Lunch Break [JTT]

[Irina Davayte]

Training for TTP.

Her watch beeped to let her know it was time for lunch, and Irina smiled and closed out her spreadsheets. Time for her lunchtime workout! She gobbled down a protein bar, and practically skipped to the gym. Thursday was Irina's favorite day of the week. She had no classes to attend on Tuesdays or Thursdays (although she enjoyed her graduate studies in materials science and engineering), so she worked a desk job at UE from eight to four. Thursday was particularly special because she was able to schedule three workouts per day: a jog in her neighborhood first thing in the morning, hitting the gym at lunchtime, and strength training in the evening. She missed participating in intermural sports at her university. Thursday used to be her fencing club day, but she had gotten just too strong and fast to spar with her academic peers. She had fluctuated between using her full force and having people be a little too impressed, then holding back and not having very much fun. She knew it was a lame problem that she couldn't complain about, but Irina missed being able to compete with regular people.

The fitness enthusiast changed into shorts and a t-shirt, and adjusted her long blonde ponytail as she entered the gym with 40 of her 45 minutes of her break remaining. She would need five minutes to get changed back into her work clothes, fix her hair and makeup, and be back at her desk, so that left her with 35 minutes for her workout. Strangely though, Irina's job fit into a weird place in the UE hierarchy where she wasn't in charge of any department, but she also didn't really have a supervisor. Technically, she supposed, her direct supervisor was Kazura. There were plenty of higher-ranked employees than Irina, but she didn't actually work under any of them. Therefore, she set her own hours, including her lunch break. Irina was not the type to take advantage of this flexibility though. She consistently worked the same hours each day, unless some sort of emergency came up, and then she would make them up later. So a 45-minute break meant a 45-minute break.

UE did have a dojo in the basement specifically for spiritual exercises, but Irina tended to use the gym that anyone at UE could access. For some reason, it was a little bit colder, and it had more standard fitness equipment than the specialized items in the spiritual dojo. After stretching, she jumped on a treadmill that she had rigged to go much faster than a regular consumer treadmill would, and started running at a brisk 6.5 meters per second. Since this was fairly close to the Olympic world record for women's 1600 meters, if someone came in the gym, she'd maintain her pace, trying to appear pretty fatigued, before quitting after about a quarter mile. She had calculated that 6.5 meters per second was not crazy impressive or impossible for a sprint, so she could get away with that method. But calculating how much she should be able to do when she worked out was becoming tedious. Maybe she'd just move her treadmill to the dojo downstairs another day.

Fifteen-minute run, then a little weightlifting, another protein bar, then back to work. Irina began contemplating the rest of her day. At 4:00 pm, she would head towards dinner, then go to the library of her university to study. A few years prior, she'd worked with a study group pretty frequently, but after their graduation with Bachelor's degrees, only two of them transitioned to the graduate program. It was a bummer, Irina figured, but not unexpected. Even her best friend Altan from childhood had somewhat drifted farther from her. They had transitioned from seeing each other every day until age eighteen, to video chatting every week, to texting occasionally. If that could happen with the person she was most comfortable with in the world, of course the people in her study group would fall away. It didn't seem quite fair though, she thought as she unconsciously stepped just a bit harder.

Suddenly, Irina came to a stop as her foot cracked through the treadmill from driving her foot into it just a bit too hard. Since she always wore the safety clip, the treadmill stopped running as she fell face-forward into the ground, one foot pressed into the machine. Although she had been raised to act like a lady, which meant never swearing if anyone could hear, as she pulled her already bruising ankle from the treadmill and started assessing whether the damage to the machine was repairable, Irina swore loudly in Russian.

[Akira Hinosai]

Even months after Luca awakened a new level of power within him, holding his spear, shooting lasers at the night sky, and burninating hollows with it still made him giddy. Sometimes he summoned it just so he could make sure it was still there. There was something so right about holding it, and doubly so when it came to using it. It was a reflection of his soul made into a powerset, and how cool a power set was radiation? Really cool. His days playing catch up, trying to prove himself were over! The next time some cool world shattering event happened, he'd distinguish himself with ease. Still though, as much as it hurt to admit, he was human, and that meant he still had to train up to surpass his limits.

He'd learned all too quickly that merely achieving the peak of human fitness wouldn't exactly cut it. It couldn't he helped he supposed. The more power he had, the more he needed. Even if he was the strongest, it wouldn't do to go soft. Still, deciding to train was one thing. Deciding how, where, and what to train was another matter entirely. Sure, he could go to a regular gym like all the no power having losers, but there was very little enticing about hanging out in some rancid smelling hellhole full of guys working out so girls will like them or whatever. Of course, some of the patrons were likely to be girls, but Luca didn't like to think of that possibility. Frankly, they would just distract him from getting stronger so he could kick more ass. Even if it didn't reek of sweat and its patrons weren't annoying, Luca would probably have to hold back. He had no doubt he'd be the strongest, fastest, most-stamina-having person there. Though that was less impressive to spirit people, but to normal people, it might raise too many questions.

Before he contented himself to punch walls or run around the city to improve his skills, Luca remembered something. Oh hell yeah! UE has a gym! During his orientation, Uzaki showed him some cool dojo place downstairs. Luca might have remembered that sooner if he went to Uzaki Enterprises more often, but as often as not, he couldn't be bothered to attend, instead just doing side errands and fighting hollows. Sure, he'd probably be higher up in the hierarchy by now if he went inside and socialized with the others, but the perks of being a lowly grunt suited his purposes just fine. Though if he was going to UE, it wouldn't do to not try and look good, even if he was going to be sweaty and gross by the time he left.

A tank top, thin light hoodie, and sweatshorts were chosen as a compromise between practicality and actually looking good. A lot of greys and blacks, but Luca supposed there was a certain minimalist appeal there. Some melancholic 80's song was playing through his headphones as he made the walk to Uzaki Enterprises. Luca remembered how he once planned to rise through the ranks at UE. Somewhere along the way that motivation faded away. He still had his goal of becoming the strongest, and having everyone acknowledge it, but no matter how he sliced it, something seemed wrong about Uzaki's place. Maybe it was the allegations of collaborating with the Soul Society who was apparently genociding mod souls. Luca silenced the thoughts. God, just cut it out. Go in, act cool, get strong, leave. It's not that complicated. He slapped himself to drive the point home, but that made a few passersby stare at him in a way he found insulting.

By the time he made it to the HQ, his mood had stabilized to "I don't even care in that way that I want to make it clear that I don't care." Entering the elevator he was faced with a choice. UE had a gym too, now that he thought of it. The dojo didn't look like it had any exercise equipment, so on impulse he pressed the floor number the gym was on. Yet by the time he reached it, he saw he made a terrible, terrible mistake. Oh great, another person. After a moment of thinking her name came to him. Irina. She was dating Uzaki or whatever...or was that someone else. Luca hadn't spoken to her too terribly often...or really anyone besides Amare and Luke since he joined. Sure, he wasn't shy or anything, but this was a girl. He'd have to present himself as "cool". As he reluctantly walked in and took off his hoodie, something happened. Like a complete amateur she wiped out on the treadmill, falling down and probably breaking it. She shouted something...slavic sounding. Luca laughed hard, but not too hard. "Wow, uh, smooth moves, yeah. Really smooth." He said, smirking. "Looks like that's coming out of your paycheck." Still, as funny as it was to watch someone else fail at something, he supposed he had a duty as a man to help her up. There was a certain manic courage flowing through him as he approached, yet it seemed to fade as he actually offered her a hand. "So, what brings you here." was the first thing that came to his mind and out his lips, though he instantly regretted such a stupid question.

[Irina Davayte]

Irina looked up from her bruised lower limb, unimpressed to see Luca swagger in, and unamused by his greeting. She promptly ignored his offer to help her up, instead grabbing onto an arm of the treadmill and pulling herself to her feet. "Oh, I just come here to break things sometimes," she responded sarcastically, shooting a glare up in his direction. She reached for her bag. There had to be something cold in there to put on her leg. Her water bottle still had some chunks of ice; that would have to do the trick for now. She sat on the floor and held it up to her shin, figuring she would do that for five minutes or so to cut down on bruising. It was a shame, she thought, that she needed to Summon her Fullbring every time she needed to get some ice. She'd have to find a way to freeze water, rather than just being able to create snow and ice when she Released. Or just find a freezer and get some ice like a normal person.

Irina hoped Luca would get bored and go away, but if not, she'd try to be the better person and come up with something nice to say. "How are things with you?" She would barely be able to conceal her lack of enthusiasm. "Hopefully," she thought, "I'll have time to worry about that treadmill in a few minutes."

[Akira Hinosai]

Luca walked right into that one. Even he could admit that. She refused his hand, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised by that either. This lady must have ice water flowing through her veins. Even so, Luca didn't see too much harm in sharing the gym with her. That was, assuming her little fall wasn't enough to dissuade her, anyway. Sure, Luca was willing to share the gym, but that feeling wasn't mutual. Figures. "Things are going pretty good for me. As it just so happens, I was here to work out! Gotta get stronger so I can kick more hollow ass, you know?" Luca paused for a moment before quickly following it up with "Not that I'm not already strong, mind you. Cuz, just so you know, I can do THIS!" To emphasize his point, Luca held his lighter above his head and perpendicular to the ground. In a flash of baleful green light, his lighter became a magnificent brass spear. He wasn't going full release, only enough to turn the lighter into a spear. It wasn't like Irina would be able to tell, anyway. "I'd give a demonstration, but it would probably be really painful."

Luca deactivated his fullbring. He was seeming pretty cool, or at least he hoped he was. It wasn't that he was scared of talking to girls. He wasn't afraid of anything! Still, it was important that girls thought he was cool. It was easier to do that when they were fighting together, or lives were at stake. That made the whole ordeal easier. He could prove himself by kicking ass better than with words. So in some casual enviornment like this...he was less certain of what to do besides fake it until he made it. Unless he was stopped, berated, challenged, or assaulted for his insolence, Luca would make his way to the heaviest dumbbells he could find. At least, he thought they were called dumbbells. Large, metal, and of sufficient weight to bludgeon people, Luca wasn't entirely sure they could still be called dumbbells. Of course, he was way stronger than the average person, so it wasn't too hard for him to lift them. While lifting two, one for each hand he tried to hold a squatting position in the corner of the gym. He was at least 90% certain that was a work out that people did, but he'd never actually been to a gym for more than 5 minutes...

[Irina Davayte]

"Oh, neat," Irina said rather woodenly, mostly focusing on her shin as Luca showed off his spear. Having grown up with two older brothers and a male best friend, she knew how to get along with someone with this kind of showing off behavior: guys needed to know that they were respected before they could chill out and act normal. Still, she wasn't exactly excited to deal with this adolescent behavior today. How old was this guy, anyway? This was teenage boy behavior. Of course, she knew, some people just never grew out of that. But maybe Luca wouldn't feel the need to puff himself up like this if he knew Irina respected him and wasn't judging him.

Based on his technique with the weights, Irina had a vague feeling that Luca had never actually been instructed on proper weightlifting. A stickler for rules and doing things the "right" way, Irina sighed internally and decided to try to help in a way that wouldn't embarrass him. Putting down her water bottle, she asked "Would you mind if I put on this video I use when I'm weightlifting?" If he didn't protest, Irina would screencast a random "weightlifting for beginners" video on Youtube from her phone to the gym's TV and follow it dutifully. The video was subtitled "low weights, high rep", and Irina silently chose weights 5 pounds heavier than those being used by the instructor. "So where are you from?" she asked, remembering that asking questions was supposed to be part of being friendly.

[Akira Hinosai]

There were people Luca just couldn't hit it off with. That in and of itself was hardly a profound statement, but still it was important. Things like this were a dance to Luca where any misstep would spell disaster. "Uh, go right ahead." Luca quickly realized though, that his whole method of lifting weights was actually completely wrong. He hoped against hope Irina didn't notice if he quickly adjusted his form, grabbing lower tier weights and doing reps as instructed. After a moment of silence, Irina tried to strike up conversation again, but it was clear she wasn't really good at it or really didn't care. "I'm from America, if you can believe that." he said in between reps. "I know with the name I seem pretty Italian, but nope. Californian, born and raised. Dad just took some initiative with the naming, I guess." Why was he sharing that?

Suddenly, a bolt of inspiration hit him. "How bout you...Where are you from?" He had a hint of "Former Eastern Bloc country" from her but there were a lot of those. Sure there were differences, but Luca wasn't some anthropologist extraordinaire as to be able to tell them apart like this. There was a point, Luca knew, where conversations wouldn't feel like this. He had lots of friends, he just had to reach that point with Irina. Though even in his head, that sounded stupid. Look, just act cool! After Irina's answer he'd respond with "Look at us! It almost looks like we're friends!" Still lifting weights he smirked at her. It was important to do something brave sometimes, and that was about as audacious a statement as Luca could think of. Plus it made him seem cool and above it all. That was important.

[Irina Davayte]

"Ah, interesting," she said genuinely, still mostly focused on the weights. She didn't have time for getting herself injured. "I haven't met a lot of Americans." Although she had heard plenty of stereotypes. She felt somewhat disarmed by Luca mentioning his father. "Are you and your dad close? What brought you here?" She thought about her own family, who were so far away now. They all called to video chat with her regularly, but it wasn't the same. Although when she'd left for college in Japan five years ago she'd fully intended to return home after she graduated, she knew that by the time she'd finished her Master's degree, she'd really have roots established here. It seemed like her mama was beginning to give up on her ever moving back home, and although she hadn't really decided anything, Irina had a feeling her mama's prediction would come true.

On hearing Luca's next question, Irina mentally snapped back to the present. "I'm from Russia." She left it at that. Sure, she could go on and on about her home country: how she loved its diverse, resilient people, the landscapes, national sports, and the food, but at twenty-three, she was learning to talk a little less, and listen a little more. Maybe sarcastically because of her terse reply, Irina frankly wasn't sure, Luca declared that it "almost" looked like they were friends. "Ah, uh huh," she replied as neutrally as possible, not sure if this was supposed to be a compliment, an insult, or what. Admittedly sometimes a terrible conversationalist, Irina returned to weightlifting silently for a bit before asking "What is it you've been doing around here again?"

[Akira Hinosai]

Luca scoffed instinctively, but he wished he hadn't Was he close with his father? WAS HE CLOSE WITH HIS FATHER? No. He wasn't so distant from him that the mere mention of Luca's progenitor would send him into a blinding rage, but it did catch him off guard. "No, we're not." he said bluntly. It was a long and sordid story Luca had no desire to tell, just as he was sure Irina had no desire to hear it. Maybe it would have been easier to tell her that he had no family, but Luca thought better of it. He quickly pivoted to other questions. "I came here because I had some contacts tell me all the crazy spirit shit that goes on here. The way I saw it, Karakura was the place I belonged." He'd seen more things in his short time here than in the rest of his life put together. Lowly hollows, lingering human spirits, and a hand full of soul reapers didn't make for an exciting life. What use were powers if he was mucking around where nothing was happening?

Luca kept doing reps. Up down. Up down with every sentence, every floundering attempt to connect to the ice-cold Russian girl "Around here? At UE, well..." Luca trailed into a sort of nervous laughter. "I do lots of things." He tried to think of them but the only real answer was "Hollow extermination." He said with a winning smirk as if some part of him was waiting for an excuse to say that. Even so, that really was all he could think of. He wasn't exactly a font of loyalty to Uzaki, so there was little reason to try and put in effort beyond fighting. It was hard for him to think of UE as a job in the traditional sense, anyway. Really it wasn't, but maybe he'd always be some low-level grunt. Leadership and bookkeeping were entirely too boring for Luca's. It was when he had his spear in his hand and the taste of blood in his mouth that he really felt alive. I went all-in with this spirit stuff so I wouldn't have to do paperwork!

Expecting some rebuke for his poor work ethic, Luca launched a preemptive defense "I'm not some loser who does nothing, you know. I kill plenty of hollows every night! You can watch me kick ass some night if you want!" his voice had sounded more accusatory than he'd have liked. He knew that as soon as he'd said it. He wasn't always this awkward, but talking to girls wasn't something that came easy. Sure, if he was fighting them, fighting with them, or their lives were generally in danger, the adrenaline often prompted him to pull himself together. Yet now, there was none of that. Luca hated coming across as awkward. People looked down on awkwardness, and being looked down on was something Luca couldn't bear. If there was a point in which Luca could talk to girls like some normal human being, he hadn't reached it. "Oh, but where are my manners, what brought you to Karakura...and also what do you do here at UE?" Had he done enough reps? It was hard to say, he'd stopped counting. He placed his dumbbells back, and scanned the room for another suitable excercize thing.

[Irina Davayte]

Luca immediately steered the conversation away from the topic of his family, and Irina went along with it. Having grown up with a best friend who was estranged from his father, she knew better than to press that kind of subject. Irina nodded in understanding to Luca's statement about coming to Karakura intentionally to seek out the unusual spirit activity. It certainly wasn't why she'd landed there; attending engineering school was a much more vanilla goal. But she got it. It was kind of fun to have so much excitement going on.

After Luca's outburst about not doing nothing, Irina was slightly at a loss for words. Not sure how to respond to that ("Surely not 'Sounds fun, let's do that sometime'?" she thought), she tried to change the subject. "I have a cat." "I have a cat?" she thought as soon as her words reached her ears. "You can't just say 'I have a cat', Irina. Nobody says that. Weird cat people say that." And to be fair, Irina wasn't even really that into her cat. Sure, she liked her big orange fluffball Beastie, whom she'd found outside her apartment and rescued, but she didn't talk about him with other people, and that was the line, she'd decided a while ago: weird cat people talk about their cat. She was fine with being a lady with a cat, but not a Cat Lady.

"I came here for university about four years ago. I'm an engineering student." Although she had technically received her undergraduate degree the previous summer, since she was still taking graduate classes, she still called herself a student instead of an engineer. I've been doing a few things around here...I work in the Materials Science and Engineering Lab a couple of days a week, and I get to use those hours as an internship towards my Master's degree. And I do some desk work with data tracking for unusual spiritual energy in the city and Hollow activity. And, you know, kicking Hollows' butts," she added, attempting to speak Luca's language.

She glanced at her watch. Twenty minutes of lunchtime left. "I think I'm going to take a jog around the neighborhood. I'll deal with the broken treadmill later. Want to come?"

[Akira Hinosai]

She had a cat. Luca didn't know what to take from that beyond how she really REALLY did not want to watch him fight hollows. Talking to Irina is like talking to a brick wall. You have no idea how good you're doing, and you probably look stupid doing it. Still, he figured it was nice to just talk to someone, even if that someone was a girl.  Well, it was nice in the sense that he could think of many things that were worse, but he wasn't enjoying himself in the traditional sense. When she spoke of her little engineering thing, Luca nodded as he pretended to care. Luca wasn't stupid, but he could think of a million better ways to spend his brainpower than doing math for machining and industrial stuff. Still, she seemed quite willing to kick hollow ass as well, which was a field of study Luca could definitely get down with.

When Irina said "I'm going for a jog..." Luca was more than expecting that to be a polite way of saying "Yeah, hey, I'm going to put as much distance between myself and you as possible bye, don't follow me, creep." Though his fears were alleviated by the invitation to come along. "You know what? Yes. I would like to jog with you." He blurted with a confidence that he hadn't known since he first walked into the room. It was a split second decision, and one that he almost second guessed as soon as he realized what he said. "Just don't go thinking you'll outpace me! I'm pretty fast, you know!" He pointed at himself with his thumb. This was something new. He wasn't going to be sitting in a room trying a task he was woefully unfamiliar with. He knew jogging. He tried to cling to that feeling of being asked to do something. Luca picked up his hoodie and stuck his arms in the sleeves. "Well, let's be on our way, shall we? It wouldn't do to make you late for your paperwork." He tried to sound playful rather than scornful. For a moment, Luca almost felt like he found out how he was supposed to act around Irina.

[Irina Davayte]

Luca agreed to join her, and Irina breathed a sigh of relief. Going outdoors would be good for this situation. She decided to try to respond a little less seriously to Luca. "Alright, let's go, Usain Bolt." She headed out of the building and started a moderately-paced jog towards the park. There were usually some dogs playing and people to watch over that way. But when she'd barely gone a block, her watch beeped. She glanced at the display, which let her know that there was a Hollow about 3 kilometers in the opposite direction from which they'd come. She indicated the display on her wrist to Luca. "Well, here's our opportunity to go kick a Hollow's butt, I guess. Looks like we're headed towards the business district." Irina hoped Luca really was pretty fast, and headed in the indicated direction at about a rate of about a 3-minute kilometer. No point in trying to catch transportation when they were this close. "By the way, did you pick up your Omni Tool yet? You'll like it. Among other things, it'll alert you to nearby Hollow activity."

[Akira Hinosai]

Luca followed, keeping pace with Irina. Things started well enough, but anything would be an improvement over the awkward-fest that was their time in the gym. Luca was all about acting cool in front of Irina, but when she mentioned a hollow presence, he couldn't help but smile. Aw, yeah! This is my chance! But before he had time to say a cool one-liner, she was already in a mad sprint towards the alert on her watch. Luca caught up to her quickly. After all, he was pretty fast. "Yeah, of course I got my omni-tool." I did...didn't I? Luca's heart dropped as if he was just made aware of an assignment he didn't complete was due.

No, no, he did have one. He remembered Uzaki giving it to him, and the handful of times he used it. "I just didn't think I'd need it for this little outing."  Luca said, sounding sure in his justification. This whole conversation was on the upswing now! All he had to do was reach the hollow, kill it in a cool way, which wouldn't be hard with his fullbring, and then his reputation would be assured. Violence was a language he spoke fluently. It was easier to express himself that way, more often than not. "Just get ready to be amazed! I've got hollow-fighting down to a science!" Luca smirked as they ran, each step bringing them closer to what had to be a good fight.

[Irina Davayte]

"It's fine, you don't need it. I was just wondering." Truly, she wasn't trying to pick at him; she thought having a device that would beep at him whenever there was a Hollow nearby was something Luca would dig. Fortunately, Luca kept pace with Irina fine, not looking any more wilted as she did as they sped towards the scene. As they approached the area, Irina felt relieved that they would soon be too busy for her to have to worry about whether she should be acting like she is amazed by Luca or not. Handling people, she knew, was not her strongest skill. It took a ton of brain power that would, at least for now, be better put to use solving a much more physical problem.

A few blocks from the alert area, Irina ignored her smartwatch. The location of the Hollow was clear from the sound of a giant baboon smashing up the place. It had pulled a light pole out of the ground like a flower, and was attempting to use the hook of the pole to pull people out of a library. It managed to grab one, and immediately transformed into a giant ugly pigeon, grasping the person in its claw. "Okay, what's the plan?" Irina gave Luca the courtesy of asking for his opinion on what to do next, but she assumed he would just rush in and try to take care of things himself before she'd had a chance to formulate a plan.

[Akira Hinosai]

Luca's lips curled into a devious smile. This was what he was made for. "Give me a sec." Whatever he decided, he'd have to decide quickly. He had no choice, because innocent people were in danger, and Luca had no intention of letting any of them die. Hollow can change its form, is smart enough to use tools, and has some halfway decent hunting instincts based on this little set up. Luca could fight from a distance, but that was complicated by the presence of a civilian in the hollow's clutches. He was never above showing off, but he wasn't going to gamble on his aim, knowing damn well his laser could easily kill a normal human if it hit them.

Suddenly, the plan came to him. Doubtless, the hollow smelt them by now.
Luca could try to hide his energy, but doubtless the hollow already
smelled them. Of course it could be smart enough to realize it had no chance, but it was probably starving. Hunger made hollows desperate, and desperation made hollows stupid. "You think he's already noticed us?" if that answer was "yes", Luca would activate his fullbring, the reach it gave him would be useful against the dive-bombing pigeon, or whatever form it decided to take, Luca would try and meet whatever attack it by using bringer light to launch himself in the air, hoping to impale the ugly monster like a knight would impale a dragon.

Though if it hadn't, Luca would have an opportunity for stealth, and it would be an opportunity he'd take. After all, he was the best infiltrator he knew. He'd be careful to mask his presence, and hold off on activating his fullbring until the last possible second. With a bit of soul command he would climb up the side of the building, only jumping off at the hollow when he was close enough to do so, hoping to use the surprise to land on top of it so Luca could stab and slash it with little fear of hurting the person it had gripped in its talons.

[Irina Davayte]

"No, weirdly enough, I don't think it's paying attention to us. Too focused on that guy it's got, I think." While Luca ran up the building and launched himself onto the bird's head, Irina dashed in the perpendicular direction, trying to get the person in the pigeon's claw. Fortunately, on being attacked by Luca, the bird released its grip on its prey. Cawing out in anger, it turned its focus to Luca, first trying to knock him off by bobbing its head vigorously. Apparently it wasn't as clever in pigeon form. Figures, Irina thought, not a huge fan of birds. When throwing Luca off its head didn't work, it transformed into a chimera-like beast: it had three heads, each with a Hollow's mask. Its body was that of a lion, and it had elephant feet. One head was that of a baboon, one of an ugly pigeon, one of a King Cobra. Were those venomous? Irina couldn't remember. Anyway, it didn't really matter: she knew the Hollow likely had a whole set of different issues than the creature it resembled.

While Luca dealt with the Hollow, Irina had focused on getting its victim to safety. She had run towards the Pigeon, and as it dropped the man it held in its claws, she used Bringer Light to catch him in midair. As she stopped abruptly, she reached out in front of him to keep him from falling. Ready to dash off and assist Luca, Irina was stopped by the man she'd rescued. He was a dignified-looking older gentleman with gray hair and glasses. "Oh my, did you see that? I was just reading up on gardening, when all of the sudden, it felt like something had grabbed me! What could that be about? I've never heard of anything like it! My grandchildren will never believe this; they already think I am crazy. What are you doing here, little girl? Shouldn't you be in school?"

Irina tried to disengage from the man, backing away from him and towards the Hollow, keeping her eyes on it. "Oh I'm fine. I was just on my way to class at the University when I saw what was going on with you. So sorry for running into you; I trying to run away and I wasn't paying attention." The man followed her, staying with her as she backed towards the Hollow. That wouldn't do. "Say, what do you think that thing was? And oh! There's a young man flying up there! Oh my, what a day!" Irina groaned inwardly. How was she going to ditch this guy? Apparently, he must seem pretty tasty to the Hollow, for it to have neglected her and Luca in favor of him. Or it was just a really stupid Hollow. Hard to tell. "I'm sorry sir," she said genuinely before grabbing him, and using Soul Command to soften the ground, then hardening it, using it as a projectile launcher to put her and the man on the roof of the library, before jumping back down, leaving him there. That should put him out of the way.

She was free to focus on Luca and the Hollow again. Luca had managed to do some damage to the Ugly Pigeon head. Dark wisps of reiatsu emerged from the sides of its head. The pigeon head just kept bobbing and bobbing, as if trying to shake water out of its ear. Could a Hollow have brain damage? She wasn't worried about the bird head; she would let Luca finish that off. Irina would go after the snake head. Irina activated her Fullbring, causing an icy sword to grow from her rapier hilt, and a familiar chill traveled down her spine. She ran towards the snake head and attempted to slash through its head, hoping it wasn't going to shoot any venom at her as she did so.