#indigoposting

(Also quick note before I get into stuff below: besides the first paragraph, I'll use just she/her for Ai to keep things simple /info)

In order to smoothly get into the purely shinigami Ais (0!Ai, Muken!Ai, Deserter!Ai, Reaper!Ai, Akademi!Ai) and 2 other Ais (Spirit!Ai & Hell!Ais) better, I have to first elaborate a little about something different

BUT

in order to get into that, I have to first explain a handful of things even before that and dw, I'll try to keep it as simple as I can

Starting out with strange matter, quoting wikipedia:

"Strange matter (or strange quark matter) is quark matter containing strange quarks. In extreme environments, strange matter is hypothesized to occur in the core of neutron stars"

and now onto strangelets, quoting wikipedia again:

"The known particles with strange quarks are unstable. Because the strange quark is heavier than the up and down quarks, it can spontaneously decay"

and:

"However, condensed states with a larger number of quarks might not suffer from this instability."

and:

"[...] quark matter is the true ground state of all matter, and thus more stable than ordinary nuclear matter. This idea is known as the "strange matter hypothesis" [...] Under this hypothesis, the nuclei of the atoms we see around us are only metastable, even when the external critical pressure is zero, and given enough time (or the right stimulus) the nuclei would decay into [...] strangelets."

keep this in mind, it'll be important (if this is still wacky, I recommend Sciencephile the AI's video about it here)

(also sidenote but StAI isn't actually created with AI /info)

Now, onto reishi, quoting bleach wiki:

"Reishi (霊子, Spirit Particles) is the main component material of Souls and all spiritual matter"

Souls, everything in Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and Hell are made of it (as well as Dangai, Wandenreich etc.)

There's also a little bit of reishi in the Human World but it's not as significant (its HW equivalent is kishi /info)

Now, onto the distorted reishi (or DiR for short):

Essentially, distorted reishi is the strange matter counterpart of reishi (literally, it's just it)

"BUT BON" - you may ask - "WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS???"

Weeeell, that's because DiR is a byproduct of Ai's zanpakutou and especially her bankai!

Due to some intense enviroments in Hell, it occurs there naturally yet doesn't do that for long (thankfully). Some of the beings in hell are immune to it fully, or patrially, yet they're very rare and usually never get away from said intense areas

Interacting with it physically and directly would resolve in the person's items, and their body, getting torn apart bit by bit and turned into DiR as well (which is more of a psychological & body horror experience than a painful one, because the nerves just stop existing in their proper way and thus don't send impulses that tell you "HEY IT'S BAD")

When it exists without being directly disrupted, I imagine it moving around similarly to how conway's game of life looks like with its instability:

while fields of DiR would be more like bright, cloud-like fog (due to its density) just a bit above the ground that looks so soft, you wish you could touch it without disintegrating

Now, onto her shikai (& her zanpakutou spirit):

Its (or rather, his) name is Engai (cover, lid, dome) and its release command is "Fracture!"

In its sealed stated, it's a simple wakizashi (30-60cm japanese sword, although hers is 40cm, or ~16") with a square tsuba and an orange hilt

Also, while other zanpakutous usually have a normal and quick way of going from sealed to their shikai state, Ai's is, let's say... painfully-looking and takes a moment and has the blade going from normal-shaped to bismuth-shaped

The way shikai looks in gacha isn't accurate to how I envision it, so here's a basic look of Engai (the blade):

As you can see, its structure is pretty much bismuth crystal (or hopper crystal) on a stick

Although once unsealed, Engai would also have this weird effect around its blade(?), similar to how hot air looks like during summer or how psy-emissions look like in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:

While this "aura" is mainly around the blade, when moved around, it can create a trail that is a few feet long and is composed of a very small dose of DiR

The type of this zanpakutou is a bit of a tough choice, probably going under unclassified (a.k.a everything else that doesn't match regular types) or kidou type but I'll stick with the unclassified one

The ability of her shikai is the ability to utiliize that small dose of DiR, without things going haywire

She can use it as a reishi seperator (as DiR disrupts reishi structure and goes right through it, unless the reishi is way too dense for her to cut through it or if surrounding reiatsu is far higher than her own

Basically, DiR does the cutting and not the blade itself yet requires the same "inner peace" element to work as well as high reiatsu to be effective against powerful opponents

It's as if the wind was blowing too hard while you're wielding a ribbon or a chain sword) and isn't as dangerous as it seems*

*unless Ai were to be able to access more DiR from her surroundings, then almost like ferrofluid to a magnet, it'd get attached to the blade and would work like a quasi-bankai (although with not much control over that)

Now let's get to the most interesting part of, Ai's bankai:

As bankai is supposed to be a shinigami's pinnacle of power, their shikai's evolution, it's also the case here

The name of her bankai is: "Fractal liminality, the reversed fractured dome"

Yes, the name is a mouthful but let me explain it:

fractal - comes from the fact that, visually, it looks like a fractal hell (tw: fractals closing in, trypophobia; visual representation of it here, also it produces sound similar to all of the burning man fractal here, although without the "robotic" ring to it)

liminality - as it's constantly changing (visually and physically) and the way this bankai works is essentially being one big treshhold between reishi and DiR, liminality sums this part up well

the reversed & dome - while domes are usually meant to encompass something, keep it in (like a lid of a pot or the sarcophagus in Chernobyl), the fact it's reversed here means that this bankai unleashes its hell (in all directions,

fractured - stems from the way it works at its core; I brought up the neutron stars earlier because once activated, Ai's sword is a catalyst that turns her surroundings into an area with similar properties to some spots in hell (or the core of a neutron star), fracturing all reishi and putting it into conditions so severe, that once its off, reishi cannot just snap back to its original state and is in this distorted, strange state

Yet how to activate it?

Aside from simply saying the name, there are a few conditions which must be met:

Ai must be completely focused and calm, as wielding this hell is incredibly difficult

her sword must've been in shikai for some time (not super long but enough to stabilize and have its aura moved around)

When calling out the bankai name, she must plunge her zanpakutou into the ground (it's the safest and easiest to control with something as stable as the ground)

And do that at a right angle and with the correct depth (the way it spreads depends on the angle and the depth gives her a level of control)

And, while active, she cannot move around, just stay at her sword's side until she plucks it out and thus turns it off

Staying on the topic of the last point (the angle):

if she plunges it directly into the ground, the spread starts out in a perfect circle around her, giving Ai the cleanest way of managing things

if she were to do it at an angle where her hilt closer to her yet the tip further, the majority of the spread goes forwards and would be the best for direct offense

if she were to do it an angle where her hilt is further but the tip almost goes right between her feet, the majority of the spread goes backwards and would be the best for holding off or scaring the enemy

and if she were to aim it in a different way (to the right, to the left or in any different way but down), then the effects vary according to that

And now onto the other (depth):

if she were to simply drop her blade and let the tip clash with the ground, the level of control she has is the smallest and thus the spread is at its most chaotic

if she were to shove it shallowly, the spread is still chaotic but somewhat manageable

if she were to shove it halfway, the spread is in a right midpoint and Ai has enough control over it to have it lasting for some time

and if she were to plunge it all the way down until the only part not in would be the hilt, the spread is much slower yet gives her almost total control over what's going on

Who/what does this bankai affect (because it's also important):

everyone (besides beings immune to it and Ai)

all kinds of physical barriers and bakudo spells (at it affects reishi)

reiatsu (although in an unstable way as reiatsu itself can get super unstable)

kishi (although on a much smaller scale and thanks to its neighboring reishi)

Now, onto the dangers and issues regarding wielding this hell on a stick

For it to not be too op, I had to put a handful of drawbacks and such on it:

the very first activation of it is the most important and was the moment the split off 2 pathways in regards to Ai: the one where it scared her shitless and turned on her (Muken!Ai's timeline), the one where she managed to get a hang on it and maintain control (0!Ai's timeline)

yet with each new activation, even if the first one went well, may go haywire if she loses control, meaning it can't be perfectly mastered in its fullest extent, unless probably given hundred/thousands of years of training in many fields

you can simply outrun it if you're faster than Ai (to get away from her far enough before she activates it) and the spread (which speed varies yet top "speedsters" like Yoruichi, Soi Fon or Tenjiro would outrun it)

if your reiatsu can just squash her, then Ai can't even fight, let alone activate her bankai safely, so you're good (yet this goes for the heavy hitters like Aizen, Kenny or Ichigo more than "average" strong characters like Renji or Grimmjow)

it can't be activated if she were in any kind of vacuum

and she may not activate it if she doesn't have even the tiniest spot to stand on and do her activating motion

So, while incredibly dangerous, it also has too many drawbacks to be used in regular combat and is closer to a "research only" bankai or a restricted bankai

It's time to kickstart my mini ocposting titled Indigoposting

Why not Aiposting? Because it sounds like AIposting 💀

And why not Shinozakiposting? Because it's too damn long

ANYWAYS

I'll start out with first explaining the basics for all 13 of Ais:

🔶 Their names are all the same (Ai Shinozaki, with "Ai" standing for a few things but here it's "indigo", and "Shinozaki" being a combo of "dwarf bamboo" and "cape"/"peninsula", which is a very loose reference to how the main 3 Ais' bankai works)

🔶 Their hair color and eye color is the exact same

🔶 Almost all of them besides Human!Ai & Akademi!Ai wear off shoulder sleeves & shoes with a heel (although in their free time, they do wear off-shoulder sleeves and elevated shoes)

🔶 And all of them wear some kind of eyewear (yes, even Spirit!Ai, even if it's unconventional)

🔶 Besides Human!Ai and Bount!Ai, all of them have some form of space manipulation/warping, although done differently, working differently and with different levels of strength

🔶 All of them have a habit of counting to keep themselves calm yet done differently and with different intensity (e.g. Muken!Ai does that almost all the time and by murmuring and counting on one of her hands, while Espada!Ai only after her resurreccion is being overpowered and does so in her head)

🔶 They're all autistic (but then again, which of my ocs isn't)

🔶 And they're all queer (BUT not in the same way, also which of my characters isn't lol)

🔶 Their personalities do vary and very much so (even the Akademi!Ai -> Reaper!Ai -> 0!Ai line, although they are the closest to each other in that department)

🔶 I've already mentioned the -dere/-gire types and as I'll get into each of them, I'll state which one matches which