Dinner Plans (Social: Camila, Col, Shizuka)

[Ambrose Grail]

Sometimes, when you gamble, you win. Sometimes, you lose. Today, when Ambrose Grail gambled, he won. But what did he win? A case of 96 Champagne, still in bottles. The flyer had promised a payout of immeasurable value, and to be sure, this much Champagne would really be hard to quantify, but it wasn't quite what he had in mind. If he wanted to turn a profit on it, he'd have to put in some real work. He could sell each bottle on the internet with a pedigree, but that wasn't really his style. Instead, he sat down and started planning out a menu. He'd get his use out of this Champagne, for certain.

Two weeks later, the ingredients had all arrived. Masago, deer blood, chiles, honeysuckle, ube, feta... the list went on. The goal was multifusion cuisine of the highest class available, and a guest list that had been delivered to only a few guests of spiritual significance. Whether anyone answered would remain to be seen. The venue was a small room, fit to seat only four people, and Ambrose had employed one of his sneakier tricks; the U-shaped table. Rather than legs, it featured chains in line with the seating arrangement that anchored it to the ceiling, each wrapped with a garland of red roses. The surface was polished black stone, reinforced with spiritual steel and copious stained mahogany.

The room was given similar treatment. Wide, black-speckled swatches of bold amaranth, crimson, and sunshine-yellow colored the walls against a black background, and the ceiling was obscured by verdant green rose foliage and thorns. A 'morning sun' of light was angled between the ceiling and the wall at an angle, opposite to an 'evening moon' of light on the other side of the room. Each of them glowed softly with white light.

One of the color panels hid the exit to the kitchen, and the smells of rose, orange, and saffron subtly filled the space. Each of the four chairs was a tall but thin black armless throne with a surprisingly comfortable seat and the kind of flair one would expect from Gothic architecture. When Ambrose had designed the evening, he had truly envisioned a very specific meeting, and it showed.

Von, a mod soul, and Ambrose's personal apprentice chef, worked the kitchen tonight, the courses laid out according to his master's designs. It was a fine scene for fine guests and fine dining. Each of his three guests had been delivered the invitation in a manner of importance: a tailored crimson business card with bold metallic gold ink. On one side it read,

Leather Jacket and Smoky Voice Required

And on the other, it detailed the recipient's name, the venue's location, and the time to arrive in the same metallic gold, with the note, "A Dinner to Remember." in matte black text.

At each of the seatings for the U-shaped table, a similar crimson guest card had been printed and placed atop their black stone plates. Where the table knife might have been on another arrangement, each seating had been equipped with an ideal mild cigar and a small box of wood-stick matches. A double shot glass with a layer of pink lychee puree, blue coconut milk, and black dragonfruit juice sat in each drink position, each one topped with a drop of fresh blood and a lime twist garnish. A card beside it read, "Ante."

Ambrose had been practicing all week for this. Staying calm, no matter what he heard or what happened. Keeping the flames in. He couldn't have a little fire ruin the perfect evening. Even if just for a while, he had to keep his excitement contained. For the event, he chose to forego his mask. In theory, he should still have enough time left before he had to "go," even with all the conversations that might happen, and his guests would be on a form of equal footing with him.

According to the guest cards, the seating was: when the U is viewed upright, from left to right:
Ambrose Grail
Shizuka Sanamizu
Col Arana
Camila Adaronde

Now it was time to add Ambrose's favorite ingredient: the chaos.

Out of Hell posts: 1/50

SPOILER: Click to show

{Items}

SPOILER: Click to show

{The Beast (4)}Name: The Beast
Description: Double shot glass, chilled and neat. Lychee puree on the bottom, coconut milk with butterfly pea flower in the middle, and seedless white dragonfruit juice with squid ink on top. Top with a single drop of kushanada blood and a lime zest twist garnish. Serve.
Class: 1
Item Type: Utility
Item Power (IP): 100
Offense Type: n/a
Durability: 100
Bonuses: Once this drink has been consumed, its benefactor may undergo a special training thread. At the end of the special training thread, if the benefactor survives with their body completely intact, the debuffs they inflict will gain an enduring quality. When one of these debuffs is purged or cleansed, it continues to be effective at half its normal capacity for 1 post before fully leaving the victim.

Drawbacks: Ryo cost. Gadgeteers cannot boost this drink. Multiple purchases of the drink do not stack. To gain the benefits of this item, the consumer must undergo a Special Damage Permanent Training thread. During this thread, the consumer's Mental and Battle skills are unavailable due to internal pains and discomfort (Pain Tolerance has no effect on this condition). During this time, their soul sends out a call to Hell, and they are hunted for capture by a demon of Hason origin, the Empath type, and the consumer's own Class and Rank. The thread must be at least 80 paragraphs in length (between all participants), and the consumer must survive and overcome the demon, which must be played by another site member.

If the demon defeats the consumer, they are dragged to Hell for torment until the kushanada blood works its way out of their system three days later, whereupon they are ejected into the Mortal World and suffer from lasting injuries that halve their Light and Dark Aura stats and Offensive Strength until their injuries heal over the course of three complete Damage Permanent or Death Enabled threads. Due to its hellish origin, damage from this torment cannot be regenerated or healed until the requisite threads are completed. The Special Training thread has no other benefits; it does not reward the consumer with TP.
Cost: 50,000 Ryo
Crafting Skills: Culinary Arts 4
Donated to Urahara's: No

[Col Arana]

Leather Jacket and Smokey Voice. Well, Col couldn't guarantee the latter, but the former was easy enough. As XCution's current top agent, the funds to acquire such a thing were hardly beyond him. The question at hand, was whether or not the affair was for spiritual beings. The arrancar had dressed himself as finely as could be arranged. Appearances were important to Col, moreso when he was not only representing himself, but one of the few individuals in any of the three worlds that he could say he unequivocally respected. The CEO of XCtution, Shizuka Sanamizu. In his two centuries of life, Col had developed some minor admiration and respect for some few individuals. The occasional Shinigami, bravely facing down their demise-- yes, their courage was to be commended. The might of his fellow Escudo, yes, their strength was also to be respected. But qualities-- that's all it was. Col respected a handful of qualities of the individual. Not the individual themselves. Of all Col had encountered, only the former leader of the Escudo, and Shizuka had thus far commanded his respect of them as an individual; blending incredible might with personalities that deserved it. And so it was in Col's interests that he represent Shizuka well-- whether or not the woman was there to do so herself.

Col had scoped out the restaurant in advance for any dangers, and had sensed a number of spiritual entities within. This wasn't entirely surprising, XCution offered its services to many. But it also had many enemies. Still. Col did not believe even every entity in that structure combined could threaten him, or Shizuka-- let alone both of them. While he could not rule out an assassination attempt on his CEO, he could easily rule out the ability to succeed at one. There was no harm in accepting the invitation, or so he believed.

Col had taken to dressing for the occasion tonight. As the instructions had bade, Cole was dressed in a snappy leather jacket, over a black button-up shirt and maroon tie. Traditional black dress pants and shined dress shoes, the arrancar was dressed to impress within the code. He'd combed back his hair to ensure that not a strand was out of place, and then had slid Tarentella into his belt to attend. The blade was an elegant one and fit his outfit well enough anyways, and Col would not find himself unarmed, though he was more than willing to place the blade down if Shizuka bade him.

In any case, the arrancar stood now outside the venue of the evening's dinner, adjusting his tie slightly, and awaiting his friend's arrival. Shizuka's instructions had been that the two make their entrance together, afterall, and Col would hate to disappoint.

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

How long had it been since she had a night out that was so formal? Probably too long. Shizuka didn't like how busy she had become in these few months, especially since it had been a while since she took over the organization. But receiving invitations like these were hard to ignore, so she quickly erased every conflict she had on her calendar and made sure to make time for some socializing. Even Col received an invitation, which of course didn't surprise her given the fact that he now occupied her former position - the Number One Rifle. A mighty title for a mighty man, and Shizuka truly felt he deserved it. He deserved more, but the fact that he was willing to accept this made her incredibly happy.

The outfit she chose for this occasion looked no different from what she liked to wear on a day to day basis. She sported a sweet pink blouse made of polyester that flowed elegantly as wind blew against her body. Her dress pants were white and her blouse was tucked in so her hips were accentuated. Her hair, more often pulled up into a ponytail these days, was flowing down her back this time with voluminous bangs brushing against her forehead and eyebrows. The blonde brightened her naturally olive skin tone. Finally, just because she never left home without them, her famous golden heals pulled the outfit together. There was just one thing she needed to be sure she wore.

Weirdly enough, the invitation they'd both received said that the dress code was simply a leather jacket. If that was it, she had the only one she ever cared to own stored away in the closet of her corporate office, carefully preserved. She had released the jacket from its cage and slid her arms carefully inside each sleeve, enjoying the smell of leather that wafted up towards her nose and reeling only slightly at the scent of blood laced within. That's right. This was Satsujun's jacket. This was the jacket she took from his corpse the day she ascended as a CEO when she found his body in the same office she worked out of every single day. The blood stains were impossible to get out, but they only affected the soft silk within. It wouldn't be immediately noticeable to anyone.

Within a short time, she had arrived at the meeting place and found Col. With a smile, she bounced over to him excitedly and wrapped her arms around his left, grabbing it tightly and tugging it into herself - a method of claiming him as her own. She was completely aware that she didn't actually own a single person who worked for her. They came and went as they pleased, though she preferred the ones who stayed for years. She had no vendetta against anyone who chose to quit, but she made sure they understood their position should anyone betray her, and generally that was enough to get her point across. In this case, though, it was a friendly greeting since she didn't feel entirely comfortable going into a new place by herself.

"Col! I've been practicing my 'smoky voice' or whatever. Listen!" She cleared her throat and did her best Godfather impression. "I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse."

With a giggle, she knew it wasn't exactly fantastic, but she had no other way of making herself sound the way the invitation specified. It was a way of easing the tension, so with Col's arm still snug against her chest, she walked inside with him and went to find their seats.

[Camila Adaronde]

Throwing a black leather jacket over herself, looking down at her outfit, Camila let out a soft sigh. It wasn't anything that she was particularly against; quite the opposite, in fact. Breaking free of her uniform for once was quite an interesting thing for her! It was refreshing to break free of the standard tedium of Las Noches.

Looking over her outfit, the girl couldn't help but smile. She'd been wearing quite the punk ensemble; a fishnet top, worn beneath a cropped sweater, and pair of black fingerless gloves. From her waist down, a shorter black skirt, paired with a loosely-worn belt around her waist. Below that was a pair of stockings, stretching up the girl's thighs with a pair of Demonias to really complete the outfit; namely, Swing-815's. Her fingers and neck adorned with various silvers in the form of rings and necklaces, alongside simple earrings, and a spiked choker. If nothing else, she was quite proud of the fit. Sprinkled through her hair were bits of white, chitinous material, aiming to imitate some semblance of an Arrancar's mask fragment. Instead of being worn in twintails like she'd so commonly done, Camila's hair was down, leaving it to reach her lower thighs.

All-in-all, she was rather prepared for what was to come. At least, she hoped so. Only time was to really tell if this evening was going to live up to her expectations or not, but there was quite a hope that this was going to be fun! Question remained, who else was going to be here? Who was this individual that send 'er an invitation? All questions that she felt were likely to be answered in some form once she arrived.

Throwing up a Yin-Yang Seal over herself in order to mask her Shinigami presence, Camila took the opportunity to enter the scene through Descorrer; as was likely expected from an Arrancar of some sort. Taking a moment to look around, and glancing back at the address provided, she let out a soft huff. Seemed that there was a bit of walking that was going to need to happen. At least the very least, she was glad to have left a little earlier. While she didn't exactly know these people, being late to an event wasn't exactly like the girl. Not without reason, anyway.

In time, as she approached the entrance, looking down the backs of heads of two people that stood at the door; much like her, they wore leather jackets as well. It was certainly interesting to see that everyone was taking this rather seriously. She couldn't help but smile. "Salut," she called out, "pleasure meeting you folks here. Any clue as to what's in store for the evening?"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Yin-Yang Seal - Shinigami Side is Sealed}
Technique Name: Yin-Yang Seal

Technique Class: 2 - 180 TTP

Technique Type: General Shinigami - Vizard.

Usable By: Vizard.

Technique Element: N/A.

Technique Cost: 400 Reiatsu on Deactivation.

Description: This seal makes a Vizard's Shinigami and Hollow powers two sides of the same coin, hiding one side and revealing another. By sealing up the user's hollow powers, the Shinigami side remains and allows the user to disguise as a normal Shinigami. This anti-hollow seal hides all traces of the user's hollow reiatsu and cannot use any of the hollow powers like mask or cero. By sealing up the user's Shinigami powers, the hollow side remains and allows the user to disguise as a hollow. This anti-Shinigami seal hides all traces of the user's Shinigami reiatsu and cannot use any of the Shinigami powers like Shikai or kido. If this technique is mastered and the user has unlocked vizard resurrection, this even allows the user to disguise as an Arrancar. In other words, this technique is perfect for infiltration. It takes the form of a Yin and Yang tattoo on the user's body.

How to Use: Create the seal.

Incantation: N/A.

Drawbacks: Similar to Hierro, it doesn't use reiatsu to keep active but 400 reiatsu is lost upon deactivation. Once the seal is placed on the body, it can remain permanently active as a flawless disguise. However, the ultimate drawback of this seal is that it also seals the user's spiritual abilities along with sealing off one side of the user's powers, similar to the Shinigami's limiter. The user's reiatsu strength and spiritual pressure will be cut by 25% until the seal is released (i.e. 100 reiatsu strength will be reduced to 75 points). This is only accessible to Vizards that have unlocked their hollow mask.