Change of Scenery

It was as if the battle was tailor made to help him perfect his technique. Carmine smiled to himself at scoring a hit despite his opponent's speed, and readied himself for Sorrow's next attack. The perimeter of it was pretty small, but he still felt like he was moving forward. Sorrow stepped towards him again, moving much slower this time, perhaps trying to trade blows with him, but right as he stepped into Carmine's perimeter, he flashed from sight. He could feel him moving around his perimeter, staying just within it's range, but moving at such a high speed it was difficult to pick up on him. After a moment, Carmine realized his error; he was trying to keep up with Sorrow with his eyes, which almost defeated the purpose of the technique. He closed his eyes and tried to see things through his mind's eye.

He pictured himself in his head, surrounded by his aura, everything else pitch black around him. He could almost see something flitting around him, and worked to slow it down. He felt a slash to the back of his knee, causing his leg to shake. He straightened his leg out, trying to ignore the pain. He was slowing down even more, and he could almost make him out as he felt another gash across his left hand. He tightened his grip on his sheath, causing the blood to spurt for a moment, before it subsided to a low, steady flow. The last he needed came from the final attack. Right before the strike landed, Carmine could clearly see him in his mind's eye as his blade nicked the back of his neck, impeded slightly by the mask he wore.

Opening his eyes, Carmine saw Sorrow at his original starting point, yawning with a hand raised to his mouth. Snorting, Carmine examined his injuries. The one on the back of his neck was shallower than the others, since his head covering's muffled the attack, but overall, the damage was pretty light. Working his wrist slightly, Carmine returned his attention to Sorrow. "Alright. Now is when the real fun begins..."

"Damn right!" Sorrow yelled across the expanse, his blade soaking up the blood from his last three hits, "You had no way of knowing but you just made me faster, my weapon here increases my speed every time it draws blood. I only need to draw blood three times to reach its optimum speed boost but by my count I have hit you five, the last two hits won't increase me further but just lengthen the amount of time I am granted with this boost. He said, a sick excitement in his voice, Carmine had thought Sorrow coming to his level would be a good thing but it now appeared to have been a mistake all along, Sorrow was actually at a dis-advantage in the air, since hardly any opponent fought him on that plane and he had little skill with it.

Making Sorrow come down had seemed a smart move but all of his fights when he was becoming a sword master in the human realm had been on the ground, never in the air. He rushed forward, blinking form existence. The only sign that he was advancing was how the wind seemed to rush back at Carmine and the trees bent toward shim as well, the smaller trees snapping clean in half as divots in the earth appeared. Sorrow roared as he appeared in Carmine's face, his right hand going to grasp Carmine's mask, he lifted himself up and flipped over the man with the move and twisted around to face his back, stabbing outward at his left shoulder, right in the joint to make his arm go limp if the attack landed. This time him deciding to stand his ground rather than play cat and mouse, Carmine appearing to move in slow motion in Sorrow's eyes

(OOC: Yo brosive, ima need u to shoot me the link for ur gemblade)

(ooc https://www.platinumhearts.net/t8681-sorrow-s-purchase#53868 )

(OOC: and back to the RP! (already in progress))

As Carmine prepared for Sorrow's next attack, he began to yell across the distance to him. "You had no way of knowing but you just made me faster, my weapon here increases my speed every time it draws blood. I only need to draw blood three times to reach its optimum speed boost but by my count I have hit you five, the last two hits won't increase me further but just lengthen the amount of time I am granted with this boost!" Carmine's face went blank beneath his mask. "Well that is unfortunate..." Pushing his pressure out around him, Carmine tried to envision what Sorrow's new speed might be, but he didn't have to wonder for very long. In no time, Sorrow had covered the distance practically warping the area around him as he moved. Carmine's pressure let him know when he was right on top of him, but his own speed was insufficient in avoiding him.

Sorrow's hand darted out, grasping Carmine's mask, as he flipped through the air over him. As he flipped, Carmine's mask was lifted partially from his face, and through pure instinct, Carmine pulled his head down, pulling the mask free as he staggering forward, feeling a deep stab on the upper section of his shoulder. It was deeper than the rest, but his stagger had thrown the aim off kilter. It would have hit him directly under the bone, but he escaped with a wound. Spinning to face Sorrow, Carmine leapt back, his left hand on his shoulder. As he turned, Sorrow got a look at Carmine's face beneath his mask...

Yet another mask. This one was much smaller, a black bandanna over his mouth, with another wrapped around his forehead. His short, spiky black hair spilled over the top of the bandanna on his forehead, his eyes narrowed slightly as he examined his newest injury. The muscles in his right arm trembled slightly, and his Zanpakutō quivered in his hand. His expression shifted slightly, his features much more readable without the larger mask, as he turned towards Sorrow. Raising his left hand, Carmine shook his head. "I'd say this is a fair place to stop. Any more, and I may end up doing serious permanent damage to my arm." His voice was much less muffled than before as he continued. "Though if I must say, your speed is...rough around the edges. I've seen speed like that from Captains, but with much more finesse. Not to be rude, of course".

Sorrow landed lightly, his stab into the man's shoulder. He had thrown the male forward a bit on accident due to the pushing of his head, the man stumbling forward. This lessening the blow of the blade. He pulled it out and looked at the man, his mask moved to show the face underneath. It only being another mask. Surprise on top of surprise.

He moved forward to trade sword blows but heard his words and stopped, smiling at the unintended insult about his speed, "First off I just obtained this blade and have never used it before, you're my test run. Secondly you're right about my smoothness, it needs to increase. I might move at the same speed as captain's but my moves are predictable ad jerky. Thirdly I would love to see you progress to something stronger, you have real potential. I'm willing to bet you'd beat me if we were even on power." He said calmly as he sheathed his gem blade to end the air of hostility between them and usher in peace.

He looked to the sky and wondered why he got along with humans better than his own people, wondered why his birth defined his life, his title of demon pushing him away and casting him as evil, in truth he wanted to do good, wanted to be on the side of the Soul Reapers.

Carmine tried to sheath his Zanpakutō, but the muscles in his arm trembled so badly it made the feat difficult. Finally, he gripped his sheath with his left hand, and pinched the tip of his Zanpakutō with his thumb and index finger, steadying it enough to feed it into his scabbard. "This has helped immensely. You've given me the beginning of a technique that I'll need to work on, but I'm almost positive I can chain it into a few more techniques. Necessity is the mother of invention, afterall..." Carmine stared at the wound on his shoulder for several seconds, his expression unreadable. "Ow," he finally decided.

"We'll have to do this again sometime. Maybe when I have a few more moves under my belt, and you really get a handle on that weapon of yours." He reached up his left hand to casually scratch his chin, before nodding. "Which reminds me. Before I forget, I have to ask." Pointing at his face, his expression became unreadable again. "Were you surprised? About the second mask?" Despite his taunting words, there was no hint of sarcasm or smugness in his tone. "I feel like I always have to ask whenever it gets knocked off. So, were you surprised?"

Sorrow looked at Carmine, "I was surprised for a moment at your mask but not anymore. I think I realize you, you' want to look normal and act normal, want to fit in like I do but you have layers to you, serious layers that define you just like your double masks do." He said calmly as me moved back to his tiger lily to make sure it hadn't been affected by battle.\

He looked at it, the stem snapped in half, snapped like most of the trees around, no one was to blame except him. He sighed, this was yet another reason why he couldn't be with humans. His very nature made him destructive even when he didn't want to be, "You know that I crave to be like you? One of the good guys that is loved and accepted, but I am damned to be a force of destruction, scorned by my people if I make even the smallest of errors. Hated by them if I do good and capture my queen's eye." He declared as he turned to look back at Carmine, he wanted to see what the man thought now.

"I was surprised for a moment at your mask but not anymore. I think I realize you, you' want to look normal and act normal, want to fit in like I do but you have layers to you, serious layers that define you just like your double masks do." Carmine cocked his head to the side, casually stroking his chin. "Want to be normal? Hell, I pretty much figured I was normal, though I suppose that's a matter of perspective. Geez, do other people think I'm not normal? Now I'll be forced to ask everyone, what a pain..." Carmine set off to muttering to himself, as Sorrow approached the spot he'd been sitting at earlier before they're spar began. He knelt down to examine something, which drew Carmine's eye back to him. "Something wrong?"

"You know that I crave to be like you? One of the good guys that is loved and accepted, but I am damned to be a force of destruction, scorned by my people if I make even the smallest of errors. Hated by them if I do good and capture my queen's eye." Carmine cocked his head to the other side, before walking over to Sorrow. He knelt down to examine the torn flower that he seemed to be engrossed with, noting it's beat up appearance. Shrugging, Carmine stood up. "You know, my parents told me something when I was young. Life is a series of situations. Either you're satisfied with the situation, in which case, do nothing. But if you're not satisfied, do something to change it. From what I'm hearing, you're not satisfied with your situation, and in that case..."

Carmine turned away, walking over to where his larger mask had been discarded during the fight. Stooping down to pick it up, he grasped it with his right hand and examined the front of it. "Become one of the good guys. Don't do anything you don't want to. Make yourself strong, and hold to your ideals. Defend them with both arms." Turning back around, Carmine's eyes held the twinkle of a smile. "And I may just have a way you can do just that. Come to the Soul Society with me. I can talk to my Captain, and we can see what we can do about having you live there. If you're truly sincere about not wanting to live your life the way others say you have to, then consider it. Of course, I won't lie to you, it won't be a paradise. You won't be readily accepted for what you are, and you'll probably have to live in a designated area, but it beats living in Hell, right?" Suddenly Carmine frowned, shaking his head slightly. "Demons live in Hell, right? Y'know, eternal damnation, burning lakes of fire? All that jazz?"

Sorrow liked Carmine's first words about changing his life if he wasn't happy but the second one made him want to laugh, "Sure I'll come with you but it might be the end of both of us. I'm not exactly supposed to be there because of what I am." He said slowly, his mind already picturing his own death.

He really had nothing to say at this point, he would just wait with Carmine, wait to go tot he soul society and wait for the fireworks that would ensue.