|| GAME CLOSURE ||

One year ago, a little Bleach-obsessed girl was browsing through multiple Bleach RPs, wondering why there never seemed to be enough canon games for a series executed so nicely and based so heavily on plot. Having had a game of her own in the past, she decided to ask around her flist and gauge interest for a canon-based Bleach RP, to be met with varied responses.

Was it a risk? Yes. Most RPs in general don't last over half a year, let alone canon-based games, which rely so heavily on the mangaka being able to forward the plot. But was it a risk worth taking?

Most certainly.

fear_borne has been running for almost a whole year now, with eight arcs averaging about thirty logs each (with the most being a whopping fifty-three), and an immense character cast which, at one point, was also over fifty.

Over fifty characters. In a single-fandom roleplay.

There's a lot to be proud of, here.

But all good things come to an end at some point, and it seems like this is that time for Fear Borne. With school having pulled most of the players away, including all three moderators, and with a canon plot which has been somewhat slow in advancing, it's time to wrap up the game and say our good-byes.

Or maybe not good-byes. Maybe "see you later" is more appropriate. After all, the founder of this game has a tendency to cling onto past successes, and the potential is still here; maybe the game will reopen in the future, once the manga has furthered.

However, all the great successes and great writing in Fear Borne aside, what we would most like to express is how much of an honor it has been to write and roleplay with each and every one of you. From this game, great friendships have been forged, great storylines that even Kubo would envy have been written, and for that, we are immensely grateful to each and every one of you.

All members, past and present, thank you. Thank you for joining us, for however long or short of a time, and bringing a bit of yourself into this humble little group. Thank you for laughing with us, for crying with us, for the crack and angst alike. Thanks for sticking by our sides during difficult times.

This game has been so, so much more than a roleplay.

(I feel kind of ridiculous. I'm tearing up right now.)

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and may we all roleplay together again someday. I invite each and every one of you to keep in touch through Livejournal (and sincerely hope that you do; please friend me on my personal journal!).

Everyone in the community is more than welcome to continue tagging currently progressing logs if you want them to be wrapped. Comments are open on this post if you want to leave a farewell message. ♥

With that, see you all on the flip side. It's been amazing, guys.


With love,
♥Di♥

(Or, you know, haku on Livejournal.)

Location: Karakura Town, Kurosaki Clinic
Time: May 6th, evening
Status: Closed to Ichigo
Warnings: Angst ahead

As his sandals gently touched upon the familiar concrete streets of Karakura, Isshin adjusted his shihakusho for the umpteenth time, unusually fidgety. Behind him, the gate to Soul Society slid firmly shut, as if to urge him forward.

Strolling towards his home (strange how unfamiliar it felt after only a few weeks away), he kept playing the disastrous confrontation between him and his wayward idiot of a son that had influenced his decision to head to Soul Society over and over in his head, trying to see if there was a misspoken word, studying every nuance in Ichigo's eyes and stance and voice. That anger, bleeding out of the scabby wound of Masaki's death, had cut him far more deeply than he realized.

Sighing, standing just outside of the home he'd left behind, Isshin looked up, and bounded upwards, landing on Ichigo's windowsill, unknowingly mimicking the actions of many other Shinigami who had come to visit the Substitute Shinigami.

Now, what to say... 'hello', 'oi', 'hey', all of them seemed so paltry and weak in the face of the angry way that father and son had parted.

So, reverting back to old habits, Isshin found himself launching through the window, bounding forward with a powerful forward kick, calling out loudly, "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Location: Hueco Mundo
Time: May 9th, morning
Status: Closed to Aaroniero
Warnings: None


Sometimes, it was really a pity that Gin wasn't the type of person who wanted a protege. Aaroniero pretty much fit the bill in every sense of the word, from sharing core values and rugged good looks, to being not quite as good as the original, but certainly not for lack of effort. Of course, just because that Gin had a tendency to be insular didn't mean that he couldn't spend time relaxing in the boy's company. Aaroniero was generally a pretty pleasant guy, once one got used to the dual sound system-esque speaking style of his.

Unfortunately, Gin didn't really know where the boy had wandered off to, and he was just a little too lazy to search for traces of reiatsu, so he wandered aimlessly down the barren halls, wondering if the guy would ever show up.

Location: Karakura
Time: May 6th, afternoon
Status: Closed to Renji
Warnings: None yet.

Yoruichi liked the eleventh division. Which meant that she liked Abarai Renji by association. Granted, there were key differences in terms of character and core values between Renji and the majority of the eleventh--it was probably part of the reason why he left, Yoruichi reasoned--but there was a steely quality of sorts that people needed to get into the eleventh, and Yoruichi liked it. She didn't have to dally around members (former or current) of the eleventh, and she could expect them to be honest with her.

Well, at least, she hoped so.

It mattered more now than it did before, with rumors of silly plans of invading Hueco Mundo fluttering around Karakura.

Location: Karakura
Time: May 5th, late evening
Status: Open to Ryuuken
Warnings: None, really. Cursing, fighting, the norm.

It was late.

Renji sat on the edge of a small building, Zabimaru still in its sheath at his side. The sun had set hours ago and except for a few rumbles of thunder every now and then, the evening had been quiet. Sometimes it was nice, having a relatively calm patrol. That meant he didn’t have to worry about cleaning his hakama or giving the damage reports to Soul Society after fighting hollows. That would probably be a hassle.

He jumped down onto the street, which was almost empty at this hour, and slid Zabimaru back into place. Maybe he could make one more round, just in case. Though if there were any hollows in the area, he’d know it. Still, it wouldn’t hurt, then he’d head back to Chad’s for the night.

And maybe he’d have dinner ready. He was pretty damn hungry.

Location: Streets of Karakura
Time: May 5th, afternoon
Status: Open to Yoruichi
Warnings: None yet


Ichigo couldn't remember the last time he'd been so frustrated. It took a lot to get him to this state, usually other people riling him up and things going the exact wrong way, but for once, he wasn't entirely sure where it was coming from. He'd smoothed over things with most of his friends, he had a plan to move forward, he'd even gotten through a discussion with Tatsuki without getting decked in the face. Technically, things seemed pretty good.

But here we was, stalking the streets with enough unsteadiness in his spiritual pressure to make people who couldn't even see shinigami uneasy, almost desperate for a Hollow to tangle with. It would at least give him something to take the energy and adrenaline out on.

Ichigo had never been great with recognizing people's energy signatures, or even paying attention to them at all, so when he felt a strong one in the area, he just squared his shoulders and went, forgetting that there was a reasonably good chance it wasn't going to be something to fight at all.

When he reached his destination, he was almost disappointed.

Location: Karakura
Time: May 4th, evening
Status: Open to all
Warnings: None yet.


When it came to the vaizored, Kensei considered himself to be one of the most insular. Certainly, with Hiyori's random dropkicks and Shinji's nosing about, this wasn't necessarily saying much, but it made Kensei feel a little better whenever he happened to go about town on his own. He wasn't trying to get away from the others; he just needed a breath of fresh air, needed to be alone for a while, needed to be left with his thoughts. Ponder the universe, sorta, except something slightly more manly.

(In actuality, he actually was trying to get away from the others, from the soles of Hiyori's sandals, Shinji's nosing, and Lisa's porn alike.)

He was slowly making his way to the nearby supermarket, hands stuffed deep in his pockets, where the tips of his fingers gently ran over the edges of his blades.

Protection was best when kept at one's fingertips. Just in case.

Location: Soul Society, Seireitei
Time: May 8th, afternoon
Status: Planned for Nanao; other Soul Society people, feel free to jump in
Warnings: None, I'm guessing.


Usually, there was nothing Yoruichi wanted more than to keep far away from Soul Society, far away from the discipline and regimen that she had never quite acclimated herself to. Usually, visits back to the barren walls of Seireitei were simply to offer a greeting to Soi Fong, or to train a bit with the second division, nothing more.

Today, however, was an exception. Whether it was because she felt too restricted in Karakura, always feeling a pair of watchful eyes following--however gently--after her, or whether it was simply because someone needed to take the initiative in the Gotei, because Yama-jii wasn't moving an inch, she was back, and glad for it. The slight spring chill had finally worn off, quickly transitioning into summer, and, after taking a deep breath, Yoruichi couldn't help noting that it was nice to breathe a little bit of fresh air rather than the smog and dust she'd grown accustomed to in the rubble that was Karakura.

She sat herself down on the roof of the nearest building, laying on her back and staring into the sky.

Location: Hueco Mundo
Time: May 2nd, technically evening
Status: Closed to Gin and Wonderwice, for now.
Warnings: ...Gin.

Entertaining himself wasn't usually a problem. But after counting every crack in the walls of his room (twenties and sexta, like Grimm-brother!), clambering up to every tall-tall window in one hallway to peer out at the sandy night (always, always, always night) and hovering in his usual haunts in corners and in front of larger cracks, just waiting for any buggy-hollow-thing to dare to show its face (though he wished one would one of these days, they were learning), Wonderwice realized he was growing restless. Fidgety. Bored.

Wonderwice didn't like being bored. And when he was bored, there was generally only one thing to do: make a mess.

With a good assortment of food-items he had spirited from Orihime's trays, quick-quick dashing past the tray-pushing-brother in the hall, practice, practice! and saved for a special occasion in his closet, Wonderwice decided it was high time to put them to use. He pulled a good handful from his stash; a few things were going all sorts of funny colors, including the red squishies he'd procured once again, all wrinkly and tiny and brown-like, but, Wonderwice decided as he toted his wares out into the hallway, squishies were squishies, colors were colors, and anything was better than white. Beaming, Wonderwice settled down in front of the broad space of wall across the hall from his room, and with a few squishies in hand, a mish, a mash and one satisfying squellllch, Wonderwice set to work.

Location: Karakura, Urahara Shouten
Time: May 1st, evening
Status: Closed to Kisuke
Warnings: None yet.


There was no way he'd say yes. Urahara Kisuke was no more the acquiescing type than Tatsuki was the begging type, and her request this time was far from easy or deserved. She'd worked hard the past three weeks, pushing her limits in the underground cavern of the Shouten, working with Inari's shikai--she was able to keep Inari released for a few straight hours, now. But it wasn't enough, and Tatsuki was beginning to get the feeling that the promise she'd made to herself that night in front of the Kurosaki Clinic wasn't going to be realized.

She hated breaking promises. Especially the ones she made to herself, because she couldn't just erase those from her memory, and certainly she couldn't get away with making excuses to herself.

Taking a deep breath, Tatsuki raised her hand and rapped sharply against the front door of the Shouten.

|| ARC 08 ||

It's time for the invasion. Multiple members of the New Movement have finally stretched their patience too thin. Where they're going to manage to get the technology, whether or not they're going to be successful, no one's really sure. There are rumors throughout both the New Movement and Old Movement that there was an unsuccessful coup in Hueco Mundo at some point, but as things stand right now, no one's really sure of all the details.

The Arrancar don't know. The Vaizored might have gotten wind of it. In any event, the only thing predictable about the situation is that there are unpredictable things to come.

The timeframe that we'll be using for this arc runs from May 1st to May 31st. In Karakura, the first two weeks of May consist of generally sunny days and dry thunderstorms at night, while the rest of the month will finally consist of downpours (after an entire month without rain). In Soul Society, the weather is generally cloudy with occasional showers. Hueco Mundo is as always.

Players have until 11:59 PM on December 14th (or a week after they're accepted, whichever comes later) to post in a thread before they receive a strike.


Threads that need wrapping:

[Confidence Men] - Isshin, Shinji
[When You Gonna Learn] - Kisuke, Sousuke
[Strike!] - Kensei, Shinji
[Adventuresome] - Orihime, Wonderwice
[And I Will Try To Fix You] - Isshin, Momo
[You Do What You Can] - Hanatarou, Tatsuki
[The Character Of A Man] - Isshin, Shunsui

--

Last arc's uncompleted logs:

[Operator Operator] - Momo, Renji
[I'm Gonna Make You Cry] - Ichigo, Uryuu
[Clouds Will Gather] - Gin, Toushirou


Players are advised to finish these threads by 11:59 on December 14th--if you cause a thread to lag too much and go past the deadline, you will most likely receive a strike. Please leave a comment on either the thread itself or this post to indicate completion of your thread.

With that, happy playing!

Location: Her grave, Soul Society
Time: April 10th
Status: Closed to Aizen and Tousen, for now
Warnings: None

[cut text here]

It was a sort of homcoming, although Tousen knew that he was unwelcome on this soil, not until the war was long. Yet, despite everything, coming back to this place, finally smelling life and growing green things, feeling the sun's heat and the faint illusion of weight against his skin, gave him an incredible feeling, of being welcome.

Of being home, for once.

He took a few steps forward, away from the cold-feeling aura of the garganta, and felt Aizen-sama following him, his muffled reiatsu feeling not unlike a second sun. "You're certain they won't sense us, Aizen-sama?" he asked. Aizen had ordered him to apeak with his friends-- former friends?-- but he wasn't ready yet, and he certainly didn't wish to fight them. He started to take another step toward her grave, then paused.

He wondered if Aizen planned to stay while he spent time here, near the place where she rested.

Location: Mountainous outskirts of the Soul Society
Time: April 8th, early morning
Status: Closed to Gin
Warnings: Well, Gin, doubtlessly. And violence. Lots of it, if Toushirou has his way.

It had been too long since his last excursion here. With the intensive training regimen instituted by Genryuusai, he hadn't exactly had the time. (Really, the new regimen tasted unpleasantly like babysitting. Just a way to keep everyone supervised, everyone pleasantly accounted for, everyone constantly occupied. It made him feel like a child, told to sit in the corner and keep quiet, and he couldn't imagine it had affected anyone else much better.)

Today, he'd made the time, rising before the sun, and leaving Matsumoto with strict instructions to get the morning's paperwork done -- or as much of it as she could -- before he came back. It gave him a few free hours of daylight, at least; his lieutenant was easily distracted and somewhat irresponsible, but he knew that in a time of real need he could count on her to break that mold.

At least for a few hours.

The sun was rising at his back, and it felt glorious through his clothes, light still cold at this hour, but alive and real and somehow reaffirming that he was both these things, too.

Toushirou drew Hyourinmaru in a clean arc overhead, and woke the dragon with his first release. He could feel his zanpakutou like a great beast, rumbling with lazy contentment, stretching and gazing around alertly. Today, they would practice bankai.

Location: Karakura Clinic
Time: April 7th, evening
Status: Closed to Ichigo
Warnings: Typical Tatsuki kicks Ichigo's ass behavior.


Tatsuki wasn't the type to break rules. Usually, breaking rules served no other purpose than showing an immense amount of disrespect, and as far as Tatsuki was concerned, usually not worth the trouble. By coming to Karakura during a time when all such travel was prohibited, Tatsuki was taking a real risk, and certainly straying from habit in a big way.

But hell, if she was going to do it, she may as well have gone all out. Besides, clearly they weren't thinking carefully about the ryoka who would need to head back home every now and then when they made the decision to cut off all contact between the living world and Soul Society.

It helped to lessen the guilt, just a little.

Inhaling deeply, Tatsuki shuffled her way down the street towards her house, pausing every now and then to take the sight in. The streets were practically deserted at this time of night, and while usually such silence would have left Tatsuki restless and antsy, over the past few months she had come to truly appreciate the value of piece and quiet.

Even the Kurosaki Clinic, usually filled with laughter, stood serenely at the end of the street, no disturbances in sight.

Location: Outside Ishida's apartment
Time: April 3rd, afternoon
Status: Open to Ishida
Warnings: Yelling, pontificating, serious lack of maturity


It had taken Ichigo most of the afternoon to remember where Ishida lived. It wasn't that he had ever been invited, exactly, and he wasn't sure how he'd known in the first place- maybe Inoue had mentioned it once, they probably hung out- but none of that mattered right now. All that mattered at the moment was that he had found the place within a decent amount of time.

Of course, now he had to get in, and that was the hard part.

Ichigo rubbed at his temples and thought. The obvious way was to knock and ask to be let in, but the thought of politely requesting entry gnawed at him, and there was always the chance Ishida would ignore him, considering how pissed he had to be. He could kick the door in, but that would get him the bill and maybe arrested, depending on the owner of the building. He could climb in the window, but it was raining.

Once he got inside, all he had to do was make him listen. If it took hogtying him and beating him agreeable.

So Ichigo cleared his throat and pounded a fist on the door, letting out a hearty bellow of "HEY! I KNOW YOU'RE HOME!" and waiting expectantly.

Location: Soul Society
Time: April 6th, afternoon
Status: Closed to Toushirou
Warnings: None

Nanao wasn't fond of distractions. Distractions wasted precious time better suited for paperwork or training. She tried to keep them at bay whenever she could, but today, she had one to deal with, no matter how much she tried to deny it.

In this division, there was a walking distraction. One that wore a straw hat and drank like alcohol would never exist again. It was a common event where Kyouraku-taichou was nowhere to be found right as his signature was needed, leading Nanao on a wild goose chase around Soul Society. He couldn't have gone too far, not with the lockdown on shinigami travel.

The best start to finding him would be at his usual haunts: behind the couch, the bookcase, under the desk. Nanao believed he knew well and good enough to find another hiding place because he ended up not being there. Well, there was only one thing to do. She slipped out of the office and dipped in and out of the alleys of Soul Society, trying to detect hint of his reiatsu unsuccessfully.

He had to be somewhere in between the walls of the area. He was a captain, not a magician.

Location: Soul Society
Time: April 5th, evening
Status: Closed to Toushirou
Warnings: none


It was so much nicer out in the evening than in the day, with the cool breeze finally stirring up after a still, overwarm afternoon. That was why Momo was out, carrying her own message to Shuuhei instead of handing it off to someone else. It wasn't far to the 9th division and she was enjoying the atmosphere on the walk, hardly even paying attention to where she was going. There was no rush -- she'd get there when she got there.

No rush on anything now. As the days were getting longer, it was getting harder and harder to find things to do to fill them. She was caught up on all her paperwork now, no longer swamped in the monotony of bureaucratic overhead. She was starting to do more and more work with her shinigami, and she still had twice the work she should have, but even that left her with a lot of time to herself.

Momo wasn't sure what to do about that. Lately, she hadn't felt terribly inspired to draw, and she couldn't keep her attention on the books she was trying to read.

Maybe it was time to take up her own training again -- for real, and not the light work she'd been doing with the rest of her division.

Location: Soul Society, the 1st division offices - Karakura, Orihime's apartment
Time: April 1st, afternoon
Status: Closed to Renji
Warnings: (will be updated at close)


Momo dropped an immense stack of paperwork on the first desk she saw inside the 1st division office and let out a sigh of relief. That pile contained every transfer request, every evaluation, every Hollow encounter report, every Plus encounter report, every inventory and every supply and every repair request form that her division had filed in the last four months or so. It hadn't all been her work -- her officers were wonderful and had more than contributed their fair share to help her out -- but it felt amazing to get rid of it all.

Now the backlog was done, finally done, and she was up to date after a year, a year and a half, two years... who even knew, at this point. She'd stopped counting the days.

Just as she was about to turn around and leave, Momo heard a voice coming from the open door nearby that she recognized immediately. Abarai-kun! She should keep walking, she told herself, because it wasn't like it was any of her business, he was probably busy, but she was already turning around and sidling over to the door and peering inside.

It was the conference room, and Renji wasn't actually inside it -- his image, his voice was only being broadcast through the monitor. He was in the physical world, still, talking to some ranked officer in the 1st division, probably being informed of the latest updates in policy.

Momo hadn't seen him in ages, hadn't spoken to way too many of her friends for way too long, and she missed the way they used to be. That was reason enough to maybe do something a little bit inappropriate.

She edged through the door and waved at the officer. "Can I speak to him when you're done?" she whispered hopefully.

The officer hesitated, glancing behind him and then back at her, and said finally, "Of course, Lieutenant. We were just finished." He bowed to her and stepped back to let Momo step up to the screen.

Location: Outside in the streets, near Chad's apartment
Time: April 1st, evening
Status: Closed to Renji
Warnings: Yelling. And probably fisticuffs.



It was raining.

It wasn't that this was new, because it had been raining all day, and showed no sign of stopping. Bad weather didn't necessarily irritate him- he hadn't expected sunshine and rainbows out of tonight, anyway- but it was just one more thing to make him think, to make him regret. Rain reminded him of that day, of Grand Fisher and the hole in his chest, the hollow inside him-

Ichigo leaned back against the apartment building, craning his neck to look up at where he knew Chad lived. It had been a while since he'd been over here, and it gnawed at him a little that it wasn't Chad he was here to see. But Chad, he had no argument with. They'd worked that out, and he was more than grateful for it. There was still another person he had some things to iron out with. Which was why he'd been standing here for almost twenty minutes, forgoing all the training he'd undergone to restrain his spiritual energy and letting it flow over like a faucet that had been turned all the way on.

He was issuing a challenge, and he was waiting for it to be met.

It was time to settle this. Far past time.

|| ARC 07 ||

But where is our hero?

Now that the planned invasion seems to be set in stone, many things have changed among the Movements. The New Movement is not altogether approving of this planned invasion, seeing it as rash--although, oddly, the arguably most rash of the group (the little kitty who'd made her own visit) is now spearheading most of the efforts. On the other than, the Old Movement is cranking up its hold on those in the Gotei, forbidding most shinigami from even leaving Soul Society, let alone venturing to Hueco Mundo. Leaving? It's now a crime.

Not everyone's happy with that.

The timeframe that we'll be using for this arc runs from April 1st to April 30th. In Karakura, the first week of April consists of a massive downpour, while the rest of the month will be quite the dry spell. In Soul Society, the sun is perpetually beating down, lack of rain causing a few dust storms to blow throughout the area. Hueco Mundo is as always.

Players have until 11:59 PM on October 14th (or a week after they're accepted, whichever comes later) to post in a thread before they receive a strike.


Threads that need wrapping:

[Confidence Men] - Isshin, Shinji
[When You Gonna Learn] - Kisuke, Sousuke
[Suspicions and Candy] - Jyuushiro, Yachiru

--

Last arc's uncompleted logs:

[Save It For The Morning After] - Renji, Yachiru, Yasutora
[Strike!] - Kensei, Shinji
[Taking Needle to Thread] - Orihime, Ulquiorra
[Adventuresome] - Orihime, Wonderwice
[And I Will Try To Fix You] - Isshin, Momo
[You Do What You Can] - Hanatarou, Tatsuki
[The Character Of A Man] - Isshin, Shunsui


Players are advised to finish these threads by 11:59 on October 14th--if you cause a thread to lag too much and go past the deadline, you will most likely receive a strike. Please leave a comment on either the thread itself or this post to indicate completion of your thread.

With that, happy playing!