As close to a home... [Autumn/ask]

[Clyde]

The streets were quiet, empty save for a tranquil wind every now and then. No one was up at this hour, being nearly 4 in the morning. Thanks to Clyde's naivety he had become quite drunk after spending many hours with the spirit Autumn in the local bar, perhaps his first experience with alcohol of any sort as an attempt at relaxing in the chaotic place. When it had become clear that Clyde was too intoxicated to make his way back to his home, Autumn took it upon herself to get him back there safe and sound. The human held onto her, needing all the balance he could get as they moved quietly through the empty streets.

Unfortunately, Autumn didn't exactly know where the boy's home was, if he even had one. And in his current state he was being somewhat...difficult. He led her to the shopping districts of all places of the city, the one area where you would not find someone's home. There weren't even apartments in this section of the district. Yet he kept claiming that "It's -hic- somewhere here, I sweaaar!" usually following this with a silly laugh. He was endearing but completely silly as a drunk. It would be hard to tell if he was serious or just leading her around for fun.

"We could always just keep walking around, -hic-, or look for something fun to do." He offered, not really sure what he meant by his offer. He was sobering up ever so slightly, but still was relatively out of it. They were close to his would be home, the manga shop, but he kept it a secret to himself. Snickering every time they walked by it. "Do you like carrying me around? I'm sorry if it's annoying..." He asked with a slurred voice to the woman as they circled the block once more. "We're getting clooose!" He jumped up a bit as they passed it again.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn was unused to helping someone walk, or unused to having close at all really, but she felt she didn't really mind it. Clyde giggled off and on and Autumn shook her head a bit, it was silly but amusing in some sort of cute way. She didn't understand quite where he was directing her, but she had the feeling he was messing with her. HE swore it was around here somewhere, but she thought they had to of been in entirely the wrong district for it to be anywhere near here.

She shakes her head a bit as she shifts slightly to get a better grip on Clyde and stop him from slipping to the ground, "I would like to get you home, we can't wander around with you in this state." She felt that he was very vulnerable in this state. He needed rest, the alcohol gave him a hard hit and he would definitely feel it in the morning.

"I don't mind carrying you, I simply wish to get you home to rest. You consumed a lot of sake, more than you could handle and you need to sleep it off." She gave him a curious look as he giggled once again.

[Clyde]

"I knooow how to take care of myself ya know." He grinned to her as he slumped forward a bit, pretty much needing her to support him. "I pretty much live on my own around here anyway now that Ryo has disappeared...so yeah." He sort of explained with a hint of melancholy as he kept his attention to the spirit.

"Hehe, I just realized that to a normal person, I must be floating around like a marionette or something!" He laughed again in his silly way, bringing attention to the fact that a normal human couldn't see autumn. he swayed their arms back and forth like some sort of rag doll, imitating how he thought people would perceive him walking down the street. "It's a good thing it's just you and me, huh?"

He smiled at her with his bubbly face even as they walked in circles for several more minutes. "Hey Autumn, waaant a hiiint?" He offered playfully before hiccuping again, as if he wanted to play some kind of game with her. Perhaps this was his drunk self trying to have fun with his friend, even if it was the wrong time and place to be doing it. It wasn't like he knew better at the moment.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn was indeed very glad that nobody was around, for many reasons actually. She hated people generally and was very happy to avoid strange looks and questions. She holds onto him a bit tighter as he squirms to impersonate a marionette and lets out a low sigh.

She shifts him once more, "No, Clyde, I don't want a hint..I want to get you home..." It took a while, but her patience was finally starting to wear down.

[Clyde]

The boy blinked expressionlessly as she clearly explained that she did not want a hint and merely wanted to get him home, which was also keeping his best interests at mind. He stared blankly until finally he shrugged and decided to give the hint anyway. "I don't live in an ordinary house, and -hic- it's a place where you read from right to left!" He laughed again with closed eyes and big smile, it was obvious he meant well with his actions but was just too drunk. However, he almost immediately slumped forward from exhaustion right after wards. "Whoa...I think I AM pretty tired." He sighed out sleepily.

Despite this, he could still feel that her patience was starting to run thin. And even in his drunken state he still didn't want to be a burden to his friend and realized that she was trying to help him. Hesitantly, he finally conceited to her demands and revealed its location. "It's the Manga Shop..."

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn stopped dead in her tracks when Clyde finally told her where to go. She sighs, remembering walking by it already several times. She cranes her neck just slightly to stretch it a bit, she turns them around to go to the shop. She had never entered here or even been in this district very often.

She opens the door with a little difficulty and looks over the shop a little, now wondering where she should lay Clyde to sleep, "Where do you sleep?"

[Clyde]

His bubbly face was falling forward, as the boy's exhaustion was practically making him fall asleep there. As Autumn finally brought him into the manga shop he had fallen completely quiet. She asked him where it was he slept in the building, but his answer was silence at first.

With a little shake he woke up somewhat and mustered to lift his hand and point towards the back of the building. "We have rooms in the back...more than one so it doesn't matter where~" His voice drifted into a peaceful sigh as he relaxed his body.

As Autumn walked passed the front of the store she'd realize there was certainly something different about this place. There was reiatsu in the air towards the back, thick. from the outside she would not have felt a thing but in here it was obvious. This place was no ordinary area, it was clear it was used for something beyond selling manga and books.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn had gotten Clyde to the back of the store and slowed a bit. The reiatsu here was confusing to her, she didn't know what was causing it. She brings him to the closest room as she looks around a little. With just a little difficulty she lays him down on the bed and pulls a blanket over him. She planned on sticking around until he woke up in the morning, but other than that he had nowhere to go.

She had noticed that he had become extremely lethargic at the end of their journey and didn't expect that he'd be awake much longer now that she had quit moving him. She hadn't said anything because she didn't expect he'd respond anyway. She moves across the room, to the wall, and sits against it. Feeling a bit uncomfortable she removes her katana from her side and sets not far away. She crosses her arms across her chest and closes her eyes. Daylight would be coming soon, but Clyde would probably sleep until the afternoon. At least, for his health, he should.

[Clyde]

Clyde made no resistance as he was placed down upon the bed, and before he could even register where he was or what was happening he had drifted off to sleep as his body would sober him up throughout the night. He murmured things as the night began to move on, mostly unintelligible or nonsensical.

Every now and then however he would mention a name like Hasaki Ryo or Tsukiko. In his dreams he seemed to be reliving the memories he had recieved from his time in Karakura. It was like his body had learned to repeat these events in his head so as to avoid another event that gave him his amnesia.

The boy would stir once and awhile when he got to the painful memories, like his battle with the arrancar Virgil or when Tsukiko had been killed by the Lord of the deep Karzan. It hurt him, but they were memories that needed to be repeated so that he could grow from them. It had been perhaps a year, but he had experienced so much since his memory loss. Despite this he would sleep on throughout the night. When it had reached morning he had not moved, still completely out like a light.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn had fallen asleep after a while, her eyes had fallen closed, even in that uncomfortable looking position. Every now and then she would wake to Clyde's mumblings, she would sit up a bit before realizing that he was alright, at least physically. After a couple times of this happening she moves over to the side of his bed and sits there instead. She radiates off some Reiastu to try to calm him that way, but she wasn't sure if it would even work.

After a while again she nods off once more, waking a few hours later when the sun had begun to irritate her eyes. She blinks them a few times and groans in irritation, she slowly stretches out as she tries recalls why she was actually asleep in a house, or building this time. She remembers that it was because of Clyde and she turns her head to see how he was doing. He seemed to have calmed a bit, and that was very good. Smiling just a little bit she stands, brushing some hair from his eyes before closing the blinds and curtains a bit more to block the sun for him.

Then she walks to the wall, and picks up her katana, sliding in onto her left side before silently stalking out of the room to wander the store. She wouldn't wake him, he needed his rest.

[Clyde]

Autumn would see Clyde's face looked incredibly peaceful as she moved his hair to the side of his face as he was breathing softly in his sleep. He was calmed down completely, but it was clear he didn't usually get such a good amount of sleep. He usually spent long hours at night defending against hollow or patrolling the city, so it was no wonder that when he had an opportunity to rest, he took it. Though, due to all the drinking, he would probably feel awful when he woke up.

As she got up to wander around, she would begin feeling the reiatsu she had felt when she first entered the shop. It was clear from the feeling that it wasn't a person, it felt more like an area, like the Soul Society or something similar. Past the stacks of books backed away in the back was a hallway that the reiatsu seemed to be coming out of, towards the very back of the store. If the spirit was curious enough to look she would see a set of steps going far down into what would be assumed to be a basement, but the steps were so far that she would not be able to see the bottom. But whatever was down there was the source of her feeling.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn wandered the front of the store as long as she could until curiosity got the better of her. She quietly made her way to very back, making slow progress. It has been a very long time since a place itself gave her any sense of familiarity to the Seirei Realm or Soul Society. This fact alone almost had her walking away completely. But the idea that a place like her old homes could be in the basemet of this simple shop... It kept her curious to say the least.

At the top of the stairs she balked again. Was she even supposed to be back here? Let alone a hidden room in the basement. She looked down the stairs for a little as she thought. The sense of familiarity overwhelmed her and slowly began her descent. She hoped there was nothing down here the human wished to hide, and that he wouldn't mind her little exploration.

[Clyde]

Autumn's vision would get darker and darker the closer she got towards the assumed bottom of the steps. It took several minutes to reach the bottom, and the feeling only got stronger as she reached the final step.

Walking out of the stair case, a bright light would reveal to Autumn a place that seemed to be physically impossible. A wasteland like area, endless in its expanse. A bright sun near the middle of the sky despite it being the morning. She had walked into the training grounds created by Hasaki Ryo.

The air was thick with reiatsu down here, mimicking areas from the Sereitei. It was like someone had ripped a piece of land from the spiritual world and somehow locked it away below the manga shop. Autumn, however, would not know exactly how it got there or how the human boy had such a thing. It was calm place, full of tranquility and isolation. Nothing seemed to move here save for the artificial clouds in the "sky."

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn stood there just looking around at the impossibility of it all. Slowly she took a step forward. There was nobody and nothing here. This in itself had an appeal to her. For many long years she had isolated herself from everybody around her. Even though she hadn't realized she had missed the atmosphere of the Seirei realm and the Soul Society, she did notice how much calmer she felt here. Those places hadn't been her home in such a long time, and she didn't want to return to either of them. But just being surrounded in familiarity made her feel better.

In Karakura or the Human World at all, she felt like an outsider. She had no home and nothing in entire place was familiar. There was nothing but Clyde keeping her here. And yet that somewhat strange boy had a place like this under his home. It made her wonder just what something like this was for.

She started walking, in no particular direction than away from the stairs. She wanted to see this place. All of it. There had to be some sort of purpose for the wasteland. She briefly glares at the fake sun, the brightness was the only thing she disliked already. But thinking back, it had almost always been sunny in her old homes. Her tall wooden sandals kicked up dirt here and there. She no longer cared if Clyde didn't want her down here, all that mattered to her currently was that she wanted to be down here.

[Clyde]

Autumn would walk into the area, away from the steps. Moving from direction to direction, seeing more of this landscape. As she moved she would see large boulders, caves that lead no where, hills. It was like a small world all to itself. Exploring further would reveal some hidden things within this environment. There were craters in several places, scars in the land caused from the many spars and days of training done down here. Clyde's reiatsu was actual prevalent near most of these scars, remnants of a time he fought there. If she concentrated enough, she could even determine what kind of attack he had preformed to make the damage, a brief vision of what had happened. It was clear that this place served some sort of purpose, as the human's reiatsu would pop up from time to time at varying distances.

Meanwhile, while Autumn explored, the young boy began to stir. The spirit had been moving around for much longer down there than she would think as she checked every nook and cranny. As it was getting later in the morning Clyde finally started to move about and wake up. Groggily he opened his eyes and looked around, his head was pounding and he felt incredibly ill. He had never felt this way before, but to top it off he had no recollection of how he got back in the manga shop. He rolled out of the bed in a heap and laid on the ground for a few minutes, not wanting to move. While on the ground, he felt a familiar presence. Autumns? As he felt her reiatsu some of the night came back to him, though most of it was blurry. He figured she must have brought him back to the shop.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn stayed for a short time near the places that carried Clyde's reiatsu. She understood this was a training place but why go to all this effort for a training ground? Unless humans reacted differently in a reiatsu dense environment? It was possible. She wasn't searching for anything in particular, so instead she got lost in this little world. She couldn't place exactly where she had come in anymore. Instead she kept wandering this way and that.

Down here she was too engrossed in the place around her to even think about sensing for Clyde's reiatsu, not that it was guaranteed to work anyway. She carefully slides down a small crater. If it wasn't for the reiatsu signatures in here, she may have thought some war was fought down here, buried and forgotten.

[Clyde]

"Augh...my head is killing me..." The boy sat up against the bed, rubbing his forehead from the pounding that was radiating from it. "And Sensei apparently did this everyday? How did is head even stay on his body..." He sighed out groggily in pain looking around the room before stopping, simply looking around was making his head dizzy. This almost felt as bad as after fighting Virgil. He had sensed Autumn's reiatsu, and now he was certain she was still here somewhere. Figuring that he should at least thank her for getting him back to the shop safety, he decided to force himself up despite not feeling so great and look for her.

His steps were slow and heavy as he walked down the hallways, checking the front of the store first for her. "...Autumn?" He asked, softly. No response. Not hearing anything, he turned and went to another part of the store. "Autumn...are you here?" He asked, rubbing his irritated eyes. By the time he had searched most of the shop he still did not think much of it, and simply decided to check the "basement." He was really too hungover to think too much into it so he carefully made his way down the steps.

"Auuuugh..." He gagged out as the artificial light beamed down on him like hot summer day, his eyes practically sealing themselves shut permanently to it. They were way to sensitive at the moment to look directly at it. "Aaaauuuutumn." He called out, not really yelling as he stumbled forward. He made sure not to open his eyes all the way, so he took his steps slow as he looked around to see if she was indeed still here somewhere.

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn blinks, after a while of sitting in the small crater she though she had heard something, her name maybe? It echoed through the wasteland and was barely understandable. She slowly stands, moving toward she thought the sound was coming from, "Uh..Hello?" She calls back into the emptiness strong enough to carry at least a bit.

She steps out of the crater and raises up to her full height, looking around the expanse. This place had completely turned her around and she couldn't figure out which way was what. She waits and listens again, wondering if she was just hearing things again. It wouldn't be anything new if that's what it was. But normally they didn't feel so distant. That's when a new thought occurred to her, "Clyde?" She called out again, this time venturing a guess she wasn't going crazy right now and Clyde had finally woken up.

[Clyde]

Clyde paused and listened to see if he could hear a response. This was a big place, and if Autumn was down here she could have walked very far before the boy had woken up and started looking for her. Besides the ringing in his ears, he could faintly hear his name being called out to far off in the north of the underground training area. "Autumn, are you done here?" He yelled out in the general direction before he began his slow trek in that direction.

His eyes were still having trouble seeing with the bright sun beating down on him, and as he wandered towards Autumns general direction he kept tripping over rocks and hills that normally he could have avoided."I'm over here!" He muttered as his face was planted on the ground, "Maybe you should walk over here, I'm having a little trouble finding you...and moving..."

[Autumn Kaijin]

Autumn was sure she heard something that time. She flash steps a few times to close distance and kept an eye out for Clyde. She was still in awe about how large this place was. After another few minutes she gets to him on the ground and starts to pick him up carefully, "How are you feeling? You should be resting." She puts his arm around her shoulders, starting to carry him much like she had the night before. She figured heading in the direction he came from would get them back to the stairs.

For now she ignored the fact she may be where she wasn't allowed, because if it weren't for Clyde she really wouldn't have cared what anyone thought. For now she was worried about him and would deal with the consequences when he could think better.