Let Me Hear [Joint Training]

[Antoinette Harper]

Humming a chipper tune to herself, Antoinette found herself simply walking down the streets of Karakura, without much of a care in the world. Today had been quite a good day, if nothing else! Her work for the day was finished, so she was simply free to do what she'd like for the evening. Perhaps frequenting a number of stores, as she always seemed to do? Or perhaps she could take an opportunity to visit that tea house that had gone up recently! Truthfully, there were quite a number of possibilities.

Taking the opportunity to check her phone, the girl took a look at the time; "that's it~?" She spoke to herself, surprised. Looking toward the sky, she smiled. The sun had been starting to set, painting quite a beautiful picture in the sky; a mix of reds and blues that painted quite a calming collage of colors. If nothing else, it did good to bring a more noteworthy level of calm to the girl.

Taking the opportunity to sit down on a ledge where she could, Antoinette continued to hum to herself, scrolling through her phone. The goal for the time being was simply checking up with her social media, sending messages to a number of her friends where she could, she took the opportunity to simply catch up on the day while she was busy involved with her work. Though, without considering the worrisome aspects behind doing so, the girl allowed her reishi to fly free, leaving herself ready and able to be picked up upon by those with any semblance of sensory capabilities.

[Colt]

"You fucking prick. Why'd you have to MOVE goddammit?" Anxiety and stress bled from the voice as they hurriedly tried to get the mess cleaned up. A young man shakily trying to look over the limp form on the ground, all whilst a voice promptly assured them. "Whoa hey now. Relax Kiddo! You didn't know they were gonna pull a knife! And look at em, the picture of health! They seem to just be out cold. So cmon bucko. Take a deep breath, breathe in....haaaaaah. And breathe out. whewwwww."

Those panicked eyes darted toward the item stuck into the side of their waistband, that which had been assuring them throughout this entire situation that they could make it through this. And the entire reason it had started. "Why did you have to fucking pipe in?! Ugh, whatever. Let's just get OUT of here." The young man whimpered, picking up the backpack filled with drugs. They cast one last glance at the unconscious form, some small oart of them wondering if they were going to wake up, before they cast that aside and turned.

Bolting straight into a woman built like three layers of pancake. "OOF!" The wind was knocked out of the human as halfway through the start of their sprint they promptly connected with Antoinette's body, sprawling to the ground as their backpack swung off their shoulders, and promptly several small baggies slid across the pavement from the half-zipped backpack. Leaving the young man with wide eyes and panick. "SHIT!" As he hurriedly tried to retrieve the bag.

But of course that wasn't what Colt was focused on. He didn't have eyes, and he only had a peripheral sensation thanks to Mod Root. So technically speaking, he didn't actually SEE Antoinetta. Mod root made it so he FELT her.A sort of palpatory echolocation. And WHEW Even as the one holding him scrabbled to retreive the drugs, a voice, seemingly with no source, would pipe up from their direction.

"DAMN girl, you FART with that ass?~"

[Antoinette Harper]

Nearly dropping her phone to the ground in the process, Antoinette found herself bouncing backward, promptly placing the girl onto the sidewalk with a huff. "Ugh," she groaned, partially from pain, partially from annoyance, "what on earth was that about?" Looking toward the individual shouting in her vicinity, the girl winced.

Looking toward the person in front of her, she scoffed. "Would it hurt you to watch where you're going~?" She asked, trying to be polite, but slowly breaking that demeanor. Truthfully, she was rather agitated. Especially if she had dropped her phone; that took her a while to save up for comfortably! Still, she allowed herself to stand up, before hearing those rather vulgar words be spoken aloud.

"DAMN girl, you FART with that ass?~"

Almost immediately, she placed her hand across the young man's face, promptly and forcefully. She hadn't looked to knock him over with the slap, but with enough force behind it to show she was serious. "How dare you talk to a lady like that?" She huffed, "don't think for a second I'm going to forgive you for-" Her words were cut off, as she promptly remembered just what had sprawled out onto the sidewalk. Wait, she thought to herself, don't tell me...

"What exactly is it that you're carrying~?" She asked, taking an accusatory tone. She wasn't stupid; she knew about the drug trade, though wasn't exactly involved with such things, but given her age and experience with life in general, it wasn't something that she was in the dark about. Though, it was curious if nothing else. She wanted to know more.

[Colt]

WHAP!

Just like that, Antoinette's hand swept across the poor young man's face, causing a yelp of surprise as he staggered to the ground. Panic and alarm rocking his senses as he was dazed a bit more than he normally would be! "I-I'm sorry! I just uhm. Ahem. I'm very sorry!" He apologized again and again, eyes wide as he then locked hiz gaze down to the floor, trying with all haste to pick up all the dropped goods! But of course Colt's attention was ENTIRELY on Ant.

Whew, man, and what a woman! Not just nice and sexy, but the way she was speaking? Almost like she was trying to scharm the soul right out a fella's nuts! "Tch, Feisty huh?" He chimed, causing the young man to glare and THWACK him against the ground, causing him to let out an OW. Though it seemed that amidst their fighting they had an entirely different problem spawning in their midst. The fact that the girl was paying a bit more attention than was good for her.

"N-no! This is ..uhm, just some materials!" The young man insisted! All whilst trying to pile the bags into the backpack and zip them up before slinging them over his shoulder. "And even if it was it's not yours. Unless you uh... got something you wanna trade~" THAT earned a startled look on the young man's face as Colt promptly intervened a little with the conversation. This little hornball was going to get them killed!

CRACK!

The sound of a wooden door being popped clean off it's hinges sounded down the alleyway. A Big foot poking out from a building before a VERY large man strode out into the open. Large, sporting a sleek black suit, and black glasses. Another suited man slipping out and into the open before turning their attention towards the pair. Leaving little time for them to chat. The one holding Colt instantly beginning to shake. "Fuckfuckfuck! Sorryforbumpingintoyougottago!" He stammered out, promptly rounding to try and bolt away from the two men striding out of the alley.

[Antoinette Harper]

Letting out a sigh as the young man spoke, and proceeded to apologize, Antoinette nodded her head. "I suppose I can forgive your words," she started, "you seem apologetic enough, anyways..." Placing her hands on her hips, she pouts, with a very 'what am I to do' expression painted on her face. If nothing else, this was proving to be quite the interesting situation; especially as she heard another voice chime in once again.

As the young man threw a gun to the ground, Antoinette immediately jumped back in shock. "H-hey!" She shouted, before turning to a hushed whisper, "careful where you point that thing! Don't you know those are illegal here!?" She found herself a good bit on edge, due to the turn of events, but something unsettled her even more. The distinct "OW" that had sounded from the weapon had confused her quite a bit.

Through her own lineage, she'd heard of things like Dolls before from her parents, way back when. But, this was a little bit different. The gun had been talking, it seemed. Though, there was no clear identifier about that, despite the voice coming from the weapon. As the young man scooped up the drugs, Antoinette crossed her arms, listening to the gun's vulgar words as well. "Sorry, that's not my thing~" She cooed. It wasn't something that she'd ever tried, nor was it something that she wanted to try at any point soon.

Quickly turning her head toward the loud banging, the clambering of footsteps, before turning back to the shaking man, Antoinette did her best to put two and two together, realizing very quickly what was going on. Her heart sank. As the young man decided to turn and bolt, Antoinette began to panic in suit. "H-hey, wait up!" She called out, immediately taking the opportunity to chase after him. To say she was worried was an understatement, but that was a problem for when that situation presented itself!

[Colt]

The young man was panting as he booked it down the street, panic clearly shown in his face as he rushed away from the large man. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that it seemed they were being followed! "Wh-what are you doing?!" The young man called out to the woman. "Hey there sweetcheeks~ Taggin along for the ride? Wanna scooch over for me just a sec? Boyo! Point me directly behind you!" Colt called out, giving Antoinette a heads up to get the fuck out of the way.

With a swing backwards, the young man brought Colt to bear directly behind him, and the re was a loud POP POP! As Colt promptly fired himself! Causing the large man to duck behind a cart as the bullets ripped through the street and punched holes in the cart and the nearby siding of the building. "GIVE UP NOW TRUCKERNUTS!" He shouted to their pursuer. Clearly getting quite involved in the chase.

The young man of course was MUCH less enthused, a soft whimper escaping him as a result of the loud noise of gunshots, not to mention his own boiling sense of self preservation inciting a whimper and a little burst of further speed to the young man's panicked steps."Stop instigating him!" He cried out as he veered into a sharp turn. Banging his shoulder into a nearby wall before scampering down an alleyway. All whilst the pursuer seemed hardly inclined to stop charing. The man was determined!

[Antoinette Harper]

"What does it look like!?" She shouted back to Colt and the young man, kicking it into high gear, "I'm not exactly in a position to not be running for my life here!" She chuckled; laughter tended to be her main method of dealing with frightening situations. This was no exception.

Per Colt's own shouting, Antoinette did what she could to quickly duck out of the way, nearly finding herself falling to the ground the moment the deafening gunshots rang out. Doing what she could to catch herself, she found herself in a fit of laughter from Colt's own words. If nothing else, there was something almost endearing to his antagonistic nature while the three had been running as though their life depended on it. Still though, her focus needed to be on making an escape. Something that further registered as the two turned the corner.

Doing the same, the girl proceeded to turn the corner, throwing a small food cart to the ground by the entrance to the alley in the process to partially block the path. Following in suit, the girl chuckled to the others. "So what's the plan~?" She asked, "hopefully you know these streets well, mm? Last thing we want is to end up at a dead end~!" In truth, that was her biggest fear at the moment. Would they be able to fight their way through if they hit a wall?

She'd definitely need to think of something, that was certain. She couldn't just let these two fight! Though, what on earth could she have done at the moment? It was difficult to say, but hopefully her own vampire magic was going to come to her in a time of need! It was just something she needed to tap into. But, the question remained; how the hell was she supposed to do something like that!?

[Colt]

"Looks like we got a babe tagging along~ Heheh, but no for real thanks for the assist!" Colt chimed out, the young man whimpering a bit as the three of them bolted. The sudden crash of stuff behind them catching Colt's attention. Oh? The Lady was even helping! A natural streetrat she was~ Heheheheh. The thrill made him focus a bit more on their pathing, pausing as he thought. What WAS their plan? Where were they? He might have to figure that out before they accidentally found a dead end. Shhhhit.

"Don't Encourage him PLEASE!" A groan from the one holding Colt as they skidded to the end of the street. Looking briefly over their shoulders. Was the guy even chasing them anymore? Had he circled around? Eyes darted left and right as they attempted to ascertain where the large man had gone off to. Maybe they'd backed off from the shots? "Alright. We hide. Know anyplace nearby with a spot to lie low? A restraunt? Shop? Maybe a hotspring or a motel?"

The venture came with a playful clicking noise as if he were clicxking his nonexistent tongue flirtatiously at Antoinette. Resulting in the one holding him to frown and THWACK him against the nearby railing. "Can you STOW that?! I'm sorry, DO you know anyplace we can hide?" He asked exasperatedly, an anxious look in the young man's eyes as he and Colt both focused on them. After all, they weren't too familiar with the area. And well, anything was better than random hasty scurrying.

[Antoinette Harper]

Giggling at Colt's comment, Antoinette nodded her head. "Pleasure to be of assistance~!" Truthfully, she was more grateful to be in the position to follow behind the two; especially while running for her life. Last thing she wanted was to end up dead on the side of the road just for association with these two. The fact that they were willing to allow her to tag along was quite nice, if nothing else!

As the three continued to move, Antoinette found herself chuckling once more at the young man's comment about encouraging Colt. "Oh, come now," she started, as they began to slow their pace, "he's not that bad! Quite an interesting individual, no doubt~" She chuckled. Truth be told, this was the first individual that she'd met like Colt! It was still a little difficult to process that he was simply a talking gun. She'd have to talk about that when the opportunity presented itself.

As the question was posed to her, Antoinette put a finger on chin. "Hmm..." She started, "I might just have a place for y'all~!" She chuckled. While bringing these two back to the shrine wasn't exactly the best of ideas, it certainly wasn't the worst of ideas. While sure, she could've taken them to a restaurant or something, she felt that this was something that'd make it just a little bit more difficult to find the three of them!

Assuming that the two agreed to go, Antoinette was more than willing to lead the way. It likely wasn't going to be too far a walk, thankfully, so running was certainly an option if the three felt it to be necessary. If nothing else, she was ready to keep an eye out on the area around them to make sure that they weren't going to be pursued.

[Colt]

The young man furrowed his brows a little at Antoinette encouraging Colt, rolling his eyes a little and sighing. Colt of course was IMMEDIATELY pleased. "Ahhhh, well you know Bucko, if you don't like it you could just peel off~ Once we close this off, you could hand me over to this lovely lady here. I think we'd make quite the combo, lovely~" He chimed. Though as Antoinette talked about having a place for them, both Colt and his wielder raised their brows, Colt more metaphorically so.

"Heck, any place is better than this shit. Lead the way." An immediate haggard smile. After all, they had been running for quite a bit. Getting to actually get some rest sounded amazing. Of course Colt was.... curious where she had in mind. But he kept his curiosities to himself for now. As lovely as she was, he did wonder just where she would have to harbor them? It was a little strange that she was so open to do so. But he would worry about that later.

And so they'd allow Antoinette to take them to wherever they had in mind. His Wielder continuing to look over his shoulder, anxious that their pursuers would show up again. Colt in the meantime was MUCH more interested in Antoinette. Who was she? She didn't seem TOO startled by him being a talking gun. Also damn what a nice ass. "Soooooo, what do you do for a living? Not every day that people seem chill about me talking. You took it pretty well. Do you USUALLY run into a lot of spiritual nonsense in your line of work?"

[Antoinette Harper]

As the group began to head toward the shrine, Antoinette couldn't help but smile. "Hm, you might be onto something there, friend," she started, "we'll have to see just how our tenure together goes before something like that is decided, mm~?" A chuckle followed suit. It wasn't something that she was inherently opposed to, all things considered. Though, that conversation one that would happen down the line.

Eventually arriving there, the Bount took the opportunity to bow her head before the torii that stood at the entrance. Her bow was fairly low, as was simply customary. She paid no attention as to whether the young man did so or not; she wasn't going to get on his case if he wasn't exactly religious. It wasn't her place to police them, after all! Still, she was going to do her best to maintain customs where she could. Thankfully, the atmosphere seemed to be rather calm; only a few citizens cleared in and out through the building.

Holding to the left as the group walked underneath the gates, Antoinette hummed a soft tune. Suffice to say, the girl adored the atmosphere. She loved the scenery, the foliage that came with working at the shrines, the weather at this time of day, what wasn't to like? It always helped to calm her down a bit through stressors; hopefully it was going to help these two, as well. Eventually approaching a fountain toward the front of the main building, Antoinette took the opportunity to wash her hands and mouth in the water.

"Over here," she motioned, "we can take some time to ourselves back here, if you'd like~" She giggled. Leading the two further along, before eventually leading them to a more secluded area, Antoinette took the opportunity to sit down on a landing. She remained diligent to not sit on anything that would've proven problematic; she clearly cared more about this place than where she'd decided to park for the time being.

As the questions started, a soft smile remained across Antoinette's face. "Well, we're currently at my place of occupation," she started, "I currently serve as the Gongūji here. If you've plans to visit at a later date, I ask you maintain it during your tenure, mm~?" She gave another soft smile, though one laced with a hint of malice. She wasn't kidding when it came to this place.

Tapping her cheek with her index finger at the next prompt, she took a brief second to respond. "Mm, I can't say I'm too surprised, if I may be honest," she started, "'spiritual nonsense,' as you put it, is more or less the name of the game here. I've seen my fair share of strange phenomena over the last decade or so; especially given I'm not quite Human myself, aha~" Giving one last smile, the girl made sure that her teeth were a bit more visible; her distinctly-sharpened canines made themselves pronounced.

[Colt]

The pair peered a little, as much as cold COULD peer in his present form, at the cattish responses of Antoinette. Truth be told, Colt's wielder was getting a little nervous about this woman, suspiciousness reignbing as they followed the woman toward the shrine. Enforced by that creepy little look when it came to maintaining the shrine. Given the gun in his hand, he wasn't particularly worried about that. But he kept his thoughts to himself. Cold, however, had a feeling his wielder was getting a little edgy. Best try and smooth things over.

"So uh.... is the ...flirty thing intentional? Or are you always like that?" Colt ventured, deciding not to really address the woman's claim that she wasn't human. He'd sortof gotten that impression to say the least. But well, he wasn't too curious, at least for the time being. That playful flirting slowly pulling back a little. Even COLT was starting to see that ANtoinette was a little...uh...weird. Before it had been nice and playful, but the situation they were in felt a little...odd to see the flirtation.


Still, Colt's handler did look around at the shrine. Some small concern bubbling up in his mind. Were all shrines handled by inhuman girls like this? He certainly hoped not. "Also fi you don't mind me asking. Uhhh, whats the end game of letting us stay here? Not that we don't appreciate the assist. But I'm a little surprised you were so ...willing? You dont' have any ...ulterior motives do you?" He centured, the slow sound of the hammer in his mechanism clicking would be almost inaudible.