancholy chuckle, it seems her old friend was wrong. She shook her head a bit shaking away the tears that almost welled up beneath her green eyes. She was standing at a mere three feet tall and wore a lime green and black designed hoodie. Along with black jeans that had two green stripes across the legs. Her hair stuck out from her hooded hoodie and showed to be pitch black, her hands were in the pockets of her hoodie as she decided to venture into this hole.

She lept down hill and slid down the rubble, the energy was still high around her, and she could feel the energy of some hollow in the area. One hollow jumped through the rubble, she pulled one hand out of her pocket with her fingers in the shape of a gun, electricity began to spark as it shot out a blast of lightning striking the hollow dead center on the forehead, its head blew up but she ignored the carnage and continued looking around the city that was once her home no more than 3 years ago.

She looked up at the night sky, if it was a buzzing town, the cops would have probably stopped her and asked about her parents, or curfew, or something. But other than the random hollow around the area, it was a desolate wasteland. She had heard the news of the arrancar invading this place, but also heard news of them giving it up, she didn't quiet understand why it was destroyed, really the main reason for coming was to see if any sign or answer was among the rubble. But by the looks of things, answers won't be handed out.

Image:

(Note: There is no gun, but this is similar concept to what he would appear like, not exactly but close).

Throwing rocks across across the crater that was Chicago Albatross Prototype enjoyed the dismal land of broken asphalt and shredded concrete. The doom and gloom bringing a needed balance to the world where so much was all fine and dandy, with the Coalition always butting in nowadays, Alba felt it the destruction was a great time and place to relax in. Recently the Gamble had been to the remnants of Chicago a few days before but it felt that it was time to revisit the former Espada Stronghold. Standing up from the flat boulder that used to be part of an apartment complex, Alba stretched before moving from its seat, but not before taking a handful of pebbles.

Its dead hazel eyes looked over the surroundings before resting upon a small pile of corpses in the distance, smiling Alba took off like a shot as it ran across the slanted edge of the hole to reach its prize. Alba's bright orange hood fluttering from the speed, as its bandanna that laid elegantly across the lower half of its face shuffled slightly before the creature stopped. Looking to either side of itself Alba made sure nobody was looking as it began collecting tissue samples that it had been wanting. With a small crack of bone a finger was placed inside a test tube which was then slipped into the folds of Albatross' heavy hoodie. Its dark green cargo pants becoming dirty from rubbing up against the remains of the corpses. Though, it did not mind in the slightest of the filth and decay, it had long been accustomed to working in such conditions that blood had simply become another thing which to wipe off.

Not paying attention to its surroundings, being so enthralled with its collecting, Alba did not even notice that a newcomer had come within its sphere of influence, nor did Albatross pay heed to the numerous rabid hollow in the area, though most of them farther away from the creature. Wiping away a bead of sweat from its darkly tanned face, Alba shoved the remains of the test tubes in its pant pockets before standing up to proceed to its next target, a rusty pile of assorted car parts.

Hopping over the remains of the rotting corpses Alba moved swiftly, precisely, as its orange and green combination of clothing reflected a small bit of light from the bright sky overhead. Its bandanna revealing the monster's mouth for a mere second before falling back into place, the cloth's dark crimson hues caked with mud and dirt as was the case with the rest of Alba's clothing. Its heavy hiking boots and finger-less gloves both covered in muck from scavenging in the ruins for so long.

Reaching the car parts, Alba looked up as it finally noticed what appeared to be a solitary figure coming down the hole. Smiling beneath its face cover, Alba grinned evilly for a moment before shaking its head as it returned to scavenging. As much as it wanted to kill newcomers it needed to continue its work. Burying its head into a large cardboard box, the creature looked at the parts as it tossed bits and pieces behind its back creating piles of various types of mechanical parts. To the untrained eye it would seem that Alba was only looking for something shiny, something worth money, but in reality the Gamble was sorting through the pile of pieces with unprecedented accuracy and speed.

Every movement made a slight bit of sound, as the accessories on Alba's person clanked together and against its clothing, though Albatross did not feel like sensing everything in it sphere, it was intelligent enough to have its energy under wraps, as it felt like an above average human, but nothing more. For now it would not cause any problems for the human which walked into its sphere of influence, but Albatross felt that at some point they would make contact.

The young girl noticed the odd man tearing through the car quiet quickly, Despite her appearance of a little girl, she intelligently watched the odd man for a little, she noticed in the pile certain objects being tossed as if unwanted, they included an assortment from rusty parts to almost brand new ones. Normally scavengers would jump at the newer looking parts but this man treated them indiscriminately to the rest. She knew right away he wasn't necessary looking for something to sell for cheap cash. But for a man to be looking so hard in a place like this, the man must have some back story to this now desolate wasteland. And despite him feeling as an average human, she deemed his intelligence higher than a norm, and for an intellectual to be in the area that obviously filled with hollow, he must be much more than meets the eyes, whether he had weapons or was hiding his real power, she knew this man was not average.

She closed her eyes first to sense if anything was around in the area, whether be electronic or spiritual, she only had average sensing, but she could detect electronics and how it felt this man did not have much if not any. So that ruled out fancy toys, and decided playing it safe would be a must when interacting with this mysterious man. All of this she figured with little glances over a time frame within a minute. She put on her confident face and pulled her hood over disappearing from view from her current location. Reappearing on the roof of the car. Normally she liked to keep introverted, however in order to get answers about the fall out of this town she needed to play more open.

“Why hello there” she gave a childish grin, this man was dangerous in her mind, so keeping her own information hidden would be be a given to her. Keeping her own higher intellect under wraps if need be, better this man doesn't think of her as a genius but as an ordinary girl who possibly got lost. “do you know what happened here?” she spoke rather blunt with a weak vocabulary. “My aunt said she would meet me here weeks ago, but I can't find her house” she gave on an innocent-like expression in her eyes, she was no master at acting, but she did pull on a nice preformance.

(OOC: This thread is still open, just jump in, but until you jump in we aren't waiting to post xD)

Starting on the engine of the remains of the car Alba peered upward from beneath its filthy hood of numerous hues of dirt and blood, the original color of burnt orange almost lost in the filth. However, as Albatross looked at the child before it, who stood on the roof of the damaged car, its disgusting hazel eyes colored looking over the girl as if she was nothing but a disturbance, an inferior specimen of a human. She had power, that much Albatross could sense, she could pose a real threat if she decided to train herself but as it stood, Alba felt no fear for the stranger. The monster in human skin simply kept going about its business as she spoke, rusted metal clanking together as they fell into their assorted piles, shiny and lackluster pieces of similar design falling into their unified places.

Turning its eyes back to its work Alba's voice was slightly muffled from its bandanna and thick clothing all across its face and head. "Your aunt is probably dead." Albatross replied blatantly as it tossed some copper plating to the side as it brushed a lock of its greasy brown hair out of the way of its eyes. "Either that or she had enough common sense to not come to this Hell hole -mind the pun- if your expecting me to help you'll need to offer something in exchange, and even then I don't insure that you'll be able to see the house your looking for in this crater." Alba spoke as it wiped the oil from its gloves onto its pants before tearing off a hubcap.

It didn't like how the girl decided to come over so soon, Alba had not fully thought of what it should do, to kill, to maim, to let live, or to be peaceful. There were so many choices to choose from and not enough information to go around. However, to play it safe the creature decided to play it peaceful for now. Stopping its work Albatross stood up and stretched, its bones and joints cracking and popping as the sounds seemed to fly through the air. "Its highly dangerous in this area you know despite you having some decent strength you're a far way from any help any form of real organization."

The child's aren't emotions completely down yet, so her attempt to act sad seemed rather light hearted, however this man was pulling on a show too, she couldn't tell which side he was one, but from acting blunt to rather caring for her sake was a bit odd, it came across her mind once or twice but there was hardly enough information as it is to test her theories, besides she had her own goal, her basic question wasn't enough to really pull out any info other than the fact that this place was destroyed rather quickly, for if it was slowly people would have survived more often. However that was just a hypothesis on her own accord, yet from how she saw some of the conditions in the area it seemed the whole place wasn't pounded, almost as if it were a small series of devastation instead of one large immense one, and not an attempt to completely level the city, just a byproduct. But what struck abit odd was the reference of an organization despite her power. The young girl was already found out of her own poweress. Not something she attempted to hide, and mentally cursed herself for the mistake.

She went from standing to sitting cross-legged. Deciding to touch up on her own acting, this man was clearly better than her however the eyes of those who judged was giving an air about him, she always being judged from her past, and the way he deemed her about this obviously cratered place to not house a building, however quick to her memory she was playing the innocent child, if he didn't think low of her it would be all for naught. The man made very odd noises standing up, normally the human body wouldn't produce such loud noises unless in the same position for far to long. This man must have been here much longer.


“Why would my aunt be dead” she murmured loud enough for him to hear, she needed to believe there was an aunt, in order to get any real feelings, but the problem was even if she did have an aunt who died, her feelings wouldn't be hindered. “And why is this place dangerous” she talked louder looking up at the man in the eyes. Noting the man mention decent strength, this man must be stronger than her if he would stay here himself, unless again he had something better than technology that she couldn’t detect. “My last visit this place was nothing like this, what happened to” she looked around and widened her arms. “This?” she widened her arms to much and fell on her back by accident. She then hopped up from her back laying position to standing once again on the roof of the car the man was done tearing up. She slid off the roof, looking back, making her appearance of rushing to the roof could have been a clear sign of her powers, despite her intellect she thought herself stupid for that mistake. Only a human would make that mistake.

"You're a big girl, I'm sure you can figure out why she might be dead just by looking around." Albatross spoke whimsically as it maintained its uncaring tone. Alba spread its arms as it just flourished at the devastation around them. The creature pausing with a grin, "quite the spectacle isn't it? Less damage than a nuke, that much is certain, then again a nuke would have created more interesting results..." Alba zoned out as it began rummaging through the metal parts before stopping. The creature forgetting that the girl was still present as she continued talking.

With a blink as if coming out of a daze, Albatross could not help but laugh at her question, he could not figure out if she was mere stupid or just playing dumb. "Ha! Forgive me, but you should obviously have noticed the hollow around here. Unless your power is something of a mystery to yourself." Alba smirked darkly as it tossed the hubcap it had ripped off earlier. Catching the piece of plastic with one hand as if it were a Frisbee. "Though for you, I will tell you that the instability of the ruins and the rabid hollow are the danger here, and talking to strangers can prove hazardous..."

Pausing at a small gust of foul wind, what visible hair of Alba's rustled in the breeze as it smelt the bad odor of gas and pollution caused from the destruction of the city. "Not to mention that ever since the city was destroyed this place is contaminated with the machinery and chemicals all having been released into the air and the ground for the most part. Shaking its hands in the air to disperse the horrid smell, Albatross could not help but laugh again as the girl fell over on the car.

"Nice one. Though I find your lack of technological use disturbing, any internet site would tell you practically what happened. But I guess not all people are satisfied by mere news articles and survivor accounts." Looking at the human the Gamble took several steps to a different pile of assorted rocks, igneous. Collecting the near volcanic rock, shoving them into its numerous pockets. The disguised being spoke as it worked. The hubcap having been strapped to its left shoulder as to not have to use its hands to carry it. "Information comes at a cost. You want it? Give me something of value. I am not a dispensary."

Picking up a a wedding ring that was in the rubble, Albatross tossed it aside, not interested in the gold or diamond which created the ring. It was not interested in such trivial materials, however it was interested in why someone with such potential was wandering around. "Seeing as you lack a bit of common sense... and balance... if you want answers you either work or give me something in return, other information works just as well." Albatross repeated itself to the girl seeing as what she had said in the past did not reflect well onto Albatross to say the least.

The young child was only half listening, a lot of it was remarks that didn't help her, yes she new the place was destroyed by some source, but not by whom, and not a reason why either other than the fact that the Arrancar king gave up the place, yet it was still destroyed afterwards. It was odd, a large town being destroyed with almost no reasoning. She shook her head minorly and caught back up with the conversation. The man seemed to repeat himself a bit, stating helping or information would be required as a trade off, The girl had lots of information, however it was more knowledge then secret facts.

She almost winced at the remark about her lack in knowledge about technology, it was one of her key studies, and despite acting the stupid innocent girl, the statement pained her to take in a bit. She had to shake it off and followed the man a bit. “How am I to know you have the answers” she asked questionably. Kicking a piece of rock aside, the man acted like he had all the answers, how could he be trusted so easily. If she decided to do work or pay off, it could en up all in vein, and wasting time was never something she could afford. “Who would work hard for information that could be lies” she stuck her tongue out remembering the appearance she was supposed to keep up, hoping she didn't harm it.

(OCC: Kano do you mind if the new custom spell can be used in this thread? If it is even needed anyways, but if your okay with it being able to be used just let me know yes or no).

"And how do I know your help or information would be at all useful to me? You apparently lack the common sense to explore the world wide web, which by the way has plenty of accounts as to exactly what happened. Not to mention your lack of balance seems to me that you are unfit for real labor." Albatross replied just as the last syllable fell from the girl's lips. Alba was in no mood to be trifled with, and this stranger wasn't doing it any favors by questioning everything. With a sigh the hooded man took off his small rucksack that he had on him; placing the leather bound bag on the ground Alba began taking out assorted supplies, small metal and glass beakers and test tubes to be exact.

"You can either trust my information or you can go find another poor soul to pester with your questions of your aunt, and what happened here. You may be a child but that does not make me have to baby sit you when you have so much power." Grinning beneath the bandanna Albatross snickered audibly as it directed its gaze at the child. "Unless you would like to force information from me, then again if you cannot trust the only other sentient being here, and one who is not a hollow, for a few miles then that is your own problem. I have no need to prove my worth to one such as you." Alba finished for a moment as it collected handfuls of soil from the hole as the beakers were filled to capacity before being enclosed with a rubber stopper. Alba could sense the area itself had been changed spiritually it was much more pure than what it used to be, but the higher amounts of energy seemed to lure the wild hollow to the former city even more so.

Tossing the tubes and containers of dirt and gravel back into the rucksack the creature slung it back over its shoulder and adjusted it to its hip. "I'm no fool, but since you prove an annoyance to my work then here is a freebie. The destruction of Chicago caused the energy signature of the impacted areas to be changed to a more pure type of energy, more so than average. It has the category of magic as some people may call it. And as you can no doubt see the hollows still come here because of the greater expanse of spiritual energy here." Alba pointed out a larger hollow that lumbered on by at the top of the hole, as it went about on its own, just wandering around.

"If you are not satisfied with a tradeoff with a stranger with this type of information why did you ask me for information on your aunt? Hm? For one so concerned about the quality of information your argument is flawed, if you trust me with such an answer then that would lead me to believe that this aunt never existed..." Standing up at its full height of five feet and eight inches Alba looked down upon the girl, knowing that there obviously was something off, having been alive for four thousand years giving the Gamble great insight into the game they both were playing. "Cut the charade, there never was an aunt or her house here, and even if there supposedly was you trusting me to help you with that destroys your sudden plea on whether or not I can give trustworthy information."

Cracking its neck, Alba laughed as it lift its bandanna for a moment to spit on the ground, a large scar running across its entire right jawline revealed as the skin and muscle tissue was missing entirely, there was just a large gaping patch missing. One could see the entire right side of the man's mouth to the bone, where what remained of muscle and skin was. "Unless of course you want to fight me and try to force any information from me, you have power, and I'm sure you are not unknown to it." Albatross ended as its bandanna fell back into place, hiding the disfigure of its human body. "I am offering you one last chance, girl. I suggest you take this peaceful solution. As much as I like playing mind games they are not on my to do list today."